Soon, the chubby little boy had his mother’s neck all wet.
Mian Tang knew her little meatball was hungry and wanted to nurse. She didn’t bother interrogating Cui Xingzhou further, quickly carrying her son back to their room.
As her son began to suckle contentedly, she couldn’t help recalling Shi Xiujin, the daughter of the Shi family, whom she had seen during the hunt at the Eastern Hunting Grounds. That young lady was indeed beautiful, and her gaze towards Cui Xingzhou had seemed a bit off at the time. Mian Tang had doubted her suspicions then, but now she realized – when her own pig’s trotter stew was so fragrant and well-cooked, how could it not attract other dogs?
Cui Xingzhou followed her inside. Seeing Mian Tang’s pouty expression, he chuckled, “Are you still upset? Shi Yikuan tried to use his daughter’s future to threaten me. He treats all men as if they were his son-in-law, Zi Yu. Do I look like someone who can be threatened?”
Mian Tang leaned her head against Cui Xingzhou’s chest, mumbling, “I don’t like others coveting you.”
Seeing her jealousy, both fierce and adorable, Cui Xingzhou’s heart melted. He embraced both mother and child, saying, “This prince is already entirely yours. You have me in your bed every day; how could I have any energy left to flirt with other women?”
Mian Tang finally laughed, “You make it sound like I’m some insatiable beast. Who says I sleep with you every day? Aren’t you the one always looking like you need sleep?”
Cui Xingzhou held her tightly, “Unfortunately, I’ll soon be leading the army’s departure, leaving before you. Should we make the most of our time before I go? My dear, you could sleep with me a bit more…”
Before he could finish speaking or they could share a tender moment, their well-fed little Yi in Mian Tang’s arms asserted himself. He stuck out his little bottom and unleashed a stream of warm urine on his father.
Cui Xingzhou looked at his wet robe, then at his son who, now comfortable, was yawning and snuggling into Mian Tang’s embrace to sleep. For a moment, he glared, wanting to scold but not knowing who to blame.
Mian Tang laughed, handing little Yi to him, “I think you’d better change his diaper before you leave!”
Cui Xingzhou inhaled the faint milk scent from little Yi, feeling reluctant to part with both his wife and child. But with the departure imminent, he couldn’t delay.
Their remaining time together was truly limited. When Cui Xingzhou’s troops were fully assembled, he and his subordinates, including Li Guangcai, set out for the Northern Sea.
As there was no formal send-off ceremony, there weren’t crowds of citizens seeing them off. Only familiar colleagues from the court came to offer a farewell drink along the main road.
Military families like Mian Tang’s were numerous among them. Each carried packages large and small, offering reminders about clothing and daily care.
Unlike the other families reluctant to part, Mian Tang didn’t feel much sadness. After all, she would be following closely behind in a few days.
Considering morale, it wouldn’t be appropriate for Mian Tang to depart with the army, especially with a crying baby in tow. So she planned to follow at a distance behind the troops, just as she had done when they went northwest years ago. Leaving a day apart would be perfect, so she felt no need for melancholy farewells now.
However, on the way back, Liu Mian Tang spotted a carriage bearing the Shi family’s insignia near a roadside pavilion. Miss Shi Xiujin had just descended from the pavilion, her eyes red from crying. Mian Tang wondered which of her relatives was heading to the Northern Sea battlefield.
Previously, Mian Tang hadn’t known Miss Shi’s intentions, but now she was aware that Shi Yikuan had tried to coerce her husband into marrying his daughter. Seeing Miss Shi purposely come here, weeping by the roadside pavilion in a display of tender emotions, truly irritated her to the core.
She couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries and merely gave Shi Xiujin a cold glance before lowering her carriage curtain, preparing to return home.
Shi Xiujin had indeed come to see the Prince of Huaiyang today.
When her father learned of her feelings for the Prince, he mildly rebuked her for impropriety, but then turned around and actively proposed a marriage alliance to the Prince.
Shi Yikuan was an opportunist. Originally, he had intended to send his legitimate daughter to the palace, adding to his other daughter’s position and solidifying the Shi family’s imperial connection. After all, he had previously married off a plain-looking illegitimate daughter. If the Emperor disliked her, it would be understandable.
He thought to add a legitimate daughter as well, as a gesture of apology from a father-in-law.
However, his illegitimate daughter, now the Empress, had invited Shi Xiujin’s mother – her stepmother – into the palace. She had chatted amiably about family matters and, while passing the Cold Palace, they had heard Consort Yun wailing within its walls.
Every word his illegitimate daughter spoke was proper, yet somehow it terrified her stepmother so much that she fell gravely ill upon returning to the Shi residence. She declared that if they sent their young daughter to the palace, she would fight him to the death. The household was thrown into chaos, angering him so much that he took two new concubines just to subdue his wife’s temper.
This incident made him realize his illegitimate daughter’s intentions in the palace – the Emperor was weak and couldn’t handle too many women. Even if he sent her legitimate sister into the palace, she had the means to confine the young girl to the Cold Palace, driving her half-mad like Consort Yun.
