Huang Zixia was stunned by such an undisguised reason, and after a long while finally said, “Perhaps… Your Highness should be more careful?”

“You’re wrong – this is the most careful choice. Since others have already chosen family background, character, and virtue for me, I only need to choose someone most pleasing to my eyes. Don’t you think?”

She could only say, “Congratulations to Your Highness on finding a fine match.”

He extended his hand before her, wordless.

Huang Zixia didn’t immediately understand what he wanted, but then turned to see Wang Ruo being guided by the ladies-in-waiting to the rear hall, and suddenly realized.

A small commotion arose in the front hall – apparently, the Princess of Qile had seen Wang Ruo rise to follow the palace maids to the rear hall and clearly understood Li Shubai’s choice. Her cup trembled, spilling hot soup onto the daughter of Grand Tutor Liu beside her.

She quickly grabbed her handkerchief to wipe Miss Liu, saying, “Oh my, I accidentally…” Before finishing, her eyes suddenly reddened and she couldn’t continue. As tears threatened to spill, she bit her lower lip and turned away, snatching the jade basin from the palace maid behind her, pretending to rinse her mouth while forcefully holding back her tears.

Huang Zixia had no time to mind her, hurriedly opening the brocade box in her hands and taking out the Four-Colored Glaze peony to give to Li Shubai.

Wang Ruo approached Li Shubai with lowered face, her cheeks tinged with a faint blush.

Up close, she appeared no more than sixteen or seventeen, her dress embroidered with lush begonia flowers, a yellow gauze shawl with intricate cloud patterns, six rows of golden hairpins in her hair, with swaying ornaments and jeweled chains. But such gorgeous attire made her seem somewhat immature, with an air of innocence about worldly matters.

She approached step by step, shyly lowering her head, not daring to look at anyone.

When she reached him, Li Shubai handed her the peony, his voice finally showing appropriate gentleness: “Your name is Wang Ruo?”

Her body suddenly trembled as if struck by lightning. Huang Zixia saw her grip her hands tightly, then raise her head in shock and excitement to gaze up at Li Shubai. Her eyes quickly gathered a thin layer of moisture, her whole being seeming to fall into a daze, her body trembling slightly, hands clutching her collar tightly, unable to speak a word.

Huang Zixia glanced at Li Shubai. The Penglai Hall stood on a high platform, and he stood by the window of the rear hall, sunlight slanting in from outside, illuminating him completely, making him appear like a divine being crafted from glass and jade. The crimson peony blazing in full bloom in his hand couldn’t steal even a bit of his radiance, instead making his graceful bearing and peerless beauty even more apparent.

Huang Zixia thought to herself that even if he didn’t make one fall in love at first sight, he at least shouldn’t frighten young women.

Li Shubai also noticed Wang Ruo’s strange reaction and slightly furrowed his brow.

Only then did Wang Ruo seem to realize her unusual emotions. She raised both hands to cover her lips, stammering in confusion: “Prince of Kui… it’s really… you.”

Li Shubai raised an eyebrow slightly but didn’t speak.

“I… I never thought I would be so fortunate, so, so today I’ve lost my composure, please forgive me, Your Highness…” she spoke incoherently, completely at a loss. Looking up to see Li Shubai’s lack of response, tears immediately sparkled in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

Li Shubai didn’t speak, but his expression had softened considerably. He handed her the Four-Colored Glaze peony and said, “It’s alright. I imagine you’re usually quiet and peaceful at home and must not be used to such an environment. I’ve startled you by my sudden intrusion.”

Wang Ruo nodded with tears and smiled, making a deep curtsy to him, then took the Four-Colored Glaze peony with both hands, holding the flower tightly to her chest, her face flushed like a newly bloomed begonia.

“What do you think of that Wang Ruo?”

In the returning carriage, Li Shubai asked Huang Zixia.

Huang Zixia hesitated before saying, “I’m just a small eunuch in the prince’s manor, I dare not comment on the future princess consort.”

Li Shubai ignored this, picking up a small glass bottle from the carriage and gazing at the redfish swimming slowly inside, not even bothering to argue with her.

Huang Zixia had to say, “Something seems wrong.”

“Seems?” He lightly tapped the glass bottle, his tone flat. “Before she saw me, that ease and composure was genuine – she truly didn’t care whether she would be chosen as princess consort or not.”

“But after she was invited in by the lady-in-waiting and saw you, she completely changed. That shock and joy was too intense, almost seeming unreal.”

