Shen Shangling walked out of the west pavilion and headed straight for the small courtyard where he was currently staying. The courtyard was crude and still carried the smell of a small workshop, but because it was far from Lu Xiao’s study, it gave him a full sense of security. Because he was too hungry and worried that if he returned too late, the people delivering meals to the courtyard would start collecting the bowls and chopsticks, he ran almost all the way there.
When he was passing by the edge of the prince’s garden, a figure suddenly flashed out from the flowerbeds on one side and grabbed his arm. This person was very strong and almost dragged him flat to the ground with a single jerk.
“Ah!” Shen Shangling was startled.
“Hey, why are you running!” The person lifted the staggering Shen Shangling up and chided him, “Why are you in such a fluster?”
After standing steady, Shen Shangling looked in surprise at the person holding his arm: It was a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties, not short at all, and her appearance must have been quite pretty in her youth. Right now, however, her face looked somewhat weathered and haggard, and she was so thin that her cheekbones were prominent. There were no pearls or jewelry on her head, her hair was a bit disheveled, and her clothing looked untidy, probably because she had just burrowed through the flowerbeds, leaving her body stained with some branches, leaves, and mud spots.
“Elder sister?” Shen Shangling paused for a moment and quickly said, “Is there something you need?” Judging by her appearance, she might be a wet nurse or servant from the prince’s mansion. But whoever she was, he did not want to offend her.
“Where are you going?” The woman stared straight at Shen Shangling, her hand gripping his arm tightening even more.
Shen Shangling let out a soft hiss of pain and wanted to struggle, but was shocked to find that he couldn’t break free. This woman had such great strength. No… why are ancient people all so strong?
“I am hungry,” Shen Shangling couldn’t break away, so he asked in confusion, “Elder sister, I am in a hurry to go back and eat. Do you… have something you need?”
“Come over,” the woman pulled him toward the flowerbeds, “Help me find something. I lost my acacia lock, help me find it quickly.”
“Alright, alright.” Shen Shangling was stunned. He had always been soft-hearted, so he quickly agreed. In this mansion, losing something probably meant big trouble, and this matron must be extremely worried inside, otherwise she wouldn’t be holding onto him so tightly out of nervousness.
Shen Shangling followed her as she burrowed deep into the flowerbeds. It was getting dark, and there were no wind lanterns in this part of the garden, so to be honest, ordinary people would probably not be able to see a thing. But after his spiritual transformation, his vision was extremely good, so he thought he would give it a try.
After following the matron into the flowerbeds, he carefully searched while awkwardly brushing aside the branches and leaves.
“Here,” Shen Shangling actually saw something on the ground, “Elder sister, is this it?” It looked like a bracelet, with a jade ring threaded on a woven silk ribbon, and items like gemstones inlaid on the jade ring, glowing with a slight light. Otherwise, even with his good vision, he wouldn’t have found it so quickly.
“It’s it,” the woman wept with joy, grabbing it tightly in her hand, “Found it, found it—I knew Jun’er was the most meticulous.” As she lowered her head and wept again, she muttered, “Jun’er is back, isn’t he? I knew it, I knew it.”
“Elder sister? Elder sister?” Seeing the woman crying softly the whole time, Shen Shangling tried calling out twice, but the woman completely ignored him.
“Elder sister, since you’ve found the thing, you should go back early,” Shen Shangling thought she must be extremely emotional about finding the item, so he advised her and stood up, saying, “Then I’ll head back first, huh.” He was about to starve to death.
After walking out of the flowerbeds, he trotted back to the small courtyard once more. Although he was delayed for a little while helping the elder sister find her item, he still felt quite cheerful inside.
After Shen Shangling left from this side, Li Yan also passed by here carrying a food box. He had originally been ordered to follow Shen Shangling, but after Shen Shangling left the west pavilion, he went back to report to the prince, and the prince ordered him to carry over some food, saying it was a reward for the snow demon. That was why he was slightly later than Shen Shangling.
