Chapter 105

Chapter 105: My Wife Is Mine to Teach

Chun Zhi and everyone in the hall turned. Huo Zheng came in against the light, tall and straight, passed through eunuchs and palace attendants, and walked directly to Chun Zhi’s side. He stopped beside her, bowed to Empress Wang, Consort De, and Beauty Li, then took Chun Zhi’s hand.

Holding hands so openly made Chun Zhi a little shy, but even more at ease. From the moment Huo Zheng appeared, her fear and unease faded. [As long as he is here, I do not worry.]

“Seventh Lord is here,” Beauty Li said, and her nerves pricked. Prince Chang’an was strict with rules and always courteous to the consorts, but in Nanzhou he had personally executed Prince Ning and his son. It showed that, in his eyes, princes and commoners were the same under the law: if they broke it, they died.

Consort De wanted to slip away too, but without a word from Empress Wang, neither she nor Beauty Li dared to move.

Huo Zheng, still holding Chun Zhi’s hand, looked at the mess on the floor and asked in a deep voice: “May I ask, Empress Mother, what is going on?”

“Empress Mother heard your Emperor Father granted you a marriage,” Empress Wang said, sighing, “and was happy. Eager to meet your future daughter-in-law, I summoned her. I meant to drink the daughter-in-law tea early, but she would not do it and even broke the cup.”

Huo Zheng spoke before Chun Zhi could: “Chun Zhi is thrifty. She would not break such a fine cup.”

He said: “There must be a reason. Will you tell me yourselves, or shall I question each one?”

“Forgive us, Your Highness!”

The eunuchs and palace attendants dropped to their knees. The one who had clung to the tray was shaking like a leaf.

“Why are you kneeling? All of you, stand up,” Empress Wang said. She felt her foster son had put her to shame and grew displeased. “Prince Chang’an is used to his power outside. Now he throws his weight around before me as well.”

“Your son would not dare,” Huo Zheng said.

“You say you do not dare, but your face shows no fear,” Empress Wang said. “Seventh Lord, you married a merchant’s daughter who knows no manners. Empress Mother is helping you teach her. It is for your good.”

“My wife is mine to teach,” Huo Zheng said. “There is no need for Empress Mother to worry.”

“You—” Empress Wang was so angry she could not speak for a moment.

Beauty Li and Consort De did not dare cut in.

“Cousin,” Wang Yi Yue called softly, “Aunt is thinking only of you. How can you speak to her like that?”

“I know why Empress Mother summoned Chun Zhi,” Huo Zheng said. “There is no need to say more. In this life, other than Chun Zhi, I will not marry anyone. Not a Secondary Consort, and as for a concubine, she will never cross the gate of the Prince of Chang’an Manor.”

“Seventh Lord!” Empress Wang did not know whom Huo Zheng took after. He was not like her, nor like the Emperor, but like…

“Do not think that forcing Chun Zhi to agree will make me nod,” Huo Zheng said. “Even if she is forced to agree, I still will not accept it.”

He had been in the Imperial Study discussing affairs. During a short break, he heard the Empress had called Chun Zhi into the palace, so he came straight to Wutong Palace. At the door, he heard porcelain shatter and did not wait for an announcement. He walked right in. Luckily, he came in time.

“Seventh Lord—” Empress Wang started.

“I still have important matters,” Huo Zheng said. “I will take my leave.” He finished and pulled Chun Zhi away.

Before going, Chun Zhi did not forget the etiquette she had just learned. She bent in a curtsey to Empress Wang, then turned to leave.

Huo Zheng walked fast and held Chun Zhi’s hand tightly, so tight her hand hurt a little. In front of Empress Wang and the others, Chun Zhi had held herself together. Once they were out of Wutong Palace and she relaxed, her legs felt weak.

“What is it?” Huo Zheng noticed she could not keep up, stopped, and turned to her.

“I feel a little weak in the legs,” Chun Zhi said, a bit embarrassed.

She had never seen such high ladies from the palace. When she watched opera and saw actors wearing the Phoenix Coronet and capes, she already felt it looked very grand.

Huo Zheng’s heart ached for her, and he lifted her into his arms.

“What are you doing?” Chun Zhi startled and said: “This is not proper. Someone may see. Put me down.”

“Didn’t you say your legs are weak?” Huo Zheng said: “I will carry you.”

Chun Zhi wanted to say more.

“We are husband and wife by imperial decree,” Huo Zheng said. “Who dares say we are improper?”

Seeing he would not put her down, Chun Zhi wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest.

Huo Zheng took Chun Zhi out of the palace and sent her back to Song Manor. The Prince of Chang’an Manor’s carriage stood at the Palace Gate. Huo Zheng carried Chun Zhi into the carriage and poured her a cup of tea, saying: “Have some tea to calm down.”

Chun Zhi took a big sip, steadied herself, and said to Huo Zheng: “That was close. I almost drank your cousin’s concubine tea.”

The carriage rolled down the street. Hooves clopped on the road.

“What concubine tea?” Huo Zheng asked, frowning a little.

“The Empress said you and Miss Wang had a prior match,” Chun Zhi said, “and that because I saved your life, the Emperor granted our marriage, so Miss Wang would step back to be Secondary Consort. She came up to me with tea, called me sister. If that is not concubine tea, what is it?”

“I have no engagement with Wang Yi Yue,” Huo Zheng said, serious, “and no feelings for her.”

“I know,” Chun Zhi said. “So I told Miss Wang she should call me cousin-in-law.”

Huo Zheng’s thin lips tipped up a little and he said: “She should call you cousin-in-law.”

“I already have Sister Yu Zhu and Sister Wan’er,” Chun Zhi said. “I do not need another sister. And I will not let anyone try to take my husband.”

Chun Zhi was always the same: either she did not want a thing, or if she wanted it, it must all be hers. Before, because of her low birth, she did not want to tangle with Huo Zheng and went far away. Now she had come to the capital and agreed to walk forward with him. There was no reason to turn back midway.

“What about the broken porcelain on the floor?” Huo Zheng asked her.

“The Empress had me serve her tea,” Chun Zhi said. “A palace attendant brought a cup that was boiling hot. You could see from the steam that it would burn my hands. I could not just pick up the cup, so I tried to take the whole tray. But the palace attendant would not let go. I pulled and could not move it, so I let go…”

Who knew the palace attendant had used so much force that she fell with the cup.

Chun Zhi told it lightly, [I did not suffer a loss, so do not worry].

Huo Zheng held her hand and said in a low voice: “You were wronged.”

“I was not,” Chun Zhi said. “Many mothers-in-law in common homes are hard on daughters-in-law, let alone the Empress. She wanted you to marry a high-born noble lady, and you married a country girl like me…”

Before she finished, Huo Zheng pressed his lips to hers.