Chapter 422: 213 Small Clean Space Fighting Counterfeits
Qin Chuyu’s foray into the palace with his little buddies was with the consent of his sister-in-law, the Prince’s wife, who had made all the arrangements so that his identity would not be revealed.
The entrance to the Imperial Palace has three doors. The largest and tallest door in the middle is generally only used by the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and the Crown Prince’s couple. Ministers usually use the side doors on either side.
Qin Chuyu, as the legitimate royal son and brother of the Crown Prince, is also allowed to use the middle door.
Xu Zhuzhu, who is a year younger than Qin Chuyu and is seven years old this year, hasn’t visited the palace before. But he knows that his father goes to court every day through the side door.
When he entered through the central door, he instantly felt he could brag about it to his father when he got home.
Little Monk was oblivious to such distinctions. All he could think of was how enormous the palace seemed. Even the doors were huge, like a giant beast with its mouth wide open, and they were now walking into its belly.
The carriage moved along the long drive, stopping outside the East Palace.
The East Palace serves as the sleeping quarters of the Crown Prince. Ordinary princes do not have the privilege of residing there. However, who could deny Qin Chuyu, the little prince? He could live wherever he wanted, the Emperor didn’t restrict him by the rules that much.
Qin Chuyu was the first to jump off the carriage, followed by his two little friends.
Earlier, before meeting his friends, Qin Chuyu, with the help of his sister-in-law, had already planned the itinerary — they were forbidden from visiting the Empress’s sleeping quarters. However, they were free to explore his elder brother’s East Palace. They could then play hide and seek in the Imperial Garden and go boating on Taiye Pool.
The servants had received their instructions in advance: they were not to be seen if not necessary.
Qin Chuyu took the lead on the small path in the East Palace and proudly said, “So, what do you think? My… cough, cough! The Imperial Palace is big, right? This is the East Palace, where the Crown Prince lives. But also, the smartest, cutest, and cleverest seventh prince of Zhan Country lives here.”
That’s me, Qin Chuyu!
Not far away, a palace maid cleaning the yard twitched the corner of her mouth. The Seventh Prince used to be less boastful, who’s influenced him?
“Achoo!” Little Monk sneezed.
The East Palace is enormous, with a main hall, two side halls, and several small courtyards. One of these courtyards is specially designated for Qin Chuyu. The Princess had arranged for a swing, a rockery, and a wooden horse to be set up for him.
Qin Chuyu had grown tired of playing with these things, and Xu Zhuzhu’s home had all these and even more. The truth is that in order to prevent the princes from indulging in playthings, there are fewer toys in the palace than in the outside world.
Xu Zhuzhu was not too envious.
Little Monk was even less so. The swing his master had made for him in the temple could swing from one side of the mountain to the other! Not to mention, he and Jiaojiao liked to climb real mountains, so what would be the point of climbing a tiny, fake rockery?
“Let’s build a house!” Little Monk suggested.
Recently, Little Monk had developed a fascination with architecture.
Xu Zhuzhu nodded. Even though he was seven, he too wanted to play in the mud.
On the actually, Qin Chuyu who wanted to explore a fake cave with his little buddies: “…Fine!”
Qin Chuyu went to the small Firewood Room to fetch three buckets and three little shovels, and he happily set off to dig up some mud!
The palace maids twitched their lips. Was it really acceptable for a grand prince of their country to be playing in the mud with others?
“Shouldn’t we report to the Empress first? This is getting out of hand.” Said one of the younger palace maids.
A junior eunuch pondered the matter. The Princess had instructed them not to interfere with the Seventh Prince’s play. However, digging in the mud was definitely over the top. If the Empress took issue with their actions later, the Princess would be fine, but they, being servants, might end up in trouble.
With these thoughts, the junior eunuch decided to visit the Kunning Palace.
When the Noble Consort returned to the palace from the Ministry of Justice Prison, she immediately called several eunuchs to prepare a pot of glutinous rice soup according to Gu Jinyu’s method. They also brought a bag of mortar, generally used for wall repairs.
After mixing the rice soup and the mortar evenly, the Noble Consort instructed someone to fetch several green bricks and attach them with the rice mortar.
To compare the results, the Noble Consort also had some green bricks attached with regular mortar.
“Test it with a hammer once it’s dry,” the Noble Consort told the palace people.
“Yes!” Two junior eunuchs responded, each picking up a hammer. When the mortar on the green bricks was dry, they began to hammer them vigorously.
The result was that the rice mortar was indeed more resilient than regular mortar.
Whether there were more long-term benefits remained to be seen, but in terms of durability, rice mortar was far superior to regular mortar.
Noble Consort was by no means a sheltered woman. Given her experience manoeuvring through the palace life all these years, how could she fail to understand the immense benefits this type of mortar would bring to Zhan Country once it was introduced?