While Emperor Yongchang was in the imperial study reading the victory memorial sent by his third son, Yao Huang had only just woken up.
The Northern Park was less than two hundred miles from the capital. However, the imperial carriage, accompanied by ten thousand imperial guards and twenty thousand capital garrison troops, traveled slowly, taking six full days to arrive.
During these six days, Yao Huang and Prince Hui rode in separate carriages and slept in different tents at night. Due to the frequent summons from Emperor Yongchang or Empress Zhou, the couple could not even eat all three daily meals together. They could only exchange distant glances. Even though they were in the same place, it felt as if they were separated by a great distance.
Yao Huang considered herself to have few desires. Prince Hui, on the other hand, had a face that looked completely devoid of worldly passions, but in reality, his desires were quite heavy. Having abstained for merely five nights, he ignored the exhaustion of the journey last night and pestered her twice in a row.
"To answer the Princess Consort, His Highness went to the front court to attend to his duties early this morning."
The temporary palace was built in the style of the imperial city, divided into the front court and the rear palaces. The difference was that the front court of the temporary palace provided lodging for the accompanying officials, while the princes, princesses, and their families were assigned courtyards in the rear palaces.
Emperor Yongchang's sleeping quarters were situated in the center of the rear palaces. The western courtyards were assigned to the concubines and princesses, while the eastern ones were given to the three princes: Prince Kang's family stayed in Qinghui Hall, Prince Hui and his wife in Yunshan Hall, and Prince Qing and his wife in Songfeng Hall. The Fourth Prince, who was still far from the age of marriage, also stayed on this side in Chengguan Hall.
Still lying in bed, Yao Huang admired Prince Hui even more.
After the First and Second Princesses successively settled on their prince consorts, Prince Hui took the initiative to take on the task of renovating the princess estates for his two younger sisters. Compared to construction projects directly involving the people's livelihood, building mansions for the princesses sounded quite simple. However, it was also easy to stir up trouble. For instance, Prince Hui had to carefully budget the silver and could not make the princess estates too extravagant. Empress Zhou and the First Princess were reasonable; as long as the wood and stone materials fit a princess's status and the gardens were elegant and beautiful, they were satisfied. The Second Princess, however, was not. She personally went to her second brother to complain about this and that. Prince Hui had a good temper; he didn't increase the budget but was willing to accommodate the Second Princess's other requests as much as possible.
If it were up to Yao Huang, she would have avoided such a thankless task at all costs. Yet Prince Hui not only accepted it but also did it diligently and without complaint.
Fortunately, Noble Consort Du fell ill last month. After resting for so long, her spirits had not improved. Not only did she not cause trouble for Prince Hui over the Second Princess's estate, but she didn't even come to the Northern Park for the summer retreat, remaining in the capital with her esteemed status as Noble Consort.
After washing, dressing, and eating breakfast, Yao Huang took out the scenic map of the Northern Park that Prince Hui had personally drawn for her.
Drawing the temporary palace was forbidden as it was a taboo, so Prince Hui relied solely on his memory to draw the mountains, lakes, and grasslands surrounding the Northern Park, as well as several gardens and the rare beast park meticulously maintained by the palace staff, just for his princess consort.
Yao Huang tapped the location of the rare beast park and left the room with Aji.
Standing at her own doorway, Yao Huang asked Aji to go to Songfeng Hall in the east to ask if Princess Consort Qing had departed yet. If not, Aji was to say that she invited Princess Consort Qing to go together to the Western Palace to pay their respects.
Zheng Yuanzhen had woken up long ago. Although she occasionally slept in at her own estate, now that she was living in the temporary palace with the Emperor and Empress, she naturally would not neglect the rules.
Given Zheng Yuanzhen's personality, she should have gone to pay her respects to the consorts much earlier. However, her mother had repeatedly reminded her to maintain a superficial harmony with her two sisters-in-law. Therefore, Zheng Yuanzhen told the young maids to keep an eye on the movements of Princess Consort Kang and Princess Consort Hui ahead. Once the two were about to leave, she would set off, and by then, those two would naturally wait for her to go together.
Zheng Yuanzhen waited for a whole two hours; it was almost mid-morning!
Remembering that Yao Huang was always the last to get up when they were in the Chuxiu Pavilion, Zheng Yuanzhen continued to endure it.
"Princess Consort, Princess Consort Hui is heading to the Western Palace and asks if you would like to go together."
