Chapter 17: Undercurrents

Chapter 17: Undercurrents

Early the next morning, before An Xia could even enter, Tang Zhuozhuo opened her eyes on her own.

She sat up and parted the light bed curtains. Seeing the sky outside was still a dark, bruised blue, she exhaled softly. She lightly touched the flower vase on the window sill; the icy sensation made her warm fingers recoil slightly.

Originally, the Empress Dowager’s birthday should have been three months later, but Emperor Qiongyuan, following the advice of the Imperial Astronomer, had set it for today.

Thus, today was destined to be a day of surging undercurrents.

After a four-year gap, Tang Zhuozhuo donned the formal court attire of the Crown Princess once again. For a moment, her emotions were subtle and complex, but she suppressed the flicker in her eyes instantly.

Huo Qiu arrived.

The man walked with a wind-like stride. Li Desheng held back the lustrous white pearl curtain for him while simultaneously ordering servants to serve the meal.

Tang Zhuozhuo pursed her lips, realizing he had come before even having his own breakfast.

“Your Highness has come so early?” She arched an eyebrow. Her almond eyes seemed to hold a night’s worth of mist, yet also seemed to hide the stars of the heavens. her smile was as brilliant as the first plum blossom blooming in the depth of winter.

She was so beautiful one could not look away.

Huo Qiu paused slightly, unobservably closing his eyes to hide the pool of deep, inscrutable emotion within. “Mmh. I was afraid you wouldn’t be able to get up.”

Tang Zhuozhuo stood straight, allowing An Xia to arrange her outfit, but her face bore a look of total indignation as she muttered under her breath, “When have I ever woken up late?”

As soon as these words came out, even An Xia’s expression became a bit unnatural.

The fact that the Crown Princess woke up late was no secret in the Eastern Palace. Because of this, the Prince had specifically instructed the junior consorts and concubines that they need not come early for morning greetings if there was no pressing matter.

Tang Zhuozhuo’s gaze lingered on a set of red ruby headwear that An Xia had brought from the storehouse. After a moment, she reached out and picked up a piece of suet-white jade from her jewelry box, her brow furrowing slightly in a bit of a dilemma.

Huo Qiu, sitting in a heavy pearwood chair, saw her motionless for a long while and asked, “What is it?”

Tang Zhuozhuo turned around. The large gold-threaded peonies on her sleeves complemented her jade-white wrists, and even the beauty mark beneath her eye seemed more seductive than usual.

She bit her lower lip and spoke: “Your Highness, help me look at this hairpin.”

Huo Qiu’s gaze paused over the various hairpins in her jewelry box, and he frowned imperceptibly. He had never understood much about these feminine trinkets.

Even so, he absolutely could not refuse those eyes that held a sea of stars.

Huo Qiu rose. His bright yellow Prince’s formal robes shimmered under the candlelight, making his tall figure appear as slender as bamboo and as refreshing as a clear breeze.

He walked to Tang Zhuozhuo’s side and looked at the hairpins cluttering the table. He was silent for a moment, then asked, “Which one?”

Tang Zhuozhuo pointed to the red ruby set in An Xia’s hands. “It is Imperial Grandmother’s grand birthday. On such a day, it is right to wear something festive and solemn, but this set feels a bit too aged.”

Huo Qiu’s gaze shifted to the hairpin held in her snowy white hand. After a moment of deliberation, he said, “It is not aged. I like it when you wear it.”

Tang Zhuozhuo looked up at him, peering directly into a pair of eyes like a deep, waveless well. The questions winding their way up her throat were swallowed back down, and she smiled compliantly. “Very well, I shall listen to Your Highness.”

Had Huo Qiu seen her wear this set before?

But even if she didn’t ask, how could Huo Qiu not guess her confusion? On the day of their grand wedding, beneath the bright red bridal veil, she had been breathtakingly beautiful, and the headwear she wore then was this very set.

