Xie Ning had eaten so much her stomach was nearly bursting, leaving her entirely unable to even board a palanquin.
Left with no alternative, she had to lodge at the Princess Manor for the night. Her belly was so bloated, however, that she tossed and turned until the latter half of the night before finally falling asleep. When she eventually grew drowsy, she slept deeply until the sun was high in the sky, not even awoken by the servants knocking at her door outside.
Aware of the situation, Su Hexiang came over in person to inspect. After knocking several times, she found no movement inside the room as expected. Being thoughtful by nature, she sighed, “Let it be then. The few of you stand guard at the entrance. The moment Miss Xie wakes up, report to me immediately.”
“Understood.”
Only then did Su Hexiang leave to report to the Eldest Princess.
Xiao Rong had already finished her morning meal and was currently idling with the trinkets she had collected from all over inside the Treasure Pavilion. Upon hearing Su Hexiang describe Xie Ning’s condition, she remarked, “If she is merely sleeping, it poses no great issue; as long as nothing untoward happens.” Pausing briefly, she added, “Ah Xiang, you are skilled in medicine. In your view, what is her current situation?”
Su Hexiang replied, “Her capacity for food is by no means faked, but for her appetite to be so immense must be due to prolonged starvation. The fact that she ate again last night even after vomiting from overeating further proves this point. The maidservants in the guest quarters said they heard Miss Xie walking around her room until the latter half of the night. I fear she was overly stuffed; sleeping late after a heavy meal makes it entirely normal that she cannot wake up today.”
Xiao Rong finally set her mind at ease, smiling, “The world is vast indeed; there is truly no shortage of wonders.”
“Indeed,” Su Hexiang recalled Xie Ning’s disheveled state from last night, feeling a tinge of sympathy for her despite herself. “Who could have imagined that the only daughter of the dignified General Xie would be starved to such a degree!”
Xiao Rong toyed with a piece of fine jade, recalling the cold sneer on Xie Ning’s face last night upon hearing the words ‘Crown Princess’, and remarked with deep meaning, “I fear there are other hidden details within this.” Yet as for the specifics, since Xie Ning did not speak of them, others had no way to guess.
Just as they were speaking, a servant reported in a hurry, “Reporting to the Princess, the front gate reports that the decree-announcing eunuch is arriving with imperial rewards!”
Xiao Rong took it as routine. “Ah Xiang, go and make preparations.” Following the New Year’s Eve palace banquet, it was customary for imperial rewards to be bestowed, a process Xiao Rong was intimately familiar with. The servant who brought the news smiled, “Your Highness, the items brought by Manager Liu this time seem particularly numerous.”
Particularly numerous? Xiao Rong raised her delicate brows. “There is no such precedent.” After a moment’s thought, she went out at an unhurried pace, intending to see what was unusual about Manager Liu’s visit this time.
Liu Xi, the decree-announcing eunuch, was as joyous as his name suggested. Before even entering the manor, his face was already beaming like a flower. Wearing a dark red python robe embroidered with gold threads, he looked from afar like a golden beast bearing treasures. “Eldest Princess Changyi, receive the decree”
Xiao Rong knelt composedly. The contents of the imperial decree contained nothing novel, remaining largely identical to previous years. After reading the decree, Liu Xi hurriedly stepped forward to assist Xiao Rong up. “Her Highness the Eldest Princess grows more radiant by the day!” While Xiao Rong exchanged pleasantries with him, Su Hexiang, who was supporting Liu Xi on the side, discreetly slipped a large pouch of silver into Liu Xi’s hand fully over a hundred taels. Wrinkles formed around Liu Xi’s smiling face, though his mouth offered polite protest, “You are far too generous! For this humble servant to visit the manor and see Her Highness the Eldest Princess is already my good fortune!”
Xiao Rong maintained a flawless smile. “Manager Liu should feel free to drop by the manor to visit when you have time. It is the New Year, after all; consider this a bit of good luck for you. I hope you won’t mind it being too modest.”
“Oh my! What are you saying, Princess!” Liu Xi had long since weighed the silver in his mind and felt deeply pleased. He whispered to Xiao Rong in a low voice, “Your Highness, has Miss Xie been staying with you all this time?”
