sjar Chapter 413 Sparrow Meat
Chapter 413 Sparrow Meat
Watching the elegant and graceful shadow at the door leave, Ji Bozhou had a faint smile on his face.
He glanced at the corpse lying on the ground and said calmly, "Now, don't do such foolish things again. The emperor doesn't intend to let you get the throne of crown prince, but haven't you thought about making preparations yourself?"
The Third Prince paused and looked at Ji Bozhou's face. After seeing his calm and resolute expression, his pupils finally lit up: "Uncle, uncle, do you have a solution?!"
There was an uncontrollable trembling joy in the voice.
Ji Bozhou took a sip of tea with his thin lips and gently placed the teacup on the table. An alluring sound was heard in the silent bedroom.
"Just keep calm. Everything has been prepared for you at the foot of Yunxiu Mountain. We are very weak, so we can't take it by force. When the time comes, you can..."
The sun was setting in the west, and the autumn wind blew, dispersing all the secret words in Chengqian Palace.
The wind passed over the low palace wall, swirled a few fallen leaves, and blew to the outside of Yuqing Palace on the other side.
Yuqing Palace was where the princes studied, but the current emperor had few children, so the crown prince was taught individually by the officials of the Eastern Palace. The third prince was taught by the Grand Tutor and others invited by the empress, so only the fourth prince was studying here.
However, Concubine Rong was very satisfied with this situation. She urged the Fourth Prince Jiang Lin to study hard every day and make sure he was good at riding, shooting, etiquette, poetry, calligraphy, chess and zither.
After finally enduring the random check of today's homework by the Junior Tutor and Junior Preceptor, the young man, wearing a duck-green brocade robe embroidered with gold-threaded cloud patterns, almost jumped up with joy. He lifted the bamboo-patterned gauze curtain, found the palace attendants, and hurried to Zhongcui Palace.
Every day, my mother forced me to study before dawn, and I only had a moment of freedom in the evening. Therefore, the happiest time was when school was over. Without the young teachers to keep me here, my mother couldn't find fault with me, and the evening time was completely my own.
As he was thinking, the Fourth Prince had unknowingly jumped all the way to the vicinity of Renzhi Hall.
After the Empress Dowager passed away, whenever he passed by the Renzhi Hall recently, he would always recall the scene when the body was placed here.
His mother told him to concentrate on returning to Zhongcui Palace after school and not to look around, so he never stayed in these places.
But today he felt something strange. Why was there a burst of smoke rising from the Renzhi Hall? It seemed that there was the aroma of barbecue in the air.
He doesn't have any hobbies on a daily basis, but he has no resistance to delicious food. As he has grown in the past two years, he has eaten more and more.
Although there was never a shortage of fine clothes and delicious food in Zhongcui Palace on weekdays, my mother's place was not as good as the queen's. She ate the same dishes from the imperial kitchen every day. Knowing that my mother was not favored, the people in the imperial kitchen were lazy. Although the ingredients were luxurious, they never took the time to prepare them. As a result, the food tasted like chewing wax and I got tired of it over the years.
Unlike his mother, who was patient, he always wanted to find new ways to eat.
He had always loved the wildness of the mountains, but he was constantly confined to the inner palace. If he could go out and grill meat, fish, or something else, that would be the ultimate pleasure!
So, when the Fourth Prince smelled the faint aroma of roasted chicken in the air, his nose became crooked and he sniffed the air several times. Finally, he couldn't help but said to the eunuch beside him, "Jinfu, come with me and see who are these daring servants who dared to break the rules and cook in the Renzhi Hall where the Empress Dowager's body was previously laid to rest."
Glancing at the sky, the eunuch Jinfu hesitated, "Fourth Prince, the Queen is still waiting for you in Zhongcui Palace. She specifically instructed us to return directly to the palace after school. Don't..."
"Alright!" The Fourth Prince snorted with a sidelong glance. "This prince isn't doing anything bad. It's just that the mourning curtains for the Empress Dowager's funeral shed have just been removed, and someone is acting so disrespectfully here so soon. As a filial piety, this prince should intervene!"
