CHAPTER 456: CHAPTER 456 CALM MIND

Mrs. Zhao smoothed out the paper and carefully placed it back in the letter.

She handed the letter to Nanny Chen standing beside her.

"Hide it in the box, don’t lose it."

"Have the servant go to Conscience Ice Shop and buy two hundred more blocks of ice."

Although it’s uncertain if the Princess Consort Zhenbei would let her hold a grandchild as she wished.

But one must remain grateful.

Besides, in such heat, ice is a necessity.

This year is much hotter than previous ones.

Without the Conscience Ice Shop, ice would indeed be quite an expensive expenditure this year.

Song’s Ice Shop doesn’t have enough ice for sale and also raises prices.

The prices at Conscience Ice Shop have never increased.

If you were to say where in the Capital City business is best right now, it would definitely be Conscience Ice Shop.

The queue for buying ice is unending, and guests come in flocks.

Imperial Study.

The Emperor finished reviewing the memorials and sat there eating chilled bird’s nest soup.

Eunuch Fu attended by his side.

A little eunuch came in and whispered a few words in Eunuch Fu’s ear.

Eunuch Fu waved him away.

The little eunuch withdrew.

As the Emperor ate, he asked, "What’s going on?"

Eunuch Fu smiled and said, "The Imperial Concubine has sent someone to report that the palace ice blocks are gone, and she’s unsure what to do."

It seems the weather is truly hot.

Such a great opportunity.

The Imperial Concubine didn’t go personally to the Emperor but had a little eunuch pass on the message.

Perhaps only the scorching sun could halt the concubines’ steps to compete for favor.

When it’s hot, the harem is unusually harmonious.

Especially since the palace got mahjong.

The concubines’ ice blocks are limited.

This amount is insufficient to let the concubines have a refreshing summer.

But gathering the ice blocks together, in some concubines’ palaces, it ends up being cooler than the Phoenix Palace of the Empress.

Plus, when they play mahjong together, the days are quite enjoyable.

Compete for favor?

Wait until this summer passes.

The Empress is longing to retrieve the Phoenix Seal.

Yet no one in the harem is causing trouble. Consort Li holds the Phoenix Seal, and every step she takes is cautious, so far not giving the Empress any major mistakes to catch.

Of course, there are small faults.

But there were also such when the Empress managed the harem.

Consort Li is undoubtedly siding with the Emperor and Su Jin.

The ice blocks Su Jin sent into the palace are already low, and the palace won’t risk buying just enough and then running out. They’d rather have excess and waste than face a situation where needed and unavailable.

The Ice Control Department reported to Consort Li that more ice needed to be purchased.

Previously, when the Empress managed the harem, a contract was made with Song’s Ice Shop to buy ice from them.

So far, ice hasn’t been purchased because the Princess Consort Zhenbei provided it.

Then—

Consort Li was in a pickle.

She knows Su Jin openly wants to bring down Song’s Ice Shop and wants their ice stuck with them.

But now the Young Master of Dongxiang Marquis Mansion is the Young Master of Duke Chong’s Mansion.

Su Chong and Duke Chong are family.

If she buys ice from Conscience Ice Shop, there’s the contract with Song’s Ice Shop.

Yet asking the Princess Consort Zhenbei for ice, she feels she cannot do.

If it were cooler, she could have someone brought into the palace and subtly mention it.

With this heat, she’s afraid calling the Princess Consort Zhenbei into the palace would end with her getting angry, demanding a hefty price.

Consort Li had a terrible headache.

So she passed the problem to the Emperor.

"The Princess Consort Zhenbei did say if the ice blocks ran out, just go to her," Eunuch Fu said.

"But times have changed, Your Majesty, what do you think?" Eunuch Fu asked.

"I remember there are a few rubies in storage?" the Emperor answered with another question.

"Your Majesty’s memory serves, there are a few," Eunuch Fu said.

"Send someone to deliver them to Princess Consort Zhenbei," the Emperor said.

Eunuch Fu understood the Emperor’s intention.

Agarwood Pavilion.

Su Jin languidly lay on the Imperial Concubine’s Couch.

Xingxing was happily playing with ice, totally engrossed.

Outside, a maid rushed in and said, "Princess Consort, Eunuch Li is here."

Why has Eunuch Li come?

"Let him in," Su Jin said.

