Dexi really kept his word. As soon as he returned to his accommodation, he went to the kitchen and asked someone to make porridge for Yinzuo. Yinzuo looked at the table full of delicious food and wine in front of his father, and then looked at the bowl of white porridge on his own table. He almost cried on the spot.
"When will this bland, tasteless life end? From the day he was born until now, except for the first day when things were normal, he hasn't tasted any other food except plain porridge in the past few days. If this continues, I will be at a loss. Han Ama, I think the braised pork in front of you is good. Can I try it?"
Can I try it? Theoretically, of course, I couldn't. But Kangxi, deeply concerned for his son, pondered for a moment before picking up his chopsticks, scooping up a handful of braised pork and placing it on a plate for Liang Jiugong to bring to him. Yinzuo had been happily waiting for Liang Jiugong to bring him the meat, but when he saw the pitifully small amount of meat on the plate, he suddenly felt that this was the darkest part of life—destruction was the end.
"Just one piece, my dear father, you're too stingy. My son probably hasn't even tasted the meat yet and it's gone. Look..."
What are you looking at? The imperial physician had warned him many times before that the stomach and intestines are more fragile after vomiting, and it is best to eat liquid food. How could Kangxi dare to give him more? Not only did he not give it to him, he even raised his eyes and glanced at Yinzhen and others around him. The meaning was very clear: I won’t give it to him, and you are not allowed to give it to him either.
Isn’t it said that no one knows a son better than his father? After seeing that he could not get meat from Kangxi, Yinzuo really turned his attention to his brothers.
"Brother, I think the pork belly on your table looks good. Is it delicious?"
Yinzuo had used this trick before, so when Yinzhi heard what he meant, he understood what this kid was planning. But even though he understood, Yinzhi didn't dare to give it to him, after all, he had just been warned by Khan Ama.
"It's not tasty. The meat is not only not tender and flavorful, but also woody..."
Yinzuo naturally did not believe a single punctuation mark of Yinzhi's words. "Brother, even if you want to lie to me, can you please pretend? Judging from the way you eat with your mouth full of oil, your words are not convincing at all."
Yinzhi's mission was not going well, so Yinzhi turned his attention to his third brother, but was undoubtedly rejected again. Since neither his eldest nor third brother gave him anything, there was no hope for the ninth and tenth brothers. Yinzuo looked at Yinzhi sitting across from him, who was eating a mouthful of meat and a mouthful of vegetables with relish, and then looked at the bowl of porridge in front of him, and suddenly felt that it would be better not to eat the meal.
There is a saying that goes, "Man is iron and rice is steel." He would be very hungry if he didn't eat this meal. Yinzuo had only eaten a piece of dessert and a bowl of porridge since morning. His stomach was already growling with hunger after all the morning's work. In order to appease his stomach, Yinzuo could only accept his fate and picked up the porridge in front of him and drank it with his eyes closed.
"This is meat, chicken flavor, crunchy..."
But no matter how much he tried to hypnotize himself, it was impossible for him to taste the meat in the porridge. Anyway, if he sat there, he would be watched by others eating, so Yinzuo decided to turn a blind eye to it. After drinking a few mouthfuls of the porridge in his bowl, he stood up and said to Kangxi.
"Khan Ama, I'm full. Please take your time eating. I want to go out and walk around here."
Kangxi would naturally agree to Yinzuo's request. He nodded and said to Liang Jiugong next to him.
"Liang Jiugong, go with him. Don't let him go too far. Just stay around here."
Although out of sight, out of mind, Yinzuo couldn't help but glance at the sumptuous meal on his father's table before leaving, and then sighed helplessly in his heart.
"What's the furthest distance in the world? There's a table full of delicious food right in front of me. I can see it, I can smell it, but I can't eat it. It's truly a sin..."
They said they wanted to go out for a walk, but there was really nothing interesting to see outside in the north in February. After wandering around the palace for a while under the guidance of Liang Jiugong, Yinzuo lost interest completely. He had vomited for several days on the boat, and he had trouble eating and sleeping. He was also very weak. Since he didn't want to go out for a walk, he simply went home.
In the following days, Kangxi was busy receiving officials who came to pay him an audience. Yinzhen was in charge of security around the palace and was naturally very busy. The ninth and tenth brothers had nothing to do, and Kangxi did not detain them. The two of them really went out a lot in the past few days.
"Sixth brother, look, this is the hawthorn cake we brought back for you. The donkey meat is also good, and the squab is delicious too. Try it, and this..."
After a few days of rest, Yinzuo's health has improved a lot. Although the imperial physician still advised him to eat a light diet, at least he no longer has to drink porridge for every meal like before. Yinzuo took the pile of things from Yin?'s hand, picked out a piece of hawthorn cake and put it in his mouth.
"It tastes pretty good. We can buy some more to take with us when we leave. If I'm still vomiting when I get on the boat, I can use it to calm down the nausea."
Yin'er and Yin? knew how sour this hawthorn cake was. They had tasted it when they bought it, and it was so sour that it almost made their teeth drop. Now, seeing his sixth brother finish the big piece without changing his expression, the two of them couldn't help but wonder if what they had eaten before was the same thing as what his sixth brother had eaten. So after looking at each other, they reached out and took a piece of hawthorn cake and put it into their mouths in tacit understanding.
"Dexi, hurry up and pour me a glass of water. Sixth brother, this thing is so sour. How did you manage to eat it without changing your expression? Aren't you afraid of the sour taste?"
Is Yinzuo not afraid of sour food? Of course he would agree to a negative answer. The reason he had just endured the sour taste and ate the whole piece of hawthorn cake without changing his expression was because he knew that if he did so, Yinlu and Yinyang would definitely follow suit out of curiosity and try it, and the facts turned out to be just as he expected.
"Hahahahaha~~ Didn't I tell you two a long time ago not to be overly curious about anything that you know is not a good thing? I believe you two must have tasted this hawthorn cake when you bought it. Since you all know what it tastes like, why are you still curious about it? Young man, remember this: curiosity kills the cat."
The little prank succeeded in making Yinzuo's already good mood even better. He had been detained by Kangxi these past few days and not allowed to go out, so he could only know the world outside the palace through the descriptions of Yin'er and Yin?. Dezhou City was still very prosperous during this period, with busy water transport and developed commerce. Goods from all over the country were distributed at the canal docks, water and land stations, and near the government offices in the city, where merchants gathered. Just from the descriptions of Yin'er and Yin?, Yinzuo could imagine the bustling scene with a large number of travelers coming and going from the south and the north, and numerous restaurants and inns.
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