Chapter 88 Spring and Summer.
The Empress Dowager's illness left Chu Heng and Daiyu feeling utterly exhausted. Fortunately, as she gradually recovered, the Emperor, out of consideration, refrained from taking any further action, giving them time to rest.
In early April, the fifth daughter of the Fang family got married. The emperor issued an edict to add to the dowry, giving the Fang family great face. The Empress Dowager, who had just recovered from a serious illness, was very pleased and her spirits improved considerably.
As usual, the Prince Duan's Mansion only sent congratulatory gifts; neither Chu Heng nor Daiyu attended in person.
"His Majesty has added to the dowry; I wonder if the Fang family is happy or worried?" Chu Heng said, collecting fallen peach blossoms in a silk bag as he chatted with Daiyu.
Daiyu picked up flower petals on the other side, thought for a moment, and said, "Judging from the Empress Dowager's expression, it's a joyous occasion."
The silk bag was full, so Chu Heng got up and poured all the petals onto the stone table. He carefully selected them, discarding the bad ones and carefully washing the good ones with clean water before taking them to dry in the hot sun.
“The Empress Dowager is delirious from her illness. She thinks the Emperor is frightened by her illness and will therefore not touch the Fang family again. That’s just wishful thinking.” Chu Heng turned around and helped Daiyu up. “I think she’s enough to make two pillows.”
Daiyu tiptoed to look at the flower petals drying in the sun: "Hmm, these are all we have for pillows. Pick some more and take them to the kitchen to have them made into snacks and soups."
Chu Heng smiled and said, "Okay."
The two changed trees, and Daiyu then said, "His Majesty's move is a delaying tactic. Besides, if he touches the Fang family, the Empress Dowager will really be in a state of life and death. He really needs to put in a lot of effort to come up with a proper solution."
Chu Heng shrugged: "I can't always be the one to take the blame for him, and I can't take the blame for everything."
When this matter was brought up, Daiyu sneered: "Does the Emperor think everyone else is a fool? Everyone in the court is shrewd; who can't see through him?"
"Why get angry over him? It's not worth it. He's the emperor, so he naturally thinks everyone in the world can be manipulated by him." Chu Heng raised his hand and picked a petal from Daiyu's hair. "When did this fall? It looks very nice on you. I'll have someone make you some peach blossom hairpins."
Daiyu looked up at him, her smile warming: "You have them on your head too. Since we're under the peach tree, we'll naturally be covered in peach blossoms."
Chu Heng leaned closer to her: "Let me smell, you still smell of peach blossoms!"
After the two laughed and joked for a while, when it came time to select flower petals, Daiyu said again, "The eldest prince and the second prince are growing up. In three to five years, someone in the court will surely bring up the matter of establishing an heir. I wonder if His Majesty will still be able to handle it so easily at that time?"
Firstly, there are quite a few who want to claim credit for supporting the emperor, and the eldest prince is no longer just backed by the Fang family. Secondly, he has the moral high ground, and the emperor wants to bypass the eldest prince and establish the second prince, but there is still a long way to go.
"Back then, neither of us was in the capital. We were just listening to the commotion from our fiefdoms," Chu Heng said with a smile.
Daiyu laughed and said, "This is going to be quite a spectacle!"
After all the petals were arranged, Chu Heng and Daiyu washed their hands and strolled slowly in the courtyard, basking in the sun. As they crossed the bridge, Daiyu saw the fish swimming in it and suddenly remembered something. She turned back and said, "Zijuan, yesterday I said I would make some wontons and cook them in the fish soup I had prepared. Did you tell the kitchen?"
Zijuan smiled and replied, "Your Highness, don't worry. I gave the order early this morning. The fish were caught in our pond."
Chu Heng chuckled upon hearing this, and squeezed Daiyu's fingers: "Are you hungry? Let's go back."
Daiyu smiled and said, "I'm not hungry, I just suddenly wanted to ask about the fish."
"You're always thinking about eating our fish, no wonder we're all afraid of you," Chu Heng said with a smile, gently rubbing her face.
Daiyu tiptoed and pinched Chu Heng's cheek: "Hmph, aren't you going to eat?"
Chu Heng took her hand, lowered his head and kissed her lips: "If the princess loves to eat, then of course I love to eat too."
Daiyu was taken aback by his action. After a moment of stunned silence, her face turned completely red, from her cheeks to her ears and then to her neck. She subconsciously looked at the maids and servants following behind her, only to see that they were either looking up at the sky or down at the ground, none of them looking at their mistress.
Even though she knew perfectly well that they had just witnessed their intimacy, Daiyu still wanted to bury her head in the sand and pretend that they hadn't seen anything.
"You..." Daiyu lowered her voice and twisted Chu Heng's arm hard, "You...you shameless!"
Seeing her hesitate for so long, Chu Heng thought she was going to scold him, but she only said such a light sentence in the end. He immediately laughed out loud: "How can I be shameless when I'm kissing my own wife?"
Daiyu's face was flushed with anger at Chu Heng: "You... you're making excuses! I'm not talking to you anymore!"
How can things be the same in private and in public?! Daiyu was both ashamed and angry. She stomped her foot, shook off Chu Heng, and left without looking back.
Chu Heng hurriedly chased after him to coax him.
The maids and servants behind them couldn't hide their smiles. At this moment, they dared not get too close to their masters, for fear of seeing something indecent again.
Even though they couldn't hear or see, they knew that it wouldn't be long before the prince and princess would be inseparable again.
Sure enough, by lunchtime, the prince and princess were as affectionate as ever.
They, as servants, had little understanding of the many trivial matters outside, but within this household, they understood one thing very well: the love, sweetness, and harmonious relationship between the prince and princess would never change.
