After transmigrating into the book, I helped my mother reconcile with her divorced husband.

Just then, someone outside the door reported that a spy had been caught.

Gu An looked at Lu Zhiyuan, who lowered her eyes and thought for a moment before saying, "Bring her in! If she is truly from the palace, she will know I am here."

Gu An went out and soon dragged a man in. The man was in a sorry state; it seemed he had fallen into one of the tomb chambers Gu An had mentioned. He wasn't wearing a raincoat, but fragments of it were stuck to his neck and head, indicating they had been torn during a struggle.

Lu Zhiyuan walked over, holding the lamp. "It's you?"

He had seen this person before; he was from the Crown Prince's Palace.

Although she was from the Eastern Palace, she didn't necessarily obey the Crown Prince's orders. The Crown Prince's Eastern Palace, like the Chaoyun Villa where she had lived, was filled with various factions. In short, there were her maternal grandfather's Jiang family, people from the Empress's palace, people from the Emperor's palace, and the Xie family arranged by her second maternal uncle.

The Jiang family and his second uncle shared the same goal: to protect him. The empress's purpose was both to protect and to urge him on, while the emperor's purpose was the most complex.

As father and son, the emperor had to protect him. As ruler and subject, the emperor had to be wary of him. As a monarch who desired immortality and a crown prince who had come of age and was capable of ruling in his own right, the emperor saw the crown prince as a thorn in his side and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible. The reason he didn't get rid of the crown prince was because he had not yet achieved immortality, and he feared that if another prince ascended the throne, his situation would be even more difficult than if the crown prince had taken the throne.

Lu Zhiyuan didn't beat around the bush with that person and directly asked him who sent him.

The man had his head down, looking like he wanted to die.

Lu Zhiyuan didn't try to persuade him. Holding the lamp, she took two steps back and said, "Want to die? Fine, I'll grant your wish."

The man raised his head and stared blankly at Lu Zhiyuan.

Lu Zhiyuan pursed her lips, a faint smile in her eyes: "I recognize you. You are a guard in the Eastern Palace, responsible for the outer palace. This time, the Crown Prince is traveling incognito, and you are not among those accompanying him. Leaving the palace without permission is a capital offense. Whether you answer or not, whether you speak or not, it's all the same."

"Aren't you going to ask me about the mastermind behind this?"

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Lu Zhiyuan tightened her clothes. "The only people who can summon the Eastern Palace guards besides the Crown Prince and Crown Princess are the Emperor and the Empress. The Crown Prince and I are here. Tell me, who is your mastermind?"

The man laughed and shook his head, saying, "As expected of the Crown Princess! I should have listened to my master and been wary of you. Oh well, it's just a matter of death anyway. How does the Crown Princess want me to die?"

"As you wish, I will grant you your wish to die however you desire." Lu Zhiyuan raised her hand: "Please have General Gu prepare a few things for me!"

Gu An: "The dagger is readily available, and so is the poison, though not as good as what's used in the palace. It's arsenic, the kind used by commoners to kill rats. My men have put quite a lot near the rat hole. We just bought it yesterday, and it should still be able to kill people. I'll have someone fetch some. White silk... this is a rather fancy thing. We don't have any in this wretched place, but we do have mourning cloth, used for funerals. Hanging it on the beam can also strangle someone."

The man felt a chill run down his spine.

The dagger used to kill him, the arsenic used to poison the rats, were all freshly dug from the rat hole. There was no white silk for him to hang himself; he was forced to use mourning cloth. He was, after all, someone close to the Crown Prince; how could he die so pathetically?

My mind was racing when I suddenly heard a gurgling sound.

Listen closely, and you'll hear it's your own stomach rumbling.

He wondered if he was about to die, but he was particularly craving his mother's plain noodles. He was from the south and had endured countless hardships to reach the capital. He had hoped to pursue an official career, but unfortunately, he lacked the skills and was illiterate. Fortunately, his master appreciated him and arranged for him to enter the Eastern Palace. He understood his status and knew that someone like him would die sooner or later.

