Fu Xinghe realized what she could do to help her eldest brother.
According to Xia Mian, Meng Dongting was not unable to eat sweets, he was simply too lazy to bother with them. A tyrant this arrogant and overbearing probably found sweets sticky on the teeth, inelegant, insufficiently masculine, and a whole list of other imagined flaws.
So Fu Xinghe treated the problem at its source and made several kinds of desserts.
There were small snow-fluff balls that were lightly sweet and not sticky at all, bite-sized so they took no effort to eat. If there were a beautiful consort feeding him at the side, Meng Dongting could even read memorials while eating.
There were palm-sized slabs of steamed sponge cake, sprinkled with thin oat flakes. Large, rough, and bold, like rations torn straight from a saddle during a border march. Just looking at them called to mind strong horses and certain victory. Yet the taste combined the delicacy and richness of palace pastries.
There was also crystal-clear osmanthus lotus root jelly, topped with a shimmering layer of syrup. Sweet and refreshing, quenched thirst, and went down in a single swallow. Not technically a pastry, yet still dangerously high in calories.
Fu Xinghe studied in earnest, summarizing the flaws of pastries that had failed to win the emperor’s favor in the past and deliberately avoiding them.
Women and sweets, was it really possible for someone to dislike both?
Xia Mian had already reached the point of secretly getting up at midnight to practice martial arts. She and Qiu Zui were evenly matched, but after eating so many desserts at the Noble Consort’s place, every single one delicious enough to make her cry, Xia Mian suspected that once Qiu Zui returned, she might no longer be able to beat her.
Fu Xinghe’s technique grew more and more skilled. Early one morning she prepared several boxes of pastries and clapped her hands as she gave instructions. “Send these to the consorts in each palace. If they think they taste good, I can make more.”
Eunuch Wu Qi counted them. There were exactly eight boxes, each one different. “How should these be distributed?”
Fu Xinghe said, “At random. One box per person. I made too much and can’t finish them myself. You may inspect the pastries however you like. I have absolutely not hidden any letters inside.”
Wu Qi hurriedly responded with two rounds of “Wouldn’t dare, wouldn’t dare,” and took a few junior eunuchs with him to deliver the pastries.
Xia Mian could not understand what the Noble Consort was trying to do. Suddenly working so hard, just to give food to other consorts?
Was the Noble Consort subtly warning them, something like, “Even though I cannot leave, I know exactly what you are doing,” or “If you cannot make something better than mine, how dare you present it to His Majesty and embarrass yourselves”?
No. Noble Consort Qian was not that kind of person.
Xia Mian was utterly confused.
After sending the pastries out, Fu Xinghe stayed peacefully in Wenhua Hall.
If the consorts found them good, they would have their cooks dismantle the recipes, either for their own use or to curry favor with the emperor.
Fu Xinghe did not care if the recipes leaked. She only hoped that among them there would be something Meng Dongting liked and then… that he would eat a lot.
It was just a bit of trivial effort. She was not even sure it would work. Anyway… she felt satisfied first, and that was enough.
Life went on as usual. Fu Xinghe finished reading sixteen history books, starting from the late emperor’s life and working backward through five dynasties before the Great Xi.
When she closed the book, Xia Mian told her with a complicated expression that two days earlier, His Majesty had seen a pastry in a pavilion in the imperial garden that he found decent. He ordered the Imperial Kitchen to remake it, asked who had left it there, and rewarded Talented Lady Gao with a string of coral beads.
“In this servant’s view,” Xia Mian said, “that pastry was completely a copy, modeled after Your Highness’s sponge cake.”
Although Xia Mian had been ordered to keep an eye on Fu Xinghe, she did not report every trivial detail to the emperor. If Meng Dongting did not ask, she would not report something as minor as who made the pastry. His Majesty handled countless affairs daily. Subordinates needed this much discernment.
She also quite liked the Noble Consort. With so many pastries failing to catch His Majesty’s eye, she felt that reward should have belonged to Fu Xinghe.
Fu Xinghe closed the book. It seemed she had grasped Meng Dongting’s taste. “Gao Ni, Talented Lady Gao? I remember her. She must like eating it herself, which is why she brought it to the imperial garden and enjoyed it while viewing the flowers.”
She made no mention of Meng Dongting at all. “High mountains and flowing water, true appreciation is hard to find. Since that is the case, I will make some more and send them to her.”
Xia Mian opened her mouth. “Your Highness…”
This did not feel right.