Xiao Rong said, “Yesterday, Miss Xie specifically requested that I see her off. I thought that since that was the case, I might as well see it through to the end and treat her to a meal. Seeing that the hour was late, I didn’t send her back. Why, is there something amiss?”
Liu Xi sighed, “Your Highness, don’t blame this old servant for being garrulous i shouldn’t be saying this” He looked around at his surroundings before daring to lower his voice further, “Before yesterday’s palace banquet, the Emperor had already summoned General Xie for a conversation, intending to betroth Xie Ning to the Crown Prince. His Majesty’s intention is that since Xie Ning hails from Bianyang Pass and is unversed in the rules of the capital, she is to be sent to the Academy of Etiquette. Princess, you also know that the Academy of Etiquette is a place where palace maidservants and female officials undergo instruction, and usually no contact with outsiders is permitted. Although Xie Ning has not gone there yet, His Majesty plans to issue the decree right after the New Year. For your own good, Your Highness had best keep your distance from that Xie Ning!”
“Such a thing actually happened!” Xiao Rong feigned surprise. “To think Miss Xie is actually the future Crown Princess. My thanks to Manager Liu for the reminder; by all rights and reason, I truly shouldn’t have kept her overnight.”
“Those who do not know are blameless; it is enough that Your Highness does not blame this old servant for meddling,” Liu Xi said. “This old servant has also received an imperial order to escort Miss Xie back to the General’s Manor later. I wonder where Miss Xie is right now?”
Xiao Rong sneered coldness in her heart. This Xie Ning was truly a treasure in her Imperial Father’s eyes—so terrified that she might grow close to her that he even specifically dispatched Liu Xi to retrieve her from the manor. Despite these thoughts, Xiao Rong offered a soft smile on her face. “Miss Xie is indeed quite different from the young ladies in the capital. You see, at this hour, she has not even risen from bed yet.”
“Manager Liu, please sit for a moment and sample some of the Snow Tea I recently obtained from the south. I shall have someone invite Miss Xie at once. Ah Xiang—”
Liu Xi said, “Her Highness acts with complete propriety, naturally. It’s just that this old servant gets to enjoy another treat; how am I worthy to sample the Princess’s tea!”
While the two exchanged pleasantries, Su Hexiang had already gone to wake Xie Ning.
Before long, however, a servant hurried over to report, “Reporting to the Princess, the Ten-Thousand-Year Pine you had transported from the south has arrived at the East Street. Steward Su says he dares not take the authority upon himself and requests that you inspect it in person.”
Xiao Rong paused, saying to Liu Xi, “This Ten-Thousand-Year Pine is a New Year gift I intend to present to Imperial Father, so indeed no mistake can be permitted. Manager Liu, I shall step away for a moment; please make yourself at home.” She stood up, adding another sentence, “By the way, Manager Liu, I plan to give Imperial Father a surprise with this New Year gift, so I hope you will keep it a secret for me!”
Liu Xi naturally agreed to everything.
Xiao Rong quickened her steps, moving swiftly toward the rear courtyard.
“Speak clearly, what on earth happened?”
The servant replied, “It… it is Miss Xie. After she woke up, she wanted to use the latrine. Who knew that the maidservants waited for a long time without seeing her return? When they went to look for her, they found that she… she had stumbled by mistake into the Liufang Garden.”
Liufang Garden Xiao Rong’s expression instantly turned grim, and her pace quickened even further.
Xie Ning looked at the young men in the Liufang Garden with their chests exposed and garments disheveled. It took her quite a while to regain her composure, realizing that these young men… were likely the male courtesans kept by Her Highness the Eldest Princess.
Xie Ning felt deeply uncomfortable in her heart.
So Xiao Rong had already begun keeping male courtesans at this time?
Xie Ning still remembered that by the Shangsi Festival next year, rumors would circulate widely in the capital that the Eldest Princess was licentious and kept male courtesans in secret. As a result, Xiao Rong’s reputation plummeted drastically. Even the prospective imperial sons-in-law the Emperor had originally intended to select for her feigned illness one after another upon hearing the news, politely declining the marriage proposal.
