This pastry took a lot of effort to make.
He Ying then placed another pair of chopsticks in front of Zhang Yong.
Su Wanwan smiled faintly: "The way I made this peanut filling was taught to me by the Grand Eunuch back then."
Zhang Yong's face was as cold as a deep pool, and his icy, sharp gaze shot towards Su Wanwan like an arrow.
Su Wanwan calmly accepted his scrutiny and attention, remaining composed.
The atmosphere became tense for a moment.
He Ying was so nervous that she didn't dare to swallow.
Zhang Yong, as expected of the commander of the Beijing garrison, possessed a truly awe-inspiring presence.
However, unlike when she came before, this place was not bustling with people; instead, Zhang Yong was all alone.
Did he anticipate that the Empress would come?
He Ying felt immense pressure.
In front of a group of shrewd and calculating big shots, her intelligence was simply crushed.
Especially the Empress, she was by her side every day, but it seemed that she could never see through the Empress's thoughts.
How could that idiot Yan Rong dare to have the idea of betraying the Empress?
The room was quiet.
The only sound was the boiling water in the teapot.
The candlelight flickered.
It felt as if invisible swords were clashing in the air.
He Ying didn't even dare to move his eyes.
Does the Empress have a past friendship with Zhang Yong, or a past grudge?
Rumble.
A sudden clap of thunder boomed outside the roof.
Su Wanwan finally moved, reaching out her hand towards He Ying, her tone indifferent:
"Let's go."
Zhang Yong then spoke up: "This servant respectfully sees off Your Majesty the Empress."
As soon as Su Wanwan stepped out of the duty room, a torrential downpour began.
She and Heying were both trapped on the corridor.
Raindrops splashed on the stone steps, wetting her skirt.
Su Wanwan stood there for a while, and seeing that the rain showed no sign of stopping, she lifted her skirt and walked directly into the rain.
He Ying quickly followed.
The icy rain felt like knives cutting into my skin.
A strong wind rose up, making their clothes flutter like butterflies that might take flight at any moment.
The two supported each other and persevered through the difficulties.
Just as she reached the entrance of the Qianqing Palace, Su Wanwan slipped and was about to fall.
However, his body was steadily supported by someone.
A large umbrella now hangs overhead.
The person holding the umbrella was none other than Zhang Yong, who had just been arrogant and disrespectful.
At this moment, Su Wanwan's face was completely white, her teeth chattering from the cold, and she stared blankly without saying a word.
Seeing this, Zhang Yong frowned, handed the umbrella to He Ying, and together with He Ying, helped Su Wanwan up to the connecting corridor behind the Qianqing Palace.
The rain had lessened considerably in the covered walkway, and Su Wanwan and He Ying stumbled towards Kunning Palace.
Zhang Yong, soaked to the bone, stood there and watched them enter the Kunning Palace before leaving.
Su Wanwan took a hot bath and drank the cold-dispelling medicine prescribed by the imperial physician before she finally recovered.
He Ying never expected things to turn out this way tonight.
She had also drunk the herbal medicine to dispel the cold and taken a bath. After thinking it over, she still asked Su Wanwan, who was asleep:
"Your Majesty, why are you doing this to yourself today?"
This self-inflicted injury tactic is not clever at all.
Using this phrase on Zhang Yong instead of the Emperor is a misapplication of the word.
She simply couldn't understand the Empress's thought process.
good.
Zhang Yong was handsome and imposing. Although he was a eunuch, he was more outstanding than those noble families and resembled a decisive general.
He held military power and was in charge of the affairs of the Qianqing Palace and the Imperial Household Department. He also served as the supervisor of the various departments of the Imperial Kitchen, Imperial Clothing, Imperial Furnishings, and Inner Palace, as well as the departments of Physical Enhancement, Etiquette, and Confectionery, and the Western Garden, Laundry Bureau, Bathhouse, and South Sea Garden.
Despite having many tasks, Zhang Yong managed them all to the best of his ability. His competence and character were undeniable, and no one could find fault with him.
He's even more capable than Xiao Huwei back then.
But he was a eunuch.
Why would Your Highness condescend to deliver snacks to a mere eunuch?
If she had only devoted a little bit of her attention to the Emperor, things wouldn't be like this now.
Su Wanwan simply said, "It's getting late, go to sleep."
He Ying sheepishly blew out the lamp and lay down to sleep on the couch in the outer room.
The howling wind and rain outside continued all night.
In the darkness, Su Wanwan opened her eyes and looked at the canopy above her head.
In Xiaoyuan, Lu Xingjian sat on the kang by the window, quietly listening to the howling wind and torrential rain pounding against the windowpane.
He scribbled and painted with his paintbrush.
With a stroke of his pen, a lifelike portrait of a lady leaps off the page.
The woman sat there with her eyes lowered and brows furrowed, holding a cat in her arms, exuding an indescribable gentleness and purity.
His gaze lingered on the woman's face for a long time.
The next day, Su Wanwan fell ill again, with a persistent high fever.
When the news reached Lu Xingjian, he didn't say much.
He personally led a thorough investigation of the Imperial Medical Academy to ensure that no one with ulterior motives was infiltrated.
The imperial physicians whom Su Wanwan trusted and relied on not only did not suffer, but their power actually increased.
...
Liu Jin reprimanded Ma Yongcheng with a venomous expression:
"Useless! You haven't even caught a single assassin after all this time!"
"What use are you to us?!"
Ma Yongcheng lowered his head in a submissive posture, but his heart was filled with raging anger.
Although the Eastern Depot was nominally under the supervision of the Directorate of Ceremonial, it was also directly under the emperor's command.
Because of your domineering power grab, Liu Jin, the Emperor has now even reinstated the Western Depot.
You, Liu Jin, are all adorned with flowers and sizzling with oil, but what have I, Ma Yongcheng, gained?
Instead, they are becoming increasingly marginalized.
Nowadays, the Eastern Depot distributes winter charcoal rations later than other departments.
This is definitely not a good sign.
However, he didn't dare to openly offend Liu Jin.
The fate of Steward Li is a stark reminder of what happened to him, and Ma Yongcheng certainly doesn't want to suffer the same fate.
The death of Chief Eunuch Li is as obvious as a louse on a bald head; how could it possibly have been the Empress's doing?
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