My Fantastic Chef Wife

357. You Can Go Home Now

Translator: ChowvanLee

In the remaining few days of the winter hunt, some of the hunters would bring prey back to Ye Xiaoxian for a barbecue once they got some.

Ye Xiaoxian never refused. She took this as social intercourse. It was better to go with more friends.

Besides, she only spent some time on the seasoning, which was similar to barbeque sauce in modern times. A lot of work was done by servants. Among these people, a single person would bring six servants along, so the last thing they needed was servants.

During a couple of days, the lakeside outside of the palace was like a large barbecue site. Some people even took out all the fine liquor that they had brought along when they left the capital city. They were drinking and chatting while eating barbecue in small groups. The lakeside was buzzing. Many people said that they had never had such an interesting winter hunt.

Of course, they would not let Ye Xiaoxian work in vain. After eating what Ye Xiaoxian had roasted, they would send some jewellery, or something valuable to her.

Ye Xiaoxian had not been familiar with these people, but because of this period of barbecue time, she actually learned about many officials and their families in the capital city.

Everyone said that no wonder Empress Dowager insisted on leaving Ye Xiaoxian in the palace and even adopted Ye Xiaoxian as her daughter. It turned out that Ye Xiaoxian really had excellent cooking skills. Empress Dowager was very picky about food, so how could she let Ye Xiaoxian go?

…

The day before the hunt ended, Empress Dowager specifically found Li Chengkun by the lake.

It was a little awkward to call each other mother and son since they were almost the same age, so they rarely met.

However, the reason why Li Chengkun was able to ascend the throne so smoothly was due to Empress Dowager’s help, so he usually was respectful to Empress Dowager.

“Mother,” Li Chengkun was originally basking in the sun by the lake. When he saw Empress Dowager walking towards him, he stood up and bowed to her.

Empress Dowager asked him to get relaxed and took a box of roast meat from a maid behind her to Li Chengkun.

“The meat is roasted by Princess Ning Yuan. You can have a try. It is very delicious.” Empress Dowager laughed.

Li Chengkun said, “I’ve had some yesterday. I don’t eat any today because the physician has warned me of internal heat.”

Empress Dowager smiled, “It’s okay. You can drink some herbal tea after it. The tea was also made by Princess Ning Yuan. I have had a lot of roast meat in the past two days and then drank this herbal tea. I feel pretty well now.”

Li Chengkun said, “It is really considerate of Princess Ning Yuan. She is always considerate.”

Empress Dowager said as-a-matter-of-factly, “I heard that she came from the village. She must get used to doing hard works, so I don’t think she’s considerate enough. She just did too much of the same work before.”

Empress Dowager deliberately showed that she was unfamiliar with Ye Xiaoxian.

Li Chengkun smiled, “You’re very right, Mother.”

Empress Dowager added, “I have an idea. When the hunt is over, I will send Princess Ning Yuan out of the imperial palace for a period of time. In this way, the couple could reunite. The people outside will know that I did not imprison her, and your reputation in the people will rise.”

Li Chengkun thought for a moment and said, “Isn’t that a reward to them?”

“Assistant Minister Xiao has contributed to this country, so he deserves such a reward. Besides, he is just an assistant minister now. If you don’t let him take any reward at all, it would disappoint many other officials. As for Yan Ziyan in the north, if Xiao Baoshan really refuses to kill him, then send someone else.” Empress Dowager said.

Li Chengkun rolled his eyes and looked at Empress Dowager with suspicion.

Empress Dowager saw his face and smiled. “The Emperor suspects that I’m helping Madam Xiao? Indeed, I’m a little fond of Madam Xiao now. It’s probably because that I’ve been having dishes she cooked for me. Who can refuse such delicious food?”

Empress Dowager took the initiative to admit that she was fond of Ye Xiaoxian, then Li Chengkun banished his doubt to Empress Dowager. If Empress Dowager faltered, then Li Chengkun would suspect that Empress Dowager had gained something from Ye Xiaoxian.

Li Chengkun thought, ‘Xiao Baoshan and Ye Xiaoxian could not escape from the capital city anyway, so it doesn’t matter if Empress Dowager let Ye Xiaoxian go.’

…

Ye Xiaoxian went back to the imperial palace first before officially getting out of it.

To show that the imperial family thought highly of her, Empress Dowager specifically sent a large number of servants to her and let her go home by chariot.

In this way, all the citizens outside the palace could see that Madam Xiao was not imprisoned and was not in danger of life. She was indeed a princess now and Empress Dowager allowed her to get out of the palace.

This battle on public opinion ended with a win-win situation. Ye Xiaoxian got the title of a princess and Empress Dowager got rid of the accusation of holding hostages.

Ye Xiaoxian returned to Xiao Baoshan’s manor in the capital city.

Because she became a princess and brought back a lot of servants, naturally, the arrangement of Ye Xiaoxian’s life become much better. Therefore, Xiao Baoshan’s cold and cheerless courtyard was now elegant after the servants cleaned it again.

At least, after new servants arrived at Xiao Baoshan’s manor, this place was tidy everywhere.

…

After Ye Xiaoxian came back from the palace, her life was comfortable and free.

She and Xiao Baoshan re-arranged their room and added a lot of household belongings. Because Ye Xiaoxian got a modern aesthetic sense, the things at home were mostly convenient and good-looking.

