Zhu Sijia pushed the porridge in front of Yan Xiu and looked at him with her hands on her cheeks: "Xuanzhi will know the mystery after you try it."
Yan Xiu had nothing to do with her, but he was willing to cooperate with her weird tricks and put a spoonful of porridge into his mouth with a smile.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the porridge was eaten, the taste buds were filled with a strong musty smell, followed by various beans and whole grains that were astringent and bitter.
Zhu Sijia asked with a smile: "Is it delicious?"
Yan Xiu didn't answer her and chose to swallow the mouthful of porridge without changing his expression.
Zhu Sijia was so anxious that she snatched the bowl from his hand: "Why did your Majesty actually eat it?"
Yan Xiu wiped the corners of his mouth with a handkerchief and said slowly: "If I said it tastes bad, Cicada will feel uncomfortable. A bowl of porridge that even dogs won't eat can keep Cicada busy for an hour or two."
Zhu Sijia said guiltily: "Your Majesty, I didn't mean to do this...but this time the Queen Mother gave me full responsibility for the Laba Banquet, so I can only serve this kind of porridge to the guests."
Yan Xiu stretched out his hand and flicked her forehead: "If there is anything you want to tell me, just say it. There is no need to make such porridge next time."
The porridge is unpalatable, but she is smart, so Yan Xiu will not argue with her.
Zhu Sijia asked Zhu Ya to bring up the false accounts first: "Your Majesty, please look at this year's accounts in the palace. According to Mr. Huang of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, due to this year's disaster relief, there is not much left to spend on the Laba Banquet."
Not much left?
Yan Xiu was well aware of the annual surplus of the Great Qin treasury. Although this year was affected by the disaster, the surplus in all aspects was better than in previous years. How come there was no money for a small Laba feast?
He had never intervened in the harem. After all, he had no harem before Zhu Sijia.
Yan Xiu took the account book and looked through it hastily, but everything recorded on it was reasonable and there was no problem.
After flipping through half of the book, Yan Xiu understood that the Queen Mother wanted people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to deliberately embarrass Zhu Scarlett so as to embarrass her and seize her power as an excuse.
It seemed that she was desperate, so she thought of asking for help in this way.
What a joke, can he let his woman suffer at the hands of others? Especially when it comes to money.
"Since the Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot pay for you, I will pay this money for you." Yan Xiu returned the account book to Zhu Ya, "How much was needed for the previous Laba Banquet? It will be paid from the treasury together."
Zhu Sijia held his hand and said, "Your Majesty, wait a moment, Zhu Ya, take another one."
This was the result of her and Zhu Ya's efforts to light up the lamps and stay up late during this period. The two of them worked together to copy and sort out the mismatched places in the account book, and got another thick volume.
Yan Xiu took the brand new booklet and opened it. It was filled with delicate regular script with hairpin flowers. He had no intention of praising Zhu Sijia and said, "The calligraphy is good."
Before he met Zhu Sijia, it was not that he had never heard of Zhu Sijia's reputation in Beijing.
Zhu Siyi said that she was an illiterate, uneducated idiot, and even her handwriting was crooked and unsightly.
Admittedly, he had never seen Zhu Sijia achieve anything in music, chess, calligraphy, painting, or singing and dancing, but what she mastered were all practical skills, which impressed him even more.
Yan Xiu seemed to have discovered a piece of uncut jade.
Just looking at the account book, the corner of his mouth raised inadvertently. Suddenly, he lowered the corner of his mouth and his face became solemn. The more he looked at the end, the more gloomy his face became, to the point of dripping water.
"Someone, call the manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Changle Palace!"
Yan Xiu slammed the account book on the table. The sudden move startled Zhu Sijia. His eyes immediately softened and he looked at Zhu Sijia: "Being able to compile the accounts of the palace for ten years into a book, Cicada, during this time You have worked hard."
Zhu Sijia shook her head: "I don't have to work hard, I am lucky to be able to assist Xuanzhi in bringing the villain to justice."
She ordered someone to remove the bowl of porridge from the table and bring the carefully prepared dinner.
Yan Xiu stared at the exquisite food on the table, and the smile on his lips became stronger: "Cicada actually has a backup plan."
Zhu Sijia personally served him a meal: "How can I have the heart to feed Xuanzhi those things?"
After a while, Manager Huang entered Changle Palace and felt that something was wrong when he saw the piles of ledgers.
When he saw Yan Xiu, he was so frightened that he was sweating profusely and his speech was incoherent. Yan Xiu threatened him with a few words, and he explained clearly all the things he had done over the years of pretending to be public for personal gain and greedy for money.
All the stolen money went into his own pocket, and a lot of it was taken to Zhangtai Palace under his own banner and given to the Queen Mother as a filial piety.
Yan Xiu mocked: "In my opinion, all the money needed for this palace banquet will be paid for by Mr. Huang, how about it?"
Seeing that Yan Xiu did not chop off his head immediately, Manager Huang quickly kowtowed and thanked him, fearing that he would regret it and said: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness! Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will definitely return the money to the treasury without fail." "
Yan Xiu's eyes were filled with beading, he gently twisted the jade ring on his hand, and smiled again: "For the sake of Mr. Huang who has served in the palace for so many years, I will leave your body intact."
"You are the Empress Dowager's confidant, so go ahead and execute the cane in front of Zhangtai Palace. Before you die, I will allow you to eat well and go on your way."
Yan Xiu ordered the bowl of porridge that was so memorable that he poured every grain of it into Mr. Huang's mouth.
Manager Huang screamed and was dragged out of Changle Palace by the guards and went straight to Zhangtai Palace.
The two of them now had free time to concentrate on eating. Yan Xiu looked at Zhu Sijia and said affectionately: "Why is Cicada so smart? And so capable? I can't live without Cicada more and more."
Zhu Sijia was shy, lowered her head and bit her lip and smiled: "Your Majesty, the palace people are still watching."
At this moment, the scene of her wearing a phoenix robe and ascending to a high position suddenly appeared in Yan Xiu's mind.
If she were to govern the Sixth Palace, would she become a virtuous queen like the imperial grandmother and go down in history?
…
The Laba Palace banquet arrived as scheduled.
Yan Xiu's confidant who had been with him for many years was mercilessly killed with a stick in front of Zhangtai Palace. How could the Queen Mother swallow such a breath? But now Yan Xiu is no longer the puppet she can manipulate. What can she do if she gets angry again?
Therefore, the Queen Mother was absent from the Laba Banquet this year due to illness.
It was Zhu Scarlett's first time to take over such a large banquet, so she naturally had to pay close attention to all aspects of the event, so she got up early to change clothes and make up.
In a blink of an eye, we arrived at Laba.
Yesterday in her previous life, she married into Prince Yi's Mansion; today, after taking the bowl of Juezi Medicine, she was called into the palace by Mrs. Chen and made things difficult for her. The hot tea scalded her hands.
It was also because she had a tough life in her previous life that she was able to survive for such a long time despite being tortured in various ways.
Nowadays, she no longer has to kowtow and carefully please anyone except Yan Xiu.
The Qin Dynasty has always attached great importance to Laba. The king has to cook a portion of the eight delicacies porridge with his own hands, and all the Chinese and military officials will enter the palace and share the food.
The banquet officially started in the evening, so Zhu Sijia went to the imperial dining room to help Yan Xiu.
In the imperial dining room, Yan Xiu was dressed in regular clothes with an apron tied around his waist, standing in front of the stove and skillfully cooking Bazhen porridge.
