Chapter 69: The Old Prince Next Door 22

Since marrying into the imperial family, she had only entered the palace once. At the end of this year, as their child had reached his hundred-day milestone¹, they entered the palace together to celebrate the festivities.

Prince Chen’s palace was located near the Eastern Palace, in an area that would eventually serve as the residence and school for other imperial princes.

Su Huandan looked over Yanshou Palace where Prince Chen stayed. It wasn’t particularly large, and the architecture was quite delicate. The exterior looked somewhat aged, but the interior decorations were clearly handled with great care, bearing little difference from the Main Courtyard of the Prince Chen Estate.

It contained both items that Prince Chen was accustomed to using and ornaments that Su Huandan liked.

The Empress had been very thoughtful.

“Thoughtful, indeed. The First Prince has been bedridden for over a month, and the Imperial Academy of Medicine says the situation isn’t good. Can an Empress with a son be the same as one without? The Empress is feeling guilty and desperate.” That was why she was striving for perfection in managing palace affairs.

Su Huandan thought to herself that despite the prestige, being the Empress was no easy task.

“It’s because she wants too much. My sister-in-law told her several times that she could help share the burden of palace duties so the Empress could focus on caring for the child. As long as the child is raised, there’s no fear that his health won’t improve. The First Prince’s condition is different from mine; I was born with toxins in my system, while that child is just naturally frail. Other princes are frail too. When the Fourth Prince was born, he was even weaker, and hasn’t he grown much sturdier now? The Empress is simply unwilling to relinquish power. Palace duties drain too much of her energy, leading to inevitable negligence regarding the First Prince.” Prince Chen used the word “negligence” pointedly, suggesting there was more to the story.

At the imperial banquet, the Noble Consort wore a mask of virtue that seemed even more refined than the Empress’s.

As a legal wife herself, Su Huandan now felt somewhat immersed in that perspective. Watching the Noble Consort’s affected mannerisms, she found it quite an eyesore.

The couple sat upon the high platform.

In the very center sat the Empress Dowager. To her right were the Emperor and Empress, and to her left were Prince Chen and Su Huandan.

Three long tables were set out, though they couldn’t actually hold many dishes at once. Usually, a few dishes were served, and after a short while of eating, they were cleared away to be replaced by new ones.

The advantage was that the food brought out was always piping hot.

The main hall was too cold, and the food would chill quickly, so frequent replacements were a good thing in Su Huandan’s eyes.

As for that Noble Consort, the birth mother of the Second Prince, she sat in the prime seat of the row below the Empress’s left hand.

She wore silver-red imperial robes that bordered on true red. While the Empress wore a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin, she wore a Seven-tailed Phoenix Hairpin². According to the rules, a Noble Consort was not permitted to use a seven-tailed hairpin; that was a specification reserved for a Princess Consort.

A Noble Consort in the Great Jing Dynasty could only use a five-tailed phoenix hairpin, and those of lower consort ranks weren’t even qualified to use phoenix hairpins at all.

The headpieces that looked like phoenixes on them were actually luan bird³ patterns.

Su Huandan didn’t understand these nuances well, so to her, the luan birds and phoenix hairpins looked very similar. It seemed the only difference was the level of craftsmanship and the specific patterns.

On Su Huandan’s own head was a phoenix hairpin of the same style as the Empress Dowager’s and the Empress’s. It was crafted from pure gold and inlaid with various gemstones. It was beautiful, certainly, but exceptionally heavy.

The Noble Consort’s phoenix hairpin looked even a size larger than Su Huandan’s.

The Empress Dowager’s face had darkened the moment she saw the hairpin on the Noble Consort’s head, and her expression hadn’t softened since.

When the Empress Dowager looked toward him, the Emperor offered an embarrassed smile.

Prince Chen sneered and whispered in his wife’s ear, “The Noble Consort was the Emperor’s first woman, originally a palace maid. She’s the most beautiful woman in my imperial nephew’s harem, but she has no brains. The Second Prince she bore also seems brainless. Although the Second Prince looks healthy enough, my imperial nephew finds her silliness relaxing to be around, as he doesn’t have to use his brain with her. That’s why he’s favored her for so many years. That phoenix hairpin was definitely a private toy used to coax her, but the Noble Consort just doesn’t have a lick of sense.”

Anyone with a brain wouldn’t dare wear it on an occasion like this.

“The Noble Consort might lack brains, but that doesn’t mean the people around her or the people behind her lack them. With a prince at her side, people will naturally gravitate toward her. Don’t you think so?” Su Huandan felt that wearing the Seven-tailed Phoenix Hairpin was more like a test.

She just wasn’t sure if the Emperor was setting a trap to test his officials, or if those officials were using the Noble Consort to test the Emperor’s attitude toward the Second Prince.

To the officials, a man like the Second Prince, who wasn’t bright enough, would be the ideal next Emperor. Lacking intelligence meant the ministers could control the court and perhaps even sideline the imperial family and its power.

Prince Chen looked at Su Huandan in surprise. His Princess Consort possessed such insight?

However, Prince Chen felt this matter had little to do with him, at least for now.

He was merely a wealthy idler⁴.

A wealthy idler meant eating, drinking, and playing without managing affairs, holding a respected status that no one dared provoke. That was a true wealthy idler.

As it turned out, the moment the banquet ended, the Emperor assigned Prince Chen a task.

“Let’s move the First Prince to Yanshou Palace. Imperial Uncle, whether it is your auspicious fate or Imperial Aunt’s auspicious fate that helps, the child’s life is truly in the hands of destiny now.” The Emperor truly loved the First Prince. The eight-year-old child was incredibly brilliant and already had his own understanding of state affairs.

His other sons were simply not up to par. Though they were only three to five years old, one look told him they weren’t emperor material.

Prince Chen was speechless.

I finally managed to survive, and now you want to shove another sickly person onto me?

Prince Chen opened his mouth to refuse, but Su Huandan stopped him.

She didn’t speak, but simply tugged on Prince Chen’s sleeve to prevent him from speaking defiantly.

Prince Chen was used to being overbearing. In the past, when his health was poor, people didn’t argue with a dying man. Now that he was better, even if he didn’t live as long as a tortoise, it was possible he would die of old age. If he remained so overbearing, when the Emperor saw him living a long life later on, wouldn’t he get angry remembering all the times his uncle had shut him down?

Even if he didn’t settle scores with the Prince, he could certainly take his dislike out on his descendants.

The moment Su Huandan thought of her child being dragged down by Prince Chen’s stubborn temperament…

No, the mere thought was suffocating. Even if her son grew up to be a powerful figure, he was still the son she had endured labor to bring into the world. A mother would always do her utmost to consider her child’s future.

“Is this why you stopped me just now? You have to understand, the Emperor and I share the same bloodline, but the Empress does not. If the First Prince is actually raised to adulthood, our son might not reach the heights of greatness, but he would certainly be able to walk tall throughout the capital for the rest of his life, just like I do. But if the child doesn’t survive, think about it: will the Empress blame herself, or will she resent us?” Prince Chen felt that the Princess Consort was still too young and inexperienced.

Su Huandan truly hadn’t considered that perspective, but she had dared to take on the responsibility because she was relying on the Spiritual Spring Water. One does not take on such delicate tasks without the proper tools, after all.

Regardless, people in this world were accustomed to attributing things to fate and destiny, so they wouldn’t be able to uncover any suspicious details.

It was nothing like her previous life in modern society, where using a bit of Spiritual Spring Water for her family had been such an exhausting ordeal.

Translator’s Notes