Chapter 4 Her time as the Crown Prince's wife wouldn't last much longer...
That being said.
The next day, Yunzhu had no choice but to keep her promise. When she got up to study at Chenshi (7-9 AM), she began to regret the words she had spoken carelessly the day before.
She stared at Xiao Mingzhang, then sat on the bed and said coquettishly, "Xiao Mingzhang, I'm tired..."
Xiao Mingzhang remained unmoved, simply handing the clothes to her: "Wear them yourself, or shall I help you?"
"..."
Yunzhu looked at him resentfully, and after a long while, she could only reluctantly put on her clothes herself.
She only realized halfway through dressing that although Xiao Mingzhang had given her an ordinary dress, he himself was wearing a light and practical outfit suitable for horseback riding.
He already had a great figure, and the black outfit he wore, along with the same belt, made his slender figure even more striking, far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
She asked, puzzled, "Xiao Mingzhang, are you going out?"
Xiao Mingzhang replied, "Yes, I haven't been home for several months. My father is going to the drill ground to watch the army train today, and I'll go with him."
That's how it is.
Yunzhu nodded.
He went to the training ground to watch the soldiers practice, so naturally it had nothing to do with her.
She lowered her head and tied her own belt. After holding the belt and turning around, Yunzhu suddenly said to herself, "Then I'll ask Ranzhi and Jingsi to go out for a stroll this afternoon."
She seemed to be talking to herself.
Xiao Mingzhang glanced back at the person, but knew that she was deliberately saying it to him.
Yunzhu's life in Yunzhou City was not very free. Most of the time, she was subject to the control of the Prince's Mansion. For example, during the months he was away, she was unable to do what she wanted freely because of Ying's restraint.
Xiao Mingzhang had nothing to object to.
He simply said, "Alright, then remember to come back early. Mother said she wants to have dinner with us tonight."
Having been away on a trip for three months, it was clear that yesterday's lunch could not ease Ying's longing. Tonight, she planned to host another welcome banquet for Prince Huan and Xiao Mingzhang, just for their own family.
Yunzhu agreed.
With something to look forward to in the afternoon, I suddenly stopped feeling annoyed when I woke up in the morning and stopped finding reading tedious.
Xiao Mingzhang was about to leave, so she sat alone in the study and spent the morning copying the calligraphy he had brought back for her.
After observing the calligraphy model, Yunzhu finally put pen to paper.
Having lived in Yuncheng for two years, Yunzhu's use of the Central Plains dialect for daily communication is no longer a problem.
What troubles her most now is that she can't match what she says in daily life with the words on paper.
She neither recognizes nor can write the characters used in the Central Plains.
Therefore, more than a year ago, she specifically brought up this matter with Xiao Mingzhang.
Xiao Mingzhang was quick to understand and soon became her teacher, responsible for teaching her to recognize and write the characters of the Central Plains.
However, Yunzhu was truly surprised that Xiao Mingzhang would bring her calligraphy copybooks this time.
Before this, Yunzhu learned the Central Plains script and practiced Xiao Mingzhang's own handwriting.
Xiao Mingzhang's handwriting was beautiful; she took a liking to it at a glance.
But as beautiful as it is, she realized after learning it that the most indispensable element of such beautiful handwriting is the writer's own basic skills and character.
Putting aside her character and style, Yunzhu's basic Chinese character skills were practically nonexistent. Therefore, her attempts to imitate Xiao Mingzhang's calligraphy always ended up being comical, like trying to draw a tiger but ending up with a dog instead.
She discovered it herself and complained to Xiao Mingzhang a bit, but she didn't think he would take it to heart...
But Xiao Mingzhang... Xiao Mingzhang...
Yunzhu was copying the calligraphy model, her mind preoccupied with other things. As she wrote, she found herself lost in thought.
When she came to her senses, she looked down and saw that the once clean paper was now covered with Xiao Mingzhang's name.
—
Yunzhu, Yu Jingsi, and Cui Ranzhi had arranged to meet in the afternoon.
She was free from Ying's control; she had just seen her friend yesterday and was seeing her again today.
