Although it was said to be a break, Huayang couldn't fall asleep at all. She lay on the same bed with Empress Qi. Sometimes she stayed in Empress Qi's arms and talked, and sometimes she lay aside to really sleep. But not long after, she turned over again, her eyes sparkling and full of smiles.
Empress Qi said helplessly: "You, you, why are you still like a child?"
Huayang: "I am your child."
Outside, she was a princess, and everyone respected and feared her. Huayang enjoyed that feeling, but she also had to maintain the dignity of a princess at all times. For example, she clearly wanted to wade in the stream behind the Chen family's ancestral home, but she had to pretend to be uninterested and was "forced" by Chen Jingzong to play for a while. Only when she was with her father and mother could she do whatever she wanted without worrying about damaging her dignity.
Empress Qi stroked her daughter's messy hair and asked, "How is your relationship with your husband? You have been gone for two years. Has he ever wronged you in any way?"
She was relieved about other people in the Chen family. After all, her daughter didn't need to deal with them day and night. Only Chen Jingzong, as her daughter's bedside man, was the one with whom she and her husband were most likely to have conflicts.
Empress Qi still remembered the resentment in her daughter's eyes when she mentioned Chen Jingzong to her when she returned to the palace shortly after her marriage.
Huayang thought about it carefully. Chen Jingzong did often make her angry, but to be honest, Chen Jingzong had never done anything to deliberately wrong her.
He would sleep on the ground to protect her from bugs, would secretly buy meat for her when they had to eat only vegetarian food, and would willingly carry her up the mountain when a flood came.
"No, how dare he wrong me." Huayang said while playing with a strand of hair, with a look of pride on his face.
Empress Qi smiled and said, "Whether one dares to do so is one thing, and whether one wants to do so is another. Some consorts fear the imperial power and dare not beat or scold the princess, but they may have beaten and scolded her countless times in their hearts. In the final analysis, it all depends on whether he has feelings for the princess."
Huayang was silent.
Love is something that only scholars can talk about, such as writing a letter of love, expressing love in poetry and painting, or using the sound of a zither or a flute to express one's true feelings. Chen Jingzong was good to her, but he never said a single sweet word to her. He said a lot of dirty words, and as for what he said, that he would never touch another woman even if she divorced him, and that he would be willing to be a ghost couple with her even if she died, it was all nonsense in bed, and Huayang didn't take it to heart.
Huayang was very sure that Chen Jingzong liked her body to the point of obsession, but was this just the desire of love between a man and a woman, was it equal to love
Huayang was more inclined to believe that if the two of them really broke up one day, as long as a beautiful woman with fair skin was stuffed into Chen Jingzong's room, Chen Jingzong would pounce on her.
Of course, the two did not separate. Chen Jingzong naturally looked down on others because he had a princess like her.
"I don't care whether he wants to or not, as long as he doesn't dare to." Huayang said indifferently.
Empress Qi looked at her daughter inquiringly: "What about you? Do you like your husband?"
Huayang: "I can't say I like it very much, but it doesn't look as bad as it did at the beginning."
Her feelings towards Chen Jingzong were more like a kind of satisfaction. It seemed that whenever she needed something, such as someone to carry her on his back or Chen Jingzong to perform in the Prince of Xiang's mansion, Chen Jingzong would consciously satisfy her and never let her down in major matters. Huayang was satisfied, and Chen Jingzong would come to ask for sex again at night. Unless Huayang was really not in the mood that day, she would be willing to give it to him. After all, both of them were happy.
Looking at her daughter's bright face like a flower, Empress Qi smiled softly.
In a marriage like this arranged by the parents, it is already very good if the daughter likes Chen Jingzong. It is better than having to sleep in the same bed with him even though she obviously doesn't like him.
After all, Huayang had been sitting in the car all the way, and as he was talking, he finally felt sleepy and fell into a deep sleep.
Empress Qi turned over and lay on her back.
Seeing her daughter who was still a newly married woman, Empress Qi thought of her own youth.
She was born beautiful and came from a well-off family. When she was thirteen or fourteen years old and began to fall in love, she hoped to marry a man of her dreams.
But she entered the palace as a concubine and became the woman of Emperor Jingshun.
Emperor Jingshun doted on her very much, but the emperor's doting was limited. He could spend the night with her and stay up all night with other concubines the next night.