When overthrowing the Prince of Sui’s faction, the Shi Empress had schemed behind Liu Yu’s back. Her seemingly carefree exterior hid a cunning that couldn’t be ignored.
Knowing his daughter’s formidable nature, Shi Yikuan abandoned the idea of having two daughters serve one husband. Instead, he thought to cast a wider net, becoming father-in-law to several heroes. The Prince of Huaiyang was naturally his top choice.
Moreover, his younger daughter truly admired him, making the marriage proposal smooth sailing.
As for Liu Mian Tang, the Prince’s primary wife, Shi Yikuan didn’t consider her at all. Although she was undeniably beautiful, surpassing his daughter’s looks, which man doesn’t tire of the old and favor the new? Compared to Liu Mian Tang, who had no background to speak of, his legitimate daughter came from a respectable family and could provide more political support to the Prince of Huaiyang.
However, he hadn’t expected the Prince to darken his face and, before he could finish speaking, unceremoniously show him out.
Shi Yikuan lost both face and advantage in one fell swoop. Upon returning home, he flew into a rage, telling Shi Xiujin to abandon such thoughts.
Miss Shi, whose hopes had been kindled only to be extinguished so suddenly, couldn’t accept it. A young woman’s heart is not so easily swayed.
Today, hearing it was the day of the Prince of Huaiyang’s troops’ departure, she came to the outskirts of the city with only her maid and attendant, keeping it from her father.
Earlier, at the pavilion, she had seen the Prince of Huaiyang in shining armor and a golden helmet, looking even more captivating than usual in his wide robes and jade belt as he sat majestically on horseback.
How could she not feel bitter resentment that such a gallant man couldn’t become her husband?
Now, upon seeing the Prince’s wife, she immediately thought it was because of this woman that she couldn’t marry Xingzhou. If only this woman could be like the virtuous ladies in plays, willingly stepping aside and becoming a concubine. Wouldn’t that have advanced her husband’s career and prevented him from having to go to such a barbaric place as the Northern Sea?
People often think from perspectives that benefit themselves. Shi Xiujin, thinking this way, became increasingly self-righteous, convinced that Liu Mian Tang was unworthy and ill-suited for her position!
The returning family members all traveled on the same main road. On the wide thoroughfare, it was fine, with carriages following one after another.
However, when they reached the moat near the city gate, the bridge had been fitted with crossbars to slow the carriages and prevent jostling. Most family members dismounted their carriages and walked across.
So Mian Tang, like the other noble ladies, got down from her carriage and crossed with the help of her maid.
Most were military families who knew each other, walking and chatting, creating a lively atmosphere.
Many of these military wives had lived in the same town as Mian Tang in the Northwest and had visited her pharmacy for medicine.
Back then, their husbands’ ranks weren’t high, and they didn’t know Liu Mian Tang was the Prince of Huaiyang’s wife. Now, most of their husbands had been promoted, some even to generals, while the former owner of that small Northwest pharmacy had become the esteemed Princess of Huaiyang.
In these military wives’ eyes, they never considered Liu Mian Tang as the Prince’s mistress.
Everyone had witnessed how capable Liu Mian Tang was in that small Northwestern town. They admired the Prince for choosing a woman who had shared his hardships rather than some pampered noble daughter.
This feeling of enduring hardships together with a man before finally tasting success was something only those with shared experiences could truly understand.
Although Liu Mian Tang was now a princess, she remained exceptionally close with these military wives, addressing each other as sisters-in-law, following the customs from their time in the Northwest. Though many of these women came from rural backgrounds, their husbands were all brothers-in-arms who had faced life and death with the Prince of Huaiyang on the battlefield.
Liu Mian Tang treated them like her own sisters-in-law, warming the hearts of these women who had just tearfully bid farewell to their husbands. They felt that the Prince and his wife were truly approachable.
Shi Xiujin also dismounted her carriage to cross the bridge. Watching the women ahead with their loud voices and rural dialects, she looked down on them from the bottom of her heart.
Seeing Liu Mian Tang mingling so easily with them, she felt even more contemptuous – how could a hereditary princess speak like a country bumpkin? She couldn’t understand what the Prince of Huaiyang saw in her.
Shi Xiujin’s young maids knew of their mistress’s grievances. Seeing the chaotic scene ahead, they too felt angry.
One particularly domineering maid raised her shrill voice, “All of you! Don’t you know to make way when the Shi family’s young lady is passing? Have you forgotten that our young miss is the Empress’s legitimate younger sister?”
When it came to standing up for her mistress, Bicao from the Prince of Huaiyang’s household was second to none.
Hearing the arrogant words from the Shi family’s maid, Bicao immediately retorted loudly, “Today is the day Zhenzhou’s army departs for the Northern Sea. Those seeing them off are all military families. How were we to know that even a young lady from the Shi family would come to bid farewell? Naturally, we didn’t think to make way. But may I ask, which cousin or nephew from the Shi family is your young miss seeing off?”