Ji Qingqing moved with incredible speed.
Five pots were working simultaneously over the fires. She didn’t care about how neat the flatbreads looked; as long as they were cooked through, it would do.
By the time Eunuch Liu pulled a somewhat dilapidated carriage over to the kitchen, Ji Qingqing had already baked over twenty flatbreads and spread them out to cool. Each flatbread weighed about half a catty—they looked dark and charred, but smelled mouthwatering.
Looking at the shiny, charred-black flatbreads, Eunuch Liu bared his teeth, his old face scrunching up into a wilted chrysanthemum.
Seeing his expression, Ji Qingqing sighed and said, “Sir, try it first. Besides, given our current situation, if we carried bright white flour bread, are you sure we’d actually be allowed to keep it?”
Eunuch Liu stiffened, tears welling up in his eyes once more. Sniffling, he tore off half a flatbread and took a bite.
A single bite filled his mouth with the rich, savory taste of salted egg. Starved and terrified after an entire day, Eunuch Liu’s eyes lit up, and he quickly took a few more bites. He hadn’t expected something so hideous to taste so good.
Watching the little old man munching away greedily while wiping tears from his face, Ji Qingqing’s mouth twitched. She quietly complained to herself: They say women are made of water, but if you ask me, eunuchs aren’t much different.
Noticing how fast he was eating, she quickly poured some water and handed it to him. Eunuch Liu took it and drank with satisfaction.
Flipping the flatbreads in the pan, Ji Qingqing hesitated for a moment before asking cautiously, “Eunuch Liu, I had a high fever two days ago and forgot a lot of things. Could you tell me a bit about what’s going on?”
Eunuch Liu’s eyes widened at her words. Looking at the bewildered girl, the food in his mouth suddenly lost its flavor. Swallowing his food in a few gulps, he let out a heavy sigh: “This old servant’s surname is Liu, and I watched His Highness grow up.”
“Your name is Ji Qingqing, and you’re seventeen this year.”
“Three years ago, His Highness was on his way back from court when he saw you kneeling in the street during a heavy snowstorm, selling yourself into servitude just to pay for your gravely ill younger brother’s treatment. He was deeply moved by your devotion to your brother, so he gave you fifty taels of silver and had you sign a lifelong indenture contract.”
“Back then, it was this old servant who brought the physician to settle your brother!”
“Your family also had a father who was delirious from a severe cold, and he was treated along the way, too.”
“When we got back to the Eastern Palace, I originally planned to assign you a light task. But you couldn’t do needlework, nor could you handle delicate labor, so I had no choice but to assign you to wash His Highness’s clothes.”
“Yet you… you had such strength that on your very first day, you scrubbed holes through all of His Highness’s robes!”
“His Highness was generous. He didn’t hold it against you and sent you to sweep the courtyard instead.”
“And you’ve been sweeping for three years. You’re an honest, straightforward girl—never slack off, never gossip. Now that His Highness has fallen into misfortune, you’re still willing to stick by him. I must say, His Highness has an excellent eye for character.”
Ji Qingqing looked at Eunuch Liu, whose face beamed with pride the moment he brought up the Prince.
She probed further: “What is the name of our empire? And what about His Highness’s affairs?”
“For instance… how many brothers does His Highness have, and what are their relationships like?”
Hearing Ji Qingqing ask such questions, Eunuch Liu’s brows furrowed instantly in anger. He glanced left and right before whispering fiercely, “You silly girl, do you have a death wish? How dare you ask about such things?!”
After scolding her, he shuffled closer to Ji Qingqing and whispered, “Our empire is the Great Qi.”
“His Imperial Majesty currently has five sons. The First Prince, Xiao Yirong, is twenty-five, born to Noble Consort Liu. He is of mediocre talent and weak character, always doing whatever Noble Consort Liu says. Noble Consort Liu is the daughter of the Prime Minister of the Right; their family has deep roots in court, to the point that even His Majesty sometimes has to yield to them.”
“The Second Prince, Xiao Yihui, was the legitimate eldest son. When he was three years old, he fell from a rockery and died of severe injuries despite all medical efforts.”
“The Third Prince, Xiao Yihan, is our Highness. He is not yet twenty, and he is also born to the Empress.”
“Because of what happened to the Second Prince, His Majesty always felt guilty toward Her Majesty the Empress. Thus, our Highness was created Crown Prince the moment he was born.”
