BERW - Chapter 12
Chapter 12
"Why does Eldest Imperial Brother perform such a grand salute? Rise quickly. If anyone sees, it will be hard to explain."
Shen Yuyao would have loved to stand to one side and watch the Crown Prince explain that abrupt salute of his, but on second thought, lingering here would only waste her own time. That was far too poor a bargain.
So she spoke.
Shen Zhuocong had been waiting for Shen Yuyao to say exactly that. Just as he had planned, Shen Yuyao would ask him why he had done it.
"This is to thank Younger Imperial Sister for your help yesterday, and also to apologize to you. It was your elder brother's lack of forethought that nearly brought you to harm."
By Shen Zhuocong's earlier reckoning, Shen Yuyao ought now to magnanimously declare that it did not matter, and the whole matter could be lightly passed over, never spoken of again.
The fault he had committed then would naturally be wiped clean, and no one could bring it up again, or make trouble for him.
The Crown Prince had worked his abacus well indeed. Unfortunately, the Shen Yuyao standing before him was no longer the silly little princess who let others push her about.
Shen Yuyao saw through the Crown Prince's scheme at a glance. How could she let him have his way?
So of course she smilingly accepted the apology, and at the same time pressed her advantage, asking the Crown Prince, "An apology is not something you can simply say aloud. Eldest Imperial Brother, this is far too insincere. Yesterday your younger sister staked everything. Had Commander Yuan not been so skilled in martial arts, and the Imperial Guard so nimble, Eldest Imperial Brother might not be seeing me whole and unharmed today."
At that, the corner of Shen Zhuocong's mouth twitched. So the salute he had just performed had been for nothing.
That was a Crown Prince's salute. In all the world, how many people could make the Crown Prince bow to them?
Shen Zhuocong would have dearly liked to argue the matter out with Shen Yuyao in detail, but she had already dodged his salute entirely. Even if he wished to take offense at it, he could not.
"Then what does Younger Imperial Sister want?" What could Shen Zhuocong do? He could only endure it, speaking to Shen Yuyao in a gentle tone, as though to make her look like the one behaving unreasonably.
Yet in truth, every word Shen Yuyao spoke was reasoned and well grounded. If Shen Zhuocong had asked the Original Owner for help, then with that temperament of hers, great trouble would surely have followed.
The Original Owner had a fiery, headlong nature, and was nothing like as cautious as Shen Yuyao.
Though Shen Yuyao was not all that cautious herself.
"When a gentleman gives a gift, he gives what the recipient likes. Imperial Elder Brother might as well give me something I like." Shen Yuyao glanced at Shen Zhuocong's desk, on which lay fine Huizhou ink and a Qingshan inkstone, both exceedingly rare treasures.
As a princess, Shen Yuyao lacked for neither gold nor silver nor fine things, but there was not much she could actually use. She had not yet come of age, nor had she married, and it was always Qu Yanyue who gave her money to spend.
The Original Owner had been free-spending, and had saved nothing over the years.
If Shen Yuyao had her way, the best gift of all would be real gold and silver. If he truly meant to compensate her, he should carry up chest after chest of gold to her!
Still, Shen Yuyao was rather more tactful than that. Such words could not be blurted out on impulse; the ancients were thin-skinned, and saying them aloud would only make her look ungraceful.
With her staring at the valuables like that, the Crown Prince ought to understand what she wanted!
At first Shen Zhuocong did not understand at all. Then he saw Shen Yuyao's gaze keep drifting to the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, and something suddenly came back to him.
Earlier, this younger sister of his seemed to have said that she had taken a fancy to a sixth-rank official who already had a wife.
At the time he had told Shen Yuyao very sternly that even as a princess, she could not be so wilful.
But now he was even more wilful than Shen Yuyao had been then, so he had little standing to discipline her. Besides, she had truly given her all to help him this time, and now plainly had no intention of being fobbed off.
It seemed he would have to sacrifice his reputation once, and play the villain who coerced a subject.
Thinking this, Shen Zhuocong felt little reluctance. Shen Yuyao was a princess, and marrying a princess was something many a man in this world would not dare dream of.
Was a daughter of the Imperial House not even the better of that sixth-rank official's wife of hard years?
It was that official's honor. Moreover, Great Zhuang had no rule that a Prince Consort might not hold power. With Shen Yuyao's favor, perhaps that sixth-rank official might rise in office and soar straight to the clouds!
By then, he, the Crown Prince who had brought the match about, would be reckoned to have shown the man the grace of recognizing his worth. At the thought, Shen Zhuocong found the idea very good indeed: it would please Shen Yuyao, and please him as well.
A joy for all.
"Fine. If you want a written order from the Crown Prince, your elder brother will give you one. But it cannot directly command that petty official to divorce his wife and take another; such a move truly offends propriety. Your elder brother will, however, appeal to both heart and reason in the order, and make the man see sense as early as he can."
As he spoke, Shen Zhuocong was about to roll up his sleeves and go write it.
Hearing this, Shen Yuyao was utterly dumbfounded. Had Shen Zhuocong been beaten by the Emperor last night until his head stopped working?
What in the world was he saying!
Before Shen Zhuocong actually put brush to paper, Shen Yuyao finally remembered that this was one of the messes the Original Owner had left her. It had been only two days since she transmigrated, and the Crown Prince did not yet know that she had abandoned the Original Owner's ideas.
