Chapter Text
Shengjing was the capital city of the Liang Empire and, tonight, the most prominent figures in Shengjing were all gathered at the residence of the Duke of Chen. Bright red lanterns adorned the eaves of the mansion, swaying gently in the spring breeze. Windows and doors were plastered with paper art of festive characters. Inside, the Shengjing nobles crowded around a young man in a robe of crimson silk that was embroidered with auspicious creatures in gold thread. They were drowning him with alcohol and half-hearted congratulations.
“To again experience a spring night with a beauty…Brother Pei, you are one lucky man!”
Pei Zhen was the “young man” at the center of attention. She was actually a woman, and she did not consider herself lucky at all.
She wanted to glare at the guest who had just spoken but, in her drunken haze, she could not discern who it was. In the end it mattered little, as the crowd’s approval was palpable in the bellow of laughter that followed.
“Now, now, take it easy with the liquor.” A big man pulled Pei Zhen away from the crowd and stood in front as though to protect her. “My sister is still desperately waiting for this pretty boy to go warm her bed. Isn’t that right, Pei Zhen?”
Another round of snickering followed.
Pei Zhen did not answer, though her twitching smile betrayed her fury. To think a perverted jerk like that could be the Prince of Yan – what a fucked-up world to reincarnate into!
As someone whose past life was spent in a wealthy nation in the 21st century, she wished she had a gun to put a bullet right through the prince’s filthy mouth.
Her cousin, Guan Weiye, stepped in before Pei Zhen did something stupid. “Please spare him, Your Highness. Here, let’s drink to this beautiful moonlit night. This is top quality grape wine from the west – the best I can offer from my meager collection.”
“Grape wine? Only sissies would drink that. Can’t believe you are just the same as your cousin–”
The rest of the prince’s words faded from earshot when Pei Zhen’s servant, A-Cai, used this opportunity to escort her out of the front hall. She would not shut her mouth though.
“Does an asshole like him deserve to be a prince?” Pei Zhen whined while she struggled against A-Cai’s grasp, waving her arms around like she wanted to punch an apparition of the prince.
“Please, Young Master, I beg you. You cannot say something like that.” A-Cai would not let go of her. “What if someone hears you?"
Pei Zhen obviously understood the consequences even in her drunken state. Why else was she only saying this when they were safe in the expansive garden where they were only accompanied by the shadows of peach blossoms?
She sighed as she plopped herself onto a stone bench in the pondside gazebo. “Bring me a basin of water. I need to cool down,” she said. A-Cai nodded twice and immediately ran to get her one.
He came back in less than five minutes by Pei Zhen’s estimation and set the basin down by her side. Pei Zhen wetted her face and let the breeze airdry her skin. The night was still cool, so the evaporation of water droplets made her shiver, but it brought a welcome clarity to her mind.
“A-Cai, do you think I am a lucky man?” Pei Zhen asked the scrawny teenager.
He gave a stiff smile. “Her Highness is a beautiful and gentle woman, so–”
“Beautiful, I’d admit. But gentle?” Pei Zhen shook her head. “A-Cai, you are such a terrible liar.”
She got up so quickly that it left her disoriented. Luckily, A-Cai was there to steady her. They both knew Pei Zhen could not put off what was inevitable any longer. The night was already deep so, if she did not join her bride in their bed chamber soon, she would be accused of defying the emperor’s edict.
Off they went down the covered walkway to the east annex that was assigned to Pei Zhen. Of the annexes in the residence, the east was the quietest. The courtyard was devoid of fancy flowers and paved completely in Roman concrete instead. Pei Zhen’s favorite spices and herbs grew in neat planter boxes by the side. This was most definitely not a common design in Liang, but that was precisely why Pei Zhen was so proud of it.
She dismissed A-Cai when they arrived at the entrance of the main building. There were attendants guarding the entrance today, attendants brought to this residence by her bride. “Prince Consort,” one of them addressed her while opening the door, “Her Highness is waiting inside.”
Pei Zhen waved the attendant off and then stumbled inside. The building was so large that she still had quite a ways to walk before reaching the bed chamber. The first area she traversed was the reception, paved in marble, lined with fluffy rugs, and furnished with leather sofas facing a roaring fireplace. A corridor on the right led to the bed chamber. Two more attendants stood there, and they opened the door when they saw her.
The bed chamber itself was also large, covered in crimson decorations that looked out of place amidst the mostly western décor. The centerpiece of the sitting area was a square coffee table surrounded by plush cushions. Atop of it was a plate of roasted nuts seasoned with salt, black pepper, and what Pei Zhen knew from her past life as Sichuan peppers. It looked untouched though.
“I left a plate of snacks for you. Why didn’t you eat it?” Pei Zhen asked while walking over to the bed.
