“Everything is in order,” the young eunuch said quietly. His eyes looked a little uneasy, but he didn’t dare to say more.
At the Imperial Ancestral Temple, they first worshipped the Imperial ancestors at dawn, then prayed to Heaven at noon.
After worshipping the Imperial ancestors, there was still quite some time before noon. The Imperial family and the Court officials rested and drank tea in one of the halls during this time.
Lou Jing leaned on the corridor railings as he took a short break. He didn’t need to perform guard duty, and only needed to ensure that the honour guard was in order. His company of twenty-four men had just been relieved of duty by another regiment of guards, which was now standing to attention under the jade steps, and so they could finally take a rest.
“I didn’t manage to eat even a bite of breakfast this morning, and I haven’t drunk a sip of water the whole day either. There’s really a world of difference between our type of third-ranked official and the ones that work in the palace,” the Right Commander-General complained, leaning on the railing next to Lou Jing.
Lou Jing smiled faintly. Before he could reply, he saw a familiar head peek out from a bend in the corridor, and so politely took his leave from the Right Commander-General. He walked over to that head, turned the corner, and saw An Shun respectfully holding out a cup of tea. “Wang ye asked this servant to send some tea to Shizi,” he said.
The Imperial Ancestral Temple didn’t have many teacups, and there was only one cup for each member of the Imperial family. Xiao Chengjun must have asked An Shun to bring him this hot tea on the pretext of requesting for his teacup to be washed.
Lou Jing held the teacup that Xiao Chengjun must have already drunk from, and the warmth seemed to flow from the teacup right into his heart. An Shun also held out a cloth bag to him. “In the morning, Wang ye specially asked this servant to bring this along. I warmed this up in the tearoom earlier. You should eat it whilst it’s still hot,” he said.
There were two steaming hot meat buns in the cloth bag. Lou Jing felt very blessed as he quickly ate the buns in a few bites and drank the tea down noisily. The emptiness in his belly no longer spoke to him as loudly as before, and his body also felt much warmer. His husband was really unstoppable when he decided to love and cherish someone.
An Shun smiled as he took back the empty cup and cloth bag, then bowed and went to brew Xiao Chengjun a new cup of tea.
Lou Jing walked back to where he was earlier with a full and happy heart. Another young eunuch popped out as if out of nowhere, running hurriedly in his direction, and it looked like he was going to crash headlong into Lou Jing. The reaction of most people in this situation would be to raise their arms to block, but Lou Jing stepped to the side in a catlike fashion instead. The young eunuch didn’t bump into him as such, and fell face-first onto the floor instead.
“Aiyo!” The young eunuch exclaimed as he contacted the floor. He made little pained noises as he struggled to get up. Lou Jing was still standing to the side and appeared to have no intention of helping him up at all. He recognised this eunuch as the Third Prince Xiao Chengduo’s personal eunuch, Na Fu.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Na Fu climbed to his feet and looked up at Lou Jing to find that the latter was looking at him interestedly as if he were some curious animal in the zoo. His heart quailed, but he couldn’t not follow his master’s orders, so he looked around before speaking. “Greetings, my Lord. The Third Prince Dianxia invites Shizi to the Imperial Gardens at the banquet later this evening. He has something to discuss with you,” he said quickly.
Lou Jing raised his eyebrows. This Third Prince hadn’t said more than five sentences to him over the past year. Why did he suddenly want to meet up with him? They weren’t on such friendly terms that they would invite each other out for a private meeting on the palace grounds, certainly. “I have to trouble Gong gong to tell your master that due to the requirements of my job, I cannot leave my station at the evening banquet. Please send my apologies. I hope that your master will not be offended,” he said, turning to leave immediately.
“In that case, please tell Dianxia that Chen will do his best to keep the appointment. However, I can only come after I have been relieved of guard duty, and I may not be able to avoid being late. If that happens, I seek Dianxia’s kind understanding,” Lou Jing said.
Na Fu was delighted and acknowledged this immediately. He turned and left hastily.
The prayer ceremony for their prayers to Heaven completed shortly after noon, and it was around one o’clock when they got back to the Capital. After the Yulin Troops ate their lunch, they had to start preparing for the evening banquet immediately.
The thirtieth day of the month was the day for the Imperial family’s private banquet, and as such, the Court officials were not invited. Only the Imperial family and the Imperial relatives attended this banquet, so the arrangements were not that complex. The honour guard was not required to stand below the throne dais, and the twenty-four of them only needed to stand guard outside the banquet hall before it began. After the banquet began, the honour guard turned into actual guards in charge of security, and they stood guard in shifts.
The family banquet was held in the Yingchun Palace, which was a banquet hall situated in the eastern part of the Imperial Gardens. It had underfloor dilong heating, and was the best place to hold a family banquet in the cold winter. Because it was a relatively small palace, it could only be used for hosting family banquets, and could not be used for large-scale events.
Lou Jing had already been relieved of guard duty before the appointed time of a quarter to ten. He hid stealthily behind one of the large rocks in the Imperial Gardens and waited to see what the Third Prince was up to.
This family banquet would go on until one in the morning, because it was the last day of the year, and they had to shou sui.
Xiao Chengjun kept to himself at the banquet, quietly drinking wine and refilling his own cup. He observed that the Third Prince seemed very distracted tonight, to the point whereby he couldn’t seem to sit or stand still. At half past nine, the Third Prince got up to leave.
