The Lonely City Closed

Chapter 43

The Lonely City Closes (The Princess Who Fell in Love with the Eunuch) A Fairy Tale Fisherman's Pride 32. Clear Song

Chapter word count: 3469 Update time: 08-08-21 16:12

32. Qingge (a type of classical Chinese song)

I did not answer the princess's question directly, but only said, "I have heard that the prince consort has been studying poetry and books diligently recently and has made considerable progress."

Over the years, Consort Miao had been very careful to prevent the princess from seeing Li Wei. Every time Li Wei entered the palace, she would forbid the princess from going to the places where he appeared. In the second year of the Huangyou reign, the emperor's brother-in-law Li Yonghe died of illness. The emperor intended to have the princess accompany him to the funeral at Li's residence. Consort Miao firmly opposed this, saying that the princess was not yet married and that if she went to her husband's home first, it would cause gossip from outsiders. In the end, she managed to persuade the emperor to withdraw his order and only allow the princess to observe mourning within the palace.

Miao Shuyi had good intentions, hoping that the princess wouldn't be disappointed in her unsuitable husband too soon. Later, she even issued a ban on the palace servants, forbidding them from mentioning the husband, Li Wei, in front of the princess.

"Why do you do this, my lady?" Han once advised her, "If the princess doesn't know what her husband looks like now, wouldn't she be even more upset when she suddenly sees him on her wedding day?"

Miao Shuyi was displeased and said, "Let's just wait it out. Before the princess was sent down, she didn't know and had a few more years of carefree days. If she knew now, she would definitely feel annoyed whenever she thought of Li Wei. She would be so worried and gloomy at such a young age. I don't know how sad I would feel if I saw that."

I dare not make any judgment on whether Miao Shuyi's words are correct, but whenever the princess asks me about it, I always try to say the good things and never mention the prince consort's shortcomings.

After Feng Jing achieved the highest rank in the imperial examination, he was granted a one-year posting as Assistant Director of the Imperial Workshops and Prefect of Jingnan Military Prefecture, following precedent. A one-year term was actually very short, a special privilege granted to the top scholar; for the others, the term was three years. But for the princess, this year was clearly very long. During this time, she had no more opportunities to peek at the handsome man behind the curtain. Of course, she wouldn't often express her feelings for Feng Jing, but sometimes she would gaze longingly at the beaded curtain, occasionally sighing with melancholy.

On the Lantern Festival of the second year of the Huangyou reign, there were several riddles in the palace named after ministers. One of the riddles read, "Having traveled to the ends of the earth, I encountered the imperial capital." The princess saw it, her eyes lit up, and she immediately pointed and exclaimed, "It's Feng Jing!"

As soon as she spoke, she realized her mistake, glanced at me discreetly, and blushed.

I took the slip of paper with the riddle written on it from the palace lantern, handed it to the eunuch beside me, and ordered him to get a lucky prize for the princess. Then, as if nothing had happened, I said to the princess, "Congratulations, Princess, you guessed correctly."

She saw Feng Jing again on the first day of the new year in the third year of the Huangyou reign, when the court held a grand court assembly.

On that day, the emperor ascended the throne in the Daqing Hall to receive officials from various prefectures and envoys from other countries. The court assembly was a grand affair. Four armored warriors stood at the corners of the hall, known as the "Hall Guardians." The imperial regalia and ceremonial guards were arranged in the courtyard. All civil and military officials, dressed in their official robes and hats, stood in ranks inside and outside the hall. Officials from various prefectures presented their tributes, while envoys from Liao, Xia, Goryeo, Nanfan, Uyghur, Khotan, Zhenla, Dali, and Dashi, among others, also entered the hall with their own gifts to offer congratulations.

The princess, under the pretext of wanting to see the "long-bearded, high-nosed, and strangely shaped" foreign envoys, obtained permission from the Emperor to hide behind the throne screen and spy on the court ceremonies. I knew her real purpose was to see Feng Jing, who was returning from his post outside the capital.

After Feng Jing returned, he entered the Imperial Academy through the imperial examination. His current official position is Zhijixianyuan, but his rank is not high enough to be ranked in the palace. Therefore, the princess can only catch a glimpse of him briefly when he enters the palace to pay homage with the other officials of the Imperial Academy.

