Chapter 5
Chapter 5
My father did not hurry out to receive the new guests. Abandoning all pretense of courtesy, he turned a sour face on Madam Shen.
“My daughter is worthy of marrying the empress’s own son. She is not some consolation prize for just anyone to inspect and choose.”
Every Shen relative wanted to crawl into a crack in the ground. Not one dared raise their head. Madam Shen looked especially mortified. When she turned toward Shen Qi, however, he was staring into space, one hand pressed to his forehead as if his skull were splitting apart.
The Shen party dragged him away in disgrace through a side gate.
Of everyone who came that day, only the imperial family had observed the proper etiquette. The Crown Prince had not appeared, yet almost every important minister who could come had done so, making the importance of the proposal unmistakable.
And because this was a proposal rather than an imperial decree compelling the marriage, the Zhu family was still free to choose.
My father asked for my opinion. “Yuanyuan, do you favor your Crown Prince brother?”
Distracted, I nodded and gave a decisive answer that did not quite match the question.
“All right…”
My thoughts had plainly wandered elsewhere.
In my previous life, I had kicked and screamed until my family let me marry Shen Qi. My elders had resisted for a long time before giving in. Only later did I learn that the Crown Prince had already sounded out my family. He had intended to choose an auspicious day to propose.
The He family had delayed their proposal because they knew of his plans and courteously waited for the imperial family to go first.
Then Shen Qi saved me. I suddenly discovered love and decided I could not live without him.
The proposed marriage to the Crown Prince was never mentioned again.
He never chose another crown princess.
Later, he died unexpectedly.
After that, whenever I encountered danger or hardship, benevolent strangers always appeared to help me. I thought I was simply fortunate—until assassins attacked me and all those kind strangers arrived at once. They fought desperately to save me, and nearly every one of them died.
Only then did I understand.
Even as he faced death, the Crown Prince had remembered to make plans for me. He left power behind to assist me, guards to protect me, and wealth to smooth my path. Yet after his death, the court changed too drastically. With their master gone, those plans gradually came to nothing.
Far too late, I learned how deeply the Crown Prince had loved me.
Lan Qingze, that tight-lipped, taciturn fool.
When we were children, the empress often abducted my sister and me into the palace to play. We kicked balls, flew kites, and played hide-and-seek with princes, princesses, and other children our age.
The Crown Prince was several years older. Although he was only an adolescent himself, he seemed to belong to another world. Sometimes I saw him pass through the empress’s palace, walking steadily and showing no emotion while a long train of officials and servants followed behind him.
The empress often lamented that her son was far too mature for his age and not nearly as entertaining as the little demon I was.
The emperor might have shared her opinion. Sometimes, while he read, he let my sister and me play nearby. My sister was quiet and well behaved, so she read too. I was younger and had not yet learned my characters. Bored, I stared at the one white hair in Imperial Uncle’s beard, reached over, and plucked it out.
The venerable emperor glared so fiercely his beard bristled. Then he thrust me at the Crown Prince, who had happened to arrive, and ordered him to deliver me to his mother’s palace since he was heading there anyway.
The Crown Prince answered evenly, “Very well.”
When I made trouble, I was harder to restrain than a piglet. Yet I let him hold my hand and followed meekly all the way, because he had found my weakness with a single promise: he would make me the prettiest kite among all the princes, princesses, and noble daughters.
Children forget things easily, so adults often placated me with empty promises. To my surprise, a few days later, I received a kite the Crown Prince had made himself. It truly was the most beautiful of them all.
Even the empress examined it in wonder for quite some time. Her son had excelled from childhood at ritual, music, archery, horsemanship—at everything he studied. Apparently, even a kite he made on a whim surpassed the work of ordinary people.
It was a pity he remained so distant. He was not close to her. He was close to no one.
As Lan Qingze grew older, he became even colder and more reserved. He spent his days occupied with lessons and affairs of state. He had little contact with the children of the imperial clan or important ministers, or even with the other princes and princesses.
I could hardly be blamed for missing his feelings in my previous life. A man like Lan Qingze revealed only one or two parts of every hundred in his heart. So many people constantly surrounded me that I naturally failed to notice him. His other disadvantage was that he had appeared too early—before I understood romance, when I had already grown accustomed to his presence.
Without Shen Qi, this was how my previous life should have unfolded.
Distracted though I was, I remained sharp. As the imperial delegation departed, I noticed several people glance toward one side. I followed their gazes outside and found a carriage waiting far down the lane.
The Crown Prince had always obeyed every rule, every rite, and every ancient custom without the smallest error.
This time, however, it seemed he had broken the rules too.
In the end, he had come in person after all. He had watched from a distance—and I caught him.
I turned the corner and met a pair of pale eyes. Beautiful as carved jade, he stood beneath a tree and stared at me in surprise.
“Yuanyuan…”
I had always been irreverent enough to call him by name. I mentioned nothing about the day’s events.
“Lan Qingze, there’s something dirty on your forehead. Let me wipe it away.”
The noble, aloof Crown Prince obediently bent down. He did not expect me to peck the corner of his eye. My bright red lip color left a mark there. There had been no stain before, but there certainly was now.
“Just putting my mark on you, my dear betrothed…” I drawled.
Lan Qingze froze for a long moment. The man who was always restrained, whose face never betrayed joy or anger, slowly reddened at the tips of his ears. Beneath the calm surface, a thousand waves must have been crashing.
This time, I would find a way to keep him alive.