Chapter 460

Chapter 460 Time in the palace could be hard to endure, but sometimes it passed all too easily. In the blink of an eye, more than ten years had gone by. It was now time for the Seventh Prince to choose his consort. Consort Jingde had spent days poring over the registers of noble young ladies in the capital, her eyes red from strain, before finally settling on a candidate for the Seventh Prince's consort. She eagerly summoned the Seventh Prince. "Lian'er, what do you think of Yinong?" The Yinong Consort Jingde spoke of was the eldest daughter of the current Duke of Ying, and also the daughter of Consort Jingde's own elder brother. The Seventh Prince stood below, a hint of surprise in his eyes: "Mother is asking about Yinong-meimei?" Consort Jingde nodded with a smile: "I've been worrying over your marriage lately, and after reviewing all the noble ladies in the capital, I feel Yinong is quite suitable." "You've known each other since childhood—practically sweethearts raised together—and you understand each other's temperaments well. It won't be a blind marriage." "Yinong is gentle, refined, intelligent, and gracious. With her to take care of you, I can rest easy." Consort Jingde spoke cheerfully, but failed to notice that the Seventh Prince's face below showed little joy. Only after Consort Jingde finished did the Seventh Prince slowly bow in salute: "Your son will follow Mother's arrangements." Consort Jingde smiled: "Then I'll mention it to Her Majesty the Empress in a couple of days, and have Yinong come to the palace to pay her respects to the Empress as well, to settle the matter between you two." Seventh Prince: "Whatever Mother arranges will be fine." After leaving Yongning Palace, the eunuch at his side noticed the Seventh Prince remained gloomy and couldn't help asking: "The Empress Dowager has chosen a consort for you, Master—why don't you seem pleased?" The Seventh Prince shot him a glare and snorted coldly: "What would you understand?" "Mother wants me to marry Sun Yinong, talking about childhood sweethearts and doing what's best for me—those are all just excuses." "At the end of the day, it's simply that after the old Duke of Ying passed away, the household has no capable sons to uphold its standing. She fears the Duke of Ying's mansion will decline, so she's foisting Sun Yinong onto me." "The title of Seventh Prince's Consort is nothing more than a tool for Mother to support her natal family and secure her own position." With that, he gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Never mind the Seventh Prince's Consort—even I, the Seventh Prince myself, am no different, am I?" The eunuch wanted to offer a few words of comfort but didn't know where to begin. Suddenly, a young eunuch slipped in from the side and whispered in the Seventh Prince's ear: "Master, the matter you asked me to look into—I've found out." The Seventh Prince's gaze sharpened. He waved his hand to dismiss the others. "Lead the way!" The young eunuch bowed obsequiously: "This servant obeys!" The senior eunuch behind watched the direction the Seventh Prince was heading—it was actually toward the Cold Palace. The senior eunuch's heart was uneasy, yet he dared not rush to Yongning Palace to report to Consort Jingde, and could only pace anxiously on the spot. After many twists and turns, the Seventh Prince followed the young eunuch to a remote and desolate courtyard. He said impatiently: "Where is this? How much further?!" The young eunuch smiled ingratiatingly: "Almost there, almost there!" When they reached a dilapidated palace, he said: "Reporting to Master, this is Chunyi Pavilion—the Cold Palace is a bit further beyond." "The Cold Palace?!" The Seventh Prince frowned. "Why have you brought me to this godforsaken place?!" "And what is Chunyi Pavilion?" The young eunuch explained: "Chunyi Pavilion was originally renovated to house the masters of the palace, but being so close to the Cold Palace, no one ever came to stay here." Pushing open the door and stepping inside, the Seventh Prince saw a plain-looking, thin and frail middle-aged woman drawing water with a bucket. Seeing the Seventh Prince, she started in alarm and hastily knelt, calling out "Your Grace." The young eunuch said from the side: "Master, this woman is called Hongmei—she was formerly a servant who attended to Mistress Wu." "Whatever you wish to know, you may ask her freely." The Seventh Prince: "..." ... "Back when Wu Baolin