Chapter 8

This statement is not made up by Qu Watanabe.

According to the memory of this body, Ye Xiaoyuan would occasionally take him out for a walk, and if he met a gossiper on the street, he would say this and point at him.

That kind of behavior would inevitably have a psychological impact on a child. After one or two times, Ye Xiaoyuan rarely took him out, and at most he just played in the garden not far from Ju'an Palace.

Normal children don’t understand these things, and even if they remember them, they will basically forget them very quickly.

He is different, he can remember it for a lifetime.

"Who said that?!" Eunuch Yu said angrily, "You are full of nonsense. Your Highness must eat well and grow strong, then His Majesty will like you. The other princes are the same. They have to eat well so that they can grow up and help His Majesty solve problems."

"You can choose whatever you want today."

"real?"

"I'm not lying to you."

Seeing the little prince, he was immediately happy and reached out to pick up the child himself - the area around the stove was too high, and all the good food was placed on it. Without anyone to help, he couldn't see most of it.

"This!" Qu Dubian pointed at the fragrant roast chicken.

“This, this!”

Milk, rose cakes, crystal shrimp dumplings, blood bird's nest and white fungus soup, water chestnut crispy meatballs, stewed pork ribs with radish... Wen Xiaochun brought four lunch boxes in total, and Qu Dubian stopped eating with satisfaction.

He doesn't have a big appetite, but Ye Banban and Xiaochun are in their prime, so he has to nourish them.

From now on, the food in Ju'an Hall will never be withheld, but there will definitely not be so many good things for him to choose from like today.

The palace servants in the main kitchen looked at each other in embarrassment.

Because most of the food picked by Qu Dubian were fine foods specifically requested by the masters in the harem, if he picked them all at once, it would be difficult to report back.

But Eunuch Yu is here to keep order, and his opinion represents the Majesty's opinion.

Even if the ladies in the harem were unhappy in their hearts, they would not show their anger in public because of the affairs of a prince.

Therefore, they did not speak. If they were to stop him at this time, wouldn't it be the same as saying directly that they didn't want to live anymore?

Qu Dubian returned with a full load, and Eunuch Yu smiled and sent him to the door of the main kitchen.

"Your Highness, please go slowly."

He also sent two young eunuchs to help bring food, treating them with loving kindness, as if they were his own sons.

After Qu Dubian left, the smile on his face suddenly froze and he turned to face the stewards in the kitchen.

Someone sensible enough brought a chair for Eunuch Yu.

Eunuch Yu sat on the table and took a sip of tea from the person next to him. The tea lid scraped against each other, making a harsh sound. "The rest of you who should deliver meals to the various palaces should hurry up and deliver them. If there is anything missing, just tell us clearly and say it is His Majesty's wish."

"All the managers of the Grand Kitchen, please stay. I have something to talk to you about. By the way, call all the other people in charge of the palace's internal affairs in the Xinxin Office to come, so that I don't have to go to them one by one."

His Majesty began to open his eyes and pay attention to Ju'an Hall, and the eunuch Yu beside him, the leader, also opened his eyes. Today's imperial kitchen was just an appetizer.

The reckoning has just begun.

-

Qu Dubian returned to Ju'an Hall with a bunch of things.

Ye Xiaoyuan and Wen Xiaochun seemed to be in a dream. What happened this afternoon was really a bit mysterious. After all, that was Eunuch Yu, the most prestigious eunuch in the entire palace.

Having grown up with the Emperor, his attitude is almost equivalent to that of His Majesty.

Ye Xiaoyuan wondered vaguely, could it be that the Queen Mother in heaven had sent a dream to His Majesty, asking Him to pay attention to His Highness, which led to this incident?

It was not until the person sent by Eunuch Yu to help carry the lunch box left and the food in the lunch box was placed on the table one by one, and Qu Dubian stuffed a crystal shrimp dumpling into Ye Xiaoyuan's mouth, that the latter suddenly woke up.

I was so happy that it went to my head.

"You can eat these things, don't give them to the servants."

