We know you just want to eat something.
Wei Lian moved into the Hall of Mental Cultivation that night.
In the past, this was a privilege that the queen didn’t even have. The queen resided in the Pepper Residence Hall and had the king’s interest from the first day of the lunar month to the fifteenth. On days when the king called upon the lucky concubine, he would usually travel to the concubine’s private chamber by his carriage. If there was a concubine who was brought into the Hall of Mental Cultivation, the concubine would usually be sent back after the hours of the rat.
The more favored ones might be allowed to stay until dawn to serve the king as he dressed for the court, but still had to return to their private chamber. The Hall of Mental Cultivation was for the king, the place where the dragon rested. There would only be one true master.
But looking at Wei Lian’s current momentum, it seemed that he would be in for a long stay, evident from His Majesty’s order.
With an empty harem in this dynasty, Wei Lian had no one to compete with.
In others’ eyes, Wei Lian was lucky, gaining His Majesty’s favor meant glory, wealth, power, and status all were within his reach.
The hostage prince was originally an inferior person that people stepped on like mud in the Qin Palace. Now flying to the highest branch in the span of one morning, some people were envious, and some were hateful. A great deal of palace workers was drowning in their sour thoughts; being so close to the sovereign can be as perilous as lying with a tiger. That person might live glamor today, and his head might be rolling to the ground tomorrow, it was hard to tell.
Wei Lian was in the dark on what the outsiders were thinking. Even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
It was very warm in the Hall of Mental Cultivation. There were plentiful meals and thick bedding as well. He was very satisfied.
As for the King of Qin, what kind of thing was that? Nothing but a mere ladder tool he borrowed to climb upward to a good living.
Being a ruler’s love is only desired by the foolish, something Wei Lian didn’t want. As a very pragmatic person, all he ever wanted was high position and great wealth, never was he interested in love.
This was also the case with the King of Qin, so the two sides clicked together on the first beat, each taking what they needed and becoming good working partners.
At the moment, Wei Lian was serving his ‘working partner’ to dine.
In the evening, the meals were transported to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Soon, there was a line of palace maids spreading the delicacies onto the wooden table.
Colorful rice cake, vermilion sweet and sour fish, exquisite swallow’s wings with eight-treasure ingredients, emerald mung bean rolls…even the most ordinary dishes would be labeled with names decorated with gold and jade upon entering the palace gate, matching the royal aura.
The dishes were nothing out of the ordinary in Ji Yue’s eyes, but to Wei Lian, who had been eating steamed buns and salted vegetables for half a month as well as being absent from food last night—he wanted to overthrow the King of Qin and sit at the table himself. He would come in like a hurricane and clean all the plates.
But that wasn’t possible.
According to the rules, not only was Wei Lian not allowed to eat, but he also had to serve the King of Qin from the side.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Dog. Of. An. Emperor.
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A palace attendant used a silver needle to test each dish for poison, and there were taste-testing eunuchs waiting to be called. Wei Lian raised his eyelids slightly and knew that there were many poisons that couldn’t be detected with the silver needles, there were also many that wouldn’t take into an immediate effect.
Ccs geifg kbeiv njief atflg ilof, jcv la kjr lwqbrrlyif ab qgfnfca jii atf wfjcr ab ajxf j ilof. Po Qfl Oljc kjcafv ab, tf mbeiv qblrbc fnfgsbcf ecvfg atflg cblrfr.
He had the chance to meet a masterful person who passed him all of his knowledge without holding back. Now he possessed knowledge in medicine, poison, and martial arts. He could strike up a conversation on military strategies, poets, and lyrics, as well as the four arts explicitly. He even understood divination using five elements and eight divinatory trigrams methods.
Even his Master was marveled by his natural innate talent, one that surpassed anyone in his generation.
Wei Lian also knew how to win people’s hearts and be cultivated under their wings. When the fearful King of Chu condemned his country’s strong and successful generals and their families, it was Wei Lian who saved them using tricks, replacing them with death-row prisoners.
The tiger tally that the King of Chu recovered was also a fake. The real one was still in the possession of the general who was the protector of the country, who only listened to Wei Lian’s command.
His Master was a very able person who could foresee fate. He once read into Wei Lian’s future and told him his life was extremely valuable. He needed to stay low until his coming of age, otherwise, death awaited him.
And now, he was one year away from his coming of age at twenty.
He needed to bear it for one more year. The only thing that stopped him from swindling the antidote, removing the constraints placed by the King of Qin, faking his death to leave the country of Qin and traveling freely under heaven. That, or simply killing this dog of an emperor and becoming the ruler of all land himself.
At present, he was still annoyed over the poison in his body.
It was never a good feeling to be pinned down. When Wei Lian took the pill, he secretly scraped and stored the powder under his fingernails, planning to develop his own antidote. However, this was also the royal family’s way to control the shadow guard, so finding the cure wouldn’t be so easy.
