Qingzhou Bookstore

In front of the neatly arranged bookshelves at a Qingzhou bookstore, a Hu merchant casually pulled out a book: “Notes on Gazing at the Moon.”? He opened the notebook and discovered it was an unofficial history about Prince Consort Pei Heng and Princess Wan’an Du Zhenyue.

Throughout the three reigns of Taichang, Yong’an, and Yanxi in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there were countless romantic figures. The most famous romantic figure of the Yong’an era was undoubtedly Cui Xun, the Lotus Gentleman, while in the Yanxi era, it was Prince Consort Pei Heng.

Pei Heng had been a top scholar and rose to become a chancellor during the Yanxi reign. Because he married Princess Wan’an Du Zhenyue, people also called him Prince Consort Pei.

Princess Wan’an Du Zhenyue also had quite a legendary story. She wasn’t of royal blood but was adopted by the Empress just before her death, which allowed her to be granted the title of Princess. However, because she resembled the beloved daughter of the Two Sages, Li Ying, Emperor Yanxi was very close to her and bestowed even more generous gifts upon her than on true princesses.

The Two Sages referred to Emperor Taichang and the Empress. After the Empress passed away and was buried with Emperor Taichang, officials discussed her posthumous title. Emperor Yanxi overrode all objections and established the Empress’s posthumous title as “Sage,” while simultaneously restoring Emperor Taichang’s temple name from “Brilliant” to “Sage.” In history, Emperor Taichang was known as Zhou’s Sage Ancestor, and the Empress as the Sage Emperor, with the two together called the Two Sages.

The Great Zhou Dynasty’s golden age of peace and prosperity began with Emperor Taichang and the Empress, so the world had no significant objections to Emperor Yanxi’s decision. There was no recurrence of the situation that had arisen when Emperor Taichang passed away, when the noble families collectively opposed and downgraded Emperor Taichang’s temple name from “Sage” to “Brilliant.”

The great achievements of the Two Sages finally received a fair assessment during the Yanxi reign, at the hands of their grandson.

This book, “Notes on Gazing at the Moon,” records some intimate moments between Princess Wan’an and Prince Consort Pei Heng. As for the author, their identity was unknown. Whether the contents were true or false was also uncertain.

However, this didn’t prevent “Notes on Gazing at the Moon” from becoming the most popular unofficial history in all of Chang’an, and it was even sold in remote Qingzhou.

The Hu merchant turned the pages with interest and read aloud: “First Record: The Face and Peach Blossoms Still Remain.”

After the Princess and Prince Consort were married, Emperor Yanxi bestowed a mansion upon the Princess. The Princess entered the palace to thank Emperor Yanxi, but did not accept the gift. Instead, she spent her silver to approach the retired former Chancellor Cui Songqing, expressing her desire to purchase the mansion of Cui Xun, the Lotus Gentleman.

Since Cui Xun’s death, many people had wanted to buy his mansion—nobles and wealthy merchants alike—but Cui Songqing had rejected them all. However, the Prince Consort’s appearance and temperament strongly resembled Cui Xun’s. Cui Songqing unconsciously regarded him as his early-deceased nephew, so after hesitating for several days, he decided to sell Cui Xun’s mansion to the couple.

Some of Cui Xun’s old acquaintances, such as Sheng Ah’man and He Shisan, had wanted to prevent this, but after seeing the Prince Consort’s appearance, they all departed with sighs. Thus, Cui Xun’s residence passed into the Princess’s hands.

When the Princess and Prince Consort entered Cui’s mansion, the Princess stroked the crabapple tree in the courtyard and inexplicably burst into tears. The Prince Consort wiped away her tears, and the Princess choked with emotion as she leaned into his embrace, speechless for a long time.

A new swallow hovered in the air over the crabapple tree before fluttering down. The Princess’s tears began to subside. She stretched out her hand, and the new swallow hopped onto her palm and rolled around.

The Prince Consort said: “The peach blossoms remain, the face remains, and the Guanyin swallow also remains.”

The Princess looked up at the Prince Consort and finally broke into a smile through her tears.

The Prince Consort reached out, wanting to take the new swallow from the Princess’s palm, but the swallow seemed afraid of him and fluttered its wings, flying back into the air.

The Prince Consort sighed helplessly: “Why is it still afraid of me?”

