Yao Huang couldn’t figure it out. She had only felt sorry that everyone in the group was exhausted from the journey and would have to hurriedly tidy up the new residence, so she had told Qing Ai to only prepare this one bathtub in the back courtyard. How had this, in broad daylight, stirred up Prince Hui’s desires?
He had already finished washing and was sitting cleanly on the couch. Did he want her to wash herself under the gaze of those eyes?
Yao Huang couldn’t do it. Leaning back against the door with her head lowered, she reasoned with him: “Second Master values propriety and ritual above all else. Why tease me like this? Although I’m usually rather willful in my actions, I’m still a girl who knows shame and modesty. Even though you’re a prince, I don’t want to obey you in this matter.”
Zhao Sui looked at the princess consort whose appearance and voice were both aggrieved, and asked: “If you’re afraid of shame, why did you propose bathing together?”
If she hadn’t said such a thing herself, Zhao Sui would never have stayed in the back courtyard.
Yao Huang’s face quickly turned bright red: “Bathing together was to spare Qing Ai and Fei Quan some trouble. I had it all planned out—when we actually started washing, I would blindfold you.”
All those inelegant scrubbing and washing motions—she didn’t want to watch the prince scrub, nor did she want the prince to watch her scrub.
Zhao Sui: “Come here.”
Yao Huang glanced at him and walked slowly to the edge of the couch.
Zhao Sui grasped her wrist: “Come up.”
Yao Huang didn’t understand: “What for?”
Prince Hui simply increased the force gripping her wrist.
The prince’s authority enveloped her in such silence and persistence. Yao Huang didn’t dare disobey nor dare ask further. She kicked off her two embroidered shoes and knelt beside him with her wrist gripped by him. Before she could settle, Prince Hui suddenly pressed down on her shoulder, making her fall onto the couch, forcing her to face toward the bathtub.
Yao Huang’s heart pounded. Why was he in such a hurry?
“Yesterday was the tenth. When we made camp I couldn’t accompany you. Just now when you mentioned bathing together, I thought you wanted to make up for it.”
Yao Huang felt wronged: “I truly didn’t think of that!”
Zhao Sui: “Too late.”
Yao Huang understood. Because of the misunderstanding, Prince Hui had been stirred to fire by her and had been burning alone in the room for quite a while. How could such a fire be extinguished just by saying so?
“Then wait a moment. Let me go wipe down behind the screen first.”
“No need.”
Yao Huang bit her lip, thinking that she had washed in the tent last night, and this entire morning she had just been sitting in the carriage—she really hadn’t perspired much.
“Be quick this time to avoid the servants’ suspicions.” Looking at the princess consort’s tense appearance as she closed her eyes with a flushed face, preparing herself, Zhao Sui said in a low voice.
Yao Huang buried her face even deeper into his left arm that he had extended horizontally to serve as her pillow, making a barely audible sound of assent.
Zhao Sui gathered her chest binding into a ball with one hand and had her bite down on it.
A’Ji was still tidying up in the eastern room. The bed had already been made, but the princess consort had brought too many dresses and skirts. She had to hang them one by one in the wardrobe—folding and leaving them stacked in trunks would easily create creases.
When busy, one forgot the time. A’Ji vaguely felt the princess consort had only just gone in not long ago, probably about a quarter-hour, when some sounds came from the western room.
Now there was only her, one maid, serving in the back courtyard. A’Ji quickly put the long skirt she had just unfolded back in the trunk and hurriedly walked out.
Lifting the curtain of the eastern room and simultaneously stepping out with one foot, A’Ji froze, staring blankly at the prince pushing his own wheelchair as he left the western room.
Zhao Sui’s gaze only swept past her skirt hem as he instructed expressionlessly: “Tell Qing Ai to come.”
Snapping back to her senses, A’Ji hurried to the front courtyard to relay the message.
By the time A’Ji returned with Qing Ai, Prince Hui had already pushed himself to the doorway of the main hall and was sitting in the sunlight.
Qing Ai hastily pushed the prince to the front courtyard.
The wheelchair disappeared at the front of the corridor. The back courtyard returned to silence. A’Ji came to the door of the western room and was just about to speak when she suddenly heard the sound of water displaced as someone stepped into or out of the bathtub.
