Considering Prince Hui’s usual light diet, Yao Huang ordered ten savory-flavored skewers for him and had the vendor wrap them in two layers of oil paper.
The weather was warm. When she returned to the manor, the outside of the oil paper was still hot.
The main gate was too far from Bamboo Grove. To deliver the skewers to the Prince as quickly as possible, Yao Huang had Zhang Yue go ahead to the stables to lead out her Ni Guang. As soon as she got off the carriage, Yao Huang mounted the horse directly, one hand gripping the reins while the other pressed the oil paper package against her chest. The main and side roads paved with stone slabs were all smooth and level. Yao Huang quickly arrived outside Bamboo Grove.
Hearing hoofbeats, Fei Quan went to the door crack to peer out. On that small path made dim and quiet by emerald bamboo on both sides blocking the setting sun, the date-red steed was already close at hand. The Princess Consort in white robe and green skirt sat on horseback with a smile. Her plump cheeks resembled the bright moon on Mid-Autumn night, illuminating the surroundings somewhat.
Fei Quan actually stared in a daze until the Princess Consort, who seemed to have spotted him, tilted her head to look at the door crack. Only then did Fei Quan recover his senses and quietly open the door, slipping out like a loach.
Yao Huang stopped her horse and raised her chin toward the courtyard: “Has the Prince eaten yet?”
Fei Quan: “He finished eating a while ago.”
Yao Huang: “Has he gone to bed?”
Fei Quan: “Not that, probably reading books.”
After Qing Ai brought out dinner, the Prince would have two quarters of an hour to digest. What he did they couldn’t see. Afterward, Physician Liao would come to massage the Prince’s legs. After the massage ended, the Prince would clean himself, and only then would he sleep.
“Does the Princess Consort need something?”
“I brought some food for the Prince. Should I give it to the Prince in person, or will giving it to you suffice?”
From Fei Quan’s manner of exiting and his deliberately lowered voice when replying, Yao Huang deduced that the Prince very much disliked being disturbed, so she felt she probably wouldn’t see the Prince tonight.
Fei Quan looked at the oil paper package in the Princess Consort’s hands and said carefully: “Please wait a moment, Princess Consort. This servant will go in to inform the Prince.”
Yao Huang nodded with a smile, thinking how mysterious this Bamboo Grove truly was—even when she came, she could only wait outside, unable to even enter the courtyard.
In the rear courtyard, Zhao Sui sat in a rattan chair left in the middle of the eastern handrails, watching the warm evening light leaping at the tops of the opposite bamboo forest.
Fei Quan called for the Prince from beneath the eaves of both the east and west rooms. Getting no response and guessing the person was in the rear courtyard, he raised his voice: “My lord, the Princess Consort requests an audience!”
Zhao Sui looked toward the back door of the main hall. After pausing, he said: “Come in.”
Fei Quan pushed open the door panel, closed it, then came to the rear courtyard. Looking at his master who could no longer be reached by the setting sun, he said softly: “The Princess Consort brought you some food. She probably feared it would get cold and specifically rode Ni Guang over. What do you think?”
Zhao Sui: “Wheelchair.”
Fei Quan called Qing Ai to help lift the heavy wheelchair over together, then helped the Prince onto it.
Yao Huang stood by the roadside observing the bamboo. After waiting about the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Fei Quan came to open the door, smilingly inviting her in.
Yao Huang somehow thought of her mother’s booming voice. Whenever father visited neighbors’ homes for too long and mother had business with him, mother would stand in the courtyard and directly shout “Old Yao, come back!” Her voice would carry out, and father would run back at top speed, as obedient as could be.
The Prince was truly different—even the Princess Consort requesting an audience was so troublesome.
Walking to the courtyard gate, Yao Huang spotted Prince Hui sitting beside a square stone table with a tea set placed on it.
Yao Huang looked around. Three main rooms faced north, the main hall’s door tightly closed. She didn’t know what the rooms on the east and west sides were used for—their doors were also shut.
The bamboo forest blocked the light from outside. Inside the courtyard was only slightly brighter than the bamboo grove path outside. Add to this a lifeless, pale-faced male master and two eunuchs who dared not breathe loudly, and Yao Huang, just having left the bustling main street, had the illusion of mistakenly entering the ghostly demon realm from story books.
