Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 625: Chiseling Ice to Find Light (End)

When Pei Ye arrived at Jingchi, his steps paused unconsciously.

This lake is behind the Mingyue Palace. When you stand inside the courtyard wall and look from afar, you can see a corner of the lake shaded by untrimmed branches. Now, if you really walk into here, you can only see the calm lake covered with snow, tall and sturdy trees standing there, and the snow on the ground has never been stepped on by anyone.

Although he was in the imperial palace, one of the eight forgotten lakes still formed a large piece of beautiful ice in winter. Pei Ye climbed up and suddenly saw this vast scene appear in front of him. For a moment, he felt like he had stepped back into Kongtong Mountain in [Zhao You].

A frail figure half-crouched and half-knelt on the ice, digging vigorously with her head down, looking like a pale water bird from a distance. When Pei Ye walked to her side, the maid was sucking on her red and trembling fingers in her mouth, and finally she put them into her arms to wipe her saliva before daring to take them out again.

"What are you doing?" Pei Ye looked at the small iron spike on the ice. The palm-sized pits and broken ice next to it were probably the results of its recent achievements.

Meng'er held it in her hand again, aimed at the center and hit it down hard. Broken ice flew everywhere. Pei Ye saw that he could not avoid it by just turning his head, so he simply let it hit his face.

"..."

Meng'er quickly raised her hand, lowered her eyebrows, and smiled apologetically: "I hope I didn't hurt you..."

She stared and looked closer for a while, and saw that there was no red mark on the boy's iron face. She secretly retracted her neck and said, "I have to chisel the ice."

"You feel like it's underneath..." Pei Ye was speechless, raised his sword and said, "I can help you break it open."

"No, no!" Meng'er waved her hands to stop him, her face serious, "That won't work. You have to be sincere."

"Who are you sincere to?" Pei Ye looked around, "Do you have a statue of Buddha anywhere else?"

"Be sincere to Queen Wei." Meng'er ignored his joke and said seriously, "You know, the former Queen was a very gentle person. When she was there, it was as if there were no rules in the palace."

The girl continued, "I heard that when she left, she sent letters and left things to each of her friends. Could she have forgotten us, the servants in the palace? I heard from several older maids that she would often chat with the palace maids she met."

"..." Pei Ye was slightly speechless for a moment. This was really a naive fantasy of a young girl. Wei Qingju's situation before her death was already dangerous from the side. A large number of people who followed her were exiled or killed. The letters she sent were either farewells or instructions to someone like Xu Ji who could still rule for another thirteen years. In such a situation, how could she be expected to consider a palace maid with a disabled limb twenty-three years later.

A person's life energy is limited.

Pei Ye skipped the topic and looked at what was in front of him: "So you're going to dig like this - can you swim?"

Meng'er glared: "How can I swim? I'm not allowed to swim in the pool in the palace."

"Even if you chisel it open...don't let yourself fall down."

"I'm not that stupid." Meng'er pursed her lips and slammed down hard, taking two breaths. "It's okay, go back when you're done. I'll look for it here slowly by myself..."

She leaned over to look at where the young man came from, lowered her head and whispered, "You can also take Her Highness Jinyang away... I'm a little afraid of her."

"She is Wei Qingju's only offspring."

Meng'er hesitated for a while, but stopped talking.

"……Fine."

Pei Ye could actually understand that it was indeed different. Wei Qingju was once the master of this palace city and could spread kindness in peace, but Li Xizhou was its orphan and grew up in hostility and loneliness. This was her cage.

Unable to pass on the true energy, Pei Ye left her a small flame that could burn for a while, and then left.

When he walked down, Li Xizhou was already waiting for him at the intersection.

At this time, the sky began to dim. The two of them walked back to the Zhujing Palace, one in front and the other behind. They were not as hurried as they were when they came, so they both slowed down their steps.

"How do you know that maid?" Li Xizhou asked.

"I met her last time when I came to Mingyue Palace. She dreamed that Wei Qingju had left a secret way out of here in the palace."

"She is Li Youlong's person." Li Xizhou looked back. "In this palace, except for Zhujing Palace, her place is the most lonely. There are only two of them in Qingsi Palace. It's hard to say who takes care of who more on a daily basis."

"I ran into the Sixth Princess on the morning I entered the palace. She seemed to be reading poetry and playing the flute with Meng'er in the garden."

"Well, Meng'er can play the flute. It was actually Concubine Mei who taught her."

"Ok?"

