Chapter 61

Five years ago, a locust plague struck the southern region, affecting the same four counties. The locusts devastated the rice fields, leaving the people with nothing to harvest, and many starved to death.

Two years before that, the same four counties were hit by a plague of rats, which killed many people. It took the Imperial Medical Bureau and renowned doctors from all over to finally develop a cure for the plague.

...

Luo Qinghan looked at the densely packed records before him, his brows furrowed.

It seemed that every few years, these four counties would suffer some kind of disaster.

Because these events were spaced out over time and other regions occasionally experienced natural disasters as well, no one had taken these incidents seriously, assuming they were just ordinary natural disasters.

However, after Xiao Liangdi's reminder, Luo Qinghan vaguely felt that there might indeed be a problem with the feng shui of these four counties.

He had never believed in such mystical things before, but Xiao Liangdi had repeatedly proven him wrong with reality, forcing him to admit that there were indeed some things in this world that could not be explained by common sense.

Luo Qinghan closed the dossier, having made up his mind.

By the time he walked out of Mingguang Palace, it was already dark.

At that moment, Eunuch Chang stepped forward to greet him, speaking respectfully.

"Your Highness, Doctor Duan has returned from the General's residence. He said that the General's wife and the General's fifth daughter are out of danger and will recover after a period of rest."

Luo Qinghan responded indifferently, "Mm."

Eunuch Chang added, "General Zhongwu has asked me to convey his gratitude to you. He said that the General's residence owes you two lives, and if you ever need his help in the future, he will do anything for you, even if it means climbing a mountain of knives or diving into a sea of fire."

"Has anyone in their family asked about Xiao Liangdi?"

Eunuch Chang shook his head, "No, they haven't mentioned it."

Luo Qinghan said nothing more and started walking towards Qingge Hall. Eunuch Chang and the other palace attendants hurried to follow.

Xiao Xixi, as agreed, rolled up her sleeves and personally cooked the fried rice.

She used the leftover rice from lunch, which made for better-tasting fried rice. The eggs were from the hens in the backyard, pure free-range eggs with particularly bright yolks.

She knew that the Crown Prince preferred a lighter taste, so she didn't add any chili to his portion of the egg fried rice.

In addition to the egg fried rice, she also made a cucumber salad, stir-fried some green vegetables, and cooked a pot of winter melon soup.

Her cooking skills were limited, so she could only make these few simple dishes.

Baoqin helped her out.

She cautiously suggested, "Is it not good to serve such plain dishes to the Crown Prince? At least we should make a couple of meat dishes, right?"

Xiao Xixi spread her hands, "But I don't know how to make them."

Baoqin volunteered, "I can do it."

Xiao Xixi readily handed over the chef's position to her.

Baoqin quickly prepared three hearty meat dishes.

All the dishes were served one by one.

Luo Qinghan first tried the egg fried rice, finding it to be just ordinary rice fried with eggs, nothing special.

He then tried the cucumber salad and stir-fried green vegetables, which were also quite decent.

He finished the bowl of egg fried rice with a blank expression, eating quite a bit of the stir-fried green vegetables and cucumber salad, and even drank a bowl of winter melon soup.

As for the three meat dishes, he barely touched them.

In the end, all the meat dishes ended up in Xiao Xixi's stomach.

She ate to her heart's content, patting her little belly and exclaiming, "Baoqin's cooking is really great!"

Luo Qinghan thought to himself that if he ever got tired of exotic delicacies, having a simple home-cooked meal like this once in a while would be quite nice.