Having coaxed the Prince and finished making the two futons, Yao Huang planned to go out of the manor for a stroll on the tenth day of the month. Unexpectedly, upon waking up in the morning, her monthly period had arrived.
Yao Huang was first annoyed that it was no longer convenient to go out today, but then she remembered her mother's teachings. Her mother had said that when a woman became pregnant, her period would stop, so the arrival of her period proved that she had not conceived.
Yao Huang was very happy about this. For one thing, she had not yet had her fill of being a young lady and did not want to become a mother to a child so early. For another, she had been married to Prince Hui for less than a month, entirely relying on their nighttime intimacy to deepen their affection. If she got pregnant so quickly, given how fiercely insatiable Prince Hui was, what would happen if he was forced to hold back and ended up finding a bed-warming maid for himself?
Regarding the possibility of Prince Hui wanting a bed-warming maid or taking a side consort in the future, Yao Huang had absolutely no way to stop it. If an ordinary man dared to entertain such wandering thoughts after marrying her, Yao Huang would dare to break his legs. But being saddled with such a noble husband as the Prince, in a marriage bestowed by the Emperor himself, Yao Huang could neither divorce him nor block him. If she dared to interfere, she would be the one getting punished.
Yao Huang only hoped that the time the Prince had only her as his woman would last a bit longer. She hoped it would last long enough that even if Emperor Yongchang eventually bestowed upon the Prince a beautiful side consort with a higher birth and a more voluptuous figure than hers, the Prince would still remember their long-standing affection and continue to treat her the best, sending the bulk of any gold, silver, and precious treasures straight to her room!
Of course, side consorts and the like were matters for the distant future. There were still two royal weddings to be held this year, and the entry of Prince Qing's two side consorts had been pushed all the way to next autumn. Emperor Yongchang would not likely assign back-to-back tasks to the Ministry of Rites, which meant Yao Huang had at least a year and a half to properly cultivate her relationship with Prince Hui.
Casting aside these long-term worries, Yao Huang first considered the immediate concern of having to disappoint Prince Hui tonight.
After much thought, Yao Huang decided to inform Prince Hui of the matter in advance. She did not want him to come over full of enthusiasm, only to be forced to sleep through the night in unsatisfied frustration.
To this end, Yao Huang wrote a letter, specially placed it in an envelope, sealed it with red wax, and had Aji deliver it to the Bamboo Courtyard.
This letter was quickly delivered into Prince Hui's hands.
"Your Highness, it is quite unfortunate, but my monthly period arrived this morning. According to my usual pattern, it should last until the sixteenth of this month before completely ending. Therefore, it will not be convenient for me to serve Your Highness on the nights of the tenth and the fifteenth."
"If Your Highness can endure it, please come to Ming'an Hall on the night of the seventeenth, and I will be sure to properly compensate Your Highness. If Your Highness cannot bear the wait, coming over tonight or on the fifteenth as usual is also fine; I have other ways to serve Your Highness."
Zhao Sui was widely read and had even dabbled in medical texts, so he naturally knew what a monthly period was.
Reading the first paragraph of the Princess's letter, Zhao Sui was actually quite calm and felt no disappointment or resentment toward her. However, after reading the Princess's cautious second paragraph, Prince Hui had no choice but to look toward the Buddhist scriptures nearby to calm himself down.
Had he truly demanded too much over those few nights, making her think he could not even endure a mere few days?
Zhao Sui burned this secret letter, which, if leaked, would reduce the couple to a laughingstock within the royal family.
Yao Huang did not wait long enough to receive a reply from the Prince, but she did receive a visit from Nanny Liu.
Feeling physically weak, Yao Huang was leaning on the couch in the secondary room reading a storybook, with a fluffy, soft cushion stuffed behind her lower back. The first day of her period was always the time when Yao Huang was at her most demure.
Before coming over, Nanny Liu did not know what had happened to the Princess. Feiquan had only said that the Prince asked her to check on the Princess. Upon entering the room and catching sight of the Princess's slightly pale face and a silk-covered square pad specially placed beneath her, Nanny Liu instantly understood.
"Is the Princess feeling unwell anywhere?" Nanny Liu asked with a loving gaze, pressing down on the Princess's shoulders as Yao Huang prepared to sit up straight. "Is your lower back sore, or does your stomach hurt?"
