Chapter 65: The Old Prince Next Door 18

Was Su Huandan some sort of three-headed, six-armed creature to be so favored by Prince Chen?

As it turned out, one look confirmed she had no extra limbs, but she did possess the looks of a veritable fox spirit.

The Second Princess and her daughter had average features, with broad, square faces. Had it not been for their meticulous grooming and fair, tender skin, they might have been mistaken for men if their complexions were even slightly rougher.

Their looks didn’t quite resemble the rest of the imperial family; instead, they took after the Second Princess’s maternal grandfather.

When the late Emperor sought women, he mostly chose those with builds favorable for childbearing. Consequently, few of the late Emperor’s children were particularly handsome.

Prince Chen was considered the best-looking member of the imperial family, taking after his birth mother.

His mother had been an elderly palace maid who had served the Retired Emperor for many years. She had become pregnant by accident and was subsequently poisoned by another concubine who was pregnant at the same time.

That was the root cause of Prince Chen’s poor health.

Ironically, that concubine carried her child to full term, and the baby was healthy in the womb, but she died during labor. The child had to be cut from her abdomen and ultimately failed to survive.

Prince Chen, on the other hand, had managed to cling to life despite his sickly nature.

“Come in, all of you. The Princess Consort has been busy on your behalf.” Prince Chen patted the First Prince Consort on the shoulder as a gesture of comfort before inviting everyone inside for the meal.

Once they finished eating, he wanted them all to get lost as quickly as possible.

The First Prince Consort had brought the son he shared with the Eldest Princess. They had only one son, who was fifteen this year and of an age to begin marriage negotiations.

The boy looked very much like the First Prince Consort, quite handsome and clearly well-bred.

Although the First Prince Consort couldn’t control his princess wife, he had always taken a personal hand in his son’s education. The bond between father and son was excellent.

After Su Huandan presented her gifts to the father and son, they both knelt and kowtowed to her, showing great solemnity.

Su Huandan thought to herself that kowtowing was a bit much, but such were the rules of this dynasty.

She gave the First Prince Consort and his son jade pendants and sets of the Four Treasures of the Study¹.

When it was the Second Princess and her daughter’s turn, the Second Princess did not kowtow. She was a princess, after all, so a deep bow sufficed. However, her daughter was required to kneel and kowtow.

Seeing that Su Huandan wasn’t showing the slightest bit of social leniency and was actually letting her daughter kneel, the Second Princess’s temper flared. Her face darkened significantly. Had she not been afraid of her uncle, Prince Chen, she would have lashed out on the spot.

Prince Chen kept his eyes fixed on the Second Princess.

He felt a twinge of regret that she hadn’t started trouble. If she didn’t act up, he had no excuse to kick them out.

Su Huandan gave the Second Princess and her daughter sets of gemstone jewelry, differing only in their patterns.

They were palace-made and incredibly ornate.

However, the Second Princess truly didn’t care for such things.

Throughout the meal, everyone felt as though the food were stuck in their throats, except for Su Huandan and the First Prince Consort’s son, who ate with great relish.

Prince Chen disliked the Second Princess and her daughter; he found them an eyesore and lost his appetite just looking at them.

The Second Princess was fuming because Su Huandan had made her daughter kowtow, leaving her too angry to eat.

As for the Second Princess’s daughter? She was so consumed with jealousy over Su Huandan’s beauty that she couldn’t eat.

The First Prince Consort simply disliked interacting with the imperial family, which spoiled his appetite.

Tsk, tsk. Every one of them had so many issues.

No matter what you’re upset about, you shouldn’t take it out on your own body. Couldn’t they just wait until after the meal to be angry?

Once the wine was finished and everyone was full, the guests who needed to leave finally departed.

Prince Chen led Su Huandan back to the Main Courtyard for a lovely afternoon nap. As soon as he woke up, he asked her what they were having for dinner.

Su Huandan knew her food, and Prince Chen’s tastes were actually quite similar to hers. In short, whatever she liked to eat, he liked as well.

What to have for dinner?

Su Huandan found herself craving hot pot². She had been in this world for so long and hadn’t had it yet.

“I can’t quite say, but I might get some ideas if we go to the kitchen. Do you want to come? Shall we go together? We can just have them make whatever we think of. It’s quite fun. I saw a lot of fish this morning; how about making fish balls?” As Su Huandan finished speaking, she saw Prince Chen’s dumbfounded expression.

Prince Chen snapped his folding fan shut and pointed it at himself. “You want this Prince to go to the kitchen?”

Don’t you know a gentleman stays away from the kitchen³?

“I know. It means a gentleman shouldn’t personally kill anything with blood and breath, promoting a heart of compassion so he doesn’t create slaughter. What’s wrong? I’m not asking you to go there and kill anything. We’re just going to watch the chefs cook. I’m telling you, food tastes especially good after you’ve watched it being made.” As she spoke, she tugged Prince Chen along.

Prince Chen tried to refuse, but Su Huandan was strong. He was practically dragged to the kitchen.

The servants who witnessed this scene along the way were stunned. Standing at the kitchen entrance, Prince Chen thought of the shocked looks on the servants’ faces and used his fan to cover his face. His dignity was gone!

However, he watched as the Princess Consort softly instructed the chefs to slice beef and mutton into thin sheets and grind more beef into a paste. After the Princess Consort’s personal cook provided a jar of special seasoning powder for the filling, the meatballs were mixed and shaped.

The oil was hot, and they fried a few immediately. Prince Chen tried one and was instantly amazed. Meatballs prepared this way were truly delicious.

Of course they were. What freshly cooked food isn’t delicious?

Just as he was about to praise the Princess Consort, he saw her directing people to fry fish about a palm’s length until they were golden brown on both sides. Then, the fish meat was mashed to begin brewing a fish broth.

The kitchen always had beef bone broth, pork bone broth, and chicken soup ready. Adding a fish broth to the mix and gathering the other side dishes, she finally led Prince Chen back.

She decided against a spicy base. While she could have fried up a spicy soup base, Prince Chen’s constitution shouldn’t handle anything that stimulating.

They cooked and ate for themselves. Prince Chen ate until he was stuffed, consuming quite a few fish balls and beef balls.

During their post-meal stroll, Prince Chen said to Su Huandan, “You were right. Visiting the kitchen does make one eat more.”

The aroma of food in the kitchen was constant. It was already dinner time; who wouldn’t want to eat after smelling all that?

Before falling asleep, Prince Chen thought to himself that having a mistress in the house really made a difference. His life had truly become much richer.

This was only the beginning, and he already felt his life was becoming quite eventful.

Early the next morning, Prince Chen handed over management rights for everything except his private treasury to Su Huandan.

When Su Huandan reviewed the account books and went to the various warehouses to take inventory, Prince Chen followed along.

Prince Chen had no desire to go, but Su Huandan insisted on dragging him with her.

By the end of the day, Prince Chen fell asleep the moment he hit the bed. He felt as though a single day’s activity was equal to what he usually did in a month.

Yet, every morning when he woke up, he felt his spirit had become a bit more refreshed.

It was as if strength was slowly returning to his entire body.

By the time Su Huandan had straightened out the Prince’s Estate’s affairs, Prince Chen had already executed or beaten a significant number of servants.

Theft, bribery, and extortion; there was nothing these servants hadn’t dared to do. It was only after Prince Chen discovered items missing from the general warehouses that he remembered his own private treasury. He sent Gui Xi to personally conduct an inventory, only to find that items from his private collection had been stolen as well.

Did they truly think he was a dead man?

Translator’s Notes