After the banquet, Zhao Ai returned to his own quarters. The more he thought about it, the more worried he became, feeling he couldn’t allow Zhenzhen to remain in the Eastern Palace. He thus went to the Eastern Palace and requested an audience with the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince was reading in the Zhanlu Hall, surrounded by emerald bamboo. Seeing Zhao Ai enter hastily with an anxious expression, he guessed the purpose of this visit. Indeed, Zhao Ai immediately spoke frankly, requesting that he allow Zhenzhen to transfer to his own Qinghua Pavilion for service, saying he was willing to send several palace attendants to the Eastern Palace in exchange.
The Crown Prince smiled faintly, closed the scroll in his hands, and said to Zhao Ai: “Let me ask you—since you value Food Management Wu so highly, why didn’t you step forward to help her out of her predicament today when Lin Hong refused the marriage, as I did?”
Zhao Ai lowered his eyes and after a moment said: “I hadn’t thought of what to say.”
“I know your concerns.” The Crown Prince spoke bluntly: “As soon as Lin Hong spoke of taking plum blossoms as wife and cranes as children, everyone understood he was refusing to marry Wu Zhenzhen. To help Zhenzhen escape the reputation of being abandoned, one could only prove that her future was already arranged and had nothing to do with Lin Hong—moreover, this future had to be better than marrying Lin Hong as his wife. You must have considered stepping forward to request His Majesty’s permission to marry Zhenzhen, but you are an imperial prince. The principal wives of our dynasty’s princes are either chosen from families of merit and distinction, or selected from among imperial relatives or descendants of princes with different surnames. For someone like Zhenzhen, the daughter of a wine shop and teahouse owner, if you requested to marry her as your principal wife, it would be an open challenge to the imperial clan laws and dignity. If you only requested to take her as a concubine, being a concubine to the imperial clan would not be as good as marrying a court official as his wife—her status would actually be lowered, insufficient to help her avoid public ridicule. Therefore, only I could do this. You know as well that only I could restore the dignity she lost from Lin Hong’s abandonment.”
“But having her enter the Eastern Palace will make everyone in the palace think you’re preparing to take her as a concubine!” Zhao Ai said angrily. “Everyone knows that throughout history, palace women specifically bestowed upon the Crown Prince by the Emperor and Empress eventually became the Crown Prince’s concubines and future consorts.”
“That thought isn’t wrong,” the Crown Prince looked directly at his brother with equanimity. “I think so too.”
Zhao Ai’s anger flared: “So you’re not just helping her out of trouble?”
“I indeed need someone to help manage the Eastern Palace’s domestic affairs.” The Crown Prince said calmly. “The Crown Princess is inadequate to the task, and I have no mind for such matters. Zhenzhen is a very suitable candidate. Moreover… I am the heir apparent. Continuing the imperial bloodline is my duty—I need to have many offspring and will sooner or later be required to take concubines. For Zhenzhen herself, entering the Eastern Palace means she could become a consort in the future, which would also allow her to display her talents and achieve some merit beneficial to the state and family. As Father said, perhaps this is the best arrangement.”
“But that’s still being a concubine!” Zhao Ai said indignantly. “If she married me, even if I can’t arrange a proper wedding with six ceremonies now, I would find a way to elevate her to principal wife later.”
“You’d better abandon that notion early.” The Crown Prince’s eyes grew cold. “As my concubine, she could become a consort in the future. If you took a concubine as wife, that would be a crime subject to severe legal punishment, and might even implicate her.”
Zhao Ai was immediately silenced, knowing his elder brother spoke the truth. Not only could the Crown Prince’s concubine become a consort in the future, but if circumstances allowed, she could even be made Empress after the Crown Prince ascended the throne. Hadn’t both the current Empress Dowager and Empress started as concubines? But if imperial clan members took concubines as wives, they would indeed be convicted and severely punished by criminal law. So from outsiders’ perspectives, entering the Eastern Palace naturally had more prospects than entering a prince’s residence, and from the Emperor’s view, Zhenzhen marrying a prince rather than the Crown Prince would be a waste of talent.
“But Zhenzhen doesn’t like you.” After a long silence, Zhao Ai gloomily stated this final objection.
The Crown Prince immediately asked a question that left him completely speechless: “Then does she like you?”
