The aunt and nephew spoke as they hurried along, reaching the foot of the mountain by dusk. Su Xinger returned to her carriage and entered the temple first.
Fu Zhen wandered around the town below, buying some items. It was not until she saw Liang Zhi and Cheng Chili arriving on horseback that she leisurely entered the temple gates.
The twilight enveloped the land, and in the blink of an eye, the sky had darkened considerably.
A group emerged from the palace; Prince Rong and Xu Yin intended to enter the temple. Prince Rong proceeded first, and Xu Yin casually asked, "Are Shaoyang and Ming Zhi returning to the manor?"
Liang Chen chuckled, "It’s the fifteenth tomorrow, Xing Er went to Baihe Temple to offer incense, so I must go as well."
Xu Yin was slightly surprised, "What a coincidence." Then he turned to Pei Zhan, "Is Ming Zhi going as well?"
Pei Zhan maintained a calm demeanor, "My mother heard Shaoyang was going to offer incense and instructed me to accompany him to contribute some oil money for my brother."
After speaking, he mounted his horse, "Let’s go, it’s just as well we discuss the matters the Emperor entrusted us with earlier. The grand ceremony is imminent; let’s ensure nothing goes wrong."
Once Pei Zhan mentioned the important matters, Xu Yin refrained from further conversation. The three of them, some by carriage and some on horseback, embarked on the road out of the city.
Once in the mountains, Fu Zhen did not associate with Su Xinger and the others. Since she hadn’t thought of a reason to interact, she maintained her distance. The encounter with Lian Rong outside the Wanbin Building that night was still uncertain; better safe than sorry. After all, with Cheng Chili relaying messages, it was no harm not to meet.
After dark, Cheng Chili first went to find Zhang Shicheng. Just as Fu Zhen prepared to wander aimlessly, Zhang Cheng suddenly reported, "The people from Prince Rong’s Mansion are having dinner. I counted the number of people, and Prince Rong and Vice Minister Xu have not come. Clearly, the meal was prepared for five, but only four dishes were served."
Yang Tong, inspecting the doors and windows nearby, remarked, "It’s nothing significant, don’t make a fuss over nothing, hurry and find something useful."
But Zhang Cheng said, "No, after the Princely Heir Consort settled in, she went to the Spiritual Spring Pavilion to meet Princess Rong but returned in less than a moment, seemingly refused entry."
Hearing this, Yang Tong gave Fu Zhen a glance, and they walked together to the door, "Are you saying there’s a dispute between the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law?" Newest update provided by NoveIＦire.net
Zhang Cheng expressed his difficulty, "I don’t know if that’s the case. I don’t understand women’s matters. I just felt something was off, so I reported it to my master."
Fu Zhen paused only for a moment, then stepped out the door, "Go and take a look."
Baihe Temple, with a history of a thousand years, is a series of tiers from halfway down the mountain, comprised of buildings dedicated to various Buddhas, as well as numerous courtyards constructed over time, with some built by previous royal families.
The people from Prince Rong’s Mansion always stayed in two small courtyards on the mountainside, known as Spiritual Spring Pavilion.
Above the Spiritual Spring Pavilion is the Hall of Eighteen Arhats; below is a small hillside that is actually a garden. When the peach blossoms were in full bloom, this was one of the liveliest places.
Even now, with the peach blossoms faded, a few patches of peonies nestled by the pavilion and rock garden budding attracted pilgrims to linger.
Yang Zhan and Mrs. Zhang stayed with the children in the side courtyard of the Spiritual Spring Pavilion. Due to the small yard, unlike the Prince Manor, the sound of the visitors could vaguely be heard inside.
At this moment, Yang Zhan had long been out and about, while Mrs. Zhang gazed at the main courtyard across, her brow tightly knit.
The wet nurse remarked, "I never expected the Commandery Princess would tell Princess Rong everything word for word. What can we do? If they’ve gotten into a row at such a time, and Princess Rong later tells the Prince, I fear this task won’t come our way."
Mrs. Zhang replied with resentment, "It’s all my brother’s fault; he chose this moment to speak up. If he’d mentioned it earlier, I would have endured on the way. They must have guessed that my brother wanted to exploit his proximity to the Prince to take the task of the grand ceremony’s security, so they’re deliberately keeping me out."
The wet nurse said, "Can’t blame the uncle master, after all, it’s something he recently learned himself. If the Emperor hadn’t asked the Prince and several Great Generals to discuss things at the palace in the afternoon, this matter wouldn’t have happened. No one would have known they’d bump into each other."
"However," she added with a note of doubt, "that General Zhe is, after all, a person of Princess Rong. Since the Prince gave the garrison position to the uncle master last time, it won’t be easy to deny Princess Rong face this round. I think the Princely Heir Consort needn’t worry too much about this matter."
"What do you know?" Mrs. Zhang snapped, "Do you think if I don’t fight, they’re just going to let me off? Ever since the garrison position got assigned to my brother’s head—no, ever since the Zhang Family beat Zhe Yu, I’ve had no retreat.
"If Princess Rong were such a merciful person, why would she go to such lengths to bring someone like Zhe Yu back?
"She has children of her own and is still discontent, determined to cultivate power for power-sharing in the future, as the Prince Manor indeed has illegitimate children!
"The Zhang Family has threatened her interests, how can she let me go? Her maternal family has only one Zhe Yu, she can always have another Princely Heir Consort, isn’t that so?
"So, I can only grit my teeth and push forward, even if there’s no chance of winning, I cannot back down this time!"
The wet nurse sighed as she cleaned up the broken porcelain on the ground, then stood up and said, "I will have someone bring another vegetarian meal."
Having spoken, she exited. But she only paused, then turned back, "The Prince is here!"
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Zhang rushed to the window, where she saw a line of lanterns approaching, illuminating a figure at the front as clearly as in daylight—a person with thick eyebrows and piercing eyes exuding a natural charisma, with a python robe shimmering in gold, beautifully complementing the jade at the waist and the golden crown on the head. Who else could it be but Prince Rong?
Mrs. Zhang quickly composed herself and headed out, but just as she descended the steps, another row of lanterns approached from behind. A leisurely voice addressing "Prince" stopped Mrs. Zhang in her tracks.
Xu Yin walked to the waiting Prince Rong, "You just arrived too..."
The two of them, without noticing Mrs. Zhang, continued talking as they entered the main courtyard’s door.
Mrs. Zhang’s brow furrowed even tighter than before, "Why is he here?"
The wet nurse was at a loss for words, "Vice Minister Xu... he never mentioned not coming either."
Mrs. Zhang clenched her hand, "I thought he quarreled with Yongping, so I poked at Yongping a few times earlier, thinking they might have fallen out...
"Doesn’t this make my brother’s task more difficult? Yongping never lets go when she’s in the right!"
She stamped her foot, flinging aside the curtain as she entered the room.
In the next instant, however, she lifted the curtain with just her head peeking out, "Go see where the Princely Heir went? Hurry and bring him back!"
The wet nurse hurried off.
Mrs. Zhang paced anxiously to the window, peered outside again, then plopped herself onto the couch.
Prince Rong and Xu Yin had just entered the house, while Fu Zhen had reached the peony bush, observing the dense guards outside the courtyard. She turned and asked, "Where did the Heir of Prince Rong go?"
Zhang Cheng thought for a moment, "Apparently, he went to the Mirror Platform to listen to sermons by a high monk."
Fu Zhen then instructed, "Go check on it."
She then called out to Yang Tong, "There’s a small path behind the garden. You can look inside through the window, see if you can gather any information?"