Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

65. Gifts

Translator: Antonia

The disputes between Shenglan Army and the Turks wouldn’t be revealed in details to the folks. All they knew was that their Crown Prince came back with victory and he was now the bravest youngest commander across the country.

Du Chuxuan was sitting on the horseback in that dress, feeling uncomfortable in every limb. But when he turned and saw Yuxing Tianrui’s delighted smile, he started not to mind it at once.

They marched all the way to the palace and took a short break in the East Palace where the Crown Prince lived before going to meet the Emperor and Empress. Yuxing Tianrui went to see the Emperor, while Du Chuxuan was directed to see the Empress. The Empress Dowager was also there, and there was another middle-aged woman whose identity was figured by Du Chuxuan by one glance.

“Nice to see you, grandmother, mother.” After greeting, he stood still submissively, as if he didn’t know there was another person in the room.

Imperial Concubine Xiao’s face turned a little pale. Obviously, she could tell Du Chuxuan was ignoring her on purpose, but she could do nothing about it. The Empress Dowager didn’t speak for her, so she had to swallow it down.

However, Du Chuxuan didn’t plan to give her an easy time. He was uncomfortable as long as he remembered that the boy she had brought back would be vying for the throne against his little prince.

“Though I went with His Highness to the battlefield, on the way back, we passed several prosperous cities of Shenglan and bought these gifts for grandmother and mother to kill time.”

As he was speaking, there were maidservants coming to present the gifts. Speaking of servants, Dongxiang still had his name registered in the army, so it would take some efforts to register him in the palace. It was also obviously not proper to take Dongxiang with him on such occasions, so Du Chuxuan left him in the East Palace and let him keep an eye on the cleaning.

The maids came over in line carrying exquisite boxes and caskets and opened everything to present to them. The women in the palace had seen all sorts of best things. The more expensive it was, the more likely they had seen it before. Therefore, the gifts Du Chuxuan had selected were novel thingies that looked lovable.

“This is a snow fox. I like it very much at the first sight, and it was happened to be brought over by a Persian merchant team. It’s well trained. I’d like to give it to grandmother as a pet of company.”

Du Chuxuan felt his heart aching. This wasn’t a so-called snow fox from Persia but a well-trained intelligent fox. He had planned to keep it and fed it with best food. Now, it finished training, but would do the good to others.

“Oh dear, look at you. You were out for war. Why bother to think of me?” The Empress Dowager said it, but her eyes were shining with pleasure. A maid let the snow fox out, and it meekly coiled up in her arms. One could tell it was very clever merely by its look.

“I told you Yue is very smart. I’m even a little jealous and wondering what Yue got for me.” The Empress flattered the Empress Dowager and then looked curiously at the next box. Obviously, she was eager to know what was inside.

The maid was good at reading face and quickly opened it. It was a lantern made of glaze on which a picture was painted. It convinced people that it was a top-quality product at first glance. Then, by examining carefully the painting on it, she couldn’t help taking a gasp, “I think it’s a picture by Mr. Gong, isn’t it?”

Mr. Gong was the best painter nowadays with breath-takingly writing skills, but his paintings were rarely available on the market even if you wanted to buy one with thousand taels of gold. He only drew a picture or two when he was in the mood. Therefore, as long as a painting by him came out onto the market, the price of paper would increase due to the high demand of its copies.

Du Chuxuan arched his lips in a smile. He had done the work in advance and knew well the ladies’ likings. The Empress Dowager already had enough of expensive luxuries and wouldn’t care to have one more piece of those, so a pet for company would be the best gift for her. The Empress was originally a noble lady and certainly she liked stuff of culture values. Therefore, he got her this.

“Mother has keen sight. This is a work that Mr. Gong finished on a whim. I’ve tried hard for a long time before I finally obtained it. Yet, the best part of the lantern isn’t merely in the painting.” Du Chuxuan said and motioned to the maid to move a switch on the bottom. Instantly, the lantern began to rotate slowly and play music of crispy sound.

Everyone set themselves to listen carefully, and both the Empress and the Empress Dowager couldn’t help gasping, “Isn’t it Night Flowers by River under the Moon? With what instrument is it played? It’s so beautiful.”

Looking at the delighted faces of the two women, Du Chuxuan was slightly relieved. He was going to take away their son/grandson. Of course he should make them happy first, “Mother, you are right. At the bottom of it, there are gears made by skillful craftsmen. As long as you rotate for several times, it plays the music.”

As he explained, the maid brought it nearer to them for a better view. For a time, the palace was full of pleased laughter.

Imperial Concubine Xiao’s face became more and more somber. Her motive of coming to the palace was self-evident. So many years had passed, and the world knew that the Emperor only loved the Empress, and it was impossible for her to be the third person in their relationship. Nonetheless, as long as she had seen the smallest hope, she would try all means to help her son sit on the throne.

“The Crown Princess is so filial. I guess you’ve put a lot of effort in finding these things. Life is hard at the borders, but you look well fed. Great that you didn’t suffer much.” Imperial Concubine Xiao said, laughing behind her handkerchief, as if she didn’t mind the harmonious joyful family reunion excluding her out at all.

Hearing her words, the expressions of the Empress and the Empress Dowager changed a little. All the people sitting here were the cleverest. Even if the Empress hadn’t gone through feuds within the harem, she wasn’t stupid. Imperial Concubine Xiao’s words sounded nothing, but when you took them to deeper thinking, she actually meant that even though Du Chuxuan had gone to the borders with the Crown Prince, she only went there to enjoy herself.

It was natural that the Empress and the Empress Dowager began to think in that way. They stole an examining glance at Du Chuxuan and discovered that despite the tan skin, he didn’t seem to have suffered anything. For a time, they began to feel a little dissatisfied.

Du Chuxuan certainly noticed their reaction but didn’t mind. After all, he was going to spend the rest of his life with Yuxing Tianrui other than these women.