TRM Chapter 5

One autumn rain brings another chill. Most of the autumn rain is associated with the cold front. After the cold front passes, the palace gradually enters winter. Sometimes, when one wakes up in the morning, one can see frost flowers on the glazed lanterns hanging under the eaves.

Lately, the orange cat in the palace has been causing trouble for Qiao Guanxing. With its bad temper and claws outstretched, it has been causing havoc in the Astrology Tower’s courtyard, making Qiao Guanxing think that he might have angered the “cat lord.”

But sometimes, when the orange cat is in a good mood, it will obediently lie on Qiao Guanxing’s lap, condescendingly allowing him to pet it, and the two can sit quietly together for an afternoon.

After spending more time together, Qiao Guanxing developed a rather absurd but reasonable thought: he felt that the cat lord and his temperamental superior had some similarities, especially the occasional sudden outbursts, which were nearly identical.

Qiao Guanxing had been working with Zhou Jingyuan for several months, and he still hadn’t figured out the exact trigger that would make the crown prince angry.

A while ago, he suddenly had a craving for fruit-flavored rice cakes. When he was younger, he had lived in a welfare home for a short time. Only when he was praised or sick did the aunties there make this treat for him.

Before leaving the welfare home, Qiao Guanxing had specially learned the recipe from one of the aunties.

Afterwards, during countless days of plain porridge and simple dishes, he would only make these rice cakes for himself on special occasions.

Now that he’s in the palace and no longer lacking in money—after all, the crown prince had really given him a hundred taels of gold last time, though he seemed to still be unhappy—he decided to just make the rice cakes himself in the small kitchen of the Immortal Garden.

The ingredients were no problem, but Qiao Guanxing wasn’t familiar with the fire stoves used in the Great Zhou Dynasty. After preparing the meal, he ended up with soot all over his face, looking a bit messy and comical.

He steamed a lot of rice cakes, far more than he could eat by himself. On the way, he met a few of his immortal colleagues and gave them some. When he returned to the Astrology Tower, there were still some left on the plate.

Just in time, he ran into the crown prince coming down from the tower. The prince lowered his eyes and casually asked, “Why didn’t you go up to the tower to pray for blessings with me today?”

“Oh, Your Highness, I made some snacks.”

With a proud smile, he handed over the plate, oblivious to the soot on his face. His round eyes sparkled as he blinked and said, “This is specially for you.”

When he gave some to his immortal colleagues earlier, he had been mindful. The portion for the crown prince was definitely set aside just for him. This was the professional work ethic of a loyal employee!

Zhou Jingyuan froze for a moment. He looked at the soot on Qiao Guanxing’s face, and his voice softened slightly, “Specially… for me?”

So, the little trickster didn’t accompany him to the tower this morning because he was making snacks just for him? And he even made himself so dirty…

It seemed that this little trickster really admired him.

The rice cakes on the plate were white and plump, with candied fruit scattered on top, releasing a sweet fragrance.

The crown prince reached out and picked one up. He lowered his eyes slightly and tasted it.

“Is it good? Do you like it?” Qiao Guanxing eagerly asked.

Zhou Jingyuan finished eating one slowly and nodded. “Mm.”

It wasn’t anything extraordinary, but given that this little trickster was sincere, the prince decided to praise him.

Delighted at the praise, Qiao Guanxing happily sat at the table and ate the rice cakes.

Two of his immortal colleagues walked past outside the courtyard and called out, “Guanxing, your rice cakes are really good, thank you!”

Qiao Guanxing quickly ran to the window and replied, “No need to thank me, I’ll share more next time.”

It seemed that everyone liked them.

But when he turned around, he saw that the crown prince, who had seemed fine just moments ago, now had a dark expression, as if he were about to freeze everything around him. With a heavy thud, the plate of rice cakes was placed back on the table. The prince spoke in a low voice, “Didn’t you say these were specially for me?”

Qiao Guanxing was startled and trembled, “Th-This plate was specially for you.”

Zhou Jingyuan’s words got caught in his throat, a pile of unspoken frustration stuck in his chest. He stared at Qiao Guanxing for a moment, then snorted coldly and swept his sleeve away as he left.

It was clear that the little trickster had lied.

The door slammed shut with such force that even the tassels on the curtains shook.

Completely puzzled about what had happened, Qiao Guanxing stood there with a confused expression. He started to worry again about how to calm down his inexplicably angry superior when Zhou Jingyuan returned, still looking grim.

His eyes immediately brightened. Had the prince cooled down so quickly?

