Chapter 33: Humble Subject Su Ronghua, Along With My Younger Brother, Pays Respects To Your Highness

The next day, Li Rong received Pei Wenxuan’s reply. She glanced at the chosen wedding dress he marked, thought for a moment, and then handed another sketch of a wedding dress to Jinglan, saying, “Tell the Ministry of Rites that I want the one with the embroidered phoenix.”

Jinglan was puzzled and couldn’t help but ask, “Didn’t young master Pei choose the one with peonies?”

“Actually, both can be used,” Li Rong said while cleaning her hands, “I’m just using the process of elimination.”

Upon hearing this, the maids beside them all lowered their heads and chuckled. After some playful banter, Li Rong calculated the time and realized her mother should be awake, so she went to pay her respects to the empress as usual.

Normally, she visited the empress every day, but with her busy schedule of handling cases and imprisonment, it had been a while since she last saw her mother. She wiped her hands with a handkerchief and led the way to the Wei Yang Palace.

As they reached the entrance of the Wei Yang Palace, laughter echoed from inside. Li Rong entered with a smile and saw almost all the consorts from the harem present. Her mother, empress Shangguan Yue, was sitting in the high seat, laughing along with everyone else.

“Ladies, what interesting stories are you sharing, laughing so heartily?”

Li Rong walked in, smiling as she inquired. Then, she bowed to the empress on the seat, saying, “Greetings, mother.”

Turning to the four noble consorts above, she also bowed, “Greetings to all the consorts.”

“It turns out our little Rong has arrived,” a gentle voice sounded just as she straightened up. Li Rong looked up and saw concubine Rou smiling at her, “Please, take a seat.”

The “Rou” in concubine Rou’s name was derived from her given name, Xiao Rou. She came from an ordinary family and entered the palace at a young age, serving as a palace maid due to her quick-wittedness. It was said that when Li Ming was still a prince and not leading a comfortable life, Xiao Rou accompanied him in the cold palace during their youth. Li Ming harbored a peculiar sentiment towards Xiao Rou. Later, when Li Ming became the crown prince, Xiao Rou was bestowed to a minister by the then empress. However, not long after her marriage, Li Ming ascended to the throne. After a few years, the minister passed away due to illness, and Xiao Rou, initially tonsured, encountered Li Ming in a temple. After a brief springtime, she returned to the palace, enjoying favor for decades in the harem without decline.

With such abilities, her appearance is naturally outstanding. Now, in her late forties, she still maintains excellent care of herself, retaining her charm. Compared to the empress who is seven years younger beside her, she is not inferior at all.

She is currently the chief among the four concubines, assisting the empress in managing the harem. Skilled in socializing, when Li Rong entered, the empress remained silent, and it was she who spoke first.

Li Rong smiled gently, nodding slightly in gratitude.

A maid set up a small table near the empress’s left hand, and Li Rong sat down after approaching the small table. As soon as she sat down, she heard consort Rou asking the empress above, “I heard that Rong’s marriage has been arranged recently. Is it true?”

“The imperial edict for the marriage has been issued,” said Shangguan Yue calmly, “and it is Pei family’s legitimate eldest son, Pei Wenxuan.”

“Pei Lizhi’s son?” Consort Rou laughed, “I met that child three or four years ago. He is indeed very handsome. Rong,” Consort Rou turned to Li Rong, “I heard you investigated the Yang family together with him?”

“Consort Rou,” Li Rong gently said, “we are not yet married, discussing this is inappropriate. Let’s change the topic.”

“Rong is shy,” Consort Duan, on the side, intervened to ease the situation, looking at consort Rou, “Look how you embarrass the child. We are not like these old folks. Asking her like this, who would pay attention to you?”

Consort Rou raised her folding fan and chuckled, and laughter filled the hall. Li Rong sipped her tea but remained silent.

After the concubines laughed and chatted for a while, the empress instructed to disperse. Consort Rou sat still, waiting for everyone to leave. When they were gone, the empress turned to consort Rou and said, “Do you have something to say?”

“I just want Rong to help with a favor.”

Consort Rou smiled and looked at Li Rong, “Rong has always liked being alone, not very close to other sisters and brothers. Now that she is about to get married, during this last period, many sisters want to spend some time with you, dear sister, to listen to your guidance. So, I thought, why not let Rong allocate some time every day to communicate and interact with other princesses in the palace,” turning to the empress, consort Rou said, “What does Your Majesty think?”

The empress frowned; she knew consort Rou’s intentions were not good. Just as she was about to refuse, Li Rong spoke up, “Sure.”

Consort Rou’s expression froze slightly. Li Rong looked at consort Rou and said, “Consort Rou, what’s with that expression? Do you think Rong won’t agree?”

