Chapter 456: Beware Of Danger In Times Of Peace


    Trantor: Henyee Trantions Editor: Henyee Trantions


    The nanny’s tone was calm, like a wooden person without a sense of smell. “Your Highness, there’s a peony pattern on the lid of your soup bowl. If you didn’t take the wrong bowl, it can only be a mistake when they were adding the ingredients.”


    The Empress’s mouth turned white when she walked out. “Find out who it was and flog her to death!”


    She couldn’t even handle such a small matter and made her lose so much face!


    “No, not only her alone. Kill her entire family…”


    However, she did not know that two of the 18 family members of the pce maid, who were in charge of drugging, were only prisoners on death row.


    At night, the Emperor came to the Empress’s pce after a long time. However, before the Empress could be happy, he said coldly, “An’ning is busy studying and running her shops. She doesn’t have much time. There’s no need to disturb her when we hold a banquet in the future.”


    “In addition, I heard that your appetite hasn’t been good recently? Looks like the cooking is not working well. Coincidentally, the imperial chef has recently taught a few new disciples. Their culinary skills are not bad. I’ll get Dezi to send them to youter.”


    After saying this, the Emperor lit themp and spent the night in the study approving memorandums.


    The Empress was angry but did not dare to say anything because she could tell that the Emperor was warning her.


    As expected, the Emperor spoke again before the court the next day.


    “The weather has been bad thesest few days. It’s easy to catch a cold. Since the Empress is not feeling well, it’s good that she’ll be recuperating in the pce. She doesn’t have to worry about anything outside.”


    The Empress’s face was pale. His Majesty wanted her to be grounded!


    He must know what she did!


    However, she didn’t know if this punishment was because she wanted to harm Xiao Ran’s daughter, or because the bowl of soup that was spiked was originally meant for his precious Noble Consort Ji!


    So that bowl of soup was tampered with by His Majesty’s men?


    Good, very good!!


    After this incident, the reputation of the elegant abode and Xiaoxiao rose at the same time.


    The elegant abode was the ce that the nobledies in the Imperial Capital wanted to go the most. Now that they had the Emperor’s inscription, they yearned for it even more—it was as if they could get involved with the Emperor after a trip to the elegant abode.


    The elegant abode, which was already very popr, was even busier now. Even the appointment schedule was nned until the next year. Mrs. Shen couldn’t stop smiling. “This is great. Let’s see who dares to force our Furong to cook in the future.”


    Furong also felt like she was dreaming. “I met Miss Xu at the door today. When she saw me back then, she wanted to raise her nose to where her forehead was. Today, she actually greeted me and called me ‘Sister Furong’.”


    She rubbed her arms with her uninjured hands. “It’s mushy.”


    Mrs. Shen poked her forehead. “Isn’t that a good thing? You have a backer now.”


    Her backer was writing and drawing at the side. “I didn’t consider this matter thoroughly enough. I thought that the Shen Family was already important enough. I didn’t expect Madam to have already expanded the elegant abode to this extent. Even the Empress has be a potential client. As expected of you.”


    Mrs. Shen rolled her eyes. She was a genius businesswoman who almost took over the Li Family. Hmph, she wouldn’t be happy even if that brat praised her! Mrs. Shen asked with a grin, “What are you drawing?”


    Xiaoxiao looked up in her busy state. “It’s a beauty recipe.”


    Sigh, Mrs. Shen was no longer sleepy if she said that. She looked at the bird’s nest desserts that Xiaoxiao had listed. “Can it really nourish our faces?”


    Xiaoxiao pursed her lips. “What? Swallow’s nest is just a swallow’s saliva. It’s not as nutritious as eggs.”


    Mrs. Shen was shocked. “So it’s useless?”


    Xiaoxiao thought about it carefully. “It’s notpletely useless. The effect depends on the person. Besides, is it nutritious for you to drink bird’s nest?”


