ITVCFITB CHAPTER 25

 Chapter 25: Women in the Side Courtyard

The warm-up for “Courtesan 101” runs fifteen to twenty days. All of the capital already knows when it starts and how it works. The rules Luo Shuyu mentioned to Li Mingjin were things he’d learned in his previous life. Of course, Li Mingjin had no reason to be suspicious: Shen Mingyun had already written the whole process up and handed it to the organizers, and Luo Shuyu had people watching him the whole time, learning the show’s mechanics was hardly difficult.

On the first day of marriage, the entire morning went to paying respects in the palace. Only in the afternoon did they return to the manor. Li Mingjin had wanted to take Luo Shuyu out to stroll the streets, but one glance at his ankle, more swollen than a pig’s trotter, made him give up.

He couldn’t even accompany his consort around the city, nor could he take Luo Shuyu around the prince’s residence to get familiar. Every time he caught that worried look aimed at his foot, his heart went sore and warm. He bitterly regretted spraining it and worse, he couldn’t tell the truth.

Back at the manor, they returned to their chambers to change into comfortable clothes.

Luo Shuyu changed behind a screen while Li Mingjin sat outside, his eyes drifting again and again to the silhouette on the screen. A pleasant picture; he couldn’t help swallowing.

A ger wasn’t like a woman. Women could be lushly curved, front and back, enough to set a man’s blood racing. Gers were different. Outwardly they had the same build as men, no rounded softness at the chest, smaller boned than men, able to bear children but not so readily as women.

Most men in this world preferred women. Compared to a ger’s flat lines, they would sooner choose a woman.

When Luo Shuyu came out, he found Li Mingjin looking at everything but him, cup, teapot, chair, and grew worried. “Your Highness, does your foot still hurt? Should we ask the physician to come again?”

“I put on the medicine this morning. As long as I don’t knock it, it’s fine.” He tugged his robe straight and motioned for the cane. “I’ll go to the study and deal with a few things. I’ll come back to dine with you this evening.”

“All right.” Luo Shuyu had a few questions saved up, but they weren’t urgent. “If it’s hot, have them bring in two more basins of ice.”

“Mm.” With a stern face, Li Mingjin hobbled out of the master room.

Luo Shuyu didn’t know why he suddenly had work, but if he said so, so be it.

Feng Momo was an old hand in the residence and trusted by Li Mingjin; most of the staff in the main courtyard were assigned at her direction.

The trunks brought yesterday were stacked in the side hall. Before sundown, Luo Shuyu had people help him sort them.

The servants he had brought from the Luo estate had all been sent by Feng Momo to learn the rules of the house. For now, the only one useful to him was Qingwang; the rest would take time to train.

Feng Momo had assigned four maids, two pretty and two plain. The same four as in his previous life: Spring Grass, Summer Rain, Autumn Chrysanthemum, and Winter Snow.

They might look like mere maids, but Luo Shuyu knew they were not simple. He suspected some had been bought by other princes.

Back then, when disaster struck, he had hoped someone would run his child to safety. Before he could give the order, officers had come to arrest them. Only Qingwang stood up to shield him. Two of the four maids hid, and two conspicuously didn’t appear at all. Where they went afterward, he had no idea. He’d barely been able to fend for himself; having lost the child, he had no heart to care about others.

The four, clearly well-placed, had survived years in the Third Prince’s residence without being unmasked.

Had he not lived again, he might never have questioned who stood behind them.

They lined up before him. Unlike last time, he didn’t greet them kindly with name, age, and origin. He sipped the new tea the butler had sent top grade, long aftertaste, and taking his time.

“Qingwang, send someone to ask if His Highness has tried this new tea. Have the steward send some to the study, and say I thought it very good.”

“Yes.” Qingwang noted it down. The four maids’ arrival made him nervous for no reason. Would the young master still value him?

His worry wasn’t baseless. The girls stood with eyes forward, clearly well trained. Even left to stand there cooling their heels, not one showed the least hint of displeasure.

Feng Momo had assigned them per the Third Prince’s instructions, but the prince-consort didn’t receive them happily. Was he dissatisfied?

Still, since the inner residence was now under the prince-consort’s authority, Madam Feng kept out of it and waited quietly.

Who knew if he was simply being jealous. After all, two of them were beauties even among women.

Leisurely, Luo Shuyu blew on his tea. “Tell me your native place and why you entered the palace as servants.”

The first to answer was Summer Rain, a pretty girl with fine phoenix eyes. “Replying to Your Highness, this maid’s family is from Shanxi. When I was five, famine struck. Father went to the capital to peddle small wares to feed us. At six, because we were too many sisters, I was enrolled to enter the palace as a maid.”

Luo Shuyu nodded without comment and took another sip. It matched what she’d said in his last life, though then he hadn’t cared; he’d only half-listened and thought nothing more. Now he memorized every word.

Palace maids’ files were kept on record. If one wanted to chase their trail, one could start with origin; age was another marker. The younger the entry, the less suspicious: little girls required years of training, long immersion in palace etiquette, making them harder to fault. Ferreting out planted spies was difficult, but not impossible.

Spring Grass, Autumn Chrysanthemum, and Winter Snow each recited her background. In the end, Luo Shuyu decided to keep all four in sight and out of arm’s reach. He wouldn’t let them serve him up close. He only wanted to know who had betrayed the Third Prince’s household back then.

Which one?

