BERW - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

After leaving the Eastern Palace, Shen Yuyao did not return to Yongkang Hall. Instead, she turned her steps toward Fengyi Palace.

Fengyi Palace stood behind Ziwei Palace, where the Emperor resided. It was very close, and not far from the Eastern Palace either, but that was distance measured in a straight line.

In practice, if one left Ziwei Palace and followed the winding corridors onward, it took less time to reach Yongkang Hall, where Noble Consort Qu lived.

It seemed the Emperor's intentions might be a kind of balance: he had given Empress Zheng a venerable position, while granting Noble Consort Qu a unique favor.

But to Shen Yuyao, this arrangement was simply ridiculous.

The Emperor was strong and healthy. When he grew old and could no longer walk, the imperial carriage would naturally serve him. Meanwhile, she, a princess whose frame had not yet fully grown, had to scurry along on short legs until she was exhausted.

"Princess, shall I call for a palanquin?"

Meixiang saw Shen Yuyao frowning and walking faster and faster, and knew she had grown impatient. She made the suggestion with great consideration.

Princesses and imperial princes had their own horses and palanquins; they could ride horses or ride in palanquins. After all, the Imperial Palace was simply too large. If one truly had to walk, sometimes half a day was not enough to arrive anywhere.

But small horses could not be ridden too fast within the palace; they were only a little faster than a running person. Palanquins, needless to say, were built for stability so as not to throw their noble occupants, and could be even slower than walking.

It was not that there were no large palanquins, but those belonged only to the Emperor, the Empress, and high-ranking imperial consorts, and even they could not use them at all times. The earlier clan banquet had been a grand occasion, which was why Noble Consort Qu could ride in a large palanquin; ordinarily she used a small one.

In a large palanquin one could roll about, and three or five people could sit without feeling crowded. A small palanquin was another matter. Not only did it sway unsteadily with a person seated inside, it was also so narrow that one could not even lie down for a while.

Shen Yuyao shook her head at the thought. She did not want to ride in such a tiny little palanquin!

"We're almost there. It is just bad timing; I expect we will have to eat a midday meal at Fengyi Palace with Mother."

It was the first time Shen Yuyao had chosen to visit someone at high noon, but she was in a hurry and did not want to wait for a suitable time.

She could wait, but someone else could not.

Meixiang chuckled softly. "Her Imperial Majesty the Empress often says she wishes the Princess would eat more meals with her and keep her company in conversation. If she sees the Princess today, she will surely be overjoyed."

Shen Yuyao knew very well that the Original Owner had been favored, but she always felt something was off.

The Crown Prince treated the Original Owner so well that he was willing to set aside the conflicts between their maternal clans and place the Original Owner among those he trusted most. The Empress was also willing to treat the Original Owner well, as if eager to regard her as her own daughter.

How absurd. Only novels would dare write a situation like this.

What kind of script was this, where everyone adored her and the whole household doted on her? It still felt strange.

Shen Yuyao shook her head with a faint, ambiguous smile. "I hope Mother will remain happy after seeing me."

Especially after she heard the news I sent ahead.

When she learned that Shen Yuyao had come straight to Fengyi Palace after leaving the Eastern Palace, the Empress, who had been lying down to rest because of a headache, rose despite her illness.

Her headache had come from being angered by her unfilial son the day before; in truth, there was nothing seriously wrong with her.

Fortunately, the Four Senior Consorts in the palace could all help share the palace affairs. If she occasionally stole a day of rest, no great disaster would occur.

"Your Majesty, the Seventh Princess came straight here without pause after leaving the Eastern Palace. His Highness the Crown Prince must have something he wishes to explain to you. Now that His Majesty's edict has been issued, His Highness surely understands the gravity of the matter and realizes that what he did last night was somewhat improper."

Tinglan, the senior palace maid at the Empress's side, spoke softly to the Empress, gently soothing her anxious heart.

But Zheng Wanwan did not feel comforted at all. Instead, she recalled the absurd events of the previous night, and her chest ached with anger.

"Understand? He understands not a damned thing! He is a blockhead. Does he really think that simply being born Crown Prince means he can sit securely in the position and have no worries?" Zheng Wanwan cursed her son. The Emperor had only imposed confinement on the Crown Prince this time, which saved face for the Crown Prince and for her Zheng Clan. "Fool, making a life-and-death fuss over a palace maid, giving everyone in the Inner Palace such a grand spectacle."

As Tinglan helped Zheng Wanwan finish dressing, she listened to the plain, unadorned words of a mother scolding her son and sighed inwardly. After all these years, Zheng Wanwan's character was still the same as when she had been an unmarried girl: outspoken and straightforward, strict in her demands on others and on herself.

With such a temperament in the palace, she truly would not even know how she had been taken advantage of.

"Your Majesty, the Seventh Princess has arrived."

A palace maid came from outside and said quietly to the Empress.

Just then Tinglan inserted a pearl hairpin into the Empress's hair. The many pearls and jade ornaments shone against one another in the light, truly a dazzling display of wealth and nobility.

After applying a light layer of rouge to ensure her sickly looks would not show before others, Zheng Wanwan rose and went to the main hall to meet Shen Yuyao.

Shen Yuyao had already waited nearly a quarter of an hour. She was not bored; she was gazing with great interest at the treasures displayed on the shelves in the main hall.

The most eye-catching was a jade ruyi scepter. Its whole body was a vivid green, fully deserving of the name imperial green. Its edges were very smooth, as though it had often been handled.

In the Original Owner's memory, this jade ruyi had only appeared after the Empress's birthday banquet this year. It was probably a birthday gift someone had given the Empress. Since ancient times, jade objects had been symbols of noble status and were exceedingly expensive. In antiquity, a jade disc was said to be worth a state. She wondered what price this jade ruyi might command.