In the morning, Ye Xiaoxian would serve Xiao Baoshan when he got up, then she would bring him the breakfast that she made personally and see him off to the Ministry of War.

She had not planned to make breakfast, but the cook in the manor was not that good at cooking. She just wanted to make some delicious food for Xiao Baoshan while she was with him.

Xiao Baoshan didn’t come home at noon. Normally, he would come back when it was getting dark.

At that time, Ye Xiaoxian had already prepared dinner, which included three dishes and a soup meticulously made by her.

After Xiao Baoshan got home, they would have dinner quietly while smiling at each other.

Life at home was peaceful and wonderful every day.

However, Ye Xiaoxian was always worried that this would not last long.

The reason that Empress Dowager and the Emperor temporarily let her out of the palace was to save their reputation.

That night, Xiao Baoshan told Little Ye not to go out because they were watched.

Ye Xiaoxian was sewing a pouch as she smiled, “Of course I won’t. This house is so cosy. I’ve never lived in such a good house in my life. During this period of time, I plan to plough the yard and plant more flowers and plants to make a big garden here.”

Xiao Baoshan hugged Ye Xiaoxian and laughed before saying helplessly, “You’ve been wronged recently. If it wasn’t because of me, you wouldn’t come to the capital city and wouldn’t be imprisoned in Empress Dowager’s Palace.”

Ye Xiaoxian shrugged it off, “I was imprisoned because my husband got great power. If they were not afraid of your power, how could I be imprisoned?”

“I promised to hold a wedding ceremony and take you to our house with a large sedan carried by eight people. But I can’t achieve it in a short time.”

Ye Xiaoxian raised her head and asked him, “Isn’t there a chance in the future? We wouldn’t always be watched, right? Perhaps one day, we can escape from here. Even if we can’t get out of here, as long as the Emperor doesn’t kill us, we could still live a good life.”

Xiao Baoshan felt Ye Xiaoxian’s face and said, “The luckiest thing in my life is meeting you. I’ve been muddling along here. Now that you’re back, even though we’re still living the days of being watched, I feel happy now.”

Ye Xiaoxian smiled and leaned in his arms. Then she sighed, “It’s a pity that I can’t see mom and Baozhu. However, we’d better not meet them in the current situation.”

“Right.” Xiao Baoshan hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead, then looked at the pouch she made.

When Ye Xiaoxian was in State Preceptor’s residence, she had been learning how to sew a pouch. Now, she was an expert at it, and she could finally embroider pretty mandarin ducks, not ordinary ducks.

He asked, “Didn’t you say that you would give me a pouch?”

“Just wait. I’ll give it to you when I finish a pretty one.”

Xiao Baoshan asked, “Isn’t this one pretty?”

“You call this pretty? Look, the mandarin ducks’ mouths haven’t come out yet, nor do they look intimate.”

Xiao Baoshan just listened.

Xiao Baoshan had to go to the Ministry of War every day, so Ye Xiaoxian had to find something to do at home.

Then, he kissed her.

… And then they lay on the bed together.

Ye Xiaoxian’s injury was completely healed. In addition, it was winter now. A few sets of bedding had been laid on the bed. Even if she rolled on it, she wouldn’t worry that her wounds would break open.

In this case, they had a wonderful evening than cannot not be depicted here in detail.

…

Half a month later, there was heavy snow in the capital city.

Ye Xiaoxian did not feel the cold days were hard to bear.

She always thought that Princess Ning Yuan was just an unwarranted title. Strangely, during the early days of the month, a lot of things were sent to her from the palace, including coal, winter clothes and money. The servants told her that those were part of the wage of a princess, which was allocated by the State Treasury.

Apart from a manor, Ye Xiaoxian got everything a princess should have.

Therefore, Ye Xiaoxian could afford these servants in Xiao Baoshan’s residence and use fine coal. She didn’t want to move in the winter, and naturally, servants would serve her. Her days were much more comfortable than in Tianshan tribe.

She spent a lot of time on embroidery every day.

After the first heavy snow stopped, Ye Xiaoxian was informed that Empress Dowager would visit her from the imperial palace.

In this era, the regulation of the imperial harem was not as strict as the Ming and Qing Dynasties in ancient China, so women with great power in the imperial harem could get out of the palace occasionally.

But Ye Xiaoxian was surprised. ‘What is Empress Dowager here for?’

‘Could it be about Xiao Baoshan again?’

‘Or she is just here doing some image maintenance? After all, she has adopted me as her daughter. If she doesn’t interact with me, people will definitely criticize her behind her back.’

No matter what, Ye Xiaoxian still had to deal with it.

On the day of Empress Dowager’s arrival, Ye Xiaoxian had organized everything well very early.

It was the first time she was in charge of such a large family, but because she had got some experience in the Tianshan tribe before, she was pretty calm.

It was nothing but the cleaning work of the places where Empress Dowager would walk, drink tea and take a rest.

She thought that Empress Dowager wouldn’t stay here for too long.

…

A swarm of people came. Empress Dowager brought dozens of maids and eunuchs, as well as several guards.

Along the way from the palace to the Xiao Manor, many people came to watch. The crowd heard that Empress Dowager came out to see her adopted daughter and they whispered by the street.

They were talking about Empress Dowager and her adopted daughter. They thought it was not a publicity stunt. Otherwise, why would Empress Dowager come out of the palace to see her?

As soon as Ye Xiaoxian saw this, she knew that Empress Dowager had won another round of battle on public opinion.