Prince Hui's Manor.
Zhao Sui had lunch alone in the Bamboo Courtyard. After the meal, he rested for two quarters of an hour as usual before his massage. Then, just as he had freshened up and was preparing to head to Ming'an Hall, one of the guards who had escorted the Princess Consort to the palace returned. The guard reported that the Princess Consort was slightly tipsy and would rest at the Eldest Princess's residence for the afternoon before returning to the manor.
In an instant, many thoughts crossed Zhao Sui's mind.
Did the Princess Consort get drunk on her own, or did she accidentally fall into someone's trap?
The Eldest Princess's temperament took after Empress Zhou; she should be able to take good care of her.
If she was drunk, how long would she sleep in the palace?
Zhao Sui still went to Ming'an Hall, resting and reading in the front courtyard for the afternoon.
At a quarter past three in the afternoon, Qingai reported from outside that the Princess Consort had returned. Holding his book, Zhao Sui had Qingai push his wheelchair into the main hall.
Upon returning to the manor, the Princess Consort naturally had to come and greet the Prince. When her figure appeared at the door of the main hall, Zhao Sui lifted his eyes. He saw that, completely devoid of the radiant energy she had before leaving, she stood outside with her head slightly bowed, only daring to steal glances at him, looking as if she had made a mistake and was afraid of being reprimanded.
Zhao Sui set his book down and said, Come in.
Yao Huang walked in at a snail's pace.
When she reached the long table, keeping her head down was no longer of any use. Since Prince Hui was sitting in a wheelchair, the lower she bowed her head, the easier it was to meet his gaze.
Zhao Sui noticed the Princess Consort's slightly reddened eyes.
He frowned. Did you cry in the palace?
Yao Huang nodded, looking somewhat reluctant to admit it.
Zhao Sui asked, Why?
Yao Huang peeked at Prince Hui, then suddenly walked around behind him. Pushing his wheelchair toward the exit, she said, It's not convenient to talk here. Let's go somewhere else so I can explain it to Your Highness.
Soon, Zhao Sui was pushed to the place the Princess Consort deemed suitable for talking: inside the canopy bed in the eastern inner chamber of the backyard.
Prince Hui was still wearing his outer robe. Yao Huang wanted to help him take it off, but Zhao Sui pressed his hand over hers and said, First, tell me why you were crying.
Yao Huang thought for a moment, then turned the wheelchair so Prince Hui faced the bed. She took off her upper blouse and long skirt, climbed onto the bed wearing only her inner garments, and knelt properly opposite Prince Hui with a guilty expression. Drooping her head, she said, I went to Imperial Father and cried about my grievances. I said some things that Your Highness probably wouldn't want me to tell him. I was wrong, and I apologize to Your Highness. I only beg that, for the sake of my delicate skin and tender flesh, you don't punish me too harshly.
The phrase delicate skin and tender flesh forcibly derailed the thoughts Prince Hui had just begun to form. His gaze fell upon the Princess Consort's knees as she knelt on the soft brocade quilt.
So the inner chamber was suitable because she could kneel more comfortably while begging for forgiveness.
You don't need to kneel. Just speak properly.
Yao Huang remained kneeling motionless.
Since kneeling like this didn't hurt her anyway, Zhao Sui decided to ask about the main issue first. What grievances did you complain to Imperial Father about?
Yao Huang shot him a glance and said faintly, The grievance of how difficult Your Highness is to serve. If I let you stay cooped up in the study reading all the time, I worry you'll ruin your eyes. But if I take you out for a stroll, you seem completely uninterested in the things I like. It leaves me in a dilemma, not knowing how best to keep you company. I've worried so much I'm about to grow white hair.
Zhao Sui had long sensed her concerns in this regard. He hadn't explained it clearly last time, so he decided to make it plainer to her now. I have been reading since I was a child, and I know the principle of resting after reading for a while. I won't ruin my eyes. I am also happy to leave the manor with you, so you just need to make arrangements according to your own wishes. If I'm not interested, I will tell you directly.
Yao Huang replied, That's easy to say, but there are only so many fun places around the capital. Even if I want to take you out to relax, you'll get tired of it if we always go to the same places.
Zhao Sui said, Then we can stay in the manor.
