Over the past two decades, the State of Qi has established ports in Huating, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Quanzhou and other places to conduct overseas trade.
The main purpose of Emperor Deqing's southern tour was to inspect the maritime trade offices in various regions and to directly understand the situation related to overseas trade.
Therefore, after the ship stopped in Suzhou, he took a group of officials and changed to horse-drawn carriages to go to Huating.
Emperor Deqing planned to spend three days on his trip, which would allow the fleet time to resupply, while the officials and their families would remain in the area to rest.
Suzhou has always been known for its beautiful scenery and elegant gardens, and many young women took the opportunity to disembark and enjoy the sights.
The sisters Wuxia and Wushuang chose to stay on the boat. Their father, Junshu, went up to Huating with them. Their mother was heavily pregnant and had difficulty moving around. Wuxia was about to turn fourteen and was already a young woman of marriageable age. Without a close elder to guide her, it was not advisable for her to go out.
Wushuang found it boring to go out alone, so she accompanied her sister to keep their mother company. However, what surprised her most was that Chu Wan, who came by boat every day, was nowhere to be seen today.
Could it be that because Chu Yao also left with the Emperor like his father, no one brought Chu Wan with them?
Wushuang's guess was incorrect.
Chu Yao did indeed leave the imperial ship and go ashore, but he did not travel with Emperor Deqing. Instead, he led his sister Chu Wan to the Lotus Garden in Tongli Town.
Their mother, Princess Qiao of the old Ying Kingdom, after observing three years of mourning for her deceased husband, took her eldest daughter, Chu Pei, to the south to relax. When she did not go out to visit friends or enjoy the scenery, she lived in the Lotus Garden.
When Qiao left, Chu Wan was only two years old. Now, more than a year has passed, and she no longer remembers Qiao's voice or appearance. However, due to the natural bond between mother and daughter, she doesn't need to be taught to miss her mother. Along the way, she asked Chu Yao questions with great interest and incessant chatter:
"Isn't Mother even more beautiful and gentler than Auntie?"
"Does Mother miss Wanwan terribly? Will she keep Wanwan here?"
"Will Mother lull Wanwan to sleep like Auntie does, and personally tuck Wanwan in with the blanket?"
...
Unfortunately, all my hopes were shattered the moment I stepped into the lotus garden.
The old steward who stayed in the garden told them: "The princess and the princess went to Ningbo three days ago, and then took a boat to Ryukyu. Their return date is uncertain."
After finding out that the Princess Consort of Ying would not be able to return within three days, meaning she would not see her mother before leaving Suzhou, Chu Wan pouted and tears fell like broken beads.
“Brother, Mother doesn’t want me anymore…” she choked out.
"Nonsense, your mother loves you the most. She couldn't bear to see you suffer on the journey, that's why she didn't take you away from the capital." Chu Yao hugged his sister and coaxed her gently. "It's my fault. I wanted to give her a surprise, so I didn't let anyone inform her. She didn't know we were coming, otherwise she would definitely be waiting here."
Chu Yao did not send anyone to deliver the message, but his purpose was the opposite. He was afraid that the old Princess Consort of Ying would not want to stay and meet if she knew that they were coming.
However, the emperor's southern tour was not a secret, and it's possible she heard about it from elsewhere. (www.qiushu.cc No pop-up ads)
Perhaps she was too disappointed, because on the way back, no matter how Chu Yao tried to coax her, Chu Wan just wouldn't stop crying.
When a child is wronged, their first thought is usually to find their mother.
For Chu Wan, the person who had always taken her mother's place was Consort Jing. As soon as she returned to the ship, she went to Consort Jing's cabin. After learning that Consort Jing was with the Empress Dowager, she quickly washed up and went after her.
The tear stains on her little face could be washed off, but the redness around her eyes, caused by her constant wiping, was impossible to hide. As soon as the Empress Dowager saw her, she hugged her pitiful granddaughter and said, both coaxing and sternly, "What happened? Who bullied our darling? Tell Grandma, and Grandma will teach him a lesson for you!"
Chu Wan cried, "Grandmother, please bring Mother back! Wanwan wants to see Mother..."
"Didn't you say that the two children went to the Lotus Garden early this morning? Why haven't I seen them?" The Empress Dowager patted Chu Wan's back lightly, but the question was directed at her wet nurse.
The wet nurse replied, "Your Majesty, the old princess is unaware of the prince and the young princess's journey south. They left the Lotus Garden three days ago and sailed to Ryukyu."
