Chapter 11

Suddenly grabbed by the wrist, Xu Qinyu’s chaotic thoughts scattered instantly. She instinctively looked at the hands holding her. The palms were long and broad, with distinct bones and long fingers. Despite being overly thin and pale, making the veins prominent, the hands were still beautiful. Her gaze met the owner of the hands—it was her husband, Pei Weixuan.

He was awake.

Xu Qinyu also met his eyes.

Those eyes were hard to describe. They were extremely cold, like the eyes of a cold-blooded animal, icy and emotionless. Being stared at by such eyes sent chills down her spine, and in an instant, her hair stood on end.

Xu Qinyu was stunned for a moment, thinking she had seen wrong. She blinked, and when she looked again, her husband’s eyes had returned to normal. They were clear and cold but not icy, with a sense of detachment yet warmth.

Her husband usually didn’t talk much, and Xu Qinyu thought he had a quiet, gentle personality.

She stammered, “F-Fourth Brother, you’re awake?”

She had just thought he was dead, which felt like a curse. Calling out to him now made her feel a bit guilty.

As for the look she saw earlier, she assumed she had seen it wrong. After all, Fourth Brother was sick and had a high fever, making his eyes look strange was normal.

Pei Weixuan, seeing it was her, slowly released her wrist and looked at it. The place he had grabbed was deeply red.

“Yuniang, I’m sorry. I had a nightmare just now. Did I scare you?”

He wasn’t wrong; he did have a nightmare, dreaming about some things from his childhood. Thinking of the scenes in the dream, he closed his eyes, hiding the coldness in them.

Xu Qinyu rubbed her wrist and smiled, “Fourth Brother, don’t worry. My wrist is fine.”

In fact, it hurt a lot. She didn’t know how her husband, despite being so thin, had such strength. His grip was strong and not weak at all, and she felt like her wrist bones were aching.

Madam Wen and Pei Jianing, hearing that Pei Weixuan was awake, hurried over, followed by the two children, who wobbled over and looked eagerly at their brother and uncle on the bed.

Seeing him awake, Madam Wen’s tears fell, “It’s good that you’re awake, Xuan’er.”

Seeing this, Xu Qinyu didn’t disturb them and went to the kitchen to bring back the fish slice porridge that had been kept warm.

Madam Wen was talking to her son, saying that the doctor had diagnosed him and mentioned signs of poisoning.

Pei Weixuan only said lightly, “It’s nothing serious. Most of the poison is gone. I won’t die.”

Seeing him so calm, Xu Qinyu guessed that her husband had long known about his poisoning. It likely happened while he was still in the palace, and the poisoning must have been ongoing for a long time, possibly since childhood.

Wasn’t it said that the Fourth Prince had always been weak and frequently ill?

The palace had imperial physicians and could summon the best doctors in the world, so it shouldn’t have been impossible to cure a mere weakness.

Moreover, he was the son of the Empress, and there were certainly many concubines and princes in the palace who wanted him dead.

Madam Wen probably guessed it too, her face turning pale and her heart tightening. She had no family support in the harem. Her stepmother didn’t want her to become Emperor Shengjing’s favored concubine, and even after becoming Empress, she didn’t want to help her eldest son. But she was still a concubine of the Anping Duke’s Mansion, in the same boat. For the sake of his lineage, the Anping Duke did his best to help her and her eldest son. However, over the years, her father was just a minor Anping Duke without much power to help establish the crown prince. She never inquired about the matter of establishing the crown prince. She didn’t understand politics; all she could do was love Emperor Shengjing and her children with all her heart. But she knew very well how dangerous the struggle for the throne among the princes was.

She had actually guessed some of the late emperor’s intentions. After spending more than twenty years with him, she could feel his affection for her. He knew her low status, and without making her Empress, her children wouldn’t have a chance to become the crown prince. By making her Empress, she had no external family power, and he hoped to delay the matter of establishing the crown prince to avoid targeting by other concubines and princes in the palace.

But even so, it still ended up like this. She certainly didn’t believe her eldest son would poison the late emperor. The blame lay in the fact that her eldest son didn’t have the ruthlessness of the Second Prince’s lineage, who dared to poison even their own father.

