东宫 Eastern Palace: Heavy Frost Made the Cold Ceramic Roof Tiles Seem Bright (Part 2)

However, the Crown Prince was not really happy, so I just accompanied him.

 

Having lived in the Eastern Palace for a while, I often hear all kinds of strange things about the Crown Princess. She was actually younger than me, childish, born in an uncivilized foreign country, and would cause trouble everyday. People would make jokes about her. 

The Crown Prince disliked her more and more.
 

My life in the Eastern Palace was very comfortable.

The Crown Prince respects and loves me. Besides not having the title of Crown Princess, I have everything else.

I know that Western Liang woman would not be able to become the Empress, the Crown Prince would depose her sooner or later and return what was supposed to be mine to me.

I will become the real Crown Princess. In the future, I will become the Empress. 

I was very sure. 

The Crown Princess was not malicious to others, and even wanted to befriend me.
 

When she came to my courtyard for the first time, as soon as she walked down the steps, she fell down embarrassingly, like a careless child. I almost laugh out loud. I hurried went to help her, after all, she has the title of Crown Princess.
 

She pretended to talk to me, and I replied to her kindly.

I felt that she was very stupid, clumsy like a puppy.

After exchanging a few words, I can see through her and know what type of person she was.

She's as simple as a glass of clear water, you can see the bottom of the glass with a glance.

Actually her thoughts weren't bad. For a while, I have played leaf card games with her every day.

When I casually praised her, she was very happy, and happily wanted to give me a pair of little boots.

I would casually praise her more and more.

Anyways the Crown Prince would hate her more, if I become more generous towards her. After all, I am already in an undefeatable position, so why not be more generous.

One time she accidentally saw the beaded rabbit and said: "Oh, I also have one of these as well, but it was made of grass seeds. When I was in Western Liang, someone..."

After she finished speaking, she stared blankly for a while, until she said in an embarrassed way: "I must have remembered it wrong. In Western Liang, we don't have such skilled craftsmen."

I just laughed, the Crown Princess did not know that it was not made by a craftsman, but was made by the Crown Prince himself.

 

For some reason, the princess fell ill that night. She had a nightmare in the middle of the night, and then developed a high fever. Because she was not used to living in the Central Plains, she would often have nightmares, followed by a high fever. When she first entered the Eastern Palace, she would be sick for a while. I was worried that if she died of illness, the Emperor would blame the Zhao family, so I ordered people to carefully take care of her, as I am afraid something bad would happen. 

Fortunately, she had recovered.

This time she got sick quickly, but also recovered quickly, within a few days she was healthy and lively again. She came to find me to play. I didn't know where she got this set of silver crab hammers and other things, which she happily brought it to show me.

I saw that she took out the crab eating tools one by one from the embroidered bag, I couldn't help but laugh: "What is your Highness doing?"
 

She was still like a puppy that was almost wagging its tail. She said, "I don’t know how to eat crabs. It's almost the Double Ninth Festival [1], so there will be a crab feast within the palace. If I make a fool out of myself, then the entire Eastern Palace would lose face. You should quickly teach me!"
 

I was just speechless, I could only order someone to tell the kitchen to steam some crabs.
 

Two palace maids had brought water. The Crown Princess and I cleaned our hands, wiped the water off our hands with a soft cloth, and then sat at the table.
 

I was worried that the Crown Princess would feel embarrassed if the palace maids were here, so I told them to withdraw.
 

Sure enough, when the Crown Princess saw that the crabs were so big, she didn't know where to start.
 

I arranged all the silver tools for eating crabs and then I took a crab to show her how to eat it.
 

First I cut the crab claws and crab legs, and then I told her: "You open it here. These are the crab gills, it can't be eaten, so we remove it."
 

I used the silver tweezer to remove the crab gills because they were too small to disassemble. In order to see clearly, she leaned over and cuddled up next to me. Her big black eyes watched my every move, her eyes were full of admiration.
 

I patiently teared apart the whole crab little by little.
 

Then the removed crab shells were piled up on the table, in the shape of a white jade coloured cat.
 

Her eyes were shining brightly as she looked at the pile of crab shells that resembled a white jade coloured cat, then she looked at me and sincerely said: "You are amazing!"

I just smiled.

I like cats, when I was not married yet, I raised a few cats. Before entering the Eastern Palace, my family had once bribed the servants who were close with the Crown Prince to ask them about the Crown Prince’s likes and dislikes. I know that the Crown Prince does not like cats, but I did not know the reason behind it. I thought maybe it could be because the Empress likes cleanliness, and doesn't like cats, so he developed this behaviour since childhood. As a result, I left all of my cats at my family’s house. After entering the Eastern Palace, I only raised a dog.

Although a dog is good, it is not a cat after all.

