Chapter 28

East Palace

Inside Zhaoyang Palace, the Crown Princess helped the Crown Prince change into court clothes. “Your Highness, you came back early today. The Imperial Concubine asked about Hui’an’s marriage today. It sounded like she was planning to let her nephew from her family enter the palace to look for a date. I thought that since the Imperial Concubine is in charge of the harem now, she should be given some respect, so I agreed. Do you think that’s appropriate?”

Princess Hui’an had previously been engaged to the grandson of Lord Wang, but the young master of the Wang family had an accident. He fell off his horse in the mountains two years ago and injured his left leg. The Eastern Palace then sent someone to the Wang family to cancel the marriage.

Later, the prince chose the eldest son of the Yongchang Marquisate as his son-in-law. Just before the engagement, Hui’an and the eldest son had a big argument while hunting in the Western Hills. After that, Princess Hui’an insisted on breaking off the engagement and threatened to cut her hair and become a nun if the marriage didn’t happen.

The Crown Princess loved her daughter very much and eventually fulfilled her wish.

Because of this, Princess Hui’an’s marriage was postponed.

The Crown Prince seemed troubled today and wasn’t in the mood to discuss the marriage of his children with the Crown Princess. Instead, he brought up another matter: “I just learned that my father bypassed the Ministry of Personnel and several scholars from the Hanlin Academy and summoned the new champion Ji Yanming to meet him, asking him to help teach the eldest son how to write.”

The King of Chu had been out of the spotlight for a long time. After hearing this, the Crown Princess found it a little unbelievable: “Are you serious, Your Highness?”

“Of course, it’s true,” the prince replied. “My father didn’t hide the fact when he appointed Ji Zhuangyuan. Now that the palace examination is over, I think the new Jinshi will be appointed soon. The King of Chu didn’t shy away from it and even used his connections to help the top scholar get a good position.”

At this point, the prince sneered, “I asked about Father’s intentions the day before yesterday, and he still wanted the eldest son to stay home and reflect on his mistakes and go out less. But he’s making a fuss over a staff member, causing a big commotion. Father must be angry.”

The Crown Princess had a different view: “The top scholar was appointed by my father to the King of Chu, and this was decided before the appointment. I knew His Royal Highness the King of Chu would take action at this time. I think he tacitly agreed to this, so he may not be angry.”

The Crown Princess’s perspective was something the Crown Prince had never considered.

“You’re right. Maybe Father values talent and is worried that Ji Zhuangyuan comes from a poor family and cannot compete with those from noble families, so he made this move.” The prince sighed, “I just don’t know why Father suddenly mentioned the eldest brother. Is he really still reluctant to give up on the friendship we had in the past?”

When he was curtailing several imperial uncles, he was ruthless and didn’t think about old friendships.

So, the master’s situation is indeed different from others.

The Crown Princess noticed the Crown Prince’s frowning brows and comforted him softly, “Since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, there has never been a rebellious prince who could make a comeback. No matter how sentimental your father is, he is still wary of you. Your Highness will likely just be a wealthy and idle person in the future. It will be difficult for him to influence you. You do not need to worry.”

After hearing the Crown Princess’s analysis, the Crown Prince calmed down a little: “You are right.”

The Crown Princess was relieved to see the Crown Prince’s mood improve. She thought of the Crown Prince’s request that day. Although she knew that now was not the best time to discuss the matter, she couldn’t help but ask one more question, recalling her son’s hopeful eyes during the day.

“I have one more thing to ask,” the Crown Princess said. “Yan’er ^[1]is an affectionate term for the Crown Prince’s son. listened to Miss Luo’s music the other day and felt it was very peaceful and calming, and that she was very suitable. I want to invite that girl to play music in the East Palace again. I wonder if Your Highness thinks it is appropriate?”

Inviting Ji Zhuangyuan’s sister to interact with the Eastern Palace was also intended to show goodwill to the new top scholar in a subtle way.

