Chapter 185
“Your Majesty, what’s the matter?” The two of them were shocked when they saw this and hurriedly stepped forward to ask.
Yun Zhong Li coughed twice. He covered his mouth and waved to the two of them. The light from the corner of his eyes quickly swept over the person outside the door and then hurriedly retreated, for fear that someone might find it strange.
“It’s nothing, it was just a bit hot. I didn’t notice and I drank it too eagerly.”
“It’s really a bit hot, Chen Qie will help you blow it.” Helian Mingyue looked at the guilty conscience in Yun Zhongli and seemed to have discovered something. After changing the subject, she took the soup bowl from Yun Zhongli and blew on it lightly.
“Royal Sister, you should go back first today. I will draw up a decree later to allow you to supervise the government during the period of my recuperation.” Yun Zhongli having been the emperor for so many years, after the panic, he was able to quickly recover and bring the topic back.
The Eldest Princess was still stunned by this unexpected joy. She nodded, “Royal Brother have a good rest, Royal Sister will come to visit brother tomorrow.”
“En.” Yun Zhongli took the soup medicine HeLian Mingyue handed back. With the soup bowl as a disguise, he glanced at Xia Yuqing, who was madly dancing outside the door. A trace of surprise flashed in his eyes.
Why did this Ya Tou come here dressed up like this? Moreover, it seems that she came with his Royal Sister. However, since she’s here, then did Xi Er…
Xia Yuqing waved her hand towards Yun Zhongli for a long time, but didn’t see any reaction from him, so she couldn’t help but feel a little lost. Could it be that she was too disguised and Yun Xi’s father couldn’t recognize herself?
“What are you doing standing there looking distracted? It’s time to go back.” The Eldest Princess’s low halt drew Xia Yuqing’s attention back.
Xia Yuqing was startled, and hurried to follow. At this time, the princess seemed to have discovered something, and stopped and asked: “Where is Lord Xi?”
“Oh, Lord Xi…”
“The minister wasn’t feeling well just now, so he retired for a moment. He should feel much better now.” Before Xia Yuqing finished speaking, Xizeyan had already rushed out from the side, giving Xia Yuqing a cold look, as if Xia Yuqing was speaking badly of him while he was away.
Xia Yuqing was frustrated again. G.o.d knows that she only had time to say someone’s name. She didn’t even have time to say anything else!
“Wasn’t feeling well?” The Eldest Princess stared at Xizeyan. Then without asking more, she turned around and led a group of people to the gate of the palace.
Xia Yuqing walked a few steps with her head down, bit her lip, and let out an unexplained exclamation: “Oh…”
“What’s the matter?” The princess paused and turned to look at Xia Yuqing.
Xia Yuqing had an awkward red little face: “Your Highness, this person must have eaten some unclean things last night. Since the middle of last night, I’ve been a bit uncomfortable, my stomach……”
The princess twisted her eyebrows, her face was a little bit displeased: “You can’t wait to go back to the mansion…?”
Xia Yuqing blushed and pretended to twist around: “It’s nature’s call. Your Royal Highness, if things are held back for too long, bad things can happen.”
Xia Yuqing handed a “you know” look to the princess, which caused a crack in the flawless smile on the princess’s face.
“Sure enough, useless people have more poo, but this is the palace, how could it be a place you…” Xizeyan smiled coldly and once again looked at Xia Yuqing contemptuously.
As early as when they set off, he had looked down on Xia Yuqing. After that, it has only become worse, but he was worried about the occasion and how it wouldn’t be appropriate to vent. Thus when this rare opportunity came up that was suitable, how could Xizeyan let it go?
“Master Xi, what you said is wrong. As long as you are a human, you must eat, drink and release the goods. Is it possible that things only go in and not come out since you were born?”
“You!” Xi Zeyan’s face changed slightly, staring at Xia Yuqing fiercely. After a while, his face turned blue to white, then white to blue. He finally squeezed out one word like squeezing a toothpaste, “vulgar!”
“…” How delicate and coy is this man? Didn’t she just say something about eating and drinking and not being able to release stuff, how can that be vulgar? How elegant are you, G.o.dd*mn sissy!
“Enough, don’t make a big matter out of nothing. What is there to quarrel about? Ruian, you take this Wei Gong Zi to do his business, Ben Gong will return first. Once you guys are finished, take him to the gate of the palace, and someone will take him back to the princess’s residence.” The Eldest Princess was still immersed in the excitement of being able to take control of the central government temporarily and did not care much about Xia Yuqing’s strangeness. She only pointed to a little eunuch in the palace to lead the way for Xia Yuqing and then left first.
