A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace

Chapter 1096: Minor Tricks

Don’t keep it in your heart, keep it in your mind!Even Ma Liyi is like this.

The other newcomers to the palace dare not act recklessly; they only say pleasant things.

Everyone was lively, chatting and laughing, the atmosphere was very vibrant.

Xia Ruqing was very satisfied.

"Not bad! They’re all quite smart, almost like me back then!"

Back then, when I first traveled through time.

I made plenty of compromises just to survive.

Living in constant fear, being extremely cautious, all just to stay alive.

Kept my thoughts completely hidden, not daring to express them.

Recalling those feelings now still brings heartache!

Xia Ruqing clenched her fist secretly.

"Luckily, it’s all in the past now!"

"No one is here to make me suffer or threaten to kill me anymore!"

This feeling is truly great!

Xia Ruqing curled her lips.

...

The banquet ended in less than two Shi Chen (hours).

Xia Ruqing instructed Xiao Zhu Zi to record and catalog the gifts from each palace.

Then she returned to her room.

After being busy for half a day, it’s time to rest well.

Zi Yue and Zi Su helped her remove the hairpins.

Xia Ruqing lay down on her soft and comfortable bed.

She embraced the blanket, sighed contentedly, and gradually fell asleep within a few breaths.

When she woke up, it was already evening.

She comfortably turned over, just in time to see the bare branches outside the window swaying with the wind.

The glazed windows were making a tinkling sound.

The dark and hazy night looked gloomy, as if it was going to snow again.

Xia Ruqing shivered instinctively.

"It’s too cold outside!" Just looking at it makes me feel freezing.

Zi Su brought over a freshly warmed fox fur coat.

"It’s windy outside, this year is really cold!"

She said instinctively rubbing her arms.

"I’m wearing two rabbit fur coats, a silk jacket and skirt, and still can’t resist the cold!"

Zi Yue brought in hot water, took over the conversation with a smile.

"It’s the coldest time of the year, how could it not be cold?"

"True!"

Zi Su tidied the fox fur coat and helped the lady dress and get out of bed.

Xia Ruqing washed her face, put on a warm yellow collar and skirt, layered with a goose down vest, only then she didn’t feel cold.

She tied up her hair loosely, bundled it into a bun, and got up to go to the outer room.

"Where’s Yue Er? Did she go out today?"

In this weather, the little girl shouldn’t be so silly!

Zi Yue laughed.

"The Princess behaved well today, stayed inside all day!"

"She’s playing ball with Snow Ball!"

Xia Ruqing felt relieved.

"Luckily, this little girl knows a little about enjoying herself!"

If she insisted on going out in this weather,

I would really doubt if I had a silly daughter!

While speaking,

The sound of footsteps came from outside, followed by an announcement.

"The Emperor has arrived!"

Because it was cold, the Little Eunuch’s voice was trembling slightly.

Accompanied by the drake voice of the announcement,

Zhao Junyao, wearing pure black brocade dragon-patterned fox fur coat and with a stern expression, walked in with cold air.

After the greeting ceremony,

He pulled Xia Ruqing up as usual.

"Didn’t I say no need for formalities?"

"Your hand is so cold, are you freezing?!"

Xia Ruqing chuckled and responded quietly.

"The servants are around!"

"I’m not cold; I just woke up and washed my hands!"

While speaking,

The Emperor and Empress entered the inner room.

During this time, Zhao Junyao had been busy.

Firstly, Prince Jin had been staying at the guesthouse, and he had to have someone keep a close watch.

Secondly, this year is exceptionally cold, with snow disasters in the north; crops and livestock were frozen and dead, even several thousand houses collapsed.

The number of victims is in the tens of thousands; it’s a problem to survive this winter, and next year’s reduced harvest will be an issue too!

Additionally,

He always had to pay attention to Portland Country’s Mission.

Though Little Seventh was assigned to monitor, he couldn’t completely let go.

Plus, several nomadic tribes beyond the southwestern and northwestern borders.

The Great Chu Dynasty’s harsh land is hard enough; they have it even worse.

Desperate times call for desperate measures; if pushed, they might attack directly, must be guarded against.

Zhao Junyao was so busy he wished he had three heads and six arms.

Frequently holding late-night meetings with Ministers to discuss national affairs!

That he could come today,

Was because he hadn’t been here for several days.

He pushed some less important matters aside to rest a bit.

The two sat on the warm kang in the inner room.

Zhao Junyao leaned against the soft pillow, closed his eyes comfortably.

"It’s still best here!"

Whenever he came, he could leave all the chaos behind.

The whole person completely relaxes.

Xia Ruqing was somewhat amused.

"What’s different from other places? It’s all rest!"

Zhao Junyao thought with closed eyes: Of course it’s different.

Xia Ruqing saw how exhausted he was.

Immediate sympathy arose in her heart.

"Being an Emperor is really tough!"

Thinking that her son is now Crown Prince, he too will suffer in the future.

Might even be tougher than this!

She felt quite distressed.

No wonder there were far more foolish Emperors in history than wise ones.

Being a foolish Emperor is so comfortable, being a wise Emperor... cough cough!

Dinner was served, all were homely dishes.

Considering Zhao Junyao’s recent fatigue,

No greasy food; all were light low-fat high-protein ingredients.

Steamed bass, shrimp ball soup, tender little bok choy, crunchy white lotus root, red date ribs, clear stew venison, and snow frog jelly in wine.

Zhao Junyao was very satisfied with his meal.

After dinner, they relaxed on the kang.

Not in the mood to read, then...

"Let’s play chess!"

"I don’t know how..."

Xia Ruqing once tried hard to learn Go, but seeing the dense pieces, her fear of densely packed objects nearly triggered.

Just didn’t want to learn.

"Shall I teach you?" Zhao Junyao looked at her tenderly, trying his best to persuade.

Xia Ruqing firmly refused.

"Emperor, I... don’t want to learn!"

Cannot understand why ancient people enjoyed playing this!

It’s both mind-boggling and tedious, extremely boring.

"Emperor, let’s play this instead!"

She ran out quickly and returned shortly with a booklet.

"I found this nine-square grid in a folk ancient book and couldn’t solve it for a long time, take a look?"

Nine-square grid is a number game that originated in ancient times among the people.

A big nine-square grid contains nine small nine-square grids inside.

There are eighty-one blank spaces in total.

In these blank spaces, some known numbers are given.

The solver needs to follow certain logic and rules to fill numbers one to nine into the blank spaces.

Ensuring each row, column, and grid has nine unique numbers.

Though tedious, this game is much more fun than Go.

Unfortunately, her intelligence was insufficient; after filling for a long time, only a few numbers were placed, unsure if they’re correct...

Zhao Junyao handles numerous tasks.

Since childhood, received more advanced royal family education, never encountered such folk games.

He took the booklet and concentrated on it.

Xia Ruqing proudly introduced each rule beside him.

The tone seemed to say, ’Haha, you’ve been stumped too!’