The East Wind (Continued)

As Zhao Huiluan listened, a mocking smile curled her lips.

"Wen Qingyu, now you complain that she's cold to you, but why did you make such a life-or-death fuss before, insisting you would marry no one but her? Didn't you stake your life to win her hand? When she asked to mourn her late parents for three years, weren't you the one who agreed to it in person after you woke up? What do you mean by this now?"

"No, no, Your Highness has misunderstood me. I have never complained. On the contrary, I hold Yaoyao's filial devotion in the highest regard."

Zhao Huiluan made no reply, only glancing at him again as she changed sheets of paper.

"Your Highness," Wen Yan called again. "May I ask, when you visited the Shen residence that day, did Yaoyao show even the slightest hesitation about the marriage?"

"Wen Qingyu, did no one tell you that the Shen family rejected you three times while you were unconscious?"

Wen Qingyu lowered his eyes. After a long silence, he said glumly, "I understand."

Zhao Huiluan finally set down her brush, picked up her tea and took a sip.

Seeing Wen Yan with his eyes lowered and his face full of bitterness, with none of the high spirits he had shown when he came to fetch his bride, she offered him some advice:

"Instead of saying these things to me, you would be better off speaking directly to Shen Zhiyao."

"To be honest with Your Highness, I don't dare."

"I have had much on my mind lately. I worry that the servants and maids at home won't treat her with respect, and that my little sister will unknowingly disturb her. Ever since we married, I have been plagued by worries of gain and loss, afraid that a single wrong word will make Yaoyao angry."

"The Mid-Autumn Festival will be here soon. Afterward, I have to go south for practical service, and I'm very uneasy about leaving Yaoyao alone in the Yan Capital."

Zhao Huiluan raised a brow. "You're going for practical service? In the south?"

Wen Yan nodded. "I don't yet know which prefecture."

Zhao Huiluan reflected that Wen Yan was going to serve in a government office as an Imperial College student. It seemed he intended to pursue an official career.

Wen Hong surely couldn't bear to send his precious grandson to Annan, which left only Jiangnan.

"Then have a good talk with Shen Zhiyao before you leave. If you're truly worried, just send her back to the Shen residence. In any case, she neither manages your Wen household nor has to attend to her parents-in-law, so it won't matter if she's absent. Once your service is over and you return to the capital, you can fetch her from the Shen residence."

Wen Yan fell into thought as he listened.

By rights, the Wen family had no mistress of the house to manage its affairs. As the family's only descendant, his wife ought to have taken charge of the household after he married her.

In the end, his grandfather had agreed to the match out of love for him. Even now, his grandfather still did not regard Shen Zhiyao as a proper granddaughter-in-law.

That was also one of the reasons he wanted to pursue an official career. He wanted to do his best to give Shen Zhiyao someone to rely on.

"Wen Qingyu, didn't you say before that you only wanted to be a good-for-nothing fop who cared for nothing but pleasure? What made you think of going into practical service?"

Zhao Huiluan picked up her brush and resumed writing, looking as though she had asked on a whim.

"I was too naive then."

"As the only male descendant in my family, I have spent eighteen years seeking pleasure under its protection. Now that I have married, I ought to shoulder my responsibilities as a son of the Wen family."

Zhao Huiluan pursed her lips, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with him.

Yet after Wen Yan left, Zhao Huiluan gathered up the sheets she had more than half finished copying and ran to the west wing of the Hall of Reverent Unity.

"Minister Rong, I want to go into practical service."

Rong An was checking her copying and had just been about to praise her, saying, "Your Highness's writing has improved considerably," when he suddenly heard her say she wanted to go into practical service. Puzzled, he asked, "Why?"

Zhao Huiluan playfully asked in return, "Do you want the truth, Minister Rong?"

Rong An could not help laughing. "Then tell me the false reason first, Your Highness."

"I'm tired of studying at the Imperial College. I want to go out and have fun."

"That sounds... not much like a false reason."

Catching Zhao Huiluan's protesting look, Rong An put on a serious expression. "Please continue, Your Highness."

"The truth is, as the poem says, 'What is learned from books remains shallow; to truly understand, one must do it oneself.' I want to know what the Four Books and Five Classics I read every day, and the essays and policy arguments I study in the Hall of Exalted Aspirations, actually mean. I also want to see the many faces of life among the people of Great Yin, and the rises and falls of the official sea. Minister Rong, I'm terribly curious."

Rong An greatly admired Zhao Huiluan's ideas, but there were established rules governing practical service for Imperial College students. It was not something just anyone could do whenever they wished.

"Your Highness has been at the Imperial College for barely half a year. You have not yet studied long enough to qualify for practical service."

Zhao Huiluan waved a hand dismissively. "What does that matter? Other students go into practical service to become officials, which is why the founding emperor set a required term of study. I'm not entering officialdom. Besides..."

She narrowed her eyes and chuckled.

"Grand Secretary Wen wants to arrange Wen Yan's practical service behind the scenes. Why shouldn't I take advantage of his east wind?"

Seeing her smile like a kitten reaching out its claws to steal a taste of fish, sly yet full of confidence, Rong An understood.

"Is there anything Your Highness needs me to say to His Majesty?"

Zhao Huiluan thought for a moment. "Yes."

"Minister Rong, you only need to tell Father Emperor..."

Zhao Huiluan beckoned with a finger, asking Rong An to bring his ear closer.

The gesture was improper, but Rong An had already bent down toward Zhao Huiluan.

The young woman's breath curled around his ear, warm and tingling.

But as Rong An listened, he found he did not quite understand.

"Huh? Minister Rong, your ears are red."

"..."

The young woman covered her mouth and giggled, taking pleasure in teasing him.

Rong An was not annoyed. He picked up the sheets of Xuan paper covered in writing from the desk and handed them to Zhao Huiluan.

"Your Highness still has half left to copy."

"..."

Zhao Huiluan did not want to take them, so Rong An held them out a little farther.

"Rong An, you're really so petty!"

On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Imperial College began a three-day holiday.

Rong An entered the palace to report on his duties to the Yongzhao Emperor. As usual, the Yongzhao Emperor asked about Princess Zhenning's studies.

When he heard Rong An praise Zhao Huiluan for being diligent, eager to improve and tireless in her studies, the Yongzhao Emperor could listen no longer and cut him off.

"Minister, there's no need to fool me. Don't I know what Zhenning is like?"

Why did those words sound a little off?

"I would not dare deceive Your Majesty. Apart from riding and archery, at which Princess Zhenning is not skilled, she excels in all her other studies. The instructors and teaching assistants who teach her have nothing but praise for Her Highness."