Chapter 42 [VIP]
The kite fluttered in the air above the waterside pavilion, moving with the wind. Before long, it attracted the attention of many people, since it was quite rare to see a cat painted on a kite.
"Yaoyao!"
Xie Danling pulled Gu Zhizhuo along, jumping and pointing at the kite.
The long, thin silk handkerchief fluttered in her hands.
"They're ours!"
"Brother Chen is such a kind person!" He even specially brought them their kites.
Xie Danling said happily, then leaned closer mysteriously and asked, "What does my cousin Chen look like? Is he handsome?"
"Beautiful! Young Master is the most handsome!"
How good-looking is it?
Xie Danling said with great enthusiasm, "I remember the Crown Princess was a great beauty."
The deposed crown prince has broken a taboo, she whispered in her ear.
“I remember too.”
Gu Zhizhuo also remembered the deposed crown princess. Ever since she entered the palace, the crown princess had taken good care of the young girls.
After the death of the late emperor's empress, he never appointed a successor, and the affairs of the six palaces were managed by the then imperial concubine.
When my mother was alive, every time she entered the palace, after exchanging greetings with the Imperial Concubine, she would go to the Empress Dowager's palace to speak.
One year later, she followed Lady Ji into the palace.
Lady Ji had always been in the Consort's palace, trying to curry favor. Sitting in the vast palace, she felt somewhat lonely and very hungry. Since childhood, extreme hunger had caused her dizziness, a racing heart, and sometimes even fainting. That day, she was already feeling terrible and wanted to cry, but she couldn't cry in the palace. Then, a bowl of warm, white fungus and milk soup appeared before her. She glanced at everyone else; none of them had any.
As she was leaving, she quietly asked the palace maid who had given her the white fungus and milk soup, and the maid said that it was the Crown Princess who had specifically instructed her to do so.
"Ah! This one is the prettiest!"
Xie Danling suddenly stopped in her tracks and excitedly called out, "Come and see!"
Gu Zhizhuo curiously leaned over, and Xie Danling squatted in front of a pot of Rouge Drunken Peony, excitedly gesturing to her, "Look how beautiful this flower is! But that's not important. Its petals are layered, from light to dark, with a full ten shades of red. It's the most beautiful one today. I haven't seen such a beautiful peony in a long time."
Ten kinds of red?
Gu Zhizhu squatted down next to her and squinted to look. She could see that the petals were light and dark, but were there ten kinds?
Did you notice?
"without!"
"Why can't you see it?!"
She actually wanted to ask her younger cousin how she could tell there were ten shades of red.
The two stared at each other, then Xie Danling made the final decision: "Anyway, it's the prettiest. Give me your silk handkerchief too."
Gu Zhizhuo obediently handed over the silk handkerchief.
Whether brought from various households or cultivated in the palace, these peonies were undoubtedly of the highest quality, with full blooms and blossoms. Therefore, in her eyes, apart from their colors, these flowers were no different at all.
How could she know which one was the best!
Xie Danling happily tied the two silk ribbons together, squatted there, and watched for a long time before reluctantly leaving.
"It must be Kao."
Yeah, yeah. Anyway, she wouldn't understand.
Gu Zhizhuo listened attentively as she explained the ten different shades of red, from deep to light, and from light to deep, etc. She was completely confused when, just as they were about to reach the waterside pavilion on the east side, Gu Zhizhuo suddenly pulled her along.
"There."
She gestured with her chin, indicating that the First Prince was talking to Miss Cheng Liu near the waterside pavilion. Cheng Yuelong was all smiles, and the two were having a pleasant conversation. The rockery and the drooping willow branches obscured most of their view.
In her previous life, Cheng Yuelong was the Crown Prince's wife.
The Cheng family was a renowned scholarly family, extremely distinguished and refined.
Emperor Taizu valued military prowess over civil administration and suppressed the scholar-official class throughout his ten-year reign.
He always said that the previous dynasty perished because some self-proclaimed disciples of Confucius and Mencius had become foolish from reading too much. They would attack each other at the slightest provocation, denouncing the emperor for being unrighteous and insisting that the person sitting on the throne listen to them. They also loved to bang their heads against pillars and walls in order to make a name for themselves in history.
With such a system of counter-enforcement, even issuing an imperial edict would require considering whether students would cause trouble and offer advice. In the long run, the emperor would either become a hands-off ruler, indulging in pleasure and depleting the national treasury, leaving the cabinet to deal with the mess, or he would simply become a tyrant, wanting to kill everyone and their entire families if they dared to challenge him.
