Chapter 19 – You Need to Compete for Favor

Inside Lengfeng Pavilion.

Ever since she looked at herself in the mirror last time, Shu Ruohua had set a weight loss goal for herself.

Every morning and evening, she would run in the courtyard for half an hour and completely cut off all fried food.

At this moment, she had just returned from her jog in the courtyard.

Qian Ning had already prepared a bath for her early on.

As usual, Shu Ruohua took off her clothes and stepped into the tub to bathe.

Qian Ning was currently outside hanging clothes to dry.

Suddenly, the sound of a few maidservants whispering drifted over the wall…

“I heard that the Crown Prince got injured last night at the banquet while saving Consort Jing.”

“That’s right. I heard the injury isn’t light!”

“Mhm, mhm.”

“I also heard that when His Highness saved Consort Jing, he held her as they descended from mid-air. The two looked like a celestial couple.”

“…”

Qian Ning’s hands stopped instinctively the moment she heard the Crown Prince was injured.

The Crown Prince was hurt—she had to tell her lady immediately.

Thinking of this, she set down the half-dried clothes and ran toward Shu Ruohua’s room.

Shu Ruohua had just finished dressing and returned to her room.

These past few days, she indeed felt like she had slimmed down quite a bit.

Holding a small bronze mirror, she looked at herself from left to right.

“Hmm, my face looks slimmer, and my belly looks smaller too…”

She patted her face, pinched the spare tire around her waist, and muttered to herself.

Suddenly, Qian Ning’s anxious voice came from outside the door, “Miss!”

Qian Ning rushed in looking flustered, as if something urgent had happened.

Seeing her like that, Shu Ruohua’s heart instantly jumped. “What is it?”

Qian Ning took a breath and said, “Miss, it’s bad. I just heard the Crown Prince hurt his foot.”

Shu Ruohua: “…”

The tension in her chest instantly melted away upon hearing that.

She replied blandly, “Oh.”

The way Qian Ning had burst in just now, she thought someone had stolen her potatoes!

She casually picked up the mirror on the table—she hadn’t even had a chance to check out her thick thighs yet!

Qian Ning, panicked, exclaimed, “Miss! The Crown Prince is injured! Why aren’t you worried at all?!”

Shu Ruohua frowned slightly. “What’s there to worry about? He’s the Crown Prince—he won’t die.”

There were so many imperial physicians in the Eastern Palace. What did the Crown Prince’s injury have to do with her?

Besides, she hadn’t even met the Crown Prince yet. Why should she be worried about a stranger?!

…

Qian Ning: “…”

She paused and then said with heartfelt urgency, “But Miss, His Highness being injured is a golden opportunity for you to win his favor!”

Her lady was currently confined to the Cold Palace. If she could cling to the Crown Prince now, she might be able to get out of here and escape this suffering.

“Win favor?”

Shu Ruohua looked at Qian Ning as if she were a fool.

“Have you forgotten? I’ve already been thrown into the Cold Palace. Have you ever seen a consort in the Cold Palace manage to win favor again?!”

She was speechless.

Qian Ning always dreamed up these impossible scenarios. Shu Ruohua hadn’t bothered to burst her bubble before, fearing the girl’s fragile heart couldn’t handle the reality. But today, she really couldn’t take it anymore.

Qian Ning: “But…”

She really wanted to snap back, Have you ever seen a Crown Prince who visits the Cold Palace every day?!

But then she remembered that Xiao Che had instructed her not to reveal Shu Ruohua’s true identity, so in the end, she kept her mouth shut.

“Miss, I heard that His Highness is really badly hurt. Don’t you have some secret technique that helps wounds heal quickly? Can’t you use it to help him?!”

Qian Ning kept chattering non-stop.

Today, no matter what, she was determined to get Shu Ruohua to do something to curry favor with the Crown Prince.

At first, Shu Ruohua didn’t want to pay her any attention and went to sit by the bed.

But Qian Ning was like a stubborn leech—wherever she went, the chatter followed.

In the end, Shu Ruohua finally gave in.

She waved at Qian Ning, signaling her to stop talking, and asked her to go fetch a basin of well water.

Then, Shu Ruohua made a show of tapping above the water a few times. “Alright, take it.”

Qian Ning stared into the water for a long time.

“Miss, why don’t you make some porridge instead, and I’ll bring that to His Highness?”

No matter how she looked at it, carrying a basin of water from the Cold Palace to the Crown Prince’s residence seemed… improper.

Shu Ruohua replied, “Didn’t you just say any water that had the incantation would work?!”

She remembered clearly—Qian Ning had just said the water alone would do.

Qian Ning immediately grinned in flattery. “If you put the incantation into the porridge, it’d work the same!”

Shu Ruohua refused.

Giving her spiritual water was already her limit.

Seeing this, Qian Ning began brainwashing her.

Until finally, Shu Ruohua relented.

She dragged herself slowly to the kitchen and made a bowl of potato and rice porridge using one potato and half a bowl of rice.

Qian Ning was thrilled and praised Shu Ruohua extravagantly with a string of flattery.

She then packed the porridge into a food container, took out the token that Zhong Zihan had given her to enter and exit Lengfeng Pavilion, and headed toward the Crown Prince’s residence.

Back in Lengfeng Pavilion, Shu Ruohua was lost in thought over a few pressing questions.

Would the spiritual water still work once it left the Cold Palace?

Also, was the spiritual water only effective on herself, or could others benefit from it too?

When poured on a potato, it grew quickly.

When dabbed on a wound, it healed rapidly.

Then… what would happen if a person drank it directly?!

After a long while…

She rubbed her stomach.

The answer to the last question, it seemed, she had found.

She had been drinking the spiritual water this whole time, but apparently… nothing had changed.

……

(End of Chapter)