Tang Dynasty: Slacking off in the Imperial Kitchen, exposed by Si Zi

Chapter 211 A Promise, On the Eve of a Critical Illness!

Su Mu raised his head.

He glanced at Fang Qingjun, whose face was buried in her palms, then at Li Lizhi, who was trying to remain calm but whose ears were practically burning, and finally at the little girl on the stone bench with milk stains all over her mouth and an innocent look on her face.

He stretched out his hand.

He flicked the top of Xiao Sizi's head with his knuckles.

"Eat your cheese stick, you talk too much."

Little Sizi covered his forehead and pouted.

"Guoguo hasn't answered Xizi yet!"

Su Mu pushed the remaining plate of cheese sticks in front of her.

"What's there to answer? Your husband can't even support himself right now, let alone be a wife?"

He stood up and patted his pants.

"Keep those three pine cones for yourself, and I'll fry some eggs for you tomorrow morning."

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"Whether or not you give gifts has nothing to do with being a wife, don't overthink it."

Little Sizi disagreed.

"Why did the ladies send ducks?"

Su Mu walked towards the kitchen.

"Because you cook so well, it's only natural that they want to freeload."

He tossed out a sentence without even turning his head.

"They have absolutely nothing to do with wives or anything like that."

Little Si pouted, not quite believing it.

She turned to look at Fang Qingjun.

"Sister Fang, are you trying to freeload a meal?"

Her face was still red, but the redness had receded from her ears to her cheeks.

She crouched down to be at eye level with Xiao Sizi.

"Yeah, my sister just came here to freeload a meal."

The voice was still trembling.

Xiao Sizi looked at Li Lizhi again.

"Where is my eldest sister?"

Li Lizhi cleared her throat.

Her fingers twisted the sash around her waist, turning it three times before loosening it.

"I am too."

The voice was harsh and unnatural.

Little Si nodded and put the cheese stick back into his mouth.

"Oh, that's good."

She chewed twice, then suddenly stopped.

"But what my mother said is different."

"eat!"

Su Mu's voice came from the kitchen.

The little ox shrank its neck and obediently gnawed on the cheese stick.

The courtyard finally quieted down.

Fang Qingjun stood by the well, her head bowed.

The cotton handkerchief inside her sleeve was crumpled from being squeezed.

Li Lizhi leaned against the courtyard wall, her arms crossed over her chest.

The two people stood three steps apart, neither looking at the other.

But both of them knew it.

Although the little girl's words were innocent and childish, she had already revealed everything that needed to be said.

The paper window is shattered!

Fang Qingjun loosened her grip on the handkerchief, then tightened it again.

Li Lizhi's fingernails left marks on the crook of her arm.

The sound of Su Mu chopping vegetables came from the kitchen, a steady, rhythmic thump-thump-thump.

Is this person genuinely not taking it to heart, or are they just pretending?

The two girls had this idea almost simultaneously.

Little Sizi finished her second cheese stick, licked her fingers, and stood up. She ran to the kitchen doorway and peered inside through the door frame.

"Brother, what Xizi said just now wasn't right, was it?"

Su Mu was slicing yams, his knife speed unchanged.

"There is no right or wrong."

"Then why is everyone silent?"

Su Mu stopped wielding his sword and turned to look at the little face covered in milk stains at the doorway.

"Because there are some things that adults are embarrassed to say, and if you say them for them, they will feel embarrassed."

Little Sizi tilted its head and digested the information for a while.

"So you won't tell me anymore?"

"No need, say whatever you want."

Su Mu arranged the yam slices into the bowl.

"You can handle it, buddy."

Little Si chuckled.

She ran back into the yard and saw her two older sisters still standing there.

One was watching the well, and the other was watching the courtyard wall.

Little Sizi picked up the cheese sticks from the plate, one in each hand, and ran over.

"Don't be shy, ladies!"

She put the cheese sticks into the hands of the two people respectively.

"I'm so happy with the cheese sticks!"

Fang Qingjun looked down at the plump white cheese stick in her hand, and the corners of her mouth involuntarily curved into a smile.

Li Lizhi took a bite, and the milky aroma melted on her tongue.

Neither of them spoke again.

