Chapter 56 is not as calm as it seems.
Helian Mingzhu endured the humiliation and took her seat under the guidance of the palace attendants. Her seat was arranged near the front of the women's area, but there was an insurmountable distance between her and the throne. She looked in the direction of the throne and saw that Yuwen Che completely ignored the singing, dancing, and conversation in the hall, as if he had only come today to accompany the woman sitting next to him.
The ministers stepped forward to exchange pleasantries with the envoy from the Northern Kingdom, making polite conversation, but everyone knew that the real purpose of today's banquet was not the so-called welcoming feast.
Yuwen Che ignored the commotion below, focusing only on watching Li Dehai direct the palace servants to present plates of carefully prepared snacks to Su Luoxue on the small table in front of her.
"Xue'er, try this, plum blossom cake. They say it's made with freshly picked plum blossom petals, and the taste is extremely delicate." He personally picked up a piece and held it to her lips.
Su Luoxue leaned closer and took a sniff. The sweet, floral scent made her stomach churn. She immediately frowned, shook her head, and buried her face in his shoulder.
Yuwen Che wasn't annoyed. He put down the plum blossom cake and picked up a crystal-clear pastry: "How about this one? It looks refreshing."
Su Luoxue shook her head again.
"And this chestnut cake? I'd like it softer."
"Hibiscus pastry?"
"Pea flour cake?"
He patiently tried each dish one by one, but Su Luoxue couldn't muster the slightest appetite. She simply leaned against him, listlessly shaking her head. Yuwen Che's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, his anxiety almost overflowing. Not a single one of the exquisite pastries on the table was palatable to her.
The concubines in the harem were already used to this scene. They quietly ate their snacks, watched the singing and dancing, and occasionally chatted in hushed tones. No one dared to show any unusual behavior. Consort De, in particular, kept her eyes down, carefully watching over her son, Yuwen Hao, beside her.
Yuwen Hao, still young and impatient, was already drooling over the various beautiful pastries his father, the Emperor, kept bringing out. He broke free from Consort De's hand and toddled up the imperial steps, landing right beside Su Luoxue's couch. He looked up at the pastries on the small table with his round little face, his eyes filled with longing.
"Your Highness, Hao'er wants to eat that sparkly one!" he said in a childish voice, pointing to the plate of crystal cakes.
The sudden child's voice broke the tense atmosphere beside the throne.
Su Luoxue looked down at the child's innocent and longing eyes, her heart softening, and a faint smile appeared on her pale face.
Consort De turned pale with fright and quickly rose to apologize: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Your Highness, please forgive me. Hao'er was just being ignorant..."
Yuwen Che glanced at his son, then at the rare gentleness on Su Luoxue's face, and waved his hand, indicating that Consort De was alright. He picked up a crystal cake, but instead of giving it directly to Yuwen Hao, he first brought it to Su Luoxue's lips and asked softly, "Xue'er, look, Hao'er wants to eat it. Why don't you try a bite and see if it's really that delicious, okay?"
He tried to stimulate her appetite by appealing to the child's desire.
Su Luoxue looked at Yuwen Hao's expectant eyes, then at Yuwen Che's almost pleading gaze. After hesitating for a moment, she finally opened her mouth slightly and took a tiny, very careful bite of the crust from his hand.
The crust melted in my mouth, with a subtle sweetness, and it didn't seem to cause immediate nausea.
Yuwen Che and Consort De, who was watching nervously below, both held their breath.
Su Luoxue savored it carefully. Although she still didn't have much of an appetite, at least she didn't vomit. She nodded slightly to Yuwen Che.
Yuwen Che's eyes lit up with surprise, as if he had won a great victory! He immediately picked up a crystal cake and handed it to Yuwen Hao, who had been waiting eagerly for a long time, and patted his head: "Here, have some."
"Thank you, Father! Thank you, Consort Chen!" Yuwen Hao happily accepted the snacks and ran back to Consort De's side.
Yuwen Che was in a great mood, and even the ministers below and that annoying Northern princess seemed more pleasing to the eye. He hugged Su Luoxue tightly and whispered, "Good, at least you can eat a little. If you don't want to eat, then don't. We'll take it slowly."
