Queen Sun

Chapter 35 Summer Night
Taiji Palace is located in the northernmost part of the center of Chang'an Imperial City. Due to the low terrain, once summer comes, the palace is extremely hot and humid.Ever since the queen's body got heavier day by day, life in the imperial dining room has become more and more like walking on thin ice. The meals carefully prepared by the imperial chefs for the queen are often brought back without much movement. In recent days, it has been almost intact. move.Although His Majesty and the Empress have not said anything yet, the faces of Eunuch Zheng, the chief servant, and Mistress Guangyue beside the Empress have been gloomy for several days.

At this time, the Lizheng Palace has already passed the dinner time, but a table full of dishes is still placed on the desk. Li Shimin is holding a bowl of soup, scooped a spoonful carefully, and brought it to his wife's mouth, saying softly Coaxed: "Ruoshui, take another sip, you haven't eaten anything tonight."

Just smelling the smell of chicken soup, Ruoshui frowned tightly, shook his head with a bitter face and said: "Second brother, I really don't want to eat it."

Li Shimin looked at Ruoshui worriedly, but did not take back the silver spoon in his hand, until his wife gave in and opened her mouth slightly, then he smiled happily and said, "Just take another sip."

Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, Ruoshui suddenly covered her mouth, got up quickly and walked towards the inner room, Li Shimin hurriedly followed behind her, calling the ladies in a hurry.

Ruoshui, who had gradually gotten used to morning sickness these days, was not so nervous. After a while, she turned around and smiled comfortingly at her nervous husband.

But in Li Shimin's eyes, only his wife's pale and thin face was seen. He hugged his wife distressedly, and suddenly realized that in the past month, the only thing that had gained weight on her body was the obviously protruding abdomen. Immediately, he raised his voice and said: "Guangyue, hurry up and call the imperial doctor."

Ruoshui strongly resisted the uneasiness that was still churning in his stomach, and spoke out to stop him: "No need, second brother, even if the imperial doctor comes, it won't help in this situation, the prescription they prescribed just makes me feel more uncomfortable."

Li Shimin took the clear water from Guangyue rather at a loss, so he had to put on a steady tone and said: "Okay, we are not called imperial doctors, let's rinse our mouths first."

Ruoshui nodded, and felt a little refreshed after the glass of water was used up, then pointed to the outside and said: "Remove all the things on that table, I feel uncomfortable just looking at it."

Guangyue looked at the emperor and nodded reluctantly, but she had no choice but to act according to her words, but she was worried in her heart. The young lady ate less and less these days, and it would not be a solution in the long run.

Obviously, Li Shimin also thought of this. He supported Ruoshui to sit on the edge of the couch, with a worried expression on his face: "Ruoshui, what do you want to eat, I'll let them do it."

Ruoshui leaned against her husband's arms, only felt a refreshing smell, and fell asleep for a while, and said vaguely: "I just feel hot, and I don't want to eat anything."

Li Shimin lowered his head, pondered for a moment, and said, "Ruoshui, how about we build a summer palace in Shangyuan in the north of the city?"

Ruoshui's eyes opened slightly, and he asked suspiciously: "But what should you do if you go to court, second brother?"

"Fool, let's build it bigger, and handle court affairs there every summer, isn't that all right?" Li Shimin smiled affectionately.

Ruoshui thought about it carefully, Xiagong, could it be the later Daming Palace?Seeing that his wife didn't speak, Li Shimin thought she was still worried, so he comforted him and said, "Earlier, my father also mentioned to me that this Taiji Palace is too humid and not suitable for recuperation. He wants to build another palace to live in. If there are courtiers Opposing large-scale construction projects, I just use this reason to prevaricate, forgive me and no one dares to make a fuss about this matter."

Ruoshui raised his eyes and slowly smiled: "Then it will take a while, but I feel very uncomfortable now."

Li Shimin was taken aback for a moment, and then seeing the naughty smile on his wife's face, he couldn't help crying and laughing: "Then what do you want to do before you are willing to eat?"

