Chapter 243: Chapter 239: Lychee_1

Translator: 549690339

That general was not only loyal to Chen Tiantian, he even raised her son for her without any complaint, taking care of every little detail.

People who didn’t know the situation might even think that the son was the general’s biological child.

Perhaps he really was as the prince had always been weak and didn’t even live to see his twenty-sixth birthday.

Poor Prince, a cuckold who died without ever knowing he had been cheated on.

Yingbao was thinking about it secretly and seeing that Xiao Mo didn’t respond, she asked,”Mr. Xiao, when can I go home?”

Xiao Mo smiled and said, “Well, we’ll have to wait for the prince to recover.”

Yingbao didn’t bother to engage him any further and turned to leave the main hall.

Outside the hall, it was rather hot, like an oven, under the direct sunlight.

But every now and then a cool breeze would blow from the distant lake, which felt very comfortable against the skin.

Yingbao had an idea, asking Changxiu to put away the medicine box and lead her to the fruit grove by the lake.

So, Changxiu held an umbrella over the young physician as they walked towards the grove.

The East Palace’s fruit grove was vast with many different kinds of fruit trees. On first glance, Yingbao spotted lychee trees she had only ever seen in paintings – there were more than a dozen of them draped in purple-red lychee fruits.

“Lychees!” Yingbao sprinted over, standing on her tiptoes to grab a branch, ready to pluck the fruits.

Such an abundance of lychees! And all fresh right from the tree! It was her first time seeing them.

Changxiu rushed over in panic to stop her, “Young Physician, you can’t pick these fruits.”

“Why?” Yingbao asked while plucking two fruits, sniffing them, and then popping one into her mouth after peeling it.

So sweet! So delicious!

Seeing the child not only pick but also eat the fruits right there, Changxiu worriedly said, “These fruits are for imperial use, we can’t eat them. Give me the skin quickly, I need to hide it.”

Yingbao handed her the skin, chewing on the lychee in her mouth ambiguously, “Don’t be afraid, the empress permits me to eat these fruits.”

Still afraid, Changxiu took a stick, squatted down on the ground to dig a hole, and buried the lychee peels there.

Seeing her proficient movement, Yingbao had reason to suspect her of regularly doing such things.

While Changxiu was busy digging, Yingbao picked a few more lychees and secreted them away.

Hehe, now her home had one more type of lychee tree.

Thereafter, Yingbao kept picking and eating fruits, occasionally handing some to Changxiu.

Changxiu initially didn’t dare to accept, but seeing no one around, she boldly took a bite, then hastily got rid of the fruit peel as if destroying incriminating evidence.

After eating lychees, Yingbao saw a few loquat trees with yellowish loquats hanging in abundance. Many of them were starting to shrivel and some were pecked by birds.

But the loquats here were only about the size of bird eggs, not as good as those at her home, so Yingbao decided not to pick them.

Walking, they arrived at a pear orchard.

In the middle of the orchard was a pavilion where two eunuchs were seated, eating pears.

Seeing a palace maid leading a child, they didn’t care much. Only after they finished eating their pears did they ask, “Who’s child is this, daring to run around recklessly?”

Changxiu quickly responded, “Steward Gao, this is the young physician who came to treat the prince.”

Steward Gao had heard about a child from the Xiao family who was just a few years old but was better than the old people in the Imperial Medical Bureau. This child had single-handedly managed to improve the prince’s condition which was actually hard to believe.

So, he quickly got up and greeted Yingbao with a salute, “So, it’s the young physician. My apologies for being unaware.”

Yingbao also responded with a courtesy, “No worries, I’m sorry for intruding.”

From the look of it, this man must be the steward in charge of the orchard.

Steward Gao was delighted and immediately had the eunuch next to him pick some fruits for Yingbao.

The young eunuch promptly agreed and ran hurriedly to pick two pears and a large bag of lychees.

Yingbao didn’t stand on ceremony. She had Changxiu hold the lychees and pears while she strolled about the fruit garden with the head-steward, listening as he introduced her to the names of various fruit trees.

The fruit garden of the East Palace was quite big and filled with diverse trees such as grapevines, apricots, peaches, pears, citrus, persimmon, loquat, banana, bayberry, papaya, and more, leaving Yingbao drooling in anticipation.

It was a pity that many of the fruits weren’t ripe yet and could not be tasted.

After a walk around the fruit garden, noticing the time, Yingbao returned to the main hall with Changxiu.

By this time, the eunuch had delivered lunch, which was placed on the table in her room.

There was a small bucket of white rice, a plate of pepper fish, a dish of boiled broad beans, and a dish of cold spinach salad, much richer than the previous day.

After Changxiu served a bowl of white rice for Yingbao, she withdrew to the side.

Yingbao said, “You sit down and eat too.”

Changxiu shook her head repeatedly, “I…I will wait until you have finished.”

Seeing her restraint, Yingbao did not insist, and started to eat her rice with the pepper fish, boiled broad beans, and cold spinach salad.

After finishing her meal, she saw Changxiu put the leftover food back into the food box and took it to her room in the maids’ quarters.

Changxiu was still living with the other utility maids. When she brought out the food from the food box, it caused an exclamation from several of the utility palace maids.

“Wow! Changxiu, you’re so lucky to be able to serve the young doctor.” A palace maid laughed, “I even saw you going to the fruit garden with him today. Did you bring anything back?”

With a shy smile, Changxiu removed a handkerchief from her sleeve, unrolled it to reveal about a dozen lychees. “This was given by the young doctor. He couldn’t finish them and gave some to me. You can try them.”

The maids cheered and each grabbed a lychee to peel.

One of the maids eyed her critically without taking any. “You didn’t steal these, did you? If the steward finds out, don’t get us all in trouble.”

The other maids were taken aback and all looked at Changxiu.

Changxiu hurriedly explained, “These were really given to me by the steward. The young doctor said he couldn’t eat them all and gave me some. Zhang Yuyue, don’t spread rumors.”

Zhang Yuyue sneered and sat down by her bed.

The remaining three glanced at each other and carefully put the lychees back on the table.

One suggested, “Let’s eat first,” and began serving herself with her own bowl and chopsticks.

The others also took out their own utensils and began to serve themselves.

They couldn’t usually eat pepper fish, nor were they like the palace maids in the front hall, who often received gifts from their masters.

Just as the maids were eating, a face peeked in through the door. A teenage girl timidly asked, “Can I talk to Sister Chang?”

Changxiu jumped to her feet. “It’s Sister Chen, please come in.”

Only then did Chen Tiantian walk in, carrying a package.

“I’ve been given a dish of lychee cakes today, and I thought I’d bring some for you and the other sisters to taste.”

Having said that, Chen Tiantian laid down the oil-paper package on the table, revealing six or seven round, bulging pastries.

The palace maids were astonished.

Now was the season for lychees to ripen, and the Imperial Kitchen would occasionally bake some lychee cakes or cook lychee in sugar syrup, and lychee jam, etc.

Although they claimed these were for the Prince, most of them ended up in the bellies of those head eunuchs and palace officers.

Now and then, some were gifted to others, but they would rarely reach the lower-ranked utility maids like them.

Zhang Yuyue, who had been sitting nearby, walked over, picked up a lychee pastry and laughed, “Thank you for thinking of us, Sister Chen.”

Chen Tiantian smiled lightly: “Not at all, these were a gift from young Master Xiao, I could not finish them all by myself, so I brought some here for all of you to taste.”