Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine

"Your Highness, Your Highness, it's nearly Mao-shi [1]; it's time to rise."

A soft voice sounded outside the canopy, and the person on the bed opened his eyes, his breathing still somewhat irregular.

"I know."

After a while, he turned and sat up, pulling back the curtain of the canopy. His bare feet touched the sandalwood footstool. Dressed only in underpants, his we Il-proportioned calves were exposed, fair as jade, yet exuding a powerful sense of beauty.

Xiao Anzi approached and knelt to help him put on shoes. At this moment, a group of eunuchs entered carrying trays, waiting quietly at the side.

Zhao Chen stood up and stepped down from the footstool. Just as Xiao Anzi was about to call someone to assist with changing, he headed for the bathing cha mber.

"Bathing."

It wasn't until he sat in the tub that Zhao Chen let out a sigh.

In recent days, he had been having all sorts of chaotic dreams, with one recurring scene: she was dressed in a robe as delicate as cicada wings, entwining her self around him, whispering in his ear that she wanted to give birth to a child for him.

Zhao Chen didn't know why he kept having these dreams, but after such dreams, he often had to seek refuge in the bath.

Traditionally, the imperial princes were provided with instructions regarding the affairs of the inner palace, usually with palace maids. However, now that Empr ess Su held power, this practice had been ignored. It was only when one of the palace nannies reminded Yaoniang about it that she was very surprised when she heard about this. She later inquired with Emperor Jin'an and confirmed this was indeed the case.

Emperor Jin'an didn't think much of it, but Yaoniang was strongly opposed, feeling that the crown prince was still too young.

As he grew older, the Emperor became more doting on the Empress, so the matter was dropped at Yaoniang's request. Thus, Crown Prince Zhao Chen remain ed inexperienced in such matters.

In fact, this arrangement suited him, as he wouldn't need to have to think about how to avoid this matter.

Nevertheless, he was a normal teenage boy, and as he got older, Sun Yue'er blossomed like a carefully nurtured flower. While he used to be able to maintain a pure heart, he started to behave inappropriately as Sun Yue'er's figure developed. Holding her hand or stealing a kiss was no big deal. However, going further, especially considering Sun Yue'er's respectable background, even Zhao Chen couldn't bring himself to commit such a shameless act.

So, he hurriedly looked forward to the day of their marriage, as the crown prince, he was supposed to marry at an older age. However, Zhao Chen expedited t he wedding by a year, leveraging the fact that Sun Yue'er was six months older than him.

"Why didn't you remember back then that she was older than you when you coaxed her into calling you 'Gege.'" While Yaoniang laughed at this, she was also willing to accommodate her son.

Anyway, now, for the upcoming wedding day which is in half a month, the palace was in a whirlwind of preparations, and Zhao Chen was eagerly awaiting the day.

Putting these thoughts aside, when Zhao Chen finally emerged from the Eastern Palace, it was already somewhat late.

Since last autumn, Emperor Jin'an had started arranging for Zhao Chen to become involved in politics.

According to the longstanding tradition of Dagan Dynasty, the crown prince's involvement in politics should start with the Imperial Academy. This was how fut ure heirs learned to interact with civil officials, as well as how they formed their own team of advisors.

Most of the third-ranked and higher-ranking civil officials in the court came from the Imperial Academy. To enter the cabinet, one usually had to be an Imperial Academy scholar. This showed the necessity of the tradition. So, Zhao Chen had been visiting the Imperial Academy every day recently. Emperor Jin'an had al so assigned him the task of overseeing the compilation of the "Hongjing Grand Canon," which was meant for the Emperor Emeritus, hitting two birds with one stone.

When Zhao Chen arrived at the Imperial Academy, it was already past Mao-shi. However, there was no one who dared to criticize the crown prince for being I ate. People simply pretended not to notice. Some young Imperial Academy scholars who were more familiar with Zhao Chen even commented on how diligent of a crown prince he was, especially considering that his wedding was coming up soon, yet he was still attending to his official duties.

After some small talk, they all got busy with their tasks.

Text compilation was a tedious job, without much reward, and any mistakes could have significant consequences. Generally, people were not eager to take on such tasks. However, this time was different. The person overseeing the compilation was the crown prince himself, and they wanted to make a good impress! on in front of their future emperor.

Zhao Chen was not the kind of person who slacked off. So, he spent the entire day working on the project until it was time to leave in the evening.

"Your Highness, are you returning to the palace?" asked Xiao Anzi.

Zhao Chen rubbed his forehead and said, "To Zhaoming Pavilion."

The Zhaoming Pavilion was located near Dong'an Gate, and it was Zhao Chen's residence. After the crown prince reached adulthood, it was customary for him to have a residence outside the palace, which allowed him to relax and rest.

However, in most cases, the crown prince would return to the palace unless it was absolutely necessary. But today, Zhao Chen had different intentions, choos ing to stay outside despite the early hour.

Xiao Anzi knew the reason. At times like this, it was either because the crown prince had some important business to attend to or because he wanted to visit hi s future crown princess.

Xiao Anzi calculated in his mind that it had been more than ten days since the last time the crown prince and the future crown princess met. Today, he must b e thinking about the future crown princess.

Zhao Chen spent some time at Zhaoming Pavilion, and as the night grew darker, he changed into black clothing and left the residence without his bodyguards. He didn't even bring Xiao Anzi along.

At the same time, in Duke Zhengguo Manor, Sun Yue'er was finally resting.

As the wedding day approached, she became increasingly busy. Besides learning palace etiquette from the palace nannies, she had to deal with well-wishers from various noble families, as well as distant relatives. Not to mention the countless other trivial matters.

Right now at this time, after finishing her dinner, she would normally take a leisurely walk in the courtyard or read in her room to relax. But not today.

During the meal, she was supervised by a palace nanny. After eating, she was asked to sit for a while, and then she was urged to go out for a walk, so as not t o have indigestion or gain weight from sitting for a long time. When she finally returned to her room, she couldn't relax yet. She had to take a bath, and the bat hing ritual was extensive. After her bath, her maid had to apply scented ointments and give her a half-hour massage from head to toe.

After all these routines, Sun Yue'er was already fighting off sleep. There was even more to come as the palace nanny had to explain the matters of men and w omen, so that she could serve the Crown Prince better in the future.

Sun Yue'er, who was typically patient and good-natured, had become quite irritable. If it weren't for being Xiaobao's sweetheart for many years, she would ha ve refused. Xiaobao had insisted on marrying her, and she had also always intended to marry him; otherwise, she would have quit long ago.

Finally after managing to send the palace nanny away, Sun Yue'er collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

Then she felt someone pinching her nose and upon waking up, she discovered a person in black clothing sitting on her bed.

1. 5-7 am

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