These words referred to the lantern-lighting ritual.
At dusk, two gauze lanterns would be hung before each mistress’s chamber in the Eastern Palace’s back palace.
When it was someone’s turn to serve in bed, personnel from Yuan Chun Palace would come in advance to take down the lanterns before that mistress’s chamber.
This was a rule passed down in the Eastern Palace since Emperor Taizu’s time.
However, the Crown Prince had always been indifferent to feminine charms.
Before the Crown Princess entered the palace, he had never set foot in the back palace.
Even after the Crown Princess had been married for over a year, it was only in the past six months that the Crown Prince began visiting the courtyards of Cao Liangyuan and others.
The schedule for serving in bed was arranged by the Crown Princess.
If the Crown Prince felt inclined to visit the back palace, whoever was scheduled for that day would serve him – he had never personally chosen anyone himself.
Today, however, broke this precedent.
In theory, Hai Shun should have been pleased.
But…
“Dianxia, it might be inappropriate for Song Zhaoxun’s lanterns to be taken down tonight.”
He steeled himself to remind.
The Crown Prince stepped outward, signaling him to continue.
Hai Shun weighed his words carefully: “If this servant remembers correctly, according to the Crown Princess’s arrangement, it should be Cao Liangyuan serving in bed tonight.”
Song Zhaoxun was someone who had come from Jiarong Hall. In principle, even if the Crown Prince wasn’t originally interested in her, he should still give face to the Crown Princess.
The problem was.
Cao Liangyuan was a pawn the Crown Prince had specifically elevated to counterbalance the Crown Princess and balance the power dynamics in the Eastern Palace’s back palace after he and the Crown Princess had developed disagreements.
If the Crown Prince went to Song Zhaoxun tonight, it would be a public slap to Cao Liangyuan’s face, and to his own as well.
Luo Xun remembered.
His steps paused briefly.
His calm, unreadable gaze seemed to focus nowhere in particular.
After a moment.
Hai Shun seemed to hear the Crown Prince chuckle softly.
Then came his consistently indifferent voice: “Then let’s see who the Crown Princess wants to serve in bed tonight.”
“Yes.”
.
No sooner had Hai Shun left Yongxu Yuan than news of the Crown Prince appointing Kan’er as Zhaoxun spread throughout the back palace.
From managers of various courtyards and departments to servants and laborers of all ranks, everyone’s hearts were stirred by no small waves.
People didn’t know the inside story.
Those with some insight but not much assumed the Crown Prince’s move was to preserve the Crown Princess’s dignity.
Those with slightly more perception.
Tasted something else in this matter.
However, since it concerned the two most important figures in the Eastern Palace, even if people had thoughts, they didn’t dare voice them openly.
In Jiarong Hall.
Zheng Mingzhi sat expressionless on the purple sandalwood Luohan bed carved with Eight Immortals patterns by the window, her hands clenched tightly.
The room was frighteningly quiet.
Shuangyue and Shuangyun stood to the side, neither daring to speak.
It was Granny Pang, feeling sorry for her mistress, who stepped forward and said: “Crown Princess, please calm your anger.” His Highness’s action is showing you respect.”
“Respect? What respect?”
Zheng Mingzhi looked up sharply.
“What kind of respect is this? Not discussing such an important matter with me is one thing, but promoting someone from my own courtyard! I just sent her out to serve those lesser ones, and immediately he sends someone with an oral decree! This is called showing me respect?”
“This is trampling my face into the ground!”
“‘Wise and virtuous, gentle and elegant’ – that slut deserves such praise?!”
“I think he hasn’t slept with enough women! That’s why he can’t tell good from bad, wanting to bring every dirty, stinking thing into his courtyard!”
“Crown Princess!”
Granny Pang shouted violently.
Her voice nearly a scream.
Startling everyone standing in the outer rooms and courtyard into trembling, then thud after thud as people knelt throughout the courtyard.
Zheng Mingzhi was also startled by this shout.
Her brows furrowed as she prepared to scold.
Unexpectedly, she saw Shuangyun and Shuangyue kneeling on the ground, their faces deathly pale and trembling like sieves.
Suddenly, Zheng Mingzhi jolted.
Her face also turned pale: “Nanny, I… I…”
Granny Pang stiffly knelt over and tightly grasped her mistress’s hand, her voice lowered to almost inaudible.
“No matter how angry you are, you must always remember your status! That person is not someone we can speak ill of!”
The Zheng family’s ancestors rose from humble origins, following the founding emperor in establishing the empire and were enfeoffed as Feng-Guo-Gong, with the title being hereditary.
But times change.
After a certain minister, arrogant of his achievements, attempted rebellion was exposed, the already suspicious founding emperor grew even more wary of these meritorious officials.
What followed was a series of purges.
To protect themselves, the Zheng family voluntarily surrendered their military power.
They even found reasons to submit a memorial, pleading with the emperor to reduce their noble rank.
In the end, the Zheng family lost their military authority but retained their title, though it was changed from Feng-Guo-Gong to Shun-Guo-Gong.
Since then, the Zheng family abandoned military pursuits for civil service, but simultaneously established the ancestral rule that “Zheng descendants shall never enter the Grand Secretariat.”
Nowadays, the Zheng family’s status as founding meritorious officials remains in name only.
The emperor’s marriage arrangement between the Crown Prince and the Zheng family’s daughter was simply because the Crown Prince already had maternal relatives from a prestigious clan, and didn’t need powerful in-laws.
In other words, the Zheng family is unreliable!
Under such circumstances.
One misstep could not only cost her the position of Crown Princess, but might implicate the entire Duke Manor!
