"You like that girl?" Nansheng asked after Zi-ning had disappeared out of the shop. He folded his arms and leaned against the counter, tilting his head towards Jongdae with a bemused smile on his face.
"She's interesting," the crown prince replied, his fingers absentmindedly fiddling with one of the brushes on the rack.
"Interesting enough for you to marry her and make her your wife?" Nansheng continued probing, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
The fifth prince Ru-an was wandering about the shop aimlessly, running his fingers along the clean sheets of parchment that had been rolled up on the shelves. He was still listening to the conversation between his older brother and Nansheng, though he made no effort to participate. Instead, his mind drifted back to the pristine features of the girl that had been in the shop earlier and the way her soft strands of hair had delicately framed her face.
He had noticed her back at the queen's garden party, even though he hadn't said anything then. Han Zi-ning—how could he not have noticed her before? She was different from all the other girls who were only too eager to impress them and throw themselves at their feet.
Zi-ning was a strange one.
Although she had obviously been trying to stand out by painting that willow, her behaviour afterwards had been oddly contradictory. A girl who was trying to impress the queen and the princes would have tried her best to shine in front of them, yet when she was called forward all she did was to stand there quietly with her head bowed down, as if none of this concerned her at all. And then there was her response towards Ru-quan earlier. Any other girl would have been over the moon if they received a gift from the crown prince, yet there was no happiness in her expression whatsoever. She had even tried to reject him.
Was she merely trying to play hard to get?
Han Zi-ning was an interesting one, that was for sure.
"Perhaps," Ru-quan replied with a wink, "although I think Mother will have something to say about that. She seems to have her sights set on Minister Ouyang's daughter."
"Ouyang Sangya?" Nansheng shrugged. "Not surprising. Sangya is an excellent choice for crown princess, isn't she? Minister Ouyang has a lot of influence in the court and Lady Ouyang's family isn't a pushover either. Sangya herself is one of the most outstanding young ladies in the capital—beautiful, talented, eager to be the next queen. The only other girl who might match up would be Song Lanfang, but I'll bet the queen would rather have you marry a donkey than marry Consort Song's niece."
Ru-quan shot him a look of disdain. "If you like Ouyang Sangya that much then you can marry her yourself. Once I get back to the palace I'll ask Father to issue the marriage edict."
"Oh no, no, no," Nansheng protested, shaking his head vehemently. "Leave me out of this, I take back everything I just said. I don't think I could handle a girl like her." While Ouyang Sangya was all those things, she was also well known to be quite the spoilt brat, since she was the only daughter in the family and everyone treated her like a precious pearl. "In fact, I think I will never get married. Imagine being tied down by a woman for the rest of your life? What a horror."
Ru-an laughed, walking over and slinging his arm across Nansheng's shoulder. "I don't think your mother would appreciate you saying something like that. She's been pestering you to marry a girl and produce some grandchildren for her soon, isn't she?" he quipped.
Nansheng scowled. "Thanks for the reminder," he muttered. As the eldest son in the family, his mother invested all her energy into nagging at him round the clock, reminding him constantly of the importance of carrying the family name.
"Say, how is it that we've never noticed this Han Zi-ning before? I always thought Minister Han only had one daughter, up until I saw her at the palace gardens yesterday," the crown prince asked.
"Ah!" Nansheng exclaimed with a flourish, looking proud of himself. "I did my research yesterday. Apparently she's been away from the capital for the past few years. Went to Taishan to recuperate from an illness or something. She's only just returned. That's probably why we don't remember her."
"Good to see that you're making yourself useful," Ru-quan remarked. He spun the brush he was holding between his fingers, deep in thought. "So she's only just returned? Well better late than never."
Ru-an leaned against the shelves, observing his brother carefully as they spoke about Zi-ning. This was the first time the crown prince had openly shown interest towards a girl, so it was an interesting development that Ru-an knew he had to take note of. One thing was for certain—Han Zi-ning would definitely feature significantly in their lives from now on.
#
"Are you alright, Miss?" Hana asked, noticing that her young mistress had been silent ever since they came home from their trip into town.
Zi-ning put down the brush that she had been holding in her hand, sighing. "Hana, do you know who those men were back at the calligraphy shop?" she asked. Hana and Shujin hadn't been allowed to accompany her into the palace the other day, hence they never had the chance to meet the princes.
Hana shook her head. "One of them looked a little familiar, but I don't think I've ever seen the other two before. Are you acquainted with them, Miss? Why did that man insist on giving you that brush?"
"That was the crown prince."
Her maidservant gasped, almost dropping her tray onto the floor. She fumbled with it, tucking it safely under her arm when she had calmed herself down.
"The two men who were with him were the fifth prince and the eldest son of the imperial tutor, Huang Nansheng. You've probably seen the latter around. Father might have invited him over on some occasions."
"But Miss, if the crown prince gave you a gift, is that not a good thing?" she asked.
Zi-ning could see the excitement bubbling in her maidservant's eyes and she knew what the girl must be thinking. She picked up the brush again, running her fingers along its smooth stem.
"It could be a good thing I suppose," she murmured. The queen hadn't taken a fancy to her but the crown prince had definitely taken notice. She didn't care for the position of crown princess, but if that was what it took then she was willing to make that sacrifice. If she could gain Ru-quan's trust, then perhaps she could rescue him from his dismal fate and set history on a different track.
What bothered her more was seeing Ru-an again in that shop, even though he hadn't uttered a single word during the time she was there. In her previous life she hadn't met any of the princes until much later and even then the impression she left on them was a poor one, yet now things had changed and the timeline had been brought forward. She had not only met the crown prince twice, she had also met Ru-an twice. What difference would that make to the grand scheme of things? And what would Ru-an think about the crown prince's interest towards her?
She set the brush back in its box, gesturing to Hana to keep it somewhere safe. If her memory served her right, there would be more trouble coming her way fairly soon. Meiyan would not sit on her laurels and let matters slide so easily, considering how she had stolen half of her sister's limelight at the queen's party.
In about a week's time the old matriarch of the Ouyang family would be celebrating her eightieth birthday and Minister Ouyang had already sent out invitations to all the noble families in the capital, inviting them to his manor to join in the celebrations. She had accompanied her grandmother and Lady Min to the Ouyang manor in her previous life and that had ended in tears after she "fell" into a pond. Meiyan must lack creativity, she thought, if pushing people into ponds was her preferred way of getting rid of people she didn't like.
A cold smile appeared at the corners of her lips as she recalled the events of that day.
That day, she had not only ended up as a pitiful, drenched wreck, she had also been fished out by one of the Ouyang family's guards in front of all the guests. Lying in the arms of a man with her wet clothes plastered to her skin, showing the curves of her body for all to see—it was a damning moment for any young lady. Her reputation had been completely ruined after that and no young man worth his salt would even consider marrying her after that. She had been fortunate that the eighth prince had been kind enough to take her in, but even then she was only granted the position of a lowly concubine. A girl whose innocence was tainted would never be worthy of being anyone's official wife, much less a prince's chief consort.
Zi-ning didn't know if her beloved sister and stepmother would change their plans after what happened at the palace, but she would be ready for them regardless. This time she wouldn't let them sabotage her again.