Su Rong and Zhou Gu each sent a letter back, informing the Duke Residence and the Su Family that they had postponed their wedding date till December, advising all not to hurry.
Half a month after the letter was sent, Su Rong received a letter from Duanhua. The thick envelope was hefty in her hands.
Back at Feng Hall in the evening, while Zhou Gu went for a bath, Su Rong sat leisurely at the table, reading the letter Duanhua had written under the lamplight. The letter started with a cascade of complaints, accusing her of forgetting her friendship, not even sending a single letter. It accused her of contemplating ending their friendship and filled several more lines with similar reproaches.
Su Rong used to skip the fluff when reading family letters, but she didn’t skim through Duanhua’s. She may be reading fast, but every word was absorbed.
After a string of grievances, Duanhua changed the tone saying that she understood Su Rong’s busy situation, engulfed in work to the point where she dropped asleep the moment she stopped. She added that she knew of all this from the Lady Dowager and sarcastically remarked that even Su Rong’s letters to the Lady Dowager were too brief.
Duanhua proceeded to say her aim was to disclose a significant matter: she was getting married to the Crown Prince’s cousin. The letter detailed precisely how and why the Crown Prince proposed to her. The imperial edict had been decreed, and it was merely a waiting game for the coming year’s grand wedding. At times she felt like it was all a dream and had to pinch herself awake. This game of love indeed was happening to her after all.
She wrote, ’Oh my! He’s the Crown Prince’s cousin whom I’ve feared since childhood. Imagine, I am betrothed to him now.’ Moreover, she’d received gifts from him thrice since the imperial edict and he gave her trinkets to encourage her with the etiquette lessons; she, however, was already bored with such trinkets, but still found joy in receiving his gifts. This honesty made her study harder without feeling tired or bored.
She also mentioned that the Crown Prince confessed that he fell for her during their first encounter in Jiangning County, but considering their identities, one being the heir apparent of Daliang and the other, the Nanchu Princess, a relationship between them was impossible. He would rather bury his affections within his heart. Surprisingly enough, this revelation did not surprise her. She admitted to having feelings for him too. She suggested that half the young scholars in Jiangzhou harbor the same feelings for her. Had she not been betrothed to Zhou Gu and Ye Guixue, perhaps more people would have pursued her.
Additionally, she revealed that she had feelings for Zhou Gu too. Even if the Crown Prince candidly admitted his feelings for Su Rong, it mattered little since they were now even. She felt obligated to tell Su Rong about the Crown Prince’s feelings to prevent him from suffering in silence. At the very least, Zhou Gu knew that she was smitten with him once. It then set a standard for her future husband’s looks.
She wrote so much, it almost seemed that she poured out all her heart’s content. After pondering for a while on what a Crown Princess should do, she asked Su Rong for guidance since her maid has already taught her a ton. Given that Su Rong had managed to become a princess, it only made sense that she could become a Crown Princess. If Su Rong refrained from helping, she threatened to write to Zhou Gu, who theoretically, as the husband of the princess, should be able to help. If Zhou Gu also refrained from responding, she would seek the help of the old Duke and request him to scold Zhou Gu for withholding such trivial information.
It seemed that she finally realized her letter was getting too long as she paused for a bit. Then she went on to talk shortly about Qin Luan. She only briefly mentioned that Qin Luan had declined Xie Lin’s proposal and was expelled from the Eastern Palace, there after choosing to go to Nanchu. She believed that Qin Luan could never take Zhou Gu from her, no matter how much Qin Luan liked him. Zhou Gu’s heart belonged to her and only her. And though Qin Luan declined Xie Lin, she was still unsure about the type of man Qin Luan wished to wed.
Once Zhou Gu had finished bathing, Su Rong had also just finished reading the letter. As he walked over, he glanced at the letter disapprovingly and said, "She wrote you this thick letter. What on earth is she saying? So much stuff."
Su Rong glanced at him, "You can read for yourself."
"I would rather not," Zhou Gu stated disdainfully as he turned to walk away.
Su Rong chuckled, "She wrote about why the Crown Prince wanted to marry her, and there’s also something about you."
Zhou Gu halted, "Tell me."
Su Rong got up from her seat, "I haven’t bathed yet. Read for yourself."
Having said that, she walked off leaving the letter lying on the table.
Zhou Gu struggled for a while. Previously, he would make a point to stay far away from anything related to Duanhua - her letters, herself, everything. But now too curious to resist, he stared at the letter, then walked over to the table and began reading Duanhua’s letter.
The further he read, the darker his face became. Halfway through, he nearly tore the letter into pieces, wishing to pluck his eyes from his head lest he should read further. But gritting his teeth, he finished reading the letter in its entirety.
Once, done, he took a deep breath, thinking, why did she tell everything to Su Rong? He also knew about the Crown Prince’s affections for Su Rong but had never questioned or discussed it with Su Rong. Duanhua dared to bring it up!
She has no idea about respecting boundaries - the Crown Prince is her future husband, yet she’s casually discussing him. And talking about how both of them are in love with Su Rong! It’s infuriating. He suspected that Duanhua did all this intentionally. She knew he would read the letter and wrote it that way to infuriate him.
Especially when she dared to ask for his teaching on how to be a Crown Princess. She must be dreaming, he thought. As the princess’s husband, he was swamped with daily court duties and facing his workload at the Ministry of Housing. Duanhua was asking too much for learning etiquette; the Crown Prince even had to coax her with gifts regularly.
She needs to show some dignity!
Pouring himself a cup of tea and finishing it angrily, he turned towards his bed to wait for Su Rong. Once she returned from her bath, he intended to stress the negatives about continuing a relationship with Duanhua, who had the tendency to lead people astray, potentially hampering Su Rong’s intelligence being a princess.
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