The palace banquet hadn’t started yet. The women from noble families were gathered in Rong Hua Hall’s side chamber.

  Only Wu Rong’s emperor and prince had come to the banquet. Since there weren’t any women from Wu Rong in the side chamber, the atmosphere was fairly cordial and harmonious here.

  Wei Luo had heard that Empress Chen and Noble Consort Ning would both be attending the palace banquet. This was the first time that Wei Luo saw Noble Consort Ning. Although Wei Luo frequently came to the palace, she only talked with Zhao Liuli and Empress Chen. Other than seeing Zhao Lin Lang a few times, she never came into any contact with people on Noble Consort Ning’s side.

  In the center of the side chamber, next to the red sandalwood couch, there was a woman wearing a short-sleeve moon white top and a colorful silk skirt with golden embroidery. Her hair was arranged in a ling yun hairstyle with a white jade fan-shaped accessory that was connected to rubies and sapphires. In all details, she was richly and gorgeously adorned. She was probably fifth prince Zhao Zhang and Princess Lin Lang’s mother, Noble Consort Ning.

  In contrast, although Empress Chen’s style of dress wasn’t as showy as Noble Consort Ning’s, she had a different type of beauty that was dignified and magnanimous. Empress Chen was wearing a deep blue-green robe embroidered with phoenixes and peony flowers. Her hair was arranged in a qing hairstyle with crystal and jasper hairpins. She was only wearing a small amount of makeup.

  Empress Chen was currently lazily leaning against a large pillow embroidered with flowers. Her simplistic elegance was delightful. Empress Chen was naturally attractive. In terms of natural appearance, she was even more excellent than Noble Consort Ning. However, she didn’t like to mess with cosmetics and gauzy silk fabrics. This was the only reason why her appearance wasn’t as brightly vivid as Noble Consort Ning.

  However, this was the difference between a legal wife and a concubine. The legal wife was in charge of the general situation. A concubine needed to dress herself up gorgeously to curry favor. Wei Luo couldn’t help thinking that if she were Emperor Chong Zhen, she would definitely prefer Empress Chen. Empress Chen could go to battlefields and formal occasions. She was superior to a concubine that only knew how to make herself pretty.

  Wei Luo walked to Empress Chen, saluted, and said with a smiling face, “This subject greets Her Majesty.” Then, she paused, looked at Noble Consort Ning, and said, “Greetings Noble Consort Ning.”


  Empress Chen was very happy to see her. She called her to come closer, “Ah Luo, come here. Let this empress look at you. How come your face looks thinner? Have you not been eating well?”


  Now that Empress Chen thought about it, this was the first time she saw Wei Luo after she got engaged to Zhao Jie.

  Empress Chen had finally arranged her son’s lifetime event. She felt very grateful towards Wei Luo for resolving this matter that had greatly burdened her heart. Her attitude was also much more intimate than before. The rest of the young ladies were also standing nearby, but right after seeing Wei Luo, Empress Chen only called Wei Luo forward to chat with her.

  Empress Chen carefully looked over Wei Luo’s small face and asked in concern, “Are you too tired from preparing for the wedding or your dowry? If there’s anything you’re missing, don’t hesitate to ask this empress. This empress will have Chang Sheng prepare….” She paused, suddenly laughed, and said, “I’m being silly. How could Chang Sheng need this empress to remind him? He’s already started preparing everything himself.”


  Wei Luo hadn’t expected that Empress Chen would say these words in public. The smile on her face froze and she became embarrassed. Faced with Noble Consort Ning and Zhao Liuli’s ambiguous gazes, she flatly denied, “No… Your Majesty, thank you for your concern…”


  Where did she look thinner? How could the empress tell? Wei Luo was very puzzled.

  Unfortunately, Empress Chen was very happy with talking about Wei Luo and Zhao Jie’s wedding and didn’t pay attention to Wei Luo’s words. Like an unstoppable stream, Empress continued, “You don’t know, but Prince Jing’s residence’s upkeep hasn’t been maintained and its appearance wasn’t very good. There were even some courtyards with weeds that were grown to the height of half of a person. Those courtyards were finally being straightened out and repaired. This empress heard that he’s renovated the receiving room, the main courtyard, and the inner courtyards. The interior of those rooms have been also been redecorated. The residence looks presentable now.”


  Wei Luo felt slightly uncomfortable. She didn’t know what to say, so she lowered her head and seriously drank her tea while pretending that she didn’t hear anything.

  At this moment, there was suddenly the sound of porcelain dropping onto the ground.

