The Virtuous Concubine

Malu's mind raced after hearing this, but at the moment, she added soup to Kangxi's jade bowl while smiling and shaking her head, "I thought earlier that the emperor was concerned about Concubine Wang and specifically asked your imperial physician to see her."

Kangxi was also a little embarrassed - if he hadn't indulged Concubine Wang, how could her little actions have upset Concubine De?

Fortunately, Concubine De didn't seem to care about Concubine Wang's offense and just handed the soup over with both hands. The temperature of the soup was just right, and the white steam that came out blurred Kangxi's vision. He tried to see Concubine De's expression, but finally took the bowl of soup.

It was originally intended to be a poison test, but Concubine De also sat aside and drank it. It was the first time that Kangxi saw a concubine serving soup and drinking half of it herself.

Seeing how Defei enjoyed the drink, Kangxi's appetite also improved. He saw that Defei was fine after drinking a few spoonfuls, so he also picked up the spoon.

This soup... is quite plain. The day before yesterday, Concubine Yi sent me Bazhen Soup, which is a combination of Sijunzi Soup and Siwu Soup. It is sweet, warm and moist in nature, and can nourish both Qi and blood.

It is made up of eight kinds of medicinal herbs, including the finest ginseng, Atractylodes macrocephala, Poria cocos, Angelica sinensis, Chuanxiong, White Peony Root, Rehmannia glutinosa, and roasted licorice, and is stewed with chicken, duck and other ingredients.

This was certainly not a luxury for Kangxi, but at least it showed that the ingredients were solid. A few days ago, Rong Fei sent Benxi Manchu mutton soup, which was also a way to please, saying that the Manchus conquered the world on horseback and remembered the bitter past and thought of the sweet past.

Malu... What was served was a very mediocre winter melon and pork ribs soup.

The meat was very soft and tender, the winter melon was very fresh, and it was very salty and tasty. It was indeed a good soup, but Kangxi was still a little uncomfortable when he suddenly saw his high-ranking concubine bringing him such a simple soup.

After two sips, it was refreshing and pleasant. Kangxi had always loved to keep fit, and he was sensitive to the fact that after drinking it, his stomach felt comfortable, warm and comfortable without any burden, so he drank the whole bowl and signaled Liang Jiugong to add another bowl.

Taking advantage of this gap, Kangxi saw Malu carefully picking out the meat from the ribs with silver chopsticks and placing it on the white porcelain plate next to him.

It should have been a very common action, but Concubine De performed it with grace and the scene was pleasing to the eye.

Maybe it was because her face and eyes were clean, as if these were the most ordinary things, even though she was surrounded by the magnificent Qianqing Palace.

Kangxi admired it for a while, touched the bowl of soup handed over by Liang Jiugong, which was still a little hot, and chatted with Malu: "Your soup is too perfunctory."

Malu put down his chopsticks and smiled gently: "The soup that Your Majesty drank a few days ago should be very nourishing. If you use some rare treasure to stew the soup, it will definitely cause problems. Your Majesty should still take proper nourishment and not overdo it. So today's soup is a little simple, Your Majesty, please don't dislike it."

She said "don't blame me", but in fact, Malu was not afraid at all. Although she did bring it out from the small kitchen... But what does this soup mean? You can say whatever you want.

Seeing how thoughtful she was, Kangxi was naturally pleased with her. He nodded and drank his soup again.

This feeling of being taken care of by Malu made him feel as if he had returned to the time when he first favored Malu. At that time, she would rack her brains to come up with many novel things to make me happy, but I don’t know what happened later... Kangxi frowned. Why did the two of them become estranged for a while?

Perhaps it was because there were many new concubines, positions, children, palace affairs, etc. Kangxi suddenly realized that his memory of Concubine De seemed to be blank for a period of time.

Now this soup seemed to bring him back to Malu. She was still the same thoughtful woman who put me at the top of her heart.

Seeing that Kangxi did not refute his words and even continued to drink the soup, Malu knew that he had passed this hurdle.

She took out a new pair of silver chopsticks, and with a sense of humor, put the winter melon underneath, then put the meat from the ribs on the winter melon, and then stacked another piece of winter melon on it, and repeated this cycle until she was very tired.

The crystal clear winter melon was filled with tender and soft stewed meat, neatly arranged, and it looked really good. She pushed the plate and chopsticks in front of Kangxi and looked at him with a smile: "Your Majesty, don't just drink the soup, eat some to relieve your stomach."

Kangxi looked at the unique "little tower" in front of him, and a smile flashed in his eyes. He picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of winter melon and meat and put it into his mouth. After tasting it carefully, he nodded slightly: "You and I are thinking the same thing. I originally thought that if you also sent the tonic soup today, I would not need dinner. Now your soup has aroused my appetite."

When Liang Jiugong heard this, he quickly signaled Wei Zhu with his eyes to serve the meal to the Emperor and Concubine De.

As expected, Malu was invited by Kangxi to have dinner with him. Kangxi even asked Malu to order the dishes, so Malu asked someone to bring her own meal and sat at the same table with Kangxi.

The two of them didn't set up a big table, and for the first time ever, they ate with their legs crossed on the couch where Kangxi usually read books and played chess. If you were to talk about rules, it was really unruly.

But today Kangxi just wanted to relax with Concubine De.

Perhaps the soup was indeed appetizing, or perhaps this way of eating it seemed new to Kangxi, so he ate a lot of it.

The meal was going well when Kangxi suddenly said, "When I lead the army to fight, I will leave this palace to you."

As soon as these words were spoken, the harmonious atmosphere at the dinner table disappeared.

Ma Lu was startled and quickly put down her chopsticks. She wiped her mouth with a handkerchief and said, "Your Majesty, what you said is so scary. Your Majesty is a man of both virtue and talent. There are many examples before you. How can I, a concubine, deserve such a remark?"

Kangxi frowned: "That's not what I meant..."

He really had no intention of testing her. He really wanted Concubine De to help him manage the harem, so that he would feel at ease.

Kangxi looked at Malu, and he didn't even realize that he was explaining to Concubine De: "Concubine De, I know that you are very intelligent and steady. You are the person I trust most in the harem. I am leading the army in person this time, and I don't know when I will return. If there is no one to properly manage the harem, I will not be able to rest assured."

Malu heard his tone and felt that he was sincere, so she smiled and nodded: "Okay, then I promise Your Majesty that I will do my best to assist the Imperial Concubine and share your worries."

If it were usual, she would follow the rules and respect the hierarchy, Kangxi would be very satisfied, and then he would continue to eat, wait for him to remember something, and then randomly initiate the next round of tests.

But today, he seemed to have changed his temper, and was still unhappy that Ma Lu said, "Noble Concubine, Noble Concubine, why do you always mention Noble Concubine?"

Seeing that he was really unhappy, Ma Lu had to change the subject and sighed, "Because the emperor always calls me Defei. How long has it been since the emperor called me by my name?"

At this point, she pretended to be angry and said, "Did you forget it?"