Chapter 485: The Thousand-Year-Old (6)
The other children looked at Wen Wan with shining eyes. Wen Wan agreed, but still emphasized, "But you have to raise them under guidance, otherwise it's not allowed. After all, you don't want them to die, right?"
"Okay, we'll be careful raising the chicks."
Knowing they would get chicks, each of the little radish kids was overjoyed.
In the following days, more and more people came. For the first time, Wen Wan felt that her yard was so crowded. It was noisy and bustling every day, and there were even people taking away food.
"Brother, could Qi'er pack some back for Mother to try? She's sure she'd love it."
Wen Wan thought about it and realized it wasn't a big deal.
So she packed a portion for everyone to take home. However, this greatly increased the workload. To avoid tormenting Gu Li, Wen Wan found many helpers for Gu Li, who followed Gu Li around every day.
"Gu Li, you've worked hard."
"Gu Li, you're amazing! How can you be so incredible!"
"Gu Li, you are a god, an eternal god."
"..."
The flattery was relentless, making Gu Li's ears turn red. Xiao Cui gradually accepted her master's change and even thought that this master was very good. Before, her master was unhappy and even worried every day because she was deposed as crown prince, but now her master was happy every day and her life was getting better and better. Xiao Cui thought it was especially good.
As for her closeness to Gu Li, Xiao Cui could understand it. After all, she had recently been won over by Gu Li's cooking skills, which were truly excellent.
Wen Wan's tofu and hot pot became incredibly popular.
More and more people gathered around the Cold Palace, and such a big commotion could not be kept from anyone. Those who should know and those who should not know all knew. For example, her mother, who was still a nun and spent her days with the ancient Buddha, wrote to ask her what had happened. Wen Wan quickly made up a reason, saying that she wanted to win people's hearts.
She also received an imperial decree from the eunuch serving her father, the emperor. Wen Wan thought she had done something wrong, but the eunuch ordered tofu and bubble tea. That's right, Wen Wan had recently figured out how to make bubble tea, making it even more perfect and popular. Plus, it was simple to make and quick.
Wen Wan blankly packed a portion of tofu and handed it over, along with a portion of milk tea and some newly developed modern snacks.
After that, every day, the emperor's eunuchs would come to collect the items.
Many people couldn't sit still anymore.
After all, they finally managed to depose her from her position as crown prince, so what's going on now? Why is the emperor, who had been ignoring her, suddenly sending people to collect food from her every day?
With so many delicacies available, why choose to have them made by the deposed crown prince?
This leaves plenty of room for people to imagine all sorts of things. Meanwhile, the princes and concubines who wanted to seize power have all taken action. One such action is to send people to learn the techniques, since this can please the emperor.
Wen Wan didn't mind, since she had countless recipes, and even if these people lined up to learn every day, they still wouldn't be able to learn them all.
The bad thing is that they started plotting against Wen Wan.
That's not good. Isn't she being low-key enough? Not fighting for power, not seizing the throne, just wanting to be a good deposed crown prince—that's a crime.
What angered Wen Wan the most was that they actually dared to steal her man.
Yes, they were after Gu Li.
Everyone knew that the idea of deposing the crown prince was just talk, but the one who actually did it was the eunuch Gu Li. So they thought about bringing Gu Li to their side, so that they would be the ones to please the emperor.
Wen Wan thought to herself, "Is this acceptable? These are her providers." So, while feeding the emperor, Gu Li wrote a heartfelt and touching essay.
In her short essay, she poured out her grievances about being bullied, and then concluded by saying that although she really wanted to be filial to her father, she was powerless to do so because she no longer had a cook and was afraid that she would no longer be able to cook delicious food for her father.
Goodness.
As a result, those people were warned, and Gu Li continued to stay by Wen Wan's side.
However, Wen Wan doesn't actually intend to have the male lead become her cook.
After all, the male lead is a man destined for the top; being a chef would be a waste of his talents.
One of the reasons she wrote the short essay was that she wanted Gu Li to get some exposure.
Gu Li remained obedient and did nothing, which puzzled Wen Wan. Shouldn't he be focusing on his career at this time? Apart from cooking, she never let Gu Li do anything else, just to avoid interfering with his career.
[Perhaps the male lead has already begun, but we just don't know it yet. He's the kind of person who, for every step he takes, he's already seen 99 steps ahead. He's as cunning as a hornet's nest, so you don't need to worry.]
Upon hearing this from the system, Wen Wan relaxed.
Anyway, the male lead will definitely be secretly building his career, so she just needs to cling to this powerful figure.
After a period of calm, the female lead finally started causing trouble. Wen Wan asked Xiao Cui to pay attention to the female lead, Jiang Mingyue. Xiao Cui asked why she should pay attention to the daughter of a minister, since the minister, although neutral, had sent out quite a few memorials to depose the crown prince, which was obviously not friendly to his master.
Wen Wan: "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle."
