Half an hour later, the physician arrived. After carefully taking her pulse, he pronounced that wind-evil had entered the body and that she needed gentle recuperation. Huiyin then said, "My cousin here traveled alone from Jianye some days ago—a long and arduous journey that must have drained her spirit. Would you prescribe some medicine to protect her heart and calm her qi? Whatever the cost, our princely household can afford it."The physician stammered his assent, and Fugui hurriedly saw him out, adding, "Our young princess treats Miss Xun truly well—no one could be more attentive than our princess. She set aside an entirely new courtyard, selected all the furnishings from the storeroom, and even assigned several servants to attend her. Whether it's deer antler or ginseng, or any medicine more expensive still, just prescribe it—our young princess will grant whatever is needed."Steward Qiao, waiting at the second gate, overheard Fugui's words to the physician and privately admired the young princess's magnanimity. This Miss Xun had clearly come to become a secondary consort, yet not only had she not been sidelined, she was being treated with every kindness.He also heard Fugui say to Steward Zhong, the household steward, "Miss Xun's servants said the southeastern courtyard has too many mosquitoes, so our young princess said the northern embroidery tower has fewer trees and asked you to have it cleaned out for her. Miss Xun also said the landscape screen you selected wasn't quite to her liking, so our young princess, fearing any slight, said the screen would come from her own dowry—you needn't prepare one."Not far away, Mrs. He observed this and remarked to Yun Hui, "Our new princess really knows how to put on a show once the stage is set. Miss Xun has miscalculated this time. But if Miss Xun complains to the young prince, who knows whose side he'll take."Yun Hui said woodenly, "Let us simply keep to our duties as servants. What lies beyond is not our concern."Mrs. He, having gotten no reaction, walked off in chagrin.When Xun Rou woke up, she found herself in the embroidery tower, utterly bewildered, until Meixiang recounted everything that had happened after she fainted."The young princess said you were delicate and frail and couldn't stay there, so she specially had the rough-work maids carry you over…""What?"Xun Rou pounded the bed. "This Lady Zheng is truly impervious to everything." She had already arranged for the old consort dowager to spread false word that she had come to Xuzhou seeking a marriage outside the household, hoping to lull Lady Zheng into complacency.She hadn't expected the woman to be so vigilant. She had planned to use her fainting spell to show the household how Lady Zheng mistreated her—only to have it turned around to enhance her rival's reputation instead.Meixiang couldn't help worrying. "Miss, what should we do then?"Xun Rou took a deep breath. "Plan carefully before we act."Xun Rou quieted down for the time being, but Nanny Fan had to return home. She had originally been scheduled to leave at the start of August; had Xun Rou not arrived, she wouldn't have stayed these extra days. Once she left, Xun Rou kept to herself, and Huiyin did not relax her surveillance.As the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, Huiyin wrote a letter to Li Cheng. In it, she first expressed her longing for him, then asked whether they should prepare festival gifts for the families of his subordinates, and from which funds the expenses should be drawn.To her surprise, Li Cheng replied with only two characters: "Await my return."Honestly, who asked whether you were coming back? Huiyin had no choice but to look through last year's precedents—though in truth, Li Cheng had only recently arrived in Xuzhou last year and had never prepared any festival gifts at all.Leyun couldn't help asking, "Then should we prepare them or not?"Huiyin rubbed her forehead. "That unreliable Li Cheng."“Little Princess, you mustn’t say such things.” Nanny Nan quickly stopped her.Huiyin nodded. “I know.”She thought for a moment and came up with an idea. She summoned Steward He and asked, “Are you skilled at making mooncakes?”Steward He nodded. “This servant is proficient in both pastry and savory cooking. Here in Xuzhou, flaky-crust mooncakes are more common. Would you like the kitchen to make some?”“Mm, I’ve already sent people to buy the best local mooncakes in Xuzhou. I’ll taste them first, and whichever ones are good, you’ll make two boxes of each to send to the Young Prince.” Huiyin said.In truth, the cook she brought with her could also make a kind of milk-skin mooncake, which of course would be made in her own small kitchen.Steward He inwardly grumbled, You’re not even picking the ones the Young Prince likes—just the ones you like yourself to send over.Soon, Huiyin selected three kinds of mooncakes: milk-skin mooncakes, flaky walnut mooncakes, and black sesame mooncakes, packing two boxes of each to send. These were all her favorites, and she wanted him to taste them too. In her letter, she asked which one he liked best, so they could prepare it at home. If he didn’t care for any of the three, he could simply give them away as gifts.After the letter and mooncakes were sent off, Mrs. He quietly went to Xun Rou and said, “Rest assured, we never once revealed that the Young Prince doesn’t like mooncakes.”Xun Rou smiled. “This is what she gets for being so clever. My cousin has never liked mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival.”No matter how smart she thought she was, she couldn’t compete with the bond of growing up alongside her cousin.But what she hadn’t expected was that when Li Cheng received the mooncakes Huiyin sent, he discovered the milk-skin ones. Having never tasted that flavor before, he specially bit into one—crispy on the outside, soft like milk curd inside—and it was actually quite delicious. Even the walnut mooncakes he hated most no longer had that cloyingly sweet texture, only the rich fragrance of walnuts.Still, he ultimately didn’t care for such sweet treats. He kept half a box for himself and gave the rest away.These were given to his personal guards. They weren’t anything particularly valuable, but the men were delighted to receive them. Li Cheng turned to find the letter Huiyin had written—she had asked earlier whether they should give gifts and how to handle the etiquette. But