After explaining the matter to her diedie, Su Yuan no longer worried about it, nor did she ask about his arrangements; if even diedie couldn’t handle this, then she’d truly be at wit’s end.
However, only after the arrangements had been set up did Father Su explain everything to his daughter.
“I’ve already informed the Emperor about this, and explained how it came in your grandmother’s dream last night; after all, the Third Prince is her grandson and she’s always thinking about him, making this very reasonable. The Emperor has always handled things with caution, moreover, this has to do with the Third Prince; he’ll be arranging people to carefully inspect the road from the Capital to the resort, and the Third Prince would no longer need to set off first either. He’ll definitely be travelling with the Imperial Carriages, so rest assured.”
“That’s good,” Su Yuan nodded. It was indeed better to say her grandmother had dreamt this rather than her.
Father Su knew how thoughtful and considerate his daughter was; if she could understand all of this, then there was no need for him to explain everything in too much detail.
Truthfully, he couldn’t blame the old man for feeling regretful; sometimes, even he felt sorry as a father. It wasn’t a pity just because his daughter had such great martial skills; her temperament, means and insight were all things that shouldn’t be buried. If she was a man, she’d definitely obtain a court position in the future.
After explaining this matter to the Emperor, Father Su could also let go of his concern; if even the Emperor couldn’t handle this, then nobody else in the world could.
This father-daughter pair could be considered as having the same train of thoughts; leave the matter to the current Emperor, and continue doing what the both of them should be doing.
Father Su, as one of the Minister of Works1, was busy with his responsibilities, and Su Yuan, in addition to practicing her martial arts, had daily lessons to attend to.
A female gentleman2 was specially hired to teach the Four Books and Five Classics; although she had no intentions of creating any literary works, she’d still need to understand a thing or two about the sages’ principals3.
Instruments, chess4, calligraphy and painting were all taught by gentlemen specialized in each area; however, Su Family wasn’t counting on cultivating another talented woman.
The Empress, who was once famous across the entire Capital, was too talented and had somehow unintentionally planted a willow tree that offered shade5.
For ladies of nobility, instruments, chess, calligraphy and painting were all skills used to gild the lily6; it was okay not to be proficient in all areas.
Su Yuan didn’t have much talent for music or painting, nor did she hold much interest for them; learning these things from the gentlemen were nothing more than learning how to appreciate them. Calligraphy, on the other hand, was something Su Yuan put a lot of effort into; she’d set a fixed time everyday for herself to practice it.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Two or three days passed; they hadn’t even set off to the resort yet before something big happened in the Capital.
The court of Great Yan had been established for many years, hence remnants of the previous dynasty had long since disappeared. The former Emperor wasn’t an incapable ruler; although he couldn’t be regarded as a brilliant or mighty ruler either, he hadn’t made any major faults in political affairs, so there hadn’t been any news about a rebellion.
Who would’ve thought that, on this particular hot June day, a group of traitors would be captured? And thousands of them too. Because of this matter, the summer retreat to the resort was delayed. The traitors were taken to custody and interrogated before they were finally charged with treason; not only could they not protect themselves, they implicated their entire family.
Thousands of people were pushed into the execution grounds, causing a once-in-a-century bustle in the Capital. Su Yuan naturally didn’t go out to watch the excitement, but since the traitors were found her heart could finally be completely at ease.
The Third Prince is alive, which meant the Fifth Prince wouldn’t be able to do anything – the male lead won’t become Emperor. What ‘Palace-conflict’ novel? The events from the original plot weren’t going to happen anymore!
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
It wasn’t until the beginning of July did the Imperial carriages finally set off to the resort to escape the summer heat.
The Su Family’s position during the journey was quite close to the front, with the royal family before them and all remaining ministers behind them.
Although Su Yuan was a woman, her family was quite relaxed with their rules; moreover, she was quite a casual person herself and didn’t mind the opinions of outsiders too much, so she’d ride a horse like a man instead of staying inside a carriage.
During the early mornings and evenings, when it wasn’t very sunny, the father-daughter pair would ride their horses around; the breeze brought by the horses’ galloping were much cooler than the inside of a carriage.
During the afternoons, when the sun shone high above them, the pair would hide inside their carriages again; Su Yuan would coax her younger brother into learning how to count, whilst Father and Mother Su would sit in the carriage in front of them, looking weary, conversing to no end with each other.
