Chapter 14
On the other side, the eldest princess had taken the medicine and was slowly eating the candied fruit. When she saw her coming, she asked the servants to bring a plate of cakes and put it next to her.
"You two go talk outside! I want to talk to Qingning."
Prince Shou smiled and stood up, taking Cui Hu out. Before leaving, he turned back to look at her. Yue Qingning didn't dare to raise her eyes, pretending to look at the food on the plate and didn't look back.
After this, the eldest princess understood the situation without even asking, and smiled and waved to her to come over.
Yue Qingning had no choice but to sit down on the edge of the bed again, and she held his hand.
"Qingning, every time I see you I always think of your great uncle. You two always give me a similar feeling."
She paused, then smiled as if she remembered something.
"Of course! You're much more beautiful than your great-uncle! He's not even one ten-thousandth as good as you. He's a straightforward person, and you Zhong family members are all like that! Your mother is the same. I told her not to worry, but a lady of her age still has to personally oversee my medicine."
Only then did Yue Qingning realize where her mother had gone. No wonder she hadn't seen her since she entered the mansion.
"Grandma's health is important, and there's not much I can do to help my mother. I feel at ease when I can do these things."
Seeing that she was still so unfamiliar with speaking polite words, the eldest princess smiled and shook her head.
She's grown up!
Although she was not very comfortable every time she came before, she was not as awkward as today. She used to ask her about her uncle and discuss poetry and songs with her, but now she dare not ask them anymore.
Is it because I have grown up or because I have thought more deeply?
"The last time you came was at my birthday party. We had a long conversation. Now that you're finally here, do you want to hear more about your great-uncle?"
Yue Qingning naturally thought about it. As long as it didn't involve the royal family's affairs, she was extremely curious about the story between the eldest princess and her uncle.
The princess noticed the renewed spirit in her eyes and said with a smile, "You little girl! All you know is to envy other people's stories."
Yue Qingning touched his nose embarrassedly and listened to her slowly.
At that time, Your Majesty, Zhong Baizhe and another adult were all students taught by Grand Tutor Xiao. The Princess and Your Majesty had been friends since childhood and were so close that they could not be closer, so she often went to the school to watch them in class.
The eldest princess was lively and never thought highly of herself. As a result, she became good friends with the remaining two. The four of them often played together or went out cycling.
At that time, Zhong Baizhe was the calmest one among them. Whenever they got into trouble while playing or having fun, he would always help them out. However, because of his calm nature, the eldest princess was not really close to him, and could only be said to be familiar with him.
But all this changed after Your Majesty ascended the throne.
After His Majesty ascended the throne, they all became officials one after another, and some were even transferred to the very far Liangzhou, so they could never reunite.
But at that time, His Majesty wanted to find a prince consort for her, saying that he had to consider everything for her and that she would always be under the emperor's watchful eyes in Kyoto so that she would not suffer any grievances.
His Majesty truly treated this sister extremely well, considering her in every aspect. He even said, "Women are not like men. Even if they are of noble status, they are still likely to be looked down upon by men. Since ancient times, men have always been less affectionate than their blood relatives. As long as he is in Kyoto and under my watchful eye, I will watch over him for the rest of his life for my sister!"
Yue Qingning was deeply touched when she heard this. She also has a younger brother, and just hearing these words made her feel warm in her heart.
As an emperor, he did not use his sister's marriage to consolidate his power. He was willing to protect his sister under his wings for the rest of his life and not let her suffer any grievances. Even though he did many foolish things later, there was nothing wrong with this point.
The eldest princess seemed to be lost in some memories when she spoke here, and she thought for a while before speaking.
"At that time, His Majesty selected five young men from wealthy families for me. All of them were handsome and had extraordinary looks. He said that I should choose one of them as my future husband. But I didn't care much about appearance. I thought all of them were okay, but none of them stood out and made me feel attracted to them."
She smiled and shook her head in a trance at her original persistence.
"Perhaps because I'm a princess, I always felt I was different from other women. I could be persistent in love because I had the capital. Later I discovered that there is only one fair thing in this world, and that is love."
"Everyone, whether poor or humble, has joys and sorrows, but love is the only thing that cannot be forced or exchanged."
This is true. According to historical records, few kings were able to gain true love. On the contrary, the poems of ordinary people, whose true love is recorded in stories whose authors cannot even be found, are the true love of that life.
Yue Qingning also knew that a woman's marriage was a gamble, and she had to experience all the bitterness on her own. Even if she made a wrong bet, there was nothing she could do but to hold on and barely get by.
Perhaps because she spoke so sincerely, Yue Qingning bravely asked a question.
"Did Grandmother get what she wanted from my great-uncle?"
The eldest princess suddenly laughed, "What do you think?"
Those eyes back then seemed to merge with the drooping eyes in front of her. Yue Qingning began to experience emotions from then on. She didn't want such an important scene to be denied, so she said.
"She should have gotten it. I hope grandma got it, so that Qingning can move on to the next stage of her life with hope."
