The place where the Emperor and Empress watched the competition was a two-story pavilion, requiring ascending and descending layer upon layer of wooden plank steps.
With Emperor Yongchang’s just-issued verbal decree, palace attendants had brought several long wooden boards in advance. When Prince Hui wasn’t using them, they stood upright against the railings on both sides. When Prince Hui needed them, they would be laid down.
The wheelchair returned to this side. Prince Kang once again displaced Qing Ai and Fei Quan, pushing his second brother upward by himself.
Handsome or not, Prince Kang had a tall, sturdy build. His arms tensed, each step steadily treading on the wooden boards, pushing carefully and steadily.
Prince Qing walked half a step behind Prince Kang on the narrow stair path left beside the wooden boards. Should Prince Kang’s strength prove insufficient, he could promptly lend a hand, truly achieving brotherly harmony between elder and younger.
If just now Prince Qing had still felt ashamed at losing to Second Brother, at this moment, looking at Second Brother’s numb profile leaning against the wheelchair, looking at the beads of sweat gradually appearing on Eldest Brother’s forehead, Prince Qing’s bit of displeasure vanished without a trace. Second Brother had already become half a cripple—what was there for him to compete with Second Brother over? As long as he remained the most outstanding among the other three princes, that was enough.
Yao Huang walked behind Prince Qing, clearly seeing Prince Kang’s labored appearance that, though deliberate, did genuinely cost him effort, and Prince Qing’s condescending, sympathetic gaze toward her Prince Hui.
Yao Huang thought that if she were His Highness, just because of these two brothers, she wouldn’t want to enter the palace either.
Unfortunately, her strength still wasn’t great enough. If only she could steadily push His Highness up to the second floor, she could displace Prince Kang and do what Qing Ai and Fei Quan didn’t dare do and what Prince Hui couldn’t bring himself to do.
Yao Huang thought again of Emperor Yongchang. Say that he doted on Second Son—ordering all palace gates to keep wooden boards on hand and bestowing an ivory mat, he was indeed quite doting. But knowing his son sat in a wheelchair, he still insisted on choosing such an elevated location to watch dragon boats and willow shooting. Clearly in his heart, an emperor’s dignity and propriety were more important than his son’s momentary inconvenience.
Finally arriving at the second floor, Prince Kang deeply exhaled. Second Brother’s wheelchair looked splendid and elaborate, but it truly was heavy! Good thing he insisted on practicing martial arts for two quarters of an hour every morning, letting Father Emperor know that although he lacked talent in martial arts, he had never given up or slackened. Otherwise, today would have resulted in embarrassment.
While Emperor Yongchang spoke with his three sons, Yao Huang directly returned to her seat. Having just suffered a setback, Consort Du didn’t pick on her daughter-in-law’s propriety again.
Second Princess said in a low voice: “Today Second Sister-in-law certainly has good fortune—first receiving an ivory mat from Father Emperor, and now Second Brother has won the prize of one hundred taels of gold.”
One hundred taels of gold—even she, a princess, hadn’t saved up this much private money. She would have to wait until marriage to receive a generous dowry.
Just as Yao Huang lifted her tea bowl to moisten her throat, her hand shook. There were prizes too?
She looked toward Emperor Yongchang and finally saw those three eunuchs holding trays!
Her heart bloomed with joy. Yao Huang smiled quite reservedly: “It’s all thanks to Father Emperor’s blessings.”
Second Princess secretly ground her teeth.
Zheng Yuanzhen looked at the smile nearly overflowing from Yao Huang’s eyes and suddenly understood why this person wasn’t sorrowful about marrying a cripple. A mere sixth-rank hundred-household officer’s daughter had gained so much glory and wealth through her current position as princess consort—any one of these things could compensate for those inadequacies in status. Unlike daughters of prominent families like themselves, gold and silver were the least worthy of regard.
In the willow shooting competition, Prince Hui won first place, Prince Qing second, and a young Guard Commander surnamed Jiang from the Eastern Camp won third.
Yao Huang had actually met this Guard Commander named Jiang Qu before. Her father Yao Zhenhu and Li Tingwang’s father, the Chiliarch Li, both served in Jiang Qu’s guard station. Two years ago when Old Master Li celebrated his seventieth birthday and the Li family held a grand banquet, Yao Huang had gone with her parents to the feast. She happened to see Chiliarch Li run out with a beaming smile to welcome a young man, then her father Yao Zhenhu had also happily abandoned his wife and daughter to go greet him.
According to Father’s praise, Jiang Qu was only twenty-five this year, right? Of common birth, he joined the military at sixteen. Later, the year eighteen-year-old Prince Hui made his name at the frontier, twenty-year-old Jiang Qu had also been exceptionally promoted to Guard Commander based on military merit and transferred to the capital, becoming Yao Zhenhu and Chiliarch Li’s superior.
