Chapter 98 Part 1

Unlike yesterday when the princess’ wedding ceremony was held in the Taiji Hall to show solemnity and grandeur, today the emperor met the princess and her prince consort in the East Hall of Ziyun Palace, his private quarter. This setting was meant to convey that the imperial family was just like ordinary families, with loving, filial and kinship bond.

But obviously, this was little more than an idealized notion. The expression on the emperor’s face when looking at the prince consort told a very different story.

When the princess and her consort entered the hall, the newlywed couple stood side by side to perform their formal bows to the emperor. After instructing them to rise and granting them seats, the emperor’s eyes remained on his daughter. From the top of her head to the tips of her toes, and then back up again, his eyes brimmed with a mix of tenderness, concern, and a trace of helpless sorrow. It gave people the illusion that the emperor had counted her hair before she got married yesterday and was now checking to see if she had lost even a strand overnight.

As for the prince consort, Pei family’s young master, the big living who was sitting right under his nose, he seemed to have not noticed him at all. It was not until the prince consort stood up from his seat, bowed to him again, and apologized to the emperor for what happened this morning that he seemed to have just noticed the other person’s existence. He swept his gaze over Pei Xiaoyuan’s face, snorted from his nostrils and said with a smile: “It’s fine, it’s only half a day late.”

After saying this, he did not ask the person to stand up, but turned to Zhao Zhongfang who was standing beside him, and seemed to be chatting casually, but also seemed to be sighing out of emotion:

“Ah, young men nowadays are truly something else! They look strong and powerful, with the strength to subdue dragons and restrain tigers. But, alas, they seem far too delicate. A slight headache or fever, and it’s as though the sky is falling. Thinking back in the days when suppressing rebellion, Zhen took an arrow straight to the chest. Yet the urgency of the military situation left no room for rest. The army doctor barely had time to pull the arrow out, apply some medicine to stop the bleeding, and Zhen had already back on horseback and appeared in front of the soldiers, continued to lead them to charge into battle. Only then was morale stabilized, and with one final push, we seized victory that very day. If such a situation were left to today’s young men, what would become of us? They’d probably need a good three months to recover—and even then, they’d insist on having their new brides by their side to nurse them back to health! If that were the case, Zhen daresay nothing would ever get done!”

Zhao Zhongfang’s face was full of awkwardness. Seeing that the prince consort was still kneeling and leaning over, with his head bowed deeply, motionless, he hurriedly coughed to cover up, “Your Majesty led the troops in the past, and all the armies obeyed. Prince Consort Pei must have great admiration for Your Majesty and will follow Your Majesty’s example. Your Majesty, rest assured, Prince Consort is different from those dandies who only know how to fight cocks and ride horses nowadays.”

“Zhao Zhongfang, are you getting senile? Why are you mentioning Prince Consort? Of course Zhen is not talking about Prince Consort! Zhen was just talking casually!” The emperor said with an emphatic tone while laughing.

Xuyu couldn’t stand her father’s harshness, and sent away all the palace eunuchs who were still standing in the palace, leaving Zhao Zhongfang alone. She then came to the silent Pei Xiaoyuan and tried to help him up from the ground, but she felt that his body was as heavy as a rock, and she couldn’t help him up at all. It was obvious that he was unwilling to get up without the emperor’s order.

She gave up, then knelt beside him and told the emperor that he was attacked by assassin and injured by the Wei River the previous evening.

“He didn’t tell anyone and held on for a whole day. It was only last night when he couldn’t hold on any longer that I discovered it. This morning, I forced him to rest for half a day. Otherwise, he would never have been willing to delay even a moment. Originally, I was thinking of not having him enter the palace at all, but he refused and insisted on coming.

“Father, you know nothing and you still bully people!” She felt sorry for Pei Xiaoyuan, so her words were naturally a bit harsh.

The emperor didn’t care about the tone of his daughter’s words to him at this time. He looked at the young man kneeling in front of him, a flicker of surprise crossed his features as he fell silent for a brief moment. After a moment, he looked at the old eunuch. Zhao Zhongfang hurriedly limped over to Pei Xiaoyuan and whispered: “Prince Consort, please stand up! His Majesty bids you rise.” While speaking, he extended a hand to help him up.

Pei Xiaoyuan kowtowed once more to the emperor and then stood up. Under the old eunuch’s persistent prompting, he took a seat again. When the emperor inquired about his injury and suggested summoning the imperial physicians, Pei Xiaoyuan quickly explained that the princess had already called Imperial Physician Hu to tend to his wounds the previous evening and that there was no longer any need for further treatment.

“Imperial Physician Hu is an expert at testing poisons and treating injuries. With him examining Prince Consort, there is no need to worry too much. But Prince Consort still needs to rest more and take good care of himself! Never rely solely on the vigor of youth to brush such matters aside.”

The emperor’s old injury had never completely healed. Over the years, he had not taken any special care to recuperate, which resulted in the injury spreading deep into his internal organs, and now his condition was getting worse.

Thinking of this, the old eunuch kept giving instructions. Pei Xiaoyuan hurriedly thanked him in a low voice and said that he would be careful. At this time, the emperor asked, “Who did this? Do you know?”

Pei Xiaoyuan lifted his eyes and met the emperor’s penetrating gaze. He was about to rise and respond when the emperor motioned for him to stay seated. After a brief pause, he sat back down and cautiously shared his suspicions. When he finished speaking, he noticed a faint but palpable anger darkening the emperor’s face. He remained silent for a while before finally said: “Zhen now aware of this matter. You should take good care of your injuries and don’t spread it for the time being.”

