Guan Zhiyue gently wiped away the tears on Bilian's face, then said softly, "Silly girl, why are you crying? I'm back safe and sound, aren't I?"
"Don't worry, your mother is perfectly fine. Rest assured, nothing will happen."
"Quickly, your mother is done bathing and needs to get something to eat. We came here to control the locusts, and we've already wasted four or five days. We need to get to Sihuang Prefecture as soon as possible!" Guan Zhiyue stood up from the bathtub and asked Bilian to bring her a bath towel.
Bilian raised her hand to wipe away her tears, and then said very respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty is right. We should hurry up and deal with the locusts."
"The people are saying that the locusts have all fled, but the Empress still hasn't arrived!"
Upon hearing this, Guan Zhiyue couldn't help but burst into laughter. "Hahaha, who said that? It's so apt! It's all those annoying guys' fault for delaying our best opportunity to control the locusts. They let the locusts escape."
“That’s right. If anyone’s to blame, it’s these idle men in black. They’re utterly depraved and have nothing better to do than attempt to assassinate the Empress and the Emperor,” Bilian chimed in.
Guan Zhiyue smiled and didn't say anything more. Li Qiji's side had also finished getting ready. Everyone gathered in the lobby of the restaurant. Now, only their group remained in the entire restaurant. Fortunately, some of the people who accompanied them knew how to cook.
Otherwise, so many people would have to eat dry rations.
"Sir, we've investigated this matter. It's a group of people from abroad, and they look somewhat like the Liao people." Ji Wu reported the findings of his investigation over the past few days to the others.
Upon hearing this, Li Qiji frowned. These words had nothing to do with the Liao soldiers, nor did they have any conflict with him. Besides, how would they know that he had also come to help with disaster relief?
Guan Chengzhuo frowned slightly and asked, "Before the incident, only the ministers in the court knew that the Emperor had gone out to provide disaster relief. Apart from these people, only the people in the palace knew. So how did these Liao soldiers find out?"
"Could it be that someone in our court is colluding with foreign enemies and has informed the Liao soldiers of the Emperor's departure from the capital to provide disaster relief?"
Guan Chengzhuo realized that what he had just said was not right, so he quickly shook his head and denied it, then said, "That's not right. We have always kept to ourselves and the Liao people. Why would they come to our territory to kill people this time?"
"Furthermore, how did so many Liao soldiers manage to slip past our layers of screening and inspection and infiltrate our ranks?"
Su Xu, standing to the side, seemed to agree, but he didn't quite understand why. Where did these Liao soldiers come from, and how did they find out?
However, they were certain that someone in the palace must have been colluding with the enemy, otherwise why would they have leaked this information?
"Your Majesty, in my opinion, someone must be stirring things up. We should make plans as soon as possible!" Su Xu said.
Li Qiji nodded and said, "What puzzles me now is whether these people are here to kill me or to assassinate the Empress."
"We need to understand this clearly so we can know how to prevent and deal with it later. Furthermore, what is their purpose in coming to kill us? And why would they send assassins?"
Guan Zhiyue came downstairs and, hearing the lively discussion among the group, joined in.
"Could it be because of food?"
Guan Zhiyue's words shocked the three people present. Yes! How come they hadn't thought of this!
Food is an essential commodity for every country. If a family has food, wouldn't they stand tall with pride? Wouldn't the people of the country live in peace and prosperity?
It's grain!
“Yes, my sister is right, it’s grain.” Guan Chengzhuo said, while bringing a stool for Guan Zhiyue to sit down.
Li Qiji kept staring at Guan Zhiyue; his empress was truly beautiful and intelligent!
That's incredibly clever!
Su Xu nodded to Guan Zhiyue, and when he looked up, he saw the Emperor opposite him looking at Guan Zhiyue with an admiring gaze. He couldn't understand where the Emperor's admiring gaze came from!
What exactly happened to them during these past few days? The doctor actually said that the Emperor is full of energy and has no injuries, and the Empress is also in excellent health.
He felt that the world had become surreal, it was simply unbelievable.
Guan Zhiyue rolled her eyes at Li Qiji, not wanting him to stare at her with those direct eyes, and then changed the subject, saying, "Our primary goal right now is not to discuss the Liao soldiers, but to figure out how to control the locusts."
“We’re setting off for Sihuang Prefecture tomorrow. I’ve never seen locusts like this before. I don’t know if they’re the old kind or the larvae or something,” Guan Zhiyue said.
The others chimed in, "Yes, the main purpose of this trip is to control the locust plague."
"As for the Liao soldiers, we can discuss the cause again after this locust plague is controlled," Li Qiji quickly said.
Su Xu then asked, "Your Majesty, do you have any solutions for these locusts?"
Guan Zhiyue thought for a moment. In her previous life, there were people who sold these locusts. They were fried until they were fragrant and crispy, and they were crunchy in one bite. The key point is that these things are also very nutritious.
"Let's fry it and eat it!"
Upon hearing this, everyone in the hall looked at Guan Zhiyue with strange eyes. What kind of quirk did their Empress have? She actually wanted to eat insects, and were those insects even edible?
Will someone die? What if someone dies from eating it?
"Your Majesty, isn't this too alarming? I've never heard of locusts being edible. What if something goes wrong if we eat them?" Su Xu looked at Guan Zhiyue with a very disgusted expression.
Guan Zhiyue shook her head and said, "What's so strange about that? Lord Su has never heard of any edible things. There are plenty of them!"
"You used to say fish didn't taste good, but the tens of thousands of kilograms of fish that Lan Shanqi got out of the market a while ago sold like hotcakes. I heard they even fought over them!"
"Isn't this fine? Why can't we eat locusts? Don't these things require experimentation?"
"Even if we assume that locusts really can't eat, there are still pigs, ducks, chickens, geese... they can always eat them, right?"
After listening to Guan Zhiyue's words, the group thought about it carefully and realized that it made sense!
He immediately agreed, saying that he would hurry to the Sihuangzhou area the next day to get rid of the locusts as soon as possible.
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