Chapter 85
Helian Cheng and Doctor Chang made a preconceived error. They were convinced that Long Aotian was a ghost, so when they heard him say that he was sending things to the capital, their first reaction was that he had other ghost friends in the capital. Even when they learned that the owner of Jiu Tian Yi was a human, they did not react immediately.
After calming down and reviewing their conversations and past interactions, they did have doubts about Long Aotian's identity, but after much thought, they ruled out the possibility that Long Aotian was human. His methods and actions were so convincing that he didn't seem like a human at all.
The astonishment in their eyes stemmed primarily from his identity as the Perfect Young Master. Since they knew of the Perfect Young Master, they naturally only knew the origin of the title "Perfect." Upon careful reflection, they realized that Long Aotian's meticulous and thorough approach to combat, calculating every possibility, indeed perfectly matched the style of the Perfect Young Master.
"A decathlon... Helian Cheng couldn't help but doubt the age of the ghost in front of him."
Dr. Chang didn't think too much about it; he just couldn't resist asking out of pure curiosity, "You really know everything?"
"No," Xue Jin'an said, indicating that he simply couldn't write a policy essay that would satisfy Cui Pengfei.
Before the New Year, Cui Pengfei's cold had actually healed long ago, but he still used the excuse that "I am old and weak and my illness has not been fully cured, so I cannot go to the palace." He even had Cui Zui deliver the examination papers to the palace.
The original owner's mother, Zhou Yuting, had already been posthumously honored as Empress. Xue Jin'an's status as the legitimate prince was already enough to attract attention. If Cui Pengfei were to become too close to him, it would be more of a curse than a blessing. Besides, Xue Jin'an's policy essays were simply too insidious. Cui Pengfei was afraid that if he lived with Xue Jin'an, he would really be unable to resist hitting him. While hitting him, he would also say with a sigh, "What a fine literary star descended to earth, how come he landed headfirst and forgot all about writing essays?"
Cui Pengfei had previously thought that he would wait until Xue Jin'an's writing became more coherent before returning to the palace to teach. However, after experiencing a series of events from "learning to death," Cui Pengfei changed his mind. There was no hope for Xue Jin'an's writing skills in his lifetime, so it was better to rely on himself rather than on him.
Therefore, Cui Pengfei has been at home trying to reconcile with himself these days, and the results... well, let's not even go there.
In comparison, Master Cen was much more understanding. He was satisfied as long as Xue Jin'an handed him an assignment every few days.
Upon hearing these two resounding names, Cui Zai and Cen Daru, both Doctor Chang and Helian Cheng were somewhat stunned.
Seeing that Huang Ren still seemed dazed, Xue Jin'an confirmed that they had nothing else to discuss and logged off on his own.
The days in Zhaoyang Palace were full and regular. Before she knew it, more than half a month had passed. On this day, Lingzhi returned from the Imperial Kitchen with breakfast and even brought back a string of fresh small fish. She said with a happy expression, "The lakes in the capital have thawed today. The Imperial Kitchen has received a lot of fish. They look quite fresh, so I asked for some small ones to cook for lunch."
"What's so delicious about these tiny fish that's no bigger than the palm of your hand?" When Fu Lu was at Chiffon Courtyard, he would sometimes sneakily touch the fish in the Imperial Garden pond when he was hungry or when he was looking for food to nourish his master.
Most of the fish in the Imperial Garden were ornamental fish, mainly koi. Ornamental fish generally don't taste very good, but for Fu Lu and even the Seventh Prince, they were a rare delicacy. These fish were all raised to be very plump and strong. In order not to make a big fuss when catching them, and also because he was afraid that his small body might drown instead of catching fish, he would try to catch the small ones to cook and eat.
In Fu Lu's mind, fish is a disaster relief food, and eating it is mainly for survival. Given a choice, he would never allow anyone to eat it.
"Wrap them in dough and fry or pan-fry them, they taste pretty good. If these fish were all the size of a finger, they could be made into snacks." Lingzhi said with a smile, then went down to process the fish.
Before Xue Jin'an could even taste the fried small fish made with Lingzhi, he heard the good news from outside, which resounded throughout the entire harem: Consort Chen was about to give birth.
Xue Jin'an had never heard of this Consort Chen's name before, nor had he heard any news of her pregnancy. However, this was not surprising. There were only a few concubines in the harem with names and surnames, and his focus was always on a few high-ranking concubines with whom he had a grudge. He simply blocked the news of irrelevant people.
In the original story, the emperor had many children. Even when he was about to die, he still had twenty-nine princes. However, in the twenty-fifth year of the Jiahe reign, when the struggle for the throne officially began, the other princes were still too young. So the main storyline focused on the princes who had entered the court and had gained some power. The other princes were so insignificant that they were practically nonexistent.
Xue Jin'an wouldn't delve too deeply into trivial matters. However, what he didn't expect was that Fu Lu received news that very night that Consort Chen's pregnancy had been kept secret from the entire harem until today when the pregnancy finally began, causing a shock to everyone. Noble Consort Min couldn't express her anger in her heart, and dared not delay, so she hurriedly arranged for imperial physicians and midwives, and rushed over with her men.