Madam Wen thought of the late emperor who was poisoned to death and her eldest son’s lineage, feeling unbearable heartache and turning pale.

At this moment, Xu Qinyu came over and said, “Fourth Brother, I made some fish slice porridge this morning. You haven’t eaten anything since last night, so have some porridge first.”

Madam Wen was interrupted from her thoughts by her daughter-in-law and struggled out of her pain. She took the bowl from her daughter-in-law’s hand, intending to feed her son the porridge, but Pei Weixuan refused and took the bowl himself to eat. He ate very elegantly, befitting a noble prince.

Xu Qinyu watched her husband eat porridge for a while but then lost interest. Seeing that he was awake, her worries were mostly gone. She ran back to the bedside, grabbed her wooden box, and poured all the copper coins and small silver pieces onto the bed.

Counting money was naturally the happiest thing after earning it.

This reminded Xu Qinyu of when she first started her stall in her previous life. Every night, the first thing she did when she got home was count the money to see how much she had earned each day.

The clinking sound of copper coins and small silver pieces colliding attracted everyone’s attention. Even Pei Weixuan, who was drinking porridge, couldn’t help but look over. His gaze first fell on the girl’s smiling face. Her features were bright and beautiful, but she was too thin, with frostbite marks on her face from the journey. She wore a shabby gray winter coat, yet her happiness was unmistakable.

He thought of her lifeless appearance on the journey and her culinary skills and optimistic attitude in the past few days.

Pei Weixuan’s gaze carried a hint of curiosity as he drank the fish slice porridge she made, letting out a soft sigh and lowering his eyes.

After counting the money, Xu Qinyu smiled even more broadly. After deducting the cost of ingredients and seasonings, today’s breakfast earned her more than two taels and nine hundred wen!

Pei Jianing saw this and was a bit amazed. She came over to look at the copper coins and small silver pieces on the bed and said, “Fourth Sister-in-law, did you earn all this in the morning?”

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, “Yes, I earned almost three strings of cash. Since Fourth Brother needs to rest for a few more days to recover, I’ll try to earn more during these days. When we get to Yuanbao Town, we’ll see if we can afford to buy a house there.” She wasn’t sure about the housing prices in Yuanbao Town. If the houses were too expensive, they might still have to rent.

Even Madam Wen was a bit shocked, not expecting Yuniang to earn almost three taels of silver in one morning. In her eyes, three taels of silver weren’t much, but ordinary commoners could only earn a few hundred wens a month at most. The head chef of a regular tavern or restaurant earned around two taels of silver a month. Yuniang, however, earned a month’s wages of a restaurant head chef in one day, which was astonishing.

Feng Ge’er and Yuan Jie’er also toddled over to Xu Qinyu, watching her count the copper coins.

Having earned money, Xu Qinyu was in a great mood. She patted the two children and said, “Tomorrow, I’ll buy more candy for Feng Ge’er and Yuan Jie’er.”

The white and brown sugar here were made from sugarcane and were expensive, while maltose was made from wheat and much cheaper. However, even a small piece of maltose costs a few wen, and ordinary people wouldn’t spend money on it for their children.

Thinking that children shouldn’t eat too much candy, Xu Qinyu planned to buy some eggs when she went to buy ingredients tomorrow and make some egg cakes for the children. They would be soft, sweet, and nutritious.

After counting the money, Xu Qinyu put the wooden box away, told everyone, and went to the kitchen to prepare the large bones for making broth.

Making broth with large bones was simple. She added ginger slices, yellow wine, and green onions to blanch the bones and remove the fishy smell. Then she washed the bones with hot water and simmered them in a pot over low heat. When she bought ingredients in the morning, she also bought yellow wine, which was better at removing the fishy smell than regular wine.

The bone broth would be ready for use the next day, and the wonton filling and wrappers would be prepared early in the morning.

In the evening, Commander Liang couldn’t resist coming back for dinner.

Learning about the new dish, pickled fish, Commander Liang was delighted. The pickled fish was fresh, fragrant, and spicy, making Commander Liang exclaim with satisfaction.

Besides Commander Liang, Xu Qinyu didn’t serve other diners in the evening. She had been through a lot on the journey of exile, and her body was severely weakened. If she continued to make dinner for the diners, her body wouldn’t be able to handle it.