...
April 1st was getting hotter and hotter, but the Empress Dowager was still wrapped in a heavy fox fur coat. The burden brought on by that serious illness would probably accompany her for the rest of her life.
Since the Empress Dowager fell ill, Daiyu had come to pay her respects to the Empress Dowager several times on her own. After discovering that the Empress Dowager no longer intended to make things difficult for her, Daiyu told Chuheng that he no longer needed to accompany her.
The Empress Dowager reclined on the couch, gazing out the window, and asked, "Is it warm outside today?"
Daiyu cautiously replied, "Today is cloudy, not as sunny as yesterday, when the sun shone warmly on people."
The Empress Dowager laughed and said, "Yesterday I said I wanted to go out and get some sun, but Shuangyun advised me not to go out, saying I should go out when it gets hot in a couple of days. But look, there's not even a ray of sunshine left."
Daiyu smiled and said, "It will only get truly warm in May, at which point the Empress Dowager will be able to go out."
The Empress Dowager looked at Daiyu, nodded and smiled, "Yes, when the Dragon Boat Festival arrives, you and Heng'er will come and watch the play with me."
“Yes,” Daiyu replied, bowing her head.
The Empress Dowager then asked Chu Heng, "Heng'er, have you been busy lately?"
Daiyu replied, "It's not that he's busy. The Prince leaves and returns at the same time every day."
"He's slacking off again, just like when he was in school." The Empress Dowager stroked her fox fur coat, recalling the past. "Back then, he wasn't feeling well, and he always used that as an excuse to skip class. The late Emperor didn't have time to manage him, and neither did I..."
The Empress Dowager did not continue speaking. She looked at the fox fur coat in her palm and thought of Chu Heng when he was young. Because of his poor health, he would wear thick winter clothes in April.
But at that time, the Empress Dowager was in very good health.
The world changes so much. Now her and Chu Heng's positions are reversed. The Empress Dowager suddenly felt a chill. Is this the cycle of cause and effect?
The Empress Dowager coughed a few times, and Shuangyun hurriedly stepped forward to massage her throat. Daiyu then brought over a teacup and said, "Empress Dowager, have some tea to calm your nerves."
When the Empress Dowager saw Daiyu, she thought of Chu Heng and became even more uncomfortable: "It's alright...it's nothing."
Daiyu noticed the Empress Dowager's evasive gaze, paused, and then slowly placed the teacup back on the table.
Once the coughing subsided, the Empress Dowager said, "You... step down, I need to rest."
Daiyu bowed her head in agreement, but after leaving the bedchamber, she frowned slightly.
What's wrong with the Empress Dowager? She seems afraid to face her.
That afternoon, the Empress Dowager fell ill again. Given that seven or eight people had paid their respects to her that day, even if the Emperor wanted to choose someone to blame, he couldn't blame Daiyu.
However, the emperor did not need to shirk responsibility this time, so no innocent people were implicated.
When the Empress Dowager falls ill, her sons, daughters-in-law, and daughters naturally have to attend to her at her bedside.
The next day, Chu Heng and Daiyu entered the palace together, but the Empress Dowager said, "You are all busy, there is no need for you to stay here with me. It is enough that the Empress and the others are with you."
The Emperor decided to send Chu Heng to the Ministry of Revenue. The princesses and Princess Duan only needed to come in to pay their respects as usual, and the task of attending to the sick would be left to the Empress and the concubines in the harem.
“When one is ill, one tends to overthink. Let’s go along with her wishes so that Mother can focus on her recovery,” the Emperor said as he left the Empress Dowager’s chambers.
Everyone agreed.
"Empress, Imperial Concubine," the Emperor said again, "you must serve the Empress Dowager wholeheartedly."
The Empress and the Imperial Concubine bowed and accepted the order.
Daiyu glanced at Consort Wu; with the emperor's favoritism, she was even more beautiful than the empress.
This was not a good thing, but the emperor did not think so; he was happy to promote Consort Wu.
The Empress Dowager's illness did not improve much by May. Fearing that the noise would prevent her from resting in peace, the Emperor decided to cancel the annual Dragon Boat Festival family banquet that the Empress Dowager held every year.
Chu Heng had no interest in inquiring about the Empress Dowager's mood, as he was busy with other matters.
Last June, the emperor issued three imperial edicts bestowing marriages upon the princess, and then said that there should be an order of seniority, ordering the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, and the Imperial Observatory to first arrange the wedding of Princess Yongkang.
The Imperial Observatory had chosen an auspicious date: the wedding would take place on the second day of the ninth lunar month this year. Afterward, all the wedding ceremonies would be handled by the Court of Imperial Clan Affairs and the Ministry of Rites.
Since the beginning of the year, the Empress Dowager had been ill, and her condition had not improved much until May. As her health deteriorated, Hejia privately told Yongkang that if the Empress Dowager's condition worsened before September, Yongkang would be delayed for three years.
Yongkang was quite open-minded. When Chuheng came over, she mentioned her fifth sister's worries and simply said, "Compared to those things before, if we really have to observe mourning, then let's observe it."
Chu Heng gestured: "Keep your voice down, don't let anyone hear."
Yongkang smiled and said, "Who could it be? Mother has been ill for so long, her influence in the harem can't extend that far anymore." She lowered her voice, "Now it's the Empress and Consort Wu vying for power."
Chu Heng frowned: "How did you know? Were you involved?"
“Why should I get involved? Let them fight however they want, it won’t bother me,” Yongkang said. “They’re the ones making a big fuss, everyone in the palace knows, I’m not deaf or blind.”
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