Unfortunately, these memories, which he cherished in the depths of his heart, seemed to have nothing to do with her. Along with himself, they had been utterly rejected by her.

After breakfast, Huo Qiu and Tang Zhuozhuo went together to Cining Palace.

Along the way, Huo Qiu spoke very little, his expression as cold as a snowman built on a winter night. Tang Zhuozhuo didn’t dare be too unrestrained, looking here and there without making a sound for fear of provoking his annoyance.

However, the carriage jolted occasionally, and she grew drowsy. Eventually, in a daze, she actually fell asleep resting against Huo Qiu’s shoulder.

Huo Qiu frowned and set down the book he had been holding upside down. He looked at the person resting on his shoulder, her face white with a rosy flush. As if possessed, he touched her face, his fingertips eventually wandering to her scarlet lips before he suddenly snapped back to his senses.

Fortunately, his movements were light and did not disturb her. Huo Qiu rubbed his aching brow, struggling to suppress the yearning in his heart.

But whether he opened or closed his eyes, all he heard was her voice calling him “Your Highness” in that coquettish tone. He wanted to pull her into his very bones without restraint; the thought made his heart ache, yet he dared not move.

They had finally reached this stage of harmonious coexistence; he could not be the one to break it with his own hands.

Tang Zhuozhuo had actually woken up the moment he touched her cheek. Because her eyes were closed, his gentle touch felt even more tender. She felt a bit itchy and her eyelashes fluttered quickly, but she endured it.

In two lifetimes, this was the first time she had experienced such treatment from Huo Qiu. In the past, he was either wearing a detached mask or using cold words to warn and strike at her, as aloof as a banished immortal. Of the three thousand beauties in the inner palace, not one had ever caught his eye.

When they reached the gates of Cining Palace, Huo Qiu stroked her smooth hair, his voice still cool: “Wake up. We are here.”

Only then did Tang Zhuozhuo gracefully open her eyes, giving Huo Qiu a soft smile. Huo Qiu, however, didn’t even spare her a glance, walking ahead on his own.

Tang Zhuozhuo found it a bit funny in her heart. This man was truly saying one thing while feeling another.

Cining Palace

Tang Zhuozhuo had been to the Empress Dowager’s Cining Palace more than once, but coming again, she was still a bit nervous.

Huo Qiu sensed her anxiety and opened his thin lips to say, “Accompany Imperial Grandmother in conversation for a while. I must go to Chenqian Palace.”

“The other Princes’ wives should have arrived. There is a palace banquet tonight; do not run around. Wait for me.”

Tang Zhuozhuo nodded gently, and only then did Huo Qiu’s expression soften slightly.

As expected, when they reached the hall, the other Princes’ wives were all present. The elderly woman sitting at the head looked kind, but her gaze held a wisdom and sense of worldly exhaustion. Tang Zhuozhuo’s heart tightened as she followed Huo Qiu in performing a grand salute.

“Golden peace to Imperial Grandmother.”

“Rise.”

The Empress Dowager had practiced Buddhism for years, leaving the hall filled with a deep scent of sandalwood. Even her voice was jolly; she looked no different from an ordinary old woman.

But Tang Zhuozhuo knew that Empress Dowager Qiu was the most sharp-eyed person in the entire inner palace. The blood and storms her hands had touched were by no means few.

“The Crown Princess has finally arrived. Imperial Grandmother was just mentioning you; I only said I feared you had overslept again.” The speaker was the Sixth Prince’s wife, Lady Liu. She wore a radiant smile that one couldn’t find fault with, yet her tone made one feel extremely uncomfortable.

Huo Qiu frowned deeply, a dense chill enveloping his body. His voice sounded like it was laced with ice shards: “Before leaving, this grandson soiled a garment, which delayed us for some time. I hope Imperial Grandmother will forgive me.”

Lady Liu instantly looked a bit sheepish and did not speak again.

