The next day after lunch, a guard came to report that the eldest prince and the second prince had arrived at the foot of the mountain and were making their way up while paying their respects along the road.
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager nodded with a smile. “These two boys, though still young, have always been sensible and filial. The Emperor has taught them well.”
Seeing that neither the prince nor the princess uttered a word, Shuangyun hastily echoed a few flattering remarks to please the Empress Dowager.
Chu Heng rose and said, “Mother, I will go ahead to welcome Their Highnesses.”
Chu Heng was a prince of the blood and also an elder. However, since princes were the Emperor’s sons and thus born with a higher status—and since they were here representing the Emperor—Chu Heng could not very well sit here and wait for them to come up.
He had to show the proper courtesy.
The younger pair—son and daughter—would not even echo their mother’s praise, which made the Empress Dowager rather displeased: one never bothered to read people’s moods, the other was adept at feigning ignorance.
As for the elder pair, they were slightly better than the younger ones, yet they too had their ways of displeasing the Empress Dowager.
Children were all debts, after all.
The Empress Dowager waved her hand and said, “Go on, all of you go.”
Yongkang and Daiyu could only rise as well and take their leave together with Chu Heng.
As soon as they exited, the Empress Dowager covered her forehead and sighed. “Every single one of them—so grown already, yet none lets me worry any less.”
Shuangyun quickly raised her hand to massage the Empress Dowager’s head, saying, “As the saying goes, raising a child for a hundred years brings ninety-nine years of worry. This servant dares to say it is because Your Majesty indulges them too much. Perhaps it would be better to let go and allow them to each mind their own affairs.”
The Empress Dowager sighed. “How could I ever be at ease…”
Observing her expression, Shuangyun secretly sighed as well. The Empress Dowager was not so much uneasy as she was determined to keep everyone and everything under her control.
From her youth to her present age, the Empress Dowager’s temperament had never changed.
Watching the eldest prince and second prince grow year by year, Shuangyun often felt anxious in her heart. Yet the Empress Dowager believed herself to be acting out of the best intentions, and no matter how many years Shuangyun had served at her side, she could not influence a mistress with such a strong will.
Outside, Yongkang complained as she walked, “Why am I getting dragged into this with Sister Lin again? Fifth Brother, it’s all because you talk nonsense!”
Chu Heng said, “It’s clearly because you were the first not to speak, so we were sent out.”
“You didn’t speak either!” Yongkang protested.
Chu Heng replied calmly, “That’s why I was sent out too.”
Yongkang pouted. “So boring. Mother clearly wasn’t sincerely praising those two, yet she made us go along and flatter them against our will. So boring.”
Chu Heng said, “Have you never said things against your heart?”
Yongkang: “……”
Yongkang linked arms with Daiyu and sighed dramatically. “Sister Lin, look—this is what the imperial family is like. From childhood, it’s all lies, and they call it ritual and propriety. In the future, you’ll have to suffer this grievance too.”
Daiyu smiled helplessly. It was hardly limited to the imperial family—wherever one went, one had to speak insincere words in accordance with circumstance.
Chu Heng tapped Yongkang on the head. “Go back and copy the Book of Rites once and hand it to me.”
Yongkang was full of question marks. “What?”
Chu Heng said, “Otherwise I’ll report you.”
Yongkang planted her hands on her hips and huffed angrily. “Copy, copy, copy… I really want to get married soon. Once I have my own princess’s residence, no one will dare to control me!”
Chu Heng immediately warned her, “Chu Man, don’t say such things in front of His Majesty, the Empress Dowager, or the Empress.”
Yongkang froze, confused. “What’s wrong? Fifth Brother, you look kind of scary…”
Chu Heng said, “In this dynasty, imperial sons-in-law cannot hold substantive posts. But they have fathers, uncles, brothers—and in the future, children as well. All of these people benefit from the princess’s protection.”
“Those who wish to marry a princess will consider this, and when His Majesty and the Empress Dowager choose your marriage, they will also consider it. Do you still not understand what I mean?” Chu Heng looked into her eyes. “This spring, when Princess Heqing was married off, do you remember which family her consort came from?”
Yongkang blinked twice and slowly said, “The Fang family—the Wu Consort’s maternal family. Her maternal grandfather has already been ennobled.”
Princess Heqing was the twelfth daughter of the late emperor. The Fang family was a bureaucratic family, suitable to marry a princess, but the Emperor’s primary purpose was to bestow a title upon the Fang family through the princess’s marriage, thereby elevating Consort Wu and giving the second prince more support at court.
The eldest prince and the second prince were the same age, only twelve this year. Yet struggles over the succession were never about age. The Emperor had used this marriage to secure advantages for the second prince, and the Empress Dowager could not possibly sit idly by.
And the most useful person at her disposal at present was Yongkang.
Having grown up in the palace, Yongkang was straightforward, but with what she had seen and heard over the years, she could understand these matters with some thought.
She cradled her chin in disbelief. “No… no way, Fifth Brother. I’m different. I’m Mother’s own child. Twelfth Sister wasn’t born of the same mother as us.”
Chu Heng sneered. “Was Fifth Sister not Mother’s own child? Was Fifth Sister not born of the same mother as us?”
Princess Hejia’s consort bore the surname Gu—he was the son of the late emperor’s maternal cousin. His status sounded respectable, yet he had been born with a facial deformity and could neither hold office nor enter official service.
That cousin had once served as the late emperor’s study companion, sharing a close bond. Seeing him distressed over his son, the late emperor proposed marrying a princess into the family. At the time, only the Fifth and Sixth Princesses were of age, and the Empress Dowager—then still a consort—resolutely pushed her own biological daughter, the Fifth Princess, forward.
