Princess Rongcheng left Mingcui Palace exhausted. After the rain, the sky had cleared, and the scent of osmanthus flowers wafted everywhere, making one’s heart feel carefree and content. Yet she couldn’t muster even a shred of interest. After much deliberation, she first went to see Empress Lu.
Dark circles lay heavily beneath Empress Lu’s eyes, and visible fatigue overflowed from the corners of her eyes and brows. Princess Rongcheng felt her eyes sting at the sight. She moved forward to sit beside her, and when she opened her mouth, her voice couldn’t help but tremble: “Mother Empress…”
Empress Lu patted her hand. Seeing her like this, she pondered briefly before asking: “You just came from Mingcui Palace? What, did your brother go looking for trouble with your sister-in-law again?” After finishing, she let out a laugh: “That’s just his temperament. When he can’t get anywhere with me, naturally he has to go find trouble with Caiwei.”
Princess Rongcheng was silent for a moment: “If he just vents his temper and releases the anger in his heart, that might not necessarily be a bad thing.” As long as he could just stay put peacefully. Seeing the smile at the corner of Empress Lu’s mouth freeze in place, she sighed and reminded her: “Mother Empress, I heard that the vassal princes are already on their way to the capital and will all arrive before the Mid-Autumn Festival. At this time, if elder brother causes trouble again, the consequences would be unthinkable. Never mind Prince Su and Prince Lu—even younger brother, he…”
Over these years, Prince Gong hadn’t been idle either when it came to moves against the Crown Prince. When Zhou Weizhao was attacked in Yangquan, Prince Gong, as both royal uncle and vassal prince of Jin territory, only symbolically sent people to offer condolences and wouldn’t even help with the most basic matters. Afterward, he only submitted a memorial confessing his fault. The conflict between these two brothers had long reached an irreconcilable point. Last time with the Yangzhou corruption case, the Crown Prince had dealt Prince Gong a severe blow. This time when Prince Gong returned to the capital, if he caught hold of any leverage against the Crown Prince, he definitely wouldn’t let it rest.
Empress Lu only felt her headache intensifying. She rubbed the space between her brows and nodded with deep concern: “You’re right. If it weren’t because Hong’er is returning, I wouldn’t be pressing the Prince Consort so urgently… This matter must either be covered up first and not come to light until after Hong’er returns to his fief, or it must be dealt with cleanly before Hong’er arrives. Otherwise, when the time comes…”
Prince Gong could be said to hate the Crown Prince to the bone. If he knew about these weaknesses of the Crown Prince, he would probably spare no cost to expose them and make them known throughout the realm. At that time, while the Crown Prince certainly wouldn’t have a good outcome, what good reputation could Prince Gong gain by being so aggressive toward his elder brother, looking as if he wouldn’t rest until he had hounded his brother to death? In the end, those who would suffer misfortune would all be her sons anyway.
Princess Rongcheng couldn’t help but feel vexed on behalf of Empress Lu. Both sides were her sons, yet the two of them got along like fire and water. If even one of them had been willing to take a step back, things wouldn’t have developed to this unmanageable point. It was just that when the Crown Prince snatched Lu Caiwei back then, that move had truly wounded Prince Gong too deeply… She adjusted the pillow for Empress Lu to make her more comfortable, her face showing some difficulty: “The Prince Consort says this matter isn’t easy to handle. Since the Fan family has staked their entire fortune and lives on elder brother, they must be placing extremely high hopes on him. A family with such ambition couldn’t possibly make no preparations. Even against the Crown Prince, they surely kept something in reserve.” Weren’t these letters obtained through Crown Princess Lu’s efforts? If the Fan family had no intention of guarding against the Crown Prince burning bridges after crossing the river, why would they keep these correspondence records? Since the Fan family had carefully preserved even these items, then other things—such as those account books from the Northwest and the receipts from depositing silver at the banks each time—the Fan family had even more reason to keep.
When the time came to truly move against the Fan family, if the Fan family couldn’t get the Crown Prince’s support, they might bring out all these things to bite the Crown Prince in self-preservation. That was why before Empress Lu moved against the Fan family, she first had to have Ye Jingkuan dispose of these items.
The Northwest side was easier to handle. The Crown Prince had always conducted transactions with the Tartars under the Fan family’s name. Those who appeared publicly to make connections with the Tartars were all Fan family people. Aside from high-ranking people like Han Zhengqing, no one knew that behind the Fan family members there was still a Crown Prince. The difficult part was extracting from the Fan family things like the correspondence between the Crown Prince and the Fan family, and copies of account books and such.
Empress Lu’s expression was listless, and even her spirits seemed unable to rise: “Tell the Prince Consort to do his best. If there’s really no way to finish handling it before Hong’er returns, then we simply shouldn’t make a move to alert the enemy and mustn’t push the Fan family into a corner.”
Princess Rongcheng’s heart felt heavy, as if a massive stone weighed upon it. She spoke with Empress Lu again about Zhou Weizhao’s marriage: “The Directorate of Astronomy has already calculated the auspicious day. We’re about to proceed with the Asking the Name ceremony. You should still keep a tight watch on elder brother—I’m afraid he’ll cause some disturbance again.”
Empress Lu agreed: “He’s probably busy right now tipping off the Fan family and won’t have time to think about Weizhao.” She paused, then added: “Yesterday your cousin came to the palace. I’ve already warned him, and he doesn’t dare to have designs on Weizhao anymore.”
Elder Master Lu had been frightened badly by the Crown Prince. Though he had heard his father and the Crown Princess say many times before that the Crown Prince’s attitude toward the Lu family was subtle, he had never experienced it himself. Now, suddenly frightened by the Crown Prince like this, that little idea in his heart involuntarily extinguished—he had wanted to marry his daughter to Zhou Weizhao, merely thinking he could strengthen the bond with the Eastern Palace. But judging from the Crown Prince’s meaning, this clearly wasn’t about forming a marriage alliance but forming a blood feud. Moreover, looking at the Crown Prince’s attitude of complete disregard for Zhou Weizhao, future matters were truly hard to predict. Adding to this the fact that Empress Lu had mercilessly rebuked him this time, he no longer dared to harbor such thoughts.
When Princess Rongcheng heard Empress Lu mention this matter, she couldn’t help but nod: “A few days ago, cousin’s wife came to my manor and also mentioned this. She said that after a while, cousin will first return to his hometown, while cousin’s wife will stay in the capital with Yunji to wait for next year’s special examination.”
Being able to extinguish this intention was a good thing. Princess Rongcheng and Empress Lu exchanged glances, then continued: “Now we can only hope that Weizhao’s marriage can be completed smoothly and without incident…”
Once the Six Rites were complete, it would have to be next year at the earliest. Being able to smoothly complete the wedding would mean that whether it was the Crown Prince and Fan family matter or the situation with Prince Gong, they could all get past it first. Once these two matters were resolved, other things wouldn’t really be matters anymore.
Empress Lu looked at her deeply, as if telling herself and also comforting Princess Rongcheng, her tone carrying determination: “It will be. It will all pass eventually.”
She had persevered with such difficulty until now, had struggled to reach the current situation. The circumstances were excellent on all fronts. No matter what, she couldn’t let everything be destroyed in the Crown Prince’s hands.