Gluttonous Crown Princess

Gluttonous Crown Princess Chapter 17.1

Since sending Zishuang away, the atmosphere in Yaoguang Hall has become much more harmonious.

At first, Tao Ti thought it was her own illusion until she overheard the idle chatter of three palace maids by chance one afternoon.

The topic of their chatter was all about how Zishuang had used her position to bully others, how rude she always was to little palace maids like them, how thankful they were that she was gone now, and that the crown princess had finally done a good deed…
and so on.

Then, the topic naturally shifted from Zishuang to her Mistress—

“Actually, I think the crown princess is pretty nice.
She always treats everyone politely and I’ve never seen her put on airs.”

“You’ve only eaten the crown princess’s snacks twice and you’re already siding her? How short-sighted! Who knows if she has really changed for the better now, or if she’s just putting on a show for His Highness?”

“I don’t think she’s pretending, right? Hey, don’t think so badly of people.
In fact, if you think about it, the crown princess is also quite pitiful.
Which lady doesn’t want to get married to a healthy gentleman? His Highness’s health is indeed not good… She had probably taken poison that time due to a momentary lapse of judgement.”

“Yeah, sure, but when I think of what she did before, I still feel quite disgusted.”

Hearing the small talk as she stood behind the corridor, Tao Ti did not feel angry.
After all, it would take time to change other people’s impressions of her.
At least for now, there was still someone who would speak up for her, so looking at the silver lining, didn’t that mean that her reputation was gradually getting better?

As she mused optimistically, she suddenly heard Linglong looking for her.

In order to not let the palace maids find out that she, the crown princess, was eavesdropping on them, she hastily moved away silently and walked towards the front hall.

It turned out that a female court official from the Internal Affairs Bureau had come to take her measurements in preparation for making her summer wardrobe.

Tao Ti cooperated with the female court official as she took the measurements and felt very satisfied when she saw the numbers.

This body had a slender waist and long limbs.
Although the chest was on the smaller side, there was still something if she squeezed a little.

The female court official sang compliments as she measured.
Happy from being flattered, Tao Ti took a purse and gave it to her as a reward; the female court official was surprised and delighted, and hurriedly gave thanks.

After the female court official took her leave, Tao Ti looked at the good weather and wanted to take advantage of the half-day left to try to finish exploring the large compound of the Eastern Palace.

Linglong saw that she was in good spirits and naturally did not stop her.
She ordered two junior eunuchs to accompany them and followed Tao Ti out the door.

The Eastern Palace covered a large area with many halls, pavilions, gardens and rockery—it was pleasantly scenic.

One of the junior eunuchs had a clever tongue—he chittered and chatted nonstop, introducing the various aspects of the Eastern Palace as they walked.
Tao Ti listened with great interest and thought to herself that it was a pity that such an eloquent talent was born at the wrong time—if he were in modern times, he would have been a gold medal tour guide for sure.

The group wandered leisurely for almost two hours before they finally just managed to tour the general layout of the Eastern Palace.

“I’m exhausted.
I didn’t expect the Eastern Palace to be so huge, my legs are about to break from all that walking.
I’ll have to soak my feet in hot water tonight.”

When Tao Ti returned to Yaoguang Hall in the afterglow of the sunset as she lamented, Pei Yan was already sitting in the courtyard drinking tea.

Hearing the movement at the door, he turned his head to look.

He was wearing pale white brocade robes today with a jade belt around his waist and was sitting tall and straight.
The golden sunlight sprinkled softly upon him, making his already delicate and beautiful eyes seem even more gentle.

This scene made Tao Ti suddenly forget to speak, and even her footsteps had unconsciously stopped.

Pei Yan smiled at her, and his voice was not too high or too low, “You’re back?”

Only then did Tao Ti come back to her senses and walked towards him.
Her dark and clear eyes carried some degree of surprise, “Your Highness, why are you here so early?”

In the past, he always came during dinner time, and it was not even dark yet now.

“I’m not busy today, so I just decided to drop by.” Pei Yan raised his hands and poured her a cup of tea, then motioned for her to sit down and drink it.

Tao Ti also happened to be thirsty; she sat down opposite him, picked up the cup of tea and drank, not giving the matter of “just decided to drop by” much thought.

Seeing that her cheeks were tinged with a light red and there was a thin layer of sweat on her smooth forehead, Pei Yan couldn’t keep from narrowing his black eyes and said softly, “I heard you crying out just now about being exhausted.
Where did you go?”

The cup of tea wasn’t enough for Tao Ti, so she poured another cup for herself, then replied, “It’s been a while since I’ve come to the Eastern Palace, and I haven’t really walked around properly, so I walked around the entire Eastern Palace at one go today.
I just didn’t expect the Eastern Palace to be so big, it took me almost the whole afternoon to finish walking around!”

Hearing this, Pei Yan lifted his eyes calmly to glance at Linglong who was standing by the side.

Seeming to understand the inquiry within those deep eyes, Linglong gave a brisk nod, indicating that the crown princess was telling the truth.

Only then did Pei Yan lift the corners of his lips and say lightly, “The future is long, you can take your time to walk around, there’s no need to be in a hurry.”