A woman in red was sitting straight on the bed with hands placed neatly atop her knees. She spoke from beneath the veil that covered her face. “Do I look like I can eat like this?”
“You could’ve just removed the veil yourself,” Pei Zhen said. When met with silence, she picked up a jade scepter from the lacquered wooden tray left on the bed and used it to lift the woman’s veil.
Pei Zhen was met with a pair of golden-brown eyes, calm and clear but not without an ambitious fire burning in their depths. The woman’s brows were curved delicately like the outlines of faraway mountains, her nose straight and tall, her high cheeks brushed with a light blush that looked like cherry blossoms blooming atop a snowy hill, and her lips were full and shapely like they were meant to be kissed.
Duanmu Cheng, the Princess of Anping, was every bit as gorgeous as how those lovesick Shengjing scholars described her.
For once, Pei Zhen gave her an extra long stare. She only came to her senses when Duanmu Cheng quirked a brow. This made her shrug. “I was expressing my sympathies for how long you must’ve had to sit for them to plaster all that stuff on your face.”
Duanmu Cheng turned away and gave a sharp exhale. “Nothing nice ever comes out of your mouth.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Pei Zhen said while clumsily picking up a vessel from the coffee table and pouring its contents into two cups. “Even if you didn’t want to eat, you should’ve still drunk water. Your pretty face will become shrivelled like a prune.”
When she passed a cup to Duanmu Cheng, the latter gave her a chiding smile. “This is wine. The nuptial wine.”
“Oh?” Pei Zhen held onto her own cup dumbly. Duanmu Cheng reached for her arm and pulled it forward, prompting Pei Zhen to ask, “You actually want to drink this while crossing arms?”
“That is the ritual.”
“You already know that I am not a man.”
Duanmu Cheng’s gaze turned into a glare. It quickly shut Pei Zhen’s mouth. “Fine, we’ll complete every ritual to perfection. Happy?”
Pei Zhen intertwined her arm with Duanmu Cheng’s, bringing them closer together. Her gaze lingered on her bride, watching her dip her plump, scarlet lips into the liquor. If only Duanmu Cheng would stay like this, then Pei Zhen would be happy to watch her all day. Yet, this beautiful moment had to be shattered by Duanmu Cheng’s annoyed stare upon finishing the wine.
Pei Zhen quickly gulped down what was in her cup and turned away, feigning nonchalance.
“You…You need help with all those pins and ornaments on your head? They look heavy,” Pei Zhen asked.
Duanmu Cheng got up from the bed and walked over to sit in front of the only mirror in the room. “I appreciate the offer, but I do not wish to be bald.”
“I’m not that stupid! I won’t pull your hair out with the pins…” Pei Zhen’s voice trailed off upon second thought. “Not all of it anyway.”
“How honest of you.” Duanmu Cheng chuckled, her voice ringing like bells. “Go rinse off that alcoholic stench instead. I will get Zhao’er to help me with the pins.”
Pei Zhen was about to argue with her but, upon lifting the collar of her robes for a sniff, she scrunched her face in distaste. While on her way out of the bed chamber, she addressed the taller of the two attendants outside. “Your lady wants you to go inside and help her with the hairpins,” she said before wobbling over to the bathroom.
The bathroom of the east annex was not built in a western style. Rather, Pei Zhen had designed it based on Ming Dynasty baths. The pool was lined with azure tiles, the water filled using a hand-driven pump that pulled it from a boiler in the back of the building, and next to the pool was a paulownia and jade screen that lent privacy to a Maitreya's couch for short naps.
Pei Zhen entered the bathroom alone. To protect her secret, she would never let anyone near her when she undressed. She stepped into the pool and opened a jar placed on its edge. Normally, such jars would contain cleansing pastes made of soap bean powder and spices. However, Pei Zhen had replaced that with real soap scented with rose water. Because she used this soap every day, she was known throughout the capital as the Gentleman of Roses. While some Shengjing ladies swooned over this, most of the nobles ridiculed Pei Zhen for her practices. After all, the norm in Liang was to bathe once every five days. Bathing everyday in roses? Pei Zhen’s lifestyle was finer than that of the ladies!
She could care less about their condescension though. For one, ever since memories of her past life surfaced in adolescence, she could no longer bear with Liang’s uncultured bathing norms. Bathing only once every five days, especially during Shengjing’s scalding summers? Even if she did not get a lice infestation, she would suffer acne outbreaks all over her bound chest! Secondly, she wanted the capital to know her as a useless, good-for-nothing playboy. Her father had died in war, her uncles had died in war, and her grandfather had also died in war. The title of Duke of Chen might sound powerful, but the reality was that no one could protect it and its accompanying household anymore. If not for this, why would Pei Zhen’s mother risk everything to get her to pretend to be a boy? But because she was not actually male, she had to tread extra carefully. Do not upset anyone. Do not pose a threat. Pretending to be a good-for-nothing was the best course of action. No one would go out of their way to hurt a nobleman whose reputation made him unemployable in the emperor’s eyes.