Among the top three in willow shooting, Prince Hui sitting in his wheelchair didn’t show his physique. Of the remaining two, originally Prince Qing also cut quite a graceful, extraordinary figure, but standing beside Jiang Qu with his imposing martial aura, he was immediately contrasted from a wild wolf to a house dog.
Yao Huang even suspected that Jiang Qu had just held back, deliberately yielding to the royal princes. Otherwise, with his excellent archery that could pierce a willow leaf at a hundred paces, even if he couldn’t defeat Prince Hui, beating Prince Qing whose arms were a full size thinner should have been more than adequate, right?
Emperor Yongchang personally praised them. Prince Hui and Prince Qing both had their respective eunuchs help hold their prizes. Jiang Qu carried his own tray with two gold ingots down.
After observing the dragon boats and willow shooting, the Emperor and Empress led everyone toward the great hall for the banquet.
Yao Huang walked shoulder to shoulder with Chen Ying, quietly speaking whispered words that wouldn’t matter if others heard.
Chen Ying: “Prince Hui truly has divine strength. I saw that among the dozen or so gourds nearby, none shattered as thoroughly as Prince Hui’s gourd.”
Yao Huang: “Prince Kang also has considerable strength—he pushed His Highness’s wheelchair up to the second floor all by himself without even breathing hard.”
Chen Ying wasn’t yet married and immediately blushed.
Yao Huang could tell that Chen Ying was quite satisfied with Prince Kang. She didn’t mind that Prince Kang wasn’t handsome enough. She probably had the same thought as herself—with such a family background difference, she could still become a prince’s legitimate consort. With glory and wealth awaiting and no need to be a concubine watching the mistress’s moods, then some leg ailment or lack of handsomeness in the princely husband wasn’t really a big problem.
The Dragon Boat Festival palace banquet was even more sumptuous than the flower-viewing banquet Empress Zhou had arranged last time, with musicians playing and dancers performing.
Yao Huang still sat on the women’s side. To her left in a lower seat was Zheng Yuanzhen, and to her right in an upper seat was Chen Ying. Coincidentally, their three husbands sat directly opposite them.
Chen Ying never dared look toward Prince Kang. Yao Huang smiled at her prince twice, and seeing he wasn’t reciprocating, she stopped paying attention. Instead, she noticed that Prince Kang and Prince Qing both looked several times toward their prospective princess consorts. Prince Kang truly hadn’t seen Chen Ying much. Prince Qing and Zheng Yuanzhen were maternal cousins and should be quite familiar, so the several glances over carried natural, affectionate smiles.
Of course, most of the time Yao Huang was appreciating the dancers’ graceful forms.
Seeing this, Chen Ying took the opportunity while toasting with fruit wine to quietly remind Yao Huang: “I heard people say that Prince Hui’s birth mother was a dancing girl who died in difficult childbirth and was only posthumously granted the title of Beauty.”
When serving as palace candidates, the maids of the Candidate Pavilion only brought water, delivered food, and washed clothes for the candidates. They had no opportunity for intimacy and didn’t dare gossip about the princes. After Chen Ying was designated as prospective princess consort and received a trusted maid bestowed by Consort Liu, the clever one told Chen Ying some matters about the princes. Like Prince Hui’s birth mother—few among common folk knew about it, but in the palace it wasn’t a secret.
Chen Ying had no intention of looking down on Prince Hui. She was only afraid that Yao Huang was overly absorbed in the songs and dances. If she later praised today’s dancing girls before Prince Hui, she might accidentally touch Prince Hui’s sore spot.
Yao Huang met Chen Ying’s eyes and maintained her smile as she said: “Thank you.”
She truly didn’t know this. Because in earlier years, the gossip she and her mother had heard from teahouses or the streets about Prince Hui all said Prince Hui’s birth mother was a beauty whose beauty was ill-fated and who died young, which was why Prince Hui had been taken as an adopted son by Consort Du.
Having become princess consort, Bai Ling, Chun Yan, and Qiu Chan were all honest people who properly performed their duties. Even if their courage burst, they wouldn’t dare discuss with her the birth mother’s origins of their master prince.
A dancing girl. From high-ranking officials and nobles down to commoners, most people would consider dancing girls lowly.
Yao Huang drank the clear, sweet fruit wine and continued appreciating the graceful dances before her.
She felt these dancing girls performed exceptionally well—like Prince Hui’s painting skills or Master Deng’s carpentry, these were all skills that could only be developed through hard practice from childhood.
Dancing girls were considered lowly because they exposed their bodies and entertained others for pleasure. The problem was, did they willingly become dancing girls? Wasn’t it because their families were poor and they were sold by their parents, or because their families committed crimes and they could only be relegated to the lowly register?