If there hadn’t been that incident between Ji Yanming and the King of Chu, the Crown Prince would have naturally been happy to see this happen, but now Ji Yanming has already joined the King of Chu…

The prince frowned, “Yan’er is still young and easily trusts others. This is a time of trouble, and we should avoid unnecessary issues. It is better to wait and see about inviting Miss Luo to the palace.”

Thinking of her son’s disappointed look the next day, the Crown Princess felt sad, but seeing that the Crown Prince was determined and there was no room for negotiation, she agreed.

“I will obey Your Highness.”

_

The people in the Eastern Palace were all thinking about the relationship between Ji Yanming and the King of Chu, while Ji Yanming was focused on how to please Tao Sheng.

After receiving the emperor’s order, Ji Yanming always set aside some time to visit the Prince of Chu’s Palace after editing books in the Hanlin Academy every day.

The King of Chu was already in his thirties, and his calligraphy skills had long been established. Even if the Sage of Calligraphy were reborn, it would be difficult to train him into a great calligrapher, and no matter how much time is spent, it would be meaningless.

Ji Yanming understood that the emperor’s intentions went far beyond this. Everyone already understood each other, and they were only here for show.

The King of Chu was still keeping a low profile and had no demands or arrangements for Ji Yanming, so Ji Yanming was happy to just sit there and relax, thinking about how to appease his cousin.

The King of Chu had several beautiful concubines, each with their own desires. The principal wife and two concubines had bad tempers, but even so, the King of Chu could treat them all equally and manage to please each of the princesses and concubines very well. In Ji Yanming’s opinion, this was indeed a remarkable skill, and it also served as the most vivid lesson he could access at the moment.

Ji Zhuangyuan was best at learning. In just a few days, he gained a lot of insights from the King of Chu’s methods of pleasing his wives and concubines.

The Princess of Chu liked to grow flowers and plants, so the King of Chu used his connections to obtain pots of precious flowers and plants from the Inner Court, which he sent to the main courtyard like a stream, calling them gifts of love.

Concubine Xu enjoyed eating, drinking, and having fun, and her personality matched well with the King of Chu. Today, the King of Chu took her to Taibai Tower for drinks, tomorrow he would take her out to see a play, and the day after that, he would take her for an outing outside the city. They were having a great time.

Most of the concubines in other rooms loved luxurious clothes and gold and jade jewelry. So when the King of Chu was free from plotting his plan to seize the throne, he chose beautiful brocade jewelry from the treasury and sent them to the concubines one by one according to their tastes.

But these tricks are obviously not suitable for Tao Sheng.

Tao Sheng enjoys appreciating flowers and plants, but she doesn’t like to take care of them.

As for eating, listening to operas, clothes, and jewelry, although these ideas can fool people, they do not feel amazing at all. Ji Yanming thinks they are a bit tacky.

Tao Sheng is used to music, so if you want to cater to her taste, you can consider giving her a zither. However, her family now runs the Oriental Musical Instrument Store, and most of the zithers they purchase are tuned by Tao Sheng herself. As such, it would be inappropriate to give these as gifts.

Ji Yanming hung around the King of Chu for a few days and finally found an opportunity.

After the emperor decided to promote rituals and music, everyone in the court was eager to make moves, and the King of Chu was no exception.

It’s just that he is almost forty years old now and is not cut out for it. Now he is just starting to get started, which is harder than climbing to the sky.

Looking at the rare copies of music scores collected by his aides and subordinates and filling the zither room, the King of Chu flipped through a few of them and then became sad.

He just wanted to learn a stunning birthday song before his father’s birthday and play it for the old man himself. Is it that difficult?

Seeing that the King of Chu had been pacing around in the room like an ant on a hot pan for a few days without knowing where to start, Ji Yanming felt that the time was almost right. He suggested to him that his cousin, Luo Taosheng, was the best at music theory and had experience in guiding many ladies from aristocratic families in the capital to learn the art of playing the zither.