The Beauties of the Song Dynasty - Chapter 101
"Her godmother is the Empress. Miss Jiao is the youngest daughter of General Jiao Jixun of the Right Martial Guard. I heard that the Empress likes her very much and insisted on taking her in as her goddaughter." Zhao Defang frowned as he spoke. This was also the first time he had met this little princess who was a few months older than him face to face. He did not expect her to be so indifferent at such a young age. She was a girl who could not change her expression in front of her elder brother. She was really bold.
"What an rude girl!"
Zhao Dezhao pursed his lips. The good impression he had of the girl upon first meeting was instantly shattered by the information he had learned. As far as he knew, the woman who became empress was only seventeen years old, a year younger than him, and yet she had already taken in a goddaughter?
However, the girl was quite peculiar—a childlike face, an indifferent expression, a contradiction; a crisp voice, a cool tone, another contradiction; seemingly weak, yet extremely arrogant, a third contradiction.
If she weren't the queen's adopted daughter, perhaps he would have been interested in studying this girl who had piqued his curiosity after just one meeting.
But since she's involved with that woman who's now in the empress's position, he'd better avoid getting involved.
He thought that was the end of it.
Little did they know, this was just the beginning.
As a young prince, Defang was in poor health from a young age, so his father, the emperor, doted on him. Fearing that the palace maids would not take good care of him, he actually took Defang to the Funing Palace and entrusted him to the care of the newly appointed empress.
He was furious but could not vent his anger. Although the young empress was young, she doted on Defang. He had no reason to bring Defang back to his side. As a result, he often found it difficult to see his only brother – it was impossible for him to go to the Funing Palace. Defang also rarely came out.
"It must be that woman's doing," he thought angrily.
In order to keep a close eye on Defang's situation, he began to secretly approach Princess Deqing, whom he had met once before.
After getting to know her better, he gradually discovered that this girl was actually just a tough-on-the-outside-but-soft-on-the-inside child. Although she always put on a cold demeanor, as long as he ignored her attitude and talked to her more, she would slowly take off that mask.
Zhao Dezhao was not a talkative person; on the contrary, he was quite taciturn and extremely cold to others. He himself couldn't tell whether he approached the girl for Defang's sake or simply because he wanted to talk to her.
In short, he succeeded.
Deqing—her maiden name was Jiaowanlan, and he called her Lan'er.
Lan'er, without her mask, looked quite young, completely like an innocent ten-year-old child in his presence. He didn't stay in the capital year-round, only spending one or two months there each year. In the past, his purpose in returning to the capital was only to visit Defang, but now there was another reason for him to visit her.
Later he learned that Lan'er was a rather lonely child. She had two older brothers, but they were not close because of the age difference. Her mother was a very weak and timid young lady from a prominent family. She rarely spoke softly even to her own daughter. Her only father, who loved her dearly, had no time to spend with her.
So Lan'er gradually became silent and indifferent, because she felt that this was the proper attitude for interacting with others.
Undeniably, he felt sorry for the little girl.
The beginning of a deep affection is actually just a fleeting flutter in the heart.
So when he realized his own feelings, he was stunned, then shook his head and sighed helplessly, but he didn't back down. It's just that Lan'er was still too young; she was only twelve when he understood his feelings. Besides, he was often away from the capital, and Defang had spent far more time with her than he had. Furthermore, he was much older than her…
He kept telling himself that when Lan'er grew up a bit more, no matter what her feelings for him were, he would release his emotions and stop suppressing them.
When she was fourteen, something happened in her hometown, and she returned with her mother without knowing when she would return. In a panic, he went after her and caught up with her in Rongze County. He made a vow to her that when she turned sixteen, he would ask his father, the emperor, to grant them a marriage.
Little did they expect that the vow would become a dream that could never be fulfilled.
The emperor's uncle, Zhao Guangyi, suddenly proposed to his father that he marry the daughter of Wang Pu, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince!
