Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The flute sounded again, playing a Song of Longing.
On such a joyous day, it was paired with so mournful a melody.
Those who knew would think the Crown Prince was taking a bride.
Those who did not might think the Crown Prince had passed away.
She had once been a noble young lady of a distinguished house. Who would have thought her methods would be so low?
Deng Yuchen was visibly affected. The burning palms that had just settled on my waist quickly cooled.
The desire in his eyes went out, replaced instead by a trace of pity.
Countless eyes among the aristocratic families were fixed on the Eastern Palace.
How could they not know that the Crown Prince had secretly rescued Qin Shuyu, who was supposed to be sent to serve as a camp prostitute, and hidden her in the Eastern Palace as a maid?
That the Crown Prince valued old affections was not a bad thing.
Those above would naturally turn a blind eye and let it pass.
As the Crown Prince’s lawful wife, I had long prepared myself to share my husband with other women.
But on my wedding night, my own husband was being lured into distraction by another woman.
If we did not consummate the marriage, by tomorrow I would become the laughingstock of the capital.
The Empress would not blame her own son for being frivolous.
She would only blame me for failing to hold a man’s heart, for giving a lowly maid an opening to exploit.
At that thought, I quickly made my move. I hooked my legs around Deng Yuchen’s waist and pressed myself closer to him.
I lifted my head, showing just the right amount of fragility in the candlelight.
“Your Highness, today is our wedding day. Could you give Fuyin some dignity?”
I spoke so plainly that Deng Yuchen finally came back to himself.
Back then, Qin Shuyu’s position as Crown Princess had been something the Crown Prince personally begged the Emperor for.
But I was the one the Emperor had personally decreed and announced to the world as the Crown Prince’s bride.
Behind me stood the Qinghe Cui Clan, a century-old aristocratic house of impeccable reputation.
If he disregarded me tonight for the sake of a mere maid, he would be slapping the Qinghe Cui Clan in the face.
Almost in an instant, Deng Yuchen made his choice.
He turned and pressed me beneath him, lifting the crimson mandarin-duck dudou that covered me, then cupped the pale softness beneath and teased it gently between his fingers.
A soft moan escaped me. My body arched on its own, my voice nearly melting into liquid.
“Your Highness…”
Slender hands shyly veiled fragrant skin; in the little courtyard, flower dew wept through deep spring.
Deng Yuchen’s gaze darkened. No matter how mournfully the flute wailed outside the hall through the night, he paid it no further heed.
The next day, I rose an hour earlier than Deng Yuchen.
Today, I had to enter the palace to pay respects to those above, so naturally I needed to dress with proper ceremony.
I sat before the mirror and let more than a dozen maids carefully adorn me.
The Cui Clan was already a house of bells and cauldrons, rich in rank and refinement, but it could not compare to the splendor and nobility of the imperial family.
In less than half an hour, my hair was laden with pearls and jade.
I wore a heavy, ornate vermilion court robe, matched with the Five-tailed Phoenix Hairpin reserved for the rank of Crown Princess.
Once I was dressed, even I nearly failed to recognize myself.
No wonder every lady in the palace was stunningly beautiful.
Wealth and privilege truly did know how to cultivate idle beauty.
When we boarded the carriage, Deng Yuchen took my hand of his own accord.
“Mother Empress is easygoing. You don’t need to be afraid later,” Deng Yuchen said gently.
Like any newlywed husband, his eyes were filled with tenderness that seemed impossible to dissolve.
I knew he wanted to show outsiders that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess were a loving, harmonious pair.
I smiled with proper grace and played along. “This wife thanks Your Highness for your concern.”
In the seat of honor at the Central Palace, the Empress had already been waiting for some time.
This was the first time I had seen the Empress up close.
Almond eyes, rosy cheeks, features graceful and dignified, as if time had left no trace upon her.
Speaking of the Empress, her story could indeed be called legendary.
It was said that when the Emperor was young, he went on an inspection tour to Huaixi and fell in love at first sight with the county magistrate’s daughter, who would later become the Empress.
