Halfway through the banquet, Concubine Hui stood up and approached the Empress Dowager. The Emperor knelt in greeting and said with a smile, "Empress Dowager, today is your birthday. I know you love lychees, so I have asked the Imperial Food Bureau to prepare some Lychee Pastry. Please enjoy it, Your Majesty."
Soon, palace maids from the Shangshi Bureau came in one after another from the side doors on both sides, holding trays.
When the item was presented to the Queen Mother, a hint of surprise appeared on her face: "What is this?"
Hui Jieyu smiled faintly: "Usually, when we eat lychees, we always soak them in well water, which is nothing special. But this time, we specially added milk and honey, and the taste is very different."
After all, Fu Qianyu is a modern person. When she has free time, she has learned how to make cakes and cold drinks online.
Sushan is similar to modern ice cream, with egg white stirred into a dense foam, milk, honey and milk poured on crushed ice, and garnished with some red candied fruits and mint leaves.
Finally, add two lychees.
After Fu Qianyu passed through, she found that the only things to cool off in the summer here were mung bean soup and the like. There was ice, but they didn't know how to use it.
In the first summer after traveling through time, Fu Qianyu asked Lingyun to make this ice cream.
But beating egg whites was very difficult without any tools, so she had only eaten it once. After all, today was the Queen Mother's birthday.
In order to please the Empress Dowager, he ordered the Imperial Food Bureau to prepare this Lychee Pastry Mountain. It took several hours just to beat the egg whites.
The Queen Mother took half a bite with a spoon. It tasted very different from anything she had eaten before. It was not only sweet but also very refreshing. It was really a good thing to cool down in the summer.
For a moment, praises were heard throughout Yuqing Palace. The Queen Mother put down her spoon and looked at Concubine Hui with a warm smile, "How did you come up with that?"
Concubine Hui smiled and said, "That was my idea. The Empress ordered the Imperial Food Bureau to do this."
As soon as she finished speaking, the Queen Mother turned her gaze to Fu Qianyu. Fu Qianyu smiled and said, "When I have nothing to do, I like to tinker with food. I learned this by chance from a book. If the Queen Mother likes it, I will be relieved."
The Queen Mother said, "You are truly clever, girl. I used to lament the fleeting passage of time, but today's birthday banquet has given me great satisfaction."
With that, everyone stood up and saluted the Queen Mother again: "The Queen Mother has great blessings and long-lasting virtue!"
The Queen Mother's face was flushed, and she said yes to everyone repeatedly before telling them to sit down. But not long after, there was some commotion at the table.
Following the sound, she saw Concubine Xian lying in the arms of a maid, clutching her belly. Her pretty face had already turned pale. After a moment, Yuyan screamed, "Oh no! Our Concubine is bleeding!"
Everyone was shocked, especially Concubine Hui. Everything at today's banquet was arranged by her and the Queen. If anything went wrong, they would be responsible.
What’s more, Concubine Xian is pregnant.
Concubine Hui quickly stood up and walked towards Concubine Xian, and sure enough, she saw bright red bloodstains under her skirt.
The hall suddenly became chaotic.
The Queen Mother's expression suddenly became solemn. No matter how much she disliked Concubine Xian, she was pregnant with the royal heir after all.
Zhao Yuancheng rushed forward and carried Concubine Xian to the side hall of Yuqing Palace to wait for the imperial physician to come and treat her.
Seeing that she was not feeling well, he hurriedly ordered Nanny Song to call the imperial physician.
The good atmosphere is gone.
The concubines all followed. Concubine Shu twisted her waist, her eyes unable to hide the pride, but she said, "Your Majesty, you are too impatient. Your child is already the crown prince. Even if Concubine Xian gave birth to a prince, he would not be able to surpass you in status. Why would you murder the dragon fetus on such a happy day as today?"
Fu Qianyu didn't say a word. The faces of the others were full of fear, but she remained calm.
The more she saw her like this, the angrier Concubine Shu became. She snorted, said something pretentious, and walked towards the side hall with a flick of her sleeves.
Concubine Lian and Concubine Hui looked at Fu Xiyu nervously, especially Concubine Hui. If Concubine Xian looked unhappy, then her expression would be unbearable to look at.
"How could something like this happen? I've had people keep an eye on everything. Even today's ingredients I had people check several times. How could this be possible..."
At this moment, Hui Jieyu was feeling very uneasy, but Fu Qianyu patted her hands and said with a gentle expression: "Don't worry, Xianpin will be fine, and neither will you."
Both of them were stunned. Hui Jieyu, whose heart was about to jump out of her chest due to fear, felt inexplicably relieved because of these words.
Concubine Lian patted her shoulder and said sternly, "Since the Queen has said so, you should be at ease. Nothing will happen."
Concubine Hui took a deep breath and tried to make her voice sound normal: "I understand."
The three of them walked towards the side hall one after the other. At this time, a palace maid came in with hot water, and a faint smell of blood spread in the air.
Not long after, Doctor Tong hurried over, carrying his medicine box. Not long after taking the patient's pulse, he bowed to the Empress Dowager and Zhao Yuancheng and said, "Your Majesty, Empress Dowager, Concubine Xian has had a miscarriage."
Such an ending was not unexpected. Although everyone's faces showed surprise and sadness, they were already very happy in their hearts.
No one in this deep palace is willing to see you gain favor or give birth to a child, not to mention that today's incident involves the Queen.
This is the most important thing.
As soon as the imperial physician finished speaking, a strange silence fell in the room.
Everyone's eyes fell on Fu Qianyu, even the Queen Mother's eyes were full of surprise, but Fu Qianyu herself remained calm and composed, as if she were an outsider.
Concubine Shu wiped her eyes with a handkerchief and looked at Doctor Tong, who was kneeling on the ground, in confusion: "Concubine Xian's pregnancy had always been stable, so why did she suddenly miscarry? Could it be that she ate something she shouldn't have eaten?"
Doctor Tong bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I cannot say for sure why Concubine Xian had a miscarriage. I need to examine Concubine Xian's diet before I can make a definitive conclusion."
At this moment, Yuyan suddenly knelt before everyone and said in panic, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, I know why our mistress suddenly miscarried."
Zhao Yuancheng raised his eyebrows slightly, a hint of teasing in his eyes: "Even the imperial physician can't be sure, but you are sure?"
Yuyan kowtowed twice and pulled out a stuffed doll from her bosom. "Not long after the Empress sat down to dinner tonight, she found this under the table. Because today is the Empress Dowager's birthday, the master didn't dare to make it public, so she asked me to put it away and inform the Emperor tomorrow. Who would have thought that the Empress's child would be gone just like that..."
Not only was Concubine Xian's birth date written on the doll, but there were also dozens of silver needles stuck in its abdomen, which looked very scary in the sunlight.
The most important thing is that someone recognized the words on the doll as the Queen's handwriting almost at a glance!
Someone in the crowd exclaimed in horror, "Who is so bold as to perform the art of warding off evil on the Queen Mother's birthday?"
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