Marrying the Crown Prince

"I've been busy with official duties lately and haven't been able to pay my respects to you for over a month. It's my fault," Emperor Chenze said, sitting down opposite the Empress Dowager with a look of shame on his face.

Indeed, Empress Chu could not enter Shou Kang Palace at any time, but Emperor Chenze could. However, when he entered Shou Kang Palace, in addition to paying his respects, he would usually consult the Empress Dowager on matters of state.

Although most empress dowagers ignored him, quietly brewing a few pots of tea and acting as a good listener, Emperor Chenze still enjoyed talking to her.

"You are the emperor. As long as the country is stable and the people live in peace and contentment, it is all worth it, no matter how busy you are." The Empress Dowager kept turning the Buddhist prayer beads in her hand, and her eyes had moved from Emperor Chenze to Li Ziyan and Zhou Zhou.

"Is this the Crown Princess who was just married yesterday?" The Empress Dowager smiled kindly.

At that time, the court was in turmoil, the eldest prince and the second princess died unjustly, and Li Ziyan was also tormented to the point of near death. Therefore, the Empress Dowager took the frail Li Ziyan into her care and raised him for nearly two years before returning him to Empress Chu.

For this reason, Li Ziyan was different from other princes and princesses. While other grandchildren could not easily enter Shou Kang Palace to pay their respects, Li Ziyan could.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager had never met Zhou Zhou, but she had heard a lot about her, such as being bold in love and hate, hating evil as if it were her enemy, and being unparalleled in wisdom and strategy.

When her name was called, Zhou Zhou stood up from her chair and gave a graceful bow. "Granddaughter-in-law Zhou greets the Empress Dowager. May the Empress Dowager be safe and healthy every year."

Her demeanor was indeed as the investigation revealed—perfectly proper, without a single flaw.

However, when people continued to investigate, they discovered that their granddaughter-in-law was truly an invisible person. If it weren't for Zhou Zhou's recent accomplishments and rise to prominence in the last two years, they would not have been able to find out any information about her.

The Empress Dowager had no choice but to take such a person seriously.

"Now that you're my granddaughter-in-law, what should you call me?" the Empress Dowager asked slowly, her tone as if she were telling a story.

"Grandmother." Zhou Zhou's eyes curved like crescent moons, and her smile was exceptionally sweet.

"Hmm, the ground is cold, get up quickly." The Empress Dowager was satisfied, and Zhou Zhou thus received the string of Buddhist prayer beads from her.

At this moment, the maids from Shou Kang Palace brought up tea and snacks. When Li Ziyan saw this, he helped take the plates off the tray, and Zhou Zhou followed closely behind.

"Granny, why are you doing this work yourself? Why aren't the maids doing it?" Li Ziyan asked.

“It’s not hard work,” the old woman replied nonchalantly. “His Highness likes to eat this, so this old servant specially made a few extra dishes from the small kitchen.”

The dishes consisted of things like pig-shaped buns, red bean paste cakes, and pipa-shaped pastries.

So he likes these things?

A smile appeared in Zhou Zhou's eyes, and the corners of her mouth slowly turned up.

Hearing what the nanny said, Li Ziyan felt a little embarrassed. "Nanny, these are all things I liked to eat when I was a child."

"What? You've grown up and now you don't like the food here?" the Empress Dowager snorted, finally showing a bit of humanity.

“Grandmother…” Li Ziyan’s tone was full of helplessness.

Why did you get involved too?

After leaving Shou Kang Palace, Emperor Chenze still had official duties to attend to. He casually tossed a remark to Li Ziyan, "You can still act recklessly today, getting up so late. See you at the temple tomorrow to pay respects to our ancestors. Don't be late!"

In the past, Emperor Chenze would not have had such concerns, but now, with a beautiful woman by his side and the Crown Prince's health always poor, young people don't know how to restrain themselves...

Emperor Chenze shook his head and left.

Li Ziyan: "..."

Don't think that just because you're being cryptic, I can't understand what you're saying!

After watching Emperor Chenze leave, Empress Chu looked at Li Ziyan and said, "Jinyou, you can go and do what you need to do. The Crown Princess can stay and keep me company."

Jinyou was Li Ziyan's courtesy name, which meant health and good fortune. There were very few people who could use his courtesy name, and Empress Chu was one of them.

Li Ziyan refused outright, saying, "Mother, I am getting married, and Father has granted me half a month's leave."

Empress Chu couldn't tell whether she should be happy or unhappy. She was happy that her son would finally be less busy, but she was unhappy because if her son didn't leave, how could she set rules for her daughter-in-law?

Even if she's mentally challenged, she wouldn't bully her daughter-in-law in front of her son.

“Mother, although I am not busy, there are still many matters concerning the Eastern Palace that need to be handled by the Crown Princess,” Li Ziyan continued.

"The stewards, managers, maids, and eunuchs of the Eastern Palace have not yet paid their respects to the mistress."

"If Your Majesty is bored, why don't you let Zhouzhou return to the East Palace first, and I'll keep you company?"

Comparing the two, Empress Chu felt that her daughter-in-law could be trained at any time, but the time she could spend with her son was very limited.

"Alright, Zhou, you can go back now." Empress Chu readily agreed.

Zhou Zhou bowed and said, "Your subject takes his leave."

Today, Zhou Zhou took Si Zhu and Zhi Bei with him when he went out. After leaving the place where Empress Chu and her son were, Zhou Zhou looked at Zhi Bei and asked, "When I gave the order this morning, what was the time for the palace maids and eunuchs to come and pay their respects to the mistress?"

“Late noon or early afternoon,” Zhibei replied.

After noon, that's something to do after lunch.

Zhou Zhou glanced at the sky and decided to wander around for half an hour before returning to the East Palace.

"Are there any flowers or lakes along the way back to the East Palace where people can stroll and pass the time?" she asked.

Zhibei pondered for a moment, then hesitated before speaking, "Yes, there are, but they're a bit too close to Yutang Palace."

After she finished speaking, fearing that Zhou Zhou might not understand, she added, "Yutang Palace is the residence of the Imperial Concubine."

Imperial Concubine...

Zhou Zhou pictured her face, now more graceful and elegant with the passage of time, a true reflection of enduring charm.

"It's alright, let's go take a look."

"Yes."

The three of them, master and servant, soon arrived at the small garden. The garden was not large, and the flowerbeds had not many kinds of flowers, mainly peonies.

The peony petals are like fire, blooming passionately, and shimmering with exquisite light against the backdrop of green leaves.

"The Imperial Concubine loves peonies the most, so His Majesty specially ordered that peonies be planted here for her to enjoy," Zhibei explained.

Zhou Zhou's fingers traced the peony blossoms, the petals soft as silk, layer upon layer.

A beautiful and charming woman loves bright and vibrant flowers.

Just as Zhou Zhou was beginning to reflect, he heard a curious voice—

"Crown Princess, what are you doing here?"

The speaker had a somewhat childish voice, tinged with innocence; she was Qin Wei, the Third Prince's legal wife.

Zhou Zhou looked over, nodded, and greeted, "Royal Sister-in-law."

Qin Wei walked over and asked uncertainly, "Is the Crown Princess here to find Mother?"

"I only came here because I heard that the peonies here are extremely beautiful. I didn't mean to disturb the Imperial Concubine's rest." Zhou Zhou shook his head and added, "Your Highness is older than me, so there's no need to be so formal. Just call me sister-in-law."

Although the Third Prince is older than the Crown Prince, he cannot address the Crown Prince as his younger brother. However, this does not mean that they cannot address Zhou Zhou, who is the Crown Princess, as their younger brother and sister-in-law.