“Little Princess, the Prince requests your presence in the main hall so that the officials of the hall office may make your acquaintance.” said Yun Hui.This Yun Hui was Nanny Chao’s daughter. Unlike Nanny Chao, she was very proper and meticulous. It was said that after her fiancé died, she voluntarily bound up her hair and vowed never to remarry. She usually served as the head stewardess, responsible for communication between the inner and outer courtyards.Huiyin glanced at Nanny Chao: “Nanny, I’ll go ahead then.”Nanny Chao was at a loss for words.At present, Li Cheng had changed into a sapphire-blue straight robe embroidered with purple-gold round medallion patterns. He looked spirited and vigorous, with no trace of injury at all. Li Cheng smiled at Huiyin: “Princess, come over here, let me introduce you.”Huiyin nodded and made a bow before sitting down. Listening as Li Cheng introduced a man with a goatee: “This is my advisor, Jian Tan, Military Counselor Jian.”“Greetings, Master Jian.” Huiyin rose and returned a bow. She noticed that although Jian Tan was plain-looking and appeared to be a shriveled little old man, being the first to be introduced by Li Cheng meant he must be someone Li Cheng relied upon.Then Li Cheng introduced Colonel of the Imperial Guard Yuwen Dang, General Who Establishes Might Guo Zhao, and others. Among them, Yuwen Dang had a stern countenance and a tall, slender build, while Guo Zhao was burly with a scar on his forehead. The remaining civil officials were not elaborated upon—she greeted each of them in turn.Li Cheng observed that she was very composed. She did not accept their bows with ease, but instead turned slightly to the side and only accepted half-bows. After meeting everyone, she did not steal the spotlight by striking up conversations with them, but only offered congratulations to him: “Congratulations, Prince, on obtaining such capable ministers and brave generals. With them, you will surely have divine aid in the days to come.”“Then I shall accept the Princess’s auspicious words.” Li Cheng smiled.Huiyin smiled: “I brought quite a few local specialties from Jizhou. Today, by the Prince’s good fortune, I have the honor of meeting everyone. I have specially prepared some small gifts of introduction—I hope you will not think little of them.”Li Cheng had not known that Huiyin had prepared gifts. Of course, Huiyin had made preparations—these gifts had been prepared over the past few days since her arrival, because her mother had always managed to win over her father’s subordinates well and with proper discretion.The gifts she gave were not so lavish as to make people uneasy. They were all local specialties from Jizhou: two boxes of walnut-patterned black dates, two boxes of donkey meat jerky, two jars of Congtai wine, one load of golden-thread mixed noodles, six bolts of fine silk with embroidered patterns, elegant and beautiful, one bolt of Kesi silk with purple-ground floral embroidery from Dingzhou. The most eye-catching item was the gilt-inlaid gold bixie beast.Though this bixie was only palm-sized, it was crafted using welding, filigree, and coiling techniques, modeled after a tiger with beast-form variations. Its form was vivid and delightful to handle.Li Cheng nodded to himself as he watched—although Lady Zheng was young, she was quite versed in propriety.After having the gifts carried in, Huiyin took her leave. She would not stand there listening to people praise her or anything of the sort.The characters on the gift list were likely written by her own hand, and the calligraphy was very fine.This busyness carried on until noon, when the dishes began to be served. This was one of Huiyin’s good points—she had an excellent appetite. Though she was from the north, she did not reject rice, especially when the sauce from the crystal pork knuckle was poured over the grains—it was truly delicious.She was not the slender, delicate type of Jiangnan woman; she appeared more full and rounded, and she did not deliberately diet when it came to eating and drinking. On the contrary, she ate with great relish.Nanny Nan laughed, "The young lady has never been a picky eater since she was little. Many of us can't get used to these southern barbarian dishes—they say their noodles are sweet and they use too much soy sauce, yet you eat them with relish.""Mother, you mustn't keep saying things like 'southern barbarian' on your lips. What if the Young Prince hears you? Aren't people from north and south all citizens of the same country? Take the dishes on the table—if they taste good, we eat a few more bites; if not, we eat less. The Young Prince had me meet his subordinate officials today, which shows he still respects me on the surface. In a few days, I'll speak to him about adding another stove, and you can cook your own meals then, won't that be fine?" said Huiyin.Nanny Nan quickly nodded, "We all follow the Princess; that's how our days have hope."Huiyin lifted her chin, "Of course. Since we've married into Xuzhou, we're