Chunxiao lowered her voice. “Princess, Secondary Consort Wei has been locked in the small dark room.”
Song Shuyu turned to look at Chunxiao in surprise.
“What? Are you sure you heard correctly?”
Chunxiao shook her head without hesitation. “This servant would never dare deceive you, Princess!”
Song Shuyu forgot all about her stomachache, her face instantly lighting up with curiosity.
“What did she do wrong? How come the estate has a small dark room? How did I not know about it?”
After firing off a string of questions, Song Shuyu suddenly remembered something.
“Wait!”
“Isn’t she the most powerful person in the inner residence now? Who locked her in the small dark room?”
Ever since Secondary Consort Wei had taken charge of the household, Song Shuyu had enjoyed several carefree days.
She had extorted plenty of benefits from Secondary Consort Wei.
Of course, Song Shuyu was only a child. By “plenty of benefits,” she mainly meant all kinds of food.
After all, the thing she wanted most every day now was something to eat.
She was at the age when she was growing rapidly, so naturally she needed to keep up her food intake.
As for anything else she wanted, Secondary Consort Wei would not give it to her.
But when it came to extra snacks or ice, Secondary Consort Wei merely turned a blind eye.
Princess Consort Ling would give her those things too, but both Princess Consort Ling and her maids would make sarcastic remarks about it.
Secondary Consort Wei was different. No matter what Song Shuyu asked for, she and everyone around her wore smiling faces.
The feeling of being able to manipulate others was simply wonderful!
Song Shuyu finally understood why her father wanted to seize the throne.
Once you sat at the very top, wouldn’t controlling everyone else be an effortless matter?
But she had not enjoyed her good days for long. How had Secondary Consort Wei already managed to get into trouble?
Chunxiao hesitated, then sneaked a glance toward the doorway.
“It was the Crown Prince!”
Seeing the disbelief in Song Shuyu’s eyes, Chunxiao hurriedly explained, “Princess, this is Prince Ling’s estate. The person with the greatest authority has always been the Crown Prince!”
Song Shuyu completely agreed with Chunxiao on this point.
When she had first entered Prince Ling’s estate, her grandmother had told her that she must obey Prince Ling and never defy him.
Only then could she establish a firm footing in Prince Ling’s estate.
Song Shuyu lowered her voice as well.
“Then do you know why Father locked her up?”
Song Shuyu glanced at the water clock. “Princess, you should be going to class now!”
Song Shuyu had only just heard such a juicy piece of gossip, so naturally she was unwilling to miss the rest.
“If you don’t tell me, then everything you said just now was a lie!”
Song Shuyu threatened Chunxiao.
Sure enough, Chunxiao hurried to defend herself.
“Princess, I heard that Secondary Consort Wei sent the Crown Prince some soup, and then the Crown Prince punished her.”
“She was punished just for sending soup?” Song Shuyu did not believe it.
“This servant heard that the soup must have violated one of the Crown Prince’s taboos. That was why Secondary Consort Wei was punished.”
With the rear residence of Prince Ling’s estate now without a leader, Princess Consort Ling had deliberately chosen to ignore the situation, allowing the people below to discuss it freely.
As for Secondary Consort Wei’s confinement, everyone under her command was trembling with fear, and naturally no one dared step forward to stop the gossip.
That was why Chunxiao had managed to find out the reason so quickly.
“Gurgle…”
Song Shuyu’s stomach rumbled loudly with hunger.
She had intended to continue asking about what happened afterward, but the moment her stomach growled, she lost all interest in questioning Chunxiao.
Nothing in the world was more important than eating.
“Chunxiao, go get me something to eat!” Song Shuyu clutched her stomach and spoke weakly.
Chunxiao hesitated.
“There definitely isn’t any food left in the estate.”
“Why don’t you go out and eat, Princess?”
Song Shuyu brightened at once.
She had never eaten breakfast outside before!
“That’s right! Chunxiao, go back to my room and get some silver. We’re going out to eat!”
Song Shuyu had just stood up when she immediately sat back down.
Her hunger had made her dizzy and weak all over.
“No, I need to eat something before I can make it outside.”
Her eyes darted around.
“Bring me the pastries I gave you yesterday. They’ll tide me over.”
Seeing that Chunxiao seemed somewhat reluctant, Song Shuyu snapped, “What are you waiting for?”
When Chunxiao saw that Song Shuyu was getting angry, she hurriedly left.
Song Shuyu had a huge appetite now, and there was almost no food stored in her room.
The only reason there had been any extra pastries to give Chunxiao the day before was that they were the kind Song Shuyu liked least.
Once Chunxiao brought them over, Song Shuyu forced herself to eat them. Only then did she regain enough strength.
“Let’s go! This Princess will take you out for something delicious!”
“Consider it compensation for your pastries!” Song Shuyu declared generously.
She had already realized that when dealing with servants, one had to combine kindness with authority.
Sure enough, gratitude appeared on Chunxiao’s face.
The two slipped out of the estate and secretly made their way along the street.
“Chunxiao, where is this delicious breakfast you mentioned?”
“I can’t walk anymore!” Song Shuyu gasped, planting both hands on her waist.
She was much plumper than she had been before.
Besides, she always traveled by carriage whenever she went out. When had she ever walked this far?
She also loved looking pretty and wore only delicate, thin-soled embroidered shoes.
After walking barely ten steps, the soles of her feet were already throbbing with pain.
Chunxiao was extremely nervous as she carefully supported Song Shuyu.
“Princess, it’s just ahead. Look, there’s a stall over there—the one with all those people gathered around it.”
Worried that Song Shuyu would not believe her, Chunxiao pointed ahead as she spoke.
Song Shuyu looked up just as a breeze swept past.
The air was filled with the delicious aromas of fried dough, soy milk, rice porridge, and steamed buns, all mingling together.
Song Shuyu felt that she had wasted the pastries she had just eaten.
She leaned nearly half her body against Chunxiao.
“Quick! Help this Princess over there!”
Chunxiao struggled to drag Song Shuyu forward, moving three small steps at a time.
Perhaps it was because she had caught the scent of the food, but Song Shuyu’s pace soon quickened considerably.
At last, they reached the stall. Song Shuyu dropped onto a stool without caring whether it was dirty.
From a distance, she had only been able to smell the food.
Now that she was close, the aroma seemed to take a stick and stir it around inside her stomach.
“Quick! Bring me one plate of everything!” Song Shuyu wished she could stuff it all into her stomach immediately.
Chunxiao hurried off to place the order. Soon, all kinds of breakfast dishes were spread out before Song Shuyu.
Song Shuyu did not even care that they were hot. She picked up a steamed bun and shoved it into her mouth.
“Too hot!”
She blew rapidly to cool her scalded mouth, chewing quickly before swallowing.
In no time, one entire plate of buns had disappeared into her stomach.
Song Shuyu began eating another plate of fried dough, pausing only to take a sip of soy milk.
The sight of Song Shuyu devouring her food made the other breakfast customers turn to stare.
Chunxiao awkwardly stood in front of Song Shuyu, worried that someone might recognize them.
Just then, a carriage from Prince Ling’s estate passed by.
“Big Brother, she’s over there!” Xiao Yunming pointed at Song Shuyu, who was stuffing herself at the stall, and shouted.
“How embarrassing!” Xiao Yunming said disdainfully when he got a good look at the way Song Shuyu was eating.
Xiao Yun'an glanced over and called to the coachman, “Keep going!”
At once, Xiao Yunming became extremely pleased with himself.
“Big Brother, when Father comes back, I’m going to tell him!”
“Song Shuyu has made Father lose face!”