    Without waiting for Mrs. Shen to answer, Xiaoxiao said, “A rich woman’s spending is for happiness. She only eats, drinks, and makeup to be happy. The rest is not important.”


    It was hard for Mrs. Shen not to agree with her.


    Xiaoxiao added, “Besides, swallow’s nest earns money from rich people. We don’t have to feel guilty.”


    Mrs. Shen suddenly felt that she had been a fool for many years.


    The next day, the elegant abodeunched a series of beauty nourishing meals, including bird’s nest soup. Once this set meal wasunched, it was immediately very popr. Not only were the noblewomen in the Imperial Capital fighting to book it, but even people from other ces kepting because of its reputation.


    Xiaoxiao struck while the iron was hot and pulled Rong Yan to start a chain inn. She was very busy.


    When the Emperor found out about this, he did not carefully gather the areas that Xiaoxiao had dabbled in recently. Then, he was surprised to discover that the Xiao Family seemed to have suddenly escaped poverty and be rich!


    He came to her door to freeload, but Xiao Ranined and despised him for getting fat.


    In the blink of an eye, another year passed. The watermelon harvest at the border could finally satisfy the normal supply in the border. The Great Wall Cargo, which was already quite well-known, had explored all the routes.


    As long as they were not hotheads who had just be bandits, no bandit would dare to find trouble with them. That group of fiends was not to be trifled with. It was not impossible for them to directly destroy the bandit nest when they were angry.


    Whether it was sending the food in the pass to the border city or sending the watermelons, grapes and cantaloupes outside the pass to the pass, there was no mission that the Great Wall Cargo could notplete.


    Hence, the people outside the pass never starved again, and the people inside the pass lived more and more colorfully.


    County Magistrate Shen brought the new rice seeds to almost half of Great Xia. In the past two years, not only did he do a good job on the imperial mission, but he also found a group of really capable low-level officials. With the help of these people, the new rice seeds spread everywhere and were about to cover all thend of Great Xia.


    The Emperor was so happy that he arranged another job for County Magistrate Shen – to build the granary of the world.


    Under Chen Yong’s supervision, the dike in Luo Prefecture became a powerful natural chasm to prevent water disasters. The poprization of new agricultural tools, including waterwheels, also became a reliable backing for the people.


    Everything seemed to be very stable, but in the pce examination not long ago, the Emperor saw an answer that satisfied him to the extreme.


    The title of the answer sheet was—Beware of danger in times of peace.


    The examinee analyzed the pros and cons of the people’s livelihoods in Great Xia in detail. Unlike those superficial articles, the Emperor realized that although this examinee’s suggestion was not as gorgeous as others’, it was very concrete and pragmatic. There were many insights that were really practical.


    The Emperor, who had finished reading the answers, could not wait to implement the newws proposed in a few articles. The construction of the granary was one of them.


    On the day of the pce examination, the Emperor asked curiously, “Who wrote it?”


    A dignified young man in the crowd replied, “I’m Ning Ansheng, a candidate from Xijiang County.”


    His surname was Ning?


    The Emperor looked at the young man’s high-spirited face and thought to himself, Could it be such a coincidence?


    “Ning Ansheng, right? Let me ask you, how did you know about these ces that you wrote on the answer sheet?”


    Ning Ansheng said, “Your Majesty, I once traveled and studied with Teacher. Although what was written in the text might not bepletely correct, I saw it with my own eyes and felt it personally.”


    Just this point alone was already something that many examinees could notpare to.


    The Emperor asked him again, “The examination is imminent, but you’re still traveling. Aren’t you afraid of dying your studying time?”


    Ning Ansheng revealed a warm smile. “My sister… My family once said something.”


    “It’s better to travel ten thousand miles than to read ten thousand books. It’s better to read countless people than to travel ten thousand miles. It’s better to be guided by a great teacher than to read countless people. It’s better toprehend it yourself than to be guided by a great teacher..”