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager frowned: "Oh, the Emperor's southern tour, how could she not know about such a big event? Her son is so promising, he will most likely accompany the Emperor, how could she not have foreseen it? I think it's not a coincidence that she left, but that she simply didn't want to see him at all."
The Empress Dowager was blinded by anger and didn't pay attention to the little one in her arms.
Consort Jing, sitting opposite, could see the expression on Chu Wan's face as she heard these words, her lips twitching downwards. She quickly said, "Mother, my sister went south to relax, so perhaps she had less contact with the outside world and wasn't well-informed."
The Empress Dowager didn't immediately understand, and continued, "With her status, how could she be out of the loop? Saying she doesn't know is just because she doesn't want to know, doesn't want to hear, doesn't want to see, and doesn't want to care. Outsiders may not know how she treated those two children, but we all saw it. When the Tenth Prince passed away, she absolutely refused to let Zixiu inherit the title, insisting that the Tenth Prince's dying wish was for the child in her womb to inherit. My Tenth Prince died unexpectedly, not from being bedridden and losing his mind. Would he abandon his legitimate eldest grandson and designate an unborn child, whose gender we don't even know, to inherit the title? Wasn't it all her doing? In the end, the child was born a girl, failing to fulfill her wish, so she dumped her on you and went off to travel and have fun. Tell me, besides her, is there any other mother who behaves like that?"
“It wasn’t that she was left to me,” Consort Jing explained on behalf of her sister. “It’s just that Wanwan is too young and shouldn’t travel too far, so we didn’t take her with us to avoid tiring her out.”
"You," the Empress Dowager shook her head and said, "you two sisters came from the same womb, how come you are not alike at all? She is too cruel, and you are too soft-hearted. If she hadn't pushed you into the lake back then, you wouldn't have been forced to become a concubine in the Third Prince's mansion."
Consort Jing was startled and hurriedly said, "It is my blessing to be able to serve the Emperor in the Prince's residence."
"Back then, how did you know he would become emperor? It was all just a pipe dream, even I, as his mother, had no idea." The Empress Dowager had a very good impression of Consort Jing and genuinely felt indignant for her. "Sigh, but it was from that time that I began to think you were truly a good child. I've been in the palace for decades, and I can naturally tell who is sincere and who is not. You didn't just speak well of her; you genuinely didn't disregard sisterly affection because of it. I like a kind-hearted child like you, but I also think you're foolish."
The Empress Dowager delivered several lengthy speeches, which Chu Wan only half understood. However, she could still sense that her mother was being disrespectful.
She was young and inevitably thought things through. Just now, she was so sad that she inadvertently told her mother to her grandmother about her. But now she couldn't stand people saying bad things about her mother and spoke up to defend her, saying, "My mother... my mother is not bad."
The Empress Dowager was taken aback upon hearing this, and secretly regretted that she shouldn't have spoken ill of Chu Wan's mother in front of her. Regardless of what faults Qiao Shi had made, she was still Chu Wan's birth mother. If this left Chu Wan with the impression that her mother was a bad person, there would inevitably be many conflicts in their future relationship, which would only make matters worse.
Now we can only hope that children have short memories and will quickly forget the previous conversation, and will not remember it for long.
But right now—
Chu Wan angrily crawled out of the Empress Dowager's arms, scrambled across half of the couch, and plunged into Consort Jing's arms, who was sitting on the other side of the couch.
At first, she only had her little bottom sticking out, and because she was rubbing against Consort Jing's arms trying to find comfort, her little bottom wiggled with her movements, just like a little puppy who didn't care about its own tail.
"Oh, our Wanwan can get angry too."
Chu Wan is an exceptionally gentle and well-behaved child. Most of the time, she has a sweet smile on her face, and she rarely cries, even as an infant.
The Empress Dowager therefore favored her greatly.
But sometimes, when you truly love someone, you can't help but worry about them suffering. Given Chu Wan's status, there aren't many people who can openly bully her, but those who use subtle, underhanded tactics are hard to guard against and cause more serious harm. The Empress Dowager always felt that Chu Wan should be more assertive, and that it would be better if she could balance things out with her unruly and troublesome granddaughter, He Yao.
Therefore, when she saw Chu Wan throwing a tantrum, the Empress Dowager not only did not think there was a problem, but was also happy. She patiently found reasons to coax Chu Wan, saying, "Wanwan, when your grandmother talks about your mother, it's just like when your aunt talks about you. It's to teach you principles and for your own good."