Ning Chen came out of the sixth department with his brows drawn together.
The cake the Fifth Prince gave me and the cake I found in the sealed room both had dragon-fragrance grass in them. Can that be a coincidence?
Is the man behind the Right Chancellor the Fifth Prince?
Has the Fifth Prince been playing the fool the whole time?
Is that even possible?
Ning Chen put the three questions to himself one after another. Can a man really play the fool for more than ten years?
Play the fool for more than ten years and you would be a fool in earnest, simple or not.
He did not think it very likely. If the Fifth Prince is playing the fool, then the depth of scheming and self-concealment in the man is frightening to think about.
Still, once there is a suspicion, it has to be proved.
Ning Chen came out of the Inspectorate and rode Diaochan straight for the imperial palace.
The Fallen Phoenix Court.
The Ninth Princess was overseeing several gardeners herself as they planted the red kite seeds Ning Chen had given her.
It was spring now, exactly the right season for planting.
“Princess, Marquis Ning asks to see you.”
A little palace maid came over to report it.
The Ninth Princess’s clear eyes lit up, and she looked at Heye. “Quick, look at me. Do I look all right?”
“The princess is beautiful by nature. No powder on at all and she is still lovely.”
With Heye’s assurance, the Ninth Princess told the maid to show Ning Chen in.
Ning Chen came in behind the little maid. “I greet the princess.”
“No ceremony.”
“What are you busy with?”
Ning Chen was looking at the gardeners as he asked it.
The Ninth Princess was a little shy about it. “Planting flowers… the red kite.”
Ning Chen made a sound and went over and sat down at the stone table beside them.
“Heye, tea.”
Having given the order, the Ninth Princess came and sat down on the stone stool next to Ning Chen.
“Where is the Fifth Prince? I ran into him at the palace gate a while ago. He said he was coming to share something good to eat with you. Didn’t he come?”
The Ninth Princess laughed prettily. “He came, and then he ate all the cakes he brought and left.”
Ning Chen was surprised into a smile. “Say what you like, the cakes the Fifth Prince brings really are good.”
“You like them?”
Ning Chen nodded. “There’s something in the Fifth Prince’s cakes, I don’t know what. They taste much finer than ordinary cakes.”
The Ninth Princess turned her head and gave an order to the little maid beside her. “Bring the cakes from inside.”
The little maid went off to do it.
Before long Heye brought the tea and the little maid brought the cakes.
The Ninth Princess looked at Ning Chen. “Eat, then. If you like them I’ll have some wrapped up for you when you go.”
Ning Chen picked up a cake, put it under his nose and smelled it, then bit into it. Something flickered in his eyes. “This tastes exactly like the cakes the Fifth Prince brought.”
The Ninth Princess laughed her rippling laugh. “The secret of why the cakes are good is that there’s dragon-fragrance grass in them.”
Ning Chen turned his head toward the Ninth Princess. “Dragon-fragrance grass? Did the Fifth Prince tell you that?”
The Ninth Princess shook her head. “No. Sixth Brother told me.”
Ning Chen’s eyes tightened. “The Sixth Prince?”
The Ninth Princess nodded. “Sixth Brother reads everything. He found it in an old book, and he knew Fifth Brother liked cakes, so he told him. I was there at the time.”
“But it’s no secret anymore. Most of the cakes in the palace have dragon-fragrance grass in them now.”
The light shifted in Ning Chen’s eyes.
“Come to think of it, I have never met the Sixth Prince.”
The Ninth Princess said, smiling, “Sixth Brother keeps to himself. He has always lived at his own house outside the palace, with a book for company all day, and he hardly ever goes out. There’s nothing odd about your never having met him.”
Ning Chen said, smiling, “Would the princess like to go out of the palace for a while?”
“Hm?”
“Let’s call on the Sixth Prince. You and I will be married sooner or later, and I still haven’t met my brother-in-law. It isn’t right.”
The Ninth Princess’s small face went red. “You — you talk nonsense. Who’s marrying you? Our betrothal has been canceled.”
Ning Chen said, smiling, “At the time I was reduced to commoner and my standing did not match the princess’s, so the wedding was only set aside for the moment. It was not canceled… His Majesty granted the marriage, and with no edict to say otherwise, our betrothal stands.”