Wearing a scarlet robe, a black tassel, and a white silk square collar, Feng Jing's court attire was the same as that of the scholars around him, but in this court of officials, it still shone as brightly as a unicorn or phoenix.

The princess was not disappointed; she was still smiling slightly when she returned to the palace.

But her smile quickly vanished at the forbidden banquet that day.

After the morning audience, the emperor would host a banquet in the main hall, while the empress would host a banquet in the side hall of the rear garden for the noblewomen who had come to offer their congratulations on the same day. Before the banquet began, the noblewomen, both inside and outside the palace, would line up in order to pay their respects to the empress. Among them was a very young lady with a gentle and refined demeanor. Judging from her appearance, she should not be more than twenty years old and had never entered the palace before. The empress took a keen look at her when she first saw her and continued to glance at her frequently during the banquet. The attendant who was standing inside knew that Zhang Weiji had noticed her and bowed to explain, "That is Madam Fu, the newlywed wife of Feng Jing, a scholar of the Imperial Academy."

I then looked at the princess and saw that her joyful expression had been instantly wiped away by those words, and her face gradually darkened.

After hearing Zhang Weiji's words, the Empress became even more attentive and asked him to invite Madam Fu to the throne, asking, "Is Madam Fu the daughter of Vice Minister Fu?"

Lady Fu bowed her head and admitted that she was Fu Bi's daughter. The Empress smiled and said, "No wonder I felt that you looked familiar, Lady Fu. You look just like Lady Yan."

Fu Bi's wife was the daughter of the former prime minister Yan Shu. She had entered the palace many times before, hence the empress's remark, which meant that Fu Bi's wife and daughter looked alike.

Upon hearing this, the concubines on both sides turned to look at Lady Fu, asking her with smiles how old she was and when she would marry Feng Jing. Lady Fu blushed and answered them one by one. The other ladies congratulated her, but Consort Zhang interjected indifferently, "No wonder we haven't heard of Scholar Feng going out to help people find partners lately. He must be kept in check by Lady Fu."

Consort Zhang was alluding to an amusing anecdote circulating in the court last year: Zu Wuzhe, a scholar of the Imperial Academy, was ugly and over forty years old, still unmarried. He later took a liking to a beautiful woman surnamed Xu and sent a matchmaker to arrange a marriage. However, Miss Xu insisted on meeting Zu Wuzhe first before giving her an answer. Knowing that Miss Xu would not agree to the marriage after seeing him, Zu Wuzhe asked his colleague Feng Jing, who had just entered the academy, to arrange the meeting on his behalf. Feng Jing, as requested, leisurely rode past Miss Xu's house, and Miss Xu fell in love at first sight. Zu Wuzhe's matchmaker pointed to Feng Jing and told her, "This is Scholar Zu." Miss Xu was overjoyed and immediately agreed to the marriage. However, after the wedding, she discovered that her groom was not the one she had promised. Enraged, Miss Xu immediately wrote a letter of divorce and threw it at Zu Wuzhe, then packed her dowry and returned to her parents' home.

Consort Zhang brought up the matter again, her words naturally sharp, but most of the ladies couldn't help but laugh upon hearing it, leaving Lady Fu embarrassed and bowing her head, unsure of what to do. Seeing this, Consort Yu glanced at Consort Zhang leisurely, then smiled at Lady Fu and said, "Helping people find a match is fine, just don't get dragged into the matchmaking process yourself."

Consort Zhang's face immediately darkened, her sharp gaze piercing Consort Yu, who pretended not to notice and calmly adjusted the floral decorations on her temples.

The Empress then addressed the ladies, saying, "Lady Fu is young and new to the palace. She can't stand your jokes. Please don't say them again."

The ladies bowed and agreed. The Empress smiled and looked at the wealthy lady: "However, you must also advise Scholar Feng not to arrange blind dates for others again. Although he meant well and wanted to find a good match for his colleague, for the young lady, this is deliberate deception that ruins her life, and is tantamount to taking advantage of her beauty to commit crimes."

