Chapter 98: Pampering for Pampering's Sake
[The text alone is quite captivating. These red agate earrings were actually soaked in bird droppings. No wonder even the tyrant wouldn't even touch them.]
[When the tyrant learned of this, he wanted to have them thrown away. However, Lady Wen, unaware of the situation, thought the red agate earrings were beautiful, and coquettishly left them behind.]
[Tsk tsk, every time the tyrant saw Lady Wen wearing this pair of red agate earrings, he would look strange. Lady Wen even thought the tyrant disliked seeing her wearing them. And then someone happened to bring up the matter of the clothes, and she got angry and ordered the earrings to be sent to Concubine Gao, and then humiliated her in a sarcastic way.]
Being favored is a sign of confidence. In terms of rank, a concubine is a fifth-rank official, while a beauty is only a sixth-rank official. They specifically sent someone to humiliate her. Lady Wen was truly spoiled to the point of being carried away by the tyrant.
Chu Liuzheng sighed and sighed, and suddenly discovered a problem that she had ignored all along.
[Lady Wen was the first tea-serving maid to successfully ascend the throne. She suddenly rose to favor and then suddenly fell out of favor in just a few months. Is the tyrant so easily disliked?]
[Although the emperor is willful, I've never seen a tyrant treat other concubines like this.]
[Thinking back carefully now, during those few months when the tyrant favored Lady Wen, he seemed to have lost his mind. He even ignored the Queen Mother's advice. It was like... doting for the sake of favor.]
Chu Liuzheng sniffed and felt that he smelled the scent of a big melon.
She cheered up, rolled up her sleeves in her heart, rushed into the melon field and started turning over the melons!
*
At night, Wanshou Palace.
The palace maids came in one after another carrying the dishes and arranged them properly.
The Empress Dowager and the Emperor sat across from each other at a round table.
"I asked the kitchen to make your favorite dish, Mantanxiang. Please try it."
Zhou Yuande stepped forward to serve the dishes.
Xiao Jingfan picked it up and ate it, nodding: "The Mantanxiang made in my mother's palace is still the most to my taste."
"You loved this as a child." The Queen Mother smiled, a hint of nostalgia on her face. "Your father also loved it. You and your son have the same taste."
Hearing this, Xiao Jingfan also recalled the time when his father and son had meals together, and a smile appeared in his eyes.
The Queen Mother looked at him carefully and said, "I see that you have lost weight again. No matter how busy the previous dynasty is, you should take care of yourself first."
"Son knows." Xiao Jingfan picked up the soup bowl and took a sip, trying to change the subject, "This fish soup tastes good."
The Queen Mother didn't continue his words. She turned her head and glared at Zhou Yuande. "My son has become so thin, it's obvious that he hasn't eaten well. Zhou Yuande, what did I tell you?"
Zhou Yuande secretly groaned in his heart. Even if His Majesty didn't want to eat, he couldn't pry open His Majesty's mouth and stuff it in.
He knelt down on his knees and said, "I have failed in my duty. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
"Mother." Xiao Jingfan glanced at Zhou Yuande, "This servant has advised me a lot, but it is my son who cannot eat. Please don't blame me wrongly."
The Queen Mother snorted lightly, but did not continue to attack Zhou Yuande. "That's enough for now, but if my son loses weight again, I will not forgive you."
Zhou Yuande quickly assured: "I will do my best to serve Your Majesty."
The Queen Mother then told him to get up and turned to look at Xiao Jingfan: "In my opinion, the prince is lacking a caring and considerate person by his side."
Xiao Jingfan: "..."
here we go again! !
The Empress Dowager finally began to discuss the main topic of the evening: "I heard that the Emperor has been visiting an injured palace maid at Nongyun Garden recently."
Xiao Jingfan frowned, "Who is gossiping in front of the Queen Mother?"
He glanced at Madam Zhao beside him with a cold look. Madam Zhao shuddered and knelt down with her head lowered.
