After Being Mistakenly Taken for a Fellow Traveler by Emperor Long Aotian - Chapter 113

Rong Fen leaned against the wall, sitting alone by the window.

Snow was falling outside. There were hardly any servants left in the palace now, so the snow had accumulated, covering the entire courtyard in a thick, cold blanket. Only an old woman, yawning as she worked, came by every few days to sweep.

As the saying goes, when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Since the emperor imprisoned him, any servant with some ability or prospects had found ways to leave the palace. Those who remained were disheartened and worked lazily. Despite being a prince, Rong Fen’s treatment now was no better than three simple, sometimes cold meals a day. He wasn’t starving, but that was the extent of it.

To be honest, even though he was now confined to this room, Rong Fen could still impose some order on the servants and manage these matters.

He just…

Had no interest, nor any inclination, to deal with them.

The courtyard had several trees, all peach trees. For many years, Rong Fen had let himself get lost in this peach orchard during the spring. This orchard held his best memories and the most cherished moments of his life.

Rong Fen kept looking out the window. Since he was confined to this room, he spent a lot of time gazing at the peach trees in the courtyard. Now, apart from sitting here and looking at them, he had nothing else to do. At least looking at them could remind him of some happy moments.

But it was deep winter now, and the peach trees were bare, with only a courtyard full of withered branches.

An old man entered, coughing. He saw Rong Fen still staring out the window with a desolate look in his eyes. After a while, the old man went to the table to pour tea.

“How are these servants taking care of the prince? In the dead of winter, they don’t even bother to refill the teapot with hot tea…” the old man muttered, “Have they no conscience? Even if the prince is imprisoned, he is still a prince…”

“Steward Qiu, stop.”

Rong Fen’s soft voice came from the window. Hearing his words, the old man’s eyes showed compassion.

Rong Fen closed his eyes briefly and said, “In this entire palace, only you have always been good to me.”

“I have served you since you were young, Your Highness. I remember what you were like as a child… Even if those heartless people have left, I could never…”

After saying this, Steward Qiu didn’t know what else to say. Master and servant sat in silence in the room. Outside, the dozen or so withered peach trees stood obliviously.

Outside the palace, it was the third day of the New Year, and the city was filled with the lively sounds of fireworks and firecrackers. But within the palace walls, it was a cold and quiet snowy day.

Not vibrant at all.

Not lively… at all.

“Don’t be sad, Your Highness.” Steward Qiu coughed a few more times. He was old, and his coughing sounded like there was a bellows in his lungs. Once cold and heartless in front of Zhou Xun, the steward now looked at his prince with a heartache as if looking at his own child: “Don’t pay attention to those rumors outside. You are…”

A good child! he thought. He truly cared for the prince as his own. But he knew, given his status, he couldn’t say this out loud.

“Yes, you raised me since I was a child, didn’t you?” Rong Fen looked up at the window frame and suddenly said softly, “Back then, I was just a seven-year-old child, and you were assigned as my servant. Even then, I knew that you were the only one in this world who truly cared for me.”

Steward Qiu was stunned. He quickly said, “Your Highness…”

“In the eyes of others, all they could see was my elder brother.” Rong Fen shook his head. “My brother was born a few years before me, and in their eyes, he was better than me in every way. The Grand Tutor only praised my brother’s poetry, and the Emperor only saw the wild geese my brother shot down. To the civil and military officials, the only one who could ascend the throne was my brother.”

“No matter where I stood or what I did, as soon as he appeared, all eyes that were originally on me would turn to him. I was very jealous of him, but I had my ways to feel proud. I knew he was also jealous of me—jealous that our mother only favored me. Who could blame him when he was handed over to a favored concubine of the Emperor who had no children when he was born? Even after that concubine died and he was sent back to our mother, she only had eyes for me.” Rong Fen said softly, “This was the only thing in which I could surpass him. But this wasn’t because of anything I did; it was just that I happened to be luckier—lucky to be born when our mother had the power to keep a child from being taken away.”

“I didn’t just give up without a fight. When I was nine, we went hunting. I took the best bow and walked through the forest for a long time. I thought, I will hunt the finest beast and present it to the Emperor, so he would look at me more. The civil and military officials would also notice me. In their eyes, I wouldn’t just be ‘Rong Xuan’s younger brother.’ As I kept thinking this, I wandered deep into the forest. Do you know what happened then?”

