Su Jin emerged from the room still carrying a hint of dampness. Her plain face without any makeup, her eyebrows resembling distant mountains, her eyes like autumn water, and her lips naturally red, were truly a beauty.
The Prince was so amazed by Su Jin's appearance as she walked out of the inner chamber that he couldn't take his eyes off her.
The blue-robed maid gave the prince a gentle nudge from behind, and he snapped back to reality with a dry cough, "I heard someone say you stood in the snow for a while. It's cold out there now. Don't do that again. I'm afraid you might catch a cold."
Su Jin smiled and said, "There's no big deal. I just stopped to admire the scenery in the snow for a bit, and happened to run into King Qi. We chatted for a couple of sentences."
The prince asked eagerly, "King Qi? What did you talk about with him?"
Su Jin had previously thought the prince was jealous, but now she realized how ridiculous that was.
"It was just a few polite words, thanking him for coming to save us in a timely manner."
The prince's expression darkened, he disliked the word 'saving', "rescuing the throne, this is merely what King Qi should do."
Su Jin looked at the prince in surprise. After the prince finished speaking, he also felt his face was losing color.
Throughout history and time, for the subject who rescues the throne, great rewards are usually given. It goes without saying that Prince and King Qi are still brothers.
This kind of remark from the prince is somewhat hurtful.
The prince no longer felt like staying, casually chatted for a few sentences, and then prepared to leave.
As Su Jin saw off the prince, she glanced at the blue-robed maid twice, "Your Highness, I noticed that the maidservant's appearance seems to resemble that of Lady Zhang."
The prince's face froze, the blue-robed maid stepped forward and spoke calmly, "Your Highness, I must clarify that……"
Su Jin said lightly, "Haven't you learned the rules?"
Lady Zhang hung her head, with a look of humiliation on her face, and reluctantly knelt down.
But halfway through, she was pulled up and dragged back by the prince.
"Princess Consort is known for her broadmindedness and generosity, why does she suddenly want to argue with her today?"
It's actually not even worth mentioning a maid.
Su Jin's eyes sparkled with clarity, "Is Your Highness suggesting that I intentionally made things difficult for her? I'm afraid I'm too obtuse to have done anything wrong."
The surrounding maids and eunuchs were bowing their heads, too scared to look at the prince, yet the prince felt as though he was being pricked by thorns.
He had always been proud of his status, but when this rule actually fell on Zhang's family, he couldn't bear it.
"She will not threaten your position, so do not trouble her in the future. Let's leave."
Su Jin watched the prince leave with a half-smile, half-frown.
It just feels absurd and ridiculous.
The prince was quite self-important, not taking anything seriously. Just now, when he was prodded by the blue-robed maid, he showed no signs of anger at all.
This was enough to make Su Jin suspicious of Lady Zhang, so she said something to test her.
Who would have thought there would be unexpected gains.
She slowly surveyed the servants in the hall, some of whom were brought from Su's family, some were gifts from the empress mother, and others were the original slaves of the East Palace.
After returning to the palace, the prince's words today will let the elders in the capital know.
Since killing the prince is not possible for now, she will first expose the lie that he loves her.
With the example of the loyal lover from the Chu family's past, others can fill in the blanks to imagine a tenfold love based on just a threefold favor shown by the prince.
They believed it back then because the prince was always proud and arrogant, not knowing how to bow down, and placed face above all else.
But such a person, at the age of seventeen, is willing to ask the emperor for a marriage in front of everyone.
Everyone thought it was because he loved Su Jin wildly.
But it's all a lie!!!
Without the mask of affection, the Su family would no longer feel that the prince's attitude towards them was due to his personality. Clearly, he dislikes the Su family!
Autumn Dew carefully served the fruit drink, saying, "Your Royal Highness, don't be sad. It's not worth getting upset over someone like this. After you return to the palace, her life and death are in your hands."
Hmmm——
The fruit drink tastes good.
Su Jin isn't angry at all; she was almost laughing out loud.
Just feels absurd again.
Zhang, something she never even looked twice at, and whose appearance she can't even recall.
Could actually bring her and the Su family to such a sorry state.
In the third year of An Tai, after the prince proposed to Su Jin, she was married into the East Palace within two months.
Because her mother had passed away three years ago, and her elder sisters had gone to serve in other places with their husbands, she had no female relatives to educate her.
It seems that Su Pa was not concerned about this matter. He had already arranged his daughter's future. He intended to choose a suitable one from among his disciples, not seeking any future achievements, but simply wanted him to have a calm and simple nature, be content with his family, and let his daughter live a happy life.
But the prince's proposal has thrown everything into disarray.
In the end, Su Fu agreed without forcibly resisting the royal command. This was because the example of the previous generation of the Chu family was too dazzling, so dazzling that even Su Fu dared not guarantee that his son-in-law would be better to his daughter than the prince.
Eventually, Su Jin was still married to the East Palace at the age of not having reached her chin, and was raised by the empress mother.
As for the matter of married life, neither the empress mother nor Su Fu would advise the young couple to perform their marital duties again for two years.
In these times, families who love their daughters tend to keep them at home until they are sixteen or seventeen.
At that age, girls are still growing and have not fully matured. Currently, there are no effective contraceptive methods. Pregnancy at the age of fourteen or fifteen can be deadly to both mother and child, harming the mother's health.
The elders truly loved Su Jin. The empress mother was urging the marriage because she was pleased that her favored relative had become her son-in-law, but none of them intended to let Su Jin risk her life.
Moreover, they were still young and had not yet reached the age of worrying about their offspring.
In the first year after Su Jin's marriage, the empress mother specially presented a nanny. On one hand, she was preventing young couples from being impulsive; on the other hand, she was helping Su Jin adapt to life in the East Palace.
The old servants in the palace often bullied young masters with their seniority. Since Su Jin was young, the empress mother was afraid she might suffer silently.
Later, the nanny returned to the empress mother, but some of the staff were kept.
Su Jin first heard about Zhang in the year before.
At that time, she knew that the prince had a consort, but she didn't care at all. A consort... it was the lowest title in the East Palace, not even a formal title.
Those selected from the public to serve the prince or the emperor, as long as they entered the East Palace, would at the very least be a consort.
People like this, even if they were serving tea to her, would be an honor to her.
Upon hearing this, the empress mother specially comforted Su Jin and advised her not to act impulsively because of it, and to cherish her own health. She truly regarded Su Jin as her own close relative.
"Your future has already been determined. As long as you live, everything will be yours. The prince can favor anyone he wants, and if anyone dares to cause trouble for you, just give her a cup of wine and it will be solved."
The empress mother spoke casually, and she indeed had the right to say so.
As the empress mother, who was personally favored by the previous emperor for many years, she saw those concubines as nothing more than playthings. If the current emperor liked them, she would keep them around, but if they failed to recognize their own status, she would kill them directly.
Because the previous emperor would never get angry at her wife because of them.
Such an extraordinary favor, such confidence; it's no wonder that when the world learned that the prince favored Su Jin, they naturally believed that her future was already set!
