After Transmigrating Into A Love-Brained Scumbag Villain - Chapter 7

If one were to ask Zhao Shangrong whether there was anything happier than not having to enter the palace and face a plot-mandated death flag—

There wasn’t!

Even though she was feeling unwell, at this moment, she was so happy she could get up and dance a Hailan Home routine.

Wang Yaoshuang looked at His Highness, whose joy was written all over her face. “Y-Your Highness?”

Meeting Wang Yaoshuang’s confused gaze, Zhao Shangrong restrained herself a little and pretended to be aloof as she said, “Since His Majesty has said so, then we shall respectfully obey the imperial will.”

Wang Yaoshuang was momentarily speechless.

Zhao Shangrong’s head no longer hurt now, and her spirits were especially refreshed. She quietly touched her stomach, which was rumbling like a drum, and said, “I’m hungry.”

Wang Yaoshuang glanced at the maidservant who had been prostrating on the ground for a long time and said, “Why are you not going to instruct the kitchen courtyard to prepare a meal for His Highness?”

As if she had been granted amnesty, the maidservant hurriedly answered, “Yes!”

She had just gotten up, but because she had been kneeling and lying prostrate for too long, her legs were numb, and she could barely stand steadily. Only after she staggered out did Zhao Shangrong realize what she had forgotten just now.

Wang Yaoshuang attributed all of this to the change in the Prince of Yingchuan’s temperament before and after her disfigurement.

Zhao Shangrong was somewhat troubled. She seemed to have been affected by the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories, causing her, a proper modern young person raised under the red flag, to actually feel that there was nothing wrong with a maid kneeling on the ground for over half an hour.

Why is the female lead always unhappy? Her thoughts are so hard to guess! Zhao Shangrong grumbled inwardly.

But judging from some of the instinctive reactions of the maids in the prince’s manor, even the Prince of Yingchuan before her disfigurement was absolutely not someone with a good temper or easy personality.

However, several times today, maidservants had trembled with fear as if walking on thin ice, yet His Highness had never once become angry. Were the rumors wrong, or was this the most genuine side of the Prince of Yingchuan before her disfigurement?

Wang Yaoshuang realized that her thoughts were going deeper and deeper, so she quickly stopped herself from continuing to investigate.

For example, the Prince of Yingchuan’s gaze in her memory had been sinister and vicious. Being stared at by her had felt like falling into an icy cave. But the His Highness before her had bright and clear eyes. Even when she acted very cold, it was not enough to make people fearful.

Seeing that Wang Yaoshuang had been standing for a long time, Zhao Shangrong pointed at a mat nearby and said, “Sit.”

Wang Yaoshuang: “…”

Zhao Shangrong wanted to get closer to the female lead, but because the Prince of Yingchuan’s character setting made it difficult for her to act too humble, she could only awkwardly make conversation. “Princess Consort, are you hungry?”

Zhao Shangrong noticed that Wang Yaoshuang’s expression suddenly became solemn and deep. She wondered whether there had been something wrong with what she had just said, making Wang Yaoshuang unhappy.

In just an instant, Wang Yaoshuang once again felt a trace of confusion and bewilderment.

Although since her rebirth, she had only spent this short day with His Highness, every movement and action of His Highness seemed subtly different from the Prince of Yingchuan she knew.

Wang Yaoshuang gave a slight bow, then knelt down on the leather seat that had been stuffed with padding.

Zhao Shangrong did not know whether she was careless or simply did not mind whether Wang Yaoshuang had actually been guarding here. She said, “Your health isn’t good either. Don’t curse yourself like that.”

His Highness was being rather self-important. Who would keep guarding her here the whole time?

Of course, the truth could not be spoken aloud. Wang Yaoshuang avoided the important part and said lightly, “This concubine is ashamed. His Highness slept for two hours, yet this concubine could not share any of His Highness’s pain.”

Only after the maidservant left did this small space separated by the curtain contain only Zhao Shangrong and Wang Yaoshuang.

This was only the first day of their time together. What kind of person His Highness truly was, and whether Wang Yaoshuang could avoid the great disasters of her previous life by changing certain key events—everything still remained to be discussed.

Although Zhao Shangrong had not done it intentionally, since Wang Yaoshuang had helped the maid out of the situation, she would just pretend this incident had never happened.

Her words sounded very approachable, and for some reason, they seemed to hit Wang Yaoshuang’s funny bone. Wang Yaoshuang could not help revealing a faint smile.

When two people with different thoughts were alone together, silence would only make the atmosphere even more awkward and strange.

Zhao Shangrong asked again, “Have you been watching over me here for a long time?”

Wang Yaoshuang froze slightly. Thinking that His Highness was expressing dissatisfaction that the kitchen courtyard had taken so long to prepare the meal, she explained, “Your Highness, the Assistant Imperial Physician made a healthy meal list for your head ailment, and the Assistant Court Physician also prescribed medicine. The meal list needs to be checked against the prescription to ensure there will be no ingredients that conflict with the medicine. That is why the kitchen courtyard needs some time to prepare the meal.”

