“Father!” Lou Jing grabbed hold of Lou Jianyu’s wrist. He stood up slowly. “You can’t change the fact that these are not generational assets just by saying they are. It’s written clearly on the deeds that they are my personal assets.”
“You…” Lou Jing was gripping Lou Jianyu’s wrist very tightly, and the latter was in pain. Those smooth, flawless fingers were like an iron vise. No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t free himself from them. “You bloody bastard!”
The old Anguo Gong had been stationed at the battlefront since he was a young man, and did not spend much of Lou Jianyu’s childhood at home. As a result, Lou Jianyu missed out on the opportunity to learn martial arts from his father. Martial arts had to be learned at a young age, and by the time the old Anguo Gong had spare time on his hands, Lou Jianyu was much too old to start, and the old Anguo Gong tried to make up for this by making great efforts to pass his martial arts on to Lou Jianyu’s eldest legitimate son, Lou Jing.
Lou Jianyu had only ever learnt other inferior martial arts from external sources, and he was certainly no match for Lou Jing, who had practised the Lou family’s martial arts for more than ten years.
Lou Jing looked at Lou Jianyu like a cat who had caught a mouse by its tail. “Your son is now the Crown Prince Consort. If you hit me, you’ll be committing the crime of insubordination. If I actually allowed your slap to land on my face, I would be truly unfilial,” Lou Jing said benignly. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he had done Lou Jianyu a huge favour.
Lou Jianyu was so furious that his chest actually started to hurt. However, he couldn’t find any fault with what Lou Jing had said. If he dared to shout for his guards to come and help, things wouldn’t end well for him.
“Guogong ye, guogong ye!” a servant shouted from outside.
Lou Jing let go of his father. He folded his arms behind his back as if nothing had happened.
“What’s with that racket?” Lou Jianyu asked angrily. His voice was much louder than usual because he was in a temper.
The servant rushed in at top speed. It was the same servant that the Anguo Gong had left to watch over things in the main residence. “The third master has had too much to drink and is crying all over the furen’s brother. The Crown Prince is asking why you aren’t there to deal with it,” the servant reported quickly.
Lou Jing smirked. His Crown Prince had to be really irritated to say something like that.
“That idiotic troublemaker!” Lou Jianyu exclaimed. He glared at the smirking Lou Jing, then left hastily with a flourish of his sleeves.
As Lou Jing watched his father’s retreating back, the smirk on his face slowly faded.
At the beginning of this whole saga, he had told himself that his father must have had his own difficulties when he agreed to marry him off to the Crown Prince. If his father had just explained the reasons properly to him, he would have obediently married into the Imperial family, and returned the assets his Grandfather had left him to the Lou family. However, in the past month, his father had stabbed knife after knife into his heart, and his filial piety had slowly disappeared with every blow. His actions today had finally severed ties with his father; he and his father were now practically strangers to each other.
The second sister-in-law, who was Lou Jing’s Second Aunt, headed to Zhuque Hall, clutching account books to her chest. As she passed through the garden, she suddenly saw Lou Jing come out of the Zhuque Hall. Swift as lightning, she hid behind one of the large decorative rocks and placed a hand on her chest, sighing inwardly with relief. That was close!
Zhuque Hall was presently guarded by seven or eight stern-looking Eastern Palace guards with swords at their hips. They certainly would not relax the Crown Prince Consort’s security just because he had returned to his maiden home. The Second Aunt looked fearfully at the guards, and thought to herself that the Crown Prince must actually treasure his Consort quite a bit for him to provide him this level of security detail. With the Crown Prince as his backer, Lou Jing’s words would certainly carry more weight than usual.
At this very moment, a scholar dressed in deep blue robes was waiting at the side of the eastern street of Luotang Square with two youths in tow.
“My Lord, will we get into trouble with the law for obstructing the Crown Prince’s carriage?” one of the youths asked. He didn’t understand why his master, the well-respected Minister of Rites, had to resort to this covert method of meeting the Crown Prince.
“You don’t understand,” the scholarly looking man said. He was a short, stout man who looked to be around forty years old. This was the Minister of Rites, Yao Zhu. “Dianxia will not take offence. You two just need to make sure to keep your mouths shut, and no one will ever know about this.”
Yao Zhu had said this to threaten them and make sure they kept their silence. The two young servants’ faces looked pained, but could only promise to do so in small voices.
Lou Jing looked at his Second Aunt’s apprehensive face. He didn’t say anything, but lowered his gaze, drumming two fingers on the thick stack of account books that she had brought over.
“These are accounts that were copied at the time of the old Anguo Gong’s passing,” the Second Aunt said, swallowing nervously. She was deathly afraid that she would say something wrong and incur Lou Jing’s wrath. “At that time, there were a lot of things to manage in the main residence, and your stepmother couldn’t manage, so I helped to manage the accounts. I made a copy just in case something went wrong,” she said.
Lou Jing couldn’t be bothered to point out the many obvious factual inconsistencies in what his Second Aunt had said. “What are your intentions in giving these account books to me?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
“Your father and your two uncles will reach the end of their mourning period next spring,” the Second Aunt said. She twisted the handkerchief in her hands, wiping off the sweat that had beaded on her palms, then raised her head to see what Lou Jing’s reaction was. She grit her teeth and continued. “Zhuoyu, I watched you grow up. I know these accounts will be safest with you. You are now the Crown Prince Consort, and have the highest social status amongst everyone in the Lou family. If your father and his brothers split the family assets next spring, you should come back and make sure it’s done fairly.”
The mourning period for the old Anguo Gong was three years for his sons and one year for his grandsons. The Second Aunt did not dare to raise the issue of splitting the family assets and moving out before this three-year mourning period even though she hated living with the furen.
After Lou Jing saw his Second Aunt off, his face broke into an amused smile. He instructed Le Xian to bring these account books back to the Eastern Palace. This was an unexpected boon; with these account books, he would certainly not be at any disadvantage when he “settled the accounts” with Mdm Wei.
The banquet at the main residence finally ended. Lou Jing’s third uncle, Lou Jiannan, had fallen into a drunken stupor much earlier on and had to retire from the banquet some time ago. His second uncle was also red in the face and in the neck. Lou Jianyu tried to ask the Crown Prince to stay for another cup of tea, but Xiao Chengjun refused, saying that it was customary for the bride to leave her maiden home before sunset. He left, taking Lou Jing along with him.
The rule actually was that the bride should not remain overnight at her maiden home, not that she had to leave her maiden home before sunset, and anyway, even if it were the latter, it was still early afternoon at this very moment! Lou Jianyu couldn’t say anything in objection to the Crown Prince, however. He could only watch helplessly as the Crown Prince and his Consort got on their carriage and sped away, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
“This is the treasure sword, the Scarlet Cloud?” Xiao Chengjun asked curiously, examining the sword in Le Xian’s hands. “Are you good with the sword?”
“Not really,” Lou Jing replied with a laugh. He showed his hands to Xiao Chengjun. “I was trained in my family’s martial arts, which has an emphasis on archery. Other than that, I can’t say that I am good at the other weapons, though I know how to use them.”
Xiao Chengjun took one of Lou Jing’s hands and studied it. It was smooth, white and flawless, like a piece of fine white jade. Only his middle finger had a thin callus. Xiao Chengjun used his thumb to caress the callus, and a faint smile played about his lips. His Consort was being open with him about his abilities, and he was happy about that. This honesty was a habit that should be encouraged.
Lou Jing looked at the Crown Prince’s faint smile and was reminded of a cat whose tail had perked up just a little. That fluffy tail brushed lightly against his heart, making it skip a beat. He quickly pushed a light blue box into Xiao Chengjun’s hands, trying to ignore that unfamiliar sensation. “This is for you,” he said.
Lou Jing had spoken informally, but the Crown Prince didn’t notice. He opened the light blue box and saw a beautiful brush washer made of tricolour Hetian jade* inside.
*T/N: Hetian jade is a high grade nephrite produced primarily in Xinjiang.
The brush washer looked like it had been carved out of a single, solid piece of jade. It was primarily white in colour, and had extremely rare pink and green veins running through it. The white parts formed the main body of the round brush washer, and the pink and green parts were carved into lotus flowers and leaves respectively. The fascinating thing about the carvings were that the lotus flowers and leaves were not carved as depressions in the body of the jade washer, but protruded out in a lifelike manner, as if they were real plants, albeit in miniature form. The plants had been rendered with breathtaking detail – tiny veins had even been carved onto the small leaves, and each of the delicate lotus flowers had sixteen clearly differentiated petals.
“It’s so lovely,” Xiao Chengjun said, examining the jade brush washer in wonderment. He looked like he couldn’t bear to put it down.
Lou Jing felt oddly elated when he saw how much Xiao Chengjun liked his gift. “I met an old jade sculptor during my time in the Great Desert. This is one of the works I…”
Before Lou Jing could finish his sentence, the horses pulling their carriage whinnied loudly in fright, and the carriage footman brought the carriage to a screeching halt. Xiao Chengjun flew forward from the impact, the brush washer still in his hands. He instinctively covered it protectively with both his hands – the fragile jade would shatter on impact if it dropped on the carriage floor. However, in doing so, he lost the ability to break his fall with his hands, and his whole body looked as if it were about to crash heavily onto the floor.
Quick as lightning, Lou Jing caught hold of Xiao Chengjun and pulled him into his arms, using his legs to steady himself against the carriage walls at the same time.
“Dianxia, someone is obstructing the carriage. I beg your forgiveness,” the footman said, bowing repeatedly in apology.
Lou Jing didn’t know if it was because he associated Xiao Chengjun with little steamed rabbit buns, but every time he had him in his arms, he always felt like he didn’t want to let go.
“Who is obstructing our path?” Xiao Chengjun asked. He tried to get up, but realised that his Consort was still hugging him tightly. He froze for a moment, and the ear that was pressed up against Lou Jing’s chest slowly turned bright red.
“This lowly subject, Yao Zhu, seeks an audience with the Crown Prince,” the Minister of Rites said from outside the carriage.
Xiao Chengjun got up as if nothing had happened, straightened his robes, and pushed aside the carriage curtains to step outside.
Lou Jing put the brush washer back in its box. His smile broadened involuntarily as he looked at the Crown Prince’s red little ears.
“Lord Yao,” Xiao Chengjun acknowledged. He alighted from the carriage and saw that Yao Zhu had only brought two servants with him. The street behind Yao Zhu was completely empty. “Why are you here?” he asked.
“Dianxia!” Yao Zhu fell to his knees without another word. “I am at my wits’ end. This lowly subject begs Dianxia to save him!”
“Get up first,” Xiao Chengjun said, gesturing for him to stand up. “What happened?”
Yao Zhu didn’t make the usual polite protests to remain kneeling and got up immediately. He knew he would attract unwanted attention if he insisted on kneeling in the middle of the street. “Dianxia, did you know that the Imperial Censor Geng Zhuo has died?” he said in a low voice.
“What?” Xiao Chengjun was shocked. “Didn’t my Father Emperor already agree to release him?” he said, furrowing his brows.
“Yes, he did,” Yao Zhu said with a pained expression. “This morning, his Majesty decreed that Geng Zhuo was to be released, but who knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had tortured him cruelly over the course of the night? By the time the guards went to collect Geng Zhuo from the Imperial Prison, he was already on the brink of death.”
Xiao Chengjun felt like he had been punched in the gut. He took half a step back, and came into contact with a broad, solid body.
Lou Jing had been standing behind the Crown Prince all this while. When he saw Xiao Chengjun falter, he immediately held on to his waist to steady him. “What does the Imperial Censor’s death have to do with you, Lord Yao?” Lou Jing asked.
Yao Zhu looked at Lou Jing in surprise. Lou Jing had only just married into the Imperial family, and it ordinarily not appropriate for Imperial wives to involve themselves in the affairs of the Imperial Court. However, the Crown Prince didn’t seem to have any intention of reprimanding his Consort for doing so. Yao Zhu had no choice but to reply in the circumstances. “The Crown Prince Consort may not know this, but I offended Shen Lian recently, and he’s been looking to get a hold on me. As the Minister of Rites, I am a second-ranked official, so I wasn’t afraid of him originally, but now that Shen Lian has managed to cause the Imperial Censor’s death without any repercussions, I… I cannot help but fear for my own safety.”
Luotang Square was usually quite deserted, but this afternoon, there were a few servants out and about on the streets, likely on some errand or other. Xiao Chengjun sighed deeply. “Go back first. I’ll come out to the Imperial Palace tomorrow, and we’ll meet at…” Xiao Chengjun’s voice trailed off.
He was a little torn. During this period after the wedding, he wasn’t supposed to attend to matters of state, and if the Chunde Emperor heard that he was meeting Court officials on a private basis, there would be trouble.
“We’ll meet at the Anguo Gong Shizi’s country estate twenty li to the west of the Capital,” Lou Jing said finishing the sentence.
Xiao Chengjun stared at him in surprise.
“Well, we don’t have much to do these two days. I thought it would be nice to invite you to my country estate to taste some fruits that I grew myself,” Lou Jing said breezily.
Back in the Eastern Palace, Xiao Chengjun immediately summoned Cai Yi and his other officials to Chongwen Chambers, and Lou Jing headed back to Bafeng Hall to take an afternoon nap.
Lying on the bed, Lou Jing thought about the Crown Prince’s shyly blushing ears and simply couldn’t sleep. It felt like his heart was doing somersaults in his chest. He gave up on trying to nap and sat up, pulling out the book hidden in the secret compartment. He lay down comfortably on a large pillow and started reading the book with great interest.
“Father!” Lou Jing grabbed hold of Lou Jianyu’s wrist. He stood up slowly. “You can’t change the fact that these are not generational assets just by saying they are. It’s written clearly on the deeds that they are my personal assets.”
“You…” Lou Jing was gripping Lou Jianyu’s wrist very tightly, and the latter was in pain. Those smooth, flawless fingers were like an iron vise. No matter how he struggled, he couldn’t free himself from them. “You bloody bastard!”
The old Anguo Gong had been stationed at the battlefront since he was a young man, and did not spend much of Lou Jianyu’s childhood at home. As a result, Lou Jianyu missed out on the opportunity to learn martial arts from his father. Martial arts had to be learned at a young age, and by the time the old Anguo Gong had spare time on his hands, Lou Jianyu was much too old to start, and the old Anguo Gong tried to make up for this by making great efforts to pass his martial arts on to Lou Jianyu’s eldest legitimate son, Lou Jing.
Lou Jianyu had only ever learnt other inferior martial arts from external sources, and he was certainly no match for Lou Jing, who had practised the Lou family’s martial arts for more than ten years.
Lou Jing looked at Lou Jianyu like a cat who had caught a mouse by its tail. “Your son is now the Crown Prince Consort. If you hit me, you’ll be committing the crime of insubordination. If I actually allowed your slap to land on my face, I would be truly unfilial,” Lou Jing said benignly. From the way he spoke, it sounded like he had done Lou Jianyu a huge favour.
Lou Jianyu was so furious that his chest actually started to hurt. However, he couldn’t find any fault with what Lou Jing had said. If he dared to shout for his guards to come and help, things wouldn’t end well for him.
“Guogong ye, guogong ye!” a servant shouted from outside.
Lou Jing let go of his father. He folded his arms behind his back as if nothing had happened.
“What’s with that racket?” Lou Jianyu asked angrily. His voice was much louder than usual because he was in a temper.
The servant rushed in at top speed. It was the same servant that the Anguo Gong had left to watch over things in the main residence. “The third master has had too much to drink and is crying all over the furen’s brother. The Crown Prince is asking why you aren’t there to deal with it,” the servant reported quickly.