"Yeah." Ruoshui avoided answering, but pulled her husband's shirt and said, "Second Brother, what kind of incense do you smell so good?"

Li Shimin raised his sleeves and sniffed it, wondering: "How can there be any smell? I was used to it on the battlefield in the past. I specially reminded Zheng Ji not to allow them to burn incense on their clothes. Maybe it's the incense burning in the house."

"Where is it?" Ruoshui wrinkled his nose in dissatisfaction, "I asked Guangyue to smell all the incense in the palace, but there is no such pleasant fragrance."

Li Shimin shook his head, simply opened his clothes, let his wife stick to him, and asked, "Is there still a scent?"

Ruoshui's perception has been dull in the past few days, and suddenly he felt the cool skin against his face, and the light smell permeated his nose more clearly, and he couldn't help closing his eyes comfortably: " Second brother, so you have body fragrance."

Unexpectedly, Li Shimin was immediately provoked by Ruoshui's ominous words, but seeing her innocent sleeping face and puffed stomach, he had no choice but to grab the herbal tea on the side and drink it down in one gulp, but there was a feeling in his heart. The slightly astringent warmth surged up, and Shangqiongbi fell to Huangquan. I am afraid that I will never be able to let go of the hands that accompanied me through glory and death.

Just after that charming daydream, Li Shimin's thoughts fell on his wife's lack of food again. He thought over and over again about all kinds of folk remedies he had inquired about these days, so that when Zheng Ji called out several times outside the curtain, , I just came back to my senses.Then he put Ruoshui who had fallen asleep firmly on the couch, looked at that plain face for a long time, and finally got up and walked out the door.

"It's so late, what's the matter?" Li Shimin asked absently.

There was a trace of excitement in Zheng Ji's respectful voice: "Your Majesty, the slaves have inquired about a person outside the palace who specializes in making a snack called 'Honey Bowl'. , ask that person to come to the palace to have a try?"

Li Shimin hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still had a little hope and said: "Then call him into the palace early tomorrow morning, and give the queen a change during lunch."

The next day, just after noon, when Dang Ruoshui looked at the food box Guangyue was holding in her hand, she couldn't help but put her hand on her protruding abdomen, and a slightly sour satisfaction naturally overflowed in her heart. A child who is connected with his own blood, even though thousands of years have passed.Suddenly, she felt a slight touch in the palm of her hand, and she was stunned for a few seconds, then the queen's soft cry of surprise came from the huge room.

Seeing this, Guangyue and Mingxia couldn't help smiling at each other. Mingxia even put down the bowls and chopsticks in her hands, and said happily: "Miss, maybe the little prince is hungry too."

Ruoshui said with a reproachful smile, "You are forcing me to eat."

"Miss, today His Majesty specially invited a new cook from outside the palace to make a kind of folk snack, which might suit your taste." Guangyue said while taking out a basin with A bowl-shaped thing is very novel.

Ruoshui looked at the small golden bowl, took a bite out of it with chopsticks curiously, and put it into his mouth. He suddenly felt sweet and soft. The appetite that had been sluggish during these days seemed to be opened up all of a sudden, and then he began to eat mouthful. , A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Seeing Guangyue, she was so pleasantly surprised that she quickly pushed Mingxia beside her and said, "Hurry up and go to the imperial dining room and keep that master surnamed Zhang, saying that His Majesty and the Empress will reward you a lot."

After all, he hasn't eaten normally for a long time, after Ruoshui ate two servings, his stomach felt full, he raised his eyes and said with a smile: "What is this called, it looks fun, and it tastes delicious too. "

The smile on Guangyue's face deepened, and she took out a small bowl of clear porridge and said: "I heard from the master that this is called a 'honey bowl', and it is a craft handed down from their family. When I moved to Chang'an, Eunuch Zheng found me in the palace."