Qu Dubian held his small bowl and drank the radish and pork ribs soup contentedly. Wen Xiaochun tore off some roasted chicken and put it on the small plate in front of him.

"I can't finish it. I mainly brought it for you two."

He is so small that he can't eat much even if he eats too much.

Oh my god, it’s so delicious.

The soup is so delicious and the meat is so fragrant. Wow, what did he eat before?

So happy.

Nothing is more important than His Highness's meal. Seeing Wen Xiaochun constantly tearing meat and picking up shrimp dumplings for Qu Dubian, Ye Xiaoyuan sighed.

“You can’t eat like this.”

He stopped slightly.

"Your Highness has never eaten much meat before. It will be difficult to digest so much at once. Just eat a little of each and drink more soup."

He also moved some of the food off the small plate.

"You can't eat so fast."

Wen Xiaochun: "It should be fine. Your Highness seems to be enjoying the meal. It's okay to indulge once in a while..."

The rest of his words were lost in Ye Xiaoyuan's cold glare.

Wen Xiaochun shut up silently.

Okay.

Because of his subconscious indulgence, he has never had much say in taking care of His Highness's diet.

Qu Watanabe pretended not to see it and ate happily. Anyway, if he really wanted to eat, he just acted coquettishly and Ye Banban would definitely compromise immediately.

After they had lunch, people from the Imperial Hospital came to bring bruise ointment. After applying it, Qu Dubian felt sleepy and began to take a nap.

During this period, Eunuch Yu came over.

He was silent for a while at the dilapidated state of Ju'an Hall, then waved his hand. The young eunuch beside him was writing something with a pen, looking quite solemn.

Ye Xiaoyuan didn't dare to disturb him and just followed him quietly.

Eunuch Yu was polite to him. "I have noted down the things that are missing in the palace, and they will be distributed according to the prince's quota. Do you think there is anything extra that you would like to add?"

Ye Xiaoyuan thought for a while and said: "Give me more milk. His Highness is still growing." He said a lot of bits and pieces, and Eunuch Yu asked him to write them down. Until he finished speaking, he didn't mention anything useful to him.

Eunuch Yu sighed and said, "You are a good person. The little prince is still alive today, thanks to your contribution. Okay, don't disturb the prince's rest. There will be people from various departments delivering things to us later. I will instruct them to be gentle and not to make any noise."

Ye Xiaoyuan: "Thank you, father-in-law."

Eunuch Yu nodded: "No thanks."

In one afternoon, all the miscellaneous daily necessities were delivered, even various materials for making clothes. Six new palace maids and eunuchs were also assigned. Considering that the Seventh Prince was less than three years old, an extra wet nurse was also given.

By the time Qu Dubian woke up, they could even light two charcoal fires in the hall.

Today he happened to run into Eunuch Yu who came to visit him. It was also God's blessing. He was not surprised at the major changes in the palace.

"Ye Banban."

Ye Xiaoyuan was guarding Qu Dubian's bed. When he saw him wake up, he poured him a cup of warm water.

He had been squatting here, and as the joy of the afternoon wore off and calm returned, he thought for a long time.

His Highness was very smart, and after the last high fever, his intelligence and cleverness became more and more obvious. He just thought that His Highness was young and didn't understand anything, but in fact, children are the most sensitive to indifference and malice.

You can see it from the dining room today.

If he could climb to Eunuch Yu’s position—no, even a higher-level steward position.

It will be able to protect Your Highness from more storms.

But now that His Highness is so young, he must not leave to do other things, he can only choose someone else to climb up. No matter why Eunuch Yu helped them today, he is not His Highness's man after all, and His Highness should have his own connections that he can use.

After all, Your Highness is still young, so please come step by step.

Thinking back to the way the little prince threw himself into Eunuch Yu's arms in worship today, and how Eunuch Yu solved the dilemma of Ju'an Palace in just a few moves, the way he attracted people and made them unable to look away—

No, it's not the looks that attract people.

It's power.

