Because the Princess Consort was somewhat unhappy, even though today was only the fourteenth, Zhao Sui still came to the backyard in the evening.
The rooms of the princely estate were decorated with various exquisite candlesticks. When all were lit, the rooms were bright. Since the luggage for escaping the summer heat at Lingshan consisted mainly of clothes and books, the candlesticks were newly purchased by Doctor Liao in the town. Thus, Yao Huang only had four lamps set up on her side, casting a dim, soft, and yellowish glow.
Prince Hui himself did not want to claim credit, and indeed he did not need this achievement to get promoted and get rich. Yao Huang felt aggrieved on his behalf for a little while, but then let it go. Now, looking at her husband who appeared even more handsome under the lamplight, Yao Huang asked in confusion, "Why did Second Master break the rules himself tonight?"
Zhao Sui looked at the Princess Consort's face, which had returned to normal. After a moment of silence, he said, "Tomorrow is the Zhongyuan Festival. I thought you might not sleep peacefully alone."
The Zhongyuan Festival was commonly known among the commoners as the Ghost Festival. Some people did not take it too seriously, while others genuinely dared not go out once it got dark.
Yao Huang belonged to the bold category. When she was young, she even deliberately left her hair down, pretending to be a ghost to scare the playmates who liked to call her "Little Huang" and "Ah Huang."
But on the day she misunderstood that Prince Hui wanted to climb the mountain, Yao Huang herself had said she was afraid there were monsters in the mountains. Prince Hui actually believed it to be true and specially came to accompany her...
"Second Master is truly considerate."
Yao Huang simply put on a relieved look and happily pushed Prince Hui to the canopy bed.
Her monthly courses had come two days ago. During their afternoon naps, the couple had honestly just slept, and they certainly wouldn't do anything tonight either.
The Lingshan Town at night was indeed very cool. Covered with a thin quilt, Yao Huang leaned into Prince Hui's embrace, feeling nothing but warmth and comfort.
"Tomorrow night, the riverside should be full of people floating river lanterns. Shall we go too?"
For children and young people whose families had not recently lost a relative, floating river lanterns on Zhongyuan night was similar to admiring decorative lanterns at the Shangyuan Festival; it was all a lively festivity.
Zhao Sui: "Mm."
Yao Huang: "Then shall we make them ourselves? The ones sold in the shops are all the same; once they float into the cluster of lanterns, they'll instantly be indistinguishable."
Zhao Sui: "You know how to make them?"
Yao Huang: "Yes, but I only know how to make the simplest kind. It's just using a few bamboo strips to make a square frame fixed on a thin wooden board, pasting a circle of lantern paper around it, and sticking a candle inside."
Zhao Sui looked at the top of the bed: "I've never made one."
Yao Huang had entered the palace several times and figured that in a place with so many strict rules, the nobles and palace servants wouldn't randomly float river lanterns. Prince Hui didn't have playmates to fool around with, so let alone making one himself, he might not have even seen one.
She propped herself up and looked at him with a smile, "I'll make the frame. After cutting the lantern paper, Second Master can draw something on it. With your painting, my ordinary river lantern will become an elegant one."
Zhao Sui agreed.
The next day was sunny. When it was time in the morning to accompany Prince Hui to bask in the sun, Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui to the main street. In a shop temporarily displaying many river lanterns for sale, they bought all the necessary materials for making river lanterns: baseboards, bamboo strips, tung oil, lantern paper, and so on.
While the Princess Consort was picking and choosing, Zhao Sui looked at the finished river lanterns displayed on the stall. There were lotus lanterns folded from colored paper, as well as the paper-pasted square lanterns described by the Princess Consort. Most were roughly and simply made, but there were also a few with excellent craftsmanship, featuring neat sacrificial elegies, blessings, or simple drawings on the lantern paper.
Having bought everything, the couple returned to the East Courtyard. Inside the study, Feiquan and Qingai had prepared in advance the scissors and paste needed by the Princess Consort, as well as the four treasures of the study and various pigments for the Prince.
Making a lantern frame was a craft. This time, Yao Huang wanted to make it more exquisite, so it would take longer.
Zhao Sui watched the Princess Consort sorting the bamboo strips and asked, "What do you want to draw, or what words do you want inscribed?"
