“I’ll be finished once I lay down the thatched grass here. Uncle Wu’s roof is leaking badly, but there are no tiles left in the stronghold.

Can you help by bringing two bundles of thatched grass to Uncle Wu’s to cover his roof as a temporary solution?”

“Sure!” Wang Biao picked up two bundles of dried thatched grass from the stack and asked the Crown Prince, “Advisor, aren’t you coming with us?”

The Crown Prince nodded slightly. “You go ahead.”

As the group of bachelors walked away, they occasionally looked back, their gaze shifting between the Crown Prince and Qin Zheng, accompanied by teasing laughter.

The Crown Prince ignored them and approached Qin Zheng, asking, “It’s about to rain. What are you doing here?”

Being stared at by him made Qin Zheng inexplicably nervous.

Her hand, hanging at her side, instinctively clenched the sleeve.

However, she tried to appear natural, saying, “The stronghold is short of manpower, so A’Zhao and I came to help with roofing and repairing.”

The Crown Prince looked her up and down. “Can you climb up to the roof?”

Why did he make her feel like she was just a delicate decorative pillow!

Qin Zheng, who had initially lost her nervousness upon seeing him, felt indignant. “I’m just not helping with the thatched grass at the moment. Earlier, when we were repairing the tiled roof, I was also passing the tiles!”

Tiles couldn’t be thrown directly onto the roof for fear of accidents, but the dried thatched grass was bundled and could be tossed directly onto the roof.

Since she didn’t have enough strength to throw them up, she had assigned a few men to handle that task while she supervised the cleaning of the drainage ditch after Lin Zhao had instructed its deepening.

The Crown Prince watched her puff up with self-righteousness, and after a moment of contemplation, he said, “Well… thank you for your hard work.”

Qin Zheng: “…”

Why did she feel like this man was mocking her?

Qin Zheng simply ignored him.

Fortunately, the weather took a turn for the better.

After Lin Zhao finished laying the final layer of thatched grass, the light drizzle turned into large raindrops.

The drainage ditch behind the house had also been cleared.

Old Lady Kang, a nearly seventy-year-old woman from the foot of the hill, had cooked some eggs in her house and brought out a large bowl full of them, insisting on giving one to each of them.

Qin Zheng and the others naturally refused to accept.

“Unless you take them, I won’t let you off if the walls of my shabby house collapse in the future!” The old lady’s face turned stern as she spoke.

With the old lady’s words pushed to this extent, Qin Zheng and her group were forced to accept the eggs that Old Lady Kang insisted on stuffing into their hands.

When Old Lady Kang offered the eggs to the Crown Prince, Qin Zheng helped decline, saying, “Grandma, my husband doesn’t need one. He just arrived and hasn’t helped you repair the roof.”

There might have been a hint of deliberate teasing toward the Crown Prince in her words.

However, Old Lady Kang was still insistent. “Take it. You and your husband will have a chubby child next year!”

Qin Zheng: “…”

How did the topic suddenly shift to having a chubby child?

Determined to give them the eggs, in the end, they couldn’t refuse.

Old Lady Kang also wanted to invite them for a meal.

There were still a few men who had come to help with the roof repair, and having so many people eat at Old Lady Kang’s house might deplete her food reserves for half a month.

While the rain was still light, the men each went back to their own homes.

Lin Zhao bid farewell to Qin Zheng and Xi Que and left.

Only Qin Zheng was left holding two boiled eggs, walking back to the courtyard alone with the Crown Prince.

Old Lady Kang’s house was halfway up the mountain, and the winding path had become somewhat muddy after the rain.

The ancient cloth shoes were not only poor in slip resistance, but their soles also easily soaked through.

After walking for a while, Qin Zheng felt her shoes and socks becoming wet.

The Crown Prince, perhaps intentionally, walked much slower than usual, waiting for her.

The two eggs were not easy to put in the sleeve pocket or the front of her dress.

Qin Zheng had to hold them all the way, unable to free her hands to lift her skirt.

When walking downhill, she accidentally stepped on her skirt and almost fell into someone else’s field.

Fortunately, the Crown Prince caught her in time.

As the rain intensified, Qin Zheng’s long eyelashes were covered with a layer of moisture, and her face, wet with rain, looked as pale as a blossoming evening primrose.

The hand holding her arm was still steady and strong, just like when he had supported her after she almost fell when escaping from the Eastern Palace.

Looking at the Crown Prince’s stern profile in the rain, Qin Zheng felt a moment of trance. “Thank you…”

“Haven’t I told you before? Between you and me, there’s no need for thanks.”

The Crown Prince took the two still warm boiled eggs from her hand and put them in the front of his clothes.

Then he half-squatted down. “Get on.”

Qin Zheng, mindful of his injuries, quickly shook her head. “I can walk by myself. You still have injuries on your body. Let’s hurry home. It wouldn’t be good if your clothes get wet and soak your wounds.”

With that, she walked ahead, freeing up both hands to lift her troublesome skirt, and stepped forward quickly and steadily, like a green butterfly dancing in the rain.

As she walked for a while and looked back, Qin Zheng noticed that the Crown Prince was trailing far behind.

She raised her eyebrows at him. “Look, I’m walking faster than you!”

