Like Pearl and Jade

Chapter 29

Inside the imperial kitchen, Chef Zhao was surrounded by some lower ranking eunuchs. These eunuchs briskly assisted him and called him Big Brother Zhao.

The main chef in the hot dish area looked at the eunuchs' diligence and snorted as he turned his head. He clattered the pot in his hand as he shouted for the servants who were responsible for tending the fire to make it burn hotter.

Chef Zhao carefully placed the pastries on the dish, not letting other people interfere. Then he carefully placed the plate into the food box. He only sighed in relief after the junior eunuch took away the food box.

Looking at the sous chefs that were flattering him, he couldn't help but hope that County Mistress Gu would stay longer in the palace. This way, he would live better.

As expected, an hour later, someone from Kangquan Palace came to give a "gift of thanks." Chef Zhao received a beautifully embroidered wallet filled with several pieces of silver. He smiled and took out a piece of silver to hand to the person who had given the wallet to him before carefully putting the wallet into his box.

This wallet was a work from the palace. If he took it home for his wife to use, it would be an honour.

The other people admired Chef Zhao's good fortune and sighed over County Mistress Gu's favour. If there was a princess in the palace, she would only be so. They didn't know what kind of good luck this person had that the empress dowager favoured her so.

##

In Kangquan Palace, Gu Ru Jiu was playing weiqi with the empress dowager. But she was terrible at playing, and had lost several matches in a short hour.

Jin Yang saw her sad face and his feet tapped on the ground several times. He finally could not endure and went over.

Seeing him come over, Gu Ru Jiu couldn't help but plead with him using her gaze. Jin Yang coughed and whispered, "Junior Sister can try to move the third piece from the left."

Gu Ru Jiu did not hesitate in doing so.

Empress Dowager Zhou's eyebrows moved slightly and she continued to play.

"Seventh on the bottom right."

"Third on the left."

"Four on the right."

"Does Your Majesty not know that gentlemen do not speak when viewing a match?" Seeing her advantage half-gone, Empress Dowager Zhou gripped a stone piece and said, "This is not a gentleman's conduct."

"Mother-Empress, please forgive this son for not bearing to see Junior Sister in such difficulty." Jin Yang smiled and bowed to Empress Dowager Zhou. "The sunlight is great now. How about we walk outside?"

Gu Ru Jiu heard this and threw away the stones in her hand like she was freed. She nodded and said, "Yes, more sunshine is good for Your Majesty's health."

"If that's the case ..." Empress Dowager gripped a stone and smiled. A beat later, she put down the stone and said, "Then we should go out and walk."

Gu Ru Jiu chuckled and went up to hold her arm. She linked her arm with Gu Ru Jiu and they looked like affectionate mother-and-daughter and not senior and junior.

Before leaving, she glanced at the board. The black stones' path looked gentle and conservative but in reality were profound. If this continued, her white stones would be surrounded, and her retreats cut off.

The gardens of the imperial palace were not large in Gu Ru Jiu's view. But they were better because they were more refined. It could be seen that the gardeners of the palace had spent much effort to manage the gardens.