Not knowing how long had passed, the door to the secret chamber was gently opened, letting in a sliver of sunlight that seed like the afternoon sun.
Suddenly, a figure darted in and then closed the door to the chamber.
Guo Neng abruptly opened his eyes and once he recognized it was Guo Shun, slowly relaxed his body.
The lamp oil had run out, and at that mont the chamber was pitch dark.
Before long, the light reignited as Guo Shun lit the wick and placed a large package on the table.
Struggling to sit up, Guo Shun noticed and quickly ca over to support him, saying, "Young master, I’ve got the dicine, and a jug of strong liquor; have sothing to eat before treating your wounds."
"Alright," Guo Neng asked, "Has the letter been delivered?"
Guo Shun nodded, "That old thief is now followed by a crowd wherever he goes, troubleso. I took advantage of a mont when no one was paying attention and threw it into an empty carriage, he will see it once he rides the carriage."
Guo Neng slowly exhaled and a spiteful smile crept across his face—he wouldn’t be the only one to suffer; his dear uncle shouldn’t think to have it easy either!
...
Inside Canglan Court.
Lian Hua had made a big discovery; these past few days, His Majesty had been acting very strange, very strange indeed!
What exactly was different?
First, she noticed that His Majesty had been busier than usual, which, of course, wasn’t strange in itself—he was often busy like this, which was normal.
What wasn’t normal, however, was that at night while he reviewed docunts, whenever she did her own things and turned around, she would always find him looking at her, his thoughts inscrutable, filled with tenderness, compassion, guilt, and complex emotions. The compassion was a thousand tis more intense than usual, which made her feel rather uneasy.
That alone was odd enough, but one night, he was busy until late. She’d already gone to bed early.
When he ca to bed and made so noise, it happened to wake her up as she needed to relieve herself. As she opened her eyes, she saw him caressing her face with an affectionate look, which made her hair stand on end. She thought sothing terrible must have happened to her for him to show such concern.
Setting aside those things, which, after a full day of contemplation, she could sowhat rationalize,
the most abnormal thing was that His Majesty wasn’t drinking tea anymore!
He drank only plain water!!
Even if she brewed tea for him, he wouldn’t take a single sip, as if drinking it would sohow be a betrayal to her, and he was very determined!!
This was a huge discovery indeed, the result of days of careful observation.
What kind of person was His Majesty? In the past, just to get his hands on her two boxes of Dew Tea, he acted like a bandit, discarding all pretense of dignity—boldly taking them as if it was his right, without even a strand of hair as a reward for her or an extra glance.
Later, to swindle her into making Dew Tea, he even concocted an overt sche, working together with Steward Zhang, setting traps and playing good cop, bad cop.
So you see, His Majesty not drinking tea was as rare as the sun rising from the west.
After a day of careful thought, she pondered and pondered and ca to suspect that perhaps His Majesty was afflicted with so illness, keeping it a secret from her?
That wouldn’t do at all—she had to help His Majesty.
She was a woman of action; everything was arranged, just waiting for people to return to reveal the truth!
With that thought, she turned to Xiao Linzi, "Is everything ready?"
Xiao Linzi nodded solemnly, "Don’t worry, master, I have prepared everything. The mont His Majesty returns, I will rush back to report to you imdiately."
Lian Hua nodded along, praising, "Not bad, very good, you’ve improved a lot compared to before."
Xiao Linzi smiled shyly, revealing two tiger teeth.
Lian Hua then turned her head towards Xiao Qing, "Are the lon seed pastries and tea ready?"
Xiao Qing’s face lit up with excitent, nodding vigorously, "Mistress, rest assured, everything is ready, guaranteed to make anyone who tries them so happy they won’t want to leave."
Lian Hua agreed, "That’s right, I trust your skills."
Xiao Qing was personally trained by her, and even Steward Zhang, who was the least fond of food from Canglan Court, praised it once he tried it.
Finally, she looked at Xiao Jizi, "What about you, are you ready?"
Xiao Jizi swallowed, suggesting, "Mistress, maybe... let’s not? Perhaps we’re overthinking it. His Majesty hasn’t really hid anything from you; he might just be tired of drinking tea, that’s all..."
His Majesty had plenty of things hidden from the Mistress, and even if he did, it was for her own good.
Oh, he just felt it was very improper for the Mistress to act this way.
Lian Hua was displeased, she sat up straight, her delicate eyebrows shot up, and she retorted fiercely, "How could he tire of it? His Majesty doesn’t like sweet things, nor does he like drinking all those ssy tonic soups and ginseng teas, and he doesn’t like floral teas either—he only likes ordinary tea. I know His Majesty better than the worms in his belly; he would never tire of tea. There must be so reason, sothing that’s preventing him from drinking tea."
Like, say, if he felt unwell and that Mr. Chu advised him against tea, forbidding him from drinking certain types.
Or if drinking tea caused discomfort sowhere, and so on.
But why would His Majesty look at her with those eyes?
Guilt she could understand, probably because he couldn’t drink tea and felt sorry for her hard work making it for him, so he felt guilty.
Tenderness and compassion could also be explained sohow—when was there a day when His Majesty didn’t feel for her?
Perhaps because of the busyness these past few days, he hadn’t found the ti to touch her round belly while she was awake, to talk to the baby inside, and thus he had to use all the day’s affections at night.
But why the concern?
Why would he need to be concerned about her?
Could it be because her body was growing heavier, and even squatting beca uncomfortable, so he felt sorry for her struggles?
There was this one ti when sothing she was holding dropped to the ground, and after several failed attempts to pick it up, His Majesty happened to see her struggle. He felt so distressed that from then on, he wouldn’t allow her to do anything that required bending over.
She wanted to say it was nothing, that she was just clumsy occasionally, but His Majesty simply wouldn’t allow it, saying what would happen if her belly got bigger in future, and if she wasn’t careful now and developed a bad habit, then what would she do if her body truly beca so heavy that she couldn’t stand up after squatting down? He insisted she must be careful about such things.
She couldn’t understand how she wouldn’t be able to stand up, but this was her first pregnancy, so maybe it really was possible to beco that heavy.
Anyway, His Majesty was even more nervous about her pregnancy than she was.
She leaned back against the chair, furrowing her brows as her thoughts wandered.
Nanny Qi didn’t make a sound from the side, letting Pang Ya massage her shoulders, thinking to herself how the young mistress had figured out the Emperor’s preferences down to the last detail, she had just learned that the Emperor didn’t like drinking tonic soups...
Previously, the Forr Empress Dowager, always concerned about the Emperor’s hard work, had her bring various tonic soups and ginseng teas to the Emperor, who never refused them and always praised them after finishing them, was rely to reassure the Forr Empress Dowager, not because he enjoyed them. She hadn’t been able to figure this out for so many years...
Xiao Jizi felt so refuted that he couldn’t fight back.
For His Majesty’s sake, the Mistress was all-in, even summoning Doctor Huang, whom she was most reluctant to see, under so pretext, of course, not that it was for taking her pulse, just any reason would do to summon him.
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