Ye Xiaoyuan suddenly seemed to be energized and said, "Don't worry, Your Highness. I understand. I will definitely work hard."

Qu Watanabe: “?”

He didn't know that the words he said to Eunuch Yu in the kitchen to show his misery had pierced his own partner's heart like a sieve.

But it's always good to be ambitious.

He patted Ye Xiaoyuan on the shoulder to express his affirmation.

-

It was already evening when Eunuch Yu returned to Zichen Hall after finishing dealing with matters in Ju'an Hall.

Emperor Chongzhao is using perfection.

The emperor's meals were prepared by the Imperial Kitchen, so he did not have to wait for meals to be delivered by the Grand Kitchen.

Since the last emperor, it has been customary to have three meals a day: twelve dishes for breakfast, forty-eight dishes for lunch, and thirty-six dishes for dinner.

After Emperor Chongzhao came to power, he advocated frugality, with breakfast consisting of simple porridge, lunch of 36 dishes, and dinner of 24. The emperor could not be greedy, and these quantities were already very small.

"I'm back." Emperor Chongzhao, "How is Ju'an Palace? Tell me about it."

Eunuch Yu sorted out his thoughts.

"There are only two eunuchs serving the Seventh Prince." This opening sentence made Emperor Chongzhao frown.

"What do you mean there are only two eunuchs?"

Emperor Chongzhao: "I remember that many palace maids were moved to Ju'an Palace together. Where were the nurses and palace maids who followed them to Ju'an Palace?"

"I checked and found that they had already left on their own."

"On their own?" Emperor Chongzhao took a deep breath. "How old was Xiaoqi when they left?"

Eunuch Yu: "I heard from the palace servants who had been serving the little prince that he passed away when he was less than one year old."

"That's ridiculous!"

People in the palace are used to flattering the powerful and bullying the weak, and Emperor Chongzhao knew all this. Or, he vaguely guessed that the child he ignored might not have had a good life in recent years, but he just forced himself to ignore it.

He felt a little resentful, and perhaps he had thought that if the child did not live well, he was also mourning for his mother. If he lived too well and too comfortably, how could he atone for the sin of killing his biological mother?

But Emperor Chongzhao never expected that his son would live such a miserable life under his nose!

Of course the emperor would not admit his negligence and mistakes and could only vent his anger on others.

"Yu Decai, please continue. I want to see how many people are willing to die."

Eunuch Yu organized his thoughts and started from today's kitchen.

"The servants below are bullying their masters. As soon as we arrived at the main kitchen today, we heard a quarrel. The servants who served the meals gave Your Highness hard steamed buns and pickled vegetables in the morning. Your Highness was really hungry, so he went to the main kitchen to ask for food. He didn't expect that this would happen, and the servants even beat him up and injured his hand."

In fact, he was a little biased, but Qu Dubian's soft embrace made this cunning eunuch willing to protect him a little.

bump--!

Emperor Chongzhao smashed the cup, his face looked frighteningly cold.

Eunuch Yu knelt down quickly and said, "Later, I went to Ju'an Palace. Alas... it was really deserted and there was a lack of food and clothing. The clothes that His Highness was wearing were probably taken from Yongning Palace more than two years ago."

"It was not until the afternoon that the missing parts were gradually made up."

Eunuch Yu: "There are also some palace servants who are nagging. I don't know what they said in front of the young prince. Today, the prince only took simple porridge in the kitchen and didn't touch anything else. I was really curious and asked a question. The prince said, 'Eunuch, if I don't eat these things, will my father like me?' I was really sad to hear that, so I took the initiative to tell the prince to choose whatever he wants in the kitchen."

In just two sentences, he complained about his grievances and explained to His Majesty the fact that he had allowed the little prince to choose whatever he wanted in the main kitchen, so as to avoid being resented by the ladies in the palaces who had missed out on meals.

“What a bastard!”

Emperor Chongzhao felt stung by those words and was extremely angry. Looking at the table full of delicacies, he couldn't eat a single bite.