Yu Jingchen couldn't understand what she meant. The Empress Dowager picked up her chopsticks and put some food on Yu Jingchen's plate: "Your Majesty used to love eating this fish the most. Try it again."
Without even looking at Yu Jingchen's reaction, she picked up a crab and began peeling it herself, using the crab-peeling tools available nearby.
Yu Jingchen looked at the food the Empress Dowager had put in his bowl without saying a word. He stared at it for two seconds, then ate it all.
The Empress Dowager slowly peeled the crab in her hand, a gesture she seemed to do often. However, given her status as Empress Dowager, she didn't seem like the type to do such things.
After the Empress Dowager finished what she was doing, the crab meat was completely peeled out. A sauce was placed beside it, and after coating the crab meat with the sauce, she pushed the plate in front of Yu Jingchen: "Your Majesty, please try this. Your Majesty used to love eating this. When you were little, you couldn't peel it yourself, so you would always ask me to help you." The Empress Dowager recalled the past, a slight smile playing on her lips, as if reminiscing about those bygone days.
Hearing the Empress Dowager's words, Yu Jingchen was also transported to his childhood memories, when he was only five or six years old. That period was also the time when his relationship with the Empress Dowager was at its best, and in his memory, the time when the Empress Dowager was the most loving and motherly towards him.
Every time we ate, I would insist on eating crab. Originally, this task of peeling crabs was done by the palace servants, but the Empress Dowager insisted on peeling them herself. After a while, I would always pester the Empress Dowager to peel crabs for me. The Empress Dowager was always very patient. At that time, she was probably the best person in my heart, my mother.
Looking at the crabs on the plate, Yu Jingchen was suddenly overwhelmed with a mix of emotions.
"Why isn't Your Majesty eating? Doesn't he like it?" the Empress Dowager asked.
Yu Jingchen didn't speak, but slowly ate the crab meat. The taste seemed the same as before, but he felt that it wasn't quite the same as before.
"So it's delicious, and His Majesty likes it too, but it still needs to be controlled. After all, crab meat is cooling in nature, and eating too much might make you sick." As she spoke, the Empress Dowager picked up another crab, but this time she injured her hand while peeling it.
"Hiss..." the Empress Dowager exclaimed in surprise.
Empress Dowager An Xin quickly came over to check.
Yu Jingchen turned around when he heard the voice, and saw that the Empress Dowager's finger was bleeding because it was injured. The Empress Dowager's hand... was probably not as good as it used to be because of old age.
"It's nothing, just a minor injury. I'm used to it, aren't I? I used to get injured all the time when I was peeling crabs, especially in the beginning." The Empress Dowager waved her hand casually, smiled, and didn't take it seriously.
But Yu Jingchen heard it differently. The Empress Dowager had been pampered and spoiled since childhood, so how could she possibly know how to peel crabs? When she first started peeling crabs, she often got hurt, and at that time she would say, "It's nothing, just a small injury..."
“If you’re injured, you don’t need to peel off the skin anymore. There are so many palace servants; you don’t have to do everything yourself. Or is the Empress Dowager doing this on purpose, trying to use a self-inflicted injury as a ruse?” Yu Jingchen’s words were hurtful.
The Empress Dowager smiled faintly: "If Your Majesty thinks that way, that's fine too. In any case, I can't control Your Majesty's thoughts. Your Majesty doesn't need to think about the past anymore. After this meal, I won't bother Your Majesty anymore." As she spoke, the Empress Dowager placed another piece of fish on Yu Jingchen's plate.
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