Yao Huang had loved a lively atmosphere since she was a child. Her maternal grandfather's family had three older male cousins and one younger female cousin, so Yao Huang often stayed there when she was young. Whatever fun things there were around the town, Yao Huang had already played with them a thousand times over. As she gradually grew up, those places that once made her linger lost their appeal to her.
This included the river near the town.
Having seen it a thousand times, what could still be novel about it? Skipping stones to see whose went the most times and the furthest—Yao Huang had long passed that age.
If it had been her cousins suggesting a stroll here today, Yao Huang would have scolded them for having nothing better to do. But the one who spoke was the Prince of Hui—her disabled husband who, for the first time in their three months of marriage, took the initiative to suggest a place to visit; a disabled husband whom she had tried every trick in the book to breathe more life into. So, let alone strolling by the river, even if the Prince of Hui wanted to go to the hill across the river to catch the wind, Yao Huang would happily push him up there!
The carriage came to a steady stop on the dirt road by the river. Yao Huang and Qingai worked together to help the Prince of Hui down. Once they were done, Yao Huang looked up and saw A'ji laying out a felt mat in the shade of a tree by the river. Feiquan then brought down a low table from the carriage carrying the festival gifts. After handing the low table to A'ji to place on the felt mat, Feiquan went back to the carriage to fetch the tea and pastry boxes.
Once everything was ready, Qingai signaled the drivers to temporarily move the carriages to the intersection ahead. He then followed Feiquan and A'ji to a spot a hundred paces away, sitting on the rocky beach waiting for any possible orders from the prince and princess.
"So, Your Highness had prepared early on to spend the afternoon outside the city?" With only the married couple left around, Yao Huang asked in pleasant surprise.
Zhao Sui looked at the distant azure sky behind his princess and said, "The weather has been very good these past few days."
The prince's estate garden had its elegance and seclusion, while outside the city, there was a rugged vastness.
Zhao Sui had grown up deep within the imperial palace and was long accustomed to passing the time alone. After being titled a prince, due to his imperial father's high regard, his every move was watched by others. To avoid unnecessary suspicion, when he was not on official duty, Zhao Sui still lived in seclusion in his estate. Anyway, he had long grown used to this kind of life.
However, being used to it did not mean he liked it. Zhao Sui had also been curious about what it was like outside the imperial palace, and what scenery lay beyond the capital. When the weather was good, he had also entertained thoughts of going out of the city for a spring outing, riding horses, climbing heights, or admiring the snow.
When his legs were perfectly fine, he had suppressed these interests to avoid pointless disputes. Now that his legs were crippled, nothing he did would threaten anyone anymore, so he could instead act on his whims.
Yao Huang understood. The lifeless Prince of Hui had truly come alive.
This was a joyful matter, yet there was no need to specifically voice it out in celebration. Yao Huang looked at the rocky beach beside them, which was only a dozen feet wide, and asked the prince to wait a moment. She kicked away the pebbles with her feet, clearing out two narrow paths that would allow the wheelchair to pass smoothly.
Holding onto the wheelchair again, Yao Huang smiled and said, "Your Highness might not fear the bumps, but I cannot bear to see this red sandalwood wheelchair ruined by the rocks. It's better to clear a path."
Zhao Sui: "...From now on, I will use an elm wood one when going out of the city."
Stopping at the very edge of the riverbank, Yao Huang picked up a few small, flat stones. She held one up and waved it at the Prince of Hui: "Watch closely!"
Zhao Sui watched his princess's hand and saw the small stone fly out from her grasp, skipping five times across the sparkling river surface before sinking to the bottom.
"Come, you try it too."
Zhao Sui held the stone the princess had stuffed into his hand, not really wanting to try.
Yao Huang thought for a moment, then stuffed all the flat stones in her hands to him. She turned her back, covered her eyes, and said, "Your Highness practice first. I will watch once you can skip them well."
Yao Huang thought the Prince of Hui did not want her to see his clumsy attempts.
Zhao Sui simply did not want to strike that pose of leaning his body and tilting his head to throw a stone. The princess's movements were natural, but he could not do it, and even less did he want the princess to see it.
Looking at the princess's back as she covered her eyes, Zhao Sui tossed the stones straight into the water one by one. He did not even raise his hand high, merely flicking them casually outward from his knee level.