The last monarch of the previous dynasty was such a tyrant.
After Emperor Taizu ended the chaotic era and ascended the throne, scholars and intellectuals began to stir up trouble again. They argued that Emperor Taizu should appoint the former crown prince as a prince and treat the former imperial family members well. They also accused the then Duke of Zhenguo of burning down tens of thousands of Western Rong people, deeming the killing excessive and demanding severe punishment. Emperor Taizu refused, so they went on a hunger strike and sat in silence in front of the Meridian Gate, repeatedly proclaiming that they should "govern the four barbarians with benevolence and righteousness."
At that time, thousands of students from all over the country gathered in the capital for the imperial examination.
Emperor Taizu said: "These scholars who do not know their place have made mistakes in the previous dynasty, and they have made serious mistakes."
He revoked the imperial examination, stripped all the troublemakers of their titles, and executed any dissidents.
Nearly a hundred people were beheaded in front of the Meridian Gate, which terrified these scholars who had been spoiled by the previous dynasty's emperors and ministers.
After that, government orders were effectively implemented.
But the pens of scholars are always the most venomous, and the tyranny of the Taizu Emperor and all sorts of strange and bizarre unofficial histories have emerged ever since.
By the time of the late emperor, scholars had been suppressed and made obedient, so he began to gradually ease relations with the literati and aristocratic families. He opened special imperial examinations, recruited more scholars, and even arranged marriages.
The late emperor chose a woman surnamed Wang for the then second prince and the heir of the Duke of Zhenguo.
In fact, Gu Zhizhuo had heard that when the late emperor betrothed his aunt to the second prince, she was his principal wife, but later, for some reason, she became a concubine.
After his mother passed away, the late emperor chose a woman surnamed Ji as his father's second wife.
The Ji family was very prominent in the previous dynasty, having served as the last Grand Secretary. Moreover, during the 230-year reign of the previous dynasty, the Ji family produced four Grand Secretaries and five high-ranking officials.
The Ji family had repeatedly tried to obtain official positions during this dynasty, but each time they were suppressed by the Taizu Emperor and the previous emperor.
However, the teachers of Tongshan Academy, the number one academy in Jiangnan, came from the main branch of the Ji family. Many of the teachers there were members of the Ji family. It is conceivable that the Ji family had considerable prestige among the scholars and literati in Jiangnan and could be said to have a large following. There were also many Ji family disciples in the imperial court.
Since the late emperor wanted to ease relations with the literati, he could not truly ignore the Ji family.
Therefore, the late emperor betrothed the eldest daughter of the Ji family to his father as his second wife.
The late emperor and my grandfather had a good relationship as ruler and minister, having fought together on the battlefield and being able to entrust their backs to each other.
Before the engagement, he made a special trip to the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion to explain his plans to his grandfather and father.
At that time, she was young. When the late emperor came to the mansion, he specially summoned her and her brother as well. The late emperor said that he had sent people to check on them and found that the eldest daughter of the Ji family was of excellent character, gentle in nature, and knowledgeable. He told them not to worry.
He also said that if Lady Ji gave birth to a son, he should let the child study literature and take the imperial examination to enter officialdom, so as to ease the long-standing difficulty in integrating civil and military officials.
The memory is too distant.
So far in the past that she could hardly remember what the late emperor had said.
It's a pity.
The late emperor passed away too early, and even the crown prince he personally raised is gone.
However, the current emperor, perhaps feeling that the late emperor was trying to please the scholars, has been exceptionally lenient towards them since his ascension to the throne. Not long ago, he even sent the top scholar of the previous imperial examination to Huainan to serve as a military supervisor.
"Forget it, let's not go there." Gu Zhizhuo tugged at her sleeve. "Let's go get the kite later."
If she walked ahead, she would definitely run into the First Prince and Cheng Yuelong, but she couldn't be bothered to deal with them.
All right.
Xie Danling glanced at her cat, Zhiyuan, with a hint of regret.
She didn't want to socialize either.
This time, they went straight back to the waterside pavilion on the west side.
The waterside pavilion is built by the water, and it is exceptionally cool as soon as you step inside.
The Empress leaned against the soft pillows of the boudoir, listening to the musicians sing. When they came in, she smiled and asked, "Have you chosen yet?"
The two bowed and replied with smiles, "We've made our selections."
Xie Danling proudly said, "Mother, I have definitely chosen the Flower King."
The Empress smiled and said, "Our Danling has always had good judgment. What reward do you want?"