A’Ji tried calling out: “Madam, do you need me to come in and help?”
Yao Huang, who had just sat into the bathtub, glanced toward the doorway and said in a hoarse voice: “No need. Go about your business.”
A’Ji only felt the madam’s voice was trembling. She had some vague guesses but also felt the timing was completely wrong, so she simply shook her head and went back to her tasks.
By the time A’Ji finally finished organizing the wardrobe, the princess consort also emerged from the western room. She had changed into a set of fine cotton fabric jacket and skirt, her half-wet long hair hanging loose. Her jade-white cheeks carried the characteristic flush unique to after bathing, like a peony that had drunk its fill of rainwater and just bloomed, each petal so tender it seemed about to drip flower dew.
Even A’Ji, who had watched her for over ten years, was mesmerized: “Miss is so beautiful. Born with such looks, you were naturally destined to be an empress!”
The imperial consorts in the palace were empresses, and the princess consort of a prince’s manor was also an empress.
Yao Huang looked at her A’Ji with the gaze one would use for a silly girl. Princes and princess consorts and such—noble as they were, when it came to that, weren’t they just ordinary men and women? When it got vulgar, there wasn’t much difference from the farmers and rough men in storybooks—just the difference between talking more or less, crudely or elegantly.
Seeing that tea and water had already been set out on the tea table at the north side of the main hall, Yao Huang walked over and poured and drank three cups in succession, finally moistening her throat. Biting down on the chest binding only stopped her voice from escaping—Yao Huang’s throat hadn’t been idle for a moment. Damn that Prince Hui! When urgent, he was even less like a human, yet once his clothes were on he became that unworldly, lifeless appearance again!
“Is the prince in the front courtyard?”
“Yes, he left right after washing.”
Yao Huang both hated that this man could pretend to be a proper, rule-abiding prince, and was pleased he pretended so well. As long as one of the couple went to the front early, the servants in both courtyards wouldn’t suspect the prince and princess consort had done such an absurd thing in broad daylight.
Thinking that after the meal they would still need an afternoon nap, she had A’Ji go help Gao Niangzi in the western courtyard while Yao Huang went directly to the front courtyard with her hair still down.
Physician Liao, Zhang Yue, Wang Dong, including Qing Ai, had all gone to the western courtyard to tidy up their respective rooms and luggage. Only Fei Quan waited in the shaded area under the corridor.
Seeing the princess consort with loose hair looking languid and alluring, Fei Quan lowered his head in time.
Yao Huang: “You go tidy up too. I’m here with Second Master.”
Fei Quan acknowledged and before leaving, reminded her in a low voice: “Madam, unless necessary, Second Master doesn’t like me and Qing Ai entering his bathroom or privy. You’d best not enter these two places either. Second Master’s temper is sometimes good and sometimes bad. If you happen to catch him in a bad mood, Madam…”
Yao Huang glanced at the western room of the front courtyard and the privy partitioned off inside the eastern room, guessing that there must be some items specially added inside to care for the prince. Otherwise, if it were identical to the back courtyard, what would the prince need to be particular about?
Perhaps this was also precisely why the prince insisted on living in separate courtyards even here.
“Understood.”
Yao Huang agreed readily. In any case, she had her own places to bathe and relieve herself—no need to insist on barging into these two places of the prince’s.
Fei Quan left. Yao Huang walked to the doorway of the main hall and saw Prince Hui sitting in the rattan wheelchair on the north side reading a book. A long table was placed in front with a chair at each end—similar to the furnishings in the front courtyard of Mingan Hall.
Yao Huang didn’t look at him directly. She sat on the left side of the long table, took a fresh crisp peach that Physician Liao had bought in the town from the fruit plate, took a bite to taste it, and only then said: “I had A’Ji go to the western courtyard. When the food is ready they’ll bring it over. Second Master, please wait a moment.”
“Mm.”
Yao Huang glanced at the cover in his hand—it was actually still that same Buddhist sutra he’d been reading on the road.
Yao Huang looked again at his back leaning against the wheelchair. Having sat the whole journey and still able to perform like that—he really was something!
Prince Hui suddenly put down the Buddhist sutra, looked at her thick long hair, and asked: “Why didn’t you put it up?”