The Queen Mother defended her, saying, "I asked her to inquire about it. If you want to punish her, punish me."
"Mother." Xiao Jingfan called out helplessly, rubbing his eyebrows with a headache.
The Queen Mother's heart softened as she heard this, and her expression softened. "I know you don't want to hear this, but since you don't like going to the harem, and you don't have anyone to take care of you, how can I be at ease?"
Although Xiao Jingfan was not her biological child, she had raised him day by day since he was a baby in swaddling clothes. Seeing Xiao Jingfan getting thinner day by day, the Queen Mother felt distressed.
Knowing that his mother would not give up until she gave him a firm answer, Xiao Jingfan could only say, "My son has other plans for her."
The Queen Mother didn't believe it: "Don't try to fool me. I raised you. How could I not know what kind of person you are?"
"I've said before that I don't like women like Lady Wen who come from humble backgrounds. They tend to take advantage of their favor and become arrogant, disrupting the peace of the entire harem. But if you really like me, how can I not agree to your wishes?"
"Mother, I have my own arrangements." Xiao Jingfan personally picked up a piece of braised ham for the Queen Mother with his chopsticks, "Eat first. It will hurt your stomach if it gets cold."
Seeing that his face was not as good as before, the Queen Mother did not want to have a good meal and make her son unhappy, so she had to stop talking and ordered Madam Zhao to serve Xiao Jingfan some food.
After dinner, the mother and son moved to the warm room to chat about family matters.
As they chatted, the Queen Mother suddenly remembered something and asked, "What are your plans for the three princesses? If you want to keep them in the palace, you should ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to make preparations."
"There's no rush for this matter." Xiao Jingfan lowered his head and took a sip of tea.
The tea tastes bitter, I don’t like it.
Seeing him frown, the empress dowager smiled.
"You've been afraid of bitterness since you were little. Even when you're sick, you have to put sugar in your medicine. If you don't, you won't drink it. I have to coax and persuade you every time. I can't take my eyes off you. It's really annoying."
When his mother mentioned his dark childhood history, Xiao Jingfan felt a little embarrassed.
The Queen Mother was not indulging him: "This is a tranquilizing tea that I specially asked the Imperial Hospital to prescribe. Even if it tastes bitter, drink a few more sips."
Xiao Jingfan's brows were furrowed, but he still drank one more sip out of respect for the empress dowager.
He put the rest on the table and refused to touch it again.
Tasting the bitterness in his mouth, he suddenly remembered the various kinds of tea that Chu Liuzheng had brewed for him, including those for calming the nerves, relieving summer heat, clearing away heat, reducing internal heat, and warming the stomach... Although there were many varieties, none of them tasted bitter.
He stared at the teacup, his eyes dazed and slightly absent-minded.
It takes more than a month to recover, which seems a bit too long.
"A-choo!"
Chu Liuzheng, who had just returned from the toilet, suddenly sneezed loudly towards the sky.
"But are you cold?" Moxiang hurriedly helped her to the bed and wrapped her in a thick quilt, leaving only her head exposed.
Chu Liuzheng sniffed and said, "Don't worry, sister. I'm not cold. It might be because my family is talking about me. This cloak is quite warm."
Moxiang added two pieces of charcoal to the brazier and smiled when she heard this: "You refused to wear it just now, but now you know it's warm?"
Chu Liuzheng grinned.
Isn't she worried that she will get dirty if she goes to the toilet?
I finally got a good thing without the imperial mark, how can I sell it if it gets dirty?
Moxiang brought the brazier closer to the bed and said, "You warm yourself by the fire first. I'll get some hot water for washing up."
"good."
Moxiang opened the door and went out. Chu Liuzheng, wrapped in a quilt, thought of the big melon he had eaten in the afternoon and couldn't help but become dazed.
I always thought Lady Wen was just an ordinary tea-serving maid who had successfully risen to power. I never thought she was a spy carefully trained by the Fifth Prince, dedicated to killing the tyrant.
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