As soon as the hour of You arrived, Zhao Sui left his office at the traveling palace.
The traveling palace saw the imperial procession rarely, so to avoid extravagant waste, the outer court offices were built far less spacious and imposing than those in the capital. However, those accompanying the emperor to escape the summer heat were all high civil and military officials as well as errand-running minor clerks—they didn’t need too much space to begin with. For instance, the Ministry of Works here only had front and rear courtyards. Minister Yan Lun took the initiative to separately allocate a large room to Prince Hui.
And when Emperor Yongchang decided to come to the traveling palace to escape the summer heat, he had already issued an edict to the Ministry of Works, having them arrange craftsmen to also modify all the thresholds at the traveling palace. Yan Lun then used the excuse of insufficient manpower to have Prince Hui send out a few of his own craftsmen to modify the thresholds at his lodgings and office at the traveling palace…
Thus, Prince Hui’s movements throughout the traveling palace were as smooth as when at the imperial palace.
Qing Ai pushed the wheelchair, Fei Quan locked the room door. The three master and servants left the Ministry of Works unhurriedly.
On the palace road leading to the rear palace, they encountered Prince Kang.
As soon as Prince Kang approached, Qing Ai tactfully yielded the wheelchair. He knew his prince would never push back and forth with Prince Kang over such small matters.
Prince Kang had several close attendants move farther away. Pushing his second brother forward alone, he smiled. “As soon as Third Brother arrived in Tanzhou, he eliminated that gang of mountain bandits. Has Second Brother heard about this?”
Important military affairs required secrecy, but for victory reports like this, after Father Emperor reviewed them, word would spread among officials.
Prince Hui, who had stayed at the Ministry of Works all day and whom no one except Yan Lun would come chat with idly, shook his head.
Prince Kang: “…”
Thinking of Second Brother’s bookworm temperament, Prince Kang lowered his voice. “Others only know Third Brother won. I saw the memorial sent over from the Secretariat for the Ministry of Revenue to approve consolation silver. Second Brother, guess how many casualties Third Brother had in this bandit suppression?”
Zhao Sui cooperatively asked, “How many?”
Prince Kang: “Seven Jingzhou naval troops, nine hundred seventy-seven Tanzhou prefectural troops.”
Zhao Sui frowned. He remembered that when this matter was brought up at the previous court assembly, it was said the Tanzhou bandit group only had a thousand people.
Prince Kang continued to reveal details from Peng Daji’s memorial, saying those prefectural troops were all harmed by the internal traitor—the young concubine beside Prefect Feng.
Finally, Prince Kang sighed. “Although the bandit trouble was eliminated, this kind of victory that kills eight hundred enemies while losing one thousand of our own truly makes one’s heart heavy.”
Zhao Sui didn’t respond to his heaviness.
Conversation requires back and forth to continue. With him like this, Prince Kang became awkward. After walking a few steps, he forced himself to find a topic about the Northern Garden scenery. Even then, he would say a long string only to get back a few “mm”s and “yes”es from Prince Hui. By the time they reached his residence Qinghui Hall, Prince Kang almost couldn’t wait to return the wheelchair to Qing Ai.
Qing Ai continued pushing Prince Hui back to Yunshan Hall ahead.
Eunuch Cao came smiling to greet them, explaining on behalf of the Princess Consort who hadn’t appeared, “The Princess Consort also just returned and has just called for water.”
Zhao Sui nodded.
Arriving at the main hall of the front courtyard, Zhao Sui saw a vase of colorful wildflowers placed on the long table—red, purple, yellow, white. Most had just a few small petals. Taking out a single blossom, one would only find it quite ordinary, unable to compare with the various famous cultivated flowers in the prince’s manor garden. But such a large bunch clustered together gave one a sense of lively freshness.
Eunuch Cao: “The Princess Consort picked these from outside, saying she wanted to let the Prince see something fresh.”
Before the bathhouse sent hot water, Prince Hui kept admiring the flowers here.
After bathing, Zhao Sui changed into regular clothes and went to the rear courtyard.
The Princess Consort didn’t come out to receive him. When A’Ji lifted the curtain of the eastern side room, when the Princess Consort’s figure lying vertically on the couch with her long black hair hanging scattered beyond the couch edge burst into view, Zhao Sui immediately raised his right hand.
Seeing this, Qing Ai stopped his steps, lowered his head, and withdrew.
