“Winter Snow Sculpting.”

In the cold winter days, Yao Huang didn’t particularly long to leave the palace. She either nestled in the Eastern Palace’s secondary chamber with its heated floor warming system, playing with Jun ge’er or reading storybooks, or pushed Jun ge’er to sit briefly with Empress Zhou, or was called over by Consort Du to play cards.

That Consort Du disliked Yao Huang was true, but it was also true that Yao Huang enjoyed the favor of the Emperor and Empress. When Consort Du had been neglected by Emperor Yongchang for too long, she wanted to bask in the Crown Princess’s reflected glory. Given that she and Yao Huang had little to talk about, playing cards became the only way the two could get together. As for Yao Huang, she liked playing cards and enjoyed winning Consort Du’s silver, so she was also willing to go to Consort Du’s place and chat incidentally with the other two card partners, Consort Xian and Consort Shen.

Among the palace’s female family members who could be relaxed in front of Yao Huang were these four consorts. Yao Huang genuinely respected Empress Zhou. As for the other three, as long as they didn’t deliberately target her, Yao Huang treated them like neighborhood elders who lived in the same area and interacted regularly—either chatting about daily life or playing cards for entertainment. She had to take initiative to make palace life more interesting.

On this day the wind outside was exceptionally strong. Going out wearing a cloak, the wind could blow half the cloak away. Yao Huang simply didn’t go anywhere and reclined on the couch in the secondary chamber reading storybooks. A’Ji came in periodically to pour her hot water, Bai Ling came in to bring her a plate of melon slices, Chun Yan came in to massage her shoulders, and Qiu Chan came in to take away finished storybooks and bring new ones…

Jun ge’er didn’t like being confined indoors. Bundled up like a ball, he sat in his pushcart and had the wet nurse push him to the deer garden to walk the dog and watch the deer.

Yao Huang flipped through two pages of the new storybook and saw an old woman selling roasted sweet potatoes inside, which immediately aroused her craving. She hadn’t eaten roasted sweet potatoes this winter, nor last year either. Last year she’d just moved into the Eastern Palace and everything was fresh and new—when the kitchen didn’t make roasted sweet potatoes, she’d actually forgotten there was such a fragrant and sweet common snack!

Yao Huang immediately sent someone to summon Gao Niangzi from the Eastern Palace’s small kitchen and asked if the kitchen had sweet potatoes.

Gao Niangzi: “Two days ago we just received five catties from the imperial kitchen. We were planning to dry them for two days before making sweet potato porridge. Does Your Ladyship want to eat them now?”

Yao Huang: “Yes, I want them roasted. Set up a charcoal brazier and place one of those wire racks used for grilling meat on top of it.”

When Yao Huang was at her maiden home, she would directly bury sweet potatoes in the stove to roast them, but the skin came out too dirty that way. Later, after marrying into the imperial family and eating many imperial banquets, Yao Huang learned that the prince’s residence and palace actually had a special wire rack specifically for grilling meat.

Gao Niangzi understood and asked: “Our charcoal brazier and grilling rack can roast four or five at once. Should I roast four for Your Ladyship first?”

Yao Huang calculated: “Squeeze them in and roast five. Jun ge’er and I will eat two, and send one each to His Majesty, Mother Empress, and the Crown Prince.”

Gao Niangzi accepted the order with a composed expression, but when she withdrew, her palms were sweating—she absolutely had to roast these sweet potatoes well!

Half an hour later, Gao Niangzi delivered the roasted sweet potatoes. The two for the Crown Princess and young prince were placed directly on a plate, while the other three were each packed in a food box wrapped on the outside with thick silk-covered padding to ensure they wouldn’t be cooled by the cold wind on the road.

Yao Huang arranged for three young eunuchs to run the errands.

At this time, around the hour of the monkey in the afternoon, the Eastern Palace’s young eunuch arrived outside the Crown Prince’s office at the Ministry of Works and happened to run into Minister Yan Lun backing out.

Yan Lun curiously glanced at the tightly wrapped food box in the young eunuch’s hands, sniffed, and faintly caught a trace of sweet fragrance.

Qing Ai received the food box and brought it inside.

When he opened the food box and took out the still-steaming roasted sweet potato on the plate inside, the rich sweet fragrance instantly and domineeringly filled the entire office.

Zhao Sui: “…”

He had Qing Ai withdraw, then carried the roasted sweet potato the Crown Princess had sent over to the guest chair area and methodically peeled away the charred yellow sugary sweet potato skin.

