"I'm just sitting here, neither making any sound nor moving. How can I be said to be disturbing you?" Fu Baiheng looked at her with a smile and asked back.
Xu Ziling thought about it and it seemed to be true, but with someone in front of her looking at her like a supervisor, she still felt disturbed.
"It's up to you, but is it appropriate for you to be lazy here instead of going to the Ministry of Rites?"
"Relax once in a while and take a break from your busy life." Fu Baiheng said comfortably.
Xu Ziling straightened a stack of papers, then suddenly remembered something and said, "Don't take too much of that medicine. All medicines are toxic. Taking too much will damage your body."
Fu Baiheng knew what she was talking about and said indifferently: "It's okay, there's no rush now."
"But I see the princess is very anxious. If you really don't want a child for the time being, you can tell her clearly."
"It's not that I don't want a child for the time being, but I don't want the child to have a stupid mother. Besides, if I explain it clearly, she will immediately make a fuss to my mother." That will be even more annoying, Fu Baiheng said with a frown.
Xu Ziling asked curiously, "Stupid? Isn't the princess a famous talented woman?"
"Her talent is limited to composing and reciting a few lines of poetry. In reality, her mind is completely empty. I don't want to have children with a woman like her. They'll be stupid. My children must be the smartest in the world."
Xu Ziling also knew about genetics. A child's IQ is often related to their parents. That's why they say, "A dragon gives birth to a dragon, a phoenix gives birth to a phoenix, and a mouse's son will dig holes." She couldn't help but laugh when she thought of this proverb.
"What are you laughing at?" Fu Baiheng asked curiously.
Xu Ziling shook his head and suppressed his smile. "It's nothing. Your understanding is very clear and firm, but don't you think you are a little cold-blooded and heartless? Huo Qiurong is your princess, and yet you treat her like this, showing no affection at all."
Fu Baiheng smiled and said indifferently: "Maybe, but I didn't do anything to her. I gave her fine clothes, delicious food and wealth. I just asked her to take some medicine occasionally to prevent her from getting pregnant. It's not too much."
"As you wish." Xu Ziling knew he couldn't reason with him. Fu Baiheng was a calm and sober person. While he might be attracted to women, it was only for their beauty; he wouldn't fall for them, let alone develop any feelings for them. In his eyes, there were three types of women: his mother and relatives, whom he rarely respected; his subordinates, whom he also treated as human beings; and his third type, pure playthings, like cats and dogs, to be summoned and dismissed at will.
Huo Qiurong had nothing to do with her anyway, so Xu Ziling was too lazy to worry about her. She thought about what other contraceptive drugs were available that wouldn't be harmful to the body if used long-term. After thinking for a long time, she realized that there were no drugs that wouldn't harm the body. If she wanted to avoid harming the body, she could only let Fu Baiheng take the medicine, so she gave up.
"I'm going to Jiangzhou in half a month and will stay there for at least one and a half months." Fu Baiheng said suddenly, and then looked at Xu Ziling, as if waiting for her reaction.
Xu Ziling understood that he was going to Jiangzhou to deal with the provincial examination, so he smiled and said, "I wish you a successful return."
"Thank you." Fu Baiheng also looked at her and smiled, but he was thinking in his heart, why do I never feel bored when looking at her?
In addition to having fun with the parrot all morning, Shi Mingyue and Fu Yueli also went to the garden to see the kumquats. The kumquats were growing well and were very well adapted to the water and soil in the garden. It seemed that delicious kumquats would grow in autumn.
"Why don't I cook for you at noon?" Shi Mingyue suggested.
Fu Yueli was naturally happy to do so and said, "Then let me help you."
"No thanks." Shi Mingyue refused. He must have never been in the kitchen, and the kitchen was not a place for men to go.
Fu Yueli insisted: "I want to help you."
"Really, there's no need. It's said that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen. You don't need to go. Besides, the kitchen is a place for women. It's not appropriate for you to go there."
Fu Yueli still insisted: "A gentleman, when seeing animals alive, cannot bear to see them die; when hearing their cries, cannot bear to eat their flesh. Therefore, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen. It doesn't say that men must not go to the kitchen, and the kitchen is not a place exclusively for women. Let me help you."
Shi Mingyue agreed. The two of them went to the kitchen, which was divided into two parts: one for cooking meals for the master, and the other for cooking for the servants. When Fu Yueli and Shi Mingyue walked in, the maids and servants were all surprised that the prince had come. Fu Yueli asked them to leave. He said he really wanted to help her cook, not just casually.
"But the chicken hasn't been killed yet." An old woman said in embarrassment as she looked at the live chicken with its wings and legs tied at the door.
"Don't worry about it, I'll do it." Fu Yueli said. As he spoke, he picked up the kitchen knife on the chopping board, went out and carried the chicken to the sewer, and cut the chicken's throat with one clean stroke. I don't know how he did it, but the chicken's blood didn't splatter.
The maids and servants beside them were all stunned. Shi Mingyue stepped forward and said, "I'll take care of the rest."
Fu Yueli shook her head: "You go do something else, I'll take care of the chicken."
"Then I'll bring some water."
"No, what if you get burned? Just go wash the vegetables." Fu Yueli said.
Shi Mingyue didn't know what to feel at this moment. She suddenly recalled her past life. Back then, she and Qin Zheng had just settled in Xinzhou. Their current financial situation meant they couldn't afford servants. Therefore, she did all the housework, from washing and cooking to sweeping and mopping. She gradually emerged from her role as a wealthy lady.
She remembered the first time Qin Zheng bought a live chicken. She was afraid to kill it, so he did it for her. But she had to do the rest of the work, such as scalding the chicken with boiling water, dissecting it, removing the internal organs, and cleaning it, while Qin Zheng went about his own business. She was alone and inexperienced, and didn't realize the chicken wasn't completely dead. When she put it in the boiling water, it started to flutter around, splashing blood everywhere. She still finds that scene terrifying when she thinks about it now. She hid aside and waited for the chicken to finally die. Then she had to boil water again, scald the chicken, and pluck its feathers. In the end, she couldn't remove all the tiny hairs, so she simply didn't do it. Then she took a knife and gutted the chicken herself. It was her first time doing this, and her hands were shaking.
In short, it took a long time to cook that time. When they were eating, Qin Zheng still complained that she didn't remove the fine hairs from the chicken and asked her to learn more from the aunt next door.
Shi Mingyue watched Fu Yueli skillfully let the chicken bleed out, then he went to the kitchen to fetch some boiling water and put the chicken in to soak. After doing this, he looked at Shi Mingyue and smiled softly, "Are you surprised that I can kill a chicken?"
"……yes."
Fu Yueli's eyes became somewhat distant and deep: "When I was a child, my uncle asked me to learn it." I learned to kill chickens first to train myself, so that I would not be in a panic when I had to kill people in the future.
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