They had already offended the Crown Prince once before.
Had it not been for the recent grand wedding making it inappropriate for the Crown Prince to depose the Crown Princess at that time…
Given the Shun State Duke Manor’s current position at court, the Crown Prince would have been justified in requesting imperial permission to have the Crown Princess executed!
After experiencing such an incident.
The fact that the Crown Prince had allowed the Crown Princess to retain her position and maintain her dignity over the past year could already be considered merciful.
If they still failed to exercise restraint.
That would truly be seeking their own destruction!
What Granny Pang thought of, Zheng Mingzhi also realized.
She had simply been too angry earlier.
So much so that she forgot even the most basic taboos.
Now reminded, she was equally terrified.
“I know, Nanny.”
After a brief moment of panic, Zheng Mingzhi exhaled to steady her mind, squeezing Granny Pang’s hand and helping her up.
“I was too angry earlier, that’s why I momentarily forgot propriety. It’s alright now, I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s good, that’s good…”
Shuangyun and Shuangyue were also told to rise.
However, when recalling the Crown Prince’s decision to elevate Kan’er, Zheng Mingzhi still couldn’t control her anger.
It was true that she and the Crown Prince had disagreements.
But ultimately, since she currently held this position, she was the legitimate mistress of the Eastern Palace.
This inner residence should be under her management.
Now Dianxia had promoted someone from her courtyard without even notifying her – how could this not damage her dignity as Crown Princess?
“Nanny, tell me – why would Dianxia do this? Surely he couldn’t actually be interested in that lowly servant?”
“Impossible.”
Granny Pang stated firmly.
“The imperial family never lacks beautiful women. Dianxia was born and raised in the palace – what kind of beauties hasn’t he seen? He couldn’t possibly be captivated by that sort of goods.”
Moreover, given Dianxia’s position, having been Crown Prince for seventeen years, if he could be so easily swayed by beauty…
This position would likely have changed hands long ago.
This couldn’t be said aloud.
But Zheng Mingzhi understood Granny Pang’s implied meaning.
She thought about it.
And felt this was indeed true.
His Highness himself possesses outstanding looks and stands above the crowd—how could he possibly be the frivolous type who judges people by their appearance?
Yet this only made Zheng Mingzhi more confused.
She had been dutiful and well-behaved throughout the year.
She had fulfilled her responsibilities as a daughter-in-law to Empress Pei and Yuan Longdi, and although she and His Highness were not deeply intimate, they at least treated each other with respect.
During this period, she hadn’t done anything to displease His Highness.
How could he make a decision without even notifying her?
And even grant that woman the title of Zhaoxun!
If those three wretched women—Cao Liangyuan and the others—weren’t unaware of the details, they would surely be laughing at her inwardly by now.
“Could it be because of the matter of entering the court?” Granny Pang whispered her speculation.
According to the system of the Great Jing Dynasty, princes of marriageable age should enter the court to assist their father-emperor in governance and work for the welfare of the people.
Aside from the fourth prince, who died young, the four elder brothers before the Crown Prince— the eldest Prince Xin, the second Prince Rong, the third Prince Rui, and the fifth Prince Shen—all assumed court duties shortly after marrying their respective princess consorts.
Even the seventh prince, Prince Xuan, managed to secure a low-ranking position in the rear army of the Five Barracks three years after the former Crown Prince’s marriage.
Yet when it came to the Crown Prince, more than a year had passed since his grand wedding, and Yuan Longdi still showed no intention of allowing him to attend court or participate in governance.
The reason given was readily available:
the Crown Prince was young and impulsive, his temperament unsettled, and he needed to cultivate his character and temper his will before he could shoulder heavy responsibilities in the future.
This was pure nonsense.
But since Yuan Longdi had declared it, who dared to refute him?
Thus, over the past year, the Crown Prince had only been assigned tasks such as presiding over sacrificial rites to heaven and earth, supervising the compilation of texts, and delivering lectures—duties with no real power.
Until two months ago, when someone at court stepped forward to reiterate the proposal for the Crown Prince to enter the court. This time, Yuan Longdi seemed to be considering it.
The Crown Prince’s sudden promotion of that little minx might be to avoid being targeted by schemers at this critical juncture, who could accuse the esteemed Crown Prince of allowing a woman in his Back Palace to follow him without status or recognition, bearing his children.
“What do you think?” Zheng Mingzhi pursed her lips, feeling that something was amiss.
But she couldn’t quite pinpoint it.
After pondering for a moment, she rubbed her temples.
“I suppose that’s the case. What a windfall for that wretched maid!”
Granny Pang comforted her:
“She’s nothing but a bedwarmer. Wasn’t she chosen precisely because of her ample hips and bust, ideal for childbearing? Our priority now is to hope that the little minx conceives quickly. Once she bears a child, we’ll register it under your name. Wouldn’t it be easy to control her then?”
Zheng Mingzhi’s expression finally softened.
“That may be true, but her status was ultimately granted by His Highness. Even if I want to control her, I can’t go too far.”
“What is there to fear?”
Granny Pang dismissed the concern.
“His Highness is aloof by nature, and in the future, he’ll be busy with state affairs. When would he have time to bother with a mere Xiao Zhaoxun? Matters of the inner residence are entirely under your control, aren’t they?”
With that, the last trace of Zheng Mingzhi’s anger vanished.
Just then, Shuangyun, who had been standing nearby, spoke up:
“Mistress, tonight is Cao Liangyuan’s turn to serve in bed…”
Zheng Mingzhi frowned, her expression darkening.