In the backyard of the Warm Fragrance Pavilion, Rong Xun waved for Changji to step back.
Rong Xuan rubbed his wrist, wincing in pain.
Seeing that he was still unrepentant, Rong Xun shook his head and smiled. “Third Brother, take my advice and hurry back. If Father finds out you left your seat without permission, you are going to be in big trouble.”
“You!”
“Third Young Master, Third Young Master!”
Rong Xuan’s personal pageboy hurried over and whispered in Rong Xuan’s ear, “The Marquis is looking everywhere for you, and I heard he flew into a huge rage. You’d better get over there right now.”
Rong Xuan’s expression shifted, and he turned to leave. Remembering something, he turned back to snap at Rong Xun, “Little bastard! Just you wait, this isn’t over between us!”
Rong Xun smiled amiably. “Sure, sure, I’ll be waiting for you, little bastard.”
“You!”
Rong Xuan felt a surge of blood rushing to his head from pure fury, and he turned to lunge at Rong Xun.
“Third Young Master!”
Rong Xuan’s pageboy grabbed him, pleading with a bitter face, “Let’s head to the front hall first, the Marquis is waiting for you.”
Rong Xuan glared fiercely at Rong Xun, thought better of it, and turned to leave.
Seeing that her backer had walked away, Qing’er naturally followed behind Rong Xuan with a guilty conscience.
“Young Master, are we just going to let her leave like that?”
Wenxi glared bitterly at Qing’er’s retreating back.
That girl was two-faced every day and loved sowing discord; keeping her around was truly a hidden hazard.
“Don’t worry, when we head back, she won’t have any choice but to obediently return to the Prince’s Manor with us.”
Wenxi looked puzzled. “Then how could she still dare to go stir up trouble in front of the Third Young Master? Isn’t she afraid you’ll deal with her when you get back to the manor?”
Rong Xun smiled without answering. Who knows?
Perhaps his good third brother had promised to get her out of the Prince’s Manor.
Whether she gets released or not, however, isn’t up to them to decide.
“Look.”
Rong Xun pointed behind them, saying to Wenxi, “Did you not notice that Mama Wang is also missing?”
She was most likely still over at Madam Chen’s courtyard.
“Young Master, should we tell His Highness?”
“Why tell him?”
Rong Xun felt that Wenxi could be rather silly sometimes.
Tan Taisi wouldn’t care about such trivial matters at all.
“Forget about those two, let’s go.”
Wenxi asked, “Are we going back to the room?”
“No.”
The mere thought of that lingering fragrance in the room made Rong Xun feel dizzy and a bit nauseous.
“Let’s go wander around somewhere else; it’ll be time to head back soon anyway.”
“Yes.”
The Yong’an Marquis Residence featured a plum blossom garden, and right by the garden stood a rockery.
The scenery there was quite pleasant, and just as Rong Xun was heading over to take a stroll, he ran right into Steward Wang of the Marquis Residence.
“Greetings to the Prince Consort.”
“Get up.”
Steward Wang was Rong Huaizhou’s confidant, and Rong Xun had no desire to have excessive entanglements with the people of the Rong family.
After telling him to rise, he wanted to walk around him and leave.
Unexpectedly, Steward Wang blocked Rong Xun’s path.
“Prince Consort, please stay. The Marquis asks for the Prince Consort to come over.”
Rong Xun furrowed his brow.
Shouldn’t Rong Huaizhou be accompanying Tan Taisi at this hour? Why would he ask him to come over?
Following Steward Wang outside Rong Huaizhou’s study, Steward Wang stopped Wenxi, Changji, and Changning.
“The Marquis wishes to speak privately with the Prince Consort.”
Naturally, Wenxi wasn’t at ease letting Rong Xun go in to deal with the Yong’an Marquis all by himself.
“His Highness instructed us to follow the Prince Consort step by step.”
Wenxi deliberately brought up Tan Taisi.
Yet Steward Wang didn’t back down.
“Father and son are just talking, it’s best if we don’t go inside.”
“But…”
“Wenxi, you guys just wait outside.”
Rong Xun also wanted to see what kind of medicine Rong Huaizhou was selling in his gourd.
He stepped inside and closed the door. Inside the study, Rong Huaizhou sat in his chair with a gloomy expression, staring silently at Rong Xun as he entered.