In the Capital, this couple was famous for their affection; Father and Mother Su only had their daughter, Su Yuan, during the third year of their marriage, whilst their son was given birth to when she was eight. In other words, during the first eleven years of their marriage, they were never able to get a son.
Those from the Su Family travelling to the resort this year weren’t just these four members; there were also Father Su’s third-younger brother’s family and his parents. Both families naturally had to go together, no matter the circumstances.
Unlike Father and Mother Su, who only had one son and one daughter after so many years together, the Duke of Qi’s third son born from a concubine was prosperous with children; Su Changqing and his first wife, maiden name Sun, had seven children, all of them proper descendants.
The first wife and a concubine were distinguishable as their statuses were very different from each other. Father Su was Duke of Qi’s only son born from the first wife, hence even during the years where he had no son, his status as the proper descendant couldn’t be shaken.
It’s just, during the earlier years of his marriage, Duke of Qi had always wanted Father Su to adopt one of Changqing’s sons whilst Duke of Qi’s wife wanted him to have a few more concubines as a way of having more children, lest his title fell into another’s hands.
During the journey, the carriages for the eldest son and the third son’s families were very close to each other. At the front was Father Su’s family of four, following them Changqing’s family of nine; neat and tidy, not a thing out of place.
Su Yuan’s A-die, Su Changping, has had a smooth career for the past few years; he was already a second-grade official, and was the supervisor of the Ministry of Works.
As the son of the first wife, compared to his two younger brothers, Su Changfeng and Su Changqing, Su Changping naturally had the best resources. However, to become a second-grade official was also due to his own abilities.
As for Su Changfeng and Su Changqing, the former became a civil servant, though his position wasn’t obtained through the Imperial Exams. He’d grinded for so many years, yet only became a sixth-grade official.
As for the third son, Su Changqing, he joined the military and, using Duke of Qi’s connections and his own abilities, became a third-grade official.
None of the three came from the same womb. Although brothers, they weren’t close with each other; even the one who brought along his wife and children never initiated much contact.
It was the same with Su Yuan and her cousins; none of them were close with one another. It was only on days when they paid respects to their grandmother would they be able to see each other; during normal days, there were few opportunities to do so.
Her third uncle’s eldest child was also a daughter. A flower bloomed first before the fruits were bore; in this case, one flower bloomed first before six fruits followed.
Hence, for the past few years, Su Rong was considered a blessed person in the Capital; after all, only a blessed person could bring six sons to the family after her parents gave birth to her.
If this was the standard used for judging whether a person was blessed or not, then Su Yuan, who’d only had one younger brother after so many years, couldn’t be considered blessed. At the very least, she couldn’t when compared with Su Rong.
In the novel, Su Rong had also entered the palace. The original’s first miscarriage was due to Su Rong; after a thorough investigation, Su Changping and Su Changfeng completely disregarded Su Rong’s honour and caused her direct demotion from concubine to a commoner.
Su Yuan didn’t intend on entering the palace in this life; as for whether Su Rong would, that wasn’t something Su Yuan to care about. Anyway, no matter how she looked at it, whether it was from the perspective of the novel or her current relationship with Su Rong, they’d never be able to become sisters7.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
On the journey from the Capital to the resort, neither families sat down to eat a meal together; they were just travelling too close together, so it was inevitable to have interactions with each other.
As for Su Rong, the number of times she saw Su Yuan each day was far more than Su Yuan saw her.
Two fathers; one a civil servant and one a military commander, yet their daughters were their complete opposites.
The rules Su Yuan had to follow had been relaxed since childhood; for the past few years, she’d been learning martial arts with her father and, because of his talents, her fighting and riding skills had become outstanding even among boys of the same age.
Su Rong was raised to be a noble lady. Every day, she’d learn poetry, instruments, chess, calligraphy, painting, feminine arts and dancing; until now, she’d never even ridden on horseback, let alone stroll on horseback.
“Look at what she’s doing. Your uncle had no sons during the earlier years of his marriage, so his daughter was raised to be like a son. Which noble lady in the Capital could possibly be like her, with a temperament as wild as a boy’s? Sooner or later, she’d suffer,” Sun said mildly as she fanned herself.
