CH 58

T/N: I am so sorry for messing up the schedule for these past few weeks. I am still a newbie at my job so I need more time to grasp things and that takes a lot of time. I will try to update as regularly as I can T^T

“You do not even have a Wangfei yet. What do you know about jewelry?” Emperor Longfeng mocked his son jokingly, “Now go back to you Zhangliu Palace. Don’t bother your Mother Consort and me.”

“Father Emperor, you shouldn’t say that. Although erchen does not have a Wangfei yet, erchen does have a fiancée.” Chen Wang said cheekily as he went to Su Guifei’s side, “Mother Consort, let erchen help you take a look at the jewelry that the Department of the Palace sent this year.”

Saying this, he stretched out a pair of restless hands and began to rummage through the jewelry box.

“Mother Consort, you are as graceful and noble as a peony. This hairpin is not worthy of your impressive beauty.” Chen Wang picked out a hairpin with a floral pattern and shook his head, “This one is not good either.”

“Why are the Department of the Palace’s staff so negligent nowadays?” Chen Wang put down the box of hairpins and frowned. Initially, he just wanted to pick out something nice for Jiuzhu, but upon closer inspection, he realized that none of these pieces of jewelry was suitable for his Mother Consort.

What does the Department of the Palace wish to imply by being so perfunctory?

“Erchen won’t disturb Father Emperor and Mother Consory any longer. Farewell.” He finally understood why Ming Xiaozhu wanted to roll up her sleeves and fight when she was angry. He also wanted to tear down the Department of the Palace now.

“Where are you going?” Su Guifei looked at him with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile.

“Going to take a stroll to the Department of the Palace.” Chen Wang suppressed his anger in front of his parents. “It’s almost New Year. Erchen wants to see how the people there are doing.”

“No need to go there, take this box of jewelry and give it to Jiuzhu.” Su Guifei suppressed a smile and handed the box of jewelry unsuited for herself to her son. “I have already asked your Father Emperor on your behalf to let you personally deliver these to the Ming residence and bring your fiancée into the Palace.”

“So much jewelry, how can a young girl like her wear it all?” Chen Wang took the heavy jewelry box from her. “Mother Consort, if you treat your future daughter-in-law so well, aren’t you afraid of her becoming spoiled and arrogant?”

“Your words make sense,” Su Guifei nodded. “Jiuzhu is the daughter of the Ming family, carrying the blood of a cold and arrogant scholarly family. If I treat her too well…”

Sensing something off about her words, Chen Wang quickly interrupted her: “Mother Consort is brilliant. If you treat her well now, there won’t be any conflicts between you two in the future. Erchen was shortsighted and did not think it through. Thank you for the reminder, Mother Consort.”

“Ming family let Jiuzhu be fostered in a Daoist temple for many years, so her temperament is different from that of ordinary scholarly families’ Young Misses,” Chen Wang hid the jewelry box behind his back. “Erchen heard that Daoism emphasizes karma. If you are kind to her now, she will be close to you, and the relationship between you two will be as close as a pair of mother and daughter. The other imperial concubines and Wangfei-s will certainly envy you.”

He had originally wanted his Mother Consort to feel that she was still the most important person in his heart so that she wouldn’t have any objections towards Ming Xiaozhu and they could get along well in the future. But unexpectedly, his words seemed to fan the flames and sow discord.

It was said that adjusting the relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law was something that a mature man should be able to do. Now it seemed that he still had a lot to learn in that regard ah.

Hearing her son chattering non-stop, Su Guifei finally could stop herself from laughing: “Alright, I was just teasing you. Can the fate between Jiuzhu and us mother-son be just explained in a few words? Now that you are about to marry her, as a mother, I only hope that your marriage will remain pleasant and harmonious, without any illness or misfortune.”

“Thank you, Mother Consort. Erchen will go and bring Ming Xiaozhu into the Palace now.” Chen Wang blinked at Emperor Longfeng. “Father Emperor, you can accompany Mother Consort and have fun. Erchen will take his leave.”

“Go.” Emperor Longfeng noticed his son’s eagerness to leave the Palace, looking almost as if he wanted to fly out immediately. “Let the Dragon Guards accompany you. Zhen has already announced that the princes are not allowed to leave the Palace. If you go out with them, it would not be easy for others to say the zhen went back on zhen’s words.”

His implication was that the old father, whose one word was worth nine sacred tripods1One word worth nine sacred tripods [一言九鼎] – This is an idiom (yī yán jiǔ dǐng) which suggests that none of Emperor Longfeng’s word could be taken lightly; each one was of enormous weight., was giving his son some face.