“How could that be?” Consort Rou smiled, “I know that although Rong seems indifferent on the surface, she actually cares about her siblings.”

“You’re saying that,” Li Rong tapped her golden fan lightly on her palm, “as if I never had siblings in my heart. Your words are really belittling me.”

Being retorted by Li Rong, consort Rou’s smile became somewhat strained. She could only turn to the empress and say, “Look at this child. Just two months without seeing her, and she’s become so eloquent.”

“I’ve been thinking about my sisters all along,” Li Rong lifted her teacup, speaking gently, “there are many things I’d like to teach them. I suggest, consort Rou, why not organize it? I can spend two hours each day lecturing and teaching the younger sisters. What do you think?”

“Lecture?” Consort Rou was taken aback, “What are you going to lecture about?”

“The empress dowager has always been enthusiastic about Buddhism. I’ll lecture the younger sisters on Buddhism and some daily etiquette. It’s a way to cultivate their minds and manners, to prevent mistakes. I heard recently that Hua Yue beat a maidservant in the courtyard?”

Hua Yue is consort Rou’s eldest daughter, known for her arrogance. Consort Rou’s face changed drastically upon hearing this and immediately said, “Is that true?! I better discipline her properly.”

“Alright,” Li Rong smiled, “with consort’s words, Rong will handle it properly.”

Hearing this, consort Rou felt a bit uneasy. Li Rong glanced at the sky and then said, “Consort Rou, are you staying for the meal?”

This was a way to hint that it was time for the guest to leave. Consort Rou had said what she needed to, so she stood up and said, “No need, I came for the empress. I won’t disturb your intimate mother-daughter time.”

With that, consort Rou exchanged a few pleasantries with the empress and then left, fanning herself.

Seeing the empress about to stand up, Li Rong went forward to help her. The empress, assisted by Li Rong, stood up with some dissatisfaction, saying, “Why did you agree just now? She clearly has ill intentions.”

“If she has ill intentions, can I refuse even if I wanted to?”

Li Rong assisted the empress towards the courtyard, and she continued, “I shouldn’t have agreed, but if I refused, she would have gone to father emperor, whispering about cultivating sisterly bonds. Father emperor is accustomed to listening to her, and the imperial edict might come down tomorrow.”

“Disgusting.”

The empress frowned, showing continued disgust. Li Rong chuckled lightly, “So, let’s not bother with these vile individuals. You are the empress, the most esteemed woman in the realm. Just be a good empress. If that woman wants me to foster relationships, we’ll agree. Father emperor will think I am reasonable.”

“What if she…”

“She won’t personally take action.” Li Rong and the empress walked together in the garden, speaking slowly, “After so many years, don’t you understand her methods? This time, she’s giving several princesses a chance to interact with me. Among them, there are a few naive ones. She doesn’t need to act; someone will naturally make a move.”

“You’ve figured it all out.” The empress listened to Li Rong’s reasoned analysis and sighed in relief, “Then you need to handle it well.”

“Rest assured.”

Li Rong’s voice was calm, “Palace affairs are just a few tricks; you don’t need to worry. In fact, we should be happy.”

“What’s there to be happy about?” The empress looked weary, “I don’t see anything to be happy about now.”

“If you think about it this way, if my marriage had no value, consort Rou wouldn’t bother trying to sabotage it. Her troublemaking now can only prove one thing.”

“What?” The empress turned her head, and Li Rong smiled, “Pei Wenxuan is probably going to get promoted.”

The empress was stunned, after a moment, she sighed softly, “I increasingly find it hard to understand you young ones. Sending Chuan to the northwest two months ago really frightened me. On one hand, I feared Chuan might encounter trouble on the battlefield, and on the other hand, I worried he wouldn’t handle things well in the northwest. The emperor used this as a reason to discipline him. I could only beg your uncle for help. After all this, the Shangguan family is truly weakened. Chuan didn’t gain any merits, but you all seem quite pleased.” The empress’s eyes reddened, “I really have to doubt this Pei Wenxuan, which side is he really on?”

“Mother,” Li Rong raised her hand to embrace the empress’s shoulder, comforting her, “Don’t worry. In fact, you should think that if you can’t understand, it’s even better. It means father has a harder time understanding. It’s not a bad thing for the Shangguan family to expend a little. Mother, there’s a simple principle,” Li Rong advised, “Hide the blade, and when it’s time to kill, you can strike to kill with one blow.”

“But you still need a blade.”

The empress was somewhat anxious, but Li Rong just smiled without speaking. They arrived at the dining place together, sitting down. The empress handled the copper basin, pouring water over her hands while saying, “This time, your uncle helped and made a request with me.”

“Oh?”