The Princess replied: “You never smile and always have a cold face. Of course, everyone is afraid of you.”

The Prince Consort looked at the Princess and smiled slightly, outshining the fully blooming crabapple blossoms. He said, “I only smile for you.”

The Hu merchant turned to the second page. The second record was called “Early Rising to Draw Eyebrows.”

The Prince Consort had to attend court every day at the fifth watch, while the young Princess loved to sleep and was usually still in bed at that time. Unfortunately, the three thousand dawn drums at Chengtian Gate sounded punctually every day. The Prince Consort would preemptively plug the Princess’s ears with jade earplugs, removing them only after the drums had finished.

On this day, after the Prince Consort got up, he quietly prepared to insert the jade earplugs into the Princess’s ears, but she opened her eyes.

The Princess hooked her arms around the Prince Consort’s neck, causing him to fall onto the bed. The Princess held him tightly, nuzzled against his chest, and then closed her eyes again.

The Prince Consort didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Mingyuezhu, I need to attend court.”

The Princess kept her eyes closed and wouldn’t let go of the Prince Consort. She murmured drowsily: “Don’t go to court.”

“I’ll be fined a month’s salary.”

“I’ll give it to you…”

“I’ll be beaten with twenty strokes.”

Only then did the Princess open her eyes. She reluctantly released the Prince Consort: “Then you should go.”

The Prince Consort helplessly kissed her lips, then got up: “I’m leaving.”

“Wait.”

The Princess also rose. She hugged the Prince Consort’s waist again, resting her forehead in the hollow of his shoulder and nuzzling: “We’ve been married for so long, but you’ve never drawn my eyebrows. Draw my eyebrows, and then I’ll let you go.”

By the latticed window, the dawn light was faintly showing. The Prince Consort held a brush-shaped stick of eyebrow ink, examining the shape of the Princess’s eyebrows. He asked her: “What style do you want them drawn in?”

The Princess thought for a moment, then said: “The most fashionable style in Chang’an is the willow leaf eyebrow. Draw them like willow leaves.”

Having said this, she excitedly closed her eyes, allowing the Prince Consort to lightly trace the eyebrow ink over her brows. When the Prince Consort said “done,” she excitedly opened her eyes and looked at herself in the mirror.

Upon seeing her reflection, the Princess said incredulously: “It looks like you didn’t draw anything at all.”

The Prince Consort admitted: “I just lightly brushed the eyebrow ink over them, without actually drawing.”

“Why didn’t you draw them?”

“Willow leaf eyebrows wouldn’t be as beautiful as yours.”

The Prince Consort said, “Mingyuezhu, your natural eyebrows are already the most beautiful.”

“You’re just being lazy!” the Princess concluded.

The Princess’s eyes darted mischievously, and she imitated the tone of Great Zhou princesses: “I shall punish you!”

The Prince Consort couldn’t help but smile: “How will you punish me?”

The Princess pressed her lips together in a smile and pushed him to the ground: “Your punishment is to let me draw your eyebrows.”

The Prince Consort was visibly nervous. He struggled a bit: “Mingyuezhu, don’t play around.”

The Princess lay on top of him, poking his cheek: “But I’m angry. So, either weave a thousand grasshoppers or let me draw your eyebrows. Prince Consort, choose for yourself.”

The court assembly was about to begin, and there was no time to weave a thousand grasshoppers. The Prince Consort sighed helplessly: “Do I even have a choice?”

So, by the latticed window, the person getting their eyebrows drawn changed.

When the Prince Consort saw the eyebrow ink in the Princess’s hand, his entire body radiated resistance. He unconsciously leaned backward until his back was against the wall, with nowhere to retreat.

The Princess covered her mouth and laughed. She coughed once, grabbed the Prince Consort’s chin to hold him still, and said with a smile: “My lord’s face is like a peach blossom, and after drawing eyebrows, it will surpass even the peach blossoms. Why are you so frightened?”

The Prince Consort could hardly speak: “Mingyuezhu, why do you suddenly seem like… a mountain bandit?”

Perhaps she had been watching too many plays lately about mountain bandits abducting virtuous women and heroic warriors saving beauties.

The Princess burst into laughter: “I am a mountain bandit, and you are my… pampered husband.”

She imitated a gruff voice: “The mountain bandit is going to draw eyebrows for her pampered husband.”

