Chapter 19 Obsession For this flower-viewing banquet, several people in the Prince Zhuang's mansion...
For this flower-viewing banquet, the Prince Zhuang's mansion brought almost all the flowers from the manor. The originally sparse garden of the mansion was now full of flowers, including the elegant and noble peony, the delicate and beautiful peony, the dreamlike cherry blossom, and the fiery and rosy crabapple.
The banquet began, and the lively sounds attracted Xiao Siliang, who could already point to the places he wanted to go with his little finger.
Shen Yunrong knew he loved excitement, so she didn't dare take him along, fearing it would interfere with Zhao Linzhang's selection of concubines.
As the master of the Prince's mansion, Zhao Linzhang was reluctantly dragged over by the eldest princess to show his face.
The eldest princess, dressed in elaborate palace attire, walked gracefully onto the high platform and said with a smile, "Today's banquet is only to share the beauty of spring with everyone. Please don't be shy, make the most of the spring scenery, and enjoy yourselves to the fullest."
The young ladies from prominent families all secretly glanced at Zhao Linzhang with a mixture of shyness and coquettishness.
Through the elegantly dressed young women, Zhao Linzhang could only see a small figure peeking out from beside the archway.
He called Tan Zhongxin over and whispered a few words of advice to him.
Shen Yunrong held the child and let him peek at the scene from the doorway to satisfy his craving. These noble ladies were all stunningly beautiful, and every move they made seemed like a fairy descending to earth. She looked at her own gray maid's coat and realized that she was truly worlds apart from them.
These are the women who are worthy of the prince. She took two steps back and coaxed the young master to leave.
Just as she turned around, Steward Tan called out to her, "Miss Chen, His Highness saw the young master coming and invites you to go admire the flowers together!"
Shen Yunrong looked back in surprise, and through the crowd of women, she caught a glimpse of that tall and imposing figure seemingly looking in their direction.
“Steward Tan, the young master is still young and we are afraid he will disturb the prince and the young ladies.”
"The young master is so innocent and adorable, the prince is too happy to even think about it."
Shen Yunrong then thought that the future princess would be the young master's godmother, so it would be a good thing for him to have more contact with his future mother. So she followed Steward Tan into the fragrant garden.
Xiao Siliang had never seen so many women before. He opened his big, curious eyes wide, glancing past several pairs of curious, beautiful eyes, until Zhao Linzhang clapped his hands, at which point he turned back to his drooling little face.
Zhao Linzhang got up to hug him, but he was nestled in Shen Yunrong's arms. There were too many people around, and he was too scared to let him hug him.
The eldest princess asked Zhao Linzhang with a smile, "This is the child you adopted. He's quite lovable."
"Your Highness, his name is Zhang Siliang."
After Zhao Linzhang finished speaking, the woman in the pink dress stepped forward and bowed gracefully: "Liu Youxin, daughter of the Minister, greets the Princess and Your Highness."
"Your Highness, this child is so cute. May I hold him?" Unlike other women who only dared to cover their mouths and steal a glance at Zhao Linzhang, the daughter of the Minister was dazzlingly bright in the crowd. Up close, her skin was as smooth as jade, her beautiful eyes sparkling. Every smile and frown was innocent yet dignified and elegant.
Xiao Siliang refused to be held by Zhao Linzhang, and even less so by a strange woman. As the strange woman drew closer, he pouted and burst into tears.
Liu Youxin awkwardly lowered her hand and took a small step back.
"This child is timid, Miss Liu, please don't be offended." After saying this, Zhao Linzhang gestured for Shen Yunrong to bring the child to sit down beside him, and picked up a peach blossom cake from the table to coax him.
The eldest princess glanced at Shen Yunrong, who was holding the child, with surprise. Zhao Linzhang himself did not realize that the tone of his voice when he spoke to the wet nurse was completely different from the tone he used when he spoke to Miss Liu.
The former was a gentle intimacy she had never heard from her, even as the eldest sister; the latter was the same polite and distant manner she displayed when speaking to her.
