The grassland in the Northern Park was not entirely flat. It was dotted with small dips and raised grassy mounds, making it perfectly suited for playing chuiwan.
A colorful flag was planted next to each hole. This way, even if Yao Huang and the others stopped playing, Emperor Yongchang and his ministers would know to detour if they rode past, preventing any accidents like a horse's hoof stepping into a hole. Moreover, Yao Huang had deliberately chosen an area that Emperor Yongchang rarely visited.
A few felt mats were laid out beside the grass, shaded by a canopy, so anyone who grew tired from playing could come over, sit down, and rest.
The sky above was clear and boundless, and the canopy perfectly blocked the increasingly hot sun. The Northern Park was indeed cooler than the capital, but baking under the sun would eventually make anyone hot.
Yao Huang lay comfortably resting her head on Chen Ying's lap.
Chen Ying looked over at Brother Dun and the other two children, who were still playing vigorously. Guessing that no one would come over for the time being, she lowered her head to look at Yao Huang's flushed, slightly sweaty face and said enviously, You seem to feel as completely at ease anywhere as you do in your own home.
Yao Huang smiled up at her. This is Imperial Father's Northern Park. Since Imperial Father is our father, the Northern Park is just a large garden belonging to our imperial family. Since it's our own home, what is there to feel constrained about?
According to Yao Huang's observations, Emperor Yongchang was not a rigid father-in-law who would micromanage his daughters-in-law's leisure activities in the gardens. She would follow the rules she had to follow, and play to her heart's content when it was time to play. If one day Emperor Yongchang truly thought she was living too carefreely and scolded her, it would not be too late for Yao Huang to change her ways then. It was not some heinous crime that would result in a daughter-in-law being divorced after a single offense.
Besides, she had Prince Hui watching out for her. If there was something she truly shouldn't do, Prince Hui would remind her.
Chen Ying could find no words to refute Yao Huang's logic.
Suddenly, she looked toward the direction of the temporary palace.
Yao Huang turned her head and saw five eunuchs approaching. One, looking like the leader, walked beside the other four, who were all carrying food boxes.
As they drew nearer, Yao Huang recognized the leader as a managing eunuch serving Empress Zhou, sent by the Empress to deliver pastries to everyone.
The palace pastries were all exquisitely made. Yao Huang had learned her dining etiquette very well; using chopsticks, she picked up a piece of mung bean cake that she could have once stuffed into her mouth in a single bite, and chewed it slowly, taking four delicate bites to finish it.
The leftovers from the masters were rewarded to the accompanying maids and nannies, and the four food boxes were quickly emptied.
At this moment, the managing eunuch whispered something into the First Princess's ear, then took his leave with the four younger eunuchs.
After playing another round, the First Princess wiped the sweat from her forehead and smiled. I am tired. Let us call it a day.
Aside from the three children who still had not had enough, Yao Huang and the others all guessed that something must have happened over at the temporary palace.
The First Princess was indeed gentle and amiable, but she would never bring up matters that should not be discussed, and Yao Huang would not rely on their good relationship to pry.
However, before they parted ways at the temporary palace, the First Princess gave Yao Huang a hint: Having played for several days in a row, my body is a bit exhausted. I will just rest in my room this afternoon. I will invite my sisters-in-law to tour together another day.
Yao Huang smiled and said, Alright, I was just about to say the same thing.
The First Princess and the Second Princess walked shoulder-to-shoulder toward the Western Palace, while Yao Huang accompanied Chen Ying and her children toward the east, not chatting about much along the way.
At Yunshan Hall, Eunuch Cao hurried over immediately upon learning that the Princess Consort had returned.
Yao Huang could tell from his eyes that he had something to say, so she asked Aji to leave first. It was not that she did not trust Aji, but rather that palace matters could sometimes be frightening. She wanted to hear it first before deciding whether it was necessary to tell her senior maids.
Eunuch Cao lowered his voice. His Highness Prince Qing has returned. When he passed by our door, he did not look very happy.
Yao Huang asked, Do you know the reason?
Eunuch Cao shook his head. The rule the Prince had set for them was to know their place and behave. Without the Prince's orders, they were not to act on their own regarding outside matters. Therefore, when in the imperial palace, he and Nanny Liu would never proactively go to other palaces to pry for information, and upon arriving at the Northern Park, they honestly stayed within Yunshan Hall, asking no questions about anything.