In the imperial study, Emperor Yongchang stared at yet another snack that looked quite cheap sent by his filial daughter-in-law and had Eunuch Wang peel it for him.

Eunuch Wang suppressed his drooling and sighed: “This old servant also ate these when young—so sweet.”

Emperor Yongchang: “I don’t like these sweet, cloying things.”

He hadn’t liked drinking sweet potato porridge or red date porridge even as a child. After ascending the throne, the imperial kitchen never made him sweet porridge again.

Eunuch Wang didn’t defend the roasted sweet potato further, only revealed the golden-red sweet potato flesh inside for His Majesty to see.

Chopsticks and a spoon were available nearby. Emperor Yongchang picked up the chopsticks, took a bite and put it in his mouth. After exchanging a glance with Eunuch Wang, Emperor Yongchang ate more than half in one go and bestowed the remainder on Eunuch Wang.

That night he mentioned this to Empress Zhou: “I’ve lived most of my life, and if the second son’s wife hadn’t sent this over, I wouldn’t have known that roasted sweet potatoes and boiled sweet potatoes have completely different sweetness.”

Empress Zhou smiled: “I’ve actually eaten roasted ones before, but this snack doesn’t look refined, so I never thought to have the imperial kitchen make it for Your Majesty.”

The food in the palace—even simple steamed cabbage could be arranged artfully like flowers. Ash-gray roasted sweet potatoes were truly out of place.

Emperor Yongchang patted Empress Zhou’s hand.

They were both people living within rules and propriety. He could indulge his daughter-in-law’s genuine nature, but couldn’t necessarily tolerate an empress with a daughter-in-law’s temperament. The second son was different—from childhood he’d never received even a trace of affection that overstepped rules. Having married the forthright and warm Crown Princess was like suddenly encountering a blazing fire in the depths of winter—naturally he’d treasure her.

Winter days were short. When the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace, night had already fallen.

Yao Huang sat on the heated kang playing with Jun ge’er while waiting for the Crown Prince to return so they could eat together. Seeing the Crown Prince in his everyday clothes, Yao Huang asked with a smile: “Was the roasted sweet potato delicious? Jun ge’er is so small but ate more than half of one.”

The little imperial grandson held in Emperor Yongchang’s palm ate a roasted sweet potato like a child from an impoverished family tasting meat for the first time—his eyes lit up.

Zhao Sui nodded slightly.

That night after crawling into the bedding with just the married couple, Zhao Sui reminded the Crown Princess: “In the future if there’s any food, you can wait until I return to eat it together. You don’t need to send it to my office. There are many people with many eyes in the front court—it might invite discussion.”

Yao Huang: “Discussion about what? Discussion that the Crown Princess thinks of the Crown Prince and sends him anything delicious at the first opportunity?”

Zhao Sui: “No, they might discuss that you don’t distinguish between light and urgent matters and disturb my duties.”

Yao Huang: “How much time could eating a roasted sweet potato take? I didn’t pick a major occasion like court assembly to send it. If Your Highness is busy when it arrives, you can set it aside without eating. If you’re not busy, just eat it casually. Or are you saying Your Highness doesn’t like me sending things and is deliberately using the ministers as an excuse? If that’s truly the case, Your Highness needn’t take such a roundabout approach. In the future, even if I find two immortality pills, I won’t share them with you—I’ll just eat them myself and ascend to immortality.”

Zhao Sui: “I don’t dislike it. I’m just afraid your kind intentions in caring for me might unintentionally attract idle gossip from external ministers.”

Yao Huang: “Those who gossip about such small matters definitely aren’t good ministers. Why should I care about them? As long as Your Highness’s heart sweetened for a moment when receiving the food, then my thoughtfulness wasn’t wasted.”

She crawled onto the Crown Prince’s body and looked at his handsome face, asking: “Tell the truth, Your Highness—did your heart sweeten or not?”

Zhao Sui lowered his gaze.

Yao Huang then tried to pry open the Crown Prince’s thin eyelids.

Zhao Sui was already familiar with all the Crown Princess’s little gestures. With one roll he pressed the Crown Princess beneath him and said at her ear: “Seeing the food box was like seeing you.”

Yao Huang hummed: “I’m not as sweet as roasted sweet potato.”

Zhao Sui kissed her side neck, kissing until the Crown Princess unconsciously grasped the brocade bedding. Only then did Zhao Sui clasp one of her hands: “Eating too much of that becomes cloying.”

The Crown Princess was different. Nearly four years into their marriage, his desire for her was as strong as when newly wed.