“I saw a white tiger, one that shouldn’t have been there. Normally, the royal hunting grounds would be cleared of any dangerous beasts to prevent harm to the noble young masters. But that day, a drunken guard had fallen asleep in the forest, and the tiger slipped in. I screamed and ran. I was too small to kill the tiger. I prayed for someone to save me, and finally, I heard the sound of hooves. I thought, the Emperor has come, the civil and military officials have come. Even if I lose face in front of them, it would be fine as long as I survived. Then, I saw an arrow fly past—that was my brother’s arrow, Rong Xuan’s arrow. The white tiger, which I could never have killed, fell.”

“Do you know what I was thinking at that moment? I thought, perhaps this is fate. I practiced archery every day for a year, preparing for the hunt, determined to outshine my brother. I wanted to be the first to shoot a fox and use its fine fur to please the Emperor. If there were no foxes, then a wild goose, a deer… anything that would make the civil and military officials see me—Rong Fen! See me, and not just Rong Xuan’s younger brother!”

His fingers clenched, knuckles turning white from the pressure, looking almost as if he were drawing a bowstring: “But my year of preparation, my carefully planned opportunity, turned into Rong Xuan’s moment to shine because of a drunken guard. It became the moment when the Emperor favored him. He was like a ray of light. Once the light shone, all shadows disappeared. Even fate wouldn’t let me surpass my brother.”

“But… the Empress Dowager… she also cares about you!”

“Care?” Rong Fen suddenly laughed. “She only cares about herself. If she truly cared about me, why wouldn’t she fight for me before Rong Xuan ascended to the throne?”

“Later, I accepted my fate. I acknowledged that I couldn’t surpass Rong Xuan. Rong Xuan was the supreme emperor, and I was just a frivolous prince. The Empress Dowager favored me, the Emperor doted on me. I knew, in the eyes of others, I was very prestigious. I traveled the mountains and rivers, made friends with scholars, and went to the south. After accepting that I was a frivolous prince, everything seemed to get better. I had more money than I could spend. I hired many literati to come to the palace. I had them write poems and essays for me, and accompany me in idle talk. I bought the most beautiful courtesans and the prettiest boys in the capital; they were the most understanding playthings. But when I spoke to them, they would only look at me with innocent eyes and say: ‘Your Highness, you have everything. What could trouble you? The Emperor has to handle state affairs, but you only need to enjoy yourself. What could be upsetting for you?’”

Rong Fen spoke slowly, lost in long memories, as if he saw himself as a young boy again: “Yes, what could trouble me? I had everything, but everything I had was always second to Rong Xuan. The more I had, the more unsettled I felt. Everything constantly reminded me that I couldn’t match Rong Xuan, that I could never surpass him in this life!”

“Later, I went to Jiangzhou. When I left for Jiangzhou, I was filled with resentment. The Hall of Mental Cultivation needed renovation, and I was originally responsible for it. But Rong Xuan said that the plum blossoms I planted along the way were inauspicious and not as joyous as peach blossoms. With just one casual remark, he ruined months of my efforts. He was the emperor, the elder brother, so he always had the right to judge me.”

“When I arrived in Jiangzhou, the local officials treated me as a high-ranking prince, the Emperor’s most favored brother, and were very cautious around me. I detested their sycophantic behavior. I looked at the peach blossoms in the courtyard and felt even more frustrated. I ordered them to find the most talented scholars in Jiangzhou, especially those who were highly esteemed.” Rong Fen’s mouth curled into a sinister smile as he seemed to recall a childish prank, “I set a theme of peach blossoms and had those self-proclaimed noble scholars write poems to praise them. Then, I declared that their articles were ornate but the peach blossoms were vulgar and unrefined…”

Steward Qiu listened quietly. He listened to Rong Fen’s rambling because no one else was willing to listen to his prince’s life story.

But after a long time, Rong Fen fell silent. He stared at the withered trees outside as if he saw the flowers from his past, and left the story there.

After a long while, he sighed.

It was a long, light sigh, as if a lifetime had passed. Rong Fen extended his fingers and caught a snowflake. He said softly, “I didn’t know then that someone else would share my… melancholy. I took down a flower scroll, intending to read it and then mock it—these so-called talented scholars were nothing but sycophants. But the poem on that scroll… I never expected someone would be so similar to me. We were both melancholy and oppressed, but unlike me, he always believed that one day, he could leave this place.”

Rong Fen paused before continuing, “I never thought… that because of a poem, I would come to love the peach blossoms I once despised.”