“Oh really? The empress seems to have cooked a lot, zhen is surprised,” Jun Qian Che’s voice is calm. It is hard to detect any emotion from his voice.
Mo Qi Qi speaks on, “Ever since chenqie destroyed that porridge right in front of Your Majesty back then and got laughed at, chenqiestrived to cook better.”
“Zhen didn’t think that the empress would care so much about what zhen said,” Jun Qian Che stares at her with an unfathomable look.
Mo Qi Qi laughs, “Of course chenqie will care about what you have to say! You are my husband, my sky. Everything you said will be etched firmly inside chenqie’s heart.”
The corner of his lips curls up in a faint smile. “You are getting better at speaking.” Even though he knows that she is lying, he still feels very pleased when he hears that.
“Hehe, you praised me too much, Your Majesty. It is so late, you must have eaten dinner by now. These mediocre dishes that chenqiecooked must have smelled really bad in front of you right now. Why don’t you go to Yang Meimei’s palace? Yang Meimei is really good at making perfumes, her chamber must be smelling so good right now,” Mo Qi Qi starts chasing the person away.
Seeing this, Eunuch Lin immediately speaks up, “Actually Your Ladyship, His Majesty had been so busy that he had no time to eat. His Majesty came here to eat dinner with you.”
Jun Qian Che looks at him coldly, “You speak too much.”
Eunuch Lin smiles before retreating to the back.
“Hehe, it’s been hard on Your Majesty. However, the dishes here might not suit your palate, you better—-“ Mo Qi Qi leaves her word hanging, trusting Jun Qian Che to understand what she is implying.
Jun Qian Che does not wish to fight with her today. He simply turns around to leave. Just as he does that, he can see the shadow of someone hiding behind a beaded curtain inside her chamber. Anger rises within his heart. He tries to rein in his anger as he icily speaks, “Zhen is not hungry yet. You can ask your maids to cook something new. Zhen will just rest inside your chamber, first.”
Hearing that, Mo Qi Qi immediately tries to stop him, “You can’t go in there, Your Majesty!”
The anxiety that she is showcasing makes Jun Qian Che even more furious, “Why can’t zhen enter your room?”
“That—-“ Mo Qi Qi’s head turns like a gear, “Chenqie’s chamber is too messy. Chenqie was trying to find a dress earlier this afternoon and ended up turning the entire room upside down. Chenqie didn’t know that you would be here, so chenqie did not bother to clean it up. Chenqie does not want to look sloppy in front of you!”
“Since zhen decided to marry you, that means that zhen is prepared to accept every sides of you. A little messiness is alright, just ask some people to clean it up,” Jun Qian Che insists in going to her room.
Mo Qi Qi naturally does not want him to go there. If he discovered Jun Yue Hen over there, they will not be able to excuse themselves even if they have 100 mouths. “Your Majesty!” She suddenly buries herself against his chest and wraps her arms around his neck. She looks at him conquettishly, “Chenqie does not want to let you see all that! You have been busy the entire day, you must be hungry. You should not rest or drink any tea before eating. Let’s eat together, first. Although chenqie is not entirely satisfied with what chenqiecooked tonight, they actually tastes pretty decent. Why don’t you give it a little taste first, see if it suits your tastebuds. If there is anything you don’t like, you can point it out to chenqie, so chenqiecan cook better next time!” She blinks her eyes prettily at him.
Although he knows that she is only doing this to protect the man inside her room, he cannot bear to reject her suggestion. He is also a little afraid to see what he will find inside. He does not know how to punish her.
He nods.
Mo Qi Qi happily clings onto his arm and leads him to the table. “Come and sit, Your Majesty!” She lets Jun Qian Che sits in front of the table before feigning a sneeze, “Achoo! The night is so cold, chenqie will just grab a cloak for a moment. Please wait, chenqie will be right back!”
Jun Qian Che tries his best to rein in the anger inside his heart. His eyes gradually becoms icier.
As soon as Mo Qi Qi enters her chamber, she pulls Jun Yue Hen out before whispering, “Yue Hen, hurry and leave. Jun Qian Che will not be leaving anytime soon. If he catches you here, we are both dead.”
“Qi Qi, I am worried about you,” Jun Yue Hen feels like something is off, he is worried she will encounter danger.
Mo Qi Qi confidently tells him, “Don’t worry! I am his empress, he cannot just kill me! However, if he finds you here, he will get the excuse to do just that, so you better leave! Sneak out through the window! Hurry!” she pushes Jun Yue Hen to the window.
Although Jun Yue Hen is worried, he also knows that staying here will only add to her trouble, so he can only leave. “Be careful, Qi Qi.”
“I will. Go!” Mo Qi Qi motions him to hurry up.
Once Jun Yue Hen left, Mo Qi Qi sighs in relief. She runs to her closet and picks out a robe before putting it around her body.
She then goes back to the table outside and sits in front of Jun Qian Che, “Hehe, sorry for making you wait, Your Majesty.”
Jun Qian Che holds in his anger before simply saying, “It’s okay, zhenremembers you saying that women takes a lot of time when dressing up.”
Mo Qi Qi pretentiously covers her smile with her hand, “You actually remembered that, Your Majesty?”
“As long as you are the one saying it, zhen will remember everything,” he looks at her earnestly when he says that.