Xiao Cui nodded. "This servant understands. We need to use Jiang Mingyue to scheme against the Minister. That makes sense. Jiang Mingyue's mother died early, and the Minister has never remarried. She is his only daughter. If something happens to her, the Minister will definitely not have an easy time."
Wen Yan: "..."
Forget it, I won't explain anymore. As long as he can keep an eye on the female lead for me, that's fine.
At first, it was all about trivial matters, such as Jiang Mingyue's talent becoming more and more popular.
For example, so-and-so is pursuing Jiang Mingyue in a high-profile manner.
For example, what banquets they attended, what riddles they solved, what foods they ate, and so on.
However, the crucial point soon arrived.
She fell into the pond and became seriously ill. The doctors said they couldn't do anything about it, but suddenly she recovered.
Furthermore, his personality changed drastically, and he also suffered from amnesia. He didn't even remember the Minister, nor the Four Books and Five Classics, nor the arts of music, chess, calligraphy, and painting.
Wen Wan thought, this really is the typical trope of female protagonists in online novels, because they don't actually know these things, so they can only pretend to have amnesia.
It seems the plot has officially begun, and the female lead is about to embark on her own story. This time, Wen Wan absolutely cannot let the male lead meet her, fall in love with her, and ultimately live and die for her, becoming neither human nor ghost. Her once-promising career path is abruptly cut short, and she is then killed by the female lead.
Even if Gu Li isn't the male lead, his role as Wen Wan's provider for this short period is enough for her to help him survive.
The reason why Gu Li fell in love with Jiang Mingyue was because Jiang Mingyue helped him out when he was in the most pain and despair.
Now that he, the villainous supporting character, has reformed, what could possibly cause Gu Li to fall into a state of extreme pain?
Wen Wan started reading the original storybook like crazy and then summarized several points.
One reason is his family of origin, which is why he later turned to the dark side. The death of his parents, the persecution by his aunt, and the near severing of family ties.
One reason is that his body suffered tremendous damage, after all, a part of it was cut off. This physical defect made him feel inferior and sensitive, and he had extreme self-loathing.
One was the persecution she suffered at the hands of herself and various high-ranking officials.
This is why he received a little sweetness from the female lead amidst all the malice, so he held onto it with all his might.
What should I do?
Wen Wan discussed with the system, "First of all, I will not allow him to be harmed in this palace. I will watch over him at all times. Secondly, I have to help him deal with his aunt's family of scoundrels."
Thinking of that scoundrel, Wen Wan quietly called Xiao Cui over and asked her something.
"Xiao Cui, do I have anyone I can use?"
Xiao Cui's expression was serious. "What does Your Majesty intend to do? Your Majesty has a group of secret guards trained by the Empress. They are usually scattered throughout the palace. If there is anything Your Majesty finds inconvenient to do, you can entrust it to them."
She thought her master had finally decided to take action and was determined to take back everything that was hers.
Wen Wan: "That's great, I need someone to help me solve something."
Soon the bodyguard suddenly appeared in his room; it turned out to be the personal eunuch of a certain prince.
Good heavens, really good heavens, her mother's influence is truly amazing.
"What are your orders, Master?"
Wen Wan immediately relayed the information about Gu Li's aunt, saying, "I want you to cripple them so they can no longer do anything."
"Master, do you want to—" The other party made a clap gesture, but Wen Wan waved her hand, "You don't need to take their lives, just... an arm and a leg will do."
One arm and one leg—consider it revenge for the male lead.
Moreover, even if they tried to climb, this group of people would never make it to the imperial city.
After the guards left to complete their mission, Xiao Cui asked in confusion, "Why did Master deal with them? They were just an ordinary family."
Wen Wan: "I naturally have my own plans."
Wen Wan didn't want to tell the truth, but fortunately Xiao Cui wouldn't delve into it. Xiao Cui trusted her completely.
Three days later.
The guard returned to report, bringing back some shocking news.
"What did you say? Your whole family perished in the fire?"
The bodyguard replied, "Yes, when I arrived, the entire Gu family was already dead. It was an accidental fire, but after investigating their bodies, I determined it was murder."
"How did you investigate the body?"
Bodyguard: "Digging up the grave."
Wen Yan: "..."
Wow, no wonder she was trained by her mother as a bodyguard. Her relentless pursuit of answers is simply amazing.
"What can you tell from that? For example, whether the people who killed them were ordinary people or experts?"
The bodyguard said, "They should be ordinary people, because there were no signs of struggle, but there were signs of being drugged, and the way they were fatally wounded was very clumsy, not like an experienced person."
Wen Yan: "..."
My imagination ran wild for a moment, reaching 180 points.
Could it have been the male lead? But this part wasn't in the original plot. Could it be that her arrival changed the course of the story?
"Go back to your undercover work, but be careful not to expose yourself."
After the guards left, Wen Wan's expression was complicated. She looked at Gu Li and realized that he didn't seem like the kind of person who would kill someone. However, she had almost been killed when she arrived. It was clear that she had a biased view of him, the bias of someone who provided for her. This male lead was never a kind person. But that was a good thing, at least he could protect her in the future.
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