Chapter 737: Chapter 737: There’s Something Wrong With These Fruits!

Xiu Pin quickly stood up and said, "Thank you, sister!"

Zhi Jin smiled faintly, "We’re sisters, no need to be so formal."

Though she said so, a trace of malice flashed in her eyes!

Wei Yunyan, you wretched girl, dreaming of giving birth peacefully? Dream on, hahaha!

She laughed wantonly inside, got up, and went with Xiu Pin to the Imperial Hospital.

There is no shortage of those seeking favor everywhere, but this time they met a fairly decent Imperial Physician who gave them the medicine.

"Red flower? What do you two ladies need this for? This is not something easily given out."

Asked the physician handing out medicine.

"I’ve been sleeping poorly lately, I want to try various floral teas."

Xiu Pin said in a deep voice.

While coming over, Zhi Jin advised her that she must show off or else these people wouldn’t take her seriously.

Sure enough, after Xiu Pin said this, that physician hesitated but still handed it over.

"If the lady is pregnant, this red flower must not be consumed."

"I know this!"

"Meow~"

Suddenly, a cat cried, and a black cat darted in, pouncing straight onto Xiu Pin.

"Ah, help—"

Xiu Pin was terribly afraid of cats, frightened since childhood, so seeing this black cat immediately made her panic and scream. She stumbled back and bumped into the palace maid holding the medicine bag, causing the maid to fall backward.

"Oh oh oh, careful!"

Behind the maid was that Imperial physician who had just turned to close a medicine box. Suddenly hearing noise behind him, he instinctively turned and saw the maid falling.

He didn’t have time to react and got knocked over.

"Crash..."

He fell precisely into a row of medicine boxes, causing them to collapse like dominoes...

The series of sounds disturbed the medicine gathering area in the Imperial Hospital into a mess.

Zhi Jin signaled her trusted maid beside her to quickly open the cabinet holding the red flowers, took advantage of the chaos to grab a handful and stash it in her bosom, then hurried away.

With such confusion on this side, no one would bother figuring out how some red flowers went missing; in fact, nobody would even notice.

The pharmacy in the Imperial Hospital was in chaos for half a day and finally settled down. Xiu Pin was frightened by the black cat and went back to rest, while Zhi Jin, with her trusted palace maid, returned to the main palace of Palace Embroiderer.

"Go soak all these red flowers, remember, don’t let anyone see!"

"Yes!" The trusted palace maid responded and didn’t ask what this was for, just went to do it.

Zhi Jin’s eyes flashed with cold sarcasm, gently pinched the tip of her finger, thinking of repairing her fading rouge after bathing later.

"Madam, these days the autumn tiger, Empress daily sends chilled boxes; you see..."

Once the palace maid had soaked the red flowers, she returned to ask Zhi Jin for instructions.

Zhi Jin had already finished bathing; a maid was meticulously fixing her rouge. The palace maid responsible for soaking spoke, promptly glancing at Zhi Jin.

Zhi Jin waved her hand, sending everyone away.

Zhi Jin looked up at that palace maid, her lips subtly curving into a smile, "Do you know what to do next?"

"Madam, rest assured, I know what to do!"

"Hmm, good, once this is done, you’ll be handsomely rewarded!" Zhi Jin nodded slightly, taking off her Jade Bracelet, "Take this Warm Jade Bracelet, it’ll offset the chill of these frozen fruits."

These frozen fruits harbor any chill?

It’s merely an excuse Zhi Jin found!

The palace maid’s eyes lit up seeing the white jade, translucent with a touch of crimson, she’d always liked this bracelet, her eyes often glancing at Zhi Jin’s wrist.

Now this bracelet was given to her?

Joy filled the palace maid’s heart; she promptly bowed, "Thank you, madam, I shall do the task perfectly!" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The palace maid, delightedly clutching the bracelet, went to do the task, while Zhi Jin displayed a sinister smile.

Everything was planned well; once Lady Ming Fei miscarried, this matter would never trace back to her, the feeling of being detached from the matter, truly delightful.

She leisurely got up, hummed a tune, then walked to the window to gaze at the scenery outside, giggling.

The laughter was chilling and made one’s skin crawl...

"Quickly, hurry, don’t let the ladies wait long!"

On a winding palace path, several palace maids carrying wooden boxes hustled under the urging of a female official. Ahead, another group of maids approached, similarly holding wooden boxes.

The palace maids hastened their steps, with all the corners in the corridor being many, leading to a "bang" of a mishap!

"Oh my..."

A few palace maids collided, spilling the food boxes all over the place.

"Oh dear, why so careless? This is meant for the ladies; if broken, can you afford to compensate?"

"Hey, how can you speak like this? Are we not delivering things for the ladies too? This is meant for Lady Ming Fei, hmph, if damaged, it’s your necks that wouldn’t compensate!"

A cacophony of arguing palace maids ensued, prompting the leading female official to scold, "Stop quarreling, Lady Ming Fei is waiting to eat, hurry and tidy up!"

"Yes! Hmph!"

"Hmph!"

The two groups of palace maids snorted lightly at each other, tidied things up, and passed by.

Little did they know that a palace maid had swapped one of the wooden boxes.

"The lady is waiting, don’t know what you’re fussing about?"

The female official grumbled all the way, finally leading them away.

Zhaoming Palace.

Long Yue had a particular fondness for fruit boxes these days, especially ice-chilled fruit; they were delightfully tasty.

In past years, she fell into an icy pool on a cold winter day, contracting chills, making pregnancy difficult, but now after years of recovery, it has improved. Moreover, Duanmu Nan shared many medical insights with Long Yue, allowing her to nurse herself.

With her health improved, her taste cravings emerged.

She desired chilled fruits, sour and sweet, with such delightful flavor!

"Madam, items from the Empress have arrived."

Outside came the flattering voices of palace maids, Liu Xiang went out and saw indeed two boxes of fruit, then chuckled, "Thank Empress for my master!"

With that, she took the boxes inside.

"Madam, they have arrived, oh how cool, feeling so refreshing!"

Yu Zhu hurriedly steeped forward, touched the boxes, exclaiming in awe.

Long Yue smiled.

The wooden boxes were chilled with ice cubes. These ice cubes were chiseled from the river during winter, transported for storage in underground icehouses, and brought out now as the weather heated.

Due to the arduous effort of chiseling ice blocks, production wasn’t high, usually affordable only by the Imperial Family or affluent merchants.

Chilling fruit with ice cubes, that flavor is superb!

Long Yue gently smiled, enjoying chilled fruits, she had Yu Zhu open a box to indulge a bit.

However, as soon as the box was opened, Long Yue sensed a strange aura wafting.

The aura wasn’t strong, overshadowed by the fruit’s fragrance, yet she detected it.

Something’s amiss, this fruit box is wrong!

There’s an issue inside!