Yao Huang did not look up and casually chatted in a gentle tone, "I've seen flowers and plants on other people's lanterns, and some with people drawn on them. Second Master knows that our family is full of rough people who don't know how to draw. We just write down the names of my grandfather and grandmother on the lantern paper. First, we write a couple of lines saying that everyone at home misses them. Then we tell them that everyone is doing well so they shouldn't worry. Finally, we wish them an early entry into the cycle of reincarnation, to be reborn into a wealthy and noble family."
Zhao Sui faced the lantern paper, pondering how to write the Princess Consort's colloquial words more elegantly, when he heard the Princess Consort say again, "I've floated river lanterns for the ancestors of our old Yao family for over ten years. Having just married Second Master this year, and it being the first time I'm floating river lanterns with Second Master, this lantern should be floated for Second Master's ancestors. So, Second Master can draw whatever you want and write whatever you want. I'll listen to you."
Zhao Sui continued to look at the drawing paper.
The royal family had many, many ancestors, and the royal family also had many, many descendants. He, Zhao Sui, was merely born by accident when his imperial father, moved by lust, favored a dancer.
Zhao Sui was already familiar with his imperial father. He knew what recorded extraordinary deeds his imperial father had performed while still a prince, and what achievements his imperial father had accomplished after ascending the throne. Including every emperor, and even princes and princesses of the Great Qi Dynasty since its founding, Zhao Sui had read the historical books and files related to them.
But as for the person who actually carried him for ten months and brought him into this world, Zhao Sui only knew that her surname was Wen. In life, she was a palace dancer; after death, she was posthumously honored as a Lady of Handsome Fairness.
Perhaps some palace servants knew more about her, but Zhao Sui had never gone to inquire.
Palace dancers either came from the female family members of convicted officials, or were reduced to orphans at a young age, or sold by their parents and relatives.
If it was the former, the fact that his imperial father didn't think to bestow grace upon his maternal family after valuing him indicated that the Wen clan no longer existed or their crimes were unforgivable. Based on Consort Du's sarcastic remarks over the past decade or so, Zhao Sui speculated that even if the Wen family were convicted officials, they were only minor ones—minor officials not worth Consort Du's detailed inquiries. If the Wen family had ever been prominent or committed a major crime memorable for years, Consort Du would have used it to beat him down.
If it was the latter, Zhao Sui had even less need to inquire about a family that would abandon her.
In short, Zhao Sui had never met that person, did not know her name, and knew absolutely nothing about her.
But when he was still young, he had indeed faced the mirror and fantasized about her appearance.
Yao Huang saw Prince Hui pick up a paintbrush.
Retracting her gaze, Yao Huang continued to concentrate on making her lantern frame.
Painting required time. Yao Huang didn't know exactly what Prince Hui would draw, so she deliberately did her work more meticulously—so meticulously that even after Prince Hui had stopped his brush, Yao Huang was still not finished on her end.
She asked in surprise, "So fast?"
Zhao Sui observed the Princess Consort's hands, only feeling that the Princess Consort had quite a talent for being a bamboo craftsman.
Holding the almost-finished lantern frame, Yao Huang leaned over to Prince Hui's side.
The lantern paper was to encircle the lantern frame, forming four sides once completed. At this moment, although there was only one long strip of lantern paper on the desk, it was divided into four pictures. In the first picture, there were a few strokes of lake water. A slender, slanting branch extended from the lakeside, with long, delicate willow strands hanging down.
Yao Huang had already witnessed Prince Hui's painting skills, yet she was still captivated by this simple weeping willow. Those slender willow branches were clearly not moving, but Yao Huang seemed to see the spring scenery of them swaying gracefully in the wind, like the elegant posture of a beauty.
In the second picture, the willow branches appeared still, and a small black swallow was added to the tip of the branch. Yao Huang stared at the black swallow for a moment, feeling that this black swallow, with its wings folded and head tilted as if about to bury its head in its wings to sleep, was very cute.
In the third painting, a pair of black swallows appeared on the slender branch. The one resting on the branch with folded wings looked larger and steadier, while the other flew beside it with spread wings, its head turned toward its companion and its beak open, as if calling out to it.