The Crown Princess said: "Li Cheng Yin is also very good at eating crabs, I saw that he could arrange the crab shells back to its original form after eating it. However he is not as good as you, who can rearrange it into a cat."

She always called Li Cheng Yin by his full name, which was very rude. I felt that she was pitiful, there was no one even in the Eastern Palace that could teach her how to speak properly. The Crown Prince didn’t like her, even the palace maids look down upon her, but she could still be happy everyday.

I don’t know how such a stupid person grew up this big.

Maybe the Western Liang people lack minds in such a way.

The Crown Princess talked as she took a crab from the steamer, wanting to learn how to tear the crab apart, just like the way I did. I did not expect she would be so clumsy, she pricked her hand with the silver chisel as soon as she opened the crab shell. The moment her hand was pricked, the crab flew out and landed on my chest.

 

The crabs were just steamed, so it was very hot, I couldn't help but scream. The Crown Princess also jumped up in shock. She suddenly saw a basin of water soaked with chrysanthemum leaves next to her. She quickly picked up the silver basin of water and splashed it on me. 

My whole body was splashed with water, but it was not very hot. 

The Crown Princess looked at me timidly: "Ah, there's a blister."
 

I looked at my chest, there was a clear blister that had formed, and a few chrysanthemum leaves that were stuck on my dress, the silk cloak was dripping water, it was very embarrassing.

I said: "It's okay, I just need to change my clothes." I didn't call anyone, so I just opened the door and went inside to change my clothes.
 

The Crown Princess was unable to sit still, so she ran inside to help me.
 

These clothes were very complicated, if no one was there to serve you, they are actually not easy to wear, so I did not stop her.
 

She was careful not to touch the blister, gathered the clothes for me, and asked: "Does it hurt?"
 

It actually hurts a bit, but I shook my head.

She was very apologetic and said: "Sorry, I am so stupid."
 

For some reason, there was a strange feeling in my heart. Last time on my birthday, she sent someone to bring a bowl of longevity noodles. Of course, I didn't eat a bite. However I took the opportunity to be angry. His Highness naturally believed in me and reprimanded her for her actions.
 

Seeing her being so ignorant, even if she won't be deposed in the future, I'm afraid she won't be able to survive to become the Empress.

Compared to the Imperial Palace, the Eastern Palace was more dangerous.

Whether it's the Imperial Palace or the Eastern Palace, the women in the palace, who is easy to get along with?

If it weren't for the fear of the Emperor, she would have died dozens of times.

However she didn't notice anything, only feeling dejected: "Now Li Cheng Yin will not allow me to come and play with you."

The Crown Prince has never liked her, he even said several times, telling me not to interact with her.

I generously said: "I won't tell his Highness."

The servants around me were the Crown Prince's people, even if I don't say anything, he would naturally know.

She said: "Such a big blister, Li Cheng Yin will definitely see it when he comes back later."

The Crown Prince has been living with me everyday. There was no resentment in her words, as if the Crown Prince was not her husband.

I said: "It doesn't matter."

I took a piece of flower facial decoration [2] from the makeup table, placed it on my lips to open it, and then stuck it onto my chest to cover the blister.

I smiled and said: "Look, now you can't see it."

The Crown Princess anxiously left. After going through all that, she still did not learn how to eat crabs.

At night, the palace maids went out to light up the lamps. I was alone inside my room dressing up, I turned around and suddenly saw that there was a box on the windowsill.

No one was around, I wondered how this thing suddenly appeared. I picked it up and opened it. Inside was a box of ointment and a letter. The handwriting was crooked, like a child who had started to learn how to write, I can't bear to read it. 

"This is the best ointment for burns that I got from outside. I told A'Du to send it to you for you to try and see if it works." The signature was 'Xiao Feng'.

This was the name of the Crown Princess, I don't know why she has such a strange name. It was said that the first words she had learned in Central Plains language was her name 'Xiao Feng,' as if someone had taught her before.
 

How can I use the ointment she sent, so I just placed it back in the box under the makeup table. 

The Crown Prince still knew about me being scalded. Although I stuck a flower decoration on my chest in the afternoon, and the palace maids were dismissed while the Crown Princess and I were eating crabs, within the Eastern Palace, there was no such thing as big or small matters. So how could I hide this matter from the Crown Prince? I only said that I had accidentally scalded myself. He laughed and said, "You are still protecting that Western Liang woman."
 

I felt angry, no matter how bad she was, she was also an upright Crown Princess, the wife you should be close with could not be compared with a lowly servant, who had seduced the lord.

The Crown Prince knew that I was talking about Xu Niang, which was his heart sickness. When I mentioned her, he immediately did not speak.

I knew that the Crown Prince treated Xu Niang differently, I don't know why he fell in love with her.