  One after another, everyone looked in that direction. They saw Gao Dan Yang’s pale face. She was sitting at a black square table that was inlayed with gold and had spiral carvings. She politely half rose out of her chair to salute Empress Chen and in a grievance tone, she explained, “It’s my fault. My hand accidentally slipped and showed maternal aunt this laughable scene…”


  Empress Chen furrowed her eyebrows. Of course, she knew what Gao Dan Yang was feeling. How was it a slippery hand? She had clearly been upset after hearing their conversation. To be honest, Empress Chen felt a twinge of guilt towards her. After all, she had delayed her marriage for so many years and she didn’t give her anything in the end. But, she also felt slightly angry about Gao Dan Yang’s persistence. She had already clearly explained everything. As long as Gao Dan Yang was willing, she could arrange a good marriage partner for her. But, she insisted on being stubborn and wouldn’t give up on Zhao Jie until she personally saw him getting married.

  What would change if she sees Zhao Jie getting married? Would she disgrace herself like today? Empress Chen’s mood was complicated. She didn’t blame her and only said, “Go change your clothes. Seeing that your complexion doesn’t look good, you should go and have a good rest. It’s important to pay attention to your health.”


  This was a tactful way of telling her to go home. The implication was that she didn’t have to come back.

  With great difficultly, Gao Dan Yang stopped herself from crying. She stood up, said “yes”, turned around, and slowly left the side chamber.

  As she was leaving, she felt that everyone was looking at her with sympathetic eyes that pitied her. She couldn’t stand the expression in their eyes. Holding in her tears, she started walking faster and faster.

  ——–


  After the banquet started, one after another, men entered the main hall.

  The men and women were seated in separate rooms. Emperor Chong Zhen was entertaining the officials in the main room in Rong Hua Hall. Empress Chen was entertaining the ladies in the side chamber.

  Emperor Chong Zhen was wearing a formal, golden imperial robe with the twelve symbols. There was a guan crown on his head. Although he was over forty years old, his heroic appearance hadn’t deteriorated at all. He was as magnificent as the setting sun.

  From the front row to the last row, one after another, the court officials saluted and loudly called out, “May the emperor live thousands and thousands of years.”


  Emperor Chong Zhen waved his hand and ordered everyone to sit down. His line of sight turned and landed on Wu Rong’s emperor. “Brother Wan, sit down too.”


  Wu Rong’s emperor, Wan Qi Yu, was wearing a dark reddish purple formal robe. He was slightly older than Emperor Chong Zhen. The lower half of his face was covered in a beard. Even so, his handsome face couldn’t be hidden. He had a high nose and deep eyes. No wonder people described Wu Rong’s emperor as “the old emperor”. How could they not think he was old with such a long beard? In reality, he was only older than Emperor Chong Zhen by two years.

  Wan Qi Yu placed his left hand on his chest as a ceremonial gesture to express his gratitude towards Emperor Chong Zhen. Soon after, he sat down behind a table with slanted upward edges. Wan Qi Zhen, who was next to him, was wearing an official red and green robe with narrow sleeves. He was Wu Rong’s fourth prince. He was seven feet tall and strongly built. His handsome face had a high nose and deep facial features.

  Because he had lived in the wild grasslands for many years and experienced being blown by the wind and shined by the sun every day, his skin was very dark. But, he didn’t look ugly. Instead, it increased his masculine appearance. When he sat down behind the same table as Wu Rong’s emperor, it made the table seem smaller.

  Emperor Chong Zhen was very easygoing. He indicated that everyone could pick up their chopsticks to start eating.

  After three rounds of wine, Wan Qi Zhen raised a wine cup to Emperor Chong Zhen and said, “People say that there are three good things about the Central Plains (another name for Da Liang). The wine is good, the people are good, and the scenery is good. After coming to Da Liang, these three areas were outstanding as expected. However, this prince has only appreciated wine and the scenery. I haven’t seen the “people” yet.”


  There was an accent when he said these words in Central Plains language and he also stressed the word “people”. Even if people didn’t want to overthink his words, it was difficult to do so.

  Wu Rong’s fourth prince had an unruly personality. He was good at plotting and schemes. He was regarded highly as Wu Rong’s clever and insightful prince. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been brought along to the Central Plains this visit. It was said that his ability was outstanding and his military achievements were excellent. He was also Wu Rong’s best warrior and the lover that all of the young women in Wu Rong dreamed about. However, he was fickle in love and promiscuous. Starting from when he was fourteen years old, he had ten concubines in his home and an unknown number of outside mistresses.

  Now, as soon as he mentioned women, while the court officials didn’t outwardly show their feelings on their faces, they were internally frowning.

  This fourth prince, he spoke these words without looking at the current situation.