“Come on. We’re going to call on the Sixth Prince.”
Ning Chen stood up and took the Ninth Princess by the hand.
The Ninth Princess’s small face went crimson. She pulled a few times and could not get free. “Let go. There are so many people watching.”
Ning Chen looked at Heye. “Did you see anything?”
Heye shook her head over and over to say that she had not.
She was afraid Ning Chen would marry her off to that man-eating butcher in the outer city. The Ninth Princess said Ning Chen was only frightening her. But what if he means it?
Ning Chen looked, all smiles, at the Ninth Princess’s bright little face. “Nobody saw anything.”
The Ninth Princess hung her head shyly and let Ning Chen keep hold of her hand.
In the imperial study, the Xuan Emperor was reading memorials.
Eunuch Quan came in quickly from outside.
“What is it?”
The Xuan Emperor raised his head and looked at him as he asked it.
Eunuch Quan said quickly, “Your Majesty. Marquis Ning has taken the Ninth Princess out of the palace without reporting it.”
“Hm?” The Xuan Emperor blinked, then put down the memorial and began to laugh. “The boy has finally woken up. It seems the two of them are getting on well now.”
Eunuch Quan: “……”
Carrying off a princess and leaving the palace without leave is a serious crime.
The two of them are betrothed but not married, and behaving like this costs the imperial house its face.
And not only is His Majesty not angry, he is pleased!
“Quan Sheng. Send men to protect them, out of sight.”
Eunuch Quan said quickly, “Yes!”
Ning Chen drove the carriage and took the Ninth Princess and Heye out of the palace.
They went straight to the Sixth Prince’s house.
When a prince came of age, His Majesty generally granted him a private residence.
The Sixth Prince’s house was very large.
Once they had been announced, Ning Chen walked in with the Ninth Princess by the hand.
Halfway along, a young man in plain white clothes with his hair in disorder came hurrying toward them.
“Sixth Brother?”
The Ninth Princess waved happily.
Ning Chen was slightly taken aback. This is the Sixth Prince?
Isn’t this a little casual? The man is barely put together.
This Sixth Prince was tall and slender, and not bad-looking at all, with clean handsome features.
The Sixth Prince came up and gave the Ninth Princess a faint smile.
Then he bowed to Ning Chen with his hands together. “I greet the Teacher.”
Ning Chen was slightly taken aback. “Teacher? Where does that come from?”
“The marquis is the immortal of poetry of the Great Xuan, and the model for every reader of books… Every scholar in the realm should give him the respectful name of Teacher.”
He was greeting Ning Chen now in his character as a scholar.
There was some excitement in the Sixth Prince’s face. “The truth is I have wanted to call on the Teacher for a long time, but I was afraid of being a nuisance to the Teacher… I never expected the Teacher to come to my door today, and I was too excited to put my clothes and my hair straight. I hope the Teacher will forgive it.”
Ning Chen said, smiling, “The Sixth Prince is too polite. It is I who should have come to call sooner.”
The Sixth Prince bowed. “Teacher, this way.”
As they walked in, Ning Chen looked this Sixth Prince over.
“I read the Teacher’s poems often, and they are astonishing beyond anything human… Has the Teacher any fine new work lately?”
The Sixth Prince looked at Ning Chen with expectation all over his face.
“Uh…”
Ning Chen was still thinking how to answer when the Ninth Princess lifted her sharp little chin, pleased with herself. “Ning Chen wrote a poem for me only just now.”
The Sixth Prince’s eyes shone. “What poem?”
The Ninth Princess, delighted with herself, said,
北方有佳人，絕世而獨立。 一顧傾人城，再顧傾人國。
In the north there is a beautiful woman, peerless, and standing alone. One glance from her and a city falls; a second, and a kingdom.
The Sixth Prince flushed with excitement. “A fine poem, a fine poem… only it is not altogether true to life.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. Good God. Not one romantic bone in his body. He glanced at the Ninth Princess without thinking.
Sure enough, the Ninth Princess withdrew her smile on the instant, put both hands on her hips and glared at the Sixth Prince. “Sixth Brother. How is the poem not true to life? Am I not beautiful?”
(End of Chapter 409)