What kind of background would one need to have the means to send it into the Empress's bedchamber and make her fondle it admiringly?

"Her Imperial Majesty the Empress has arrived!"

At a eunuch's announcement, someone entered from outside in informal dress of cinnabar and purple. On the skirt, an embroidered phoenix raised its head and cried out, extraordinarily magnificent.

"Does Yuyang like that jade ruyi? If you like it, take it. It is that ruyi's honor to win your favor."

She clearly liked the ornament very much, yet she could give it away so casually, speaking as if she did not care in the least. Was this the confidence of a rich woman?

Shen Yuyao turned and saluted Empress Zheng, shaking her head. "The books say that a gentleman does not take away what others love. When it comes to things one's parents cherish, a child should all the more not contend with them and make them sad. How could your daughter casually ask for something Mother likes? Would that not be unfilial?"

She spoke and behaved with great propriety, completely unlike her usual loud, rash manner. Zheng Wanwan was somewhat surprised. She reached out and poked Shen Yuyao's forehead, an intimate gesture, her manner exactly like Qu Yanyue's toward Shen Yuyao, full of deep maternal love.

"You child, you have studied for only a few days and already learned to spout great principles? What unfiliality? You merely want an object. Would Mother not give it to you?" The Empress waved a hand and motioned Tinglan forward. "Take it, take it. I will have it sent to your Mother Consort's hall."

Shen Yuyao was astonished. How lavish!

No one disliked money or treasures; Shen Yuyao was a worldly person, and she loved such things immensely!

Thus her impression of the Empress underwent a tremendous shift in an instant, from "there is something wrong" to "there is nothing wrong at all. If she has a problem, then it must be my problem."

Zheng Wanwan sensed the change in Shen Yuyao's attitude, but she assumed the jade ruyi had pleased Shen Yuyao, and thought no more of it.

"Today the Imperial Kitchens have made dishes you like. Stay and eat with Mother at noon. Have you sent someone to tell your Mother Consort?"

Zheng Wanwan took Shen Yuyao's hand and sat down in the seat of honor.

"Receiving Mother's great affection, your daughter would not dare disobey. After leaving the Eastern Palace, your daughter came directly to Fengyi Palace and has not yet sent anyone to inform Mother Consort."

"Good. Tinglan, go to Yongkang Hall yourself and inform Noble Consort Qu, so she does not worry." Zheng Wanwan spoke, and Tinglan assented and left together with the palace attendants delivering the jade ruyi.

She left with a group of people, and the hall became more than half empty. The Empress then sent someone to the side hall to order the meal, and the vast hall was cleared entirely.

This scene was truly familiar. Shen Yuyao understood that, like Consort Qin, the other party had some secret that outsiders must not hear and wished to tell her.

She had visited three places in the palace today and heard three secrets that could not be told to outsiders. Shen Yuyao thought, was this the special treatment of a favored princess? It was a little exaggerated, was it not?

Shen Yuyao still had a hunch that something was wrong.

Everything bestowed by fate came at a price. There was no love or hatred without cause in this world. Unusual favor must have a logically coherent reason.

"Mother, Imperial Elder Brother has something he wished me to convey to you. Please do not be angry after you hear it."

Shen Yuyao spoke first, seizing the initiative in this conversation and taking control of part of its rhythm.

Hearing the first part, Zheng Wanwan had thought nothing of it. But when Shen Yuyao uttered those last three words, "Don't be angry," fire already flared in her heart.

Often, when someone says "do not be angry" before speaking, they have already imagined that the listener will be angry.

And not just a little angry.

And reality was not far from that expectation.

Shen Yuyao did not even look at Zheng Wanwan's obviously changed expression. She opened her mouth and spoke a long string of words, essentially describing the Crown Prince's behavior in full, and also told Zheng Wanwan the entire plan for the Crown Prince to leave the palace for a private meeting.

Why did she say it? Naturally, to shift the blame.

If trouble comes later, you cannot blame only me, and do not vent your anger on me. I am only a minor princess; I cannot control anything.

Shen Yuyao was not worried that Zheng Wanwan would stop Shen Zhuocong and deprive her of the chance to watch this grand drama.

As Empress, Zheng Wanwan was in truth outwardly strong but inwardly weak within the palace. Judging from how she had been sent away by the Emperor at the end of yesterday's clan banquet, one could tell that Zheng Wanwan had little influence with that father and son of the Imperial House.

By rights, it should not have been so. Zheng Wanwan and Emperor Shen Chong had been a young married couple, supporting each other along the way. For decades they had been harmonious as husband and wife, never having any major conflict, a model couple who treated each other with respect. The Crown Prince was Zheng Wanwan's only son. She had placed high hopes on him since childhood and spared no effort in raising him, and the bond between mother and son was good. The father and son of the Imperial House ought to have held Zheng Wanwan in great respect.

But the trouble lay precisely in the fact that the Zheng Clan, from which Zheng Wanwan came, was truly at the height of its power. One Zheng Clan had already produced three Empresses!

Although one of those Empresses had been of the Former Dynasty, this only showed how extraordinary the Zheng Clan was. From the Former Dynasty to the present one, the Zheng Clan had stood unshaken.

In the Original Owner's memory, when she was small, a saying had circulated widely inside and outside the palace.

The Emperor holds the realm; the Zhengs hold half of it.

Shen Yuyao had actually considered this: Consort Qin came from an extremely lofty background and had been the Crown Prince's childhood sweetheart, yet she could only be the Crown Prince's Senior Consort. The position of Crown Princess had remained vacant undecided for three years. Could this matter be connected to the Zheng Clan?

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