ITVCFITB CHAPTER 33

 Chapter 33: You’re Showing Off!

Third Prince’s Residence.

The autumn sky was high and the air crisp; perfect weather for climbing to a scenic view and for admiring chrysanthemums.

Since marrying Li Mingjin, Luo Shuyu hadn’t gone out alone. This chrysanthemum banquet was his first invitation to venture out by himself.

Li Mingjin was especially on edge today, worried the Crown Princess or some blind fool would try to bully Luo Shuyu. From the moment he got up until court finished, he was distracted; even the Emperor glanced at him several times up on the dais.

The second court ended, he rushed straight home, hoping to catch his spouse before he left, just to sneak in a few more looks.

Back at the residence, he found Luo Shuyu still in the bedchamber changing.

Li Mingjin slipped his arms around him from behind. “Let me choose.”

The sudden hug made Luo Shuyu blink. Nearby maids hid smiles behind their sleeves. Luo Shuyu slapped away the hands at his waist.

Li Mingjin shooed the servants out, then clung to Luo Shuyu and stole several deep breaths against his neck, only letting go when Luo Shuyu was faintly panting.

To match the occasion, Li Mingjin picked a jade hairpin carved with chrysanthemum patterns, and a pendant with the same motif.

“Your Highness,” Luo Shuyu asked, “isn’t a bit too much chrysanthemum all over me… tacky?”

He remembered that “fashion booklet” Shen Mingyun’s system had once produced: if you wear more than three accessories, at least one should be plain.

Li Mingjin fished out a blue satin sachet. “Not too much. Add a chrysanthemum-embroidered sachet.”

Watching his clumsy fingers tie the cord, Luo Shuyu smiled. “Why chrysanthemums on everything?”

“No such thing,” Li Mingjin muttered, half-kneeling. Chrysanthemum banquet without chrysanthemums? His spouse ought to be the most dazzling one there.

Luo Shuyu straightened his hair crown and, as usual, poked through Li Mingjin’s little schemes. “Didn’t you order a brand-new outfit for me two days ago, specifically for today? Isn’t this robe’s trim embroidered with chrysanthemums?”

The flurry of questions took the wind right out of Li Mingjin. “My person should be the best-looking at the banquet.”

Luo Shuyu laughed. “You really think of everything.” He asked the time; it was nearly time to leave.

The venue was far; he had to set out half an hour early.

Since the wedding, they’d been practically glued together. Today they’d be apart the whole day. Seeing Luo Shuyu off, Li Mingjin suddenly understood why his spouse always lingered so long at the gate when he left. No matter how many times people told him to go back inside. It was reluctance. Pure, aching reluctance.

He personally helped Luo Shuyu into the carriage and assigned extra guards, terrified someone would lay a finger on him.

“Come straight back when it’s over,” he fussed. “It gets dark early in autumn, the roads are bad at night.”

Holding the curtain, Luo Shuyu nodded. “I know. I won’t be late. Don’t see me off, there are guards. I’ll be fine.” He seemed to recall something and leaned out. “Your Highness, come closer.”

When Li Mingjin bent in, Luo Shuyu somehow produced a pale-blue sachet and looped it deftly at his waist. The pattern on it was… unusual.

He guessed at once it was hand-stitched. He squeezed Luo Shuyu’s fingers. “Your little daisies are lovely.”

Luo Shuyu’s mouth twitched. He looked him squarely in the eyes. “I embroidered bamboo leaves.”

“…Mm. Very nice,” Li Mingjin said gravely. So his spouse’s needlework was… distinctive.

Luo Shuyu didn’t force him to keep fibbing. Everyone had weaknesses; he wasn’t good at this kind of thing. If not for Li Mingjin, he’d never have tried.

“I’m off,” he said, before the lingering turned into dusk.

“Go. Careful on the road.” Li Mingjin stood at the gate until the carriage vanished around the corner, posing like a wife waiting for her husband to return from the wars.

—

Being watched off like that for the first time, Luo Shuyu found everything along the way beautiful even the roadside wildflowers seemed festive.

The Crown Princess wasn’t hosting at the Eastern Palace, but at a manor under the Crown Prince’s name.

By the gate, carriages lined the street. As soon as his carriage marked with the Third Prince’s sigil pulled up, a eunuch cried, “The Third Prince Consort has arrived!”

They were escorted inside.

Before autumn, the Crown Princess had ordered two hundred varieties of chrysanthemums planted here. Today, they’d be able to see about two hundred and twenty in bloom.

