Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The nine dishes, nine bowls, and nine plates were swiftly devoured by the two long-starved individuals, leaving not a trace.

Seeing the Ninth Prince about to clear the dishes, Gao Zhen quickly intervened, "Your Highness, allow me!"

Zhou Yunning's gaze swept over Gao Zhen's slender, pale wrist. "Use the largest bucket to wash them," he instructed, pointing outside the door. "Once clean, bring them to the eastern hall."

Gao Zhen acknowledged the command and exited with the dishes and bowls.

The Ninth Prince raised an eyebrow in surprise, observing Gao Zhen's efficient work—squatting down and getting straight to it, a practicality that sharply contrasted with his delicate appearance.

Then, amidst the splashing sounds of water, red text suddenly flashed wildly in Gao Zhen's mind—

*Favorability +1*

*Favorability +1*

Gao Zhen: !

Ah, Ninth Prince is giving me little boosts again, how wonderful!

He smiled to himself~

He washed even more vigorously, even kneeling on one knee without realizing it, to exert more force.

The Ninth Prince tidied the large food box and took it to the eastern hall. As he stepped out, he saw Gao Zhen kneeling on the ground washing dishes. Frowning slightly, he re-entered the hall, fetched a small stool, and slid it under Gao Zhen. "Sit," he commanded.

"Ah?"

Gao Zhen was so engrossed in thoughts of *washing dishes, tasks, warming his heart, electric shocks* that he hadn’t noticed someone approaching from behind. Startled by the sudden touch, he felt a jolt and sprang up, still clutching a bowl. His knee bumped the bucket, and as he lost his balance, nearly falling, a strong arm wrapped around his waist just in time.

Gao Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and quickly said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"What startled you so much?" Zhou Yunning asked, a mix of amusement and curiosity in his voice.

"It’s just that I’m too sensitive; it’s not Your Highness’s fault."

But he immediately regretted it—*didn’t that sound like he was blatantly saying, "My bottom is very sensitive, so don’t touch it unless necessary"?* Gao Zhen wished he could bite his tongue off and hurriedly explained, "Well, it’s not that I’m sensitive; it just felt like something poked me!"

"Let me see."

The Ninth Prince carefully inspected the stool. The mortise and tenon structure had no splinters, so it couldn’t have poked anyone. Since there were clearly no splinters on the stool, his gaze naturally fell on the spot Gao Zhen was covering with his hand.

Noticing the Ninth Prince’s gaze, Gao Zhen quickly covered his bottom and turned away, his face flushed crimson. "I need to use the restroom," he stammered.

"Southwest corner."

Before the Ninth Prince could finish, Gao Zhen had already dashed off. So embarrassing, worse than social death—utterly mortifying.

The courtyard spanned about 800 square meters, longer from north to south. From the main gate to three *zhang* (about 10 meters) in front of the main hall’s steps stood two rows of tall poplar trees. It was unclear how many years they had been growing, but each tree was now thicker than Gao Zhen’s waist. Between the trees was a bluestone path, which branched off into two smaller stone paths near the gate—one leading to the wind room in the southeast corner and the other to the latrine in the southwest corner. The rest of the area was bare soil, still damp from the rain a few days prior.

Outside the latrine entrance, a row of wooden pillars formed an L-shaped passage. Thatch hung from the roof over the pillars, blocking the light and making it dark inside. Gao Zhen didn’t go in but stood in the passageway, using the light behind him to lift his robe and pull down his underwear. Twisting to look back, he saw the spot he had been covering was already bruised purple. There were no nails or splinters—just a bump from the stool, and it had already turned purple?!

Gao Zhen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. What kind of bottom is this, so delicate?! This body seemed even more fragile than he had imagined. No wonder people said *ger* were delicate, weak, and easily pushed over—there was some truth to it. Gao Zhen didn’t dwell on it further. He breathed into his palms to warm them, then pressed his warmed hands against the bruise, gently massaging it. But it hurt so much that he grimaced in pain, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.