On the twenty-fifth of the twelfth month, the capital had a heavy snowfall. The previous few times had been scattered light snow that couldn’t even completely whiten the ground.

Early the next morning, before dawn fully broke, the Crown Prince had to get up again.

Yao Huang held him and wouldn’t let him go: “Your Highness has practiced martial arts for nearly a year. Rest these few days before the new year.”

The Crown Prince didn’t find rising early bitter, but she felt sorry for him.

Zhao Sui: “I’m accustomed to rising early. If you don’t let me practice martial arts, I’m already awake—what would I do staying in bed?”

Yao Huang: “…”

The Crown Princess immediately wrapped herself in the quilt and rolled to the inner part of the bed, preferring to let the Crown Prince go freeze rather than accompany him in sweating on a winter dawn morning.

This trip the Crown Prince took lasted until Yao Huang had finished grooming and could order the kitchen to bring breakfast at any time.

Yao Huang and Jun ge’er were both on the kang in the secondary chamber. Soon they’d place the low table and the family of three would sit on the kang to eat.

When the Crown Prince came in, Jun ge’er looked toward Father Prince’s face with a smile. Yao Huang first looked the Crown Prince up and down, noticing his earlobes were red from cold. Yao Huang glared at him once, pulled him onto the kang, and touched first his hands then his ankles. His hands were reasonably warm, but his ankles were ice cold.

Yao Huang found this strange: “Your Highness practices martial arts—shouldn’t it make your whole body heat up?”

Zhao Sui looked at Jun ge’er and said: “I built a snowman for Jun ge’er. Haven’t finished yet.”

Yao Huang: “…”

She couldn’t say more and pulled the quilt folded by the window to cover the Crown Prince’s legs.

The kitchen brought breakfast—steaming hot boiled dumplings. The already-warmed Crown Prince held Jun ge’er and sat at the low table, personally attending to Jun ge’er’s meal.

Yao Huang sat beside father and son. Before starting to eat, she went to touch the Crown Prince’s ankle again.

Zhao Sui looked at the Crown Princess with a complicated expression.

Yao Huang: “Your Highness deliberately torments yourself just to make me feel sorry for you, don’t you?”

The Crown Prince focused on caring for Jun ge’er.

After the meal, the Crown Prince still had to go to the deer garden to build the snowman. Yao Huang had him go first. She bundled Jun ge’er in his cloak, put on two tiny leather mittens to warm his hands, then placed Jun ge’er in the pushcart and pushed him alone to the deer garden.

The Crown Prince who could move freely built snowmen much faster than when he sat in a wheelchair years ago. Perhaps he’d also gained experience and his skills had become more proficient. After busying himself in the deer garden for about an hour, he’d actually carved the cloaked Crown Princess snowman with smooth head, neck and form, and was now meticulously sculpting the facial features.

Yao Huang pushed Jun ge’er in a circle around the Crown Prince and snowman. After stopping, she pointed at the snowman and said to Jun ge’er: “This is the snowman Father Prince built for you. Shall we also build a snowman for Father Prince?”

Jun ge’er nodded.

Yao Huang lifted Jun ge’er down and took him to roll snowballs. By the time the Crown Prince finished sculpting the Crown Princess snowman’s facial features, Yao Huang and Jun ge’er had also built a round ball snowman over four feet tall beside it.

In the afternoon, after Yao Huang rested from midday and made another round to the deer garden, she discovered that the round ball snowman she’d built had actually been sculpted by the Crown Prince into a little cloaked Jun ge’er.

How could there be just mother and son? Yao Huang deliberately went to shovel a pile of snow, preparing to build another Crown Prince snowman.

Footsteps came from behind. Yao Huang turned her head and saw the Crown Prince wearing a bamboo-green brocade robe.

Yao Huang ignored him and continued building her large snowman body.

Zhao Sui crouched over to help.

Yao Huang: “Build an ugly one or handsome one?”

The Crown Prince didn’t answer, only took several sheathed small knives for carving snowmen from his sleeve.

When dusk descended and fine snow flew again with the light wind, the Eastern Palace’s deer garden had gained a family of three snowmen. On the warm, heated kang in the rear hall, the Crown Prince sat at the low table writing the character for fortune. The Crown Princess held Jun ge’er beside him watching the fortune character take shape stroke by stroke on the red paper. Occasionally Jun ge’er would want to snatch the brush from Father Prince. Occasionally the Crown Princess would secretly reach underneath to touch the Crown Prince’s ankle.

The Crown Prince patiently pressed down Jun ge’er’s little hand time and again. As for the Crown Princess—he’d return the favor at night.