chapter 5
There’s a certain kind of person in this world who, instead of rushing to claim their prey, prefers to savor the process of watching it step into the trap.
Zhen Yuting was that kind of person.
Even if she prided herself on being lofty and pure, it wasn’t as if the position of Crown Princess didn’t tempt her in the slightest. She just preferred it when the Crown Prince made her the object of everyone’s envy, the center of every whispered conversation.
The Crown Prince’s devotion to Zhen Yuting was enough to move heaven and earth. In summer he sent carefully stored ice. In winter he sent tribute-grade hand-warmers.
Zhen Yuting accepted every gift, but always remained polite and distant with the Crown Prince, as if she were deliberately keeping her distance to avoid suspicion.
If I hadn’t appeared, the Crown Prince would probably have gone on simping for her forever-unable to obtain her, and cherishing her all the more for it.
But I did appear. I was more like her than she was herself-the Zhen Yuting who buried her desires and calculations deep inside.
I knew how to please those at the very heart of imperial power, like Lady Boyang.
No matter what others might say about me, as long as she felt that I was bowing my head before imperial authority, meekly submitting to the Crown Prince and taking his favors as an honor, that was enough.
Zhen Yuting’s greatest foolishness was this: she knew how to hook the Crown Prince’s soul, yet at the same time she was slapping the faces of other members of the imperial clan.
After that day, with Lady Boyang presiding, no one dared gossip recklessly.
And I became the girl every household in the capital scrambled to invite to their banquets.
Whether it was polo or pitch-pot, poetry gatherings or flower arranging, I could handle it all with ease.
The days slipped by, and what did not change were the imperial favors I held firmly in my grasp-the Magnolia Earrings and the Jade Hairpin.
I wore them from summer all the way to the Beginning of Autumn-the day when the ladies of the meritorious noble families went to pay their respects to the Empress.
The Empress looked over my attire and smiled. “Hanyu is a clean, simple girl by nature, but she ought to have a few splendid outfits as well, to better show the dignity of the Marquis Mansion.”
I bent in a respectful curtsey and said, “Father often tells us that wealth is something outside the body, and that greed brings no benefit. He teaches us that rather than chasing what is expensive, we should understand what is suitable. Everything the Marquis Mansion has received comes from imperial grace; we keep that in mind at all times and would never dare overstep.”
The Empress was very pleased. “You are indeed as sensible as your elder sister said.”
When I left the palace, she bestowed on me a cart full of jewelry and accessories, and had the Steward Aunt pass on a message: “The young lady is at the age of blossoming flowers. She ought to dress more charmingly.”
Zhen Yuting had naturally gone as well, but according to the precedence of our families, my seat was placed above hers.
The Empress’s energy was limited. Faced with the same face, she would not waste time studying a second copy.