Chapter 547: The Necessity of Learning Palace Intrigue Dramas
In the early morning, Yan Rouwan opened her eyes in the Sang residence’s garden.
The soft morning light filtered through the light mist in the garden, and her robe was still damp with dew, with a few strands clinging to her eyelashes.
In her arms, Jiao Jiao had slept through the night and was lazily stretching and purring.
Yan Rouwan gently rubbed Jiao Jiao’s head and muttered to herself, “Sorry, had you guarding all night again.”
“Next time, I’ll try not to practice unexpectedly in the garden.”
As she spoke, she slightly raised her hand, and a faint thread flickered between her fingers, passing through.
Yan Rouwan had felt this thread for a long time.
But she didn’t understand what this thread meant; she just vaguely sensed that pulling on it would have a huge impact on this world.
Moreover, when she touched the thread, there was a unique sense of reassurance in her heart.
After stretching, Yan Rouwan slowly got up while holding the cat.
… Her cultivation had been stuck at that barrier for a long time.
She felt that if it weren’t for this world limiting her, she might have transformed into some even more unimaginable form.
But since breaking through the limitations of this world wasn’t possible, she might as well not try.
After all, she was enjoying her life as it was now.
Glancing at the sky, it was still quite early. Yan Rouwan planned to go back, change clothes, play with Jiao Jiao for a while, and wait for breakfast at the Sang household.
Just then, she inadvertently caught sight of a figure in a rush leaving through the courtyard gate in the distance.
“… Senior Sister Shi?” Yan Rouwan blinked in confusion.
It was so early, and Senior Sister Shi was already up?
But seeing her hurried appearance, Yan Rouwan felt something was off and planned to follow along.
However, as soon as she turned the corner, she bumped into two people leaning against the corner, whispering about the courtyard entrance.
“… Senior Sister Shi seems to be called away every day lately.”
“Has Lady Shi gotten so close to Miss Xu?”
“I feel that Miss Xu Hongyi must be rallying support to counter Zhang Xiaoying.”
“Do you mean… Lady Shi has already sided with Miss Xu?”
Engrossed in their gossip, Si Jingzhu and Yu Xia only noticed Yan Rouwan when she approached them.
“Oh, Senior Sister Yan, you’re up so early today.”
“And what are you two up to…?” Yan Rouwan wore a puzzled expression.
Si Jingzhu suddenly patted Yan Rouwan’s shoulder with a mysterious and serious face, like a wise elder.
“Sigh. Senior Sister Yan, I’ve told you before, you need to make your move on Young Master Sang early; the longer you wait, the more people will bud in front of you.”
“Look at Miss Xu Hongyi, clearly a third wheel, but she doesn’t care about worldly concerns; she’s aiming straight for the main wife position with determination and ambition.”
“Estimate it won’t be long before chaos erupts in the Sang household. By then, if you’re thinking of getting close to Young Master Sang, it’s going to be tough.”
Yan Rouwan’s face flushed slightly, and she shook her head as if it were a joke, “You’re really quite bored.”
“This is called foresight.”
Si Jingzhu immediately responded mysteriously, “The wars between women? They’re all silent assassins. And once they start, it’s to the death.”
“Have you seen the fire-hit drama, ‘Hidden Red Pavilion’? The one ‘Fake Huan Zhu Ge’?”
Yan Rouwan’s dumbfounded eyes answered Si Jingzhu’s question.
“Sigh.”
Si Jingzhu patted Yan Rouwan’s shoulder with a sigh: “Senior Sister Yan is too immersed in training; you don’t have any entertainment in your life, that’s why you’re so out of touch with the times.”
“Here, I’ll lend you my ‘Hidden Red Pavilion’ membership number; you better catch up on that show.”
“Umm, why should I catch up on that show?” Yan Rouwan countered.
“Because you’ll need it soon.”
Si Jingzhu was exasperated: “Just think, what if Miss Xu truly goes public against Xiaoying, both fighting for Young Master Sang’s affection? The whole harem will be in uproar and everybody will be on edge.”
“In such times, learning a bit of palace intrigue might just come in handy.”
Yan Rouwan: “…”
Although she didn’t quite understand what Si Jingzhu meant by palace intrigue.
It was obvious this girl was just looking for drama to entertain herself.
“Aunt Yu, are you also joining this child in her nonsense?”
“This…” Yu Xia looked troubled and quietly said, “I’m just a servant, I dare not assume to guess the ladies’ thoughts, so I can only take it one step at a time…”
This mother-daughter pair was hopeless. Yan Rouwan sighed inwardly.
“Forget it. I’ll go see what’s happening.”
Yan Rouwan said softly: “That Xu Hongyi… I feel something’s off about her.”
Upon hearing someone could join her in the gossip fun, Si Jingzhu immediately cheered and raised both hands in approval: “Can you livestream it for me?”
“… No.”
——
——
At Xu Hongyi’s residence.
When Shi Qingyan carefully pushed open the door, Xu Hongyi’s voice rang directly in her ear.
“You’re here. Come to the kitchen.”
Shi Qingyan silently walked to the kitchen, and as she opened the door, a rich aroma of food filled the air.
On the long dining table, there were over twenty plates of seemingly identical fish-flavored shredded pork, completely filling the table.
Xu Hongyi casually perched her slender, beautiful legs and spoke without much care: “Let’s start.”
Shi Qingyan sat down quietly, picked up her chopsticks.
… This was already the third day.
Since three days ago, Xu Hongyi had summoned her to her residence, and she didn’t threaten or torture her; she just had her do one thing.
Eat.
Eat her fish-flavored shredded pork.
Every day it was a full table, and every dish looked similar, yet the tastes were all different.
Before it reached her mouth, Shi Qingyan would never know if the dish would be mouth-watering sour or tongue-numbingly spicy.
It felt like unboxing a mystery box.
And Xu Hongyi seemed to revel in it.
After finishing one dish, Xu Hongyi eagerly asked, “How was it?”
Shi Qingyan hesitated.
“Be honest.”
“… Can’t you read my mind?”
“I want to hear it from your mouth.” Xu Hongyi’s beautiful eyes slightly lowered.
Shi Qingyan paused for a moment, then slowly shook her head: “It’s terrible.”
“What’s terrible about it?”
“Too salty and spicy, like eating seasoning; there’s no taste of the food itself.”
Xu Hongyi nodded, lightly picked up the plate, and casually tossed it out the window.
Shi Qingyan watched as that dish slowly disintegrated into dust outside the window.
“Next.”
“… Too sour.”
“Next.”
“Tastes spoiled.”
“Next.”
“…”
After finishing another whole table of dishes.
Only three or four plates could barely be considered edible.
But that was already much better than yesterday.
Shi Qingyan didn’t know what Xu Hongyi was thinking. Seeing her staring down at the table silently, Shi Qingyan timidly said, “Can I go back now?”
“Maybe I should just go directly to find the person who cooked that day.”
Xu Hongyi seemed not to hear her, suddenly talking to herself, “I remember it was called Yu Xia… the maid, right?”
“Help me.”
“What?”
“Find an excuse.” Xu Hongyi turned seriously to Shi Qingyan and said, “Let Yu Xia teach me how to cook.”