If Prince Qing had not had to pass by Yunshan Hall on his return, and if Eunuch Cao had not coincidentally sent a young eunuch to the greenhouse to fetch today's floral arrangements, they might not have even known that Prince Qing was back.
Since Eunuch Cao did not know, Yao Huang could only wait for Prince Hui, who was working in the front court, to clear up her confusion.
At dusk, Prince Hui returned on time. After entering the door, he first asked Eunuch Cao, who was waiting there, How was the Princess Consort's mood for touring today?
Eunuch Cao replied, She played chuiwan for two hours in the morning and then came back. She did not go out again in the afternoon.
Zhao Sui understood.
Just as he bypassed the screen wall, the Princess Consort approached from behind, took over the wheelchair, pushed him into the eastern side room, closed the door, and asked about Prince Qing.
Zhao Sui said simply, Imperial Father was furious that he lost too many soldiers. He was fined one year of his noble stipend and ordered to reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors for three months.
Yao Huang covered her mouth in shock. A noble stipend of five thousand taels, gone just like that?
Exactly how many soldiers did he lose? After her initial shock, Yao Huang quickly followed up with a question. Prince Hui was a man of few words and had not mentioned the details of Prince Qing's bandit suppression campaign to her. Whenever Empress Zhou, Consort Xian, the First Princess, and the others brought it up, they only praised Prince Qing's merits in front of Consort Rou and Zheng Yuanzhen. Furthermore, Yao Huang herself did not like casually asking about other princes' affairs.
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes. Over nine hundred.
Knowing that his Princess Consort would be curious, Zhao Sui finally gave her a detailed account of Peng Daji's memorial, which was considered fairly objective.
Yao Huang did not know exactly how difficult bandit suppression was and could not judge Prince Qing's merits and faults. What she thought about were those nine hundred or so estate soldiers wiped out in the blink of an eye during an ambush. Compared to their lives, what did it matter if Prince Qing lost five thousand taels of silver for a year?
So that time Imperial Father scolded me last month was because he was angry after reading the Third Prince's memorial, and he just held it in until now to flare up.
Zhao Sui tacitly agreed.
Yao Huang sat across from Prince Hui, falling into a rare silence.
If Prince Qing were just an outsider with no relation to the couple, Yao Huang would definitely have mocked him a bit. But Prince Qing was Prince Hui's brother, and a prince who had married a cousin with whom Prince Hui had once shared a verbal marriage agreement. If either of them picked at Prince Qing's flaws, it would look like they were taking pleasure in his misfortune.
Let him be punished. It was Imperial Father who punished him anyway, so it has nothing to do with us, Yao Huang concluded. In the future, when I see Consort Rou, the Eldest Princess, and Third Sister-in-law, I will just be careful not to say the wrong thing and poke at their sore spots.
Zhao Sui said, Mm, and for the next few days, hold off on going to the Northern Park.
With dark clouds looming over his third brother's side, it would not be appropriate for them to continue playing and making merry over here.
At the mention of this, Yao Huang glared at him. Since Your Highness understands this, why did you not send word back this morning? Even Imperial Mother knew to send a message to the First Princess. If the First Princess had not reminded me not to go out this afternoon, I would still be completely in the dark. What if I had bumped into Imperial Father again?
Zhao Sui replied, Ignorance is no crime. Imperial Father would not truly take his anger out on you.
If he had specially sent a message to the Princess Consort regarding this matter, it would make it seem as though he placed too much importance on Prince Qing being reprimanded. Waiting until he returned to instruct his wife was soon enough.
Yao Huang looked at Prince Hui's handsome and refined face and guessed his thoughts. It was true; Prince Hui had long severed any connection to that throne. Even if Prince Qing had offended Emperor Yongchang, the Emperor would only lean a bit more toward Prince Kang or the Fourth Prince. Why should Prince Hui make a fuss and specially send someone back with a message?
Inside the temporary palace, palace servants or imperial guards were stationed at regular intervals. Anyone coming and going could not escape their eyes, and thus could not escape the eyes of those who could pry information from them.
