Chapter 10 Imperial Kitchen III
To confirm his suspicions, Zhen Su's mind raced, and he had already made up his mind. He then jogged back to Zhao Kelin's side and continued to accompany them in their questioning and investigation. After about 15 minutes, it finally came to an end.
Before leaving, Zhao Kelin deliberately lagged behind the others by a step, neither moving nor speaking, but instead staring intently at Masakuni.
Mayuki looked at him with a puzzled expression, then said goodbye, "Lord Zhao, please take care. I will wait for you here. Be sure to come and find me later."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Kelin's eyes flickered slightly, and he nodded before turning and leaving.
The next moment, Shinjuku turned and went into the royal kitchen.
He remembered the place where Uncle Wu had set up a small table for him last time, so he headed in that direction. However, when he got there, he didn't see Uncle Wu. Instead, he saw a furtive servant hiding behind the small table, lifting the lid of a food box and muttering something in a very low voice, which Shinju could hear.
He said, "Tsk, why should I give it to that kid? Anyway, Uncle Wu isn't coming back, so I might as well eat it! This braised pork knuckle smells so good... Yes, even if Uncle Wu comes back later, I'll just say that the kid ate it!"
When he had finished reading, Mayu suddenly leaned close to his ear and said, "You ate something."
Xiao Jingzi shuddered and reflexively closed the food box, staggering half a step.
He was even more embarrassed when he realized that the person who came was the same person who had been cricketing behind him. He said, "I don't know what you're talking about," and tried to leave.
But Mayuki grabbed him and asked, "Is this what Uncle Wu left for me? Uncle Wu hasn't come back yet?"
In her panic, Xiao Jingzi forgot that she was the one with more seniority. She didn't notice Shinjuku's disrespectful attitude and words at all. She just wanted to pull back her sleeve, but even after pulling until her shoulders and arms ached, she still couldn't pull half an inch of her sleeve out of Shinjuku's hand.
He had no choice but to tell Masatsugu, "It was the 'Entwined Flower Cloud Dream Meat' that Uncle Wu left for you. Uncle Wu has been summoned by the Ministry of Justice. Can you let me go now?"
"Is it because of what happened last night?" Masaya remained unmoved and continued to press.
Xiao Jingzi couldn't help but feel a little intimidated by him, not understanding why he had such a strong presence despite his young age. "Yes, yes, I don't know the specifics either, don't ask me..."
When Shinju loosened his grip on two fingers, Keiko, who had been being pulled to the other side, almost fell over. She immediately turned red with anger, but unfortunately, she didn't dare to utter a word for a long time before turning away and running off in a huff.
Shinjuku opened the food box, examined it briefly, then immediately closed it and walked out.
West Horse Racing Field.
"Oh my, isn't this Xiao Qingzi?" A few servants noticed the people walking towards them and called out.
Mayu smiled and pointed to the food box in his hand, "I left in a hurry before, and the seniors took such good care of me, but I didn't have a proper chance to say goodbye. I was so eager to come back and visit, so I brought some food for the seniors. Please don't find it offensive."
The servants were momentarily stunned by his handsome face and earnest words, almost believing that they had actually given him some kind of care. After a while, they came to their senses and, looking at the cloud-patterned pork knuckle slices in the food box, were speechless.
The "Wrapped Flower Cloud Dream Meat" is made from marinated pork foreleg. It is sliced and served as a cold dish. As its name suggests, the cut surface of the pork elbow slices will show a cloud-like outline in the center. Just this appearance alone is enough to whet one's appetite, not to mention the rich aroma. With just a slight whiff, it will awaken the cravings of everyone present, making them drool with envy.
Shinju remembered that he still had a piece of golden milk pastry in his pocket. It was a milk pastry bun carved into the shape of a flower, with a creamy yellow color and a soft, fluffy texture. Shinju quietly squeezed it a couple more times, wiped away the reluctance in his eyes, and gave away the breakfast that Uncle Wu had given him.
Faced with such delicacies, the waiters were afraid of not being able to share them all, so they all reached out and took the food directly. But once it entered their mouths, they were afraid that swallowing it whole would be a waste of such good food, so they chewed it carefully and swallowed it slowly.
"Delicious, so delicious..." The waiters couldn't find any vivid words, they just kept saying how delicious it was.
"I'm glad you seniors like it." Seeing that they had finished eating and it was almost time, Shinjuku sighed wistfully, "Speaking of which, I saw the big tanuki and the golden monkey from afar earlier. They were so cute, I really wanted to touch them. If I could, I would come here every day!"
The servants guessed he might be referring to lynxes and golden monkeys, and quickly said, "Oh dear, those are wild beasts, you can't touch them!"
They were naturally resentful, thinking that this kid had managed to escape this quagmire and go to a good place like the Imperial Kitchen to enjoy life. Not only did he eat and drink well, but he also had something to look forward to. In the blink of an eye, he had left them far behind and they were no longer comparable.
Unexpectedly, this kid still remembered them and generously sent them imperial delicacies. If he could come more often, he might be able to get some more good food.
Then someone quickly said, "But feeding him is still possible, Xiao Qingzi, come with us."
The smile in Shinju's eyes suddenly took on a deeper meaning, and he followed with "joy and excitement".
The emaciated exotic animals at the West Horse Farm were assumed by Shinjuku to be discarded as worthless and unimportant, so no one knew that their food was being withheld by the servants, and no one even questioned it.
But when he saw the emaciated domestic animals and poultry in the Imperial Kitchen's breeding area, he couldn't help but have an absurd thought—could it be that the West Horse Farm didn't actually have a food shortage, or that the breeding area's acclimatization problem was just an illusion, actually caused by long-term poisoning?
