Chapter 16

During Rong Tang’s stay at Tuolan Temple, he’s been a vegetarian and prayed to Buddha for a total of five days. He felt that he has become very calm.

Although on his way down the mountain, he still thought that if he returns a little quicker, he might be able to make it for dinner at Yong’an Lane. However, Rong Tang feels that he isn’t so eager to return home.

At most, that small tin of tea leaves will be finished by today. If he wants to drink it again, he’ll have to go to Su Huaijing’s place for more. But as soon as Rong Mingyu said this, he turned around and got on the carriage to head towards the palace gate before Rong Tang could even refute it.

Rong Tang is very puzzled, astonished, and even a bit agitated.

For someone who hasn’t bothered about his son in ages, doesn’t care whether his legitimate son is taking a wife or being married off to a man or a woman, would he all of a sudden be concerned with his health because of a change in the weather?

If it wasn’t because when you spoke, you didn’t have any emotion at all—like you were reading from a script— I would actually believe it aaa!

Rong Tang unhappily returned to his courtyard. Shuang Fu and Shuang Shou focused on holding their breaths, not daring to make a sound.

The weather is getting warmer. The red charcoal brazier has been removed from the room, the flowers that bloomed early have fallen, and the seasonal plants are in bloom again. Everywhere in the palace is filled with fragrance.

Rong Tang sat in the courtyard at dusk, gazing up at the vast twilight sky above the red bricks and green tiles. He asks Shuang Fu, “Am I being placed in confinement?”

Shuang Fu doesn’t dare to speak frankly: “The Duke is being considerate for Young Master’s health.”

“Ha.” Rong Tang released a sneer and said no more.

Rong Mingyu is the only duke in Dayu with a different surname. Emperor Renshou himself was a vassal king and had marched his army northward. There wasn’t much change in his first year after taking the throne. Once his position on the throne had been firmly established, he began to reduce the vassals.

During that time, Rong Mingyu could not avoid being talked about wherever he went, and all the officials he had been friends with deliberately distanced themselves from him. He knew very well in his heart: When all the vassal kings in other places have been removed, the unlucky one ought to be the capital’s newly conferred duke.

But it wasn’t. Year after year, day after day passed by. Not only was Ningxuan Palace not raided, but it gradually grew more and more prosperous. The palace bustled with visitors, with officials endlessly coming and going, and Rong Mingyu became a well-deserved minister of the emperor.

Some people say that he is Emperor Renshou’s dog—raised by him, and never barks.

He looks warm and gentle, but in fact, he’s done all the dirty things that aren’t fit for people to see.

With a person such as this, even if they look at you with a smile, you’d better be on your guard.

Therefore, after Rong Mingyu uttered such words in front of the palace, Rong Tang truly couldn’t even exit the door these days.

Rong Tang is somewhat irritated. He holds the triangle-folded safety talisman in his hand. It contains the incense ash he specially obtained in front of Buddha. He pinched it and handed it to the side as he called Shuang Shou, “Help me deliver this to Yong’an Lane tomorrow.”

“Yes.” Shuang Shou responded and stepped forward to take it. The moment his hand touched the safety talisman, Rong Tang hesitated for a second and withdrew it: “Never mind. I said I would get it for him. It’s better if I give it to him personally.”

There is a layer of stars covering the sky. Rong Tang frowned and said, “Go pass a message to Su Huaijing tomorrow. Tell him that I have been confined at home by the Duke and that I shall see him at the wedding. If there is anything lacking or needed in the house, you can go directly to the bank to withdraw money and send it to him.”

The more he talked, the more vexed he became. Rong Tang kept the safety talisman, carried the portrait of Buddha given by Huimian, and entered the study room.

Originally, he wanted to set up a separate room to enshrine the portrait, but after careful consideration, he isn’t actually that devout of a follower. It wouldn’t be good to hang up the Buddha portrait and not be able to chant sutras every day. So he simply found a place in the treasure pavilion to store it and keeps the safety talisman inside the pouch that he carries with him.

Rong Tang meanders around the study room twice, noting down some furnishings that he wants to add. He plans to have Shuang Shou buy them when he leaves the house tomorrow, as well as ask around if there was anything new happening in the capital these days.

Unexpectedly, before Shuang Shou returned, Rong Tang got up early and went to the Wang Fei’s room to make his greetings. It was then that he caught sight of Rong Zheng hurriedly fastening his clothes as he ran out of his courtyard. The undersides of his eyes are dark, evidence that he hasn’t ‘t slept well for several days.

Rong Tang remained in place and waited for a while. Seeing him quickly scurrying past, he calls out leisurely, “Er di is rushing out. Where are you going?”

