Chapter 76: Two Old Foxes Have a Scheme

The royal hot spring villa only becomes lively during the winter. Most of the time, it’s just the inner palace guards keeping watch over the courtyard.

Every month, the palace sends palace maids and eunuchs to clean the villa.

The villa is vast, with more than twenty hot spring courtyards of various sizes, so it takes several days to clean. The palace maids and eunuchs stay for a few nights.

This is exactly when Ye Chutang encountered them.

Four palace maids were chatting while carrying cleaning tools, heading toward the largest hot spring pool.

“At Princess An’s birthday banquet, there will be a play to watch, did you hear?” one of them asked.

“Could it be that Prince An plans to scheme against Prince Chen and make him the husband of Princess Anping?”

“No, guess again.”

“Could it be that Prince An plans to rebel on this day?”

“Don’t talk nonsense! Even if Prince An has bad intentions, he doesn’t have the guts to rebel.”

“So, what is it? Stop keeping us in suspense and tell us already.”

The young palace maid spoke mysteriously, “It has something to do with Ye Shangshu’s eldest daughter.”

It was after hearing this that Ye Chutang decided to stay.

She hid behind a rockery in the southwest corner, eavesdropping with her ears perked.

“Is she the one who grew up in the countryside but has extraordinary literary talent, able to sell a single piece of calligraphy for ten taels of gold?”

“Yes, that’s her. Do you want to know what will happen to her on Princess An’s birthday?”

“Of course, tell us quickly.”

The young palace maid stretched out her hand. “This news is hard to come by. If you want to know, pay up.”

“You miser, I knew you’d ask for money. Here you go.”

The three palace maids each placed some small silver coins in the raised hand.

“Now can you tell us?”

“Word has it that the emperor has instructed Prince An to plot against Prince Chen, making him and Miss Ye have an intimate relationship, then granting them a marriage.”

Ye Chutang: “…”

Why does the damn emperor want to force her and Prince Chen together?

Her scumbag father even encourages her to marry Prince Chen.

These two old foxes must have some kind of scheme!

One of the palace maids asked in surprise, “What? Why?”

“Because Prince Chen repeatedly rejected the emperor’s marriage proposal, which angered the emperor. Now the emperor wants to teach him a lesson.”

The emperor wanted to marry Prince Chen off to the eldest daughter of the Minister of Revenue but was rejected by Prince Chen.

Now, he’s scheming against him to make Prince Chen beg him for a marriage!

This reasoning sounded plausible, but Ye Chutang didn’t believe a word of it.

Even though the emperor might be a fool, he wasn’t shallow enough to force a marriage like this. There must be a deeper purpose in trying to pair her with Prince Chen.

Ye Chutang thought for a moment, realizing the palace maids didn’t know the full truth, and decided to return to her bedroom.

Not long after she returned, Dan’er knocked on the door.

“Miss, dinner is ready.”

“Okay.”

Ye Chutang took a bag of sweet corn kernels from her space, threw away the plastic packaging, wrapped them in some coarse cloth, and left the room.

She told the others waiting to eat, “You all go sit in the dining room first. I’ll make some sweet soup.”

Dan’er immediately replied, “I’ll help you add firewood.”

“Alright.”

While Dan’er was adding firewood to the stove, Ye Chutang switched out the well water for spring water.

She also mixed in some cornstarch and beat some eggs.

The spring water was poured into the pot, and once it boiled, she added the corn kernels.

Then she added sugar and seasoning, thickened the soup with cornstarch, and finally beat the eggs into egg ribbons before finishing it.

“Done, time to eat.”

Dan’er picked up a bowl of corn soup and was surprised to see fresh corn kernels inside.

“Miss, didn’t we just plant the corn? How do you have fresh corn kernels?”

Ye Chutang casually lied, “I saw them on the street and bought some. It cost me five taels of silver.” Dan’er was stunned into silence.

If you were lucky, you could indeed buy off-season vegetables at such a high price.

Ye Chutang urged, “Everyone’s waiting for dinner. Let’s go to the dining room.”

Dan’er snapped out of her daze. “Yes, Miss.”

The sweet corn soup made with spring water was so fragrant that Jun’er immediately became greedy.

“Jun’er, this is made especially for you. Drink a few more bowls.”

Jun’er looked up at Ye Chutang with teary eyes, his voice choked, “Thank you, big sister.”

Ye Chutang smiled and gently tapped his nose.

“You’re crying over a meal? Aren’t you embarrassed?”

Jun’er quickly held back his tears, “Jun’er is happy. Jun’er won’t cry.”

“Good boy, eat up.”

After dinner, Ye Chutang asked, “Has Shuang’er not returned today?”

Dan’er, who was cleaning up the table, shook her head. “No, she was badly hurt and works slowly. She probably hasn’t even finished cleaning the chamber pot yet.”

She didn’t feel the least bit sorry for Shuang’er. She brought it upon herself!

“Then don’t worry about her.”

After Ye Chutang spoke, she took Jun’er for a walk to help with digestion.

She specifically headed toward Liuli Courtyard.

The closer they got, the clearer they could hear Kong Rucha’s hoarse, painful screams.

Jun’er was too frightened to walk any further.

He remembered the pain he endured when he was forcefully fed medicine—sharp pain that left him powerless to even scream.

Ye Chutang crouched in front of Jun’er and looked at him seriously.

“If you think I was wrong, big sister will go heal your mother.”

“She’s not my mother.”

Ye Chutang didn’t take this remark to heart, thinking that Jun’er had been tortured by Kong Rucha for too long and wanted to distance himself from her.

“Big sister is a good person, and whatever she does is right.”

Jun’er said this firmly, holding Ye Chutang’s hand and step by step, bravely walking toward Liuli Courtyard.

He wanted to show his big sister that he was brave and didn’t care whether his mother was in pain.

After confirming that Jun’er didn’t care about Kong Rucha’s well-being, Ye Chutang pulled him back.

“It’s too noisy. Let’s go back.”

Back at Ningchu Courtyard, she gave Jun’er acupuncture treatment.

Jun’er’s body was much better, and to make the acupuncture more effective, she went a little deeper with the needles.

Jun’er trembled with pain, sweat pouring down, but he gritted his teeth and didn’t make a sound, nor did he ask why.

Le’er was heartbroken but didn’t think Ye Chutang was doing this intentionally.

After the acupuncture, Jun’er collapsed on the bed, gasping for air.

Ye Chutang packed up the needles and reminded, “Drink the medicine while it’s hot.”

Then she went to her bedroom to bathe and rest.

In the middle of the night, Ye Chutang sneaked off to the national treasury.

The national treasury, located next to the imperial palace, was vast, with high walls and heavily guarded by soldiers. It was as secure as could be, with a sentry every few steps.

Inside, there were not only gold and silver treasures but also essential supplies like grain, cloth, and metals, prepared for possible disasters and wars.

Ye Chutang didn’t rush into the national treasury. She first used her earth-based ability to sense the situation around the outer perimeter.

To her surprise, there were many guards, and even the storage rooms were full of people.

“Seems like the dog emperor is paranoid about theft and is taking precautions.”

A direct assault was impossible, and there wasn’t enough time for a clever plan, so she had to give up.

Ye Chutang naturally wouldn’t return empty-handed.

She grinned, her teeth showing, “If I can’t steal from the national treasury, I’ll steal from the dog emperor’s private treasury instead!”