When Daiyu arrived at the mountain pavilion with her maids and matrons, following the palace attendant sent by Prince Duan, Chu Heng was already there, gazing into the distant mountains, lost in thought.
Daiyu stepped forward and curtsied. “Your Highness.”
Chu Heng merely raised his hand, his eyes still fixed on the distance, and said absentmindedly, “Sit.”
The stone stools in the pavilion were all padded with woolen cushions. Sitting down, one felt no chill at all. Daiyu took a book from Zijuan’s hands and said, “I plan to read. Does Your Highness mind?”
Chu Heng gave a slight nod. Then he heard Daiyu add, “Princess Yongkang was with me just now.”
“Mm… hm?” Chu Heng turned to look at her. “Did she go to make trouble for you?”
Daiyu asked in surprise, “Why would the princess make trouble for me?”
Chu Heng smiled. “She’s never able to get the upper hand with me. Now that you are… given our current relationship, she might think to get it back through you. It’s not impossible.”
“That’s Your Highness judging a gentleman’s heart with a petty man’s mind,” Daiyu said with a smile. “The princess wants to be friends with me.”
“Oh?” Seeing the genuine smile on her face, Chu Heng chuckled lightly. “It seems you’re already friends.”
Daiyu smiled brightly. “The princess is very nice.”
Chu Heng added with a smile, “Her mouth isn’t.”
Daiyu paused, then said tactfully, “The princess is forthright by nature.”
Chu Heng laughed twice, then said, “His Majesty and the Empress Dowager are biased. They’re always stricter and more demanding with Yongkang, but they won’t shortchange her either. When it’s time to protect her, they won’t let her suffer. And she’s broad-minded—no matter what she says, she never takes it to heart.”
Biased?
Daiyu recalled the scene at Renshou Palace that day. So that was it. Because everyone present knew that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager favored Chu Heng, that strange atmosphere had come about.
Still, it was odd. Even if a sickly younger son received more sympathy, wouldn’t a younger daughter be equally deserving of affection?
How could the Emperor and the Empress Dowager be so biased that even the two involved were dissatisfied with it?
Perhaps because people’s hearts are inherently partial, and favoritism itself is something difficult to explain.
At least now, Daiyu understood the strange sibling relationship between Chu Heng and Yongkang. The favoritism of their mother and elder brother was beyond their control, yet it inevitably affected their relationship.
Yongkang could not help but feel resentful, and so she would occasionally seek out Chu Heng’s “trouble,” though she never managed to gain any advantage from him.
As for Chu Heng, Daiyu could not yet see through him. Clearly, he was not without affection for his younger sister, yet he refused to take losses, and it did not seem that he felt guilty toward her for receiving this favoritism.
More questions arose in Daiyu’s mind. She hesitated over whether to voice them. After some thought, she said slowly, “Your Highness, I will instruct them not to repeat these words outside.”
To speak so openly about the Empress Dowager and the Emperor’s favoritism was easily something others could seize upon. Such words truly should not be spread. Daiyu’s promise to restrain her servants was entirely proper.
Chu Heng nodded and said seriously, “There will likely be more things in the future that cannot be spoken of. Miss Lin, to avoid trouble, you may as well set rules for them in advance.”
Rules aside, Zijuan and the others had already gone pale with fright. Those were the Emperor and the Empress Dowager—figures they had only ever seen on the opera stage, even as servants of a ducal household.
Daiyu smiled wryly. “The people around me are all timid. Please don’t frighten them, Your Highness.”
“Miss Lin is very brave,” Chu Heng said with a smile. “They’ll be fine. Just don’t let yourself be frightened.”
Daiyu raised her brows and smiled. “So Your Highness was trying to frighten me?”
Chu Heng replied innocently, “How could that be? Miss Lin, do you take me for that sort of person?”
“What sort of person Your Highness is, I do not yet know,” Daiyu said, lips curving.
Chu Heng was taken aback, then burst into laughter. “Indeed…” He looked into Daiyu’s sly eyes and, for a moment, was at a loss for words.
Just earlier, sitting here alone, he had felt that whether it was Prince Duan’s residence or Longhua Temple, it made little difference—everything was equally dull.
Then Daiyu walked in, and a glimmer of light fell into Chu Heng’s dim eyes.
“Your Highness?” Daiyu called out in confusion.
Chu Heng came back to himself and smiled. “Though you don’t yet understand me, I understand you a little now. It turns out Miss Lin is not only brave, but also sharp-tongued.”
Daiyu blinked and smiled. “I am indeed rather sharp of tongue. Perhaps I’ve disappointed Your Highness.”
“I think it’s quite good, only…” Chu Heng blinked as well and raised his hand to pour Daiyu a cup of tea. “I hope Miss Lin will show me some mercy with her words.”
“With such fine tea from Your Highness, my mouth is naturally stopped,” Daiyu said, the fragrance drifting to her nose. She was slightly surprised. “But Your Highness doesn’t… drink tea, does he?”
Chu Heng smiled in explanation. “Zhao Qing prepared it for you. They say it’s very good. I’m not accustomed to the taste of tea, so I can’t tell good from bad.”
Daiyu took a light sip and nodded with a smile. “It is indeed good tea. My thanks to Eunuch Zhao.”
Zhao Qing hurriedly bowed with a smile. “I wouldn’t dare. As long as Miss Lin enjoys it.”
“I heard from Princess Yongkang that Your Highness’s health is poor and the imperial physicians forbid you from drinking tea. So Your Highness also doesn’t care for the taste itself?” Daiyu set down her teacup and looked at Chu Heng, seemingly out of simple curiosity.
