Chapter 29 - 3#

She said at the right time, “Empress Dowager, has His Majesty already discovered it?” No matter how many people died in Qianming Palace, there must be those few who were poisoned with Gu.

The Empress Dowager said calmly, “So what if he knows?”

She sneered.

“His life is just too tough, otherwise, he wouldn’t be alive until now.”

Huang Yijie frowned slightly. The Empress Dowager’s words didn’t sound like she was cursing the emperor, but rather… stating a certain fact.

“Empress Dowager, His Majesty may not know who did it, but if he knows there are such people in this palace, if he investigates thoroughly…”

“He won’t.” The Empress Dowager shook her head. “The emperor won’t do that.”

She was very certain, an attitude that even surprised Huang Yijie a little.

“But… there are such dangerous things in this palace, and His Majesty doesn’t even think about… getting rid of them early…” Even though she was talking about herself, Huang Yijie couldn’t help but say, “What exactly is His Majesty thinking?”

“Thinking?” The Empress Dowager repeated first, then sneered, “Naturally because he’s crazy.”

And a madman doesn’t care about life or death.

“Don’t mess around recently.” The Empress Dowager continued, “But what you said before was useless.”

She glanced sideways at Huang Yijie.

All the palace concubines had been thoroughly investigated. Although there were many palace maids, the Empress Dowager was determined to investigate, and she tracked them down one by one.

There were quite a few palace maids who had lost their virginity, but none of them could be related to the emperor, and the ones found out made the Empress Dowager lose face completely.

There was no empress in the palace, so she was in charge of the harem.

Under her control, so many such things had happened one after another, how could the Empress Dowager be happy? She wasn’t a good-tempered person either, and all those palace servants involved in relationships were dealt with by her.

Huang Yijie lowered her head weakly: “Perhaps, this concubine thought wrong. His Majesty could know who in front of the hall had Gu on them… maybe he actually has a way to avoid it, so this concubine made a wrong judgment.”

The Empress Dowager snorted coldly, scolded a few words, but didn’t explode again.

There was a reason she didn’t make a fuss.

The Empress Dowager knew Helian Rong very well.

Although this was not her wish, what was hateful was that Helian Rong, to some extent, knew her very well too. Probably because they were enemies, they cared extra about every aspect, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Precisely because of familiarity, the Empress Dowager could sense the changes in the emperor.

Helian Rong was still crazy.

Just not as crazy… unscrupulously as before.

Huang Yijie’s guess might really be correct.

What was wrong should be the direction of her investigation.

But who could it be?

…To be liked by a person like Helian Rong, perhaps they were also crazy?

…

Jingzhe rubbed his nose.

Then rubbed it again.

Inexplicably, his nose was very itchy, and even the roots of his ears were hot, as if someone was talking about him behind his back.

He rubbed his hands, looking at the small red dots on his fingertips, which were traces of chilblains.

Jingzhe took one out from the many jade bottles, scooped out a small piece of ointment, rubbed it open with effort, and carefully applied it to both hands.

Then, he applied the little bit left over to his ankles.

They were also a bit red and itchy here.

This was the fourth time after Rong Jiu hadn’t come for three consecutive times.

Jingzhe specially kept today free, waiting from dawn to dusk, only to wait for Zheng Hong.

Rong Jiu still didn’t come.

Zheng Hong came cursing. He sat down in front of Jingzhe with a golden sword and placed the things in his hand on the table: “What’s going on with you guys, do you really take me for a runner?”

Every time Rong Jiu didn’t come, the person who came would be Zheng Hong.

Jingzhe was a little disappointed and opened the things Zheng Hong brought with a bit of grievance.

It was a food box.

Three layers.

As soon as the top layer was opened, a fragrant smell filled the room. Before Zheng Hong came, he wasn’t hungry, but smelling this, he felt his mouth watering.

He leaned over to look and immediately recognized what it was.

“This is a dish from the Number One Restaurant in the Capital, quite expensive, one portion costs a hundred taels.”

Jingzhe had just taken the thing out when he heard Zheng Hong’s words. He looked down at the thing in his hand, a bit lost for words.

“One portion costs a hundred taels?”

Zheng Hong nodded as a matter of course: “Yes, do you doubt me?”

He hadn’t eaten it, but at least he had heard of it!

However, neither Zheng Hong nor Jingzhe knew that the Number One Restaurant in the Capital… since it had such a reputation, such a restaurant had its own pride.

They never did takeout.

If you want to eat, you have to come and eat it yourself.

There were no exceptions.

Jingzhe ate this exception unknowingly and gave a thumbs up: “Really delicious.”

At Jingzhe’s invitation, Zheng Hong also ate a small bite, and then waved his hand quickly.

Delicious, indeed too delicious.

But thinking that the bite he ate was equivalent to one tael of silver, Zheng Hong’s heart was bleeding.

Zheng Hong complained: “Jingzhe, your friend is too wasteful!”

…Usually Jingzhe definitely didn’t like others speaking ill of Rong Jiu, but now eating this hundred-tael thing… he actually couldn’t refute it!

Too, too wasteful!

Since there were three layers, opening one layer meant there were two more underneath.

Jingzhe opened the second layer to take a look, made a sound, and took out the pastries.

They were four small pieces of peach blossom-shaped pastries, made very exquisitely, just like real peach blossoms, embellished with pink colors, with green leaves underneath, emitting a sweet smell.

