Cunning General Si Ning

The accessories box was next and Si Ning was impressed to see it divided, one part containing hair accessories, a part for hand accessories, a part for clothing accessories and they were all sparking, some gold, some silver, some bronze, and one way or the other the accessories part was shaped like a dragon, its either the head was in the shape of a dragon or the body.

"These Imperial accessories were made from pure material without any impurities which are perfect for King Consort and these Imperial jade were the purest jadeite in the whole of Xiu." The eunuch explained.

If the eunuch wasn't dressed in a eunuch attire, Si Ning could almost see him as a salesman with how much his eyes were sparkling and mouth was moving smoothly like he had experience in drawing his customers in. 

Si Ning had seen enough accessories in his life so he moved over to the box of shoes, he picked up a dark boot, the quality was top notch so he had no complaint and he was glad to see that there was no emblem on it. After a quick look at two more shoes, it seemed any of the shoes doesn't have the emblem in them but his eyes caught sight of white boots which were made with fur. 

"This pure white shoe leather is extracted from the mountain white tiger which takes ten men to kill and it was carefully made with the wool so soft to the touch and also a coat was made with the rest of the wool and it is among the clothes in the box but my favorite is the fox coat that would brighten up in the dark, King Consort these are all worthy of you."

Si Ning placed the white boots on the shoes and he passed by the box of sashes moving over to the box of natural ingredients. He picked up a bottle of honey, he tilted the bottle to see that the honey was thick and he knew the honey was good quality, he picked another bottle of grounded nym leaves. He doesn't know how Xiu Zhicheng knew that he used most of the ingredients for his beauty routine but he was impressed his husband to be knows him well.

"These ingredients, especially the...."

"I know." Si Ning interrupted the eunuch that wanted to start another exaggerated explanation on the ingredients.

Si Ning caught sight of a large dark transparent bottle which was the largest bottle among the different shapes and sizes of a bottle in the box, he picked it up to see it contained some sort of oil and the bottle doesn't have a label on it so he opened it pouring some into his hands and smearing his fingers with it trying to know what sort of oil it was because it smells nice.

"That oil is specially made with care." The eunuch said when Si Ning turned to him with a raised brow. 

Si Ning was expecting the eunuch to blab about the type of oil but after his short statement, he seemed like he wouldn't say more. "Is this..." He tilted his head knowing it was up to him to find out. "hmm lube?" His eyes widened when he realized what it was so he directed his gaze to see that Su Heng's face was bright red as he looked away, Chen An was staring at him while Ji Ran also turned his head away. 

"His Majesty specifically requested for that to be made." The Eunuch said. "As you can see King Consort, the feel on the hands.. "

"Enough." Si Ning brought out a handkerchief to wipe his hands as he returned the bottle, he doesn't know that Xiu Zhicheng was quite impatient for their wedding night, he also couldn't wait to use it on Xiu Zhicheng. 

There was plenty of time to check all the things in the boxes so for now Si Ning was going to do that later and now he was more concerned about why the Commanders of his army came to the palace.

"Young Master Ah Dai will arrange them in the wardrobe." Ah Dai said. 

"Okay, have as many servants as you want to help you." Si Ning told Ah Dai before turning to the eunuch. "I will have dinner with his Majesty tonight." He concluded.

"Yes King Consort, we will take our leave." The eunuch saluted and with the rest of the palace maidens, they left. 

"Chen An, Su Heng, and Ji Ran I believe you have things to say, come." Si Ning had already delayed them enough by attending to Xiu Zhicheng's messenger first.

Si Ning entered his study and took his seat waiting for his Commanders to take theirs, he could see they were staring at his masterpiece on the table even after taking their seats, this made Si Ning roll up the paper, the ink should be dry so it was safe to be rolled up. 

'General, we brought you this." Chen An brought out his pouch and gave it to Si Ning. 

Si Ning frowned and collected the pouch while hoping the pouch didn't contain a letter or report he needs to attend to. "What is it?" He opened it to see it was just some grounded leaves.

"This is a medicinal herb for tea which very scares that even the Imperial herb store doesn't have so Ji Ran ventured to get it and from what I heard one sip of this tea can heal all illness because we heard General had not been feeling too well, also General can share it with his Majesty." Chen An explained. 

Si Ning was unable to fix his bored look after detecting the purpose of their visit was to give him medicinal tea leaves. "I will use it well, this General is grateful." He said still with a dull look and didn't even bother to fix it. 

"General the army is doing well and from what we heard the men that joined the Imperial army are also doing well." Chen An said before leaning forward. "The spies we planted there said there is nothing out of the ordinary in the Imperial army." He whispered 

Si Ning couldn't believe they planted spies in the Imperial army, he doesn't know if it was a good thing or not but he trust that his Commanders to make the right decision. "Good, since you are here let's have lunch together." It wasn't time for lunch but there was nothing bad about eating early, he was someone that could wake up to eat midnight snacks.

"Excuse me, General, I will like to help the servants in moving the boxes." Ji Ran said. "And also help in preparing lunch."

Ji Ran doesn't have to spell out that he wanted to see Ah Dai for Si Ning to understand, it was a matter of the heart and he would also like to support his Commander who he thinks could give Ah Dai a better life. 

"Chen An and Su Heng can also help too by telling Yang Sheng all your favorite meals because you are all going to eat your favorite for lunch." It was Si Ning's way of sending them out so he could be alone. 

No matter how he doesn't want to talk about work but being amid his Commanders was going to spark up a conversation about it so he was going to avoid it.. The Commanders wore a brighten look as they stood up and saluted, glad to have something to do.