“Yes.” The little eunuch who was called Ruian looked like a simple, straightforward person. Hearing the princess’s summons, he hurriedly ran forth, “Gongzi, please.”
Xia Yuqing nodded towards the princess and turned around. Following the little eunuch, just after walking up a few steps, she turned her head back to look at the princess and the others who were leaving in the opposite direction.
After confirming that they had not noticed anything abnormal, she breathed a sigh of relief. Retracting her gaze, she turned to look at the little eunuch who led the way ahead. Her two large clear eyes moved around, emitting a shrewd light.
“Wei Gongzi, this Nu Cai can see that you are by Her Royal Highness’ side at all times and seem to be highly regarded by Her Highness. However, I don’t remember having seen you before. I don’t know if you are…” Turning down a palace road, Ruian turned his head to look at Xia Yuqing.
“Oh, I only recently went to her Royal Highness’s mansion. For some reason, I have been staying in Her Royal Highness’s mansion temporarily. Her Royal Highness has also taken good care of me. I am very grateful.” Xia Yuqing paused and replied. Not even a drop of water was leaked, (not leaking any information or allowing room for argument or question) but she couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. These days, even eunuchs who act as guides have learned how to throw a brick to attract jade (even throwing a bad idea out there can lead to something good)! This palace is really much more high-end than the Ye Kingdom palace.
“It turned out to be like this.” In other words, this is the recent new love interest in the Royal Highness’s mansion? !
Ruiain took a look at Xia Yuqing. He was secretly figuring out how to please this young man who might be able to take him to the sky in one fell swoop, without knowing that the young man he was calculating against was also calculating him at this moment.
“Gongzi, after pa.s.sing this palace road, then turning the corner will allow us to arrive at the hut.” After the two turned to a small remote yard, Ruian pointed to a palace road not far away and said with a smile.
“Oh, that is to say, if I don’t do anything, I won’t get my chance?” Xia Yuqing paused, rubbed her chin and frowned.
“Oh, Gongzi, what did you just say? Nu Cai didn’t hear it clearly.” Ruian turned his head in confusion, blinked, and asked puzzledly.
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Xia Yuqing shook her head. Then, she pointed behind Ruian in surprise and exclaimed, “Look, there are pigs flying in the sky!”
“What?” Ruian’s big eyes widened. Turning his head swiftly, before he could see the picture behind him clearly, he felt his head stunned and his eyes rolled backwards into blackness.
Xia Yuqing held the stick she picked up from the ground when she pa.s.sed the small courtyard. She stood behind Ruian and after confirming that Ruian was really brought down by herself, she was greatly relieved.
Throwing the murder weapon aside, Xia Yuqing leaned forward and poked Ruian with her hand: “Little eunuch, I’m sorry, but its better having you die than me. If I don’t stun you, when I go to the hut later, I don’t know whether I should enter the men’s hut or the women’s hut. Uh… actually, do the ancient huts split up between men and women?”
Xia Yuqing held her small face and thought for a while: “Well, that’s not the point. The point is I have a very important thing to do now and I cannot allow you to follow me around. But I have to borrow your… outfit.”
Xia Yuqing narrowed her eyes and stared at the outfit on the little eunuch. Seeming to have made up her mind, she dragged the little eunuch to the small courtyard that they had just pa.s.sed by.
After a turmoil of smoke and dust, Xia Yuqing touched her new clothes and new hat on her head. She walked out of the courtyard with satisfaction, while the stripped little eunuch…cough cough…ignore him!
“Uh…was it this way to Yun Xi’s father’s bedroom…Which way was it again?” Xia Yuqing stood in front of the yard, staring at the various palace roads in all directions. She suddenly felt anxious.
Although she was not a road idiot like Xiao Shangshu, it seems that it was not that easy to find Yun Xi’s father’s bedroom in the unfamiliar Grand Palace for the first time.
“Huh, what’s this smell?” Xia Yuqing arched her little nose. Following the fragrance that suddenly floated over, her eyes lit up. This direction is…the Imperial Kitchen?
Almost without hesitation, Xia Yuqing stepped forward and rushed to the place where the scent of the food was floating.
“Tuk tuk…gu gu gu…” As it approached noon, familiar sounds came from time to time from the imperial kitchen.
The people in the imperial kitchen came and went. They were so busy that they didn’t notice a small hand slowly reaching out from the side door.
