On April 15, the rebels arrived outside Chang'an City and wanted to attack the city, but encountered the remnants of the Tiance Army who retreated to Chang'an. The rebels thought that there were not enough troops stationed in Chang'an City, so it would be easy to capture Chang'an City, so they underestimated the enemy. The Tiance Army was an excellent force, and because they had fought bravely in the Battle of Tongguan, the rebels were defeated by the Tiance Army. The Tiance Army was almost annihilated, blocking the rebels outside Chang'an City. The rebel generals could not figure out the situation inside, so they ordered to set up camp, probably meaning to besiege.
When the news reached Chang'an, the nobles who had not escaped in time almost went crazy. Although there were farmers in Chang'an, the food supply was insufficient. Previously, it was transported from Luoyang via waterways. Now that Luoyang was broken, there was naturally no food to transport. Chang'an was still trapped, and it was just a matter of life and death with the rebels.
However, it was too late to run away. If you ran into the rebels, you would be dead. If you didn't run away, you would be frightened. Once the city was broken, you would fall into the hands of the rebels and die.
There was a burst of wailing in Chang'an City. No one cared about the Daming Palace. Then there was the incident of the emperor abandoning the city and fleeing south. No one had been to the Xuanzheng Hall for several days, so no one knew that it was Li Qishen who was handling affairs in the palace.
He was lucky enough to have issued an imperial decree, and the nearest Jiedushi all responded. He did not count on others, and mainly relied on the Shuofang Army and the Tiande Army. With these two garrisons in hand, the rest was to dispatch troops from all over the country to cooperate and find ways to disrupt the rebels.
It is easier said than done. Li Qishen stayed in the Changsheng Palace, looking at the map day and night. The battle reports around him were piled higher than the other, and the wasted Huanhua paper was also piled up.
Xie Wangzhi didn't go back to the princess's mansion these days, and only asked Changning to send a message to her family. She decided to stay with Li Qishen and simply went back to her old job, rolling up her sleeves and cooking for him. It was a pity that Li Qishen was too worried and couldn't eat anything. He ate only to avoid starving to death. There was not enough food in Chang'an City, so he couldn't think of things like golden minced meat and jade fish. He could only make the roughest noodles to avoid wasting a little.
"... I didn't eat much for lunch." When it was time for dinner, Xie Wangzhi looked at the pots and pans he was used to, and the remaining ingredients in the kitchen, and he was worried for a rare time, "What should I make..."
"This... Madam, please do as you please." Li Qishen had lived in the palace for a little longer, and did not want to have much interaction with the palace servants of Changsheng Palace, so he brought Changzu back from Qingsi Palace. Changzu probably still remembered Xie Wangzhi, scratched his face, "It's fine as long as it's made by you, Your Highness can always eat a few more bites, Your Highness is not picky."
Xie Wangzhi thought for a moment and said, "Let's make some porridge. It will make you feel more comfortable when you fall asleep after drinking it."
But Li Qishen never went to bed before midnight. No matter whether he ate porridge or bread, he always read the war reports from all over the country. He couldn't stand it anymore. He fell asleep on the table without taking off his clothes. However, Changzu couldn't say anything. He swallowed his words, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and replied softly: "Okay. Then I will take it later?"
"No need to trouble you, young supervisor." Xie Wangzhi scooped a large bowl of rice. "The porridge needs to be cooked until it is sticky and it takes a long time. Don't bother making an extra trip. I'll deliver it myself later."
Chang Zu had no choice but to nod and leave.
Xie Wangzhi scooped up some rice and was about to put it into the rice washing basin, but then he thought that the rice would swell while cooking the porridge and that there was too much rice in this bowl, so he planned to put some back in, but then he changed his mind and poured it all in again.
She also prepared her own food these days, often cooking with Li Qishen, picking out the good ones to send to Changshengdian, and eating the rest herself. The noodles and meat soup she made previously had some leftovers, but this time it was all white rice, which she was reluctant to let go of. However, after thinking about it, porridge was not filling, and Li Qishen deserved to eat a bowl of rice.
As for her, she wouldn't starve to death if she didn't eat. When she was still in Xie's house as a child, whenever she had salty porridge, Xie Wangzhi always complained that there was too much minced meat in the porridge, which suppressed the fragrance of the rice, and there was a layer of slightly solidified rice oil on the surface, which made her feel greasy. She would run around in the yard and refuse to eat. Xie Yunzhi always had to chase after her with a bowl in his hand and coax her to eat spoonful by spoonful.
Now, if she has a bowl of porridge with enough minced meat, she can drink it up and lick the bowl. It can be seen that the world will turn around, and the debt owed in childhood must be repaid when you grow up.
Xie Wangzhi tried to make the best of the situation, smiled, washed the rice, put it in a casserole, and started to cook the chicken. Li Qishen was not a child, so it was obviously inappropriate to chop it into minced meat. She gestured a few times and simply cut it into easy-to-eat chicken pieces, so that she could chew it for a while and her stomach would feel full.
The rice in the pot was stewed until it burst, and the previously chopped chicken and mushrooms were put in, with a pinch of salt, and stewed for another quarter of an hour. Xie Wangzhi dipped some rice oil with chopsticks to taste it and found it to be just the right saltiness. He filled a jar with it, put it in a food box and took it to Changsheng Palace.
Li Qishen didn't trust the original palace servants in Changsheng Hall, and he didn't like to be served personally. When Xie Wangzhi went over with the food box, the eunuchs and palace maids stood outside the hall in an orderly manner, but the hall was empty. As soon as he stepped into the hall, the light from the burning lamps flowed all over the floor, and long curtains hung on both sides of the screen. It was clearly the luxurious emperor's bedroom, but the few steps from the hall door to the desk could forcibly convey a sense of loneliness and desolation.
