After all the kissing and embracing, Zhao Sui felt very uncomfortable from being teased by the princess consort in his arms.
Yao Huang was uncomfortable too. Her self-control wasn’t as strong as Prince Hui’s. Too embarrassed to say it aloud, she pressed her forehead against Prince Hui’s shoulder, quietly squirming, thinking that if she pushed Prince Hui to his limit, he would make the first move.
Zhao Sui felt as if his princess consort had stuffed his hand full of fireworks again. Both husband and wife wanted to see the fireworks burst into brilliant flames, but his princess consort was young and could be impulsive and willful—he could not indulge her.
Even if there was the slightest possibility of harming his princess consort and the child, Zhao Sui would not do it.
“Enough, stop fooling around.” Zhao Sui held his princess consort with one hand while reaching with the other to support her, blocking her from continuing her mischief against him.
Though she spoke boldly, the princess consort who considered herself thin-skinned flew into an embarrassed rage and raised her head to bite Prince Hui’s earlobe.
Zhao Sui actually hoped his princess consort would bite harder—best if the pain could make him forget those deliberate tormenting little movements she had just made.
After biting, Yao Huang left a harsh warning in Prince Hui’s ear: “If you have the ability, don’t touch me even after I give birth either.”
With a huff, Yao Huang pushed away Prince Hui’s arm that was holding her, climbed down from the platform with a red face, and went to the inner chamber alone.
When the curtain to the inner chamber fell, only then did Zhao Sui look at his right hand. His palm was slightly cool—that was…
A quarter-hour later, Prince Hui had tied up his now completely dry hair, sat in the three-wheeled wheelchair, and pushed himself out of the room.
Several senior maids waiting outside saw him and hesitated a bit, but seeing Prince Hui’s hands skillfully pushing the finely crafted wooden wheels, they really didn’t have the courage to suggest going to the front to call Qing Ai or Eunuch Fei Quan over to receive His Highness.
Zhao Sui came to the front courtyard by himself. Ignoring the surprise in Qing Ai and Fei Quan’s eyes, he went straight into the inner chamber.
He had two rows of support rails installed in the inner chamber of the front courtyard.
Prince Hui, suppressing a body full of pent-up desire, hoisted himself onto the support rails and persisted until sweat poured like rain and his arms had no strength left at all. Only then did he move along the rails to the bed inside and fell onto it face-up.
He was already this exhausted, yet as his princess consort’s flushed cheeks and inviting gaze appeared in his mind, that fire actually flared up again.
After nightfall, even though his princess consort had ignored him for most of the day, Prince Hui still embraced her from behind.
Yao Huang pretended not to understand and deliberately separated her legs that had been together, pushing her right knee forward.
Zhao Sui: “…”
After a moment of silence, he pulled his princess consort’s right leg back.
Yao Huang was about to twist against his grip when Prince Hui said in her ear, “Stop fooling around.”
Yao Huang: “…Your Highness only thinks of yourself.”
Prince Hui said with his eyes closed, “After you give birth, I’ll attend to you all night long.”
Yao Huang: “…”
After resting at home for one day, on the first of the tenth month, Prince Hui went to the palace to attend to his duties.
Yao Huang slept in. Not long after she woke up and had breakfast, her mother, who had received her message yesterday, couldn’t wait and came rushing over in the mule cart they had acquired just last year. Because Prince Hui had given Yao Lin a fine horse, the mule Yao Lin originally rode could now be used to pull the cart.
Luo Jinhua had given birth to two children herself, and both siblings’ pregnancies had gone smoothly without causing her much trouble, so she wasn’t too worried about her daughter’s pregnancy. When she got off the carriage and saw her daughter’s complexion was still as good as before, and that she had Nanny Jin arranged by Empress Zhou by her side, Luo Jinhua only felt happy.
Mother and daughter went inside to talk first.
Learning that His Highness the Prince had no plans to take bedchamber servants, and that the emperor and empress in the palace hadn’t interfered with the young couple’s private affairs either, Luo Jinhua sighed, “My Yaoyao truly is blessed.”
Yao Huang said, “That’s also what I earned myself. Because I’m likable, His Highness, the emperor, and the empress all treat me well.”
As for Consort Du who didn’t treat her well, that was Consort Du’s problem.
Luo Jinhua smiled so broadly her mouth couldn’t close: “Yes, yes, yes, you’re the most capable. Not only did you earn yourself a lifetime of blessings, you also earned a share for your foolish brother—to actually be able to marry a noble lady from a duke’s household as his wife.”