Yao Huang said, If we stay in the manor, I can't help but worry about you, fearing that you'll feel depressed staying in the study all the time.
Zhao Sui said, I won't. I like reading.
Yao Huang looked up into his eyes and said, I like looking at gold, but if you made me look at gold every single day, I absolutely couldn't stand it. Your Highness is a gentleman, and a gentleman cannot lie and deceive others. So please, touch your conscience and tell me that you truly love staying in the study the most, and that spending all day, every day with books will never make you feel bored.
As soon as she finished speaking, Prince Hui averted his gaze.
Yao Huang smiled bitterly. You see, I knew it. Your Highness is only twenty-three years old, and you aren't a monk in a temple. How could you possibly like being cooped up in one place all the time?
Zhao Sui looked at his legs in front of him. So what if he didn't like it? This was how he would be for the rest of his life. By forcing himself to read, he could at least use books to pass the time.
Yao Huang shifted into a kneeling-sitting position, which brought her face closer to Prince Hui in his wheelchair.
She reached out her hand as if wanting to hold his, but hesitated and lowered it again. She said softly, Your Highness can wrong yourself by repeating the same thing day after day, but I cannot do that. I want Your Highness to see fresh sights, and I want you to have new ways to pass the time every day. Only when Your Highness is happy can I enjoy the wealth and status you've given me with a clear conscience. But my spirit is willing while my flesh is weak, which is why I've been getting headaches and worrying, and why I couldn't help but go to Imperial Father to cry.
Zhao Sui continued to look at his legs.
If his legs were fine, the Princess Consort wouldn't have to worry about these things.
Yao Huang saw that familiar lifelessness on Prince Hui's face and hurriedly said, Aren't you going to ask how I cried to Imperial Father?
Without even lifting his head, Prince Hui said, Tell me.
Yao Huang deliberately let out a hmph. Then, when Prince Hui looked over, she raised her chin, looking completely unrepentant. I asked Imperial Father to arrange an official assignment for Your Highness. That way, you'll have something to do during the day, and I won't have to rack my brains finding ways to entertain you anymore. I can just focus on serving you well at night.
As she said the last sentence, the previously self-righteous Princess Consort lost her bravado, blushing and lowering her head. Of course, I didn't say that last sentence to Imperial Father.
Zhao Sui was speechless.
For the first time in their half-year of marriage, Zhao Sui's mind wasn't flustered by the Princess Consort's bold words, but his heart still beat faster—for another reason.
Once his heated blood gradually cooled down, Zhao Sui lowered his eyes and said, You had your reasons, so I won't punish you this time, but don't let it happen again.
Yao Huang observed his expression, knelt up straight again, and said with a look of facing death unflinchingly, Your Highness had better punish me. Because Imperial Father said that ever since you accompanied me to Mount Ling to escape the summer heat, he had been pondering over assigning you a task. He was afraid you would resent him for not doting on his son as a father should, so he didn't dare bring it up to you. Now that I went and pleaded with him, for the sake of our marital affection, Imperial Father simply decided to play the villain.
In other words, Your Highness's comfortable days of idling at home are numbered. As soon as Imperial Father decides on a new position, you will have to go take up your post.
Zhao Sui was stunned.
Could he really resume official duties?
What kind of task would his Imperial Father give him?
Could he do it well?
And over at the government office, even if he could bring Qingai and Feiquan along to serve him, how would he handle trivial matters like using the restroom?
Seeing that the lifelessness on Prince Hui's face had vanished, replaced by hesitation, Yao Huang understood his concerns. She continued, "Father Emperor dares to play the villain, but I was afraid Your Highness would be angry with me, so I had to find a way to make amends. I know Your Highness prefers quietness; you like to read books alone, and you probably prefer to read official documents alone too. So, I begged Father Emperor to allocate a separate private office for Your Highness. This way, if you want to see someone, you can summon them over. When you don't want to be disturbed, you can be in peace by yourself. You could even place an arhat bed in the office, so if you get tired of reading, you can lie down and rest for a bit. Isn't that right?"
Zhao Sui: "..."