It turned out that this was the "Honey Bowl". Ruoshui's appetite seemed to open up again. He picked up the porridge and drank a few more mouthfuls. At this moment, the emperor's excited voice suddenly came from his ear: "Ruoshui, I heard that you are willing to eat rice." Have you eaten?"

"Second brother, shouldn't you still be in court?" Ruoshui asked as he put down his bowl.

Li Shimin looked at the empty plate on the table, and immediately smiled and answered irrelevantly: "The 'honey bowl' really works? I just heard that you can eat." After finishing speaking, he looked at Ruoshui's face carefully, and said with a smile , "I really should reward that cook well, no matter how I look at your face, I feel a lot more refreshed."

Ruoshui couldn't help but chuckled: "Second brother, it's not so amazing, but this "honey bowl" is really appetizing."

"Sure enough, there are many capable people in the countryside, why not leave this person behind." Li Shimin said with emotion, "There are so many imperial cooks and imperial doctors in this palace, and they are of no use at all when it is important."

Ruoshui shook his head, disapproving and said: "Some people seem to be like fish in water outside the palace, if you must keep him in this high wall, it's not good."

Li Shimin replied nonchalantly: "After a while, I'll ask the cook to ask. If he really doesn't want to, as long as he teaches the royal cook in the palace how to make this "honey bowl", he can leave the palace."

Ruoshui frowned, and said bluntly: "Second brother, I heard that it is his family's ancestral craftsmanship. If so, how can we order him to hand over to others at will? I think it's better to wait for a while and learn from him personally. Just do it."

"If it's water, how can it be done?" Li Shimin immediately refused, "As a queen, how can you cook at will, not to mention that you are still weak."

Ruoshui pursed his lips slightly, then softened his voice to persuade: "At the beginning, I was not a queen when I married you. Second brother, when I learn it, I will be the first one for you to try, how about it?"

Li Shimin glanced at his wife's hopeful smile, and the image of Ruoshui personally holding the "honey bowl" to him immediately appeared in his mind, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up slightly: "Okay, but we must wait until you give birth to the child." after."

Seeing Ruoshui's happy smile, Li Shimin picked up the porridge left in front of him and added: "Now, let's finish this small bowl of porridge first."

Ruoshui only hesitated for a moment, but he still picked up the spoon unwillingly, and while eating, he heard Li Shimin ask seemingly unintentionally: "Ruoshui, I heard that you know a man named Chu Suiliang?"

Putting down the spoon, Ruoshui looked at her husband frankly and said, "I don't know him, but I heard that his handwriting is very good, he learned the handwriting of Yu Shinan and Ouyang Xun, and he is very good at distinguishing the authentic works of Wang Xizhi, so I found him Fang Xuanling asked."

Li Shimin looked at Ruoshui thoughtfully for a while, then smiled and said: "I just heard Xuanling talk about this person today, and it is said that he was a good friend of Wuji when he was in Luoyang. Called into the palace to meet."

Ruoshui was startled, but still looked directly at Li Shimin, and said with a slightly raised tone, "Oh? That's really a coincidence, I didn't know he was still my brother's friend, but I just thought it was because of my second brother, you love Wang Zi so much." , I thought of this person."

Li Shimin immediately expressed his relief and said: "In a few days, I will try him with a few pictures."

Ruoshui naturally changed the subject when he heard the words, "Second Brother, you haven't told me yet, why did you come back so early today?"

Li Shimin's face suddenly became gloomy, and he took out a book of notes from his sleeve, just about to throw it on the ground, held it in his hand for a long time, and finally dropped it heavily on the case.

Ruoshui looked at Li Shimin's out-of-control anger in surprise, but didn't look at Zhezi in front of him, only looked into his eyes, and asked directly: "Wei Zheng made you so angry again?"

"It's not just Wei Zheng." Li Shimin squeezed out the words word by word, "Yu Zhining, Ma Zhou, they are all facing me."

Ruoshui continued to ask calmly, "What's the matter?"

Li Shimin glanced at the case, and said coldly: "For the edict of my entrustment."

(End of this chapter)