 

Obviously Xu Niang's looks were not outstanding, and she was also a timid person. The Crown Prince have always had self control, and not fool around with other women. This was also something that I have always been proud of. Although there was also the Crown Princess, but he always treats me wholeheartedly.

Unexpectedly this Xu Niang suddenly appeared. I don't know why he favors her, the way he looks at her will always be a little different, as if he feel lost, but also doesn't know why.

I thought maybe he does not like her, but for some reason he was attracted to her. One time, I saw him unconsciously staring at Xu Niang's back, unexpectedly there was a sort of indescribable longing and yearning, like looking at a long-lost treasure.

I could not stand this. Although I don't argue with him, but whenever I mentioned Xu Niang, my tone of voice would change.

I know I should be more generous, since I will become the Empress in the future, who will be in charge of the harem.

I have always treated the Crown Princess with generosity.

But I just felt angry.

I don't know why.

Probably because I know he has never looked at me that way.

This thought was like a poisonous snake, biting me from time to time.

Sometimes I felt that living like the Crown Princess was actually good, she has no troubles at all and enjoys herself all day long. She doesn't care about anyone who mistreats her, she also doesn't even care about how the Crown Prince treats her. However sometimes she would cry because of homesickness.

Her home was too far away, and there was no reason for the Crown Princess to visit her parents. Even until death, she would never be able to go back to Western Liang.

I pitied her when I thought about this.

I never expected that Xu Niang would be pregnant, after all Li Cheng Yin had vowed that he would treat me wholeheartedly.

But in the blink of an eye, he has forgotten this oath.

I was so angry that I refused to see Li Cheng Yin.

Li Cheng Yin was very embarrassed, I was determined to teach him a lesson.

Sure enough, Xu Niang was sent to the palace to nourish the fetus. With the Empress around, I knew that this child would never be born.

I gradually calmed down. A man was like a fierce horse, you can't use a dagger to deal with it, instead you should cleverly put the bridle on him so that things would take its natural course.

The Empress took advantage of Xu Niang's miscarriage, I was demoted to the status of a commoner and confined in the Eastern Palace.

Even though Li Cheng Yin tried his best to protect me in front of the Empress, he couldn't visit me.

I didn't panic at all, because I knew I would be back soon.

Sure enough, because the Crown Prince was injured due to the assassination attempt, the Empress’s scheme was quickly exposed. The Emperor even began to trace the cause of the death of Consort Shu, which happened more than ten years ago.

The Empress was eventually deposed, the positions in court have changed. I knew that the Crown Prince had been waiting for this day to happen for a long time.

But I carefully concealed the joy in my heart.

Keeping one's emotions to themselves, planning before making a move, this is what the Crown Prince should be like.

It was just that things have changed slightly. I don't know when the Crown Prince started to change, suddenly his attitude towards the Crown Princess have changed.

One time when I walked down the corridor, I saw the two of them talking, he suddenly reached out and patted her head. The Crown Princess unhappily covered her head with both hands and ran away.

I looked at the Crown Prince's smile from a distance. His eyes were full of smiles, as if he had done something particularly happy, when in fact, he just patted her on the head.

 

I placed a spy next to the Crown Princess. At first I didn't think that this person would be of any use, but for some reason, now I felt the situation was very suspicious, so I couldn't help but to order the spy to do some things for me, to observe the Crown Princess's every move.
 

Although the Crown Princess was like a child, I felt that she was more terrifying than Xu Niang.
 

Because even though she still did not go to visit the Crown Prince at all, the Crown Prince would unknowingly always find all kinds of excuses to go to her place.

I was still fairly calm.

Notes:

[1] 重九 Double Ninth Festival - This festival is on the ninth day of the ninth month, which it is named double ninth. Nine is a yang number and double nine would mean there is too much yang (negative energy), so it was a dangerous day. In order to lower the yang, people would climb the mountains and drink chrysanthemum wine. It was said that this day was originated from a myth where a devil showed up at ruhe river and people that lived near there had plague and died. A man by the name of Huan Jing, had almost died from plague, but decided to find an immortal to defeat the devil. When he found the immortal, the immortal taught him how to kill the devil. The devil would always come on this day. The method to defeat the devil was to use zhuyu leaves and chrysanthemum wine. When the devil smells the scent of the wine, it would get dizzy and Huan Jing would take this opportunity to stab it with the sword and kill it. Now this day is known as senior's day. Traditions of this day would be drinking chrysanthemum wine, climbing mountains and eating chongyang cake (it has nuts and jujube).

[2] 花钿 Flower Facial Decoration - It's a makeup technique in ancient times. It's sort of like a sticker/temporary tattoo things, but this is usually for the forehead. See the pictures above for examples.

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