Chapter 72: A Mix of Joy and Surprise
With a cup of poisoned wine, the Crown Prince was finally free from his charade. He breathed his last amidst excruciating abdominal pain, and the only ones who saw him off on his final journey were the chief judge of the three judicial departments and a few palace servants.
Empress Gao channeled her grief over the loss of her eldest son into caring for the people in the Eastern Palace. The Crown Prince's crimes were serious, and the exile of his wives, concubines, and children was already a relatively lenient punishment, which could not be changed. The only thing Empress Gao could do was arrange carriages for the group, prepare warm cotton clothes and cloaks for everyone, and provide ample food. She also sent word to the yamen runners in charge of the escort, instructing them to ensure that Li and the others were well-fed and not to mistreat them.
Lingnan is too far and too harsh. Empress Gao would not interfere with the lives of Li Shi and others in Lingnan, as that would only harm them. However, she did not want anyone from her eldest son's branch to die of exhaustion, freezing, or illness on the long journey to Lingnan.
Former Crown Princess Li Lan was not involved in the poisoning case, and Empress Gao even arranged for her to return to the Duke of Dingguo's residence.
The old Duke Li Gong was sickly and had no choice but to do something for his daughter. His wife, Lady Liao, tearfully gave her an envelope containing ten thousand taels of silver notes and a box of small gold and silver ingots. The silver notes were all in denominations of one hundred taels, to be kept in case of emergencies to avoid disaster or save one's life, and the gold and silver ingots to be kept for daily expenses.
"You must teach your children well. Don't hold grudges. It's all the Crown Prince's own doing. If you and your children behave yourselves, the new emperor won't continue to be wary of you."
Emperor Yongcheng was, after all, the deposed crown prince's biological father, and he couldn't bear to exterminate this branch of his descendants. However, the future new emperor was only the deposed crown prince's younger brother. Once the new emperor felt threatened by his nephew's revenge and usurpation, he would show no mercy.
Li Lan understood that her mother was just afraid that she would spend the rest of her life in Lingnan. Thinking of her niece Li Huaixiu, who had also returned from the Prince of Fu's mansion to see her off, Li Lan held her mother's hand and whispered, "The Yin Kingdom has not been destroyed, and the two Hu tribes are also eyeing us from behind. The Emperor will definitely continue to rely on my elder brother and the others. If I am not mistaken, the Emperor has already decided to make Prince Fu the new crown prince."
The new in-law of the King of Qi, Marquis of Pingnan, Liang Bizheng, was indeed a talented commander, no less than his brothers. However, the Liang family only had one Liang Bizheng; his brothers were mediocre, and his sons had not yet achieved any significant military exploits, making them far less capable than their own family, which was full of talented individuals.
Liao shook her head: "Let's not talk about this, let's just mind our own business."
Li Lan looked hopeful: "Just as I predicted, Huai Xiu will become an imperial concubine in the future. If she is willing to speak well of me to the new emperor, I would rather return to the capital and become a nun who devotes herself to cultivation than suffer in Lingnan."
Liao turned her face away, unable to bear seeing the disappointment on her daughter's face: "She won't plead for you. Even if she wanted to, your father, your elder brother, and I would not let her ask. Our Li family is a family of generals, we only care about being loyal to the emperor and serving the country, and we will never get involved in the struggles of the royal family."
Upon hearing this, Li Lan slowly released her mother's hand.
.
The Crown Prince was first deposed and then killed. Some people in the capital were happy and some were sad, but no one dared to show it. After all, even ordinary people could guess that Emperor Yongcheng, who had just personally ordered the death of one of his own sons, was definitely not happy recently. Anyone who said or did something wrong at this critical juncture and ran into Emperor Yongcheng would definitely suffer an undeserved disaster.
The officials were all extremely cautious. Even Xiao Yu, during the morning court session, would respectfully lower his eyes, never speaking unless absolutely necessary, and avoiding any eye contact with Emperor Yongcheng on the dragon throne. After court, if any minister or colleague dared to congratulate him privately in a roundabout way, Xiao Yu would immediately issue a stern warning and impeachment. This frightened Xiao Rong so much that he followed his son's example outside the palace, and even after returning to the Marquis's residence, he dared not reveal his elation to his three sons.
