Chapter 9.2

This is not a professional translation; you have been warned. ʘ‿ʘ

I made an MTL recommendation list. For those you are interested do check it out. (^.^)

Before dawn, there was already movements in Jide hall.

The Crown Princess has always been used to the movements in the study since the fourth quarter of ^[1] yínshí.

Although the Crown Prince need not to go to the morning court, he has always had the habit of waking up early. In the early years when he was still studying, he usually read in the morning.

The eunuchs were busy in and out.

When the crown princess is ready, Fu Qiu brings a red jujube and wolfberry tea to serve the crown princess.

Every morning, the crown princess would drink such cup of tea. Drink a cup of tea, the heart is calm and the mind is clear.

Zhang Laishun, the adopted son of Fu Lu, the great eunuch beside the Crown prince, reported that the prince would come for breakfast.

Fu Chun stepped forward and stuffed Zhang Laishun with a piece of silver. The Crown princess’ face showed a touch of joy. The prince had not come to Jide hall for breakfast for a long time.

She stood up and commanded, “His Royal Highness prefers light taste, those meat dishes will be less, and let the kitchen prepare some refreshing vegetarian dishes to serve in the dining room.”.

Xiao Luzi answered loudly, and hurried back to the kitchen. The Crown Princess sat down again. She looked at her appearance in the mirror on the dressing table. Seeing that she was so interested, Chen Mama helped her straighten the gold hairpin on her head.

In a moment, the prince came.

Every time the prince comes, he has a unique movement, often a series of compact and light footsteps followed by a slow step.

The Crown Princess listened for a long time and kept it in her mind, so she clearly sat in it and knew that it was the Crown Prince.

She got up and went out.

The prince wore a dark blue royal robe, embroidered with cloud patterns in dark gold thread. On his waist hung a white jade pendant. He has broad shoulders, tall and straight figure, handsome face, and a kind of gentle and elegant feeling.

It’s just that the expression is too gentle, like the misty and rainy Jiangnan, with a thin layer of water mist, making it difficult for people to see exactly what is behind.

She’s never seen it!

The prince supported the princess before she squatted down in ceremony. They went to the table of eight immortals and sat down.

The breakfast has been almost set up. There are not enough places on the table. Several long red sandalwood cases have been moved. They are full of food.

When the Crown Prince picked up the silver chopsticks, the Crown Princess also picked up hers.

The eunuch served the dishes and tested the poison. Then, with the prince’s eyes, he put the dishes he wanted to eat into the pastel saucer in front of him. A meal was so silent that there was no sound of the dishes touching each other.

Eating food without speaking.

The Crown Prince has always had this habit. When prince and princess are at home, they can only behave like when their elders are at home. Now they are ^[2] learning like old monks.

The prince ate a bowl of bird’s nest and lily porridge, some noodles, and a chopstick steamed duck, a chopstick mushroom pot roast chicken, other vegetables are one or two chopsticks, but the prince ate two more chopsticks of that vegetable pot. The princess take note of it.

The Crown Prince put down the chopsticks, and the Crown Princess followed.

The crown prince looked over, the crown princess took the veil and pressed it on the corner of her mouth and said, “Your Highness, are you ready? I had a bad appetite early in the morning, so I ate less.”.

After washing their mouths and hands, they went to the main hall and sat down.

Taking advantage of the palace maid’s tea break, the crown princess said about the entrance of the new people yesterday, and said that the crown prince should pay more attention to his body and not be too tired.

Fu Lu, who was standing on the side, thought that the Crown Princess was not very good at talking. He knew that the Crown Prince was now like a poor scholar. Although he was not very idle, he was more leisurely than the Qi ^[3] Wang and Chu Wang who had entered the imperial court.

Let a leisurely person not be too tired. I don’t know whether it’s concern or sarcasm, especially the prince is in a bad mood recently. But ordinary people can’t see that prince is in a bad mood, and only a little eunuch like Fu Lu can see some clues.

In the palace, the prince was given green tea while the princess, as usual, jasmine tea. Several eunuchs gently removed the rest of the breakfast from the table. Fu Qiu arrived and reported that Hu Liangdi and others had come to pay respects.

It’s not too early, but it’s not too late.

Of course, it’s only for the time of greeting. It’s still not very bright outside.

With the summons, the curtain in front of the door was opened, Hu Liangdi and other people lowered their heads and entered. One by one, they saluted, and the crown princess gave them a seat.

At this time, several people obviously relaxed a lot. Xu Liangyuan asked the Crown Princess with a smile whether she had used breakfast. Hu Liangdi was busy flirting with the Crown Prince.

He Liangyuan pursed her lips lightly and looked at the prince’s eyes with faint resentment. Liu Chenghui and Ma Chenghui are sitting in their chairs with their heads half down, like invisible people.

The crown princess took a panoramic view of all the movements below, with a smile on her lips, she raised her hand and said, “Don’t let the new people wait for a long time, call them in.”.

Soon Pan Er and Zhao Xi Yue were introduced.