In the common world, she would be considered a girl from a modest family. Among all the beauties in the courtyard, this young wet nurse was nothing more than an inconspicuous wildflower in the flower garden. The princess glanced at her and then went to greet the uncomfortable Liu Youxin.
"The child is naturally shy around strangers. His godfather wouldn't even let him hold him. Let Xiaoqi take you to see the pink roses that the Prince Zhuang's mansion has specially cultivated. I remember you love roses the most."
Liu Youxin naturally knew that this was the Princess giving her a way out, so she curtsied and looked at Zhao Linzhang shyly.
Zhao Linzhang reluctantly got up. This flower-viewing banquet was ordered by the Empress Dowager herself. Even if he didn't care about the Princess, he had to consider the Empress Dowager's feelings.
"Miss Liu, please!"
When Xiao Siliang saw his godfather leave, he pointed and babbled, wanting to follow. Shen Yunrong had no choice but to pick him up and follow.
The roses are supposed to bloom in early summer, but they were specially cultivated in the manor and are now in full bloom in early spring. When Miss Liu saw them, she exclaimed with delight, "How beautiful!"
Before Zhao Linzhang could reply, a soft exclamation rang out. He turned around abruptly and saw that Xiao Siliang had somehow plucked a rose and was about to put it in her mouth when Shen Yunrong snatched it away with lightning speed, her hand being pricked a few times by the rose.
Zhao Linzhang strode towards her, made sure Xiao Siliang hadn't eaten the flower, then took Shen Yunrong's hand and looked at the few beads of blood on the back of her fair hand.
He picked up Xiao Siliang and said, "Go and apply some medicine."
Shen Yunrong immediately felt several gazes upon her. She bowed her head and curtsied. Her hands didn't hurt, but these gazes made her feel like she was being pricked by thorns.
Not to mention these young ladies, even the maids who accompany them are dressed more luxuriously than she, a young lady.
Taking advantage of the stab wound to her hand, Shen Yunrong huddled in Wangyue Tower. She had known before that her status was vastly different from that of Prince Zhuang, but today she realized that he was not the bright moon she could hope for, and that she was nothing more than dust on the ground.
The prince's occasional actions towards her were solely because she was the young master's wet nurse, nothing more.
Looking at the bronze mirror on the table, she saw the woman in the mirror frowning at her.
"Shen Yunrong, you already have a daughter, so don't think about anything else you shouldn't." The woman in the mirror spoke slowly.
Since the flower-viewing banquet, Zhao Linzhang has clearly sensed that the wet nurse is avoiding him. When he goes to visit Xiao Siliang, she always avoids him. On one or two occasions, almost every time it is another two wet nurses who take the child with her.
He understood what she meant. With spring approaching, he rarely returned home due to his busy official duties.
Unfortunately, one can avoid people, but not one's own heart. The Princess invites Zhao Linzhang.
"We've finally managed to get you here today. After all these days, haven't you taken a liking to any of those ladies?"
The eldest princess barged in and asked him, "The flower-viewing banquet has been going on for more than half a month, but Zhao Linzhang still hasn't shown any interest in any woman. The Empress Dowager has asked him about it several times already."
When Zhao Linzhang arrived, he already knew why the Princess had invited him. Upon hearing this, he recalled the few drops of glaring red from that day and nodded silently.
The princess was overjoyed: "Which family's daughter is she? Miss Liu?" That day, only the daughter of Minister Liu dared to talk to him.
Zhao Linzhang shook his head: "Her status is lowly!"
"As long as you are pleased and of good character, your humble status is no problem." Promotion and ennoblement are simply a matter of a word from the royal family.
"She's very good!" Zhao Linzhang didn't know how to say it. One moment it was the girl in his dream, and the next it was the face of the little wet nurse. He was confused. Did he like the little wet nurse who resembled that girl, or did he just like the girl in his dream?
"She is a girl from the He family. I will immediately inform the Empress Dowager to grant you a marriage!" I thought she was a heartless and indifferent stone, but I never expected that she would be moved by love today.
