After that wheelchair-bound couple walked far away, A’Ji leaned close to the princess consort’s ear and said quietly: “Madam, I think our second master could also come out and walk around more.”
The back garden of Prince Hui’s mansion was already secluded enough. That bamboo courtyard place was so quiet it was eerie. With the prince shut up in there all day, how could his complexion be good?
So what if he sat in a wheelchair? Either one’s fate was poor and one unfortunately contracted a leg ailment, or one unavoidably suffered injury in battlefield combat—neither was shameful. Normal people wouldn’t mock wheelchair-bound patients either. The prince was so young. Though his legs were crippled, he still had his noble status and endless gold and silver. He could still live comfortably and enviably. Why trap himself in the bamboo courtyard?
If the young miss hadn’t married the prince, A’Ji wouldn’t worry about the completely unrelated Prince Hui. But since the miss became Princess Hui, A’Ji hoped Prince Hui would live cheerfully and reach a hundred years. If the prince fared well, their own miss would fare well accordingly. If the prince truly made himself ill from being cooped up and died young, the miss would only have the princess consort title left. When encountering trouble, could the princess consort’s words be as effective as the prince’s?
Yao Huang sighed.
All hearts were made of flesh. The longer she spent time with Prince Hui, the more lenient and considerate he was toward her, the more Yao Huang wanted him to recover the vitality a normal person should have.
The problem was, Prince Hui secluded himself in the bamboo courtyard. Even if Yao Huang could invite him out to stroll the gardens or fish by the lake, in the vast prince’s mansion, only a countable few people could approach the prince. This wouldn’t greatly help stimulate the prince’s vitality. Moreover, racking her brains to keep company with such a taciturn person was truly exhausting.
A prince who repeatedly refused even the emperor and empress’s palace banquet invitations, a prince for whom even a newly married voluptuous princess consort could only make him leave the bamboo courtyard on fixed nights—Yao Huang didn’t believe he would be in the mood to stroll these bustling streets.
Based on this period of intimacy and gradual understanding of Prince Hui, Yao Huang did dare to say some things and do some things fairly freely before the prince. But if saying something might provoke Prince Hui’s displeasure, resistance, or even coldness toward her, Yao Huang didn’t want to take that risk.
With her enthusiasm dampened, Yao Huang returned to the prince’s mansion early.
When dismounting the carriage, she saw Eunuch Cao and Steward Guo seeing Master Deng out. Once the princess consort returned, all three followed the princess consort back inside.
Master Deng had brought his apprentices to work busily for nearly a month. Today he delivered four new wheelchairs all at once, still displayed in the hall.
Compared to the large rosewood wheelchair Prince Hui currently used, all four new wheelchairs looked quite lightweight.
The first remained rosewood material. It removed the footrest platform in front of the large rosewood wheelchair, only keeping it up to the footrest position. The wheelchair seat width and armrest portions were just like a normal official’s armchair. The entire wheelchair back was still made very high, the lumbar support side polished smooth and comfortable, while the back side used exquisite carving craft to carve two four-clawed coiled dragons, symbolizing the wheelchair owner’s noble status.
The second wheelchair was very similar to the first, both rosewood material, but the chair back was changed to the height of an ordinary official’s armchair back. The middle had lumbar support, with empty spaces left between the sides and armrests, thus further reducing some wood weight.
Both new rosewood wheelchairs had beautiful and intricate carved decorations. According to Master Deng’s intention, Prince Hui could use the first when entering the palace or attending banquets as a guest, while the second would be more convenient when not leaving the prince’s mansion or traveling outside the city to relax.
The third wheelchair was an elmwood wheelchair, similar to the two Yao Huang had bought from the shop, simple and undecorated. It was only slightly modified according to Prince Hui’s height and leg length, with more suitable curves for prolonged leaning at the lumbar support, ensuring Prince Hui would sit more comfortably.
Master Deng: “This commoner thought that if someday the prince prepares to travel in plain clothes, using this elmwood one would better conceal his identity.”
The princess consort wouldn’t buy two elmwood wheelchairs without reason. Making one more elmwood wheelchair was definitely correct.
