In early August, the afternoon sunlight remained dazzling.

In the back courtyard of Ming’an Hall, a row of windows in the east inner room where the princess resided was neatly closed. The light was partially blocked by the pale silk window paper. What fell onto the indoor floor was much softer. If one looked carefully for a while, one would see tiny floating dust particles drifting in the light.

Inside the double bed curtains, Yao Huang couldn’t see anything. At first she didn’t understand why Prince Hui wanted to wrap her eyes with a sash and wrapped it two or three times. When Prince Hui extended his slender fingers over, Yao Huang came to understand. Prince Hui liked watching her like this, but Prince Hui was an elegant man who valued rules and propriety. He could do it, but others couldn’t see him doing it.

So before the meal he closed his eyes to deceive himself, but now he came to cover her eyes.

But Yao Huang felt Prince Hui was completely doing something unnecessary. She was also a thin-skinned girl. Which time at such moments had she actively looked at him?

Yao Huang was both too embarrassed to look and didn’t have many opportunities. Either her eyes looked forward unable to see Prince Hui behind her, or her tearful eyes were too blurry to see clearly. The few times she unintentionally met Prince Hui’s gaze, immediately after, Prince Hui would turn her face away, not allowing her to see his improper demeanor different from his upright manner during the day.

Only in the pitch-black deep night when one truly couldn’t see one’s hand before one’s face would Prince Hui completely let go.

With the final sway of the bed curtains, Prince Hui finally removed his fingers.

The sash covering Yao Huang’s eyes had long been soaked by tears and sweat. The restraint was uncomfortable. She first pulled off the sash, then turned her back to Prince Hui and closed her eyes while panting.

Her breathing grew increasingly steady. Yao Huang’s head gradually cleared. Hearing the rustling sounds of Prince Hui arranging his inner garment, Yao Huang grasped the ivory mat surface that had long since warmed up.

Elegant or not, it was clear Prince Hui still liked these vulgar things. So he often lightly scolded her for being improper and lacking deportment, yet wouldn’t truly require her to change.

Including the Emperor, consorts, princes, and princesses in the palace—aside from their noble status and overwhelming power, the words they spoke, the things they did, those hidden petty thoughts and calculations weren’t much different from ordinary common people’s families. At most they spoke more tactfully, maintained appearances better, and the good things they wanted were more valuable.

Hearing Prince Hui had finished tidying up, Yao Huang turned over and bit the fabric of his inner garment at his shoulder: “Your Highness has become bad.”

Zhao Sui couldn’t refute this, so he maintained silence.

After Yao Huang finished complaining, she laughed again and hugged his broad shoulders: “But I like Your Highness this way. You don’t know—when I went to find you just now and saw you dressed so nobly with that lofty bearing, I thought Your Highness had forgotten our intimacy in Lingshan Town and was going to put on princely airs with me again.”

Zhao Sui: “When have I ever put on airs with you?”

It was she herself who feared his status as prince, always worrying at every turn that he would be angry.

Yao Huang raised her head and looked into his eyes: “So Your Highness is saying you have no airs, and I can treat you like an ordinary husband?”

Zhao Sui tacitly agreed.

Yao Huang’s eyes turned. She extended the index finger of her left hand—clean, having only touched the ivory mat—before him. While cautiously observing Prince Hui’s expression, she said softly: “Just now Your Highness bullied me for quite a while, making me quite uncomfortable. I want to have you taste that feeling too, so next time you’ll restrain yourself a bit.”

At the same time, she was curious why Prince Hui liked it that way.

Zhao Sui: “…”

The princess had already closed her eyes: “Don’t worry, I won’t look either.”

Zhao Sui paused, his right hand grasping the princess’s wrist, his left hand pressing the princess back into the crook of his shoulder to maintain a position where she couldn’t see him. Only then did he comply with the princess’s wish.

After just two attempts, the princess struggled and withdrew her hand, turned and rolled to the inner part of the bed, pulled the quilt to cover her entire body—utterly mortified.

Zhao Sui looked outside the curtains.

Weary from the carriage journey, taking a longer afternoon rest was reasonable under the circumstances.