Just now they were also outside, but they could not enter without summons. Although it is the middle of April, the morning breeze is still a little chilly. Pan Er had experience it so she wore a cape before she went out. However, Zhao Xi Yue wanted to dress gorgeously, she was shivering now, but she was afraid of being ugly in front of people and could only bear it.

After hearing the summons, Pan Er took off her cloak and handed it to Qing Dai. Zhao Xiyue and Pan Er were led in by the palace maid.

The glass lamp in the hall is shining brightly. There is still the fragrance of food in the room. It seems that the breakfast has just been used up. Pan Er did not dare to look around. She stood there quietly with her hands on her side.

When a new person enters the door, they will offer tea to the master the next day.

Fu Xia brought tea with a little maid, and put two brocade mats in front of the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince.

Zhao Xi Yue comes first and kneels down.

Serve tea first to the Crown Princess, then to the Crown Prince, then kneel and kowtow.

The Crown Princess rewarded a hairpin.

Then there’s Pan Er, the process is the same as Zhao Xi Yue.

When it was her turn to offer tea to the prince, Pan Er got a whiff of the familiar scent of agarwood.

The prince has a hand string made of fine gold thread and white ^[4] qinan agarwood. The base color is white mix with black and white, and there is a looming golden thread on the beads. Because it has been worn for a long time, a thin layer of slurry has been produced on it, which is as precious as jade.

This hand string is always with the Prince. The best fragrance of qinan lasts for a long time. It can even send out strong or light fragrance according to the body temperature. Therefore, even if the prince does not use perfume, he always carries a light agarwood fragrance.

For a while, Pan Er was in a trance. She felt like she was dreaming. There was a kind of surreal feeling.

She couldn’t help recalling the first time she saw the prince in her previous life.

At that time, she came here for the first time, because she was sent to the east palace as a maid, so she naturally had to serve the crown princess. She didn’t understand the rules of the palace, and her etiquette was not good. The Crown Princess controlled her firmly. Afraid of her having second thoughts, she was rarely allowed to go out. She was not allowed to walk around in front of people. Until the princess was pregnant, but still she never let her go to the prince.

It was also a coincidence that she didn’t know that the prince would come. When she accidentally ran into him, she was timid and afraid of being punished, so she hid behind the pillar.

Her heartbeat accelerated with a loud ‘thump, thump’, she looked from a distance, only knowing that the prince is very tall and noble.

Later, because the crown princess was pregnant and she could not serve him, and did not want give advantage to Hu Liangdi, she was ordered to serve him.

The first time this matter was mentioned to the prince, she was serving tea as a maid in the palace. The prince listened to the princess’s words, just looked at her, didn’t agree or say no, but then he left on the pretext of something else. The second time the Crown Princess mentioned it again, the crown prince stayed.

She remembered that in the temple of Jide hall, she shivered and tried to please. Because she knew that only by flattering the prince and asking him to come to her next time could she save herself.

The next day the prince came again.

She was very happy. Later, she found out that she was too naive. The prince usually never paid attention to women and he never found the same person to serve her for two consecutive days. Because of this two-day favor scenario, it pierced the crown princess’s heart. The Crown Princess said nothing on the surface, but the palace maids below did not say anything but treat her with ^[5] ‘the nose is not the nose the eyes are not the eyes’.

Later she realized that she was the servant of the crown princess and even if she was favored, she could not maintain it, nor dare to keep it. She would never again dare to invite a favor deliberately, until …

In a trance, Pan Er only saw the robe with dark patterns of dark blue and gold embroidered on the top. Under the candlelight, the golden light was flashing. His hands were large and slender, his bones were like jade, and he put them on the armrest of the royal chair.

There are bright yellow streaks and the gold wire on the agarwood bracelet that seems to hang down casually and swing gently.

Pan Er couldn’t say how sad and happy she was. She couldn’t help raising her head and looked into the deep sea like pupil.

T/N: That’s it for this week’s update. See you next week. ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

So far this was the longest chapter I’ve translated.

I know it’s a cliffhanger but please bear with me. I usually update as soon as finish a chapter. I don’t have stocked chapters.

And so they’ve met (again) ~

• [1] yínshí <寅时> – 3-5 am (in the system of two-hour subdivisions used in former times)
• [2] learning like an old monk [lǎo sēng rù dìng] <老僧入定>- Very calm and without worldly passions — said of a monk
• [3] Wang or Wangye <王爷> [wáng ye] –  prince of the first rank, title given to mostly the sons or brothers of the emperor.
• [4] White Qinan <白奇楠> [báiqínán] – is the most elusive and exclusive tier of Agarwood. Since the Han Dynasty, Chinese Emperors have been offering Qinan to send their prayers to the heavens for blessings and prosperity.
• [5] ‘the nose is not the nose the eyes are not the eyes’ – This term <鼻子不是鼻子脸不是脸>, is the simplified form of <鼻子不是鼻子臉不是臉]> [bízi bùshì bízi liǎn bùshì liǎn] Literally: “the nose is not the nose and the face is not the face”. (colloquial) [idiom] – To flare up; to be in a foul temper; in a bad mood; unhappy. It is also generally used to be disconcerted by people, and they are criticized and blamed for everything they do

The food mentioned above.

bird nest

lily porridge

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