Unable to enter the city, the Empress Dowager’s party settled in a guest house borrowed from the Marquis of Zhennanjun’s friend outside the city.
The Empress Dowager had enjoyed her half-day outing but regretted missing the tea party. She scolded her steward, “You’re usually so reliable. How did you lead us astray today, causing us to take a detour to the ferry and miss the tea party?”
The steward smiled, not daring to look at the Prince nearby. He couldn’t very well admit that the Prince had instructed him to do so!
Lian Silan tactfully intervened, “Empress Dowager, this might be a blessing in disguise. I heard the city was in chaos. Some officials passing through after the tea party were quite shaken.”
The ladies from Zhenzhou nodded in agreement, saying they were fortunate to have avoided disaster thanks to the Empress Dowager’s good fortune. This finally brought a smile to her face.
Cui Xingzhou listened with a smile, but his mind was elsewhere.
He had intentionally instructed the steward to take a wrong turn to keep his relatives away from the chaos in Qingzhou. If the Huaiyang Prince’s family hadn’t come at all, it would have seemed too suspicious. Getting lost was an unavoidable mistake that even the dock and post station attendants could attest to, leaving no room for criticism.
He had expected his assassins to successfully eliminate the rebels, thwarting the Emperor’s plans to reduce Zhenzhou’s power. However, he never anticipated that the rebel’s guards would be so skilled and fiercely protective.
In the end, the assassin only managed to wound Zi Yu’s back, failing to kill him in the marketplace.
According to his subordinates’ report, Zi Yu’s guards used techniques reminiscent of the secret guards trained during the previous emperor’s reign, employing suicidal, self-sacrificing methods to protect their master.
This information piqued Cui Xingzhou’s curiosity about Zi Yu’s background, and he ordered his men to refrain from rash actions.
It was unfortunate that Lu Wen’s bedmate had lost her memory; otherwise, they could have extracted information from Liu Xiaoniang.
Thinking about how Liu Niang had berated Zi Yu in the street, as reported by his spies, Cui Xingzhou felt a faint regret…
At this moment, the Empress Dowager noticed her distracted son and Lian Silan. She smiled and said, “Xingzhou, you’re usually so busy we hardly see you. Today you finally have some free time. We old ladies’ chatter must bore you. Go! Take your cousin Silan for a walk in the side garden. I noticed the flowers were blooming nicely when we arrived…”
At his mother’s request, Cui Xingzhou naturally complied. He led his servants and attendants, inviting his cousin to admire the garden together.
Lian Silan, seeing the Prince’s gentle smile and handsome appearance, felt her heart flutter. She walked a step behind her cousin as they entered the garden to admire the night-blooming cereus under the moonlight.
Since sending the crab roe buns, Lian Silan had visited the military camp several times to bring food to her cousin.
Once or twice, she noticed complete sets of meal boxes on her cousin’s desk in the camp, though the dishes didn’t look like they were from restaurants.
She had her maid Lianxiang try to extract information from Mo Ru, but the clever servant was tight-lipped, revealing nothing no matter how Lianxiang probed.
Mo Ru’s silence only convinced Lian Silan that the meal boxes must have come from the residence on North Street in Lingquan Town.
Hearing her mistress’s conclusion, Lianxiang was furious, cursing that Liu Niang must have learned to cater to men’s desires in the bandit’s lair, knowing how to tempt the Prince of Huaiyang with food and drink while he was engrossed in state affairs.
Her mother, Chu Lian, was also angered, insisting on revealing her nephew’s outrageous behavior to the Empress Dowager!
Lian Silan, hearing Lianxiang’s words, smiled coldly without speaking. She felt that this young mistress from North Street was indeed no pushover. She wondered if her countless seductive skills could make the Prince of Huaiyang lose his senses and bring her, a woman with a tarnished reputation, into the Prince’s mansion.
The answer was clearly no. Her cousin was the most upright in his conduct; how could he give people such grounds for criticism by openly keeping a mistress?
Although she felt uncomfortable, she didn’t want to confront her cousin. After all, her attentiveness in bringing meals seemed to have finally softened the Prince’s heart.
The “family letter” submitted by her father had received a response, with several of the Lian family’s sons and nephews being assigned to good positions.
Others might not know, but with a man like the Prince of Huaiyang, forceful tactics were useless. The more you tried to make him do something, the more he would resist. It was better to be gentle and patient.
Lian Silan felt that since she hadn’t yet married into the Prince’s household, she couldn’t openly object even if the Prince favored a mistress. She also persuaded her mother not to make any rash moves to try and control the Prince!
Chu Lian always listened to her daughter and reluctantly restrained herself from exposing the Prince’s affair with a mistress.
However, she solemnly reminded her daughter that although they were engaged and didn’t need to be too forward in seduction, she shouldn’t be too reserved in front of the Prince either, lest she lose her feminine charm and make the outside flowers seem even sweeter.
Lian Silan understood her mother’s meaning, but as a young lady from a noble family, she had to mind her manners even if she wanted to get closer to her cousin, right?
It was rare for the Empress Dowager to arrange for her to take a moonlit walk with her cousin. After a moment of shyness, she finally spoke up, “Cousin, I’ve written a poem recently, but I’m not satisfied with the rhyme. I wonder if you have time to help me polish it?”
