Chapter 116
Chapter 116
The refugees who had first boiled the locusts and eaten them died without a sound.
When an official discovered this, he immediately reported it to his superiors.
The imperial court sent people to investigate further and found that nearly every refugee who had eaten the locusts had died of poisoning.
The locusts were poisonous.
After the news spread, everyone who had eaten them went pale. For a time, medical clinics enjoyed booming business, with people lining up for consultations every day. Restaurants and taverns swiftly removed the locust dishes that had been wildly popular only a short while ago.
Strangely, however, most of the dead were refugees. Among the other commoners and nobles who had eaten locusts, only a small proportion were poisoned.
When Shengsheng Zhou heard about this in the imperial palace, she was somewhat surprised.
People ate one another during famine, so how could they refuse to eat locusts? The refugees had chosen locusts only because hunger had left them no alternative, and she could understand that.
But locusts from a plague were toxic. If one insisted on eating them, they had to be fried or roasted all the way through to minimize the toxins.
The refugees had no oil and could only boil them. The restaurants and taverns in the capital, however, used entirely different methods–deep-frying and stir-frying them in every conceivable style. The locusts would still be toxic, but not enough to kill anyone.
That was probably why so many refugees had died.
Of course, that was not the issue she should be pondering right now.
“I understand. You may leave.”
The voice from above successfully dismissed the only official who had been reporting his work in the study.
Only two people now remained in the room: Xunlan Liu, seated above in bright yellow dragon robes with an exceedingly complicated expression, and Shengsheng, kneeling on the floor with her head lowered.
She had dripped the antidote A-Pang gave her into some water and “accidentally” let Xunlan drink it.
Once she knew he had swallowed it, Shengsheng had slipped away. She had no idea how he managed to leave and return to his own palace.
And the damned man had deliberately chosen a time when Fusheng Duan was visiting the Empress Dowager to summon her by imperial decree. Everyone in Qianyi Palace thought she was going to be punished again, leaving the entire staff in a panic.
Wait. Did that mean he had come back with his butt completely naked???
Xunlan stared at the palace maid kneeling before him, his emotions extraordinarily complicated. By rights, he should kill this woman. But so long as he remained silent, no one would discover his dark history. Besides, it had been the two women with her who had saved him and taken him in.
Then again, they had seen him… with that… damned, reeking thing…
No. He could not think about it. He was going to vomit.
“Where is the Noble Consort?!” Xunlan demanded irritably.
Taking advantage of her lowered head, Shengsheng rolled her eyes without restraint.
Did you eat your brain along with the dog shit?
You only dared summon me because you knew the Noble Consort was with the Empress Dowager, didn’t you?
“Replying to Your Majesty, Her Highness has gone to the Empress Dowager’s palace.”
“Oh.”
Then came a long silence.
Shengsheng: “…”
Are you okay, are you okay, are you okay, are you okay, are you okay???
The barbarians are eyeing us hungrily and heading our way, yet you have this much free time?
Xunlan did want to ask why she had not been serving the Noble Consort in the palace and had instead run outside. Still, he was not completely brainless. Something like that ought to be investigated in secret.
He had nothing to say to a mere palace maid anyway and had yet to recover from inexplicably turning into a dog. So he casually rewarded Shengsheng with a few things and dismissed her.
Holding the rewards in her arms, Shengsheng stood stunned for a long time.
Sweet mother of heaven, did you see that?
Life was unpredictable, full of twists like intestines wrapped around intestines. Who would have thought that she, Shengsheng Zhou, would live to take something away from Xunlan Liu?
What was this? Had his humanity suddenly awakened? Was he finally about to evolve from a hominid into a human being?
When Shengsheng Zhou returned carrying the gifts, all the eunuchs and palace maids bustling to and fro inside Qianyi Palace were stunned.
“Sister Shengsheng, didn’t His Majesty summon you?”
Shengsheng nodded.
“Then did another master you met along the way give you those rewards?”
Shengsheng shook her head.
Then a voice sharpened with excessive astonishment asked, “Could it be… His Majesty rewarded you?”
With a complicated look, Shengsheng nodded.
Everyone stopped in their tracks and sank into an eerie silence.
Xiaopingzi was the first to recover. He walked over and asked dim-wittedly, “Sister Shengsheng, did you save His Majesty’s life?”
Hadn’t someone saved his lousy dog life? Although the person who saved him was not her.
Shengsheng divided the rewards from Xunlan Liu equally between Zhiyu Jiang and Meiren Liu. Strictly speaking, those two had saved the dog. Shengsheng had only taken temporary responsibility for raising it.
One should not accept rewards for deeds one had not done.
—–
When Shengsheng learned from Fusheng Duan what excuse the barbarians had used to start the war…
At that moment, only a handful of enormous words filled her heart.
*This is absurdity of the highest order.*
They had gone to war because they suspected the Zhu Kingdom of stealing their Divine Envoy. That seemed… reasonable, perhaps.
*A-Pang, remember this for me. This is the pinnacle of Shengsheng Zhou’s life! That Mary Sue plot where an entire kingdom is destroyed for one person actually happened to me! Hahahaha! And Jierge is so handsome, too!*
Fusheng’s hand paused over his lunch, and his eyes narrowed.
Who was Jierge?
At that moment, A-Pang drifted unsteadily onto the table beside one of the dishes, drooling freely yet still remembering to reply, *You actually remember the name of that dark-skinned City Lord.*
Shengsheng had been deliberately seated opposite Fusheng to dine with him. Her face looked as normal as ever, but the voice in her heart was positively lecherous. *Who doesn’t like a handsome, dark-skinned man…*
Clatter.
The silver chopsticks struck the table, snapping Shengsheng back to attention.
Looking at the man before her, whose mood was impossible to read, Shengsheng’s instincts told her that he was angry.
“Your Highness?” she called.
Without warning, Fusheng asked, “Why did Xunlan Liu summon you?”
Shengsheng set down her chopsticks as well and told him honestly.
To anyone unaware of the truth, it simply sounded as though Xunlan had suffered some inexplicable lapse, summoned a palace maid to ask about the whereabouts of his beloved consort, then bestowed rewards upon her for no apparent reason.
No one would ever know that their emperor had actually vanished for a long while and turned into a little black dog that had nearly been killed.
After she finished, Fusheng fell silent again. He merely nodded without interest and said out of nowhere, “He gave you too little.”
It was as though he had only asked in passing.
Naturally, Shengsheng had no idea that Fusheng was changing the subject.
Stranger still, after finishing his meal, he did not take his afternoon nap. Instead, he had Shengsheng change his clothes and prepared to go out.
When Shengsheng was away, Xiangxiang, the most senior attendant after her, accompanied him. At first, Shengsheng had worried that Xiangxiang would not perform her duties well, so she had put in a few good words for her with Fusheng in advance, hoping he would show Xiangxiang leniency for Shengsheng’s sake.
After all, the veteran servants in all of Qianyi Palace could be counted on one hand.
Yet after hearing her, Fusheng had inexplicably told her not to trust other people too easily. He said the more harmless someone appeared, the more deeply hidden they might be.
Truth be told, Shengsheng increasingly felt unable to follow Fusheng’s train of thought lately.
She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
It seemed she could understand nothing that concerned him except intimacy.
And the thought of intimacy made her angry. Her chest was still swollen and aching.
What kind of animal was Fusheng Duan? Could he not bite a little more gently?