An Ke wasn't in a hurry for Mu Feng to give her a definite answer. After all, she needed to consider things carefully, no matter what. Moreover, it was a matter of great importance, such as treason. One wrong move and she could end up with something utterly disastrous.
Doing business involves risk, let alone something as dangerous as losing your head. Anke has plenty of time and patience.
"If Your Highness has nothing else, I will take my leave." Anke looked at the prince who was standing there in a daze, and then thought of the two little snowmen she had just built. She wanted to take the snowmen to Qing'er as soon as possible.
Mu Feng was brought back to his senses when he heard An Ke's voice. He nodded to An Ke, then took a step back.
An Ke nodded and led the group behind her back, hurrying back to Cining Palace.
As soon as she arrived at Cining Palace, she ran into Qing'er, who was looking for her. When Qing'er saw An Ke, her eyes lit up and she hurriedly said, "The Empress Dowager heard that you were still in the Imperial Garden and was afraid that you would catch a cold, so she sent me to find you."
After saying that, Qing'er winked at An Ke, who immediately understood. This meant that the Empress Dowager knew about their plan and was very angry about it, probably still fuming.
"Okay, I understand." Anke patted Qing'er's shoulder, signaling her to relax. Then she quietly took out the little snowman she wanted to give to Qing'er from behind her back. "Ta-da, here, this is a little snowman for you. I made it."
Anke presented the little snowman to Qing'er with great care, as if it were a precious treasure. Qing'er was overjoyed to receive the gift from Anke and accepted it with a beaming smile.
Yes, having a friend who cares about you in everything is certainly something to be happy about.
After the gift was delivered, Anke could only sneak off to appease the Empress Dowager once again.
Anke quietly appeared at the entrance of the Empress Dowager's bedroom, peeking around and deliberately revealing some clues.
The Empress Dowager was sitting upright at the table when she noticed An Ke's sneaky figure out of the corner of her eye. A smile appeared on her lips, and she coughed lightly, "What are you doing, sneaking around my door like this?"
An Ke then feigned surprise at being discovered, adjusted her dress, and floated over like a butterfly. She then took over the work from Granny Gui and gently massaged the Empress Dowager's shoulders.
"No way, An'an just arrived, what do you mean by sneaking around?" An Ke pouted and said coquettishly.
The Empress Dowager reached out and touched An Ke's icy little hands. The touch immediately hardened her expression. "How long have you been playing outside? Look how cold your hands are. You've been playing outside for so long without even thinking to wear something warmer. What if you get frostbite?" Although the Empress Dowager's face was stern, her tone was filled with affection and helplessness towards An Ke.
"Oh dear, we just happened to run into Consort Xiang, so we sat outside and chatted for a while." An Ke smiled sweetly.
At this point, the Empress Dowager seemed to remember why she was angry, and immediately put on a stern face again. "I heard you're still trying to hide it from me? You said you were going to the Ruyi Pavilion, but what about the painting? Aren't you afraid of giving yourself away?" The Empress Dowager removed her nail guards and poked An Ke on the forehead.
The Empress Dowager said with exasperation, "If you really want to go, do you think I can stop you? I'll just tell you to wear more clothes so you don't catch a cold. Then, will you take the medicine prescribed by Physician Hu or not?"
Although the Empress Dowager said that, if An Ke were to tell the truth, the Empress Dowager would definitely stop her.
But now is the time to obediently admit defeat, so of course the truth cannot be told. "Yes, it's all An'an's fault. I will definitely not deceive Grandmother next time. Please forgive An'an this time, okay?" An Ke gently wrapped her arms around the Empress Dowager's arm, rested her head on the Empress Dowager's shoulder, and kept shaking the Empress Dowager's arm.
"If you do this again, I will punish you severely." The Empress Dowager was quite helpless, but she knew her granddaughter's temperament well enough; she was always one to act clever and shrewish. She still instinctively hugged her granddaughter and said, "Go and get a hot water bottle."
A young palace maid immediately brought over a hot water bottle. The Empress Dowager took it, touched it first, and then placed it in An Ke's hands. "Quickly hold this to warm your hands; we'll have our meal later."
Anke nodded obediently, while the old lady remained seated, half-embracing Anke.
Before long, An Ke felt herself breaking out in a sweat. “Grandmother An’an is a little hungry, let’s have our meal first.”
