Chapter 781 - 781: Good Thoughts

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Empress Dowager Zhou liked the cold and was afraid of the heat. For this reason, not only did Xuanyuan Qi get someone to plant flowers and trees around the Longevity Palace, but he also dug a pool and built a water pavilion in the west. Every summer, the Longevity Palace was definitely the coolest place in the entire Xuanyuan Palace.

Outside the window of the west pavilion was the pool, where the two cranes lived in the Longevity Palace.

Zhou Jing’s hair stood on end, and the temperature of her body dropped. She had no other thoughts.

Zhu Dazhi, who was Chef Zhu, stood in front of the grill and flipped the meat skewers on it. From time to time, he would apply some seasoning to the meat skewers.

Shen Yijia was holding an extra-large cattail leaf fan in her hand. Her small hand kept waving it around, making it look like she was fanning the fire. However, looking at the direction she was waving it in, it seemed like she was deliberately fanning the fragrance towards the attic.

“Madam Song, the Empress Dowager is looking over. Why don’t we run?” Zhu Dazhi’s forehead was covered in sweat. It was unknown if he was sweating from the heat of the charcoal fire or because he was frightened.

Looking at his trembling legs, it should be because of the latter.

“What are you afraid of? If the old woman blames you, just say that I forced you to come.” Shen Yijia patted her chest and said.

She was a loyal person. As long as this fat chef obediently roasted meat for her to eat, she would not let anything happen to him.

Zhu Dazhi thought to himself, “You brought me here with a knife to my neck.”

Zhu Dazhi was on the brink of tears. “Of course I’m afraid. You’re about to die, so you’re naturally fearless… But I still want to live a long life.”

Shen Yijia thought to herself, “You’re the one who’s going to die. Your ancestors are going to die.”

“Alright, stop crying,” Shen Yijia said in disdain. “If you cry on the roasted meat, I’ll beat you up.”

She shook her fist threateningly.

Thinking of what had happened to the solid wooden vegetable board in the imperial kitchen, Zhu Dazhi shrank his non-existent neck and retracted his tears.

Satisfied, Shen Yijia waved her fan even more vigorously. Hmph, this old woman was craving it.

The fragrance of meat filled her nostrils. She swallowed. “Can we eat now? I’m so hungry.”

Zhu Dazhi carefully glanced at the dark-faced empress dowager and handed over two skewers of roasted three-layer meat with trembling hands.

Shen Yijia took it with her free hand and ate the two skewers of meat.

She said in a muffled voice, “It’s alright, but it’s a little worse than what my husband roasted.”

Zhu Dazhi was unhappy. As an imperial chef, he could not compare to her husband. He blurted out, “What’s missing?”

Shen Yijia chuckled. “You lack my husband’s love for me.”

Zhu Dazhi was speechless.

In the pavilion, Empress Dowager Zhou was so angry that her entire body was trembling. “Outrageous. Not only are they chatting happily during the mourning period, but they’re also eating meat instead of vegetarian food. This is simply outrageous.”

Empress Dowager Zhou was old and had been hungry for two days. She was already in low spirits. Now that she was angry, she almost had a stroke.

“Grandmother, calm down first.” Xuanyuan Ye quickly helped her back to the soft couch. “Eunuch Yu, quickly bring people to capture that wretched girl.”

“Your Highness, bad news.” A green-robed palace maid walked in with small steps and said while panting, “Someone tied up everyone in our palace and threw them in the courtyard.”

She had just been sent out to do something. As soon as she returned, she saw a courtyard full of people. She thought that a thief had entered the Longevity Palace.

The corners of Eunuch Yu’s mouth twitched. Apart from that little fiend, who else could it be?

When the fragrance floated over, he felt that something was wrong. At this moment, he felt a headache coming on.;

He waved his hand and asked the green-robed palace maid to leave. He thought to himself, “I’ll find someone to chase her away now.”

Unexpectedly, Empress Dowager Zhou took a deep breath and waved her hand tiredly. “Forget it.”

“Grandmother!” Xuanyuan Ye was shocked and found it unbelievable.