Eunuch Cao and Guo Shu exchanged a glance. The princess consort frequently went out in plain clothes, but the prince probably wouldn’t use it for the rest of his life.
Yao Huang praised Master Deng’s thoughtfulness and looked toward the fourth wheelchair.
The fourth wheelchair was a rattan wheelchair, looking even more refreshing and simple than the elmwood wheelchair. The back and seat were intricately woven from flat rattan strips, ventilated and breathable. The entire chair frame had smooth, rounded arcs, and the craftsmanship was very sturdy.
Master Deng explained: “The princess consort previously suggested adding handles to the large wheels. This commoner temporarily hasn’t thought of a suitable method and can only work on reducing the wheelchair’s own weight. As the princess consort sees, this rattan chair uses the lightest materials. This commoner had someone test it—for self-propulsion, it can be pushed a few more steps than the lightweight rosewood wheelchair or elmwood wheelchair. However, rattan chairs aren’t as sturdy as wooden chairs and are best used only on level ground.”
Yao Huang had long understood the difficulty of creating self-propelling wheelchairs. This was only just over twenty days, and it was when Master Deng concentrated his energy on making these four wheelchairs—not figuring it out was very normal.
“Take your time with that. I’m already very satisfied with these four wheelchairs. Go back and make two more sets to keep as spares for the prince’s mansion.”
Master Deng: “Yes, these four were still made somewhat hastily. This commoner will look again to see if there are any areas for improvement.”
Yao Huang had Guo Shu take Master Deng to the accounts office to receive one hundred taels reward money. The labor cost for making the chairs was calculated separately.
Of the four new wheelchairs, Yao Huang had Eunuch Cao send the two rosewood wheelchairs and one rattan chair to the bamboo courtyard for Prince Hui to examine. That elmwood one she brought back to Mingan Hall herself.
Prince Hui’s legs were very long. When Yao Huang sat in the elmwood wheelchair, her feet couldn’t reach the footrest below at all.
Elmwood was far less precious than rosewood, but Master Deng polished it well. The wheelchair armrests felt smooth to the touch, and the chair back was very comfortable to lean against.
A’Ji came in to serve tea. Seeing the princess consort sitting in the wheelchair, she laughed: “You couldn’t be planning to keep this one to sit in for fun yourself?”
Last time, the princess consort had returned sitting in the wheelchair together with the prince.
Yao Huang shook her head. She was pondering this matter of “Prince Hui traveling in plain clothes.” At the time, Master Deng had only mentioned it casually, but Yao Huang suddenly had a thought.
The noble personages in the imperial palace, the imperial relatives and nobles within the capital outside the palace, as well as numerous civil and military officials had all seen Prince Hui’s bearing before his injury. The prince didn’t want to go out because he didn’t want to see these former acquaintances, didn’t want to see in their eyes the unwanted concern, pity, sympathy, or even schadenfreude, and also didn’t want to be seen by them in his embarrassed, fallen state.
Then what about going to a place where no one recognized Prince Hui?
Just like the ordinary commoner in a wheelchair encountered on the street this morning—not one of the passing pedestrians knew him. Because they didn’t know him, there was no need for chatting, small talk, concern, or sympathy. Because they didn’t know him, they also didn’t care how this person was injured. At most, their gazes swept past. As long as the person in the wheelchair grew accustomed to it, he wouldn’t take it seriously.
Everything had a process of habituation. As long as the prince could grow accustomed to moving in a wheelchair among strangers, then he would certainly also be able to grow accustomed to facing former acquaintances in the posture of sitting in a wheelchair.
After the afternoon rest, Yao Huang summoned Guo Shu and chatted for more than half an hour before letting him leave.
At dusk, Yao Huang stood again outside the bamboo courtyard, inviting Prince Hui to tour the gardens together.
Fei Quan ran to announce her, and soon Qing Ai pushed the prince out. He sat in the second rosewood wheelchair Master Deng had delivered today—simple and lightweight.
