Chapter 35

Concubine Yun was posthumously named Empress Dejing, and the ceremony of posthumous conferring the title came to an end.

After it was over, Emperor Chongzhao directly summoned the Minister of Guanglu Temple, who was Qu Dubian’s second great-uncle.

Xu Jianyan had already heard about the problem with the Seventh Prince's banquet. As soon as he came in, he knelt down and apologized, "Your Majesty! I have not been strict with my subordinates. Please forgive me!"

Emperor Chongzhao: "You mean you don't know about this, and it was done by your subordinates?"

Xu Jianyan: "Your Majesty is wise."

Emperor Chongzhao smiled and said, "I don't know, who else can make your Xu family's wheat salty soup besides the Xu family members?"

Xu Jianyan was stunned on the spot.

What? Oatmeal soup?

Didn’t he just ask his men to use more good ingredients in the Seventh Prince’s banquet?

In fact, he didn't take it seriously when he was called here. Their Xu family is cousins ​​of the Seventh Prince! Even if there are some selfish motives that are not in line with the rules, His Majesty will not care.

He quickly clarified: "Your Majesty, I really don't know!"

Emperor Chongzhao raised his eyebrows and nodded, "Now the old lady of the marquis lives in seclusion in the palace and rarely goes out. Only your family is still serving as officials in the court. You said it wasn't you, so it must be your son who works under you? It can't be someone else. How should this crime be punished for not doing your job well and causing problems with the prince's etiquette and meals?"

Xu Jianyan: "Your Majesty——"

As soon as he looked up and met the emperor's deep gaze, his heart skipped a beat and he swallowed the words he was going to say in defense. "Your Majesty, this matter has nothing to do with me. It was me. I missed the taste of that soup and made a bowl of it. Perhaps I made a mistake in my haste."

This is a very lame excuse.

Emperor Chongzhao did not pursue the matter, but simply said, "You asked my son to eat the wheat soup at the Yueqing ceremony banquet, which is only eaten by children of the Xu family. Are you trying to say that even if he is a prince, he is still a child of your Xu family?"

Xu Jianyan's hands and feet were cold, "Your Majesty! I dare not do that!!"

Emperor Chongzhao squatted down and patted his shoulder. "Don't be nervous. I was just joking with you. I trust you very much. When Xiaoqi grows up, he will inevitably have some interactions with you guys."

Xu Jianyan didn't dare to look up, "I have never had any other thoughts."

"Okay, get up. But something went wrong after all. The Ministry of Rites and the Censorate will report you tomorrow. I can't pretend I didn't see it. I'll fine you half a year's salary. Do you have any objection?"

"I thank your majesty for your grace!"

Only then did Xu Jianyan leave the West Warm Pavilion.

-

The mansion holding a sword.

Old Madam Hou burned a small note and was very happy.

"Ting Feng actually replaced Mai Xian Tang with another one."

"Doesn't this also violate the rules of ceremonial meals?" Fang's mother was puzzled.

Madam Hou said, "There is a lot of meaning in this. Originally, according to what Xu Jianyan presented, the ceremonial meal exceeded the regulations. Even though my grandson is very young, his image in the eyes of other foreign officials will inevitably be deteriorated.

There are two advantages to changing to wheat soup. First, it looks inferior to the regulations of ritual meals, so the foreign ministers will not say much and will only find faults with the Guanglu Temple. Second, ritual meals cannot make the emperor angry, but wheat soup can make the emperor angry, and teach Xu Jianyan a lesson, so that they will not harass my grandson. "

Fang's mother: "Why does wheat salty soup make His Majesty angry?"

Madam Hou: "Wheat soup represents the blessing from the elders of the Xu family to the younger generation. Your Majesty wants to choose a foster mother for the Seventh Prince. Xu Jianyan sent wheat soup at this critical moment. Doesn't it mean that the Seventh Prince should also remember their relatives? On a deeper level, this is dissatisfaction with Your Majesty's decision to choose a foster mother for the Seventh Prince."

"It would be strange if Your Majesty did not punish him. Moreover, when the Xu family splits up, as long as the Marquisate does not adopt the heir of the second branch, the selfishness of the second branch will not implicate the Marquisate and the third branch."

After hearing this, Fang's mother sighed, thinking that there were so many twists and turns behind a bowl of salty wheat soup.

