Chapter 73 Chapter 73 Jinjiang First Release
Chapter 73
Cui Jue's low voice echoed in Su Li's ears.
He ordered her to look up.
Su Li shouldn't have been so presumptuous, but for some reason, she didn't dare to look up.
It was as if she had always been afraid of Cui Jue, and her true colors would be revealed as soon as she looked into his eyes.
Su Li was terrified, but Cui Jue did not let her go.
The man lowered his head, and a few strands of black hair, feeling like the gurgling water, cascaded down like a waterfall. The cold wind blew the ends of Cui Jue's half-tied hair, brushing against the girl's soft earlobes.
As they got closer, Cui Jue's warm air brushed against her neck, leaving a tingling sensation.
Su Li realized that Cui Jue would actually bow and extend his jade finger towards her.
He wanted to pry her jaw open.
Su Li avoided her gaze, and electric sparks rolled across her back, giving her goose bumps.
Su Li was already panicking. If the stalemate continued, she would definitely reveal her flaws.
So, Su Li raised her head and looked at the man she hadn't seen for three years.
The moment they looked at each other, Su Li was slightly stunned.
For three whole years, Su Li did not deliberately recall Cui Jue. She wanted to remove him from her memory and wanted to discard everything about Cui Jue from her mind... She never thought of Cui Jue, she thought she had forgotten him.
But when they looked at each other for the first time, Su Li had the illusion that "he hasn't changed."
It was still that beautiful face with unique beauty, and the phoenix eyes were so cold and sharp that they could almost freeze people into ice. The man's aura was sharp, like a cold blade breaking through ice, so cold that it was outrageous... When they looked at each other, Su Li realized that she actually remembered Cui Jue's appearance.
Whether out of hatred or fear, she never forgot this man.
Su Li frowned slightly. She pretended to be seeing the emperor's face for the first time and called him timidly, "Your Majesty..."
The woman's hoarse and gentle voice reached Cui Jue's ears at this moment.
Cui Jue finally saw the face that was completely different from his deceased wife's. He said nothing, lowered his thick eyelashes, and stared at the girl quietly.
For some reason, Cui Jue's cold knuckles did not stop moving, and still stubbornly moved towards her eyebrows. His palm was broad and warm, and the heat was transferred to her face, as if he wanted to hold her face.
The strong feeling of pressure from the contact between muscles and bones made Su Li's heart ring with alarm. Her pupils trembled and her heart was in turmoil.
Su Li suppressed the instinct to flee from the beast and spoke carefully again: "Your Majesty? What's wrong with you?"
As soon as the girl's voice sounded, the long finger that was about to press against her brow bone paused, then curled its finger bones.
"Nothing." Cui Jue hid his hands under the wide sleeves with crane pattern, and slowly straightened his shoulders, keeping a distance from her.
"Your figure resembles an old friend of mine; it was just a momentary mistake."
After saying this, Cui Jue no longer paid any attention to the kneeling woman.
The man left indifferently, got on the imperial carriage, and raised his hand to lower the curtain.
Cui Jue disappeared from Su Li's sight. He did not become suspicious, and Su Li breathed a sigh of relief.
Su Li seemed to have escaped death. The pressure on her shoulders suddenly eased, and her boiling body temperature slowly flowed back to her limbs.
I thought the royal carriage would continue to move forward, but Taxue was in a playful mood and deliberately rolled around on the edge of Su Li's skirt, refusing to move no matter what. Even when Wei Zhiyan got off the horse to help Cui Shunying pull the dog, it still lay on the ground whining, making its white fur covered with gray dust.
When Cui Shunying saw Taxue rolling around next to Su Li, her eyes almost fell to the ground.
She couldn't help complaining: "Oh, you're so annoying. You've delayed our entry into the city!"
He remained indifferent even when being scolded in the snow.
The huge dog's head rested on Su Li's knees with a snap. Its pair of black grape-like eyes were shining as it looked up at Su Li and hummed softly, as if it wanted to take Su Li away with it.
When Taxue was a child, she followed Su Li for a period of time. Not only did she teach the puppy to catch the ball, she also often fed the puppy warm goat milk... It would be a lie to say that they had no feelings for each other. It's just that Su Li is now hiding her identity, and she is not qualified to pet the princess's royal dog.
Even though Su Li knew that Taxue was feeling aggrieved and acting like a spoiled child, she could only watch and never dared to touch Taxue without permission.
Cui Shunying couldn't pull Taxue. She turned her eyes to the kneeling woman and asked, "What's your name?"
