Gu Yan thought for a moment before replying, “It should be about six years now.”
Yun Xiangye glared at Gu Yan in fury. Six years? Her cousin had been taking contraceptive medicine for a full six years!
Gu Yan hurriedly said, “Xiangye, I will try to persuade His Highness to stop making Aunt Ye take the contraceptive medicine. But as for getting your cousin out of the Eastern Palace, I’m afraid I can’t help you with that.”
Yun Xiangye stood up. “What a pair of cousins! Both of you are nothing but shameless beasts in human form!”
Gu Yan quickly covered her mouth. “You can curse me all you want, but how dare you curse His Highness the Crown Prince? Do you have a death wish?”
Yun Xiangye shook off his hand. “Since His Highness is unwilling to give my sister the title of a concubine or a lady of good standing, he might as well, for the sake of the years my sister has spent by his side, honor their master-servant bond and let her leave the palace.”
Gu Yan said, “Six years—even a dog raised for that long would be hard to part with, let alone a bedmate. Compared to being a concubine or a lady, serving as the chief palace maid in the Eastern Palace allows her to stay by His Highness’s side at all times. Everyone in the palace shows Aunt Ye some respect—isn’t that a good thing? Moreover, His Highness truly cares for Aunt Ye. As long as she remains the chief palace maid in the Eastern Palace, His Highness will protect her well.”
Yun Xiangye retorted, “Cares for her? So-called ‘caring’ means letting the woman he loves serve as a slave while he is the Crown Prince? If the Crown Prince, who stands above all but one, truly loved a woman, he would overcome all obstacles to make her his Crown Princess.”
Gu Yan frowned slightly. “Xiangye, have you lost your mind? What is your cousin’s status? How could she be fit to be Crown Princess?”
Yun Xiangye frowned. She had spoken those words in a fit of anger, and she knew deep down that her sister’s status indeed made her unfit to be Crown Princess. But hearing it from Gu Yan’s mouth left a bitter taste.
Yun Xiangye tightened her brow. “Yes, my cousin is unfit to be Crown Princess, and I am unfit to be your Princess Consort of Prince Ning. Since you look down on me so much, why not divorce me sooner?”
Seeing Gu Yan’s infuriating face, Yun Xiangye raised her hand to strike him, but this time Gu Yan was prepared and dodged.
Gu Yan raised his hand and grabbed her wrist. “I am different from His Highness. His Crown Princess will one day be the Empress, the mother of the nation! It’s not that I look down on your or your cousin’s background, but the Empress, as the mother of the nation, cannot be the daughter of a common merchant family from a small town.”
Yun Xiangye sneered, “How ridiculous! On one hand, His Highness thinks her background is unfit for the position of Crown Princess, and on the other, he can’t bear to let her leave the palace. If he looks down on Sister He’s background so much, why force her to stay in the palace?”
Gu Yan said, “That is His Highness’s doing. Why are you taking it out on me?”
Yun Xiangye replied, “You’re birds of a feather.”
Gu Yan was exasperated. “Yun Xiangye, I’ve tolerated your unreasonable behavior before, but now you want your cousin to be Crown Princess? That will never happen in this lifetime. Even if the Crown Princess isn’t Fu Qianran, the top talent of Chang’an who has been well-read since childhood, it certainly won’t fall to a palace maid.”
Yun Xiangye grew even angrier. “Do I want my cousin to be Crown Princess? I want her to leave the palace, to reunite with my uncle and aunt!”
Gu Yan said with a headache, “You should rest early. You must be tired from the journey, which is why you haven’t been able to calm down these past few days.”
Yun Xiangye also wanted to remain calm, but how could she stay composed when she saw her own sister enduring such grievances and helplessness?
She had already suffered enough injustice herself, yet she never expected that her sister, who had grown up with her since childhood, would be humiliated in such a manner.
Tears fell from Yun Xiangye’s eyes. She knew Gu Yan had no feelings for her, but she never imagined he would look down on her family like this.
Gu Yan stepped forward to wipe Yun Xiangye’s tears and said, “Tomorrow, I will go to His Highness and plead with him to stop giving Aunt Ye the contraceptive medicine.”
Yun Xiangye pushed his hand away. “There’s no need for your hypocritical and insincere kindness.”
With that, Yun Xiangye opened the study door and returned to her own room.
Inside the room, four palace maids sent from the palace were waiting for Yun Xiangye to return and give them names.
Yun Xiangye had no mood for it today and simply asked Run’er to arrange accommodations for the four of them first.
Alone in her room, Yun Xiangye pondered over possible solutions, but no matter how much she thought, she couldn’t come up with a perfect plan.
For now, she could only wait for Empress Wei to arrange for her cousin to leave the Eastern Palace. Although this wasn’t a good solution, it was the only hope for her cousin to escape the Eastern Palace.
