Chapter 32
On the third day after the flower viewing party, a eunuch from the palace came to the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion to deliver an imperial decree. The empress and the emperor have selected Lu Niantao to be the crown prince’s concubine. Aside from Lu Niantao, the daughter of a military commander had also been selected.
The eunuch who came deliver the good news said that the crown prince and Lu Niantao had met in the garden before the flower viewing party started. Lu Niantao lost a sachet and while she had been looking for it, she ran into the prince. Simple and reserved, natural and unrestrained, she had immediately caught the eyes of the prince.
“To have been able to catch His Royal Highness’s eyes, Second Young Lady Lu is very lucky. She will surely be able to earn the Crown Prince’s favor in the future.”
Lin Qingyu found it laughable. It turned out that there were some people who simply all too eager to get this kind of luck.
However, although a side concubine has a high status, in the end, she was still just a concubine. There would be no wedding that followed the three books and six rites for her. Otherwise, what honor could they give to the crown prince’s future wife? The empress had the Bureau of Astronomy choose an auspicious day on which two sedan chairs would be used to take the girls into the Eastern Palace.
The date of Lu Niantao’s entry into the East Palace was set after January and time was very tight. Liang Shi, who had been idle for a long time, finally got busy; going up and down, arranging the dowry for her daughter. Because of her daughter, Nan’an Hou’s attitude towards Liang Shi also eased a lot. As for the rest of the Hou household, they were all rushing to ingratiate themselves to the proper wife – The second young lady was soon going to be the crown prince’s concubine and when the prince ascends to the throne, she would at least be an imperial concubine. If she were to give birth to a prince, her future would be even more limitless. Who would dare shun them now?
Now that Liang Shi had lung power, she had all the good things in the warehouse moved one by one to the main room. Huan Tong who’d been watching the spectacle, felt his eyes hurt. He was thinking of his young master, of the family property he would take with him when he left the Hou Mansion. “Young Master, I just heard from the manager of the warehouse that the Madam even took the tribute silk from the south that the Empress gave to Young Master Hou!”
Lin Qingyu didn’t care. “Let them take it.” He hoped that Lu Niantao could use it to make more clothes to win Xiao Cheng’s favor. He would like nothing more than for them to make love every night so that in the end Xiao Cheng would die on top of her.
He knew that his thoughts were too insidious; but Xiao Cheng was worth it.
In a blink of an eye, it was already the day when Lu Niantao was to be married off.
On this auspicious occasion, Nan’an Hou and Liang Shi were seated on the seats of honor in the main hall, with the clansmen of the Lu clan on either side. Among Lu Niantao’s generation, only Lu Wancheng was sitting in a wheelchair; everyone else was standing.
Not long after, Lu Niantao, wearing a feng guan xia pei, supported by the matron of honor, entered slowly into the main hall. The wedding dress of the prince’s concubine came from the palace’s Shangfu Bureau. It was graceful and elegant, markedly more resplendent than Lin Qingyu’s wedding attire had been. Lu Niantao had on a golden hairpin crown, strung with a bead curtain. A huadian was drawn between her eyebrows.
Lu Wancheng remembered an important matter. He said to Lin Qingyu, “Qingyu, did you also have a huadian on your forehead on your wedding night?”
“Not just a huadian,” Lin Qingyu said expressionlessly, “I even had makeup on.”
Lu Wancheng pounded the armrest of the wheelchair. “D*mn it, how could I have been sleeping at that time?”
Lu Niantao walked up to her parents, knelt down and bowed. “This daughter is un-filial, unable to serve upon her parents’ sides. I ask my father and mother to accept my obeisance in return for their kindness of raising me.”
With tears in her eyes, Liang Shi helped her daughter up. She was about to speak when a steward rushed in and said, “Master, Madam, the Crown Prince is here. He said he’s here to personally pick up his concubine!”
As soon as his words fell, the hall immediately became chaotic.
According to the etiquette, the crown prince needed only to wait for her arrival in the Eastern Palace. Personally coming by to pick up his concubine was truly giving the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion a lot of face.
The Lu clanmen showered Nan’an Hou with congratulations. “His Royal Highness has truly set his eyes on your daughter. This is truly a blessing for our Lu Clan!”
“Given this treatment, she doesn’t seem at all to be just a concubine. Compared to this, even a big wedding isn’t much to speak of.”
Even at this time, Nan’an Hou did not forget to be discreet in his words and deeds. “Don’t talk nonsense. A wife is a wife and a concubine is a concubine. How can you speak of the two in the same breath? Follow me to greet His Royal Highness.”
Under the bead curtain, Lu Niantao’s expression changed and the matron of honor covered her head with a veil.
Lin Qingyu said, “Shall we go?”
Lu Wancheng’s smile was somewhat cold. “Let’s go. In any case, he is my older cousin and he’s accepted my own younger sister as his concubine. No matter what, we should go and express our thanks.”
Lin Qingyu pushed Lu Wancheng’s wheelchair, following everyone to the gate of the Nan’an Hou’s Mansion. Xiao Cheng hadn’t come on horseback like an ordinary bridegroom who was to escort his concubine would. Instead, he sat in the crown prince’s palanquin and even when Nan’an Hou had already arrived, he didn’t get off. He wasn’t here so much to fetch his bride as he was to show off his status. In Lu Wancheng’s words, he was: once again putting on a show.