From the moment you entered, it was a sea of blossoms. Even those who knew nothing about chrysanthemums would have to stop and stare.

Everything today was chrysanthemum-themed: chrysanthemum tea, wine, and sweet soup; chrysanthemum cookies, cakes, and pastries; even the dishes at the banquet used petals as garnish or ingredient.

He hadn’t attended this event in his previous life, but he’d gone to many banquets so the format was always more or less the same. Only this time the purpose was different. The Crown Princess intended to choose concubines for the Crown Prince.

No one said it aloud. But those willing to offer up their daughters or sons of age had come. Those unwilling had brought only concubine-borns or distant relatives. The Crown Princess wouldn’t pick those. She wanted two things: decent birth and the look of someone who could bear children.

How do you judge “can bear”? Luo Shuyu had no idea. He’d borne a child himself, but a ger was different from a woman. Most men who married gers eventually got one or two children, but there were exceptions.

He was far less interested in fertility gossip than in the swathes of blossoms.

After a time he murmured to Qingwang, “If only His Highness could see this too.” Beauty is always sweeter when shared.

Qingwang grinned. “You’ll have many autumns together yet, young master.”

Luo Shuyu nodded, firming his resolve. “We will.”

His first outing as the Third Princess Consort drew stares. Everyone knew the Third Prince’s reputation and bets had been placed on how long the Luo family’s legitimate son would survive in that household. Some had wagered he wouldn’t even make it to the return-to-parental-home day.

Seeing him now, they realized how wrong they’d been.

He wore the capital’s newest fashion: a snow-white satin robe with a silver, cutwork chrysanthemum edge visible beneath, set off by a mutton-fat jade hairpin. Elegant and striking.

Two married ladies whispered:

“I went to Lvying Atelier the other day. I saw that robe! I wanted one for my Ling’er, but the shopkeeper said there’s only one in all the capital. Their best master made it and they won’t repeat the design. I thought, how arrogant, refusing custom. Who knew it was ordered by the Third Prince’s residence?”

“Was it his own order or the prince’s?”

“The Third Prince ordered it himself. Someone saw him.”

“So those rumors clearly aren’t all true. Hm. Is the Third Prince Consort worth befriending?”

“Today’s the Crown Princess’s banquet. You tell me.”

As small clusters came and went among the flowerbeds, Luo Shuyu kept half an eye out for those three from the Luo clan.

Soon a eunuch guided him to the banquet area, filled mostly with youths younger than him.

The liveliest spot was around the Eldest Princess Consort, chatting away with a circle of ladies.

He recognized a few faces from his last life. In this one, they’d have no reason to know him… except that titles spoke louder than introductions.

The instant he arrived, everyone rose to salute. Luo Shuyu returned it with easy grace. “Please, no need for ceremony.”

In the eyes of many unmarried gers, his title was the goal. If a ger could marry a prince, the status of ger across the capital rose with the tide. If one day the Third Prince ascended, the Prince Consort would be Empress. A palace consort couldn’t compare to that.

He paid none of it any mind.

He went first by courtesy to greet the Eldest Princess Consort. He had no intention of currying favor, but her attitude toward him was surprisingly warm. The smile she turned on him was altogether different from the one she’d worn moments ago with the other ladies.

“Shuyu, come sit here.” It was their first private conversation.

In his previous life they’d barely spoken, always polite and distant. She’d never tried to draw him in if anything, she looked down on him.

But now… she felt different. Friendly. Almost sisterly. Whether from genuine good mood or ulterior motives, who could say.

He had no reason to refuse. If he wanted information from the inner courtyards, it wouldn’t hurt to be on cordial terms.

Compared to the Crown Princess, the Eldest Princess Consort was better at winning hearts. She’d married as an official’s daughter, not raised in the palace like the Crown Princess, who’d grown up under the Empress and Empress Dowager’s eyes, chin perpetually tilted up. As a girl she’d been imperious; as Crown Princess, even more so.

“Eldest Sister-in-law.”

“You and I never get to talk,” she laughed. “Next time I host, you must be the first to arrive.”

“Gladly. If you won’t mind, we’ll bring the whole household for breakfast. Is that early enough?”

She burst out laughing. “You...very well, breakfast it is. I guarantee you and Third Brother will leave satisfied.”

“Then I’ll thank you in advance.”

Their easy exchange made the other ladies drift away, pretending to admire the blooms while quietly noting how well they seemed to get on.

Bi Ruoyao (the Eldest Princess Consort) lowered her voice. “Looks like your Luo clan arrived. Your grandmother’s resting inside.”