Things being as they were, Yao Huang had no ability to tell Emperor Yongchang to stop watching and quickly send all these pitiful women back home. She also had no ability to make everyone sympathize with these women or persuade Prince Hui not to be ashamed of his birth mother’s origins. She only knew that she enjoyed watching, and moreover, she had already been watching with relish for a while. If she suddenly became uninterested, others would certainly guess what Chen Ying had told her.
Eating and drinking, the palace banquet ended, and Emperor Yongchang was about to lead everyone to watch the afternoon’s grand spectacle—polo.
Yao Huang was preparing to leave her seat when she suddenly heard her prince say: “Father Emperor, this son is tired. Please permit this son to leave the palace first.”
Prince Hui’s voice wasn’t loud, but because everyone observed palace rules, it spread through the quiet great hall.
Emperor Yongchang understood. His son could still participate in willow shooting, but polo tested horsemanship. Having his son with crippled legs go observe others’ vigorous figures galloping on horseback in the arena would indeed be too hurtful.
“Go ahead.”
Prince Hui gave thanks, and Qing Ai pushed him outward.
Seeing this, Yao Huang performed a curtsy toward the Emperor and Empress from afar and quickly chased out from the women’s side, soon standing beside the wheelchair.
Zhao Sui glanced at her but said nothing.
After leaving the palace gate and boarding the carriage, as Yao Huang crouched beside the wheelchair to help him secure it, she heard Prince Hui above her head ask: “Not being able to watch polo—are you disappointed?”
He knew she loved excitement, and the palace polo match gathered experts—it would absolutely be spectacular.
But Zhao Sui needed to relieve himself. The palace washrooms weren’t convenient. He didn’t want to be pushed there by Prince Kang again. He didn’t want those who saw him going to the washroom to be curious about how he relieved himself. Even less did he want to suffer and wrong himself for a polo match that held no meaning for him.
Zhao Sui didn’t need the princess consort to leave the palace with him. It was just that if she didn’t come out, others would think her greedy for enjoyment and neglectful of her husband. So just now, Zhao Sui hadn’t dissuaded her much.
Without thinking, Yao Huang said: “What’s there to be disappointed about? In previous years I could watch my elder brother and them compete several times. The two martial academies in the capital also hold competitions—I go watch every year.”
To be able to compete, Elder Brother practiced horsemanship hard. It was just hard on their two mules. Fortunately, when actually competing, the martial academy would provide fine horses.
Zhao Sui: “Has your brother ever won?”
Yao Huang: “He’s not qualified enough for the competitions between the two martial academies—mainly his status isn’t sufficient. These spots where one can show off have long been grabbed by the noble sons. But in private competitions, their team of good brothers has won several times.”
Having secured the wheelchair, Yao Huang sat in the side seat. Because she had just walked the long palace avenue under the scorching sun, her face was flushed with two patches of red.
Zhao Sui thought of something else and asked: “Did you drink at the banquet?”
The way her gaze chased the dancing girls’ forms looked very much like being drunk and forgetting propriety.
Yao Huang: “Fruit wine—it only has a bit more wine flavor than fruit juice. Don’t believe me? Smell for yourself—there’s no alcohol smell on me.”
As she spoke, she steadied herself with one hand on the wheelchair and bent down to let him smell.
Clearly she had aimed the corners of her lips and cheeks at Prince Hui’s nose, yet what Prince Hui first saw was the expanse of white snow above her skirt waist.
After a moment, Zhao Sui closed his eyes and said: “Indeed there isn’t.”
Yao Huang smiled and sat back down.
Zhao Sui looked toward the cabinet on the other side: “Water.”
Yao Huang skillfully crouched before the cabinet and opened the two small cabinet doors of the lowest level. At a glance, she saw the rosewood tray that had been placed here at some unknown time, along with twenty gold ingots arranged neatly inside.
Yao Huang simply couldn’t control her smile. She smiled while pouring water, smiled while bringing it before His Highness, and smiled while watching him drink.
Zhao Sui: “Why are you smiling like this?”
Yao Huang took out the tray to show him.
Zhao Sui: “…”
Yao Huang simply sat cross-legged on the floor and touched the ingots one by one, even more gently than when her mother had stroked her head as a child: “Your Highness, does the palace give this prize for first place in willow shooting every time?”
Zhao Sui: “Yes.”
Yao Huang: “Second Princess said Your Highness had already won five times before. Doesn’t that mean Your Highness has earned six hundred taels of gold in prizes alone?”
Six hundred taels of gold was equivalent to six thousand taels of silver—almost catching up to the pure betrothal silver the imperial family had paid to marry him a princess consort.
Zhao Sui nodded.
Instantly, the way Yao Huang looked at him was like looking at gold.
Zhao Sui: “If you like it, I can give it all to you.”