The Empress Dowager then released Anke, and when they walked together to the dining hall, they saw that lunch had already been prepared.
Qing'er came in through another door. When she saw An Ke wink at her, she knew that the Empress Dowager hadn't punished her too severely. Qing'er was relieved.
After the three of them finished their meal, the Empress Dowager returned to her bedroom for a midday rest.
"What did Consort Xiang say to you afterwards? And you stayed there for so long." Qing'er couldn't help but ask curiously.
“I didn’t say much, but then I talked about the Hui people. I was planning to bring you the snowman as soon as I finished building it, but I didn’t expect to run into the Burmese prince on the way.” Anke picked up the flower tea on the table, took a small sip, and then spoke.
"The Burmese prince? Mu Feng or Mu Sha?" Qing'er gripped the teacup tightly, leaning forward slightly, eager to know the answer.
After all, Myanmar had previously offered marriage, but now that the offer hadn't been accepted, they might become enraged. If they resorted to underhanded tactics, it would ruin Anko's reputation.
Qing'er was extremely anxious. Seeing Qing'er's anxious appearance, An Ke immediately comforted her, "It's alright, he just wanted to sow discord between me and Ertai and the Qing Dynasty."
Qing'er frowned. "Logically speaking, they should be trying to sow discord between you and Ertai, so why are they trying to sow discord between you and the Qing Dynasty?" Qing'er didn't quite understand the thought process of these Burmese people.
“Of course they’d say that our Qing Dynasty is full of rules and restrictions, and that Burma is free and wouldn’t bother to restrain me. They’re trying to use this to lure me into marrying into their Burmese family,” Anke said with a smile. “But he’s completely wrong. Whoever might be able to do it, I certainly won’t. And is he only allowed to test me, but not me to sow discord between them? I’ll just give him a counter-seditious provocation.”
Qing'er nodded in relief after hearing this, then gritted her teeth and said, "The Burmese are really cunning. An'an, you still need to be careful these next few days, lest they become desperate and do something rash." Qing'er was very worried about An'ke.
An Ke gently patted Qing'er's hand, "Who do you think has the ability to drug me, or to slip me a drug without me even noticing?"
"In any case, we still shouldn't be too careless and should be careful." Qing'er was still very worried, fearing that those Burmese people would use some underhanded methods.
An Ke recalled some warnings from modern times, which also served as a wake-up call. "Alright, I'll go and discuss these matters with my uncle later."
Qing'er thought of the Emperor's favor towards An Ke, and for a moment she felt relieved.
After exchanging a few more words, Qing'er reluctantly left An Ke's room. Since An Ke had already decided to tell the Emperor, she naturally needed to make preparations as soon as possible.
Why not take advantage of the fact that there are few ministers around now and head straight to the Emperor's Hall of Mental Cultivation?
As soon as they arrived at the entrance of the Hall of Mental Cultivation, they saw Eunuch Li Yu angrily reprimanding the young eunuchs below, his hands and feet unsteady.
Upon seeing An Ke, Li Yu immediately jogged forward to greet her. An Ke waved her hand and asked with a smile, "Are there any ministers inside right now?"
Li Yu said respectfully, "No, there are no ministers in a meeting right now. If the princess has anything to say, she can just give instructions to her subordinates. Why bother making this trip?" Li Yu had been by the emperor's side for many years and was one of the people who had watched An Ke grow up.
Li Yu's heartache for An Ke was sometimes no less than that for the Emperor.
"I've been cooped up in the palace for a while, so I thought I'd come out for a walk and get some fresh air," An Ke said with a smile. Then she advised Li Yu not to get angry because of the little eunuchs' clumsy actions.
Li Yu smiled and agreed, then had the young eunuch clean up the area before letting them leave. The young eunuchs bowed gratefully to An Ke.
An Ke followed Li Yu directly into the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Just then, the Emperor was sitting at his desk reviewing memorials.
The Emperor's brows furrowed again, but quickly relaxed upon seeing An Ke. "An An, what brings you here today? Did the Empress Dowager catch you playing in the snow?" the Emperor said with a teasing expression, clearly having received word of it.
An Ke pretended to be exposed, her face falling as she said dejectedly, "Uncle, you guessed right. Grandmother caught us. An An almost got punished."
