The harem is too complicated; the empress, a lazy bum, wins by doing nothing.

Chapter 299 Childish
"Why did Your Majesty arrive so early?" Shen Qingwan asked in confusion.

Emperor Yuanwu frowned. "Judging from what the Empress said, it seems that I have come at an inopportune time."

Shen Qingwan took the hat from Emperor Yuanwu's hand. Her eyes darkened, and she said with feigned anger, "Your Majesty cannot wrong me like this. The entire palace is Your Majesty's home. When Your Majesty is in your own home, you can naturally go wherever you want. There is no question of whether you are welcome or not. If Your Majesty insists on accusing me of a fabricated crime, then I will have to add a few extra handfuls of chili peppers to your dinner tonight. Your Majesty must not be so spicy that you cry."

Emperor Yuanwu smiled helplessly. The Empress had not only changed her personality, but her mouth had also become sharp and eloquent. She said she dared not disrespect him, but each of her words, taken out of context, was enough to accuse her of a serious offense of disrespect.

When Shen Qingwan handed Emperor Yuanwu's hat to the servant, she seemed to realize that she had spoken somewhat recklessly. Fortunately, Emperor Yuanwu did not seem to care about her at the moment.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief.

However, she had to say something nice to reiterate what she had just said. Was she really not going to give Emperor Yuanwu any way out? What if he was in a bad mood one day and suddenly remembered what happened today, and then made up some excuse to accuse her of something she didn't do? Wouldn't she be in deep trouble?

Shen Qingwan hesitated for a moment, "The Emperor seems to be in a very good mood today?"

"Is that so?" Emperor Yuanwu raised an eyebrow.

Shen Qingwan: ...

If he says no, then no.

Sometimes, the other person can kill a conversation with just one sentence, which is really frustrating.

Since she was speechless, Shen Qingwan simply stopped talking.

However, she seemed to be making it too subtle, and Emperor Yuanwu didn't notice anything amiss at all. He simply continued, "I had originally arranged to play chess with Prince Rui, and he insisted on coming to Kunning Palace for dinner with me..."

As Emperor Yuanwu spoke, he inadvertently glanced at Shen Qingwan.

Shen Qingwan paused slightly as she poured the tea, but only for a moment before resuming her usual demeanor, even forgetting her earlier speechlessness.

"Has His Majesty agreed?" Shen Qingwan asked, feigning nonchalance.

"Hmm?" Emperor Yuanwu asked in a drawn-out tone, "Does the Empress hope that I will agree or not?"

Shen Qingwan: ...

The marriage agreement between the original owner and Prince Rui was also an agreement made between the late emperor and the original owner's father.

At this time, marriage was still a major event that had to be arranged by matchmakers and parents.

As the elder brother, he essentially stole his younger brother's wife, breaking up a perfectly good couple. How could he have the nerve to keep bringing up their affair all the time, testing them again and again, and arguing with them over and over again?

He must have already told Prince Rui what he just said before he came. How boring.

If Prince Rui had agreed, he wouldn't be the only one sitting in front of her right now.

Every time Emperor Yuanwu maliciously mentioned Prince Rui in front of Shen Qingwan, it only made her despise him from the bottom of her heart. How childish!
“Whether Prince Rui comes or not, he is a guest invited by the Emperor. However, when we were having dinner in the Empress Dowager’s palace today, she said that the Emperor should come to dinner in the evening. So I assumed that only the Emperor would come to dinner in the evening, and only prepared dinner for the Emperor and me. If the Emperor has invited Prince Rui, it should be enough time to have the Imperial Kitchen prepare a few more dishes that Prince Rui likes.”

When Shen Qingwan said these words, her eyes were indifferent, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

These few unremarkable words instantly killed Emperor Yuanwu's interest. "There's no need to trouble the imperial kitchen. He's not coming."

Shen Qingwan casually responded and handed the menu she had just written to Emperor Yuanwu, "Your Majesty, please see if there is anything else you would like to eat, and if you would like the Imperial Kitchen to add anything else."

In the past, Emperor Yuanwu would not have cared about such trivial matters as menus. As the emperor, he had a table full of dishes every day, and the dishes from one day to the next were almost never the same. With so many dishes, there would eventually be one or two that he could eat.

At this moment, it seemed that the two of them had nothing to say to each other except for food, especially since Emperor Yuanwu had just mentioned Prince Rui, making the atmosphere in the palace inexplicably awkward.

Emperor Yuanwu casually accepted the menu that Shen Qingwan handed him. It didn't seem to be anything special, except that some of the dishes had fancy names that made it hard to guess what ingredients they were made of. However, he seemed to have mentioned this when he dined with Shen Qingwan in Kunning Palace last year.

He still remembered how she pointed to the plate of tomato and pig's trotters on the plate and wanted to change it to stewed pig's trotters with tomato soy sauce and sugar, which was indeed unseemly.

When Emperor Yuanwu stopped worrying about the dish's name, his gaze fell on the white meat.

The literal meaning of "white meat" can be understood as meat boiled in plain water. However, considering that the name of a dish and its ingredients are not necessarily opposites, Emperor Yuanwu asked with some curiosity, "What is this white meat?"

Shen Qingwan raised an eyebrow and glanced at the paper with the recipe written on it. "It's just boiled pork."

Seeing Emperor Yuanwu's puzzled expression, she explained again in detail, "It's just meat boiled in plain water."

Emperor Yuanwu:...

Chinese characters are truly a profound and complex thing. Sometimes you think they have a literal meaning, but they actually have a deeper meaning. Other times you think they have a deeper meaning, but they are just the literal meaning.

Just like the white meat in front of you right now!

"Just boil it in plain water, without even adding salt?" Emperor Yuanwu's eyes had never widened so much in his entire life.

Shen Qingwan: ? ? ?

She wasn't sure what Emperor Yuanwu was curious about, so she could only patiently say, "It's not like we don't add anything. When cooking meat, we also add some pickled vegetables."

He still wanted to add some other dishes, and he was thinking about how meat that was simply boiled in plain water without any salt could be eaten.

“I was thinking that as the weather gets hotter, we’ll have fewer opportunities to eat hot pot, so I had this prepared.” Shen Qingwan paused, then tentatively asked, “What? Doesn’t His Majesty like it?”

Emperor Yuanwu's expression was somewhat complicated. "It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I find this way of eating a bit strange."

"Strange?" Shen Qingwan smiled knowingly. "Your Majesty may have misunderstood. When this white meat is cooked, whether or not something is added, it is not eaten directly, but rather dipped in sauce."

What dipping sauce is used for braised pork belly with pickled cabbage?
Emperor Yuanwu looked puzzled. "Is this a way of eating in Jiangnan?"