There was clearly evidence that it was that little b*tch who harmed Father, but the emperor’s uncle still wanted her to stay for five days.

That was fine. In any case, she would still die once the five days were up. Why was it that even her grandmother…

Empress Dowager Zhou patted her hand and said coldly, “She just wants to anger me to death so that she can avenge her mother. I won’t fall for this.”

Xuanyuan Ye was furious. “But she’s too much. If we don’t teach her a lesson, she’ll only become more and more unscrupulous.”

Empress Dowager Zhou closed her eyes again. “There are only three days left anyway. I can tolerate it.”

Xuanyuan Ye wanted to say more, but Eunuch Yu quickly went forward and whispered, “Princess, not only has the Empress Dowager not eaten for the past two days, but she hasn’t even slept much. Let her rest well.”

He wanted to remind Xuanyuan Ye that she had entered the palace to persuade Empress Dowager Zhou, not to stir up trouble. The most important thing now was to think about how to let Empress Dowager Zhou eat something.

However, Xuanyuan Ye was already dizzy with anger. Not only could she not understand his painstaking efforts, but she also felt that everyone in the palace was biased towards Shen Yijia.

As soon as this thought appeared, she couldn’t shake it off.

Xuanyuan Ye suddenly thought of the dream she had in Great Xia.

In her dream, the girl her father brought back was doted on by everyone, but she and her mother were abandoned in a corner of the lord’s residence.

Everyone was accusing her of occupying the magpie’s nest.

The difference was that the girl’s face in the dream had changed from Ji Yunxi to Shen Yijia.

A chill spread from her heart to her limbs and bones. Xuanyuan Ye’s face instantly lost its color and turned pale.

She clenched her trembling fingers and closed her eyes. “Rest well,

Grandmother. I’ll take my leave first.”

With that, without waiting for Empress Dowager Zhou to speak, she left the West Pavilion.

Eunuch Yu was speechless.

Empress Dowager Zhou opened her eyes and sighed. She wanted to say something, but an even more domineering fragrance wafted in again. She swallowed the saliva in her mouth and said in a low voice, “Close the window!”

Eunuch Zhu and Nanny Gao looked at each other and quickly went up to close all the windows in the attic.

The window was closed tightly, but the fragrance seemed to have taken root in Empress Dowager Zhou’s heart. It sprouted and did not dissipate for a long time.

There was a sudden pain in her upper left abdomen. It was the stomach in her five internal organs. Empress Dowager Zhou could not help but turn sideways.

Nanny Gao probed, “Your Highness, just now, Eunuch Zhu brought back bird’s nest porridge from the imperial kitchen. Even if you feel uncomfortable, you should eat a few bites.”

Empress Dowager Zhou glanced at her. “Then bring it over.”

“Your Majesty will blame us if he finds out that you’ve ruined your body like this. Even His Highness won’t be willing to…”

When she realized what Empress Dowager Zhou had said, Nanny Gao suddenly looked up.

Eunuch Yu tugged at her sleeve and hurriedly agreed. He moved the small table over and served Empress Dowager Zhou.

It was not that Empress Dowager Zhou did not want to eat, but she felt terrible and could not eat. Now that she had an appetite, she waved her hand to dismiss Eunuch Yu and picked up the porridge bowl.

Unknowingly, she had finished a bowl of porridge.

A bowl of porridge was not much, but it almost made Eunuch Yu cry with joy. The empress dowager’s life was not just hers, but the heads of all the servants in the Longevity Palace.

He even suspected that the little fiend had heard him say that the empress dowager didn’t eat and deliberately used this method to coax her to eat.

If that was the case, that little fiend had put in a lot of effort.

Fortunately, Shen Yijia did not know what he was thinking. Otherwise, she would have rolled her eyes in anger.

However, she was no longer interested in paying attention to the commotion in the attic.

She stuffed the meat skewers in Zhu Dazhi’s hand and pushed him behind her. She looked at Xuanyuan Ye, who was walking towards her aggressively with a group of eunuchs.

She raised her eyebrows. She couldn’t hit or scold the old one.. Wasn’t the younger one much more fun than the old one?