Hearing this, Zheng Yuanzhen walked straight out.
Yao Huang was talking with Chen Ying and Prince Kang's two secondary consorts. These three had gotten up early and were also waiting for Yao Huang, but they waited at the front. As soon as Yao Huang appeared, they led their children out.
"Second Aunt, why did you get up so late?" the young heir, Brother Dun, asked curiously, standing beside his gentle stepmother, Chen Ying.
Chen Ying looked at Yao Huang in great embarrassment. If it were her own child, she would have reminded Brother Dun not to ask such rude questions. Unfortunately, Brother Dun was the flesh and blood of the previous princess consort, and moreover, the second most noble heir of Prince Kang's estate.
Yao Huang smiled and said, "Because Imperial Grandmother was considerate of our exhausting journey, she specifically said yesterday that we could sleep in a little longer."
Even an active young person like her felt her waist ache after sitting in a carriage for six days. Empress Zhou was fifty-one; she surely wanted to sleep more and get up late too.
Brother Dun looked resentfully at his wet nurse behind him.
The wet nurse: "..."
Zheng Yuanzhen, who happened to hear this conversation: "..."
The group walked and chatted as they headed to the Western Palace. It was a long walk from east to west, and being a summer morning, a faint layer of sweat appeared on the foreheads of Chen Ying, Zheng Yuanzhen, and the two secondary consorts.
Yao Huang's face wasn't red and she wasn't out of breath. If it weren't to accommodate the delicate, mincing steps of the other four, she could have walked even faster.
Over at Empress Zhou's place, Virtuous Consort Liu, Gentle Consort Shen, Eldest Princess Fucheng, the First Princess, and the Second Princess were all present, laughing and chatting about something.
When the three young princess consorts arrived before them, the Virtuous Consort looked at her own daughter-in-law and asked curiously, "Why are you so late this morning?"
Just as Chen Ying began to feel awkward, Yao Huang smiled and explained from the side, "It was I who got up late, dragging down Eldest Sister-in-law and Third Sister-in-law as they kept waiting for me."
The Virtuous Consort smiled amiably. "It's no matter, I was just asking casually."
The Gentle Consort and Eldest Princess Fucheng had also figured out Yao Huang's temperament. She had a way with words, so no one bothered to pick on her minor flaw of sleeping in. After all, picking on her wouldn't bring them any benefits.
Empress Zhou said, "Today is the first day, so it's fine that you came to pay your respects. In the future, just come over on the mornings of days ending in five. Usually, you can just go enjoy the scenery and play in the Northern Park. It is rare for the Emperor to be in the mood to bring us out this year, so do not waste the beautiful landscapes here."
The princess consorts and secondary consorts agreed in unison.
After taking their seats, Eldest Princess Fucheng looked at her own daughter and smiled, "Prince Qing has sent a victory report. The bandits in Tanzhou have been eradicated. Prince Qing should be hurrying back right now and will arrive at the Northern Park in about ten days."
Zheng Yuanzhen was genuinely surprised. "So fast?"
The Virtuous Consort teased, "Prince Qing is well-versed in both pen and sword. We all knew this trip of his would surely be an immediate success. As Princess Consort Qing, you spend day and night with him; you should know his abilities better than we do."
Zheng Yuanzhen lowered her head as if shy. She knew Prince Qing very well; he had literary talent and his archery and martial arts were also quite good. She knew even better of Prince Qing's arrogance and conceit. For a bandit group that the Tanzhou local troops had failed to catch several times, she had estimated that Prince Qing would need at least a month to deploy his forces. Calculating it now, excluding the days delayed by travel and the time it took for the victory report to arrive, Prince Qing had finished the battle in only half a month?
Surprise aside, Prince Qing's meritorious service also brought her face, so Zheng Yuanzhen was still very happy.
Yao Huang and Chen Ying promptly offered their congratulations.
The Virtuous Consort nodded secretly. Even if she was uncomfortable with Prince Qing rendering meritorious service, right now, both she and her daughter-in-law had to put on a happy face.
When the idle chatter was just about done and Empress Zhou let the young people go play, Yao Huang said she was going to the rare beast park and asked who wanted to go together.
Brother Dun and the other two children were the first to show looks of longing, so Chen Ying and the other two mothers naturally had to follow along.
The Second Princess looked at the First Princess.