“This minister obey your order.”

The emperor fell quiet again, then turned to Xuyu, his expression becoming gentle and soft: “Father has nothing more over here. You can take Prince Consort to De’an Palace and the Imperial Ladies Court, show your face, send the people away, and then you can leave the palace. Don’t worry about the rest.”

Yesterday, the princess got married, but Empress Xiao Liu in Fengyi Palace was unable to show up and attend because she was infected with an unclean disease. The imperial physician said that she could not get close to anyone. Today, the princess and her consort returned to the palace to thank the emperor and empress, so naturally, it was inconvenient for her to enter.

Xuyu complied and came out of Ziyun Palace with Pei Xiaoyuan. Under the guidance of the ceremonial officers and palace eunuchs, they went straight to De’an Palace where the Grand Empress Dowager lived.

The Grand Empress Dowager, dressed in ceremonial attire, sat to receive the greetings. As she was very old and in low spirits, after bestowing pre-prepared gifts of congratulations and exchanging only a few idle pleasantries, she began to nod off in her seat. The princess softly instructed the attendants to take good care of the Grand Empress Dowager before quietly withdrawing with the prince consort.

The old woman slowly opened her eyes, gazing at the two figures walking side by side as they gradually receded into the distance.

“A debt collector… that woman has come to collect a debt…” she muttered under her breath. In the cloudy haze of her dimmed eyes, a flicker of fear gleamed faintly.

After the newlyweds came out of De’an Palace, the only place they had to go today was the Imperial Ladies Court. The imperial womenfolk were all there to pay their respects, and in return, the newlyweds also thanked their elders, which was considered a formal etiquette for introducing the prince consort into the imperial family.

The ladies had been waiting for a long time, and while the newlyweds had yet to arrive, they gathered in groups of three or four to chat.

It was unknown what people were talking about behind the scenes about the fact that Empress Xiao Liu was unable to show up at the princess’ wedding due to a “serious illness” and was unable to receive the bow of gratitude from the newlyweds. Publicly, however, no one dared mention it. The topic was all about the grand wedding last night and the noticeable delay in the newlyweds’ arrival at the palace this morning. After waiting for a long time, the palace eunuch finally arrived to announce the arrival of the princess and the prince consort. The atmosphere immediately turned lively. Following a series of formalities, the princess and her consort hosted a banquet to express their gratitude for everyone. Customarily, the couple was not required to remain present throughout, but after having kept everyone waiting so long, and given the assembly of many elders and senior figures, there was no chance of their being allowed to leave early. They mischievously forced the newlyweds to stay, and everyone was eager to get the prince consort drunk.

Pei Xiaoyuan was injured and taking medicine. The imperial physician warned him not to drink alcohol. Of course, Xuyu could not let him be trapped here by the womenfolk. She glanced at Yang Zai’en who was traveling with her. Yang Zai’en was well prepared. He came up and bowed to everyone with a smile, saying that it was not that the princess and prince consort did not want to stay for a drink, but that they had just received another order from His Majesty, entrusting them with something and could not be delayed.

“Prince Consort and I are extremely grateful for the care and concern of all the aunts and elders. Today, we have something else to do and cannot stay with you. Next time when the elders are free and have a chance to gather again, Prince Consort and I will accompany you to have fun together.” Xuyu also apologized with a smile.

Since Yang Zai’en brought up the emperor to decline, even though everyone knew it was just an excuse, they couldn’t stop them and all looked at the Grand Princess.

It was unknown what happened to the Grand Princess, but she wasn’t as active as she was last night. She looked a little anxious and absent-minded this morning, and hadn’t said much since she came. Now she smiled and said, “Forget it! Since the Princess and Prince Consort have something else to do, let them go. Everyone, please don’t obstruct. Let’s just drink and have fun.”

Since she had said so, the rest of the people could only give up and send the princess and her consort out of the Imperial Ladies Court. When they were near the gate of the courtyard, the grand princess suddenly quietly pulled Xuyu’s sleeve and invited her to a deserted place nearby. She looked embarrassed and hesitated to speak. Xuyu asked her what was wrong. The grand princess sighed deeply and briefly mentioned her worries. It turned out that Lu Wenjun discovered that Chengping was beaten up by her last night. For some reason, her daughter’s temper had changed a little in the past two months, no longer as forward as before in seeking out that Hu guy, and showing a newfound sense of reserve. Last night, though she herself did not go, she secretly sent her trusted maid to check and found that it was true. Chengping’s face was bruised and swollen. When her mother came back, she had a quarrel with her and cried all night. This morning when the grand princess went out, she locked herself in the room and refused to come out.

“If I tell others about this, it will make people laugh, and I also cannot bother the princess.” The grand princess frowned, “But aren’t Prince Consort and that Hu person good friends? After thinking about it, I can only trouble the Princess. Can you talk to Prince Consort? If he has time, please persuade that Hu guy not to provoke Wenjun again. It would be best if she can give up completely. That would be a great blessing for my Wenjun!

“If that Hu guy is like Prince Consort, a devoted and steady man, then even if it means going to the Wolf Court, I will grit my teeth and accept it. It’s my daughter’s fault for falling in love with him. But that Hu guy is a dissolute scoundrel. How can I agree to it!” the grand princess continued.

Whenever she thought of that Hu guy, she gritted her teeth in hatred and regretted not taking advantage of the chaos last night to beat him to death with a stick.

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