CH 8

Pride was a small matter; starving to death was a big one. Tossing his pride to the winds, Lou Jing picked up the spoon, scooped up the fish to eat, and finally gave his uncomfortably empty tummy some reprieve.

“The effects of the medicine will wear out soon. You’ll have to endure a bit after that,” Xiao Chengjun said. He used the serving chopsticks to put some vegetables in Lou Jing’s bowl, then picked up his own chopsticks to eat.

Lou Jing looked first at the food in his bowl, then at the Crown Prince who was applying himself assiduously to his food. Xiao Chengjun, the Crown Prince, had actually deigned to serve him food?!

“You don’t like this?” Xiao Chengjun asked, noticing that Lou Jing was just staring blankly at his bowl. He picked up the serving chopsticks again, this time selecting some stir-fried meat to put in Lou Jing’s bowl. 

“I’m not a picky eater,” Lou Jing said, shaking his head. He spooned a mouthful of meat and vegetables into his mouth with one hand, holding the rice bowl with the other. An unfamiliar, warm feeling crept into his heart. The way the Crown Prince had served him food was a little awkward, as if he wasn’t used to doing this sort of thing often. Lou Jing mused to himself that no one had treated him with such care and concern ever since his mother had passed away. 

Xiao Chengjun was relieved when he saw Lou Jing eating well. He ate a few mouthfuls himself, then helped Lou Jing fill his bowl again.

After lunch, Lou Jing lay chest-down on the new bed, which was dressed in scarlet bedsheets. He was quite tired, but he couldn’t sleep. Xiao Chengjun had gone to Chongwen Chamber, probably to discuss the morning’s events with his Eastern Palace officials.

When the first Emperor Taizu founded the Yu Dynasty, he had bestowed many peerages and titles of nobility. At that time, there was a lot of unrest at the borders and internal strife within the country. He and his son, the Taizong Emperor, were both able monarchs, and the situation was under control whilst they were in power. However, the Taizong Emperor passed away before his time, leaving only a seven-year-old son, the Shizong Emperor, to succeed him. The Empress Dowager had to step in to rule as his regent, but did not know how to govern a country, which caused great chaos in the Imperial Court.

The vassal kings took advantage of this chaos and marched upon the Capital. The Shizong Emperor only lived because of the quick thinking of a clever old eunuch, who hid him in an empty rice barrel. Because of this harrowing experience, the Shizong Emperor was extremely against having women in power in the Imperial Court. At the same time, he was very grateful to the loyal eunuch who saved him, and decreed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was staffed by eunuchs, could thenceforth be considered ministers of the Imperial Court. The eunuchs’ clout and influence expanded greatly since then, partly with the help of officials close to the Emperor, and became the powerful ministry it was today.

“Shizi, why aren’t you sleeping?” Xunxia had come in quietly to refill the incense, and noticed that Lou Jing was still lying awake in bed. “Are your wounds hurting again?” she asked. 

“No,” Lou Jing replied. It was then that he realised that six hours had already passed and that the medicine had already worn off, but he still didn’t feel any pain.

“Shall I help you take a look?” Xunxia asked, walking to the bed after refilling the glazed porcelain incense pot.

“That would be good,” Lou Jing said, sitting up slowly. He shrugged off his robes and let Xunxia check on his back. After applying the ointment the night before, he felt that his wounds were much better, and that his back was no longer as tense and swollen as before.

The Crown Prince’s study was called Chongwen Chambers. It was where he took lessons from the Taifu* and other eminent ministers who had been appointed to educate him. It was also where he practiced his calligraphy and reviewed submissions from the Imperial Court ministers.

*T/N: The Taifu is the person in charge of the Crown Prince’s education.

The spacious study was separated into two equal parts by an ornamental bookshelf made of fine pearwood. A set of blue leather-bound books were displayed on the shelves, and the Crown Prince’s desk was situated behind it, on which the scholar’s four treasures – a brush, a stick of solid ink, an ink slab and paper – were placed.

“Dianxia, Shen Lian’s arrogance is getting out of hand. If he’s allowed to continue this way, there will be chaos in the Imperial Court.”

“No! Shen Lian is well-favoured by the Emperor now. Acting against him is sheer folly!”

… …

Xiao Chengjun sat silently behind his desk, listening to his counsellors argue. He didn’t contribute to the discussion.