A’Ji continued holding the curtain. After Prince Hui pushed the four-wheeled wheelchair in himself, she let it down.
Yao Huang had just lain down not long ago. Her whole body’s bones were feeling comfortable, so she didn’t bother with empty formalities with Prince Hui. Watching Prince Hui slowly approach pushing his own wheelchair, Yao Huang smiled at him.
In Prince Hui’s eyes, although the Princess Consort had disheveled hair and an inelegant reclining posture, her cheeks were flushed and her dark eyes moist. The thin summer clothing softly clung to her body, outlining a landscape of undulating mountain ranges. Drawing near, the clear fragrance of flower dew from the Princess Consort’s body and hair spread over, like invisible mist submerging him.
“Why are you lying like this?” Zhao Sui asked.
Prince Hui sitting in the wheelchair was a head higher than the Princess Consort lying on the couch, adding a few points of seemingly scolding authority to his downward gaze.
Yao Huang blinked innocently. “I don’t want to either, but today I don’t know what happened—after riding horses just a little while, my waist ached terribly.”
Zhao Sui: “…”
He averted his gaze. After a while, he had the Princess Consort close her eyes.
The Princess Consort was perhaps bold, but as long as it wasn’t a matter of propriety, every time Prince Hui told her to do something she would comply, including those nights. The Princess Consort would only cry and scold Prince Hui with her mouth, while her body always cooperated. Little did she know, the more she was like this, the greedier Prince Hui became. And the greedier Prince Hui became, the more helplessly the Princess Consort cried.
Zhao Sui watched the Princess Consort’s closed lashes while supporting himself off the wheelchair to move onto the couch, sitting in a position slightly toward the middle. Looking again at the Princess Consort’s bold and charming attitude of inviting plucking, Prince Hui was silent for a moment, then continued moving to the window ledge at the southernmost end before saying, “You may.”
Yao Huang could hear where Prince Hui was. She felt her hair with her hand—half damp, half dry—and continued lying here, using her right foot that wasn’t wearing socks but had just been washed clean to poke Prince Hui’s leg. “Why are you sitting so far away?”
Zhao Sui grasped the Princess Consort’s foot. Four fingers wrapped around the top of her foot, his thumb twisting on her sole. After just two twists, the Princess Consort hurriedly pulled her foot away, even bending both legs as if afraid he would continue grabbing.
The Princess Consort’s skirt hem was pushed high up by her knees. Prince Hui turned toward the window.
Seeing this, Yao Huang quickly stepped on him again. “Why isn’t the Prince paying attention to me?”
Prince Hui recalled the Princess Consort’s previous question and said, “The fragrance in your hair is too strong.”
Yao Huang lifted a strand of black hair before her face, sniffed it, and said, “It’s fine. I also don’t like fragrance that’s too heavy.”
Zhao Sui didn’t want the Princess Consort to persist on this matter and asked, “Did you go out to play during the day?”
The Princess Consort was a talkative person. Prince Hui only needed to throw out a topic, and the Princess Consort would excitedly talk about where she went today and what fresh scenery she saw.
Yao Huang loved the Northern Garden too much. After running around all day, she’d only toured one corner of the Northern Garden. She’d probably need to play continuously for half a month to roughly tour all of the Northern Garden’s mountain scenery, water scenery, and garden scenery once.
The more she spoke, the happier she became. Yao Huang knelt beside Prince Hui, hugging his shoulders. “Fortunately I married the Prince. Otherwise, I’d never be able to enter the Northern Garden in this lifetime.”
The entire Northern Garden with all its mountains, waters, and palace halls was surrounded by a high circle of walls. Commoners couldn’t trespass—they couldn’t even see what was inside.
Being able to make the Princess Consort so happy, Prince Hui’s mood was also very good.
Yao Huang suddenly thought of something and asked in a low voice, “When I was riding horses with the two younger sisters, we even encountered Father Emperor. Did something happen earlier? I saw Father Emperor’s expression didn’t look too good. He even scolded me. Fortunately, I’m bold, otherwise right now I’d definitely still be trembling with fear.”
Zhao Sui asked back, “Why did Father Emperor scold you?”
Yao Huang casually recounted it. She valued her life very much. The hillside she chose had a gentle slope, and she even had Ni Guang test run it alone twice before daring to sit on her to charge down.
Zhao Sui didn’t know how gentle the hill actually was, but he also imagined the scenario of Ni Guang stumbling and the Princess Consort being thrown from the horse. He said seriously, “From now on, you’re not allowed to ride horses down mountains anymore.”