Lying in bed at night, Zhao Sui held the Princess Consort who leaned into him and said, "It is just as well that your time of the month is approaching. If the Empress Dowager asks why you have not been moving around much, you will have a plausible excuse."
Yao Huang nodded. Last month it came on the eleventh, and today was already the thirteenth. It would probably arrive tomorrow.
Thinking again of Prince Hui's insatiable appetite after being starved for a long time, Yao Huang rested her head on his arm and raised a hand to trace circles on his chest.
Zhao Sui caught her hand. "Go to sleep."
Prince Qing had just been punished. If he, as the older brother, engaged in such intimacy tonight, what would the Princess Consort think of him?
Yao Huang said in a muffled voice, "Cut it out. When Your Highness mentioned my time of the month was near, were you not hinting that I should hurry up?"
Prince Hui was exactly like this, greedy but refusing to admit it, insisting on using all sorts of words and actions to coax her into taking the initiative. If Yao Huang did not cooperate, the next time Prince Hui would dare to pester her all night without sleeping.
Zhao Sui paused. "...I did not mean that."
Yao Huang replied, "Right, Your Highness did not want it, I did."
Knowing full well that if she did not take the initiative tonight, she would be ruthlessly punished by Prince Hui once her period finally came and went, the Princess Consort very proactively began kissing Prince Hui's neck.
Zhao Sui remained silent.
The next day, Yao Huang spent the whole day reading storybooks in Yunshan Hall. When Prince Hui returned in the evening, Yao Huang was right at an exciting part of a new book, so she did not go out to welcome him.
Zhao Sui simply assumed the Princess Consort was feeling unwell. After changing into his everyday clothes, he took the initiative to go to the backyard to see her. When he reached the secondary room, he saw the Princess Consort lying on her stomach on the daybed, resting her chin on one hand and turning the pages of the storybook with the other. Her two fair, clean feet were exposed, one resting on top of the other.
Zhao Sui signaled Qingai to push him back, stopping behind the long table.
From inside came the Princess Consort's puzzled voice, "Why is Your Highness not coming in?"
Zhao Sui answered, "I will not disturb your reading."
Yao Huang did not think much of it either.
The sky grew dark again. The Princess Consort embraced him with a hint of shyness and whispered in Prince Hui's ear, "It has not come yet. Does Your Highness want to hurry up?"
The warm breath tickled his ear, instantly gripping Prince Hui's attention.
But Prince Hui still had his reason. He asked, "Why is it three days late this time?"
Yao Huang said, "It is not too bad. It has been this late before. Besides, we changed places, so maybe I am just not used to the new environment?"
The eighteen-year-old Princess Consort did not pay it much mind, but the twenty-four-year-old Prince Hui thought of a possibility.
However, he did not say it out loud, afraid that the Princess Consort would get too excited and not be able to sleep well.
"Today Lord Yan temporarily assigned me an engineering task. I need to do some calculations, so you go to sleep first."
Yao Huang understood. Tonight, Prince Hui really was not thinking about intimacy.
In the early morning, Prince Hui woke up first. It just so happened that the Princess Consort was lying with her back to him. After Prince Hui lifted the blanket and sat up straight, he first looked outside the bed curtains for a while, then slowly turned his head to look at the Princess Consort's light-colored plain silk inner trousers.
Both the plain silk inner trousers and the place where the Princess Consort had slept were completely clean.
Zhao Sui's heartbeat sped up with an unfamiliar flutter. He took another look at the soundly sleeping Princess Consort, then quietly tucked her in.
Aji and Qingai were both waiting in the secondary room. Seeing the Prince wheeling himself out, Qingai promptly stepped forward to take control of the wheelchair.
Aji was already familiar with Prince Hui's preferences. She knew the Prince did not like the senior maids bustling about seeing him off, so she stood respectfully to the side, waiting for Prince Hui's wheelchair to leave her line of sight before relaxing.
The Prince, who almost never spoke to them, unexpectedly looked over at her and instructed in a low voice, "Be more careful when serving the Princess Consort these next few days. Do not let her run or jump around."
Aji hurriedly agreed.
When the Princess Consort was about to get up, Aji relayed the Prince's instructions to her.
Yao Huang touched her waist, which showed no signs of soreness or fatigue. A sudden, unbelievable guess popped into her mind: could it be...
