The Deposed Crown Prince had Three Lifelong Regrets - Chapter 36

Chapter 36

The Empress’s Palace had vermilion walls and yellow tiles, with numerous carved beams and painted rafters.

The sun was high, and the heat was rising. A certain Madam and the Empress were talking inside the hall. Lu Fengmian, being young, couldn’t endure the boredom and left the inner palace to wander elsewhere.

The palace was intricate but emphasized symmetry, so there was no worry about getting lost.

The closer she got to the west side, the clearer the sharp cries of a cat became. Crossing the Chuihuamen (ornate gate), she saw a exquisitely delicate little girl holding large and small stones, playfully throwing them at a cat chained in front of a water vat.

The cat was white as snow, with long fur dragging on the ground.

The large cat arched its back high, its fur standing completely on end, emitting a low, guttural growl.

Stones pelted its body, leaving patches of blood on its fur. It darted around but couldn’t escape the constraint of the rope. Lu Fengmian couldn’t bear to watch any longer, but it was inconvenient to cause a conflict with a palace resident.

“What are you doing?” Being young, she spoke angrily.

Zhu Lingwei turned her head upon hearing the sound, dismissing the stranger who suddenly appeared, her entire face crumpled into a little bun.

“Has no one taught you etiquette and morals? Bullying the weak is not the behavior of a gentleman. You are well-dressed and appear to be a child from a noble family, yet you are committing a shameful act here!” Lu Fengmian held her head high.

The other party turned back to look at her. Compared to her frown the last time, this time she rolled her eyes.

Lu Fengmian tightened the hand hanging at her side and stepped forward to snatch the stones away. Who knew that as soon as she approached, the girl threw all the remaining stones at the Lion Cat with a crash.

Lu Fengmian stopped the hand that was bending down to search for objects, and the two began to wrestle. The Imperial Daughter had no gentlemanly demeanor whatsoever, immediately resorting to grabbing hair ornaments and pushing people to fall. At her young age, she had learned not a single good trait.

Fortunately, Lu Fengmian was stronger, and she barely managed to subdue the other party.

By the time the palace maids came to break up the fight, Lu Fengmian had five or six scratches on her face, but she swallowed her anger for the sake of rescuing the cat.

She bit her lip and followed the palace staff back to her mother’s side.

“Mother, help me. Her Highness doesn’t like the kitten, but I do,” Lu Fengmian rushed over and talked incessantly, “I can feed it, brush its fur, and I can teach it to use the toilet in a fixed spot.”

Zhao Mengchuan was discussing important matters with the Empress, and her daughter’s sudden interruption made both women laugh and cry.

Lu Fengmian snatched the pastry from her mother’s hand, stuffed it whole into her mouth, looking indignant.

The osmanthus cake was dull in color, dry and astringent in taste, neither a good specimen nor delicious. The Imperial Household Department had skimped so severely, she wondered if they were challenging the Emperor’s bottom line or merely exploiting the decline of the Zhu family to act willfully.

The two adults, who had been tasting tea in the room, only learned what had happened after her description. The Empress looked slightly embarrassed, saying she had failed to discipline her daughter and had been too lenient in the past. She immediately summoned Zhu Lingwei and began spanking her with a ruler.

At this point, Lu Fengmian felt a wave of fear. Knowing she had blown the matter up, she might incur resentment and hid behind her mother.

“It’s bad enough you’re uneducated, but your conduct and manner toward others are so rude. It’s truly outrageous.” The Empress struck hard, but her tone was gentle.

Under both grace and authority, Zhu Lingwei tearfully brought the injured cat and handed it over to the Zhao family.

Lu Fengmian pursed her lips and remained silent behind her mother. After a long time, she only stepped forward to take the cat when urged. She knew that her grudge with the other party was now firmly established.

She comforted the cat while stomping outside.

She really had no choice; Zhu Lingwei’s gaze was simply unfriendly.

