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When having meals at home, they would usually let Granduncle have the first bowl of soup, because it was Granduncle who usually cooked their food, and he would also always go to a lot of trouble preparing their meal.
But at this moment, Gu Jiao inexplicably felt that if this bowl of soup was really given to Granduncle, she feared it would be the cause of Granduncle’s death.
Old Chief also felt a shiver in his heart. He was afraid that this girl, out of filial piety, would give him the soup as always. In that case, his position as the male master in the family would really become impossible to wash away even if he jumped into the Yellow River. He would surely be chopped into minced meat and made into soup by His Majesty!
Gu Jiao put down the spoon and slightly handed the bowl of soup to Grandaunt’s direction.
The Emperor's gaze became as sharp as a knife!
Gu Jiao paused, and slightly moved the bowl of soup towards the Emperor’s direction this time.
Grandaunt's gaze became as sharp as a knife!
Gu Jiao didn’t even bother thinking about giving it to Gu Changqing. She silently placed the bowl of soup back to her front, picked up the spoon and drank it herself.
The two people snorted at the same time, and then began to eat with their chopsticks as well.
This meal was still cooked by Old Chief. Yuya'er's cooking wasn’t on the good side, so it was a bit difficult to serve it to the Emperor with his tricky preferences.
Old Chief cooked five dishes and one soup, mainly taking into account Empress Dowager Zhuang and Gu Jiao’s tastes. After all, he didn't know what the Emperor and Gu Changqing liked to usually eat.
Fortunately, Gu Changqing was not a picky eater, and fortunately, the tastes of the Emperor and Empress Dowager Zhuang were unexpectedly similar.
Empress Dowager Zhuang liked to eat something sweet, such as sugar-coated duck. After taking it out of the pot, the crispy duck was covered with a layer of malt sugar and sprinkled with a few white sesame seeds. The skin was crispy and the meat was tender, with a salty and sweet flavor, and it wasn’t greasy.
Gu Changqing and Gu Jiao only had a few bites of this dish as it mainly went into Empress Dowager Zhuang and the Emperor's stomachs.
Then there were the brown sugar rice cakes. Old Chief originally made two plates of it, one with sesame seeds sprinkled on it, and the other with no sesame seeds toppings. Gu Jiao loved eating these.
The Emperor never moved his chopsticks to the plate of rice cakes without sesame seeds. It could be seen that he also liked eating sesame seeds.
The Emperor always dined alone in the palace, only occasionally would he visit the harem. The last time he ate at the same table with Empress Dowager Zhuang was when Princess Ning’an and Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing were still both in the palace.
At that time, he and Empress Dowager Zhuang hadn’t yet broken off their relationship. He regarded her as a loving mother and confided in her, believing that she really took him as her own son, and just like his Imperial Concubine Mother Jing, she also cared for him wholeheartedly without the slightest intention of using him.
But the truth was so cruel.
After supporting him to the highest position, her disguise was gradually torn apart, becoming someone abominable and unfamiliar.
She even went so far as to lay her hands on Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing just to prevent her from becoming an Empress Dowager alongside her.
He had long been adopted under the name of Imperial Concubine Mother Jing. He was Imperial Concubine Mother Jing’s son. So why couldn’t his Imperial Concubine Mother Jing become an Empress Dowager?
The funny thing was that Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing was forced into the nunnery by her, and yet she was still speaking for her.
She told him that everything she(Empress Dowager) did was for the State of Zhao, so he should never hold a grudge against her.
He also said that he would understand Empress Dowager's painstaking efforts one day.
Hah!
What painstaking efforts?
During a certain year in the past, there had been a snowstorm in the capital, and Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing almost died of illness in the nunnery back then. He, an Emperor of a country, knelt in the ice and snow outside the Renshou Palace that day, begging her to take Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing back!
But she never did!
So he settled for the second best, begging her to give the Snow Lotus of Tianshan Mountain to Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing to replenish her life, but she didn't do that either!