The First Princess said, "It's about four or five li to walk to the Rare Animal Park. Shall I have someone arrange a carriage?"
Yao Huang smiled and said, "That works, but I'll be riding a horse. I've really had enough of sitting in carriages."
Hearing this, the First Princess and Second Princess also chose to ride horses.
Zheng Yuanzhen wanted to learn more about the news of Prince Qing's victory from her mother, Consort Rou, so she remained silent.
Unfortunately, Consort Rou didn't know much either. The Emperor, understanding their concern for Prince Qing's safety, had only sent a young eunuch to deliver the good news after reading the memorial. She would have to wait until she saw the Emperor that evening to ask for more details.
.
Yao Huang strolled around the Rare Animal Park for the entire morning. After returning at noon for a meal and a short rest, she invited the First Princess and Second Princess to go riding on the grasslands again. Although Chen Ying was a year younger than her, the Prince Kang's Manor had a young heir who was under her care. Having become a mother so early, Chen Ying was no longer as free; or rather, her timid and cautious nature made it difficult for her to let go and just have fun.
As for Zheng Yuanzhen, Yao Huang simply had no desire to curry favor with her. Her plans with the two princesses had just been casually made during their morning excursion.
Meanwhile, the afternoon was precisely when Emperor Yongchang had some free time.
Since they had all come to the Northern Park, Emperor Yongchang naturally wanted to go out for some fresh air. He originally intended to call his two sons along, but remembering that his second son was confined to a wheelchair and would find it inconvenient to mount and dismount a horse, he decided not to call anyone at all. Instead, he simply brought along a squad of imperial guards.
Before mounting his horse, Emperor Yongchang swept his gaze over the two rows of guards waiting nearby. They were all robust young men he had personally selected. The oldest among them was only in his early thirties; once they grew older, they would be sent out to serve as military officers, and new young men would be brought in to replace them.
These were the close-quarters guards tasked with protecting him. For Emperor Yongchang to trust them, he had to balance grace with authority. Only then could he cultivate a bond between sovereign and subject, ensuring the guards would willingly lay down their lives for him.
His sons should have had the same kind of relationship with the guards by their sides. Yet his third son had managed to get twenty of his personal guards killed in one go. How would the two survivors view him now? How would the guards left behind at the princely manor, who hadn't gone with him, view him?
Not to mention the nearly one thousand Tanzhou provincial troops who died unjustly. They were all young men in their twenties and thirties, the beloved flesh and blood of their parents. And all because of his third son's arrogance, they were all gone!
True, during wars with enemy nations, the reported casualties easily numbered in the thousands or tens of thousands. But those were unavoidable sacrifices made to protect the country and drive out foreign invaders. Emperor Yongchang grieved for them, but he was also proud of them. What, then, was the meaning of the deaths of these one thousand Tanzhou troops?
Would their parents and neighbors blame his third son? Most likely. But while cursing the third son, they would probably also curse the old emperor in the capital for sending such an incompetent prince there in the first place.
Riding his horse, Emperor Yongchang grew angrier the more he thought about it.
Just then, he caught sight of a figure in a green dress charging down from a distant hill on a jujube-red steed. The horse was strong and agile, flying like a streak of rosy clouds right up to the princesses waiting on their own horses. A moment later, crisp, joyful laughter rang out. It was none other than his second daughter-in-law.
Recognizing the Emperor, the three women spurred their horses and rode over quickly.
Emperor Yongchang scolded his second daughter-in-law, "You certainly are bold. Aren't you afraid the horse might stumble and throw you off?"
Remembering his second son's crippled legs and imagining a scene where both husband and wife were confined to wheelchairs, Emperor Yongchang's mood instantly plummeted once again.
Emperor Yongchang's expression was fierce, but behind the reprimand lay the genuine concern of an elder. Yao Huang wasn't afraid in the slightest. She patted Ni Guang's neck and said with a smile, "Royal Father, the Prince told me that Ni Guang is a magnificent steed that can cover a thousand miles a day, which you bestowed upon him back in the day. Even if I don't trust my own riding skills, I trust your eye for choosing horses. As you just saw with your own eyes, Ni Guang didn't betray your trust; he runs beautifully."
Emperor Yongchang was rendered speechless.
He took another look at the steed named Ni Guang. It was plump, sturdy, and indeed a fine horse.
And so, one must always choose a good horse. Forcing an inferior horse into a high position would only lead to disaster!