Helian Mingzhu witnessed it all, watching the cold emperor's ecstatic joy at the woman in his arms eating even a little bit, and his tenderness towards the young child. A complex mix of emotions welled up within her. It seemed that all of that man's emotions revolved around that one person. She sat there, like a complete outsider.
Watching Yuwen Hao hold the crystal cake, eating it with relish in small bites, his chubby cheeks puffing out, his large eyes, so similar to Yuwen Che's, filled with contentment, Su Luoxue felt a surge of tenderness in her heart. This child was so innocent and adorable, dispelling some of the gloom brought on by her morning sickness and the banquet.
"Hao'er is so good." She said softly, then turned to Li Dehai, "Steward Li, the eldest prince is young and afraid of the cold. Please move a heater to Consort De's place so that the eldest prince doesn't catch a cold."
Li Dehai quickly replied, "Yes, Your Highness." He immediately signaled the eunuch to do so.
Su Luoxue glanced at the almost untouched, dazzling array of pastries on the small table in front of her and instructed Fuling beside her, "Fuling, take all these pastries away and send them to the Crown Prince. If he likes them, let him eat as much as he wants."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Fuling responded subconsciously, took a step forward, and was about to start clearing the dishes when she suddenly stopped.
Uncontrollably, the image of that bowl of pear soup from half a year ago flashed through her mind—that bowl of pear soup that, through the hands of the Imperial Concubine and delivered by the Empress Dowager's men, ultimately poisoned the First Prince and nearly caused a catastrophe! Although His Majesty forcefully suppressed the matter and protected the Imperial Concubine, the danger involved and the subsequent bloodshed still haunted her to this day. His Majesty even went so far as to completely break with the Empress Dowager, and the capital was engulfed in a bloodbath.
Now that Her Majesty is pregnant and the pregnancy is unstable, she is in a very precarious situation. Although these pastries were personally ordered by His Majesty, many people were involved in their preparation… What if… what if something goes wrong again… Even if His Majesty protects Her Majesty, if Her Majesty were to experience another miscarriage, that would truly be…
Thinking of this, Fuling dared not act on her own initiative. She subconsciously raised her head and looked at His Majesty the Emperor, who was sitting next to the Consort and had been watching them closely.
Yuwen Che took in Fuling's hesitation and fear, and naturally understood what she had remembered. His eyes darkened; that incident was a thorn in his side, and the reason he was so wary of everything around Xue'er.
He glanced at Su Luoxue, who looked puzzled, then at Yuwen Hao, who was smiling because of the heater and the snacks he was about to receive, and at Consort De, who looked somewhat nervous.
“It’s alright.” Yuwen Che nodded almost imperceptibly to Fuling, his voice steady and carrying a reassuring quality. “Since it was a gift from the Imperial Concubine to the First Prince, you may deliver it to him personally.”
With His Majesty's clear decree, Fuling's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. She quickly bowed and said, "This servant obeys."
Without further hesitation, she led two palace maids and carefully picked up the plates of snacks from the small table in front of Su Luoxue, steadily delivering them to the seats of Consort De and the First Prince.
Consort De clearly understood the key point. Seeing that His Majesty had nodded and Fuling had personally delivered the gift, she was finally relieved. She pulled Yuwen Hao to his feet and respectfully bowed towards the throne: "Your Majesty, I thank you on behalf of Hao'er for your grace and for the reward from the Noble Consort."
Yuwen Hao was overjoyed, his eyes sparkling as he looked at the table full of newly delivered pastries: "Thank you, Your Highness!"
Looking at the child's innocent smile, Su Luoxue smiled slightly as well, the slight doubt that had arisen from Fuling's hesitation dissipating. She simply wanted to be kind to the child and hadn't thought too much about it. "Hao'er is such a good boy, but he can't eat too much, or he'll get indigestion."
However, this brief scene, observed by Helian Mingzhu who was intently watching the throne, revealed something unusual. The maid's momentary hesitation, the barely perceptible relaxation of Consort De as she accepted the refreshments… the Great Zhou palace was far from as peaceful as it appeared. And Consort Chen, too, seemed to be far from carefree.
She raised her glass, concealing a cold smile from her lips. Perhaps, her opportunity lay hidden in these subtle cracks.
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