“He wants to send Ya’er into the palace.”

Upon hearing this, Li Rong’s handwashing paused, and the empress took the handkerchief from the side, looking back at her. “Ya’er, you remember her, right? You met when you were little.”

“Oh, I remember.”

Li Rong snapped back to attention and hastily said, “I remember she returned to Youzhou very early.”

“She’ll be back in the capital next month and will attend your wedding along the way.” The empress casually chatted, “Chuan’er is not young anymore. I plan to choose a princess for him next year. Now I’m starting to look for some good candidates. Ya’er will definitely be the crown princess. As for other good families, you also help me keep an eye out.”

Li Rong remained silent. The empress picked up her chopsticks, eating and saying, “After marrying Ya’er, I want to find four side concubines for him. The selection of side concubines is not so much about the girls; background matters more. Help me look for two from military families. Chuan’er has no military power in his hands, always a weak point.”

While chatting, the empress and Li Rong ate their meal. Li Rong spoke little in front of the empress, mostly listening. After the meal, the empress felt a bit tired and decided to take a nap, so Li Rong took her leave.

On the way back, she sat in the sedan chair, pondering the empress’s words.

In the previous life, Li Chuan did marry Shangguan Ya and later took four side concubines. Shangguan Ya had a similar temperament to her and was known since a young age. They separated when Shangguan Ya went to Youzhou, but when she returned and became Li Rong’s sister-in-law, it didn’t affect their relationship.

The matter of marrying side concubines didn’t have much impact on Shangguan Ya. She was a mentally strong woman, appearing noble and aloof on the surface, but once familiar, she could be outspoken and hot-tempered. Her priorities were always family first, and everything else was her personal hobbies – drinking, playing chess, and painting, living a carefree life.

When Li Chuan didn’t favor her, Li Rong even went out of her way to find a solution for her. However, Shangguan Ya just waved off the concerns about her position, saying, “Don’t affect my status. As long as he gives me face, and the rest of the time, he can stay as far away from me as possible. If he wasn’t the emperor, who would bother dealing with him?”

This statement left Li Rong at a loss, but she also knew that Shangguan Ya wasn’t pretending to be happy. With Shangguan Ya’s aristocratic temperament, she probably genuinely found Li Chuan annoying.

However, just because Shangguan Ya wasn’t affected didn’t mean others were unaffected. In the struggle among the four side concubines, two died, one became a nun, and one accepted the situation more gracefully, spending the rest of her life peacefully with Shangguan Ya in the palace.

Considering all this, in the previous life, none of them had a good ending.

Knowing the outcome, did she still want to let everything replay along the same trajectory?

Li Rong lightly tapped her palm with the fan, quietly contemplating.

Qin Zhenzhen was definitely not allowed to enter the palace again, and it would be best if she and Li Chuan never crossed paths again.

As for Shangguan Ya…

Li Rong hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to decide.

She took a deep breath, lifted the curtain, and instructed Jinglan, “Send someone to the Shangguan residence. If miss Shangguan Ya returns, have them report immediately.”

“Yes.”

“Also,” Li Rong thought for a moment, “have Pei Wenxuan write me a letter. The general idea is to entrust the person delivering the letter to hand it to me, asking me to meet in a place where both he and I can meet, saying there’s something he wants to give me. Then, have him carry that thing every day, ready to respond whenever I summon him.”

“Yes.”

Jinglan responded promptly.

After giving these instructions, Li Rong let the curtain fall and leaned back to rest.

On the second day, a messenger from the princess’s mansion delivered Pei Wenxuan’s letter. The letter contained a bunch of things, and after confirming that he had grasped the main points as per her instructions, Li Rong tucked the letter into her attire.

Then, she opened Pei Wenxuan’s letter and found only three sentences: “How to decide on the wedding dress? Encountered any tricky situations? Also, Your Highness is very wealthy.”

Seeing the phrase “Your Highness is very wealthy,” Li Rong couldn’t help but burst into laughter. She took the letter, glanced at the miscellaneous items Pei Wenxuan had sent, and realized it was a summary of her assets and budget projections.

While looking at the list, Li Rong received a teacup from Jinglan. Seeing Li Rong’s smiling face, Jinglan couldn’t help but ask, “Your Highness, what are you looking at? You seem so happy.”

“Master Pei is quite capable.”

Li Rong raised the cup with one hand, took a sip of tea, then set the cup down and tossed Pei Wenxuan’s financial summary into the incense burner used for burning paper.

After freshening up, Li Rong received news that consort Rou had already arranged teaching locations for several princesses. Li Rong nodded and headed over, finding that consort Rou had chosen the waterside pavilion in the Imperial Garden.

