When someone suddenly grabbed her wrist, Xu Qinyu's messy thoughts disappeared in an instant. She subconsciously looked at the hands. The bones of the palms were long and broad, with distinct bones, and the fingers were also very long. Even though they were a little too thin and pale, resulting in obvious blue veins, it did not affect the beauty of the hands at all. Her eyes met the owner of the hands, who was her cheap husband Pei Weixuan.
He woke up.
Xu Qinyu also met his eyes.
She didn't know how to describe those eyes. They were extremely cold, a bit like the eyes of a cold-blooded animal, icy and emotionless. Being stared at by such eyes made her heart shudder. In just a moment, all the hairs on her body stood up.
Xu Qinyu was stunned for a moment, thinking she had seen it wrong. She blinked, and when she looked over again, her cheap husband had returned to normal. His eyes were the same as before, clear and cold, but not cold at all. He felt a little distant and gentle.
Her cheap husband usually didn't like to talk, and Xu Qinyu thought he had a quiet personality and was as gentle as jade.
She stammered, "Fourth, Fourth Brother, are you awake?"
She had just thought that her fourth brother was dead, so this was a bit like a curse, and she couldn't help feeling a little guilty for saying this.
As for the look in her eyes just now, she thought she was seeing things. After all, Fourth Brother was a patient with a high fever, and he was confused and delirious. It was normal for his eyes to look strange.
When Pei Weixuan saw that it was her, he slowly loosened his grip on her wrist and looked at her wrist again. There was already a deep red mark where he had gripped it.
"Yu Niang, I'm sorry. I just had a nightmare. Did it scare you?"
He was right, he did have a nightmare, dreaming about some things from his childhood.
Thinking of the scene in his dream, he closed his eyelids to hide the coldness in his eyes.
Xu Qinyu rubbed her wrist and said with a smile: "Don't worry, fourth brother, your wrist is fine."
In fact, it was very painful. She didn't know that her cheap husband was so thin, but he still had such great strength. His hands were so strong that he didn't look weak at all. She felt the pain in the bones of her wrists.
When Wen and Pei Jianing heard that Pei Weixuan had woken up, they both ran over in a hurry. Even the two children came staggering over by themselves, staring eagerly at their brother and uncle lying on the bed.
Seeing him wake up, Wen's tears began to fall, "It's good that Brother Xuan is awake."
Seeing this, Xu Qinyu didn't disturb them and went to the kitchen to bring the raw fish porridge that had been kept warm back to the room.
Mrs. Wen was talking to her son at the moment, saying that the doctor took his pulse and said that he seemed to be showing signs of poisoning.
Pei Weixuan simply said, "It's nothing serious. The poison has mostly gone away. He won't die."
Seeing him so calm, Xu Qinyu guessed that her husband had clearly known about his poisoning, likely dating back to when he was in the palace. And it must have been quite some time, most likely from childhood. Wasn't it said that the Fourth Prince was always frail and always ill? The palace had imperial physicians and could even employ the world's greatest healers, so it wasn't likely that he couldn't even cure a minor weakness.
He was born to the Queen, so there must be many concubines and princes in the palace who wanted him dead.
Wen probably guessed it in her heart, her face turned a little pale, and her heart began to tighten.
She had no help from her natal family in the harem, and her natal mother did not really want her to become Emperor Sheng Jing's favorite concubine. Later, even when she became the empress, her mother was not really willing to help her eldest son.
But she was, after all, the concubine's daughter of the Duke of Anping, and they were all on the same boat. For the sake of his own bloodline, the Duke of Anping also tried his best to help her and his eldest son.
But my father has only been a small-time Earl of Anping these years, and he doesn't have much power to help much with the matter of appointing a crown prince.
She never asked about the issue of choosing a crown prince. She didn't understand politics. All she could do was love Emperor Sheng Jing and her children with all her heart.
But she knew in her heart how dangerous the fight for the throne among the princes was.
In fact, she also guessed some of the late emperor's plans. After living with the late emperor for more than 20 years, she could feel the late emperor's feelings for her. He knew that her status was low, and if she did not become the queen, her children would not have the possibility of becoming the crown prince. He made her the queen. She had no power over her relatives, so he wanted to wait until later to make the crown prince, so as to avoid being targeted by other concubines and princes in the palace.
But even so, he ended up in this situation. She certainly didn't believe that her eldest son would poison the late emperor. The strange thing was that the eldest son didn't have the cruelty of the second prince's lineage, and he even dared to poison his own father.