"Li Youlong's biological mother." The two walked to the bank of Taiye Lake. The golden and warm evening light spread on the ice after the snow melted. Li Xizhou said, "I still remember what she looked like. She was a very quiet and clean person. She was the daughter of a criminal and was brought up by the Ye Ting Music Bureau."

Pei Ye was slightly surprised. He thought that such things only happened in storybooks. He said, "But I remember Meng'er said that the Sixth Prince's biological mother died a long time ago."

"Yes." Li Xizhou said, "After Li Congfeng ascended the throne, she regularly introduced imperial concubines and promoted concubines every year. The harem was well organized, and the emperor never asked about it. Only Concubine Mei was personally accepted by the emperor after he met her in a music hall and gave her the title of 'Mei'."

Pei Ye tilted his head slightly.

"He never stayed in the harem, and probably didn't recognize the faces of the concubines. However, during the two months when Mei Fei was newly appointed, he would take the initiative to go to her courtyard after the court was dismissed, and sometimes he would ask Yu Sicheng to go outside to find the music scores that Mei Fei wanted." Li Xizhou said in a calm voice, "In fact, it was only two months. Later, he seemed to have forgotten and never went again... However, it was precisely because he had been so indifferent for more than 20 years that those two seemingly ordinary months seemed even more special."

"So Li Congfeng always remembered it."

"The intermittent cold treatment from the Empress surnamed Li was hard enough for a weak concubine with no foundation to endure. Before Li Youlong was six years old, both mother and daughter were treated coldly and harshly in the palace. Concubine Mei was a truly ordinary woman with no cultivation. After she gave birth to Li Youlong, the imperial physician treated her improperly and she caught a cold in winter, so her health has not been good ever since."

"Even though they gave birth to children of unicorn blood, their situations haven't improved?"

"The palace maids may not have any choice." Li Xizhou said, "Besides, the blood of the child is related to the mother's bloodline. Even the concubines who have been carefully selected may not be able to give birth to a child with true blood. Naturally, this weak woman who was randomly appointed is not expected."

"Well."

"I met Li Youlong once when I was in my teens. She was four and a half years old at that time. She came to me secretly and asked me how I awakened the Qilin blood." Li Xizhou said, "I said it was innate, but she didn't believe it. She kept asking me questions all the way and told me many childish methods she had figured out and implemented."

She glanced at the graying sky. "But later, when she was six years old, she unexpectedly tested positive for true blood. She really became an heir of unicorn blood and was granted the Qingsi Palace and sixty-four eunuchs and maids."

"Then life should be better." Pei Ye said, "Unfortunately, according to what was said before, Mei Fei didn't enjoy a few years of blessing."

"There's no such thing as a few years." Li Xizhou said, "The little girl couldn't control the newly activated unicorn blood. Maybe the teachers didn't teach her seriously before. She went back and slept next to her mother for a night. Mei Fei's frail body couldn't bear the stimulation, so she died in her sleep."

"..."

The evening light on the lake gradually dimmed. The two walked across Taiye Lake without speaking for a while.

When they passed the pavilion where they first met, Pei Ye raised his hand and held up the fragment: "Your Highness, what do you think Yu Sicheng is doing now?" "He wants to enter Luoshen Palace, but according to what you said, he was stopped by the water realm, so he is naturally trying to find a way."

"I think the real key is that he may have arrived there many years ago and was stopped once." Pei Ye said, "He has been trying to find a way over the years."

He looked at the woman. “But we don’t know his steps, nor his progress.”

Li Xizhou admitted it straightforwardly: "Yes, there are mermen in the capital, and you were the one who discovered it."

Pei Ye sighed lightly and said nothing more.

"No matter how things change, they still remain essentially the same. If we defeat Yu Sicheng, we will naturally have the answer." Li Xizhou said, "You happen to have this fragment, maybe you can ask Guo You."

"Ok?"

"If you know where the body fell from, maybe you'll have a target to target when you fight the enemy."

"That's true." Pei Ye said to himself, "But the most important thing is the Qilin Fire. When do you think we should go to Li Zhi to borrow it?"

"Four days later." Li Xizhou said, "Yong Ji will come to the palace in the next two days. There will be a private banquet in Qiongju Garden, and the princes you know will be there."

"Banquet? What's the name?"

"No reason, just meet and chat. After this banquet, a princess will be chosen to marry this spring."

Pei Ye was slightly startled: "So the candidate hasn't been decided yet... Which princess will it be?"

Li Xizhou was silent for a while and didn't say anything else.