Soon, Fei Quan and Qing Ai hid in blind spots outside the side rooms, one south and one north, extremely resembling little demons helping the big demon block the living’s escape route.
Zhao Sui watched his Princess Consort look left and right for a while, then gaze forward and backward—one person making more small movements than Fei Quan and Qing Ai combined. During this process, Zhao Sui examined the Princess Consort from top to bottom twice. In previous days she had dressed opulently and magnificently. Her current plain appearance actually possessed a beauty like a lotus emerging from water.
The twilight hadn’t darkened her face but instead gave her a soft glow like light mist.
Zhao Sui’s gaze returned to the stone table. Only after marrying the Princess Consort did he know such women existed in the world. During the day she seemed like a luminous pearl; at night, reflecting candlelight, she emanated rosy hues. Everywhere his palm passed was smooth as cream, round and plump, leaving Zhao Sui unable to distinguish whether his self-control was too weak or her beauty too bewitching.
“Sit.”
The stone table only had stone stools on the east and west sides. Prince Hui sat north, so Yao Huang sat to the east, at least able to glimpse the remaining glow of sunset in the western sky when she raised her head.
“Look, this is the grilled lamb skewers I brought for the Prince.”
While unwrapping the oil paper, Yao Huang introduced them: “From that shop on South Street. I’ve heard that stall existed when my father was young—a famous old establishment throughout the capital. The lamb is freshly slaughtered daily, guaranteed fresh, and they use their family’s ancestral secret sauce recipe. Put it this way: every year on my birthday, I must go to Wangxian Tower at noon and must eat grilled meat skewers at dusk. That should tell you how delicious they are.”
Hiding in the shadow of the north side room, Qing Ai grew anxious again. The Prince hadn’t eaten anything heavily flavored all year, let alone street food. What if he got an upset stomach?
What Zhao Sui faced was the skewer the Princess Consort held before him with a smile.
Yao Huang also took one herself, bit into it to taste, and said with satisfaction: “Still hot, and the flavor hasn’t changed much.”
Zhao Sui took the skewer stick and began eating himself.
The grilled lamb had alternating fat and lean portions, the surface crispy and fragrant while the inside remained tender—clearly showing the vendor’s mastery of heat control.
After Zhao Sui finished one skewer, Yao Huang immediately handed him a second.
Zhao Sui: “You eat too.”
Yao Huang smiled: “I ate my fill at Wangxian Tower. That skewer just now was purely to satisfy a craving. Prince, please eat freely. Don’t let the fact that I gave you nine skewers fool you—the meat added together isn’t even enough for two steamed bun fillings. The Prince is so tall. If I weren’t unsure of your taste preferences, I’d have wanted to bring you twenty skewers. Once someone treated my brother—he ate fifty skewers in one go!”
Zhao Sui looked at the Princess Consort’s two outstretched hands and smiled slightly, cooperating with her amazement.
“Only browsed South Street?”
“Yes! Food, clothing, daily necessities—countless shops. Today I only browsed a few jewelry shops. I’ll go again tomorrow.”
Zhao Sui looked toward the top of her head: “Did you buy any jewelry?”
Yao Huang: “I picked two pieces for my mother that she was previously reluctant to buy. The ones I liked were all expensive, I didn’t bring enough silver, so I’ll buy them tomorrow. Oh, those five pieces of mine together come to just over one hundred taels—jewelry worth twenty or thirty taels each, should be worthy of my Princess Consort status when worn out, right?”
She didn’t want the Prince to misunderstand that she’d spent too much silver on jewelry.
Zhao Sui: “As primary adornments, extremely shabby. As secondary adornments, somewhat shabby.”
Yao Huang: “…”
Zhao Sui: “Next time you go out, no need to bring silver. Pick expensive jewelry and have the shop deliver directly to the manor.”
Yao Huang: “…But wouldn’t that expose my identity? I don’t want people giving me special treatment. Besides, I just like twenty or thirty tael pieces. As long as they’re pretty, that’s fine. Too expensive and I think it’s not worth it.”
Zhao Sui: “For casual outings in disguise, naturally you can use them. But attending banquets, people will inevitably misunderstand that you’re unhappy as Princess Consort.”