Since the Princess was someone the Prince cherished, Nanny Liu naturally loved her by extension. Furthermore, the Princess before her possessed a face as beautiful as a peony and had a highly lovable temperament.
Yao Huang's face flushed bright red. "How did you know?"
Nanny Liu smiled and said, "The Princess did not want to trouble this old servant, but the Prince was worried that the Princess is young and might not take good care of herself, so he specially sent this old servant over to take a look."
Yao Huang awkwardly used the storybook to cover her face. "Why, why does he tell you everything!"
Nanny Liu replied, "Because the Prince is a man, and he has never had a woman by his side who needed his care. The less experience he has, the more he treats this as a major event."
This was the unique joy of a young married couple. In a few more years, even if the Prince cared about the Princess during her period, he would not be so clumsy as to send her to check on her again.
Yao Huang was the one caught in the middle of this situation, and she felt nothing but embarrassment. She was a seventeen-year-old grown woman; did she really need an elder to specially look after her for such a trivial matter?
"Please do not worry, Nanny. My body is perfectly fine. I am just a little weak and sore on the first day, but it does not hurt."
Even so, Nanny Liu still called Aji and the other three senior maids over and gave them careful instructions.
Halfway through the morning, Yao Huang was fed a bowl of red date and longan soup. At the lunch table, a rich and fragrant pot of black-bone chicken soup was served. By evening, Prince Hui actually came over, and Yao Huang had no choice but to drink another bowl of delicious carp and tofu soup right in front of him.
With the dietary standards of the Prince's manor, Yao Huang was genuinely afraid that she would grow into a truly plump Princess.
"Your Highness should have a bowl too, this soup is delicious," Yao Huang urged with mischievous intent, thinking that if she was going to get fat, they should both get fat together.
Zhao Sui drank it, even eating the two pieces of tender tofu inside cleanly.
As the curtain of night first descended, Zhao Sui was once again ushered to the edge of the canopy bed, where he noticed a thin, red-bottomed silk pad on her side.
Sitting on the bed and looking at the Princess standing to the side, Zhao Sui said in a calm tone, "Extinguish the lamp and go to sleep early."
Yao Huang had already experienced Prince Hui saying one thing while meaning another before, so this time she could not figure out if he genuinely just wanted to sleep, or if he was doing this to enjoy her other methods of serving him.
Regardless, the lamp had to be extinguished.
Crawling into bed in the dark, before Yao Huang could figure out how to test the waters, Prince Hui asked first, "Do you have any discomfort?"
Yao Huang answered truthfully, "I will be able to run and jump by tomorrow."
Zhao Sui said, "...Are you going horseback riding?"
Yao Huang replied, "...I was just using a figure of speech. I will rest for another day tomorrow, and go out for a stroll the day after."
Zhao Sui said, "Mm."
Yao Huang tried to shift toward his side. If the Prince played the game of half-refusing and half-yielding, it would mean he was indeed here for that.
Before Yao Huang could press up against Prince Hui, the Prince, sensing her intention, turned around early. He grasped her shoulders and turned her toward the inner side of the bed. "We agreed that I would come over on the days ending in five and ten. Whether it is convenient for you or not, it should remain this way. When it is not convenient, just talking and sleeping is enough."
He was indeed curious about what methods she had, but Zhao Sui truly did not need the Princess to expend effort serving him when she herself was feeling unwell.
Feeling the undeniable strength of the hands on her shoulders, Yao Huang felt very ashamed. She had once again acted like a petty person wrongly judging the heart of a gentleman.
Following her shame came a sense of being moved. Yao Huang held the hands on her shoulders and said with utmost sincerity, "Your Highness is truly so good to me."
Zhao Sui let her press against his hands for a moment before pulling them back in a timely manner.
When the night of the fifteenth arrived, although Yao Huang's period had not completely ended, her body felt much lighter. Thinking about how this was the first time since their marriage that Prince Hui had gone without intimacy for so long, Yao Huang leaned softly against his chest and asked shyly, "The day after tomorrow will be fine. Will Your Highness come over?"
Zhao Sui looked up at the blurry canopy of the bed and said, "Let us make it the twentieth. You should rest for a few more days."
Yao Huang thought he was just being silly and didn't understand. She smiled and said, "When this is over, it's over. There's no such thing as taking a break."
Zhao Sui replied, "...The days are set. It's not good to make an exception."