“So that’s why I didn’t see them along the way,” Luo Shuyu said mildly.

“No need to hurry. They’ll come to you.”

Everyone’s backcourtyard had its petty wars. As the legitimate son married to a prince, Luo Shuyu was a prize the Luo family hadn’t appreciated before. Envy was one thing; Bi Ruoyao wasn’t stupid, she could guess relations were strained.

Luo Shuyu only smiled. “Even so, I should greet Grandmother.” Appearances mattered.

“Have some tea first,” Bi Ruoyao said, all concern. “The Crown Princess will be here any moment.”

Luo Shuyu hid a faint smile. What’s your play, Eldest Sister-in-law? “All right.”

If she hadn’t mentioned the Old Madam, he could have feigned ignorance. Now he had to go.

No matter how warm she seemed, it was surface-deep. He wasn’t naive enough to think she truly wanted to “be family.” If she couldn’t pull Li Mingjin to the Eldest Prince’s side, then at least she could trip up the Crown Princess. If they couldn’t win, neither should the other.

The ladies’ scheming put court politics to shame.

After they’d sat a while, the Crown Princess still hadn’t appeared but Luo Shuyu’s grandmother had.

Upon seeing him, the Luo clan came forward to salute. Luo Shuyu slid aside to avoid it and helped the Old Madam sit. Every courtesy flawless, and done personally, for all eyes to see.

From the side, Luo Shuyu heard Luo Shuyao (the fifth son) mutter, “Hypocrite.”

He turned with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Would you like me to let you kneel in front of everyone?”

Luo Shuyue yanked her brother’s sleeve, panicking. “How dare you speak to the Prince Consort like that! Kneel and apologize!”

She kicked the back of his knee. He pitched forward but Luo Shuyu had anticipated it and caught him with a half-squat before the scene turned ugly. He raised his voice just enough: “Fifth Brother, are you unwell?”

Then to the servants, crisply, “How are you attending him? He’s feverish. Go fetch a physician. Qingwang, take Fifth Young Master inside to rest. Keep him out of the sun.”

Qingwang startled, then obeyed immediately. He and a matron hustled the bewildered youth away with a firm hand on his neck to keep him from turning back.

Luo Shuyue’s legs trembled where she stood by the Old Madam. The matriarch nearly raised her cane to wallop her.

Low-class. Utterly without polish.

A family embarrassment had almost been staged for the crowd, only to be turned neatly on its head. The sharp-eyed ladies took note. The Third Prince Consort was sensible and collected; the other two… had lost face.

The Old Madam forced a smile. “Thank you, Third Prince Consort. He must have caught a chill. We’ll send him straight home to rest.”

“Grandmother is thoughtful,” Luo Shuyu said. “Better he recuperates in the manor. I don’t mind, but it wouldn’t do to bump into a noble and cause offense.”

“…Quite,” the Old Madam breathed, relieved.

Just then, while everyone still buzzed from the little drama, the Crown Princess’s most trusted eunuch came hurrying over.

He bowed. “Third Prince Consort, do you know a Shen Mingyun?”

Luo Shuyu’s heart gave a quiet thump. Here we go. “I do. If he arrived with my grandmother, he is a distant cousin on the Luo side.”

“The said Shen Gongzi has quarreled with Her Highness,” the eunuch said. “He invoked your name. The Crown Princess asks that you come.”

Luo Shuyu smothered a laugh and widened his eyes. “…Quarreled with the Crown Princess? How ever did that happen?”

All around them: What a day for fresh melons (gossip)!

—

After seeing Luo Shuyu off, Li Mingjin decided sitting at home was intolerably dull. He dragged his not-quite-unswollen foot to the Ministry of Justice to shadow Vice Minister Tang, forcing himself to “study” by poring over old case files all morning.

At lunch he joined the officials at the communal canteen.

Tang eyed him across the table. “Is the food to Your Highness’s taste?” (Please hate it and never come back…)

Li Mingjin, unbothered: “Good. The buns are big.”

“…”

On the way back, Li Mingjin absently touched the sachet at his waist. “Old Tang, has your wife ever made you a sachet?”

Tang stroked his beard. “Can’t say she has.”

Li Mingjin swung the blue satin pouch where Tang could see. “Yours hasn’t. Mine has.”

Tang: “…Your Highness, are you showing off?”

---

Author’s note:
Third Prince: “Wife, you offended me last night.”
Luo Shuyu: “?”
Third Prince: “You didn’t let me kiss there.”
Luo Shuyu: “…Get out.”

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