Su Li pursed her lips and answered respectfully, "Your Highness, I am the third child in my family. My close friends and relatives all call me 'Sanniang'."
Cui Shunying petted Taxue and marveled, "Sanniang, this is the dog my sister-in-law raised when she was alive. It was very shy and never approached anyone. It's strange that it's actually sitting on your lap and acting like a spoiled child today. You don't know that Taxue experienced a bloody battle in which a city was massacred. It was terrified, and it was my brother the Emperor who dug it out from the sea of blood and corpses. The puppy had seen so many murders that it didn't even dare to eat meat. It was only because my brother the Emperor watched over Taxue and fed it mouthful by mouthful that it survived."
Due to Cui Jue's pressure, Cui Shunying didn't dare to say anything. Her brother was not feeding the dog gently at all. He was clearly prying open its mouth and forcing it to eat.
Perhaps because Taxue was a living creature left by Su Li, Cui Jue didn't want it to starve to death, so he took great care of it.
In order to save the dog's life, they would even resort to force and means.
Fortunately, Taxue was grateful and ate a few bites and spit out a few bites. Not only did he survive, but he also slowly grew into a majestic big dog.
Upon hearing this, Su Li almost instantly remembered the hardships of the day she escaped. Seeing that the courtyard was quiet, she thought Taxue had died long ago, so she did not go out of her way to look for the dog.
Thinking of the little dog that she had abandoned, shivering alone in the snowy night, Su Li felt a trace of pity in her heart.
Su Li didn't want Cui Shunying to become suspicious and guess that she had a connection with Taxue.
Su Li quickly came up with a clever idea: "Your Highness's royal dog is so close to me because I smell like the meat of sesame cakes..."
Choi Sun-young blinked her watery eyes and asked her, "There are actually meat patties that are so tempting that you can walk on snow? Take them out and let me see."
Su Li obeyed the order. She put Taxue down and stood up to take out a fragrant meat pie with preserved vegetables from the oven. She carefully broke the meat pie open, blew away the heat inside the pie, and then fed it to Taxue.
Before the big dog could wag its tail wildly and take a bite of the pie, the eunuch Yang Da beside him had already stepped forward quickly and took the meat pie handed to him by Su Li.
With a snap, the cake fell to the ground, and Su Li felt a pain on the back of her hand.
"Madam, do you think any common snack can be eaten by our royal dogs? Even if you want to feed it, you have to test it to see if it's poisonous, right?"
Yang Da was the eunuch on duty in front of the emperor. Because he was smart and sensible, Cui Jue allowed him to stay and serve in front of the emperor.
Yang Da was the best at observing people's words and expressions. He knew very well that Taxue was the beloved pet left by the late queen, and was favored by Cui Jue.
Even though the emperor always had a stern face and never showed his emotions, Yang Da still knew that if anything happened to Taxue, the lives of those who served him would be over.
If that’s the case, how could Yang Da dare to let Su Li put food into the dog’s mouth?
Su Li saw him tuck his hands behind his back, his eyelids drooping, and standing still. She knew very well that the eunuch was waiting for her to test the poison herself.
After all, who would eat this kind of "dog food"?
But Su Li did not dislike her own sesame cakes. Instead, she felt that the meat filling she carefully prepared was fat but not greasy, with a hint of sweetness, and very delicious.
Su Li didn't want to offend these big shots, so she rubbed the slight pain spreading on the back of her hand, lowered her head, tore off a piece of cake, and carefully put it into her mouth.
The girl's cheeks puffed up and she spoke vaguely: "Master, look, it's not poisonous."
After testing the poison in this way, Yang Da felt comfortable letting Su Li feed the animal.
It was strange that Taxue would not care about any of the delicacies, but it ate the meat pie that Su Li opened happily, and had eaten half of it in just a few moments.
Cui Shunying clapped her hands and smiled, "Taxue is willing to eat, that's great! Sanniang, starting tomorrow, will you come to my house to help feed the dogs? I will definitely give you a generous reward."
Su Li was indeed short of money, but she didn't want to have too much to do with the Cui family, so as not to make more mistakes.
But she was just an ordinary commoner and had no power to refuse the princess's order... Besides, Su Li also knew that it was not easy to serve dignitaries. If she had an upset stomach one day while walking in the snow, or something happened, Yang Da would probably think that she had deliberately poisoned the cake and would tear her hands apart to set an example.
Therefore, Su Li could only take the risk and politely decline: "I have my own business to run, I'm afraid I won't be able to spare the time..."
