Chapter 54

Xiao Xixi rubbed her eyes: "What time is it now?"

"It's the second watch of the afternoon."

Xiao Xixi calculated the time in her head; the second watch of the afternoon would be around 2:30 PM.

"It's still early, let me sleep a bit more." She made a move to fall back onto the bed.

Baoqin quickly held her back: "You've already slept for almost an hour, you can't sleep any more. Sit still, and I'll help you get dressed and ready."

Xiao Xixi said weakly: "There's nothing much to do in the afternoon, let me sleep a bit more."

Baoqin urged: "Who said you have nothing to do? You need to prepare a soup to send to His Highness the Crown Prince. Although you are favored now, you can't be careless. You must seize every opportunity to show your devotion and make the Crown Prince remember your kindness. Only then can you maintain his favor."

"I'm not going, I want to sleep."

"Milady, you really can't sleep any more!"

Baoqin held onto Xiao Xixi's arm tightly, preventing her from lying down.

Xiao Xixi struggled but failed, so she just sat there and fell asleep.

Seeing this, Baoqin was almost in awe.

She had never seen a concubine who was so unmotivated!

Baoqin really wanted to shake her mistress awake and stop her from sleeping.

But she couldn't bear to disturb her, so with a feeling of frustration, she carefully helped her mistress lie down and covered her with a blanket.

Baoqin tiptoed out of the bedroom and headed to the small kitchen.

Since her mistress was too lazy to move, she, as a servant, would have to do the work. She would first prepare the soup, and when her mistress woke up, she would have her mistress personally deliver the soup to the Crown Prince, claiming that she had made it herself.

This was a common practice in the palace. Many concubines who didn't know how to cook but wanted to appear virtuous would have their servants secretly prepare the food and then have the mistress present it, so both the mistress and the servant would benefit.

Baoqin sighed. She didn't expect any rewards; she only hoped that her mistress would be more ambitious and stop just getting by.

Xiao Xixi woke up to the enticing aroma of food.

She got out of bed, twitched her nose, and followed the smell to the small kitchen.

"Baoqin, what are you making? It smells so good!"

Xiao Xixi said this while reaching out to lift the pot lid.

Baoqin stopped her: "Milady, don't touch it. This is the old duck soup prepared for His Highness the Crown Prince. You can't drink it. I'll help you get dressed and ready, and then you can take the old duck soup to the Crown Prince and tell him that you made it yourself."

Xiao Xixi was very disappointed: "Such a delicious soup, why is it for someone else? I want to drink it too."

Baoqin was prepared: "Don't worry, there's a whole pot of soup, and the Crown Prince will definitely not finish it all. I'll set aside a small portion to keep warm on the stove. When you come back after delivering the soup, this small portion will be all yours."

Xiao Xixi immediately perked up and urged: "Quick, quick, help me get ready, I'm going to deliver the soup to the Crown Prince!"

Baoqin silently praised her own cleverness.

To deal with her mistress, she needed to use food as a lure.

After getting dressed, Xiao Xixi carried the food box and left Qingge Palace with high spirits.

At this time, the Crown Prince was usually in his study handling official business, which was located in Mingguang Palace.

As Xiao Xixi was about to reach Mingguang Palace, she unexpectedly ran into someone.

General Xiao Lingfeng was standing at the entrance of Mingguang Palace, looking sweaty, as if he had some urgent matter.

He was surprised to see his eldest daughter here.