Xie Zhaofan rubbed her stomach. Recalling the days in modern society when she could just open a food delivery app whenever she was hungry in the middle of the night, she suddenly felt even more desolate.
In the past, she had never even realized what a luxury it was to be able to eat whatever you wanted at midnight.
With just a tap on her phone, nearby barbecue shops, fried chicken joints, milk tea stalls, and spicy hot pot places would all be waiting for her to choose from them.
Even if she were too lazy to walk downstairs, a delivery rider would brave the wind and rain to bring it right to her door.
But now? She, the dignified Second Young Miss of the Prime Minister’s Estate, couldn't even find a bowl of instant noodles when she was hungry in the middle of the night.
The more Xie Zhaofan thought about it, the hungrier she became. Finally, she sat up from the bed.
Whatever. She had to go find something to eat.
She walked light-footedly to the door and pressed her ear against it to listen. There was no sound outside; the two maidservants responsible for attending to her had likely already fallen asleep.
Xie Zhaofan glanced back at the room and casually draped an outer robe over her shoulders.
As for the Confinement ordered by Xie Chongshan?
She curled her lip. What even was that?
It wasn't an imperial decree, and even if it were, it would depend on whether she felt like listening. As a woman from the modern era, she couldn't let herself be trapped to death in a single room.
Besides, she was just going out to find some food, not planning an overnight escape.
Xie Zhaofan gently pushed open the door. The night wind blew against her face, carrying the distinctive chill of an autumn night.
She shrunk her neck slightly and looked out at the courtyard by the moonlight. The scale of the Prime Minister’s Estate was even larger than she had imagined.
Pavilions and towers were scattered in an orderly fashion, with corridors connecting various courtyards. In the distance, she could even see several layers of eaves hidden in the night.
According to the original owner's memories, the kitchen was toward the back of the estate.
Xie Zhaofan wasn't worried about getting lost. She lightened her footsteps and soon arrived near the courtyard wall.
However, looking at the tall wall in front of her, she found herself in a bit of a predicament. The gates to each courtyard were locked at night; if she wanted to get out, she could only climb over the wall.
Xie Zhaofan looked up at the top of the wall, which was roughly the height of a person and a half. In the past, she wouldn't have even considered it.
But now... she stretched her limbs.
After gaining thirteen points of Strength, she had a new understanding of her own body.
“It should be fine, right?” Xie Zhaofan muttered under her breath.
She took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and then gave herself a short running start before leaping upward.
This jump startled even her. Her body soared lightly into the air, and her hands firmly gripped the top of the wall.
With almost no effort, Xie Zhaofan pulled herself up and easily flipped over to the other side.
“Perfect!” She rejoiced internally, but in the next second—
Thud!
When her feet hit the ground, she clearly failed to control her center of gravity. Her body stumbled, and she nearly went face-first into the dirt.
Fortunately, her reactions were fast enough that she quickly reached out to support herself against the ground, avoiding a literal face-plant.
Xie Zhaofan climbed back up and patted the dust off her hands, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
“I have enough Strength, but zero Agility.”
She finally realized a very practical problem. She had been too impulsive when assigning her points earlier, putting all ten Free Attribute Points into Strength.
Now, she had monstrous power, but her Agility was still at the original four points.
If she had controlled that landing just a little better, she wouldn't have nearly tripped.
“If I’d known, I should have saved two points for Agility,” Xie Zhaofan couldn't help but regret. In the future, she didn't want to become the kind of freakish strongwoman who had nothing but brute force and tripped over her own feet after two steps.
What she wanted was to be elegant and fluid. Ideally, her robes would flutter as she scaled walls and leaped across rooftops, just like a heroine in a wuxia novel.
She didn't want to almost face-plant right after climbing a wall. However, it was too late for regrets now.
Xie Zhaofan could only continue her journey. Following the route in her memories, she climbed over two more courtyard walls and finally spotted the courtyard where the kitchen was located.
After all this exertion, she hadn't even found food yet; instead, she had consumed quite a bit of energy, and the hunger in her stomach grew even more intense.
Xie Zhaofan couldn't help but quicken her pace. Along the way, she also couldn't help but criticize the security of the Prime Minister’s Estate.
In the grand Prime Minister’s Estate, there were only a few scattered estate guards patrolling at night, and they were so far apart that one might not run into another for quite a while.
A whole living person like her had climbed all this way in, yet not a single person had noticed.
“The security level is way too low,” Xie Zhaofan couldn't help but shake her head. “What if a real villain sneaked in?”
Of course, she didn't know that the capital of this era wasn't exactly like the ancient times she imagined.
Especially for a top-tier noble residence like the Prime Minister’s Estate, there hadn't been a truly violent incident targeting a high-ranking household in many years.
This was at the Emperor’s feet.
Those who could live in this area were either high-ranking officials or members of the imperial family; ordinary people would have to consider how many lives they had before even daring to approach.
What the estate guards really needed to be vigilant about wasn't so much professional thieves, but rather the outbreak of fire.
After all, most buildings in this era were made of wood. Once a fire started, the slightest negligence could result in half the manor burning down.
Therefore, the night guards Xie Zhaofan saw along the way were primarily there to watch for fires, not to prevent intruders.
Naturally, this worked to her advantage. Otherwise, if the security were truly tight, she likely would have been hauled back the moment she climbed out of her own courtyard.
Finally reaching the kitchen, Xie Zhaofan pushed the door open, her eyes instantly lighting up.
However, a moment later, the anticipation on her face vanished bit by bit.
There was no roast chicken, no braised meat, no pastries, no fruit, and certainly none of the milk tea or fried chicken she had fantasized about.
The kitchen was cold and quiet. She opened a cupboard; it was empty.
She opened a food box; it was also empty.
Xie Zhaofan didn't give up. After searching for a long while, she finally found a basket of white flour buns on a wooden shelf to the side.
She picked one up; it felt slightly cool to the touch.
Although it was cold, it looked much more palatable than the coarse flour buns she’d had for dinner.
Xie Zhaofan let out a sigh. Was this the midnight snack for the Second Young Miss of the Prime Minister’s Estate?
She even began to suspect if she had transmigrated to some impoverished mountain region.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
In the modern world, she would have opened her phone at this hour, casually ordered some barbecue and a cup of milk tea, and it would have arrived before her in half an hour at most.
If she had a good appetite, she could have even ordered some fried chicken on the side. But now, she could only daze off while holding a cold bun.
The more Xie Zhaofan thought, the more aggrieved she felt.
“I don't know which god or higher power is playing a joke on me, throwing me into a place like this to suffer.”
She took a bite of the bun, feeling more pathetic with every chew.
Especially when images of sizzling lamb skewers, sauce-covered fried chicken, ice-cold milk tea, and aromatic night market snacks floated through her mind, she couldn't help but swallow her saliva.
Looking back down at the cold white bun in her hand, the contrast was simply too great.
But her stomach didn't care about her sentimentality; hunger was hunger. Xie Zhaofan finally resigned herself to her fate and continued gnawing on the bun.
Rate on N.U.
