"I want a pill to set my mind at ease." Tang Zhuyun looked at him. "That one-year period you mentioned-was it true or not?"
Prince of Jin: "...Get inside before I lose my temper."
Tang Zhuyun: "..."
Fine. She couldn't beat him, so she backed down.
But she had only taken a few steps when she heard him say, "My maternal grandmother passed away. I'm going to observe a year of mourning for her."
"Huh?" Tang Zhuyun was genuinely embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I..."
The Prince of Jin could be underhanded at times, like wanting to marry her with ulterior motives. But as a prince, if he didn't have some schemes up his sleeve, he would probably have been killed long ago.
On the whole, he was still a good man, wasn't he...?
He hadn't been required to observe mourning for his maternal grandmother. He had chosen to do so because his feelings for her ran so deep.
"My condolences," Tang Zhuyun said. "The dead can't come back to life... Actually, when people die, it doesn't mean everything is gone. They become stars in the sky and watch over us... When you miss those who've passed away, look at the stars. The brightest one is your loved one..."
Oh my, what nonsense was she spouting?!
She was always like this, talking nonsense whenever she felt embarrassed. The Prince of Jin wasn't a child.
But the Prince of Jin actually tilted his head and looked up at the night sky. After a long while, he said, "Go inside. I'll watch you from here."
Suddenly, she felt a little warmth... The wounded great demon king had become easier to talk to, too.
Ah.
After Tang Zhuyun returned, she tossed and turned. Her leg was injured and something was weighing on her mind. After lying awake for a while, she got up to cook.
Tang Mingfan noticed two large food boxes that morning and said delightedly, "Thanks for your hard work, A-Yun. You really don't need to prepare so much. Other people just get to benefit from it. Take Grand Secretary Xu. He goes around boasting about how lofty and unworldly he is, and won't brew tea with anything but snow from plum blossoms. But when he fought me for pig stomach and trotters, he was so quick..."
Seeing the smug look on her father's face, Tang Zhuyun didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Father, this one is yours. The other is for you to take to the Prince of Jin."
Tang Mingfan: "...The Prince of Jin?"
He must have misheard!
Hadn't his daughter sworn up and down after returning yesterday that she didn't want to marry the Prince of Jin?
Though he was a little puzzled, he had still said proudly to Tang Baixin in private, "That's my daughter for you. Riches and honors cannot lead her astray."
And now Tang Zhuyun had changed her mind?
Even a child couldn't change her mind that quickly.
Tang Zhuyun could tell from his expression that he had misunderstood. "No, Father, I haven't changed my mind. There's no need anymore. The Prince of Jin said he'd go to the emperor and delay the marriage edict for another year. This is to thank him."
The Prince of Jin's origins were a mystery, and probably no one knew who his maternal grandmother was either, so she had no intention of revealing it.
"How can it be delayed another year?" Tang Mingfan found it hard to believe.
He opened the food box for the Prince of Jin and found two plates of buns, a small dish of pickles, and two bowls of polished rice congee. There was nothing else.
Then he opened his own. There was braised meat, eggs, and sheep's milk. The buns were soup dumplings with thin skins and plenty of meat, completely different from the plump, leavened buns for the Prince of Jin.
His daughter still favored him most.
But the Prince of Jin would be angry, wouldn't he? She shouldn't make it so obvious.
When he spoke up, Tang Zhuyun said, "Father, the Prince of Jin is observing a fast. Those are vegetarian buns."
"A fast?"
"Yes, so don't worry about it. Just take them to him."
"All right. But A-Yun, you and the Prince of Jin..."
"There's nothing between us. It's absolutely impossible."
"Oh."
After court was dismissed, Tang Mingfan sought out the Prince of Jin to eat with him.
The Prince of Jin was somewhat surprised, but he didn't refuse.
When he ate the vegetarian breakfast Tang Zhuyun had specially prepared for him, he felt a faint warmth in his heart.
She had remembered what he said last night...
The Prince of Jin finished all the food, thanked Tang Mingfan, then rose and went to see the emperor.
"Your maternal grandmother passed away?" The emperor was somewhat shocked. It was unclear what else he recalled, but he said nothing for a long time.
Wang Fu replaced the cold tea before the emperor with hot tea without making the slightest sound, then quietly withdrew.
In the vast study, there were only father and son and Wang Fu.
Wang Fu had served the emperor since his days in the princely residence. After all these years, his position remained secure, and he had always been the emperor's most capable attendant.
"Mm," the Prince of Jin said, lowering his eyes.
"Your maternal grandmother raised you. I... I grant it."
"Thank you, Father."
After a moment's silence, the emperor added, "I gave careful thought to your princess consort and secondary consort and chose them both for you with great care. Though the marriage edicts must wait until a year from now, I don't want any further changes."
"Father, Meng Yulan is one thing," the Prince of Jin said. "But I truly don't understand why you're bestowing Tang Zhuyun on me in marriage."
Neither Meng Yulan nor Tang Zhuyun wanted to marry him, yet he seemed angrier with Tang Zhuyun. In his heart was an almost petulant thought: If you don't want to marry me, I won't force you.
So today, he wanted to have Tang Zhuyun taken out of the arrangement.
He was proud too. How could he force a woman?
The emperor said, "Actually, I met her when she had just arrived in the capital. She's simply forgotten."
At the time, the emperor had seen Tang Mingfan return from a visit home looking more than ten jin thinner and utterly haggard, so he had wanted to find out what had happened.
But when the emperor asked, Tang Mingfan said nothing was wrong.
Sensing that something was amiss, the emperor went out in disguise and found the Tang residence.
At the time, Tang Zhuyun was heavily pregnant and making a scene at home, insisting on going out. Old Madam He and Xiu'er together couldn't hold her back. Tang Baixin slapped her, and she lay down on the ground and refused to get up... Tang Mingfan stood nearby, tears streaming down his aged face...
"She was pregnant?" The Prince of Jin couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes. Tang Baixin's son is actually the son she had with someone in the countryside."
"But if that's the case, Father, why are you still bestowing her on me in marriage?"
"I was furious at the time too, and wanted to order her death, but Tang Mingfan and his son pleaded desperately for her. After I returned to the palace, I thought about it and still couldn't quell my anger. How could there be such a woman? So I smashed a few teacups."
"Just then, Master Hong'en arrived."
Master Hong'en was the abbot of the Great Xiangguo Temple, a man of great virtue and prestige. Back when no one thought well of the emperor, he had told him that he would one day ascend to the throne.
After the emperor took the throne, he often invited him to the palace.
Seeing that the emperor was troubled, Master Hong'en asked him why.
The emperor had been looking for someone to confide in, so he told him what had happened.
Master Hong'en said, "Lord Tang Mingfan's daughter?"
"Yes." The emperor gnashed his teeth.
"Then may this humble monk ask how many daughters Lord Tang has?"
"Only this one. She was raised in the countryside, so she was spoiled until she knew no bounds."
"Then Your Majesty needn't worry. That woman merely lacks an opportunity. After she turns twenty, a very different fortune awaits her."