Chapter 234: Worse than a Donkey

Chu Liuzheng brought tea into the hall and placed the white porcelain teacup and a plate of rose silver thread scrolls on the desk.

Xiao Jingfan had just finished reviewing a memorial when he saw Chu Liuzheng and was startled. "Is your hand healed?"

Chu Liuzheng was about to bow and leave when he heard this question. He lowered his head and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. My hands are fine now."

Hearing this, Xiao Jingfan put down his red brush and raised his chin to her, "Lift it up so I can see it."

Chu Liuzheng:?

She placed the tray on the desk and raised her hands as instructed.

Xiao Jingfan looked closely and saw that the hands in front of him were smooth and white, without any scars at all.

He was secretly satisfied and reached out to pick up the teacup. Before he drank it, he smelled the fragrance of osmanthus. However, the tea in the cup was light yellow and there was no osmanthus.

Take a sip, the sweet osmanthus fragrance is mixed with just the right amount of sweetness, very refreshing.

Xiao Jingfan drank half a cup without realizing it and asked, "What kind of tea is this?"

Chu Liuzheng: "In reply to your Majesty, this is osmanthus dew."

Xiao Jingfan nodded, thinking to himself that it was no wonder that there was such a strong sweet osmanthus fragrance, but it tasted a little different from the sweet osmanthus tea he had drunk before.

He asked, “What’s the explanation?”

Chu Liuzheng blinked. Was it because she hadn't been to work for too long? How could she remember that the tyrant never cared about these things before?

Although she was puzzled, she answered politely: "In reply to your Majesty, I heard from Eunuch Zhou that your Majesty's spleen and stomach have been uncomfortable recently and you have no appetite. Suddenly I remembered that I had read in a book that osmanthus dew is pungent and warm in nature, with a fragrant and refreshing aroma. It has the effects of relieving wind and heat, invigorating the spleen and appetite, and calming the liver and regulating qi.

So I went to the Imperial Hospital and fetched some osmanthus flowers harvested last September, and made this osmanthus dew according to the ancient method."

"It's really good." Maybe it was the effect of the osmanthus dew, but Xiao Jingfan felt a little hungry. He reached out and took a piece of rose silver thread roll from the plate and ate it.

When you take a bite, it is crispy and crunchy, hollow and has no filling.

He stared at the gap he had bitten into, his eyes filled with some doubt.

How did he remember that there was filling?

Seeing the emperor staring at the half-empty rose silver scroll in his hand, Chu Liuzheng suddenly remembered something and said hurriedly, "When I went to the Imperial Hospital, I asked the Imperial Physician Zhuang on duty. He said that people with weak spleen and stomach should eat less sweets. So I specifically told the chef in the Imperial Kitchen not to put stuffing in the pastries."

Xiao Jingfan: "..."

Seeing that he seemed unhappy, Chu Liuzheng immediately knelt down and said, "I acted on my own initiative. Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

[Hmm! I wanted to make a good impression on my boss on my first day back, but it's been so long since I've been working, I think I overdid it. I should have just prepared osmanthus extract.]

She was secretly upset and silently prayed that she would not be punished on the first day, which would be too embarrassing.

Good impression?

Xiao Jingfan secretly raised an eyebrow, looked at her for a moment, put the remaining half of the rose silver curl into his mouth, and ate it slowly before saying, "Get up."

Chu Liuzheng breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.

Xiao Jingfan picked up the teacup, drank the remaining half of the osmanthus dew, and handed it to her, "Add another one."

[It seems the tyrant is quite satisfied with the osmanthus dew.]

Chu Liuzheng finally put his heart at ease and returned to the tea room with the tray.

Chen Xing was guarding the stove, his hands on his chin, his eyes unfocused, and no one knew where his mind was wandering.

Chu Liuzheng reached out and patted her shoulder. "The water is about to boil dry. What are you thinking about?"

"Ah, I'll add water right away." Chen Xing came back to his senses and scooped mountain spring water into the teapot.

Chu Liuzheng placed the tray on the table, put the small copper pot filled with osmanthus dew on another small stove, and when it was six-tenths hot, he took it off the stove and poured it into the white porcelain teacup.

The hot air was thick and the fragrance of osmanthus slowly spread.