Yao Huang: “Let them misunderstand. As long as I know I’m very happy, that’s enough. I buy jewelry to make myself happy. As long as it can make me prettier, it’s good jewelry. I don’t care what they think, unless the Prince also feels me wearing twenty-tael jewelry loses face for you.”
Zhao Sui rotated the skewer he’d just picked up, looking at the Princess Consort and asking: “At the manor, do you truly feel happy?”
Yao Huang replied without hesitation: “Of course.”
No need to serve in-laws, a taciturn husband with inconvenient legs whom she only needed to interact with six days each month—so leisurely, yet still receiving two generous allowances. If Yao Huang weren’t satisfied with this, she’d be letting down heaven and earth’s conscience.
Zhao Sui could tell she spoke sincerely, so despite how he’d treated her last night—though she complained endlessly at the time—she bore no resentment afterward.
Nine thin skewers, accompanied by the Princess Consort’s cheerful conversation, Zhao Sui ate methodically to completion.
The light in Bamboo Grove dimmed another degree. Yao Huang glanced at the tightly closed door of the main hall and asked tactfully: “Then should the Prince rest early? Shall I head back first?”
Before Zhao Sui could respond, someone knocked lowly at the outer door.
Yao Huang turned her head in puzzlement and saw Fei Quan flash out from the shadows like a ghost. At the door, he only opened a crack—Yao Huang didn’t even glimpse who the visitor was before Fei Quan closed the door again. Turning around, he reported: “It’s Chef Kong. He left something behind and asked this servant to help check if it’s in the kitchen.”
Zhao Sui knew it was Physician Liao and instructed: “You escort the Princess Consort back to Ming’an Hall.”
Yao Huang: “No need to escort me. I’m very fast on horseback.”
Smiling at her princely husband in the wheelchair, Yao Huang stood and left. Outside the door, aside from Ni Guang, no other figures were visible.
As the hoofbeats disappeared on the stone path outside the bamboo grove, Physician Liao carrying his medicine box peeked his head out from one side of the courtyard wall. Exchanging glances with Eunuch Fei Quan who seemed to be waiting for him, he came out with relief.
Fei Quan quietly complained to him: “Didn’t you see the Princess Consort’s horse?”
Physician Liao felt wronged. How would he recognize the Princess Consort’s horse? It was nearly time for the Prince’s massage—he didn’t dare keep the Prince waiting.
Fei Quan reminded him to be sharper next time and invited him inside.
Zhao Sui was still by the stone table.
Physician Liao saw the oil paper on the table and also smelled the enticing grilled meat aroma.
Qing Ai was somewhat worried: “This is what the Princess Consort brought back from South Street. Will the Prince be unaccustomed to it after eating?”
Physician Liao thought privately, he wasn’t a tapeworm in the Prince’s stomach—how could he say for certain?
“As long as the meat is fresh and the ingredients clean, there should be no major issue.”
Qing Ai: “The Prince just finished eating. Should we start now, or rest another two quarters of an hour?”
Physician Liao said with a bent waist: “Best to rest a bit.”
From beginning to end, Prince Hui uttered not a word.
After soaking in the bath and lying on the bed, Yao Huang felt every bone in her body crying out in comfort. Since marrying over, it had always been two people sleeping. Tonight this large bed finally belonged to her alone.
Having been active all day, Yao Huang rolled on the bed several times. Once she settled down, she fell asleep within moments.
At Bamboo Grove, Physician Liao departed carrying his medicine box. Zhao Sui supported himself on the handrails, moving steadily and unhurriedly to the washing stand. He untied his middle robe and removed his short pants, scooped up the cloth from the bucket, and wiped down his entire body.
The room was so quiet that only the sound of the cloth rubbing against muscle and broken water sounds could be heard.
After wiping clean, he put on the middle robe draped to one side and supported himself on the handrails to return along the original route. Though his movements appeared practiced, every shift of his body expended tremendous effort, and any action requiring exertion could not be graceful.
Extinguishing the lamp placed to one side, Zhao Sui moved into the quilts.
Frog songs arose from the pond, with water frogs from the lake in the western garden responding in harmony.
The ceiling was pitch black. Zhao Sui closed his eyes.