“Father.”
Rong Xun offered a casual greeting and said nothing further.
He figured that anyway, he wasn’t really a son of the Rong family, and with no outsiders present, there was no need to put on a show of filial piety and paternal love.
After a moment, Rong Huaizhou spoke first.
“Your status is different now, yet you put on quite a haughty front when returning for your bridal visit.”
Rong Xun smiled. “Not at all, not at all. I am merely basking in the glory of His Highness Prince Chen. Besides, wasn’t it you and Madam who arranged for me to marry into Prince Chen’s Manor in the first place?”
Rong Huaizhou was choked into unaccustomed silence by his retort.
Nursing his irritation for a moment, he stood up, pointed at Rong Xun, and continued.
“What, do you feel that your mother and I wronged you by having you marry into Prince Chen’s Manor?”
Rong Xun answered with an innocent look. “I certainly didn’t say that.”
“You had better not harbor such thoughts. As a concubine-born son, letting you marry Prince Chen is already a blessing cultivated from past lives. You would do well to mind your words and actions, and not go blurting out things you shouldn’t in front of His Highness.”
“What is Father implying? Is there anything we cannot speak of in front of His Highness?”
Rong Xun’s feigned ignorance only served to anger Rong Huaizhou further.
“Stop playing dumb. You know very well what shouldn’t be said, but remember this: if you dare to reveal your true identity in front of His Highness, you can forget about having your mother’s spirit tablet enter the Rong family ancestral hall!”
Rong Xun narrowed his eyes. The thing he despised most in his life was being threatened by others.
Especially someone using a birth mother to threaten her own son, such a person was nothing short of a beast.
He said with disdain, “You don’t need to threaten me. For the sake of my own safety, I will naturally guard my identity well. However, whether Prince Chen eventually finds out or not, I cannot guarantee.”
Based on just a few days of interaction, his intuition told Rong Xun that Tan Taisi was definitely not someone whose capabilities were limited to leading troops in battle.
Whether he could manage to pull the wool over Tan Taisi’s eyes remained to be seen.
The air around Rong Huaizhou turned cold.
“You had better guard your identity. The reason I called you here today is to give you a piece of instruction: His Highness holds a noble status, and you must serve him with utmost care. Furthermore, you are to return to the residence once every month from now on, and report to us on what Prince Chen does on a regular basis.”
Rong Xun’s expression shifted as he looked at Rong Huaizhou with newfound fascination.
He hadn’t expected his nominal father to be quite so bold.
“Is Father asking me to act as a spy and monitor His Highness Prince Chen?”
“It cannot quite be called monitoring. As subjects, it is only natural that we understand His Highness’s daily preferences so that we may cater to them. You need only carry out the task, there is no need to ask so many questions.”
Facing a younger son who hadn’t been raised by his side since childhood, Rong Huaizhou seemed completely lacking in vigilance.
“Remember, do not let Prince Chen find out, or you won’t like the consequences!”
“I haven’t even said whether I agree or not, and you’re already threatening me?”
Rong Huaizhou’s overbearing attitude filled Rong Xun with deep irritation.
“My agreement to take your eldest son’s place and marry into Prince Chen’s Manor was already my greatest concession. Now you want me to go spy on the Prince?”
Rong Xun spoke to Rong Huaizhou in a thoroughly aggravating tone. “Father, if you want me dead, just say so directly. Be straightforward, no need to beat around the bush. Just what kind of person is His Highness Prince Chen, and you expect me to monitor him?”
“Oh.”
Rong Xun drew out the syllable. “Or perhaps you’re tired of living and want to drag the whole family down to be buried with you.”
“Rebellious son! How dare you speak to your own father like that!”
Rong Huaizhou bypassed the desk, strode right up to Rong Xun, raised his hand, and prepared to strike.
“Father.”
Rong Xun looked at Rong Huaizhou without the slightest panic.
“You had better think carefully. If that palm comes down, how will you explain yourself to His Highness Prince Chen later?”
“You!”
Rong Huaizhou, a man trained in martial arts and physically robust, was so infuriated by Rong Xun that his lips turned white and his face grew green.
Especially when looking at Rong Xun’s face, which bore such a striking resemblance to his mother’s, his anger flared even higher.