With her left hand holding the Prince Consort’s chin and her right hand wielding the eyebrow ink, she began to trace over the Prince Consort’s ink-black eyebrows. The Prince Consort was so nervous that he didn’t dare move a muscle, afraid that if her hand shook, he’d end up looking who knows how.

After what seemed like an eternity, the Princess finished drawing. As soon as she was done, the Prince Consort reached for the bronze mirror to see his reflection, but the Princess stopped his hand: “No, you’re not allowed to look.”

“I want to see what you’ve drawn.”

“You’re not allowed to look.”

The Princess pushed the Prince Consort out of the room and to his horse. She slapped the horse, and as the steed galloped away, she called out to the Prince Consort with a beaming smile: “You can look when you return.”

The Prince Consort had no choice but to go to court like this.

Along the way, afraid of being late, the Prince Consort didn’t dare to stop and look, but his heart was in turmoil. After entering Daming Palace, the Prince Consort kept his head down. When he reached the Purple Majesty Hall, he happened to meet Chancellor Lu Huai at the entrance.

Lu Huai stopped the Prince Consort and spoke with him for quite a while. During their conversation, he kept staring at the Prince Consort, making him increasingly embarrassed. The Prince Consort thought to himself: Could it be that Mingyuezhu had played a major prank on him? Ah, what had she drawn on him?

So throughout the court assembly, the Prince Consort kept his head down and remained silent. Unfortunately, after the assembly, the Emperor granted a banquet to the officials in the corridor, and during the meal, it was inevitable to converse with others. The Prince Consort felt that everyone who spoke to him was staring at his eyebrows, making him increasingly uncomfortable. Finally, when the banquet ended, the Prince Consort rose and fled Daming Palace as if chased.

While riding on Zhuque Street, the Prince Consort saw a Hu merchant selling lip rouge, with a bronze mirror hanging on his stand. The Prince Consort reined in his horse, dismounted, and went to look at his reflection.

It would have been better not to look. When he did, he discovered that, just as he had done to Mingyuezhu, she hadn’t drawn anything on him at all—not even a light brushing. In other words, his entire morning of awkwardness and embarrassment had been completely unnecessary.

The Prince Consort didn’t know whether to be angry or amused. Looking at the colorful lip rouges, he raised an eyebrow as an idea came to him.

The Princess was arranging flowers when the Prince Consort returned from court. As soon as she saw him, she doubled over with laughter, saying: “Did you see clearly?”

Though the Prince Consort knew he had been teased, he didn’t get angry. Instead, he smiled slightly and handed the Princess a white jade pot: “I bought this lip rouge for you after court.”

The Princess didn’t believe he had bought lip rouge for her. She opened it: “I hope it’s not purple again.”

But this time when she opened it, it wasn’t purple, but rather the fashionable bright red color popular in Chang’an. The Princess happily dipped her finger and applied it to her lips: “Finally, you didn’t buy a purple one.”

She looked in the bronze mirror, where the young girl’s lips appeared as vivid as cherry blossoms. The Princess asked the Prince Consort: “Seventeenth Lord, does it look good?”

The Prince Consort nodded and asked the Princess: “Don’t you smell anything?”

The Princess sniffed carefully and indeed detected a subtle, sweet fragrance in the room. Tracing the scent, she realized it was coming from the lip rouge.

The Princess said, “Why does this lip rouge have a sweet fragrance?”

“The Hu merchant said they added honey.”

“So that’s it.”

The Prince Consort continued: “However, lip rouge with honey costs a hundred coins more than ordinary ones. I wonder if they added honey.”

The Princess asked innocently: “How can we know if they added honey?”

The Prince Consort raised an eyebrow: “We can taste it to find out.”

The Princess held up the white jade pot: “You want to taste this?”

The Prince Consort shook his head: “Not this.”

“Then what do you want to taste?”

“Taste… the lip rouge on the Princess’s lips.”

Having said this, the Prince Consort pulled the Princess into his embrace and lowered his head to kiss her lips.

Outside the latticed window, the new swallow hopped from branch to branch on the blue-green twigs.

Inside the latticed window, there were soft moans.

“Mmm… let me go, I can’t breathe…”

“Hmm… who is whose pampered spouse after all?”

“You are mine… mmm… no, I am your pampered spouse…”