Sudden heavy snow
A few days after Cui Shenzhi's birthday, Cui Lingxian fell ill for no apparent reason. After Cui Shenzhi was called by Shen Meiwu to take care of Cui Lingxian for a few days, Ping An insisted on going with her. Upon hearing the news, Lu Fengping immediately rushed to Chengqian Palace and said that Cui Lingxian was sick because of insufficient fetal development and needed to rest and recuperate.
In this way, Shen Meiwu did not let Cui Shenzhi take care of her. After all, no matter how much she wanted her daughter and son-in-law to have a good relationship, the premise was that her daughter was still alive. If something happened to her daughter, her so-called son-in-law would just be a stranger.
Since Cui Shenzhi didn't need to go to Chengqian Palace, Ping An naturally couldn't go with him. And since Cui Lingxian couldn't go out, the task of teaching Ping An to read and write naturally fell back to Cui Shenzhi. Ping An could then take advantage of the opportunity to get closer to Cui Shenzhi in various ways, and slowly, little by little, change her image in Cui Shenzhi's heart from a 'child' who needed to be taken care of to a 'girl' who could be moved.
But plans can't keep up with changes, and before Ping An could even reach the stage of becoming a young girl, Choi Shin-ji disappeared.
In mid-November, Beijing was hit by a sudden heavy snowfall.
As the crown prince, Choi Shin-ji has been spending all his time in the Gancheong Palace discussing disaster relief with Choi Suk-gong and other ministers, and has not returned for several days.
Seeing that Cui Shenzhi showed no intention of returning to the East Palace, Ping An, who was extremely bored, suddenly had an idea.
Since she had nothing better to do, perhaps she could take this opportunity to go back to the Cold Palace? It had been almost three months since she left the Cold Palace. She wondered how Qingya was doing. The steward of the Cold Palace had changed, and without her taking the lead, Qingya's life was probably not easy.
As Ping An had guessed, ever since Ping An left with Cui Shenzhi and Guo Shu was eliminated and replaced by a new head eunuch, Qingya's life in the Cold Palace had taken a dramatic turn for the worse.
She was neither a palace maid assigned to the Cold Palace nor a deposed concubine, so no one could criticize her for not being given food and clothing. Therefore, the new head eunuch did not give her any food for two whole days. It was only when she could no longer endure it that she took the things left by Ping An and sent them over that she was finally able to eat.
However, Ping An had only a limited amount of things she had saved. Although she was also doing embroidery to sell for money, that little bit of money was just a drop in the bucket and not enough to cover the expenses. Just when she was about to run out of food, Ping An arrived.
Looking at Ping An, who was all wrapped up and had a rosy complexion, Qing Ya felt a mix of emotions.
"Ping An, you..."
Qingya had barely finished speaking when Ping'an quickly interrupted her.
"Aunt Qingya, I've come back to see you. Did you miss me?"
Aunt Qingya? Why would Ping An call her that?
Qingya was a little confused when she noticed Ping'an's eyes kept glancing behind her. Following Ping'an's gesture, she looked back and then noticed Yuesheng standing not far behind Ping'an.
After the incident in the slums, Cui Shenzhi was worried that Ping An might encounter something else, so he asked Ju An to find a palace maid with some martial arts skills to accompany him. This person was Yue Sheng.
Qingya wasn't stupid, and she was even more worried about harming Ping An, so she quickly swallowed the words she was about to say.
"Of course I miss you. Are you doing well in the Eastern Palace? Are you warm enough? Is anyone bullying you? Are the palace servants easy to get along with? Have you encountered any trouble?"
Qingya's words were full of undisguised concern, but Ping'an saw that her face had become much thinner and couldn't hear what she was saying at all. He was filled with pity for her misfortune and anger at her lack of ambition.
Ping An couldn't understand how Qingya had ended up like this.
She may not be in the Cold Palace, but Qingya has seen everything she's done. Shouldn't she learn a little something? Shouldn't she flatter the officials in charge when she speaks, help them when they need to whip the deposed concubines, or offer some advice? Can't she do that at all? Or is she unwilling? Is she really that kind?
What if she doesn't come back? What if she's blinded by the wealth and power of the Eastern Palace, and won over by Cui Shenzhi, forgetting that there's a mother waiting for her in the Cold Palace? What does Qingya plan to do? Let her starve to death?
Ping An was so angry that she didn't want to care about Qing Ya anymore, but Qing Ya was her mother, the mother who gave birth to her, raised her, and took care of her.
She sighed heavily and began to answer Qingya's questions one by one.
“I’m doing very well in the East Palace. I’m dressed warmly. Look how thick this cloak I’m wearing is. Everyone in the East Palace takes good care of me. No one bullies me. They are all easy to get along with. I haven’t encountered any trouble, and no one has bothered me.”
Ping An stepped forward, took Qing Ya's hand, and sure enough, it was icy cold to the touch. She quickly took off her cloak and put it on Qing Ya, and under the cover of the cloak, she handed her a small bag of gold and silver ingots, which she had saved up over the past few days by pretending to have accidentally lost them.
When Qingya felt the weight in her hand, she paused in putting on the cloak, but said nothing and quietly tucked the things into her sleeve.
Seeing that Qingya was not as resistant as usual to her bringing back the items, Ping An breathed a sigh of relief.
If she had known that Qingya would learn her lesson after suffering a bit, she shouldn't have protected her so much before. When she left the Cold Palace, she could have taken Qingya with her, and the two of them could be enjoying a life of luxury in the East Palace now. Why would she need to secretly hide things and bring them back to this wretched place, the Cold Palace?
As Ping An helped Qingya tie the sash of her cloak, she said softly, "Aunt Qingya, it's freezing cold. You must take good care of yourself, or how will you live to see the day when spring arrives?"