During dinner time.
Zhao Cheng looked at Empress Wei, who had come to the Eastern Palace, and quickly rose from the dining table to bow. “Mother.”
Empress Wei glanced at Ye Wanhe, who was serving by Zhao Cheng’s side, and said slowly, “All of you, leave.”
Zhao Cheng poured a cup of tea for Empress Wei and asked, “Why does Mother have time to visit me today?”
Empress Wei looked up at Zhao Cheng, displeased. “Since your father ascended the throne, I have been the only empress in the six palaces. For this, countless officials in the court have raised objections, and it has only settled down in recent years. And you—you haven’t even taken a Crown Princess yet, but you’ve already brought in a concubine?”
Empress Wei knew that as the Crown Prince, her son would one day have three palaces and six courtyards.
However, as the saying goes, “Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.” Since she sought to be the sole empress in the six palaces, Empress Wei naturally did not want her son’s Eastern Palace to be filled with wives and concubines.
That was why, all these years, even though the designated Crown Princess was in mourning and unable to enter the Eastern Palace, Empress Wei had never arranged for any consorts or concubines to be sent there.
Zhao Cheng said, “Mother, what concubine are you talking about?”
Empress Wei said coldly, “Ye Wanhe must leave the palace. A seductive palace maid who bewitches her master cannot remain in the Eastern Palace.”
Zhao Cheng frowned. “Mother, you overestimate Ye Wanhe. How could she bewitch anyone? She’s just a palace maid for my amusement.”
Empress Wei furrowed her brows tightly. “Do you truly have no feelings for Wanhe?”
Zhao Cheng answered quickly, “None.”
Empress Wei said, “Since you have none, then let her leave the palace.”
Zhao Cheng replied, “I’ve grown accustomed to Wanhe’s service. If I replace her with a clumsy palace maid, how could she be as convenient to use as Wanhe? She’s just a useful palace maid, nothing more. How could I have any other thoughts about her? You’re overthinking this, Mother.”
Empress Wei frowned deeply. Now that her son had grown up, she didn’t want to pressure him with her authority as a mother and elder.
“As long as you understand in your heart. The news of your marriage to the Crown Princess in April will be announced to the world in a few days.”
With only these words, Empress Wei left the Eastern Palace.
As she was about to exit, Empress Wei saw Ye Wanhe waiting outside the door. She sighed softly but ultimately said nothing to her.
After Empress Wei left, Ye Wanhe’s ears still echoed with Zhao Cheng’s words: “She’s just a palace maid for amusement.”
Ye Wanhe suppressed the thoughts in her eyes and entered the room, continuing to serve Zhao Cheng his meal.
After taking a sip of wine, Zhao Cheng stood up and pulled Ye Wanhe into his arms. “Have you told your cousin that you will never leave the palace in this lifetime?”
Ye Wanhe replied, “As long as Your Highness does not drive this servant away, I will never leave the palace.”
Zhao Cheng stared at Ye Wanhe’s red lips and said, “Good.”
On the nanmu bed in the Eastern Palace, the silk curtains hung low, shimmering with the flickering candlelight in the room, swaying for a long time before finally falling still.
Ye Wanhe lay weakly on the man’s shoulder, thinking of her parents far away in Jiangnan. They were likely hoping she would return home for the reunion festival next year.
Unfortunately, she would never, ever be able to celebrate a reunion festival again.
Feeling moisture at the corner of her eye, Ye Wanhe saw Zhao Cheng reach out to wipe away her tears. “You’ll soon be twenty-five. What would you like for your birthday gift?”
“This servant wishes to leave the palace…”
Seeing Zhao Cheng’s face darken, Ye Wanhe quickly added, “This servant wishes to leave the palace for a day. I have been in Chang’an for many years but only glimpsed its prosperity through a curtain on the first day I arrived. I wish to leave the palace and stroll through Chang’an with my cousin, and also visit her little daughter. A two-year-old child must be very sweet and soft, like sticky rice.”
Zhao Cheng smiled faintly. “Yes, Nuonuo is like a delicate little glutinous rice ball, very adorable, soft and sticky. Truly enviable.”
Ye Wanhe rarely saw such gentleness in Zhao Cheng’s eyes and smiled softly. “The Crown Princess will soon enter the palace. Your Highness may also have a daughter by next year.”
Zhao Cheng frowned slightly and said coldly, “Go outside and fetch water for washing. Today, you will rest on the small couch in the outer room for night duty.”
Ye Wanhe did not understand why Zhao Cheng was suddenly angry, but she was accustomed to his unpredictable moods in private. She quickly rose, her voice still slightly hoarse, and replied, “Yes, Your Highness.”
As she stepped out of the bedchamber, a cold wind blew, and Ye Wanhe shivered involuntarily. This year’s winter seemed especially cold.