"It smells so good." Chen Xing sniffed and came closer, "Sister, does His Majesty like it?"

"Not bad." Chu Liuzheng covered the tea bowl and said to her, "Keep a close eye on the stove. Once it boils, take it off the stove to prevent it from drying out again."

"Okay." Chen Xing agreed, watched Chu Liuzheng leave, and then sat in front of the stove in a daze.

It was late at night and the only sound in Wenhua Hall was the slight rustling of brushes hitting paper.

The flickering candlelight made people drowsy.

Chu Liuzheng turned his back, covered his mouth and yawned slightly, missing his little bed very much.

Zhou Yuande glanced at her, as if to say, "Do you want to be beaten for yawning in front of the emperor?"

Chu Liuzheng was so sleepy that he forgot there was a eunuch standing next to him. He calmly twisted his arm, and the pain made him lose his sleepiness and his eyelids stopped drooping.

She stole a glance at the emperor and found that he was in high spirits. He reviewed the memorials as if he was on drugs and was becoming more and more energetic.

She sighed silently.

[You are indeed a career tyrant. You sleep little, eat little, and work a lot. Even a donkey pulling a millstone can't endure as much as you.]

Donkey?!

Xiao Jingfan wrote a heavy stroke.

Comparing him to a donkey, does this woman not want her head anymore?

[No, how can I compare a tyrant to a donkey?]

Xiao Jingfan: You're smart!

Even a donkey needs a carrot tied to its front to work, but the tyrant doesn't need that. He works tirelessly, and even drags all the civil and military officials along with him. Brother Donkey, I can't compare.

Xiao Jingfan: "..."

Chu Liuzheng turned his gaze away and skillfully opened the system to fish.

[I'd rather just eat some melon. This piece of gold...]

Xiao Jingfan suddenly coughed lightly, causing everyone in the hall to look at him. Chu Liuzheng was no exception, and was full of anticipation.

[Can I leave work now?]

get off work?

Humph, forget it!

Xiao Jingfan looked at her expressionlessly, "Come here."

Chu Liuzheng immediately turned to look at the eunuch beside her, but Zhou Yuande had already slipped three steps away and turned around to smile at her friendlyly.

Chu Liuzheng: “…”

There is something I don’t know whether I should say.

She walked to the desk and bowed, "What are your instructions, Your Majesty?"

[There's still so much ink left in the inkstone. You're not going to ask me to grind it, are you?]

She was feeling anxious when she saw Xiao Jingfan pointing at the memorials he had approved. "Move these to the desk in the side hall."

Looking at the piles of memorials on the floor and desk, Chu Liuzheng's eyes twitched.

Since when did palace maids serving tea have to do hard labor?

Xiao Jingfan glanced at her: "Still not moving?"

"I obey your command." Chu Liuzheng bowed and resigned himself to the task of moving the memorials.

He could carry up to ten memorials at a time without dropping them. Chu Liuzheng briefly counted the memorials, refusing to calculate how many trips he would have to make.

[Ahhhhh!!! Damn tyrant!!!]

She cursed in her heart but continued to move the things obediently.

Zhou Yuande and others watched her going in and out, running back and forth. Xiao Anzi wanted to go over to help, so he asked Zhou Yuande to hold back.

He glared at his apprentice: You have no manners, you went just because His Majesty called you, are you trying to save your life?

Xiao Anzi had no choice but to give Chu Liuzheng an apologetic look.

Chu Liuzheng smiled at him indifferently.

[It's just a few more moves, so consider it as exercise.]

She walked quite fast at first, thinking that she could finish moving as soon as possible. But after five or six trips, her lazy nature was revealed. She thought that since she couldn't finish moving everything in a short time, she might as well move slowly.

She put the memorials piled on the ground into her arms one by one.

[I thought I had a glimpse of the Golden Mountain just now, but now that the Tyrant has interrupted me, I don't know if I'll be able to find it again.]

Xiao Jingfan:!!!

[Forget it, even if I find the gold mountain, it won't be mine anyway, so I won't worry about it anymore.]

Chu Liuzheng stood up holding the six memorials and walked towards the side hall.

Looking at her slender back, Xiao Jingfan wanted to go back a quarter of an hour and give himself a beating for giving the order.

Isn't it just worse than a donkey? Can't you just be patient?