Chapter Twenty-Seven: Assisting the Six Palaces

After Dingxiang and Wei Hong left, the room became unusually quiet.

Finally, it was Song Xibai who took the initiative to speak.

"It's already this late, Your Highness, haven't you had your meal yet?"

The Crown Prince gave a soft "hmm": "I was discussing matters with my officials and lost track of time. Have you had dinner?"

Song Xibai nodded and started counting on her fingers what she would eat that evening.

"Eight dishes for dinner, including braised pigeon, old duck soup, fried sparrows, and boiled chicken. The kitchen staff seems to be obsessed with birds lately."

The crown prince couldn't help but chuckle softly.

"If you don't like it, just tell the kitchen."

Song Xibai shook her head: "It's not that I don't like it, it's all pretty delicious."

Seeing that her expression didn't seem fake, the Crown Prince didn't say anything more, but he was thinking to himself: I need to have someone give the kitchen a warning, lest these people fool Song Xibai.

Is there anything else today?

The crown prince asked casually.

So Song Xibai told him what she had done that day and what she had talked about with Dingxiang and the others.

Two young women like them can only talk about all sorts of gossip.

Song Xibai talked about palace gossip, while Dingxiang talked about the gossip she heard from the older women when she went to see a doctor.

Song Xibai originally thought that the Crown Prince would dislike these trivial matters, but to his surprise, the Crown Prince listened with great interest and even interrupted to ask several questions.

Finally, after Song Xibai finished speaking, the Crown Prince sighed.

"It turns out that ordinary people also have many troubles at home!"

Although they may seem like small things, when there are too many of them, they can become quite troublesome.

For example, when it comes to women seeking medical treatment, in the entire capital, only the Ding family's shop had a dedicated female doctor.

Although Dr. Dingxiang seems rather unreliable... it's better than nothing.

In an instant, something flashed through the Crown Prince's mind, but before he could grasp it, Wei Hong and Fu Liu's voices rang out from outside.

"The meal has arrived, Your Highness. Shall we bring it in now?"

The prince frowned slightly; that faint feeling had vanished.

"Bring it in!"

After that, the palace maids set out the meal, and the crown prince ate alone in silence.

Song Xibai showed no intention of helping to serve the dishes, and simply sat aside, preoccupied with her own business.

She's not a child anymore; why does she need someone to help her pick food for her?

Song Xibai was very puzzled by the behavior of such wealthy families.

After the Crown Prince finished his dinner, he was helped to rinse his mouth by Eunuch Feng and then changed into a loose-fitting casual outfit.

Song Xibai was stunned when she saw him like this.

"Is Your Highness going to rest here?"

The crown prince nodded calmly.

"I've been sleeping very well these past few days, which must be because your room is so comfortable."

As he spoke, he went straight to the bedroom and lay down on the bed.

Song Xibai's forehead twitched slightly.

That's my bed!

I slept on a tatami mat for ten days while taking care of the patient. I finally got to sleep in a bed today, but this guy came and took it all!

Song Xibai glared angrily at the screen.

She took a few deep breaths and tried to reassure herself.

This is their territory; they can sleep wherever they want...

After repeating this several times, Song Xibai sullenly took out the bedding from the cupboard and called Wei Hong in.

Wei Hong carefully came over to make the bed, and couldn't help but glance at Song Xibai several times.

In the entire Eastern Palace, probably only I know that His Highness the Crown Prince and His Highness the Emperor have never shared a bed.

Wei Hong sometimes couldn't understand why these two masters did this.

It's such a big bed, it's not like there's not enough room for everyone.

She wasn't the smartest person, but she could tell that His Highness and Master Xi didn't have that kind of relationship.

She secretly regretted that Consort Xi was such a good person, much better than the other masters in the Eastern Palace! Why didn't His Highness try to coax her?

Thinking this, Wei Hong made the bed, stepped outside, and stood guard at the door.

Song Xibai removed her jewelry, loosened her hair, and went to the bedroom to find her pajamas.

The crown prince glanced at it casually, and suddenly, a sentence slipped out.

"You can sleep here!"

Song Xibai paused, slowly turned her head, and stared at the Crown Prince with a strange and surprised look.

The crown prince felt his face burning under her gaze.

“I didn’t mean anything by it, it’s just… cough cough… this bed is quite big, more than enough for both of us. Every time Wei Hong is on night watch, she can only lean against the door, there’s no bed available, it’s too tiring.”

"I'm thinking of my subordinates. Let Wei Hong sleep on the couch, and you can sleep here with me."

Song Xibai stared intently at him for a long while, making the Crown Prince almost feel guilty.

Finally, Song Xibai nodded.

"Alright! Wei Hong, go sleep on the tatami mat."

Wei Hong didn't understand why she suddenly changed her mind, but she didn't say anything. She curtsied and went to the north side room.

Meanwhile, in the bedroom, Song Xibai, still feeling sleepy, went behind the screen.

Song Xibai usually wears a modified version of a camisole underneath a nightgown.

Her pajamas were custom-made, made of pure cotton, and not loose-fitting, but rather fit snugly against her skin.

Not loose, in other words, tight-fitting.

So when Song Xibai changed into her pajamas and came out from behind the screen, the Crown Prince's eyes widened immediately.

The clothes had no patterns, yet they accentuated Song Xibai's almost perfect figure.

Eighteen-year-old Song Xibai was thin where she should be thin and plump where she should be plump; there wasn't an inch of extra flesh on her body.

She has always been very conscious of her figure, and she hasn't slacked off since entering the Eastern Palace, exercising every day!

Song Xibai walked to the bedside and bent down to take off her shoes.

Then, the prince, who was leaning against the headboard, saw that her lower back had bent down, her top had ridden up, revealing her slender waist.

How can your waist be so flexible?

The crown prince suddenly had this thought.

Just as he was thinking this, several inappropriate images for children involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

The crown prince was completely distraught.

His face turned as red as a monkey's bottom.

My face was getting hotter and hotter.

What embarrassed him even more was that a certain part of his lower body quietly awakened.

The prince instinctively covered himself with the blanket, but then realized something was wrong. He quickly moved a few steps into the bed, crawled under the blanket, and turned to face away from the outside.

The prince couldn't help but wonder: Could it be that I've been confined for too long, so I react to everyone I see?

A rustling sound kept coming from my ears, and after a while, Song Xibai's voice rang out.

"The blanket is with you! Could you pass it to me?"

There are usually two quilts on this bed; that's probably how it was in the homes of the powerful and wealthy in ancient times.

Song Xibai waited for a long time, but the Crown Prince did not respond, so she muttered to herself.

"Fell asleep so quickly?"

The prince remained motionless, his eyes tightly closed.

Left with no other choice, Song Xibai had to do it herself.

She changed from sitting to half-kneeling, her upper body suspended above the prince's head, reaching for the quilt inside.

The prince was reciting the Heart Sutra with his eyes closed when he suddenly felt something soft brush against his face.

I instinctively opened my eyes, then my breath hitched.