certainly going to make our lives rich and fulfilling."After the meal, she began to take a nap. The room fell quiet, and the servants withdrew.As for Nanny Chao, she too had a headache: "This new Princess of ours has a cunning nature. The Young Prince is clearly injured, but she just ignores him completely and flat-out rebuffed me."Even seated in her chair, Yun Hui sat ramrod straight: "Mother, you should meddle less in the Young Prince's private affairs. I know you're worried about his health, but if you say too much, the Prince will grow impatient when he hears it.""My child, do I not understand that principle? But our entire fate is tied to the Young Prince. If anything happens to him, where would we, a widow and an orphan, go to make a living?" Nanny Chao was worried both for herself and for Li Cheng.In her heart, she blamed Huiyin. As the Princess, she only cared about indulging in pleasure and paid no mind to the Young Prince. She was determined to lodge a complaint with the Consort Dowager.Yun Hui comforted her, "Don't overthink it, Mother. The Young Prince's injury is nothing serious. Besides, I've seen that the young Princess acts with openness and propriety—both civil and military officials praise her.""That's just praise on the surface. Hmph, I originally meant well for her. If she were of one mind with me, there are some things I wouldn't mind telling her. But she treats her kin as enemies—she may not have good days ahead of her either." Nanny Chao gave a cold snort.Yun Hui was puzzled: "What do you mean by that?"Nanny Chao looked at her daughter and said, "If you don't understand my words, do you not understand our Consort Dowager's temperament?"Consort Dowager Wu had originally been a Junior Consort to the late Emperor. She had managed to give birth to Prince Wu, but the Prince was raised by the favored Consort Huang Zhaoyi. He was not close to his birth mother but instead close to Consort Huang. Consort Dowager Wu harbored deep resentment over this. Later, when her daughter-in-law Lady Cui gave birth to her son Li Cheng, the Consort Dowager wanted to raise the child herself, but Lady Cui came from the Boling Cui clan and was the daughter of General Cui Xun.Lady Cui's natal family was powerful, and the couple had only this one son—how could they be willing to give him to Consort Dowager Wu to raise?It was only after Prince Wu and his wife passed away one after another that Prince Huaiyin and the Consort Dowager, depending on each other, finally built a bond between grandmother and grandson. Consort Dowager Wu had also hoped to betroth her niece Xun Rou to the Young Prince. Xun Rou had nearly been able to run the entire household at the Jianye estate, even going so far as to work on eliminating every woman around the Young Prince who was even slightly presentable.And the Young Prince had never said he wouldn't marry Xun Rou—it was just that, being a filial son, he insisted on completing the mourning period before marrying. That was how the marriage with Lady Zheng came about.The duck that was already cooked had flown away. Consort Dowager Wu naturally wouldn't take it out on the Young Prince, but would she look kindly upon the young Princess?……The evening meal brought flower-braised quail, stir-fried chicken with mushrooms, and deep-fried spring goose in wine batter. Just as the dishes were set out, Li Cheng walked in, and Huiyin hurried forward to greet him.Li Cheng asked with some curiosity, "Which dish did you make?"Huiyin was momentarily stunned. He was actually serious—her mention of cooking had been offhand, and besides, she said, "I heard today that we're supposed to sleep in separate rooms, so I thought you wouldn't come over, and so…""Separate rooms? Who said that?" Li Cheng had no intention of sleeping apart on his wedding night. After his wife had so generously rewarded his subordinates today, he certainly had to come.Huiyin naturally wouldn't reveal Nanny Chao's words—one shouldn't come between close kin. So she smiled and said, "Then tomorrow I'll cook you some soup. What do you like to eat?"Li Cheng had originally thought she'd actually made a signature dish today, but it turned out she hadn't. Seeing her ask, he joked, "So whatever I like to eat, you can make?""If I don't know how, I can learn." She sat down with him, not finding it a difficult matter.Li Cheng gave an almost imperceptible nod. Huiyin thought to herself that no matter how ruthless a man might be, the difference between having shared intimacy and not was enormous.Also, she'd noticed something: most people would take their time before doing something, but he wasn't like that. Whatever a newlywed should do, he'd do it even while wounded. Yesterday she'd casually mentioned cooking, and he immediately wanted to come over.Ah, she was someone decisive in big matters but procrastinating in small ones—even reluctant to get out of bed in the morning. This new husband of hers seemed to be a man of excessive execution power.
Chapter 10
Rebirth of the Empress