Chapter 101

Chapter 101

After leaving the imperial study, Qing Ai pushed the prince back to the Ministry of Works. He noticed many officials in the courtyard sneaking glances at the prince's wheelchair.

Qing Ai remembered how at dawn, Prince Qing had held a lantern, letting the officials get a good look at the prince's new wheelchair.

At that moment, Qing Ai felt colder than the biting wind because he knew the prince disliked being overly noticed for his legs or wheelchair.

To the prince, his disabled legs and the wheelchair were like a scar. Who would like being stared at and talked about?

Feeling sorry for the prince, Qing Ai also resented Prince Qing's thoughtlessness and prepared to serve the prince more carefully today, to avoid worsening his mood.

But after the court session ended and the sky cleared, Qing Ai was surprised to see the prince looking as usual, seemingly unaffected by what had happened. Even with minor officials in the Ministry of Works sneaking glances at his wheelchair, the prince stayed calm, entering his office and going over documents.

As Qing Ai waited outside alone, he suddenly remembered the prince's reply to Prince Qing, saying the princess had added a leather seat to keep him warm.

Qing Ai smiled, realizing it was a case of "love the person, love their quirks."

The prince's good mood cheered Qing Ai up, but the weather turned gloomier. By noon, when he went to get meals, it was just overcast. But as he came out with two food boxes, a snowflake landed on his hand.

It was the first snow of winter, and Qing Ai got excited. He ran back to the office, saying, "Your Highness, it's snowing!"

Zhao Sui looked up toward the open door.

Worried about losing heat, Qing Ai let the prince look for a moment before closing the door. "It's just a few snowflakes. Eat first, Your Highness. It might snow more by the time you finish."

Zhao Sui wheeled himself to another table he used for meals.

He ate there, while Qing Ai and Fei Quan sat across from each other on guest chairs, eating too. The Ministry of Works wasn't as spacious as the prince's residence, but the prince's thoughtfulness let Qing Ai and Fei Quan eat heartily.

The prince ate slowly, while Qing Ai and Fei Quan ate faster but still carefully. After the prince finished, Qing Ai cleared the food boxes, and Fei Quan brought warm water for the prince to rinse his mouth with.

Afterward, the two stayed outside as Zhao Sui wheeled himself to the restroom.

Inside the restroom, handrails ran from the door to the wall near the northern bathroom. After sitting for half a day, Zhao Sui used the handrails to support himself, keeping upright with his arms.

Despite countless attempts with no success, Zhao Sui still tried to move his legs. Without much hope, his legs remained motionless, but Zhao Sui no longer grew frustrated or angry, calmly maintaining this habit.

After holding on long enough, Zhao Sui returned to his wheelchair and went to the southern heated bed, lying on his side facing the window.

Outside, officials gradually headed to the dining hall for meals, while some who had already eaten were returning to their offices. The officials whispered about the weather, their tasks, or household chores. The wind was lighter than in the morning, and occasionally, the soft sound of snowflakes hitting the window paper could be heard.

What was the princess doing?

It was the second day; could the handkerchief be embroidered yet?

Yao Huang was in Longevity Lane. In the morning, she had cheerfully gone to South Street, buying jewelry for her mother, grandmother, two aunts, and cousin at a jewelry shop. Each received items worth about ten taels and two items worth about five taels, totaling a hundred taels. Then, at a silk shop, she bought two bolts of silk for each relative in the Yao and Luo families for New Year clothes, along with rouge, powder, fine tea, and good wine. Finally, she loaded a full carriage and headed to Longevity Lane.

When the carriage entered the Yao family courtyard, Luo Jinhua, wrapped in a thick cotton coat, came out to greet her daughter. She saw her daughter struggling through the piles of silk and boxes at her feet, smiling like a silly girl who had suddenly struck gold and couldn't wait to spend it all!

Seeing her daughter so concerned about her family, Luo Jinhua was not pleased. She told A Ji and others not to rush to move the items, quickly pulling her daughter into the east room and scolding her in a low voice: "Our family isn't so poor that we can't make ends meet. Why do you need to bring so many things home?"

Although her son-in-law, the prince, might not care about such a small amount of money, Luo Jinhua didn't want to always take advantage of her daughter's marital family!

Yao Huang leaned close to her mother's ear and whispered about the five thousand taels.

Luo Jinhua was stunned.

Yao Huang quickly explained that the money had been tacitly approved by Prince Hui and would not cause any trouble. Only then did Luo Jinhua dismiss the various concerns that had just arisen in her mind. Then, as if a golden pie had fallen from the sky into her arms, she hugged her daughter in a burst of joy.

Yao Huang looked at her mother's open-mouthed astonishment and felt twice as happy. Prince Hui's nonchalant reaction to the five thousand taels of silver was not the response Yao Huang had been hoping for.

Only when her face ached from smiling did Luo Jinhua let A Ji and the others move everything into the house. After looking at the jewelry and feeling the silk, Luo Jinhua asked, "How much did it all cost?"

Yao Huang casually replied, "It didn't even cost two hundred taels of silver."

Her family usually mingled with old friends and neighbors, none of whom were particularly well-off. It would have been inappropriate for Yao Huang to give them overly expensive jewelry and silk. What she had chosen today was just right—items that the Yao and Luo families could occasionally afford to splurge on, so wearing them wouldn't immediately raise suspicions of benefiting from Prince Hui's influence.

Luo Jinhua gazed at her daughter's increasingly elegant and composed face and sighed, "It's true that the environment molds the person. My Yao Yao has only lived in the prince's mansion for half a year, but she looks more and more like a born noblewoman."

Yao Huang laughed, "Noble? In what way? Besides not lacking money, I don't feel like I've changed at all."

