Dou Zhao quietly asked Song Mo, “Do you want Gu Yu to relay a message to the Empress?”
“No!” Song Mo firmly replied. “Gu Yu won’t tell anyone else.” He glanced expressionlessly behind him and added, “Someone will naturally help me pass along the message.”
From the corner of her eye, Dou Zhao followed Song Mo’s glance and saw the two guards constantly trailing behind Gu Yu. She immediately understood.
Calling out to Miao Ansu, Dou Zhao smiled and carried Yuaner to the rear hall where the women were accommodated. Miao Ansu followed closely behind her, step after step.
Princess Ningde and several other elder royal princesses and noble ladies were sitting there talking. Seeing Dou Zhao enter with the child, they were all taken aback. As Dou Zhao’s elder, Princess Ningde spoke directly, “Why did you bring the child in? We’re about to go pay our respects to the Empress Dowager for her birthday.”
Such a banquet would be too much even for adults, let alone children. However, it wasn’t appropriate to say this openly in front of everyone.
She reached out to take the child from Dou Zhao, saying, “Did Yuaner’s wet nurse come in with you? You should hand the child over to her and send him back to your residence.”
Dou Zhao smiled wryly and explained, “The Empress Dowager specifically sent a eunuch to our residence with a verbal order: On the day of her birthday banquet, I was to bring Yuaner into the palace.”
The princesses and noble ladies now looked at Dou Zhao quite differently. The wife of the Prince of Huainan even remarked with a smile, “This child takes after his father, growing up to be so handsome. I wonder which family’s daughter will be fortunate enough to have him as a son-in-law in the future?”
Yuaner was looking more and more like Song Mo as he grew.
With snow-white skin, bright black eyes, long curling lashes, and chubby pink cheeks, he was utterly adorable.
The Third Princess teased, “Didn’t your family just welcome a granddaughter a few days ago? I think there’s no need to worry – you can just send Yuaner to be your son-in-law.”
Dou Zhao broke out in a cold sweat.
The Prince of Huainan’s wife replied, “You think I don’t want that? Unfortunately, all my granddaughters are born to concubines.” As she spoke, she gently held Yuaner’s little hand.
Yuaner was at the age of recognizing people. Having often accompanied Dou Zhao to the palace recently, he was used to being held by unfamiliar eunuchs and palace maids. He wasn’t shy and gave the Prince of Huainan’s wife a sweet smile. Delighted, she took off a white jade pendant from her waist used for silencing her steps and hung it around Yuaner’s neck, saying, “This is for you to play with.”
Dou Zhao hurriedly stepped forward to express her gratitude.
The Prince of Huainan’s wife nodded with a smile and said, “When you have some free time, you must come visit my residence – my ninth grandson is only four months older than Yuaner.”
Dou Zhao smiled and agreed.
The Emperor, supporting the Empress Dowager, emerged. Behind them followed the Empress and the Crown Prince’s family.
The hall immediately fell silent as everyone bowed respectfully.
However, the innocent Yuaner paid no heed to such formalities. Seeing familiar faces, he raised his head from his mother’s arms and called out to the Emperor and Empress Dowager in the center of the hall with baby talk, his voice particularly loud and jarring in the quiet hall.
Dou Zhao and Yuaner instantly became the center of attention.
Meanwhile, the Third Imperial Grandson, who had been quietly resting in his nurse’s arms, began to squirm and call out to Yuaner.
The solemn atmosphere suddenly took on a comical air.
The Empress frowned almost imperceptibly.
However, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor broke into smiles. The Empress Dowager instructed a nearby eunuch, “Quickly bring Heer over to play with the Third Imperial Grandson.”
The eunuch smiled obsequiously and picked up Yuaner.
As he passed by the Emperor, the Emperor smiled and patted Yuaner’s little cheek.
The air in the great hall froze for an instant but quickly returned to normal.
The Emperor’s eldest cousin, the Prince of Huainan, led the royal relatives in wishing the Empress Dowager a happy birthday.
Song Han followed at the very end, staring intently at Song Mo and Gu Yu standing at the front, feeling utterly discomfited.
After the birthday wishes, the banquet began.
The Empress and Crown Princess accompanied the Empress Dowager to the western hall. The Emperor conversed with several elder royal uncles while eunuchs quietly set out bowls and chopsticks.
Song Yichun, having finally managed to approach the Emperor, exchanged a few words with him before beckoning to Song Han.
Song Han immediately walked over.
Song Yichun respectfully said to the Emperor, “This is my second son Song Han, whose childhood name is Tian’en.”
Song Han quickly knelt.
The Emperor nodded with a smile and said, “Today is a family banquet, there’s no need for such formalities.” He then called out loudly to Song Mo, “Go tell the wine bureau to bring over a few jars of pear blossom white wine. This thick wine is too bland, not strong enough.”
Song Mo smiled and agreed.
The Emperor turned to speak with Shi Cuilan about the Marquis of Changxing: “…I hear he’s taken another concubine. How many sons does he have now, both from his wife and concubines?”
Throughout all this, he paid no attention to Song Han.
Song Yichun felt quite dejected.
Standing beside Song Yichun, Song Han watched Song Mo chatting easily with people in the hall, appearing incredibly familiar with everyone. He could no longer maintain his smile.
He hadn’t expected that Song Yichun would have even less standing with the Emperor than Song Mo.
No, he had even less standing than Yuaner – earlier during the birthday wishes, when the eunuch brought Yuaner out, everyone coaxed him into bowing to the Empress Dowager. Yuaner had barely managed to cup his little fingers together twice before the Empress Dowager smiled and rewarded him with two boxes of pastries and a pouch of gold beans.