Zhao Shangrong replied naturally, “So particular.”

Wang Yaoshuang: “…”

Who would dare be careless about such a thing? If His Highness ate something bad because of a problem with the meal prepared by the kitchen courtyard, the consequences would be very serious, okay? At best, the cook would lose half his life. At worst, his entire family would lose their lives!

Zhao Shangrong then said, “But what does that have to do with whether you’re hungry?”

Wang Yaoshuang paused, then realized that His Highness was not complaining that the kitchen courtyard was too slow in preparing the meal, but was concerned about whether she was hungry too.

This was truly novel!

Even though Zhao Shangrong’s mood was very calm, Wang Yaoshuang still did not dare lightly believe that she was such a gentle person. After all, the Prince of Yingchuan in her previous life also had a moody side. Who knew whether she might be pleasant to someone’s face right now, only to slap that person across the mouth in the next second?

It was even possible that if Wang Yaoshuang answered that she was “not hungry,” Zhao Shangrong would order that she not be allowed to eat.

Thinking this, Wang Yaoshuang answered cautiously, “This concubine… is also somewhat hungry.”

Zhao Shangrong turned over and got out of bed, saying in a deep voice, “Then I’ll go urge the kitchen courtyard.”

Wang Yaoshuang abruptly stood up and rushed ahead of Zhao Shangrong. “Your Highness is unwell. It would be better for you to rest more. Let this concubine go instead!”

She could not help sweating on behalf of the cooks in the kitchen courtyard. If His Highness personally went to urge them, the cooks might not live to see tomorrow’s sun.

Zhao Shangrong: “?”

She had not expected that beneath the female lead’s gentle and cool exterior, she would actually be so proactive about eating. The “foodie” trait did seem to have always been one of the common settings for female leads in male-oriented web novels.

Zhao Shangrong did not dampen Wang Yaoshuang’s enthusiasm. She watched Wang Yaoshuang leave the room, then got out of bed to stretch her body.

Speaking of which, the thing she had done the most these past few days was sleep. Ever since transmigrating here, she had either been feeling unwell because of drunkenness or receiving the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories in her sleep. She had slept for two or three days in a row. Today, she had finally been about to go out, only to faint halfway and sleep for another four hours.

After sleeping this much, she would probably be unable to sleep at night.

Since dinner had not been prepared yet, Zhao Shangrong simply decided to stroll around the prince’s manor.

She knew the layout of the manor, but that was all from the Prince of Yingchuan’s memories. It felt different from personally walking through it herself. Moreover, precisely because her body was weak, she needed to go out, walk around, and exercise even more.

Perhaps because the new emperor wanted to show preferential treatment toward his younger brother—and also raise her treatment in order to keep her in Jiankang—the Prince of Yingchuan’s manor had undergone an expansion last year. It had been expanded from the original scale of a ducal residence covering around eighty mu to the scale of a prince’s manor covering two hundred and thirty mu.

The three main halls in the center, built in imitation of the Prince of Luo’s manor before Emperor Wu ascended the throne, had not been changed. The garden area, living quarters, watchtowers, and other structures had simply been expanded.

Of course, the three main halls had different names. The main building at the front for receiving guests was called “Yutang.” The middle hall was where the Prince of Yingchuan usually handled affairs and held major ceremonies such as weddings; it was called “Middle Study.” The final building was called “North Study,” and it was where the Prince of Yingchuan lived. The side halls to the left and right were called “East Study” and “West Study” according to their east-west positions.

Behind the North Study was the inner residence, which contained several tall buildings, pavilions, and terraces, as well as more than three hundred and eighty storerooms. Including the fortified compounds outside the manor and the thatched dwellings where the private retainers lived, the entire prince’s manor could accommodate six thousand slaves, servants, and retainers.

Of course, although the Prince of Yingchuan had slaves, servants, and retainers, their numbers only reached around one thousand.

Oh, right. Including the maidservants, concubines, and retainers Wang Yaoshuang had brought with her, there were still only a little over thirteen hundred people.

Zhao Shangrong: “…”

What am I thinking? “Only” a little over thirteen hundred people?

Supporting this many people could easily empty the manor treasury, okay?!

Zhao Shangrong exploded. Every day, more than thirteen hundred mouths were waiting to be fed. Even if they did nothing at all, the daily grain expense would exceed twenty shi. Although she currently had a fief income of five thousand households, with the grain yields of the present era, one mu of farmland might not even produce two shi…

Layoffs. There had to be layoffs!

Author’s Note:

Princess Consort: In order to prevent His Highness from abusing the slaves and servants, I have truly exhausted my mind!

His Highness: So the princess consort is this enthusiastic about eating.

Princess Consort: ?

—

The tea room has hot tea and melon seeds prepared. Anyone want to chat in the comments?