In the fourth painting, the pair of black swallows had flown away, leaving the willow branches hanging quietly.
Beside the paintings was a line of small text: Joyous without wind or rain, the spring birds announce peace.
Yao Huang understood the meaning and gave Prince Hui a shy, reproachful glance. "A man of culture truly is different. You even managed to paint it out to tell the ancestors that you have gotten married."
While the Princess Consort was looking at the paintings, Zhao Sui's heartbeat wasn't very steady. He had momentarily used the painting to express his feelings, but once it was finished, he didn't want others to notice the underlying meaning.
Seeing that the Princess Consort only recognized the two anthropomorphized black swallows, Zhao Sui was just about to relax when she reached out with her tender, bamboo-shoot-like finger and tapped the water ripples beneath the weeping willow. "Other people always use mandarin ducks to represent a married couple. Why did Second Master draw swallows? We will let it pass since this is for a river lantern, but next time, you must paint me a picture of mandarin ducks."
Zhao Sui: "...As for mandarin ducks, the female bird is not as vibrantly colored as the male."
Yao Huang: "...Never mind then, I am certainly much more..."
Halfway through her sentence, Yao Huang choked on her words, peeking at Prince Hui's increasingly handsome face.
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and said, "When it comes to radiant beauty, no one surpasses you."
Yao Huang's eyes rippled with the sweetness of his words. She pressed a hand against Prince Hui's lips. "Did Second Master secretly eat honey while I wasn't around?"
Zhao Sui promptly pressed down the Princess Consort's hand and said in a low voice, "Do not be insolent."
.
After dinner in the evening, while the sky was still bright, Yao Huang first pushed Prince Hui to the riverside for a walk.
Usually, only the neighbors from both banks frequented this riverside, but as the sky gradually darkened, more and more commoners hurried over. Yao Huang looked left and right, then leaned over Prince Hui's head and said, "Do you see? The young girls and little wives holding river lanterns are all on the north bank, while the men are all standing on the other side. They are clearly out to look at their sweethearts."
Zhao Sui scanned the area and saw that it was indeed the case.
Yao Huang: "Later, I am also going to the north bank to release mine. Second Master can watch me from here."
Zhao Sui: "..."
Upon arriving outside the east courtyard gate, Yao Huang secured Prince Hui's wheelchair facing north on the riverbank. She then called Qingai out to accompany him, before she and A'ji each took a river lantern and bypassed the nearby stone bridge to head to the opposite bank.
Only the last gleam of sunset remained in the sky, obscured by the hills and houses, leaving the people on the bank in the dimming twilight. But when the Princess Consort reached the middle of the stone bridge, the smiling face she turned toward him suddenly stepped into a patch of warm sunlight, looking like a freshly lit candle, or the bright moon suddenly leaping out from the clouds in the night sky.
Zhao Sui just watched as his Princess Consort waved to him, then walked down the bridge step by step, arm in arm with A'ji.
Perhaps it was because the western neighbor, the Qi family, had a highly gifted Eldest Son Qi, and the eastern neighbor, the He family, had He Wenbin who had passed the provincial exams, that the girls gathered in the greatest numbers on the opposite bank near these families.
Every household was releasing river lanterns. He Wenbin, who had been cooped up in his room studying all day, and Eldest Son Qi, who had returned home from the academy for the festival, both came out.
Yao Huang, who had finally found a spot by the river to release her lantern, heard the young girls around her praising her husband.
Yao Huang looked up. Directly opposite her was Prince Hui in his wheelchair. Amidst the hazy interplay of light and shadow, His Highness Prince Hui looked as serene and elegant as jade.
Yao Huang had very good eyesight, so she could see clearly that even though so many girls were looking at Prince Hui, his gaze remained entirely fixed on her.
Yao Huang smiled and set down her river lantern, watching as the lantern she had made with Prince Hui drifted into the distance along the murmuring, flowing water.
Once it was released, Yao Huang stood up. Forgetting that A'ji was still there, she ran all the way across the stone bridge back to Prince Hui's side, and then, under the regretful gazes of the girls on the opposite bank, pushed Prince Hui back into the east courtyard and closed the main gates.
It was a pity that her monthly time was still here tonight, otherwise she would have definitely devoured such a handsome Prince Hui whole!