Rong Zheng paused and salutes him somewhat uneasily: “Da ge.”

“Mmm.” Rong Tang smiled and waited by the side for his answer.

He didn’t move or speak, as if he were blocking the way. Rong Zheng found his behaviour frustrating, but throughout the palace, from the most senior to the lowest ranks, everyone maintains an outward appearance of cordiality and uphold their commitments to filial piety and fraternal duty, regardless of their personal feelings.

If Rong Zheng dares to disrespect Rong Tang in the garden today, his hypocritical san di would blab about him all the way to their father tomorrow.

He pondered for a while and then forced a smile: “I heard that a new batch of high-quality Shenquan smoke ink is now available in the market and want to buy some for my teacher. Any later, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to buy it.”

Rong Tang took measure of him for a second, then smiled and said, “In that case, I’ll bother er di to help me buy back the two bars.”

Rong Zheng’s expression changed slightly: “What does xiong zhang need these for?”

Rong Tang’s physical strength isn’t good. The Wang Fei distresses when he picks up a brush to write and has never even permitted him to go to attend family school. Even though he is better now, Shenquan smoke ink requires a powerful and energetic script in order to maximise its beauty. Rong Tang obviously doesn’t possess this kind of energy.

Rong Tang smiled: “To gift to your future sister-in-law.”

Rong Zheng: “…”

He feels that his da ge has become a bit evil since recovering. Every time he says a few words to him, it causes him to suffer internal injuries.

Rong Zheng doesn’t dare ask any more questions. He gave a proper bow and let Rong Tang pass by him before rushing out again.

The system suddenly spoke: [Host, he should be going to meet the Second Prince.]

“Court hasn’t dismissed yet; there’s still time.” Rong Tang said as he glanced at the sky.

He’s divided the study room into two—one half for Rong Tang and the other for Su Huaijing. He worries that the ink he uses is too light and not suitable for Su Huaijing. Rong Zheng has provided him some comfort, and his depression from being confined by Rong Mingyu has dissipated a lot.

The system is a little happy when it sees its host’s smile after succeeding in his little trick and asks, “Do you need me to help you see what they’re doing?”]

“No need.” Rong Tang said, “Su Huaijing is much less worrisome than Sheng Chengli.”

When he’d assisted Sheng Chengli, even if Rong Tang had calculated all the plans, he still had to worry about whether or not the villain would oppose him and sabotage from within, so he had to repeatedly make use of the system’s function to confirm. But in Su Huaijing’s case—leaving aside the fact that his Boy is already smart—the male protagonist has just exited the cold palace and won’t have the ability to go against Su Huaijing. Is there anything he wants to do but can’t?

Why would he need the system’s help to check?

Thinking of this, the corners of Rong Tang’s raised lips unconsciously dropped again.

The system asked him: [Host, what’s going on with you?]

Rong Tang appears a little depressed: “I miss Boyboy.”

Never mind that he can’t witness the scene where the main villain first appears before the earlier minor villain—the Second Prince—incidentally, he can’t even participate at all.

Oh, woe is me.

[……]

–

Shangyang Inn, west of the city.

The inn has been closed for several days, but they have been racking in more money at the counter than in the past month.

Several nobles have completely reserved this small inn of his.

The shopkeeper’s smile reveals his gold teeth as he counts money behind the counter. Just then, he sees a young man in green robes entering from the door, followed by a young lad. The lad is carrying two heavy oil paper packages with Lushi’s Bookstore written on them in black ink.

Rong Zheng appears calm and doesn’t look directly at the shopkeeper. He walks along the back door into the small courtyard. There are already many people gathered at the back. The Second Prince is in the middle, smiling as pleased as a punch. When he saw him stepping in, his expression focused a little, and he says, “Jingzhi, you’re a little late today.”

Rong Zheng’s heart sank slightly, and he hastens his pace over to bow in greeting: “Before going out, my xiong zhang asked me to buy two blocks of smoke ink for him. I had to detour before coming and was delayed as a result. Your Highness, please forgive me.”

When the Second Prince heard Rong Tang’s name, his expression improved somewhat, and he didn’t want to bother with it anymore. But Qin Pengxuan suddenly let out a “hng“: “That sickly da ge of yours hasn’t even attended much school. What’s the point of buying ink?”

Rong Zheng frowned a little.

He really doesn’t like his half-witted brother, but this Qin Pengxuan is even more obnoxious. Although he is the heir of Earl Wukang, his behaviour is no different from that of a lowborn peasant. Initially, the Second Prince didn’t rely on him, but this time he’d been somehow fortunate enough to discover the traces of the rebel Chen Fei and flaunted in front of His Highness.

