Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 87: The Crown Prince’s Late Discovery

He intended to have a private discussion with the Crown Prince to tell him that Miss Mei was off-limits, despite the fact that he wasn’t currently planning on taking her into his harem.

He couldn’t afford the complication of a fourth man fighting for this prize, and he didn’t want to heighten the tensions between his first and second sons.

"Emperor Father," bowed the Crown Prince.

"Son. What brings you here, as well as your younger brother, on this fine day?"

The Crown Prince seemed to be hunting around the room for something.

"Nothing, nothing," said his distracted eldest boy. "Can’t a son just pop in to pay his respects to his father? Does there need to be a reason?"

"Of course not, child. If that’s all you’re here for, you’re most welcome. In fact, why don’t you join me to help me work through these memorials?" the Emperor indicated the huge stack of memorials beside him, and the Crown Prince blanched in horror, raising his hands and taking a step backwards.

"Ahhh... Emperor Father, the Prime Minister is expecting me shortly to take tea with him. Can I join you on another occasion?"

"Of course, son," the Emperor chuckled, knowing this was a surefire way to get rid of the boy.

Unfortunately, at that exact moment, Mei Meili returned with the tray of tea and snacks for the Emperor.

The Emperor watched his son go from immediately interested, to slack jawed as he saw her.

She glanced up and saw the stranger, dropping her eyes demurely again, and the Crown Prince gulped noisily.

The Second Prince put his head in his hand in consternation.

These were exactly the types of concerns he had with bringing Mei Meili into his Father’s orbit.

"Errh, actually Emperor Father," said the Crown Prince, "on second thoughts, I really must focus on helping you with your workload and gaining a better understanding of it." He called peremptorily to his manservant, "tell the Prime Minister, I will meet him another time."

The Crown Prince strode up to his father’s desk and pulled up a chair next to him.

Emperor Father? thought Meili with surprise. This must be another one of the Emperor’s sons. Come to think of it, the man did bear a distinct resemblance to the Second Prince.

The fellow looked up and smiled at Mei Meili as she gently placed the tea and snacks beside the Emperor.

"And who do I have the pleasure of meeting this morning, young lady? I don’t believe I’ve seen you serving my Emperor Father before?"

"This is Miss Mei Meili, son," sighed the Emperor. "The only daughter and beloved pearl in the hand of Lord Mei. I believe her family has already been approached for betrothal discussions by the Bai and the Tan families," he said pointedly to him.

His eldest son ignored him entirely, seemingly lost in Mei Meili’s eyes.

"Miss Mei, why have I never had the pleasure of meeting you before? You seem never to have appeared in the palace for some reason?"

"I’m pleased to meet you Crown Prince," she said shyly. "I was raised in the inner courtyards and only let out into society not so many months ago. Previously I have only visited the palace on one occasion, when your younger brother invited me to view flowers in the Empress’s garden."

The Crown Prince shot a hateful stare at his younger brother for finding out this hidden secret before he did and failing to share it. The Second Prince returned the glare with equal force, and the Emperor sighed even more deeply.

Here was exactly what he had hoped to avoid; he really must get his eldest son alone before too much more damage was done, to inform the lad that Miss Mei was off-limits to him.

"Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her,

But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed,

At last one day was chosen for the imperial household.

If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells,

And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing."

The Crown Prince quoted Bai Juyi’s poem to her.

Mei Meili laughed artlessly, drawing a beatific smile from the Crown Prince.

"Only the ’bred in an inner chamber’ part can be applied to me, your highness. The rest is reserved for a woman of great beauty, like Noble Consort Ling," she glanced shyly at the Emperor, and the Crown Prince wished he could shoo his Father from his own study.

The Crown Prince had by now melted into a little puddle of tender desire for this woman who had clearly been raised free of artifice, pretension and vanity.

"Miss Mei was raised without female company with her five brothers and always went about veiled and chaperoned," the Emperor said, by way of explanation for Mei Meili’s inexplicable statement about the poem.

His eldest son nodded with unadulterated delight at this wonderful news and this astonishing fairy, seemingly descended straight from heaven to land in his Father’s study.

The Emperor and the Second Prince watched the Crown Prince without surprise, both men still gloomy to see the man’s desire written so plainly across his face.

The Second Prince could only hope that the northern campaign proved to be the higher priority for his Father.

He knew that the moment it became more expedient for the Emperor to use Mei Meili for the purposes of manipulating his eldest brother, he would do so in an instant...

"Second Son, Miss Mei, leave me with my First Son please. I have much to discuss with him."

The Crown Prince waved sadly at Mei Meili as she withdrew from the study, feeling an urgent call to follow her, wherever she went.

"Zhu Haoran," began his Father, clicking his fingers in front of his son’s distracted face...