In her past life, when she first met Xiao Rong, she had not known Xiao Rong’s true identity. Thus, when someone in the Academy of Etiquette uttered insults against the Eldest Princess Xiao Rong, Xie Ning had even stood up for Xiao Rong out of disgust for the ugly words. This had made her already difficult time at the Academy of Etiquette even worse; it was only due to her status as the “future Crown Princess” that the others didn’t dare do anything to her blatantly. In truth, she hadn’t been defending Xiao Rong entirely out of personal loyalty, but rather because she disliked the mindset of the women in the Academy of Etiquette, whose heads were filled with nothing but finding good husbands. Because she didn’t want to marry much less become the Crown Princess Xie Ning could not understand why other women looked forward to marriage and husbands so eagerly.
Back then, she had spoken out of indignation: “Why is it that men can have three wives and four concubines, openly abandoning the old for the new, while women must remain devoted to a single person? I think the Eldest Princess is very fine; she has merely done what the men of the world do. Furthermore, she is not yet betrothed and has no husband; taking a few men to choose those she likes is far better than the various acts of men! What is the grand deal about it? With you hurling such insults today, when you marry and your husbands take three wives and four concubines, will you speak with such venom as well? Speaking in this manner, the ones truly failing female virtue are actually you!”
She had spoken those words partly out of anger and partly because she had mistaken Xiao Rong for the Crown Prince, deliberately uttering rebellious statements to make the “Crown Prince” detest her. Little did she know that when Xiao Rong heard those words, she had merely looked at her with a smile, her liquid eyes holding an unfathomable depth that made Xie Ning’s heart leap and her cheeks burn uncontrollably!
Of course, Xie Ning only learned later that Xiao Rong kept these male courtesans merely to blind others. On one hand, it was to cultivate her own forces to act covertly; on the other hand, it was a deliberate attempt to ruin her own reputation. The Eldest Princess Xiao Rong did not want to marry either, but given her status and advancing age along her still-unfledged power she could only resort to this inferior strategy.
Yet, no matter how much it was meant to blind others, surface appearances still had to be maintained. For instance, the ones Xiao Rong initially brought into Liufang Garden were indeed young, fair-skinned male entertainers. Their attire and demeanor were exceptionally adept at flattery, half-revealing themselves in a way that made one’s blood boil with anger upon seeing it.
Even if Xiao Rong was merely putting on a show, at the thought that Xiao Rong had truly had her shoulders brushed or hands touched by these people, an evil fire surged straight to the top of Xie Ning’s head, impossible to suppress.
This rage rushing straight to her skull was extinguished by a single sentence from the hurriedly arriving Xiao Rong.
Xiao Rong’s face bore no trace of a smile, her tone so cold it made one shiver as she glared at Xie Ning: “Miss Xie has wandered into the wrong place. Come, escort Miss Xie out!”
With that, two servants stepped forward, attempting to use the same trick to drag Xie Ning away.
Today, however, Xie Ning was a Xie Ning who had eaten her fill. With a light twist, she broke free from the servants’ grip. Because she failed to control her force, she pushed both of them flat onto the ground.
Xiao Rong’s expression grew even colder.
With a dark gaze, she offered a subtle signal, and this time four tall, stout servants went straight to grab Xie Ning.
Xie Ning broke free easily once more.
Seeing this, Su Hexiang felt tempted to use her needles—a single needle would guarantee Xie Ning had no strength to resist. She looked toward Xiao Rong, awaiting the Princess’s instruction.
Xiao Rong merely knitted her brows, realizing that Manager Liu was still waiting in the front hall, so she could not act so violently for the time being. Yet her voice sounded even more like it was dipped in ice: “Fetch a few capable hands.”
“Hold on!” Xie Ning suppressed her anger. “Princess, I have something to say!”
Having called for her men, Xiao Rong did not act rashly, speaking only with cold detachment: “Miss Xie, please speak.”
Xie Ning said, “Have everyone else step back. These words are meant only for you.”
Before Xiao Rong could respond, Su Hexiang grew anxious: “Princess, absolutely not! This Xie Ning possesses infinite strength; if she acts against you”
Xie Ning smiled, “Why, is the Princess scared now?”
Xiao Rong fell silent for a moment, subconsciously stroking her left wrist once more. “Such a clumsy provocation,” she sneered. “I shall see what shameful words Miss Xie has to say. Ah Xiang, lead the men outside the garden to wait!”