At this moment, though her body was still fourteen, her soul was already twenty-four. She was no longer so childish, and no longer cared to force a melon off the vine!
Being single was the happiest state of all. What did mortals mired in the snares of love know of the joy of singleness!
"Imperial Elder Brother, wait! I no longer like that petty official. He is too old!"
With that one sentence from Shen Yuyao, it was as though an invisible arrow had pierced the Crown Prince's chest.
Old? Was that petty official not the same age as himself? This time Shen Zhuocong truly did not write. He looked at Shen Yuyao with a very strange expression.
It was hard to say whether there was more fury at having the truth jabbed into him, or more lament for the cruelty of the years.
Meeting Shen Zhuocong's gaze, Shen Yuyao realized she had misspoken, and coughed awkwardly. She was rather old herself, come to think of it...
No, what did age have to do with anything? This was called being in the prime of youth!
"Imperial Elder Brother, I simply want to leave the palace and walk about a little, and find an expert who can teach me martial arts along the way. I do not ask for any great skill; just to strengthen my body is enough."
The latter would be no trouble at all; the Crown Prince did have many capable people under him. It was the first request that would be hard to grant.
"Your elder brother is still shut up in the Eastern Palace and cannot go anywhere. How am I to help you out? Besides, things outside are unsettled of late. If Father learns you left the palace without permission, mind you do not come back to a beating."
"I am not leaving the palace to do anything shameful, so why should I sneak out? You are the one confined to the Eastern Palace. I am not of the Eastern Palace."
Two more arrows struck Shen Zhuocong's chest at once, and this was truly painful for him.
She really was a fine younger sister, raising exactly the matter best left unmentioned.
Shen Yuyao had not meant to do it; she had no intention of offending the Crown Prince. Offending him now would bring her no good.
"Imperial Elder Brother, if you cannot help me out of the palace, then agree to one other thing for me, all right?"
Shen Yuyao asked again.
Shen Zhuocong finally understood. Shen Yuyao had probably long since made her plans, and was only testing the limits of his patience bit by bit.
"What exactly are you after?"
Helpless, Shen Zhuocong began to reflect on why he had lost his senses and chosen to cooperate with Shen Yuyao. She could indeed help him, but she could also land him in a pit!
And Shen Yuyao was an unstable factor besides. If she were displeased, she could turn around and trip him once, not so seriously, and Shen Zhuocong would still have no way to pay it back.
It was an inexpressible stifling of the heart.
If Shen Zhuocong was unhappy, then Shen Yuyao was happy. How could every good thing in this world fall to one person alone?
"It is nothing much, really. It is only that Father will surely refuse to let me go out of the palace to play on my own, so I want to ask Imperial Elder Brother for my Imperial Sister-in-Law."
"Your Imperial Sister-in-Law is still with child..." Shen Zhuocong's thoughts went instinctively to Qiluo.
Shen Yuyao waved a hand, and smilingly said the words that stabbed straight into the Crown Prince's heart. "She is not my Imperial Sister-in-Law. Imperial Elder Brother, she is only a Crown Prince's Junior Consort; she does not qualify for me to call her Imperial Sister-in-Law. The Imperial Sister-in-Law I mean is someone else."
That someone else could only be Qin Shujun.
Shen Zhuocong's expression failed to hold, and the sinister ruthlessness that showed in that instant was wholly unlike his usual manner.
The woman he cherished could not become his wife in name, and the Crown Prince regarded this as an utter humiliation.
It was a mockery of his ability.
Granted the rank of Crown Prince's Junior Consort and brought back into the palace, permitted even to bear an imperial heir in peace, and, if it were a son, to rise further in rank afterward, Qiluo herself was likely quite satisfied with how matters had turned out.
It was only the Crown Prince who was dissatisfied.
Perhaps he did love Qiluo, but in essence he loved himself more. He treated his love for Qiluo as a struggle against his father, and he was equally eager to raise Qiluo ever higher in position.
In his heart, Qiluo was a part of himself, a private possession, a symbol of his own existence.
From Shen Zhuocong's discontent, Shen Yuyao glimpsed the dark side of the Crown Prince's character. This Crown Prince, raised on the most elite education, was in essence quite base.
Shen Zhuocong gritted his teeth and agreed to the request. "Fine, as long as Father agrees."
By now Shen Yuyao had stirred his anger and burned away part of his reason. He had entirely forgotten that most of the palace affairs in the Eastern Palace were currently handled by Qin Shujun.
Since Qin Shujun had married into the Eastern Palace, three years had passed by count. Over those three years, the Eastern Palace had changed a great deal. It was long since the Eastern Palace of before; Qin Shujun had merged into it and become a part of that palace.
Once Qin Shujun left, if matters were not arranged well, the Eastern Palace might fall into chaos for several days.
Handled poorly, ten days or half a month of disorder was not impossible.
It all depended on whether the Crown Prince could quickly get a grip on things.
Shen Zhuocong, for all his title, was not without work; he had a heap of matters on hand. Once Qin Shujun left, he would likely have to work overtime until he had no time to see Qiluo.
The Crown Prince did not yet know that he was about to pass several days of sunless gloom.
Just as Shen Yuyao, at this moment, did not know that this outing from the palace would change her entire life in Great Zhuang.
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