“I know.” The Princess put her arms around the Prince Consort’s neck and said shyly: “I just can’t bear to part with you, so I’m being a bit unreasonable… I wouldn’t go.”
As she spoke, her eyes were bright and clear like glass. The Prince Consort’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and a thousand words were transformed into a deep kiss on the Princess’s lips.
The candle in the latticed window had gone out at some unknown time. Behind the red curtains, the young couple, reluctant to part, confessed their deepest feelings to each other, continuing until late into the night without stopping.
The next day, the Prince Consort boarded a carriage with the clerks from the Ministry of Rites and headed for Wu Province.
When the ministry clerk saw the Prince Consort, his eyes widened. It turned out that in addition to the numerous red marks on his neck from last time, the Prince Consort’s neck, as white as jade, now bore a deep tooth mark.
Ministry clerk: “…”
But unlike last time, when the Prince Consort had been so embarrassed that he tried to cover it with a book and ended up red-faced, this time he showed no embarrassment or attempt to conceal it. Instead, he was perfectly at ease, as if wanting to display it for everyone to see.
Ministry clerk: He’s mainly showing it to the local officials in Wu Province, right?
However, the Princess’s tactic was indeed effective. Moreover, the Princess had been determined this time, biting quite hard. The tooth mark on the Prince Consort’s neck hadn’t faded even by the time they reached Wu Province. Seeing this, the local officials of Wu Province were tactful enough not to arrange for famous courtesans to accompany them.
There wasn’t even a need for the Prince Consort to refuse.
Half a month after the Prince Consort left, the Princess lost her appetite. Upon learning this, Emperor Yanxi invited the Princess to the palace for a gathering.
Although Emperor Yanxi and the Princess weren’t blood relatives, he felt a strangely close affinity to the Princess, even closer than he felt to members of the Li imperial clan.
Emperor Yanxi played chess with the Princess. The Princess was distracted and lost within the time it took an incense stick to burn. Emperor Yanxi smiled: “Since the Princess misses the Prince Consort so much, why not go to Wu Province? I will issue an imperial decree instructing the Prince Consort to accompany the Princess well in Wu Province.”
The Princess was momentarily delighted but then shook her head: “I won’t go.”
Emperor Yanxi asked curiously: “Why not?”
The Princess replied: “He’s gone to select talents for the Great Zhou. Besides, how important is the Jiangnan Circuit’s provincial examination? How could he be distracted because of me?”
Emperor Yanxi was stunned, then smiled: “I hadn’t thought of that.”
His previous impression of the Princess had been limited to her being the Prince Consort’s wife and the adopted daughter of his grandmother before her death, nothing more. But the more he interacted with the Princess, the more he found her surprising. Despite having a fief of three thousand households, she didn’t squander wealth like other nobles. Her household had no official staff and didn’t keep hundreds of servants; instead, she had only a few maids. Moreover, the Princess often distributed porridge and provided free medical care in Chang’an, doing her best to help the common people. Such behavior was truly admirable.
Emperor Yanxi sincerely said, “That the Princess can be so concerned about the state is truly the Great Zhou’s fortune.”
The Princess lowered her head modestly. She said to Emperor Yanxi, “A Princess of the Great Zhou is sustained by the people, so she should return to the people. This is my mother’s teaching, and Zhenyue dares not forget it.”
Emperor Yanxi nodded and sighed: “Madam Du truly understands righteousness.”
Hearing this, the Princess didn’t say anything more but just smiled and then said: “Zhenyue also wishes to establish a school in Chang’an. I hope Your Majesty will grant this permission.”
Emperor Yanxi had no reason to refuse. So for the next half-month, the Princess was busy establishing the school. During the day, she was kept busy with numerous affairs, but in the quiet of the night, she would again think of the Prince Consort.
She thought of the Prince Consort while pacing under the crabapple tree, and while sitting by the latticed window, gazing at the bright moon. Truly, walking, she thought of him; sitting, she thought of him.
On this particular evening, as the Princess sat by the latticed window, resting her chin on her hand and looking at the bright moon outside, she suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves. The swallows in the crabapple tree were startled awake and flew around in the air, chirping.
The Princess rose to look, but the carved wooden door was pushed open first. Then, a pair of strong arms embraced her.
The young man, covered in dust from travel, kissed her hair and murmured: “Mingyuezhu…”
The Princess was stunned: “Weren’t you supposed to return in three days? Why are you back now?”
“Mingyuezhu, I missed you.” The Prince Consort held her, greedily inhaling the jasmine scent of her hair: “I couldn’t wait, so I rode ahead on horseback.”
The Princess was both delighted and concerned: “Will there be any problems with you leaving the other Ministry of Rites officials and returning first?”
“No problem.” The Prince Consort said, “They all have families, so they naturally understand.”
The Prince Consort didn’t tell the Princess that while in Wu Province, although he had been fully devoted to the provincial examination, during his free time at night, he would stare at the bright moon in a daze. Once he started looking, an hour would pass.
The ministry clerks didn’t understand what was so fascinating about the moon. Only he knew that on the moon, he could see that elegant, otherworldly face, see that slender figure that had rescued him from the path of asuras.
This was what it meant to gaze at the moon and think of someone.
So “walking, I think of you; sitting, I think of you” seemed to describe the Princess, but in fact, wasn’t it also describing the Prince Consort?
Later, the ministry clerks also became accustomed to this. When official duties ended, they would actively urge him to return to Chang’an first to reunite with the Princess.
The Princess asked: “Did they say that?”
“Yes.”
“Didn’t they tease you for being henpecked?”
“Who would dare?”
The Princess smiled. She stood on tiptoe to look at the Prince Consort’s neck. The tooth mark had completely disappeared. The Prince Consort said: “If you want to leave one, you can leave another.”
The Princess smiled sweetly: “You’re not going to Wu Province anymore, so why would I need to?” She paused and said softly: “Besides, I couldn’t bear to…”
As she spoke, she leaned into the Prince Consort’s embrace, her face flushed. The Prince Consort’s heart skipped a beat. He cupped her face and gently kissed her.
By the latticed window, the awakened spring swallows hopped back and forth. But at some point, the swallows were chased away, and the latticed window was closed. In the bedroom, the atmosphere was filled with enchantment.
Page after page of “Notes on Gazing at the Moon” was filled with the tender affection between the Princess and Prince Consort. For instance, “Harmonious music, two hearts in accord” described how the Princess was skilled at playing the jade zither, so the Prince Consort personally crafted a jade zither and gave it to the Princess as a birthday gift.
After receiving the jade zither, the Princess was overjoyed. From then on, the sound of the zither and flute playing together often came from their mansion.
Another example, “Phoenix roaming on Phoenix Terrace,” described how the Princess and Prince Consort went to Phoenix Mountain. Since climbing in a skirt was troublesome, the Princess changed into a Hu-style men’s outfit and climbed the mountain with the Prince Consort.
Halfway up the mountain, the Princess couldn’t climb anymore, so the Prince Consort bent down and carried her on his back up the stone steps.
The Princess lay on the Prince Consort’s back, occasionally wiping his sweat and asking if he was tired. The Prince Consort would always smile and say he wasn’t tired. When the couple was being intimate, they encountered a pedantic scholar on the way. The scholar shook his head and said: “Two men, what kind of propriety is this!”
Hearing this, the Princess smiled mischievously at the pedantic scholar: “Who says we’re two men? Sir, haven’t you noticed that before you stand a female phoenix and a male phoenix?”