Ping An's words were clear and elegant, but Fu Yunjin only wanted Ping An to live a peaceful life. Moreover, given the mismatch in their identities, Ping An staying by Cui Shenzhi's side would not bring Ping An wealth and glory, but only danger and peril.
However, in front of Yue Sheng, Qing Ya could not openly advise him, so she could only hold Ping An's hand and say in a pleading tone, "Yes, of course I will wait until the day when spring is warm and flowers bloom, otherwise how can I see my favorite ordinary peaches and plums?"
Hearing this, Ping An chuckled to himself.
Ordinary peach and plum trees? Even at this point, Qingya is still trying to persuade her not to covet wealth and glory, and to stay away from Cui Shenzhi?
Ping An used a little force and chuckled as she shook off Qing Ya's hand.
“Yes, Aunt Qingya loves peach blossoms and plum blossoms the most, but it’s a pity I can’t appreciate them at all. I prefer the peony, which is more beautiful than any other flower.” She took a few steps back, and before Qingya could say anything more, she turned around and walked towards Yuesheng without looking back: “Sister Yuesheng, I’m a little cold after giving the cloak to Aunt Qingya. Let’s go back quickly.”
*****
A few days later, the snow disaster was finally dealt with, and Cui Shenzhi finally returned to the East Palace.
Upon returning to the East Palace, Cui Shenzhi collapsed onto his bed in his sleeping quarters and let out a sigh.
He's really exhausted these days.
He was exhausted from having to decide on a disaster relief plan as soon as possible, find capable people to carry it out quickly, and deal with the difficulties posed by Cui Sugong.
But he had no choice. He couldn't just leave Cui Sugong to do whatever he wanted, nor could he ignore the disaster-stricken people. He also didn't want things to drag on, because every day of delay meant countless more people would freeze to death.
Thankfully, everything is resolved.
But Choi Shin-ji only relaxed for a short while before suddenly sitting up.
Although he arranged for people to clear the snow and repair the damaged houses, and opened many soup kitchens in the capital, giving away some clothes to keep warm while distributing soup, most of the people in the slums were the elderly, women and children. They could not compete with the hooligans and thugs, and without someone in charge, they could not get anything.
Cui Shenzhi didn't care about anything else. He grabbed a fox fur cloak from the side and put it on. He then ordered Qi Kang to prepare a carriage. Not only did he not inform Cui Lingxian, but when he saw Ping An, he also hurriedly headed towards the palace gate without saying a word.
*****
Ping An rushed over as soon as she heard that Cui Shenzhi had returned. After all, they hadn't seen each other for several days, and she wanted to express her longing for Cui Shenzhi.
As soon as she arrived near Cui Shenzhi's bedchamber, Cui Shenzhi swept past her like a gust of wind, ignoring her completely and leaving without looking back.
The commotion left Ping An completely bewildered.
Why is Cui Shenzhi in such a hurry? Has something terrible happened? Has the Emperor passed away? Shen Meiwu died? Cui Lingxian is seriously ill? Or has someone in the harem secretly given birth to a prince, making Cui Shenzhi's position as crown prince unstable? It can't be that a new natural disaster has struck after the snow disaster, can it?
Then Ping An learned from the other palace servants that Cui Shenzhi had asked Qi Kang to prepare a carriage.
Based on the direction Choi Shin-ji left in, Ping An quickly guessed that Choi Shin-ji was heading towards the slums.
After reaching this conclusion, Ping An found it both funny and puzzling.
The slum dwellers were just a group of people from the lower class who weren't much better off than her. Why did Cui Shenzhi have the time to care about those people instead of caring more about the emperor? After all, those people couldn't bring Cui Shenzhi any benefit, but the emperor could truly decide who would become the crown prince.
Could it be that Cui Shenzhi has been pretending to be virtuous for so many years that he has even fooled himself? Does he think he is a truly virtuous person? That's ridiculous. A person who is surrounded by followers and lives a life of luxury thinks he is a great philanthropist with the world in his heart. Isn't that the most laughable thing ever?
It seems she needs to be careful in her daily life, lest she end up pretending to be a fool.
*****
When Choi Shin-ji arrived at the slum in a hurry, he found that he had gone to unnecessary lengths, because someone else had arrived before him.
It is Lu Fengping.
Lu Fengping nodded to Cui Shenzhi, then continued to take the pulse of the old woman in front of him, and had the servant behind him hand over the medicine he had prepared.
With Lu Fengping, a royal physician who was on good terms with the Crown Prince, in charge, no one dared to cut in line at the nearby soup kitchens, and no one dared to steal other people's things for their own use.
Seeing this, Cui Shenzhi breathed a sigh of relief, walked behind Lu Fengping, and took over the work from the servant.
“It’s good that you came,” Cui Shenzhi said, handing a packet of medicine to Lu Fengping. “I’ve been so busy in the palace these past few days. If I had come, I don’t know how many elderly, weak, women and children would have been bullied here.”
Lu Fengping took the medicine packet from Cui Shenzhi's hand without turning his head.
“I knew you definitely wouldn’t make it in time, so I came on the first day. But you took the wrong medicine. I wanted the one on the far left that was tied with a red string, not the one tied with a blue string.”
Cui Shenzhi scratched his head, took a packet of medicine tied with a blue string, and handed it to Lu Fengping.
"There's nothing I can do. I don't know any medicine, so I really don't understand the differences between these medicines."
"Then you shouldn't take on my servant's job, lest others think that my medical skills have deteriorated to this extent after becoming an imperial physician."
"I didn't want to either, but I came in a hurry and didn't bring anything except this fox fur cloak. If I don't help your servants, I can only stand by and watch helplessly."
Lu Fengping gave Cui Shenzhi a disdainful look, but didn't tell him to leave.
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