To celebrate, Yunzhu specially chose a restaurant famous for its crab dishes and invited them to have another afternoon snack.
"As expected of the Crown Princess, she's so wealthy and powerful!" Cui Ranzhi praised Yunzhu.
Yunzhou is located in the heart of the Central Plains, and there are no particularly large rivers, lakes or seas around it. Therefore, fresh aquatic products such as crabs are not common.
In the entire city of Yunzhou, only one restaurant serves crabs every autumn. And unsurprisingly, this restaurant sets the price of the crabs extremely high every year; ordinary people might not be able to afford even one crab even after a month of hard work.
Cui Ran knew that he came from a family of great scholars, but crabs were not something his family ate often.
"Eat more if you like."
Yunzhu was tearing a crab in front of her into pieces when she saw that Cui Ranzhi liked it, so she pushed the whole crab to her.
Cui Ran was flattered and her eyes instantly narrowed into slits as she hurriedly devoured the mountain of crab legs piled up in front of her, too busy to say anything else.
Watching helplessly as one of her best friends, like a hungry wolf, plunged into the pile of crab meat, Yu Jingsi silently clicked her tongue in amazement.
However, compared to the crab meat, she clearly had something more important to ask Yunzhu right now.
Yu Jingsi winked and asked Yunzhu across the table, "Yunzhu, how did you and the young master get along yesterday?"
"Huh?" Yunzhu subconsciously covered her neck. Upon hearing Yu Jingsi's words, she thought that there was something she hadn't covered up.
Yu Jingsi knew everything. As soon as she saw her actions, she knew that she and Xiao Mingzhang were not just doing well, but probably not doing too well at all.
She then joked, "After enduring three whole months, you've finally got some good days!"
The way she's saying this... it sounds like she's been waiting for Xiao Mingzhang to come back and do *that* kind of thing for the past three months?
Yunzhu glared at Yu Jingsi and retorted, "I didn't expect him to be waiting for me for three months!"
"Yes, yes, no, no." Yu Jingsi nodded confidently. "That was all nonsense. Even if our Crown Princess doesn't wait for the Crown Prince to return, she still lives a good life every day!"
"..."
It's better not to agree with this than to agree with it at all!
Enraged, Yunzhu picked up a crab leg and stuffed it into Yu Jingsi's mouth.
Yu Jingsi, however, still didn't know how to beg for mercy, and continued to yell and ramble on.
In the midst of their playful antics, she glanced at the long street below the restaurant before stopping her rambling.
"Hey! Wang Jun is here to eat crabs today too!" she said with delight.
"Who is it?" Upon hearing this, Yunzhu and Cui Ranzhi both stuck their heads out of the window to look, and sure enough, they saw a familiar figure.
It was Miss Wang Jun, whom I had just met at the Prince's Mansion yesterday.
Not only her, but also many other figures who had appeared at the Prince Huan's residence yesterday appeared with her.
A group of people chatted and laughed as they entered the restaurant.
Yunzhu narrowed her eyes slightly, not particularly excited about the appearance of this group of people.
Because yesterday, in the corridor of the Prince's mansion, it was precisely this group of people who were discussing her so much, without any bias.
Yu Jingsi sat down with amusement and said, "I wonder if they're really here to eat crabs. If they are too, Yunzhu, then we've really come on the right day!"
Because Yunzhu had already brought all the crabs in the restaurant to them today, there were no more crabs left to share.
Yunzhu shrugged: "First come, first served. I didn't mean to steal their food."
“If Wang Jun knew, I’m afraid she wouldn’t think that way,” Yu Jingsi said meaningfully.
Yunzhu raised an eyebrow, looking at Yu Jingsi's eyes, and gradually understood the meaning behind her words.
As for personal grudges with other noble ladies in Yunzhou City, Yunzhu can confidently say that she has none.
But this Wang family girl is truly different.
Yunzhu had heard that she was the Crown Princess chosen by the Ying family for Xiao Mingzhang.
If it weren't for that sudden imperial decree bestowing marriage, perhaps today, the heir apparent of the Huan Prince's mansion would be Wang Jun.
"Then I don't care about her at all."
Yunzhu only thought about the old story briefly and didn't really take it to heart.