Logically speaking, the concubines in the harem should have their pulse checked every now and then, so they couldn't hide their pregnancies for long. At most, they wouldn't tell anyone when the pregnancy was unstable in the first three months. But this one managed to keep it a secret until delivery, which is simply unbelievable.
It's hard to believe that a concubine would go to such lengths to conceal the existence of a royal heir; it's simply absurd that she would want to give the emperor a sudden surprise. One can't help but look at the emperor's head and wonder if he's wearing some kind of ominous hat.
The emperor clearly thought the same thing, as he still had a sullen face when he went to see Consort Chen.
He didn't really remember this Consort Chen. It seemed that she entered the palace during the grand selection in the twenty-second year of Jiahe. However, the emperor didn't see anyone he liked during that grand selection, so he simply let Consort Min and Consort Rong, Xiao Shu, choose a few. Their family backgrounds were all relatively ordinary. The best one seemed to be the daughter of a governor. In any case, the emperor summoned them to his bedchamber only a handful of times. The highest rank was Consort, and the lowest was still just a Lady of the Palace. She had never been promoted.
She wasn't particularly favored to begin with, and the fact that she was hiding her pregnancy made the emperor suspicious. He gave Li Hechun a look, signaling him to investigate if there was anything fishy going on. Fortunately, the timing of Consort Chen's pregnancy matched the timing of her visits to the emperor's bedchamber.
The emperor asked Consort Chen why she had concealed her pregnancy, to which she timidly replied, "This concubine is afraid."
What were they afraid of? Naturally, they were afraid that someone in the palace would plot against the imperial heir.
When Consort Min heard this, her already pale face turned even more unpleasant. As the person in charge of the harem, saying this to her face was tantamount to slandering her.
Consort Min spoke through gritted teeth: "Consort Chen, rest assured, I am in charge of the Phoenix Seal and managing the harem. Although I don't have any great abilities, I am more than capable of protecting one person."
Upon hearing this, Consort Chen glanced timidly at Imperial Noble Consort Min with her moist eyes. The latter felt that this pitiful and sympathetic appearance was strangely familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. Then she heard the person in front of her cautiously say, "But was it the Tenth Prince back then—"
Her words came to an abrupt end, but everyone already understood what she meant. It was simply that two years ago, Consort Min had been in charge of the six palaces, and so have all these years, yet so many things still happened.
Immediately, the eyes of the others turned to Consort Min, while the culprit still wore an expression that said, "I'm sorry, I misspoke."
Consort Min was so angry at this clumsy trick that she laughed. At the same time, she finally remembered who Consort Chen's disgusting behavior resembled. Wasn't it Xiao Shu?
No matter how Xiao Shu behaved towards others, she always appeared weak and pitiful in front of the emperor. With the fall of this former favored concubine, the position beside the emperor became vacant, and many people wanted to fill it.
"It seems things are about to get turbulent in the palace again." Fu Lu sighed inwardly, and at the same time, his shoulders trembled as he thought: Women are really not to be trifled with.
Thinking about all the women he's met along the way, not one of them was truly weak.
Xue Jin'an, however, was not optimistic about Chen Jieyu, saying, "She won't be able to stay in power for long."
Xiao Shugang was arrogant and domineering, openly and secretly competing with Consort Min because she was a favored concubine and had the confidence that comes with it. Moreover, the power of the Duke of Ningguo was not to be underestimated, so she would retreat if she could. However, no matter what kind of person she was, she is now dead. To imitate a dead person is really not afraid of getting herself killed.
Xue Jin'an's judgment was accurate. A few days later, Consort Chen dared not act recklessly. This was because Imperial Noble Consort Min said, "The Tenth Prince is really adorable. It's too lonely at the old lady's place. I always feel that it's better to have children around to enjoy the joys of family life."
This was a euphemism for sending her child to the Empress Dowager's palace. Of course, Consort Min didn't actually dare to make the Empress Dowager's decision; it was just a way to scare her, and the effect was immediate.
After that, no more news came, and Xue Jin'an did not delve into the matter further. He regarded it as an insignificant little thing until a month later, when Consort Chen suddenly died in Weiyang Palace, and her family member turned out to be an unexpected character in the plot. Only then did Xue Jin'an take the matter to heart.
At this moment, Xue Jin'an was listening to the conversation between Cui Zui and the Third Princess outside the door.
This third princess was born in the seventeenth year of Jiahe and is nine years old this year. Because her birth mother died early, she was raised by a childless concubine. She is timid and cowardly and rarely comes out to see people. However, today, for some reason, she ran out to pick flowers in the cold wind and even picked them at the entrance of Zhaoyang Palace, where she was just spotted by Cui Zui.
Interestingly, when Cui Zui asked her what she had come for, the Third Princess replied timidly but obediently, "My eldest sister's birthday is coming up soon, and I don't have any money to buy her a birthday present. I heard she likes this kind of flower, so I came to pick it..."
"Eldest sister? Princess?" Cui Zui asked, and the Third Princess nodded.
Xue Jin'an had no recollection of the princess liking flowers, and besides, asking someone to come out and tend to flowers at the end of winter was just asking for trouble.
Clearly, this was aimed at him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
