My Fantastic Chef Wife

363. Empress Dowager Is Making a Big Move

Translator: ChowvanLee

“Then help regulate her body.” Empress Dowager said.

Ye Xiaoxian said, “Wait!”

Empress Dowager asked, “What are you worried about? Don’t you want to have a baby with your Baoshan? It is a sin for a woman not to give birth to children. He can divorce you by a note of dismissal at any time.”

Ye Xiaoxian decisively stated her doubts, “Empress Dowager, it’s not that I don’t want to have a baby, but that I can’t guess what you’re planning.”

“What am I planning?” Empress Dowager asked.

Ye Xiaoxian didn’t care that the physician was still here, who she knew was the one who had treated her last time.

“Empress Dowager, you’ve asked me to regulate my body many times, but then hurt me pretty bad. I’m really afraid of you now. I’m worried that after I get rid of the cold womb, I will suffer again. If sweet comes before bitter, then I would rather regulate my body after leaving the palace.”

Empress Dowager looked at Ye Xiaoxian calmly for a few seconds.

‘So, that’s what she is actually worried about.’

But it was not her fault. After all, she didn’t know about her own parents, and in order to guard against State Preceptor, Empress Dowager couldn’t tell her the truth for the time being.

Empress Dowager said, “But you just promised me that as long as it doesn’t involve your husband, you can do anything. Now, I only ask you to take care of your health. I think that doesn’t involve your husband, right? Then, are you keeping your promise or not?”

“…” Ye Xiaoxian thought for a moment and said, “This is your place. It’s your call.”

Ye Xiaoxian said this in a sort of desperation.

Empress Dowager smiled and asked the physician to prescribe medications for Ye Xiaoxian.

…

It was strange that Empress Dowager did not make things difficult for her once ever since Ye Xiaoxian entered the palace.

Apart from taking care of her body, Ye Xiaoxian didn’t need to work.

Empress Dowager only asked her to boil milk tea or make some dessert from time to time. The ingredients were also prepared by Empress Dowager beforehand.

She thought that perhaps Empress Dowager was going to make a big move. She just let her live a good time now, and then she would beat her up later on.

However, Empress Dowager didn’t do anything to her after she had been in the palace for more than ten days. She even took her to the back garden on sunny days.

It was the first time Ye Xiaoxian went to the imperial garden. It was winter. There were flowers of wintersweet, hibiscus and lily in the garden. Although there were few kinds, the other plants were something to see, too.

Ye Xiaoxian liked snow. When she saw the unmelted snow, she was going to grab a handful of it, but was stopped by Empress Dowager in time.

Empress Dowager asked, “Do you forget what the physician has told you? He said that you can’t touch cold things recently, especially ice and snow.”

Ye Xiaoxian winced her hands quickly.

‘Why does Empress Dowager sound like she’s caring about me?’

When she wanted to look at Empress Dowager closely, Empress Dowager returned to her calm and indifferent look.

In the back garden, she met a few of the late emperor. After they greeted Empress Dowager, they looked at Ye Xiaoxian and asked, “Empress Dowager, is this the daughter you’ve adopted?”

Empress Dowager smiled. “Yes, the new year is coming, so I’m taking her around the palace.”

“She looks really similar to you. She might be destined to be your daughter.” the concubines flattered.

Empress Dowager laughed. “I know. But apart from the appearance, this child is not like me at all. She is so wild.”

“…”

Ye Xiaoxian listened from behind and felt that Empress Dowager was like a mother complaining about her daughter in front of her friends.

She even thought, ‘Is she really my mother?’

‘No, it’s impossible.’

…

For more than ten days, Empress Dowager didn’t mention anything about Xiao Baoshan and only cared about Ye Xiaoxian’s body. When it was cold, she would let Ye Xiaoxian make a pot of milk tea and they would drink it inside with stove beside.

Ye Xiaoxian would glance at Empress Dowager every now and then.

But Empress Dowager ignored her. She treated Ye Xiaoxian as a pet, a kitten or puppy. She only needed Ye Xiaoxian by her side and wouldn’t communicate with her.

Ye Xiaoxian had tactfully told Empress Dowager several times that she had to go home before the night of 23rd, but Empress Dowager never replied to her.

Ye Xiaoxian was so angry that she thought Empress Dowager must be going to make a big move.

However, the day before the 23rd of this lunar year, Empress Dowager had someone call Ye Xiaoxian over.

When Ye Xiaoxian arrived at Empress Dowager’s room, she saw that it was filled with treasured medicinal materials, high-quality cloth, jewellery, and some precious ingredients, even including cured meat.

There were also two pots of rice wine which were brewed in the court.

“Empress Dowager, you…” Ye Xiaoxian asked.

Empress Dowager asked, “Didn’t you say that you want to get out of the palace before the 23rd? So I prepare these things for you. Go pack your luggage up and take them along with you in the afternoon.”

“Well… ” Ye Xiaoxian said, “You haven’t told me what you want.”

“What are you talking about?” Empress Dowager asked.

“Didn’t you summon me here for the sake of my husband?” Ye Xiaoxian asked.

“Let him kill Yan Ziyan?” Empress Dowager laughed, “Of course not. State Preceptor has already sent someone else, who set out half a month ago. He probably has arrived in the north and is looking for a chance to kill Yan Ziyan. You really think that without your husband, many things can’t be done in the capital?”