The person sitting behind the desk didn't seem lonely. Hearing Xie Wangzhi's footsteps, Li Qishen casually pushed aside the stack of folders on the desk and looked up at her with a calm voice: "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm here to bring you dinner. It's the porridge I cooked myself."
"It's hard work." Li Qishen smiled and lowered his head again, "Put it aside for now and eat it later."
Xie Wangzhi responded softly and sat down at the table. Seeing that there was not much empty space on the table, she placed the food box directly on her knees, held the food box, and carefully looked at the man behind the table.
Perhaps it's because he's old, or perhaps the lights in the hall are not bright enough, but looking at him now, the lines on Li Qishen's face are sharper than before, and he looks tougher than when he was young. The tenderness of youth has faded like the last glory of this empire, revealing the appearance of a man, with cold eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and when he lowered his eyes to read the battle report, he looked inexplicably distant, as if keeping people at a distance.
Xie Wangzhi couldn't help it, he raised his hand and touched his face, his fingertips lightly sliding across his cheek: "You've lost weight."
"… Hmm?" Li Qishen was stunned for a moment, then he smiled, a smile that showed the carefreeness of a young musician, and the tiredness between his eyebrows was also somewhat gone. He placed one hand on the back of Xie Wangzhi's hand, folded his fingers together, and gave it a light squeeze. He raised his other hand to imitate her movements, but pinched her cheek lightly, "What nonsense are you talking about? It's only been a few days, how can you tell if you've lost weight or not?"
"… Then just assume I was mistaken." Xie Wangzhi pulled his hand away. Knowing that he was tired, he didn't dwell on it and opened the lunch box. "The porridge was put in hot. Let it cool down first. How long do you want to watch?"
"It's hard to say. But I don't intend to starve, at most for a quarter of an hour."
"good."
Li Qishen touched the top of Xie Wangzhi's head and put his eyes on the memorial again. He didn't think carefully about the words when reading the war report. He was thinking about the war situation. This was the most difficult one. He had to dispatch troops to support Chang'an City and fight guerrilla warfare with the rebels scattered in various places. He had to guess the thoughts of the Jiedushi. He was so annoyed that he wished he could split a quarter of an hour into two.
He thought for a while, and when he had some ideas, he tore off a piece of paper and just as he started writing, he suddenly smelled a light fragrance and felt a slight heat on his lips. It was exactly a porcelain spoon.
"Well, are you planning to feed me?" Li Qishen didn't even raise his head.
Xie Wangzhi knew that he was taking advantage of him, so he moved the porcelain spoon closer to him, but he refused to let him go, and deliberately put on a stern face: "Eat it if you want."
"I dare not." Li Qishen hurried down the slope and opened his mouth to sip the porridge into his mouth.
The porridge was cooked very well, with each grain of rice bursting and sticking together softly and stickily. It became rice paste that could be easily swallowed with a sip of the tongue, but with the addition of finely chopped green leafy vegetables and skinless and boneless chicken, it didn't feel like the food was empty. A spoonful of slightly salty porridge, with the aroma of rice and meat mixed together, could taste the authentic freshness when it entered the mouth, and it warmed the stomach, making the empty stomach feel much more comfortable immediately.
With food in his stomach, his mind became clearer. Li Qishen wrote while Xie Wangzhi fed him porridge spoonful by spoonful. When he had sorted out his thoughts, finished copying on the silk, and had finished most of the porridge, he breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at Xie Wangzhi: "What about you? What did you eat tonight?"
Xie Wangzhi hadn't prepared anything at all. He was stunned for a moment before saying, "... Well, it's just porridge. I stewed it together with this."
"Really?" Li Qishen didn't quite believe it.
"Of course." Xie Wangzhi explained quickly, fearing that he would question him, "I stewed it in the same pot with you. I scooped out the thicker part for you. I don't like the top layer. It's greasy."
Li Qishen looked at her, as if he was convinced by her. He took the small jar from her lap and took out the spoon: "Alright, I'm not a child. I'm taking advantage of you to feed me this time. If the kid finds out in the future, he will definitely laugh at me."
Xie Wangzhi was stunned again: "What kid?"
Li Qishen didn't answer directly, but his eyes slid and glanced at her waist and abdomen.
Xie Wangzhi understood. What kind of child could Li Qishen have? Of course it came from her belly. He looked calm and composed. She didn't hate him for talking like that, but after all, it was a bit teasing. Xie Wangzhi suddenly became embarrassed and annoyed. He glared at him, then lowered his head, looking like he didn't want to talk to anyone.
Li Qishen did not say anything more extreme, he just felt that the girl in front of him was really thin-skinned, there would be plenty of fun to play with in the future. He stopped while he was ahead, scooped a spoonful of porridge, specially added a few strands of green leafy vegetables and a piece of chicken, and handed it to Xie Wangzhi: "Eat it."
"How did you..."
"You really can't lie. You can't explain yourself clearly every time, and I have to toss your sleeves." Li Qishen smiled and said softly, "Listen carefully, I don't want you to play any tricks to make others suffer for yourself. I said I like you, not to let you suffer in the palace, but because of a little selfishness, I want to see you every day. It's only been a few days, and there is always enough surplus food in Chang'an City. It won't be like this even if it's bad."
He looked at Xie Wangzhi and said seriously, "As long as I have a bite to eat, I will never let you starve."
The author has something to say: Changsheng: When I play straight, even I get scared (puffing smoke)
—Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2019-11-24 19:00:39~2019-11-25 12:02:47~
Thanks to the little angels who threw the grenades: Yu Hehe 1;
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