The Crown Princess Is Jealous Again - Chapter 2

“Leaving so soon, Miss Jiang? The night is still young!” Mother Hua, the brothel madam, smiled broadly as she made way for Xiao Beitang.

“Yes, I’m heading out.”

Mother Hua’s smile bloomed like a flower as she teased, “Every time Miss Jiang comes, she leaves before the sun even sets. Is it because my girls aren’t serving you well enough, or is your family just that strict?”

Xiao Beitang merely smiled, strolling out while lazily swinging her folding fan.

Though only sixteen, she was already tall. Her hair was bound in a silver crown, with thick, obsidian locks flowing elegantly down her back. With bright eyes, white teeth, and features as sharply defined as Emperor Jing’s, she carried none of the childishness of her peers. She claimed to be twenty years old to outsiders, and no one had ever thought to question it.

“Off so soon, Miss Jiang?” Wufu, a young servant at the establishment, greeted her with a grin.

She vaulted onto her horse and flashed a sharp smile. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Whoa.”

Before the horse had even come to a full halt, she dismounted in one fluid motion, tossing the whip aside without looking.

Liu Zi hurried to catch it. “Your Highness, you’re finally back!”

Liu Zi was her personal attendant, but she disliked being followed when she went out, so he usually waited for her by the palace gates. Without a word to him, she strode purposefully toward the inner palace.

Liu Zi jogged to keep up. “Your Highness, Her Majesty gave orders, you are to go directly to Kunning Palace upon your return.”

She had no intention of doing so. Casting a brief glance toward Kunning Palace, she turned and headed straight for her own quarters, Zichen Palace.

Liu Zi watched her go, looked toward the Empress’s quarters, and sighed. He didn’t dare mention it again.

“Xing’er, I’m hungry!” she called out the moment she stepped through the door.

“Please wait a moment, Your Highness. I’ll fetch the meal immediately,” a young girl in green palace robes answered with a smile. She was around sixteen, with a round, festive face that radiated cheer.

Xiao Beitang gave her a quick smile and headed inside.

Liu Zi entered hurriedly, whispering, “Your Highness, Eunuch Zhao is here.”

Before the words had even settled, Zhao Yan entered with a bow and a practiced smile. “Your Highness, Her Majesty requests your presence at Kunning Palace for dinner.”

“Go tell her that,” she began, her expression heavy with lethargy.

Before she could finish, Xing’er rushed back, her cheerful face now clouded with annoyance. “Your Highness, I just went to the imperial kitchens, and they said, they said they didn’t prepare a meal for us today!”

She looked up, saw Zhao Yan standing in the hall with his polite smile, and immediately fell silent.

Xiao Beitang’s expression didn’t flicker. She lazily fanned herself with one hand while tapping the table rhythmically with the other.

Zhao Yan’s eyes crinkled like a laughing Buddha’s as he coaxed, “Your Highness, it’s best you follow me to Kunning Palace. Their Majesties are already waiting.”

“Fine. Since that’s the case, let’s go.” Xiao Beitang snapped her fan shut and stood up to follow him.

Inside Kunning Palace, Emperor Jing sat with a brooding expression. The Empress glanced at her and warned, “When Tang’er arrives, don’t look so miserable.”

Emperor Jing gave a frustrated laugh. “She turned Li Hanzhang into a circus act, and I’m supposed to greet her with a smile?”

The Empress’s face darkened. “Xiao Jing, I will handle the matter of Li Hanzhang. You are not allowed to wear that sour expression.”

“I understand,” the Emperor sighed, pouring herself a cup of wine and draining it in one gulp.

“The Crown Princess has arrived,” Zhao Yan announced, stepping inside.

“Daughter greets Imperial Mother and Mother Empress,” she said with a casual, lazy bow.

“Tang’er, come, sit here,” the Empress said, beckoning with a smile.

The Emperor twitched the corners of her mouth upward. It was a stiff, forced smile that looked more like a grimace.

Xiao Beitang sat down without so much as an upward glance.

The Empress tilted her chin slightly. Zhao Yan bowed silently and led the servants out, leaving only the family of three in the room.