Because of this incident, Madam Zhao did not take it to heart, but she stopped letting her daughter come so often. The Empress’s situation was difficult. The cat had previously offended the pregnant Consort Jiao, making it a hot potato.

Though Consort Jiao’s family had produced no powerful figures, she was skilled in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, charming the Emperor with her beautiful voice.

Lingwei’s adoptive mother asked the child to deal with this cat. Her child had saved it by mistake, which must have displeased the other consorts.

Prince Zhu was deliberately incited and secretly suffered from hard-to-detect embezzlement, so it was no wonder she harbored resentment.

The Empress had given birth to the Imperial Daughter in the Cold Palace. Later, her family’s success in the war earned her favor again. Although her life with the title was not difficult, it was not particularly comfortable either. Even Lu Fengmian’s accidental encounter with Zhu Lingwei might have been orchestrated by other nobles.

Better to kill by mistake than to let one slip away. That night, the maids involved were all beaten with the plank.

Dusk was approaching, and the sky was filled with a fiery sunset.

Wails and pleas for mercy were incessant. Zhu Lingwei frowned nearby. Sometimes, she couldn’t recognize her own thoughts. Like now, she seemed not to want the servants to be punished, yet she also felt they deserved it.

Most of the time, she followed her mother’s orders. Even when she refused to comply, it was only because she was unhappy in the palace and wanted to make a fuss.

She was neither old nor young, yet she could never make up her mind.

She acted without purpose, merely to throw a tantrum, and it didn’t matter if she strayed from the goal in the end because she never intended to achieve anything in the first place.

The Empress approached in a palanquin, stepped down, and pulled her daughter back. “You watch them carefully, watch them closely. One day, everything here will belong to you.”

“They are all insignificant people, but you must know what you want and what you need to do. Your mother knows your thoughts are shallow and your heart is focused on play, but you must learn to understand reason.”

Zhu Lingwei kept her eyes fixed on her nose and her heart steady. The sound of the plank didn’t just strike the servants, flaying their skin and leaving them bloody and bruised. It also struck her conscience. She felt something, though she didn’t understand the meaning, it still shook her soul.

She gripped her mother’s hand back.

Just as expected, countless bizarre incidents followed one after another, and their situation became increasingly difficult. This continued until the selection of companions for the Crown Prince, when Lu Fengmian officially entered the palace.

As Zhu Lingwei grew older, the palpitation she felt that evening had completely vanished. Now, she had a feud with a small maid. Because the maid wasn’t careful and bumped into her while walking, the Prince held a grudge for a long time.

It was a mix of liking and disliking. Though merely a servant, she would occasionally receive a small punishment or a little reward.

The Empress was lenient towards her daughter, indulging her to slap people, dunking heads into water vats, and forcing eunuchs to eat overnight osmanthus cake.

If the maid had a weak disposition, that would have been the end of it. But every time the other party endured the punishment and knelt in gratitude for her master’s mercy, her eyes were clear and seemingly filled with ambition.

The mistress of the inner palace finally had the maid transferred away from the Crown Prince’s hall and punished Zhu Lingwei by making her kneel in the snow to repent.

White snow covered the plum blossoms. The heavy accumulated snow caused the branches to tremble.

The Crown Prince was not a clever child. Her ability to take a hint and please others still needed improvement. She could have simply admitted her mistake, and the matter would have ended as soon as she stood up after feigning a protest.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to avoid it, but she just couldn’t grasp this simple logic.

And this scene was coincidentally witnessed by Lu Fengmian, who had mistakenly entered the hall.

The wind and snow swirled, a vast expanse of white silver on the ground. This sister, slightly younger than her, seemed about to be buried, her figure obscured.

A year and a half later, the two young girls coincidentally met outside the palace. Amidst the cheers of the crowd at the River Lantern Festival, Zhu Lingwei was in a bad mood.

She continuously dragged the palace maid beside her, speaking ill of the consorts from the Wang and Xie families. Ignoring the fact that they were in a bustling market, she complained about everything, inside and out.