Xia Yuqing cautiously poked her head out of the door. She watched the busy scene in the room and the various dishes on the table, exuding steam. She swallowed silently.
Meatb.a.l.l.s, vegetable buns, meat buns, bird’s nest, shark fins, roasted chicken and roasted duck…It’s no good, I’m too hungry. Everything can wait until I’m bloated!
Xia Yuqing looked around vigilantly. Making sure that everyone was busy taking care of themselves and couldn’t pay attention to the dishes on the table, she hurriedly moved to the dining table.
With a quick sound, like a wild cat rus.h.i.+ng under the table, she began to steal the things there. However, Xia Yuqing was not stupid. If she eats an entire dish that would be too obvious. She would definitely be found out. Thus she only took one bite of every dis.h.!.+
Just when Xia Yuqing was complacent about her wit and was about to sweep through the table like this, she heard a sharp shout outside: “It’s almost noon. Is Cheng Qian palace’s meal ready? If the meal is delayed, even if you have several heads, it won’t be enough for it to be all chopped off!”
Before the voice fell, another man replied in fear: “Fu Gonggong (High standing eunuch; head eunuch), it’s almost done. The last soup is ready and it’s ready to be served.”
Cheng Qian palace? Xia Yuqing was startled, that name sounds very familiar. After thinking about it carefully, this Chengqian Palace…isn’t it the palace of Yun Xi’s father that she went to just now?
“!” Xia Yuqing was excited, she finally remembered her true purpose of staying in the palace. With all her might, she spat out the fleshy bones in her mouth. Wiping her mouth, she crawled out from under the table in a rushed manner.
“Okay, okay, the soup is ready. Fu Gonggong you can take it over.”
“Okay, eh, where is the kid Xiao Shunzi? Where did he go at this critical moment? Someone come, come and help.” Fu Gonggong glanced at the Imperial Kitchen, but did not see the little eunuch who had been following him. He stomped his feet angrily.
“Coming, Gonggong, Nu Cai will help you.” Xia Yuqing fixed the hat on her head and moved forwards.
Fu Gonggong looked up and down at the little eunuch who emerged from nowhere. He frowned: “Hey, where did you come from, little eunuch? Why have I never seen you before? All the little eunuchs in the imperial kitchen, I should recognize…”
“Ahahaha, oh that? Gonggong, Nu Cai was just transferred from elsewhere two days ago. It hasn’t been long since I’ve entered the palace. Not to mention you not having seen Nu Cai, no one else in this palace has ever seen Nu Cai.” Xia Yuqing laughed dryly and spoke with some guilty conscience.
Fu Gonggong was still a little suspicious, but the chef’s urging on the side made him unable to confirm: “Fu Gonggong, there’s only a quarter of an hour before noon. It’ll be late if you don’t serve the dishes. ”
“Yes, yes, forget it. You guys, come along with this newcomer, bring these dishes to Chengqian Palace. Hurry…”
Xia Yuqing saw that Fu Gonggong stopped asking, so she was relieved. She casually picked up a plate of pork hock on the table and followed the little eunuchs straight to Chengqian Palace.
Under the guise of serving food, Xia Yuqing followed the group into the gate of Chengqian Palace very smoothly and all the way to the entrance of Yun Zhongli’s palace.
“Your Majesty, Niang Niang, it’s already noon, do you want us to serve the food?”
There was a moment of silence in the hall, then a weak voice came out: “Serve it.”
“Yes.”
Fu Gonggong responded, then waved his hand towards Xia Yuqing and the others, signaling several people to quickly bring the food in.
The dishes were placed on the table one after another. Xia Yuqing looked at it from a distance, then saw that Yun Zhongli was wearing a dragon robe, sitting opposite to Helian Mingyue. Helian Mingyue was blowing a bowl of appetizing soup. The soup was blown until it was slightly cooler before it was moved to the front of Yun Zhong Li: “Your Majesty, this soup is not hot anymore, please drink it.”
“Okay…” It was rare to enjoy Helian Mingyue’s gentle and considerate treatment, thus Yun Zhongli was smiling as bright as a sunflower. He was even brighter than the sun. Satisfied, he took the bowl of soup, took a sip, then raised his head to face Xia Yuqing’s smiling face after serving the dishes on the table.
“Pu…” The soup that was rus.h.i.+ng down his throat once again exploded like a G.o.ddess scattering flowers.
Xia Yuqing reflexively s.h.i.+fted the tray in her hand to the front. After confirming that the spray by Yun Zhongli had finished, she poked her head from behind the tray. She looked at the remains on the tray, and the corner of her mouth twitched. I knew this would happen, so I made preparations in advance. Please give me a thumbs up for my wit!