Later, when the Empress passed away and a new Empress was to be appointed, the Gu family exerted considerable effort on the Empress Dowager’s behalf. Subsequently, when the current Emperor secured his position as crown prince and ascended the throne, the Gu family stood firmly on his side—all of this was the result of Princess Hejia maneuvering within her husband’s family.
Now, as the Gu family’s influence at court gradually declined and the Emperor showed no intention of promoting Gu family descendants, Princess Hejia was finally able to breathe easier. She spent her days in her princess’s residence with her children and scarcely saw the Gu family anymore.
Yongkang shuddered and shook her head repeatedly. “I don’t want that, I don’t want that! Fifth Brother, then… then what should I do?”
Chu Heng said, “If the Empress Dowager wants you to support the eldest prince in the future, she won’t choose such a family for you.”
Listening to this, Daiyu pondered silently. To support the eldest prince, Yongkang’s husband’s family would have to be connected to the Empress.
Yongkang naturally thought of this as well. Her shoulders drooped. “So annoying. I don’t want to get married anymore.”
It wasn’t that the Empress’s relatives were particularly objectionable, but rather that Yongkang’s marriage was destined to become a tool in the struggle between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. There would surely be countless complications in the future—just thinking about it left Yongkang dejected.
Daiyu still had a trace of doubt. Logically speaking, the Empress Dowager was Princess Hejia’s legal mother, so her marriage should not have been decided by the Emperor alone.
If the Empress Dowager favored the eldest prince and was such a strong-willed person, would she really watch the Emperor bolster the second prince without intervening? There must have been more to it.
But this was not the time to think about such matters. Daiyu spoke gently, “Princess, there’s no need to be so distressed. You may not be able to decide your consort, but how you live your life afterward is still within your control. You yourself said it—you are the Empress Dowager’s own child. The situation now is different from back then; there is still room to maneuver.”
Yongkang’s reaction was not something Chu Heng could spare attention for at the moment. Daiyu’s words instead plunged him into deep thought.
In comforting Yongkang like this, was she not also speaking of herself? Unable to choose her marriage, she could only try to live her future well.
The Empress Dowager would at least consider Yongkang, her own daughter—but what about Daiyu? In the Empress Dowager’s eyes, she was merely meant to bring good fortune to her son.
When Daiyu had once said, “If Your Highness lives, I can live,” Chu Heng had not taken it seriously. Only now did he truly understand her state of mind.
If Chu Heng were to die, it would be because his fate had come to an end. But Daiyu would have to die with regrets and attachments, unwilling and unable to choose otherwise.
The Empress Dowager would not allow her to choose.
And Miss Lin did not like others making decisions for her.
Chu Heng had always believed that this imperial marriage decree was a calamity bestowed upon both himself and Daiyu.
But in truth, it was not. The pain and harm Daiyu suffered were far greater than Chu Heng’s.
She had someone she loved—Chu Heng finally recalled that Master Pingyi had once mentioned this. She had a poetry society, she had an interesting life…
Yet all of it had been shattered by this engagement.
Chu Heng’s illness had driven the Emperor and Empress Dowager into desperate measures. Daiyu… she had suffered an undeserved disaster.
When they reached the mountain gate, Chu Heng looked over once more. Daiyu and Yongkang had been talking for some time; Yongkang had already regained her former spirits and was now quietly telling Daiyu about the eldest and second princes.
She is a good girl. I am the one who has implicated her.
After waiting for a quarter of an hour, the two princes finally came up the mountain. Chu Heng and the other two stepped forward to pay their respects. The princes declined their salute and instead saluted them in return. After this exchange of courtesies, they boarded their sedan chairs and headed toward the temple.
After paying respects to the Empress Dowager, everyone took their seats. The Empress Dowager pulled her two grandsons close, asking about the children in the palace and inquiring into their studies.
After a display of grandmotherly affection, the Empress Dowager smiled and dismissed them to rest, instructing them to accompany her for evening recitation later.
Chu Heng and the other two took their leave as well.
Yongkang clicked her tongue. “They must be exhausted from the journey, yet she won’t even let the two kids rest.”
Chu Heng said, “You’re the only one with such a long tongue. Have you finished copying the Book of Rites?”
Yongkang stared at him. “Fifth Brother, have you lost your mind? You told me to copy it just now—leaving aside how much time has passed, have you seen me with a single free moment?”
Chu Heng said, “Go back and copy it now.”
Yongkang put her hands on her hips and glared at him for a while, then pouted. “Fifth Brother, you reminded me earlier, so I listened and went to copy the Book of Rites. I’m not doing it because you threatened me!”
Chu Heng waved his hand. “Go on.”
Once Yongkang had gone far away, Daiyu looked at Chu Heng. “Your Highness seems unhappy. Is it because of the princess?”
“Being born into the imperial family, one has no freedom—it’s destiny,” Chu Heng’s gaze fell into the void as he said wistfully. “It’s just that some people should never have been dragged into this…”
The words came out of nowhere, and Daiyu truly could not understand his meaning. She frowned slightly. “Your Highness’s words—I don’t quite understand them.”
Chu Heng turned to look at Daiyu. She had bright eyes, clear and distinct in black and white, now gazing at him with a hint of questioning.
She was far too pure and beautiful. In that instant, an overwhelming shame rose within Chu Heng, and he hastily avoided her gaze.
“…It’s nothing. It’s getting late…” Chu Heng’s eyes flickered. “Miss Lin, you should return for now.”
Daiyu did not understand, yet it was not appropriate to press further. She could only nod. “All right.”