What happened next confirmed Shinjuku's guess.
The old servant led him to several feeding spots, where lynxes, wolves, and gyrfalcons were seen. Although they would howl or hiss and thrash about or tremble with their tails between their legs as soon as they saw Shinju approaching, the old servant was a little bewildered. It was the first time he had ever seen such a scene. These ferocious beasts and birds of prey usually didn't bother with people, but now they were behaving like mice around a raccoon.
Masakatsu coughed lightly, scratched his face, handed the food bucket back to the old servant, gave up feeding the animals, and simply observed from the side.
Masakatsu found that the food he fed them wasn't very fresh, but the portions were generous and included both meat and vegetables, showing no signs of mistreatment.
It's highly unlikely that the other party was deliberately being discreet in front of him, hence their careful manner. The feed wasn't prepared by people from the West Horse Farm, and the amount of feed was normal given Shinju's sudden arrival. This indicates that the feed preparer didn't skimp on the amount. The only place where embezzlement could occur is after the servants have taken the feed. However, the servants at the West Horse Farm are all incompetent and lethargic, not because they're lazy, but because they've become numb from years of idleness. Clearly, they are powerless to do anything about it, and none of them have any connections. So how could they dare to embezzle?
Since they don't have a short diet and their eating is relatively normal, showing no signs of being unaccustomed to the environment... Shinju narrowed his golden eyes, already about 80% certain. The next step was to verify whether they contained poison.
He vaguely remembered a technique in the scriptures for detecting toxins.
In the afternoon, Shinju returned to the food preparation area and busied himself for a while before sneaking back to the servants' quarters to take out the Five Ultimate Sutra and begin his interpretation.
Although the Five Ultimate Scripture has no high cultivation aptitude threshold, it does not mean that it has no comprehension threshold. It contains hidden mysteries and is not like an ordinary scripture that can be read from beginning to end at will. It has its own restrictions and is linked to the cultivation level of the cultivator. For example, Zhen Su is currently only at the initial stage of the Poisonous Realm, and can only read five or six pages, which only include the spells and techniques that can be used at the current stage.
The scriptures and techniques are written in abstruse language, with many ambiguous and unclear sentences. However, for a powerful cultivator like Zhen Su, with his wealth of experience, even without the aid of the Purple Mansion, he can decipher them by simply expending his mental energy.
After repeated study, Shinju finally found the method to perceive poison. The book said that one must first create the six senses. Ordinary people only have five senses, and the extra sense is the perception beyond the five senses. With this sense, one can perceive things that the five senses cannot directly perceive, such as poison in the human body or poison in the body of wild animals.
The six senses are the prototype of divine consciousness, and then one can use them as a foundation to open up the Purple Palace.
Upon reading this, even Zhen Su couldn't help but sigh, saying that the Five Scriptures were truly a completely unorthodox path, far removed from the orthodox path of cultivation, not an exaggeration to say that they were worlds apart. But what was most absurd was that they could ultimately arrive at the same destination through different paths!
If he continues his cultivation, could he possibly create a second Purple Mansion?
Shinju chuckled at his own wild thoughts and turned to try to cultivate his six senses according to the methods in the scriptures. After a short while, he found that no matter what he did, he couldn't succeed. After pondering for a long time, he realized the problem lay in his blocked senses of smell and taste. Without restoring these two senses, he couldn't continue his cultivation. But to break the blockage, he needed a poisonous shock. For now, the only promising route to obtaining poison was through the West Horse Ranch and Breeding Area. However, to continue the investigation, he urgently needed to activate his six senses.
"..." This is a complete detour, Shinjuku thought.
.
The Imperial Kitchen Office.
As soon as the Minister of Justice walked in from outside, the Governor and the Premier rushed to surround him, asking him about the situation at the Ministry of Justice and the Court of Judicial Review.
"This time it's probably going to end badly. Although it only ruined the voice of one concubine, the fact that it happened when the Emperor was about to visit the concubine's palace makes it clear that the poisoning was aimed at the Emperor..."
"Can Chef Wu be saved?"
"Consort Shao also submitted a petition, pleading with His Majesty to show leniency, but His Majesty's attitude is unclear and hard to say... If it's like last time, then we'll really be out of people in our department." The head of the bureau frowned deeply, looking worried, but his emotions remained relatively calm. After all, the last purge hadn't reached them, and even a prince had died that time.
The admiral and the prime minister understood the unspoken meaning and breathed a sigh of relief.
Before long, the supervising eunuch glanced at the water clock, calculated the time, and hurried into the imperial kitchen to check on the preparation of the evening meal.
"Where is the servant who serves the food?" he asked, looking around.
"Song Chuanshan has just been sent to the Imperial Hospital!"
"Everything was fine this morning, what happened?"
The waiter hesitated, not daring to speak directly, and only said, "Song Chuanshan mistakenly ate some mutton peaches, and his face and body are covered with rashes..."
"Hmph, this 'sheep peach' is not easily mistaken for something else. Its fuzzy brown skin, bright green flesh, and white core make it very recognizable." The superintendent eunuch, his face full of displeasure, had clearly seen the man's hasty escape.
He snorted coldly and asked again, "Then why haven't you decided on a new person to serve the meals? And who will take over?"
The people below looked left and right, but no one dared to make a sound.
Just as the admiral raised the scalding hot iron ladle on the platform, intending to feign anger and intimidate these cowards, Xiao Jingzi suddenly raised her hand from the corner and said, "My lord! This servant has someone to recommend!"
A note from the author:
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[Edit] Zhao Yanlin should be corrected to Zhao Kelin. The name was misspelled before; the previous version was used.
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