“What’s the point of saying all this now?” A man made a frustrated gesture with his hands, cutting the other two off. “How Shen Lian behaves is not the point. What’s more worrying is how the Minister of the Right spoke up for Shen Lian today. Why didn’t the Minister of Left say anything? Also, people must have known about Shen Lian’s plans beforehand – why didn’t anyone submit a proposal to stop it?”

The man spoke impatiently and irritably, but had hit every nail on the head. Xiao Chengjun raised his head to look at him. It was the young Minister of the Crown Prince’s Affairs – Cai Yi.

The Crown Prince didn’t have high-ranking officials supporting him in the Eastern Palace. The highest-ranked official was in fact this Cai Yi, who only held a fourth-rank. 

“Not bad,” Xiao Chengjun said, nodding slightly. How Shen Lian behaved was of little consequence; his father Emperor had always favoured an eunuch or two. What was important was the attitude of the Ministers of the Right and Left. The Minister of the Right Chen Shichang had openly stood up for Shen Lian – were they in cahoots? It did not bode well for the Eastern Palace if Shen Lian had allied himself with the Minister of the Right. As to the Minister of the Left, where did his loyalties lie?

Xiao Chengjun was still deep in thought when he left Chongwen Chambers. As he walked solemnly into Bafeng Hall, he suddenly heard a girlish voice cry out, “Ah! It’s not as red any more!”

Shouldn’t his Consort be sleeping at this hour? Why was there a girl’s voice coming from his sleeping quarters?

Xiao Chengjun couldn’t help frowning as he quickened his stride and stepped into Lou Jing’s bedchamber. He walked behind the screen, and saw that his Consort was in a state of undress, revealing his back to Xunxia, who was reaching out a hand to touch his back.

“What are you two doing?” Xiao Chengjun found this sight extremely displeasing, and even though he did not realise it, his voice was frigid when he said this.

Xunxia jumped and pulled her hand back in fright. She had not touched Lou Jing’s body yet. When she saw that it was Xiao Chengjun who had come in, she immediately fell to her knees. “This lowly servant greets the Crown Prince,” she said, kowtowing.

“Dianxia, you’re back,” Lou Jing said, turning to look at the expressionless Xiao Chengjun. He smiled amiably, pulled his clothes back on, then got off the bed to bow to him. “I asked Xunxia to help me check on how the wounds on my back are getting along.”

Xiao Chengjun gestured for Xunxia to leave, then sat down on the bed with Lou Jing.

“Since you’re back, why don’t you sleep here for a while?” Lou Jing said, making to return to his chest-down position on the bed. However, the Crown Prince remained sitting on the side of the bed. Lou Jing couldn’t lie down; he was technically the wife in this relationship, and had to sleep on the outer half of the bed. If the Crown Prince continued to sit on the edge of the bed, how was he to sleep?

Lou Jing glanced at Xiao Chengjun. The latter was very good at keeping emotions from showing on his face, but his eyes still betrayed him. Right now, Xiao Chengjun’s eyes told Lou Jing that he was unhappy about something.

Were the Eastern Palace officials incompetent today? Was that why he was annoyed? Lou Jing looked at the soft blankets behind him, then glanced again at the stoic-looking Crown Prince. He smiled and moved closer to Xiao Chengjun. “I’ll help Dianxia undress then,” he said, reaching a hand out to undo the Crown Prince’s apricot-coloured robes.

Xiao Chengjun didn’t say anything. He was focused on the thin underclothes that were all his Consort was wearing. They were made of sheer white silk, fastened only by two buttons at the lapels. Quite a bit of his chest was showing, and his two attractive collar bones were in full view. Lou Jing was already his Consort; how could he casually reveal his body to a palace maid? When the Crown Prince thought about the scene he saw when he entered the room, his expression immediately darkened.

Whilst the Crown Prince was thinking these dark thoughts, Lou Jing’s lips curved into a slight smile. Taking Xiao Chengjun’s silence as consent, Lou Jing expertly undid his jade belt in a trice, freeing his outer robes from their constraints. The eunuch from the Ministry of Rites had taught him how to undress the Crown Prince before the wedding. “Is Dianxia troubled about the situation with Shen Lian this morning?” 

When Xiao Chengjun came to, his outer robes had already been removed, and his Consort in the midst of pulling the middle layer off. 

