“Don’t worry. I have a way to keep Father from scolding us!”
Song Shuyu lifted her chin toward Chunxiao. “Did you hurt your feet?”
Chunxiao drew her shoes back a little. “This servant… I’m fine…”
Song Shuyu’s kindness suddenly surfaced, and she instructed Chunxiao, “Isn’t there still some of Secondary Consort Wei’s ointment left? Go dig out some and apply it.”
Chunxiao was startled and hurriedly waved her hands. “Commandery Princess, there’s no need!”
“That ointment was bestowed by the palace. It’s far too precious.”
“When I go back later, I can just apply some regular wound salve.”
Song Shuyu shot Chunxiao a glare. “You’re getting bolder by the day! How dare you disobey me when I’m speaking?”
“If you’re limping around, who’s going to do things for me?”
By now, Song Shuyu had grown accustomed to relying on Chunxiao. She simply wouldn’t let any of the other maids in the courtyard come near her.
Chunxiao hurriedly knelt down. “This servant wouldn’t dare!”
“Enough! Hurry and get the ointment. I need some applied too!” Song Shuyu ordered.
Chunxiao immediately scrambled to her feet and went to the dressing table to fetch the ointment.
By the time the mistress and maid had finished applying it, the sun was already high in the sky.
“Chunxiao, help me back to bed. I need to catch up on my sleep!”
Song Shuyu always became sleepy after eating her fill, and at the moment, she didn’t want to move even half a step.
Chunxiao hurriedly put on her shoes, washed her hands, and then came over to help Song Shuyu.
Only after Song Shuyu had fallen sound asleep did Chunxiao quietly leave the room.
Before long, her figure had passed through the covered corridors.
At last, she stopped outside a courtyard.
When Song Shuyu woke from her nap, it was already noon.
She rubbed her belly.
She seemed to be hungry again!
“Chunxiao!” she called toward the door.
“Commandery Princess! This servant is here!” Chunxiao replied as she pushed open the door, a piece of embroidery in her hands.
“What time is it?” Song Shuyu asked, rubbing her eyes.
Chunxiao set down the little apron she had been embroidering for Song Shuyu.
Song Shuyu was getting fatter and fatter, and all her old aprons had become too small.
“It’s noon, Commandery Princess.” Chunxiao helped Song Shuyu put on her shoes, then supported her as she got out of bed.
Song Shuyu suddenly thought of something, and her expression darkened.
“Why hasn’t lunch been brought in?”
Chunxiao hesitated for a moment.
“The Princess Consort is ill, Secondary Consort Wei has been confined, and no one is managing the inner residence. Those maids and old matrons are taking advantage of the opportunity to slack off!”
The moment Song Shuyu heard this, she flared up.
“What? Are they trying to rebel?”
The thought of having to skip another meal—or go outside and suffer through another ordeal—nearly broke her.
“No, wait. If they aren’t cooking, what are they eating?” Song Shuyu asked suspiciously.
She couldn’t bear being hungry for even a moment, and naturally, she didn’t believe the servants would let themselves starve.
“Come on, Chunxiao. Let’s go take a look at the kitchen!”
The thought that the people in the kitchen might be secretly enjoying good food behind their masters’ backs made Song Shuyu eager to investigate.
She was going to help Father manage the household!
Gathering up her skirts, Song Shuyu hurried outside.
In Prince Ling’s main kitchen, the cooks were huddled together, eating.
“Eat quickly. If someone catches us, we’re finished!” a thin old woman warned the others.
“What’s there to be afraid of?” A plump old woman stuffed herself with meat, completely unconcerned. “The Princess Consort is ill, Secondary Consort Wei is confined, His Highness isn’t in the residence, and neither the heir nor the commandery princess is here.”
“As for everyone else, who would come all the way to the main kitchen for no reason?”
The moment the plump woman finished speaking, a plump figure came rushing in from outside.
“Oh, so this is what you’re doing! You actually dared to eat all this good food behind your master’s back!”
Having caught the scent of meat, Song Shuyu charged straight in.
When she saw the dishes spread across the table, her fury only intensified.
The table was covered with all kinds of delicious meat dishes, and the sight made her even hungrier.
The matrons, who had been eating with great enthusiasm, were so frightened that they stood up with their bowls still in their hands.
When the plump matron who had just spoken saw that the newcomer was Song Shuyu, undisguised contempt flashed in her eyes.
“Oh, greetings to Commandery Princess Funing!”
“What brings you to the residence today? Why didn’t anyone tell us you were here?”
The plump matron elbowed the people beside her and winked.
Song Shuyu planted her hands on her hips.
“You’re utterly lawless! How dare you set up a private feast!”
“When Father returns, I’ll definitely report every one of you!”
“The servants are stuffing themselves while the master is left to go hungry!”
“You, you, and all of you—when the time comes, I’ll have every last one of you sold off!”
Song Shuyu pointed at each person in the kitchen.
Everyone she pointed at shrank back.
The plump matron immediately bristled.
“This is the first time I’ve ever heard of a household not allowing its servants to eat their fill!”
“Besides, what does your hunger have to do with us?”
“Your meal was sent to the palace long ago!”
Song Shuyu froze for a moment, then looked at Chunxiao.
The plump matron immediately realized what had happened.
“Commandery Princess, no one informed us that you were staying in the residence.”
“Ultimately, this is your maid’s failure. It has nothing to do with us in the kitchen!”
The cooks instantly caught on.
“Exactly! We did everything we were supposed to. Why shouldn’t we be allowed to eat?”
“That’s right. She isn’t even a proper princess of the Prince’s household, yet she really thinks she’s something special.”
“A pheasant dreaming of becoming a phoenix. She’s only trying to take advantage of His Highness!”
“…”
The cooks in the kitchen had particularly vicious tongues.
Once one of them started, the others became increasingly outrageous.
As they spoke, they looked at Song Shuyu with open disdain.
Song Shuyu was just a young girl—how could she ever have experienced anything like this?
Even the maids who served Princess Consort Ling would usually take her status into account and speak in veiled terms.
These women, however, were being utterly crude and direct!
“Waaah!” Song Shuyu burst into tears.
She raised her hand and swept every dish on the table onto the floor.
The cooks were startled.
They hurriedly jumped back to avoid being splashed with oil and gravy.
But the kitchen was only so large. Where could they possibly hide?
The plump cook, naturally, took the brunt of it due to her size.
She looked down at the embroidered shoes buried beneath the food and immediately lost her temper.
She was nothing more than an outsider’s daughter—not even a true member of the household!
The plump cook threw the bowl in her hand onto the floor.
“How dare you come to my territory and cause trouble? I’ll fight you to the death today!”
As she spoke, the plump cook reached out to grab Song Shuyu by the hair.
The cooks behind her exchanged glances and then stepped forward together to pull her back.
Although Commandery Princess Funing was not the biological daughter of a master of the household, she was still a commandery princess personally appointed by the emperor.
If anything happened to her, not a single person in the kitchen would escape punishment!
Song Shuyu was startled by the plump cook’s appearance.
But when she saw that the woman had been restrained, she immediately grew bolder.
Smack!
She slapped the woman across the face.
Princess Consort Ling soon learned about the commotion in the kitchen.
“Have the steward lock up everyone who caused trouble,” she instructed calmly.
“Princess Consort, this is perfect. We can finally remove all the people Secondary Consort Wei planted in the household!”