Ye Xiaoxian: “…”

…

When it stopped snowing, Xiao Baoshan stood at the door of the manor and anxiously looked towards the street corner.

Two hours ago, he received a notice that Little Ye would come back today.

Tomorrow was the 23rd. He hoped to spend the time with Little Ye and didn’t want to be alone.

At the same time, Ye Xiaoxian had been in the palace for more than ten days. He didn’t know what she’d been through in there and was worried that Empress Dowager might hurt her.

After waiting for quite a while, he finally saw a carriage drawn by two-horse appearing at the end of the street. There were over twenty escorts; a few of them were from Xiao’s manor and the rest were from the palace.

The carriage approached and a maid helped Ye Xiaoxian out of the carriage. Xiao Baoshan went up to see if Ye Xiaoxian was hurt.

However, Ye Xiaoxian seemed to be a little fatter after more than ten days, and her face looked smooth and pink.

Then the leading eunuch asked two servants to move things from the other two carriages.

More than twenty people moved the things together. There were cloth, wine from the palace, ingredients, medicinal materials, jewellery, etc. These things, piled up as tall as a hill, filled the living room of the Xiao Baoshan’s manor in a short while.

Xiao Baoshan was surprised.

After eunuchs and the rest left, Xiao Baoshan grabbed Ye Xiaoxian into his arms. “This time, did Empress Dowager make things difficult for you in the palace?”

Ye Xiaoxian shook her head, “She didn’t. Instead, she served me delicious food, and even found a physician to help me take care of my body. The physician told me I have a cold womb and could get pregnant. But as long as I regulate my body carefully, I will be fine.”

Hearing this, Xiao Baoshan was confused.

He had seen Empress Dowager a few times and felt that Empress Dowager was not bad at Empress Dowager.

However, Ye Xiaoxian still said angrily, “I always feel that Empress Dowager is going to make a big move, and there is something hard waiting for me. By the way, I asked her if she still wants to utilize you. She said no and she also said that State Preceptor had sent another killer to assassinate Yan Ziyan about half a month ago.

Xiao Baoshan was stunned.

He was very against the assassination attempt on Yan Ziyan’s life.

“Half a month ago?” Xiao Baoshan asked.

“Yes.” Ye Xiaoxian nodded and continued, “Baoshan, I know that you are against the assassination attempt on Yan Ziyan’s life, but I don’t think you can do anything now. If State Preceptor, Empress Dowager, and the Emperor are eager to kill him, they can always find someone to do this, and you can’t stop it. If you try to stop it, in the end… I’m afraid that you won’t be able to end well.”

Xiao Baoshan was silent for a moment, then he took Ye Xiaoxian in his arms. From inside to outside, he felt helpless deeply.

Ye Xiaoxian was right. If Xiao Baoshan didn’t go to assassinate Yan Ziyan, there would always be someone who would do it. What’s more, they took action half a month ago. No one knew how was Yan Ziyan at the moment.

…

The person State Preceptor had sent out was Wan Shijie.

They first gave Wan Shijie a job in the Ministry of War, taking charge of army provisions. Wan Shijie would go to the north in the name of investigating the demand for provisions firstly and then providing the provisions for the north after the investigation.

Wan Shijie planned to kill Yan Ziyan during the investigation.

However, the people around Yan Ziyan were exceptionally alert.

Yan Ziyan was a garrison leader with kungfu masters such as Wang Meng.

Wang Meng and the others had served for the imperial court before so they knew about the arrogance of the imperial court. Now, the imperial court wouldn’t let anyone stand out. If someone contributed a lot to the country and had high credit, they would suppress him.

Therefore, Wang Meng and the rest wouldn’t let Yan Ziyan be alone. No matter where Wan Shijie went, they would be around him.

In a flash, the 23rd of this lunar year arrived.

On this day, Yan Ziyan invited Wan Shijie to his house.

Yan Ziyan was now guarding the Heihe City. He lived in the Yamen of the Heihe City. On the 23rd, Yamen held a feast to treat Wan Shijie, because he came from the capital city, so Yan Ziyan couldn’t neglect him during the festival.

When Wan Shijie and his two subordinates arrived, they found that the banquet was ready.

Because the battle on the Heihe City had just finished, and now the north was a shortage of materials, so Yamen couldn’t provide nice dishes of every kind. The wine was general rice wine, and only two of the ten dishes were made with meat. Even the fish were captured by the soldiers personally.

Wan Shijie felt it shabby when he saw the situation. In the capital city, his casual meal in the capital city was more sumptuous than his current festival banquet.

However, Yan Ziyan and the rest was still enthusiastic abpout Wan Shijie. Yan Ziyan warmly greeted Wan Shijie and asked him to sit down, “Official Wan, today is 23rd this lunar year. We don’t have any fancy food and wine in the border area. We can only treat you to some normal food. Please forgive me for not being a very good host.”

Wan Shijie nodded. “Understood, if you have nice dishes, you don’t need to apply for funds from the imperial court.”

Yan Ziyan said, “You’ve been here for so many days. I’m sure you’ve already understood the situation on our side. So when will you return to the capital city and report this to His Majesty, and when will we get the funds we need?”

Wan Shijie thought about it and said: “Well, there are many places that need to be investigated carefully.”