Traveling through troubled times: Princess disguises herself as a man and becomes a soldier to earn

Splendid Palace

Coughing could be heard from inside from time to time. Lan Xin said cautiously, "My queen, this is the cold-relieving medicine prescribed by the imperial physician. Drink it while it's hot. It will be very bitter if it gets cold."

The imperial concubine's face was pale, and she waved her hands weakly: "Where is His Majesty? I asked you to invite His Majesty to come, why didn't you come? You are not a mute, why don't you speak quickly?"

"I did go and ask for your Majesty's blessing, but your Majesty has gone to the Concubine Shu's palace."

"Haha, it's that bitch. She's really good at taking advantage of opportunities. Just because I'm sick, everyone comes to bully me. Ahem, especially the bitch Queen. She must be very proud of herself."

"I'm so angry about giving birth to a capable daughter."

Lan Xin knelt on the ground with her head down, not daring to say a word. She looked at the imperial concubine's face with her peripheral vision and whispered, "Your Majesty, why don't you let the Second Princess go to His Majesty's place more often when you have nothing to do?"

"Perhaps, Your Majesty, after seeing the well-behaved Second Princess, will be even more disgusted with the First Princess. As for the Third Princess in the cold palace, she will naturally not pose any threat to the Second Princess."

After thinking for a moment, the imperial concubine softened her tone and said, "Well, where is Nannan? Why hasn't she come to see me recently?"

Lan Xin said softly, "Next month is His Majesty's birthday. The Second Princess is practicing dancing, preparing to celebrate His Majesty's birthday. I heard from the nanny that she is very hardworking and only rests for a few hours every day."

"Oh, what kind of dance is that?"

"Nihuang, this was also your Majesty's favorite dance when he was young."

The Imperial Concubine's eyes dimmed a little: "It's that one. When I was young, I used that dance to catch the eye of His Majesty. Since then, I have been promoted to the position of Imperial Concubine. Haha, it seems like yesterday when I think about it."

"Tell her to practice well. I just have a cold and there's no need for you to come."

Lan Xin lowered her head: "Yes, I understand."

*

In a part of the palace, three sneaky figures were hiding in the dark.

"Hey, Xiuhua, didn't you say there was some delicious fish? I can't even see any trace of it. Where is it? Did you remember the wrong way?"

"No, I remember it very clearly. It's right here. I came here once before and saw it clearly. There is a pond nearby, and it houses the Concubine's favorite silver fish."

"That kind of fish doesn't come out during the day. You can only see it at night under the moonlight. It glows silver and is very special. In the past, the imperial concubine would sometimes catch it and feed it to His Majesty in order to please him."

Jiang Li swallowed her saliva, feeling extremely hungry. If she didn't eat, she would go crazy. With her hands behind her back, she secretly took out the bun from the space, turned her head and ate it in two or three bites.

Feeling a little better, she covered her mouth and said, "Well, you guys wait here, I'll go over and take a look and grab some to eat. We shouldn't stay here for long."

After saying that, he slipped away and jumped onto the roof to look for it. Sure enough, he found a pool in a corner. There was a silver light in it, and it seemed... still moving.

Jiang Li jumped down and put his hand into the water. He introduced electric currents into the water. Soon, a layer of silver light floated on the water. He took out a bag from the space, put all the fish in it, then stood up and left.

The beauty who was so beautiful that she could not even move a muscle hid in the dark, covering her mouth.

"Tell me, can the princess be caught?"

"It's all your fault. Why did you have to mention the silverfish in the Imperial Concubine's palace? Don't you know that the princess likes to eat it the most? Once you knew, you would definitely find a way to get it to eat."

"If we are discovered, both of us will lose our heads."

"No...it can't be that serious. I just talk too fast. I will pay more attention to my mouth in the future and never talk nonsense again. I'm sorry, Bi Yue."

Jiang Li was standing behind them with a cloth bag on his back, and he called out softly, "Hey, stop being in a daze, both of you. Hurry back and let's go make something to eat."

The beauty turned around and looked at the large cloth bag on the princess' body. She pointed at it and said, "This bag is really big. Princess, where did you get it from? I hope no one will find out."

"No, stop talking and leave."

The three of them quietly returned to Chaoyang Palace, and once they closed the palace door, they breathed a sigh of relief. Xiuhua let out a breath and wiped the cold sweat off her face: "Princess, we are finally back. We should avoid doing such things in the future."

"My heart is about to jump out of my chest."

Jiang Li hummed twice, fetched the seasoning, gutted the fish, and quickly grilled it, brushing it with oil and the prepared sauce from time to time. Soon the aroma wafted out.

The beauty came closer and sniffed: "Hmm, it smells so good, it's worthy of being a silver fish worth ten taels, it's really not simple."

"Hmm? How much?"

A normal farmer's income is only two or three taels a year. This palm-sized fish is actually worth ten taels. Are you kidding? How can it be so expensive?

"Princess, this is the price. When His Majesty saw that the Imperial Concubine liked to eat it, he bought it specially from outside and gave it to the Imperial Concubine to raise. Whenever she wants to eat it, she can fish it out and eat it anytime."

Jiang Li frowned. She was worthy of being the apple of the eye of her tyrant father. Her treatment was different from that of others. Even eating a fish could have so many different ways. It was really... enviable.

"Does the Queen Mother have one?"

Xiuhua hesitated for a moment and whispered, "No, the Queen doesn't have one. His Majesty gave the Imperial Concubine a silver fish and the Queen a night-shining pearl."

"So that's how it is. Let's roast them first. I'll send a few to my mother later. It doesn't make sense for the concubine to eat so well while the wife has nothing to eat. That's too unscrupulous."

"A man who favors his concubine and neglects his wife is not a good person."

The beauties looked at each other and remained silent, pretending that they had not heard anything. The princesses could say such outrageous words, but if they wanted to live long, they must not listen.

In a blink of an eye, half an hour passed and only some fish heads were left by Jiang Li. The fish had no bones and tasted absolutely amazing when grilled. After eating, he looked at the remaining ten or so fish and pointed at them.

"Have you two eaten enough? If you are, I will grill some and send it to my mother right away."

"Burp, the servants are full."

"Very good, then you guys go back to sleep. I'm going to go out for a walk in a while, and I'm not sure when I'll be back, so you don't have to wait for me."

After Jiang Li waited for them to go out, he concentrated on grilling the fish. He wrapped it in oil paper after it was grilled to prevent it from getting cold and becoming unpalatable. Then he quickly ran towards Changchun Palace with a food box.

He flashed into the hall, looked at the figure on the bed, and called out, "Mother, are you asleep?"

When the queen heard the voice, she thought she was hallucinating. She opened her eyes and looked at the figure not far away, and tentatively said, "It's... Li'er."

"Yes, I just ate something delicious and wanted to send it to you, mother, to try. It's freshly made and it's time to eat it. Please come and eat it quickly, mother."

"What is that? It smells good. It's this smell. Why is it a little familiar?"