The Empress looked at the two of them and spoke first. “You must be hungry. Let’s eat.”

She plated some food for Xiao Beitang and then for the Emperor.

Xiao Beitang was indeed starving. She picked up her chopsticks and began shoveling food into her mouth, one bite after another.

Emperor Jing barely touched her food. She watched Xiao Beitang, her mouth reflexively drooping again. She closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

The Empress cleared her throat. “Tang’er, where were you? Why are you back so late?”

Xiao Beitang didn’t answer. She continued eating heartily, intentionally making loud noises as if she hadn’t heard a word.

“Slow down, Tang’er. Don’t choke,” the Empress said, ladling a bowl of soup and handing it to her.

She drank the soup, and once satisfied, she stood up and gave a formal salute. “I have finished. Please enjoy your meal, Imperial Mother, Mother Empress. I shall take my leave.”

Without waiting for a reaction, she turned to walk out.

“Stand still,” Emperor Jing said in a low, heavy voice.

Xiao Beitang stopped in her tracks and took a deep breath.

“Didn’t you hear your Mother Empress asking you a question?” the Emperor asked, her tone sharpening.

The Empress nudged the Emperor, trying to restrain her. It was useless; the Emperor had been suppressed her fire since the girl walked in, and now she had reached her limit.

Xiao Beitang turned around, her attitude flippant and fearless. “Why ask when you already know the answer? Is this fun for you?”

“What did you say?” The Emperor frowned.

The Princess laughed. “I went to the brothel for some fun. Didn’t the secret guards following me tell you both?”

“Xiao Beitang! How can you be so brazen? To say such things so shamelessly?” The Emperor slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

Xiao Beitang remained unfazed. “If I’m brave enough to do it, why wouldn’t I be brave enough to admit it?”

“You!”

“Enough, enough. Can’t both of you say a little less?” The Empress rubbed her temples, feigning a headache.

“Yan’er, is your head hurting again?” The Emperor hurried to her side.

The Empress shook her head and gave Xiao Beitang a small smile. “Tang’er, it’s still early. Won’t you stay and talk with Mother for a while?”

Xiao Beitang saw through the act, but she returned to her seat nonetheless. “Mother, does your head ache again? It’s all my fault,” she said softly.

The Empress took her hand and smiled. “It’s no matter. Don’t worry, Tang’er.”

Xiao Beitang looked at her with a guilty expression and sighed. The Emperor also sat back down, withdrawing her hostility.

“Tang’er, do you truly dislike Li Hanzhang being your Grand Preceptor?” the Empress asked after a moment of hesitation.

Xiao Beitang was blunt. “All he talks about is ‘Thus Spake the Classics’ and ‘Morality and Virtue.’ I don’t like him.”

“Then you could have told your Imperial Mother. Why play such tricks on him?”

Xiao Beitang grumbled, “I told you from the start I didn’t want a tutor.”

The Empress coaxed her gently. “Tang’er, you are sixteen. You’re already late in starting your proper studies. You are the heir to the throne; you can’t be willful forever.”

Xiao Beitang remained silent.

“Then why don’t you tell us, who would you like to have as your tutor?”

Xiao Beitang took her mother’s arm and gave it a little shake. “Mother, I don’t like those old fossils. They spend all day citing scriptures, and their mouths are full of nothing but scholarly pretension. You don’t know this, but that Li Hanzhang keeps several mistresses on the side. I’ve seen him at the brothels more than once, yet he acts like some paragon of virtue during the day. Having someone like that as my tutor makes me feel sick.”

The Emperor frowned; she hadn’t known about any of that.

“And that Master Zhang from the first day he became my tutor, he went around announcing it to the world just to profit his useless son. Of course I didn’t like being used by him.”

The Emperor’s frown deepened.

The Empress glanced at the Emperor, then turned back to her daughter. “My Tang’er is the brightest of all. You should have told us these things.”

Xiao Beitang glanced at the Emperor and said, “Mother, why don’t we just forget the whole tutor business?”

“No, Tang’er. Mother knows you are brilliant, but you still need a good teacher to reach your full potential.”

The Empress might spoil her, but she knew where to draw the line.