After a while, he said, "Li Congfeng likes Li Cannan, but how many people are willing to do so?"

……

……

The sky had become completely dark, and there were no stars tonight. The fire left by Lord Pei beside her gradually weakened. Meng'er made one last desperate chisel and sat down on the dismantled wooden limb, panting. After a long while, she moved again.

She lowered her head and checked in the last light of the fire. She had chiseled more than half a foot deep today.

There were beads of sweat on the girl's forehead, but her eyes were sparkling. At this time, the fire was gone, and it was a bit difficult for her to put on the wooden limbs. She fumbled with a few small buckles and stood up with a slight breath.

She calculated and based on her previous experience of night travel, it would take at least half an hour to get back to the palace from here, which would probably be enough to get back before the prince.

But if the wooden limb falls into the ditch again like last time, things will become unpredictable.

Of course His Highness would not allow her to come. If she got dirt on her body, His Highness would definitely be angry with her again.

Meng'er carefully identified the shadows and remaining ice on the ground, then limped down the mountain cautiously, occasionally whimpering softly to ease the pain in her legs.

Of course, the stump could not walk such a long distance. It had been rubbed and bleeding when climbing the mountain, so she had been taking off the wooden limb today. Putting it on again now was really a bit like torture.

"That's too much... After we find what the queen left behind... we must replace it." The girl frowned and murmured, "... I don't know if Prince Yan's Mansion recognizes the people from Yangyi Tower."

She slowly walked down the mountain and passed through the Yuxian Garden. She looked up and took a breath. There were still no stars in the night sky, but the girl inexplicably remembered the smiling face of His Majesty in a while. The corners of her mouth curled up and she chuckled twice.

I hope Your Highness can stay with Master Yong Ji for a while longer today.

Two nights ago, when His Highness came back and was sitting on the bed washing his feet, he would always tell her what they talked about today. His Highness said that Master Yong Ji didn't talk much and didn't like to laugh much, but he was a very generous and gentle person.

She said that there were no rules in the houses in the northern border, and the King of Yan hated to show up in public, so they could live wherever they wanted. It was heard that there was endless snow every winter, forming a plum forest of twenty or thirty miles, and they could ride the tall horses of the north and gallop freely in the snow.

It's completely different from the bone-chilling winter here.

Meng'er's eyes were shining with a faint light as she looked into the starless night sky and thought about the future. After a while, she lowered her head and gently pursed her lips.

...So of course she had to find it.

The girl suddenly groaned and stumbled a little. The last step, which was more than a foot high, hurt her legs. She turned back and glared at it, then laughed at herself childishly, rubbed her legs, and continued to walk forward.

But at this moment, a cold voice suddenly came from the front, causing her to stop suddenly.

"Don't the servants of Qingsi Palace have any manners? Don't they know how to kneel when they see their master?"

Meng'er raised her head and saw a noble girl in a blue collar and green silk standing in front of her with her head slightly raised. She had topaz on her boots and a golden hairpin in her hair, and was looking down at her.

Meng'er was stunned for a moment, then knelt down respectfully: "Meng'er, the maid of Qingsi Palace, greets His Highness the Eighth Prince."

"Why are the lights in Qingsi Palace off? Where is your master?" The girl's words were mixed with anger.

“……” Meng’er buried his head on the ground and remained silent.

"I'm asking you a question!" The girl stepped forward and kicked her over. "Speak!"

Meng'er lowered her head and whispered, "Your Highness, I don't know."

The girl suddenly pulled her hair up, and when she raised her foot to kick her, she paused in front of her broken limb, and kicked her in the lower back instead: "Your vixen master usually doesn't say a word and is not seen by people, but now he is embarrassing the royal family! The private banquet hasn't even started yet, and he shamelessly ran to someone else's residence... Did you teach him to do that?"

Meng'er just curled up on the ground with his head in his hands, as if he had become a mute.

The girl kicked her a few more times in hatred and said coldly, "Go back and tell your vixen master that my mother said that I will be the future Princess of Yan! A prostitute... you are just daydreaming!"

She walked away in her jade boots. After the footsteps faded away, Meng'er got up from the ground with her head lowered. She first went to the edge of the ice and tried to look at her face, but the blurry view made her frown.

She checked the wooden limb first, fortunately it had not fallen off. She stood up while tidying her clothes and looked up at the starless night sky.

This delay of half a quarter of an hour means there can’t be any more accidents in the second half.

She pursed her lips, and walked quickly towards Qingsi Palace, swaying like a penguin.

(End of this chapter)