By the time the two of them sat back in their chairs, it was already dark. Meng Qi lit the palace lantern. Song Chengze walked to the basin in the corner of the room, gently wet a handkerchief, and handed it to Meng Qi. "If you like, we can go back next year when the peach blossoms are in bloom. There are a few peach blossoms on my farm, and there are also some in the stream, but I don't know if there are any peach blossom fish. If not, we can go to my mother-in-law's farm. Since they are both in Maoshan, they should not be too far away."
Meng Qi was taken aback when she accepted the handkerchief from Song Chengze. She hadn't expected him to be so thoughtful. He didn't ask any questions, but simply expressed his concern silently, which touched her a little. Furthermore, Song Chengze had just addressed her mother as "mother-in-law" instead of "the Crown Prince's wife" as usual. Meng Qi felt a sliver of joy in her heart. This allowed Song Chengze to acknowledge her care for someone as much as possible. When he achieved success, even if she retired, it would still be a good relationship.
Song Chengze sat down opposite Meng Qi, poured tea for them, and said softly, "After you told me that day, I asked someone to find out that the latest event in Prince Cheng's Mansion was Princess Cheng's birthday. However, after investigating, I found that my fifth sister-in-law never invited anyone other than her family to her birthday party."
Meng Qi gently wiped the corners of her eyes with a handkerchief. She was very grateful to Song Chengze for his thoughtfulness. He did not ask her why she was crying. If he really asked, would she say that she was sad because she thought about her past life?
Meng Qi wiped her eyes and gently wiped them with the handkerchief in her hand. "Have you convinced Prince Cheng?"
Song Chengze smiled faintly, "How is that possible? Of all my brothers, the ones who disdain to talk to me the most are my second and fifth brothers. My second brother is okay. Whether it's provocation or some other ulterior motive, he'll sometimes say a few words to me in private. But my fifth brother completely ignores me. Perhaps you haven't noticed closely. Whenever I say something in public, he never responds, let alone in private."
Meng Qi placed the handkerchief on the table. "Why? I've heard about Prince Duan's hostility towards you, but what about Prince Zhicheng?"
Song Chengze shook his head first, then said helplessly, "Maybe he thinks I'm close to the Crown Prince, and since he's also the legitimate son, he can't get that position because of the Crown Prince, so he's probably taking his anger out on me. He's just a moody person to begin with."
Meng Qi nodded. This was true. Prince Duan was a vicious person, Prince Jing was a smiling tiger, Prince Cheng was moody, and the Crown Prince was calm and collected. In addition, Song Chengze was shrewd and low-key. Looking at the adult princes of Emperor Jing'an, none of them was easy to deal with. How could the situation be described in one word? Chaos.
"Before we got married, during the few days I stayed at Kunning Palace, I unexpectedly heard a palace maid say that even the Empress couldn't control Prince Cheng. Whenever he was unhappy, Prince Cheng would dare to slam the table in front of the Empress."
Song Chengze nodded. "I remember one time last year, Fifth Brother got upset with the Empress for some reason and threw a teacup. The shards hit the Empress' forehead. The Emperor later discovered the situation and questioned her. The Empress lied and said she accidentally hurt herself. Because of this incident, the two palace maids in Kunning Palace who served tea were punished."
The Queen Mother had no choice but to give her only this one son. Even though she knew he was not the right material, she had to support him with all her strength.
"Since it wasn't you and Prince Cheng who proposed it, how was it done?" Meng Qi said.
"It's youth."
"Princess Fanghua?" Meng Qi was a little surprised, and then she remembered what Fanghua said to her on the Queen's birthday, in which she defended Song Chengze. At that time, she wanted to ask about the relationship between Song Chengze and Fanghua when she had the chance, because she was later confined to Hanyuan and forgot about it when she came back.
The emperor's health suddenly deteriorated last month and he has been exempted from several daily audiences. She no longer has the chance to enter the palace to see Fanghua.
Meng Qi was wondering if asking about Song Chengze and Fanghua's relationship was a bad one, and whether it would make Song Chengze feel that he wanted to explore more, when Song Chengze said dimly, "I am ten years older than Fanghua. Fanghua was initially raised by the late Empress Jiang. After Jiang passed away, my father established a new Empress Gao, and Fanghua went back to Gao's side to continue her education. I moved to the Prince's Residence at the age of eight, and I didn't live with Fanghua. It was just because I was raised by Jiang all the time, and after moving to the Prince's Residence, I always had to go back to visit her every now and then."
Meng Qi withdrew her hand that was about to pick up the teacup and turned to look at Song Chengze. Song Chengze was staring at the palace lantern on the table, as if he was lost in thought.
"Perhaps you've heard some rumors about Fanghua, but they're nothing more than her low self-esteem, domineering, and petty. Relying on her father's favor, she's arrogant and even disdains the imperial concubines. Sometimes, even the Gao family can't do anything to her. She's actually quite pitiful. Just remember this: no one who survives in the palace is stupid. Her outward sensitivity is just a way to protect herself. Maybe it's the wrong method, but as long as it works, it's fine."
"Fanghua has always had no one close to her. It seems like she only stayed with Jiang for four years. During those four years, Jiang changed five head aunts for her, and the palace maids and eunuchs around her were like a revolving lantern. I still remember that sometimes when I went to Kunning Palace and saw my father coming, Jiang would embarrassedly tell him that Fanghua had a perverse personality and no one could serve her. And every time this happened, Fanghua would always puff out her chest and stiffen her neck, and loudly refute Jiang at such a young age. This would give my father a headache, and Fanghua's willful habits would become known to everyone."
This was the first time Meng Qi had heard someone talk about Fang Hua. Whether in her past life or this life, Fang Hua was always another version of herself in her eyes, a self who was even more self-reliant and trustworthy than herself. And it was because of this trust that Fang Hua, in her past life, had married Song Chengze off to a distant land despite the Crown Prince's opposition when he conquered the country. It was said that despite holding the title of princess, she wasn't living a happy life.
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