The one appreciating the pastry was His Majesty. Had Your Highness mistaken the intended confidant?
Although she said she was sending them to Gao Ni, Fu Xinghe still took care of every consort in the harem without exception. As the nominal administrator, she believed it was better to worry about unfair distribution than about scarcity. She did not want to provoke private resentment over such a small matter.
Fu Xinghe made pastries in a genuinely good mood. She liked it herself, Xia Mian liked it, it helped connect the harem, and it fed the tyrant into gaining weight. One action, multiple benefits.
Once she fully captured Meng Dongting’s taste, she planned to research pastries that could be stored long-term, so she might have a chance to send some to Ming Feng, who was working outside.
Every day when Fu Xinghe opened her eyes, she mentally repeated “defeat the tyrant” once, injecting motivation into an otherwise dull day.
Just as she had expected, after Gao Ni’s successful example, the pavilions throughout the imperial garden were soon filled with sweets that consorts had “accidentally” left behind.
Meng Dongting found this strange as well. He never touched them on the spot. If one caught his interest, he would look at it a few times more. Fu Gonggong would immediately understand, have a junior eunuch pack it up, order the Imperial Kitchen to reproduce it exactly, and then issue the customary reward.
When Fu Xinghe heard this, she thought to herself that Meng Dongting’s vigilance was indeed strong. Anything not made by the Imperial Kitchen would not be touched even if it was placed right in front of him.
If he was this guarded even about pastries, his suspicion of people was even worse. With the Fu family having once been mentors to the deposed crown prince, turning things around would be extremely difficult.
If only the useless poison-detection system on her body could be transferred to the tyrant, in exchange for letting her leave the palace.
She had been in the palace for half a month. Apart from Xia Mian, Wu Qi, and a few cleaning maids, she had hardly seen anyone else. In her previous life, she met many tenants from all over the world every day, including outstanding figures in various fields. Fu Xinghe knew several foreign languages, carried an open and inclusive enthusiasm beneath her classical Eastern temperament, often conversed with them, and benefited greatly.
Fu Xinghe took a deep breath. If this body were not more prone to sleepiness, based on her previous habit of needing only six hours of sleep a day, she did not even know how she would pass the extra time.
But in the end, she had overestimated herself.
She was not someone who loved books to the point of obsession. Spending an entire day immersed in reading was beyond her. Reading was merely a way for her to calm her mind and satisfy her curiosity as a newcomer.
Frankly speaking, maliciously speculating about the tyrant’s tastes every day was more engaging than reading.
No wonder princes and nobles loved rebellion, and concubines loved palace intrigue. If this continued, Fu Xinghe felt she would not be far behind.
The lifeless harem would explode sooner or later, and Fu Xinghe suspected it would be her.
Thinking of the aging Fu Han and her brothers whose futures were still uncertain, Fu Xinghe took a bite of sour jujube cake. The sharpness calmed her down.
I can still lie low in Wenhua Hall for fifty years.
Fu Xinghe rebuilt her mental barrier for herself. At least it would hold for fifteen days.
“We kneel here…”
“Today we demand an explanation from the Noble Consort.”
Noise suddenly erupted outside. Fu Xinghe shoved a copy of Zhuangzi back onto the shelf, raised her long brows, and starlight flickered in her eyes.
“Your Highness!” Xia Mian rushed in, using qinggong and crossing the distance in an instant. “Something has happened to Talented Lady Xiao.”
“Hm?” Fu Xinghe’s heart sank. Anything that could make Xia Mian so hurried had to be serious.
Talented Lady Xiao, Xiao Fengfeng.
Fu Xinghe remembered her as a round-faced, adorable girl with a sweet voice and two dimples when she smiled. At the time, Fu Xinghe had thought that if this girl acted coquettishly, even Meng Dongting would struggle to keep a cold face.
Whether Xiao Fengfeng had tried acting coquettish toward the tyrant these past days, Fu Xinghe did not know. But judging from Xia Mian’s expression, this matter involved her.
Fu Xinghe went straight to the point. “Is there something wrong with my pastries?”
Xia Mian froze for a moment, then quickly said, “After Talented Lady Xiao received the new pastries Your Highness made today, she heard that everyone had different kinds. She brought hers to the imperial garden to sample them with other ladies. She arrived early and sat in the Lotus Appreciation Pavilion for a while. After tasting one piece of glutinous rice cake, her lips suddenly turned blue and she vomited blood. She is still unconscious.”
Fu Xinghe asked anxiously, “Is her life in danger?”