Emperor Yongcheng's face darkened with the arrival of Mid-Autumn Festival, and so did the tension of a group of officials in the capital. In previous years, the palace might have been decorated with lanterns and fireworks for Mid-Autumn Festival, but this year the palace was eerily silent. In previous years, the curfew in the capital would be lifted for three consecutive days during Mid-Autumn Festival, and various markets would hold lantern fairs to attract people and do business, but this year the curfew was still in effect, and not a single lantern was hung in the markets.
As the Double Ninth Festival approached in September, Emperor Yongcheng suddenly summoned Prince Qi, Prince Fu, a group of dukes, marquises, and earls who had accompanied him in his conquests of the world, as well as veteran civil officials, to accompany him to climb a mountain outside the city. Emperor Yongcheng's laughter rang out again in the court, and all the civil and military officials breathed a sigh of relief.
Xiao Rong was also among those accompanying the emperor, and he was so happy that he walked with a brisk pace.
Xiao Yu, who was still a new official, was not required to accompany the emperor and was happy to stay at home to celebrate the festival with his wife.
After the holiday, the emperor and officials continued their duties. More than five months later, Luo Fu finally received another invitation from Princess Kangping.
For the past five months, Luo Fu had hardly stepped out of the Marquis of Zhongyi's residence, because all the official families in the capital were watching to see if the emperor would change the crown prince. Xiao Yu had once petitioned to depose the crown prince and was recognized by everyone as the crown prince's enemy. At this time, no one dared to associate with the Xiao family, lest the crown prince's position be secured and then they would seek revenge on them one by one.
If others don't invite the women of the Xiao family to their homes, Luo Fu, her three sisters-in-law, and her mother-in-law naturally won't go out of their way to avoid offending them. If this is the case with outsiders, Luo Fu won't even go to her sister's or her own family's homes, for fear of bringing Xiao Yu's "bad luck" with her.
Now that the Crown Prince has fallen, she can finally go out. Luo Fu couldn't wait to get on the carriage heading to the Princess's residence.
The old woman who was sent by the princess to greet the third wife of the Xiao family stopped in surprise when she saw Luo Fu again.
When Luo Fu appeared in the flower hall where the princess was receiving guests, Kang Ping looked up and his eyes widened. He then jumped up in a panic, pointing at Luo Fu's belly and stammering, "You, how come you're already showing? It's only been a short time!"
The two were intimate, having bathed in the hot springs together and even seen each other's bodies. So, Luo Fu had nothing to blush about when it came to her pregnancy. Touching her slightly protruding belly, Luo Fu first gave a slight curtsy to the princess. After being glared at by the princess, she explained softly, "Your Highness, I discovered my pregnancy after the Dragon Boat Festival, so I'm already five months along."
Although Kang Ping herself had no children, she had witnessed her four sisters-in-law's pregnancies and knew how to care for someone in a double pregnancy. She quickly gestured for Luo Fu to sit down. Once Luo Fu was seated, Kang Ping gave her shoulder a light squeeze, saying, "Such a joyous occasion, and you didn't even remember to send someone to tell me the good news."
Luo Fu looked troubled, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.
Kangping smiled, waved to dismiss the servants, and then looked at Luo Fu and said, "I should have been careful in the past few months, but more than a month has passed since that incident. I've been busy comforting the Empress Dowager and taking care of the Emperor, so I haven't had time to see you. Why don't you dare to tell me good news?"
Before seeing the princess's bright and relaxed smile, Luo Fu had been on tenterhooks. She only knew that the princess and the deposed crown prince were not close, but she couldn't be sure if the princess was grieving for her elder brother's death and if she would dislike her as much because of it.
"Don't worry, he's capable of committing the heinous act of patricide, I won't feel sorry for him."
Kang Ping also noticed Luo Fu's concerns and spoke frankly without any attempt to hide them.
The more ruthless his elder brother was, the more fortunate Kangping was that his elder brother had not inherited the throne from their father, because a ruthless and patricidal elder brother would not be much better to his own sister.
Luo Fu finally dared to laugh. She glanced at the circle of exquisite chrysanthemums displayed in the flower hall and asked curiously, "Does the princess only wish to admire the flowers today, or has she also invited the two princesses to play cards?"
