Chapter 44: Princess's Relics
Mingjiu was in high spirits and rode all the way to Xingqing Palace to keep his appointment with the kings for a polo game.
Today, the kings have made an appointment to fight with the Uighur prince. It is a grand event in Chang'an. Not to mention the princes and princesses, even His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been invited to come and watch.
After changing into his polo uniform, Mingjiu was full of confidence. He took out the gold foil bead flower, pressed it against his cheek, and tucked it into his sleeve. "Today, I'll let you take the place of the fairy bead. Now, see how powerful I am!"
With a whistle, the polo ball was hit high.
Amidst the dust and sand, Screech Vulture and the other kings galloped forward. Born outside the Great Wall, he possessed exceptional horsemanship, dribbling past two men at once, unstoppable.
The opposing riders exchanged glances, and three of them rushed toward him, swinging their clubs to grab the ball.
Mingjiu laughed loudly and instead of retreating, rushed towards the three people.
Just as the horses met, he pulled the reins. The horse under him raised its front hooves, supported by its hind hooves, and turned half its body to the right, barely dodging the person on the far right. With a swing of the club, it hit the polo ball on the ground.
The other two riders behind immediately caught up and rode their horses at the same time to attack him.
The four horses were suddenly entangled together, surrounded and blocked, making it difficult to break through.
The fight was intense, and the spectators cheered excitedly. The prince, sitting under the reed shed, also watched intently.
Prince Yu suddenly attacked from behind on his horse and hit the ball hard and far. It flew across half the course and was stopped by Prince Qi with one shot.
As the Crown Prince and the others in the audience were applauding and praising, the eunuch beside him leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Your Highness, the Princess of Changyi has arrived and requests an audience with you."
The prince was a little surprised. Xiao Fuyu was heartbroken yesterday because Princess Gao could not rest in peace. Why did he come here to find him today?
He had no interest in watching the game anymore, so he got up and went to see Xiao Fu Yu.
Xiao Fuyu was waiting at the porch of the side hall, his face and eyes red and swollen, obviously he had been crying all night.
"Your Highness..." Xiao Fuyu saw him, stepped forward quickly, took his hand, and burst into tears, "Your Highness, my mother...she died with her eyes open. I...I finally found out!"
The prince hurriedly helped her up, and seeing that she was crying out of breath, he looked at the female officials behind her.
Behind her, Su Wan was also crying like rain. She took out a thick double-folded letter from her sleeve and handed it to the prince.
The prince saw that the paper was printed with a gold-sprinkled peony pattern and the word "Gaoguo" was embossed in gold mud. It was extremely luxurious and was indeed the special letter paper made by Princess Gaoguo's mansion.
And what was written on it was the handwriting of his great-aunt Princess Gaoguo, with whom he was very familiar.
The harp and zither are in the palace, and all is peaceful and harmonious. This believer prays before the Buddha, wishing to recite Buddhist scriptures daily, to be a vegetarian and abstain from killing for life, and only prays that the Crown Prince and the future Crown Princess, Xiao, will marry soon, live happily ever after, and have a beautiful son and a beautiful wife, and many descendants.
Looking at these familiar words, the prince looked up at Xiao Fuyu, feeling dazed and sad.
Su Wan fell to her knees before him and kowtowed deeply, "Your Highness, the Grand Princess is obsessed with your marriage to Princess Changyi!"
Xiao Fuyu burst into tears, "My mother always thought... Your Highness and I would be able to get married this spring, but she never expected that things would turn out so unexpectedly. She left with hatred before she even saw the day I got married..."
The prince held her trembling hand and said sadly, "But I'm already planning my tour of the northwest, and I'll be leaving in less than two months. Besides, your mother has passed away, so what should I do now..."
Xiao Fuyu hesitated, wanting to speak but stopping himself, while Su Wan spoke anxiously, "Your Highness, there has always been a folk custom of marrying out of filial piety, often to fulfill the wishes of the deceased and to comfort the souls of their loved ones in heaven. Now the Grand Princess is unable to rest in peace because of this. In my opinion, she must have been unable to rest in peace because of this..."