had just given birth, Consort Jingde sent people to take the Seventh Prince away. Wu Baolin, covered in blood, chased after them the whole way, and finally collapsed at the palace gates, where Consort Jingde's people blocked her from going out." "It was that ordeal that damaged Wu Baolin's health, leaving her with ailments from her confinement. She lay in bed recuperating for a long time." "When Wu Baolin recovered somewhat, she wanted to go to Yongning Palace to see the Seventh Prince." "But Consort Jingde was extremely overbearing and wouldn't let Wu Baolin set foot through the palace gates. Wu Baolin could only gaze toward Yongning Palace and weep day after day, nearly crying her eyes out." "Wu Baolin was already in poor health, yet Consort Jingde still instructed her servants to treat Wu Baolin harshly, docking her monthly allowance and charcoal rations, until Wu Baolin couldn't even afford medicine." "In the dead of winter, her room was freezing cold, without even a single brazier of charcoal." Hearing these words from the maid Hongmei, the Seventh Prince's hands unconsciously clenched tight. He could almost see Wu Baolin's motherly heart weeping blood back then. Hongmei continued: "This servant remembers that winter was bitterly cold. From morning to night, Wu Baolin's body was cold, and she couldn't even afford to burn a charcoal brazier." "Wu Baolin must have known she didn't have much time left, so she thought to use her final days to go see the Seventh Prince as much as she could." "The snow lay three feet deep. Wu Baolin dragged her ailing body to Yongning Palace, begging only to see the Seventh Prince once—so that at least she could remember his face before she died." "But Consort Jingde refused and even had people drive Wu Baolin back... It wasn't until the Empress at that time could no longer stand by and watch, reprimanding Consort Jingde, that Wu Baolin's days became a bit more bearable." "But even so, Wu Baolin still couldn't survive that winter..." Just as Hongmei finished speaking, the Seventh Prince suddenly roared in anger: "Enough!" His eyes were bloodshot, which startled Hongmei greatly. Hongmei quickly begged for mercy: "I beg the Seventh Prince to spare this servant's life. Consort Jingde is extremely domineering—if she learned that this servant told you these things, she would surely make me die a miserable death." "It was precisely because this servant once served Wu Baolin and caught Consort Jingde's displeasure that I was banished to this kind of place..." A pouch of silver was tossed to the ground as the Seventh Prince left without looking back, his voice low and restrained, "Rest assured, what happened today will be known to no one." Hongmei picked up the silver, knelt and kowtowed in gratitude: "This servant thanks the Seventh Prince for saving my life!" Three days later, Consort Jingde brought Sun Yinong, the eldest daughter of the Duke's household, to Fengyi Palace for an audience. Consort Jingde had already communicated with Xie Run beforehand; this was merely going through the motions. Xie Run wasn't particularly familiar with this eldest daughter of the Duke's household—she had only seen her once or twice at festive banquets. When Consort Jingde brought the young lady into Fengyi Palace, Xie Run was rather taken aback at first glance and quite pleased. It wasn't that this Miss Sun was exceptionally beautiful in appearance, but rather that her elegant, refined bearing was refreshing to behold—pure and graceful in the extreme. Xie Run smiled and took her hand, unable to resist praising: "What a fine young lady, truly a fitting match for Lian'er." Upon hearing this, Miss Sun shyly lowered her head, like a hibiscus blooming in bashfulness, most charming indeed. Consort Jingde listened from the side, feeling immensely proud. After all, this was a young lady from her Duke's household. Had Yinong not been so outstanding, she wouldn't have betrothed her to the Seventh Prince. Just then, a eunuch's announcement was heard: "The Seventh Prince has arrived." Consort Jingde was somewhat delighted and smiled: "How rare to see Lian'er so eager—could it be he's worried Yinong might feel uncomfortable and came specially to check on her?" Sun Yinong's face flushed crimson at Consort Jingde's words. Yet the Seventh Prince who entered Fengyi Palace wore a face as cold and still as water. He looked less like a man coming to see his betrothed and more like one seeking vengeance.