Yao Huang pursed her lips. If this man really came every day, she would definitely complain. But she had already invited him and he was still making excuses, which made her a little unhappy. Poking his chest, she muttered, "Your Highness has made exceptions before."
Zhao Sui said, "There was a reason for it before."
Yao Huang remembered. The first exception was because she got her clothes wet while fishing. The second time was because he stayed up too late painting a portrait of her. The third time was because she was too attentive in delivering a cushion, and the Prince insisted on "rewarding" her with dignity.
"If you won't come, then don't come. I only said that because I was afraid of wronging Your Highness. It's not like I was looking forward to it."
Leaving behind the Prince who strictly adhered to the rules, Yao Huang went to sleep by herself.
In the blink of an eye, it was the night of the seventeenth, and His Highness the Prince of Hui really did not come to Ming'an Hall.
Yao Huang couldn't help but let her imagination run wild. The Prince was so insistent on the rule of coming on days ending in five and ten. Could it be that his physical condition didn't allow it, and he had to be temperate in this regard? Or was it that the Prince had read too many Buddhist scriptures, voluntarily choosing to purify his heart and limit his desires, only choosing six days a month to be a mortal?
Ordinary mortals rarely did this, but Yao Huang had heard many crazy stories about emperors seeking immortality. Things like magic pills and elixirs that could make one an immortal if eaten in large quantities—Yao Huang knew they were charlatans the moment she heard about them. But those emperors really believed it. Case after case of early deaths from taking pills couldn't stop the later emperors from continuing to be deceived by new experts.
The Prince of Hui was not an emperor, but he was a member of the royal family. Perhaps the royal family just attached great importance to Buddhism and Daoism?
Just as Yao Huang began to worry whether her prince would suddenly see through the mortal world one day and leave her to become a monk, the night of the twentieth arrived as scheduled.
His Highness the Prince of Hui, who had abstained for more than ten consecutive nights, was still the reticent man Yao Huang was familiar with. But he just didn't like to talk; he was extremely energetic. Every time Yao Huang felt like she had just fallen asleep not long ago, she was woken up by this man again.
Having said a basketful of soft words, Yao Huang's temper also flared up. Crying, she scolded him, "Why don't you go become a monk already!"
She would rather the Prince become a monk, rather Emperor Yongchang reduce her rank and rewards as a titular princess consort because his son became a monk, than continue to be his princess consort. He was simply not human!
Zhao Sui had heard the Princess Consort's disrespectful words before, scolding him for not keeping his word, calling him a liar, a bastard prince, and so on, but this was the first time he had heard the word "monk".
"Why should I become a monk?" Zhao Sui asked.
As soon as he was distracted, Yao Huang got a chance to catch her breath. Her reason, which had been thrown to the clouds, returned a little. She closed her eyes tightly and pretended she hadn't said that.
As soon as the Prince of Hui continued, Yao Huang went crazy again: "I want to become a nun! I want to become a nun!"
Once the night passed, Yao Huang felt that being a princess consort still had more benefits, and she couldn't bear to become a nun. At worst, she would be more proactive the next time her monthly period came, and not give His Highness the Prince of Hui the chance to abstain for too long. After all, on most nights, the Prince was still considered normal.
On the twenty-ninth, the Prince's estate distributed the monthly allowance early. Aji and the other three senior maids each received one tael of silver, while Yao Huang got fifty taels.
With silver in hand, Yao Huang took Aji out again.
Walking out of a jewelry shop, Aji suddenly pulled the Princess Consort and motioned for her to look to the right front.
Yao Huang pretended to glance over casually. On this ordinary street with pedestrians coming and going, she saw the only wheelchair that was worth Aji's novelty.
It was an old wheelchair, even more ordinary than the elm wood wheelchair she had bought. The man sitting on it was in his thirties, wearing half-old cotton clothes. The man looked ordinary, his sun-tanned, wheat-colored face full of vitality. While casually watching the passersby, he smiled and chatted with the cotton-clad woman pushing the wheelchair behind him.
The woman was in her early thirties and should be his wife.
The couple was too ordinary. They dressed ordinarily and had ordinary expressions, so having an extra wheelchair didn't attract too much attention to them. Some passersby would glance at the wheelchair and then walk past. The man in the wheelchair was used to this and continued to chat and stroll accompanied by his wife.
Yao Huang thought, if it wasn't for the fact that she had a prince husband at home who also used a wheelchair, she and Aji wouldn't have stared at this man for so long.