Not only did he eliminate the hidden dangers brought to the Seventh Prince by the excessive use of rituals and meals, but he also taught Xu Jianyan a lesson through the emperor's hand for his fawning on others.

Young Master Tingfeng has good means.

-

After the ceremony, Qu Dubian's life temporarily returned to normal. He declined the invitation of the ladies who came to the Purple Palace under the pretext of greeting the emperor but actually came to see him.

He is a very pragmatic person. He smiles at those concubines who have ulterior motives. Who knows, his stepfather might just hand him over to others to raise.

Filial piety was very important in ancient times. His choice of an adoptive mother meant that he would be tied to this person, and even to her family, in the future. This was no joke.

He asked his cheap father about this matter, poured him a cup of tea, and asked who his adoptive mother would be.

Emperor Chongzhao replied: "Tell me which one you like and I will select it. If it doesn't work, I will have to choose again. And - I don't drink hot tea."

He pushed the teacup away with his finger.

A strong dad who behaves like a domineering boss and gives domineering answers.

You can choose, but I, your father, have a veto.

Qu Dubian had no choice but to pay more attention to which concubine his father was paying attention to. He actually wanted to go to Concubine Xuan's palace, but even if he was willing, Concubine Xuan might not agree.

This kind of thing concerns one's entire life, so it has to be a two-way process.

The next day.

After finishing a set of Tai Chi, a broadcast voice sounded in my head.

[Check-in for 15 days, draw rewards]

[Rewards have been drawn]

[Martial Arts Novel X1 (with the protagonist's inner cultivation method, Part 1) has been placed in the host's backpack]

Qu Watanabe: “?”

There really is spiritual food!

Martial arts novels, aren’t these just e-books in your brain?

He quickly wiped the sweat off his forehead with the cotton handkerchief handed to him by Ye Banban, and flipped through it in his mind. The martial arts novel was 150,000 words long, and the attached internal energy technique was called "Mian Shou Jue·Part 1" and was about 600 words long.

"Is the Heart Method real? Can I learn it?"

Simulator: [This method is suitable for the host's physique to learn.]

After Qu Watanabe roughly flipped through the pages, a pop-up window appeared, showing the number of books left to read: 1/0. A pop-up window appeared asking if he wanted to buy new books. He clicked on the pop-up window and saw the rest of the novels, as well as the second part of the bonus Inner Power Method.

The price is three years of life.

“…”

Why don't you go grab this!

Without mentioning the internal skills, let’s just talk about various types of novels.

hateful.

The simulator saw that he had saved up more than 30 days of life value and never spent it, so it tried various ways to trick him into spending more life, right?

Then it really is...

Got it under control.

Qu Watanabe: "Isn't this unreasonable? He spent too much on purchasing lifespans. It's obvious that he did it on purpose!"

Simulator: [All purchased books have been bought out by the host and can be disposed of at will.]

Oh, that means he can still copy the book and show it to others, or sell it. But let alone the fact that he has no way out now, even if he did, a thousand gold coins could not buy a quarter of an hour of life.

He tried to persuade the simulator for a while, but it refused to give in and remained silent when asked.

Qu Watanabe: "You wrote the novel? Do you have any cheaper techniques?"

Simulator: [The world is vast and the people are all stories in the book. There are cheap exercises. This is the most suitable exercise for the host. You are very lucky to win the upper part of the lottery. It is sold in bundles for ten years.]

Qu Duanbian was silent. What else could he say? He was just a poor little guy now.

The world is so big... Who knows, in the eyes of others, his experiences may also be stories in the book.

The 600-word internal power technique involved professional terminology that he did not understand, so it would be useless to read it. He put it aside for the time being and planned to read the martial arts novel in the evening.

He swore to read 10,000 words every day before going to bed, and never read more.

If he looked at it too much, he would punish himself by eating an extra bowl of rice the next day.

-

After finishing breakfast and rinsing his mouth with tea leaves, Qu Watanabe remembered his stepfather's words "I don't drink hot tea", and his teeth started to itch again.

He asked, "Eunuch Bao, where is His Majesty's tea?"

Eunuch Bao: "Your Highness, would you like some tea?"

Qu Watanabe: "I want to choose for myself."