She criticized their poor ability to manage affairs, their harsh attitude toward servants, and finally escalated to attacking their appearance.

Her gaze swept over the approaching Lu Fengmian. She first disdainfully looked away, then felt it was impolite and watched the other party approach.

“She’s just a fragile one. Her appearance is not much prettier than those in the brothels, wouldn’t you say?”

Zhu Lingwei didn’t think the person from the Zhao family was important. She was chatting excitedly with her personal maid. After finishing her lively comment, she casually prepared to wait for the person to come and greet her.

Lu Fengmian only felt insulted.

Even if the Crown Prince stood on the bridge, if she wanted to insult someone, she should have done it in private. Insulting her so loudly in public, likening her to a prostitute, was unacceptable.

Lu Fengmian smiled sweetly, “I know your status is noble, but since you’ve spoken to this extent, naturally there is no friendship between us. My father’s generation is not easily dealt with, and I’m sure your mother wouldn’t approve of this either.”

Zhu Lingwei pouted on the arch bridge, knowing the person had misunderstood, but didn’t care much. She pulled her personal maid and brushed past Lu Fengmian, as if the other person wasn’t there.

Their relationship looked tense, but they had already reconciled after Lu Fengmian copied the line, “How sad the caged bird is, wishing to fly but unable to,” for her.

Now, another conflict had arisen, which was truly hard to bear.

Later on, the capital was to be moved, and the Emperor decided on Beiping despite strong opposition.

The men of the Zhao family were the first to respond to the policy, followed by the women. They traveled by water, but their boat was attacked by bandits mid-journey and caught fire, resulting in heavy casualties.

Fortunately, officials and soldiers arrived in time to prevent the situation from escalating further.

It didn’t matter that gold and silver treasures were lost, but Madam Zhao’s only daughter was missing.

The Emperor was furious and ordered the local bandits to be executed, but the whereabouts of Miss Lu remained a mystery. Madam Zhao was heartbroken. Later, she somehow became pregnant again, and the Empress lost her right-hand woman thereafter.

In the third year of Zhizheng, the Emperor and Empress’s relationship improved slightly, and the eradication of Japanese pirates in various regions was successful.

In the fourth year of Zhizheng, Zhao Mengchuan died in childbirth, and Lu Fengmian was found and returned to the Zhao manor.

The whole house was draped in white mourning cloth, looking desolate and tragic.

The air was filled with sorrowful, crying faces, and lingering resentment. The coffin had been parked for several days, waiting only for Miss Lu to return to keep vigil.

The continuous whimpering and sobbing began. Her maternal grandmother set an example, pulling her into her arms for a long time of regret and sorrow.

Lu Fengmian, who hadn’t been staying at the manor, naturally didn’t know that the relationship between the mother and daughter had long been severed. She couldn’t hold back either and burst into tears in her grandmother’s arms.

Earlier, her mother had written that she was seriously ill, and to prevent her daughter from catching the sickness, she asked her to wait a few days before returning.

The friendly martial arts faction she was connected with raised the deceased’s daughter well, taking her on trips to enjoy the mountains and rivers, riding horses, and practicing archery. Miss Lu was intelligent. Although her teacher was not as learned as those in the capital, she quickly learned to write poems and compose music.

She was waiting with a joyful heart.

But what she waited for was the whole family in white mourning.

Everyone knew the temperament of the Zhao mother. The dead cannot be brought back to life, and the grievances of the person in the coffin were cleared. Now, only the memory of her daughter remained.

Now, seeing the Zhao mother’s distress over Miss Lu’s loss of her mother, relatives rushed over one after another to comfort the embracing grandmother and granddaughter.

The initial days were bearable, but servants were all people who fawned over power. Once the immediate crisis passed, they became like a crowd pushing a falling wall.

Various relatives also only offered a slight smile for the sake of the maternal grandmother. Later, considering family face, they took care of their own children while incidentally offering her guidance.

That same year, the Empress summoned her to resume her studies as a companion until the Crown Prince fell from power and was confined outside the palace.