Marrying the Crown Prince

Holding the bouquet, Li Ziyan said sincerely, "I have little talent, only my handwriting is legible, please forgive my poor skills."

He was physically weak from a young age, but exceptionally intelligent, and was carefully raised until he was eighteen before entering the imperial court.

Princes usually begin participating in court affairs at the age of fifteen, but this crown prince delayed entering the court for three years, which inevitably led the ministers to look down on him.

Unexpectedly, this prince, though seemingly gentle, was quite shrewd and calculating, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was a master strategist.

In short, after Li Ziyan participated in government affairs for half a year, all the ministers had to admit that he was a born emperor.

But no one is perfect. The Crown Prince is good in every way, except that his health is too poor. He is already twenty-one years old, and I heard that he has no concubines in the Eastern Palace and the Crown Princess has not yet been chosen. This is really worrying.

The third prince, born to the imperial concubine, oh no, he should now be called the Prince of Chong'an.

After their weddings, the princes of Chen Kingdom were all granted the title of Prince and allowed to establish their own residences.

This Prince Chong'an is only one year older than His Highness the Crown Prince, and has already given birth to his eldest son.

Upon hearing Li Ziyan's words, Emperor Chenze also became interested and simply ordered the palace servants to prepare brushes and ink, so that everyone could participate in a calligraphy competition.

Zhou Zhou picked up her brush and finished writing in less than half a cup of tea's time. She picked up the Xuan paper, gently blew on it, and waited for the ink to dry.

By the time Wang Qingwu finished writing, Zhou Zhou's ink had dried. Curious, she peeked out and saw that Zhou Zhou had written a neat and orderly piece of classical Chinese calligraphy.

As expected, yet unexpected, Wang Qingwu didn't know how to describe her feelings.

The official font, known as the "Taige" font, emphasizes neatness for easy observation; however, it lacks aesthetic appeal. For a competition, regular or cursive scripts are preferable.

"Ouch," Zhou Zhou rubbed her wrist, looking at Wang Qingwu with an innocent expression, "My hand is sore from writing."

Wang Qingwu: "..."

Are you still pretending?

Zhou Zhou's idea was simple: once is enough to amaze everyone; he needed to save some for later to show off.

Not wanting to argue with them, Zhou Zhou looked up out of sheer boredom, only to meet Li Ziyan's gaze. Li Ziyan was looking at her with a half-smile, and Zhou Zhou responded with an incredibly "sincere" smile.

Li Ziyan was slightly taken aback by her unexpected response, but by the time she was about to reply, Zhou Zhou had already looked away.

Zhou Zhou lowered her brows, concealing her emotions, and thought to herself: He... seems to have seen through me.

Speaking of her ill-fated relationship with the Crown Prince, Zhou Zhou felt a headache coming on. Years ago, in Jingyang Palace, she had dragged a handsome young man along to watch ants. The problem was, who would have thought that His Highness the Crown Prince would not have a single attendant with him? She had thought he was some kind of study companion!

Of course, she did encounter Li Ziyan again after that.

One year, Li Ziyan came to celebrate Li Zixi's birthday. When Zhou Zhou saw his face clearly, she almost fell off her chair.

But this person acted as if he didn't exist, speaking softly to Li Zixi, seemingly having forgotten that he had dragged him along to count ants.

Knowing that he had completely forgotten his embarrassing incident at Jingyang Palace, Zhou Zhou felt rather complicated, with a feeling she couldn't quite describe.

It seems that what you care about so much is completely insignificant to others.

This is a good thing, because she can continue to pretend, but... there's also a strange sense of loss.

Soon, the results of the calligraphy competition came out. The top three were the Grand Tutor, the Chief Minister, and the Duke of Qi. The three old men's calligraphy was indeed beautiful, after all, they were old. But who would want to look at the calligraphy of these three old men?

Emperor Chenze was somewhat surprised by the result, because no matter how bad Li Ziyan's handwriting was, with his father, the emperor, around, he would definitely have been ranked in the top three. So how could this be the result?

"Crown Prince," Emperor Chenze asked, unable to understand, "I remember that your handwriting is quite good."

“Father, I am using the official script,” Li Ziyan replied.

Upon hearing His Highness the Crown Prince's words, Zhou Zhou choked on his tea and coughed several times while covering his mouth.

Emperor Chenze fell silent, utterly speechless: This child, he was the one who said he wanted to compete in calligraphy, and he was also the one who withdrew.

After the five rounds of the game of passing the flower while beating the drum ended, Emperor Chenze stood up and said that he still had some memorials to read. He then told the others, especially the young people, not to be shy and to take a walk around the palace, where the peach blossoms were in full bloom.

With such detailed explanations, it's hard not to suspect that Emperor Chenze left so that everyone could relax, have more time together, and perhaps find someone they click with.

"Your Majesty, we (your son/your wife/your daughter) respectfully see you off." Everyone rose, bowed to Emperor Chenze, and left.

"I have had riddles placed in the woods. Go and find them. The one who guesses the most correctly," Empress Chu paused, then took a kingfisher feather and gold filigree phoenix-tail hairpin from her hair. "You shall receive this hairpin."

The crowd gasped and began to whisper among themselves, knowing that this phoenix-tail hairpin was an excellent choice, whether as a dowry or a betrothal gift.

"Your Majesty the Empress is truly generous. Then this concubine will also have to part with some money." The Imperial Concubine then took off the purple jade cloud-carved bracelet from her wrist and placed it on the plate.

Seeing this, Consort Shu and Consort Xian also took off the hairpins from their heads and threw them onto the plate.

Then, Consort De touched the pearl ring on her head and chuckled, "Oh dear, I forgot to give the prize I prepared to Sister Zhou."

Her words caused everyone present to involuntarily look at Zhou Zhou, some with schadenfreude, some with sympathy, some with curiosity, and most with scrutiny.

Seeing that she had once again become the focus of everyone's attention, Zhou Zhou remained calm and unhurriedly said, "I will remember your kindness, Aunt."

Upon hearing Zhou Zhou's words, Consort De chuckled lightly, her voice cold, "In that case, would my little niece be willing to stay in my palace for a few days?"

Consort Shu frowned slightly, about to speak, when Zhou Zhou calmly replied, "Your Majesty's affection is such that I should not refuse, but of all human conduct, nothing is greater than filial piety."

“Filial piety is the foundation of Heaven,” Zhou Zhou said in a refined manner, not giving Consort De time to react. “One should never forget to be filial and serve others day and night. Therefore, I dare not accept.”

Consort De came from a poor family and was sent to the palace as a dancer for five taels of silver. As a result, she only knew a few characters. She could not understand what words like "之" and "曰" meant, let alone hear them. It would take her a long time to understand what they were saying.

So, after Zhou Zhou's words, Consort De was somewhat dizzy and disoriented.

She opened her mouth, but didn't know where to begin her rebuttal, so she could only let out a cold snort, dryly expressing her displeasure.

Of course, apart from Consort De not understanding, Empress Chu was also stunned until Li Ziyan coughed lightly, and she realized that she was the one who had stepped forward to preside over the event.

But what should I say?

Li Ziyan smiled faintly, looking at his mother, and then, using the presence of a palace maid beside him, quietly spoke, silently reminding Empress Chu—