As soon as the door of the side hall for bathing was opened, the cool breeze from outside rushed in, blowing away the moisture in the hall. For a moment, it was actually a little chilly. Li Qishen gathered the sleeves of his nightgown tightly, ignoring the loose collar of his nightgown, which exposed a small part of his collarbone. His wooden clogs made a wet sound when he stepped on them.
He didn't like to be served personally, especially for bathing, so the palace servants were sent outside to wait. When Li Qishen went out, Changzu was the first to greet him, holding a dry towel and rushing to wipe the ends of his hair that were still wet.
"Almost done." Li Qishen let Chang Zu wipe it a few times, then signaled him to step away.
According to the usual rules, Chang Zu should have known better and stepped back, but this time he did not do that. He held the handkerchief in his hand, hesitated for a moment, and then moved closer: "Your Highness, your hair... is still wet. Otherwise, I will wipe it for you to prevent you from catching a cold?"
"No need." Li Qishen was puzzled and went straight to the main hall.
Chang Zu stopped him again: "Your Highness, please wipe it off. It's not good to have wet hair. I heard that moisture entering the body can hurt..."
"What's going on?" Li Qishen had a feeling something was wrong. He paused, pushed away the handkerchief handed to him by Changzu, and looked at him. He said slowly, "Tell the truth."
Chang Zu did have something in his mind, but he couldn't say it out loud. However, he was very familiar with Li Qishen's expression. No matter what happened, as long as Li Qishen was yelling like a firecracker, it was actually nothing; but the calmer he appeared, the stronger the waves accumulated underneath, and the more unbearable it was when he erupted.
Under Li Qishen's gaze, Chang Zu really didn't dare to lie. After holding it in for a long time, he stammered, "... Your Highness, um, someone is coming from the East Palace."
"oh?"
"The Crown Princess sent someone to bring some ginseng. Besides... it's said that the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess asked them to pick a palace maid with a clean background and the right age to..." Changzu swallowed, closed his eyes, and said it all in one breath, "to teach you about human affairs."
Li Qishen was slightly startled, and the first thought that popped into his mind was "Do I need Donggong to find someone to teach me?" After thinking for a while, he finally understood what the other side meant.
When the prince reaches a certain age, he really needs to know this kind of thing. Otherwise, when he marries a noble lady in the future, he will be clueless when he gets to bed. If he meets a fierce one, he will not be able to hold his head up in front of his wife for the rest of his life.
As for who will be the female teacher for the "enlightenment", most of them are palace maids selected from the Shangqin Bureau. Although the two sides may not have feelings for each other, and the status of the palace maids is not high enough, after all, it is the first time to do such a thing, so there is always something different. These palace maids can often stay with the prince and be given the title of concubine. They often will not be favored again, but they can be regarded as having someone to rely on in the future.
The fact that she personally sent someone over showed that the Crown Princess was anxious, fearing that what happened that year could not be hidden, and she was eager to send people to his side, hoping to control him in this way.
…idiot.
Li Qishen gave a slightly sarcastic smile and motioned Changzu to leave: "I'll go take a look."
He didn't care what the person behind him answered, he walked straight to the main hall, opened the door and went in.
The main hall is the bedroom, divided into inside and outside. There is a table in the outer hall, and behind the table, a lady is kneeling upright, wearing a chest-length skirt worn by palace maids, with her head slightly lowered, her eyebrows lowered and her eyes lowered. When she heard the sound of the door opening, she was startled and raised her head suddenly, revealing a delicate and plain face, with a little surprise between her eyebrows, which is a bit pitiful.
Unfortunately, Li Qishen showed no mercy and asked directly, "Did the Crown Princess ask you to come?"
"Yes." The palace maid was even more shocked. She was stunned for a moment, as if she had just woken up from a dream. She hurriedly lifted up her skirt and stood up, kneeling in front of him, "Your servant Taozhi greets, Your Highness."
"Peach branch." Li Qishen repeated casually, "Then do you know why the Crown Princess asked you to come here?"
Taozhi's face turned pale, she lowered her head, her teeth chattering: "... I know."
"Go back to the Shangqin Bureau." Seeing her trembling face, Li Qishen knew that it was difficult to be a palace maid, so he didn't want to embarrass her. He gathered up the large sleeves that had fallen to the crook of his arm and said, "Tell the eunuch outside that the Shangqin Bureau will not embarrass you."
He was too lazy to look at Taozhi any more, and turned to go to the inner hall, when he suddenly heard the sound of clothes rubbing against each other. The distance was too close, and Li Qishen had no time to react. Before he could raise his hand, his waist was hugged tightly, and the woman's powder fragrance came over, with a sweet smell, which made his throat feel hairy and almost vomited.
"Your Highness, Your Highness... I was sent here by the Crown Princess, and there is no way to go back like this. I know I am not pleasing to the eye, but please don't light the lamp, it will be the same..." Taozhi held the thin waist of the young man, stretched out her hand tremblingly, and touched the slightly open collar of Li Qishen's nightgown with her fingertips, "Please accept me..."
She was quite skillful. Although she was inexperienced, she was more than capable of dealing with a teenager. Her hand was as soft as boneless, and her soft fingertips stroked and rubbed, touching Li Qishen's exposed collarbone, just touching the red mark of the rash.
The next moment, Li Qishen swung his arms and pushed her hard, directly to the ground.
Taozhi was caught off guard and fell with a cry of pain. She felt a sharp pain in her waist and back, as if her bones were broken. But she didn't dare to do anything else. She half sat on the ground, looking at the young man in horror, her lips trembling: "Your Highness, calm down... This servant, this servant..."