Among the four daughters born into the Su residence, Su Yuan was ranked at the very top and, at the same time, was the best-born; Duke of Qi’s eldest granddaughter born from a first wife.
A-rong was ranked second and was honoured as the Second Young Lady. The remaining two daughters were between Su Changfeng and a concubine; their statuses weren’t high, therefore they had no sense of existence in the residence.
But living a smooth life now doesn’t mean one would live a good life in the future. Su Changping and his wife aren’t taking this into account, simply watching their daughter happily pass her days; in the end, after she marries into another family, her temperament will definitely cause difficulties.
The more wealthy and powerful a family was, the higher the requirements pushed onto the female members of the family.
For women, any acts of honour or disgrace would affect the men, so what kind of a man would fall in love with a tomboy?
Just wait and see, this young lady’s days of suffering are still yet to come.
Su Rong ignored her mother’s broken beliefs and retracted her gaze from her cousin. If her father was the Duke of Qi’s eldest son born from the first wife, she’d be able to marry into a first-class family and get married to a first-class person with just her family background. Why else would her mother need to build her reputation at such a young age?
Her cousin may not live a good life in the future, but it was an indisputable fact that she was currently living a life better than her’s. Although her mother didn’t admit it, she probably envied auntie.
If a girl wasn’t going to get married off into the royal family, then the best option for them would be to become the wife of a family’s eldest son.
What Su Rong was more envious of was the fact that even though they were both born into the Su Family, even though her reputation was far better than her cousin’s, the Empress called her cousin over to the front instead of her.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
Su Yuan had entered the palace a few times, so when her paternal aunt summoned her she didn’t rush. When she arrived at her aunt’s carriage and saw the current Emperor as well as the three princes, she didn’t panic. Before she could even finish her greeting, she had already been called over.
“We’re all family here, so there’s no need to be so formal. Zhen8 still has some things to do, so you may chat amongst yourselves.”
If this was the Empress’ bedroom, then it would’ve been okay for her to deal with this, but although the Empress’ carriage was spacious, it was still quite narrow for four people to be sitting inside.
“Then Your Majesty can leave first. I’ll send someone to inform you after the servants have prepared lunch,” the Empress said with a gentle smile.
They were the world’s most respected couple, and their affection was also identical to the rumours in the outside world; they’d hold hands even when conversing.
Su Yuan glanced at these two undetectably. There was nothing much to say about her aunt’s appearance – it could be ranked at the top even in a palace filled with flowers. Even though she was almost thirty, compared to those fresh ten year old concubines she still wasn’t at a disadvantage.
If she were the Emperor, she’d definitely hold her aunt’s hands.
On the other hand, although the Emperor couldn’t be considered ugly, if his Emperor halo faded one day and only his appearance remained, she’d only think of him as an ordinary and mediocre person – if he was to be thrown into a crowd, she’d definitely be unable to find him.
Su Yuan was a complete face-judger; she would judge a person’s attractiveness before anything else. So she couldn’t help but feel sorry for her cousin; he had such a bright and beautiful mother, yet was held back by his plain-looking father, unable to even place a rank among the beautiful men.
Fortunately her aunt helped alleviate his appearance, allowing him to be much better-looking than the Emperor.
If appearances were inherited from generation to generation like this, then the royal descendants should look better with each passing generation.
If the current Emperor was the result of several generations’ hard work, then what did the founding Emperor look like?
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Translator's Notes
- Ministry of Works – in charge of anything labour/construction-related (e.g. manufacturing government equipment)
- Female gentleman – in ancient China, 先生 (‘Mr’ or ‘gentleman’) was used regardless of gender to refer to individuals wit
- Sages – Confucian philosophers.
- Chess – ‘Go’ chess
- ‘Unintentionally planted a willow tree that offered shade’ – the whole idiom is ‘intentionally planting flowers that wouldn’t bloom, but unintentionally planted a willow tree that offered shade’, which meant that no matter how much effort you put into doing something, you may not obtain the result you expected or wanted – instead, you’ll gain something much rewarding.
- Gild the lily – an idiom meaning ‘to do something to improve something already beautiful/excellent
- Sisters – when a girl has a close bond with another girl, they’d refer to each other as sisters
- Zhen – used when an Emperor refers to himself