Seeing how sincere he is while saying that, Mo Qi Qi feels guilty. In order to make up to that guilt, she quickly picks up a piece of dish for him, “Your Majesty, go on and taste the fish that chenqiecooked.”
Jun Qian Che looks at the tableware in front of him, “Change the tableware.”
“Yes!” Eunuch Lin immediately instructs people to change the tableware.
A new set of chopsticks and bowl are then laid in front of the emperor.
Mo Qi Qi feels pretty diffident despite putting on a casual expression on her face, “Your Majesty, don’t tell chenqie that you think someone had done something to the previous ones?” Did that trash smelled anything off?
“Zhen does not like to use jade tableware,” Jun Qian Che calmly says.
Mo Qi Qi sighs in relief, “So it is like that! Chenqie will remember this. If you come over to Feng Yang Palace in the future, chenqie will take note to inform my people to keep jade tableware away.” From today onwards, she will change all the tableware in Feng Yang Palace to jadeware. See if he will still come.
“Let’s eat!” Jun Qian Che does not want to see her trying so hard to say things she doesn’t mean.
Mo Qi Qi immediately tries to butter up to him by picking him dishes, “Your Majesty, go on and taste this!”
Jun Qian Che looks at the bowl in front of him. He picks the piece of dish up and slowly eats it.
She stares at him with large, anticipating eyes. “How is it? It is good?”
Jun Qian Che nods, “It is not bad. Who would have thought that the empress would be good at cooking.”
“Thank you for praising chenqie, Your Majesty. Chenqie thought you wouldn’t like it, that’s why chenqie didn’t dare to invite you over,” Mo Qi Qi tries her best to smile, looking a little nervous.
Jun Qian Che stares at her; just imagining about her learning cooking for another man makes him furious. Everything on this table are prepared for someone else.
“Eat some more, Your Majesty,” Seeing Jun Qian Che not picking up any dishes, she picks them out for him.
As he eats more, the dishes gradually grows tasteless. His heart is in a messy state at the moment.
Seeing him in a daze, she feigns concern, “You seem to have something on your mind, Your Majesty. Did anything happened?”
Jun Qian Che gathers up his thoughts before simply saying, “Nothing. There are just too many things going on in the court lately.”
“It has been hard on you. You really should eat more nutritious things for your health. Why don’t you drink this soup? This soup has all the best ingredients, especially for men,” she continues butter up to him.
However, the harder she tries, the angrier he becomes. People only gets this nice because they did something guilty. Had Mo Qi Qi really done something that made her feel sorry towards him?
“Why aren’t you eating, Your Majesty?” she looks at him; she can tell that something is off tonight.
He puts down his chopsticks, “Zhen is not hungry, you can go on and eat.”
“Not hungry? How can you not be hungry after working the entire day? You must be too tired.”
“Yes, zhen is tired. Pour zhen a cup of wine,” Jun Qian Che looks at the wine jar on the table.
Mo Qi Qi secretly curses him in her heart: This trash’s nose sure is good. The grand empress dowager has only sent it, and he already wants to have a go at it. But everything is still good, she can chase him away once he is drunk.
She immediately picks up the wine jar, “If you are really tired, you really should drink a little wine. Chenqie has a jar of wine here, why don’t you give it a taste, Your Majesty?” She pours a cup and hands it over to him.
Jun Qian Che takes it. The moment the scent of the wine reaches his nose, his hand freezes a little. He looks at it before directing his eyes to Mo Qi Qi, “You really want zhen to drink this wine?”
Mo Qi Qi smiles sweetly, “It is just a cup of wine, it is not a big deal! Are you afraid you would get drunk, Your Majesty?”
Jun Qian Che laughs mockingly, “Zhen hope the empress will not regret this.” And then, he drinks it in one go.
Seeing that, she pours him another cup, “It is just a jar of wine. Although it is a good one, chenqie does not really like it very much. Drink as much as you want, Your Majesty,” so you will get drunk and leave!
Jun Qian Che drinks another cup. Mo Qi Qi pours him another, “Your Majesty, drink it some more if you’d like. If you get drunk, chenqie will send you home.” Hehe, once you’re drunk, I will draw caricature on your face!
Jun Qian Che does not say anything and continues drinking.
Seeing him drinking so much and is still pretty much unaffected, Mo Qi Qi can’t help but ask, “Your Majesty, you already drank three cups, aren’t you drunk yet?”
Jun Qian Che coldly says, “This is a fruit wine, it is very hard to make people drunk.”
“So it is like that! The wine must have tastes really good, chenqiewants to give it a try,” she wants to pour herself a cup.
Jun Qian Che suddenly takes the jar away from her, “You really shouldn’t drink that.”
Mo Qi Qi unhappily glares at him, “Your Majesty, the wine is chenqie’s, why can’t chenqie drink it? You are too unreasonable!”
“This is yours? You prepared this wine?” Jun Qian Che’s voice turns colder as he speaks.
Mo Qi Qi is shocked by the change in his voice. She simply nods like a coward, “Yes. Why? Am I not allowed to?”
‘Bang’
Jun Qian Che throws the jar onto the floor, causing it to break. The wine inside flows out and the surrounding air is filled with the sweet scent of fruits.
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