Liu Dequan was the overall person in charge of the East Palace, and he had served the crown prince for more than ten years now. He didn’t think that the crown prince was just a weak and useless person like everyone else did.
On the contrary, the crown prince was an intelligent and unfathomable man to him.
There was no way Liu Dequan would ever disobey anything the crown prince said.
He didn’t dare to delay at all. He ran personally to the small kitchen and, with a bright smile on his face, he asked Yun Dai to follow him out.
The kitchen workers had been worrying about this since the night before. The crown prince had remained silent about the pig intestine dish the night before for so long that they’d thought that this case must be considered closed.
But whatever was going to come still came anyway.
Besides Yun Dou, everyone else was also filled with worry.
Mi Dou was worried that she wouldn’t get to eat delicious food anymore, while Mo Chun was worried that not only would Yun Dai be punished, but everyone in the small kitchen might be implicated as well.
“Eunuch Liu, why is His Highness calling Yun over?” Mo Chun stuffed a silver coin into Liu Dequan’s hand and asked him with a smile.
Liu Dequan kept a smile on his face as he replied, “As His Highness’s servants, we shouldn’t try to guess what he is thinking. Auntie Chun, don’t worry so much. Yun will find out when she gets there.”
He was quite polite to Yun Dai. “Come along now, it’s not right for His Highness to wait for his servants.”
Yun Dai nodded and quietly followed the eunuch out.
Mo Chun and the rest were all worried that she was in trouble over the pig intestines from the day before, and only Yun Dai knew that Zhao Yuanjing wanted to settle the score from the night before. Tsk, tsk.
She couldn’t believe that he actually had the cheek to seek to settle the score with her.
Yun Dai scoffed coldly in her heart.
This man was a jerk who’d taken advantage of her when she was unable to defend herself.
Yun Dai wasn’t afraid at all.
She wasn’t someone who had grown up living under imperial rule, so she didn’t have that sort of reverence and fear for the royal family like everyone else did.
She had been quiet and obedient so far only because she had treated this place as merely a workplace and the crown prince as just her boss. She was here simply to earn a salary.
To her, anyone who did anything so despicable ought to be punished, regardless of whether he was the crown prince or even the emperor.
They soon reached the crown prince’s bedroom.
He was in the sitting area, but he wasn’t eating. He was lying on his side lazily, holding a book in his hand.
He hadn’t touched any of the food on the table at all.
“Your Highness, I’ve brought her here.” Liu Dequan walked over, bowed deeply, and called out to Zhao Yuanjing in a quiet voice.
Zhao Yuanjing kept his eyes on the book and didn’t even look up. He just calmly replied, “Call her in here.”
Liu Dequan led Yun Dai in and motioned to her to kneel.
Yun Dai touched her slightly sore knees, then knelt on the floor.
She’d thought that working in the kitchen meant that she would be far away from all these supposed nobles. But, in the end, she still had to kneel every time they even just walked past.
Everyone’s knees were made of flesh and blood, for crying out loud.
She really couldn’t stand this.
Thankfully, the floor of this room was carpeted, unlike the stone pavements outside. So it wasn’t too uncomfortable to kneel here.
She knelt down and waited for Zhao Yuanjing to call her to rise.
But even after waiting for a long time, nobody called her to get up.
Was this stupid jerk purposely making life difficult for her?
Yun Dai looked up and glanced at Liu Dequan who was standing to one side.
Liu Dequan quickly shook his head at her.
That meant that she was supposed to just continue kneeling. Since the crown prince hadn’t said anything, she would have to kneel even if her knees rotted away from kneeling.
This time, Yun Dai was certain. Zhao Yuanjing was purposely making things difficult for her.
Hate started to brew within Yun Dai’s heart.
If she didn’t add horse urine to his next meal, she was going to write her name backwards from now on!
After a long time had passed…
Yun Dai felt her legs go numb, They didn’t seem to belong to her anymore.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. But it felt like at least an hour.
The room was very quiet.
Only the sound of a page flipping could be heard from time to time.
Yun Dai was having difficulty remaining on her knees. She was starting to sway a little, and her legs were completely stiff.
Liu Dequan cautiously spoke up, “Your Highness, it’s time to greet His Majesty. After that, we still have to head to the Hall of Literary Brilliance. Master Song is waiting there for you already.”
The Hall of Literary Brilliance was where the crown prince and the other princes practiced martial arts.
Zhao Yuanjing shut his book and turned his eyes to look at Yun Dai for the first time since she’d come in more than an hour before.