“Erchen will obey Father Emperor’s sacred command.” Chen Wang smiled and bowed before leaving the chamber. As soon as he stepped out of the door, he turned around and broke into a run. 

“Your Highness…” Xiangjuan didn’t even have a chance to speak before she saw him rushing out of Mingyue Palace’s doors. She looked at the eunuch beside her in confusion. “What’s wrong with His Highness?”

The palace maids and eunuchs shook their heads, speculating that he might have received something good from Guifei niangniang. 

They remembered that His Majesty had announced not long ago that niangniang was not allowed to give anything to His Highness. It had only been a short while, and now he received something from her in the presence of His Majesty.

For a while, they didn’t know who between His Majesty and niangniang doted on their child more.

“Your Highness, this little slave just saw His Highness Chen Wang leaving the Palace.” A eunuch said to Huai Wang: “Do you think he went against His Majesty’s orders and sneaked out?”

“You saw him leaving the Palace in broad daylight. Is that still called sneaking out?” Huai Wang was in a bad mood, “Among us five brothers, only lao wu2Lao wu [老五] – Translates to ‘old fifth’ and refers to Chen Wang, who ranks the fifth among them. is still unmarried. Perhaps Father Emperor graciously permitted him to leave the Palace.”

Moreover, even if he really sneaked out, Father Emperor would definitely turn a blind eye to it and forgive him in the end. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to ask Chen Wang why he could leave the Palace.

“Eldest Brother.” An Wang and Jing Wang entered his courtyard and sat down beside him. “We heard that the fifth brother was able to leave the Palace. We too want to…”

“No, you don’t.” Huai Wang interrupted them coldly, “At least, I don’t.”

Their previous actions of keeping advisors in the residence and sending spies had been discovered by Emperor Longfeng. If they were to leave the Palace now and something else happened, it would truly be like getting yellow mud in the crotch of the pants3Yellow mud in the crotch of the pants [黄泥巴掉进裤裆] – This idiom is used to describe a situation where someone unintentionally gets involved in a troublesome or difficult situation (imagine you got some yellow color mud in your crotch area and nobody can discern whether it’s poop or really just mud. So everyone looks at you suspiciously xD). It implies that once you find yourself in such a situation, it can be challenging to get out of it easily, just like trying to remove mud that has gotten on your pants.. Even if it wasn’t, people would still think it was.

Smart people should stay in the palace obediently these days without going anywhere or asking anything. This way, even if something happened, they wouldn’t have to fret over it.

For the past few days, he had been mulling over the various means used by their Imperial Uncles to compete for the throne during the late Emperor’s reign. And the conclusion he reached was that Father Emperor was right. The little tricks they had been playing were not even worth mentioning in front of those employed by those people.

“Father Emperor is too partial.” An Wang held back for a while but his heart felt uncomfortable. “Everyone was prohibited from leaving the Palace, so why can only Yun Duqing go out?”

Huai Wang squinted his eyes and looked at him. Living like this all these years and you just realized Father Emperor is too partial?

“Second brother, you should get used to it sooner.” Jing Wang, who didn’t usually like to speak much, calmly proposed: “If you’re unhappy, shall we go to the fourth brother’s chamber and have hot pot?”4T/N: Pfffft….. I second your suggestion, Jing Wang xD Go relieve your pent-up stress! That’s bad for health.

“Didn’t expect this from you ah, lao san5Lao san [老三] – Translates to ‘old third’. Jing Wang is the third son so Huai Wang calls him that..” Huai Wang put a hand on his shoulder. “You really know how to have fun.”

“It’s not like that.” Jing Wang quickly waved his hand. “I just noticed that every time we go to fourth brother’s place and eat hot pot, everyone’s mood becomes really good…”

“No need to explain, we understand.” Huai Wang nodded. “You’re right, let’s go to fourth brother’s chamber and have hot pot now.”

They didn’t waste any time and went straight to their fourth brother’s chamber. Reaching the courtyard gate, Huai Wang and his two younger brothers saw Yun Yanze drinking tea under a tree. There was an aura of detachment around him as if he could ascend to immortality at any time.

“Eldest brother, second brother, third brother.” Yun Yanze looked up at the three people with a faint smile. “The Palace banquet is coming soon. Why not have a cup of light tea and gaze at the clouds leisurely?”

Huai Wang looked up at the gray sky and heard the howling wind in the Palace’s alleys. He turned around and walked away.

What is wrong with him?

Who is he trying to disgust with his pretentiousness?

Seeing Huai Wang leave, An Wang and Jing Wang didn’t know what to do. So they could only smile awkwardly.

They forgot the reason they were able to be complacent in the fourth brother’s chamber in the past. It was because their fifth brother was there. Now that he was not, they… didn’t dare to offend this younger brother who had a good reputation among the court officials.