When Wen thought of the late emperor who was poisoned to death and his eldest son's lineage, she felt so heartbroken that her face turned pale.
Xu Qinyu came over and said, "Fourth brother, I made some fish porridge this morning. You haven't eaten anything since last night, so drink the porridge first."
Wen's thoughts were interrupted by her daughter-in-law. She struggled out of the pain, took the bowl from her daughter-in-law's hand, and wanted to feed her son porridge, but was rejected by Pei Weixuan. He took the bowl of porridge himself and started eating.
He was very polite when eating, worthy of being a precious prince.
Xu Qinyu watched her cheap husband eat porridge for a while and then lost interest. Thinking that he had woken up, most of her worries disappeared. She ran back to the bedside, holding her wooden box, and poured all the copper coins and silver coins in the box onto the bed.
After making money, the happiest thing is naturally to count the money.
This made Xu Qinyu think of her previous life when she started setting up a stall. The first thing she did every night when she got home was to count the money and how much she earned every day.
The tinkling sound of copper coins colliding with broken silver attracted everyone's attention. Even Pei Weixuan, who was drinking porridge, couldn't help but look over.
His eyes first fell on the smiling face of the girl. Her facial features were bright, but she was too thin, and her face was covered with frostbite from being frozen on the road of exile. She was wearing a gray and somewhat ugly winter coat, but it could not hide the happiness on her face at all.
Thinking about her lifeless appearance on the road of exile, and the cooking skills and open-minded attitude she showed in the following days.
Pei Weixuan's eyes were filled with inquiry. He drank the fish porridge she made, but he couldn't help but sigh and lowered his eyes.
After counting the silver, Xu Qinyu's smile became even more disjointed. Excluding the money spent on ingredients and seasonings for today's breakfast, she earned a total of more than two taels and nine hundred coins!
Pei Jianing was also a little surprised when he saw it. He came over and looked at the copper coins and silver coins on the bed and said, "Fourth sister-in-law, is this all what you earned this morning?"
Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Yes, I have earned almost three strings of cash. Fourth brother needs to rest for a few days to get well before we go to Yuanbao Town. I will try my best to earn more money in the next few days, and see if I can afford to buy a house in Yuanbao Town when I get there." She still didn't know the housing prices in Yuanbao Town. If the houses were too expensive, she would have to rent one.
Even Wen was a little shocked. She didn't expect that Yu Niang had earned almost three taels of silver in just the morning.
In fact, three taels of silver was nothing in her eyes, but ordinary civilians only earned a few hundred coins a month at most, and the chef of an ordinary tavern or restaurant only earned about two taels of silver a month. However, Yu Niang earned a month's salary of a restaurant chef in just one day. How could she not be surprised?
Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er also ran to Xu Qinyu and watched her count the copper coins.
Having made some money, Xu Qinyu was in a very good mood. She patted the two children and said, "I'll continue to buy candy for Feng and Yan tomorrow."
The white sugar and brown sugar here are both made from sugarcane and are expensive, while malt sugar is made from wheat and is much cheaper. However, a small piece of malt sugar costs several cents, and ordinary people would not be willing to buy it for their children.
Thinking that it is not good for children to eat sweets all the time, Xu Qinyu plans to buy some eggs when she goes shopping for ingredients tomorrow and make some egg cakes for the children, which are soft, sweet and nutritious.
After counting the silver, Xu Qinyu put the wooden box away, said goodbye to everyone, and went to the kitchen to prepare the big bones and soup.
The pork rib soup is also simple to make. Add ginger slices, rice wine and shallots to remove the fishy smell. Then wash the pork ribs with hot water and simmer them in a pot over low heat.
When she bought ingredients in the morning, she also bought rice wine, which is better at removing fishy smells than ordinary alcohol.
The bone soup will be ready for tomorrow, and the wonton filling and wrappers need to be prepared early tomorrow morning.
In the evening, Captain Liang couldn't help but come to eat again.
Upon learning that there was a new dish, pickled fish, Liang Qianhu was very happy.
The pickled fish was fresh, spicy and flavorful, and Liang Qianhu was so satisfied with it that he said it was very enjoyable.
In the evening, Xu Qinyu did not receive any other diners except Captain Liang.
Her health had been severely damaged during her exile, and if she continued to prepare evening meals for the diners, her body would not be able to handle it.
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