Xie Danling pretended to think for a moment, but before she could speak, the Empress said first, "It won't do if you don't learn the zither."
Xie Danling's shoulders slumped down.
The Empress then asked, "How is your zither practice going?"
Xie Danling replied dryly, "Your Majesty, I haven't practiced very well."
"Please don't let me show off my skills later, otherwise, everyone will be scared away and your flower festival will be ruined." Xie Danling said innocently, like a spoiled daughter.
"You," the Empress shook her head, feigning a sigh, "you're almost of marriageable age, and you have nothing to offer. How are you going to choose a husband for your future husband?"
These words are extremely uncomfortable.
A princess is being married off; whoever she marries is a step down. Does she have to use her musical skills to compete for a husband?
Xie Danling's face remained expressionless as she smiled and said, "My mother said that I have a bad temper, and if she can't find a husband for me in the future, she will marry me off to my cousin from the Wang family to prevent me from harming others. What do you say, Mother?"
The Queen's smile froze slightly for a moment, then she laughed again, "You really have no shame."
There was no agreement, nor was there a response that it was bad.
After talking for a while, the Empress sent the two of them off to play by themselves.
Xie Danling took Gu Zhizhuo's arm and sat down by the lake, whispering in his ear, "I think she's trying to find me a husband."
Gu Zhizhuo wholeheartedly agreed.
What kind of families would require a princess to specially learn the zither to curry favor?
A palace maid brought over some clean water. After washing her hands, Xie Danling asked someone to bring her some fruit syrup. Gu Zhizhuo leaned against the window and subconsciously looked towards the waterside pavilion to the east. Xie Yingchen was also looking in that direction, and their eyes met across the distance.
Gu Zhizhuo was in a good mood. She picked up the fruit syrup, quietly raised the glass towards Xie Yingchen, made a toasting gesture, and drank it all in one gulp.
"Take a look."
Xie Danling stretched out her hands for her to see, pouting as she said, "They're scraped."
Gu Zhizhuo put down the glass and took her hand.
The delicate fingertips, from climbing the wall, revealed shallow abrasions and some old wounds, slightly red, probably from practicing the piano.
Gu Zhizhuo took out a small jar containing a milky white ointment. She scooped some out with her fingertip and gently applied it to Xie Danling. The ointment was extremely thin, and as it was slowly spread, Xie Danling's fingers felt cool and the pain subsided instantly.
"This is good!"
"I've confiscated it!"
Xie Danling naturally reached out her hand, and Gu Zhizhuo obediently placed the jar in her palm.
"I received a box of particularly beautiful pearl hairpins. I'll share half with you later."
"OK!"
The girls returned one after another, each with a smile on their face and full of youthful vigor.
Cheng Yuelong and Zhou Anhui entered hand in hand, chatting and laughing, and then together paid their respects to the Empress.
The Empress called out gently, but there was no joy in her heart.
The Cheng and Zhou families were personally chosen by the emperor; both marriages were excellent, in comparison…
Aunt Qiu, observing the situation, whispered with a smile, "Your Majesty, the Emperor also said last time that you should choose a concubine for His Highness the Third Prince first."
Speaking of this, the Empress had a headache. Although the eldest and second princes were not yet married, they already had other women in their rooms. One of the second prince's concubines was even pregnant. If the child was born, even if the child's status was not high, it would still be the Emperor's first grandson. But her own son not only vowed that he would not marry anyone but Ji Nanke, but he also refused even the palace maid who taught him about human affairs, saying that he wanted to remain chaste.
The more the Empress thought about it, the angrier she became, and she was completely distraught.
Although the Ji family served as a powerful force in the previous dynasty, not a single member of the family holds an official position now. Ji Nanke is an orphan with no parents, so how can she help her son?
Ha, what a blessed woman destined for heaven. Even if the emperor believed it, it would only be considered a tale of deception if the emperor didn't believe it.
It's also because Gu Zhizhuo is useless; she can't even win over her future husband.
Not only is it useless, it's also in the way.
The Empress was even more annoyed by the thought of all the memorials impeaching Jing'er in the court.
The emperor advised her not to rush, but how could she not rush?
The Emperor was already the Emperor, and his harem had never been short of women. Even the Empress couldn't be sure how deep his feelings for her were, or how long they would last. How could she not panic?
The girls sat down in twos and threes in the waterside pavilion. The Empress selected a few and asked them about their skills in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. One of the girls, who was skilled in playing the zither, played a piece on the spot and received a reward from the Empress.