Yao Huang: “After eating we’ll nap. We’re a small household without so many formalities. On the way into town I even saw a girl sitting at her doorway drying her hair while chatting with people.”
Zhao Sui: “If only Fei Quan and Qing Ai see, that’s fine, but if Physician Liao and Zhang Yue come over, you still need to pay attention to your appearance.”
Yao Huang, holding the peach she’d bitten twice with one hand, looked at him and huffed: “Yes, Scholar.”
In a small town, the degree of scholar could already bring many conveniences. Since Prince Hui wanted to pretend to be a scholar, having an official degree could better explain why Physician Liao’s family as uncles doted so much on their disabled nephew, as well as why this disabled nephew could marry such an attractive wife as Yao Huang, and why the young wife didn’t have to do any rough work.
Prince Hui had thought things through comprehensively and even got himself a false scholar’s certificate authentic enough to pass inspection.
After finishing one peach, A’Ji and Gao Niangzi brought lunch—two meat dishes, one vegetable dish, one soup. The fish soup used live fish that Physician Liao had bought in town this morning. Lingshan Town, nestled between mountains and water, had abundant wild game. At least they could guarantee three delicious meals a day.
After the meal, Qing Ai came again to serve the prince. Yao Huang went back to the back courtyard to nap by herself. Sleeping in a tent ultimately wasn’t as comfortable as a large bed. Combined with the fatigue from the journey and the indulgence before the meal, Yao Huang actually slept until late afternoon. Lingshan Town truly lived up to its reputation as a good place to escape the summer heat. Wisps of breeze passed through the open lattice windows, causing the curtains hanging around the canopy bed to rise and fall.
After quietly enjoying a moment of leisure, Yao Huang sat up. Sure enough, her waist wasn’t sore and her legs weren’t weak—she was full of energy.
“A’Ji?”
“Here!”
Before falling asleep, Yao Huang had told A’Ji to lie down on the couch in the western room. A’Ji must have also slept soundly, likewise recovering from the journey’s fatigue.
While serving the princess consort as she washed her face, A’Ji mentioned information she’d gathered from Physician Liao: “Right next to us on the east lives a scholar master with his wife plus a son and daughter. Their relatives are all in the village, and except for holidays they rarely visit—very quiet. They shouldn’t disturb Second Master’s rest.”
“Next to the western courtyard, the head of that household is a sixty-year-old retired wealthy gentleman with over a hundred mu of farmland. He married two wives in succession and had a total of three sons. Now they’re all married with children—altogether seven grandsons and one granddaughter. Such a prosperous family! Those people are especially enthusiastic too. They came visiting this afternoon. Gao Niangzi and I entertained them for a while.”
Yao Huang smiled: “No wonder Physician Liao arranged for Second Master and me to live in the eastern courtyard. Otherwise, with children making noise, Qing Ai and Fei Quan would have to be constantly on edge.”
A’Ji: “Fortunately, six of the seven grandsons are all studying. They’re only home at noon for one meal during the entire day. At most they might be noisy in the evening.”
Having learned enough, Yao Huang went to the front courtyard alone. From now on, except for bringing water in the morning and evening, A’Ji could stay in the western courtyard the rest of the time.
In the front courtyard, Prince Hui was still sitting facing south looking at his book, about the same as at noon.
Yao Huang asked casually: “How long did Your Highness nap at noon?”
Zhao Sui: “Half a shichen.”
Yao Huang secretly admired: “After waking you’ve been reading this whole time?”
Zhao Sui tacitly confirmed this, though in reality he’d had Physician Liao give him a massage for half a keke, then gripped the railing of the western room and walked back and forth for half a shichen. The remaining time he either read or rested—quite fulfilling actually.
Yao Huang looked at the tightly closed main gate opposite the spirit wall and said with longing: “Right outside the gate is the river, and the weather has cooled down nicely. After dinner, shall we take a walk by the river?”
Zhao Sui lowered his eyes: “You can take A’Ji.”
Yao Huang looked at him eagerly: “I’ve been wandering around with A’Ji for over ten years. Now I just want Second Master to accompany me.”
In Zhao Sui’s field of vision were his legs that couldn’t move an inch, and the wheelchair armrests on both sides.
“I’ve said before, I prefer quiet. Don’t mention this matter again.”