Chapter 5

Xiao Xixi had a hunch that there was a trap in this question, so she forcibly changed the subject: "Your Highness, what brings you here suddenly?"

Luo Qinghan didn't answer but asked instead: "Do you plan to keep talking to me here?"

"Hehe, I didn't expect Your Highness to come, I was so excited that I forgot my manners. It's my fault, please come in, Your Highness."

While blowing smoke, Xiao Xixi moved aside to let him pass.

Luo Qinghan lifted his foot and stepped over the threshold.

As soon as he entered the room, he saw a pot of steaming hot Sichuan hotpot.

Luo Qinghan's arrival was so sudden that even though Xiao Xixi and Baoqin had tried their best to tidy up, they couldn't find a place to hide the hotpot, so it was left in the center of the room.

The hotpot was filled with many chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, with a thick layer of red oil floating on the surface.

The rich and spicy aroma filled the entire room.

Xiao Xixi invited him enthusiastically: "Your Highness, have you eaten yet? Would you like to sit down and have some?"

Luo Qinghan looked at her expressionlessly.

"Where did you get the pot?"

Xiao Xixi scratched her cheek, her eyes darting around: "That? It's a copper basin for washing your face."

Luo Qinghan: "..."

Eunuch Chang: "..."

All the palace maids and eunuchs: "..."

Luo Qinghan sneered: "You want to invite me to eat hotpot cooked in a face basin?"

Xiao Xixi quickly said: "This basin is very clean, Your Highness can eat with peace of mind, it definitely won't upset your stomach!"

Luo Qinghan didn't want to eat.

His gaze swept over the side dishes, and he noticed that they were actually quite abundant, with eggs, chicken, lotus root slices, fish, green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, and white radish slices.

"Where did you get these ingredients?"

Xiao Xixi asked cautiously: "Can I not say?"

Luo Qinghan cruelly refused: "No."

Xiao Xixi sighed: "Well, the chickens and fish are ones we raised ourselves, we can collect several eggs every day, and the lotus roots, green vegetables, Chinese cabbage, and white radishes are ones we planted ourselves."

"… You raise chickens and grow vegetables in the Eastern Palace?"

Luo Qinghan's face remained expressionless, but from his gaze, it was clear that he was questioning his life.

Xiao Xixi could only laugh awkwardly: "Hehe, when I'm bored, I raise chickens and ducks and grow some vegetables in the backyard of the Qingge Hall."

Luo Qinghan didn't say anything.

The atmosphere in the room fell into an eerie silence.

Only the hotpot continued to bubble, making a gurgling sound.

After a long while, Luo Qinghan finally spoke, his voice tinged with a hint of gritted teeth.

"Bring me the people to clear out the chickens, ducks, and vegetable garden in the backyard of the Qingge Hall!"

His Eastern Palace could not become a chicken farm!

Xiao Xixi was struck like lightning.

She fell to her knees with a thud, grabbing onto Luo Qinghan's long legs and began to cry and beg.

"Your Highness, please be merciful and spare those poor chickens, ducks, and the vegetable garden! They are all just children!"

Luo Qinghan: "..."

He didn't have such children.

He said coldly: "Let go."

Xiao Xixi sobbed: "Those chickens, ducks, and vegetables were raised by me bit by bit, they embody countless efforts of mine. If they are all gone, how will I live in the future? Your Highness, please, for the sake of me helping you avoid a disaster today, spare those little chickens, ducks, fish, and vegetables!"

Luo Qinghan asked: "How did you know I would face a disaster today?"

"I said before, your forehead is dark, clearly indicating a bloody disaster."

"Can you read faces?"

"A little bit."

Luo Qinghan sized her up: "I didn't know that the daughter of the Zhongwu General's family could read faces."