Early in the morning, the palace rewards arrived.
Upon hearing that it was the Emperor’s chief eunuch Jiang Chuan who had come in person, Chu Zhi, who had just woken up and hadn’t even washed her face, was speechless.
It seemed that she should quickly wash up and change her clothes, and greet the rewards with the most neat and impeccable appearance.
That’s how it was done in the East Palace in her previous life.
If Ying Feng had military merits, the Emperor would reward the East Palace. If several people taught Feng Shi how to handle government affairs and perform diligence and benevolence, the Emperor would also reward the East Palace.
The entire mansion would kneel to welcome them.
Most of them were gold, silver, and jewelry, but the Emperor was very stingy.
His most valuable possessions were the rare birds raised in the Yu Fang (Imperial Aviary). It was said that even a single bird feather was enough for an ordinary family of three to eat for a year.
Outside the screen, a tall figure stopped and didn’t come in, “You don’t have to bother going over there, just have Xia Ying receive the rewards and send them in.”
“Is it really okay to be so arrogant?”
Lan Huaiyu laughed outside the screen, “It’s okay.”
“Okay, if you say it’s okay, then I’ll believe it.”
She twisted her body and lay down again.
Jiang Chuan waited for a long time and didn’t see the Princess Consort, but he met Lan Huaiyu who was leaving the mansion.
He quickly stepped forward, “This old servant greets the Prince.”
“You’ve worked hard, Eunuch Jiang. But this birdcage behind you…”
“This is a colorful feathered myna that the Emperor personally selected in the Yu Fang. It can say auspicious words and sing ditties, and it’s specially rewarded to the Princess Consort to relieve boredom.”
Jiang Chuan immediately demonstrated, giving instructions with a small red flag.
The myna, with colorful feathers that were shiny and smooth, spoke in a shrill voice, “The Princess Consort is stunning! The Princess Consort is stunning!”
Lan Huaiyu was speechless.
He didn’t think that Chu Zhi would like this thing. When they were eating last night, he asked her if she had the opportunity to eat meat when she lived in the nunnery.
She said she often went to the mountains to hunt wild chickens, sparrows, and other birds, and grilled them over a fire on the spot, which was quite fragrant.
The fate of this myna… was hard to say.
Soon Xia Ying came to receive the rewards, and Jiang Chuan didn’t see Chu Zhi in person. The Emperor was still waiting for him to go back and report, telling him how happy the Princess Consort was to see the rewards, alas!
When Chu Zhi woke up from her nap, the sun was already high in the sky.
After washing up and changing her clothes, she sat in front of the mirror, letting Xia Ying style her hair.
“What’s with the barking and meowing outside?” She heard it as soon as she woke up, it was so noisy.
“Reporting to Madam, it’s the cats and dogs adopted by the Duke playing with the myna that the Emperor rewarded this morning.”
The sound of a bird being greatly threatened came in, “Are you sure they’re playing?”
Xia Ying smiled, “The cats and dogs have been spoiled by the Duke. Since new birds have come, they’re probably bullying the newcomer.”
As the saying goes, a dog relies on its master’s power, which is absolutely true.
At the gate of the courtyard, Xiao Chun held up the birdcage high to prevent the cat and dog from having a chance to touch the myna, but they were relentless.
One was constantly spraying threatening sounds from its throat, and the other was stretching out its claws and showing its sharp hooks. Xiao Chun’s skirt was even snagged.
They kept jumping and pouncing upwards, Xiao Chun felt that she couldn’t put down the birdcage, otherwise the myna inside would be torn apart by them.
They were baring their teeth and roaring like overlords when the fur on the back of their necks was suddenly grabbed, and then they were lifted into the air.
Chu Zhi looked at the cat and dog respectively, “Your claws are so sharp, why don’t you go catch mice? Can you do something a cat should do? And you, you’re so fat that your bean eyebrows are swollen. Are you still a dog?”
Restrained, the cat and dog hung down their limbs and no longer had the arrogant appearance they had just had.
But Chu Zhi observed them, and saw disobedience, rebellion, and other little thoughts in their eyes.
