Chapter 315: Too Few Servants (3) (1/2)

Even in the capital, the only one who got to eat green vegetables in the middle of winter was the imperial family. Those were specially grown in the fields near the imperial-owned hot springs. Even so, the fields were so small that the harvest produced from them was overwhelmingly precious. Only the Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager could have any. There were no shares left, not even for the princes and princesses.

Some time ago, one of the noble madams of the capital, Madam Guo, had been feeling unwell, so the imperial palace had sent a few kilograms of green vegetables as a show of favour. Even though those bunches of spinach had already been beginning to wilt, Madam Guo had flaunted the fact within her social circles for quite some time.

He Sanlang was about to change his request when Chu Lian nodded and replied with a resounding, “Okay.”

This time, it was He Changdi’s turn to lose his calm. “Did you hear what I said correctly?”

Chu Lian found it strange. Her ears were working just fine and were actually pretty sensitive. Of course she heard him right. She and He Sanlang always spoke in Mandarin to each other, and they weren’t using any dialects, either. How could she have misunderstood him? Furthermore, she didn’t think that wanting to eat vegetables in the winter was an outrageous request. In the modern world, eating fresh, green vegetables at this time of year was pretty normal, wasn’t it?

“You said vegetables just now, right? Did I hear wrongly?”

He Changdi was stunned. After a moment, he gulped and said, “You… have some?”

Chu Lian nodded and made a ‘mm’ sound in agreement. She had known about the lack of resources in the north before coming here, so she had gotten Senior Servants Gui and Zhong to lead a group of maidservants to dry plenty of vegetables. She had brought all sorts of them with her. Dried vegetables were not only easy to keep, they didn’t take up much space, either. They were also extremely convenient to prepare. All she had to do was to place them in warm water and wait for them to soften. Although they couldn’t compare to fresh vegetables in taste, the amount of nutrients in them was about the same.

Since they were already in the north, she couldn’t be too picky about not having fresh ingredients.

When He Sanlang heard Chu Lian’s affirmative ‘mm’, saliva began to pool in his mouth without his control. It couldn’t be helped. He hadn’t eaten any vegetables in months. Due to the lack of vitamins in his diet, he had even grown a few ulcers in his mouth.

Since the two of them had common topics to talk about, the atmosphere wasn’t as awkward.