mesbooks Chapter 179 You are clearly harming him
Chapter 179 You are clearly harming him
"Your Majesty, the epidemic has not yet subsided. If this continues, we are afraid that our palace's food reserves will run out!" Zhixiang reported to Su Nuannuan with a troubled expression.
Upon hearing this, Su Nuannuan stopped writing with her brush, slowly raised her head, looked calmly at Zhixiang, and asked softly, "So how much rice, flour, corn, and millet do we have left in the palace?"
Zhi Xiang took a deep breath, composed herself, and replied, "Your Majesty, there is only half a bag of rice left; the situation with flour is slightly better, but there is still only a little over half a bag; there is a relatively large amount of corn left; and there is still a whole bag of millet."
Su Nuannuan frowned slightly and pondered for a moment before saying, "In that case, let's make full use of the corn. We adults can try different ways to cook it. As for rice and millet, we should prioritize them for the children, since they are still young and need more nutrition. This epidemic has lasted for almost a month now, so it should be coming to an end soon."
Zhi Xiang nodded quickly and replied, "Yes. This servant understands. With your reasonable allocation of the food, this servant knows how to prepare the meals next."
Then, Su Nuannuan asked, "How is the stock of various dried goods?"
Zhixiang hurriedly replied, "Your Majesty, we have enough dried goods for now. Fortunately, before the epidemic, His Majesty ordered the Imperial Household Department to send a cartload of dried goods; otherwise, we would probably not have been able to maintain our daily needs."
After listening to Zhixiang's report, Su Nuannuan breathed a sigh of relief and encouraged her, "Yes, very good. Everyone, just grit your teeth and persevere, and I believe the difficulties will eventually pass."
After Zhixiang slowly withdrew, Li Quan limped into the room and came to Su Nuannuan. Li Quan bowed and respectfully reported, "Your Majesty, someone outside claims that the Empress is critically ill and requests that His Highness the Crown Prince return to the palace immediately to visit her."
Upon hearing this, Su Nuannuan's previously calm expression instantly turned serious. Her beautiful brows furrowed slightly, and her gaze sharpened like a sword as she stared directly at Li Quan, pressing him for an answer: "Do you have a token?"
Li Quan hurriedly shook his head and replied, "Your Majesty, there is no token. The messenger was only a palace maid who said she was a second-class palace maid of Anning Palace. Because of the urgency of the situation, Her Majesty the Empress only gave an oral message and did not give a token."
Su Nuannuan snorted coldly and decisively ordered, "Ignore them! Anyone who comes without Her Majesty the Empress's token is not to be allowed to open the palace gates. I want to see who is playing tricks!"
Li Quan nodded in understanding and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty." He then turned and left the room.
After Li Quan left, Su Nuannuan gently parted her lips and softly called out, "Tingfeng." Although her voice was not loud, it clearly reached Tingfeng's ears, who was hiding in the shadows.
A deep, firm voice came from the corner: "Understood." Before the words were finished, a black shadow flashed by like a ghost and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.
This was not the first time such a situation had occurred, and it was foreseeable that similar incidents would likely continue to happen in the future. Whenever this situation arose, Tingfeng would quietly go out to arrest the person who was knocking on the door and escort them to that empty and desolate cold palace, where Tingyu would be responsible for interrogation and guarding them.
Before returning, Tingfeng would always find a secluded place to burn all his outer garments and shoes. Upon returning to his residence, he dared not slacken his efforts, immediately taking a mugwort bath to completely eliminate any plague viruses he might have picked up outside. He repeated this process repeatedly, solely to ensure the safety and tranquility of Cuiwei Palace.
Tingfeng had lost count of how many sets of clothes he had burned. If it weren't for his master's generosity in providing him with a constant stream of new clothes, he would probably have been burned naked long ago.
Su Nuannuan, who had been enthusiastically practicing calligraphy, lost all interest in continuing. She gently put down her brush and methodically tidied up the writing implements on the table. Then, she called out loudly towards the door, "Jinse."
As soon as she finished speaking, Jinse hurriedly entered the room, bowed respectfully, and replied, "This servant is here."
Su Nuannuan nodded slightly and casually asked as she walked towards the outer hall, "What are those three children doing now?"
Jinse quickly took a small step forward and followed Su Nuannuan, replying softly, "Your Majesty, His Highness the Crown Prince is currently having the two young masters review their lessons in the side hall!"
Upon hearing this news, Su Nuannuan couldn't help but smile slightly and jokingly said, "It seems that the Crown Prince is leading Cheng'er and Yao'er in their studies again. At this rate, Yao'er will be better off, since girls are more quiet and well-behaved. But Cheng'er will probably harbor a lot of resentment towards his elder brother!"
However, Jinse quickly shook her head and denied it, saying, "No, Your Highness. In my opinion, the Fifth Prince is quite studious and ambitious."
"You! Stop trying to cover for him! If he were truly studious and ambitious, how could he not even be able to recite a mere 'Thousand Character Classic'? You know, Yao'er is only a month younger than him. Although she can't recite it backwards fluently yet, she can at least recite it smoothly and completely." Jinse was about to continue speaking when Su Nuannuan suddenly interrupted her.
Su Nuannuan waved her hand and said, "I know very well what you're going to say next. Yes, he has indeed shown some interest in martial arts, but interest does not mean that one has the corresponding talent."
The reason I arranged for them to learn martial arts was simply to help the children develop strong bodies.
Back when Cheng'er first started learning martial arts, he complained endlessly about how tiring and difficult it was. Now, however, when it comes to learning academic subjects, he's started to slack off again.
And you, instead of supervising and guiding him, you've been helping him to evade responsibility and make excuses at every turn. Hmph, you think you're helping him, but in reality, you're clearly harming him.”
Jinse replied humbly, "Your Majesty, we didn't. It's just that we feel sorry for the Fifth Prince, since he is only three years old."
Upon hearing this, Su Nuannuan slowly sat up straight, picked up a cup of fragrant tea from the table, took a sip, and then calmly looked at Jinse and asked, "Then, Yao'er is also only three years old. Has she ever begged you to cover it up or find excuses for her like Cheng'er has?"
Faced with Su Nuannuan's questioning, Jinse quickly shook her head and replied, "Your Majesty, there has never been such a thing."
“Look, he can’t even compare to Yao’er. The reason I don’t praise Yao’er in front of him is that I don’t want to see any rift develop between the two siblings. After all, Yao’er will still have to rely on her brother in the years to come. If a few words cause a rift between the two siblings, it could really lead to disaster in the future, and might even cost them their lives.”
At this point, Su Nuannuan couldn't help but sigh softly, thinking to herself: raising one child is already difficult enough, but she had to raise two at the same time, no, now it's three children.