Laughter and conversation filled the waterside pavilion.
The palace maids had finished counting the silk fabrics when Aunt Qiu bowed and reported, "Your Majesty, the amount of Rouge Wine from Minister Zhang's residence is one rank."
Xie Danling raised an eyebrow smugly and said, "My judgment is good, isn't it?"
Uh-huh.
Gu Zhizhu nodded repeatedly, praising her for having the best taste in the world.
Xie Danling pouted her red lips and raised her chin even higher.
The Empress's reward was generous; the prize for Miss Zhang was a pair of red gold jade bracelets with intertwined threads, which she then personally put on her wrist.
Miss Zhang was flattered. She knew that today she would be choosing consorts for the two princes, and she understood that she had no chance of becoming a consort. However, she did not want to be a concubine or a maidservant. She had always kept a low profile. Unexpectedly, her own flower made her stand out in the end.
She thanked him and, somewhat nervously, took the bracelet and left. (Yuexia)
The second and third place winners also received rewards. The Empress even specially summoned Cheng Yuelong and Zhou Anhui and rewarded each of them with a golden phoenix hairpin.
The admiring display of the golden phoenix hairpin undoubtedly announced the two women's future status as princesses. The crowd's gazes held both curiosity and envy. Miss Zhou was fine, as they were regular visitors. However, Cheng Yuelong, whose family had only arrived in the capital earlier this year and had always maintained a low profile, was someone many of the young ladies were seeing for the first time today.
Some people even went to see Gu Zhizhuo, the Third Prince's betrothed who had been chosen long ago. After the mourning period, she became quite low-key.
"Your Majesty, the Emperor says the banquet may begin."
"Then let's hold a banquet."
Gu Zhizhuo and Xie Danling sat together as the banquet dishes were served one after another.
The imperial kitchen also put a lot of thought into it, with every dish, from main courses to desserts, related to flowers.
Gu Zhizhuo looked at the lotus flower in the water in front of him. The soup was snow-white, and a lotus flower seemed to float on top of it, elegant and beautiful.
Gu Zhizhuo took a small bite; the flavor was fresh with a slight sourness, which was very appetizing.
Delicious!
Gu Zhizhuo narrowed his eyes with pleasure.
"The Fifth Princess".
The little girl sitting next to them greeted them with a smile.
Xie Danling nodded reservedly.
"This is……"
Having lived through a lifetime, Gu Zhizhuo was somewhat unfamiliar with some of the noble ladies she didn't get along with. She frowned and thought for a moment, then realized, "That's right, this is from the Cheng'en Duke's family."
His name seems to be Sun Nian.
The Chengen Duke's Mansion is the maternal family of the Empress.
The Empress was born into the Sun family of the Marquis of Anyang, and was the third concubine's daughter. The eldest daughter of the Marquis of Anyang married the Emperor, who was then the second prince, as his principal wife. She died in childbirth a few years later, leaving behind a daughter. The Marquis of Anyang then asked the late Emperor to allow the Princess's younger sister to go to the Prince's residence to take care of the young princess, and the late Emperor agreed.
When the Empress entered the Prince's residence, she was a concubine. After the Emperor ascended the throne, she was promoted to the position of Empress.
Not long after, the Marquis of Anyang's family divided up, and the emperor bestowed the title of Duke Cheng'en upon the empress's biological father. Even the empress's concubine was elevated to the rank of official.
The appointment of a concubine's daughter as empress and the promotion of a maid to empress were both contrary to the established rites and would inevitably have drawn impeachment from the censors. However, the late emperor had passed away suddenly, and the Liang Kingdom in the west was eyeing the throne covetously, the Di Kingdom's iron cavalry besieged the city in the north, and the remnants of the previous dynasty were making a comeback in the south. In addition, a Prince Taiping had emerged, and the emperor and Prince Chen had gone through a struggle for the throne. Prince Chen yielded for the sake of the greater good, and the civil and military officials did not want to stir up any more trouble.
The eldest son of the late Duke Chengen died of illness a few years ago, and the current Duke Chengen is the Empress's biological brother.
"Miss Gu, it's been a long time since I've seen you out." Sun Nian sat down familiarly with them and said with a smile, "Didn't Ake come?"
She was asking Ji Nanke.
"without."
Sun Nian said regretfully, "I haven't seen her in a long time."
"I went to my maternal grandfather's house during the Autumn Festival and just returned to Beijing."