The four were newly assigned by Feng Momo to serve at close quarters. Citing that he wasn’t used to women attending him, Luo Shuyu set them to sweeping and hauling by his lights, the best arrangement for now.

Feng Momo held her tongue. In the rear residence, only the Third Prince outranked the prince-consort.

They spent the afternoon arranging what he’d brought from the Luo estate. He had lived here five years; he knew every corner. He could point out exactly where each item should go. None of the servants dared slack; everyone was on edge. The new prince-consort was fearsomely sharp, one glance and he’d spot what was wrong.

In less than half a day, from stewards to sweepers, the whole manor knew the prince-consort was formidable.

In the study, Li Mingjin received the new tea Luo Shuyu had sent and told them to brew it at once. Then came some snacks. He ate with great pleasure, to Shadow Three’s envy.

Since Luo Shuyu had married in, Shadow Three had returned to the manor as well; keeping watch on Shen Mingyun had passed to Shadow Nine and Shadow Ten.

“Master,” Shadow Three said, “about nearly going over the cliff, do you want me to keep watching the Luo estate from the shadows? It was too strange. At the cliff’s edge those men vanished into thin air. And why is Shen Mingyun colluding with Luo Shumo to obstruct your wedding to the prince-consort?”

“Keep watching,” Li Mingjin said, picking up a cake. “We followed Yuer’s lead and watched Shen Mingyun, but Luo Shumo isn’t a quiet one either. Where did those men come from, and how did they disappear? I doubt it was all Luo Shumo’s work. In the capital, harboring river bandits in secret.  Everyone knows what crime that is. Let’s see if they can swallow it. Once you pin down their hideout, ‘gift’ it to the Crown Prince.”

The Crown Prince was itching to compete with the Eldest Prince; this was perfect timing.

“As for the diagram,” Li Mingjin asked, “what did the Crown Prince do in court today?”

“He presented it to His Majesty,” Shadow Three said. “The Emperor was delighted and ordered the Crown Prince to oversee it.”

“So Eldest Brother drew water with a bamboo basket,” Li Mingjin mused.

“The Eldest Prince never produced the plans,” Shadow Three replied. “The experiments were all done in secret by Luo Shumo and Shen Mingyun on the Luo family farm. He can’t prove the Crown Prince stole from him. Word is they nearly brawled after court.”

“No wonder they were even sharper with each other at the Empress Dowager’s just now,” Li Mingjin said. “Seems the Crown Prince couldn’t wait to claim the credit.”

Shadow Three thought: only because of your strategy, Master. If the Crown Prince had been less hasty, he might have sniffed out the trap. But your brilliance used his impatience to sow discord and pour oil on the fire between him and the Eldest Prince.

“Shall we add fuel for the Eldest Prince too?” Shadow Three asked.

“It’s already his mess,” Li Mingjin said. “We’re not adding anything. Without his consent, would bandits swagger into the capital? Someone’s shielding them. Now that Luo Shumo works under him and is giving Shen Mingyun ideas, this won’t end here.”

“And those two?” Shadow Three asked. “Luo Shumo and Shen Mingyun?”

“What do you make of Luo Shumo?” Li Mingjin said.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Shadow Three said, “he fancies Shen Mingyun.”

“This Shen Mingyun is uncanny,” Li Mingjin said. “No wonder Yuer keeps such an eye on him. He knows everyone. Lately he’s been more than just in touch with the Eldest Prince. Fourth Brother is very solicitous too.”

“Fourth Prince seems inclined to shield him in this ‘Courtesan 101,’” Shadow Three reported.

“Find a way to cancel the contest,” Li Mingjin said. “Best to stir things so thoroughly no one can use brothels to whip up trouble again.”

“I have one idea,” Shadow Three said cautiously. “Not sure if it will do.”

“Let’s hear it,” Li Mingjin said.

After discussing plans with Dark-Three, dusk fell. Cane in hand, Li Mingjin headed for the main courtyard. His prince-consort came first.

---

But when he arrived, there was only a table of vegetarian dishes. He stared for a long moment, confirming there wasn’t a scrap of meat, then looked at Luo Shuyu sitting serenely at the table. “We’re… eating vegetarian tonight? No meat at all?”

Luo Shuyu’s smile was slight and merciless. “None.”

Li Mingjin’s expression, never very lively, went even blanker.

Getting married meant being managed. He felt half glad, half gloomy. Glad there was someone to care, gloomy that their very first shared dinner had no meat.

He picked up his bowl to eat vegetables with rice. Luo Shuyu broke into a laugh. “Bring the other three dishes.”

The kitchen sent up braised pork, roasted lamb ribs, and sweet-and-sour fried pork.

“The physician only banned spicy food,” Luo Shuyu said, lifting his chopsticks. “He didn’t say no meat.”

Heat crept up Li Mingjin’s face. He cleared his throat. “…Ahem.” Tricked by his own wife.

They had just started when a noisy commotion rose outside. Luo Shuyu told Qingwang to go see what was happening, lest their meal be disturbed.

Qingwang went and returned, looking awkward. “Master, it’s a few ladies from the side courtyard. They say they’ve come to pay their respects.”

Luo Shuyu glanced at Li Mingjin, who had just popped a cube of braised pork into his mouth. “Your Highness?”

Li Mingjin swallowed. “…” If I say I don’t remember them, will you believe me?

---

Author’s Note:
Third Prince: Wife, I’ve always been pure as jade. If you don’t believe me, come verify personally!
Luo Shuyu: …

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