She ordered Xiao Chun and Xiao Mei to hold on to them, while she picked up two stones by the roadside and held them up to their noses.
Her hands tightened, and the stones shattered with a cracking sound, and stone powder floated onto their noses and faces… The two pairs of spoiled eyes instantly withered.
“Very good! Sit down.”
Xiao Chun and Xiao Mei let go, the black fat dog sat down, the kitten twisted its body and wanted to escape, but Chu Zhi’s foot brushed and blocked its path.
The calico cat trembled and unwillingly sat down.
Seeing that they were sensible, Chu Zhi took the birdcage and looked at the dazzlingly colorful myna inside, and the corners of her mouth couldn’t help twitching.
She really couldn’t agree with the Emperor’s hobby.
But she knew that these things were his treasures. To be able to reward such a treasure, Lan Huaiyu’s importance to him was greater than she had previously estimated.
She even felt that there was something beyond the relationship between ruler and subject.
The myna was so frightened that it didn’t dare to speak and please people. She asked Xiao Chun to take the birdcage away, and looked at the cats and dogs sitting steadily on the ground.
“I didn’t expect the Duke to like to raise these little things.”
“They weren’t raised on purpose, they sneaked in through the dog holes in the mansion. The Duke gave them some food when he saw them, and they wouldn’t leave after getting the benefits.”
“Then he must also spoil them very much, otherwise they wouldn’t be so arrogant.”
Xia Ying couldn’t help laughing, “Madam is right. They are impolite to everyone except the Duke, but the Duke thinks it’s good, cats and dogs are the nemesis of birds.”
This was targeted.
The Emperor loved to raise birds, and Lan Huaiyu preferred to raise cats and dogs. He and the Emperor…
This account was a bit chaotic!
Yonghua Palace.
Having just learned that the nanny, palace maids, and eunuchs sent to Prince Shunyang’s mansion had run away, saying that they couldn’t teach the Princess Consort and were so ashamed that they had no face to see the Empress, so they ran away secretly.
The person who came to deliver the message also said that the Suning Guard would definitely bring back those palace people who had left without permission, and they would see them alive or dead.
The Empress slammed the teacup on the ground.
“Does he, Lan Huaiyu, think this Empress is a fool? To believe such a crude lie! Good, really good, he killed all of this Empress’s people!”
The palace maids and eunuchs inside and outside knelt on the ground, only Nanny Lu stepped forward, “I heard that this morning the Emperor personally selected a colorful feathered myna in the Yu Fang and rewarded it to Lan Huaiyu’s consort who was brought in to ward off bad luck.”
“What? He always treats those little animals as treasures and is never willing to reward them, but he actually rewarded them to Lan Huaiyu?”
“Your Majesty, it was rewarded to his consort!”
The Empress’s eyebrows furrowed. Although one could still see the beauty of her youth from her features, there was only the meanness and irritability caused by frustration and being thwarted.
There was not the slightest bit of the demeanor of a mother of the nation!
“What reward would he give to a country bumpkin? It’s still for Lan Huaiyu. I knew it, he…”
The second half of the sentence was not spoken, but the resentment and jealousy in her eyes turned into a stream of venom.
“I heard that Lan Huaiyu’s complexion has been very good these past few days, and his body seems to have recovered. The saying of warding off bad luck really works.”
Nanny Lu brought up this topic, and the Empress remembered the concubine that Feng Shi had also taken, “At that time, the old monk said that the true and false daughters of the Chu family had the same birthday, so Lan Huaiyu was asked to marry one to ward off bad luck. This Empress sent someone to force the bald donkey to ask which one was the body that could bring good luck, but he would rather die than answer. Is the one in Shi’s mansion useless at all?”
Otherwise, how come there hasn’t been any change after so many days?
“Regardless of whether the country bumpkin is the one mentioned by the high monk, it’s safer to get rid of her as soon as possible. The assassination failed on the night of their marriage, but Princess Ruowu will be hunting in ten days. Why not ask her to send out invitations widely? Anything can happen in the deep mountains and dense forests.”
A cruel smile appeared on the Empress’s bright red lips. If she couldn’t kill Lan Huaiyu, wouldn’t she be able to kill a country bumpkin?!