The two chancellors of the Secretariat and the Ministers of the Six Ministries all had their own separate offices. As a prince who used a wheelchair, it wouldn't be too much of a violation of protocol for his royal father to allocate him a private office. An arhat bed, however, was out of the question.
If he had a private office, he could set up a screen to partition off a small washroom...
"Speak, Your Highness. Are you angry with me or not? Just a little angry, or very angry?"
The Princess Consort's hand finally reached over, tugging at his cuff and gently shaking it.
She was kneeling on the bed, and to tug at his sleeve, she had to lean forward. Thus, when Zhao Sui looked up, the first thing he saw was the slightly loose collar of her inner garment, and...
Zhao Sui grasped her hand and turned his face away, saying, "I am not angry. It's just... I've caused you trouble."
Whether it was accompanying him to relax time and time again, or audaciously going to the Emperor to ask for an official post for him, the Princess Consort had done it all so that he could have more ways to pass the time.
Yao Huang asked, "Are you really not angry?"
Zhao Sui nodded.
Yao Huang immediately shifted to the edge of the bed and attempted to move onto Prince Hui's wheelchair. Seeing this, Zhao Sui reached out to support her, preventing her from falling.
With his cooperation, Yao Huang smoothly knelt and sat in Prince Hui's lap, her two calves folded against the seat of his wheelchair on either side of him.
Wrapping her arms around Prince Hui's neck, Yao Huang let out a sigh of relief. "You scared me to death. All the way back, I was wondering if Your Highness would get so angry that you'd move to the Bamboo Courtyard and never come to Ming'an Hall to accompany me again, not even on the fifth and tenth days of the month."
Zhao Sui's hands rested on the Princess Consort's slender waist. He was completely surrounded by the clear fragrance of the osmanthus floral water she loved to use when bathing.
In this position again, it was very difficult for Zhao Sui to control his body.
Yao Huang felt it and looked up at Prince Hui.
Prince Hui closed his eyes. He heard the Princess Consort let out a soft laugh before leaning close to his ear to say, "Actually, I didn't just do it to find something for Your Highness to pass the time. I was even more afraid that if you saw me day and night, at all hours, you would see too much of me and get tired of me. I feared it would end up like those few days at the beginning of the month, where even if I lay beside you, you wouldn't even bother to touch me."
Zhao Sui: "...At the time, I thought you were exhausted from going out so frequently."
Yao Huang: "...And I thought I had exhausted Your Highness."
Prince Hui, who was not exhausted in the slightest, did not want to explain any further and simply turned the Princess Consort around.
Meanwhile, in the palace, the more Emperor Yongchang thought about his daughter-in-law's words, the more his heart ached. The more his heart ached, the guiltier he felt. If only he had cared a little more for his second son, he wouldn't have just now realized that his son never wanted to be a cripple.
His mind entirely consumed by the matter of his second son taking an official post, Emperor Yongchang could neither enjoy the flowers nor focus on reading the memorials. Enduring until dusk, Emperor Yongchang felt that if he didn't settle this matter today, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.
Emperor Yongchang left the palace once again.
At Prince Hui's Manor, Zhao Sui rested with the Princess Consort for half an hour in the late afternoon. After she fell asleep, Zhao Sui, with things on his mind, had Qingai push him back to the front courtyard.
He hadn't been in the study for long when his royal father arrived. Without time to overthink, Zhao Sui had Qingai push him out to receive the Emperor.
One was at the door of the main hall, and the other was still in the courtyard. The gazes of father and son met from a distance.
Zhao Sui was the first to lower his eyes.
Emperor Yongchang ordered Eunuch Wang, Qingai, and the others to remain outside while he personally pushed his son back into the main hall. Sitting beside the long table, he observed his son's expression and asked, "Has the Princess Consort told you about taking an official post?"
Zhao Sui: "Yes."
Emperor Yongchang: "Are you willing?"
Zhao Sui glanced at his royal father and said, "This son leaves it entirely to Father Emperor's decision."
Emperor Yongchang felt a wave of relief wash over him and revealed a smile. "Good, I have been hoping for you to say this. Then tell me, where would you like to serve? From the Secretariat to the Six Ministries, you may take your pick."
Zhao Sui pondered for a moment before replying, "This son wishes to go to the Ministry of Works."