Emperor Chongzhao had said that he could eat whatever he wanted in the Purple Palace as long as he didn't set fire to it. Eunuch Bao brought all the tea cakes that Emperor Chongzhao treasured.

All kinds of black tea, white tea and green tea are available. It is so precious that it can be privately collected by the emperor.

Eunuch Bao: "Which one would you like to drink, Your Highness?"

Qu Watanabe waved her hand and said, "Take them all!"

Eunuch Bao:?!

Wen Xiaochun immediately took all the tea cakes from the wooden tray, and Qu Duan said, "Go to the dining room, I'll make something delicious."

He excitedly led Ye Xiaoyuan and the other two to the big kitchen. The head of the big kitchen had changed now, so naturally they did not dare to slack off on Qu Dubian. When they heard that he wanted to instruct the chef to cook personally, they immediately allocated a large stove for him.

Qu Dubian stood on the table and directed people to boil water, prepare some small bamboo tubes and bamboo straws, pound cassava flour balls, red date powder, and taro into a paste, add sugar and some oil, and stir into a paste.

It’s quite different from the taro paste of my previous life, but it’s passable.

The big pot of water boiled, and Qu Dubian simply broke off a quarter of the tea cake and threw it in.

Eunuch Bao covered his heart in pain. The young prince's heroic behavior was in stark contrast to His Majesty's cautious movements of breaking the tea cakes.

When the tea was ready, a small bucket of milk was added, and the special aroma of milk tea immediately filled the kitchen.

Qu Dubian didn't add too much sugar. When it seemed like it was almost done, he asked someone to scoop a small spoonful and blew on it to taste it.

It is indeed a tribute tea cake. The aroma of tea and milk blend together, and the taste is much better than he thought! Drinking a cup of brewed milk tea in winter is perfect.

He quickly asked someone to filter out the tea leaves, and then poured the milk tea into the bamboo cup, mixing the taro paste and cassava balls into the milk tea. Different bamboo cups contain different small ingredients, and the one with red date powder has a sweet red date flavor.

Several prepared bamboo cups were filled and the rest was poured into bowls.

"Everyone try it."

Qu Dubian distributed a bowl of rice to all the palace people in the Zichen Palace who followed him.

The sound of Soha slurping milk tea could be heard in the kitchen. In the middle of winter, few people could say no to a bowl of fragrant and sweet hot drink.

"It tastes good!" The steward of the kitchen praised sincerely, "How did Your Highness come up with such a fresh dish?"

Qu Dubian casually said: "I dreamed about it."

The steward of the kitchen asked again, "Can I use the tea leaves in the kitchen to make more and serve them as new dishes to the nobles?"

"Not within three days," Qu Watanabe said.

"Of course, of course. Your Highness, you have the final say." It was good enough to hang up the menu. The Seventh Prince was really easy to talk to. He smiled and said, "Your Highness, are you planning to give these things in the bamboo tubes to others?"

"Um."

Qu Dubian pointed out a few flavors, "Send these to mother and Empress Xuan, and these to my brothers at the academy. Master Fang will also have one. Keep one for me, and the rest will be distributed among the people who take care of me in the Purple Palace."

"The tea leaves that are fished out can be boiled a second time. If someone wants to drink it, you can boil another pot."

The palace servants in the dining room were overjoyed. After all, they had not received many of the food just now. "Thank you, Your Highness the Seventh Prince."

Qu Dubian arranged the packaged milk tea clearly.

He even secretly left a copy for Yi Twelve, planning to put it in a dark place later to see if he would take it away.

The distance between Yi Twelve and him has been very strange recently. Sometimes they are very close, and sometimes they are very far away. He can't even sense it. It's like this every day, just like punching in at work.

This shouldn't be the case. After all, he is already in the Purple Palace. It doesn't make sense for his stepfather to send secret guards to spy on him.

Although Bao Gong was touched that the young prince was thinking of him, he still couldn't help but remind him: "Your Highness, have you forgotten who didn't get a share?"

Qu Watanabe: "Who is it?"

Eunuch Bao stamped his feet and said, "Your Majesty, it's Your Majesty."

How can we not let Your Majesty have a taste of this fresh food?

"oh--"

Qu Dubian suddenly realized and said, "He doesn't drink hot tea."