Shao Chen was walking through the narrow and deserted pathway. He was becoming more familiar with this path after passing it several times for these three days.
"Young Miss!" A familiar voice greeted.
Shao Chen turn around, searching for He Tao who had been greeting him every night when he was walking back to the cold palace area. He Tao was sitting in front of the underground prison's gate. Several prison guard whom also familiar with Shao Chen immediately greeted.
"Did you come back from imperial office again? Young Miss, did that rumor that say you are licking His Majesty boots is true?" Wei Dong, one of the guard, asked without thinking.
He Tao slapped his friend's head. "What nonsense are you talking about?! That's really rude! Besides, do you think Young Miss could do that kind of complicated thing? Do you over understanding her brain skill—ouch!"
He Tao also got slapped in the head from his senior, Lu Yang. "You are rude too! Think before you talk!"
"It's hurt!" Lu Yang really slapped He Tao with all of his strength. He Tao could not stop his tears. The back of his head throbbed really hard.
Wei Dong laughed loudly at He Tao's suffering. He Tao glared at his friend with his hand raised high, ready to slap his friend's head again.
Feeling the big threat of becoming stupid, Wei Dong immediately ran away but still with laugh.
"You wait here!" He Tao almost ran after Wei Dong and made ruckuss if Lu Yang did not tugged his collar.
"You two don't make a fuss!" Lu Yang reprimanded the two while eye contacting another subordinate to catch Wei Dong back.
Shao Chen himself did not really care about their conversation. Wei Dong's statement about bootlicking had gripped all of his brain attention.
'Why they are talking about licking boot again? I don't do it or ….' Shao Chen was a bit suspicious of his understanding about licking a boot. Maybe he had understand it in a wrong way until now and supposedly had done the so called licking boot to the emperor without him knowing that that was licking boot.
Without noticing, Lu Yang had stood beside Shao Chen. "Young Miss, don't care about them. It's better for you to go back now. Night breeze is cold."
"Yes, Young Miss! You will get sick!" The other guards added.
At first, they bore a grudge to this Young Miss. However, after Shao Chen dwell on the cold palace and becoming a familiar face within the area, they could not ignore him because Shao Chen really … really did not have survival skills.
Within three days, Shao Chen always made a mess from dropping things until most of the things were rolling too far away, did not washing clothes properly so that some of the clothes still too wet, had bubble soap remaining, or even still had dirt on it, etc, etc.
Looking at that disaster, they could not stop worrying so at last, they decided to help Shao Chen. They even helped Shao Chen washed his clothes for these two days after witnessing the condition of those pity clothes on the first day.
Shao Chen nodded. "I w … ll g …."
"??????"
Shao Chen walked away, leaving the dumbfounded guards.
"What happened to Young Miss' voice?" He Tao asked worriedly.
Wei Dong who liked gossiping knew a little bit more. "I heard from the guard stationed in front of the imperial office that today, they did not hear the horrible voice from inside again. Maybe it's because of Young Miss' voice is like that?"
Meanwhile, Shao Chen had arrived in front of his dwelling, the stone pavilion. He went inside then lit the oil lamp on the table.
When the orange light illuminated the room, Shao Chen's eyes widened in shock. His room was in a mess! The things on his table had fell and scattered around the floor. The wardrobe still opened wide and all of his clothes had been thrown out.
'What had happened?'
Shao Chen was picking up the scattered things while matching all of them with his very short-term memory to ensure that he did not lose anything.
"I think all of them are here," he murmured after putting in the last piece of clothes into the wardrobe.
Throwing his ass on the bed – "Ouch!" He had forgot that the bed was made from stone. While stroking his ass to alleviate the pain, he pondered. He did not understand why his room became like this when he came back.
But, even if he spent a year of time, he could not think of anything to answer the question.
He gave up then decided to take a bath so he went to take water to fill up the wooden bath tub. After that, he took a small box out from his pocket. Inside the box was the paper that Yan Mei had given him. Every night, he would always make sure that he did not lose the paper before taking a bath.
Meanwhile, the prison guards were still gossiping when they heard footsteps. They warily looked around while preparing to fight. Even if there were very little chance of someone sneaked into the palace prison, but there were still one or two that managed to get inside and try to release the prisoner.
However, betraying their thought, a tall man with feature full of childish smile appeared. When he saw the guards, his smile was becoming wider. "Good night! Good work guys!"
"Th—Thirteenth Prince!" Lu Yang immediately paid respect. He did not expect to find their kingdom's youngest prince to walk around in this remote area.
"It is okay! It is okay! You do not have to be that formal!" Chen Yongrui pouted.
The other guards who were planning to give respect halted simultaneously. They were looking at each other, did not know what to do.
Fortunately, Chen Yongrui did not make it harder. In an instant, his was smiling again. "I have to go! Keep a good work!" He then running away without waiting for answer.
He Tao glanced at the path behind him. Several stone tall building could be seen. He could not help to frown.
"Why was the thirteenth prince coming from the cold palace direction?"
The other was also silent. They had the same question but they did not brave enough to make some speculation as the answer.