CH 28

Li Ying looked at the tokens carefully, as if examining one bargaining chip after another.

Jiangshan Palace was silent.

In an instant, there were a lot of thoughts in Liu Ziru’s mind.

The Son of Heaven did not refuse to answer his questions, nor did he stare at him to intimidate Liu Ziru into not asking questions that shouldn’t be asked. That meant Li Ying’s trust in him was absolute.

It made Liu Ziru’s heart settle down immediately.

He couldn’t help it and asked again: “How did you learn this craft?”

“He always wants to eat it.” Another token was thrown into the brazier, and Li Ying slowly said, “I thought that in the future, when the dust settles, I will make it for him.”

“Eight years later, Lord Empress…” When Liu Ziru said it, he felt his scalp numb, and he couldn’t help but wonder:  ”Could it be…”

“I killed him.” Li Ying’s Adam’s apple moved slightly as he said, “I was the one who killed him.”

Liu Ziru suddenly understood why Li Ying woke up so crazy that day, and why the Lord Empress became so unsympathetic.

How cruel was it that the Heaven gave His Majesty a chance to start over, but it had to happen that the Lord Empress also started over.

If only one person had come from eight years later……

Liu Ziru let out a soft sigh and said, “That fresh meat puff pastry, the kitchen hasn’t heard of it. Today, you took the initiative to send it – now Lord Empress will definitely find out.”

“He believes me,” Li Ying said, his expression both sad and happy: “He always felt that as long as I was drunk, I would not lie.”

Liu Ziru’s heart clenched.

“…I didn’t lie,” Li Ying said. “But I’ve exposed myself.”

“He trusts me so much, he assumed that I was too drunk to think clearly and would just follow his words and give him answers.” He gazed at the wooden token in his hand and said: “As soon as he asks again, I’ll be wrong no matter what I say.” 

He really didn’t come from eight years later, he came from twenty years later.

He should not have known what Yun Qingci was asking about, but being drunk, he could not lie and could only follow his words. Whatever he said, Yun Qingci believed it, but Yun Qingci always had to get to the bottom of things. Even if he was reborn, he would definitely inquire again until his suspicions were confirmed.

Like later, when Yun Qingci sat on him and asked about Concubine Ning.

As long as Yun Qingci asked the same question again when Li Ying was sober, he would know the truth.

If Li Ying said that he didn’t know what it meant, Yun Qingci would understand that the answer he gave when he was drunk was a conditioned reflex.

In other words, he would realize that Li Ying understood his questions when he was drunk.

And when he was sober, he had no right to say no.

So, giving him the puff pastry was just to please him.

The wooden tokens were thrown into the brazier one after another, and the flames were swift and violent, rising almost a foot high.

When all the tokens burned down, Li Ying raised his head and said, “These people will be compensated and released from the palace.”

This was a dismissal of the harem!

Liu Ziru realized that when the emperor was looking at these tokens, he was probably measuring the power behind each concubine. He was from the future and had been sitting on the throne for so many years, so he was cautious. Even if he dismissed the harem, he had to confirm that he could control these families.

Perhaps, he had thought about it since he woke up that day, but there were too many affairs, and he didn’t have time to sort it out until the court was closed.

Liu Ziru reminded: “Tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. At this time, I am afraid the families will be displeased.”

“Then it will be after the New Year.”

When Yun Qingci saw the puff pastry, the first thing he did was to test it for poison to rule out the idea that Li Ying was trying to poison him.

Good old Li Ying.

Dare to scheme against him by giving him the pastry.

Although the fresh meat puff pastry he had eaten in his previous life tasted very good, it actually looked no different from other pastries in appearance. It was just fuller than ordinary puff pastry because of the meat sandwiched inside.

This was a very normal thing.

Li Ying probably knew that he was suspicious and intentionally went along, perhaps to prove to Yun Qingci that he was not deliberately concealing…

If Yun Qingci was not sure about it.

Then he was just really sincere and really didn’t know what Yun Qingci was talking about.

And if Yun Qingci had made a guess, he simply wanted to satisfy Yun Qingci’s taste, ignoring the risk that it might leak his secret.

So touching.

Li Ying, who was living his second life, was getting more and more calculating.

Yun Qingci dropped the puff pastry, ate something quickly, then washed up, ordered someone to pick up the puff pastry and went to Jiangshan Palace.

Tomorrow was New Year’s Eve, and the palace was already decorated with lights. Yun Qingci got out of the imperial carriage and stepped in the snow with his cotton boots, letting the cold air slowly cool his hot brain.

He wanted to see how Li Ying would answer his questions when he was sober.