She didn’t want to save her!
She had forgotten how his Imperial Concubine Mother Jing shielded her from the blade when the Liu Family tried to eliminate her!
As well as how his Imperial Concubine Mother Jing risked her life to steal and burn the posthumous edict of the late Emperor which would have left her without any choice but to be buried along with him!
She had no heart!
She was a vicious woman who bit the hands that fed her!
"Your Majesty."
Gu Jiao called him.
The Emperor returned to his senses and looked in the direction of Gu Jiao's eyes. He realized that while he was distracted, he had used his chopsticks to clip a piece of brown sugar rice cake that had already been picked up by Empress Dowager Zhuang at some point.
This was the last piece of brown sugar rice cake with sesame seeds.
The Emperor felt embarrassed.
No matter how much he loathed Empress Dowager Zhuang, he shouldn't ignore his stature and contend with her for a piece of brown sugar rice cake. If a word of it got out, he wouldn’t know where to put his face as the Emperor.
In order to show that he didn't deliberately make such a childish move, he let out a slight cough and said seriously, "This son originally meant to show some filial respect to imperial mother, I didn't expect her to get it herself."
Everyone: "..."
Empress Dowager obviously picked it up first. Even if you wanted to clear your name, you didn’t have to act as if they were collectively blind.
Empress Dowager Zhuang wouldn’t be polite to him. Having clipped it with her chopsticks, she ate it heartlessly.
Filling your stomach was the most important thing in this boundless world. Empress Dowager Zhuang's appetite would never be affected by anything.
Seeing her very carefree attitude, the Emperor felt so annoyed that his food no longer tasted delicious all of a sudden!
After lunch, Gu Changqing helped the Emperor back to his room.
The Emperor was lying on a bed that wasn’t too wide. He didn’t like hard beds, but he didn’t like beds that were too soft either. This degree was just right.
Moreover, although the room was small and poorly furnished, it somehow gave him a sense of peace of mind and stability, as if every decoration was placed where he wanted them to be.
Nobody knew that the one sitting on the imperial throne of the State of Zhao had a small problem of being afraid of the dark.
On the bedside table within reach was an old small iron box with a candle and a flame paper roll inside.
The candle was new and was obviously just a spare.
He remembered that when he was a child, his imperial concubine mother always left a candle and a flame paper roll at his bedside just like this. He did not expect the little miracle physician to be so thoughtful.
In fact, the imperial palace had strict rules and regulations, and flame paper rolls couldn’t be placed close to the bed.
But Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing knew that he was afraid of the dark.
The Emperor's eyes moistened at the thought of Imperial Concubine Dowager Jing.
He wanted to get rid of that poisonous woman as soon as possible, so that he could take his Imperial Concubine Mother Jing back to the palace for the rest of her life.
Gu Changqing stayed in Bishui Alley to protect the Emperor.
Eunuch Wei’s left arm was broken and Gu Jiao had given him a cast, but she still needed to get some medicine for replenishing blood and invigorating qi to help him recover.
Gu Jiao decided to go to the medical hall again.
As soon as she was done taking the medicinal herbs she needed, she met Gu Chengfeng.
Gu Chengfeng was wearing a mask in broad daylight while dressed as Second Young Master Gu.
Gu Jiao cast a strange look at him, "What? Are you disfigured and can’t let people see it?"
Gu Chengfeng felt choked.
But wasn’t he exactly disfigured? It was all thanks to that big slap in the face he received from the old man. His face was still swollen this morning!
Gu Chengfeng cleared his throat and said solemnly, "Don't pay attention to my face. I came to see you today for a serious business."
"What is it?" Gu Jiao asked.
Gu Chengfeng looked around and whispered to Gu Jiao, "Someone wants to assassinate His Majesty."
Gu Jiao said, "Not ‘wants to’, they already did."
Gu Chengfeng was shocked, "What?! His Majesty has already encountered an assassination? So soon? I just heard the news yesterday!"
Raz P.'s Thoughts
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