Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

194. Slack Off

Translator: Bryan

“Hey, have you guys heard about it?” In a small corner by the imperial garden, a band of serving girls were standing in a huddle, chirping. One of them nervously swiveled her head to glance around and, having checked that the coast was clear, turned her head back to resume sharing gossip with the others. “What is it? Tell us already! Don’t prolong the agony!”

“Here’s the thing. I heard about this from someone serving in the same house as mine. She’s acquainted with an odd-job man working in the East Place,” the besieged girl said importantly. The others were anxious from the waiting and one of them urged, “Don’t keep us in suspense. If the head-maid comes over here and sees us slacking off, she’ll have all of us flogged!” All the others promptly expressed their agreement.

“Well, let me get this straight from the outset. If any of you disclose it, it’ll have nothing to do with me. Do not tell anybody you heard it from me.” It was after getting the other girls’ promises that the servant girl began with a feigned air of mystery, “You all know the Crown Prince officially took two concubines into the East Palace yesterday, right? Guess what? Last night His Highness spent the night in Princess Zhao’s place.”

“And what’s so strange about that? There’re two concubines, and His Highness had to bed one of them. Besides, the patriarch of the Zhao Family counts as a doyen of the court now, and I’ve seen Princess Zhao once from the distance. She’s quite a looker. No matter what, His Highness spending the night in Princess Zhao’s chambers is not something worth talking about by stealth, don’t you think?”

“You know nothing!” the girl intimating the story to them snapped. “I would never have taken such a great risk sharing this information with you guys were it that simple! It’s said that yesterday, His Highness went to Princess Zhao’s chambers after lashing out at the Crown Princess. And before leaving, he even ordered the Crown Princess be placed under house arrest, and yet word got out about it after only one night.”

Her words sent a ripple of gasp through all the others. “Really? I’ve long since heard His Highness dislikes the Crown Princess. Is he depriving her of her rights?” Talking about the disputes in the imperial harem on a daily basis was the serving girls’ favorite thing to do, and they promptly started twittering on about it.

Behind the rockery, an old nanny with a grave look on her face said, “Your Highness, I’ll go have these gossipy girls flogged right away. They’re not only slacking off but also bad-mouthing their masters behind their backs-” Before she could finish her sentence, the Empress raised her hand and interrupted her, “Send someone to the East Palace and make some inquiries about what happened exactly.”

With that, the Empress left with her maidservants, making it difficult to gauge whether she was angry or not. Having no alternative, the old nanny angrily had someone chuck all the serving girls out lest they continue to be eyesores.

Early in the morning, Du Chuxuan stretched in bed, then turned and saw that Yuxing Tianrui was still half asleep, unwilling to open his eyes. Du Chuxuan gave him a push and said, “Time to get up. It’s true you don’t have to attend the court meeting this morning, but you still have to bring the two women to your mother’s place.” With that, he reached Yuxing Tianrui’s robes over for him.

Seeing as how they had finished the act last night, Du Chuxuan would let the cat out of the bag if he summoned a servant in. Therefore, he decided to do it himself. He enjoyed doing this kind of things, anyway.

Yuxing Tianrui, groggy, was scooped up and he conveniently raised his arms. At the sight of it, a smile touched Du Chuxuan’s lips in spite of himself. When he had dressed Yuxing Tianrui and pushed him to the side of the basin, Du Chuxuan asked, “Is your waist still achy? If it is, you may have him impersonate you for one more day.”

Yuxing Tianrui snorted. Du Chuxuan’s love-making had been so vigorous last night that now he felt as though his bones could fall apart at any moment. But after hearing Du Chuxuan’s advice, he was really tempted to take this day off. However, he still felt it somewhat inappropriate for him to utter those words.

Du Chuxuan, naturally, could divine what his significant other was thinking. He promptly dissolved into giggles and said, “Luo Yi, go. Tell him to put up a convincing act and be careful not to raise any doubts in people’s minds. I want him to come here at night and report to us what he’s found out.” A tap of finger on tile came from the rooftop, which meant that Luo Yi had heard him. He probably had gone to execute the orders.

“Let’s go out for a walk later. It strikes me you’ve never been to Huixiang House for breakfast before. I’m taking you there to give it a shot,” Du Chuxuan smiled, watching Yuxing Tianrui washing his face with his eyes half open, looking quite complacent.

He felt that it was not such a bad thing to have a stand-in like this. Thanks to him, the two of them could take a day or two off whenever they wanted. It felt so good.

Before long, Dongxiang pushed the door open and walked inside with a troubled face. “Sire, you’re not gonna believe this. Princess Zhao is unbelievable. Early this morning, she had someone come to me, who said she’s not feeling well and that she couldn’t come here to give you her morning greetings.”

Du Chuxuan inclined his head. He had anticipated this some time ago. “It’s okay. Let her be. I need you guys to guard the gate of this palace for me. I’m going out. No matter who comes here to visit, tell them I’m feeling unwell. Send someone to tell Princess Zhao she’s spared from today’s morning greetings and that she may go directly to the Empress’ palace.”

Yuxing Tianrui frowned at their words. By refusing to give the Crown Princess her morning greetings, Princess Zhao, a concubine, was not only making the Crown Princess lose face but also explicitly telling everybody that the one calling the shots in the East Palace was not the Crown Princess but her, Concubine Zhao.

He didn’t know what that person had promised him, but no matter what his stand-in had promised Concubine Zhao, it should be Du Chuxuan’s command. Though aware of all this, Yuxing Tianrui still felt very uncomfortable.

Du Chuxuan, naturally, had perceived the change of Yuxing Tianrui’s mood. He took him by the hand and brought him out of the East Palace. This was Yuxing Tianrui’s first time seeing the capital city at this early hour in the morning. Following Du Chuxuan along the street, he saw a lot of people heading for their stalls with large bamboo baskets hanging from shoulder poles. It was quite a prosperous sight.

“I’m not exaggerating anything, but the breakfast they serve in Huixiang House is divine. I don’t know why none of the court cooks can cook breakfast as delicious as that.” Du Chuxuan directly drew Yuxing Tianrui to the second floor into a private room and ordered a tableful of food, which was far more than the two of them could eat.

Yuxing Tianrui didn’t seem to mind. After Du Chuxuan offered him a steamed bun with soup inside, he picked it up and was just about to eat it when Du Chuxuan stopped him.

“Ha ha… It surprises me you’re so silly, Zizheng,” Du Chuxuan said. Watching Du Chuxuan grinning from ear to ear, Yuxing Tianrui snorted, “I’m not as gullible as you think I am!”

With that, he slit the steamed bun with a little spoon to let out some of the soup and then picked it up to eat it. Du Chuxuan said nothing about it.

Before long, Luo Yi walked inside with two people. Having met Du Chuyue yesterday, Yuxing Tianrui appeared much more poised this time and just calmly enjoyed his breakfast.