When he entered the palace, he was prepared to die, but he never expected to die so pathetically.

He closed his eyes, stiffened his neck, and said in a rough voice, "Dagger, make it quick."

"Let's have a bowl of noodles!" Lu Zhiyuan suddenly said. "It's still early until dawn, no rush."

Gu An doesn't have a dedicated cook; whoever has time cooks, and they mostly make simple home-style dishes. They have noodles, but no vermicelli; when asked, they say they don't know how to roll them out, and even if they did, they couldn't roll them out the way they wanted.

Gu An was left to watch over the person, while Lu Zhiyuan, accompanied by Lu Yun, went to the kitchen.

A bowl of noodles was served, and Gu An's mouth watered.

He was from the North, where the staple food is various kinds of noodles, including soup noodles and dry noodles. Since the incident, he hadn't eaten noodles. At first, he was too poor to afford a bowl of noodles. Later, when he was no longer poor, his identity became more sensitive, and he dared not eat on the street or in shops. Then, he was clumsy; he didn't know how to cook, and neither did his brother, so after a few attempts, they gave up.

Northern noodles differ from southern noodles. Northern noodles emphasize various side dishes, whether it's soup noodles, dry noodles, stir-fried noodles, braised noodles, or noodles with soybean paste; the toppings and side dishes are key. Good toppings and side dishes make for good noodles. Southern noodles, on the other hand, focus on the broth, emphasizing how the broth enhances the flavor of the noodles.

The noodles in Ganzhou are similar to those in the south, yet fundamentally different. In short, he was craving those noodles.

"Your Highness, is there any more noodles?" Gu An stared intently at the bowl of noodles. "One more strand would be fine too."

"There's another bowl for Lu Yun." Lu Zhiyuan put the noodles on the table. "I'll have Lu Yun share half with you."

Gu An hurriedly got up and ran to the kitchen, returning shortly with a small bowl of noodles. Ignoring the presence of others, he ate the noodles one after another. After finishing, he stared at the bowl on the table: "Are you going to eat some? If not, I'll! I've long heard of the Crown Princess's excellent medical skills, but I didn't expect her cooking to be so good too. This noodle soup looks plain, but it tastes incredibly delicious."

The man looked at the noodles on the table and swallowed hard. "I'm not hungry. I'm a dying man; there's no need to waste food."

"I'd rather die well-fed than starving. Are you sure you want to go on your journey on an empty stomach?"

Whether it was Lu Zhiyuan's words that had an effect, or the bowl of noodles in front of him that was too tempting, the person lowered his head and began to eat heartily. The simplest clear soup noodles, not even bone broth or chicken broth, just ordinary noodle soup, were transformed by her hands and simple seasonings into the most wonderful taste in the world.

The man had an appetite and quickly finished the half bowl of noodles.

"The matter in Ganzhou should not be investigated any further."

"Why?"

"It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. For Your Highness's sake, we should stop here."

"It is His Highness who wants to investigate this case."

The man looked up and said, "Your Highness shouldn't have investigated; he didn't know how dangerous things were."

Lu Zhiyuan looked at him: "The one in the palace doesn't want him to continue investigating."

The man squinted: "It's not that I don't want to, but that it's unnecessary. The Emperor is dying, and the Crown Prince is about to ascend the throne. Neither the Emperor nor the Crown Prince can, nor should, have any flaws. The deceased is gone; there's no need to investigate the truth or get to the bottom of things."

As she spoke, she glanced at Gu An and said, "If they want to live, there are plenty of ways. As for their families, the new emperor will surely grant a general amnesty upon his ascension to the throne. As long as Your Highness is willing, they and their families can be reunited. A dying man's words are kind; believe me, further investigation will not yield any better results."

“I was wrong,” Lu Zhiyuan said. “Your master is not the Emperor, but the Marquis of Yongchang.”