“Starting from the age of three, he was personally tutored by His Majesty. Our Highness has been extraordinarily intelligent since childhood; many great scholars praised him as a natural-born sovereign, and His Majesty was immensely proud of him.”
“The Fourth Prince, Xiao Yian, was born to Lady Cao. He’s only nine now, but despite his young age, he has the fiercest temper.”
“The Fifth Prince, Xiao Yiyu, was born to Beauty Xia. He’s five this year and has been doted on like the apple of her eye. This old servant has seen him a few times—a young boy who still demands to be carried everywhere. From the looks of it, he won’t amount to much.”
Having heard this much, Ji Qingqing gained a general understanding of the situation. Finally, she leaned in near Eunuch Liu’s ear and asked, “What happened with His Highness’s alleged rebellion this time?”
“Logically speaking, His Highness had no motive to rebel at all!”
Gritting his teeth, Eunuch Liu hissed back in a low voice: “Our Highness was framed! His Highness may have a distant disposition, but he is the most filial son to His Majesty.”
“Once His Highness recovers, we will drag out whichever bastard did this, and this old servant will slaughter him with my own hands!”
Frightened by Eunuch Liu’s murderous expression, Ji Qingqing dared not ask anything more and returned to her chores.
Eunuch Liu carefully held a bowl of brewed ginseng soup, attempting to feed his precious Prince. However, the Prince was in a deep coma, his teeth clenched tightly shut.
Ji Qingqing watched from the side, anxious.
Seeing that nearly half the soup was spilling out, she stepped up proactively. Reaching out, she gave Prince Fei’s smooth, fair cheeks a gentle pinch, forcing his mouth open. She then pressed his tongue down with a spoon and fed him one mouthful after another. Soon, the entire bowl was emptied.
Ji Qingqing let go and nodded with satisfaction.
Eunuch Liu stared dumbfounded at Ji Qingqing’s rough feeding method. Looking heartbroken at the symmetrical blue-purple handmarks left on the Prince’s pale cheeks, he trembled with rage, pointing his finger at her in speechlessness.
Ignoring Eunuch Liu, Ji Qingqing proceeded to feed Gu Feng as well, before bustling off to continue her work.
Suddenly, she realized she hadn’t asked Eunuch Liu where Lingnan was located.
She turned and asked, “Eunuch Liu, is Lingnan far from here?”
Eunuch Liu’s face fell, and he slumped despondently.
“Of course it’s far. It takes a month and a half riding day and night on fast horses to get there. Traveling with the exile convoy this time… it will take us five months at the very least.”
When Ji Qingqing heard that it would take five months, she was completely stunned. “It’s July right now. Won’t it be winter by the time we get there?”
She immediately urged Eunuch Liu to find more cotton quilts and, ideally, some winter clothes as well. Otherwise, they would freeze to death long before reaching their destination.
Eunuch Liu snapped out of his daze and dashed out right away.
Before long, he returned carrying eight cotton quilts, layering them neatly inside the carriage he had just swept clean.
Watching the flustered old man, Ji Qingqing smiled helplessly. The little old guy certainly has plenty of energy!
Glancing back inadvertently, she noticed that both Prince Fei and Gu Feng had flushed, feverish faces. “Oh no, they’ve developed a high fever!”
“Eunuch Liu! Eunuch Liu! His Highness has a high fever! Do we have any fever medication?”
Hearing her shout, Eunuch Liu slapped his thigh and bolted toward the pharmacy.
The Eastern Palace had a small pharmacy stocked with ready-made fever remedies prepared by the imperial physicians. Servants usually bought a packet whenever they had minor ailments—it was inexpensive and highly effective.
Eunuch Liu sprinted back with over twenty packets. Pale-faced and with trembling lips, he looked at Ji Qingqing helplessly, seeking reassurance: “Qing, lass… His Highness will be fine, right?”
Looking at the trembling old man, Ji Qingqing replied in a firm voice, “Didn’t you say His Highness is the most capable person ever? So, he will definitely recover.”
After brewing the medicine, she managed to force it down both men with great effort. Eunuch Liu didn’t dare leave their side after that, constantly applying wet cloths to their foreheads.
By the time dawn broke, their fevers had finally subsided, and Eunuch Liu collapsed into sleep from sheer exhaustion.
Ji Qingqing loaded all the cooled flatbreads into the carriage and grabbed about a dozen catties of rice from the kitchen.
