Even though Yun Dai felt completely befuddled by his request, she still boiled some water.
In the darkness, she groped her way to the well, drew some water, boiled it in a large cauldron, and carried it in a bucket up to the Crown Prince's room.
The Blessed Palace was completely silent. She was surprised that there wasn't a single maid or servant around.
She didn't see Liu Dequan around either.
Yun Dai carried the hot water into Zhao Yuanjing's bedroom. He was lying on his couch, reading a book.
When Yun Dai walked in, he didn't even look at her.
Yun Dai quietly pulled the bathing tub out into the middle of the room, poured all the hot water into it, and then added cold water until the temperature was just right. She picked up her empty bucket and was just about to walk out.
"Stop right there," Zhao Yuanjing's aloof voice rang out.
Yun Dai stopped in her tracks and said politely, "Your Highness, what other instructions do you have for me tonight?"
"Help me with my bath."
Yun Dai didn't know what to say.
Was this disgusting Crown Prince nuts?
He had so many pretty maids in the palace, and he didn't want to call any of them. Instead, he wanted someone who worked in the kitchen to help him with his bath...?
Zhao Yuanjing got to his feet lazily, stood in front of the bathing tub, and stretched his arms out.
But after waiting for a long while, nothing happened.
"Why are you still standing there in a daze? Haven't you learned how to serve your master?" Zhao Yuanjing glared at her. "Help me remove my coat."
"This is not within my scope of work," said Yun Dai.
She was someone who worked in the kitchen. It was already inappropriate for her to come into the Crown Prince's room. If any of the palace maids assigned to the Crown Prince ever saw her remove his coat and help him with a bath, they would definitely find a way to sabotage her.
Yun Dai was adamant about refusing him.
She picked up her bucket again and walked off without even turning back.
Zhao Yuanjing reached out and grabbed the back of her collar and pulled her back. He had a strange smile on his face as he said, "Everyone else is more than happy to serve me, but you're trying to run away from me?"
Yun Dai struggled. "I'm a married woman."
"You still dare to lie to me?" Zhao Yuanjing raised an eyebrow and said, "I got someone to investigate you already. You are the second daughter of the Minister of Public Works, Minister Gu. You gave birth to a baby boy without being married and severed ties with your family. Now you're living with a family that owns a small business."
Yun Dai, surprised, turned back to look at him. "You checked up on me?"
A cold glint flashed across her eyes.
She didn't even realize that she had done that.
But Zhao Yuanjing had seen it clearly.
"I can check up on anyone I want to." He paused for a moment before continuing, "But there's one thing that puzzles me."
"What is it?"
"According to the grapevine, Minister Gu's second daughter is 16 years old, and she's supposed to be extremely pretty," said Zhao Yuanjing as he spun her around and forced her to face him. "But no matter how I look at this face, I can't see how it's pretty at all."
Yun Dai looked down. "You can't trust most rumors."
"Is that so?"
Zhao Yuanjing exerted some force and picked her up and flung her right into the bathing tub.
Yun Dai was completely caught off guard, and she went right down under the water.
She flailed about a few times, swallowing a few mouthfuls of water before managing to grip the sides of the tub with both hands and emerge from the water. She shouted both in shock and anger, "Zhao Yuanjing, you're out of your mind!"
Zhao Yuanjing froze immediately.
It was true that this was a name he had been given when he was born.
But in all these years, nobody had ever called him by his full name.
His own parents didn't even call him by his full name.
Hearing it from another person's mouth, it seemed unfamiliar to him and even somewhat strange.
But he didn't feel offended.
In fact, there was something very novel about this.
Before he could recover from this feeling, he noticed dark streaks flowing down Yun Dai's face. She looked a total mess.
He could make out fair skin beneath these dark streaks.
Zhao Yuanjing grabbed hold of her chin and pushed her face back into the water again.
"You're out of your m..."
Before Yun Dai could finish her sentence, her face was plunged back into the water, and the rest of her words were lost.
Shortly, she was pulled back up, then plunged back down.
This went on another five or six times.
Finally. everything that had been on her face hiding who she really was had been washed off, leaving her face sparkling clean.