Chapter 35.1: Ceremonial Gift

“I have a gift I wish to give Your Highness.”

“Yearning yet unable to meet, a promise in the season of peach blossoms.”

Pei Wenxuan looked up and glanced at the words written on there, then he looked down at the cup of tea and chuckled: “Isn’t this the love poem Su Rongqing wrote for you in the previous life when you had to travel to the south with me? Are you practicing calligraphy with this now?”

Pei Wenxuan had a good eye and could tell which sentence had been written by Li Rong at a glance. Li Rong gave a slight cough and calmly said, “Just written on a whim. I write all poetic verses that I have an impression of.”

Having said that, Li Rong quickly added: “I’ve written verses from your poems too.”

Pei Wenxuan cast her an indifferent glance. He did not delve into it and only said: “The ‘Ode to the Goddess of the Luo River’ was originally called the ‘Sentimental Ode to Zhen.’[1] Many people said it was composed because Cao Zhi was saddened by Lady Zhen’s death. The Goddess of the Luo River alluded to Madam Zhen. You are about to be married, so it would appear that you are indeed that Goddess of the Luo River in the eyes of others.”

[1] Gǎn zhēn fù 《感甄赋》(fixed typo in the RAW) — This “Zhen” is the same as Lady Zhen, so it can be read as something like ‘Ode to Feelings for Zhen’ or ‘Moved by Zhen.’ Zhen (甄) means to distinguish or evaluate, so if you were to read it literally, it would be like “distinguishing feelings” or “assessing one’s own feelings.”

“To meet by the waterside pavilion, lest be like the Goddess of the Luo River,” Pei Wenxuan let out a derisive laugh, “Fortunately, you hid it well. Otherwise, you could jump into the lake this time but still not wash away the rumors and accusations.”

“So I had a plan in mind,” Li Rong knew that Pei Wenxuan must be annoyed by her bold gamble and shook her fan as she said, “Didn’t I have you leave a letter with me beforehand? There are only so many little tricks in the harem. If it’s not a matter of slipping in a drug, then it’s catching two people in the act. You don’t have to worry because nothing big will happen.”

“Do you still remember how you died?” Pei Wenxuan couldn’t help but remind her when he saw her like that. Li Rong let out a soft chuckle: “So, aren’t I learning from my experiences and focusing on tidying up the people around me?”

Pei Wenxuan said nothing. Li Rong leaned forward to reach for a cup of tea and raised the small cup to her lips when she suddenly heard Pei Wenxuan say: “Why do you think Su Rongqing came?”

Li Rong did not answer and listened as Pei Wenxuan said: “With his cleverness, how could he take his chances and venture deep into the palace?”

“What do you ultimately want to say?”

Li Rong put down the cup of tea and smiled helplessly. Pei Wenxuan looked at her and asked, “Have you ever thought about…”

“I haven’t.”

Li Rong interrupted him. She looked at him and earnestly said: “I know what you are going to say. You want to say that Su Rongqing likes me, but regardless of whether it was the previous life or this life—at this moment, it doesn’t matter if he likes me or not.”

“Because you have to marry me.”

Pei Wenxuan calmly looked at her. Li Rong was a little irritated and waved her fan: “Yes, this is already an established fact, so Pei Wenxuan, I will ask you to put your clever little head into the lake and wash it out. Don’t always be thinking about things that don’t exist. Never mind the fact that Su Rongqing likes me or not because even if he does like me,” Li Rong looked up at him and just said, “His admiration can only exist in his heart. He will never do anything detrimental to his clan’s interests. Is that clear?”

Pei Wenxuan was silent. Li Rong lifted her hand to hold her forehead: “If you don’t have any other business, then quickly be on your way. I get a headache whenever I see you. Also,” Li Rong raised her head and looked straight at him, “You and I might be quarreling right now, but don’t go back and start randomly spending money.”

She wasn’t concerned with other things, but Li Rong was most concerned with her own money.

Although she had a fief, she was hardly considered rich at all. She normally had to support so many people in the Princess’s mansion, but now she had to help Pei Wenxuan build a secret intelligence network and raise shadow guards as well. It all came down to a matter of spending money.

Pei Wenxuan remained silent. He stood up and saluted, preparing to leave.

When he reached the doorway, Pei Wenxuan suddenly stopped, his back to Li Rong as he looked down the corridor and suddenly asked, “Li Rong, do you think you have always been right?”

Li Rong was taken aback. Pei Wenxuan continued: “If Su Rongqing truly is the kind of person you think he is, he would not have entered the Palace today. So do you truly know what kind of person Su Rongqing is at the age of twenty?”

“What kind of person he is,” Li Rong coldly said, “Has nothing to do with me. If you bring up another word ‘Su,’ I’ll have someone throw you into the lake today!”

“Su Rongqing, Su Rongqing, Su Rongqing.”

Pei Wenxuan spoke very quickly and repeated it three times, then he turned back to look at her: “You can have people come and throw me into the lake now.”

Li Rong: “…”

“Pei Wenxuan,” Li Rong let out a laugh as she tightly squeezed her fan, “If you have the courage, then don’t marry me. As long as you enter my Princess’s mansion…”

“I will jump into Jing Xin Lake myself.”

Pei Wenxuan turned around to leave and indifferently said: “Jumping in once every day.”