“Indeed.” Li Shubai nodded, his gaze finally moving from the fish to her. “Also, when leaving Penglai Hall, we exchanged birth charts, and I found some concerning things in them.”

He took out a red paper from the small table’s drawer in the carriage, pressed it on the table, and pushed it before her.

Huang Zixia took it and looked at the writing.

Wang Ruo, the youngest daughter of the fourth branch of the Langya Wang family, was born in the second quarter of the hour of Mao on the thirtieth day of the intercalary tenth month in the fourteenth year of Dazhong. Father Wang Zhong, mother née Jiang, elder brothers Wang Jia and Wang Xu, younger brother Wang Fu.

Just a few lines. She read it, calculated in her mind, and then returned the red paper to him, saying, “This birth chart is fake.”

He nodded slightly: “You saw it too?”

“Yes. The intercalary tenth month of the fourteenth year of Dazhong only had twenty-nine days, not thirty.”

Li Shubai finally raised the corner of his lips, saying, “Not bad.”

“This date can be verified, showing the forgery is rather crude,” she said, looking at the birth chart again. “The character for ‘intercalary’ is slightly smaller, and according to normal birth chart writing conventions, there should be a space between year and month, but there isn’t here. The ‘intercalary’ character was added later, though I don’t know why.”

“Because the thirtieth of the tenth month is my mother’s death anniversary – inauspicious,” he said flatly.

She nodded: “So, to avoid this, they made a last-minute modification, hoping to slip it through.”

“It makes sense logically, but procedurally there are more doubts,” he pressed his finger on the red paper, his expression cold. “Birth charts must first be verified by the Grand Astrologer. If he had seen the thirtieth of the tenth month, he would certainly have pointed out it was my mother’s death anniversary and disqualified her. So even if someone helped her forge it, they wouldn’t have made such a careless modification resulting in such a major error. If the chart submitted originally showed the thirtieth of the intercalary tenth month, the Grand Astrologer would have immediately discovered that date didn’t exist when determining the auspiciousness of each candidate’s birth date, and this chart would never have appeared before me.”

“So this Wang Ruo might not have been among the original candidates at all, never went through the verification process, yet ended up standing before you,” Huang Zixia speculated. “Perhaps because she’s the Empress’s clan sister, the Empress specially arranged for her to bypass all the complicated procedures.”

“Perhaps. Though I’m not worried about Wang Ruo herself – she’s just a pawn. What concerns me is who sent her to me and what’s hidden behind this.” Li Shubai pondered for a long while before finally saying slowly, “Perhaps, like a snake in the grass, this consort selection has a great connection to that cursed paper I received years ago.”

Huang Zixia nodded, recalling Wang Ruo’s shocked expression upon seeing Li Shubai and her shy, tearful smile. As a woman, she felt those emotions were far beyond what a mere pawn could possess. But exactly what it meant, she couldn’t be sure now.

Seeing her silent contemplation, Li Shubai said, “It seems regarding my marriage, the situation you face will be much more complex.”

“The more complex the inside story, the more flaws it will reveal, giving us more threads to grasp. So complexity isn’t a bad thing,” Huang Zixia said.

Li Shubai gazed at her. Her face showed not a trace of hesitation, calm and quiet – this was a confidence that unconsciously emanated from someone who fully understood their abilities, beyond anyone’s questioning. He felt something in his heart flutter slightly, making him unconsciously unable to look directly at her, forcing him to turn away and lift the carriage curtain to look back as a distraction.

The consort selection had ended, the young ladies returning to their homes, the carriages leaving Daming Palace and entering Chang’an City.

Last year’s dead grass still lined the road, this year’s new grass only two or three inches tall, patches of green mixed among the withered yellow across the hills. When the wind blew, layers of grey-yellow and tender green slowly alternated.

Following behind them was the Langya Wang family’s carriage, an old servant driving two sturdy mixed-breed horses at an unhurried pace.

He lowered the curtain and said, “The Wang family’s carriage is right behind.”

Huang Zixia thought for a moment, stood up, and opened the carriage door, saying, “When we reach the intersection ahead, I’ll get off first.”

“What’s the hurry? I haven’t set a time limit.”

“Of course, I’m in a hurry – the sooner I can return to Shu the better!” As she spoke, seeing they had reached the intersection, she jumped down as the carriage slowed to make the turn.

Li Shubai looked through the curtain and saw her stumble but quickly steadied herself, then lowered his head to look at the small red fish in his hand.

