This year’s Mid-Autumn Festival truly couldn’t be considered complete. The moon in the sky was as round as ever, but unfortunately, human affairs couldn’t be the same year after year like the moon.
At least for Prince Dongping, he had never spent such a stifling Mid-Autumn Festival. Even if the outside world was extraordinarily lively, it had nothing to do with him—naturally he still had to attend the palace banquet, but once the Crown Prince fell, no one treated this prince who was formerly beloved and had overshadowed the Grand Prince with any warmth anymore. In less than a year’s time, the treatment was already worlds apart. Moreover, his mother had died, and the father he relied on for survival was now half-dead and completely useless. After showing his face at the palace banquet, he returned to the Eastern Palace as before to keep the Crown Prince company in the front hall.
The Crown Prince had always treated him well. Even though Prince Dongping had been instructed by Grand Consort Fan since childhood, he had after all been properly guided by great scholars. The principle of filial piety had long been deeply ingrained in his bones. Toward the Crown Prince who had always treated him well and was his biological father, to say he had no feelings would be false. Therefore, once he suffered this setback, he came to the Crown Prince’s side frequently.
He came early and left late. Every time Empress Dowager Lu came, she encountered him attending at the Crown Prince’s side. When the Crown Prince occasionally lost his temper, it was also he who gently and patiently coaxed him and tirelessly fed him medicine.
Over such a long time, even Empress Dowager Lu, who had always favored Zhou Weizhao, softened her heart somewhat and couldn’t help but take this grandson’s affairs to heart.
This day, he had just finished wiping the Crown Prince’s hands in the hall and exercising the Crown Prince’s finger joints when he heard that Empress Dowager Lu had arrived. He hurriedly stood up to pay respects and stood with hands hanging respectfully at the side.
Though equally a blood grandson, previously because of Grand Consort Fan he wasn’t particularly likeable to look at. But once he fell into decline, his whole person became dispirited, which made him especially pitiable. Empress Dowager Lu sighed, called him to rise, and first went to look at the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince never cooperated with taking medicine when he saw her, always causing such a commotion that not one person in the room had any peace. But at this moment, seeing Empress Dowager Lu, he didn’t get angry. Instead, he struggled with all his might to point at Zhou Weiqi standing to the side.
Empress Dowager Lu was somewhat astonished. She subconsciously raised her head to glance at Zhou Weiqi, then looked at Sanbao with her eyes.
Sanbao had attended the Crown Prince for a long time. After the Crown Prince’s stroke, only he could understand the Crown Prince’s meaning. He hurriedly dropped to his knees with a thud. Watching the Crown Prince struggle with trembling effort to mumble a few words indistinctly, after pondering for a while, he told Empress Dowager Lu: “His Highness is worried about the Prince.”
Empress Dowager Lu was merely a mother. To speak of it, everything she had ever done was for her children. It was just that perhaps she had been too young when becoming a mother—besides giving her children what they wanted and trying to make them happy, she didn’t know what else she could do. She especially didn’t know that among children, they never worried about having little but worried about having unequal shares.
Just like with Zhou Weizhao’s generation, she had always unprincipled favored Zhou Weizhao.
Of course, she had gradually awakened now, but years of compromise had long formed her habit of compromising with her sons. Even though the Crown Prince and Prince Gong each viewed her as an enemy, in her heart, she still only had these two sons.
At this moment, seeing the Crown Prince concerned about Zhou Weiqi, her heart turned sour. She reached out to grasp the Crown Prince’s hand.
The Crown Prince’s hand was pale and bloodless. In fact, since the stroke, the Crown Prince had indeed grown more haggard day by day. Even though Attendant Hu, Physician Yan, and the imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau cared for him day and night without rest, he still resembled a flower removed from soil—his vitality dissipating day by day. Looking at this, Empress Dowager Lu’s eyes turned sour.
He rarely didn’t struggle or become agitated while Empress Dowager Lu held his hand. He raised his middle finger and struggled to make two “ah” sounds.
Empress Dowager Lu leaned in to listen carefully, glancing at Zhou Weiqi. “You want me to arrange a marriage match for him?”
Prince Dongping’s hands hidden in his wide sleeves clenched until his fingers turned white. Others didn’t know, but he knew—his father had fallen to this state entirely because of the old ginseng he had given him. It truly backfired. He had originally meant well, wholeheartedly wanting to make his father happy and to help him live longer. Who knew it would fail at this point? Thinking of this, his complexion grew even paler, and the resentment toward Han Zhengqing in his heart surged straight to his chest, making his scalp tighten in waves.
Seeing the Crown Prince nod, Empress Dowager Lu sighed softly. “I’ve already discussed this matter with your father. Your father’s meaning is that for these grandsons’ marriages, he has his own calculations.”
When Zhou Weizhao was selecting his primary consort, Emperor Jianzhang had still been willing to ask her opinion. But after the Crown Prince and Prince Gong’s affairs, Emperor Jianzhang was no longer willing to let her interfere in the children’s lifelong matters.
The Crown Prince seemed somewhat disappointed. With difficulty, he moved his eyeballs to look at Prince Dongping standing before him, closed his eyes, and let fall a single tear.
Empress Dowager Lu rarely had such peaceful communication with her son. Somehow, she felt that all those past grievances and resentments, concessions and compromises, and relentless pressure all seemed like passing clouds. She took her son’s hand and placed it back under the covers, properly tucking in the quilt for him. “Dongping is equally your father’s grandson. He won’t treat Dongping badly. As long as they brothers can be harmonious in the future, actually, what else do you need to worry about? Even I will only treat him well. Rest assured.”
The Crown Prince reopened his eyes. He also knew that after his and Prince Gong’s affairs, Empress Dowager Lu absolutely couldn’t receive Emperor Jianzhang’s respect as before. As the mother of a nation, if she couldn’t even fulfill her duty in raising her sons, how could she speak of being a model for the realm? He could only nod toward Empress Dowager Lu. Now that he couldn’t speak or move, no matter how much he had hated Empress Dowager Lu before, now he could only be conciliatory and have Empress Dowager Lu treat Prince Dongping better.
Prince Dongping attended at the side, head lowered, respectfully listening. Since the Crown Prince’s incident, he had become increasingly taciturn. When an attendant brought up the Crown Prince’s medicine and he was about to taste it first, he heard another attendant quickly run in from outside: “Your Highness, His Majesty summons you!”
Empress Dowager Lu and the Crown Prince looked toward him simultaneously. Speak of the devil—perhaps this time it was about the matter of selecting a princess consort. After glancing at him, Empress Dowager Lu looked at the Crown Prince again and said softly to him: “Go. Listen carefully to what your grandfather says.”
Emperor Jianzhang hadn’t thought of Zhou Weiqi for so long. Summoning him this time was probably for his marriage. Seeing Zhou Weiqi had been especially despondent recently, Empress Dowager Lu specially gave him an additional instruction, fearing he would worry.
But this time they had all misjudged Emperor Jianzhang’s thoughts. Emperor Jianzhang summoned Zhou Weiqi not to ask if he had any girl he admired or to bestow a marriage upon him. Emperor Jianzhang wanted him to go to Hubei together with Cui Yingshu for disaster relief. And not just to tag along and observe—he was to serve as deputy imperial commissioner, acting as Cui Yingshu’s deputy.