"Looking at it this way, she's a beauty." Li Qishen's reaction was unexpected. He pushed so hard just now that it seemed as if a big sticky bug was stuck to his body. But now his expression was very calm. He tilted his head slightly, and his pupils reflected the woman sitting on the ground. There was actually a smile on his face.
Taozhi thought he was just a teenager and was just shy, so she was delighted: "Your Highness..."
"I've heard that beauty is more about bones than skin, and now a beauty has come to my door. Why don't you let me see it?" Li Qishen took the sword from the rack, and with a flick of his fingertips, the scabbard fell to the ground with a clang. He closed his fingers and smiled at Taozhi with an ambiguous smile, with the broken gold and lights flowing in his eyes, "Is it real?"
Before Taozhi could beg for mercy or flee, the sword swung down, like cutting down the stars or splitting the moonlight. Taozhi closed her eyes and let out a dying scream, but she felt no pain, nor did she feel the splash of blood, only the dull sound of a heavy object falling to the ground.
She stiffened and trembled as she opened her eyes. The room suddenly became much darker. A bronze lamp holder rolled beside her, with a smooth and clean cut edge.
“… Your Highness, please calm down! Your Highness, please calm down!” Taozhi’s legs were stiff and she begged for mercy, “I have no other choice. Please spare my life, please, please…”
Li Qishen held the sword, lowered his eyes and looked at the pale-faced woman, without saying a word. The sword just now broke a bronze lamp, leaving only the other one. The light in the room was not enough, and it fell on him, half bright and half dimmed, just dividing him, making the young man look half human and half Shura.
But his expression was very peaceful, his eyes slightly lowered, neither sad nor happy. The movement of swinging the sword was too big, and the originally loose sleeves slid down to the elbows, and the collar of the pajamas opened even more, revealing Li Qishen's slightly thin body, with a straight and sharp collarbone, and a red spot on one side from the collarbone to the chest, like a weird birthmark.
"… Your Highness…"
"I won't kill you." Li Qishen casually threw away the sword, "Go back and tell your master to behave herself, otherwise don't blame me for telling you clearly what happened back then."
He was too lazy to pay attention to Taozhi, and felt disgusted by her hugging him, so he took off his sleeves and threw them on the ground. He turned around and hurried to the side hall, intending to take another bath.
The door slammed shut, and the palace maid was no longer in the main hall. Taozhi was left alone. She was still stiff, but her shoulders and back were shaking slightly unconsciously.
After sitting there blankly for a while, she slowly stood up and moved towards the long sleeves that Li Qishen had taken off. Taozhi held her breath, looked at the doors and windows, tremblingly reached out her hand, and quietly hooked away a strand of embroidery thread with her long nails.
**
Lizheng Hall.
“…He really said that?!”
"Your Majesty, yes, that's what the Seventh Prince said, and I dare not lie." Taozhi knelt in front of the Crown Princess, lowered her head, and tightened her hands on the hem of her skirt, her nails almost digging into her palms.
She looked indeed obedient, but the Crown Princess was so angry that she gritted her teeth and the fine Dayi porcelain in her hand slipped out of her hand and fell right in front of Taozhi, splashing the scalding tea all over her, and white porcelain pieces and debris flew everywhere.
"Your Majesty, please calm down, Your Majesty, please calm down!" Taozhi shuddered from the burn, but she didn't dare to wipe it with her hands. "Then Your Majesty...what are you going to do?"
"What am I going to do?" The Crown Princess was angry at the thought. The more she looked at the palace maid she had chosen, the more she felt that she was an eyesore. "It's because you are so useless that you can't even control a fifteen-year-old child!"
Taozhi didn't dare to speak again. She was just scalded by the tea. If the Crown Princess was really angry, she could order someone to drag her out and beat her to death with just one word. She bit her lip, made up her mind, pressed her hands to the ground, and banged her head hard on the bluestone floor. She felt a headache just by listening to it.
“… Forget it.” After listening to her kowtow for a while, the Crown Princess suddenly said.
Taozhi was stunned, and looked up blankly, with beads of sweat on her forehead: "... Madam?"
"Since he said so, we can't keep him." The Crown Princess calmed down and said, "Let me ask you, did you see any marks on the Seventh Prince's body?"
Taozhi was puzzled, but she still tried to think about it, stretched out her hand and gestured at the area between the collarbone and the chest: "… Madam, it seems that there is indeed one. It's right here, red, and this size… It should be a birthmark."
"I see." This place wasn't too secret, and the Crown Princess was a little disappointed, but it wasn't completely useless. "Was the thread you brought over earlier the embroidery thread from the Seventh Prince's clothes?"
"Your Majesty, yes, it was hooked from the Seventh Prince's outer robe." Taozhi was even more confused.
"That's not impossible." The Crown Princess looked down at Tao Zhi and sneered, "Come here and do as I say."
The author has something to say: Changsheng: Oh, Crown Princess, if you have the ability, you can pick someone from the Shangqin Bureau, or if you have the ability, you can pick someone from the Shangshi Bureau (.)
Forget:…
Wang Zhi: ...? (I don't understand)
Changsheng: (quickly calms down) ... The person who just spoke was not me.
In the last chapter, a friend commented that Changsheng’s car would be wild. Need I say more? How obvious! Changsheng’s personality is very strong and outgoing. He loves to expand his territory (double meaning), is eager to conquer, and has a high threshold for excitement (.)
Of course, the male protagonists in Jinjiang are all forced to be sterilized, you can just use your imagination (cang sang spit smoke)