Now that she was tied to Duanmu Cheng, however, such a pretense was no longer workable.
Pei Zhen scrubbed herself with the soap and sank into the warm water to rinse it off. As she closed her eyes and held her breath under the water, images from that ridiculous night flashed through her mind. The sweet scent, the burning heat in her chest, the way her control faded to an animalistic lust for the woman beneath her. Her lips had trailed along Duanmu Cheng’s skin, their legs had tangled while they moved against each other. It was as though she could hear Duanmu Cheng’s soft voice by her ear again…
She broke the surface of the water and took a deep breath. Her eyes opened, letting the candlelight flood her vision. “Prince Consort?” the attendant outside called. “Are you alright?”
She had been in the bath for nearly an hour already.
“I am fine. Almost done,” she answered.
She dried herself, bound her chest, and put on a thin robe of red silk. When she returned to the bed chamber, she saw that Duanmu Cheng had also taken off her outer garments and was now in a matching silk robe, her hair free of ornaments to cascade freely down her back like a waterfall of black ink. Her head was lowered while reading a book in her hand. History of Tang, the title read. Pei Zhen sat down next to Duanmu Cheng and removed the book from her grasp.
They sat in such proximity that Pei Zhen could feel Duanmu Cheng’s body heat. This made her all fuzzy inside. She leaned forward, her breath falling on Duanmu Cheng’s skin, turning it pink.
Duanmu Cheng placed a hand on Pei Zhen. “What are you doing?” she yelped.
“The ritual–”
“We can do away with that one!” She pushed Pei Zhen away and shifted her gaze to the ground, her face red with embarrassment. “I was waiting to talk to you, not to do…do…that.”
“Oh.” Pei Zhen muttered in equal embarrassment. She shifted back to give Duanmu Cheng some space. “What do you want to talk about then?”
“Now that we are married, I want to set some rules between us.”
“What rules?” Pei Zhen asked while crossing her arms.
“Listen first and argue later – you may find what I have to say agreeable,” Duanmu Cheng said calmly. “First, I want us to pretend to have a good relationship.”
Pei Zhen contemplated. Would it be beneficial for her to instead cast Duanmu Cheng aside and take a bunch of concubines so as to distance herself away from the princess and her politics? Probably not. They would still be tied by marriage regardless. It was not as though Pei Zhen could divorce her when their marriage was blessed by the emperor – that would be seen as treason. So, it was indeed better to pretend to have a good relationship with Duanmu Cheng. That way, she could borrow her political power to protect the Pei family.
As such, Pei Zhen answered, “Fine, I’ll comply with that.”
“Good. Then I better not see you visiting brothels again.”
Duanmu Cheng’s words reminded Pei Zhen of the time she deducted her stipend for the “improper conduct” of visiting a brothel. She had long known Pei Zhen was a woman though! Had she not figured out that she visited brothels just to live up to her good-for-nothing playboy reputation?
“You talk as though I am actually a pervert.”
The unimpressed stare that Duanmu Cheng gave in response to Pei Zhen’s indignant statement made the latter turn her eyes away in guilt. She added quietly, “I wouldn’t have touched you if you didn’t say that you wanted to observe the wedding rituals–”
When Duanmu Cheng’s stare became more dangerous, Pei Zhen quickly shut up. “Never mind that. What’s the second rule?”
“You will not interfere with other aspects of my life, and I will not interfere with yours either.”
“No, I disagree!” Pei Zhen immediately rejected. Duanmu Cheng looked confused at her reaction.
“Why?”
“Because if you do something stupid enough to get your head chopped off, you will get the heads of everyone in the Pei family chopped off too!”
That was how the laws worked in an archaic society like Liang. Pei Zhen could treat Duanmu Cheng like she was invisible, but when shit hits the fan the Pei family would still be implicated because of their marriage ties. Why else did Pei Zhen agree to the first rule in the first place?
But Duanmu Cheng just snorted in response. “You think you can stop me from doing what I want?”
Pei Zhen rolled her eyes. “Who can stop Your Imperial Highness the Princess of Anping? But could you, in your spare moment, pity the lives of us lowly vassals and at least tell me before you do something risky?”
“So that you can run away?”
“I was thinking of helping you but, if you think it’s better for me to run, I wouldn’t mind that,” Pei Zhen grumbled.
Duanmu Cheng’s scornful smile took on a glimmer of amusement. “Help me?”