“Nn,” he murmured vaguely. He pulled his clothes out of Lou Jing’s grasp and put his legs on the bed. There was no need to take off the middle layer just for an afternoon nap. “Actually, what I’m concerned about is how the civil officials reacted today.”

Lou Jing was very pleased to see the Crown Prince lying down obediently. He put the bedcurtains down and flopped onto a cushion. “They’re just testing the waters,” he said, yawning.

“What did you say?” Xiao Chengjun asked astonishment, turning vehemently to face him. He found himself nose to nose with Lou Jing.

Lou Jing blinked a few times. From the look of surprise in the Crown Prince’s eyes, he knew that his assessment was correct. “The civil officials are all sheep in a herd. They don’t want to stand out, and they don’t want to cause trouble, so the best course of action for them is to push someone out to test the waters.”

Lou Jing’s grandfather might not have liked the civil officials, but he had thought it wise for Lou Jing to spend some time learning from them anyway. What Lou Jing learnt was various techniques of whitewashing one’s immoral deeds, and then ensuring the history books praised the said immoral deeds to the skies. 

Xiao Chengjun’s eyes lit up. This simple explanation was it – they had been making a mountain out of a molehill earlier. The Minister of the Right Chen Shichang had always been cautious, and when he spoke up, it wasn’t to help Shen Lian, but to try and give the angry Emperor a way out of an embarrassing situation. That he had helped Shen Lian was but a positive externality. However, Chen Shichang’s actions would definitely have ruffled the feathers of the more conservative faction, something he could potentially use to his advantage.

Lou Jing watched Xiao Chengjun’s face with interest. They were a hair’s breadth away from each other, and he could see every minute change in his expression clearly. It started out with the blank, serious expression of one deep in thought, then his dark eyes lit up, and the sides of his mouth turned up ever so slightly. As if he were a haughty cat that was excited at the memory of where it had hidden its fish jerky, but was worried that others would noticement this excitement, and thus only swished its tail just a little.

I really want to touch him, Lou Jing thought, stretching out his hand toward Xiao Chengjun.

“Reporting to the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince Consort, the Fourth Prince is here to visit,” Chang En said, his voice floating in from outside the room. Lou Jing jumped in surprise, and his hand froze in mid-air.

“Ask him to wait for a bit,” Xiao Chengjun replied, sitting up.

Lou Jing let his arm drop, then hugged his pillow unhappily. “I haven’t gotten any sleep yet.”

Xiao Chengjun gave him a sideways glance. “There was so much time earlier – what were you doing then?” His tone turned frosty in the middle of the sentence. He hadn’t gotten to the bottom of the issue of his Consort stripping in front of a palace maid yet.

“Mmph…” Lou Jing buried his face in the blankets, unwilling to rise. Meanwhile, a few palace maids entered the room to help the two of them dress.

Xiao Chengjun swallowed the words that he wanted to say. His Consort was still new to the palace; tonight, he would school his Consort on what appropriate behaviour in the palace was. 

Ordinarily, the visits from the Imperial relatives didn’t start this early, but since the Fourth Prince was already here, the Crown Prince, as the elder brother, could not possibly let his younger brother wait as he napped with his Consort.

Everyone was standing up in the reception room in Bafeng Hall, save one person. This person was the Fourth Prince, Xiao Chengzheng. He wore the deep yellow robes of an Imperial prince, and was sitting casually with the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other as he drank his tea.

Xiao Chengzheng was a tanned, solidly built man. He often rode horses and practiced martial arts under the sun. He didn’t look like a coddled Imperial prince at all – more like a flag bearing young general, in fact. When he saw the Crown Prince and his Consort come in from the bedchamber, he immediately stood up and bowed to them.

“Why are you here so early?” Xiao Chengjun asked. He sat down at the host’s seat.

“Hehe, I was too eager to receive Saosao’s* red packet, and so came here without checking the time,” Xiao Chengzheng said,  scratching his head in embarrassment.

*T/N: Saosao is how you would address your older brother’s wife.

Lou Jing gave him an amused smile and gifted him with a large red packet. This Fourth Prince was naturally close to Xiao Chengjun because they were both raised by the Empress, but his personality was perhaps a little too straightforward.

“Saosao, thank you!” Xiao Chengzheng said happily, accepting the red packet. He smiled the bright, innocent smile of a fifteen-year-old.

Before they could say anything more, a clear voice rang out from the door.

“Announcing the arrival of the Third Prince!”