Little Sizi squatted between the two, looking up at one and then at the other.

"What the boss said is right, there's only so much good stuff, everyone wants to have a little more."

Her voice was soft and sweet.

"But Xixi thinks that since Guoguo is so amazing, he can make anything he wants."

"Enough for everyone to share!"

Fang Qingjun lowered her head, her fingers pinching a shallow mark on the cheese stick.

Li Lizhi bit into the cheese stick, leaving teeth marks on it, but didn't bite any further.

The sunlight in the courtyard shifted westward by half an inch.

The sound of chopping vegetables in the kitchen continued.

Little Sizi ran back to the kitchen and lay down next to Su Mu's legs.

"Pot, pot."

"What's wrong now?"

"It's the wife who's not going to be the husband."

Su Mu stopped chopping vegetables.

.

"Xizi will be her brother's little sister forever!"

The little girl buried her face in Su Mu's trouser leg and rubbed it a couple of times.

"That means Guoguo will have to be a good sworn brother to Xizi for the rest of his life!"

Su Mu looked down at the fluffy little head.

He reached out and rubbed it.

"Okay, for a lifetime."

Day three of fermentation.

Su Mutian woke up before dawn.

I didn't wake up naturally; I was jolted awake by a series of urgent knocks on the door.

It's not a little rhinoceros.

The little girl always knocked on the door with two quick, forceful knocks, then whispered under the door. And this knocking was urgent and heavy, like a fist.

.

Hammer.

Su Mu pulled the bolt.

Wang Dequan stood outside, his chubby face trembling. He had run so fast that he had lost one shoe, leaving him barefoot on the bluestone slab.

"Mr. Su!"

He bent over, panting for several breaths, and could barely speak.

"Your Majesty the Empress — Heart palpitations — Imperial Physician's pulse diagnosis —"

Su Mu didn't wait for him to finish speaking.

"When was it posted?"

"A quarter of an hour ago! The palace maid on night duty at Lizheng Palace heard the Empress turning over in bed. When she went over to check, she found the Empress's forehead covered in cold sweat, her hand pressed against her chest, and her lips blue..."

'

Su Mu turned and went into the kitchen.

He took the old clay pot that had been simmering for half a year off the shelf and weighed it in his hand. Then he grabbed a handful of millet from the earthenware jar and held it in his palm.

"Where is His Majesty?"

"They've already rushed to the Hall of State Affairs! When I arrived, the Imperial Physician was administering acupuncture with three other physicians!"

Su Mu retrieved items from the system space.

Ginseng rootlets.

It's not the whole ginseng root, it's the rootlets.

The medicinal properties of the purslane are mild and will not cause a strong stimulant effect on the heart.

Poria cocos.

Cut into thin slices, about the size of a fingernail.

Lotus seeds.

The core was removed, and it was soaked in water.

Fox nuts (芡实).

It's been stir-fried, and the surface is slightly yellow.

Four items were stacked on the lid of the clay pot. Su Mu carried the clay pot with one hand and a cloth bag filled with rice with the other.

"Walk."

Wang Dequan followed behind with a limp, his bare foot making a slapping sound on the stone slabs.

"Mr. Su, what brings you here?"

"Cook porridge."

"Cook... porridge?"

Su Mu had already stepped out of the courtyard gate.

In the early hours of late April, just as the first rays of dawn appeared on the horizon, the palace lanterns lining the passageway were still lit, their wicks burned down to tiny flames.

Faint noises came from the direction of the Rijōden Hall.

Su Mu quickened his pace.

Lizheng Hall.

All the lights in the bedroom were on.

.

.

Eight palace lanterns illuminated the room brightly.

Li Shimin stood before the couch, his robe half-pulled on, the left sleeve still empty. He had run all the way from Ganlu Palace, without even fastening his belt.

On the couch, Empress Zhangsun leaned against a pillow.

His complexion wasn't white, it was gray.

Her lips were bloodless, her fingertips were bluish-purple, and her right hand was pressed against her chest, her fingers clenched tightly.

The imperial physician, Chen Yao, knelt beside the bed, placing three fingers on the empress's wrist while constantly wiping the sweat from his forehead with his other hand.

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