Sun Nian was the daughter of the Duke of Cheng'en, and according to etiquette, Xie Danling should call her cousin.
Sun Nian asked with a smile, "Fifth Princess, I heard you're learning the zither?"
Xie Danling: "..."
She felt a deep aversion to learning the piano.
Why would a princess like her need to know how to play the zither?! It's utterly baffling.
Xie Danling was never one to compromise herself. She turned cold and was about to say that she hated the zither the most. But then Sun Nian said, "Ake plays the zither very well. Miss Gu, why hasn't she shown up for so long? She didn't come to my coming-of-age banquet the other day. I sent her an invitation a long time ago. She even said that she had a zither that Master Zhou Xian had used, and she was going to give it to me as a coming-of-age gift."
"She didn't come to the flower show today either, but the Third Prince was there too." She covered her mouth and quickly said, "Miss Gu, that's not what I meant, I meant to say..."
Gu Zhizhu raised an eyebrow and asked with a smile, "Are you wondering why the Third Prince didn't go to pick her up?"
Sun Nian's eyes darted around for a moment, and she felt guilty for a while, but she quickly became confident and self-assured.
The Third Prince's pursuit of Ake is perfectly legitimate! Everyone knows that.
"Miss Gu, is Ake feeling unwell, or...?"
What she really wanted to ask was whether Gu Zhizhuo was bullying Ake again, not even letting her come to the flower festival.
Before she could finish speaking, a sneer came from outside the pavilion. It was an arrogant voice: "As I see it, it's not that you're feeling unwell. Someone must have been jealous and chased you away."
"Princess Zhaoyang has arrived!"
A young woman, not yet twenty, walked in; she had striking features and was adorned with jewels.
She wore her hair in a matronly style, and her beautiful face held an air of haughty superiority.
Princess Zhaoyang was the emperor's eldest daughter, the daughter of the late empress, and married into the Duke of Anguo's family a few years ago.
She was the emperor's only legitimate daughter, and was raised by her aunt, the empress, since childhood. They were as close as mother and daughter. Even if she arrived late and started to be sarcastic without bowing, the empress would just look at her with affection.
"Mother."
After exchanging greetings, Zhao Yang sat down warmly next to the Empress. She casually picked up a gold, openwork incense burner on the table and asked aggressively, "Am I right, Miss Gu?"
Xie Danling was about to lose her temper when Gu Zhizhuo quietly squeezed her hand and smiled faintly, saying, "That's not right."
The eldest princess's brows furrowed: "Kneel down!"
Gu Zhizhuo's smile remained unchanged, and there was no emotional fluctuation in her clear phoenix eyes.
Xie Danling couldn't hold back any longer. If Gu Zhizhuo hadn't been holding her hand tightly, she would have flipped the table long ago.
This is utterly baffling!
The empress picked up her wine cup and slowly sipped the fruit wine, seemingly oblivious to the tense atmosphere before her.
Gu Zhizhu brushed a stray hair behind her ear and said proactively, "I heard that Your Highness recently visited the nunnery outside the city. Did you hear this from my cousin Ke?"
"Oh dear. You don't know, she's always talking nonsense."
Seeing that she not only refused to kneel but also dared to talk back, Zhao Yang chuckled coldly twice, raised her hand and threw the fist-sized incense ball at her forehead, angrily saying, "Ke'er has never said a bad word about you. You are vicious yourself, but you think everyone else is like you."
"A noble lady of noble birth, yet so petty and narrow-minded. How dare you act like this in front of me? You have no sense of propriety."
A hush fell over the surroundings; the noble ladies dared not utter a word.
Sun Nian chuckled softly, "Serves her right, who told her to always bully Ake?"
Gu Zhizhuo tilted her head slightly, and the scented ball brushed past her ear with a "bang" before falling to the ground. It rolled a few times, scattering the scented powder all over the floor and filling the air with a strong fragrance.
Gu Zhizhuo's voice suddenly turned much colder: "But did she say that she was living under someone else's roof and no one had ever treated her as kindly as you have?"
"She said that the Gu family raised her, and she wouldn't compete with me to repay that kindness."
"She once said that people who are confined to the inner quarters all day long will never know how big the world is, and that's why they are so jealous and envious in their small world."
Every sentence sounded so familiar. As she listened to them, Zhao Yang's eyes widened in surprise, and she blurted out instinctively, "You, how did you know?"
Gu Zhizhuo clapped her hands gently, her phoenix eyes sharp: "Is this exactly what you said, Princess? Not a single word is wrong?"
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