Qin Zheng was lounging on the bamboo couch in the evening, continuing to flip through the book “Agricultural Canon.”
She thought since Chu Chengji had decided to accompany her to inspect and survey the area around the Yuan River tomorrow, it was necessary to share her plans regarding agricultural development in Qingzhou with him.
Chu Chengji was poring over the documents he had brought back in the afternoon when Qin Zheng approached with the agricultural book.
She sat down on the cushion next to his feet, placed the book on his knee, and propped her chin on her palm, looking up at him.
“What’s wrong?” Chu Chengji’s eyes were half-lidded.
In his line of sight was a woman dressed in loose light pink sleeping attire, her long, soft black hair tied in a loose bun with the jade hairpin he had given her earlier.
Her fair skin seemed to emit a faint glow under the warm orange candlelight, but what captivated him the most were her sparkling eyes, resembling a constellation of stars.
“I want to talk to you about my plans,” Qin Zheng said with a beaming smile.
It was rare for her to smile so broadly that both her eyes squinted, indicating her extreme happiness.
Chu Chengji was slightly taken aback by her expression.
As he sat on the low couch and Qin Zheng sat on the cushion, she was much shorter than him.
From his perspective, she looked like a cat basking in contentment in her own territory.
Suddenly, he had the urge to tousle her hair.
And so, he did, intertwining his fingers in her soft black locks, reluctant to let go. “Go ahead, tell me.”
Qin Zheng pointed to the illustration of a waterwheel on the book page. “These type of tube wheels can only be built near rivers. Villages far from the river cannot irrigate their fields. I want to dig some underground channels in the villages far from the river and use foot-powered water wheels to bring water into the terraced fields.”
The illustrated high-rotation waterwheel was a retro version of the waterwheel still seen in some scenic areas in later times, resembling a miniature Ferris wheel.
When the water flow was rapid, it could be powered by water, but when the water flow was insufficient, it relied on human or animal power to rotate.
The foot-powered waterwheel Qin Zheng mentioned was something she had seen in the fields of Qingzhou’s riverside area a few days ago, after the floods.
Although made of wood, it needed to be pedaled by human power to draw water up.
However, it was indeed an ancient version of a water pump.
To ensure more land received irrigation, the areas where the underground channels passed had to be fertile, and the terrain had to be surveyed personally to determine if construction was feasible.
As she spoke, she leaned in a bit closer, and Chu Chengji, who had initially focused on her preliminary plans for digging underground channels, found his attention diverted to the delicate fragrance emanating from her bathed body.
After Qin Zheng finished speaking, blinking expectantly at him, waiting for his feedback.
“It sounds good. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about agriculture. Let’s proceed with your plan first, and if there are uncertainties, we can discuss with Song Heqing and the others.”
This wasn’t entirely a platitude.
Time couldn’t stand still; three hundred years had already brought about many changes.
Since arriving in Qingzhou, he had always been immersed in books, studying various works written by eminent figures of the past three centuries: military treatises, historical records, policy debates...
His knowledge was still stuck three hundred years in the past.
Although there hadn’t been any earth-shattering changes in military and political affairs, many new things had emerged over the centuries.
Now preoccupied with governmental affairs, he hadn’t found time to read agricultural books like this.
With his assurance, Qin Zheng felt reassured.
As she prepared to leave with the “Agricultural Canon,” Chu Chengji’s hand, which had fallen from her hair, slid down to her slender shoulder.
“Hmm?” Qin Zheng turned to look at him.
Chu Chengji leaned down slightly, took a shallow sniff at her hair, and in a low, husky voice, asked, “What fragrance are you wearing? It smells so good.”
“Perfume?” Qin Zheng lifted her arm to sniff, “Are you talking about the scent of pancreas?”
She suddenly leaned closer to him, like a little animal, twitching her nose to smell the scent on his body, “Yes, it’s the scent of pancreas, you have it too.”
Her long hair brushed over Chu Chengzhi’s face, cool and itchy.
Chu Chengzhi just smiled faintly, but his eyes didn’t match the shallowness of his smile.
He had used that scent before, knew what it was like, so there was no way he was asking just for the sake of it.
He had noticed a faint cold fragrance on her before, thinking it was from some precious fragrance used back in the palace, hence it lingered for so long.
But after arriving in Qingzhou, although she hadn’t worn the same clothes from the palace, that cold fragrance still lingered on her.
That’s why he asked.
Qin Zheng wanted to step back after sniffing, but her head was pressed down by him, and Chu Chengzhi’s lips were pressed onto hers.
She softly exclaimed, widening her eyes, looking at his handsome face so close to hers.
The latter had closed his eyes, patiently rolling over her soft lips, even when his tongue came out, it was overly gentle, easily stirring up the fantasies hidden in the night.
The book “Agricultural Economics” fell to the ground.
Qin Zheng’s eyelashes trembled violently.
At first, her hands could support on his chest, but later her whole body softened from the kiss.
Chu Chengzhi wore a thin sleeping gown over a dark robe.
The golden threads embroidered on the robe’s hem shimmered in the candlelight.
The ties of the inner garment were loosely tied, and when Qin Zheng’s hands pressed against his chest, they had already loosened, revealing most of his strong chest.
