CHAPTER 351: CHAPTER 351: THE MASTERMIND BEHIND THE SCENES

The matter of King Jie requires careful planning and execution without arousing suspicion.

Pei Ji’an’s plan was set for a period of three months, which is sufficient to let King Jie feel the effects of a terminal illness and then make the corresponding plans.

Too fast or too slow, neither would work.

This method has risks; if successful, it would be a great achievement and everything would be worry-free.

If it fails, it will be difficult to deceive King Jie again in the future.

That’s why they never considered using this method before, because as long as the Emperor wanted to know something they still needed to find a way to prolong King Jie’s life.

Now, with the situation developing to this point and the enemies making proactive moves, they had to respond or else they would be too passive.

And the outcome of being passive is often not very good.

The affairs related to King Jie could be slowly planned, but the banquet for rewards couldn’t wait; three days passed in a flash, and the banquet for rewards arrived.

Qu Fulan and Pei Ji’an were all dressed up in appropriate palace banquet attire, but then news from the palace came that the Emperor had fallen ill, and the banquet was delayed.

This was very disappointing; Qu Fulan had gotten up before dawn to put on makeup, but it turned out to be in vain.

But birth, aging, sickness, and death are always uncontrollable, and there was nothing to be done if the Emperor fell ill.

Although there was no need to attend the morning court, Pei Ji’an still had many things to busy himself with; he had to personally supervise the layout from last time, not allowing any mistakes.

Qu Fulan changed into another set of clothes and also went out to engage in business.

Upon reaching the embroidery workshop, her aunt, upon seeing her, instinctively glanced behind her, "Your friend isn’t coming today?"

Qu Fulan felt strange, "Aunt, do you know her?"

Mrs. Li shook her head, "I just felt she was familiar; it’s rare to see you bring someone along."

Qu Fulan chuckled, "It was just a coincidence that day; she is not like me, she doesn’t go out often."

Anyway, she is still a princess, wanting to leave the palace isn’t as simple as she goes out.

Qu Fulan checked the embroidery workshop and compared recent orders with Hao Qiancheng.

Now it’s Hao Qiancheng who goes out to make deals, negotiating cooperation with those partners. Because he’s so young, he has to dress more maturely every day to not lose out in terms of presence.

At first, some businessmen did not take him seriously, but now, many invite him to dinner in hopes of gaining some price concessions.

Qu Fulan gave Hao Qiancheng a range of floating prices to manage himself; now it seems he’s been managing it very well.

After checking the embroidery workshop, she went to the Flower Garden Ode. The "Boiled Cabbage" dish that Qu Fulan had created last time had now become the most popular dish in the restaurant.

It was unexpected for Qu Fulan; she thought the Spicy Shredded Chicken and Fish-Flavored Pork would be popular, but it turned out to be the Boiled Cabbage.

The reason this dish became popular is also due to a cause; it was included in the imperial menu after the royal princes and princesses recommended by Princess Zhuyu tasted it and praised it so much that it might have reached the Empress Dowager’s ears, prompting her to try it. The taste, as expected, was excellent, and since the elderly lady loves this kind of light taste, it was included in the imperial menu.

The palace wanted to adopt this dish, and naturally, the Flower Garden Ode did not dare to keep it to themselves, handing over all the secret recipes.

Fortunately, the palace did not go too far; after adopting the dish, they also did not stop them from continuing to make it, or else the Flower Garden Ode would have suffered greatly.

Now, the Flower Garden Ode, relying on this Boiled Cabbage favored by the Empress Dowager, has attracted more traffic, and business is thriving.

The branches of Flower Garden Ode are also doing almost as well as the main store thanks to this dish, and Qu Fulan reckons she could potentially open another branch soon.

A restaurant linked with the royal family has a different reputation, and when foreign visitors come to Capital City, even if they know nothing else, they surely must know the Flower Garden Ode.

At that time, opening several more branches in other places would be easy with this reputation.

Qu Fulan didn’t only focus on the restaurant business; she didn’t neglect the bookstore business either.

The Best Storybook serial had been running for half a year, and Chen Zhengsheng’s novel also concluded.

Since he was preparing for exams, he couldn’t write a new book in the short term, but The Best Storybook had been done successfully with good residual popularity. Qu Fulan wanted to strike while the iron was hot and continue running The Best Storybook, so she allowed nine other people, whoever had the time to start new serials. After some checks, only half of them had the time to write a new book.

Qu Fulan asked the shopkeeper to post a notice to recruit talents, as The Best Storybook was now famous and many wanted to publish articles on it.

Sure enough, not a day after the notice was posted, many people came, and after selection, five were chosen, with ten people writing ten articles in The Best Storybook.

Thus, another serial began.

It is said that illness strikes like a mountain falling—a mystery when the Emperor might recover, and Qu Fulan had long since stopped expecting that so-called reward banquet.

Rather than waiting for someone else to reward her, she’d rather make more money herself, which was the best reward.

While Qu Fulan was busy making money, new situations arose for Princess Zhuyu.

This time it wasn’t a note, but someone came directly to talk to her.

A eunuch she had never met, with formidable martial arts skills, who appeared and disappeared without a trace.

The two talked in the room for a quarter of an hour before the eunuch left.

Princess Zhuyu collapsed to the ground, unable to come to her senses for a long time.

The next day, Princess Zhuyu also fell ill.

After the Emperor, the princess fell ill too. Those who didn’t know might think Princess Zhuyu cared too much for the Emperor, falling ill with worry, and praised her filial piety.

After hearing about this, Qu Fulan visited the palace with Princess Qing.

Indeed, in the past six months since Pei Ji’an left, these women had mingled together. Princess Zhuyu and Princess Qing got along quite well, so now that she’s ill, Princess Qing should visit her.

"This winter is colder than usual, and being careless easily leads to illness, it’s truly difficult."

Inside the carriage, Princess Qing sighed.

During the journey to the palace, they talked about other topics.

Princess Qing had her own troubles lately; her cousin had reached the age for marriage proposals, but she was not satisfied with the families Princess Qing suggested.

Her aunt wasn’t worried, relying on Princess Qing’s status as a princess and believing her cousin shouldn’t rush, as finding a good match is a slow process.

They say it’s a slow process, but in reality, they’re just aiming for a high marriage. However, Princess Qing’s own background wasn’t remarkable; marrying a prince was luck, but how many such strokes of luck can one family have?

Princess Qing couldn’t make things too clear; since they weren’t anxious, she wouldn’t be either. It made no sense for her aunt not to worry while she would.

Speaking of it, Miss Yuan and Miss Zou had started meeting potential suitors, so they rarely went out nowadays.

"I don’t know when there’ll be another banquet like before, where sisters would showcase their talents so joyfully. Speaking of which, I still remember your magic trick vividly; I wonder when we can see it again."

"If the princess wants to see, I can perform it for you at any time. But two people can hardly compare to the atmosphere of a crowd."

"Isn’t that the truth?"

As they spoke, the two entered the palace and saw the princess.

Princess Zhuyu seemed a bit haggard.