He stood with his hands behind his back, looking somewhat displeased. "As a prince, I stand up for the Empress Dowager. This is an act of filial piety and integrity. Even if the Emperor knew, he would say I did the right thing. Don't try to stop me and spoil the fun. If you can come with me, then come. If not, forget it!"
Jinfu knew that his prince was speaking nicely at the moment, but once he went in, he would only punish the palace maids, mainly for taking away the food they had baked, so he felt a little helpless.
But after all, this is really just a small matter. His Highness has been craving for food outside the palace for a long time. If he can satisfy his craving, it is really no big deal.
Therefore, he felt more sorry for the Fourth Prince. Jinfu looked at the cheerful figure and followed him in.
As the sun sets, the bright moon quietly climbs up to the sky. Under the faint and gradually white light, the Jade Moon and the Golden Crow look at the world together.
In the hazy air, a light mist seemed to rise in the capital, which was blown gently by the wind and spread into the red walls of the Forbidden Palace.
There are towering ancient cypresses in the rear hall of Renzhi Hall, and their branches and leaves sway gently in the breeze, making a rustling sound.
The Fourth Prince entered the rear hall and, from a distance of several feet, saw three or four eunuchs working together, setting up a fire in the iron basin that had been used to burn paper before the Empress Dowager's spirit. They were using wooden sticks to roast three or four shaved crows.
Not far behind them stood an ancient well, the water from which the crows had been washed clean. A eunuch brushed a layer of honey, obtained from who knows where, on the crows' bodies. The flames licked the crisp, fragrant flesh, sizzling and oozing with oil.
They were all concentrating on staring at the sparrow meat on the fire and did not notice the figure approaching from behind them.
The air was filled with the aroma of meat mixed with the aroma of honey, which was rich and fresh, and the taste was so tempting that the Fourth Prince swallowed his saliva several times.
After standing at a distance for a while, seeing that the sparrow meat was almost cooked, even Jinfu couldn't help swallowing his saliva.
He whispered, "Your Highness, should we hurry up..."
If it’s any later, the bird meat will be gone.
Wait a little longer, the Fourth Prince thought to himself.
It's not yet fully ripe and tender.
Suddenly, a eunuch facing the back hall door raised his head inadvertently while laughing, his eyes were dazed, and suddenly stopped.
"Fourth, Fourth, Fourth Prince..."
The eunuch's voice was not loud, but it was thin with a slight tremor.
Suddenly, the air became quiet.
The previous sounds of laughter and playfulness were no longer there. In the blink of an eye, the eunuchs lined up in a row and knelt neatly in front of the Fourth Prince.
"Your Highness, please forgive me, Fourth Prince. We haven't eaten meat for half a month because we've been in mourning for the Empress Dowager. Our diet is usually light, and this time we were almost exhausted. We had no other choice but to roast a few sparrows. This is not disrespectful to the Empress Dowager, please forgive me..."
"Please spare my life, Your Highness..."
The four eunuchs prostrated themselves on the ground and kowtowed, their backs curled up like cooked shrimps.
The Fourth Prince leaned back slightly with his hands behind his back, coughed lightly, and then walked towards them.
"It's only been a short time since the Empress Dowager passed away and was buried, and yet you can't even endure this little hardship. You're eating meat behind the backs of the palace so soon, and in this very Renzhi Hall. If this isn't disrespectful to the Empress Dowager, then what is?"
He looked down at the slightly trembling people from above, his eyes constantly drifting to the perfectly cooked honey-roasted sparrow meat. "Besides, this palace has always strictly forbade palace servants from cooking alone. Otherwise, what's the point of having an imperial kitchen? If everyone were like you, cooking on their own whenever they felt a little craving, would this palace still be called a palace? I think it would be more like a restaurant!"
His words were so logical that the eunuchs were obviously terrified and had no choice but to agree with him.
"That's enough!" The Fourth Prince was filled with righteous indignation. "All of you, go down. Each of you will receive thirty strokes of the cane. This Highness will not pursue today's matter any further! As for this sparrow meat..."
He snorted coldly, hiding his inner desire: "Your Highness will confiscate it. If something like this happens again in the future, remember today's lesson!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
"Yes!"
After everyone left the back hall, the Fourth Prince gave Jinfu a look.
With a "bang", the door in front of the eaves was closed by Jinfu in an instant.