Wei Rao had not personally heard Emperor Yuanjia bestow the marriage between her and Lu Zhuo, but she guessed the engagement was likely to be finalized.
She ran all the way back to the temporary palace, handed her steed to the palace attendants, and then took a sedan chair to Jade Spring Palace.
The weather was hot. While riding, she hadn’t felt it much, but once she dismounted, she began to sweat. Upon returning to Jade Spring Palace, Wei Rao ordered water to be drawn for a bath.
Wei Gōnggong and Bitao had followed her to the hunting grounds but had been left behind by Wei Rao and had not yet returned. Liuya attended to her mistress’s bath. As Wei Rao settled into the tub and Liuya gently wiped her with a soft cloth, she suddenly noticed a red mark on Wei Rao’s snow-white nape, previously hidden by her cascading black hair.
"Has the princess been bitten by a mosquito?"” Liuya asked with concern. “Is it itchy? It must have happened recently. I’ll fetch some medicine.”
Liuya was certain it was a mosquito bite and hurried out of the hall, instructing a young maid to bring Cooling Balm, an ointment specifically for insect bites.
Wei Rao didn’t feel any itch. Curious, she touched the back of her neck but didn’t feel any bump. She asked Liuya to hold up a mirror for her to see. When she caught sight of the faint mark, her mind went blank with a rush of memories—the scene in the woods where Lu Zhuo had pressed her against the poplar tree suddenly became vivid again.
It was an unfamiliar sensation, neither quite itchy nor entirely unnoticeable. What shamed her was that, despite Lu Zhuo taking such liberties, she hadn’t disliked it.
Her body temperature rose, and Wei Rao sank deeper into the water, leaving only her head exposed.
"What’s wrong, Princess?"” Liuya was startled to see the beauty in the water blush, her skin taking on a delicate peach-blossom pink.
Wei Rao shook her head, yawned, and said, “I’m tired. Let’s finish quickly. After this, I want to rest for a while.”
By distracting herself with other thoughts, she gradually returned to normal.
Having ridden a horse, after her bath, Wei Rao specifically asked Liuya to massage her legs.
She lay comfortably on the bed while Liuya quietly and skillfully applied a layer of Flower Dew before beginning to knead her muscles.
It was usually a routine matter, but now Wei Rao found herself inexplicably thinking of Lu Zhuo—imagining that after they married, he would treat her as depicted in those little booklets. Her face heated up again. It was worth noting that three years ago, during her first marriage to Lu Zhuo, she had never indulged in such wild thoughts.
"Princess, are you suffering from heatstroke?"” Liuya noticed her mistress’s unusual state and asked with worry.
Wei Rao shook her head and softly asked Liuya, “You’re nineteen too—have you ever thought about marrying?"Liuya’s face flushed slightly as she teased, 'How could I think of such things when the princess hasn’t married yet?" If I were to marry, it would only be after the princess is wed and settled into married life, and then I’d ask the princess to arrange it for us.”
Wei Rao thought to herself, indeed, Liuya and Bitao were as inexperienced as she was in these matters. Even if she had feelings she wanted to share, talking to them would be of no use.
By nearly noon, Wei Gōnggong and Bitao finally returned with the emperor’s entourage. They were followed by two palace attendants carrying a large cage containing a red-headed wild duck and a brood of ducklings.
“What’s this?” Liuya asked in surprise.Bitao’s little face was flushed from the sun, yet she beamed with more joy than during the New Year festivities. She boasted to Liuya, "You weren’t at the hunting grounds, so you wouldn’t know. The heir came to pester the princess again, and she said she’d marry him only if he could catch a wild duck. Not only did he catch one, but he caught two in one go! He even secured the Emperor and the Noble Consort’s approval for the marriage. Overjoyed, he went on to capture the entire nest of wild ducks, saying he’d raise them in the lakes around Jade Spring Palace and Flowing Wave Palace so the princess could admire them anytime."
The Emperor approved the marriage?
Liuya turned around in pleasant surprise.
Wei Rao stood at the doorway. She had been outside for a while, having overheard Bitao’s words and spotted the cage with the nest of red-headed wild ducks. The ducks had a circle of red feathers around their heads and dark green wings. The adult ducks looked somewhat fierce, while the ducklings were utterly adorable. Wild ducks like these wouldn’t survive long in a domestic setting, but if released into the natural lakes of the imperial retreat and tended by palace attendants, they would likely thrive.