“Your Highness, you—”

Zhou Jingyuan didn’t answer him. He walked to the table, grabbed the plate of rice cakes, and left without turning back, slamming the door even harder than before.

Qiao Guanxing reluctantly lowered his hand, which had been reaching toward the plate.

“…”

Such things seemed to happen almost every few days. When faced with Zhou Jingyuan’s frequent, seemingly irrational anger, Qiao Guanxing had no clue what triggered it.

But he didn’t mind. His superior was the crown prince, after all, and such pressure came with an unpredictable temperament.

What’s more, Zhou Jingyuan had only this one flaw—he was generous with gold and silver and not too harsh on him. Occasionally losing his temper was something that an employee from another world could tolerate.

Thus, Qiao Guanxing had become very skilled at “stroking his superior’s fur the right way,” making sure to soothe the prince for an hour or two until Zhou Jingyuan would give up, looking helpless, rubbing his forehead and then say, “I’m not in the mood to stay angry at you.”

It was just like how the big orange cat would get its fur fluffed up, only to be held by Qiao Guanxing and petted until it turned soft again.

The next day, early in the morning, the crown prince was summoned by the emperor for a meeting. By now, Qiao Guanxing had become accustomed to the prince being around the Astrology Tower. But with the Crown Prince being away for the whole morning, he was still a bit unaccustomed to it. He could only hug the orange cat, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, and sit by the window near the small stove to warm up.

He stroked the warm fur of the cat and suddenly realized that he didn’t even know its name.

“Kitty kitty,” he murmured, holding the orange cat’s paw. “You don’t seem like the beloved pet of any consort, are you perhaps like me, a stray with no home? Should I give you a name?”

The orange cat yawned.

“Hmm…” Qiao Guanxing frowned and thought for a moment. “How about… Xiao Huang?”

The orange cat scratched him with one paw.

From outside the window, a crisp, youthful female voice faintly called, “Lord Ning? Lord Ning—”

Jo Guanxing was puzzled. What “Lord Ning”? Palace servants generally referred to the national teachers in the Immortal Garden as “Immortal Masters” and didn’t address them as “Lord.”

Before he could figure it out, the orange cat on his lap suddenly jumped up, nimbly leaping out of the window and meowing a few times.

Jo Guanxing hurriedly followed and saw the orange cat being held by a well-dressed teenage girl, around 14 or 15, accompanied by a 3 or 4-year-old boy. The three of them—one girl, one boy, and one cat—looked quite familiar with each other.

The concubines generally avoided entering the Immortal Garden, and as far as Jo Guanxing knew, only the Third Princess, Zhou Mingse, was of the right age to be here.

He tentatively bowed and asked, “Your Highness, the Princess?”

“Please rise.”

The Third Princess patted the cat’s head and smiled at him, “You must be the National Teacher who often follows my elder brother around, right?”

Jo Guanxing, not having much interaction with young girls, felt somewhat reserved. He just nodded and replied, “Yes.”

“My elder brother should quite like you,” Zhou Mingse said, taking the little boy’s hand. “No need to be so formal. All of us siblings admire our elder brother, and anyone he favors, I will treat with respect.”

“Your elder brother likes me?” Jo Guanxing thought this statement didn’t quite align with reality, but before he could voice his doubts, Zhou Mingse seemed to sense his thoughts and added with a smile, “If he disliked you, he would have killed you by now.”

“You might not know this, but when my brother was 15, he took arms to the battlefield on the northern frontier, and he killed countless barbarians.”

Jo Guanxing felt a chill run down his back. So, the Crown Prince actually had quite a temper?

Should he thank his superior for sparing his life?

The northern wind began to blow again, and the wind chimes outside the courtyard slowly spun. Zhou Mingse extended her hand and lightly tapped it, smiling. “Interesting.”

She patted the little boy’s head and said to Jo Guanxing, “This is my younger brother, Jingwan. Won’t you invite us in to sit?”

The fire in the stove flickered, and with more people in the room, the warmth also spread.

The little prince hugged the orange cat and chirped, “Lord Ning!”

The orange cat lazily meowed in response.

Jo Guanxing was puzzled and asked, “Your Highness, is this cat named Lord Ning?”

“Yes,” Zhou Mingse took a sip of hot tea and patted the cat’s head. “It was named by the late Empress.”

She gazed at the cat with a hint of nostalgia in her eyes. “The late Empress was my brother’s mother. When I was little, I was also raised by her.”

“At that time, Lord Ning was just a few months old, running around the palace, climbing trees, and jumping on walls nonstop. The Empress would laugh and say that the little kitten patrolled the palace gates day and night more dutifully than the commander of the imperial guards. She said he deserved a big official title.”