because he truly hated mooncakes and didn’t want to dampen his wife’s enthusiasm, he’d only said he would return.In truth, it didn’t always have to be gifts of gold and silver—sometimes a personal touch was better.So he instructed the mess hall to add an extra meal on Mid-Autumn Festival day, giving each soldier one mooncake. As for his personal guards and officers, he quickly wrote to Huiyin to ask her advice.Seeing this, Huiyin couldn’t help but laugh. “Have Steward Qiao handle this matter. Tell him to order premium mooncake gift boxes from Dingxing Tower—two hundred taels from the accounts will be more than enough.”Li Cheng had only recently taken control of Xuzhou. Having long trained in the Huai and Si river regions, or else drilling troops outside, the stewards at the residence mostly sent gifts to Jianye. She had reviewed the gift ledgers—the local prominent families like the Liu, Xue, and Miao families had all sent lavish gifts, but almost no return gifts had been given.They couldn’t simply be passersby here. If they truly wanted to establish themselves, they needed to build good relations with the local magnates. If provisions ran short or soldiers were needed, they could recruit and buy horses locally.As for avoiding suspicion or not—now that they held this territory, that itself was a show of strength.The great households of the prefecture all received Mid-Autumn gifts from Prince Huaiyin's residence: a box of milk-skin mooncakes, a box of mooncakes from Dingxing Tower, a basket of seasonal fresh fruit, ten bolts each of fine silks and satins, and two jars of premium osmanthus wine.One after another, Huiyin also received return gifts from these families, all of them lavish in the extreme—many precious vessels, jade flower stands on tall platters, white glass plates, glass vases, a string of prayer beads, and even antique vessels, paintings, and Ru-ware vases were sent over.The Mu family even sent twenty bolts of gold brocade, one hundred bolts of patterned foreign silk, and one hundred bolts of plain silk.Huiyin registered all of these in a ledger, thoroughly satisfied.Xun Rou, seeing that Huiyin had not only failed to suffer any setback from this matter but was instead putting on the airs of a virtuous helpmeet, felt deeply stifled. She still wanted to go out and visit some old acquaintances of the Grand Dowager Consort, but unfortunately, the matron at the second gate refused to let her leave.Meixiang said angrily, "You dog of a servant! How many lives do you have to dare block our young lady from going out?"The matron said helplessly, "Miss Xun, it's truly not that I won't let you out—it's that the Princess has instructed that anyone leaving the residence must have a token. If I let you out and the Princess finds out, I'll certainly be beaten."Left with no choice, Xun Rou had to come to Huiyin. Huiyin was busy at the moment, speaking with Yun Hui: "Once the Young Prince's fief tribute arrives, let me do the inventory first. Mid-Autumn is immediately followed by the grain harvest season. This year, let's first eat the old stored rice from previous years and keep the new rice. With the current season upon us, we need to have the inner and outer courtyards thoroughly swept and cleaned, fresh and renewed for the market."Yun Hui quickly said, "Rest assured, I will certainly pass the word to them.""Then I'll trouble you with that." It had to be said that Yun Hui worked almost day and night without rest—she was truly a responsible person.Raising her eyes again, Huiyin saw Xun Rou approaching and quickly said, "Cousin Xun, is there something you need from me?"Xun Rou said, "Sister-in-law, I previously made a few good friends here in Xu Prefecture and wanted to go out to visit them. I came to ask you for a token.""Cousin Xun, I'm afraid I can't give you that token. If you'd like to invite people over to the residence with written invitations, I can have Steward Zhong or Steward He handle it for you. But now is the Mid-Autumn season—the streets outside are packed shoulder to shoulder, and your health is delicate. You're a grown young lady now; if anything happened, I couldn't bear that responsibility." Huiyin said coolly.Xun Rou frowned: "Sister-in-law, I came all the way from Jianye to Xuzhou on my own. What is there to be afraid of?"Huiyin smiled: "That's different. When you came from Jianye to Xuzhou, the Grand Dowager Consort sent you—if anything happened, she couldn't blame me. But if you go out from this residence now, with your cousin and the Grand Dowager Consort both absent, I can't bear that responsibility. Mid-Autumn is almost here, and my husband—your cousin—will be returning soon. If he agrees, I have no objection."Xun Rou glanced at Meixiang, who smiled and said, "No wonder everyone says the young Princess is so kind—what you say is truly for our young lady's sake. It's just that our young lady originally came to help you manage the household, as Nanny Fan said when she left. She's simply feeling a bit bored staying here now."So she was still angling for the household management authority. Huiyin covered her mouth with a laugh: "What a silver tongue you have, girl. Where is it that a sister-in-law is present and still needs to trouble her young sister-in-law to manage the household? Besides, your young lady's happy occasion is drawing near—where would she find the leisure for such trivial matters?"Xun Rou's heart tightened. Her coming here under the pretense of matchmaking was merely a ruse—she had no real intention of marrying. But hearing Huiyin's words, it seemed she was helping arrange a marriage for her.No, this absolutely couldn't be her cousin's doing. He was training troops in Huai and Si—how could he have made a move so quickly? Could it be Lady Zheng? Was she the one trying to marry her off?But that would be completely overstepping her bounds. Only the Old Consort had the authority to decide her marriage.Xun Rou walked out, her mind unsettled. Nanny Nan, confused, asked Huiyin, "Your Highness, has the Young Prince already arranged a marriage for Miss Xun so quickly?""Not at all—I was just bluffing her. Otherwise, she'd keep trying to rush out. If she were in Jianye, I wouldn't care how she went out, but here, if something happened to her because she ran off recklessly, I truly couldn't bear that responsibility." Huiyin curved her lips into a smile.
Chapter 16
Rebirth of the Empress