  Fortunately, Emperor Chong Zhen didn’t lower himself to Wan Qi Zhen’s level. He laughed and said, “Fourth prince’s words made this emperor think of an idiom.”


  Wan Qi Zhen raised an eyebrow and replied, “Your Majesty, please tell.”


  Having another meaning, Emperor Chong Zhen said, “A wine-lover’s heart is not in the cup*.”


  *(Note: I translated the literal meaning of those words. This idiom is used to say that the other person has an ulterior motive.)

  Wan Qi Zhen quietly laughed and decline to comment.

  Sitting across from Wan Qi Zhen, Zhao Jie’s expression didn’t change. He lowered his eyes and fiddled with a xi jiao cup carved with lotus flowers and a dragon and phoenix. His lips curved into a trace of a fake smile.

  Emperor Chong Zhen didn’t continue to speak. He clapped his hands to signal for the dancers to come out.

  Shortly after, one after another, lithe dancers wearing red robes embroidered with butterflies came into the hall. There were golden palace belts around their waists and sashes hooked at their elbows. Their hair was arranged into shuang huan wan xian hairstyles. They had slender waists with figures like willow trees. At the center of the large hall, the dancers swayed their waists and hands. They gracefully started to dance to sound of the lutes and Chinese harps.

  Women from Da Liang weren’t the same as women from Wu Rong. Wu Rong’s people grew up in the grasslands. They had bold and unconstrained personalities and comparatively tall figures. Because the women were exposed to strong sunlight all year round, most of the women had skin that was a deep wheat color. There would occasionally be a few women with wheat color skin and their skin was considered pale. They couldn’t be compared to the women from Da Liang.

  Da Liang’s delicate and charming women had dainty figures. In addition, they spent most of their time indoors in boudoirs, so they had exquisite skin and lovely coquettish personalities. Their movements and voices had implicit charm.

  Wan Qi Zhen hadn’t played around with women from Da Liang. Although he didn’t know how it would feel exactly, he was sure it would be ecstasy that melted bones.

  He supported his chin in his hand and looked at the women in front of him with great interest. While his mind was thinking about these charming thoughts about women, his face showed a pure-hearted smile.

  ——–


  Two emperors from two different countries were gathered together. Other than discussing the founding of their countries, they could also make invidious comparisons. They compared their countries’ territory, citizens, and court officials… Of course, they would also compare their sons.

  Wan Qi Yu praised his son for being remarkable and outstanding. No one could match his son. Emperor Chong Zhen laughed in disagreement. One of the court officials couldn’t help standing up and saying, “Our Da Liang’s second and fifth princes are also giants among men. They are strong, healthy, and talented. They definitely wouldn’t lose to Wu Rong’s princes.”


  Hearing these words, Wan Qi Zhen looked across the hall and without even paying any attention to Zhao Zhang, he stared at Zhao Jie without look away.

  Wu Rong’s emperor had a very complicated feeling towards Zhao Jie. He both feared him and was unable to accept him as the winner. Several years had passed, was there really no one in Wu Rong that could be compared to Zhao Jie? If Wu Rong could win one match, he wouldn’t have a psychological shadow in his heart the next time that he saw Zhao Jie in the future. At the thought of this, Wu Rong’s emperor suggested to Emperor Chong Zhen, “This being the case, how about letting them compete? Whether it’s archery or horsemanship, it would be nothing difficult for this emperor’s son.”


  Since Wu Rong’s emperor had said these words, Emperor Chong Zhen naturally didn’t have any reason to refuse. In addition, he felt confident of his two sons and wanted them to win an honor for him. After he thought for a moment, he nodded and said, “In that case, this emperor will conduct an archery and equestrian contest the day after tomorrow and we’ll see who the winner is. How does that sound?”


  Without even thinking, Wan Qi Yu nodded and agreed.

  From the beginning to now, Zhao Jie hadn’t said a word. It was only after Emperor Chong Zhen had said his plan that he said, “Your imperial son will listen and obey to imperial father’s arrangements.” His words were calm in the face of this uncertain situation.

  Zhao Zhang also stood up and declared his position.

  Looking at the two of them, Emperor Chong Zhen nodded his head in satisfaction.

  The palace banquet was carried out smoothly. The atmosphere was harmonious as the people at the banquet toasted each and continued drinking. Without noticing, two hours had passed.

  Zhao Jie didn’t have much interest towards this type of situation. Towards the dancers moving their bodies, he only glanced at them a few times. During the entire banquet, he seemed preoccupied his thoughts. What could he be thinking about? Of course, it was about the young girl in the side chamber next to this room.

  He hadn’t seen her in many days. Later, he definitely couldn’t let her leave first.

