At today’s Dragon Boat Festival palace banquet, those attending included not only imperial relatives but also dukes, marquises, earls, and civil and military officials of the fifth rank and above. Therefore, the Imperial City simultaneously opened the West Brilliance Gate and East Brilliance Gate for these two groups to enter the palace by separate routes.

Imperial relatives all entered through the West Brilliance Gate.

The carriage from Prince Hui’s manor proceeded along the wide stone-paved road outside the palace wall toward the West Brilliance Gate. Inside the carriage compartment, Yao Huang leaned close to the gap in the curtain and saw a line of carriages stopped at the base of the palace wall—they should all belong to imperial relatives who had arrived early. People could enter, but carriages and horses could not, so they could only be lined up outside waiting.

As she watched, Yao Huang’s eyes brightened. She lifted the curtain higher and pointed to a plain, dusty-looking mule cart outside, saying to Prince Hui in his wheelchair: “Your Highness, look quickly! Such an inconspicuous mule cart—it must be from our family.”

Last time, before Mother left the manor after her garden visit, she had said she wanted to buy a cart, to save having to borrow one next time something came up, which would be embarrassing for her daughter and son-in-law. Maternal Grandmother had the same thought. In any case, both families had mules, so just adding a wooden cart frame wouldn’t cost much money.

Zhao Sui looked in the direction of her fingertip and indeed saw an ordinary mule cart sandwiched between two imposing carriages.

If the princess consort had shown a dejected or ashamed expression, Zhao Sui might have offered to give his father-in-law’s family a good carriage. But the princess consort’s face only showed joy at seeing her natal family’s cart. If Zhao Sui now offered to give them a carriage, it would seem like he minded his father-in-law’s family being shabby.

“So Father Emperor has also invited our family.” What truly delighted Yao Huang was this.

Zhao Sui reminded her: “Your family are Father Emperor’s in-laws.”

Unless Father Emperor no longer had any regard for him, this disabled son, would he forget his wife’s clan at such a banquet.

Yao Huang thought for a moment, then squeezed onto his wheelchair and leaned on Prince Hui’s shoulder. Looking up at his eyes, she asked: “The wife clans of other princes all have power and influence, but your father-in-law has a low rank. When everyone gathers together later, will Your Highness look down on my father?”

As the two of them grew increasingly intimate at night, having seen another side of him that wished to be connected to her forever, during the day Yao Huang grew less and less afraid of her princely husband—unless one day he used his princely status to scold her harshly.

The princess consort was like a vine. Prince Hui remained perfectly still: “I won’t.”

Yao Huang was so happy that she was about to kiss him, but remembering that he seemed not to like her kissing his face, she merely rubbed against his shoulder, then continued to spy on the outside after rubbing.

As the carriage was about to approach the West Brilliance Gate, Yao Huang saw two large carts of the same specifications as their own carriage being led by coachmen toward the wall. Both coachmen wore silk and satin clothes.

The carriage went a bit further forward. As several figures stopped to gaze at Prince Hui’s manor carriage came into view, Yao Huang quietly lowered the curtain, simply tidied her dress, then went to help Zhao Sui undo the wheelchair’s securing device.

The carriage door opened. Qing Ai set up the long wooden board and, together with the princess consort, one in front and one behind, pushed Prince Hui down from the carriage.

They had just steadied themselves when a figure in splendid robes came forward, saying to Zhao Sui with delighted eyes: “Second Brother, I truly didn’t expect you to come too.”

Zhao Sui smiled faintly and introduced to Yao Huang: “This is Prince Kang.”

Yao Huang cooperatively performed a curtsy, addressing him as Your Highness.

Prince Kang had attended the wedding banquet at Prince Hui’s manor, but today was the first time seeing Second Sister-in-law’s true appearance. Fortunately, it had taken the married couple longer than others to descend from the carriage, so just now Prince Kang had already assessed his brilliantly beautiful Second Sister-in-law once over. Therefore, at this moment he appeared very composed, saying: “Among family brothers, why call me Your Highness? From now on, just call me Big Brother.”

Having said this, Prince Kang turned and beckoned to the three children standing beside two side consorts: “Come here and pay your respects to your Second Uncle and Second Aunt.”

Taking this opportunity, Yao Huang quickly stole several glances at Prince Kang.