Had he bothered to skim through the original owner’s memories, he would have easily realized that his current condition was simply because he was still in the midst of his heat cycle and hadn’t fully recovered.

Also, this injury might not have been from the stool—

Gao Zhen hadn’t emerged for a while.

Zhou Yunning grew concerned and walked toward the southwest corner. He didn’t expect to find Gao Zhen already undressed in the passageway and paused in slight surprise. Because his eyesight was so sharp, he immediately noticed the lone purple mark amid the expanse of pale skin, along with many other bluish-red marks, and was somewhat startled. He suddenly recalled how, the previous night, he had to work hard to free himself from the two soft legs wrapped around his waist. Had he accidentally injured him?

Zhou Yunning felt a pang of guilt. Remembering he still had some ointment left, but knowing a warm compress would work better, he decided to go back and heat water. But just as he turned to leave, Gao Zhen looked up.

Their eyes locked—

"……"

"……"

Gao Zhen’s face flushed bright red. He quickly squatted down, covering himself with his robe, wishing he could vanish into the ground.

Zhou Yunning was taken aback. He had no experience dealing with such a situation and, flustered, said, "Does it hurt a lot? If you can’t walk, I can carry you back."

Gao Zhen: *He saw everything!*

So embarrassing!

When Gao Zhen didn’t respond, Zhou Yunning walked over step by step.

Gao Zhen wanted to say, "I haven’t pulled up my pants yet, don’t come over," but before he could speak, the Ninth Prince said, "I’m sorry. When I changed your clothes yesterday, I kept my eyes closed, so I didn’t notice you were so injured. We’ll apply a warm compress later and use some ointment. The ointment is very effective—it was taught to me by a Taoist master from the temple."

The Ninth Prince’s voice was unexpectedly soothing when comforting others, warm and calming. But Gao Zhen wasn’t shocked by the tone—it was the information in those words.

*Had he heard correctly?* The Ninth Prince said he kept his eyes closed while changing his clothes? Given the Ninth Prince’s character, it was entirely possible, but…

Did that mean last night, they didn’t actually—

But his clothes were clearly torn?

Gao Zhen’s voice trembled as he spoke again. He asked cautiously, "There’s a torn garment on the chair in the north room…"

"You weren’t well yesterday and kept tearing at that garment. I was afraid you’d hurt yourself, so I changed it for you." Zhou Yunning had already reached Gao Zhen. He crouched down, towering a full two heads over the huddled figure. With a long arm, he gathered Gao Zhen into his embrace, then wrapped the hem of Gao Zhen’s robe around his ankles twice and tied it securely before scooping him up into his arms. This thoughtful act kept Gao Zhen from being exposed in the slightest.

Gao Zhen felt so grateful he could cry. Nestled against Zhou Yunning’s shoulder, he felt a sense of safety he had never known before.

This man was so reliable.

Compared to him, Gao Zhen felt like a reckless child. But he quickly let it go—after all, he was only eighteen, and his life experiences were nowhere as harsh as Zhou Yunning’s.

Of course, being able to develop such a dependable character in such a harsh environment, the Ninth Prince was unbelievably strong.

Seeing Gao Zhen silent, Zhou Yunning thought he was still bothered about the clothing and said, "If you’re reluctant to part with that garment, I can try to fix it for you in a couple of days."

Gao Zhen: !

Please stop talking, or *I’ll melt from your warmth*.

He had accepted the task to [Warm His Heart]. Whether the Ninth Prince’s heart was warmed remained unknown, but Gao Zhen’s heart was turning to mush.

"Ninth Prince," Gao Zhen said with a sniffle, his voice hoarse and soft, "I’m really good at giving massages."

"Oh." Zhou Yunning looked down at the smaller man in his arms, noticing his long lashes fluttering—clearly both expectant and nervous after saying this, completely adorable. He smiled and said, "Tonight, then."

"Mm-hm." Gao Zhen responded and quickly added, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Zhou Yunning didn’t reply, only the corners of his mouth slowly quirked up.

