It had been over three months since the Crown Prince discovered he could move his legs. He never took the initiative to mention his progress in rehabilitation. Although Yao Huang was curious, she didn't dare ask too much, afraid of putting pressure on him. Especially before Imperial Physician Liao could give a definitive guarantee of a full recovery, Yao Huang was even more afraid that the Crown Prince's legs wouldn't recover perfectly. Therefore, when the couple spent time together, they deliberately avoided the topic of his legs.
Who would have thought that in the time it took to fetch a cup of tea, the Crown Prince would suddenly give her such a huge surprise!
Completely unprepared, Yao Huang's shock even overshadowed her joy. She was so stunned that the Crown Prince, walking over to bring her tea, seemed like a completely different person in her eyes.
Slowly finishing the cup of tea, Yao Huang wrapped the blanket tightly around herself and turned around. Looking at the Crown Prince sitting there holding the empty cup, Yao Huang wanted to laugh but also felt inexplicably a bit embarrassed. Lowering her eyes, she asked, "When did Your Highness become able to walk?"
Zhao Sui looked at his Crown Princess and explained, "The day before Imperial Physician Liao came to deliver the good news. At that time, I could only let go of the handrail and walk two or three steps."
Yao Huang gave him a faintly reproachful look. "Then why didn't Your Highness tell me?"
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes. "Telling you now counts too."
Naturally, he had wanted to give the Crown Princess a surprise. He also wanted to wait until he could manage a few more steps before walking for her, so he would look more like a normal person.
Yao Huang shifted over while wrapped in the blanket and leaned against his shoulder, saying, "Your Highness can walk now, I don't even know how to describe the joy in my heart. But Your Highness should have picked a different time to reveal this. For example, when I was sitting on the outer couch teasing Yun'er, you could have suddenly walked over to show me, and I could have thrown myself right into your arms. Instead, Your Highness just had to choose the time when I was lying stark naked in bed to walk..."
And it was when she was at her weakest, with her brain working at its slowest!
Zhao Sui: "...I still can't stand steadily for now, so you can't throw yourself at me."
If the Crown Princess threw herself at him, the couple would fall to the ground together.
Yao Huang didn't care. She pushed the Crown Prince down onto the bed, pulled the blanket with her, and threw herself into his arms.
Zhao Sui set the empty cup aside, shifted his entire body onto the bed, and wrapped his arms around the Crown Princess.
Yao Huang propped up her head and smiled at the Crown Prince beneath her. "Happy as I am, I'm still more used to Your Highness like this. Standing up so tall all of a sudden, it didn't quite seem like you."
Zhao Sui stroked her shoulder. "Spouting nonsense again."
His face was exactly the same; how could it reach the point of not looking like him?
Yao Huang: "How is it nonsense? People like Qingai, Feiquan, Eunuch Cao, Nanny Liu, as well as Imperial Father and Mother, and various servants around the palace—they have all seen Your Highness's former handsome and graceful bearing. But I have never seen it even once. Now that Your Highness has recovered, I will definitely need some time to readjust."
Zhao Sui: "There's no rush. It's not like I can walk perfectly right away. I'll still be using the wheelchair for a while."
Imperial Physician Liao had actually suggested using crutches to help him walk around the front and back halls of the Eastern Palace, and sitting down to rest once inside, but Zhao Sui had refused.
Sitting in a wheelchair, he could at least maintain a proper and dignified posture. Using crutches...
Zhao Sui would rather sit in the wheelchair for a little longer.
Yao Huang: "Then if Your Highness doesn't walk, how long can you just stand?"
Zhao Sui had tested it and replied, "For a count of about forty."
Yao Huang then had the Crown Prince turn around while she sat up to get dressed. Once dressed, she stood by the bed and asked the Crown Prince to stand up.
The Crown Princess's eyes were sparkling. Her gaze, full of encouragement and anticipation, looked exactly like how she watched Yun'er when he was just learning to crawl.
Yun'er wasn't afraid of his mother watching him, but Zhao Sui found it impossible to remain composed under such a gaze.
He looked at the hem of the Crown Princess's clothes and said, "Turn your back first."