When having the audience with the Emperor, Yao Huang had already noticed that Emperor Yongchang had a long rectangular face—very much possessing a ruler’s upright and dignified bearing, but absolutely not the kind of handsome that would make a woman’s heart flutter at first sight. Among the four consorts, Empress Zhou was gentle as water, Consort Liu was dignified and virtuous, while only Consort Du and Consort Shen possessed outstanding beauty.

The Prince Kang before her had a long rectangular face strikingly similar to Emperor Yongchang’s, with eyes and nose more resembling Consort Liu’s. But the same rather elongated eyes on Consort Liu’s small face didn’t appear small—at most ordinary—and combined with Consort Liu’s scholarly air throughout, her gaze appeared quite intelligent. However, when these eyes were set in Prince Kang’s face, they truly were small eyes, and lacked Consort Liu’s wise spirit.

In short, Prince Kang’s appearance was truly unremarkable. Only his upright bearing could merit a few words of praise.

The three children had already come to Prince Kang’s side. The eldest, the little heir apparent, had just turned five. The two side consorts had respectively given him a four-year-old younger brother and a three-year-old younger sister.

The three children, all dressed very smartly, first curiously examined the wheelchair, then were frightened by Second Uncle’s pale, deathly face, and nervously or timidly addressed Second Uncle and Second Aunt.

Zhao Sui nodded slightly. Yao Huang praised them one by one.

Prince Kang then introduced his two side consorts to her—the side consort with a pair of peach blossom eyes who was extremely beautiful was surnamed Gu, and the one who showed two dimples when she smiled was surnamed Ruan.

Back when Prince Kang had his grand wedding, Yao Huang had followed her mother to watch the excitement. She knew that the former Princess Kang had been a daughter of the Duke Zhenguo’s manor, and both side consorts were also daughters of high officials. For example, Side Consort Gu’s father had now risen to the position of Left Vice Minister of Revenue, and although Side Consort Ruan’s grandfather, who had served as Imperial Tutor, had already passed away, the Ruan family remained a prominent clan from Jiangnan, with most male family members serving as officials at court.

With such natal families, the two side consorts showed no timidity whatsoever upon meeting Yao Huang, this Princess Hui.

After the greetings and about to enter the palace, Prince Kang was a good older brother and insisted on helping Second Brother push the wheelchair. Zhao Sui dissuaded him once, then stopped dissuading.

Yao Huang had no choice but to walk shoulder to shoulder with Prince Kang’s two side consorts, while the children each had wet nurses following.

When Fei Quan took out the folding wooden boards and placed them over the high palace gate threshold, Prince Kang nodded in approval: “These boards are good—they save a lot of trouble.”

Yao Huang just watched from the side as Prince Kang racked his brains to make conversation with Second Brother, while his good Second Brother at most gave an “mm” in response.

The princes and their family members first had to pay respects to the Emperor and Empress. Prince Kang kept holding the wheelchair throughout, refusing to let Fei Quan or Qing Ai take over, and thus pushed the wheelchair all the way before Emperor Yongchang and the consorts—quite a scene of brotherly harmony.

Seeing his second son, the excitement in Emperor Yongchang’s eyes couldn’t be feigned. Not until Fei Quan once again unfolded the wooden boards to bridge the threshold did Emperor Yongchang stop his steps that had been preparing to welcome his son. Across his aging rectangular face flashed successive emotions of astonishment and regret—no wonder his son was unwilling to enter the palace; with so many thresholds in the palace, it was inconvenient for his son’s wheelchair!

Although now his son brought his own wooden boards, having his son set them up himself every time he crossed a threshold—what kind of thing was that?

Emperor Yongchang immediately instructed the eunuch beside him: “Convey Our verbal decree: order that every gate in the Imperial Palace keep a set of wooden boards on hand. Henceforth, whenever Prince Hui enters the palace, the gate attendants must lay out the boards in advance to facilitate Prince Hui’s passage. Never mind today—within three days, they must all be distributed.”

Once these words were spoken, the great hall fell silent for several full breaths of time.

Prince Kang, still pushing the wheelchair, instinctively looked toward Consort Liu. Consort Liu wore a smile as if very happy for Prince Hui.

Twenty-year-old Prince Qing imperceptibly glanced at Prince Hui’s feet resting on the wheelchair footrest. Thinking that no matter how much Father Emperor doted on Second Brother, Second Brother had already completely lost any connection to the Eastern Palace, he need not envy or be jealous.