Not every prince was Yun Duqing.

With the New Year approaching, Jiuzhu bathed the white pony. Afraid that it would catch a cold, she even brought a brazier when she bathed it.

After wiping the water off the horse’s mane with a dry towel, Jiuzhu touched the horse’s head. It rubbed against her affectionately.

“Be good, be good.” The pony’s mane tickled her as it rubbed its head against her, making Jiuzhu laugh as she took a few steps back.

“Young Miss.” Panting, Chunfen arrived at the stable. “His Highness Chen Wang has come to pay a visit.”

“His Highness is here?” Jiuzhu was overjoyed. She took a few steps forward and turned to see the pony following her. So, she simply grabbed its reins and went to the front hall with it.

Chen Wang saw Jiuzhu leading a small animal. If it wasn’t for noticing the reins on it, he would have almost blurted out this sentence: “Your pet dog is exceptionally sturdy.”

“Your Highness,” Jiuzhu walked up to Chen Wang. “How did you leave the Palace?”

She had heard from the sisters that each one of the five princes was locked inside the Palace and was forbidden from leaving. How did His Highness manage to leave?

As if she had thought of something, her expression suddenly changed and she whispered, “Your Highness, you didn’t sneak out, did you?”

“What thoughts are in that tiny head of yours?” Chen Wang laughed. “The Palace is heavily guarded. The outer walls are thicker than houses and several zhang6Zhang [丈] — One zhang equals ten Chinese feet (尺/ chǐ) or 3.3 m. high. Even if I were given wings, I wouldn’t be able to sneak out.”

Fortunately, he didn’t sneak out.

Jiuzhu breathed a sigh of relief. “Did Your Highness leave the Palace for something important then?”

“This.” Chen Wang pointed to the jewelry box on the table. “It’s for you.”

When Jiuzhu took the jewelry box in her hand, he smiled. “Open it and take a look.”

Jiuzhu opened it and discovered that the box was packed with jewelry. She blinked and looked at Chen Wang, who was also looking at them. “Your Highness?”

“I came to escort you to the Palace.” He clapped his hands, and a palace maid and eunuch brought in a newly made palace dress with a multicolored cloak.

“Try it on.” He didn’t want to admit that he had specially requested the Clothing Bureau to make it for Jiuzhu. “The hemline of this palace dress is not long, so it’s comparatively more suitable for walking. Go change and see if it fits. If it does, wear it to the banquet in the Palace tonight.”

“Okay.” Jiuzhu handed the white pony’s reins to Chen Wang. “Wait for me, Your Highness. I’ll change now.”

He looked at the reins in his palm and then at the silly little pony that was not as tall as his legs. He reached out and rubbed its mane.

Not long after, Jiuzhu came back in her new clothes. She held up the skirt and walked up to him. “Your Highness, I’ve changed.”

The young girl, wearing a brightly colored palace dress with intertwined tree branches on the hemline, seemed more vivid to Chen Wang than any other scene in the world.

“Beautiful.” He stood up and walked up to Jiuzhu. The concealed pattern of intertwined tree branches7T/N: Just to let you guys know, these intertwined tree branches (连理 / liánlǐ) refer to conjugal union figuratively. Chen Wang should show his sincerity more openly ah. Jiuzhu takes everything regarding him at face value! on his sleeve was the same as hers. “Very beautiful.”

He took out a yupei worn by women from his sleeve and stooped to tie it at Jiuzhu’s waist.

Finished doing it, he straightened his body and looked at her: “Ming Xiaozhu.”

“En?” Jiuzhu raised her head and looked into his eyes.

“Don’t lose this yupei, it’s a good thing.” He pointed to his own waist, where a similar piece of jade was hanging. “We should seek good luck during the New Year, understood?”

“En, en. I understand.” Jiuzhu touched the yupei and nodded obediently. “Your Highness, don’t worry. I will take good care of it.”

Fearing that she would put it away immediately, he emphasized: “But you should still wear it to tonight’s banquet.”

Jiuzhu, who was about to take off the yupei, paused.

He smiled, hesitated for a moment, and reached out his hand to her. “Come, follow me into the Palace.”

Without hesitation, Jiuzhu placed her hand in Chen Wang’s palm and looked up at him with a smile.

The two hands clasped together as their fingers interlocked.

Outside the gate, Shen-shi stood under a tree and watched the smiling couple without taking a step forward.

Thanks for reading ٩(๑ᴗ๑)۶! If you found any typo or want to suggest some corrections, feel free to do so in the comment section or on our discord server. And if you like my translation, please consider rating it on NU and supporting me on: