In the morning, Su Wantang and Zhao Xuanzhen had been intimate in the study, and by lunch, Su Huajin had smashed several vases.
Upon learning that that “lowly harlot” Su Wantang had gone to the study to seduce Zhao Xuanzhen before her injuries were even fully healed, Su Huajin wished she could flay her alive.
However, she was the one who had brought her back, and the plan for a surrogate pregnancy was her own decision. She couldn’t find a reason to lash out, nor did she want Zhao Xuanzhen to think she was jealous, suspicious, or volatile.
Therefore, at lunch, Su Huajin used the excuse that Su Wantang had accidentally broken a glass cup bestowed by the palace to punish her by making her stand under the sun in the corridor.
She stood there for two hours. When Zhao Xuanzhen came to the main courtyard to visit Su Huajin, he saw Su Wantang standing weakly and pitifully in the corridor, looking as if she were about to collapse.
Su Huajin was sitting on a low couch under a tree, being served grapes by Cuihuan. Seeing Zhao Xuanzhen enter, she remained calm but paid close attention to his reaction.
Fortunately, Zhao Xuanzhen merely glanced at Su Wantang before looking away, asking with his usual composure, “What happened here?”
Su Huajin gave a scoffing laugh. “Younger sister broke a glass cup bestowed by the palace. To prevent others from making an issue of it in the future, I have administered a slight punishment.”
Zhao Xuanzhen caught the resentment in his consort’s eyes and vaguely guessed the reason.
He calmly glanced in Su Wantang’s direction, meeting her gaze as she looked at him with a pale, pitiful, and pleading expression.
Knowing his wife was likely lashing out because of the morning’s events and was using Su Wantang as an outlet, Zhao Xuanzhen would not cause trouble with his consort over a mere “trinket.” He ignored Su Wantang’s silent plea, turned his attention to Su Huajin, and smiled. “Your complexion is looking much better.”
Su Huajin’s expression softened instantly.
Deep down, she realized she had been too worried and overly suspicious.
Zhao Xuanzhen was so aloof and arrogant; he despised flamboyant and frivolous people. How could he possibly think highly of someone so base? As he had said before, Su Wantang was nothing more than a trinket meant to bear their child.
Su Huajin secretly told herself not to be jealous so easily again; otherwise, it would make her seem narrow-minded, suspicious, and erratic, and it would only annoy Zhao Xuanzhen.
Consequently, Su Huajin stopped bothering to appreciate Su Wantang’s pathetic appearance and began arranging for dinner.
After the couple finished their meal, she spoke as if she had just remembered something. “Oh my, I’ve forgotten about Wantang…”
Immediately, Su Huajin called Su Wantang in. Seeing her walking slowly with trembling legs, Su Huajin put on a friendly act. “You silly girl, how clumsy of you. Why didn’t you speak up when I forgot to call you in?”
She pointed to the leftovers on the table. “The Heir and I haven’t touched these dishes. You may take them back to Cuiwei Pavilion for your dinner.”
Having been forced to stand for hours and then “rewarded” with leftovers, Zhao Xuanzhen glanced at Su Wantang while sipping tea. He saw her head bowed, her eyes rimmed with red, whispering her thanks… still that same cowardly look.
Back in the study, Zhao Xuanzhen kept picturing Su Wantang being dismissed with those leftovers, her eyes red.
Thinking of her pathetic and cowardly demeanor, he was inexplicably curious. He wanted to know if, after suffering such grievances, she would hide away and cry?
A moment later, Zhao Xuanzhen entered Cuiwei Pavilion.
There were finally servants at the entrance. The servant who had been slacking off by the wall scrambled to stand up when he saw him, but Zhao Xuanzhen waved his hand for him to keep quiet and retreat.
He walked inside and reached the main room… only to see Su Wantang sitting face-to-face with her personal maid, eating—ignoring all status and dignity, shoveling food into their mouths with lightning speed!
No tears, no grievances, no humiliation… she was eating with great relish.
Zhao Xuanzhen was stunned for a moment by this sight, until the mistress and maid sitting at the table noticed him.