Who doesn't reminisce about the past? And who doesn't talk about what ifs? She often fantasizes about how carefree and happy she would be on the grasslands every day if she hadn't married into the Central Plains!
But reality is reality, and she is now the Crown Princess of the Prince Huan's Mansion. She was also the first person to buy crabs from this restaurant.
Yu Jingsi smiled but remained silent.
Yunzhu's state of mind was truly admirable.
However, it's hard to say about Wang Jun.
Many scions of prominent families in Yunzhou City disliked Yunzhu. Most of them were related to her being from another ethnic group, but a small portion were related to Wang Jun. Yu Jingsi knew this perfectly well.
They stopped mentioning Wang Jun and spent the rest of the afternoon chatting and laughing in the private room of the restaurant.
After mid-afternoon, Yunzhu had to return to the Prince's Palace.
Tonight, the Ying family is hosting a banquet, and she promised Xiao Mingzhang that she couldn't go back too late.
They opened their door, and coincidentally, the door to the adjacent private room also opened at the same time.
The group looked at each other in bewilderment.
Wang Jun smiled insincerely and said, "I wondered who it was that bought all the crabs in the restaurant in one go. It turns out it was you."
"Miss Wang is quite clever," Yu Jingsi immediately retorted sarcastically.
Wang Jun ignored her and sneered at Yun Zhu: "That's right. The Crown Princess came from a foreign land and hasn't had much experience with the abundant fresh produce of the Central Plains. It's only natural that she would want to possess any good things she comes across."
Is she implying that she's like a nouveau riche?
Yunzhu frowned. Although she was prepared, she figured Wang Jun wouldn't say anything nice to her, but hearing these words still made her feel that Wang Jun was being incredibly unreasonable.
Whether her deep hostility towards her stemmed from the position of Crown Prince's consort was unknown, but in any case, Xiao Mingzhang had now returned, and she was no longer some delicate person who would be bullied at will.
"Miss Wang, have you never seen anything good before? It's just a few crabs, is it something rare?" Yunzhu asked casually.
Wang Jun paused for a moment.
Yunzhu then said, "Actually, I don't think these crabs are that delicious, but I just happened to feel like trying them today, and this restaurant happens to have so many crabs, I want them all."
"Instead of complaining about the people who bought the crabs, Miss Wang should spend more time asking the shopkeeper why they only bought so few crabs and why she was so late."
As the saying goes, a gentle knife can be deadly.
Yunzhu didn't have Yu Jingsi's high-pitched voice, but her words were clear and crisp, each one melodious.
Across from them, a group of people led by Wang Jun had faces that were red and green, each with their own unique expressions.
"You make it sound nice, but what reason can an honest, law-abiding person possibly get when they encounter a barbarian who doesn't follow the rules? They can only suffer in silence!" Yet some people still spoke up for Wang Jun.
Yunzhu laughed: "Since this young lady insists on saying so, it seems I really have no choice but to act like a barbarian today."
Her smile was unusual, suddenly like a craving for poison.
Recalling the guards from the Prince's Mansion that she had seen downstairs, Wang Jun shuddered and immediately pulled the others back to her private room.
"Let's go, don't waste your breath arguing with her!"
They slammed the door shut, as if it wasn't them who had deliberately barged out to cause trouble.
Yu Jingsi rolled her eyes, utterly disgusted: "A bunch of spineless cowards!"
He only knows how to talk his way out of things, but when he realizes that he has offended the current legitimate heir apparent of the Prince Huan's mansion, all he knows is to run away.
"Let's go!"
Ignoring Wang Jun and the others, she and Cui Ranzhi, one on each side, pulled Yunzhu away from the restaurant.
—
"Ah Jun, why should we let this woman from another race trample on our heads?"
Inside the private room with the door closed, Wang Jun was questioned by her companions and was not convinced.
Wang Jun walked to the window and watched Yun Zhu being pulled away by Cui Yu and the other man downstairs.
A hint of malice flashed in her eyes as she said, "Don't worry, she won't get away with this for long."
"Why?" his companion asked.
"..."
Wang Jun simply turned around without saying a word.
A note from the author:
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