In just a few steps, Zhou Yunning carried Gao Zhen back to the main room in the north. He placed Gao Zhen on the bed and then went to the east hall. After tidying his clothes, Gao Zhen hurriedly followed to help.

Earlier, the Ninth Prince had mentioned heating water for a warm compress, and Gao Zhen felt too embarrassed to just wait to be waited on. Besides, he now knew the marks on his body weren’t caused by the Ninth Prince but were from being tied up when he was brought here. All that unspeakable guilt turned into motivation to work.

Gao Zhen hurried excitedly into the east hall, only to be startled by the furnishings inside. Was this… the legendary "utility room"?

There were three very large long tables in the room, but their colors and styles didn’t match each other.

The main door faced west, and from the entrance, Gao Zhen could see a table against the northern wall holding various bottles, jars, and several types of dried herbs, alongside the system-provided large food box.

The table in the middle, facing him, was covered with woodworking tools—hammers, chisels, saws, axes, pliers—and a few half-finished wooden gears.

The table against the southern wall was shorter than the other two but held the most items. Neatly arranged on it were pots, pans, bowls, plates, knives, spoons, chopsticks, and dishes. Aside from the brand-new set of nine plates, nine bowls, and nine dishes, everything else showed signs of use.

In the corner, there were also a shovel and a pickaxe.

These must be all of the Ninth Prince’s possessions, right? It must have taken immense effort to gather such a collection in the cold palace. Gao Zhen sighed inwardly, feeling even more that the Ninth Prince had a very hard time here.

In the southeastern corner, a pit was dug in the ground, with several bricks removed from the wall inside it, revealing a hole to the outside.

A large, broken iron pot sat over the pit, filled with water. The Ninth Prince was adding firewood into the pit and said to Gao Zhen as he entered, "It might get a bit smoky soon. If it’s too much for you, you can go outside."

"Your Highness, should I take care of the fire?" Gao Zhen crouched beside the Ninth Prince, took the firewood from his hands, and added it to the pit. "Doesn’t the palace mind us lighting a fire here?"

"Of course they would," the Ninth Prince replied. "But I dug a hidden flue outside, with air vents every three feet along the wall. The smoke disperses this way instead of rising in a single column like a chimney. As long as we do it at night after everyone’s asleep, no one will notice, even if we use it daily."

"By the way," he added, "the water in the white basin on the table is safe to drink—it’s been boiled."

This was surely knowledge from many mistakes. As Gao Zhen listened, he imagined a young child, barely ten years old, tinkering alone in this courtyard, and his heart ached with sympathy. "Alright. Thank you, Your Highness," he replied, his voice slightly nasal, his eyes glistening as he looked at the Ninth Prince.

The water heated quickly. Zhou Yunning ladled it from the pot, pouring half into a bucket and the other half into another ceramic basin on the table. He covered it with a wooden lid he’d made himself and said contentedly, "This should last us two days."

Then, the Ninth Prince used fire tongs to collect all the charcoal from the pit, arranging it in a row on the empty ground. Heat radiated outward, instantly warming the room.

Gao Zhen suggested, "Shall we get half a bucket of cold water? Mixed together, it should be enough for both of us."

"Sure."

Zhou Yunning glanced at Gao Zhen with slight surprise, as the words sounded almost like an invitation to bathe together. But seeing Gao Zhen still hanging his head slightly, as if shy, he didn’t press further, simply thinking how utterly adorable this young man was.

Gao Zhen wasn’t used to looking directly at the Ninth Prince’s face, so he didn’t realize the Ninth Prince was watching him with a smiling gaze. He picked up a bucket, went outside to the water vat to scoop half a bucket of cold water, and when he returned, he saw the Ninth Prince had laid a cotton cloth on the table.

Zhou Yunning placed the bamboo tube of ointment on the table, then bent over to start mixing water from the three buckets. Without looking up, he said to Gao Zhen, "Let me help you wash up first. Take off your robe and leave it on the table."