He had to remain calm for the moment.
His dying fate might not be tied to this poison.
_
There were no signs of abnormality from the silver needle test. A quick glance at the table told Wei Lian that there was nothing wrong with the meal.
When the first taste-testing eunuch was about to pick up the chopsticks, Wei Lian suddenly offered, “Your Majesty, let this subject test the food.”
He spoke softly, but it startled the whole hall.
…There was actually someone rushing to their deaths?
Who didn’t know how much the King of Qin was hated? His Majesty was on the top of the bounty board, a very popular target among the assassins.
The taste-testing eunuch was a high-risk occupation, being replaced every now and then because of the fatal death of their predecessor.
The palace workers looked at Wei Lian as if he was a fool and wondered how such a good-looking noble could be so stupid at a young age.
The only one who looked at Wei Lian differently was the taste-testing eunuch, as if he was looking at his savior.
…Or at his scapegoat.
“Oh.” Ji Yue reminded the youth, “You are aware that this taste test is for poison.”
Wei Lian confirmed, “This subject is aware.”
“You’re not afraid to die?”
“It is this subject’s greatest honor to die for Your Majesty.” He didn’t know whether the King of Qin believed his words or not, because he himself believed not one word out of his own mouth.
Ji Yue smiled, while thinking: We would be a fool to believe you.
You just want to eat.
Do you take us as a blind fool? We saw how you have been staring at that vermilion sweet and sour fish for quite some time now.
“How can we allow Wei-lang to take such a risk.” Ji Yue said, “Wei-lang, why not sit down and accompany us to dinner.”
Wei Lian said, “This subject wouldn’t dare.” But the speed he sat down said otherwise.
He didn’t bring up anything about taste testing for poison afterward since his original purpose was to eat anyway.
Otherwise, what was the point of sending himself to the Hall of Mental Cultivation if all he was going to eat was scraps of cold leftovers after watching the King of Qin feast?
When Ji Yue saw the youth sit down, a hint of interest passed through his expression and disappeared just as quickly.
The only trace left was the indiscernible smile.
The taste-testing process would proceed as normal, but the young eunuch finished the test with fear and trepidation. Once he learned he got to live another day, he was relieved.
Who wouldn’t value their lives? From the ruler down to the slave, they all have the desire to live.
The same was true for Wei Lian.
The King of Chu’s royal family had a rule of ‘no more than three chopsticks’. It means no matter what dishes, there could be no more than three bites. This was to prevent showing preferences, not to give others a vulnerability to exploit.
But there was no such rule in the country of Qin.
Neither of them forgot to continue their acts, because information would usually be passed from these palace workers’ mouths to the ministers’ ears.
The two sat together at the same table, and the King of Qin acted like a doting lover, giving him a piece of sweet and sour fish from time to time. “Wei-lang is too thin, you need to eat more fish to nourish your body.”
Wei Lian also put a crystal shrimp dumpling into the King of Qin’s bowl and said softly, “Your Majesty should eat more as well.”
All this was taken in by the palace attendants in the Hall of Mental Cultivation, and the words about how Young Master Lian had received the King’s favor left the palace wall.
He was just one step away from sitting on the King of Qin’s lap, a distance close enough to serve him mouth to mouth.
However, in Wei Lian’s opinion, that was an over exaggeration. He and the King of Qin were only putting on a show, appearing to be feeding each other all lovey-dovey. But in reality, they were both using the serving chopsticks.
They both disdain the other person’s spit.
Wei Lian also didn’t dare to serve the dishes to the King of Qin’s bowl in a careless manner, so as to avoid facing consequences.
Zhu Chu didn’t deceive him. The King of Qin was indeed an outrageous picky eater. Not only did the other party not eat green onions, ginger and garlic, he wouldn’t touch anything too deeply flavored, too greasy from meat, or too visually unappetizing. If the taste was just slightly off, he wouldn’t swallow it.
Fortunately, he was the King of Qin. If he were a commoner, he would have starved to death long ago.
The King of Qin also had a very peculiar taste. Apart from crystal shrimp dumplings, he loved sweet cakes made from glutinous rice flour. Especially the soft, super sweet kind that was molded into a white rabbit.
Who would have thought that the infamous and unpredictable tyrant would be a young man who would be happy just from eating a sweet cake?
Ji Yue ate with a satisfied expression, while Wei Lian watched with a face void of emotion.
Throughout the ages, those labeled as tyrants were true to their names. They were not only extravagant and lascivious, but they also induced debauchery. There were even absurd rumors of ones feasting on human flesh.
But this one was even more ridiculous.
Not only did he love sweet cakes, but they also had to be cute in shape.
Put shames on all the tyrants in history.
Thank You for the chapter ｡✰✧(♡´❍`♡)✧✰｡
😂 putting shame to tyrants 😂