When Leng Lanzhi arrived at the prince's residence, the prince had already entered the palace and had not returned yet.
Leng Lanzhi guessed that his father should also discuss with the prince about cooling down the temperature this year.
Although they had all made guesses and taken preventive measures before, no one dared to take it lightly when the natural disaster actually came.
She originally wanted to follow him into the palace to have a look, but the princess insisted on keeping her for breakfast.
Liusha also took the opportunity to persuade: "Princess, the imperial doctor said that you must eat on time and maintain a regular schedule, otherwise you may have a headache at any time."
Leng Lanzhi was silent for a moment and then agreed.
The breakfast at the Prince's Mansion was naturally rich, but the Princess didn't seem to have much of an appetite. Leng Lanzhi couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong, sister-in-law? Is it not to your liking?"
The Crown Princess shook her head and smiled bitterly: "Ever since I became pregnant, I haven't had much appetite."
Although Leng Lanzhi had never given birth, she knew that women would lose their appetite due to morning sickness during the first three months of pregnancy.
Some reactions are severe and may even cause vomiting throughout the pregnancy. She frowned: "Is there nothing the imperial doctor can do?"
The Crown Princess said: "This is a normal reaction, not to mention you can't take too many medicines during pregnancy. I guess it will get better after a while."
Suddenly, her expression changed and she looked at Leng Lanzhi seriously: "Little sister, I want to apologize for missing you on behalf of my stepmother."
A few days ago, her stepmother came to her and asked her to help connect Leng Lanzhi and her stepbrother.
Not to mention that her relationship with her stepmother, stepbrothers and stepsisters was not good. Even if she was really as close to them as a family, she would not be able to push her sister-in-law into a pit of fire.
You know, her stepbrother is a fool!
In fact, she had no idea that her stepmother would come to block Leng Lanzhi that day, so she did not prepare in advance, and she did not expect that her stepmother would play tricks with her——
The stepmother herself came to her and detained her, and asked her to take her idiot brother to the garden to find the princess.
If her maid hadn't been smart and sincere enough to discover the clues in time and protect her sister-in-law, the situation would have been irreversible.
Every time she thought about that outcome these past two days, she couldn't help but break into a cold sweat.
Leng Lanzhi sighed: "Sister-in-law is not to blame for this matter. You don't need to apologize. There is someone else who should apologize."
Strictly speaking, the sister-in-law is also a victim.
If you want to blame, blame those who have made ideas that they shouldn’t!
After breakfast, Leng Lanzhi guessed that the prince should come out of the palace. However, she waited and waited for the prince but he did not return home for dinner.
The Crown Princess said with some regret: "The Crown Prince is very busy these days. He leaves early and comes back late every day. Not only is he unable to have breakfast at home, but he is also unable to come back in time for dinner."
Leng Lanzhi was a little surprised.
But thinking about the current situation in the city, she understood: "Sister-in-law, have a good rest. I'll go take a look."
The princess said: "Then help me bring some food to your brother."
Leng Lanzhi was helpless: "Sister-in-law, the emperor is an adult and won't starve himself! It's you. It's cold outside now. Sister-in-law, you must take care of yourself and don't get sick."
Having said that, Leng Lanzhi still brought the food box packed by the Crown Princess herself.
The food box contained hot steamed dumplings, two plates of pastries, and a small cup of steaming soup.
There is a charcoal fire in the carriage. When you arrive at the place, if the soup gets cold, you can heat it up in time.
At that time, the prince was taking the lead in counting the damage in the city.
Although he encouraged the people in the city to prepare charcoal fires in advance early in the morning, and many people listened to the advice, a considerable number of them felt that it was still early and that it would not be too late to prepare after a while.
Many people even felt that the court's tax collection from them was not enough, and now they thought of this alarmist method of selling charcoal to deceive them and take away the copper coins in their pockets.
As a result, when the temperature dropped overnight, some people who were not well prepared froze to death.
Leng Lanzhi's chariot was walking on the street, and he heard mournful cries coming from many people's homes.
And there were long queues outside all the medical clinics in the city.
She frowned.
Not long after, the carriage stopped in an alley, Liusha said: "Princess, His Royal Highness is in front!"
Leng Lan got out of the car and walked towards the prince personally carrying the food box.
She was wearing a fiery red cloak, which made her extremely conspicuous. The prince and his party quickly spotted her, and the prince came over to greet her: "Little sister, why are you here?"
From the corner of Leng Lanzhi's eyes, he caught a glimpse of a slender figure walking into a commoner's home: "When I woke up and saw it was snowing, I came over to take a look." Then he asked, "How is the situation?"
The prince sighed: "Many people did not listen to the advice. Dozens of people froze to death this morning, and there were even more people suffering from frostbite."
Leng Lanzhi frowned: "How is the situation outside the city?"
"The people who went to count outside the city haven't come back yet, so it's not clear yet. But..." The prince was worried: "If it's like this in the city, I'm afraid it's even worse outside the city."
He immediately said: "However, this result is already very good. If you hadn't thought about the long term and we had made arrangements in advance, the situation in the city would have been even worse."
In fact, many of those who froze to death or suffered from frostbite were people who had stocked up on charcoal in advance under the persuasion of the imperial court. However, even though they had bought it, these people were not aware of the strong wind last night. I feel like I can get through it.
As a result, they lost the bet.
As the saying goes, good words can never persuade a damned person, so this kind of thing cannot be blamed on people like them.
Leng Lanzhi said: "I estimate that many merchants should have hoarded charcoal, waiting for a natural disaster to make a fortune. The top priority now is to control the price of charcoal, and prevent some profiteers from raising prices and making a fortune. "
The prince said: "Don't worry, I know."
Seeing that Leng Lanzhi's little face was pale from the cold, the prince gathered her cloak and said, "You are not in good health. Go back to your home. Just leave it to me."
The moment the prince approached, Leng Lanzhi seemed to smell a faint sweet aroma.
Just as a gust of wind blew, the smell disappeared. At this time, the prince opened the food box again, revealing the rich aroma of food inside.
"I've already eaten just now, but let's keep this food box for now. If I can't go back at noon, I can just warm up the contents and eat it."
With that said, he closed the lid again.
Leng Lanzhi calmly took two more deep breaths, but still couldn't smell the smell just now, only the smell of ambergris on the prince's body mixed with the aroma of food.
It seems that she was too nervous during this period, so she smelled it wrong.
When the carriage was returning, it passed a courtyard where people were queuing up, and the long queue completely blocked the street.
Liusha was about to send someone to chase them away. Leng Lanzhi thought of the current situation in the city and was worried that it was a medical clinic, so she stopped him: "Forget it, let's take a detour so as not to disturb others' medical treatment."
At this time, a roar came from the yard: "Yesterday I paid four coppers per pound of charcoal, but today it's ten coppers? Are you trying to steal money?!"
"If you can't afford it, get out! Don't let others buy it, you poor guy!" the two strong men said disdainfully.
"You! You are raising prices, aren't you afraid that the Yamen will come after you?"
"Dare the Yamen take care of us?" One of the strong men sneered: "Our backer is the Pingnan Marquis Mansion!"
Leng Lanzhi stopped the carriage: "Wait!"