Yao Huang didn’t dare compete with her brother for credit: “That’s the blessing Brother earned himself. If he hadn’t gone to catch the red fox, the emperor wouldn’t have bestowed the marriage on him either.”
Luo Jinhua took out the imperial marriage decree she had tucked in her bosom. It still felt like a dream. She had her daughter explain the whole story to her properly.
Yao Huang didn’t mention Emperor Yongchang’s words that seemed to praise her brother but were actually meant to admonish Prince Kang and the two young masters of Duke Zhenguo’s household. She only speculated that the emperor hoped Prince Kang and Prince Hui would strengthen their bond, which was enough to let her mother prepare for her brother and sister-in-law’s wedding with peace of mind.
Luo Jinhua felt a strong sense of confidence from her daughter. She couldn’t meet the noble personages in the palace, but her daughter was clever. If her daughter said there was no problem, then there really was no problem!
Yao Huang asked, “Brother said that after returning to the capital, he would host a banquet for Second Young Master Li. Did he?”
Luo Jinhua replied, “He did. Not just the second young master—the heir apparent also went. They ordered a table full of good dishes. It scared your brother so much that he drank nervously, quietly discussing with the server to run a tab and deliver the silver the next day. But the server told him that the heir apparent had already paid when he arrived. Your brother was so moved—he kept drinking with the two young masters until the first night watch. They even sent him home. It was really embarrassing. Fortunately, both young masters were quite amiable and didn’t seem to look down on our family.”
Yao Huang: “…”
After finishing that topic, Luo Jinhua began praising Emperor Yongchang again. Because it was a marriage bestowed by Emperor Yongchang, the Ministry of Rites had sent officials to handle matters like matching the Eight Characters and exchanging betrothal documents between the two families. The Yao family and Duke Zhenguo’s household only needed to cooperate. Of course, the wedding banquets each family would host in the future would be organized by themselves—the Ministry of Rites would only preside over the wedding ceremony.
Yao Huang asked, “The betrothal gifts…”
After all, the bride was a noble lady from Duke Zhenguo’s household. The Yao family’s betrothal gifts couldn’t be too shabby, could they?
Luo Jinhua said, “You don’t need to worry about this. Our family has over six hundred taels of silver. I’ve already thought it through—two hundred taels for the betrothal payment, three hundred taels for betrothal gifts, and the remaining hundred-plus taels plus your father’s and brother’s salaries from now on will all be saved for hosting the banquet. Whatever’s left will be saved. After the marriage, we’ll rent out the house on Changshou Lane. Your father and brother will continue earning their salaries. Though we can’t guarantee your sister-in-law fine clothes and jade-quality food, we can still afford fish and meat.”
Yao Huang asked in surprise, “Over six hundred taels?”
Luo Jinhua sighed, “In the first month when you returned home, His Highness, worried we’d overspend, gave us two hundred taels. The thousand taels of banquet silver the emperor rewarded when you married had nearly two hundred taels left over. Your brother brought home seventy taels from hunting the red fox. Add in our previous savings and the fact that your father and brother have been continuously receiving their salaries…”
Having benefited from her daughter and son-in-law, Luo Jinhua had thought she could live the rest of her life like a wealthy lady. She never expected a daughter-in-law from a high-ranking family to fall from the sky. The betrothal gifts and wedding banquet combined would require adding in all their current assets.
She couldn’t slight her daughter-in-law. Luo Jinhua would give everything she could, but she didn’t plan to put on airs beyond her means, nor would she ask her daughter to contribute silver to subsidize their family.
As for her daughter-in-law’s dowry, she could spend it however she wished. Neither Luo Jinhua nor her husband would covet it.
Yao Lin and Li Fuwei’s wedding date was finally set for May of next year.
However, on the eighth of the tenth month, Yao Huang and Prince Hui attended a wedding banquet: the celebration for Prince Qing’s mansion welcoming secondary consorts.
Originally it was scheduled for the ninth month, but since Prince Qing was at the Northern Garden then, it was postponed to an auspicious day in the tenth month.
The status of a prince’s secondary consort was much higher than that of an ordinary concubine, so the Ministry of Rites presided over the wedding ceremony. However, concubines were still concubines. Since the two secondary consorts entered through the door at the same time, there was no tradition of female guests observing the ceremony in the bridal chamber.
