Chapter Four
Reunion
Lady Min, Prince Jinghua’s secondary wife, was practically dancing with excitement as she fluttered around the dining parlor. Her powdered face was flushed and her modestly made-up eyes sparkled, darting back and forth, focused like a bird watching its morning worm. Even though she was only acting as the temporary madam until her husband married his Princess Consort, she took her duties of caring for the home and him seriously. She supervised the servants as they laid out breakfast for Fourth Prince Jinghua, making sure everything was perfect for him. “Place the roasted duck closer to his highness, not there, but here next to the shark fin soup and bird’s nest,” she chirped eagerly. “These are imperial dishes sent from the Emperor to rejuvenate our master. It’s important to place everything correctly. I insist on perfection. There must be perfection.”
Prince Jinghua couldn’t help but be slightly annoyed by Lady Min’s overzealous fussing, but he knew it came from a place of respect and wanting to please him. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the documents in front of him, but the faint sounds of busy hands and bodies setting the table broke his concentration. He didn’t say a word, but his dark eyes shifted over the memorandum in his hand with disinterest, surveying the useless scene taking place before him. He couldn’t understand why there was always so much commotion every time he returned home when minimization, peace, and silence were what he craved most. His servants, who had been serving him for years, first in the harem and now his manor were well aware of his quiet nature and subtle preferences. However, Lady Min seemed to miss his modest disposition that everyone in the manor, from his closest under his command and assistant, Second Lieutenant Lijie, to the youngest member of his household, Xiaobao the stable boy, understood how he liked things done.
He cleared his throat and returned to the memorandum where he had left off, leaving Lady Min to fuss over the slightest things as she did. He didn’t dislike or feel destain for his wife. The young prince had married her, unseen, a tradition for pre-arranging unions. Theirs wasn’t a marriage of mutual affection but of a purely political alliance arranged by the Emperor and Empress, his royal parents. After many years passed, they had eventually gotten around to consummating their marriage – which was uncomfortably awkward rather than an enjoyable singular experience. If he had to describe that intimate moment, he would have said it was uneventful, even lackluster, as if he were bedding his sister. Yet he did not fault her. How could he? The fault lay solely on him for failing to be the husband she both needed and deserved.
Maybe it was this. The lack of emotional and physical connection and the absence of a strong bond between Jinghua and his wife led him to choose to be away from home for extended periods. He spent most of his time exploring distant territories for the Emperor, going to places that his spoiled sibling prince brothers who only knew of a lavish lifestyle refused to visit. When he wasn’t traveling, he served as a lieutenant in the imperial army under Lord Bai, known as the Grand General, and fought under Baihu, the White Tiger banner. Despite the current peace during his father’s reign, it was wise to stay vigilant against the looming threat from the scattered rebels from the fallen Kingdom of Wu and Lian Dynasty. With his princely and military duties keeping him away from home, his frequent absences might have contributed to her inability to understand him and his reserved nature, leading to their lack of intimacy.
After folding and placing the directive down on the table, he motioned for the servant to leave and finally made eye contact with his wife for the first time since he had come home. She stared at him wide-eyed, anxiously, clutching her silk handkerchief. “Lady Min.” Without expression, he leaned back slightly in his chair, and placed his interlocked hands on the table, with his eyes scanning over the many dishes of food with indifference. “This is too much.” He said, and she blinked rapidly, looking over the table, confused. Her small hand nervously twisted and untwisted the delicate handkerchief in her grasp and replied, “This, your Highness?” He slowly nodded his head twice and said in a tone perhaps colder than he should, but he didn’t know any other way to express himself other than blunt honesty.
“Empress Mother and the Crown Prince, my brother, are expecting me. It’s proper for me to attend to them first and I don’t have the will or inclination to eat twice.” She flinched as if struck by Jinghua’s brisk words that hung in the air in the space between them. He wasn’t a scoundrel nor callous, yet he also couldn’t force himself to feel for her something he believed wasn’t within him. He was astute enough to know how his words could make Lady Min feel small and insignificant and he recognized her desire to impress him, but to him, it would be crueler to give her even a shred of hope for something he wouldn’t be able to deliver. Love and his affections.
Casting her eyes to the ground, demurely, she lowered her head apologetically. “Forgive me, Your Highness. How careless of me,” she whispered softly but then questioned, “But you’ve just returned yesterday after being away for two long years. I don’t understand why you must rush to the palace, especially since you first went to the Grand General and Grand Princess’s Manor upon your return. Couldn’t the Empress and Crown Prince wait a bit longer? It seems like such a waste.” She gestured towards the food on the table with disappointment.