Lou Jing smirked. His Crown Prince had to be really irritated to say something like that.
“That idiotic troublemaker!” Lou Jianyu exclaimed. He glared at the smirking Lou Jing, then left hastily with a flourish of his sleeves.
As Lou Jing watched his father’s retreating back, the smirk on his face slowly faded.
At the beginning of this whole saga, he had told himself that his father must have had his own difficulties when he agreed to marry him off to the Crown Prince. If his father had just explained the reasons properly to him, he would have obediently married into the Imperial family, and returned the assets his Grandfather had left him to the Lou family. However, in the past month, his father had stabbed knife after knife into his heart, and his filial piety had slowly disappeared with every blow. His actions today had finally severed ties with his father; he and his father were now practically strangers to each other.
The second sister-in-law, who was Lou Jing’s Second Aunt, headed to Zhuque Hall, clutching account books to her chest. As she passed through the garden, she suddenly saw Lou Jing come out of the Zhuque Hall. Swift as lightning, she hid behind one of the large decorative rocks and placed a hand on her chest, sighing inwardly with relief. That was close!
Zhuque Hall was presently guarded by seven or eight stern-looking Eastern Palace guards with swords at their hips. They certainly would not relax the Crown Prince Consort’s security just because he had returned to his maiden home. The Second Aunt looked fearfully at the guards, and thought to herself that the Crown Prince must actually treasure his Consort quite a bit for him to provide him this level of security detail. With the Crown Prince as his backer, Lou Jing’s words would certainly carry more weight than usual.
At this very moment, a scholar dressed in deep blue robes was waiting at the side of the eastern street of Luotang Square with two youths in tow.
“My Lord, will we get into trouble with the law for obstructing the Crown Prince’s carriage?” one of the youths asked. He didn’t understand why his master, the well-respected Minister of Rites, had to resort to this covert method of meeting the Crown Prince.
“You don’t understand,” the scholarly looking man said. He was a short, stout man who looked to be around forty years old. This was the Minister of Rites, Yao Zhu. “Dianxia will not take offence. You two just need to make sure to keep your mouths shut, and no one will ever know about this.”
Yao Zhu had said this to threaten them and make sure they kept their silence. The two young servants’ faces looked pained, but could only promise to do so in small voices.
Lou Jing looked at his Second Aunt’s apprehensive face. He didn’t say anything, but lowered his gaze, drumming two fingers on the thick stack of account books that she had brought over.
“These are accounts that were copied at the time of the old Anguo Gong’s passing,” the Second Aunt said, swallowing nervously. She was deathly afraid that she would say something wrong and incur Lou Jing’s wrath. “At that time, there were a lot of things to manage in the main residence, and your stepmother couldn’t manage, so I helped to manage the accounts. I made a copy just in case something went wrong,” she said.
Lou Jing couldn’t be bothered to point out the many obvious factual inconsistencies in what his Second Aunt had said. “What are your intentions in giving these account books to me?” he asked, getting straight to the point.
“Your father and your two uncles will reach the end of their mourning period next spring,” the Second Aunt said. She twisted the handkerchief in her hands, wiping off the sweat that had beaded on her palms, then raised her head to see what Lou Jing’s reaction was. She grit her teeth and continued. “Zhuoyu, I watched you grow up. I know these accounts will be safest with you. You are now the Crown Prince Consort, and have the highest social status amongst everyone in the Lou family. If your father and his brothers split the family assets next spring, you should come back and make sure it’s done fairly.”
The mourning period for the old Anguo Gong was three years for his sons and one year for his grandsons. The Second Aunt did not dare to raise the issue of splitting the family assets and moving out before this three-year mourning period even though she hated living with the furen.
After Lou Jing saw his Second Aunt off, his face broke into an amused smile. He instructed Le Xian to bring these account books back to the Eastern Palace. This was an unexpected boon; with these account books, he would certainly not be at any disadvantage when he “settled the accounts” with Mdm Wei.