Cui Shunying and Sanniang had a good chemistry. After some thought, he handed her a token and said, "How about this? You'll set up your stall every day, sell sesame cakes, and then come to the fort in the inner city to feed them! This is the token to enter the city. Once you show it, someone will lead you inside to find Taxue."
The imperial city of Liuzhou has not yet been built, and all high-ranking officials and royal relatives have had to live in the fortress in the inner city in recent months.
Whenever the emperor and his ministers discussed state affairs, all civil and military officials would follow Cui Jue to the renovated palace to discuss state affairs.
Su Li had no choice but to obey the order.
Cui Shunying was very satisfied. She took out a silver leaf from her purse and handed it to Su Li as a reward for the pancake tonight.
Afterwards, Cui Shunying led Taxue, who had eaten and drunk his fill, onto the carriage and continued to move towards the inner city with Cui Jue and the court officials.
The grand royal procession gradually moved away, and the streets of Liuzhou's outer city finally returned to their former bustle.
The teahouse owner, the clothing store owner, Liu Langjun and others had seen enough of the excitement and surrounded Su Li.
Everyone was talking about what had just happened, and they were all puzzled.
"Sanniang is so lucky that she has expanded her pancake business to the princess's residence!"
"Did you hear that? His Majesty actually said Sanniang resembled an old friend... If Sanniang had been more articulate, she might have even been able to serve His Majesty in the palace!"
"What nonsense! Being a maid in the palace is hard. You're always being beaten and scolded. Why would you go there and suffer such grievances? It's better for us to stay like this. We can save some money, buy a house, and live a carefree life."
"Of course, life anywhere is not as comfortable as ours." Su Li joked with everyone for a long time, then continued to open the pancake oven, light a fire and sell food.
I’m really lucky that Cui Jue didn’t recognize me today!
Su Li quietly consoled herself: "I should always think positively. Actually, being able to feed Taxue was a good thing." Si Niang was generous. If she could just feed Taxue three or five times, she could save up a large sum of money. Add to that her three years of savings, and it wouldn't be long before she could buy a small house with two courtyards... Then, Su Li could move to Zhaozhou or Yongzhou, hide away, and never return to Liuzhou again!
When Su Li thought about the free and leisurely life that was just around the corner, she almost laughed out loud.
It’s a pity that Su Li was laughing here while Yang Da was crying there.
From the inner courtyard of Cuijiawu Fort, there were tragic cries of pain.
The long stick of the punishment hit Yang Da's buttocks mercilessly, making a heavy and dull sound that made people's scalp numb and even creepy.
Cui Shunying came to Cui Jue's courtyard to pay her respects as usual. As soon as she stepped into the moon-shaped gate, she heard a shrill scream coming from the front hall. The young lady's legs and feet froze in place and she dared not go in to see the emperor.
Cui Shunying felt sympathetic and couldn't help but ask Wei Zhiyan, who was guarding the gate: "Master Wei, what happened?"
Since Cui Jue ascended the throne, Wei Zhiyan became the General of the Imperial Guards, who was in charge of guarding the king. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he was also a close minister to the emperor. Cui Shunying would give him some face when he met him and respectfully call him "Lord Wei".
Cui Shunying stood on tiptoe and looked around: "Could it be that the one being beaten was Yang Dajian?"
Yang Da is well versed in the palace rules and regulations, and he is also the most senior eunuch in the harem. He has always been in good standing in front of Cui Jue, so how could he have such a disgraceful moment?
Logically speaking, the eunuch in front of the emperor represents the face of the king. Even if Cui Jue is furious, he will not slap Yang Da in the face. At most, he will no longer respect him.
What happened today? Cui Shunying was puzzled.
Wei Zhiyan thought of how Cui Jue had just arrived at the fort and hadn't even changed out of his dark formal robe, so he frowned and ordered him to capture Yang Da and punish him severely.
Thunder, lightning, rain and dew are all grace from the emperor. Who dares to ask what is wrong with Cui Jue?
Wei Zhiyan said with lingering fear, "I don't know either, but Your Majesty won't punish others lightly. I guess it was Eunuch Yang who violated Your Majesty's taboo?"
"What's the taboo?" Are you going to be so reckless and beat someone half to death?
Wei Zhiyan scratched his head: "Who knows... maybe it was my left foot that took the first step when I left the house this morning?"
Cui Shunying was speechless: "..."
Forget it. Ever since Sister Su passed away and my brother became a widower, his temper has become increasingly gloomy and weird.
Cui Shunying began to back out and turned away... In order to avoid being implicated and scolded by Cui Jue, it would be better for her to stay away from her brother the emperor as much as possible.
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