Empress Qi didn't even have the time to develop any feelings for Emperor Jingshun because her heart was frozen by the emperor's love. Now that Emperor Jingshun is over fifty years old, Empress Qi is even more eager that Emperor Jingshun will not come to spend the night with her.
Compared to her, her daughter is much more comfortable. Chen Jingzong is young, handsome, strong, and upright. Most importantly, Chen Jingzong and even the entire Chen family dare not openly offend her daughter.
So she still liked to be the queen. At least the position of queen gave her the power to protect her son and allowed her daughter to thrive in her husband's family.
With all these benefits, that illusory love would be better off not having it.
.
Huayang had a very comfortable nap. When she woke up, she learned that her brother had finished his afternoon classes and came here early to wait for her.
Huayang quickly got up, dressed, and went out refreshed.
"Mother, my sister hasn't been back for a long time. I want to take her to visit the Imperial Garden." The prince asked seriously.
Empress Qi smiled and said, "Go ahead. Don't delay too long. Half an hour at most. Your father should be here for dinner."
The brother and sister nodded and left hand in hand.
Queen Qi looked at the hands of the brother and sister and shook her head slightly. Her son did not like being disciplined like a child, but when his sister held his hand, he would not pretend to be an adult.
What the prince wanted to talk about with his sister was naturally different from what Empress Qi wanted to talk about with her daughter.
The brother and sister came to a pavilion overlooking the lake, and Huayang, like a storyteller, told her brother many interesting stories about her time in Lingzhou.
The prince was full of yearning for Lingzhou, Dongting Lake, Wudang Mountain and other places more than 2,000 miles away. He also wanted to go out and travel, and he also wanted to personally catch a local corrupt official and punish evil and promote good.
Huayang ate a piece of fruit and said casually, "You are the only prince in our dynasty. For your safety, your father and mother will definitely not let you leave the palace. You can't go to distant places to enjoy the mountains and rivers for the time being, but it's not easy for you to punish evil and promote good. You must first learn how to be a king. In the future, the people of the world will count on your father and you to help them live a good life with enough food and clothing."
She followed her brother's words and turned to the main business. The prince unconsciously turned his attention to the main business and asked curiously: "Are the local people really living so miserably?"
Huayang in her previous life might not have understood this question, but in this life, she heard with her own ears the complaint filed by the people of Lingzhou against the King of Xiang, and also learned about the situation in the garrison from Chen Jingzong. Naturally, she could explain it to her brother in detail.
The prince is a prince after all. He has the willfulness and impulsiveness of his age, but as the crown prince heir, he also has the concern and consideration for the major affairs of the court.
The whole world is the family business that he will inherit in the future. Which prince does not want to inherit a rich country and a strong army? Which prince wants to inherit a bunch of corrupt officials and soldiers
If the suffering of the common people was not enough for him to empathize with, the prince was furious when he heard that many of the soldiers in the garrison were starving to the point of skin and bones, and their weapons were all in tatters. He said, "Fortunately, the prince consort did not go along with them, otherwise the Lingzhou Garrison would continue to rot. The military pay allocated by the court went into the stomachs of those corrupt officials, and they could only send out a group of weak soldiers to fill the numbers!"
At this point, Huayang gritted his teeth, and once again looked disgusted by the King of Xiang: "Once a man is lustful, he is no good!"
The prince was about to nod when he was suddenly startled. He looked around and winked at his sister.
Hua Yang seemed to have just realized what was happening. He leaned closer to his brother and asked with a frown, "During the time I was away from the capital, what about Father?"
The prince also looked depressed.
The emperor treated him kindly, but most of his attention was spent on women. Sometimes, even when she was talking to him, one of the concubines would pretend to be sick to lure the emperor away.
The queen mother didn't care about messy men or women. Apart from caring about her sister, she spent almost all her thoughts on him. However, the queen mother was too strict and controlled him too tightly.
The prince couldn't tell whether he liked his father or his mother more.
Fortunately, he has a biological sister who has the gentle side of his father and mother, and can also play with him, so the prince likes his sister the most.
Huayang took the opportunity to teach her brother a lesson: "Since you also think that father is not doing this well, when you grow up, you must not be seduced by the harem. Apart from anything else, it is bad for your health. I still expect you to support me for the rest of my life. It would be best if you are still strong and healthy when I am gone, and look like a young man in his thirties or forties even when you are in your seventies or eighties."