“Royal Dowager Consort!” As soon as Li Yan walked to this spot, a figure flashed out from the flowerbeds, giving him a start once he recognized who it was. He quickly put down the food box and came over to pay his respects, while frowning and scanning his surroundings: Where were the people serving the Royal Dowager Consort?
The Royal Dowager Consort was the biological mother of the prince and the senior dowager consort of the mansion. However, ever since the prince and the heir apparent passed away one after another, the Royal Dowager Consort’s mind had become somewhat chaotic, and most of the time she couldn’t even recognize the prince anymore…
At this thought, Li Yan’s heart tightened. Precisely because the Royal Dowager Consort was somewhat deranged, she was never left unattended by her side. However, unlike ordinary ladies, the Dowager Consort came from a military family and had practiced martial arts since childhood, possessing quite a bit of physical skill. Ordinary servants were often unable to keep an eye on her. Fortunately, although the Dowager Consort was mad, she would not wander aimlessly outside the mansion. Right now, the servants attending to her must have lost track of her.
At this moment, two guards and three or four matrons hurried over in small steps.
“Deputy Commander Li!” The two guards cupped their hands in a bow as soon as they saw Li Yan.
“What is going on?” Li Yan said coldly, “It’s one thing for the matrons to lose her, but the prince told you to guard the Royal Dowager Consort. With your martial arts, how could you manage to lose her?”
The two guards looked a bit awkward and stepped close to Li Yan to whisper a few words: They were only responsible for following and guarding the Dowager Consort, but they could not restrict her movements. The Dowager Consort walked extremely fast while touring the garden, and the matrons couldn’t keep up. They had originally been following, but later the Dowager Consort burrowed into the flowerbeds over here and tugged at her clothes, making them think she needed to relieve herself or something, so they didn’t dare follow too closely. Who would have thought that the Royal Dowager Consort ran directly from that side of the flowerbeds over to this side.
“Keep a close watch,” Li Yan said helplessly upon hearing this, “Do not be careless.”
The two guards hastily acknowledged the order.
“Where is Jun’er?” Just at this moment, the Royal Dowager Consort clutched the acacia lock in her hand and stared straight at Li Yan, “Jun’er is back.”
Li Yan: “…Reporting to the Royal Dowager Consort, the heir apparent… he did not come back—” A sourness surged into the bottom of his eyes as he spoke. That dragon-like and phoenix-like heir apparent, just like the old prince, could never come back again.
“Nonsense!” The Dowager Consort scolded, “He was clearly here just a moment ago. Jun’er is meticulous and patient, which is why he helped me find the acacia lock. Look—it’s found!”
Li Yan: “…” He had also heard that the acacia lock in the Royal Dowager Consort’s hands was “lost” every single day. The servants tried every possible way to find it, but could never locate it. However, every single day, after a short while, the Dowager Consort would “find” it herself.
A matron on the side hurriedly stepped up to support her, coaxing her with soft words until she finally managed to coax the Royal Dowager Consort into walking back.
Li Yan let out a breath of relief. When he arrived at the small courtyard over here, he saw Shen Shangling sitting by the stone table. Shen Shangling was practically slumped over the stone table, looking exceptionally dejected under the dim light of the courtyard’s wind lantern.
“Master Shen?” Li Yan quietly walked over and placed the food box on the stone table, “Food rewarded to you by the prince.”
Shen Shangling snapped upright, his eyes glowing: “Food?” Heaven knows how frustrated he felt when he rushed to the courtyard and found that the food delivery people had already disappeared, and there wasn’t even leftover scraps on the table: People really can starve to death!
Hearing Li Yan’s words at this moment, Shen Shangling instantly perked up. He quickly opened the food box and indeed saw two plates of pastries in the top layer, along with a small bowl of soy-braised minced meat and a few loquats. In the bottom layer was a small clay pot, with steam still rising from a small hole in the pot lid.
“Is it soup?” Shen Shangling reached out happily to lift the lid. Who would have thought the lid was very hot, and he let out an “ah” and dropped the lid back down.
