Chapter 184 That vile woman, Consort Su

Liu Ye knew that these ancient people wouldn't understand, so she didn't keep them in suspense any longer. She stood up, picked up a chopstick, and pointed to one of the dishes: "This dish of stir-fried pumpkin and shrimp will cause severe diarrhea if eaten because pumpkin and shrimp are pharmacologically incompatible and cannot be eaten together."

Upon hearing this, Empress Xuan realized, "So that's how it is! Consort Su is so cunning!"

Liu Ye then pointed to the next dish and said, "If I'm not mistaken, this is a stew of cabbage and rabbit. Cabbage and rabbit are incompatible and will cause severe diarrhea if eaten together. The same goes for this tofu and spinach dish. Eating this set of dishes will not only cause diarrhea, but also kidney stones, which means stones growing in the kidneys. The pain can be excruciating."

"And this braised goose and egg dish is the same. Eating it will cause severe diarrhea and gallstones. And this dish, this dish, all five dishes are like that. It must be really hard for Consort Su. Ordinary people don't know that these dishes are incompatible and will cause diarrhea. Luckily, I am not an ordinary person."

The Empress's face turned black with anger upon hearing this, but she managed to suppress her rage and not overturn the table. Prince Xuan was no better off; he threw his chopsticks on the table, gritted his teeth, and roared, "That vile Consort Su actually came up with such a vicious scheme to harm the Empress Dowager! I will never forgive her in the future!"

The Empress patted her chest and let out a long sigh: "There's plenty of time in the future, Yun Gu. Take all these dishes away. Just looking at them makes me angry!"

Yun Gu hurriedly replied, "Yes." The five dishes were quickly removed. The Empress looked at Liu Ye apologetically and said, "Please forgive me, Miss Liu. It's not easy being the mistress of the harem. There are wolves in front and tigers behind. I have to sleep with one eye open and one eye closed. Sigh, let's continue eating and not let those scoundrels disturb our mood."

Liu Ye smiled and nodded. Prince Xuan added a piece of pork rib to her bowl: "Miss Liu, I am very curious about what food combinations are incompatible. Please tell Aunt Yun about them later so that she can remember them and pay attention to the Empress Dowager's diet."

Liu Ye smiled and replied, "No problem."

After the meal, Yun Gu took out her pen and wrote something. Prince Xuan and the Empress sat to the side and listened. Liu Ye listed all the dishes that she knew should not be eaten together. Yun Gu wrote three whole pages. Prince Xuan and the Empress read through all three pages and became more and more alarmed as they read. Among them were dishes that they often liked to eat.

The Empress pointed to one of the dishes and said, "Stir-fried rabbit with celery, isn't this Chef Li Yu's specialty? His Majesty loves it the most. I never thought that eating it would cause hair loss. Hehe, no wonder your father's hair is getting thinner and thinner. Fortunately, I don't like to eat it. Xuan'er, you shouldn't eat it in the future either..."

Prince Xuan nodded, suppressing a laugh: "Your subject has remembered. But I am very curious? Consort Su knows how to use incompatible foods to harm people. Does she not know that eating celery and rabbit meat will cause hair loss? But if she does know, Your subject has heard before that whenever Father Emperor goes to her place for a meal, there will always be this dish that Father Emperor loves on the table. Hehehe, that's quite interesting."

The Empress snorted coldly, then turned to look at Liu Ye with gentle eyes and asked in a tender tone, "I will reward you handsomely. Is there anything you particularly like, Miss Liu? Even if I don't have it, I can have someone find it for you."

Liu Ye dared not say that she wanted everything: "Thank you, Your Majesty. You have already bestowed upon me the gold token, which is more precious than anything else..."

The Empress smiled and said, "Let's keep things separate. Since you don't want anything, I'll reward you according to the rules. Yun Gu, reward Miss Liu with gold, silver, jewels, brocade, and cloth..."

Liu Ye quickly knelt on the ground to express her gratitude: "Thank you for the Empress's gift."

Liu Ye and Prince Xuan stayed for a while longer before leaving the palace. Bai Zilin breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Liu Ye emerge unharmed. He lifted the carriage curtain, and Prince Xuan and Liu Ye boarded the carriage. He then hurried the carriage back to the palace.

The carriage stopped at the entrance of Prince Xuan's residence. Prince Xuan invited Liu Ye to sit down at the residence, but she declined. The palace was about to send over rewards, and besides, there was a bomb in her house, so she had to hurry back and check on it: "I will definitely come to visit another day."

She smiled and waved to Bai Zilin before happily going home. She deliberately left the gate open, guessing that the people from the palace would arrive soon.

Liu Ye cautiously entered the next room and quietly approached the bed. The female assassin on the bed had her eyes closed, and the white powder under her nose was still there, which meant that the female assassin had not woken up. It seemed that her sleeping potion was quite effective; a little bit was enough to make the female assassin sleep for half a day.

About half an hour later, five carriages arrived at the palace gate. In addition to the imperial guards escorting them, there was a group of palace maids and eunuchs. The carriages were filled with gifts for Liu Ye. Such a grand procession attracted many people to come out and watch the excitement. Everyone was curious about which official had received the emperor's reward.

The most people came out of Prime Minister Su's residence, including Prime Minister Su himself. As for why, they thought it was a reward sent by Consort Su, but they saw eunuchs delivering the gifts to the next room.

Steward Su thought they had made a mistake, so he quickly went to the head eunuch and said, "Oh dear, you've made a mistake! This is the Su Prime Minister's residence. You should move your things back here immediately."

The head eunuch glared at Steward Su, then said in a strained voice, "I'm not mistaken. This was bestowed upon Miss Liu by Her Majesty the Empress. What the hell does it have to do with your Su family!"

Upon hearing this, Steward Su hurriedly bowed and apologized, "It was my fault for being rude. I will take my leave now."

The Prime Minister felt he had lost face in public. He snorted coldly, flicked his sleeves, and returned to his residence with a dark face. The Su family members also hurriedly went back. The maids and servants did not dare to watch the commotion at the door.

After exchanging pleasantries with the head eunuch, Liu Ye had all the boxes from the five carriages moved into the house. She slipped five silver notes into the head eunuch's hand and said politely, "Thank you for your hard work, sir. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

The head eunuch squeezed the thickness of the silver notes in his hand, then happily led the palace staff away. Liu Ye quickly closed and bolted the door, preventing the group of people outside from peeping.

Back in her room, she looked happily at the boxes scattered on the floor. The Empress had bestowed upon her such fine things that even if they were just casually placed there, they would be worth a fortune in later generations.

She casually opened a box and found it filled with gemstone jewelry. She picked up a pair of emerald bracelets, her eyes lighting up with delight. "So beautiful!" she exclaimed. Then she picked up a gemstone necklace next to it. "This one is good too," she thought, "the rubies are bigger than grapes. They're all really nice things."

She casually opened another box, only to find it full of gold ingots, all fifty taels each. Something was wrong. This wasn't the reward the Empress had mentioned. She clearly remembered receiving cloth, coral, and pearls. Where were they?

She opened all the boxes, and found that except for the first box which contained jewelry, the rest of the boxes were full of gold ingots. This was not right. The Empress was giving her this as a reward, but she felt that it was meant for Prince Xuan.