She had just returned to the Imperial Palace, and instead of staying by the Emperor’s side, she went back to her own palace to rest. While many people were probably still stuck on this point, Jiang Xue was already, under the palace maids’ service, bathed, changed, and off to sleep. She was exhausted, and couldn’t care less what people in the palace thought. Anyway, she just gave one order: "No visitors." Naturally, there would always be people willing to work themselves to the bone for her.

This nap actually didn’t last very long. After all, it was already close to Noon when she came back to the palace, and she had skipped lunch just to run back to sleep. So by the time the palace maids woke her up, her stomach was growling nonstop.

Knowing she had to attend a banquet in the evening—these court gatherings were generally not good for eating properly—she called the palace maids over for the sake of her "Temple of Five Viscera."

"Go to the kitchen and have them send over two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, and one soup. Noodles or rice as the staple is fine. I eat both sweet and spicy, so just let them发挥 as they see fit."

She had originally wanted to write out a menu, but she wasn’t sure what the local names for the dishes were, so she simply let them freestyle it.

It was just that when the palace maid heard she only wanted four dishes and a soup, she was a bit dumbfounded. "Pr–Princess, only four dishes? Are you sure you only want four?"

Jiang Xue quickly reacted—this was嫌少了. True, whether she had been a Princess or an Empress before, her treatment had always been top-tier. But after so many years of habit, she’d gotten used to ordering only as much as she could eat. For one person, four dishes and a soup was already pretty extravagant, so how could that be considered "too few"?

"Yes, you heard right, just four dishes and one soup. And make it quick, I’m already hungry. You can all go now. Call me when the food is ready."

"But Princess, we still need to do your hair, change your clothes, and do your makeup. Since you’re attending the banquet tonight and you’re the main attraction, it wouldn’t be proper to arrive late."

There we go—so even the last bit of her free time was going to be claimed. She let out a heavy sigh. "Fine, then come over and get started."

For modern women, putting on makeup—especially those complicated looks—can take more than an hour, sometimes even longer. In ancient times, it could only be worse. Especially for someone like her who never wore makeup, just trimming her eyebrows took quite a while. She had her own aesthetic standards and absolutely would not allow these palace maids to just do whatever they wanted with her face.

In the end, aside from carefully refining her eyebrows, they only applied a little rouge and dabbed some red on her lips. The look was already perfect, so there was no need to put on powder. She hated powder the most, mainly because in this era it dissolved the moment it met water. If anything went wrong, the risk was too high.

Willow-fine brows, crimson lips, delicate features, clear, limpid eyes—each and every part looked as if it had been carved with meticulous care.

She wore a long dress in a pale watery blue. Her long, glossy hair was tied with a strip of water-blue silk and loosely held up by a jade hairpin. From the head of the hairpin hung a chain as fine as water droplets; a slight movement made it sway like misty rain. The high-quality silk of her dress flowed with her steps like the first shy blossoms of a plum tree—nothing gaudy, only a gentle serenity. In the warmth of her expression there was still a faint hint of indifference and cool detachment. Mm, not bad! She was very satisfied.

"Reporting to the Princess, the Sixth Prince is here. He says he’s waiting at the gate to go over with you."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Xue couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. "My brother really does dote on me, knowing I’m unfamiliar with the place. Then let’s hurry and go."

On the way, Jiang Xue learned something else. "Brother, you’re saying Consort Hua’s son was made Crown Prince?"

Consort Hua’s sons were the Third Imperial Prince, the fourth son, and the Fifth Son. The elder son and the second son were born of the former Empress. But the strange thing was, although the Third Imperial Prince had been made Crown Prince, the fourth son and the Fifth Son were still just Princes, not even enfeoffed as kings, so naturally there was no talk of conferring them their own mansions. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"Generally speaking, if an adult Prince has not been enfeoffed and is unmarried, he will live in a Prince Mansion in the Imperial Palace. If he marries, then even if he remains a Prince, he will be granted a separate residence in advance. But look—of all Father Emperor’s Princes, everyone below me is still unmarried and has not been granted a mansion, while everyone above me has already been given their own residence. The one thing Consort Hua is most unwilling to accept is that her fourth son and Fifth Son not only still have no official posts, they haven’t even been granted any titles. She originally thought that once the Eldest became Crown Prince, he would help support his younger brothers. Unfortunately... heh. You know what? The Crown Prince holds great power in his hands, yet he hasn’t shared the slightest benefit with his two brothers. What does that tell you?"

Jiang Xue’s mouth twitched. "His heart sure is vicious. I’d bet he’s afraid his power will be carved up and taken from him."