Kang Ping scoffed, "Why are you being foolish again? Father Emperor just deposed one Crown Prince, so he'll definitely have to choose another one. Anyone with eyes can see that the new Crown Prince will either be my second brother or my fourth brother. Right now, they're watching each other's every move. If I invite my fourth sister-in-law over, wouldn't that be clearly siding with my fourth brother? Of course, my second sister-in-law and I have been at odds for a long time. With her constantly whispering in my ear, my second brother won't treat me well whether I go to my fourth brother's place or not. The problem is, my fourth brother is good at putting on an act. My eldest brother's body is barely cold, so my fourth brother won't let my fourth sister-in-law go out for social events this year, unless it's for some important business."
Luo Fu quickly covered her ears after hearing only half of what she said, pretending that she couldn't hear anything: "Princess, please be careful what you say. You may not be afraid of trouble, but don't you know how daring I am?"
Kang Ping couldn't stand her pretense, so he squeezed next to Luo Fu, pulled her hand down, and insisted, "It's just the two of us here, what can't we talk about? Besides, who else can I talk to if not you? Are you trying to suffocate me?"
Xiao Yu was a truly loyal minister, neither forming cliques nor vying for power. This was another reason why Kang Ping favored Luo Fu. Even if Luo Fu revealed her words to Xiao Yu, he would simply ignore them. In any case, it didn't matter to Xiao Yu who was emperor. He only cared about finding fault with the emperor and his ministers, and he would scold whoever was wrong.
Luo Fu coaxed, "I dare not let the princess keep it to herself, for fear that one day the princess will regret telling me too much and will come to silence me."
Kang Ping laughed smugly: "You don't have the guts. If I were afraid of even you, what kind of princess would I be?"
Luo Fu: "..."
With two less mahjong partners, the two could only sit down and have a long talk. Luo Fu stayed in the Marquis's mansion for five months, and apart from her pregnancy, there was nothing new to hear; she basically listened to the princess talk the whole time.
Kangping had a lot to say, including the Emperor and Empress's anger and sadness, the Empress Dowager's care for his elder brother's lineage, and the fact that Consort Li, the Prince of Fu's concubine, was pregnant.
"Fortunately, Consort Li was born before the Mid-Autumn Festival, which proves that she was pregnant before my eldest brother's rebellion. Otherwise, if Father Emperor knew that my fourth brother had gone to have fun with Consort Li right after my eldest brother left, he would definitely hold a grudge against my fourth brother."
Luo Fu: "...The princess knows quite a lot. I only start calculating these things after I get pregnant."
Kang Ping: "Do you want me to calculate which days you and Xiao Yu conceived the child?"
Luo Fu blushed and gently nudged the princess's arm.
When the topic of sex came up, Kangping couldn't help but tell Luo Fu about the new lover she had found in April: "He was a patrolman who happened to be patrolling over here. He was obviously a new recruit. When he saw me, he stared at me with wide eyes. I beckoned to him, and he came running over like a dog... I didn't expect him to be a virgin. Luckily, he was good-looking enough, so I gave him another chance to serve me in bed."
Luo Fu blushed deeply; the princess was having such a wonderful time!
"By the way, you two even share the same surname. It seems I'm just kindred spirits with you two who share the same surname, Luo." Kang Ping teased casually, looking at Luo Fu's rosy cheeks.
Just as Luo Fu was about to laugh, the three words "City Patrol Guard" suddenly popped into her mind!
The new recruit in the city patrol, surnamed Luo, was quite good-looking...
This time it was Luo Fu's turn to widen her eyes and stammer, "Princess, Princess, what's the name of this... this new recruit?"
Seeing her reaction, Kang Ping's smile froze: "Luo, Luo Song, is he your brother? I think I heard you mention before that your brother is in Xiying?"
Luo Fu: "...My brother was selected for the city patrol in February."
Kang Ping: "..."
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Author's Note: Luo Song is indeed the princess's love interest, but his path to the throne is not so smooth. He doesn't have many scenes in the main story. In addition, Luo Song has no effect on court affairs. Like Xiao Rong, he is more of a mood-maker.
100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~
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