"The Eastern Palace is such a tiny place, you can hear someone even if you turn over in your sleep at night. It's much more comfortable outside."
Song Xibai complained a few times and then sat up abruptly.
Dingxiang had already come over with the pulse pillow.
"You, you don't know how lucky you are. So many people want to enter the palace but can't, but you complain that the East Palace is too small. Didn't you see my room? That's what you call small! And I didn't complain."
Dingxiang rolled her eyes, grabbed Song Xibai's hand, placed it on the pulse pillow, and then carefully took his pulse.
Song Xibai dared not speak.
Not long after, Dingxiang let go of her hand.
"It's alright, you're in great health, as strong as an ox, you can still keep going."
Song Xibai glared at her: "You're the one who's like a cow!"
"Isn't being like an ox a good thing? It's better than those women in the harem who are always complaining of chest pains and weak legs, right? I just don't understand those wealthy families who raise their daughters to be so delicate. They must suffer so much during childbirth!"
Dingxiang packed her things, sat down next to Song Xibai, and started complaining.
"A couple of days ago, I was out for a walk with some other people when some concubine, some kind of imperial concubine, insisted that I examine her and gave her a huge ingot of silver. I looked at her and told her that she was perfectly healthy, just too thin and needed to eat more. And guess what happened?"
"She must be very angry."
Song Xibai replied, suppressing a laugh.
"That's right!" Dingxiang slapped her thigh. "Her head maid Fei said she must have taken money from someone and was deliberately causing trouble. Do you think I, Dingxiang, am that kind of person? I was so angry that I threw the money in her face and scolded her."
Dingxiang still felt resentful when she thought about what happened that day.
Song Xibai burst out laughing and collapsed onto the bed.
"Those women in the harem are all scheming and plotting against each other; I suspect that Consort wants you to take a look at her child's problem."
She paused, then lowered her voice and continued.
"The youngest child in the harem is the Eighth Prince, but he is already eleven years old. In the past eleven years, none of the many concubines in the harem have been able to give birth to a child."
Dingxiang thought about it and also found it strange.
"The Emperor isn't that old! Only in his forties or fifties, and he can't have children? My grandfather has visited several wealthy families, and there were old men in their seventies who could still get their concubines pregnant!"
Song Xibai wholeheartedly agreed.
"So, I guess the problem lies with the emperor. But no one in the palace dares to say it, they don't even dare to think about it."
Dingxiang understood and couldn't help but sigh: "Then I won't be angry with that concubine. It's hopeless anyway. She's quite pitiful. She's only in her twenties and will have to live out her life alone in the palace."
Song Xibai reminded her, "This is just my guess, don't tell anyone."
"Do you think I'm stupid? How could I possibly tell an outsider about something like this?"
Dingxiang waved her hand.
Song Xibai wanted to say more, but suddenly heard footsteps outside.
Song Xibai gave Dingxiang a push.
"Someone's coming."
As they spoke, the two stood up at the same time.
Just then, the door was pushed open.
"Qingqing?"
The prince's voice arrived before he even entered.
Song Xibai breathed a sigh of relief and walked towards the door with a smile.
"I thought it was someone else! Your Highness is back so soon?"
The prince was covered in sweat, his face flushed from running so fast. Unlike his usual composed and serious demeanor, he appeared light and lively at this moment.
That's more like what a young person should do!
Song Xibai took out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat and then helped him take off his outer garment.
"Has the matter been resolved?"
The crown prince shook his head: "Things are a bit troublesome."
The prince took her hand and led her to the west room, which was divided into two sections by a screen. There were tables and chairs by the window, and a kang (a heated brick bed) was placed inside.
The two sat down at the table. Song Xibai touched the teapot on the table; it was icy cold. He then called out to the outside.
Dingxiang bumped into a wooden box.
"The tea leaves are all here. I'll go and ask someone to bring some hot water."
After saying that, she turned around and ran out as fast as she could.
The Crown Prince was puzzled: "Why does she always run away whenever she sees me?"
"How would I know? It must be because His Highness is usually too fierce. He should smile more."
Song Xibai grinned and stuck out two fingers, poking the Crown Prince's cheeks, then pulled them apart.
The crown prince was quite helpless.
"Stop playing around, I came back specifically to have lunch with you."
Song Xibai released his hand and casually touched the Crown Prince's Adam's apple.
"Lunch will probably take a while, Your Highness. Why don't you tell me about what happened outside? What's wrong? Why are you in such a hurry to leave?"
The crown prince pondered for a moment, gathered his thoughts, and then began to speak.
The matter isn't that serious; it's really just a problem of farmland encroachment.
The Crown Prince's estate is adjacent to Prince An's estate. In recent years, the servants of Prince An's estate have been encroaching on the land there under various pretexts. Originally, it was just a little bit, such as moving the field ridges a little to this side, or deliberately carrying water from this side to irrigate the fields. The Crown Prince, out of consideration for Prince An being his uncle, has never made a fuss about it.
Unexpectedly, the Prince An's residence went even further this year.
"This time they not only occupied the place of the first son, but also the place of the third son."
Halfway through the prince's speech, Wei Hong and Ding Xiang entered one after the other. One carried a basin of water for the two masters to wash their hands and faces, while the other carried hot water to make tea.
Song Xibai pushed the Crown Prince to wash his face and change his clothes, while she slowly brewed a pot of tea.
By the time the Crown Prince returned in clean, crisp everyday clothes, the tea had almost cooled down.
The prince drank half a cup of tea before continuing his speech.
"The estate of the third son was given to him by his mother. For this, Consort Shu even used her dowry fields to exchange for it, just for the name of the imperial estate. Speaking of which, Father has become more and more stingy in recent years. It's alright with the second son, but when the third and fourth sons got married and established their own residences, he didn't give them any land."
The crown prince couldn't help but make a comment.
The King of Wu originally only had a small amount of land, but the King of An had seized a considerable portion of it. The servants of the King of Wu's residence were not happy about this and immediately went to the King's house to demand an explanation.
Unfortunately, Prince An happened to be out for a stroll with his newly acquired concubines today, and they ran into each other.
“The servants of the Prince of Wu’s mansion did not recognize Prince An and did not know their own strength, so they broke his head.”
At this point, the Crown Prince looked speechless, utterly at a loss for words as to what to say about this uncle.
Song Xibai was stunned.
"I was guessing it was something big! I never expected this!"
Song Xibai felt that she was overthinking things.
She had guessed that the Crown Prince's secret guards on the estate had been discovered, which was why he left in such a hurry.
But I never expected this!
It turned out that Prince An had his head broken.
The one who beat him was a servant of the Wu King's household who was with him.
Well, in this situation, he, as the crown prince, had no choice but to step in and mediate.
Otherwise, the King of Wu would definitely suffer a loss!
"And what about the King of Wu's men?"
"He's yelling at Xiao Liu in the front yard!"
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