Chu Heng turned his teacup and said, “When I was young, the physicians advised it, and the Empress Dowager watched closely. Later, I secretly tried it and truly didn’t like it, so I simply stopped drinking it.”
Listening to this, Daiyu thought that Prince Duan sounded rather regretful—as if being able to drink tea and thereby shorten his life by a few years would be quite a good thing.
Was it because of prolonged illness, with no relief from physical pain, that he felt life was not worth clinging to? Was that why even his mother and elder brother were not attachments to him?
Daiyu herself was often ill and inclined to part rather than gather, yet she still had hopes for living.
How had Prince Duan developed such a temperament?
Thinking this, Daiyu said softly, “The Empress Dowager cherishes Your Highness. My late father once earnestly instructed me to treasure my blessings and care for my health as well.”
“Miss Lin’s father truly loved you,” Chu Heng said slowly.
Did the Empress Dowager not truly love Prince Duan? Yet earlier he had said that the Emperor and the Empress Dowager favored him. Perhaps Prince Duan meant that while they did favor him, that favoritism did not stem from genuine affection, but from some other reason.
That reason had shaped Prince Duan’s disposition.
Daiyu looked at Prince Duan’s profile. She had gained enough for today. Their days at Longhua Temple had only just begun—there was no need to rush.
“Your Highness…” Daiyu opened the book she had brought. “Please forgive me for excusing myself for a while.”
Chu Heng inclined his head.
The summer mountains were not silent; birds and insects called constantly, and farther off, clouds and mist drifted in thin wisps, soothing the spirit.
Daiyu gradually became absorbed in her reading. It was not until the evening drum sounded in the temple that she suddenly came back to herself. She looked up and saw that Chu Heng was still sitting there, unmoving.
“Your Highness, the Empress Dowager has sent someone to summon you,” Zhao Qing reported upon seeing the approaching figure.
Chu Heng turned his head. He seemed not to have registered Zhao Qing’s words at first. After a moment, he said, “Mm…”
Zijuan took the book from Daiyu’s hands and helped her up, while Xueyan stepped forward to straighten Daiyu’s clothes.
Daiyu said, “Your Highness, I need to return to change.”
Chu Heng subconsciously looked up at her, but then, uncontrollably, let out a yawn. He quickly turned his head aside and raised a hand to cover his mouth. “Ah…”
Daiyu could not help laughing. She clenched her handkerchief, afraid she might laugh out loud. “Ha… mm.”
Chu Heng wiped away the tears at the corners of his eyes and said expressionlessly, “Go ahead.”
Seeing a flush rise to Prince Duan’s ears, Daiyu’s smile grew wider. She gave a light cough and said, “I’m going, then.”
Watching Daiyu’s retreating figure, Chu Heng muttered, “She and I are probably incompatible.”
Hearing this, Zhao Qing said, “Your Highness, Master Pingyi said that your eight characters match Miss Lin’s—that you are a match made in heaven.”
Chu Heng: “……”
Chu Heng pushed his cheek with his tongue. “You’ve reminded me. I haven’t gone to see that old monk yet.”
“Uh…” Zhao Qing reminded him cautiously. “Your Highness, Master Pingyi is now highly regarded by His Majesty and the Empress Dowager. You absolutely must not be disrespectful to him.”
“Mm,” Chu Heng responded casually.
Zhao Qing looked deeply worried.
…
Daiyu had accompanied Grandmother Jia to Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries before, but this was her first time participating in chanting with morning bells and evening drums. Listening to the Buddhist chants from the main hall outside, it truly seemed to have a calming effect on the mind.
Daiyu gently closed her eyes and silently recited the sutras.
When she opened them again, the evening service had already ended. She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling that her whole being had settled into calm.
As she went to put away the sutra in her hands, she happened to encounter Prince Duan approaching as well. Thinking of the earlier amusing moment, Daiyu smiled softly.
As she bent down to place the sutra, she heard a faint “crunch.” She paused and looked up at Prince Duan, only to see his cheek slightly puffed.
Daiyu: “……”
Prince Duan was actually eating candy while chanting!
After realizing that Daiyu had discovered him, Chu Heng was not the least bit embarrassed—completely different from how he had been when yawning at her earlier.
With smiling eyes, Chu Heng pointed to his sleeve and whispered generously, “Want one?”
The corner of Daiyu’s mouth twitched. “……No, thank you.”
Chu Heng said regretfully, “All right then… it’s very sweet.”
Daiyu: “……”
She sneaked a glance and saw that the Empress Dowager was speaking with Master Pingyi and had not noticed them yet. After giving a slight bow, Daiyu quickly stepped away from Prince Duan.
Chu Heng adjusted his sleeves and tilted his head, smiling innocently.
Daiyu had just taken her place when she heard the Empress Dowager say gently, “Heng’er, come here. Accompany Master Pingyi in offering incense to the Buddha.”
Chu Heng bowed and replied, “Yes.”
His voice was clear, sounding nothing like someone with candy in his mouth.
Daiyu could not help thinking that if Prince Duan could sneak candy during Buddhist chanting, he surely would not refrain from small tricks during the year-end sacrifices either.
Setting other matters aside, at least from this, Prince Duan did not seem quite so dull after all.
After offering incense, the Empress Dowager was to dine with Master Pingyi, and Chu Heng and Daiyu naturally had to accompany her.
Chu Heng thought that, had he known earlier, he would have feigned illness like Yongkang.
However, Yongkang could not escape for long either. That very evening, the Empress Dowager ordered her to accompany them in chanting the next day, and Yongkang responded sullenly.