Chapter 3 Lantern Festival
Not long after, Lu Yinchuan told me that Zhao Yan and Zhang Ruhua planned to sail on a painted boat during the Lantern Festival.
He tried to drag me along to watch.
“You really don’t get it, do you? You haven’t seen His Highness in ages. If you don’t make an effort to stay close, he’ll forget you.”
I rubbed my forehead.
Forgetting me was exactly what I wanted.
I refused. “I won’t go. In two months I leave for Jinling. I have too much to prepare.”
Lu Yinchuan quieted down, but on the day of the festival he still tricked me into coming out.
He said,
“His Highness has always been proper and restrained. In all these years he’s never been close to any lady. Chu Bingzhi, aren’t you curious what he’s like with Zhang Ruhua?”
Truthfully, I wasn’t curious.
I had already seen it.
He neglected his entire harem for her. Her health was frail; she could not bear children. Until the day I died, the only children in the palace were the pair I had borne him when we were still in love.
He secretly took her out of the palace at night to watch the plays she loved. For ten years, Cuju became all the rage in Chang’an—ladies prided themselves on playing—simply because Zhang Ruhua enjoyed it.
Thinking of it, a sudden ache filled my chest.
My children…
Never mind. This life, I would have no children at all.
I turned to leave.
But Lu Yinchuan grabbed my arm and waved toward someone nearby.
“Young Master!”
When we were out in public, that was how we addressed Zhao Yan.
My steps halted.
Wasn’t he supposed to be on the lake…
How had we run into him halfway?
Then I felt a gaze land on me.
It quickly moved away.
His voice was cool and distant.
“Hm.”
Crowds surged, lanterns glowed for miles.
I turned and met Zhao Yan’s eyes.
He had no intention of speaking to me.
Instead, he conversed with Lu Yinchuan.
The two of them walked ahead and soon left me half a street behind.
I noticed Zhang Ruhua was not at his side.
Later I learned that the outing had been arranged by the emperor and empress, but at the last moment Zhao Yan had stood Zhang Ruhua up.