Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
After dinner, Ziyan sent all the Subordinates back to their rooms and returned to her own room.
Then she closed her eyes, trying to empty her mind and let herself drift off to sleep without thinking about anything.
This continued until midnight, when she was sleeping soundly. In a hazy state, she felt as if she had fallen into that familiar embrace again.
The special faint scent of lotus and the unique aura of that man enveloped her tightly.
Just when she was trying hard to open her eyes to see what was happening, she found that she simply could not open them no matter how hard she tried. So in the end, she decided to give up on that plan and let herself fall asleep naturally since she couldn't open her eyes.
Let the sky fall; I will bear it! In her daze, Ziyan reminded herself. From that moment on, she felt an inexplicable sense of peace and comfort within her.
Thus, Ziyan slept soundly until dawn the next day.
When Ziyan woke up, she couldn't help but reach out to touch the spot beside her, which still seemed to have a hint of warmth. What on earth was going on?
Was it really just her imagination? Or had she simply had a particularly vivid dream?
With this question in mind, Ziyan fell into deep confusion.
However, why did her feelings seem so real? So real that it felt as if the Demonically Charming Man had once again held her tightly in his arms while they slept together on this big bed for the past two nights.
But soon after, Ziyan slapped herself hard on both cheeks and shook her head vigorously.
Her subconscious told her: "Stop thinking nonsense; this is something that doesn't exist. He? He's still in Hengfeng County Town. This must be because I've missed him too much, leading me to have these illusions."
She had to stay awake; there were still many things to do. She absolutely could not let this continue. If longing took complete control over her, it would easily delay her important matters.
Ziyan kept reminding herself repeatedly in her mind.
Thinking of this, Ziyan would not allow herself to have any more distracting thoughts, so she hurriedly rolled out of bed.
She quickly opened the door and knocked on the room of her maid, Yang Xiaodie, while instructing the still somewhat sleepy Yang Xiaodie to fetch water for her to wash up.
After a quick wash, Ziyan, accompanied by Yang Xiaodie, made her way to the second floor.
At that moment, she noticed that someone had arrived even earlier than her; it was Xiang Wang Lingfeng. He had already instructed the clerk to prepare breakfast on the table.
Ziyan did not hesitate or be polite; she sat down at the table and began to eat. This made the elegant Xiang Wang Ye Ling Feng unable to help but frown: "You just start eating without even saying thank you?"
"Uh? Oh, I already thanked His Highness, the King of Xiang," Ziyan casually replied.
"Hmph, with that attitude, you really don't take This King seriously," Xiang Wang Lingfeng muttered in dissatisfaction, pouting.
"Alright, alright, stop being so fussy! I have a lot to do today and no time to chat with you. If this banquet fails, you'll be the one to bear the responsibility!" Ziyan said dismissively while chewing her food.
This remark made Prince Xiang so angry that his lips twitched as he glared at her.
After a while, breakfast quickly came to an end. The two left the second floor together, while Yang Xiaodie and the entourage from Chu County remained in their temporary residence on the third floor of the Zi Family Spiced Braise restaurant.
Reluctantly, Ziyan was pulled by a certain prince toward his carriage, which made several attendants who were seeing them off want to step forward and give this prince a beating.
Among them, Qi Yu was particularly eager to take action; he clenched his fists tightly until they cracked.
Similarly, yesterday's figure partially hidden behind a window, wearing a Golden Mask, also furrowed his brows tightly.
His gaze towards Xiang Wang Lingfeng was icy cold. If possible, he would have jumped down immediately to snatch away his beloved child's gentle and soft hand from him.
Just as Ling Feng and Ziyan were about to board the carriage, Ling Feng suddenly felt an uncontrollable itch in his nose, followed by a series of "Achoo, Achoo" sneezes.
Ling Feng muttered to himself, "Could it be that someone is missing me?" This remark made Ziyan burst into laughter.
"You’re overthinking it, aren’t you?" Ziyan added.
"No, it must be that he is missing me and holding a grudge," Ling Feng continued to ramble with some self-awareness.
This time, Ziyan merely shook her head lightly and chose not to respond to him anymore.
Soon after, the two fell silent as the carriage continued toward the palace. Along the way, Xiang Wang Lingfeng was not as talkative as he had been the previous day.
When they arrived at the palace, they found Crown Prince Ling Xianjun already waiting at the palace gate.
Ziyan felt a bit puzzled: "Why is Crown Prince Ling Xianjun everywhere? He’s like a ghost."
Just as Ziyan was confused, Crown Prince Ling Xianjun approached them with a smile, waving a paper fan in his hand. He greeted them, "Good morning, Miss Zi, Sixth Brother."
"Oh!" "Good morning, Second Brother," Ziyan and Ling Feng responded casually, with one saying "oh" and the other bowing to the Crown Prince.