He didn’t owe her an explanation, but he offered one in order to end the conversation that was quickly turning into nagging. He stood up from his seat stiffly and straightened his black robe before heading towards the door. “It was my duty to receive Lord Bai’s approval, relieving me of my duties, and because I’ve been gone for two years, I must hurry to the palace. Please enjoy yourself, Lady Min,” Jinghua said as he walked out the door. “Your Highness,” she called out behind him as he made his way through the corridor and into the open courtyard, passing by one of the many coy ponds on his property. Jinghua turned around with a quizzical expression on his face and a cold gaze. “Will you be visiting me later this evening when you return? Should I prepare myself to serve you?” Lady Min spoke timidly, blushing and hiding her rosy-cheeked face behind her handkerchief, but in her eyes, he saw that familiar look of anticipation and desire, just like all the other noble daughters and women who had coveted and offered themselves up to him. “No, I won’t be home. I have countless reports to share with my brother and Royal Father, who may require me to stay overnight at the palace. I can’t say when I’ll return, so please do not expect me. I suggest carrying on as if I wasn’t home.”
Disappointment cast a shadow over her face, causing it to crumple like a piece of paper. With a defeated sigh, she let the handkerchief fall from her hand as she looked up at him with trembling, quivering lips, looking as if she might burst into tears. Nevertheless, he turned his back to her and walked away, thinking cynically about how all women seemed to be the same, when, out of nowhere, a memory flashed across his mind. He remembered a wild bloodied girl in a tattered dress and worn shoes covered in dirt and bruises, standing defiantly amidst a mess of apples and there had been fire. It was her eyes, surrounded by a dense forest of black lashes and brown irises that resembled amber, her piercing gaze full of fire boring a hole into his face. She wanted him too, but not to serve him with her body; rather, to gouge out his eyes in retaliation for what she believed was his belittlement of her. He couldn’t help but smile in spite of himself at the memory of their brief chance encounter, and her name – Miss Wang Meihua – oddly, her name and her face lingered in his mind.
The Great Palace
Inside the Eastern palace, also known as the Palace of Purity, the morning routine remained unchanged as it had been for every dynasty prior. Crown Prince Jingyuan stood tall stoically and still while the servants dressed him in a familiar ritual, their movements precise from years of practice. Without a word, he slid his arms into the heavy golden robe reserved solely for the Crown Prince, aided by a servant holding it up for him. It had taken time, but he had finally grown into it, just like the jade belt cinched around his waist and the nine pearls adorning his crown – which his younger twin, Jinghua, often compared to the golden headband given to Bodhisattva Guanyin by Buddha to control Sun Wukong, the mischievous monkey.
The servant’s feet made swift and urgent sounds as he shuffled across the room, his movements accompanied by the rustling of fabric. Official Gu, the personal eunuch of the Crown Prince, approached with quick strides and a flushed face, gasping from his run.”Your Highness, Fourth Prince has arrived,” His eunuch announced. Crown Prince Jingyuan’s face froze with surprise, his eyes widening as he turned to face his twin brother’s arrival. The morning sunlight streaming through the palace windows danced off of his golden robe and the luminous pearls adorning his crown, making him look like the regal and powerful ruler he had become.
His younger twin, Jinghua, strolled in with a relaxed gait, his features mirroring those of his brother, but with a more carefree and mischievous expression. Fourth Prince Jinghua stood formally on ceremony, bending down to his knees. The wide sleeves of his black robe belled when his arms raised in a rounded gesture as he greeted his brother, Crown Prince Jingyuan. He announced himself, “Fourth Prince Jinghua greets royal brother, the Crown Prince. I have returned.” Crown Prince Jingyuan approached him with hands clasped behind his back and circled his kneeling brother with a stern expression on his face. He addressed him firmly, “Rumors have reached me that your isolation on the border has caused you to take a horse as your Princess Consort.” Fourth Prince didn’t even flinch and answered with the same seriousness and unwavering expression on his face. “Answering Crown Prince. I heard you were so lustful that bedded your newest concubine and woke up to discover it was your horse.”
Crown Prince went on. “Another concern has reached my ears. It is said that you now fancy men after serving under Grand General Bai.” to this rude accusation Prince Jinghua replied in the same tone without skipping a beat, “There are whispers, the great Crown Prince bathes with his young eunuchs and insists on playing hide the royal sword deep in the dark northern..back gate.”
The Crown Prince let out a loud snort, signaling his defeat in the game he and his younger twin always played when they were alone. His face lit up with a wide smile as he pulled his brother into a warm embrace. “Come here, Didi, hug your Dage. I’ve missed you and it’s good to have you back home, brother.” The Crown Prince released his hold on Jinghua but kept a hand on his shoulder as he surveyed him, noting the noticeable weight loss. “Royal Mother has been cooking for three days and we shouldn’t keep her waiting. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up, but I must warn you, Royal Mother has plans for you to take a primary wife. She wants a grandchild.” Prince Jinghua stopped in his tracks and turned to face his older brother, shaking his head in disbelief and annoyance. He knew the one tactic that would give him power over his older twin. “That’s a fantastic idea, brother, but first I’ll ask Royal Mother why the position for your princess consort has yet to be filled and why you’re still engaged to a girl who has been dead for eleven years.”