Perhaps it was his naturally pale skin, under the scorching sun of summer, his face and neck had darkened a bit since leaving the palace, but overall, the difference in skin tone was not significant.
They say beauty is a double-edged sword, Qin Zheng admitted that she was blinded by beauty at the moment.
Looking at Chu Chengzhi lying on the soft couch, his face calm and composed as if reading some ancient text, but his lips were moist with a watery glow, his eyes held a hint of indulgence...
she swallowed hard, her fingertips slowly sliding from his thin lips down to his Adam’s apple, then continued downward, untying the tie.
Seeing those well-defined abdominal muscles, Qin Zheng couldn’t help but touch them, then exclaimed in surprise, “Soft?”
The air seemed to stagnate for a moment.
Feeling the muscles tense under her touch, becoming hard, no longer as soft and flexible as before, Qin Zheng quickly withdrew her hand, feeling guilty, she hastily covered his clothes, “I thought the muscles here were always hard...”
It wasn’t the first time she had seen his physique, but it was definitely the first time she had touched it.
During his high fever and coma, Qin Zheng had been wiping him with a cloth, too worried about his fever not subsiding to pay attention to these things.
At this moment, her palm seemed to catch fire, and that heat even rushed to her face.
Chu Chengzhi still looked calmly at her flushed face and her frantic movements. When she wanted to escape embarrassedly, he grabbed her hand and easily pinned her to the soft couch, his breath near her ear was uneven as he spoke, “I don’t have to go to the council chamber right now.”
Qin Zheng’s face was already burning.
...
The next day when she was dressing up, she piled layers of powder on her neck, but still couldn’t hide the marks left by someone last night.
Helpless, Qin Zheng had to wear a veil for the first time.
Chu Chengji didn’t ride a horse either, but took the carriage with her.
Qin Zheng was so sleepy that her eyelids were fighting.
The initiator, however, was surprisingly self-aware this time, offering his shoulder as a pillow while massaging her wrists.
Qin Zheng finally enjoyed a little bit of comfort.
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Last night, things got quite chaotic towards the end, but he still held onto her hand tightly.
Qin Zheng even suspected if he also believed in the rumor that one shouldn’t get close to women before becoming the crown prince.
If it weren’t for him exhausting himself all night long, teasing her fingers several times, and enjoying kissing her until she couldn’t breathe, making it impossible for her to sleep, Qin Zheng would quite like their current way of getting along.
Although someone promised not to embarrass her anymore, that couldn’t be taken seriously.
...
Having slept through the entire journey in the carriage, Qin Zheng was full of energy upon arrival at their destination, except that it was inconvenient to conduct a field survey while wearing a veil.
To obtain a complete set of river survey data, including the planimetric survey and topographic survey of the shoreline, underwater topographic survey, and the water surface and water level of the river cross-sections, all of this was essential.
Without modern measurement tools and precision instruments, relying only on the most primitive methods for measurement naturally resulted in a significant loss of accuracy.
It was at this moment that Qin Zheng truly realized how remarkable those ancient officials who managed river conservancy were.
They explored and advanced without any advanced technology, and they produced many valuable data that later generations could reference.
To her surprise, after Qin Zheng’s team measured a set of data, she would cross-reference it with the historical water level data left by previous generations about the Yuan River.
If there was not much difference, they would proceed to the next item; if there was a significant difference, even after multiple measurements, they would have to infer the reasons from the tidal floods that occurred in the Yuan River in recent years.
Qin Zheng spent the entire morning rolling in the mud with the officials who understood river management, and only completed a small section of the river’s data survey.
The accompanying cooks had already set up pots to cook meals.
When Qin Zheng got busy, she became a workaholic; no one could distract her.
Song Heqing and the other officials surrounded Qin Zheng, some holding pens, some grinding ink, some unrolling scrolls and searching for historical data.
Everyone was busy.
Chu Chengji could still help Qin Zheng when it came to laying lines, but when it came to discussing these specialized topics, he couldn’t be of much help.
He watched Qin Zheng standing in the crowd from afar.
Her clothes, which she had just changed into this morning, were already covered in mud, and there were mud stains on her face, but it seemed that at no moment did she appear as radiant as she did now.
Like a hawk finally finding the vast sky suitable for its soaring.
Unconsciously, a smile tugged at the corner of Chu Chengzhi’s lips.
Just like when everyone in the entire village of Liangyan came to see her off when she left, there was a sense of pride in his heart for her.
Suddenly, the smile on his lips receded, and he looked back to his side.
“Your Highness, may I have a word with you?” Cen Daoxi seemed startled by Chu Chengzhi’s sudden turn, but he quickly regained his composure and respectfully bowed.
“Mr. Cen wishes to speak with this prince, cannot it be discussed here?” Chu Chengzhi’s tone was flat, but the authority within was undeniable.
The place where they were standing was quite far from others, even if someone approached, Chu Chengzhi could notice it in time.
But Cen Daoxi insisted, “Mr. Cen is unworthy. These days, I have almost traveled throughout the entire Qingzhou territory where the Yuan River flows. There is a great worry in my heart, and Your Highness has seen it with your own eyes. I believe you understand.”
Chu Chengzhi frowned slightly, glanced at Qin Zheng who was still discussing with the officials in the distance, estimated that it would take them a while to finish, and then said to Cen Daoxi, “Lead the way.”