“Nu Cai deserves to die, Nu Cai deserves to die. What is the matter with you, daring to disturb the emperor! Your Majesty, please forgive me, this Nu Cai is a newcomer who has just entered the palace and does not understand anything. Nu Cai will definitely teach him well when we leave, Your Majesty…….” Fu Gonggong was taken aback by this incident. After reacting, he immediately knelt down in front of Yun Zhongli and tremblingly begged for mercy.
Helian Mingyue found this odd. Her eyes became slightly cold as she looked at the little eunuch who had clearly offended one’s prestige. However, there was no panic in the eunuch’s eyes. Instead, a bright light flashed across their eyes. She turned her head and looked at Yun Zhongli in confusion.
Yun Zhongli coughed a few times, alleviating the discomfort of choking: “It’s okay, it’s not his fault. I drank too eagerly and accidentally choked. The food is almost ready. You all retreat first.”
Fu Gonggong thought that a catastrophe was imminent, but he didn’t expect that in the end it would be a false alarm. He couldn’t react for a while. It took a long time before he was overjoyed and said, “Nu Cai will withdraw now.”
“Wait, it is not convenient for me and the empress to eat alone. This little eunuch looks very clever, so leave him here to serve us. Everyone else withdraw.”
Fu Gonggong just wanted to drag Xia Yuqing back when he was abruptly stopped in place by the words of Yun Zhongli. He felt like he was in a dilemma. He was worried that Xia Yuqing, a novice, would accidentally offend You Zhongli again. But since Yun Zhong Li spoke, he couldn’t say anything. Not rest a.s.sured, he whispered to Xia Yuqing: “Serve the emperor well and don’t make any trouble.”
Xia Yuqing nodded obediently. She was thinking, how could I cause any trouble? Even if someone were to make trouble, it would be Yun Zhongli!
A group of little eunuchs retired with Fu Gonggong. With the sound of the door closing, there were only three people left in the bedroom.
“Aiya, I’m really exhausted. Do you know how much effort I had to do to get into your bedroom?” Xia Yuqing saw that the outsiders were gone and took off the hat on her head. She sat down on the chair next to Yun Zhongli and picked up the plate of pork hock on the side and started eating.
“…” Hey, girl, eating at someone’s house like that, you are not polite at all! Are you planning to extend your devil’s claws to our Shu Kingdom after you have eaten up Ye Kingdom?
Yun Zhongli looked sluggishly at Xia Yuqing eating a big chunk of food in front of himself. After a while, he recovered and exclaimed, “Why are you here? Why are you dressed like that? Didn’t you leave the palace with Royal Sister? Why did you come back? Do you know how dangerous this is if you were discovered? You would have been arrested as an a.s.sa.s.sin.”
Xia Yuqing swallowed when she heard the words from Yun Zhongli. After a pause, she raised her head and stared at him. She raised her half-bitten pork hock and said angrily: “So you saw me just now? Then, why did you pretend to be indifferent? I thought you didn’t recognize me!”
“…” Why was Zhen indifferent? Zhen was so scared by you that Zhen sprayed water twice and lost my face (reputation), okay? !
One old, one young argued until they heard the sound of a knock on the table. The two of them paused and followed the sound. They both saw Helian Mingyue, who was thrown aside by the two, with a cold smile, “Perhaps, before you quarrel, you should explain this to Ben Gong……Who is this person and what is their relations.h.i.+p with the emperor?”
Yun Zhong Li glanced at his wife, then at Xia Yuqing. Discovering something, he exclaimed: “Yueyue, listen to me explain, I have nothing to do with her, so don’t misunderstand.”
“There’s really nothing to misunderstand. But what are you so nervous about? Do you think you, an old cow, can eat such tender gra.s.s? Yun Zhongli, this girl looks almost the same age as our Xiao Xi. Wanting to even touch this kind of little girl, aren’t you a beast?!” Helian Mingyue gave a mocking glance to Yun Zhongli, successfully breaking the pride of a man who had been crushed by his wife for half his life.
“So in Yueyue’s eyes, Zhen is a beast……”
Xia Yuqing looked at the wise, martial emperor of Shu, who was struck down by a few words from his wife. He squatted to the side and drew circles in the corner. A few drops of cold sweat fell down her forehead in an instant. She twitched. Then, she turned to look at Helian Mingyue, “Ahem, um, don’t get me wrong, Empress. I really have nothing to do with Yun Xi’s father. Not at all. I am the queen of Ye Kingdom, Xia Yuqing. Xiao Xi is used to calling me Qing Jiejie. If the Empress doesn’t mind, you can call me Qing Er like my mother.”
