Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
With a serious expression, Yun Dai took note of her advice.
She said, “Thank you, Auntie Chun. I just want to work hard and earn enough to feed my son. I don’t want to think about anything else.”
Mo Chun was pleased with how obedient she was and nodded. “I can see that you know how to behave.”
Since this auntie seemed fairly friendly and approachable, Yun Dai tried asking a question, “Does the small kitchen only provide food for the Crown Prince? Or do we have to cook for others as well?”
Mo Chun replied flatly, “In name, this kitchen of ours is solely for serving the Crown Prince. But since the East Palace also houses Consort Chen, Filial Lady Guo of Excellence, and Lady Lin of Decorous Service, the food for these ladies is also prepared here out of convenience.”
Titles like Filial Lady of Excellence and Lady of Decorous Service were the ranks of the concubines that the Crown Prince had living in the palace.
The Crown Princess rank was the highest, followed by Consort, then Lady of Excellence, Filial Lady of Excellence, Lady of Inherent Excellence, Lady of Clear Instruction, and Lady of Decorous Service.
The Crown Prince, Zhao Yuanjing, was 20 this year, and so far had not taken any woman to be the Crown Princess. He only had these three concubines. And because he was sickly, he didn’t have a single descendant yet either.
A crown prince normally took a woman to be a crown princess at the age of 20. Apparently, the palace was in the process of choosing a woman right now.
The crown princess would eventually become the empress, so she had to be carefully selected.
Yun Dai had caught a few pieces of information here and there about these things.
These things didn’t have much to do with her, so she wasn’t too bothered by them.
She walked quietly behind Mo Chun when suddenly she could hear a flurry of footsteps coming from in front of them, followed by Mo Chun’s whispering, “Move to one side and kneel down.”
Yun Dai was a little puzzled, but then again, since this was the East Palace, it made sense that members of the royal family would go in and out of this place.
She just had to kneel down and that would be the end of things.
So she followed Mo Chun to the side and knelt down.
The footsteps came closer, then slowly faded again.
Yun Dai looked up and saw a person who was surrounded by many others walking away. She felt like her head had just exploded, and she went into a daze.
She would never forget that tall and slender back view for the rest of her life.
Even though he had changed into a sapphire-blue robe, Yun Dai knew that he was the man who had shamelessly assaulted her in the kitchen.
Yun Dai stared straight at that figure.
“……,Yun?” Mo Chun had already gotten to her feet, but saw that Yun Dai was still kneeling in a daze on the ground, so she called out to her.
Yun Dai snapped out of her daze.
She looked down so as to hide the shock and fury in her eyes.
Mo Chun thought that she had been frightened by the presence of a nobleman since it was her first day here, so she used a gentler tone to speak to her, “As long as you do what you’re supposed to without attracting any unnecessary trouble or creating any problems, you don’t have to worry.”
“Thank you for the advice, Auntie Chun,” said Yun Dai in a low voice after taking a deep breath.
“We need to hurry along. It’s almost time to start preparing dinner.” Mo Chun started walking ahead again.
Yun Dai followed her quietly until her emotions slowly calmed back down before asking, “Which member of the royal family was that earlier?”
“Oh, that was His Highness, the Crown Prince.”
“The Crown Prince?” Yun Dai was shocked.
Mo Chun turned back to look at her.
Yun Dai quickly looked down.
Mo Chun’s voice sounded a little bit as if she was warning her. “We servants are like mud in the garden, and we’re not even worthy to stain His Highness’s shoes.”
“I understand,” replied Yun Dai.
She secretly looked back in the direction where that figure had walked off and quietly clenched her fists.
No wonder he had been so audacious and had found it possible to do something so shameless and vulgar.
He probably still had no idea that the kitchen helper he had asked for was actually the woman that he’d violated.
Earlier on, Yun Dai had been wondering how she was going to find this jerk, but now he had come knocking on her doorstep.
In that case, he couldn’t blame her for being heartless and vicious to him.