Wang Pu was a former official of the Later Zhou dynasty, where he held the position of prime minister. When his father led troops to attack the Zhou court, Wang Pu was forced to surrender to the Song dynasty. Although he retained the position of prime minister, he was essentially sidelined. In the second year of the Qiande era, he was finally dismissed and appointed as the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince.
Wang Pu was a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) during the Qianzhong era of the Later Han Dynasty, and was appointed Qiushulang (a minor official in charge of books). He was a man of vast learning, possessing a vast collection of books, and was especially skilled in history. The Imperial Uncle was a man who valued talent. He worried that his father's apparent promotion of Wang Pu would actually demote him and cause resentment in Wang Pu. Therefore, he wanted to control this minister through a marriage alliance, and Zhao Dezhao was the Imperial Uncle's target.
Before he could even refuse, his uncle had already brought it up with his father, who then issued an edict without a word, catching him off guard and leaving him no room to resist.
Because he was the eldest son of the emperor.
Although he knew that he had an older brother who died young, he became the eldest son of the emperor. Although his father had never proposed to select a crown prince, he only had a younger brother who was not yet ten years old. It seemed that everyone had already set their sights on him, the eldest son of the emperor. Therefore, even though he had no interest in the position of crown prince, he could not possibly refuse this marriage that would benefit the court.
If he were to be rational, he would know very well that his uncle had no selfish motives in this matter. However, when faced with the increasingly depressed Lan'er, he would resent his uncle's decision and want to rebel. But everything was already set in stone and had no choice but to proceed.
On the eve of his wedding, he mustered up the courage to ask his father for Lan'er. He knew that it was unfair to her and that it would be unfair to her, but he did not want to give up. How could he be willing to give up the woman he had waited for for so many years?
Marriage cannot provide her with a fair deal, but he will be devoted to her emotionally.
But they forgot what a fierce and stubborn woman she was.
She said: No matter how much I, Jiao Wanlan, love a man, I would never share a husband with another woman.
She said: Although she was only the Empress's adopted daughter, she was still a person of noble birth, and it would be easy for her to find someone who would be loyal to her wholeheartedly and love her for life.
他像是突然之间被人狠狠揍了一拳，他竟自私地一边想要忠于父皇，另一边还要委曲她成全自己，兰儿若只是普通女子，她若是没有那么爱他，也许他们可以厮守一生，但——她不肯，而他突然发现，他自己也是不肯的——对公平和专注异常执着的兰儿，他已经无法给予幸福。
Upon realizing this, he was filled with extreme pain and hatred, yet he had no choice but to slowly withdraw.
Unexpectedly, not long after his marriage, she suddenly approached him, saying that her adoptive mother, the current Empress, wanted to marry her off to Defang, and that she did not want to marry anyone else, so she asked him to take her away.
He was both surprised and delighted by Lan'er's sudden change of heart. However, he had to leave the capital on official business, so they agreed that she would wait for him in the capital for a year, and when he returned, he would report to his father and ask her to marry him.
Only three months.
His joy lasted only three months before he was stunned by a piece of news from the capital.
Lan'er—not only married Defang, but was also pregnant.
He couldn't help but wonder if the so-called adoptive mother Lan'er spoke of—Empress Song, who unexpectedly favored Defang—had forced Lan'er to marry because of her affection for Defang? Lan'er couldn't refuse, so she had no choice but to marry.
Unable to abandon his official duties and return to the capital to inquire, he thought of the prime minister's daughter he had met when he returned to the capital to see Lan'er one year. The frail and sickly woman was a close friend of Lan'er, and perhaps she knew the reason why Lan'er suddenly married Defang.
So when he met Xue Suxin, who was recuperating in Luoyang, he deliberately approached her, successfully gaining her trust and assistance. However, she did not know the real reason for Lan'er's marriage. She only told him very firmly that Lan'er had no resistance to the marriage.
This was the most shocking and perplexing thing for him.
Why didn't Lan'er resist? He always thought that with Lan'er's stubbornness, if she insisted on waiting for him, she would never marry someone else, and even if she was forced by someone, she would not be able to resist in the slightest.
So... Lan'er's marriage was partly of her own free will, wasn't it?