Yao Huang: "..."
He was just going to stand up. Anyone who didn't know better would think she was asking His Highness the Crown Prince to strip off his clothes!
Quickly stealing a touch of the Crown Prince's face, Yao Huang smiled and cooperated.
Zhao Sui glanced at the Crown Princess's mischievous right hand. He remained seated for a moment longer before standing up. Once he was steady, he reminded the Crown Princess in front of him, who was nearly a head shorter than him, "You can look, but don't pounce."
Hearing the familiar voice coming from above, Yao Huang knew the Crown Prince was standing properly. How strange. Just a moment ago she was teasing the Crown Prince for being thin-skinned, but now that it was her turn to openly turn around and look at her husband, Yao Huang actually grew nervous. It felt as if she hadn't married the Crown Prince yet, as if this was their very first meeting.
Yao Huang subconsciously looked toward the dressing table on her right.
When the Crown Prince came over earlier, his hair was bound with a jade hairpin. Even though he had been tossing her around on the bed just now, messing up her long hair, his own topknot remained completely immaculate. Wearing only a set of white silk inner garments, he still looked as handsome and elegant as an immortal.
Yao Huang asked the Crown Prince to wait a moment. She quickly walked over to the dressing table, grabbed a comb, and began to brush her hair with her back to him.
Zhao Sui didn't know why the Crown Princess wanted to comb her hair at this moment. Since she had walked away, Zhao Sui took four steps and stopped behind her, resting one hand on the back of the chair beside her and placing the other on her shoulder.
Yao Huang lowered her head, continuing to comb her hair as she whispered, "My hair is a mess. It doesn't look good at all."
Now Zhao Sui understood. However, he still turned the Crown Princess around, looking at her shy demeanor with lowered eyes, and looking at her cheeks, which were as vibrant as peonies.
Taking the comb from her hand, Zhao Sui lifted the Crown Princess's chin and said, "You look beautiful no matter what."
Guided by the Crown Prince's hand, Yao Huang slowly raised her face, finally meeting his gaze as he looked down at her.
When the Crown Prince's legs were paralyzed, the only things intimidating about him were his status as a prince and the initial aura of death that surrounded him. As Yao Huang gradually grew familiar with him, especially when the Crown Prince was willing to wheel his chair around to serve her in return, she was no longer afraid of him. To her, the Crown Prince sitting in a wheelchair seemed gentle, frail, and easy to bully. At least out of bed, Yao Huang appeared to be the more formidable one in the marriage.
But the Crown Prince before her was standing. He was so much taller than her that she had to look up at him. When the Crown Prince's majesty merged with the natural aura of a man over eight feet tall, Yao Huang felt an unfamiliar sense of pressure from him. Furthermore, the Crown Prince in the wheelchair rarely locked eyes with her for such a long time.
Yao Huang was the first to avert her gaze. She shifted her steps slightly forward and hugged his waist.
Zhao Sui tightened his grip on the back of the dressing chair.
Yao Huang closed her eyes and said contentedly, "This is so wonderful."
Although she wasn't used to it yet, she loved the Crown Prince who could stand up, because he was always meant to stand, and because a Crown Prince who could stand would live a better life.
.
On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the commoners in the capital celebrated the Preliminary Eve, and the officials also began their annual winter holidays.
Finally able to set aside state affairs, Emperor Yongchang took a stroll around the palace. Wandering about, he eventually arrived outside the Eastern Palace.
Yao Huang hurried to push the Crown Prince out to receive the Emperor.
Upon arriving in the main hall, Yao Huang let the father and son sit for a moment while she went to the backyard to fetch Yun'er in his stroller. Wearing thick padded winter clothes, Yun'er made the stroller seem all the more useful.
Emperor Yongchang lifted his little imperial grandson out of the stroller, sat him on his lap, and asked the young couple opposite him, "Having such a long break, what are your plans?"
Zhao Sui replied, "This son wishes to pick a few sunny days to ride horses outside the city."
Emperor Yongchang looked at his daughter-in-law.