The prince sneered: "How is that possible? People will eventually grow old."
Huayang: "Ordinary people age quickly, but practicing martial arts can strengthen the body. Take the imperial physician Li I met for example. He is almost sixty years old, but he can still carry a medicine basket all over the mountains to collect herbs. My sister is young, but she had to be carried by her husband to climb Tianzhu Peak. It shows that health has little to do with age."
The prince was surprised and asked, "Can your husband carry you on his back and climb Tianzhu Peak?"
Huayang smiled and whispered to him: "The greatest advantage of the prince consort is his strong body. Once we climbed a mountain a hundred feet high to watch the sunrise. The prince consort carried me to the top of the mountain in one breath. Although he was panting heavily, it was much better than an ordinary person."
The tall and upright figure of Chen Jingzong emerged in the prince's mind.
The prince looked at his thin arms again. He also had martial arts lessons, but he thought it was too hard to practice and refused to put in the effort. His father did not force him, and his mother cared more about him studying hard and did not interfere too much in his martial arts training.
But now, the prince sincerely developed an interest in martial arts, because he also wanted to become as strong as the prince consort, and wanted to be able to climb Mount Wudang when he was in his sixties.
"By the way, how is Lord Chen's health?" the prince suddenly asked.
Hua Yang thought for a moment and said, "Since Imperial Doctor Li cured him, he seems to be fine. However, Lord Chen is a civil servant, unlike the prince consort. When we were avoiding the flood, the prince consort carried me up the mountain as if it were flat ground, but Lord Chen was supported by servants. The prince consort's two brothers were also unable to take care of themselves and were in a rather embarrassing situation. It can be seen that civil officials and military officials each have their strengths and weaknesses, and there are only a handful of good men who are both civil and military."
The prince subconsciously straightened his back and thought, just wait, in a few years, he will become one of the few good men who are both civil and military in his sister's eyes.
The brother and sister met again after a long separation and forgot the time when they started chatting. It was the palace maids around them who reminded them that it was time to return to Fengyi Palace.
After dinner, Huayang finally had time to distribute the gifts she brought back to her family.
She took a rest in Fengyi Palace during the day. Now it was dark, and Huayang took Chaoyun back to Qifeng Palace where she lived before she got married.
This was the name of the palace given to her by her father, so the princess's mansion and Ningyuan's residence in the capital also used these three words.
Qifeng Palace was the same as it was before she got married, but when Huayang lay on the familiar bed again, she could no longer fall asleep as carefree as the little princess she used to be.
The emperor can take turns to favor the beauties in the harem, while the queen mother is more concerned with major matters and her younger brother. Her younger brother has to study now, and when he gets married in the future, he will also have concubines and children.
Even if she could return to the palace to live, she would gradually become a person who seemed redundant to the palace.
And it seems that the only one who can truly stay with her for a long time and build a family with her is her husband.
Chen family.
The courtyard of Chen Jingzong and Huayang was called Siyi Hall, but the Chen residence in the capital was a large house granted by the emperor, and Siyi Hall was also a three-courtyard house, which was much more spacious.
Before leaving the capital, Chen Jingzong lived in the front yard and Huayang lived in the back.
Now that Huayang people are in the palace, Chen Jingzong had dinner alone, thought about it, took a bath, changed clothes, and went to the backyard.
The other two maids guarding Huayang here are named Chaolu and Chaolan.
Chaolu and Chaolan had no idea how far the relationship between the princess and her husband had progressed. Their impression of the couple's relationship was still that the husband was unruly and the princess disliked him in every way.
The princess was not there, but the prince consort was coming over, and the two maids looked alert.
"Back off, I don't need you to serve me."
Chen Jingzong stood in front of the bed that seemed somewhat unfamiliar, and said with his back to the two maids.
Chaolu and Chaolan looked at each other, and finally gave face to the prince consort, and lowered their heads to leave this territory that originally belonged to the princess.
Chen Jingzong took off his outer robe and sat on the bed.
There was no trace of her scent in the bed anymore, but he seemed to see her sitting beside him, looking at him with disgust and vigilance.
At that time, she really didn't want to do it at all.
Recalling that night in the inn, Chen Jingzong lay down calmly.
(End of this chapter)