In these recent days, Qin Pengxuan has been swaggering around in front of them while harping on that meritorious contribution of his.

Rong Zheng says coldly, “Xiong zhang is buying the four treasures of the study for my eldest sister-in-law.”

Qin Pengxuan’s voice halted, as if he’d thought of something, and what flashed across his face was a fierce hatred.

The Second Prince suddenly became interested and raised his eyebrows: “Rong Tang actually wants to marry a male wife?”

Rong Zheng: “Truly.”

“Strange.” The Second Prince murmured.

Someone behind him whispers, “With that body of his, even if he marries a male wife, who knows who would end up being suppressed?”

These words were vulgar and shouldn’t have been uttered in front of the prince in the first place. However, everyone has been hanging out with the Second Prince day and night and have even visited Fengyue House countless times. They burst out laughing upon hearing the words.

Rong Zheng stood in front of everyone with a confused expression. He doesn’t participate in the teasing but asks the Second Prince, “I wonder if everything has been prepared for Your Highness for this outing?”

The group of people who were laughing immediately fell silent. The Second Prince waves his hand and says, “Why are you so nervous? This Prince has the help of the young master, so success will naturally follow when conditions are right.”

Rong Zheng frowned. This is not the first time he’s heard the Second Prince say “young master”, but he’s never seen him before.

The first time he heard about it was when Qin Pengxuan discovered Chen Fei. The Second Prince rejoiced there and then, intending to report to the emperor and have someone dispatch troops to capture him.

For the sake of being sure, he even personally came to Shangyang Inn to observe it. Incidentally, he changed his mind when he returned and said that there were other ways to gain His Majesty’s favour.

Thus, everyone has been busy from the end of the second month until today, just waiting for the next few days when the Emperor and Empress will leave the palace to worship their ancestors.

The Second Prince rarely visits Fengyue House these days. He often sighs when he’s entranced, staring at the moon and contemplating deeply: “Young Master is so noble and pure, just like this bright moonlight. Every time I chat with him, I can’t help but feel inadequate.”

Rong Zheng wants to know who this “young master” is that the Second Prince always talks about. If it isn’t because the Second Prince isn’t into men, Rong Zheng will even suspect that he is actually lovesick.

Fortunately, when this matter was brought up, the Second Prince finally became serious, collected himself, and gave orders for all the matters that needed to be done in the next few days.

In the meantime, at the Tangjing residence in Yong’an Lane, the ‘young master’ whom the Second Prince is longing for is standing at the door, watching the servants hang up the newly-made plaque.

Rong Tang has given him absolute autonomy for this house. He even let him name it himself. Su Huaijing was undecided at first and couldn’t just call it “Su Residence”. After all, his surname isn’t even Su.

But it can’t continue to be blank. Then, subsequently, Rong Tang had been lying on the beauty couch one afternoon, reading a book and Su Huaijing was sitting at the desk, practicing calligraphy. He glanced up to look at Rong Tang, then snapped out of it and wrote Rong Tang’s full name on the Xuan paper*.

(*TN: high-quality paper made in Xuancheng that is especially good for traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy.)

After writing it, he realises that not only does the young prince’s behaviour suit him, he even found his name delightful.

Su Huaijing likes sweet things, and this name sounds sweet when he says it. After thinking about it, he simply took out an empty piece of paper, inscribed it, and asked Xingfeng to take it out to find someone to customise a door plaque. Now that the paint has dried, it can be hung up.

Su Huaijing feels a little better because of the new plaque. He eyes the sky from the door, estimates the time, and decides not to go back.

He ordered: “Xingfeng, go to the study room to steep some tea, then prepare two plates of dried fruits and tangerines. Take out a stack of storybooks from the left side of the bookshelf and put it in front of the couch. Don’t take the third section—all those have already been read.”

Rong Tang doesn’t like pastries, but he likes to eat nuts when reading storybooks. He also ate a lot of roasted tangerines last time. Su Huaijing thought he would have been eating vegetarian food for five days at the temple and was likely sick of it already. He deliberated for a moment and considered whether or not to prepare some spicy snacks for Rong Tang. He seemed to like the hotpot served by the kitchen last time very much.

After listening, Xingfeng’s expression became a little distorted, but he still complied and did everything according to his master’s instructions.

Su Huaijing waited at the door for a long time. However, he wasn’t able to wait for the gold-painted carriage; only Shuang Shou appeared in the alley, driving the little cow cart. He was stunned when he saw him standing in front of the door and hurriedly sped over. He pants, “Why is Young Master Su waiting here? Our Young Master isn’t coming over today!”

Su Huaijing: “?”

Not… coming?

His eyes narrowed, and his expression instantly darkened.

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