Xia Mian said, “The imperial physicians said she nearly did not make it.”
Fu Xinghe let out a breath. These were people she had selected to enter the palace. If someone died here, it would also be her fault.
“Then what is going on outside?”
Xia Mian replied, “Concubine Yu is leading five people kneeling outside, asking Your Highness for an explanation. They say that none of them ate the pastries distributed today, and only Talented Lady Xiao ate hers and then had an accident.”
Fu Xinghe lifted a teacup. “Five people? Who did not come?”
“Concubine Wang.”
Wang Chanjing had a cool and aloof temperament. She did not seem like someone who would get involved in this kind of scene.
Fu Xinghe set down the teacup and rolled up her sleeves that were in the way.
She had managed a hotel for five years and had never dealt with a food poisoning incident before. This was certainly new.
She understood Yu Feng’s motive. Whenever there was profit to be had, anyone would seize an accident to blow things up. This has always been the case throughout history.
Fu Xinghe stepped over the threshold and walked like the wind. Xia Mian snapped back to her senses and hurried after her. “Your Highness, you have not changed clothes ”
“To hell with it.”
In Wenhua Hall, Fu Xinghe only wore inner garments, with a light, loose outer robe of crescent-white cotton. The outer robe had been modified at her direction by Xia Mian. It was the most comfortable and convenient style she preferred.
The gates of Wenhua Hall were usually locked. One could say it was His Majesty’s order, or one could say it was the Noble Consort’s own restraint.
Fu Xinghe glanced at Wu Qi. “Open it.”
Wu Qi was intimidated by the momentum of that look and instinctively opened the gates.
Outside, there was crying and wailing. No one knew how many were truly grieving for Xiao Fengfeng.
The vermilion gates of Wenhua Hall swung open. Fu Xinghe appeared in coarse clothing, hair tied simply, bare-faced and unadorned. Yu Feng nearly froze, unable to reconcile this sight with the peerlessly radiant Noble Consort she had seen that day.
Fu Xinghe swept a glance over the trays held by the palace maids. None of them showed any sign of poison. She suddenly curved her lips into a smile, walked over unhurriedly, lifted the covers one by one, picked up a pastry, took a bite, and commented, “My craftsmanship is quite good.”
Yan Pianpian’s tears stopped. Looking at Fu Xinghe’s bright smile, even dressed in plain blue, she still looked every inch the Noble Consort when she smiled. Yan Pianpian recalled the unconventional selection that day and suddenly felt she should not have followed Yu Feng here.
Yu Feng’s face was full of grief and indignation. “We sisters have just entered the palace and tread carefully at every step. If there is fault, please let Your Highness deal with it according to palace rules. We have no objections.”
The implication was clear. Xiao Fengfeng had been harmed by Fu Xinghe using pastries, an act of private punishment.
Yu Feng’s emotions were full and her tears convincing. Advancing by retreating, she spoke while the others knelt quietly, neither stepping forward nor speaking up.
Fu Xinghe glanced again at the trays. None showed poison. She walked over slowly, picked up a pastry, and took a bite. “You used my pastries to curry favor with His Majesty in exchange for rewards. Did I say a word? Did anyone thank me?”
Gao Ni’s lips trembled as she called out, “Your Highness, I ”
Yu Feng cut her off. “Naturally we are grateful to Your Highness, and Talented Lady Xiao was also grateful. But she is now lying in bed, unable to kneel here like the rest of us and kowtow to Your Highness.”
Fu Xinghe said, “Stand up. I cannot accept this.” No one stood.
This itself was an attitude. They wanted Fu Xinghe to give an explanation. Xiao Fengfeng had eaten the glutinous rice cake Fu Xinghe had given, and the pastries had been randomly distributed. Who knew if the remaining ones were poisonous? They all felt they had brushed past the gates of death. Kneeling here, they felt both wronged and blameless.
Fu Xinghe ate the pastry allocated to Yu Feng, one bite at a time. Five exquisite pieces of osmanthus cake, soft and glutinous, moderately sweet, small and not cloying.
But five pieces was still a bit much.
Fu Xinghe usually only tasted one piece when pastries came out of the steamer. She swallowed the last piece and flicked her wrist, smashing the empty plate.
Bang, The glass round dish shattered on the ground from three meters away. The sound startled eunuchs and maids passing by.
“You ” Yu Feng stared in disbelief.
Fu Xinghe smiled. “Now it has nothing to do with Concubine Yu. You can get lost.”