The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

一百五

One Hundred Five
Updated: January 8, 2024

The next few days, Renjun found himself leaving his room quite often during the day. Whether it was to simply walk around or just sit at his pavilion, he was out at least three times a day, and the few servants that were in the residence during the day immediately had to change their schedule to work during times when Renjun was in his room. In fact, Renjun's outings lasted so long that his pale skin had started to tan a little—the sun was warming up to him. And, he was starting to look like his normal self, as he was slowly feeling more and more comfortable.

It was now mid-afternoon. The servants that were normally around to do their daily chores were nowhere to be seen, most likely having already stopped by earlier in the day or are planning to stop by later that night to complete their chores, not wanting to run into their beloved prince.

The soon-to-be emperor was currently found to be knees deep into one of his lotus ponds. He wore a set of robes no different to that of a gardener with his sleeves rolled up to the middle of his bicep, quite revealing for a crown prince. In one hand was a clump of old withered lotus plants while the other reached into the water and mud, digging up more of the same dead plant. Both of his hands were dirtied, coated in a layer of mud and water, even some of his rolled up sleeves were shown no mercy by the pond he stood in, patches of brown staining it layers. Once the plants in his hands became too much for him to hold, he tossed them onto the ground beside him before continuing to dig up more and more of the dead plants.

He was at this for a couple of hours, going around to each of his small lotus ponds to pull out the dead lotus plants. Every clump he threw out, he took a few minutes to sit on the edge of the pond, resting his arms and lower back as he took a few breaths. He continued this pattern until all of the plants had been dug up and his entire residence was lined with withered plants and roots as well as muddy footprints—the servants would have a lot to clean up later.

It truly was a sight to see.

But, those who had passed the residence and looked in, paid no mind to what was happening as they had witnessed this scene before, and it meant that their beloved crown prince really indeed was recovering as the doctors had told them. Their relief overshadowed their worries.

Feeling a little thirsty, Renjun returned to his room, peeling off his muddy boots and leaving it just outside of his room's threshold before stepping inside, his feet soaking wet although not stained with mud. On the table was a pot of tea that had gone cold during the time he was outside, yet he didn't seem to mind as he poured himself a few cups of it, downing it all in only a few gulps. When he finished, he took a few seconds to catch a breath before he mindlessly picked up an old fabric that he had left the day before.

It was the lotus seeds.

The pouch wasn't small, quite large in fact. It itself probably held about a hundred lotus seeds, which themselves weren't very small either. One of these seeds was probably the size of a small pebble; one could probably fit only ten in the palm of the hand.

Beside that pouch were also two green lotus seed pods, which seeds were still fresh, as green as newly sprouted grass. Renjun had grabbed that too. Both the pouch and seed pods, he had requested a few days ago, having taken a few extra days to arrive. Normally, anything that was requested would arrive that same day, but the City had neither the dried black seeds nor the fresh green ones, so someone had to go into town to personally purchase it for the prince.

Then, it wasn't long before Renjun put his muddy boots back onto his soaked feet and was back knee deep into the ponds, opening the pouch of black lotus seeds by the edge of the pond. However, he wasn't immediately bending into the water with his forearms once again submerged, planting the seeds, rather, he picked up the green seed pods he had brought out, and ripped out one of the small green seeds embedded within. It was crude the way he then cracked open the green shell with his muddy hands and tossed the white interior into his mouth—the graceful prince who had always known a life of luxury truly looked like a vulgar farmer who just had the worst harvesting season of his life—but he didn't really care how he looked. A delicacy like a lotus seed? No one in the royal family knew of this crunchy freshness but him, and he wanted to enjoy it again. Who was going to stop him?