A Foodie Transmigrated into the Palace-Chapter 1044: Comforting

"What happened?"

Zhao Junyao immediately sensed something was off about her mood.

Xia Ruqing didn’t look at him.

She stared blankly at the chessboard for a long while before casually saying,

"Yellow Bean is dead!"

Although to outsiders it was just a dog, they both understood.

Yellow Bean was a childhood companion to several of the children, with deep emotions attached.

This kind of occurrence was truly a heavy blow to the children.

Especially to Yue Er, seeing her like that tore Xia Ruqing’s heart to pieces, and she wished she could tear the culprit to shreds!

Zhao Junyao was clearly shocked too, incredulous.

"What?"

"Dead?"

Even for an emperor who grew up in the Imperial Palace, it was hard to imagine someone would be so deranged as to target a little dog. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Just how malicious and venomous is this person?!

"Who did it? When did it happen?"

With these words,

his expression instantly turned serious.

Xia Ruqing remained silent for a while longer, pondering a bit before deciding it couldn’t be hidden, so she spoke the truth.

"It was Consort Shih Pin! It should have been... yesterday!"

She found it a bit strange, though.

The Emperor doesn’t know yet? How is that possible?

Had the Imperial Medical Bureau not reported it? Or had Consort Shih Pin not gone to report it yet?

Zhao Junyao, shocked and mixed with anger, immediately turned his head and ordered,

"Someone, go check if Li Shengan has returned to Zhaochen Palace. Tell him to get over here immediately!"

"Yes!"

Xiao Zhu Zi ran off like a flash.

Before long, Li Shengan came running along the way.

On the way, he asked Xiao Zhu Zi for a lot of information.

And Xiao Zhu Zi, considering Li Shengan the big boss among eunuchs, spared no detail.

Li Shengan felt his heart turn cold while his feet moved even faster.

As soon as he entered the room,

without a word, he knelt to the ground with a thud.

"Greetings, Your Majesty, greetings, Your Empress!"

Xiao Zhu Zi, caught off guard, could only kneel as well!

Zhao Junyao squinted his eyes at Li Shengan.

His gaze was sharp as a frosty sword, chilling his neck as if his head might fall off any second.

Just when cold sweat had soaked Li Shengan’s back,

Zhao Junyao finally spoke coldly.

"Are you aware of your crime?"

Li Shengan kowtowed.

"This servant is aware of the crime, this servant deserves death!"

Zhao Junyao, with unchanged expression, sipped his tea and ordered calmly,

"Tell me exactly what happened!"

"If you leave out a single word, I will have your dog life!"

"Yes!"

Li Shengan kowtowed.

"This servant understands!"

Then he recounted what happened yesterday without any particular stance.

Even if everyone knew who did it, without evidence he couldn’t say recklessly.

After all, it could be a grave accusation against a palace consort if mishandled.

After Li Shengan finished speaking, he continued to lower his head.

Zhao Junyao, having listened, showed a cold gaze.

His expression was dark and unclear; the atmosphere in the room plummeted accordingly.

After an unknown length of silence,

Zhao Junyao suddenly clenched his fist with determination.

"Investigate!"

Li Shengan shivered and promptly accepted the order.

Xia Ruqing was about to speak but hesitated.

Zhao Junyao dismissed the palace attendants and turned to hold her hand.

"Rest assured, I will not let you be wronged!"

Xia Ruqing quickly shook her head.

"Your Majesty..."

"It’s an established fact that Yellow Bean hurt the Third Princess. If it’s used to punish Consort Shih Pin, wouldn’t it be..."

Xia Ruqing couldn’t continue speaking.

At this moment, she didn’t think Zhao Junyao standing up for her was a good thing.

On the contrary, she felt it was improper.

The Third Princess still needed to establish herself, and she absolutely couldn’t let Yellow Bean affect Consort Shih Pin.

Perhaps Consort Shih Pin calculated this point exactly!

Xia Ruqing gave a cold smile.

"Indeed, quite a calculation!"

Zhao Junyao also raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Qingqing, you are mistaken!"

"What I’m going to investigate is not the cause of Yellow Bean’s death, but... Yijing’s injury!"

Since it was impossible for Yellow Bean to hurt anyone,

there must be another story behind it.

The Third Princess was his own flesh and blood; it was impossible for him to ignore her serious injury.

"The dog was just a tool!"

For example, the knife that kills, can you blame the knife?

Of course, it’s the person wielding the knife who’s guilty.

Ultimately, Zhao Junyao despised the harem women harming the children.

That was his last line!

No matter how the children were, they were the precious gems of the Imperial Family and couldn’t be sacrificed in their struggles.

Xia Ruqing suddenly understood and smiled.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Why hadn’t she thought of that? Yellow Bean itself was not guilty.

Why not investigate? It should be thoroughly investigated and the truth revealed.

She wanted to see who really wanted to use Yellow Bean to harm the Third Princess!

Zhao Junyao’s expression finally softened, and he patted her shoulder.

"Alright, don’t worry. Leave this to me!"

Xia Ruqing smiled faintly, acquiescing.

...

After handling these matters, it was almost noon.

Xia Ruqing hadn’t had breakfast yet and was already starving, so she called for a meal to be set up.

"It’s not early anymore, why not have breakfast and lunch together?"

"What does Your Majesty want to eat?"

Zhao Junyao was somewhat troubled, with matters weighing on his mind, he waved his hand.

"Anything, whatever will do!"

He didn’t care much for culinary pleasures, paying attention when he was in a good mood.

When in a bad mood... he couldn’t care less about anything.

Xia Ruqing didn’t insist, ordered some of his usual favorites, and they had lunch together.

They didn’t speak during the meal.

The meal ended just at noon.

She was about to rest for a while when a Sister came to report.

"Your Majesty, Your Empress, the Princess is awake!"

Xia Ruqing quickly got up.

Zhao Junyao also felt a wave of heartache.

Yue Er’s little companion was gone, the little girl must have cried a lot.

Just thinking of his precious daughter’s tears, Zhao Junyao wanted to flip the table in rage.

However, the two managed to restrain themselves.

The Sister brought Yue Er in.

As soon as Yue Er saw her father, she burst into tears again.

The little girl who used to love talking and laughing was now a little crying person.

Her bright eyes, like a vast sea of stars, were now filled with tears, and the beads of tears streamed down her cheeks.

Zhao Junyao was heartbroken.

"Yue Er, don’t cry!"

"How about I find you another one, okay?"

"You still have Da Bai and Xiao Bai!"

Little Yue Er couldn’t stop crying.

"No! Yellow Bean, I just want... Yellow... Bean!"

The little girl, just over two, sobbed so hard her eyes were swollen.

Xia Ruqing’s heart shattered as well.

"Be good, Yue Er, listen!"

"Mother will take you to find an identical one, okay?"

Yue Er was stunned for a moment upon hearing this.

Stubbornly she said, "There’s no identical one! No! Yellow Bean... is Yellow Bean!"

No one could replace it!

Xia Ruqing was at a loss for words, thinking: Truly like father, like daughter, look at how stubborn they both are!

Sigh!

Nothing to be done, her own flesh and blood!

As Zhao Junyao and Xia Ruqing coaxed and persuaded her in every way, promising to find an identical little yellow dog,

Yue Er finally stopped sobbing.