Consort Du looked at her adopted son, then at her own Fourth Prince, thinking how wonderful it would be if His Majesty also favored her Fourth Son so much.

Everyone had their own thoughts. Prince Hui sat steadily in his wheelchair and opened his mouth to thank Father Emperor.

Emperor Yongchang waved his hand: “It’s Father Emperor’s negligence to only think of these things today. By the way, whose idea was this board? We shall also reward him.”

Zhao Sui looked toward his princess consort, still with that indifferent expression suggesting everything was unrelated to him.

Emperor Yongchang was very pleased. Although Second Daughter-in-law came from humble origins, this daughter-in-law both had beauty and knew how to care for his son. As long as she could persuade Second Son to go out more and wash away that deathly air surrounding him sooner, she would be the imperial family’s number one meritorious good daughter-in-law!

“Go, send the other ivory mat just tributed from Jiaozhou to Prince Hui’s manor.”

With the scorching heat approaching, officials from Jiaozhou had specially sent two mats woven from ivory silk to the capital for Emperor Yongchang. The entire mat had fine, dense texture as white as jade, felt as soft and comfortable as silk to the touch, and possessed a coolness far superior to grass mats or bamboo mats. Because ivory was precious and the process of making it into a mat extremely complex, in Emperor Yongchang’s thirty-plus years on the throne, he had only received a total of five ivory mats—one presented to the Empress Dowager, one for his own use, and one bestowed upon Empress Zhou.

These two pieces had just arrived. Emperor Yongchang used one for himself to replace the old one, and the other could conveniently be bestowed upon Second Son and his wife on this occasion.

He was generous, but both Consort Du and Princess Fucheng Chang’s faces changed color. One, relying on being the most favored among the consorts, had already considered the other ivory mat hers. The other, confident in her emperor brother’s affection, had been planning to ask her emperor brother for it after the Dragon Boat Festival palace banquet ended. Yet in the blink of an eye, Emperor Yongchang had actually bestowed such a precious ivory mat upon a daughter of a mere sixth-rank hundred-household officer!

Including the noble Second Princess and Zheng Yuanzhen, who despite their distinguished status had never enjoyed an ivory mat, the looks they gave Yao Huang carried either open or concealed fire.

Yao Huang felt it. Something that could arouse the jealousy of both princesses and noble consorts must be a great treasure more precious than gemstones!

Her heart burned like fire. She felt that the upcoming palace banquet no longer mattered—she just wanted to return to the manor to see what the ivory mat actually looked like.

The dragon boat race was held on the palace’s moat. By this time, Yao Huang had already separated from her prince and was with the female family members following the consorts.

She distantly glimpsed her mother among the pile of noble ladies. Father and Elder Brother should be on the male guests’ side—she couldn’t see them from here.

At folk dragon boat races, spectators could shout loudly from the shore to cheer for the team they favored. The dragon boat race here in the palace, being overly concerned with propriety and decorum, had instead lost its interest.

Looking around, Yao Huang happened to catch Chen Ying carefully stealing glances at Prince Kang. So Yao Huang also looked toward the four princes seated on the other side of Emperor Yongchang.

Prince Hui was her own man. Prince Kang she had also examined carefully. Prince Qing in his twentieth year was very handsome, having completely inherited Consort Shen’s beauty. The Fourth Prince was clearly born from Consort Du—at only thirteen, he already possessed the good looks to stir young maidens’ hearts.

With the four princes gathered together, just looking at faces, Prince Kang had actually become the most unremarkable one among them.

Yao Huang looked again at Zheng Yuanzhen sitting beside her. Prince Kang was both the eldest son and had a group of wife-clan forces supporting him, yet Zheng Yuanzhen had insisted on marrying Prince Qing, who only had the Shen family’s support. Apart from not wanting to be Prince Kang’s second wife, it must also have something to do with Prince Kang’s appearance, right? And when she had previously set her sights on Prince Hui, apart from Prince Hui being valued by Emperor Yongchang, Prince Hui’s handsome face had certainly contributed no small part.

Suddenly, Zheng Yuanzhen looked over at her. She seemed to have endured her for quite a while and questioned with her eyes what exactly Yao Huang was staring at.

Yao Huang returned a smile.

With nothing else to do, she was just casually looking around. After all, these were all husband-family relatives she would frequently interact with in the future.