Yao Huang was listening to the sounds. A few thud, thud, thud noises—it was obvious upon hearing them that the stones had sunk directly, and the spot where they sank was not far from the riverbank.
Yao Huang could not imagine how the Prince of Hui's strong and powerful arm had only managed to throw the stones such a short distance. Could it be that he truly had no talent in this area?
"That's enough."
Yao Huang turned back around and met the Prince of Hui's indifferent and tranquil handsome face. There was not a trace of the shame or annoyance of repeated failures on it.
Yao Huang: "Shall I demonstrate again?"
Zhao Sui: "...I thought this was a game for children."
Yao Huang: "...You should have said so earlier. If you had said so earlier, I wouldn't have even wanted to teach you."
Zhao Sui smiled and pointed at the felt mat, saying, "Let's go over there." The afternoon autumn sun was still quite scorching.
Yao Huang pushed him over. Upon reaching the edge of the felt mat, Yao Huang steadied the wheelchair from behind, and Zhao Sui supported himself to shift onto the mat, then adjusted his position.
Yao Huang took off her embroidered shoes and walked to the opposite side of the low table. Having sat in the carriage for two hours in the morning, and mostly sitting during the banquet at her grandfather's house, seeing that there were no outsiders nearby, Yao Huang simply lay down flat. Above her head were the treetops of a locust tree. The fragmented light leaking through the leaves pricked Yao Huang's eyes. She tilted her head and realized that the Prince of Hui was looking at her.
Did he find her posture of lying flat in the wild ungraceful?
Blushing, Yao Huang said, "It's very comfortable like this. If you don't believe me, try it."
Zhao Sui did not lie down, but right behind him was the trunk of the locust tree, and leaning against it like this was also comfortable.
Yao Huang crawled over and used one of his legs as a pillow.
Zhao Sui held his princess's hand and looked at the mountain across the river, the trees on the mountain, and the sky behind the trees.
Yao Huang followed his gaze, tilting her neck back to look around, and felt there was nothing much to see. However, the Prince of Hui was clearly enjoying himself, so Yao Huang just lay there quietly, her gaze wandering over the Prince of Hui's handsome face, his fair neck, and the Adam's apple in between. Compared to those ordinary sights she was so accustomed to, the Prince of Hui from this angle was much more worthy of her appreciation.
Suddenly, the Prince of Hui's sleeve dropped down over her.
Yao Huang laughed beneath the sleeve: "Is Your Highness afraid of me looking?"
The Prince of Hui did not answer.
.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there was no curfew in the capital for three consecutive days on the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth, and the four main streets would hold lantern festivals for three nights in a row.
The palace also had a lantern festival. On the night of the fourteenth, ministers were treated to a banquet, and the night of the fifteenth was the royal family banquet.
Last night, Emperor Yongchang had taken his sons to dine with the civil and military officials. People like Consort Xian Liu, Consort Rou Shen, and Grand Princess Fucheng did not have the opportunity to interact with Zhao Sui up close. Now, with the whole extended family sitting in a waterside pavilion in the Imperial Garden, Grand Princess Fucheng stared at Zhao Sui in surprise for a long moment before saying with gratification, "The Prince of Hui's complexion has recovered so well. His Majesty can rest easy, and my heart can finally be at ease too."
She was an aunt; whenever any nephew encountered good or bad events, she ought to show some response.
Noble Consort Du smiled and said, "It is all Huanghuang's credit. That is why I say, His Majesty's decision to let the Prince of Hui choose his own princess on the day of the draft was truly wise. Otherwise, the noble ladies I picked out might not have suited the Prince of Hui's taste as perfectly as Huanghuang does."
Grand Princess Fucheng's smile stiffened slightly, and she imperceptibly glanced at her own daughter.
Zheng Yuanzhen's hands, hidden beneath the table, secretly clenched. She understood Consort Du's implication: in the Prince of Hui's eyes, she might not even compare to Yao Huang, the mere daughter of a centurion.
If Yao Huang had come from a noble family like her own, Zheng Yuanzhen would not have taken Consort Du's veiled sarcasm to heart. But the fact that someone of Yao Huang's lowly status could restore the Prince of Hui's good mood proved that he felt no regret over losing his marriage to her. It meant that perhaps he truly believed Yao Huang was better than her.