“Qingci.”

Suddenly there was a voice behind him.

Yun Qingci stopped, and the Empress Dowager sat in the sedan chair, looking at him condescendingly. There was a smile on her face, but her eyes were cold. “You haven’t visited Ai Jia’s palace for a long time. How are you doing these days?”

Yun Qingci thought that he was alone in the palace now, and his involvement with Li Ying was not sorted out yet, so he tried his best not to quarrel with the Empress Dowager.

But since the Empress Dowager stopped him today, he was afraid that being docile at this moment would only make her feel that Li Ying already regarded him as an outcast and neglected him.

It was necessary to find a way out as soon as possible. He said, “Naturally, not as good as Royal Mother. I heard that Royal Mother has often been out of the palace to visit relatives recently. I wonder if everything is fine at home?”

Someone died in the Empress Dowager’s family, how could it be fine.

“Haha.” But she was the Empress Dowager, after all. She laughed and said, “Ai Jia is worried that she hasn’t talked to Lord Empress for a long time. Today, in the snow, several plums blossomed in Taici Palace. So accompany Ai Jia to drink a pot of tea.”

“This child has contracted a cold in the past few days…” Yun Qingci said, coughing heavily, and said hoarsely: “If it is a recurrence of my old lung injury, I am afraid that I will infect Royal Mother.”

“Coincidentally, Ai Jia has just visited the Marquis’s Mansion recently and happened to get a few doses of lung medicine. Come, help Lord Empress to go to Taici Palace.”

Without a second thought, Yun Qingci simply fell back softly.

Jin Huan was confused for a moment and quickly shouted, “Hurry up, go and summon the doctor!!”

Yinxi immediately ran away without hesitation.

The Empress Dowager sneered; this Yun Qingci was something. Now he was getting more and more shameless, and even dared to play such tricks in front of her.

She ordered someone to catch Yinxi while saying, “Quickly help Lord Empress into Ai Jia’s imperial sedan chair. Running outside on such a cold day, Lord Empress really doesn’t care about his health.”

The eunuch chasing after Yinxi was none other than Zhou Zhao. He lunged forward and pressed Yinxi down into the snow. 

Yinxi struggled desperately, snow flying around, and the scene was chaotic.

At this moment, a sharp shout came, “What are you doing?”

Zhou Zhao was so frightened that he hurriedly threw Yinxi aside and knelt down.

Yinxi saw the dragon boots and hastily said, “The Lord Empress fainted and was forcibly taken to Taici Palace by the Empress Dowager!”

As soon as Yun Qingci got into the sedan chair, he immediately stretched out his legs to take full advantage.

He was so overbearing that the Empress Dowager had no place in the sedan chair to ride. So, she could only order to carry him back, while she followed behind the sedan chair with the hem of her clothes in the snow.

Carried in the sedan chair all the way, Yun Qingci quietly opened his eyes and suddenly called out: “Hey, Royal Mother.”

The Empress Dowager raised her eyes to look at him, and when she saw him resting comfortably and admiring himself, her face suddenly turned green.

When we return to Taici Palace, let’s see how Ai Jia will deal with you.

She clenched her fingers tightly.

The sedan chair quickly approached Taici Palace.

The Empress Dowager followed panting. She was out of shape and slow on her feet, so she was lagging a long way behind.

Yun Qingci leaned against the wall of the sedan chair and sighed slightly.

It seems that today the clash with the Empress Dowager was inevitable. He just didn’t know if she had the courage to kill him openly.

Suddenly he heard the sounds of armor clanking, as well as quickly approaching footsteps.

Someone beside him said, “Greetings Your Majesty!”

Yun Qingci, who was playing with his fingers, quickly laid down again and continued to pretend to be unconscious.

Li Ying hurried to him, looking at his figure leaning softly in the sedan chair. His breathing hitched as he said, “Have you sent for the doctor?”

“Someone has already gone.”

Li Ying suppressed his breathing, the blue veins on his forehead jumped and calmed down.

He restrained himself from stepping forward and cautiously touched under Yun Qingci’s nose.

His breathing was very light, but it was there.

He closed his eyes tiredly, then took off his cloak and put it on Yun Qingci.

Too anxious, he didn’t realize at all that Yun Qingci was pretending.

When Qin Yan carried the Empress Dowager to the gate of Taici Palace, the entire place was already surrounded by troops.

She was shocked and hurriedly got off Qin Yan’s back.

There was no need to say who could mobilize the army in the Forbidden City.

But she couldn’t believe it.

Was Li Ying really crazy?

He actually led people to surround her Taici Palace. Would he dare to defy the world and kill his mother?!