When she heard her say this, she laughed even more broadly and even sat up and put her arms around her shoulders.
"Qingning, you don't know that's what I like about you! You're so frank about your feelings and don't want to get into any twists and turns. You're exactly like your uncle!"
"He was the same way back then! I was confused and went to him for advice, but he unexpectedly told me to choose him."
She was lost in the past scene and laughed.
"You'd never guess how a man like him, a man so devoted to studying abacus, could tell me that. He wasn't stopping his hands as he asked me questions while he was moving the beads."
Yue Qingning was also moved by the princess's constant laughter. She had never expected her uncle to be such a bold person! Moreover, he was just a small doctor in the Ministry of Revenue at that time. His status was really far from that of the princess.
How dare he... actually covet the princess!
The eldest princess gasped with laughter, and seeing the half-shocked expression on her face, she pinched her cheek hard.
"Don't let your imagination run wild! Do you think he's not good enough for me? It's actually me who's blocking his path. As disciples of Grand Tutor Xiao, each one of us has the potential to become a powerful official, yet he's willing to give up his path forever for me."
Speaking of this, the eldest princess looked a little nostalgic with a half-smile on her face as if she had returned to that day.
"He said he never cared about external power and that he only enjoyed studying mathematics all his life. But after meeting me, he felt that he now cared about two things in his life, and he could ignore everything else."
"Then how did you answer?" Yue Qingning already knew the result, but still wanted to know her answer that day.
The eldest princess squinted her eyes and smiled at her kindly.
"I don't know either. I just felt like the world was turned upside down that day, and I was in a trance."
"When I woke up, I was already back in the palace. Afterwards, I rejected all the candidates, and your uncle was immediately promoted to a councilor by His Majesty, who then appointed him as a consort."
"So that's how it is."
The man is in love and the woman is willing, it is really a great luck to meet each other.
Looking at her gentle eyes, the eldest princess' heart trembled.
She and her husband had never had children in their lives, and she valued the children of the Zhong family very much. She didn't want her to get involved, but there were some things that the women in the cabinet could not avoid being involved in.
This is how the world rises and falls. Even a young woman cannot avoid shouldering the responsibilities of this era.
She sighed deeply, as if apologizing for what she was about to say.
"I didn't know much about love before I married your uncle. It was mostly taught to me bit by bit in life."
"Qingning, a woman doesn't meet many men in her life. Meeting a man who loves you and is also capable of shouldering responsibilities is a blessing that many people dare not even dream of. I think you can also have this luck."
There seemed to be something hidden in the gentle words. Yue Qingning looked up and saw that the eldest princess' eyes were full of kindness and gentleness, as if she was really thinking about her.
She naturally agreed, but the uncomfortable feeling of stuffiness in her heart and lungs kept reminding her that something was wrong.
They were released as time went on, and Yue Qingning and her mother stayed in the guest house of the Princess's Mansion.
When she was picking mugwort with her mother in the evening, she was still confused about what had happened today and chatted with her mother.
"Mother, how was the eldest princess when you came today? I went to see her later and she didn't seem sick at all. On the contrary, she looked very energetic."
Mrs. Zhong sighed, "The eldest princess is already old enough, so it's natural for her to have this or that illness. It's a blessing that she didn't have any serious problems this time. Elderly people often appear healthy but often pass away before they have a chance to react."
Both of them were silent. This was how my great uncle passed away. He was in good health back then, but he died of illness so unexpectedly overnight.
Even the princess could not accept the fact. She checked it over and over again for many years and finally accepted it in recent years.
Mrs. Zhong didn't want to talk about the sad topic of birth, old age, sickness and death, and thought about what happened in Prince Shou's palace today.
"Prince Shou has always been in poor health. I didn't expect you to meet him this time. Not many people in Kyoto have seen him before."
Yue Qingning thought of the man whose expression just melted away like rain and mist.
He gave her a very wrong feeling. His whole spirit and energy looked like that of a sickly person, but his eyes were not like that. Perhaps it was because he was a prince, but when he looked at people, there was always a sense of intimidation as if he wanted to dig up all the secrets of the people.
"Why is it Prince Shou who came to visit the patient this time? I thought His Majesty didn't value His Majesty."
Zhong smiled and said, "That can't be helped! The Crown Prince and the Princess Royal are at odds. Even if Prince Shou couldn't come today, His Majesty wouldn't ask him to come and cause trouble for the Princess Royal."
Having said that, Yue Qingning hesitated.
"Mother, is it because of our Zhong family that the eldest princess and the crown prince are at odds?"
"Not really... there is some, but the eldest princess is still a member of the royal family. No matter how close she is to us, she will never forget her blood ties."
She sighed and said sadly.
"It's because the Crown Prince's mother, the Empress, is a foreigner. The royal family values legitimacy above all else. It's bad enough that a foreigner became the Empress of this dynasty, but they've even appointed someone of foreign descent as Crown Prince! The Princess sees things more clearly than Your Majesty does. If this continues, there will be disaster!"
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