"Summon An Erlang to the audience." Emperor Youning strode into the room.
The emperor's face was slightly gloomy, and he exuded the aura of calm before the storm. Everyone saluted and Emperor Youning waved his hand casually.
When passing in front of Shen Xihe, the emperor's heavy gaze paused for a few breaths, and Shen Xihe lowered his head and stood aside.
An Erlang was immediately invited over. He didn't know what was going on. When confronted with the Prince of Pingyao, he admitted openly, "I asked Prince Yu to hunt the deer, and I promised him a ginseng as a reward."
Ginseng from the Northeast, especially the one from Changbai Snow Mountain, is a tribute. Naturally, what An Erlang promised was not from an ordinary year. No wonder the Prince of Pingyao Hou was trying his best to hunt a sika deer.
"Why are we hunting deer today?" Liu San asked after receiving the emperor's signal.
An Jilang always felt that something had happened, but he couldn't guess what it was. He looked to his father for help. His father didn't dare to say anything to him, but just gave him a subtle look. An Jilang knew that this was asking him to tell the truth, so he could only say, "My younger sister is craving for venison. I was injured while suppressing bandits before coming to Kyoto, and I can't ride or shoot yet. I have some old friendship with Prince Yu, so I asked Prince Yu for help."
After hunting a good thing like a sika deer, it is inevitable to ask the emperor whether he wants to drink the deer antler blood, otherwise it would be a crime of disrespect. As for whether His Majesty will drink it, it depends on God's will. This is the only unpredictable part of Shen Xihe's plan.
In fact, Shen Xihe was very confident. On the one hand, deer antler blood was a top-quality product. Royal children would drink deer antler blood for nourishment. Emperor Youning attached great importance to health care. Sika deer were not often encountered, and the emperor would not order the hunting of sika deer for the sake of food. Otherwise, local officials and wealthy people would hunt them on a large scale. Every time he drank deer antler blood, it was because they were caught by chance during hunting.
It seemed like a long time since the last time. Secondly, the recent events in Dengzhou had given Emperor Youning a headache, and the imperial physician had sent him several times. Deer antler blood has the effect of strengthening the body and refreshing the spirit, and the emperor would not miss it.
Shen Xihe had already avoided the question of whether the emperor would know in advance that the jade mat incense would stimulate deer antler blood to become an aphrodisiac.
Many incenses, including the Yudeng incense, were purchased from Shen Xihe's Duhuo Tower. However, the former Concubine Rong, now Zhaoyi Rong, was hostile to Shen Xihe. She kept all the purchased incenses in the bottom of the box or distributed them to some unfavored concubines in the royal family palace because she didn't want Shen Xihe's things to come to the fore. Therefore, before Shen Xihe took over the power of the palace, no one knew of the existence of these things.
It was only after Shen Xihe took over the power of the palace that he re-counted the things brought on this trip to the palace and allowed these things to gradually see the light of day. It was also at the instruction of Shen Xihe that Yu Dianxiang appeared in the library and with An Zhengyi.
Shen Xihe is very confident in his incense. As long as Emperor Youning lights it, he will like its refreshing and calming effect, and will often light it in the library. Since he has done it many times, he will not be on guard. The eunuch guarding the library is Shen Xihe's man. Today, he had a stomachache due to An's conspiracy. Emperor Youning has always been a benevolent monarch, so he will naturally not make things difficult for him.
Why did An Zhengyi suddenly want to eat venison? In fact, the maid who delivered the message to An Erlang was actually someone Shen Xihe had pretended to be. It was not An Zhengyi's own idea at all. And the reason these people went hunting today was because Shen Xihe gave in to Shu Lin and instigated Ding Jue's organization, and it happened to be scheduled on this day.