“Look around you,” Pei Zhen said while waving at her surroundings. “The soft bed you are sitting on, the heated floors, the nuts seasoned with foreign spices – they are all evidence of my genius. Who else in all of Liang can think of these innovations?”
Duanmu Cheng pressed a hand down on the bed. Pei Zhen saw her marvel at the unique bounciness, something that Liang’s rush-woven mattresses could certainly not mimic. While Pei Zhen stared proudly into Duanmu Cheng’s eyes, the latter chuckled.
“Very well, I will assign you a task. If you perform it well, I will keep consulting you. What do you think?”
“What task? You aren’t going to ask me to assassinate someone, right?”
“You? An assassin? I would not trust you to kill a chicken.”
Pei Zhen nodded. She had enough self-awareness to know that she could not catch a chicken, let alone kill one. “As long as it isn’t anything violent or immoral, I don’t mind helping you. So, what’s the third rule?”
“Well, seeing as you want to help me, I will also help you in return. For the third rule, I want you to give me control over the internal affairs of this household.”
It was the norm in Liang for husbands to be breadwinners and wives to stay home and take care of all internal affairs, so Duanmu Cheng’s request was not unreasonable under normal circumstances. However, Duanmu Cheng was a princess. If not for their rushed wedding, she would be awarded a residence of her own and Pei Zhen would be marrying into her house and not the other way around. That was why Pei Zhen could not help but ask, “You plan on staying in this house permanently?”
“According to rule number one, we have to pretend to have a good relationship, so of course we must stay together. You are an only child. Would you feel comfortable with leaving your mother and elderly grandmother behind to stay at my residence instead?”
Pei Zhen looked up at Duanmu Cheng and her gaze softened. She did not expect the power-hungry princess to care about her in the least.
“I mean…if you are willing to stay, then I’d be pretty happy with your decision. But why do you want to take control of the household? It isn’t like we have much to offer you.”
Though Pei Zhen had always seen Duanmu Cheng as a cold-hearted politician who would do anything for her own gain, she was not stupid enough to think that she would be after the Pei family’s petty fortune. The Pei family might have once been rich from the rewards that came with its military achievements, but that was a decade ago – now, they were living off their savings and the modest stipend that came with the title of Duke of Chen. Duanmu Cheng, on the other hand, was a favored princess who had served as one of the nation’s regents up until last year. Her dowry alone was enough to feed the Pei family for a generation!
“Like I said, I am helping you. Besides, who likes being served by disloyal dogs devouring the family fortune behind your back?”
When Pei Zhen looked at her with a confused gaze, Duanmu Cheng pointed to the book she had been reading earlier. “That is not actually the History of Tang. The cover is used to conceal Zhao’er’s notes – I got her to record the foods that were served and the decorations used in today’s banquet.”
Pei Zhen opened the book and stared at its contents. “It looks fine, I guess? But I am a bit surprised that they decorated the place with ninety-nine pots of peony. It’s a prosperous number, but isn’t ninety-nine a bit much?”
“Ninety-nine pots of peony and only one dish of vegetables. The contrast is what is striking.”
“I guess they wanted to serve more meat and seafood instead? Got to make the banquet more luxurious because you’re a princess, right?”
“Pei Zhen, do you know what is the price of vegetables right now?”
Because Duanmu Cheng asked this, it was obvious that the seasonal price of vegetables must be very high currently. Upon second thought this made sense, as the snow had only started melting recently after a long winter, only for the spring rains to fall early and flood three prefectures nearby. But the Pei family did own some fields locally, so they should have enough vegetables to serve in a banquet, right?
“Are you saying that someone falsified the numbers on the harvest of our fields and sold our crops then pocketed the profits?”
“That and they used the budget for the banquet on items that they can return later. Would you expect to see ninety-nine pots of peony remaining at the end of the week?”
Now that Duanmu Cheng pointed this out, the banquet arrangements did seem suspicious. But of all household activities to embezzle money from, was a royal wedding not too risky a choice? Pei Zhen stared questioningly at Duanmu Cheng, but the latter was already crawling under the blankets to get ready for bed. “Just leave the investigation to me. I will not break my promise.”
“Fine,” Pei Zhen answered while getting off the bed. As she made her way towards the wardrobe, Duanmu Cheng called after her.
“Where are you going?”
“Getting another set of bedding. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Wait–”
Pei Zhen stopped in her steps and looked back at Duanmu Cheng, only to be met with silence. It took a few seconds before she continued saying quietly, “You don’t have to.”
“Don’t have to what?”
Duanmu Cheng did not answer her. She just shifted towards the wall, leaving a large space on the bed vacant. “Do what you want.”
This elicited a sigh from Pei Zhen. She went back to the bed and lay down on the space Duanmu Cheng had left for her. “Would it kill you to be more honest?”
“Say another word and I will make you sleep in the woodshed.”