Fu Xinghe rubbed her arms and was about to leave when she suddenly realized someone had grabbed the edge of her robe.
She turned back and saw Xiao Fengfeng struggling to crawl forward a little. Xiao Fengfeng lay there, clutching Fu Xinghe’s clothes with both hands, tears streaming down her face as she forced out the words, “Th-thank you, Your Highness…”
Xiao Fengfeng regretted everything now. She had harbored resentment, yet never once thought to speak to the Consort. She finally understood that Yu Feng and Yan Pianpian had only been watching for entertainment. Sympathy and condemnation could switch in an instant.
Only the Consort had looked at her the entire time with calm eyes. There had been a kind of mercy there, one she could not fully understand.
That mercy was not directed at her alone. It was given to everyone, like a bodhisattva.
Fu Xinghe could not bear to look at her. There was anger in her heart, but it was not directed at Xiao Fengfeng. She had handled too many crises before. This incident barely stirred a ripple in her emotions.
After leaving Chuxiu Palace, Xia Mian draped a blazing red cloak over her shoulders. The Imperial Study and Wenhua Hall lay in the same direction. Fu Xinghe and Meng Dongting walked one behind the other.
Fu Xinghe kept her head down as she walked. When they reached a fork in the road, she saw Meng Dongting change direction and enter Wenhua Hall. This was not over.
She quickened her pace and followed him inside.
Meng Dongting toyed with the delicate cups and porcelain dishes in Wenhua Hall and said coolly, “Why did you make the pastries?”
Fu Xinghe’s skills were indeed commendable, but Meng Dongting did not believe she had done it without a motive.
Fu Xinghe replied calmly, “I wanted to eat them myself.”
“Do you think I would believe that?” Meng Dongting stood with his hands behind his back. “In the past half month, nine out of ten plates of pastries I’ve seen in the Imperial Garden came from you.”
“I wanted to eat them myself,” Fu Xinghe said again without changing expression.
Wanted to eat them herself? Then why did she almost throw up?
The corner of Meng Dongting’s mouth twitched. He reached out as if to grab her chin and force her to explain.
Fu Xinghe’s pupils contracted. She leaned back slightly. “I’ll tell you.”
“I was vain. I thought my skills surpassed the imperial chefs, but no one appreciated them. So I wanted to share them with the other sisters. And also… also let Your Majesty have a taste, hoping you would like them.”
That was the complete truth. Even under torture, she could not have given another reason.
Fu Xinghe scratched her cheek. Clearly she had ulterior motives, yet saying it out loud somehow felt awkward.
Meng Dongting paused. “You wanted to curry favor with me?”
He stared into her eyes and felt that the Consort was not lying.
Perhaps unused to receiving goodwill from a woman, Meng Dongting paced around a stalk of green bamboo twice. Unsure how to react, he finally chose impartial severity.
“Wenhua Hall is the limit I set for you. Even making pastries can throw the palace into chaos. How could I possibly let you go out? As for Xiao Fengfeng, does this incident truly have nothing to do with your indulgence?”
Fu Xinghe had harbored a little desire to watch the drama unfold. She wanted to see Meng Dongting driven mad by women every day. Still, she had warned them not to violate the law.
Heaven was her witness. She only wanted to fatten up the Tyrant Emperor. Yet not only had he failed to gain weight, half a month later he looked even more vigorous than before. Who could she argue with about that?
“I stayed inside Wenhua Hall with the doors tightly shut. Where would indulgence come from? Rather, Your Majesty”
Fu Xinghe suddenly could not hold it in any longer. “Women entrust their entire lives to Your Majesty. Can you truly spare them no care at all? If there were hope ahead, would Xiao Fengfeng have taken such a risk? I am at fault. But what about you?”
Meng Dongting examined her with a strange expression. “You resent me for neglecting you?”
Fu Xinghe went numb. This Tyrant’s ability to latch onto the wrong point was astounding.
“No!” She suspected Meng Dongting’s life did not even contain the concept of a wife. Discussing this with the Son of Heaven had been foolish from the start.