Yao Huang immediately cried out in grievance, "His Highness wants to go horseback riding, so why is Imperial Father looking at me like that? I may be playful, but this time it is entirely His Highness's own idea. Imperial Physician Liao told him to exercise his legs more, and His Highness thinks about various ways to train his legs every day." During the day, he secretly practiced in the front courtyard and the deer park, and at night, he dragged her along to practice.
The Crown Prince silently lowered his eyes.
Emperor Yongchang said, "...I looked at you because I meant for you to accompany the Crown Prince out of the city."
Whether his son wanted to exercise his legs or take the Crown Princess out of the palace to relax, he definitely wanted to go with her.
Yao Huang said softly, "I have to take care of Yun'er, so Imperial Father should accompany His Highness. Imperial Father has toiled over state affairs for a whole year, and you really ought to take this time to stretch your muscles and relax. Besides, His Highness sees me every day and is probably tired of looking at me by now. How could that compare to the novelty of traveling with Imperial Father?"
Horseback riding in the spring was fine, but in the freezing weather of the twelfth lunar month, Yao Huang had absolutely no desire to suffer the cold wind on horseback.
Emperor Yongchang said, "You two have only been married for a little over three years. If the Crown Prince is already tired of looking at you, then wouldn't he be even more tired of looking at me, who has been his Imperial Father for twenty-five years?"
Yao Huang replied, "That is not how you calculate it. Although I have only been married to His Highness for over three years, we have been together day and night during this time. Just for horseback riding alone, I have accompanied him no less than thirty times. I have eaten three meals a day with him for over a thousand days. Does Imperial Father remember how many times you have taken His Highness riding, or how many times you have shared a meal with him?"
Emperor Yongchang was speechless.
Yao Huang smiled and said, "Therefore, compared to me, His Highness is looking forward to Imperial Father spending more time with him."
Zhao Sui was speechless.
The father and son looked at each other. The older one immediately looked away, while the younger one lowered his eyes once more.
At this moment, Yun'er, who was sitting in his imperial grandfather's arms, suddenly tilted up his small face and looked at his grandfather with a pair of clear phoenix eyes.
Looking at his innocent and ignorant grandson, Emperor Yongchang suddenly remembered the childhoods of his own princes and princesses.
He was too busy back then and didn't have much time to accompany his children. He was still busy now. He only had time to occasionally tease his well-behaved and cute little imperial grandson, let alone have time for his adult children.
Thinking of this, Emperor Yongchang said to the Crown Prince, "I really haven't gone horseback riding in a long time. If you truly don't need your wife to accompany you, how about I take you and Prince Kang horseback riding tomorrow morning?"
Zhao Sui immediately replied, "I am willing to follow Imperial Father out of the city."
Emperor Yongchang nodded, teased Yun'er for a while longer, and then left.
After seeing off Emperor Yongchang, the Crown Prince's family returned to the warm couch in the backyard. There were several small toys on the couch, and Yun'er happily crawled around playing by himself.
Seeing that the Crown Prince kept looking at her, Yao Huang looked back at him and guessed, "What's wrong? Does His Highness not want to follow Imperial Father out of the city?"
Zhao Sui shook his head.
Yao Huang's heart stirred. "Does His Highness want me to accompany you out of the city instead?"
Zhao Sui thought for a moment and said, "I will take you when the weather gets warmer."
The Crown Princess, having guessed wrong, felt awkward and glared at him. "Since it's neither of those, why is His Highness looking at me like that?"
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes.
Yao Huang couldn't stand his evasive manner. She knelt and shifted closer to his side. Before she could do anything, the Crown Prince suddenly reached out and pulled her into his arms, speaking gently above her head, "I won't get tired of looking at you."
No matter how long the Crown Princess had been married to him, whether it was three years or thirty years, he would never get tired of her.
Yao Huang was stunned for a moment before she understood what the Crown Prince meant.
Her heart softening, Yao Huang hugged the man back and said, "Imperial Father will accompany you horseback riding tomorrow. If His Highness still wants to go riding in a couple of days, I will go with you."
So what if it was a bit cold? Who could blame her when the Crown Prince was so handsome and had such a sweet mouth.