"Princess, this is heaven’s will! You’re destined to be my sister-in-law!" Lu Changning’s playful words echoed in her ears. Recalling how Lu Zhuo had galloped off to capture the ducklings, Wei Rao smiled and instructed the palace attendants to release the nest of ducks into the lake.
Jade Spring Palace had a Waterside Pavilion, and from there, one could watch the wild ducks leisurely exploring their new home.
Before long, Little Zhou arrived.
Feeling guilty, Wei Rao retreated to the inner chamber. Her mother had intended to make Lu Zhuo wait a little longer, but Wei Rao had relented after he kissed her.
Little Zhou entered alone.
Wei Rao sat on the bed, toying with a jade pendant. The pendant felt cool to the touch, its color reminiscent of bamboo.
She didn’t need to speak—her flushed cheeks betrayed her emotions.
Little Zhou sat beside her on the bed, gazing at her daughter with a mix of heartache and relief. At least this time, her daughter genuinely approved of Lu Zhuo and wasn’t putting on an act for her sake.
"What did Lu Zhuo do to win you over so quickly?" Little Zhou asked gently. She couldn’t believe her daughter had demanded he catch a wild duck the moment they met.
Wei Rao lowered her head, fiddling with the jade pendant even more rapidly.
Little Zhou chuckled, took the pendant from her, and drew her daughter into an embrace. "Why be shy with your mother? I’ve been away from you for so long. The first time you married, I only found out afterward. Now that we finally have a chance to sit together and share our hearts, won’t you tell me, Rao’er? Consider it making up for the mother-daughter moments we’ve missed."
Wei Rao’s heart was indeed fluttering like a startled deer because of Lu Zhuo. She longed to confide in someone but had no suitable sisters her age nearby.
Hearing her mother’s words, Wei Rao leaned against her shoulder and whispered shyly, "He had Changning coax me into meeting him, and then he caught me and pulled me onto his horse."
Little Zhou remembered how Lu Zhuo had done the same to her daughter two years earlier. But since they weren’t truly married at the time, if Lu Zhuo dared to act so boldly, it was either because he was inherently lustful or because he had already fallen for her daughter and couldn’t resist behaving improperly.
If he dared to embrace her daughter in front of her, what else might he have done when they were alone in the grove?
"Did he kiss you?" Little Zhou cut straight to the point.
Wei Rao closed her eyes, the tips of her ears turning crimson.
Little Zhou gritted her teeth. "Besides kissing you, did he do anything else more inappropriate?"Wei Rao quickly shook her head. Lu Zhuo might have had such intentions, but after she slapped him three times, he didn’t dare act recklessly again.
Little Zhou snorted, "He knows better. If he dared take advantage of your youth and innocence, I would never let him off."
Wei Rao had witnessed her mother’s temper firsthand. The mother she remembered was gentle as water, yet when punishing Lu Zhuo, she showed no mercy, making him kneel under the scorching sun for half a day.
"Mother, there’s something I don’t understand."
"What is it?"
"When he kissed me, why did I lose all my strength?" The feeling was so strange that Wei Rao couldn’t help suspecting Lu Zhuo had secretly drugged her—he might have access to such things.
Hearing this, Little Zhou felt another pang of sorrow. Her daughter was already eighteen. If Lu Zhuo had treated her well three years ago, would she only now be experiencing the taste of love, still so naive?
She leaned closer to her daughter and explained in a low voice.
Emperor Yuanjia had verbally agreed to the marriage arrangement but did not immediately issue an imperial decree.
Lu Zhuo guessed that the emperor would formally announce the decree after returning to the capital—one copy to be delivered to the Princess Manor and another to the Duke of Yingguo’s Manor.
However, given the attitude of the Noble Consort, Lu Zhuo couldn’t help worrying that she still hadn’t forgiven him and disliked him so much that she might suddenly persuade Emperor Yuanjia to retract his promise and cancel the marriage.
The Noble Consort was deeply favored—there was no telling what she might do.