It seemed there was no hope for his appointment.
What should he do in the future?
He couldn’t just rely on the meager income from the farmland and his father’s allowance to get by. As the saying goes, firewood and rice don’t last as long as days do. What if his father remarried and had more legitimate sons? Would the allowance, which had no written agreement, still be given to him as before? Even if it was, wouldn’t he have to bow and scrape to ask for it?
Thinking of all this, Song Han felt lost.
After the Empress Dowager’s birthday, the Ministry of Rites began preparations for the Emperor’s birthday.
It was already very hot in the sixth month, so the Emperor decided to spend his birthday in the Western Garden.
The Empress smiled and suggested, “This year, why not let Yantang handle the affairs of moving the court? He’s so young yet already in charge of the Imperial Guard. Many people don’t say it out loud, but privately there’s a lot of talk. This would be a good opportunity to silence those voices.”
The Emperor found the Empress’s words reasonable and issued an edict for Song Mo to oversee this year’s court relocation.
Song Mo received the imperial edict and remained silent for a long while.
The Emperor’s procession to the Western Garden to escape the heat would be led by the Banner Guard, with the personal guard provided by the Brocade Guard, and the outer protection by the Imperial Guard. Although all three were the Emperor’s guards and held the same third-rank positions, the Brocade Guard considered itself superior and typically disregarded the Banner and Imperial Guards. Moreover, the overall command of the court’s move had always been the responsibility of the Brocade Guard in previous years…
After some thought, Song Mo went to see Wang Yuan.
Seeing Song Mo, Wang Yuan exclaimed, “Oh my! Are you going to compete for this? The Emperor is the master, and we are all servants. You’re trying to twist your arm behind your back – be careful not to break it.”
“What choice do I have?” Song Mo put on a helpless expression. “No sooner do I say something than that bastard Wang Ge goes and tells the Empress?” He then complained, “How did you choose such a disciple? How could you pick such an ungrateful wretch? He’ll tell the Emperor about this sooner or later.”
He decided to scheme against Wang Ge.
Wang Yuan rolled his eyes and said, “Who can you blame but yourself? If it was meant to be a private conversation, you shouldn’t have spoken in the great hall. Even if you couldn’t hold back and had to say something, you should have checked your surroundings first. But I can’t blame you for this – you grew up in luxury, always having others watch your expressions, never having to watch others. But you shouldn’t drag this old servant down with you! I still hope to serve the Emperor peacefully until the end and then guard his tomb…”
Song Mo rudely interrupted him, “That depends on whether you’ll live to see it! The late Emperor’s head eunuch was beheaded by the current Emperor!”
Wang Yuan shut his mouth.
Song Mo said, “Well, give me an answer. I’m not asking you to rebel, just thinking that with more help, things will be easier.”
Wang Yuan sighed and replied, “Let’s be clear then, I won’t get involved in the Prince of Liao’s affairs.”
Song Mo sneered, “If you can tolerate Wang Ge climbing over your shoulders, then just stand by and watch. I want to see if those palace folk who usually curry favor will still rush to call you ‘godfather’ and ‘grandfather’ when they realize you can’t control Wang Ge.”
Wang Yuan’s face turned blue with anger, and he stamped his foot.
Song Mo left indifferently.
Before the Dragon Boat Festival had even passed, the Imperial Astronomer’s Office presented the Emperor with several auspicious dates for the court’s move.
The Emperor chose the sixth day of the fifth month and said, “Hold a dragon boat race in the Western Garden today. Have the Imperial Guard, Divine Machine Camp, and Five Army Camp all send participants.”
Wang Yuan smiled and went to relay the imperial decree to the Court of State Ceremonial.
Meanwhile, Song Mo began preparations for moving the court.
With his fierce reputation, noble background, and the Emperor’s favor, both Li Ruxiao, the Commander of the Banner Guard, and Shi Chuan, the Commander of the Brocade Guard, treated him with courtesy. Li Ruxiao even assigned Wu Liang, the Associate Commander of the Banner Guard, and Fu Shijie, the Associate Commander of the Imperial Guard, to assist with the relocation. Things progressed more smoothly than anyone had expected.
However, on the day of departure, the yellow and blue flags used to lead the way were missing, and the red silk parasol had a large tear in it.
The flag bearers were so frightened they collapsed on the ground. The Chief Banner Officer in charge of the procession was as pale as paper, muttering repeatedly, “I checked everything last night, it was all fine. How could this happen? How could this happen?”
His quick-witted confidant hurriedly said, “We should report this to Lord Wu quickly! First, let’s open the storehouse and get two flags and a red silk parasol to replace these.”
The Chief Banner Officer snapped back to his senses and hurried off to find Wu Liang.
Wu Liang was Jiang Lizhu’s father-in-law and naturally fully supported Song Mo’s affairs.
But at this moment, he had been called away by the Brocade Guard, who said there was an issue they needed to question him about.
The Chief Banner Officer was at a loss. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I’ll go find Lord Li!”
Suddenly, someone ran out and stopped him with a smile, saying, “Lord Li is currently discussing matters with Lord Song and Lord Shi! If we alarm Lord Li about this, we won’t be able to keep it from the Imperial Guard and Brocade Guard. The three guards are operating together, yet only our Banner Guard has had an issue. Where would that leave Lord Li’s face? Even Lord Wu might be implicated. Why don’t you let me think of a solution?”