"I heard you spent quite a while in the Imperial Garden. Did you catch a chill?" The Emperor stopped reviewing memorials, stepped out from behind his desk, and took An Ke's hand. "Why is it still so cold at this hour? Wasn't the sedan chair prepared?"
As they were talking, the Emperor pulled Anke over. The inner room was heated by the underfloor heating, and there was a stove inside. The Emperor immediately took Anke to the stove to warm his hands.
"Oh dear, An'an isn't that delicate. She didn't get cold from just a few steps." An Ke shrugged, but as soon as she finished speaking, she sneezed slightly.
Now even Anke couldn't say anything more. This was a blatant slap in the face. One second he said he wasn't flustered, and the next second he started sneezing.
The Emperor's face darkened as expected. "Is this what you mean by not getting cold? I think you haven't had enough of this medicine. It seems I'll have to have Physician Hu prescribe some bitter medicine for you so you'll remember this lesson."
Upon hearing about the bitter medicine, An Ke immediately begged for mercy, "I'll definitely drink more ginger soup when I get back. Can you please not let Doctor Hu prescribe this bitter medicine for me?" An Ke's face scrunched up, making her look extremely pitiful.
Li Yu, watching from the side, felt a pang of heartache. She knew that if some medicine wasn't prescribed, the princess probably wouldn't learn her lesson. She could only turn slightly away, avoiding the scene before her.
After receiving a negative answer from the Emperor, An Ke went straight to the soft couch and sat down. The Emperor then walked over to An Ke and asked, "What's wrong? Are you throwing a tantrum for me?"
"Sigh, no," An Ke sighed dejectedly, then recounted to the Emperor in detail her encounter with Mu Feng in the Imperial Garden.
When the topic of state affairs came up, Li Yu had a sudden inspiration and quickly led all the palace maids and eunuchs serving him out. Li Yu then stood guard at the door.
The Emperor looked grave upon hearing this. "So he still wants to sow discord between you and the Qing Dynasty?" An Ke was completely dumbfounded.
Anke: ? Is that the point? You've missed the point, haven't you?
An Ke almost roared, "Uncle, you've got the point wrong! The point is, should we help him usurp the throne?" An Ke tried to steer the conversation back on track.
The Emperor then seriously considered the feasibility of An Ke's words. After a moment's thought, he felt that the plan was excellent. "However, if we help him usurp the throne, what if they turn around and bite the Qing Dynasty in the future?" The Emperor still didn't want to make a losing deal; it wouldn't be good if he raised a wolf in sheep's clothing.
“That’s easy. Myanmar is short of food right now, isn’t that the perfect time for us to bribe them?” Anke winked slyly.
"This is a good plan now, but what about next year, and in the future? They won't always be short of food." This is also why the Emperor has not launched a large-scale military campaign to quell the ongoing conflicts on the Qing-Burmese border over the years.
“Then we’ll curb them from the water sources and trade.” Anke quickly racked his brains. “In recent years, Burma has been buying tea and silk from the Qing Dynasty, but the timber and gems they sell to us can also be supplied by other countries. So we don’t lack these things. We can use this to curb them.”
After all, tea from the Qing Dynasty was extremely popular at the time, and Burmese nobles even used tea as a symbol of their status, not to mention water resources.
The Emperor nodded; it was indeed a good idea. Then, looking at his niece with satisfaction, he said, "Good job, An'an, your little brain works so fast."
An Ke smiled smugly, "Then An An will be going now, so as not to delay Your Majesty from reviewing the memorials." After saying that, she quickly slipped out, afraid that she would be left behind as free labor.
The Emperor watched the girl disappear into his Hall of Mental Cultivation, and shook his head with a helpless smile. "This girl, do you think I would force her to review memorials for me again?"
The Emperor immediately guessed why An Ke had run away, but then he thought that if An Ke stayed there for another two incense sticks, the Emperor might bring up that question.
An Ke strolled slowly through the palace, and before she knew it, she had arrived at the entrance of Yonghe Palace, where she happened to see Yongqi and Xinrong playing chess in the pavilion.
Although the two had been betrothed by imperial decree, they had not yet officially married, so they would play chess in the pavilion to demonstrate their innocence. After all, anyone passing by outside the palace could clearly see them; how could they then open their mouths to spread rumors?
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