After a full afternoon rest, when Yao Huang woke it was already dusk. She learned Prince Hui had left over half an hour ago.

After bathing and changing clothes again, Yao Huang finally had that relaxed and comfortable feeling of truly ending the journey and returning home.

After finishing her grooming, Yao Huang took Jinbao to the back garden.

Little Jinbao had grown a coat of glossy golden-yellow fur. A country dog, it didn’t understand all those complicated imperial rules. It only knew its master was right behind, and there were no unfamiliar scents around. So Jinbao frolicked joyfully throughout the garden.

Passing the bamboo forest path leading to Bamboo Courtyard, Yao Huang pointed at the tightly closed courtyard gate in the depths: “Look, that’s His Highness’s little home. Even I can’t enter the house.”

Jinbao trotted some distance onto the path. Finding its master hadn’t followed, it retreated back.

Yao Huang first took Jinbao to the vegetable garden.

On the north side of the vegetable garden, grain was planted. The sweet potato vine leaves had yellowed—they would need to wait a while longer before digging them up. Eunuch Cao had led people to harvest the wheat in the middle. The milled white flour, along with several types of vegetables from the vegetable beds and the melons that had ripened last month, had all been sent to the small town for His Highness and the princess to taste. The corn at the very back had also matured, with each stalk bearing robust corn cobs.

In the southern vegetable beds, the small Chinese cabbages had grown into lush, green large Chinese cabbages. On the cucumber vines, besides the old melons kept for seeds, there still hung some fresh small melons.

Yao Huang picked a cucumber two fingers thick, used her handkerchief to wipe away the surface dust and tiny cucumber prickles, and while biting and eating it, came to the grapevines.

After touring carefully around once, Yao Huang took Jinbao to Bamboo Courtyard. After knocking on the door, she went to sit on a stone bench nearby to wait.

Fei Quan poked his head out, confirmed the visitor was truly the princess, then went back in to announce her.

Jinbao recognized Fei Quan! It ran after him on its legs. Before Fei Quan entered the main hall, he tried to chase it away. Jinbao barked twice.

Fei Quan: “…”

This little thing—when they first met, it was timid as a mouse with its head and tail drawn in. After being spoiled by His Highness and the princess for two months, it even dared to be fierce with him!

Shortly after, Qing Ai pushed Prince Hui out. Seeing Jinbao charge into the main hall, Prince Hui paid no mind. Neither did Qing Ai or Fei Quan go catch it.

Exiting the courtyard gate, Zhao Sui saw the princess sitting beside the stone table, holding a nearly finished section of cucumber. The cucumber was very crisp. The princess chewed with relish, only lightening her movements when she saw him.

Qing Ai pushed His Highness to the stone table then withdrew.

Yao Huang looked at Prince Hui across from her, who seemed to have completely forgotten what happened in the afternoon, and asked: “Does Your Highness want to continue living long-term in Bamboo Courtyard, only going to Ming’an Hall every fifth and tenth day, then coming over daily after lunch to rest with me in the afternoon, returning here after resting?”

It took a quarter hour to walk from Bamboo Courtyard to Ming’an Hall, even slower by wheelchair. If they really went through all that trouble, Yao Huang would find it bothersome even on Prince Hui’s behalf.

Zhao Sui heard the disapproval in the princess’s tone and asked: “What do you wish?”

Yao Huang: “I want to live together with Your Highness. Why not move back to Ming’an Hall? Just like we did in town—though we don’t sleep together every night, we can share three meals daily. When Your Highness grows tired of reading books and wants to enjoy the scenery, I’ll accompany Your Highness to stroll the garden.”

Previously, Prince Hui had shut himself in Bamboo Courtyard because he didn’t want to see people. Now he could even accompany her shopping—of course living in Ming’an Hall would be more convenient for going out of the manor. Bamboo Courtyard was cold and desolate. Yao Huang very much feared that after living there just a few days, Prince Hui would change back to that lifeless appearance of not wanting to go anywhere.

Zhao Sui avoided the princess’s gaze.

For him, Ming’an Hall had two aspects inferior to Bamboo Courtyard.

First, neither the main hall nor the side rooms of Ming’an Hall had handrails installed. When he passed through these two places, he needed someone to serve him. However, now that he had the rattan chair he could push himself, this deficiency had also disappeared.

