“Sister, you’re back.”
Shen Yu returned to Mu’en Hall when it was barely light.
Yin Qiu hadn’t slept all night, waiting for her to come back.
After seeing Shen Yu, her tense little face finally relaxed a bit.
“What’s wrong? You look so haggard. Didn’t you sleep all night?”
Shen Yu noticed the exhaustion on Yin Qiu’s pretty face and the obvious dark circles around her beautiful peach blossom eyes.
She had clearly stayed up all night through mental and emotional strain.
“I’ve been waiting for you to come back, Sister. I couldn’t sleep without you.”
Yin Qiu spoke cautiously, her voice soft and pitiful.
She was ultimately afraid of the vast Imperial Palace and the majestic Empress.
She believed meeting the Emperor was a matter of “nine deaths, one life”—one wrong word and she could lose her head.
That’s why she had been terrified all night.
Little did she know, Shen Yu had quickly reduced the Empress’s fever the night before; the rest of the time was spent discussing politics with Her Majesty.
“Silly girl, I just went to treat His Majesty. What were you worried about?”
“Mm… I-I wasn’t worried. I just… I’m used to falling asleep in your arms, Sister.”
“Sister must be hungry? I’ll go make breakfast!”
After confirming Shen Yu was safe, Yin Qiu sighed in relief and skipped into the kitchen to make breakfast.
The half pig sent by the Marquis Wuding’s residence and the half pig sent by Miss Xiaoyue hadn’t been dealt with yet.
Yin Qiu had never seen so much meat in her life.
Just thinking about those white slabs of pork fat made her mouth water.
“We can’t finish all this meat. I need to cure it into bacon so we’ll have meat for the New Year. I can also make sausages, skin jelly, and render lard.”
Yin Qiu found the tenderest piece of pork loin, cooked Shen Yu a bowl of shredded pork noodles, and added two perfectly poached eggs.
The bowl was full of shredded pork and white poached eggs, making the side dishes of greens and pickled vegetables look lonely.
“So much?”
Shen Yu was slightly startled by the huge bowl of noodles.
This bowl would be nothing in the modern world she had lived in before, but here it was a true delicacy.
White flour, lard, eggs, pork, greens, and pickled vegetables made with lots of salt—each was a solid hard currency.
Wasn’t it a bit extravagant to eat like this for breakfast?
“You can just cook some plain congee in the morning. Didn’t Yun Wei send us a jar of pickled vegetables before? That’s good enough with it.”
Shen Yu took a bite of the noodles and happened to notice the little girl nodding while happily slurping a bowl of plain noodles.
One mouthful made the girl beam.
She took a cautious bite of pickled vegetables, and Shen Yu felt she was about to fly with happiness.
But when Shen Yu looked down at her own bowl—full of meat, eggs, and greens—her heart was a mix of emotions.
The two bowls were worlds apart.
Yin Qiu had given Shen Yu the best parts while she herself happily ate a bowl of plain soup noodles.
She even drank every drop of the soup.
“I can’t finish this. Help me eat some. I already ate with His Majesty at the palace.”
Shen Yu had indeed eaten quite a few pastries in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Accompanying the Emperor in conversation was tiring, and the Empress seemed happy to watch Shen Yu eat.
She even bluntly said it was like feeding a little pet…
Shen Yu was displeased but didn’t argue with the Empress—after all, she was the Emperor.
Besides, plenty of people would want to be the Emperor’s pet, probably lining up from the capital all the way to Qingfeng Village.
Shen Yu had already freeloaded food and drink, so taking a little loss was fine.
‘That was definitely on a motherly level!’
‘This loss isn’t really a loss. After all, I got to take food and more…’