Interrupted by him, Fu Xinghe forgot why her temper had flared in the first place. She calmed herself. Everyone had their own way of living. Endure bitter hardship to rise above others. Who was to say Meng Dongting did not suffer more than those in the inner palace? “I spoke out of turn,” she said.
“You did,” Meng Dongting replied coldly. “And I do not need you to teach me how to rule. Letting Xiao Fengfeng off lightly does not mean I will let you off. No matter your motive for making pastries, from today onward you are forbidden to distribute them to the other palaces. You are confined for another month.” “I obey the decree.”
She could not leave Wenhua Hall anyway. What difference did it make? The Tyrant clearly liked her pastries. Once he had his fill, he flipped the table.
Fine then. If he could not be fattened up, she would save herself the trouble.
Meng Dongting came and left like the wind, as if he had entered Wenhua Hall solely to punish her.
Fu Xinghe felt increasingly confused, but hunger soon stole her attention.
“Xia Mian, bring me the pastries returned by the other palaces.” Aside from the cloud-cured ham pastry she could not stomach earlier, she remembered there was also a plate of coconut milk cakes.
“Your Highness,” Xia Mian said, “His Majesty confiscated the pastries.”
Fu Xinghe slapped the table. “How dare he dump my pastries! Such a waste of food!”
Xia Mian thought about it. His Majesty did not actually say he would throw them away. He had not specified what would be done with them.
Fu Xinghe was so angry she felt full. She lay down on the bed and took an afternoon nap.
Just as she expected, the system panel had changed again.
Saved a dying supporting female character. Points: 25
Congratulations. You have successfully removed ‘Xiao Fengfeng’ from danger and gained 5 points.
This time it was more concise. Only two lines remained. The words about beginner protection were gone.
The points could only be viewed, not used. Fu Xinghe noticed no obvious difference, but she did notice that the last time she saved “Fu Xinghe,” she received 20 points, while this time she only received 5.
Was her life worth more?
Everyone only had one life. By that logic, the system should not discriminate so blatantly.
She guessed it was because she was the so-called host. Her life was more important to the system. Imperial Study.
Meng Dongting looked at the confidential report presented to him. “Are you certain it’s him?”
Li Xiaozheng nodded. “This minister has already located the hiding place of the Crown Prince’s remnants. They are concealed in the household of the maternal aunt’s husband of Ji Qinggou’s wife.”
After Meng Dongting ascended the throne, he purged the Crown Prince’s faction. When Li Xiaozheng tallied the numbers, he discovered that the deposed Crown Prince’s son was missing. A corpse of similar age had been used as a substitute.
The imperial grandson’s whereabouts were unknown. The Crown Prince’s forces stirred again. When news leaked in the mountain valley last time and Meng Dongting was poisoned by miasma, he decisively ordered Li Xiaozheng to continue the pursuit. Although they failed to capture them all, the remnants remained a grave concern.
Their visit to the brothel had been to contact an informant from the martial world, someone skilled in investigating women’s quarters.
Meng Dongting lacked such talent at his side. He had no choice but to buy information.
Come to think of it, Fu Xinghe qualified, but she was from the Fu family.
“Your Majesty,” Li Xiaozheng called again when he saw Meng Dongting lost in thought. “How should Ji Qinggou be dealt with?”
The Hanlin Academy was responsible for drafting edicts and was quick to sense the emperor’s intentions. More than half of its members were Fu Han’s people.
Ji Qinggou was Fu Han’s last disciple and one of the leading scholars of the Hanlin Academy.
Meng Dongting had long suspected there was a traitor within the academy. Otherwise, his troop deployments would not have been leaked. At first he suspected Fu Han and sent letters to test him, but the correspondence was intercepted. Later he suspected Ji Qinggou. Upon investigating his marital connections, they indeed found the imperial grandson being sheltered in his wife’s relatives’ home.
Harboring rebels was tantamount to treason. Ji Qinggou deserved death. Yet the Grand Preceptor was still strongly recommending Ji Qinggou for the position of Hanlin Chancellor.
Did the Grand Preceptor truly know nothing?
“Throw him into Heavenly Prison and interrogate him strictly,” Meng Dongting said.