Seeing that Rong Huaizhou’s raised hand remained suspended in the air for a long time without coming down, Rong Xun smiled. “Pardon me, but I really cannot agree to your request. If you truly wish to know what His Highness Prince Chen does on a daily basis, why don’t I invite him over so you can ask him yourself?”
“Scoundrel!”
“Scoundrel or not, am I not your flesh and blood? Well, if you have nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave.”
With that, Rong Xun turned to walk away.
“Stop right there.”
Rong Huaizhou’s gloomy voice rang out behind Rong Xun.
“If you refuse, I will have your mother’s spirit tablet dumped into the stinking ditch outside the city, so she can never rest in peace even in death!”
The howling wind outside the window suddenly came to a dead stop.
Rong Xun slowly turned around, his calm face betraying not a single trace of excess emotion.
If Rong Huaizhou thought he could threaten him with this, he had clearly picked the wrong person.
“Feel free to go throw it. Whenever you toss it, just give me a notice so I can hire a few extra people to beat drums and gongs, and tell everyone in the capital about the Marquis’s heroic feat.”
Without paying any more attention to the man behind him who was fuming to the point of madness, Rong Xun pushed open the study door and led his people toward the front hall.
To him, a spirit tablet or plaque was nothing more than a piece of wood.
If Rong Xun’s mother had a spirit in heaven, she surely wouldn’t wish for her son to risk his life for an illusory promise.
Upon reaching the front hall, he happened to run into Tan Taisi, who was surrounded and escorted by the family members.
Even in front of his in-laws, Tan Taisi’s attitude toward Rong Xun remained unchanged.
He was the same as he was in the Prince’s Manor, and the same as he was here in the Yong’an Marquis Residence.
He couldn’t even be bothered to put on an act.
Yet this was for the best, as it prevented the Rong family from assuming Tan Taisi treated him well and subsequently making unreasonable demands.
Tan Taisi glanced outside.
He said to Rong Xun, “It is getting late, let us return to the Prince’s Manor.”
Rong Zhe paused slightly.
“This… might Your Highness and the Prince Consort stay for dinner before heading back?”
“There is no need, this Prince has official business to attend to. Let us go, Prince Consort.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Ignoring Rong Zhe’s frantic attempts to signal him with his eyes, Rong Xun followed closely behind Tan Taisi toward the exit of the Marquis Residence.
Hearing the news, Rong Huaizhou hurried over in a panic, only to catch sight of the rear of the Prince’s Manor carriage pulling away.
Along the way back to the manor, the carriage traveled at a somewhat hurried pace.
Whether it was due to the excessive swaying, Rong Xun couldn’t tell, but he felt his head growing increasingly dizzy, accompanied by waves of nausea.
Feeling truly miserable, he couldn’t help pushing open the carriage window to catch some fresh air.
“Is the Prince Consort so reluctant to leave the Marquis Residence?”
The person who had been resting with his eyes closed suddenly spoke up.
Tan Taisi had taken in all of Rong Xun’s small actions.
“I couldn’t tell that the Prince Consort was such a homebody.”
“…”
Just where did this guy get the idea that he was a homebody? Is there something wrong with his vision?
Rong Xun silently closed the window and pulled the side curtains shut, blocking out the light completely.
“Your Highness misunderstood, this subject merely wanted some fresh air.”
“It seems the Prince Consort is feeling quite stifled sitting inside this carriage. Do you need to step outside? You could simply ride a horse back to the manor, which would provide plenty of fresh air.”
The corners of Rong Xun’s mouth twitched violently at those words.
Tan Taisi had to be doing this on purpose.
The temperature outside was probably below freezing.
Asking him to ride a horse, wasn’t that deliberately trying to freeze him to death?
Rong Xun forcibly suppressed the wave of nausea, and tried to keep his voice as calm and even as possible. “Thank you for the thought, Your Highness, but I am not very skilled at horse riding, so I’ll stick to the carriage.”
The son of a military general not skilled in horse riding, who on earth would believe such a thing?
Tan Taisi curved the corners of his lips and stealthily shifted his position, closing the distance to Rong Xun.
“There is one more matter that has piqued this Prince’s curiosity.”
“Please speak, Your Highness…”
Rong Xun responded while inwardly cursing Tan Taisi for his bizarre quirks.
Did he have to press right up against people when talking?