The Crown Prince seemed to faintly curl his lips and lifted his feet, continuing to follow her at his leisurely pace.

By the time they reached the foot of the mountain, the rain had intensified.

However, the paths in the village were paved with stone slabs, flat and wide, much easier to walk on than the narrow mountain trails.

Qin Zheng’s stray strands of hair were already damp with rain.

She lifted her sleeve to cover her head, intending to tell the Crown Prince to hurry up.

But when she saw the Crown Prince frowning at her back, he quickly took off his robe and, using one hand to lift the edge, covered her head with the large garment.

Qin Zheng was momentarily stunned.

She looked up at the Crown Prince, but all she could see was a handsome jawline.

“Let’s go.” His voice remained as clear and cold as the chilly rain.

Qin Zheng had seen scenes in idol dramas where the male lead took off his coat and held it over the female lead’s head as they ran together in the rain.

Hmm, very romantic.

But why, when it came to her, did the Crown Prince just raise his shoulder and use his robe to cover her?

It was like a mother hen spreading her wings to protect her chicks.

Qin Zheng walked silently for a few steps before asking, “Your Highness, why don’t you cover your head with the robe? That way, you can also shield yourself from the rain.”

The Crown Prince only replied with one word: “Ugly.”

Qin Zheng: “…”

Perhaps because of the awkward rain-shielding posture, there was absolutely no romantic atmosphere between her and the Crown Prince on the way back home.

She was hidden under his ink-black robe, unaware that the Crown Prince’s robe not only shielded her from the pouring rain but also blocked countless gazes that admired her graceful figure in the rain.

Upon arriving home, Aunt Lu found clean towels for them to dry their hair and cooked ginger soup in fear of them catching a cold.

With the Crown Prince’s robe covering her, Qin Zheng didn’t get much wet, but the Crown Prince’s clothes were mostly soaked.

Concerned about his wound getting wet, Qin Zheng quickly fetched a clean robe from the wooden box for him to change into.

The Crown Prince’s robe had already been taken off once they entered the house.

Now he was only wearing a white inner garment.

When he received the robe Qin Zheng handed to him, he hesitated for a moment and looked at her. “You…”

Qin Zheng didn’t understand his hesitation and thought he needed her help with something.

She asked, “What’s wrong?”

The Crown Prince met her clear, black-and-white eyes, furrowed his brows slightly, and finally just said, “It’s nothing.”

Qin Zheng didn’t understand.

It wasn’t until the Crown Prince turned around to take off his snow-white inner garment, revealing his strong and lean back, that Qin Zheng realized what he had been hesitating about earlier.

She quickly turned away.

She must have been drenched in the rain earlier.

She couldn’t believe she didn’t realize that the Crown Prince’s hesitation was about changing clothes!

Now she was in a dilemma.

If she went out, it would seem affected, especially since she had seen the Crown Prince when he was seriously ill and even helped wipe his face with a towel.

But if she didn’t go out, it would be awkward.

Taking a deep breath, Qin Zheng told herself that as long as she had thick skin, nothing could penetrate it!

She walked to the wooden box with her back to the Crown Prince, searching for the clothes she had to change into.

She hadn’t found all her clothes yet when the Crown Prince had already changed into dry clothes.

He said, “I’ll go to the kitchen to get the ginger soup.”

As Qin Zheng heard the sound of the door opening and closing, she felt like burying her head in the wooden box.

She could tell that the Crown Prince deliberately went out to let her change clothes.

Thinking back to her reluctance to leave earlier, Qin Zheng felt embarrassed.

She had been forcefully married to him, yet now she seemed to be the one…

Qin Zheng recalled every little detail of her interactions with the Crown Prince during this period.

She gradually became more certain of one thing – the Crown Prince treated her well but seemed to deliberately keep his distance from her.

This body of hers was that of a stunning beauty.

Despite sleeping with the Crown Prince every night, he never crossed the line.

Would someone deliberately keep their wife, whom they had married legitimately, at a distance?

The more she thought about it, the stranger it seemed to Qin Zheng.

Remembering what the boatman had said about the Crown Prince’s inability, Qin Zheng’s eyes widened suddenly.

Could it be… what they said was true?

When the Crown Prince returned with the ginger soup, Qin Zheng had already changed into a slate-blue dress and was sitting at the table lost in thought.

The clothes in the box were all given by people from the village.

The Crown Prince’s clothes belonged to Lin Yao, and since their sizes were similar, they fit him perfectly.

However, Qin Zheng’s clothes were a mishmash.

After all, Lin Zhao’s clothes were too small for her, and the clothes she received from the women in the village were a mix of sizes.

The slate-blue dress was loose and bulky, probably worn by an older woman in the village.

Qin Zheng tied the belt tightly around her waist, making her slender figure even more apparent.

She leaned on the table with her chin in her hand, half of her snow-white arm exposed without her realizing it.

The Crown Prince glanced at her exposed arm and quickly looked away, placing the ginger soup in front of her and saying calmly, “Drink it to dispel the cold.”

Qin Zheng glanced at the Crown Prince, pursed her lips, and nodded.

The Crown Prince keenly sensed her conflicted and strange gaze, as if…

there was a hint of sympathy in it?