“Yes,” Li Xiaozheng responded with a clasped fist.
The deposed Crown Prince had been Fu Han’s student. Ji Qinggou was also Fu Han’s student. The court was bound for another major upheaval.
Five plates of pastries sat on the desk, delicately arranged. Li Xiaozheng reached out without ceremony and grabbed a cloud-cured ham pastry, stuffing it whole into his mouth. The emperor did not like sweets anyway. Soldiers ate like this.
Meng Dongting watched him and, on a whim, asked, “How does it taste?”
Li Xiaozheng swallowed two bites and praised it loudly. “Very good!” He reached for another.
Meng Dongting watched as he swept the entire plate clean, leaving only a single broken piece. It was the one Fu Xinghe had split open and abandoned when she felt nauseated.
Li Xiaozheng stared at it, wondering if Meng Dongting had bitten it. Could a minister eat that?
A well-defined hand covered the pastry.
Meng Dongting kept his eyes on the memorial while eating the pastry, his expression unchanged.
Indeed, although the Consort was arrogant, she did not boast without basis. Her pastries were better than those of the imperial kitchen. The ones he used to eat were replicas made by dissecting recipes. They were acceptable, but comparison revealed the difference.
Fu Xinghe had truly studied pastry-making to please him.
Meng Dongting shot Li Xiaozheng a sidelong glare when he saw him reaching for the others and barked, “Li Xiaozheng!”
Li Xiaozheng mumbled, “Mm?”
Meng Dongting clenched the memorial and said coldly, “Don’t drop crumbs on my desk. If you want to eat, take them back with you.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.” Li Xiaozheng obediently packed up all the remaining pastries.
Meng Dongting slammed the memorial onto the finished pile. No sense of propriety.
Forget it. They were only pastries. For an emperor, the more one liked something, the more restraint was required. It was better for everyone if he did not taste the other pastries Fu Xinghe made.
Fu Gonggong escorted General Li out, chatting cheerfully. “Now that His Majesty has chosen consorts, General Li should also plan your own marriage. If there’s a young lady you fancy, just ask His Majesty for a marriage decree. How could His Majesty refuse? You should put some thought into it, so Old General Li doesn’t have to sneak into the palace asking this servant how to persuade His Majesty to hold the selection.”
Li Xiaozheng smacked his forehead. “My father is already so old, yet he still comes to ask you about this…”
“Who doesn’t want to enjoy grandchildren?”
Li Xiaozheng grimaced. “Let’s wait a bit longer… By the way, I heard from the Imperial Guard captain that a selection lady was sent out of the palace?”
Fu Gonggong briefly recounted the “bloody case caused by a single pastry.”
Li Xiaozheng listened in amazement, praising the Consort for resolving a palace mystery with just a few words.
One thing puzzled him. “Why did His Majesty punish the Consort with confinement and forbid others from visiting her?”
Although the Consort had never truly been able to move freely in the palace, that was unspoken. An explicit decree was different.
Having heard the full story, he honestly did not think Fu Xinghe was at fault. Moreover, her pastries were genuinely delicious. Sharing them was a virtue. Meng Dongting truly had good fortune.
Thinking of Ji Qinggou again, he felt uneasy. Perhaps her only mistake was bearing the surname Fu. Any unusual behavior would naturally draw attention.
Fu Gonggong said mysteriously, “General Li knows the first part, but not the second.”
“I’d like to hear it,” Li Xiaozheng said.
“What were you and His Majesty discussing earlier?” Fu Gonggong asked.
“Ji Qinggou?” Li Xiaozheng reacted. “You mean His Majesty doesn’t want the Consort to know? But it wouldn’t matter if she did…”
Fu Gonggong looked at him silently.
Li Xiaozheng frowned. “Does His Majesty fear the Consort might harbor resentment and disrupt the inner palace?”
That didn’t make sense either. Setting aside whether the Consort had the means, when had Meng Dongting ever been afraid of anything? Would he fear the hatred of a mere consort?
The more one thought about it, the less sense it made.
Li Xiaozheng shook his head. “Fu Quan, I think you’re overthinking it.”