vstars Chapter 151 4 Seasons Begonia
Chapter 151 4 Seasons Begonia
"Hmm?" Zhou Chang's face darkened and he pretended to be angry. "Do you doubt my memory or my character?"
"Your Highness, please forgive me. How dare I..." Liu Dexia bowed even lower, and his expression could not be seen clearly. "It's just that I just remembered that Huilan Garden has not been taken care of for a long time. Even if there are crabapples, they should have withered. What's more, it's July now, and crabapples usually only bloom in April and May."
Zhou Chang wanted to give Liu Dexia a thumbs up in his heart. She spent a long time setting up the trap, but Liu Dexia was able to react in a short time.
But the good show has just begun, she has to keep going, leaning back on the chair, calmly said: "Eunuch Liu seems to be suspicious of me, what is your intention in saying this? I asked you to go to Huilan Garden to get flowers, can I still deceive you?"
Liu Dexia seemed to show some fear, but he stood still: "Your Highness, calm down, I didn't mean that."
Prince Yi usually has a reputation of "leaving traces when the wind blows and plucking feathers when the wild geese pass by", and he has not forgotten it.
"Well, it's not your fault. There are many people who have never heard of Begonia." Zhou Chang softened his tone a little.
Liu Dexia had never heard of it before, so he raised his head and glanced at Zhou Chang.
Zhou Chang had a solemn face and a firm gaze, and he made up a story: "The so-called 'Four-season Begonia', as the name suggests, blooms ten months out of the twelve months of the year. That was my mother's favorite flower when she was alive. I'm afraid there are only two plants left in the palace, in Huilan Garden."
Liu Dexia believed it a little more.
Zhou Chang raised the corners of his mouth again and snorted coldly: "Humph, what's more, who said that Huilan Garden has been unattended for a long time? I am not dead yet. That was my mother's residence. I went to Huilan Garden a few days ago when I came out from my twelfth brother. At that time, the four-season begonias were in full bloom."
Liu Dexia added a few more words: "Your Highness, please forgive me. I am ignorant."
At this time, new tea was served.
Zhou Chang picked up the teacup and blew on the tea: "But since Eunuch Liu seems reluctant, I won't force him."
"No, I am willing to make a trip for Your Highness." Liu Dexia began to be eager to accept this task.
"Alas, it's not that interesting anymore," Zhou Chang shook his head. "But since Eunuch Liu has some doubts, why don't we make a bet and let Eunuch Liu win the big one. That way it will be more interesting."
Liu Dexia didn't know what Prince Yi was up to, but he couldn't let the money fly away, so he quickly said, "I am willing to serve your Highness at my service."
Zhou Chang took a sip of tea before speaking again: "As long as you go to Huilan Garden and if there are flowers and you can bring them back within one stick of incense, I will reward you with one hundred taels. If there are no flowers, I will give you one thousand taels. If the flowers have withered and died, as long as there are flowers, I will also reward you with one hundred taels for your hard work. What do you think?"
When Liu Dexia heard this, he immediately understood that this was because he doubted whether there were crabapple flowers in Huilan Garden, so Prince Yi was angry and wanted to make a bet with him.
But after all the calculations, it’s not a loss for him.
"However, if you cannot bring the crabapple blossoms back within one stick of incense, you must compensate me ten times, which is also one thousand taels." Zhou Chang added casually.
Liu Dexia did not agree immediately, but thought about it carefully.
Huilan Garden is located in the most remote corner on the eastern side of the harem. The journey from here to here and back is quite far, but if you go there quickly, it won’t take even a stick of incense.
Moreover, whether there are flowers or not, you can earn 100 taels of silver for just one trip, which is a benefit that you can't get even if you work for the emperor.
And seeing that Prince Yi was so sure of what he said, there must be crabapple flowers, otherwise it would be impossible for Prince Yi to give away 1,000 taels of silver for nothing. So as long as he can come back on time, he won't lose money, unless there are no flowers, then he can't be blamed.
"Your Highness, there is no incense here now. Why don't you let me send someone to get it first?" Liu Dexia decided to gamble and even thought about the issue of burning incense.
Different incense sticks take different amounts of time to burn out.
"That couldn't be better." Zhou Chang didn't care. "But hurry up. I don't want to wait any longer."
"Of course. How dare I keep Your Highness waiting for so long?" Liu Dexia said as he sent the eunuch following him to get incense and incense tray from the Imperial Pharmacy closest to the West Parade Ground.
The young eunuch was very clever. He ran back in a short while, holding three long burning incense sticks and an incense tray in his hands.
Liu Dexia glanced at the length of the incense and found that it was indeed the kind of incense they usually used, which was very long and flame-resistant.
Zhou Chang didn't even glance at him, and just urged: "Eunuch Liu, go now, but you have to go and come back in person."
Seeing that he was sent away before the incense was even lit, Liu Dexia wanted to be more clever, so he bowed and left quickly: "Of course, I would like to thank His Royal Highness Prince Yi first."
As he spoke, he quickly stepped down from the stands and headed towards the east gate, not forgetting to leave behind the two young eunuchs who were accompanying him.
Zhou Chang looked at Liu Dexia's back and told the two eunuchs under Liu Dexia: "Take the incense aside and light it. Just watch carefully."
The two men responded, moved aside, lit the incense, and inserted it into the incense burner.
Zhou Chang won the bet and sat back in his chair with his eyes closed to rest.
After a while, a team of eunuchs came carrying a dozen incense burners of various sizes and various incense.
Zhou Chang then opened his eyes again, his face showing joy, and called to the skinny monkey: "Monkey, hurry up, let them put all the incense burners in front of me, let's light them one by one to try the smell."
The main reason was that she was afraid that they would all catch fire at once and smoke herself.
"Okay." The skinny monkey directed everyone to carry the things to the stands.
"Ding, ding, ding..."
As the incense burners were placed in front of Zhou Chang one by one, the reminder sounds of customers placing orders kept ringing in his mind.
Zhou Chang was beaming with joy. In her eyes, once these incense burners were delivered to her, they would become hers and there was no reason to return them.
After the eunuch who was delivering the incense burners left, she immediately whispered, "Monkey, don't forget, pack these incense burners tonight and take them with you when you leave the palace tomorrow."
"Yes, Your Highness, rest assured. I will never forget to take these together with the snacks." The skinny monkey agreed readily.
Zhou Chang curled his lips and said, "I'm afraid you will eat all those snacks before tomorrow. As for these incense burners, send them to the bedroom as usual and don't let anyone know."
"Yes," the thin monkey agreed, and seeing that there was no one around, he finally couldn't help asking, "But, Your Majesty, why don't I remember there are any four-season begonias in Huilan Garden?"
"No? That's because I remembered it wrongly," Zhou Chang smiled mysteriously, "Whether it's true or not, you just have to act according to the circumstances."
The skinny monkey just chuckled and didn't ask any more questions.
After a while, the two young eunuchs who went to get the large incense burner and incense finally brought the things back.
Two more people joined the moving team, and four of them carried a large copper incense burner that was as tall as a person. Two more people followed behind them and carried a large box of incense.
Zhou Chang was very satisfied. He personally directed the placement of the incense burner in the direction of the upwind, and ordered people to move the tea table and chairs. He waited for the charcoal in the incense burner to be lit before he sat down with peace of mind.
After waiting for a while, when the incense was about to burn out, Liu Dexia trotted into the training ground from the east door. "May you have the arrogance of not having entered the workplace, and the purity of not having been embellished by knowledge;"