Back and forth: I brought supplies to help the impoverished prince

The heat of midsummer and the extreme cold of winter form a sharp contrast. The high temperature day after day washes away Qiao Shinian's desire for a modern air-conditioned room.

Every day, Mu Qingchen would come to play chess with Wen Jiu early in the morning, and in the afternoon Lan Sheng would appear in their yard with a smile on his face, like an abandoned woman, asking Wen Jiu when he got in touch with Mu Qingchen.

When the special period was over, Qiao Shinian's desire for sleep seemed to have never existed.

She missed the iced fruit wine she had drunk at Mu Qingchen's house a few days ago.

Seven days had passed since she last left the palace. Qiao Shinian had ended her short-term work with the imperial concubine. She was puzzled and curious about the imperial concubine's abnormal behavior.

The last quarrel between the Imperial Concubine and Mu Qingchen made Qiao Shinian very sure that the Imperial Concubine was his biological mother, and now the Imperial Concubine wanted to weave this dance probably for use at some point.

The only person the imperial concubine wanted to please was the emperor, so this dance was most likely performed for the emperor.

The imperial concubine almost never left when she was teaching. Qiao Shinian didn't know whether the imperial concubine wanted to watch them rehearse or was learning secretly.

Thinking of this, Qiao Shinian shook his head. What does the imperial concubine want? Why would she study secretly?

On the way back, Qiao Shinian was going to ask Chunxue to buy some more mung beans. Mung beans for cooling off were the biggest consumption this month, and the ancient mung beans had not been selected for genetic optimization, so the beans were very small. This made her want to bring the current mung beans here to plant and eliminate the mung beans here.

Humming a song and walking briskly back to the yard, the relaxation in her body suddenly disappeared. Looking at Mu Qingchen sitting under the eaves drinking tea, Qiao Shinian gently put down her raised foot and walked to Mu Qingchen in a proper manner.

Mu Qingchen naturally saw that Qiao Shinian's brisk steps that were about to jump up just now became obedient the moment he saw him. He spoke in his usual gentle voice: "Anything happy?"

"Yes, the Imperial Concubine's course is over, and she paid me a salary... ahem, monthly salary? And a reward?" Qiao Shinian was a little unsure whether it was accurate to use monthly salary to describe such a large sum of money.

Listening to Qiao Shinian's questions, Mu Qingchen couldn't help but curl his lips. Since that day, she really behaved well when she saw him. She was no different from other palace maids, so he didn't care. He just saw her standing respectfully behind Wen Jiu every day when he came over, waiting for orders, as if she was just an ordinary palace maid.

Mu Qingchen almost thought that Qiao Shinian that night was just an illusion after he drank, but every time he saw Qiao Shinian pouting and wiping his sweat, he knew that he was still the same person, just being more well-behaved in front of him.

In other words, the place she originally felt safe in was this dilapidated palace. Outside, she always huddled behind Wen Jiu like a turtle, not daring to make any move. But with his arrival, the palace that she felt was no longer safe.

"How much silver?"

"Your Highness, the monthly salary is 255 taels. The Imperial Concubine gave me a reward to make it even, so the total amount I gave me is 300 taels."

Mu Qingchen could hear that Qiao Shinian's tone rose when he heard the last few words "three hundred taels", and he seemed very happy.

"Your Highness, why are you sitting under the eaves?" Qiao Shinian just remembered why this person was sitting under the eaves. If someone saw this, they would think that they didn't want to entertain this distinguished guest.

Since that day, whenever Mu Qingchen came, they would use their best things to find Mu Qingchen, and naturally they would not let him sit on the ground and play chess with Wen Jiu again.

"It's nothing. I just saw you and Wen Jiu sitting here often, so I thought it was really cool to sit here." Mu Qingchen turned to look at Qiao Shinian and said with a smile, "You watch us play chess every day, have you learned anything?"

"No, it's too brain-consuming." Qiao Shinian shook her head, and then added: "The chess game between His Royal Highness the Xian Wang and my Highness was really exciting. His Royal Highness the Xian Wang's layout was simply amazing. I have never seen such an exquisite chess game."

"Haha~" Mu Qingchen couldn't help but laugh out loud. This kind of compliment was really not sincere at all. "You can't even understand it, how do you know that my layout is so ingenious?"

"I heard from the people in the palace that Your Highness is proficient in all six arts, so I am guessing based on how easily you and My Highness played chess." Qiao Shinian asked after he finished speaking, "Your Highness, would you like to drink something else? I'll go make you some fruit tea?"

"No, but you can prepare some food and cook it when we get there." Mu Qingchen stood up and looked at Qiao Shinian, who was not much shorter than him. "I'm going to invite Wen Jiu to go out of town for a walk. Do you want to come with us?"

"Of course, I'll follow wherever my prince goes." Qiao Shinian responded, "In that case, Your Highness, please be patient and wait a little longer. I'll go pack my things now. Where are we going?"

"You don't call yourself a servant anymore?" Mu Qingchen asked with a smile.

Qiao Shinian, who was originally happy about going out for the picnic, immediately fell frowned and was about to kneel down but was grabbed by Mu Qingchen.

"Why kneel?"

"I am sorry for my words, Your Highness the King, please forgive me!" Qiao Shinian lowered his head, with a pleading tone in his voice.

Mu Qingchen let go of Qiao Shinian, his eyes dimmed. This was obviously the most correct thing to do, and this was what ordinary people should do, but he felt a little lost.

He envied Wen Jiu, it was true. He envied Wen Jiu for having someone like Qiao Shinian by his side who completely disregarded Wen Jiu's identity.

She treated Wen Jiu more intimately than her best friend, and when Wen Wenshan spoke to him, he would take his status as a prince into consideration and choose his words carefully.

"It's okay, go and get ready!" he said.

Qiao Shinian hurried into the room. As soon as she entered, she sat on the bed and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt that this wise king seemed to want to tease her. But the problem was that they were not familiar with each other!

She remembered clearly that she was rude that day. When Mu Qingchen came over the next day, he didn't seem to have a good look towards her, just like the reaction of an ordinary prince when he saw a palace maid.

She knew that she had to treat Mu Qingchen properly in the future and could not make any mistakes.

Picking up the bag that she had asked Haruyuki to sew, she stuffed two pieces of clothing into it, put down the things in her hands, walked out, and asked quietly, "Your Highness, I wonder how long you are going to be out for a walk?"

"Maybe three to five days." Mu Qingchen sat there upright, without raising his head, just holding a cup of almost cold tea and taking a sip.

"Okay, I got it." Qiao Shinian walked into the house again and muttered, "Three to five days, let's count it as three days. Each person only needs to bring two sets of clothes. I don't need to prepare to pack. I also need to bring some money. Toothbrushes are not easy to bring, shoes are not easy to pack, and without plastic bags, clothes are easy to get dirty and need to be wrapped."