Shi Xuan looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then opened his lips to eat the crisp date.
"Is it sweet?" Mu Run asked.
"...Mmm." Shi Xuan nodded. "It's delicious."
Mu Run peeked at the sky. "It looks like it's about to rain. I hung some clothes out to dry in the yard. When you go back to the palace, take them with you."
Shi Xuan: "Okay."
The carriage suddenly stopped, and Shi Xuan said to Mu Run, "Could I have a roast chicken?"
"Roast chicken?" Mu Run asked, puzzled, but still reached into the carriage and pulled out a roast chicken. It was specially made for her by Madam Gong. "Are you hungry now?"
"No." Shi Xuan took the roast chicken and walked towards a narrow alley by the roadside.
There was an old beggar there, with a broken bowl in front of him, begging for food. But passersby came and went, and no one noticed him. Even if they did see him, they ignored him as a "rotten rock" by the roadside.
Mu Run watched as Shi Xuan placed the roast chicken in the bowl, said a few more words, and then turned back amidst the old beggar's repeated thanks.
"I'll buy you roast chicken as compensation later," Shi Xuan said to Mu Run.
Mu Run shook her head. "No need. We can't possibly eat this much anyway. Besides the roast chicken, there are two large roast ducks, six fish, a pound of shrimp... and several boxes of snacks too. Why don't we go and give all this food away?"
"This beggar is new to the capital and doesn't know about Pujitang, which specifically takes in homeless people like him."
The carriage continued forward, and Mu Run looked back at the spot where the old beggar had been.
The person is gone.
******
As dusk fell, night descended.
Palace lanterns were lit everywhere in the palace, banishing the darkness. But the shadows only amplified the eerie and chilling atmosphere.
A eunuch hurried along the long corridor with palace lanterns and finally entered Chunfang Palace.
Yu Fei stood before her painting table, her slender, jade-like hands depicting a lonely boat under the bright moon. Suddenly, her brush paused, and a drop of ink fell onto the boat.
"Your Majesty, Zhao Shuangxi requests an audience," reported Wang Mama, Yufei's trusted confidante.
Yufei used a piece of paper to wipe away some of the ink in the lonely boat. "Let him in."
Soon the eunuch entered the hall, kowtowed to Consort Yu, and said, "This servant greets Your Majesty, may Your Majesty be blessed."
Consort Yu looked at him, a hint of displeasure on her exquisitely beautiful face. "What is it?"
Zhao Shuangxi knelt down and replied, "Princess Consort Sheng has miscarried."
"Miscarriage? What happened?" Consort Yu's face darkened. "Tell me everything."
"Yes." Zhao Shuangxi was sweating profusely and didn't dare to look up.
"The prince brought a courtesan back to the palace, and the princess was furious when she found out. The imperial physician once said that the princess needed to rest quietly during this pregnancy, and should not get angry, cry, or laugh loudly, so..."
"What a wicked creature!" Consort Yu exclaimed, her face turning pale. "Retribution..."
Zhao Shuangxi pressed his forehead to the ground, not daring to utter another word.
"You can go down now," Wang Mama said to Zhao Shuangxi.
Zhao Shuangxi felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty and immediately turned back and left.
Wang Mama remained silent and did not mention the matter of Princess Sheng's miscarriage again, because she knew that Consort Yu did not care much.
Sure enough, after Zhao Shuangxi left, Yufei quickly calmed down and used her brush to outline the ink drop into the image of an old man in a straw hat, fishing alone under the moon.
Granny Wang's eyes lit up, and she praised, "Originally, this drop of ink greatly diminished the artistic conception of the painting, but under Your Highness's skillful touch, it has become the finishing touch."
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