After the evening meal, the Crown Princess again commanded attendants to serve Zhenzhen a orchid-scented bath, then have her hair dressed and change into a white sleeping gown. Shortly after, a middle-aged female official came to briefly explain bedroom matters to Zhenzhen, instructing her to serve the Crown Prince wholeheartedly.
After the female official left, the courtyard attendants asked Zhenzhen to kneel and wait quietly in the room for the Crown Prince, while they withdrew to wait under the gallery.
Zhenzhen had decided to serve in the Crown Prince’s bed tonight—half to repay the Crown Prince’s kindness, and half to use this to sever her bonds with Lin Hong, leaving herself no way back and preventing future lingering thoughts of Lin Hong that might drive her to seek him out. But now, seeing the night growing deeper with the Crown Prince possibly arriving at any moment, she couldn’t help but grow nervous. Thinking of the bedroom matters the female official had taught her, she blushed even more deeply, feeling she had dug herself into a very deep pit, and secretly regretted her decision.
Looking at the thin sleeping gown she wore, she couldn’t help but mutter to herself: This is supposed to be a wedding night—isn’t there even a red jacket? They’re making me meet the Crown Prince wearing so little. Then she thought: I’m just becoming a concubine—can I really expect all six ceremonies to be complete? The Crown Prince is probably busy with government affairs until late at night, so the servants below aren’t bothering with formalities anymore, just doing whatever’s convenient.
Thinking of the day’s events made her feel even more bitter. Tears gathered in her eyes and were about to fall, but she quickly wiped them away with her sleeve, telling herself: “This is all my own chosen path—I can’t blame others. Come, come, on such a fine night, I should drink a toast!”
There was a pot of wine and some pastries on the table in the room. Zhenzhen rose and walked to the table, poured a full cup of wine, and drank it down. She immediately felt warmth in her heart and seemed to feel much better. After waiting a while and seeing the Crown Prince still hadn’t come, she poured and drank another cup herself. She continued this way until after the second watch, when the wine pot was nearly empty. By then her face was flushed like peach blossoms, her eyes misty with intoxication. She suddenly remembered a song Xiangli’er used to sing, feeling it perfectly matched her mood of wanting to break all ties with Lin Hong. She leaned over the table, tapping its surface as she sang: “Having thoughts, they lie in the great southern sea. What use to send you gifts—a pair of tortoiseshell hairpins with pearl inlay. Wrapped and bound with jade cord. Hearing you have another heart, I crush and burn them all. Crush and burn them, scatter the ashes to the wind! From now on, no more mutual longing—mutual longing with you is severed!”
“Crush and burn them, scatter the ashes to the wind! From now on, no more mutual longing—mutual longing with you is severed!” She repeated these lines through gritted teeth, singing them over and over. The more she sang, the more exhilarated she felt. Zhenzhen’s heart grew much more comfortable, her eyelids gradually grew heavy, her voice grew weak, and she finally fell asleep with a smile on her face.
After sleeping hazily for a long while, someone suddenly lifted her up by both arms and gently placed her on the bed. Zhenzhen felt this and opened her eyes, discovering that the one holding her was actually the Crown Prince. She was instantly shocked and sat up abruptly, most of her intoxication scared away.
The Crown Prince sat on the bed’s edge, looking at her with a gentle smile.
“Your… Your Highness, why have you come?” she asked hesitantly, still somewhat confused from sleep and momentarily unaware of the current situation.
“Weren’t you waiting for me?” the Crown Prince asked in return, then continued: “Originally I thought coming to you tonight would be too hasty—we should choose a good day and invite some guests so we could properly greet each other. But the Crown Princess told me you felt today was a very good day… I reconsidered and thought, since the young lady is so bold, if I didn’t come, I would seem affected.”
Zhenzhen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, secretly giving herself two mental slaps.
The Crown Prince saw her cheeks flushed red, her breath still carrying the fragrance of wine, and smiled: “Are you afraid? So you drank wine for courage.”
Zhenzhen thought that at this point she couldn’t back down, so she said: “No, it’s because this servant waited for Your Highness until late at night and felt somewhat cold, so I drank wine to warm myself.”
Hearing this, the Crown Prince looked down at her sleeping gown. Zhenzhen was immediately greatly embarrassed, gathering her sleeves and shrinking back slightly.