Cui Xingzhou raised an eyebrow as he saw the letter paper Silan took from her sleeve and reached out to take it.
Upon unfolding it, he realized it was a bold poem expressing longing and affection. Both the wording and rhyme were impeccable, and Silan’s clear and elegant handwriting made it even more pleasing to the eye.
Unfortunately, Cui Xingzhou had long passed the age of exchanging romantic poems with young ladies under flowers and moonlight. His mind was now full of swords and strategies, plots and calculations. In his leisure time, he preferred casual, aimless conversation to relax.
This was why he enjoyed the company of free spirits like Zhao Quan, who spoke without restraint.
So as the Prince looked at this revealing love poem, he had to carefully consider how to appreciate his cousin’s sentiments, but inwardly he felt somewhat annoyed. He wondered why Lian Silan couldn’t just quietly walk with him, wasting the beauty of the moonlit cereus.
Thus, the Prince of Huaiyang held the paper, taking his time to read it again slowly before finally looking up with a smile, praising his cousin’s literary talent as unmatched among the women he knew.
Lian Silan blushed at Cui Xingzhou’s praise, smiling as she said, “I’m showing off before an expert, cousin. Everyone knows you were the predetermined top scholar when you entered the imperial examinations. If the late emperor hadn’t withdrawn your exam papers, you should have been that year’s top graduate. And also…”
Cui Xingzhou smiled slightly, interrupting Lian Silan’s flattery, “That was a foolish thing I did in my youth. I took an anonymous exam on a bet, out of competitive spirit. The late emperor was wise; he said that sons of noble families shouldn’t take opportunities away from poor scholars. He scolded me and withdrew my papers. When I returned home, my father gave me a severe beating. Looking back now, I’m still ashamed and grateful for the late emperor’s leniency… Cousin, let’s not speak of such youthful indiscretions anymore.”
Lian Silan hurriedly apologized for her slip, and Cui Xingzhou waved his hand, indicating he didn’t mind. Then the engaged couple fell silent, continuing their moonlit walk one behind the other.
In Lian Silan’s view, after she presented her love poem, her cousin should have composed one in return, expressing mutual affection.
Who would have thought that after a few dry words of praise, he would just continue walking without looking back?
They had the young lovers under the moonlight, but the romance just wouldn’t blossom.
Lian Silan felt somewhat lost and desolate. She gazed at her cousin’s tall figure ahead, silently following him along the path for a full circle.
Then the cousins bid each other goodnight and retired to their rooms.
Early the next morning, Lian Silan purposely woke up, knowing her cousin had a habit of morning exercises, hoping to “accidentally” encounter him in the garden.
However, by breakfast time, she still hadn’t seen him. The servants said that due to the unrest in Qingzhou, where the rebel leader had been stabbed and now doubted the sincerity of the emperor’s amnesty, they had rallied troops to escort the rebel Lu An back to Yangshan.
The situation in Qingzhou was chaotic, requiring troops from Zhenzhou to search the countryside and maintain order. The Prince had left for Zhenzhou before dawn with his men.
The Empress Dowager and her party stayed for two more days, enjoying themselves by Yingri Cai Lake, away from the turmoil, before returning to Zhenzhou.
The promising situation of Qingzhou’s amnesty had been thrown into disarray by the sudden appearance of an assassin, greatly angering Shi Yikuan. Fortunately, Lu Wen proved to be a reasonable man. Upon waking from his coma after being seriously wounded, he generously expressed his trust in General Shi’s sincerity and his unchanged intention to submit to the court.
As for the assassin, after days of fruitless investigation, Qingzhou finally lifted the restrictions and allowed people to leave.
When Mian Tang left Qingzhou’s city gates with the crowd, she felt extremely relieved. Her first thought was to enter the mountains to pray and light incense for the assassin.
After Qingzhou implemented a daytime curfew, they ordered all rented houses for outsiders to be reclaimed by the owners and reported. Regardless of status, all non-locals had to gather in the city’s inns for investigation.
As a result, wealthy families renting residences in Qingzhou had to move to various inns for scrutiny. Mian Tang’s eyes lit up as she watched carriage after carriage enter the inn’s courtyard as if seeing flocks of fat sheep.
Although she couldn’t attend the poetry and painting tea party, many literary masters had coincidentally checked into the inn and were restricted from going out freely, leaving everyone quite bored.
Seizing the opportunity, she had a spark of inspiration and hung Chen’s paintings in the inn’s lobby for people to admire.
Several experts recognized their quality.
The calligraphers and painters, unable to go out due to the curfew, found a new pastime. They pushed several tables together in the inn’s hall, wielding brushes and ink to engage in artistic exchanges with the Henbiju Master.
Mian Tang, though not particularly fond of reading and lacking in literary knowledge, felt the intense atmosphere of scholarly pursuits and ink painting. She felt more refined and was inspired to add color to this impromptu in poetry and painting tea party.
Finally, Liu Mian Tang carefully dressed herself, styling her hair in a high cloud-like bun, with a touch of crimson on her lips, and donned a flowing white dress. As she gracefully descended the stairs, carrying the two prized plates in a brocade box, everyone was stunned.
Imagine a stunningly beautiful woman, with a solemn and pure expression, holding an object – even if it were just a bowl of stinky tofu, it would seem to leave a lingering fragrance!