“Her maternal family name was Ning, so she had the cat follow her surname. Everyone started calling it Lord Ning, and over time, it just stuck.”

Zhou Mingse finished and laughed at her own story. Jo Guanxing followed suit, his eyes turning into crescents as he smiled. “In that case, the late Empress must have been a very kind and gentle person.”

How could she have given birth to a son like Zhou Jingyuan?

“Yes.”

Those old memories were rarely mentioned, but Zhou Mingse was in the mood to share her childhood memories and lowered her voice, eagerly continuing.

“Let me tell you a secret about my elder brother—”

Jo Guanxing mimicked her, lowering his voice. “What is it?”

“My elder brother’s childhood nickname is…” Zhou Mingse laughed.

“Mian Mian.”

Mian Mian?!

Jo Guanxing’s eyes widened in surprise. He could never have imagined that the usually serious Crown Prince, who was always inexplicably angry and had reportedly fought on the battlefield for years, would have such a soft, fluffy nickname.

Seeing the disbelief on his face, Zhou Mingse explained further.

“When my brother was born, the royal palace’s fire-red kapok flowers were in full bloom, and at that time, the late Empress had various signs that made her think she was carrying a girl. Everyone was expecting a princess, so she had already picked out a nickname, Mian Mian.”

“But then my brother was born, and it turned out he was a prince. However, since they had already called him Mian Mian for months, the Empress refused to change it. It stuck, and even now, the royal uncles and aunts still call him that.”

Jo Guanxing couldn’t help but chuckle, repeating the nickname a few times in his mouth. Just as he was about to say something, the sound of the pearl curtain being lifted in the outer hall interrupted him.

Zhou Jingyuan entered, a bit of snow still on his cloak. Upon seeing the cheerful atmosphere in the room, he raised an eyebrow.

“Mingse?”

The Third Princess immediately stood up, holding the little prince’s hand. “Elder brother.”

“We came to find Lord Ning and thought we’d have some tea at the Astronomical Observatory.”

“Mm.”

Zhou Jingyuan took off his snowy cloak and looked at the Third Princess. “How come you didn’t bring any palace maids with you? What if the snow gets heavy and no one is there to hold an umbrella for you? You should return to your palace now.”

The Third Princess, who had no peers her age in the palace, was a bit reluctant to end the conversation. However, she was always obedient to her elder brother and, with some reluctance, bade farewell with her younger brother. “Alright, we’ll leave now.”

After the two, along with the cat, left, only Jo Guanxing and his cold-faced superior were left in the room.

Though Zhou Jingyuan’s expression seemed indifferent, Jo Guanxing could sense that his superior wasn’t very happy again. So, he began to go through the motions of trying to cheer him up.

“Your Highness, shall I pour you some hot tea?”

“There’s still another plate of rice cakes. Would you like some?”

“Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness…”

He spoke for a while, and Zhou Jingyuan finally glanced at him, responding in a rather indifferent tone, “You and Mingse seem to get along quite well.”

When the Crown Prince had entered, he had seen the two of them laughing so happily. Jo Guanxing’s round eyes were crescent-shaped with a bright smile, two deep dimples on his cheeks.

He thought, this little trickster had never smiled like that in front of him. In fact, there was always a sense of reverence whenever Jo Guanxing was around him.

It made Zhou Jingyuan feel somewhat displeased.

“…Huh?”

Jo Guanxing froze for a moment, and honestly replied, “It’s because we were talking about you, so we hit it off.”

The thought process of the little worker Jo Guanxing from the Great Zhou was quite simple. The Crown Prince Zhou Jingyuan was the older brother of the Third Princess, and also his superior. Both he and the Princess worked under Zhou Jingyuan, so of course, they had plenty of common topics to talk about!

“Oh?”

Zhou Jingyuan’s expression softened a little. So, the little liar was saying that he had been so happy and serious because he had heard something about him from Mingse?

“Then tell me, what did she talk to you about?”

Did she mention the time when he shot and killed the barbarian chief with one arrow at the age of 14? Or did she talk about how he helped with flood control and disaster relief after returning to the capital last year?

“I can tell you, but could you please not be upset?” Jo Guanxing leaned in, his eyes narrowing into a smile. “Alright? Princess Mian Mian?”

Then, he saw Zhou Jingyuan freeze when he heard those words. His expression stiffened for a moment before he slammed the teacup down heavily onto the table, as though trying to cover something up.

Although he looked furious, the back of his ears turned bright red, a flush that spread down into his collar and didn’t seem to dissipate.