She still wasn't willing to strictly follow the rules that nobles adhered to. She would occasionally blurt out coarse words that Prince Hui disliked. And as for the true nobility of casually spending thousands of taels of silver on a famous painting, Yao Huang admitted that she probably would never master that in her lifetime.

Luo Jinhua didn't argue, just told her to enjoy the moment but not to spend all five thousand taels on her relatives.

Yao Huang said, "...Don't worry, Mother. I'm saving the rest for myself. If Prince Hui ever hesitates to spend money on me, I'll need to craft some jewelry to maintain my dignity."

Luo Jinhua spat three times, telling her daughter to stop her crow's mouth.

After lunch at her family's home, Yao Huang returned to the prince's mansion to find that the light snowflakes from noon had turned into a heavy snowstorm.

Yao Huang asked Eunuch Cao, "Is there an umbrella in the prince's carriage?"

Eunuch Cao replied, "Yes, there's a spot for the umbrella. It's always there, rain or shine."

Yao Huang asked, "Did the prince wear a cloak when he went out?"

Eunuch Cao said, "He wore a fox fur cloak, newly crafted by the embroidery workshop this winter. When seated, the cloak's hem covers half his boots, keeping him warm."

Yao Huang knew about that fox fur cloak because the embroidery workshop had also made one for her, with a bright red satin lining, along with four cloaks of different fabrics. Yao Huang had secretly asked Lark, who had seen the world in Noble Consort Du's palace, and learned that her fox fur cloak alone was worth two to three thousand taels of silver. Since Prince Hui was much taller than her, his cloak would only be more expensive.

Thinking this, Yao Huang suddenly understood why Prince Hui had reacted so indifferently to her unexpected five thousand taels of silver. It turned out he had truly been raised in a nest of wealth. Not to mention the distant past, even his wheelchairs, made of red sandalwood or golden-thread nanmu, probably cost no less than a pure gold wheelchair.

Yet, this natural-born noble prince only wanted a handkerchief embroidered by her own hands.

With nothing else to do, Yao Huang asked Chun Yan to bring some small pieces of silk fabric. After some deliberation, Yao Huang chose a piece of plain, bamboo-green silk. The silk was light and soft, perfect for wiping her face and hands.

What should she embroider?

Mandarin ducks were too cliché, and colorful patterns would require too many threads. After a moment of thought, Yao Huang asked Chun Yan to teach her how to embroider swallows—a bamboo branch with a large swallow perched on it and a smaller one flying nearby, just like the one Prince Hui had painted on the river lantern.

Since Prince Hui didn't disdain her embroidery skills, Yao Huang couldn't be too careless. She practiced on ordinary silk for the entire afternoon.

As Prince Hui was about to return, Yao Huang had Chun Yan put away the sewing basket. She stood up, stretched her limbs, and put on her fox fur cloak with sleeves before heading to the front.

By then, a layer of snow had already covered the ground. Yao Huang deliberately stepped in an area that the servants hadn't swept, and the soles of her mink boots sank completely into the snow.

After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, A Ji, who had been watching at the gate, ran back and said that the prince's carriage had turned into the alley.

Yao Huang told her to go back to Ming'an Hall first, while she herself held an umbrella and went to the gate.

Qing Ai and Fei Quan sat on either side of the carriage shaft, both seeing the princess, but neither informed the prince inside.

When the carriage stopped, Qing Ai went in to push the wheelchair, while Fei Quan stood in front of the carriage, opening the door after Zhang Yue had prepared the wooden plank.

Zhao Sui, wrapped in his cloak, sat in the soft leather wheelchair. When the door opened, he noticed that the princess was standing at the end of the plank, holding a green silk umbrella. The road was white, the umbrella was white, and the falling snow created a curtain that blurred his vision. Yet, Zhao Sui could still see the princess's fair cheeks and chin, and the peach-pink blush on her cheeks.

When the wheelchair was firmly on the ground, Zhao Sui looked at the princess's right hand holding the umbrella, only the fingertips red from the cold, but he said nothing.

Yao Huang did not take control of the wheelchair again but followed beside Prince Hui, holding an umbrella for him until they reached the door of the main hall in the front courtyard of Ming'an Hall. She then handed the umbrella to Qing Ai and wheeled Prince Hui inside.

The heavy curtains dropped back into place, sealing out the chill.

Yao Huang positioned the wheelchair to the north of the long table and was about to fetch a bowl of hot water for Prince Hui, who had been frozen along the way, when Prince Hui suddenly reached out and pulled her onto the wheelchair.

Zhao Sui meant to warm his wife's hands with his own, but upon touching them, he found that her right hand, which had been exposed while holding the umbrella, was actually warmer than his own, which had been tucked inside the wide sleeves of his cloak. Zhao Sui released her hand at once.

Yao Huang smiled and slid her right hand into his wide sleeve, following his slightly cool hand all the way up to the narrow sleeve of his embroidered robe. By his elbow, his arm was already warm.

Zhao Sui looked at his wife in his arms and said, "When it snows again, you needn't come out to greet me. There's an umbrella in the carriage."

Yao Huang replied, "I know, but I like holding the umbrella for you. Is it the same when Fei Quan holds it as when I do?"

Prince Hui remained silent.

Of course, it wasn't the same. Qing Ai and Fei Quan were merely his close attendants, but she was his wife.

Qing Ai and Fei Quan were escorting him back to the residence, but his wife was welcoming him home.

Prince Hui untied his sash and spread his cloak, completely enveloping his wife in his embrace.

Not long after, the wife, wrapped in two layers of fox fur-lined cloaks, tilted her flushed face and complained, "It's so hot..."