  As he was thinking about this, a palace servant wearing a deep blue-green robe walked over to him and quietly whispered into his ear a few words. In reaction to those words, Zhao Jie furrowed his eyebrows and gripped a teacup tighter. Shortly after the palace servant left, he stood up and bid Emperor Chong Zhen farewell, “Your imperial son must leave for a brief of period of time.”


  Emperor Chong Zhen thought he had some urgent need, so he didn’t ask any question before letting him leave.

  However, Wan Qi Zhen raised his eyes to glance at Zhao Jie.

  ——-

  After leaving Rong Hua Hall, in large strides, Zhao Jie reached Xin Yan, which was next to the western pond.

  Underneath the dim moonlight, there was a young girl wearing a gauzy yellow short top and a pomegranate skirt. It was slightly cooler in the evening, so she also had on a pink silk cloak embroidered with scattered golden peonies. When she looked up, she was still covering her mouth. There wasn’t anyone at her side. He didn’t know why, but he thought she looked slightly pitiful.

  Wei Luo’s eyelashes fluttered. Even when he walked to her side, she didn’t show any reaction other than silently turning her eyes to look at him. It was only at this moment that Zhao Jie noticed her strangeness. He lifted his hand to move her hand away from her mouth. “Why are you covering your mouth? Toothache?”


  Then, using the faint lamplight in front of Xin Yan, he clearly looked at her face and his face suddenly stiffened.

  It turned out that Wei Luo wasn’t trying to cover her mouth. It was her nose! She had a bloody nose and it was still bleeding. Half of her small face was covered in a mess of blood. It was rather frightening. Zhao Jie’s pupils’ narrowed. He hurriedly took out his handkerchief to help her wipe the blood away. “What happened? Why is your nose bleeding?”


  Wei Luo was also very depressed. In a helpless and grieved tone of voice, she murmured, “Liuli said my energy and blood was lacking. She forced me to drink a nourishing bowl of red date and longan soup.”


  This hadn’t happened to her before. She didn’t know if that soup was too replenishing. A short time after she had drank it, her nose started to bleed. Scared, Zhao Liuli wanted to have an imperial physician come look at her, but Wei Luo stopped her. Wei Luo originally though this was only a small matter and would past after a short period of time. Unexpectedly, her nose still kept bleeding after a long time. She could only have Jin Lu go to Zhao Liuli to request an imperial physician to come over.

  Zhao Jie wiped away the blood. Just as he finished wiping away the blood, blood dripped down from her nose again as if it would never stop. She couldn’t continue losing blood like this. He had to get an imperial physician to come look at her.

  How much nourishing soup did she drink?

  How much blood could be in her small body? It couldn’t be that she would soon run out of blood, right?

  His forehead twitched. In a cold tone, he ordered the hidden Zhu Geng, “Go and see where the imperial physician is. Why isn’t he here yet?”


  Hidden in the shadows, Zhu Geng made a sound of acknowledgment. There was a rustling sound before he disappeared.

  Zhao Jie cleaned the blood from her small face again and carried her to an eight-treasure style couch. He had heard that putting icy water on a wound would staunch bleeding. At the moment, there wasn’t any icy water nearby. It was late autumn and the water in the western pond was barely cold. He took out a handkerchief and said to Wei Luo, “Ah Luo, be good. Wait here for me. Properly lie down and don’t move.”


  Wei Luo obediently nodded.

  Zhao Jie looked at her for moment before turning around and leaving.

  Wei Luo listlessly lied on the couch. In her heart, she thought that she would never eat longan again… She had been perfectly fine before. It was only after being forced to drink a bowl of red date and longan soup by Zhao Liuli that she became unwell. She had lost too much blood and she felt dizzy. The scene in front of her felt blurry, so she stopped looking and just waited for Zhao Jie to return.

  She had only closed her eyes for a moment before hearing steady footsteps in front of her that sounded like Zhao Jie’s

  Wei Luo thought that Zhao Jie had returned. She opened her eyes, sat up, and in a pitiful tone, she said, “Big brother, I feel dizzy…”


  Startled, she immediately stopped talking.

  The person in front of her wasn’t Zhao Jie. The person was wearing clothing from the western regions. He had deep facial features. His eyes were improperly staring at her. Wei Luo furrowed her eyebrows. Just as she was about to speak, her nose felt warm. Soon after, blood started dripping from her nose and landed on the floor.

  (Note: Just wanted to note that it’s not possible for red date and longan soup to cause nosebleeds. In Chinese herbal medicine, drinking soups with red dates and longan is even a treatment method for people who have a tendency to get nosebleeds.)