For some time afterwards, Ye Jinyun paid special attention to the news from Yilan Palace.

After the emperor learned that his new favorite, Concubine Ye, had her bird's nest poisoned, he took the maid to the Ministry of Punishment and tortured her severely, but she still didn't reveal who was behind the poison. So he had her beaten to death, and after beating the harem, he gave Concubine Ye many things to comfort her.

Ye Jinrong also picked some and had them sent to her, and Ye Jinyun accepted them all with a smile. She would never refuse these rewards.

…

Everything was peaceful for a while, and summer was almost over. An autumn rain came, taking away all the boredom of the whole summer, and people felt more relaxed.

The emperor had not entered the harem for a long time, and the plague among the people had been contained. The emperor's mood had just eased, but then he received a letter from the northern front reporting that the enemy had launched an attack and several border towns had been occupied.

The emperor was furious and dispatched General Lin and his son, who were guarding the western border, to lead troops to the northern border for support. He also appointed his second son, who stayed in the capital, as the commander-in-chief of the capital camp to lead the army to the expedition.

When the news reached Yingquan Palace, Lin Qingtang was worried all day long after learning that his father and brother had gone to the battlefield. He often sat alone in the courtyard at night, looking at the moon and drinking, and would sit until midnight.

Ye Jinyun knew that she was worried about her father and brother. The two had talked before and knew that Lin Qingtang had lived in the border area since childhood and often followed her father and brother to go to war. Although she had never been to the battlefield, she knew the cruelty of the battlefield.

In the past, she could always stay by her family's side and know what was happening at the first moment, but now she is trapped in this deep palace and is powerless.

Ye Jinyun was also very worried. She didn't know what method could be used to make her goddess less sad, nor could she help her grow a pair of wings and fly out of the high palace walls. She could only pray to God every day to keep the soldiers on the front line safe and to let the people return home as soon as possible.

That night, the bright moon hung high in the sky. Lin Qingtang was still sitting in the courtyard drinking alone as usual. Ye Jinyun was standing under the eaves. Finally, he couldn't help it anymore. He went up and snatched her wine glass, angrily saying:

"What's the point of drinking so much alone? Are you happy? You want to drink, right? I will accompany you to drink enough tomorrow. Don't drink today. Go back to your room and sleep."

Lin Qingtang looked at her drunkenly: "Okay, you said it, we have a deal, you drink with me tomorrow night, and you won't leave until you are drunk."

"Okay, okay, I'll definitely stay with you tomorrow night. You can go to sleep now."

After saying that, he helped Lin Qingtang up, handed her to her maid to take her back to wash, and then turned back to his room.

Early the next morning, Ye Jinyun got up and prepared a menu, and asked Yin Zhu to go to the imperial kitchen and ask the eunuch to buy the food according to the list. If he was unwilling to buy so much, he could spend some extra money to arrange it.

There was no way around it, because of the war on the front line, the emperor ordered the harem to cut down on expenses, so each palace still went to the imperial kitchen to get ingredients and cook them themselves, but the variety of ingredients was not as good as before, and the quantity was much smaller than before.

If the palaces wanted to add some fat and water, they had to pay the eunuchs in the imperial kitchen to go out and buy them. The eunuchs who made the purchases could also make a profit from it, and this was something that everyone tacitly accepted.

Yin Zhu looked at the long list, which included not only meat and vegetables but also wine and some unfamiliar items. Curiously, he asked, "Young Master, why do you need so many things? And what are all this cumin and chili powder for?"

"Oh, don't ask. Just let someone buy it according to my list, and you will know in the evening."

Yin Zhu said no more. He took the list and the silver and went to the imperial kitchen. He found the eunuch who was in charge of purchasing and told him the master's instructions. He paid the silver and a separate purse before turning around and returning to Lingyue Pavilion.

"How is it? Have you explained everything clearly?" Ye Jinyun asked

"I have explained everything clearly word for word. Don't worry, my lady. The things will be delivered before noon."

"Well, that's good. Later, ask Xiao Quanzi to take a few people to cut down some bamboo in the yard. It doesn't need to be too much, just enough to cut out one or two thousand bamboo sticks," Ye Jinyun instructed again.

Although Yin Zhu was confused after hearing this, he still did as she instructed.

Ye Jinyun calculated in his mind that there were about thirty or forty people in the entire Yingquan Palace, and he didn't know if one or two thousand bamboo sticks would be enough. Well, if not, he would just ask someone else to get more.

Before lunch, the eunuch in charge of purchasing goods brought all the things she had ordered.

After Yin Zhu confirmed that there was no problem, he ordered people to carry all the ingredients into the small kitchen. After having the palace maids and eunuchs take them into the kitchen and put them away, he turned around to inform Ye Jinyun.

"My lady, the things have been put away in the small kitchen. The things you mentioned earlier have arrived. I'm just letting you know. Do you want to go over and take a look now?"

When Ye Jinyun heard that the things had arrived, his eyes suddenly lit up: "Let's go and take a look."

After saying that, she took the lead and walked in front, with Qing'er and Yinzhu following behind her.

Ye Jinyun rushed into the small kitchen in two steps. Seeing the neatly arranged ingredients, she couldn't help but grin. She seemed to have seen the meat skewers sizzling with oil on the charcoal fire.

That's right, she wants to have a barbecue tonight!

This was specially prepared for Lin Qingtang. In her opinion, there was nothing that couldn't be solved by barbecue and a little wine. If it couldn't solve the problem, it only meant that he hadn't drunk enough!