Yao Huang bit his shoulder. “Fine. Father Emperor scolding me is one thing, but the Prince also comes to scold me.”
Zhao Sui turned his head and met the Princess Consort’s round, bright black eyes. A row of small teeth were still biting him.
Prince Hui looked toward the window again, grasping her hand. “I’m not scolding you. I’m afraid you’ll get hurt playing carelessly.”
Yao Huang: “Alright then. Next time I won’t ride horses. I’ll run down the mountain myself. The wind blowing over at that time is the most comfortable. Wait for the rest day—I’ll take the Prince to experience it.”
Zhao Sui thought about it and instructed, “If you want to play these next two days, that’s fine. Remember to pick places farther from the traveling palace. If you encounter Father Emperor, behave yourself.”
Yao Huang said in shock, “Something really happened?”
Zhao Sui didn’t want to affect the Princess Consort’s enthusiasm for play. He only said an official had handled a matter improperly. Moreover, he wasn’t certain whether Father Emperor valued Third Brother’s military achievement more, or valued those over nine hundred prefectural troops’ lives more. Perhaps Father Emperor was in a bad mood because of something else.
The next morning, Zhao Sui followed the civil and military officials to Father Emperor’s place for a small court assembly. Discovering Father Emperor’s expression was as usual, he even announced there would be a bonfire banquet on the evening at month’s end. This indicated Father Emperor had already let go of that matter that briefly ruined his mood. Zhao Sui didn’t need to worry about the Princess Consort’s playing and frolicking in the Northern Garden accidentally offending Father Emperor’s eyes.
The Princess Consort romped outside during the day. In the evening when she returned, she presented an attitude of complete bodily exhaustion. Prince Hui was considerate for two nights. Finally, on the eve of the rest day, he once again embraced the Princess Consort.
One time—Yao Huang wasn’t too afraid of him. But in the middle of the night, when Prince Hui’s large hand explored over again, Yao Huang pushed back. “We agreed to take the Prince out to play tomorrow. I picked several places. Don’t make it so I can’t get up in the morning…”
Zhao Sui: “Just you and I—departing later doesn’t matter.”
Yao Huang: “…Lecher.”
Zhao Sui: “…What?”
But the Princess Consort refused to repeat it.
Young people had things young people were enthusiastic about. Fifty-five-year-old Emperor Yongchang’s interest in feminine charms was far less than before, especially when his mood wasn’t too good.
But the person who angered him hadn’t returned yet. Emperor Yongchang continued suppressing this anger rather than venting it on others.
On the rare rest day, after eating breakfast in the early morning, Emperor Yongchang brought a squad of guards and several nobles of similar age whom he’d designated yesterday to ride horses. When tired from riding, sovereign and subjects could freely discuss past events from years gone by. This was companionship his children or consorts couldn’t give him.
After the hour of Si, the sunlight began to heat up. Just as Emperor Yongchang was preparing to ride to the North Lake shore to board a boat to the island palace to enjoy the coolness, he saw from afar two fine horses heading toward the western hills, followed by a carriage.
Of the two people on horseback, one wore a red skirt, one wore white robes.
At such a distance, horses were easier to recognize than people. Emperor Yongchang first recognized Ni Guang beneath his second daughter-in-law, then looked toward the white-robed figure riding the black horse.
With this glance, Emperor Yongchang’s eyes went straight.
Zhao Sui noticed that Father Emperor had delayed dismounting to board the boat and was still looking toward their direction. He had no choice but to have the carriage stop. He alone, with the Princess Consort, turned direction to go pay respects to Father Emperor.
Prince Hui on horseback—his figure upright, handsome, and transcendently refined.
The nobles beside Emperor Yongchang dismounted one after another to bow to Prince Hui and his wife.
Zhao Sui said from his elevated position, “You may dispense with the formalities.”
Yao Huang smiled at Emperor Yongchang from behind. “Does daughter-in-law need to dismount to pay respects to you?”
With husband and wife coming together, if only she dismounted alone, Prince Hui’s situation would be somewhat awkward.
Emperor Yongchang said kindly, “We see each other every day. Where do all these empty formalities come from? Where are you two preparing to go?”
Zhao Sui: “To the foot of the mountain to enjoy the cool.”
Emperor Yongchang hesitated for a moment, but still waved his hand, letting the young couple go play by themselves.