In no time, Eunuch Li came in.

Sweating profusely.

He handed the brocade box in his hand to Su Jin, saying, "This is from the Emperor as a reward for you, Princess Consort."

Su Jin was a bit confused.

This is like sitting at home and having a reward come unbidden.

Su Jin took the brocade box.

Opening it, she saw eight or nine rubies lying inside.

Each one was so beautiful that people couldn’t tear their eyes away.

"So beautiful," Xingxing exclaimed with shining eyes.

"Why would the Emperor bestow a reward to our young lady?" Xingxing curiously asked.

The little eunuch’s mouth felt a bit dry.

Xingxing quickly served him a bowl of chilled mung bean soup.

A bowl of mung bean soup down, and he felt alive again.

Su Jin looked at him.

The little eunuch explained the matter about the ice blocks.

Su Jin laughed, "Didn’t I tell Eunuch Fu before to go to Conscience Ice Shop if the palace needed ice?"

The little eunuch, "...."

"When you return to the palace later, stop by Conscience Ice Shop and say a word," Su Jin said.

Su Jin rewarded the little eunuch with two taels of silver.

Xingxing packed him a water pouch with chilled mung bean soup for the road.

The little eunuch went to Conscience Ice Shop.

The shop’s steward self-reproachfully said, "It was my negligence not to ask if the palace’s ice blocks were enough."

"The shop’s business is busy, really couldn’t manage, tomorrow morning I’ll have the palace people go to the ice well for more blocks, as long as it’s for the palace’s use, however much is enough."

"...."

Such an agreeable solution, there’s no need for the Imperial Concubine to agonize for so long and to even trouble the Emperor.

How does it seem like the ice blocks have become worthless, just freely taken?

To Conscience Ice Shop, big cabbages are rarer than ice blocks, rare things are precious, indeed.

But to some people, ice blocks have become a luxury.

The Old Madam, reflecting in the Great Buddha Temple, was so hot she saw stars, but the temple doesn’t provide ice.

Unable to bear the heat, the Old Madam sent someone to find Princess Nanzhang.

Upon hearing this, Princess Nanzhang laughed coldly.

"Asking me for ice blocks?"

"She really thinks her time at the Great Buddha Temple is a vacation," Princess Nanzhang mocked.

If it weren’t for the Old Madam, her involvement in the ointment-stealing incident wouldn’t have been exposed.

All for that ointment box, she lost her reputation and expended five thousand taels.

She hasn’t even settled that loss with the Old Madam yet, and she still has the face to ask her for ice blocks.

Song’s Ice Shop had more ice than they could use, but she’d rather let it melt than send it for her to use!

With five words, Princess Nanzhang dismissed the maid—

Go find the Princess Consort.

The maid had no choice but to seek out Su Jin.

Su Jin, smiling, recited a poem:

Everyone flees the heat like mad,

Only the Zen master stays within his room.

Not that his room lacks heat,

But his calm heart cools his frame.

Xingxing didn’t quite understand.

"Miss, what does this poem mean?" Xingxing asked, puzzled.

"Calm the heart and naturally feel cool."

"...."

The little maid looked at Su Jin, embracing the ice furnace.

Her mouth twitched uncontrollably.

Reporting this directly to the Old Madam could easily cause her to have a heatstroke.

She dared not convey it directly like that.

But the poem was somewhat more subtle, so she pretended not to understand.

The little maid wrote down the poem.

Leaving the Agarwood Pavilion, she borrowed paper and pen to write down the poem and brought it back to the Great Buddha Temple.

In the zen room.

The zen master was preaching Buddhist teachings to the Old Madam.

As the little maid entered, she bumped into a young monk.

The paper in her hand was knocked out.

The young monk picked it up and accidentally glanced at it, praising, "This poem is really well made."

"What poem?" the Old Madam frowned.

The little maid handed the poem to the Old Madam.

After reviewing it, the Old Madam said, "It is indeed good."

"Who made it?" the Old Madam asked.

"The Princess Consort," the maid truthfully replied.

The Old Madam’s face froze slightly.

The zen master at the Great Buddha Temple couldn’t stop praising Su Jin.

The Old Madam, with anger in her heart, still had to maintain a smile.

Once the zen master left, knowing the poem was made by Su Jin as a way of not wanting to send her ice blocks, the Old Madam shook with rage.