She packed all twenty-some packets of fever medicine Eunuch Liu had brought, wrapped the remaining ginseng roots separately, and stuffed them into the straw beneath the cotton quilts.
She also divided the dozen catties of salt from the kitchen into small pouches and hid them underneath Xiao Yihan’s body.
Then, she ran to the needlework room, dug out a bolt of cotton cloth to use for future bandage changes, picked out some needles and thread from a small basket to tuck into her waist, and finally filled three water bladders.
Once everything was prepared, she placed the two severely unconscious casualties side by side in the carriage.
Just then, Eunuch Liu woke up, and a large group of imperial guards burst into the courtyard.
The leading official, Officer Feng, declared coldly, “Time is up. It is time for Prince Fei to depart. This humble official has been tasked with escorting His Highness all the way to Lingnan.”
Ji Qingqing and Eunuch Liu obediently followed the guards, walking alongside the carriage.
Upon reaching the city gates, Ji Qingqing was shocked to see that the exile convoy consisted of nearly eight hundred people.
Right at that moment, an arrogant, leisurely voice chimed in:
“If yours truly didn’t come to see Prince Fei off on his departure from the capital, how could I keep showing my face around these parts?”
Ignoring Ji Qingqing and Eunuch Liu’s desperate attempts to block him, the young man brazenly lifted the carriage curtain. Seeing Prince Fei wrapped up like a mummy, a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
Just as he reached out to probe further, a calm, steady voice sounded behind him: “Is Young Master Zhao here to see off my third brother?”
The newcomer wore an ink-black silk robe, a jade crown, and black satin boots. Although a smile hung on his unremarkable face, the kneeling Ji Qingqing shivered instinctively.
The man in the silk robe lifted the curtain, reached out, and grabbed Prince Fei’s most severely injured leg, digging his fingers brutally into the wound.
The freshly bandaged wound from yesterday immediately gushed blood, quickly soaking through the white gauze. Even under such pain, Xiao Yihan remained motionlessly unconscious. The man in the silk robe casually wiped the blood onto the cotton quilt, remarking with feigned regret, “It seems my third brother isn’t pretending after all.”
“Father has always favored Third Brother. Even though he committed a monstrous crime this time, Father still granted him a prince title and a fiefdom. I hope Third Brother understands Father’s painstaking intentions in the future and behaves like a proper prince, so as not to betray this imperial grace.”
Young Master Zhao wanted to intervene, but he forced himself to hold back, his hand balling into a tight fist hidden inside his sleeve.
Ji Qingqing pinned down Eunuch Liu, who was on the verge of losing control, keeping their heads buried low to the ground to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
In her heart, she cursed relentlessly: You black-hearted, venomous snake! A wolf in sheep’s clothing!
Young Master Zhao flashed a casual, rogue-like grin and said carelessly, “The First Prince’s brotherly devotion is truly touching. I wonder if the First Prince would do me the honor of having a meal together?”
The First Prince smiled warmly. “No rush.”
With a wave of his hand, several eunuchs stepped forward, drawing daggers and tearing through the carriage in a frenzied search. Finally, they turned back and shook their heads at the First Prince.
The First Prince’s eyes flickered slightly. Seeing this, he finally turned and walked away with Young Master Zhao.
Once they were far enough, Eunuch Liu and Ji Qingqing hurriedly scrambled into the carriage to check.
Gu Feng was relatively fine, but Xiao Yihan’s wounds had reopened. The rice was scattered everywhere, two water bladders were punctured, the flatbreads were poked into small pieces, the medicine packets were torn open, and the cotton was spilling out of the ruined quilts. Ji Qingqing squeezed her eyes shut tightly, cursing eighteen generations of the First Prince’s ancestors in her mind.
So much for being “mediocre and weak”! That bastard is pure venom!
After venting her rage silently, she quickly joined Eunuch Liu in re-dressing Xiao Yihan’s wounds.
Then, resigning herself to her fate, she threaded a needle and used her clumsy stitchcraft to mend the damaged quilts one by one, picking up the spilled rice grain by grain.
She couldn’t tell the mixed-up medicinal herbs apart, but she couldn’t bear to throw them away either—what if they proved useful later?
Outside, the carriage slowly began to move.
Listening to the occasional cracking of whips and harsh shouting from outside, and looking at the still-unconscious Xiao Yihan, Ji Qingqing suddenly felt that being unconscious wasn’t such a bad thing after all.