Huang Zixia watched the Prince of Kui’s carriage head toward Yongjia Ward while she turned toward Anxing Ward.

Sure enough, the Wang family’s carriage slowly stopped beside her, and a middle-aged woman lifted the curtain and asked, “Aren’t you the little eunuch who serves Prince of Kui? Where are you heading?”

She looked up and smiled at her: “Thank you for asking, ma’am. I’m going to the Western Market to buy some things.”

The woman turned back to speak with someone in the carriage for a few words, then smiled, “We’re going to Guangde Ward, right next to the Western Market. If the little public servant doesn’t mind, we can give you a ride. What do you think?”

Huang Zixia declined: “That wouldn’t be proper, how could I ride in the same carriage as noble persons…”

“Oh my, we’ll soon be one family, and you serve the Prince – we’ll have many chances to meet,” the woman opened the door, smiling with crinkled eyes, appearing kind as she insisted Huang Zixia get in without taking no for an answer.

After boarding, Huang Zixia saw Wang Ruo indeed inside. She quickly greeted the future princess consort and thanked the woman. The woman appeared to be in her forties but possessed a particular graceful charm – though she had some wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, they only added to her allure, suggesting she must have been quite beautiful in her youth.

Huang Zixia sat near the door, secretly glancing at Wang Ruo from the corner of her eye. Her posture was very elegant, hands folded lightly on her left leg. Under the wide sleeves of her lotus-colored silk dress, her delicate hands showed – slender and beautiful palms with snow-white fingertips and pink nails perfectly shaped into rounds.

Looking at those hands, Huang Zixia thought about how back in Shu Prefecture, though she was the governor’s daughter, she had only wanted to go horseback riding and spring outings with her brother and Yu Xuan, even playing polo and football more wildly than the men – when had she ever taken such care of her hands?

Lost in thought, she suddenly heard the older woman ask her: “Has the little public servant been serving His Highness for long?”

She quickly shook her head, saying, “Only for a few days. Previously other eunuchs were serving him, but unfortunately, they all fell ill recently, so I was temporarily assigned to serve for a few days.”

“Even so, the little public servant must be reliable to earn His Highness’s trust,” the woman smiled and probed further. “Then the little public servant must know His Highness’s daily habits?”

“Daily habits… I don’t know them particularly well,” she said honestly. “I’m clumsy and not good at serving people, only occasionally accompanying His Highness when he goes out.”

“But you’re still one of his attendants, you must know well,” the woman’s eyes crinkled with her smile. “Little public servant, tell us, what colors does Prince of Kui like, what flavors does he prefer to eat, and what kind of temperament do his serving maids usually have?”

Huang Zixia suddenly found herself in an unprecedentedly difficult situation: “Prince of Kui… doesn’t like people following him around, so he prefers to be alone, as for serving maids…”

“Nanny,” Wang Ruo finally couldn’t bear it and called softly.

Huang Zixia then noticed she had nearly buried her face in her clothes, her blushing cheeks like light drunkenness, indescribably enchanting.

“Oh my, our young lady really – you already have the position of princess consort, it’s only right to learn about His Highness early, isn’t it?” the woman quickly hugged Wang Ruo’s shoulders and smiled.

Huang Zixia finally got a chance to say, “Young lady need not worry. The Prince of Kui is very easy to get along with, and since you’re a daughter of the Langya Wang family and blessed with such beauty since His Highness chose you at first sight among so many, he must treasure you like a precious jewel, and stay with you until your hair turns white.”

Wang Ruo raised her eyes to look at her and said softly, “Thank you, little public servant. I hope… it will be as you say.” As she spoke, a stiff smile appeared at the corners of her lips, her face covered with another layer of anxiety. “I… when I saw His Highness, I completely didn’t know what to do, even my walking was stiff… you saw it too. I think appearing like that in the Prince of Kui’s eyes, he must think I was foolish, and then I got more and more nervous, afraid he wouldn’t be satisfied with me, but I didn’t know what I should do, even my back was sweating…”

Hearing her growing more anxious as she spoke, Huang Zixia hurried to comfort her: “Don’t worry, His Highness won’t mind. He will surely understand you.”

The woman immediately agreed: “Yes, marrying Prince of Kui is the dream of so many young ladies in the capital. Our young lady has admired His Highness since childhood – the little public servant must understand this anxious heart.”

Huang Zixia nodded: “Yes, anyone with eyes can see it.”

Wang Ruo took a deep breath, then said softly, “Thank you.”

After that, she didn’t say another word.