Nan’an Hou led the entire family to pay their respects to the crown prince. Xiao Cheng said slowly, “You may dispense with the bowing”. His eyes scanned the crowd and zeroed in on Lin Qingyu and Lu Wancheng beside him. The corners of his lips ticked up in an amused smile and it was only then that he walked out of the palanquin.
The matron of honor helped Lu Niantao to step over the threshold. She thought that she was to hand Lu Niantao to Xiao Cheng’s hand like one would in a normal marriage. Xiao Cheng merely paused and said, “Help the side concubine onto the palanquin.”
The matron of honor was stunned but didn’t dare question him. And so, she took Lu Niantao to the palanquin. Xiao Cheng went straight to Lu Wancheng and said, “My dear cousin has been ill for a very long time. Both my mother the Empress and I are constantly worried. Might I know if my cousin’s health has taken a turn for the better recently?”
Lu Wancheng smiled and said, “I haven’t gotten much better, I’m afraid His Highness will have to continue to worry.”
Xiao Cheng leaned down. Though his words were directed to Lu Wancheng, his eyes were trained at Lin Qingyu: “My cousin, do not worry. After you go, Gu shall take good care of Little Qingyu for you.”
” ‘Little Qingyu’ ” Lu Wancheng laughed softly, “I’m a little curious, what would His Highness call his newly wedded concubine – Little Taotao?”
Xiao Cheng narrowed his eyes, displeased, “Cousin still has the strength to joke. It would be better to save your strength, use it to take care of your body. After all, when a person dies, everything is over.”
Lu Wancheng smiled slightly, “Your Highness can rest assured. Nothing is over until I say it’s over.”
Xiao Cheng straightened his body, gave Lin Qingyu a deep look then turned around and said, “We’re heading back to the palace.”
The gathered clansmen gradually drifted away. Nan’an Hou and Liang Shi were busy seeing the members of the Lu Clan off. Lin Qingyu and Lu Wancheng did not join in the fun and returned to the Blue Wind Pavilion.
Lin Qingyu frowned and said, “Xiao Cheng already has Lu Niantao. Why…”
“Why was he still looking at you with that disgusting look?” Lu Wancheng kept him in suspense, “Do you know what people who like to look for substitutes have in common?”
“Tell me.”
Lu Wancheng’s tone was contemptuous: “They like to ignore what they’ve already got and they’re always eager to get what they can’t. If you had joined him early on, he wouldn’t be so interested in you. But now, you’ve become the first person who has dared to reject him. So, of course, he sees you differently.”
Lin Qingyu’s brows furrowed even tighter. “Isn’t he selling himself cheap?”
Lu Wancheng smiled and said, “That’s right, this is exactly a case of selling himself cheap—cough.”
Lu Wancheng coughed again, unable to stop. Lin Qingyu patted his back and said, “Go and sleep for a while.”
Lu Wancheng fell asleep after drinking his medicine. Hua Lu walked in from outside, looked around and said, “Shaojun, where is the Young Master?”
“He has just fallen asleep. What is it?”
Hua Lu lowered her voice: “That fellow from Xiong Si is here.”
Xiong Si was a shop that sold funeral items. Lin Qingyu chose the oldest Xiong Si in the capital. The Dayu had yet to be established when this shop was already operating for a hundred years. In addition to selling goods, the Xiong Si could also arrange funerals for their customers. So long as there was money, they could arrange for a magnificent send off.
Lin Qingyu glanced at the inner room and asked, “Where is he?”
“He’s waiting at the gate of the mansion.” Hua Lu said, “He said that since the Hou’s Mansion is holding a wedding today, it is inconvenient for him to enter lest he bring bad luck.”
Lin Qingyu saw the man from the Xiong Si at the gate of the Hou’s mansion. Although he was in the funeral business, he was lively and cheerful. “If you have any requests, feel free to ask. Our shop will do our very best to handle this funeral for the Hou’s mansion. .”
Lin Qingyu had never been involved in arranging a funeral so it was inevitable that he would be at a loss. He looked at the word “Xi” pasted on the gate of the Hou Mansion and at the red silk ribbons hanging under the eaves. He thought for a long time, and said, “Just arrange it according to his wishes.”
During this period, Lu Wancheng slept a lot and woke up a lot. Every time, he would be able to sleep for less than an hour, woken up by coughing. Sleeping and waking, sleeping and waking and the day would be over.
This time he woke up towards the evening. He saw Lin Qingyu sitting beside his bed, watching him quietly, the setting sun coating him with a warm afterglow.
A double image appeared in front of Lu Wancheng’s eyes and he subconsciously called out, “Qingyu…”
Lin Qingyu said, “I’m here.”
Lu Wancheng asked, confused, “Is there any news from the Eastern Palace?”
Lin Qingyu was silent.
Spices and perfumes enter from the nose and it would take far more than a day to achieve the desired effect. Without three or five months, it would be difficult to see results.
“Let’s not talk about this for now.” Lin Qingyu said gently, “Wancheng, what color do you like?”
Lu Wancheng was momentarily dazed. As if he had realized something, he said with a smile, “If it was me before, I would wear mostly black, white and gray. But in the Dayu, I’d like to wear red. It goes well with long hair.”
Lin Qingyu nodded. “Alright.”
“By the way, is Doctor Lin preparing for my funeral?” Lu Wancheng said with a smile, “The other details don’t matter but can I choose the coffin myself?”
“…Why?”
Lu Wancheng joked, “I want to pick one that’s comfortable to sleep in.”