Using her beauty to commit crimes? That's a rather unique way of putting it. I looked at the princess again and saw her lost in thought, probably pondering the empress's words as well.

The wealthy lady bowed in agreement, and the Empress invited her to take a seat and continue watching the banquet. Suddenly, the princess rose and walked outside. I followed as usual, but once outside the hall, she turned and glared at me, saying angrily, "I'm going to change my clothes; don't follow me!"

Her eyes were already brimming with tears, and she was on the verge of collapsing.

I stopped in my tracks. She wiped her tears with her sleeve and quickly ran out of my sight.

I returned to the palace. The room was still filled with the fragrance of fine clothes and the sounds of singing and dancing. The Empress was now conversing with several of her relatives' wives. The Empress inquired about Li Wei's recent situation from Li Yong and his wife, Lady Yang, and then turned to her brother's wife, Lady Zhang, Cao Yi: "It's been a long time since I've seen the two young masters. How have they been?"

Madam Zhang smiled and replied, "It's still the same as always, just reading a few pages of books and shooting a few arrows. There's nothing of great importance in it. Thanks to Your Majesty and the Emperor's boundless grace, my elder brother was promoted to a court official a few days ago, and today my husband has brought him to the palace to offer his congratulations and express our gratitude."

The Empress's eyes lit up with joy, and she said, "Since my elder brother has also come, why not have him come here so I can see him?"

Lady Zhang said, "I also wished to have him come here to thank Your Majesty, but he is only fourteen years old, not quite grown up yet, and it is not appropriate for him to come in front of all the ladies. Just now, I had him wait under the eaves of the rear garden after the court ceremony, and he can come in after the banquet when Your Majesty summons him."

The Empress smiled and said, "Your arrangement is certainly appropriate, but it's just that my elder brother is waiting outside in vain. Won't he starve?" She then turned to Zhang Weiji and asked him to send someone to deliver some food to Cao Ping.

The Empress continued to greet the relatives and wives of high-ranking officials with gentle words, but I had no heart to listen anymore. I stared at the thousand palace candles, silently counting the number of times the flames flickered, judging the time the princess had left.

But she never returned. Finally, I gave up waiting, summoned two palace maids, and went out to look for her.

The palace maids searched all the nearby inner chambers, but could not find the princess. I was filled with worry and immediately returned to Yifeng Pavilion to look for her, but she was nowhere to be found. I was extremely anxious and hurried through the inner palace halls, my only thought being to find her and bring her back.

After a long time, even as the palace lanterns were hung high and the pavilions were brightly lit, I still couldn't find a trace of the princess. Finally, I went to the back garden, sat down dejectedly by the Yaojin Pond, and stared blankly at the reflection of the pavilion lights in the water, not knowing where to go or what to do.

At that moment, a small boat emerged from the lotus and willow trees, its gentle ripples shattering the golden and green lights of the lanterns on the water, and propelling the boat gently to the center of the pond.

There were two people on the boat. A young girl sat at the bow, and a young boy at the stern. The boy idly rowed the boat, slowly propelling it through the water, and sang loudly: "The sound of the painted drum brings dawn and dusk, time only knows how to hasten old age, let us seek only the simple joy of a fine day. Let us all sing a divine tune, a Fisherman's Pride."

At this point in the song, he leaned down slightly, lifted a small lotus-shaped water lantern placed in the water by a palace maid, and handed it to the girl in front of him with a smile. Then he continued singing the first stanza: "The green water flows on and the sky is vast and distant. How can one stay young forever in this fleeting life? Do not hesitate to get drunk and laugh. You must believe that all the affairs of the world will never end."

Under the moon, the smoke dissipates and the clear water stretches out. The young man leans alone on the orchid-wood boat, singing a melodious song. At the age of fourteen or fifteen, he already has sword-like eyebrows and starry eyes, a charming and dashing young man.

The young girl gazed at him intently, remaining silent except when she accepted the small water lantern. When the shimmering light reflected on her face, tear tracks could be seen glistening beneath her eyes.

I stood up silently under the willows on the embankment, waiting for the boy to row the boat to the shore. Then I bowed to the girl and said gently, "Princess, it's time to go back."