Ignoring all opposition, the Emperor brought the Empress back to the imperial palace. Only after kneeling for a full day and night did he finally gain the Late Emperor’s consent and have her invested as Crown Princess.
From then on, the Emperor and Empress were loving and harmonious, and their marriage became a celebrated tale.
With the Crown Prince at our side, the three of us seemed quite harmonious.
After a while, the Empress told the Crown Prince to go pay his respects to the Emperor first.
“Leave your Yin’er here with me. Let her keep this old woman company for a bit.”
The Crown Prince understood that the Empress had something to say to me, and tactfully withdrew.
“Good child, don’t be afraid. I only want to have a heart-to-heart with you.”
I lowered my head and listened, answering softly, “Yes.”
“You are the Crown Princess personally chosen by the Emperor. Naturally, you have qualities that set you apart. I trust you as well.”
“That girl from the Qin Family is quite pretty too. A pity the Qin Family failed to live up to expectations and dragged her down with them.”
“Tell me, what do you think of that girl?”
The Empress smiled warmly, as if she truly were only chatting about household matters.
After a moment’s thought, I said, “His Highness the Crown Prince is kindhearted. He could not bear to see an old acquaintance fall into the pleasure quarters. That is only human nature. Besides, how could Miss Qin, a young lady raised in the inner chambers, have known anything about court affairs?”
“Since I have married into the imperial family, I naturally must put His Highness first and preserve the dignity of the Eastern Palace. Affection between men and women is common enough. In the future, allowing Miss Qin to become a Fengyi and remain at the Crown Prince’s side would also make for a fine story.”
Though Qin Shuyu was the daughter of a convicted official, the fact that the Crown Prince had saved her was enough to show that she still held some place in his heart.
Making her a maid for now was only a temporary measure.
Once the storm had passed and everyone was about to forget the matter, a new identity could be arranged for her, and she could become one of the Crown Prince’s women.
Therefore, her status could not be that of a nameless concubine.
Yet Lady Qin’s background was not clean, so she naturally could not be granted too high a rank.
That made the lowest-rank Fengyi the most suitable position for Qin Shuyu.
The Empress nodded and said approvingly, “It is rare for someone so young to have such tolerance.”
“For any principal wife, the first lesson in becoming a mother and managing a household is to have the breadth of heart to accommodate others. That you can consider Lady Qin’s future this way is her good fortune.”
After saying this, the Empress no longer lingered on the subject of Qin Shuyu and casually asked my age.
“In reply to Mother Empress, I am seventeen this year. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, I will be eighteen.”
“Your mother chose an auspicious day to give birth to you. That reminds me, my maiden family in Qianyang has a young niece who was also born on Mid-Autumn.”
My heart tightened.
So this was the real reason the Empress had kept me here today.
“I have heard that Qianyang has excellent feng shui and raises beauties just like the Empress. If Sister Wen comes to the Capital one day, Your Highness must let me meet her.”
“Her? She is a famous little troublemaker, spoiled so badly she fears nothing. Her father has been begging me these past few days to discipline her for him.”
The Empress’s words were disparaging, but the affection in her eyes was entirely genuine.
I probed, “Your Highness is too modest. A young lady is not like a man, who must strive for a princedom or a minister’s post. If she marries into a good family and lives a carefree life, that is enough.”
The Empress sighed. “Exactly. It is only that she is far too willful and has given my elder brother no end of headaches.”
The Empress paused, her gaze sweeping over me.
“If Miaomiao had even half your intelligence and dignity, I would have nothing to worry about.”
Was she planning to use me to place her niece in the Eastern Palace?
With the conversation having reached this point, I no longer had any room to retreat.
“Your Highness is busy managing the Central Palace. Why not let Miss Wen come to the Eastern Palace and spend some time with me? Miss Wen and I are close in age. I am sure we would have endless things to talk about.”
The Empress patted my hand, the smile in her eyes deepening. “What a sensible child you are. In that case, I will have to trouble you.”