Better in what way? Her looks, or her figure?
It was only when Consort Shen changed the subject and the gazes resting on her diminished that Zheng Yuanzhen covertly glanced at Yao Huang, who sat beside her.
The moonlight flowed like water, and the lantern light was warm and mellow. The Princess of Hui, a year younger than herself, was not dressed exceptionally well. Yet, she possessed a complexion of pure snow, so flawless it seemed a mere breath could break it. Her slightly flushed cheeks looked as if they had been dusted with the most precious rouge—movingly red, yet without a trace of makeup. As her gaze swept over the high waist of the other woman's chest-high dress, which accentuated a fuller bust from the side, Zheng Yuanzhen felt a sudden, inexplicable surge of irritation.
Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, it was time to admire the lanterns.
Empress Zhou took the lead, instructing the three princes to accompany their princesses or princesses-to-be to admire the lanterns in the garden. Yao Huang and Zheng Yuanzhen were fine, but Chen Ying had been living deep within the palace ever since the imperial selection ended. It was rather pitiful for her to be cooped up for so long. Empress Zhou intentionally wanted the young girl to spend some time alone with the Prince of Kang, hoping to comfort her after months of dullness.
As a married princess, Yao Huang openly and naturally pushed the Prince of Hui's wheelchair and left first. There had been a few buzzkills at the palace banquet, and she needed to properly enjoy the exquisite lanterns crafted by the palace's skilled artisans to wash away their passive-aggressive remarks.
The Prince of Kang instinctively chased after them. "Second Sister-in-law, let me push Second Brother."
He thought Empress Zhou meant for the six of them to view the lanterns together. If so, how could he let his delicate sister-in-law do the heavy lifting of pushing a wheelchair?
Yao Huang thought the Prince of Kang was a bit foolish. Glancing at Chen Ying, who was trailing a few steps behind with an uneasy expression, Yao Huang whispered, "On such a beautiful night, why aren't you accompanying my future sister-in-law, Eldest Brother? Why come and interrupt my alone time with the Prince?"
Zhao Sui: "..."
Prince of Kang: "..."
By the time the Prince of Kang recovered from his second sister-in-law's blunt words, Yao Huang had already pushed her husband quite a distance away.
The Prince of Kang was a father, after all. After his primary wife passed away from illness, he still had two secondary consorts by his side. Coming to his senses, he looked at his future princess not far away. She was a delicate young girl of only sixteen, and he was to be her closest companion and husband after she had left her homeland.
"Let's go," the Prince of Kang called Chen Ying to his side, pointing to another path.
Chen Ying did not even dare to look up at him. Blushing, she nodded and followed beside the Prince of Kang, deliberately maintaining her distance.
The Prince of Qing and Zheng Yuanzhen, who had known each other since childhood, finally arrived at the fork in the road.
Zheng Yuanzhen wore an expression of dignified grace. The Prince of Qing looked at this cousin whom he would marry and bring back to his manor in just a few days, a fire igniting in his heart.
Although the princess his second brother had chosen was indeed exceptionally beautiful, she was, after all, a stranger who had only appeared this year. Ever since the Prince of Qing first tasted intimacy with a bedchamber maid at the age of fourteen, he had begun to evaluate all the young women around him in that regard. He had absolutely no interest in those with mediocre looks, but he would find ways to get his hands on those with outstanding beauty.
Among them, his cousin Zheng Yuanzhen was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and as his aunt's precious jewel, she was someone he could not casually defile.
The more untouchable she was, the more the Prince of Qing obsessed over her. When he learned that his aunt wanted to marry his cousin to his second brother, he had even thrown a fit of anger. He never expected that an accident would befall his second brother, depriving him of such a blessing!
"Cousin, shall we go this way?" the Prince of Qing pointed to another path.
He stood very close, and Zheng Yuanzhen smelled a sickening stench of alcohol on him. For some unknown reason, out of the corner of her eye, she glanced toward the wheelchair that was now mostly obscured and nearly out of sight.
In terms of looks and talent, that man was truly the best. What a pity...
She nodded, agreeing to the Prince of Qing's suggestion.