“Royal elder sister!” Zhao Linzhang looked at his elder sister, who was five years older than him. She was one of the few princesses who was close to him, a prince without a mother, and had taken good care of him since childhood.
Perhaps it was something he couldn't easily explain to outsiders, but his elder sister's concern gave him the desire to confide in her.
"My younger brother once had intimate relations with a girl."
"What?" The princess stood up in surprise, wondering if she was hallucinating.
"But she's just a country girl." Zhao Linzhang still can't find her, and doesn't even know what she looks like.
The eldest princess gasped, thinking she was a daughter of an official, but it turned out to be just a country girl, not even qualified to be a prince's concubine.
"The responsibilities of a princess are not something a country girl can shoulder. If you like her, you can take her into your household. The title of a concubine is something her ancestors must have done for."
"I still can't find her!" Zhao Linzhang said dejectedly.
"She..." The princess thought this woman was the wet nurse in the palace, but she was wrong.
"The princess can marry first, and then we can give the other woman a proper title once we find her," the princess said after a moment's thought.
Zhao Linzhang remained silent again. The eldest princess, who knew her younger brother well, knew that he had not listened to her, so she softened her tone and said, "If you don't have a suitable candidate for a princess consort, you can look for that woman first."
Zhao Linzhang was well aware of this, but finding her was like searching for a needle in a haystack.
"I've been looking for her for over a year."
"If fate allows, Heaven will surely bring you together." With a woman he likes, then this seventh brother is not suffering from a strange illness, and she and the Empress Dowager can rest assured.
“What my elder sister says is true.”
“You need someone by your side to care for you. Look, even the emperor’s princes have started their education, while you’re still all alone.”
"You can't forget a woman if you haven't been with other women. You've been quiet and composed since you were little. Listen to your sister and take in a few more women, and you won't have any obsessions."
As Zhao Linzhang left the princess's residence, the phrase "holding onto a lingering obsession" still echoed in his ears.
On a cold spring night, a gust of wind blew by, and with a shout, he and his guards' carriages clattered together.
Upon returning to the manor, he stepped into Wanfeng Courtyard for the first time. The twin flowers, Qingdai and Feiyun, were both surprised and delighted, and hurriedly went forward to greet him.
"This servant greets Your Highness!"
"Get up. You can dance?" Zhao Linzhang thought his elder sister was right. He had met too few women and had too little fun. There were so many singing girls in the palace, but he had never enjoyed himself alone.
Qingdai and Feiyun nodded hurriedly: "We can play the zither and dance, please take a seat, Your Highness!"
The courtyard was filled with the strong scent of perfume and powder. Zhao Linzhang frowned uncomfortably. He had come all this way and had not run away. He sat at the head of the table, expressionless, watching the dancers who were twisting their waists and dancing as if they were about to fly. There were three or four empty wine jugs in front of him.
As the dance ended, before Qingdai and Feiyun, who were at the head of the dance, could even stop dancing, Zhao Linzhang had already stood up and walked to the door without turning his head: "Not bad!"
The dancers were left bewildered, wondering what they had done wrong.
Xiao Siliang's favorite doll was missing. It was the first thing he wanted to play with as soon as he opened his eyes. She remembered that it must have been left in Zhao Linzhang's bedroom. Looking at the night sky, she heard that the prince had gone to a banquet early in the morning and should not have returned yet. She would hurry up and get it.
Sure enough, the prince's bedroom was pitch black, and neither Xiao Liu nor Steward Tan were guarding the door; they must have both left the manor.
She quickly entered the room. It seemed that after the young master rode his horse today, he was still hiding behind the screen, playing hide-and-seek with her. She went around the screen and sure enough, the little doll was on the bed.
She took the doll, and the creaking sound of the door opening startled her so much that she almost jumped out of her skin. Without thinking, she bent down and slipped into the side of the bed.
A note from the author:
----------------------
Waaah, I fell asleep last night and forgot to update. [Poor thing]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