All was quiet in the Imperial Gardens. The moon shone brightly in a cloudless sky, making the small lake glitter prettily with silver light.
Xiao Chengduo excused himself from the banquet on the pretext of feeling drunk and needing some fresh air to clear his head. He waved a hand to dismiss his servants, and only brought his personal eunuch with him to the Imperial Gardens. Nobody was at the lakeside when he arrived, but he wasn’t alarmed. He waited silently for half an hour. The night winds in winter were icy cold, and it wasn’t long before he started shivering from head to toe. He started to feel rather impatient. “Did you ask when the Yulin Troops change shifts?” he asked the eunuch.
“Dianxia, this servant tried to ask, but was told that the schedule is fixed on an ad hoc basis. Nobody could tell me what today’s schedule was,” the young eunuch said in a wounded tone. “Why don’t we just go back in? If the Emperor knew about this…”
“Stop being long-winded,” Xiao Chengduo said, waving a hand impatiently. “You go back first. Tell my mother that I drank a bit too much and will be staying out a little longer.”
Chen Guifei was a high-ranking concubine, and she had the right to attend the Imperial family banquets. So long as she helped to say a few words, the Emperor wouldn’t pursue this matter.
Na Fu could only acknowledge the order and return to the Yingchun Palace with a pained look on his face.
Lou Jing gnawed on a few chicken legs from his hiding spot behind the large rock. He’d also drunk about half a jar of wine by this point. When he finished eating and drinking his fill, he stood up and languidly made his way to where the Third Prince stood.
“Third Prince, I’ve kept you waiting,” Lou Jing said.
“I am already very gratified that the Shizi could make it,” the Third Prince said, smiling at Lou Jing with his hands folded behind his back.
“Could I ask why Dianxia called me out today?” Lou Jing said. He could tell that the Third Prince was shivering from head to toe, but was still trying to put on a noble, dignified front. He really wanted to laugh.
“I trust you’ve heard about the recent happenings in Court?” Xiao Chengduo said, deliberately acting mysterious. His eyes, however, looked unblinkingly at Lou Jing. The moonlight was able to hide most people’s aesthetic flaws, but Lou Jing was already aesthetically flawless; the moonlight made him look three times as beautiful. “Father Emperor has indicated that the position of the Crown Prince will be mine.”
Lou Jing raised an eyebrow. The Third Prince’s lustful gaze made clear what exactly he was after. So, what he was attracted to wasn’t the prestige of Lou Jing’s Anguo Gong lineage, but his good looks? Disbelief washed over Lou Jing. This Third Prince had really been spoiled rotten. Did he understand the consequences of what he was doing right now? Lou Jing lowered his eyes, and the corners of his lips lifted in a slight smile.
At the banquet itself, a person crept to Xiao Chengjun’s side and whispered something in his ear. Xiao Chengjun frowned immediately and got up to leave.
“You’ve already been married once, so it’ll be difficult for you to find a good wife. When I succeed, you can be my Crown Prince Consort,” Xiao Chengduo said, looking at Lou Jing’s slender lips, which were moist and reflected a bit of the silver moonlight. He couldn’t help swallowing hard at the sight.
“Chen acknowledges Dianxia’s good intentions. However, my feelings are spent and my heart is dead. I no longer wish to marry into the Imperial family,” Lou Jing said, slowly lowering his head. He looked at a decorative rock in the lake and wondered whether he should push the irritating fellow into the water. The weather was so cold that a thin layer of ice had formed over the cold water.
“I am sincere towards you,” Xiao Chengduo said. Lou Jing looked both pitiful and beautiful at once, and he couldn’t help reaching out to wrap his arms around him. “I am not as useless as my eldest Imperial brother, who couldn’t even hold on to his position as Crown Prince.”
Lou Jing dodged the Third Prince’s arms, but at the same time nimbly plucked the latter’s jade pendant off his belt. Lou Jing quickly hid the filched object in his sleeve. “Dianxia, please behave appropriately,” he said.
“I couldn’t forget you the day I laid eyes on you at the wedding. No matter what, I will definitely ask my mother to make sure you become my Consort,” the Third Prince said, reaching out to caress Lou Jing’s face.
Lou Jing gathered his internal force into his right leg and was preparing to kick the fellow into the water when, at this critical juncture, a deep voice rang out. “What are you two doing?”
The two turned their heads at the same time to see Xiao Chengjun standing with a dark expression on his face.
Now that Xiao Chengjun was here, Lou Jing couldn’t kick the Third Prince into the water any more, or Xiao Chengjun might get accused of trying to kill his younger brother. Lou Jing regretfully released the internal force gathered in his right leg, then turned and thrust himself into Xiao Chengjun’s arms. “Dianxia, the Third Prince, he… he’s trying to get fresh with me…” Lou Jing said.
Xiao Chengjun looked at the pouty Lou Jing in his arms. He had a pitiful, hurt expression on his face. It took a great deal of willpower for Xiao Chengjun to resist the urge to roll his eyes heavenward.
“Third Imperial Brother, is this how you treat your Saosao?” he asked coldly.
The Third Prince was stunned. These two people weren’t married any more, and for them to behave this way, it meant that they were still carrying on a personal relationship. If so… The Third Prince thought back on what he’d just said to Lou Jing and immediately broke out in a cold sweat.