The banquet at the main residence finally ended. Lou Jing’s third uncle, Lou Jiannan, had fallen into a drunken stupor much earlier on and had to retire from the banquet some time ago. His second uncle was also red in the face and in the neck. Lou Jianyu tried to ask the Crown Prince to stay for another cup of tea, but Xiao Chengjun refused, saying that it was customary for the bride to leave her maiden home before sunset. He left, taking Lou Jing along with him.
The rule actually was that the bride should not remain overnight at her maiden home, not that she had to leave her maiden home before sunset, and anyway, even if it were the latter, it was still early afternoon at this very moment! Lou Jianyu couldn’t say anything in objection to the Crown Prince, however. He could only watch helplessly as the Crown Prince and his Consort got on their carriage and sped away, leaving a cloud of dust in their wake.
“This is the treasure sword, the Scarlet Cloud?” Xiao Chengjun asked curiously, examining the sword in Le Xian’s hands. “Are you good with the sword?”
“Not really,” Lou Jing replied with a laugh. He showed his hands to Xiao Chengjun. “I was trained in my family’s martial arts, which has an emphasis on archery. Other than that, I can’t say that I am good at the other weapons, though I know how to use them.”
Xiao Chengjun took one of Lou Jing’s hands and studied it. It was smooth, white and flawless, like a piece of fine white jade. Only his middle finger had a thin callus. Xiao Chengjun used his thumb to caress the callus, and a faint smile played about his lips. His Consort was being open with him about his abilities, and he was happy about that. This honesty was a habit that should be encouraged.
Lou Jing looked at the Crown Prince’s faint smile and was reminded of a cat whose tail had perked up just a little. That fluffy tail brushed lightly against his heart, making it skip a beat. He quickly pushed a light blue box into Xiao Chengjun’s hands, trying to ignore that unfamiliar sensation. “This is for you,” he said.
Lou Jing had spoken informally, but the Crown Prince didn’t notice. He opened the light blue box and saw a beautiful brush washer made of tricolour Hetian jade* inside.
*T/N: Hetian jade is a high grade nephrite produced primarily in Xinjiang.
The brush washer looked like it had been carved out of a single, solid piece of jade. It was primarily white in colour, and had extremely rare pink and green veins running through it. The white parts formed the main body of the round brush washer, and the pink and green parts were carved into lotus flowers and leaves respectively. The fascinating thing about the carvings were that the lotus flowers and leaves were not carved as depressions in the body of the jade washer, but protruded out in a lifelike manner, as if they were real plants, albeit in miniature form. The plants had been rendered with breathtaking detail – tiny veins had even been carved onto the small leaves, and each of the delicate lotus flowers had sixteen clearly differentiated petals.
“It’s so lovely,” Xiao Chengjun said, examining the jade brush washer in wonderment. He looked like he couldn’t bear to put it down.
Lou Jing felt oddly elated when he saw how much Xiao Chengjun liked his gift. “I met an old jade sculptor during my time in the Great Desert. This is one of the works I…”
Before Lou Jing could finish his sentence, the horses pulling their carriage whinnied loudly in fright, and the carriage footman brought the carriage to a screeching halt. Xiao Chengjun flew forward from the impact, the brush washer still in his hands. He instinctively covered it protectively with both his hands – the fragile jade would shatter on impact if it dropped on the carriage floor. However, in doing so, he lost the ability to break his fall with his hands, and his whole body looked as if it were about to crash heavily onto the floor.
Quick as lightning, Lou Jing caught hold of Xiao Chengjun and pulled him into his arms, using his legs to steady himself against the carriage walls at the same time.
“Dianxia, someone is obstructing the carriage. I beg your forgiveness,” the footman said, bowing repeatedly in apology.
Lou Jing didn’t know if it was because he associated Xiao Chengjun with little steamed rabbit buns, but every time he had him in his arms, he always felt like he didn’t want to let go.