"Is that so?" The prince opened his mouth silently, but only uttered these two words.
Xiao Fuyu raised her hand and tugged at his sleeve, tears streaming down her face. "Your Highness... Ah Yan, I really can't bear to see my mother die with her eyes wide open. In her life, the only person she cared about most was me... Why don't we discuss this with the Saint? If my mother were to die with her eyes open, I would never be at peace in this life... I would never be at peace in this life!"
Hearing her say this, and remembering the eldest princess's expression of being unable to close her eyes yesterday, the prince's eyes couldn't help but tear up.
He nodded silently and said soothingly, "Okay, I'll find an opportunity to discuss this matter with Father, the Emperor, and Mother, the Empress, as soon as possible."
At that moment, he was in no mood to watch the polo match. He returned to the reed shed, said something to the kings who were watching the game, and was about to lead his men away.
Just as he reached the edge of the field, he heard cheers from the side and the prince subconsciously turned his head to look.
Mingjiu galloped on his horse and swung his club with all his might. The two golf clubs next to him also hit the ball at the same time, and the three clubs passed each other in an instant.
Mingjiu's club hit the polo ball, which drew a long arc and flew towards the goal, entering the goal amid thunderous cheers.
Three horses passed by in a hurry. Mingjiu controlled the horse with his left hand and swung the golf club high with his right hand. However, King Qi missed the swing and the golf club went up due to inertia and hit his right arm through his sleeve.
Mingjiu screamed and quickly retracted his hand. Everyone thought he was injured by the golf club and rushed over to check.
Hearing his miserable cries, King Qi came up with his golf club in hand and asked repeatedly, "What happened? Did the prince get hurt?"
Mingjiu turned his wrist and it was obvious that his hand was fine, but he reached into his sleeve, took out the gold foil bead flower and looked at it, and screamed again.
The brilliant pearl flower had been beaten into a flat lump, its petals were crooked and its stamens were in a mess.
Mingjiu glared at King Qi with a bitter face, then spread the pearl flower in his palm and handed it to King Qi: "Damn it, compensate me!"
When King Qi saw it, he scoffed and said, "What do I think I am? I am just a broken pearl flower."
"This is my treasure, a token of my love!"
Everyone laughed: "If you're in love, then you're in love. What's the point of staring?"
"Oh, Prince Mingjiu finally got the Lingling County Lady's token of love after all his persistent pursuit? Is the most beautiful lady in Chang'an going to end up with the Uighurs?"
Amidst the booing, the prince, who was about to leave the sidelines, subconsciously pursed his lips. He glanced at the pearl flower in Mingjiu's palm, and a sadness flashed in his eyes that no one noticed.
King Qi cheerfully raised his hand to take the pearl flower: "Don't worry, I will find the best craftsmen in Chang'an to repair this thing of yours as good as new. There will be no mistakes..."
Before he finished speaking, Xiao Fuyu, who was standing beside the Crown Prince, suddenly cried out, "Ah!" Then he rushed forward, grabbed the broken pearl-foiled gold flower, and exclaimed in a trembling voice, "This... this is my mother's pearl flower!"
Princess Xiao Fuyu of Changyi often came to watch polo with Princess Gao, so the kings naturally knew her. When they heard her say this, they all looked at Mingjiu in surprise.
Prince Yu was so shocked that he stuttered, "Is this the token of love that the Grand Princess of Gao State gave to Prince Mingjiu?"
Mingjiu was furious when he heard this: "Nonsense! This is clearly a fairy bead..."
At this point, he hesitated again, then changed the subject and asked, "Why do you say this belongs to the Slap Princess?"
Xiao Fuyu glared at him with red, swollen eyes, angrily saying, "Just because this is my mother's favorite thing! When she met with her misfortune, she wore this set of gold-foiled pearl flowers as she went to Qujiang Pond. After she fell into the water, her hair became disheveled, and only one or two of the twelve pearl flowers on her head remained. How did one of them end up in your hands? Where did you get this flower? How could the Princess of Lingling County give it to you?"
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