Jing Xin Lake was the lake in the rear courtyard of the Princess’s mansion. Li Rong nearly fainted out of anger when she heard this. She pushed herself up on her feet and wanted to chase after Pei Wenxuan to scold him. It was only when she got up that she regained some composure. She was currently in the Imperial Garden, and she wasn’t some kind of shrew either, so why would she lower herself to his level?

Li Rong urgently fanned herself and tried to calm herself down with the cool breeze. Jing Lan walked in and saw the state that Li Rong was in and couldn’t help but smile and ask: “Did Pei daren make you angry again?”

“Wicked official.”

Li Rong shook her head: “Bengong cannot lower herself to the same level as a wicked official.”

The wicked official Pei Wenxuan came out of the waterside pavilion and kept walking the entire way. As he was walking on the small path through the forest, he suddenly stopped and looked back at the waterside pavilion to see Li Rong talking and laughing with others as they walked off. A bit of regret lingered for a while.

He originally came here this morning because he wanted to ask her which wedding robes she had chosen. When they met today, they argued a lot over Su Rongqing’s affairs, and he even forgot what he came for.

He was a little happy just thinking about it in the morning and didn’t know what happened, but at this moment, he was also somewhat reluctant to think about it anymore.

The wedding robes he chose were the ones that she had worn in the previous life.

In the previous life, they were married two months earlier, and the Ministry of Rites had only prepared one set. Now that the Ministry of Rites had much more time to prepare, they also had another set to choose from. He liked things that were familiar to him, so he chose the ones that he was most familiar with. He didn’t know which one Li Rong chose though. It was just that now that he thought about it, for some reason, he felt that it wasn’t all that important anymore.

He clearly knew that no matter what Li Rong wore, she would be married to him and eventually be separated from him.

This was not a wedding but merely a transaction.

In this transaction, all Li Rong wanted was power and protection, and nothing else mattered aside from that.

Pei Wenxuan took a deep breath and stopped thinking about it. He returned to the official bureau and continued flipping through his papers.

After Li Rong quarreled with Pei Wenxuan, she headed straight back to her own palace. Once she arrived at her palace, her anger had not subsided, so she called everyone over to report on the situation one by one and bestowed a round of rewards and punishments shortly after. Qiu Feng was dragged out and beaten with planks, and the interrogation barely stretched into the afternoon when Qiu Feng confessed.

Sure enough, Chang Le had secretly bribed Qiu Feng, so Qiu Feng did not inform Li Rong of Consort Rou’s orders and stole Li Rong’s calligraphy practice sheets that had yet to be put in the brazier.

Li Rong didn’t know if she should laugh or cry after hearing this. She also didn’t know if Qiu Feng was considered lucky or not to have stolen one with a verse from Su Rongqing’s poem. Perhaps if she had stolen some other sheet, Pei Wenxuan would not have been in such a bad mood, and Li Rong would have been better off.

Li Rong felt rather helpless thinking about it and had people take Qiu Feng away. She rested for some time and listened to the cries and wailing from the courtyard. Jing Lan came forward and brought her a bowl of sweet soup before tentatively venturing: “Your Highness, what do you want to do after the people in the palace have been dealt with?”

Although Chang Le had been forbidden to go out, Li Rong had already made it clear that this matter cannot be separated from Consort Rou.

Li Rong thought for a few moments before slowly saying: “Chang Le has caused trouble today, so His Majesty must not be in a great mood. Is His Majesty still going to see Consort Rou?”

“Yes,” Jing Lan replied in a low voice, “Whenever His Majesty is troubled, he will always go to Consort Rou.”

“You go prepare a copy of the Classic of Filial Piety that Hua Le previously copied herself,” Li Rong immediately said, “Wait until later to send it to the Empress Dowager, saying that we heard the Empress Dowager was in poor health recently. His Majesty had said that the scriptures copied by Princess Hua Le had spiritual influence, so I will send her these scriptures here to mount on the wall.”

“What are Your Highness’s intentions?”

“Consort Rou gave me such a gift,” Li Rong softly chuckled, “I have to shake the mountain and startle the tiger and give her a rude awakening. Otherwise, you will have been a rabbit for too long, and people think you won’t bite.”

Shake the mountain and startle the tiger — deliberate show of strength as a warning

Jing Lan heeded and wrapped up a part of the “Classic of Filial Piety” and sent it to the Empress Dowager in accordance with Li Rong’s instructions.

The Empress Dowager took one look and went ahead to bestow the “Classic of Filial Piety” to Consort Rou. That night, the news came, saying that Li Ming had forbidden Hua Le to go out and ordered her to copy the scriptures a hundred times.

Li Rong was soaking her feet when she received the news and heard Jing Mei’s vivid and colorful description: “His Majesty went in and saw verses from the “Classic of Filial Piety” mounted on the wall, and he seemed to be in a very good mood. Later, he saw that the name there belonged to Her Highness Hua Le and immediately flew into a rage. He scolded, ‘Each and every one of them has not learned from good examples. They don’t know how to copy scriptures properly and even need to find someone to copy it for them.’ Her Highness Hua Le was scolded for bursting into tears on the spot.”

“What’s the big deal?” Jing Lan sighed after hearing it, “Her Highness Hua Le is too delicate.”

“Isn’t that the case though?” Jing Mei quickly pointed out, “So spoiled.”

As soon as they had spoken, the two immediately glanced over at Li Rong and saw her with her head propped up and humming along as if she was delighted to watch an amusing play.

Seeing that Li Rong wasn’t displeased, the two breathed a sigh of relief.