“Who is obstructing our path?” Xiao Chengjun asked. He tried to get up, but realised that his Consort was still hugging him tightly. He froze for a moment, and the ear that was pressed up against Lou Jing’s chest slowly turned bright red.
“This lowly subject, Yao Zhu, seeks an audience with the Crown Prince,” the Minister of Rites said from outside the carriage.
Xiao Chengjun got up as if nothing had happened, straightened his robes, and pushed aside the carriage curtains to step outside.
Lou Jing put the brush washer back in its box. His smile broadened involuntarily as he looked at the Crown Prince’s red little ears.
“Lord Yao,” Xiao Chengjun acknowledged. He alighted from the carriage and saw that Yao Zhu had only brought two servants with him. The street behind Yao Zhu was completely empty. “Why are you here?” he asked.
“Dianxia!” Yao Zhu fell to his knees without another word. “I am at my wits’ end. This lowly subject begs Dianxia to save him!”
“Get up first,” Xiao Chengjun said, gesturing for him to stand up. “What happened?”
Yao Zhu didn’t make the usual polite protests to remain kneeling and got up immediately. He knew he would attract unwanted attention if he insisted on kneeling in the middle of the street. “Dianxia, did you know that the Imperial Censor Geng Zhuo has died?” he said in a low voice.
“What?” Xiao Chengjun was shocked. “Didn’t my Father Emperor already agree to release him?” he said, furrowing his brows.
“Yes, he did,” Yao Zhu said with a pained expression. “This morning, his Majesty decreed that Geng Zhuo was to be released, but who knew that the Ministry of Internal Affairs had tortured him cruelly over the course of the night? By the time the guards went to collect Geng Zhuo from the Imperial Prison, he was already on the brink of death.”
Xiao Chengjun felt like he had been punched in the gut. He took half a step back, and came into contact with a broad, solid body.
Lou Jing had been standing behind the Crown Prince all this while. When he saw Xiao Chengjun falter, he immediately held on to his waist to steady him. “What does the Imperial Censor’s death have to do with you, Lord Yao?” Lou Jing asked.
Yao Zhu looked at Lou Jing in surprise. Lou Jing had only just married into the Imperial family, and it ordinarily not appropriate for Imperial wives to involve themselves in the affairs of the Imperial Court. However, the Crown Prince didn’t seem to have any intention of reprimanding his Consort for doing so. Yao Zhu had no choice but to reply in the circumstances. “The Crown Prince Consort may not know this, but I offended Shen Lian recently, and he’s been looking to get a hold on me. As the Minister of Rites, I am a second-ranked official, so I wasn’t afraid of him originally, but now that Shen Lian has managed to cause the Imperial Censor’s death without any repercussions, I… I cannot help but fear for my own safety.”
Luotang Square was usually quite deserted, but this afternoon, there were a few servants out and about on the streets, likely on some errand or other. Xiao Chengjun sighed deeply. “Go back first. I’ll come out to the Imperial Palace tomorrow, and we’ll meet at…” Xiao Chengjun’s voice trailed off.
He was a little torn. During this period after the wedding, he wasn’t supposed to attend to matters of state, and if the Chunde Emperor heard that he was meeting Court officials on a private basis, there would be trouble.
“We’ll meet at the Anguo Gong Shizi’s country estate twenty li to the west of the Capital,” Lou Jing said finishing the sentence.
Xiao Chengjun stared at him in surprise.
“Well, we don’t have much to do these two days. I thought it would be nice to invite you to my country estate to taste some fruits that I grew myself,” Lou Jing said breezily.
Back in the Eastern Palace, Xiao Chengjun immediately summoned Cai Yi and his other officials to Chongwen Chambers, and Lou Jing headed back to Bafeng Hall to take an afternoon nap.
Lying on the bed, Lou Jing thought about the Crown Prince’s shyly blushing ears and simply couldn’t sleep. It felt like his heart was doing somersaults in his chest. He gave up on trying to nap and sat up, pulling out the book hidden in the secret compartment. He lay down comfortably on a large pillow and started reading the book with great interest.
