Chapter 0088: Su Qinghe Treated Like Weed, Two Princesses Skilled at Wall-Climbing
When Xie Chengze woke up, it was already evening. He didn’t know when Shen Yuan and Xie Jinyu had left, nor how he had returned to his bedchamber.
He patted his head and got out of bed, discovering a miniature imperial edict placed beside his pillow.
It must have been delivered by Eunuch Zhao, who hadn’t disturbed him upon finding him asleep, leaving only the edict behind.
Unrolling the miniature edict, Xie Chengze saw just four words written on it: No need to review.
Xie Chengze: Hehe~(＞＜)☆
His efforts in painstakingly coming up with a hundred dish names hadn’t been in vain! That damn emperor really didn’t dare let him review memorials anymore!
When it came to slacking off, what student or office worker lacked experience? Especially when slacking off under “his own family’s company”!
Thinking about having one less task to handle, Xie Chengze lay back down on the bed and began reviewing preparations for his future life as an imperial heir.
The Yi Province flood control had been assigned to Liang Wan Da, the distant trade expedition to Shen Yuan and Sheng Yiren, and the Liaozhou snow disaster to the Directorate of Celestial Observation and Emperor Jian. Counting on his fingers, Xie Chengze realized only implementing the arts-sciences division and developing industrial technology remained.
Perfect timing – he was craving the pastries made by Su Qinghe too!
The next day.
East Kitchen of Su Residence.
Su Qinghe opened the steamer, carefully selecting among the unevenly sized steamed cakes inside, finally picking out four that were relatively identical.
After letting the steamed cakes cool slightly, Su Qinghe gently placed them in his palm one by one. After pondering briefly, he compared them with the remaining steamed cakes before finally picking up the fine brush placed nearby to record their differences in a notebook.
“Steam control still isn’t stable enough, there are still differences in size and weight.” Su Qinghe sighed softly, murmuring to himself, “Although additional leavening and moisture can compensate, the flavor still falls slightly short, unable to match the finished product.”
Returning the steamed cakes with extra leavening and moisture to the steamer, Su Qinghe placed the remaining steamed cake in the top layer of the red sandalwood food box before carrying it out of the east kitchen. Speaking softly to the cooks waiting outside, he said, “There are many imperfect ones left on the cutting board, you may share them.”
The cooks watched him coldly without responding. As if accustomed to this treatment, Su Qinghe carried the red sandalwood food box toward the Su Residence gate.
Behind him, the cooks’ whispers arose.
“So what if he’s a young master of the Su Family? All he knows how to do is cook.”
“Who wants to eat his failed experiments? Acting like we only deserve imperfect food.”
“But they’re actually quite delicious…”
“Tch, with those expensive ingredients he uses, anything would taste good mixed together. Besides, what does it matter if he cooks well? He’s still the most useless and pathetic one in the Su Family.”
“Stop talking, it’s almost time for morning meal. We need to prepare dishes for the masters.”
Su Qinghe slowly lowered his gaze, tightening his grip on the red sandalwood food box. His eyes remained fixed on the path beneath his feet, each step falling steadily on the ground, showing no trace of dejection.
While passing the main hall, several Su Family members dressed in official robes and preparing for breakfast spotted Su Qinghe carrying the food box. They couldn’t help but let out sharp, mocking laughs, “Look, our Second Young Master Su is off to flirt with Miss Sheng again.”
“And he still dares show his face outside? With such thick skin – using our family’s disgrace to plaster over his own shame.”
“Don’t say that. At least he managed to win the favor of the Sheng family’s young lady just with his looks—oh no, I mean his mediocre culinary skills.”
“Pfft, the Sheng family is about to get a promotion soon. How could the legitimate daughter of a future Minister possibly take a fancy to a useless illegitimate son?”
Under their contemptuous, mocking gazes fixed on his slender frame, Su Qinghe lowered his eyes, biting his lip hard until he suppressed the suffocating ache in his throat, and continued walking toward the Su residence entrance.
They weren’t wrong.
He… was indeed quite pathetic.
Had been for fifteen whole years.
…
While waiting for Su Qinghe, Xie Chengze sat in the backyard, tapping and carving away at a piece of charcoal.
Apart from sleeping, Xie Chengze disliked being cooped up alone indoors. The pavilion was too windy, while the backyard had milder breezes, so he’d moved his leisure activities there.
Zhu Xiaobiao sat with his chin propped in his hands, watching Xie Chengze work.
According to the Second Prince, he was making a charcoal pencil to facilitate writing “formulas” and “theorems.”
Zhu Xiaobiao didn’t understand any of it and planned to ask Jing Ze about it after his shift.
After a while, Xie Chengze finally finished grinding a charcoal stick of moderate thickness. He picked up some cloth strips he’d cut earlier and wrapped them around it, testing the grip in his hand—it felt quite comfortable.
“Not bad at all~” He couldn’t help but smile, his eyes crinkling.
Zhu Xiaobiao quickly stood up. “Your Highness, I’ll fetch some water.”
“Go ahead~” Xie Chengze waved him off and lowered his head again, sharpening the tip of the charcoal stick into a rounded point. Testing it on paper yielded excellent results.
Just then, Zhu Xiaobiao returned with a basin of hot water and soapberries. Xie Chengze gave his hands a quick scrub before eagerly picking up his “Little Xie Brand” charcoal pencil to begin writing his mathematics textbook.
Having been in the Jian’an Dynasty for over half a year now, he’d forgotten quite a few mathematical theorems. Fortunately, the key concepts remained. By sketching diagrams and writing formulas, he could reconstruct the original theorems from certain memory triggers, so he wasn’t limited to just a few mathematical concepts.
Besides, he had the arithmetic books sent by the Directorate of Celestial Observation to help him~
Although, these arithmetic books appeared to be newly transcribed, and only partially completed. The official who delivered them said the remaining content would be sent over in batches later.
Xie Chengze assumed the arithmetic books were rare editions, so he didn’t dwell on what the actual situation might be.
Xie Chengze flipped through the book, writing and sketching on paper. The backyard fell into tranquil silence, broken only by the soft scratching of charcoal on paper and the rustling of turning pages.
Sitting across from him, Zhu Xiaobiao’s gaze fell on the handwriting on the paper, and he couldn’t help thinking to himself: So His Highness’s handwriting is this beautiful.
It appeared both delicate and sharp, slender and flowing, like ripples shimmering on a lake after being lightly pecked by birds—lively and full of rhythm.
But then why was his brush calligraphy so awful?
Zhu Xiaobiao pondered this inexplicable contradiction.
He continued watching, attempting to understand the content on the paper, but soon gave up. Unable to sit still any longer, he picked up the water basin, planning to discard the water in the corner.
But as he turned, his eyes met two little heads peeking over the nearby wall.
Zhu Xiaobiao: ?
“Shh!” Discovered, Xie Shu quickly made a silencing gesture, while Xie Ping’an beside her frantically waved her hands, signaling Zhu Xiaobiao not to make a sound.
Zhu Xiaobiao stood in place holding the water basin. Since Wuhen and Wuji hadn’t made any moves, he figured these two must be palace insiders. Though they wore no hair ornaments in their buns, anyone who dared climb the walls of Cheng Huan Palace with such audacity must at least hold the status of a princess.
So Zhu Xiaobiao lowered his head and called out loudly, “Your Highness, there are two people clinging to the wall—they appear to be princesses.”
Xie Shu and Xie Ping An: !!!
We’re doomed!