Eastern Palace

Eastern Palace Side Story 5 (Part 1)

Full of Roses with Fragrance Overflowing Entire the Courtyard (Part 1)

The title of this side story is from the poem, Summer Day at the Mountain Pavilion, which is written by Gao Pian, a military governor of the Tang Dynasty. The poem describes a beautiful scenery during a summer day.

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A'Mu came back from hunting and gave me a bunch of wild roses.

The roses are extremely delicate. When you touch the petals, they fall off one after another. I quickly ordered people to put the roses in the crystal vase. Despite the fact that these roses were grown in the mountains, they are fragrant and unique.

Later in the evening, Yao Niang came to talk to me. Seeing the vase of wild roses, she asked where I got them. Once she found out that A'Mu had given me these roses, she could not help but smile: "His Majesty must be joking with you."

I pretended not to understand what she had said.

I am the only girl in my family. I have seven or eight elder brothers. My father was forty years old when I was born. Naturally, I am too spoiled. When I was a child, I was playing with boys, fighting mischievously, and doing all kind of things. Until I was well over the age of 10, I beat Prince Qi, who flirted with women on the street. This Prince Qi was a very lustful person. Hearing that I was Pei Yu's daughter, he gave me the nickname "Ye Qiang Wei [1]", which meant fragrant and white, but also unfortunately prickly.

Gradually, this nickname was spread out publicly. Of course, I did not approve of this nickname, but I never thought or expected that my father would be so angry that he thought I would not be able to get married in the future. So he decided to change my temper by locking me up at home and invited several teachers who forced me to learn embroidery and to write while almost bored me to death.

In the end, the late Emperor saved me. When I was fourteen years old, I was betrothed to be the Crown Princess. I heard the late Emperor said with a smile, "Pei Qing don't worry. Noble ladies always have difficulty in getting married, just marry into our family as the bride."

My father almost fainted when he received the imperial decree. Although he was worried that it would be difficult to marry me off, he did not want to marry me to the Emperor's family because the late Emperor only had one son. A'Mu was the Crown prince, and he would become the Emperor in the future. My father thought I was not suitable to be even a Crown Princess, not to mention being the Empress.

However, there was no way to resist it, because the late Emperor had already issued the imperial decree. So my father could only invite more teachers to teach me, who reluctantly taught me to become a better person for the position of Empress.

To be honest, I never thought I would get married to A'Mu because I knew him too well. My second brother, Pei Zhong An, often goes to the Eastern Palace, as he grew up alongside the Crown Prince. The Crown prince has no other brothers, only a sister, Princess Chaoyang. The late Emperor loved Chaoyang deeply, so he would often summon me to the palace to play with her. When I was a child, I often saw the Crown Prince, and bullied him. I was not his opponent because he was a boy, and his strength was greater than mine. We have fought countless times. Countless times, I secretly put a dead snake and half a mouse into his book bag. Countless times, he would give me all kinds of strange insects in return. Chaoyang always said with a smile that A'Mu and I were natural enemies. Chaoyang and I were really close. We both have no sisters, but Chaoyang always said to me, if she had a sister, she would be like me. Since the late Emperor had bestowed me with the title of Crown Princess, Chaoyang was even more happy, because in the future we would be able to spend more time together.