Second, Zhao Sui needed to “stand” while supporting handrails for a period every day. Although the inner room at Ming’an Hall had handrails, the space was too small. In his field of vision were only indoor furnishings and buildings outside the window. Bamboo Courtyard’s back courtyard had a larger activity range and bamboo scenery to appreciate. Even the air was fresher than Ming’an Hall’s side.

But this was a comparison from before marriage. Now, Ming’an Hall had one advantage over Bamboo Courtyard—living in Ming’an Hall, he could spend more time with the princess daily.

The princess also hoped he could spend more time with her. In that case, Zhao Sui could go to Bamboo Courtyard after eating breakfast and after the afternoon rest each day, completing the morning and afternoon massage and “standing” sessions here.

“Acceptable.” He agreed.

Yao Huang smiled, came around, and pushed Prince Hui to stroll the garden.

Passing the vegetable garden, Yao Huang said: “Your Highness, this time I was away so long, my father and mother must have missed me. I miss them too. The Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon. I should also go give them gifts, and give my maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, and uncles festival gifts. Tell me, which two days would be suitable for me to go?”

Zhao Sui: “Prepare festival gifts tomorrow, go visit your father-in-law and mother-in-law on the tenth, and leave the city the next day?”

Yao Zhenhu had duties. The tenth was his rest day—he would be at home. On the Luo family side, those several elders should be free every day.

Yao Huang bent down and blew on his head: “Just me going alone? During festivals and holidays, other husbands accompany their wives to their natal families to give gifts. At least husbands who value their wives would do this.”

Zhao Sui: “…”

After the princess walked a few more steps, Prince Hui said: “I’ll accompany you.”

Yao Huang smiled and kissed the top of his head.

After going around a small half circle, Yao Huang suddenly said: “I almost forgot—Your Highness has similarly been away from the capital for two months. Don’t you miss Imperial Father very much?”

Zhao Sui: “…”

He didn’t miss him, but he couldn’t say this. Even without outsiders present, the princess always praised him as a gentleman. How could there be an unfilial gentleman?

Thinking of Emperor Yongchang, Yao Huang had more to say: “No, what status does Imperial Father have, what status does my family have? We must first enter the palace and fulfill our filial duties before Imperial Father and Imperial Mother. Otherwise, if we bypass Imperial Father and go directly to my natal family, and news reaches Imperial Father’s ears, Imperial Father will feel hurt, thinking his son married a wife and no longer has him, his own father, in his heart. Don’t you think so, Your Highness?”

Emperor Yongchang might be reluctant to complain about his son with crippled legs, but he would redirect his anger at her, this daughter-in-law, blaming her for stealing away the filial devotion Prince Hui should give him.

Even if Emperor Yongchang, managing countless affairs daily, didn’t think of her, there was still Consort Du, the foster mother-in-law who found her displeasing, right?

Therefore, Yao Huang must leave the impression of a good daughter-in-law with Emperor Yongchang, making it futile for Consort Du to try whispering in his ear to harm her—just wasting her breath.

Zhao Sui fell silent again.

Just him alone—he could not care whether Imperial Father was pleased or not. With the princess, if he lacked propriety again, Imperial Father and outsiders would blame it on the princess.

“Tomorrow morning I’ll submit a memorial greeting to Imperial Father to see if he has time.”

The next day after morning court, after a gap of almost exactly two months, Emperor Yongchang again received a memorial from his second son. It read: Respectfully requesting Imperial Father’s wellbeing. The intense heat has ended. Your son has returned to the capital with the princess. Over these two months, has Imperial Father’s dragon body been well? Your son prays Imperial Father will grant permission for your son and the princess to enter the palace to pay respects and slightly fulfill filial duty.

Emperor Yongchang instinctively flipped over the memorial’s cover and saw written there with absolute certainty “Respectfully submitted by Prince Hui, Zhao Sui”!

Eyes moistening, Emperor Yongchang’s dragon countenance greatly pleased, commanded: “Quick, transmit Zhen’s oral edict—summon Prince Hui and the princess to enter the palace and share lunch with Zhen!”