Temple Visit (1)

The Autumn Crab Banquet ended on an unusual note.

Xu Shi was an honest woman. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened even after returning to her residence, worrying and feeling remorseful.

She was worried that her interactions with the Crown Princess would lead to trouble. Also, she felt bad about how she treated the Crown Princess.

Although she was an uneducated farmer, she could tell between good and bad.

While the Empress Dowager brought her and her family to Chang’an and held a banquet for them, they all looked down on her and her family. All the nobles at the banquet were waiting to laugh at her mistake. Only Chu Ning treated her with respect.

Chu Ning was kind to her, but Xu Shi avoided her the moment she found out that Chu Ning was the Crown Princess. Xu Shi was ashamed of herself.

Weishou, the Duke of Lu, was sitting beside Xu Shi. When he saw her frowning, he asked, “Did something happen? Did people laugh at you at the banquet?”

It turned out that Weishou himself frequently became a laughing stock when meeting the royal relatives. Thankfully, the Emperor was not ashamed of him. He even consoled Weishou privately.

Xu Shi shook her head. “We weren’t laughed at. This is what worries me.” Then, she proceeded to tell him what happened during the banquet.

After listening to her, Weishou frowned and said, “Can you tell me what the Emperor said?”

Xu Shi repeated what Xiao Kezhi said word by word.

Weishou considered silently for a long while before clapping his hand and saying, “We should only listen to what the Emperor said. Let’s not care about what others say. After all, we are the Emperor’s closest relatives.”

Weishou was a farmer and was lowly in the eyes of the nobility in Chang’an. Since he could not understand the intrigue among the nobility, he thought that he might as well save the effort and stop pandering to them.

He knew that as the Emperor’s maternal uncle, he should stand by the Emperor and listen only to him.

……

Xu Shi was stunned for a moment and asked, “The Emperor said that Guo Er can befriend whoever she likes… So, should I pay a visit to the Crown Princess and apologize?”

“Yes, we don’t want them to think that we’re arrogant.”

After the discussion, Xu Shi felt a lot calmer and went to bed.

…

A few days later, an invitation from Duchess of Lu arrived at the East Palace, inviting the Crown Princess to go with her to Dacien Temple to pray.

When Xiao Yu saw the invitation, he was surprised for a moment before sneering, “Qimu brought them to Chang’an, but it seems that neither the Emperor nor the Wei family members are thankful to him. Instead, the Wei family is seeking to befriend the East Palace. I wonder if he regrets it now.”

Chu Ning did not reply but took the invitation and said, “Does this mean that you don’t oppose me going?”

“They are just two insignificant fools who are not worth my concern,” he said as he adjusted his clothes before a bronze mirror.

Chu Ning felt uncomfortable about this.

In some ways, Xiao Yu was similar to the Empress Dowager. They both looked down on those from humble backgrounds. Even the rivalry between them involved only the high level officials. The lower level officials were completely excluded.

On the other hand, Xiao Kezhi, who was away from the capital, secretly allied with many low level officials who came from humble backgrounds. Through this, he not only avoided the Empress Dowager’s notice, but also found those who are useful to his cause.

However, the Empress Dowager and Xiao Yu had their heads above the clouds and were still unaware of this.

Chu Ning smiled and sent him off dutifully. Then, she returned to her room to change and left in a carriage.

Meanwhile at Chongren Lane, Xu Shi and Guo Er were waiting outside their residence. When Xu Shi saw the carriage nearing, she put away her nervous expression and smiled as she took Guo Er with her to greet the guest.

Once the carriage stopped, she presented a covered food tray and said embarrassedly, “I heard that Your Highness was ill a few days ago, so I prepared some Yenzhou cakes for you. They are simple and humble fares, but I hope that Your Highness will give them a try.”

Chu Ning accepted it and opened the tray. She smiled as she looked at the simple cakes and ate one of them.

Without a doubt, the taste was not as exquisite as the food prepared by the palace kitchen. However it was nice in its own way. Furthermore, Chu Ning could taste a hint of the fragrance of herbs.

Her eyes widened slightly, and she turned to ask the still nervous Xu Shi, “Did you put herbs in the cakes?”

Xu Shi was surprised that Chu Ning could taste the herbs. She nodded quickly and said, “Yes, I was worried that the cakes were not good enough and remembered that you were ill. As I have some nourishing herbs gifted by the Emperor, I asked a physician in the city and chose a few to be grinded into power. I mixed them into the dough to make the cakes more nourishing…”