Helian Mingyue was startled. She looked at Xia Yuqing with a bright gaze. “It turns out that you are the Qing Jiejie that Xiao Xi often mentions. When Xiao Xi was in Ye Kingdom, I was very grateful to you. If you don’t mind, you can call me Aunt Yue.”
Xia Yuqing was also polite and smiled: “Aunt Yue is too nice, Xiao Xi is very cute and well-behaved, so she didn’t need me to take care of her at all.”
Yun Zhongli finally repaired his gla.s.s heart. When he turned around, he saw the happy atmosphere between the two and was surprised: “Qing Ya Tou, you haven’t answered Zhen yet, why did you come here? And since you are here, is Xi Er…”
“I’ll talk about this in a bit. Before that, Aunt Yue, I heard from Second Senior Brother, oh yes, it is Yun Zhongyue, your Sixth Royal Brother, say that you and the Eldest Princess are at odds. So why did you just…”
“Sixth Royal Brother is your Second Senior Brother?” Helian Mingyue and Yun Zhongli looked at each other, a little surprise appeared in their eyes.
Helian Mingyue was silent for a moment, seeming to understand something. She laughed: “Perhaps, this is fate. Have you already seen Yan Tingfang?”
“!” Xia Yuqing’s face changed slightly. She then remembered that Yan Tingfang was rescued by Helian Mingyue. Yun Zhongyue also mentioned that at that time. Helian Mingyue probably wanted Yan Tingfang to see her through Yunxi, then ask Feng Tingye for help. That was why she had Yan Tingfang pick Yun Xi up. It’s not surprising that Helian Mingyue knew that they had already seen Yan Tingfang, but…this was originally done by Helian Mingyue in the dark. Is it appropriate to mention Yan Tingfang now?
As if seeing Xia Yuqing’s doubts, Helian Mingyue turned her head and glanced at Yun Zhongli, then smiled: “Don’t worry, Ben Gong has already mentioned Tingfang’s matter to the emperor. After Xiao Xi left Shu, something happened that made the emperor see Yunshan’s ambitions clearly, so…”
Yun Zhong Li couldn’t help but sigh as he heard this: “If I hadn’t happened to discover the truth about the collusion between Royal Sister and Third Royal Brother, Zhen would still have been kept in the dark! The matter of Prime Minister Yan back then and the ambition she has now to plot to rebel, how many things has Royal Sister done in these recent years that I don’t know about?”
“She has done far more things than you think. But now that you all know who she is, just now…” Xia Yuqing muttered, then she remembered something. She pointed to Yun Zhong Li, “Furthermore, Yun Xi’s father, you were in Ye Kingdom last time and obviously had no injury, how could there be an old problem relapsing?”
Speaking of this, Yun Zhongli couldn’t help showing a bit of pride: “Of course there is no relapse of old problems. Everything is just my acting skills. Did Zhen act well?”
“…” Was it all just acting? Including the part where someone had laid in the bed like a corpse sleeping? But……
“Why? You already know her ambitions, why do you deliberately pretend to be sick and hand over your power to her?”
Helian Mingyue listened to Xia Yuqing’s question and smiled: “We just want to take advantage of someone’s ambitions to put them to death. We will use another method to lure out some of her unknown trump cards.”
Helian Mingyue looked at Xia Yuqing’s ignorant appearance and added: “Isn’t there a sentence if you want to take it, you have to give in first (if you want to seize something, then you have to temporarily pay the price to induce the other party to relax their vigilance, and then looking for opportunities to take it). Sometimes you have to pay a corresponding price if you want to change the situation. Do you…understand?”
“…do not understand.” Xia Yuqing furrowed her eyebrows, looking distressed, “It feels so complicated and awesome, it’s like Ultraman vs. Little Monster.”
“…Ultraman vs. Little Monster? These two are not the same thing, right? If I really want to say it, I think it’s like playing a game and running into the big boss. Although the road to clearance is quite difficult, as long as you win in the end, you will have huge prizes to pick up.”
“It sounds like it does resemble that.” Xia Yuqing nodded as if she understood. Then there was a pause. She widened her eyes and turned to look at Helian Mingyue. Helian Mingyue also turned her head and stared at her in surprise.
“Ultraman?”
“Playing video games?”
“You……”
“You……”