Ling Xianjun could see Ziyan's disdain for him but simply smiled faintly as he put away his fan and extended his hand in a gentlemanly gesture to invite them in.
Ziyan unceremoniously grabbed Xiang Wang Lingfeng's sleeve and walked directly toward the already opened palace gates.
Instantly, Xiang Wang couldn't help but smile slightly at the corners of his mouth, feeling surprisingly pleased to be pulled along by Ziyan.
At the same time, just as they were about to step into the palace, they saw a young eunuch bowing respectfully to welcome them. "The two princes and Miss Zi, please follow me."
Huh? They were clearly here to prepare for the banquet; what use did they have for the Crown Prince?
Ziyan, filled with confusion, turned to Ling Feng and asked, "Since the Emperor wants me to host this banquet, why is the Crown Prince here?"
Immediately, Ling Feng leaned in to explain, and Ziyan understood that she was responsible for organizing the banquet. However, the Crown Prince was overseeing the event.
Ziyan felt a wave of frustration; knowing the Crown Prince's character, who could tell if he would intentionally create difficulties for her at some point?
As Ziyan pondered this, she couldn't help but glance over at Crown Prince Ling Xianjun. At that moment, their eyes met, and he winked at her with a flirtatious smile.
Ziyan quickly averted her gaze and followed Xiang Wang Lingfeng. Compared to being near Ling Feng, she felt safer with him.
Finally, they arrived at the Imperial Kitchen. It was not just an ordinary room but an exceptionally large Yard. The courtyard even included smaller yards.
Truly worthy of being the place where royal meals were prepared, the Yard could easily accommodate thousands of people without feeling cramped.
While Ziyan was silently complaining, numerous palace servants began to emerge from various rooms and smaller yards of the Imperial Kitchen, lining up one after another to kneel before the two princes.
They then performed a collective bowing ceremony. After greeting them, they did not leave but seemed to be waiting for orders from the head of the Imperial Kitchen.
Clearly, the Imperial Kitchen had already been notified.
A steward who appeared to be in charge of the Imperial Kitchen stepped forward and bowed deeply before Ziyan and the others, smiling obsequiously as he said, "I have seen Miss Zi. I have heard that your culinary skills are extraordinary. His Majesty has instructed us to follow your orders in the coming days."
"Well then, I appreciate your assistance during these days; I will surely trouble you," Ziyan replied casually.
"Not at all! Serving Miss Zi is equivalent to serving His Majesty; it is indeed our fortune. By the way, my surname is Zhang. All the servants here call me Zhang the Steward. You may call me that as well."
As Zhang the Steward spoke with a smile, upon closer inspection, Ziyan realized he was a smiling tiger—likely scheming behind that facade!
As the saying goes, it's better to offend a gentleman than a petty person. It seemed she would need to be cautious in dealing with matters in this Imperial Kitchen.
There was originally a Crown Prince Ling Xianjun by her side, which already made her cautious in everything she did. Now, she also had to deal with this smiling tiger who hid daggers behind his smile. She had to be even more careful; otherwise, one wrong move could lead to disaster.
As Ziyan thought about this, she couldn't help but feel a chill run down her spine.
Fortunately, she still had Xiang Wang Ye Ling Feng beside her; otherwise, she would have been even more frustrated. With this in mind, Ziyan naturally glanced at Ling Feng with a sense of relief.
Ling Feng was no fool. When he caught Ziyan's meaningful glance, he guessed her inner turmoil. He comfortingly nodded at her, signaling that everything would be fine with him around, so she didn't need to worry too much.
"Ahem—Zhang the Steward, please take us and Miss Zi to the materials shop to select the materials she needs," Crown Prince Ling Xianjun said, unable to tolerate Ling Feng taking the lead.
The moment he saw Ziyan's trusting expression towards his sixth brother, it felt as if a vinegar jar had been overturned in his heart, filled with jealousy and resentment.
Ziyan didn’t care about his expression; she directly took hold of Xiang Wang Ling Feng’s hand, leaving Zhang the Steward momentarily stunned.
Ziyan guessed he must be secretly slandering her relationship with Xiang Wang Ye. But so what? Ziyan intentionally acted this way in front of these two people she didn't particularly like.
Under Zhang the Steward's guidance, they entered one of the three rooms storing dried goods. As soon as they stepped inside, a strong and unique smell of meat mixed with other odors hit them.
Ziyan took a deep breath and began to explore. Inside were Beijing Ham and various dried seafood products along with processed dried meats.
"Do these meats meet Miss Zi's requirements?" Crown Prince Ling Xianjun's gentle inquiry reached her ears while she was carefully inspecting the items.
"Uh? Oh, some can be used, like these dried seafood products. They can basically all be used. As for these dried meats? I need to think about it some more." Ziyan was straightforward; as long as he didn't pick on her and focused on business, she wouldn't ignore him.
Comment 0 Comment Count