After drinking the water, Ye Jun wanted to eat more.
Bai Zhu ran to the kitchen and asked them to prepare a few side dishes quickly.
Naturally, they didn't dare to delay in the kitchen. It was already past mealtime, so they immediately got busy.
Finally, the main dish served on the table was a bowl of multi-grain porridge, accompanied by stir-fried magnolia slices, steamed shrimps, and a dish of three fresh delicacies from lotus pond.
The dishes are a combination of meat and vegetables, and are low in oil and non-spicy, which shows the chef's dedication.
Ye Jun especially loved the shrimp dish and ate most of the plate in one go.
After eating, people feel more energetic and look much better. So the emperor was in a good mood and rewarded the chef Liu who cooked the meal with twenty taels of silver.
No matter how much the emperor's reward was, it was a honor and made Liu Dun very happy.
But Ning Chen's reward caused even more speculation in the harem.
It was just a dish, but Concubine Ming enjoyed it so much that she rewarded the chef. I'm afraid she is really pregnant.
Ning Chen had official business to attend to and Ye Jun was ill, so he did not stay overnight. He had dinner with her and then returned to Jingqian Palace.
The next day, Yuan Jiu was sent to check on her. He was relieved to see that she was taking the medicine obediently.
Two days later, Wang Xiuyi suddenly came to visit.
"Sister, I heard that you were ill. I wanted to come and see you earlier, but the emperor was away a few days ago, so I didn't come. Are you feeling better now?"
As soon as Wang Xiuyi came in, she looked at Ye Jun's expression and the servants in her courtyard.
It doesn't look like there is any big happy event, but rather it seems very ordinary.
Ye Jun's complexion was indeed like that of a sick person, somewhat unnaturally pale.
"It's just a cold. You can ask your sister to go there, but don't let her get sick." Ye Jun smiled.
Huiyue immediately served refreshments.
Wang also came straight to the point, "It's good that you knew it was a cold. If you didn't know, seeing the emperor taking care of you like this, I would have thought you were pregnant."
Ye Jun was stunned for a moment, "No way, but what rumors are there outside these two days?"
"Not really, it's just that everyone thinks you are pregnant, so they called in the imperial physician and asked the chef to prepare special meals. Now, everyone is staring at your belly!" Wang Xiuyi said.
After looking at her expression, he was now sure that it was just a misunderstanding.
He sighed and said, "I was hoping that you were really pregnant, so this is just a false alarm."
"Isn't it fate that determines the birth of an heir?" Ye Jun couldn't help laughing. "I didn't know that and made such a joke. Wouldn't they be very nervous?"
Nan Zhi also suddenly realized, "No wonder there are always little palace maids and eunuchs hanging around outside Jiaotang Garden these past few days, trying to strike up a conversation, it turns out it's for this!"
"What a pity! It's all in vain. My stomach is full of pastries." Ye Jun covered his lips.
Wang Xiuyi also made her laugh, and the little bit of disappointment she had originally felt was completely gone.
After getting the confirmation, I felt relieved.
He sat in Jiaotang Garden for a while and then left.
Everyone in the harem was staring at her, and when they saw Wang Xiuyi coming out in a very good mood, they almost all concluded that Ye Jun was pregnant with the dragon heir.
After all, the two of them have always had a good relationship, and everyone knows that.
Wang is so happy, there must be good news.
Ye Jun and others, she was too lazy to explain such things.
Let it be a misunderstanding.
In six or seven days, she will have her period, and by then all the concubines' speculations will be proven wrong.
There was a lot of joy in the harem, but a major corruption incident occurred in the previous dynasty, which made Ning Chen very angry.
Last year, when the imperial merchants handed in their accounts, the profits on the Feng family's books were nearly 30% less than those of the Chu family.
Because these account books are not open to the public and only Ning Chen can see them, the Feng family has never known about this matter.
The Feng family thought that even if it was less than what they should pay, it was still much higher than the profit of ordinary merchants, so there should be no problem, so they were not alert at all.
Therefore, Ning Chen freed up his hands and sent people to investigate secretly as soon as possible. Without much effort, he found a large sum of embezzled silver.
If these are added, the Feng family's profit is less than 10% less than that of the Chu family.
Part of this money went into the pockets of the Feng family, while part of it disappeared without a trace.
Ning Chen was furious and immediately arrested everyone in the Feng family and put them all in jail for interrogation.
The Feng family were all businessmen and had never experienced such shock and punishment. Old Man Feng still had some integrity and confessed nothing, but his sons and daughters-in-law confessed everything.
But it is obvious that the most important things are in the mouth of the old man of the Feng family, and the confessions of others are not important clues.
Mr. Feng was already over 50 years old and they were afraid that he could not withstand the continuous torture and interrogation, so they temporarily detained him in the Dali Temple and interrogated him slowly.
The current Shaoqing of Dali Temple is Yi Xiuyuan’s brother, Wu Yiping.
Let him do this.
It was not easy for him either, after all, the Chief Justice of the Dali Temple above him was from the Chen family of the Duke of Yingguo.
Although the Chen family is the emperor's mother's family on the surface, everyone knows what is going on inside.
Especially since the imperial merchant Feng family was strongly recommended by the Duke of England back then. Now that something has happened, although no evidence has been found to link it to the Chen family, there must be some connection inside.
Therefore, Wu Yiping did not dare to relax at all. He simply moved everyone to the Dali Temple and assigned people to guard them strictly for fear of any mistakes.
However, that's what happened. One night, the old man of the Feng family was poisoned to death in prison.
As luck would have it, the night before, Duke Ying met Yi Xiuyuan's father on his way home from court, and they went to a restaurant for dinner together.
On the night of the incident, in order to avoid suspicion, the Dali Temple Minister had not been to the Dali Temple for a long time, and the entire Ministry of Justice was filled with Wu Yiping's people.
It’s hard to explain at the moment.
But no matter what, this matter was Wu Yiping's dereliction of duty.
Once Mr. Feng died, all the clues were gone.
Ning Chen would never believe that there was no one behind this.
What made him even more frightened was that even with strict guards, the Feng family was poisoned to death in prison within five days. This showed how powerful the people behind the scenes were and how they had penetrated into every corner.
Of course, the Wu family cannot completely escape responsibility, after all, they had contact with the Chen family on the eve of the incident.
This may be a trick of the British government, but it is worth checking.
So he sent his trusted confidant, the commander of the imperial guards Lu Qingyun, to the Wu Mansion to investigate. The Wu father and son were all on leave at home, and arrangements would be made after the whole thing was found out.
Something happened in her mother's family, and Yi Xiuyuan was also anxious and angry in the harem.
She wanted to go and beg for mercy, but nothing had been found out yet. If she went in a hurry, it would seem that there was something fishy going on with the Wu family. She could only wait.
As anxious as she was, Concubine Chen.
After all, the British Duke's Mansion is the big boss of this matter.
The previous dynasty was in chaos and the harem was also unstable. Ning Chen had no time to care about Ye Jun's condition, and he didn't ask anyone about it.
Ye Jun thought that the Chu family was also a royal merchant family and was worried about being implicated. He thought it would be better for him to keep a low profile and not let others take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble. So he closed the door, saying that he was recuperating and refused to see anyone.
This further deepened the misunderstanding that she was pregnant.