698 Madam Tan Enters the Palace, Mighty Consort Yun (2)
All four of them ate well.
Yu Wan stood in front of the window and retracted her gaze from the four of them. She turned around with a smile. Yan Jiuchao was fighting with his pills. He had not liked to drink medicine recently. Yu Wan thought of a way to boil the soup into a pill and swallow it with water.
He had to take twenty pills at once in the morning and evening. The pills were only the size of a grain of rice. Ordinary people would swallow them in one bite, but Yan Jiuchao wanted to swallow them one by one.
Yu Wan looked at his serious and clumsy appearance and couldn’t help but hold her forehead.
Are you a child? Children are better at taking pills than you…
It was not easy for him to swallow all twenty of them. Yan Jiuchao’s stomach was also full from the water. He lowered his head, lifted his shirt, and looked at his small round stomach bitterly.
So they were biological father and son, right?
Yu Wan burst into laughter. She thought of something and her expression turned serious. “Will Grandma be fine if we leave just like that? Will the Empress make things difficult for her?”
Yan Jiuchao put down his shirt and said, “She can’t take care of herself and doesn’t have the time to make things difficult for Grandma.”
Yu Wan looked at him in confusion. “What… did you do? Why did you say that the Empress couldn’t take care of herself?”
Yan Jiuchao said indifferently, “The Emperor has found out about Madam Tan. He’s going to dig up the old scores from back then.”
The twilight closed in, and the setting sun was like blood. Madam Tan carried two buckets of water with a pole and returned to the nunnery hall expressionlessly.
As soon as she entered the nunnery, the young nun complained, “Why did you take so long? Didn’t I just ask you to carry water? Don’t tell me you’re slacking off again! I’m waiting for your water to cook!”
Madam Tan did not argue. She silently carried the bucket to the water jar, held the handle of the bucket in one hand, and held the bottom of the bucket with the other, pouring the stream water into it.
The young nun snorted. “I don’t care. It’s all your fault. I’ve been waiting for you to cook without water for so long. Now, I’m going to do evening class. You start a fire and cook!”
“I’m not cooking,” Madam Tan said. “I’m the one carrying the water, and you’re the one cooking.”
“You!” The young nun choked.
Madam Tan said indifferently, “I don’t care whether you want to do it or not, you’ll starve if you don’t.”
“Did… did you steal something to eat on the way?” The young nun roughly pulled Madam Tan’s arm.
Madam Tan said, “I didn’t, but I’m old and can handle hunger better than you.”
With that, Madam Tan retracted her arm and ignored her. She bent down to grab the second bucket of water.
The young nun said indignantly, “You must have eaten! You secretly took something to eat outside! You even deliberately didn’t fetch water to make me cook! When the nun comes back later, I’ll tell her!”
“Up to you,” Mrs. Tan said.
Madam Tan poured the second bucket of water into the water vat. Two buckets of water were not enough. She still had to wash up at night and have breakfast tomorrow morning. Madam Tan needed to carry a few more trips of water.
Madam Tan hung the bucket on a pole and carried it out. Unexpectedly, as soon as she opened the wooden door of the nunnery, she saw a few tall guards and a man dressed as an eunuch.
These guards were wearing the armor of the imperial guards, and the eunuch—
When Madam Tan was still in the Helian family, she had followed Helian Beiming into the palace many times. Naturally, she had seen the popular person in front of this Emperor.
“Eunuch Wang,” she greeted in shock.
“Mrs. Helian.” Eunuch Wang bowed with his horsetail whisk.
Madam Tan put down her pole and bowed with one hand. “There’s no Mrs. Helian here, only a nun. You can call me Linghui.”
Eunuch Wang sized her up from head to toe. Even though he had heard that she had fallen ill and was often accompanied by green lamps and ancient Buddhas, he was still surprised when he saw it with his own eyes.
In the past, the first-grade madam, who was surrounded by stars, was really wearing the clothes of a nun. She was wearing woven straw shoes and carrying a burden on her thin shoulders, living an unimaginably difficult life.
Eunuch Wang felt a little upset. He sighed softly. “Madam, why bother?”
Madam Tan did not answer him. “Eunuch Wang, are you here to offer incense?”
“Are there visitors?” The young nun walked over noisily. She could not help but be frightened when she saw the solemn and dignified guards.
Eunuch Wang heard this young nun shouting at Madam Tan from outside the door. He didn’t even look at her. He snorted coldly and turned around in disdain. He continued to watch Madam Tan and said respectfully, “I was ordered to invite you into the palace, Mrs. Helian.”
It was obvious whose order it was.
Madam Tan’s eyes moved. She glanced at the young nun beside her from the corner of her eye and said to Eunuch Wang, “I’ve long faded from the world. Eunuch Wang, please leave.”
On the way here, Eunuch Wang had vaguely guessed something based on his Majesty’s words. Madam Tan had probably hidden something by living in seclusion here. Now that he had met Madam Tan, he was even more certain of his guess.