Li Yan: “…” Without uttering a word, he put on a straight face and reached out, neatly pinching the lid and setting it aside, and even picked up the small clay pot and placed it entirely on the table for Shen Shangling. After finishing all this, he cast a sideways glance at Shen Shangling: Is he even a man? His hand skin is so tender!
Shen Shangling: “…” He was silent for a moment, then calmly started eating.
Just as he took a bite and thought of something, he quickly raised his eyes to look at Li Yan: “Guard Li, have you eaten?” It was getting too late, and the craftsmen from earlier in the courtyard had also left. Eating alone while Li Yan stood beside him… out of politeness, he still asked.
Li Yan crossed his arms, leaning sideways against a nearby wall without responding, expressionless and very cold.
Shen Shangling: “…” Fine, he wouldn’t bother either.
While stuffing bread into his mouth, Shen Shangling pondered to himself: Lu Xiao actually gave him food on purpose, and there were rice, dishes, and soup… which actually looked pretty good. Did that mean Lu Xiao’s hostility toward him had decreased quite a bit? He didn’t know how the soaps were selling, but it was estimated to be pretty good. Maybe this food was given for the sake of those soaps…
What a rip-off!
At this thought, Shen Shangling stuffed a fierce bite of bread into his mouth. Those soaps were probably going to sell for a high price, and as long as the method could be controlled without leaking, Lu Xiao would gain an extra way to make money. An extra way to make money, traded for a single meal? Too shady.
Shen Shangling was nearly choked by that bite, and quickly picked up the small wooden spoon to take a sip of soup. The soup was tofu soup, but the tofu soup also had a soy-sauce flavor, and to be honest, it wasn’t very delicious.
Shen Shangling calmly savored the taste, and a thought arose in his mind: Could he try… asking Lu Xiao about “salary”? In ancient wealthy households, even maidservants had monthly silver, right? At least give him some every month. It didn’t have to make him rich, just some pocket money so that whenever he wanted to eat something good, he could have someone buy it back from outside. Especially so he could buy things back to cook himself…
He was a foodie and a bit picky. He didn’t have any other great skills, but he was quite good at making delicious food and drinks. Back then, his manager even suggested he enter a cooking-related show to boost his popularity. At the very least, if he encountered a situation like today where he came back late, he wouldn’t go hungry and have nothing to eat. After all, Lu Xiao couldn’t possibly send him food every time.
Shen Shangling made up his mind while eating. When the time was right and Lu Xiao’s expression was mild, he could subtly bring up a small request… would that make him angry?
The sky grew darker and darker, and lanterns were lit one after another throughout the mansion. This night, Lu Xiao naturally hosted a banquet to welcome Wen Qintan. But calling it a banquet meant it was simply a matter of preparing some light wine with his trusted aides to communicate about some administrative affairs in Fuzhou and the capital—that was the real business.
After the banquet ended, Wen Qintan intended to go to the Hall of Books. This was his habit. Every time he came to the prince’s mansion, he had to visit the Hall of Books, select a few books to keep in his room, and read some books before going to sleep every night.
“Your Highness?” Seeing that Lu Xiao wasn’t heading back to the study, but walking toward the Hall of Books along with him, Wen Qintan couldn’t help but be puzzled.
“I am going to the west pavilion,” Lu Xiao snorted and said, “It happens to be on the way with you, and I can take you to see something bizarre.”
“Huh?” Wen Qintan hooked his fox-like eyes and immediately guessed, “Has it got to do with that snow demon?”
Lu Xiao let out a cold laugh, silently confirming it.
Arriving at the Hall of Books, Wen Qintan didn’t rush to pick out books and followed Lu Xiao directly into the west pavilion. After lighting the lamp pillar on the wall, Lu Xiao walked over to the large table. Lowering his eyelids to glance at the sheets of paper pinned down by the paperweight on the table, he frowned, his expression turning somewhat cold.
Wen Qintan followed him in confusion, and was instantly stabbed in the eyes by the patches of ink blobs on the paper on the table.