Tang Zhuozhuo sneered inwardly. In her past life, this Lady Liu had sought trouble for her at every turn. Back then, Tang Zhuozhuo would only sit there coldly without saying a word, which made Lady Liu think she was afraid, causing her to become even more arrogant. She had simply been too lazy to argue with such a “jumping beam clown.”

In her previous life, the reason the Sixth Prince, Huo Qi, lost the struggle for the throne was partly due to Lady Liu’s stupidity.

Liu Hanjiang doted on his wife and daughter. In her past life, for some reason, his wife passed away suddenly, leaving behind a three- or four-year-old beloved daughter. He pampered her in every way possible. The Sixth Prince held him in high regard, so the daughter was brought into the Sixth Prince’s estate to live and eat with Lady Liu’s legitimate daughter.

Although Huo Qi gave repeated instructions, Lady Liu’s mind was too rigid. What was her daughter’s status, and what was Liu Hanjiang’s daughter’s status? She viewed the girl as just a country wench without a mother to teach her, what if she led her own daughter astray?

At first, it was just complaints, but as time went on and the girl received more rewards than her own daughter, Lady Liu grew resentful. She allowed her pampered daughter to bully and ostracize the little girl, which eventually led to tragedy. Liu Hanjiang’s daughter was pushed into the estate’s lotus pond in front of several people; her body wasn’t recovered until midnight.

The Sixth Prince was thunderous with rage and apologized personally to Liu Hanjiang, but he never heard Liu Hanjiang speak another word to him. Without Liu Hanjiang’s strategy, how could he hope to compete? His defeat was like a mountain collapsing, and it fell right onto his head.

A flicker of pity passed through Tang Zhuozhuo’s bright eyes. The Sixth Prince probably died of anger in the end.

The Empress Dowager laughed a few times and waved her hand. “Why speak of this? I told you all to come later, yet you all insist on coming so early to accompany this old woman.”

In the hall, besides the Sixth Prince’s wife, there sat the Third and Tenth Princes’ wives. Seeing her, they bowed slightly and smiled kindly.

Shortly after Huo Qiu left, the Empress Dowager turned her prayer beads and asked, “Wife of the Fourth, I heard you were ill recently. Is your body well?”

Tang Zhuozhuo lowered her eyelids and replied with some embarrassment, “Thank you for your concern, Imperial Grandmother. My body is no longer troubled.”

The Empress Dowager hummed and nodded, sparing Tang Zhuozhuo a few more looks. Among the grandchildren, the one she truly favored in her heart was Huo Qiu, and by extension, she held some expectations for Tang Zhuozhuo.

But this child had been spoiled by the Tang family; it didn’t seem like she was made for the role of Crown Princess, let alone the future Mother of the Nation. On second thought, she felt resigned, the Tang family was full of sons and had only this one daughter; of course she would be pampered. Moreover, she hadn’t expected Huo Qiu to beg Emperor Qiongyuan for this specific Crown Princess.

But seeing how much Huo Qiu cherished her, she didn’t bother to say anything. Matters of the heart are like drinking water, only the one drinking knows if it’s hot or cold. She was an old woman with half her body in the grave; there was no need to meddle.

However, seeing her today, she felt the Tang girl had changed completely. Even her gaze was brighter, and she finally had the air of a Crown Princess. This change was something she was happy to see.

The Empress Dowager’s face remained neutral as she said, “You all go walk in the garden, admire the flowers, and drink some tea. I am a bit tired, and there is still much to endure tonight.”

She said she was tired, but in reality, she found them bothersome. Having several people sitting there so stiffly, not even daring to speak much, would not make anyone feel comfortable.

Tang Zhuozhuo’s heart stirred. She performed a bow and went to the Imperial Garden with the other wives.

Before they even arrived, they saw the retinue of the Noble Consort approaching from a distance. Tang Zhuozhuo saw the smile on Lady Liu’s face and couldn’t help but look cold.

They had just left Cining Palace and immediately ran into Consort Yan. If anyone believed this wasn’t a calculated encounter, they were fools.