…It was the peach blossom pastry that Jingzhe had mentioned his mother would occasionally make.

Liu-shi liked to eat peaches, whether fresh or things related to peaches. Actually, the fruit trees father planted back then didn’t produce very delicious peaches, after all, this wasn’t the most suitable place for peach trees to grow.

Every year when autumn arrived, mother would take people to pick the fruits from the top. The few red ones were given to Jingzhe and Liang’er to gnaw on, and the rest of the sour and astringent ones went into the kitchen, either made into preserved fruit or peach jam, and the rest were peach blossom pastries and various other products.

Delicious, and very fragrant.

Jingzhe ate one silently. Although it wasn’t the taste in his memory, he ate very slowly. A sweet taste bloomed on the tip of his tongue, carrying the fragrance of peaches.

“My god, isn’t this the pastry from Deyi Fang?” Jingzhe ate one, revealing the pattern at the bottom of the plate. Zheng Hong recognized which shop sold it at a glance, “Their pastries sell very hotly in the capital, the line of people is endless, and often high-ranking families send people to buy, having to wait for a long time.”

Zheng Hong’s words diluted the sourness in Jingzhe’s heart a lot, and he said speechlessly: “This won’t also cost a lot of money, right?”

Zheng Hong: “That’s not likely, not that expensive.”

Jingzhe just breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Zheng Hong hold up five fingers.

“Five taels of money?”

Jingzhe said tentatively.

Zheng Hong expressionless: “Fifty taels!”

His heart was aching.

Jingzhe silently opened the third layer, with a feeling of getting it over with early.

Zheng Hong also leaned over, looking left and right, not seeing anything precious.

This is… a bowl of soup?

To avoid spilling, the soup bowl was reinforced, and it felt warm to the touch.

Just as Zheng Hong was wondering, he saw Jingzhe jump up suddenly and close the window.

When Zheng Hong entered the room just now, he closed the door smoothly, otherwise the room would be too cold. But for ventilation, Jingzhe had left a crack by the window before, but now, he carefully closed it.

Zheng Hong subconsciously looked at this bowl of soup.

Does this look special?

No matter how fine its craftsmanship, how powerful the cook, this white bowl had no markings on it, it was just a bowl of soup, that’s all.

Jingzhe sat down again and said calmly: “No need to look, this isn’t some famous dish, nor some expensive rare soup, it’s a dish from my hometown.”

He lowered his head and took out the spoon from the food box.

The soup was pale yellow, didn’t look very good, didn’t have any strong smell, smelled a bit sweet, with only a little chopped green on the surface, unknown what chopped vegetable it was.

Jingzhe took a bite.

Then he stopped, lowering his head, not knowing what he was thinking.

Zheng Hong was idle and bored, just about to lean over and ask him how he felt, but saw Jingzhe sitting there as if nothing happened, shedding tears drop by drop.

His hand holding the spoon was trembling, and immediately after, as if unable to hold such a small spoon, it fell heavily onto the table.

He covered his face with one hand, his trembling breath revealing his overly obvious emotions, making Zheng Hong unsure for a moment whether to speak or not.

Jingzhe bit his cheek hard, then picked up the bowl of soup and ate it in big gulps.

He swallowed so urgently, so fast, that even the last residue was scooped up by him and eaten completely.

The soup bowl was put back, Jingzhe’s eyes were red, with a bit of wet moisture.

He lowered his head and took a few deep breaths.

“Still so bad to drink.” He looked up again and smiled at Zheng Hong, “I have always, hated this taste very much.”

Even if the family said, this was the taste of hometown.

But he still disliked it very much.

But father liked it.

So, when mother was free, she would always make persimmon soup for father. Since she made it for father, the two little ones at home were no exception, they would all be given some.

Mother said, it was for fairness.

So what father had, brother and sister must also have.

Eh, then why didn’t mother drink it?

So mother said: “I ate in the kitchen~”

The gentle trailing note, the comforting tone, until he grew up a little, Jingzhe finally understood.

Oh, so mother didn’t like this taste either.

Just coaxing the two little darlings to eat more so she could drink less. Who let Cen Xuanyin, that silly guy, be most particular about ‘you have what I have’, always wanting her to drink too.

Jingzhe sniffed, corners of eyes slightly red, and laughed softly: “…It’s just, I haven’t tasted this flavor for a long time.”

For a moment, he actually couldn’t control his emotions.

People who entered the palace, who didn’t carry some sorrow.

Zheng Hong sighed and quieted down. Until he left, clutching a piece of peach blossom pastry Jingzhe stuffed to him, walking away slowly, he also forgot to ask Jingzhe.

…Just now, why was Jingzhe’s reaction so extreme when he saw that soup?

Inside the room, Jingzhe packed up the finished food box, and the last two pieces of peach blossom pastry were cherished by him and put into the cabinet at the head of the bed. In such cold weather, things could still be kept for a long time.

Finally, he stared at the white bowl, was silent for a while, then stuffed it to the very bottom of the big chest.

The food box was sent into the palace, naturally not expecting these utensils to be taken back, such an expensive price naturally included these workmanship.

After Jingzhe packed these up properly, he lay on the bed somewhat dazed.

Actually, when Rong Jiu didn’t come for the first time, he had already sent a note through Zheng Hong.

The note said that the doctor Rong Jiu hired told him he must stay in bed for a few days and not leave the mansion, so he had taken leave and would return to the palace to work only when he recovered a bit.