Su Wantang froze, chewing a few more times before clearing her mouth. “Heir, why are you here?”
Xiaotao also scrambled to stand up.
Zhao Xuanzhen walked over, looked at the nearly empty plates on the table, paused, and asked, “Are you not disgusted that others have eaten from these?”
Then he saw Su Wantang blink. “These… these dishes, didn’t you and Elder Sister not touch them?”
Zhao Xuanzhen was left almost speechless.
Was this about whether they had been touched? The important thing was the thinly veiled humiliation behind the “rewarded” food…
Yet this simpleton was eating it so happily.
“I… I haven’t had food this delicious before, and Elder Sister said it was for me to eat, so… is it not allowed?”
Su Wantang looked utterly bewildered and somewhat anxious.
Zhao Xuanzhen gave up on arguing with her. “It’s fine, go ahead and eat.”
Su Wantang wiped the corner of her mouth with a handkerchief, somewhat embarrassed, and let out a burp. “…I’m full.”
Zhao Xuanzhen: …
After a pause, he said, “Someone, come here.”
Ping’an bowed as he entered from outside, hearing his master say, “Starting tomorrow, the meals at Cuiwei Pavilion are to be of the same grade as those at Minghui Courtyard.”
It was only a few mouthfuls of food, after all.
Ping’an hurriedly complied.
Zhao Xuanzhen watched as Su Wantang’s eyes widened with joy; she stepped forward and hugged his arm. “Really? Thank you so much, brother-in-law, you are too kind to me.”
Her eyes were filled with genuine delight, holding no grudge that he had ignored her plea for help earlier.
So easy to coax… over just a few dishes.
Zhao Xuanzhen thought this concubine-born daughter was truly shallow, doing everything she could to climb the social ladder only to care about such trivialities. He felt she was so stupid it was almost pathetic.
Thinking of how she had stood in the corridor for most of the day, he deigned to offer her a piece of advice: “From now on, be cautious in your speech and actions… do not be overly familiar, it makes you seem frivolous.”
Su Wantang followed his gaze to the hand holding his sleeve, murmured an “oh” in chagrin, and withdrew it, looking a bit more subdued and composed.
Zhao Xuanzhen wanted Su Wantang to be more steady and not try to seduce him so unceremoniously… but he hadn’t expected that after this warning, she would disappear from his sight for several days.
Zhao Xuanzhen thought that those who are naturally stupid are truly hard to teach.
He hadn’t intended to pay her any mind, but he remembered that if there were still no heir, his grandmother, the Dowager Consort, would likely start arranging for him to take a secondary consort, and his “good” stepmother would probably be up to her old tricks. Thus, Zhao Xuanzhen ordered Ping’an to see what Su Wantang had been busy with.
Ping’an returned quickly, and Zhao Xuanzhen learned that the simpleton had secretly snuck out of the Prince’s mansion.
She had only been back in the capital for six months and barely knew anyone; what was she going out for?
Having nothing better to do, and knowing the so-called “house arrest” was merely for Emperor Yongxing to put on a show for outsiders, Zhao Xuanzhen took Ping’an out of the side gate, wanting to see who Su Wantang was meeting.
He followed her all the way to Yongxing Lane. Yongxing Lane was mostly occupied by commoners; what was Su Wantang doing lurking here?
Zhao Xuanzhen followed the mistress and maid in silence. He watched as Su Wantang hid in the shadows at a street corner, then let her maid, wearing a bamboo hat, walk over to a scholar setting up a stall to paint.
Zhao Xuanzhen found the scholar vaguely familiar but couldn’t recall where he had seen him, so he furrowed his brow and watched.
At that moment, Ping’an whispered from the side, “Heir, that is the second Miss Su’s former fiancé, named Xu Jinnian.”
Zhao Xuanzhen’s brow furrowed immediately.
Xu Jinnian?
Wasn’t it said that Su Wantang had kicked her fiancé to the curb after his family suffered a great tragedy, all to climb the ladder to the Ding Prince’s Mansion?