“Hmm, I hadn’t finished reading the previous dynasty’s memorials that His Majesty wanted me to review, so I was delayed until now. I should have sent someone to tell you first.” The Crown Prince explained, glancing at the palace candle that had burned nearly halfway down, and said gently: “It’s too late—let’s retire.”
Then he slightly spread his arms and looked at her sideways. Zhenzhen was stunned for a moment before realizing this meant he wanted her to undress him. She blushed and moved closer, reaching out to unfasten his belt.
The Crown Prince’s belt was different from the female official’s belt she usually wore. She couldn’t get the hang of it—no matter how she tried, she couldn’t unfasten the buckle. Already nervous, she now felt even more awkward, with a layer of sweat breaking out on her forehead.
Seeing this, the Crown Prince unfastened the buckle himself. Zhenzhen lowered her head in embarrassment and said softly: “I’m very sorry. I’m not yet skilled at undressing others.”
“It’s fine,” the Crown Prince’s gaze drifted to her knotted sash, and he said very considerately: “You can untie your own.”
He spoke such suggestive words in such a refined and elegant manner, and he sat properly with a calm expression—Zhenzhen was momentarily speechless.
Seeing Zhenzhen sitting motionless, the Crown Prince leaned forward and politely inquired: “Do you need help?”
When Zhenzhen didn’t answer, he reached toward her sash, as if he really intended to untie that knot.
Zhenzhen let out a small cry and quickly shrank into the corner of the bed.
The Crown Prince laughed heartily, fastened his own belt, rose and moved away from the bed, striding to sit at the table.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Zhenzhen. “Taking you as concubine at this time, regardless of whether you’re willing, would be taking advantage of someone in distress. I won’t do such a thing.”
As if a great weight had fallen from her heart, Zhenzhen let out a long breath of relief, moved to sit on the bed’s edge facing the Crown Prince, and said happily: “The first time I saw Your Highness, I knew you were a good person.”
“Oh? When was the first time you saw me?” the Crown Prince asked.
Zhenzhen then recounted her first encounter with him and the Crown Princess inside the Lizheng Gate, adding: “At that time I had just entered the palace and didn’t understand etiquette. When I unexpectedly encountered Your Highness, I actually forgot to bow. All the attendants around me were bowing low, but I just stood there stupidly. Your Highness didn’t mind at all—you smiled at me and even bowed in return. I thought then that Your Highness was truly so kind!”
“I remember now,” the Crown Prince said with a smile. “However, that was just the first time you saw me. I first saw you even earlier than that.”
“Ah?” Zhenzhen was very surprised. “Your Highness had seen me before?”
The Crown Prince nodded: “The Royal Kitchen’s rear courtyard is separated from the Eastern Palace by only a wall. One day, I was reading in the pavilion behind that wall. After a while my eyes grew tired, so I walked to the railing to gaze at the distant scenery. Suddenly I heard a commotion in the Royal Kitchen’s rear courtyard. Looking down, I saw several attendants surrounding you, apparently wanting to know which residence you hoped to go to. They asked you directly: Crown Prince, Second Prince, or Third Prince—which would you choose? Then you asked back: ‘If I choose one, will you give him to me?'”
Zhenzhen laughed and covered her face: “I’d forgotten I said something so shameless.”
“I found those words interesting, so I paid attention to you and remembered you,” the Crown Prince smiled, then spoke seriously to Zhenzhen: “Perhaps you truly have a choice now. Today the Second Prince came to ask me to transfer you to his residence, but I refused because I knew you might not be willing to go. For now, continue as Food Management. If after we spend some time together, you feel I’m not too detestable and being my concubine wouldn’t be too much of a grievance, then I welcome you to stay by my side. If you think about it and still feel the Second Prince would be better, then I’m also willing to let you go to him.”
These words deeply moved Zhenzhen. She immediately walked before the Crown Prince and solemnly performed the grand ceremony, thanking him for treating her so well.
The Crown Prince gently supported her elbow, helping her up, and said with a smile: “Today your words ‘why choose another day when today is just as good’ quite had the style of your past boldness—just like ‘if I choose one, will you give him to me?’… Don’t let sorrow defeat you. Only when you’re so spirited are you truly yourself.”
“Sleep early, and come dine with me tomorrow,” he said before leaving. “You must gather your spirits—when it comes to food, I may be even more difficult to serve than His Majesty.”