“The consort said,” the eunuch guiding her spoke, “it’s hot in summer, and the waterside pavilion is cool. Your Highness giving lectures to the princesses here is ideal.”

Li Rong acknowledged and entered the pavilion. As soon as she stepped in, she saw her six younger sisters already seated. 

Among these six sisters, two, Chang Le and Hua Yue, were already past the age of fifteen. Chang Le, the daughter of one of the four noble concubines, consort Mei, held a high status and received considerable favor. She and Li Rong didn’t get along well. Hua Yue was the daughter of consort Rou, inheriting her mother’s seemingly gentle appearance but privately harboring a fierce disposition. The remaining four princesses were all under fifteen, appearing like a group of children with a significant age difference from Li Rong and little interaction.

After Li Rong entered, Chang Le turned her head and smiled, “Oh, sister is here.”

Li Rong smiled back, “You all came early. Please, have a seat.”

Speaking, Li Rong sat in the first seat. After a few princesses took their seats one after another, Chang  Le looked at Li Rong and said with a smile, “I heard that my sister has been promised in marriage to the eldest son of the Pei family. My sister is used to being favored. The one promised in marriage must be an outstanding individual, with an extraordinary status, right?”

Li Rong didn’t speak, but opened the book in front of her, saying, “Let’s recite the Diamond Sutra today.”

Chang  Le, seeing that Li Rong didn’t respond, became excited. “Why, sister, is there something you don’t want to say? Is the young master Pei a high-ranking official in the court? Even if he’s not as good as minister Su, he should at least hold a sixth-rank official position, right?”

“Chang  Le,” Li Rong looked up at her gently, saying, “If you don’t like today’s lecture on the scriptures, sister can teach something else.”

“Oh?” Changle raised her eyebrows. “What else can sister teach?”

“Jinglan, go to the Wei Yang Palace and invite the head nanny,” Li Rong said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Jinglan took the order and left. Chang Le, still puzzled, continued, “Sister, just tell us.”

“Chang Le,” Hua Yue, standing beside her, quickly advised, “I heard that Pei Wenxuan is just a low-ranking eighth-grade official. Please don’t upset my sister.”

Li Rong remained silent, calmly sipping her tea.

After a while, an elderly woman holding a ruler followed Jinglan into the room. Upon entering, she bowed to Li Rong.

“Your Highness.”

“I was tasked with teaching the rules of being a princess to several princesses. I initially intended to lecture on scriptures, but it seems that some of my younger sisters have forgotten even the basic palace etiquette today. So, let the head nanny teach all of you again.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces turned pale. Li Rong turned to the younger princesses and said, “Chang Le and Hua Yue, you can learn. The other sisters are still young, so it’s fine for them to be excused.”

“How dare you!”

Chang Le slammed the table and pointed at Li Rong. Li Rong smiled lightly, calmly sipping her tea. “Disregarding etiquette. What’s the point of a princess slamming the table? Head nanny, how do you suggest dealing with this?”

“Slap the mouth and hit the hand.”

“Slapping the mouth is beneath the dignity of the royal family,” Li Rong calmly said, “Go for the hand.”

No one dared to move. Chang Le sneered, “I’d like to see who dares to touch me today.”

“If no one dares to touch you,” Li Rong looked at everyone, “I’ll have to do it myself. I am the legitimate eldest princess, teaching the other princesses in the name of consort Rou. Today, am I unable even to enforce palace rules?!”

Saying this, Li Rong abruptly stood up, pointing angrily at Chang Le, “Hold her down for me!”

Without delay, Jinglan and Jingmei rushed forward. Jinglan grabbed Chang Le while Chang Le’s maidservants tried to intervene. Li Rong swept her gaze over them coldly, saying, “Think carefully, offending the upper ranks can lead to severe punishment.”

The maidservants were frightened. Head nanny approached and, without mercy, struck Chang Le’s palms with ten hard hits.

Chang Le screamed, but Li Rong remained calm, saying, “After the punishment, you can leave. I still need to lecture other sisters.”

As she finished speaking, a voice from outside was heard. Shortly after, a young man lifted the curtain, and everyone was stunned.

Li Rong looked up and saw a handsome man wearing a black coat embroidered with golden birds. Underneath, he wore a single shirt, holding a small fan. His features were somewhat similar to Su Rongqing, but he exuded a pride that Su Rongqing lacked.

Behind him stood Su Rongqing, still smiling. As the curtain was lifted, Su Rongqing’s gaze naturally fell on Li Rong. The conversation stopped abruptly, and the two women silently locked eyes.

In this standoff, the man in black reacted first. He hurriedly knelt down and loudly declared, “This humble servant, Su Ronghua, and my younger brother pay respects to Your Highness!”

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