Lu Zhuo began sending gifts to Flowing Wave Palace and Jade Spring Palace every few days—sometimes foxes he had hunted in the mountains, sometimes rare local wildflowers he had picked, or amusing folk tales from the northern regions he had collected. Although Wei Rao and her mother never saw him, they heard news of him almost daily.
"Rao’er, remember this: men need to be kept on edge. If you treat them too well, they take you for granted. If you occasionally act cold or stir up a little trouble, they’ll be desperate for your attention," Little Zhou advised her daughter while eating lychees, sharing her wisdom on managing husbands. "In short, you must prioritize yourself above any man. Don’t always put him first. If you treat him like the sky, he’ll treat you like dirt."
Hearing this, Wei Rao first thought of her mother and Emperor Yuanjia.
Could it be that the emperor’s lingering attachment to her mother was the result of her mother’s careful training?
But as a daughter, Wei Rao could seek her mother’s advice on her own romantic affairs but felt too embarrassed to pry into the secrets of her elders.
Unconsciously, it was already July, and the weather had grown quite cool in the mornings and evenings.
Emperor Yuanjia announced the return to the capital.
The procession moved slowly, and by mid-July, the carriages finally passed through the capital’s city gates.
After returning to the capital, Emperor Yuanjia issued several imperial decrees for marriage arrangements, betrothing one principal consort and two secondary consorts each to Prince Jing and Fu Wang. Among these, the most talked-about among the capital’s citizens was the emperor’s decree appointing Xie Hualou, the sixth young lady of the scholarly Xie family, as a secondary consort to Prince Jing.
Xie Hualou had been engaged to Lu Zhuo before the betrothal was called off. Due to the mourning period for Old Tutor Xie’s passing, her reputation had not suffered greatly. Of course, some might still accuse the Xie family of breaking faith, but filial piety outweighed all else, and many would argue the Xie family had done nothing wrong. Emperor Yuanjia had been a student of Old Tutor Xie, and Xie Hualou was renowned as the capital’s top talented maiden. Had it not been for the broken engagement, she could have been chosen as a principal consort years ago.
When the news reached the Duchess of Yingguo, the old lady sighed softly.After careful consideration back then, she had chosen Xie Hualou, which was enough to prove Xie Hualou's own excellence. Although the marriage alliance between the two families did not materialize, the Duchess of Yingguo still hoped Xie Hualou would marry a good man. Prince Jing, being the Empress's legitimate son, naturally held a noble status and could not be said to mistreat Xie Hualou in any way. However, once Xie Hualou married into the imperial family, her future path would inevitably become intricate and complicated.
She felt regretful for Xie Hualou, while the Empress even thought Xie Hualou was unworthy of her son!
"Your Majesty, Xie Hualou is a woman who was rejected by the Duke of Yingguo's household. How could she become a daughter-in-law of the imperial family? Should our son pick up someone Lu Zhuo didn't want?" Upon learning of the decree, the Empress immediately sought an audience with Emperor Yuanjia and voiced her discontent. She was deeply displeased—how could Emperor Yuanjia not consult her at all regarding their son's marriage? The chosen princess consort wasn't even her preferred candidate.
Emperor Yuanjia, facing his memorials, asked indifferently, "During the peony banquet in April, you summoned the Xie daughter to the palace. I thought you were quite fond of her."
The Empress was left speechless.
She did not like Xie Hualou. She had called Xie Hualou to the palace to use her to dampen Wei Rao's spirit, but how could she openly admit this reason?
"The Xie daughter never set foot outside the Xie residence before her marriage. Yet you summoned her to the palace twice. If I did not grant her this marriage, how would I face the spirit of the late Grand Tutor in the afterlife?" Closing the memorial in his hand, Emperor Yuanjia finally glanced at the Empress. "You are no longer young. Consider carefully what you should and should not do from now on."
No longer young?
These few words infuriated her more than anything else he had said that day. The Empress's meticulously made-up face immediately flushed a deep purplish-red.
After dismissing the Empress, Emperor Yuanjia ordered the drafting of the decree.
Shortly after, two groups of palace attendants left the imperial palace, heading toward the Princess Manor and the Duke of Yingguo's Manor respectively.
The next day, the news of Wei Rao and Lu Zhuo's marriage spread like wildfire through the streets and alleys of the capital, swiftly overshadowing the marriages of the two princes.
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