The cold emperor reigns supreme, the arrogant empress begs for a truce.

Chapter 71: Conferring Leng Ruoxi the Title of Consort

When Leng Yuling and Ziyan brought out the two bowls of noodles, Mo Zhen was already sitting at the table. Looking at Leng Yuling, whose face was covered in ash, he couldn't help but frown.

“I only said that we would dine at Jingling Palace, but I did not specify that you should cook.”

Leng Yuling didn't look at him directly. Instead, she put the noodles on the table and sighed, saying, "If you give the order, even at three in the morning, I'll have to get up and cook for you. But I'm sorry, in my Jingling Palace, it's time to leave when it's time to go home. If you don't like my noodles, please turn left when you leave."

Only after she finished speaking did Mo Zhen realize that the two bowls of noodles in front of her were cooked by her own hands. They looked ordinary, but they smelled quite delicious.

"Don't just look at it, try it." She pushed the noodles in front of Mo Zhen and handed him the chopsticks as well.

Mo Zhen took the chopsticks and looked at the noodles in front of him. Although they were very different from what he usually ate, when he saw the soot on Leng Yuling's face and thought that these were noodles that Leng Yuling had cooked for him, he picked up his chopsticks.

Li Quan was also taken aback. If this were in the past, Mo Zhen would never eat food cooked by any of the concubines other than Ma Zhiyun without Li Quan personally verifying that it was free of poison. This was his most basic vigilance as an emperor.

However, Leng Yuling always seemed to be the exception in front of Mo Zhen.

"How is it? How is it?" Leng Yuling waited expectantly for Mo Zhen to taste it, after all, this was her first time cooking after transmigrating, and she was using the most primitive cooking utensils, which was quite a challenge for her.

"It's beyond my expectations." Mo Zhen had thought it would be hard to eat, and seeing Leng Yuling's expectant look, he had already planned to pretend it was delicious even if it was bad. But in fact, the bowl of noodles was beyond his expectations. "It's very delicious."

Hearing Mo Zhen's words, not only Leng Yuling, but everyone else breathed a sigh of relief. After all, Mo Zhen was the emperor, and if he was the only one displeased, the lives of everyone in Jingling Palace could be lost.

After gaining Mo Zhen's approval, Leng Yuling began to eat her own noodles. Although the taste was not as good as the noodles cooked with various seasonings in her previous life, the ingredients in this era were all fresh and pollution-free, so the noodles she cooked were naturally not bad either.

Originally, she wanted to add a lot of chili peppers to Mo Zhen's noodles, or turn them into a culinary disaster, but when she thought about how late he had been reviewing documents, Leng Yuling finally softened her heart.

"Why do you have one more egg than me?" With that, Leng Yuling reached over with her chopsticks and brazenly took half of the egg from Mo Zhen's bowl.

The only person who would dare to take food from Mo Zhen's bowl was probably Leng Yuling. Zi Yan and the others couldn't help but feel worried for her until they heard Mo Zhen say, "You clearly have eggs in your bowl too," at which point they breathed a sigh of relief.

It turns out this was just a little playful interaction between the couple. The sensible Li Quan quietly sent all the palace servants away, leaving only the two of them.

They joked and played around while eating, which helped them forget the unhappy things that had happened recently and brought them closer together.

-

After the news spread that Mo Zhen had punished Consort Jing by confining her to her room to reflect on her mistakes in order to avenge Leng Ruoxi, things took a different turn.

It is said that Mo Zhen has taken a liking to his empress's half-sister and wants the two sisters to share a husband.

The words were passed around, and eventually reached Leng Yuling's ears.

"Mo Zhen wants to make Leng Ruoxi a concubine?" Leng Yuling lay on the table, looking up at Ziyan, who had just told her these rumors.

Ziyan nodded, but she didn't know if Leng Yuling was angry. She just knew that Leng Yuling didn't really like Leng Ruoxi, even though that person was her half-sister.

Before Leng Yuling could speak, Ziyan asked, "Your Majesty, how should this matter be handled?"

"What do you think?" Leng Yuling asked casually. Ziyan took it as a genuine question and said, "How about I have someone stop spreading the rumors?"

It seems like a good method, but even if the rumors are stopped on the surface, can anyone be sure that no one is talking about it in private? Besides, if they were talking about it, they would already know most of what they need to know. Wouldn't it be redundant to take measures now?

Although Leng Yuling had never experienced palace intrigue or family feuds, she was confident she could handle them if she treated them as workplace power struggles.

"Let them talk, it's their mouth. If we want the rumors to fall apart on their own, then we'll have to see what Mo Zhen has to say." After pausing, Leng Yuling straightened up and sat upright. "As long as Mo Zhen has no feelings for Leng Ruoxi, then the rumors will remain just rumors."

However, what Leng Yuling didn't know was that Mo Zhen had another "chance encounter" with Leng Ruoxi in the Imperial Garden at this time.

"Ruoxi greets Your Majesty." Leng Ruoxi's sweet voice was quite pleasant to hear, but in Mo Zhen's eyes, she was no different from other women.

Mo Zhen was a little curious as to why she was there, so she asked, "Why are you here alone? In all these years you've been in the palace, hasn't your elder sister taken you around to see the sights?"

Why does it seem like she's the only one wandering around? Otherwise, she wouldn't have run into Consort Jing last time and been bullied by her again.

Before Leng Ruoxi could speak, he added, "Another day, I'll have your older sister accompany you for a stroll."

Although he could sense that Leng Yuling didn't seem to like Leng Ruoxi very much, Leng Ruoxi was still his sister, and he couldn't just stand by and do nothing when she was being bullied.

This was completely unlike Leng Yuling's usual style, which piqued Mo Zhen's curiosity.

"There are so many things to do in the harem, Ruoxi didn't dare to bother her elder sister. She asked her to accompany me, but her elder sister said that the imperial garden of the Southern Chu palace is very beautiful. Last time, I disturbed Consort Jing and didn't get to explore it properly, so I thought I would wander around again today. I didn't expect to run into the Emperor."

Leng Ruoxi was very good at speaking properly. She didn't complain that Leng Yuling didn't accompany her, and she didn't blame or feel resentful even when Consort Jing almost slapped her last time.

Mo Zhen nodded: "Your elder sister really enjoys coming to the Imperial Garden. But if you feel bored next time, just ask her to come and keep you company."

After saying that, Mo Zhen did not intend to continue with her and was about to leave when he heard Leng Ruoxi call out softly.

He frowned, looked at Leng Ruoxi who had fallen to the ground, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Miss Ruoxi twisted her ankle by accident just now, but she didn't dare to speak because the Emperor was here." The maid beside Leng Ruoxi hurriedly helped Leng Ruoxi up and explained to Mo Zhen.

Mo Zhen frowned, looking at Leng Ruoxi thoughtfully, and then said, "Someone, take Miss Ruoxi back."

Mo Zhen had someone send Leng Ruoxi back, and he followed them there.