Before attending the banquet, Yao Huang curiously asked Prince Hui, “Entering through the door at the same time—where will the groom be tonight?”
Zhao Sui: “…I don’t know.”
Yao Huang asked, “When First Imperial Brother welcomed his secondary consorts, didn’t Your Highness go drink at the celebration?”
Zhao Sui replied, “I did, but I was never curious about such things.”
Hearing this, Yao Huang hummed softly, “Right, Your Highness is proper and upright. I’m the only one who thinks improper thoughts all day long.”
Prince Hui had no choice but to grasp his princess consort’s hand, indicating he didn’t mind her occasional impropriety.
When they arrived at Prince Qing’s mansion, the husband and wife separated.
Yao Huang and Chen Ying both sat at the same table as Prince Qing’s mansion’s mistress, Zheng Yuanzhen.
Yao Huang had thought Zheng Yuanzhen would be in a bad mood because Prince Qing was welcoming secondary consorts, but unexpectedly, after many days of not seeing her, Zheng Yuanzhen’s face was actually rounder than when she was at the Northern Garden, and her complexion was good too—not achieved with rouge and powder.
In a flash, Yao Huang thought of Princess Fucheng and people like Empress Zhou and Consort Du in the palace. These people were born into wealth and nobility, and the men they married were all nobles too. Noble ladies from high-ranking families had been accustomed to men having three wives and four concubines since childhood, so when it came to their own husbands taking concubines, they could accept it more easily?
In contrast, for ordinary common people from places like Changshou Lane who, precisely because of their modest circumstances, were more accustomed to monogamy—which man would dare to fool around outside? When he returned home, he would face complaints or scolding. In the case of her own mother, if Father dared to misbehave, Mother could grab a stick and give Father a beating, then pack her things and return to her maternal home.
After finishing the banquet, when Yao Huang went out to meet up with Prince Hui, she saw the groom Prince Qing in bright red celebratory robes in the main hall.
Prince Qing was still being forced to drink, getting quite drunk, while Prince Hui, unwilling to continue drinking with them, had left early.
After bidding farewell to Chen Ying, Yao Huang accompanied Prince Hui onto the carriage.
Because Prince Hui didn’t want her to bend over, he had Qing Ai secure the wheelchair before getting off the carriage.
“Are you envious?” Yao Huang sat on Prince Hui’s lap, hooking her arms around his neck as she asked.
Zhao Sui shook his head.
His princess consort pouted: “You’re not envious—how do you know what I was asking about?”
Zhao Sui: “…Having just come from there, you could only mean that one thing.”
His princess consort blinked: “Which thing?”
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes: “Secondary consorts.”
Yao Huang leaned closer so that Prince Hui with his lowered lashes could still see her face, and smiled: “I wasn’t asking about secondary consorts. I was asking if Your Highness envies that Third Imperial Brother can be a groom tonight.”
Zhao Sui: “…”
He pressed the mischievous princess consort into his embrace, forcing her unable to look at him anymore.
But his princess consort squeezed closer bit by bit, first biting his earlobe, then saying into his ear, “I don’t care whether Your Highness is envious or not. I only know that if someday Your Highness becomes like Third Imperial Brother, I’ll never be intimate with Your Highness again.”
So Prince Hui also bit his princess consort’s earlobe: “It won’t change.”
While the two younger brothers were either fooling around with their newly arrived secondary consorts or being “tormented” by their pregnant princess consorts, far away in Qingxia County of Liangzhou, Prince Kang had just finished a full day of rushing about and was sitting alone in the county government office’s guest room soaking his feet.
Qingxia County was two thousand li from the capital. In order not to delay the canal inspection and trial water release, Prince Kang had led his guards in riding hard and fast, covering nearly two hundred li daily. They finally arrived yesterday, and then this morning, Prince Kang had Di Xian take him to inspect the canal.
This was only the first day. The next two days would continue with inspections.
But seeing with his own eyes those sturdy and solid canals, seeing the vast fields on both sides of the canal that were still barren and waiting for spring water irrigation next year, seeing those sallow and emaciated local people who were full of anticipation for next year, Prince Kang truly felt the lofty aspirations Di Xian had passionately expressed before Father Emperor in the third month. He also understood Father Emperor’s love for the people when he decisively agreed to allocate funds to build the canal.
Therefore, he would certainly do well in this final step of inspection.