The palace personnel, with their first-rate professional skills, once again approached in an orderly manner, carrying tea cups, water kettles, soap pods, and basins to serve The Crown Prince and Zhuang Yunlan as they rinsed their mouths and washed their hands.
After drying off, The Crown Prince took Zhuang Yunlan out to aid digestion.
The layout of the Eastern Palace was similar to that of the imperial palace, essentially a scaled-down version, dozens of times smaller, yet it lacked no gardens or other places for the masters to relax and entertain themselves.
The Crown Prince didn’t venture far, simply strolling hand in hand with her through the garden behind Chenghua Hall.
When the Crown Prince's Jieyu was still around, she had practically claimed this small garden as her own territory. Whenever there was a rare or precious flower, she would present it like a treasure and take it to Zhaohua Hall, inviting the Zhaoyi of the Crown Prince to admire it together.
However, the imperial family was wealthy and generous, so the garden naturally wouldn’t be stripped bare by a single Crown Prince's Jieyu. All the flowers and plants that should be there remained.
Even in winter, many artificial flowers made of piled gauze adorned the branches.
As The Crown Prince looked at those gauze flowers, his thoughts drifted to the refugees in the disaster-stricken prefectures.
When ordered to open the granaries and distribute food, the Ministry of Revenue and several prefectures submitted memorials pleading poverty. Yet, when it came to currying favor with his father, these same people seemed to have no shortage of silver at all.
He truly wished to dismiss those sycophantic parasites, but he couldn’t.
He was The Crown Prince, but he was only The Crown Prince.
"Ouch," Zhuang Yunlan, walking behind The Crown Prince, was still savoring the lavish dinner they had just enjoyed when she was unexpectedly startled by The Crown Prince tightening his grip on her hand, reflexively letting out a sound.
"Did that hurt?" The Crown Prince snapped back to attention, bringing her hand to his eyes for a closer look. There was indeed a red mark—he had forgotten about that.
Feeling somewhat apologetic, The Crown Prince began massaging Zhuang Yunlan’s hand, which in turn made her feel a bit embarrassed.
A man with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, a strikingly handsome face, an aura that exuded charm, and a special relationship with her was now massaging her hand. It had to be said, it felt rather intimate.
Zhuang Yunlan tried to pull her hand back but couldn’t free it.
Seeing the red mark fade, The Crown Prince noticed her hand felt somewhat cold.
"Go fetch a hand warmer for your mistress," perhaps because he had hurt her earlier, The Crown Prince was now quite considerate, holding her hand to warm it. "Why is it so cold?"
He hadn’t noticed earlier, preoccupied with other thoughts.
The Crown Prince abandoned the idea of continuing their stroll and led her back. "I almost forgot—you’re from the south. Nanzhili isn’t as cold as the Capital, is it?"
"It’s cold there too," Zhuang Yunlan replied, walking alongside him. "It’s just a different kind of cold—damp and chilly. Sometimes it seeps into your bones, making them feel icy. Even if you wear thick clothes to block the wind, you can’t keep out that chill."
Back then, Zhuang Yunlan had secretly grumbled while clutching her hot water bottle. When Emperor Taizong insisted on moving the capital, aside from the noble and righteous reasons like guarding the nation and caring for the people, perhaps he was also a bit fed up with the damp, bone-chilling cold of Nanzhili.
Moreover, the south had no tradition of building warm pavilions or heating floors. When the coldest days arrived, it was actually more unbearable than the north.
The Crown Prince hadn’t been to Nanzhili for many years. After a moment’s thought, he said, "That’s true. I wonder how the common people who can’t afford charcoal manage to survive the winter. But there’s less snow there, so at least they don’t suffer from disasters."
Transmigrating into feudal society, the only stroke of luck for Zhuang Yunlan was that her family was fairly well-off. Yet, this didn’t mean she was ignorant of the hardships of the world.
Seeing the Crown Prince speak so earnestly, she also replied quite seriously, "Since Your Highness mentions this, I do recall that there were indeed refugees who suffered disasters and somehow ended up in the hands of traffickers, being sold to Nanzhili. That year, many households in my hometown added maids and servants. I heard that the price for buying one previously could get three or four that year."
The Shen family next door bought several. Zhuang Yunlan's mother had originally wanted to take advantage of the low prices to add a few as well, but when she had the traffickers bring them to the house for a look, each one was emaciated and barely alive.
How could Madam Zhuang dare to buy them for service? She quickly had the cook prepare a pot of porridge and steamed rice, fed them, and then sent them away with the traffickers.
The Crown Prince sighed, "Most likely, the refugees truly couldn’t survive and had no choice but to sell themselves to traffickers. Being sold so far away and becoming servants, even if the natural disaster passed, they would lose their fertile land back home. In the end, it only benefited those people."
Those people?
Zhuang Yunlan’s mental alarm bells rang loudly, and she dared not say more.
The Crown Prince patted her hand and shook his head, "Why am I even talking to you about this? Where is your palace maid? It’s been a while—why hasn’t she brought the hand warmer yet?"
Just as he finished asking, Haitang hurried back, holding a gilded and lacquered hand warmer.
Having earlier enjoyed the Crown Prince’s manual hand-warming service, Zhuang Yunlan now returned the favor. Looking at the Crown Prince, she asked, "Would Your Highness like to warm up as well? It’s very cold."
Without a second thought, the Crown Prince pushed it back to her.
Him, holding a hand warmer? What would that look like?
With one hand still held in the Crown Prince’s palm for warmth, Zhuang Yunlan had no choice but to carry the hand warmer, which had been rejected by the Crown Prince, with her other hand as she followed behind him.
Seeing the Crown Prince’s mood was off, Zhuang Yunlan, for once, played the role of a considerate subordinate. "Then I’ll warm my hands first and then warm Your Highness’s hands."
The Crown Prince glanced at her with an amused smile. This Zhuang woman…
Returning to the Western Side Hall, bathing preparations were already complete. The two bathed separately, dispelling all the chill from their bodies.
Zhang Bao watched as Shaoyao led others to extinguish half the candles inside the hall, then took them all outside.
When Zhuang Yunlan woke the next day, the Crown Prince was no longer there.
Haitang said happily, "His Highness specifically instructed not to wake you, mistress."
Fortunately, it wasn’t a day for paying respects. Zhuang Yunlan rubbed her still slightly sore waist and lay back on the cabinet bed without a second thought, enjoying a blissful extra sleep until nearly lunchtime before rising.
After the meal, she began to ponder the events of the previous day.
Initially, Zhuang Yunlan had thought the Crown Prince was merely expressing his feelings, but upon careful reflection, it didn’t seem that way.
Could it be that some other place had suffered a disaster?
Zhuang Yunlan still remembered the refugees from years ago, so thin they were nothing but bones.
But since entering the palace, her access to information had become even more limited than when she was outside.
Court affairs and the inner palace were two entirely separate worlds. Unless the Crown Prince was willing to tell her, she could only rely on guesswork. Even if she guessed correctly, it would be useless. If she impulsively spoke up first about wanting to aid the refugees, her fate might end up worse than that of the Crown Prince's Jieyu.
Moreover, aiding refugees was absolutely not something that could be resolved with just a sack of rice or a pot of porridge.
Zhuang Yunlan’s meager savings, even if she emptied them all, would likely amount to little more than spare change.
If anything were to be done, it would have to start with the Empress speaking first, followed by the Crown Princess taking the lead in the Eastern Palace.
Just as she was pondering this, Cairen Song arrived.
She contentedly drank a cup of warm milk, then said mysteriously, "Guess what the Crown Princess said to the Lady when she kept her back yesterday?"