Yao Huang took over the wheelchair. While pushing the prince toward the outside of the bamboo grove, she teased: “Sure enough, rosewood suits the prince better. With about the same style, the prince sitting in this one looks more handsome than sitting in the previous elmwood wheelchair.”
The handsome Prince Hui responded to the princess consort’s praise with silence.
Yao Huang: “Did the prince try the other two?”
Zhao Sui: “Mm, both very good. Keep the rosewood one for entering the palace. Use the rattan chair indoors.”
The interior floors were wooden boards, wiped clean daily by Qing Ai and Fei Quan, so they wouldn’t dirty the rattan chair’s large wheels. After pushing it, he could simply wipe his hands.
The new wheelchairs were all the princess consort’s idea. Zhao Sui turned his head to look and said: “You’ve taken much trouble.”
Yao Huang deliberately said: “The prince needn’t thank me. Actually, I did it all for myself. That big thing you used before was too heavy. I was afraid if I kept pushing it, my arms would become as thick and sturdy as my older brother’s.”
Zhao Sui glanced at his own arms: “You don’t like your brother’s build?”
Yao Huang blew air at the top of his head: “I can like it, but the key question is—if I really became like that, would the prince still like me?”
Zhao Sui thought, if he could stand up, would the princess consort still dare to be so constantly improper?
Passing the vegetable garden, Yao Huang pushed Prince Hui and turned in.
The prince’s mansion planted seeds late. Commoner households had long since harvested their winter wheat, while the wheat seedlings on the prince’s mansion side had barely grown knee-high. However, the directly transplanted sweet potatoes had spread across a verdant field.
In the vegetable beds to the north, the baby bok choy was at its most tender. Yao Huang smiled: “Tomorrow I’ll come pick some. At noon I’ll steam a pot of buns for the prince to try?”
Zhao Sui said good.
The melon field was also lush and verdant, with some bearing green buds.
Finally, Yao Huang stopped the wheelchair between two grape trellises. The grape vines were also transplanted and growing very well, already hung with clusters of small green grapes, the fruits only as big as a pinky fingernail.
Yao Huang leaned close to a grape cluster and inhaled forcefully. There wasn’t a trace of fruit fragrance yet. When she turned around and met Prince Hui’s gaze, Yao Huang smiled: “I like eating purple grapes. The prince seemed to have said you love eating both green and purple ones?”
Zhao Sui tacitly agreed. Actually, eating or not eating was fine either way. He always ate whatever the kitchen sent.
Yao Huang walked a circle along both grape trellises, carefully selecting for Prince Hui the largest green grape, as big as a middle finger’s fingernail. She bent down, brought it before Prince Hui, and looked at him with a smile: “This one is green enough and big enough. Will the prince try it?”
Prince Hui only had crippled legs; he wasn’t stupid. After gazing at the princess consort for a moment, he said: “You first.”
Yao Huang shook her head: “But I only like eating purple grapes.”
The princess consort’s dark, lustrous eyes were full of teasing and smugness. Zhao Sui watched for a while, then raised his hand.
Yao Huang thought he was going to take the green grape. Prince Hui actually grasped her wrist and pulled her into his embrace. The newly made rosewood wheelchair wasn’t as spacious, thus appearing less stable than the large wheelchair. Yao Huang didn’t dare dodge and instinctively looked around in all directions.
Zhao Sui: “Even if there were people, they couldn’t see.” The grape vines beside them were dense enough.
With this tone, Yao Huang’s face reddened. Lowering her head, she said: “If you won’t eat it, then don’t. Prince, don’t act rashly.”
Zhao Sui took the green grape from her hand, then—under Yao Huang’s secretly peeking gaze—very casually placed the green grape into Yao Huang’s dress waist at chest level.
Yao Huang: “…”
Like a cool little bead rolling inside, Yao Huang instinctively wanted to stop that grape from the outside.
Zhao Sui held her wrist: “Let me.”
Yao Huang felt so shy she wanted to run. Prince Hui only let her twist around before tightening his hold on her waist from behind, his other hand beginning to search for the grape.
A moment later, Prince Hui leaned close to the princess consort’s reddened earlobe and said indifferently: “I like this kind.”