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Little girls always have their own logic that unwittingly leads you along...

She turned her head to look again at the open area outside the pavilion, where the charcoal fire was already well lit.

The hexagonal pavilion had been outfitted with bamboo curtains to ward off the wind while still letting in light, an arrangement the little girl had insisted on.

She had said that on sunny winter days when there was nothing else to do, one could come here to roast pancakes and meat on the charcoal fire without the pavilion getting stuffy.

The half of the curtain facing the wind had been lowered, while the other half was rolled up, also arranged by the little girl, to protect her from the chilly breeze but still allow a view of the outside.

At that moment, Lian Hua was busy directing everyone on how to roast the chicken!

Thinking of the roast chicken described in storybooks made her crave it intensely, and the more she couldn’t have it, the more she wanted it.

After becoming pregnant, this feeling had become even more pronounced; sometimes she had such a strong urge for something that only having it in her mouth would stop the craving, which was very strange.

And some things she had loved eating before suddenly became distasteful; even seeing something that looked similar made her feel nauseous, like with winter melon soup, which turned her stomach at the mere sight of it.

Nanny Qi said it was just a reaction to being pregnant and perfectly normal, so she didn’t dwell on it much.

After eating her early meal, she reminded Xiao Qing again to roast the chicken; if it wasn’t for Nanny Qi advising her not to eat too heavily for her early meal, she would have liked to have it then.

Originally, she had wanted Xiao Qing to cook it in the small kitchen, but she was so bored, terribly bored, so she had asked Consort Fang Pin to help her with a painting as a base.

One day, upon hearing Consort Fang Pin mention that she was skilled in painting, she had been intrigued.

Now, the painting still hadn’t arrived, so all she could do was whittle the wood, making preparations.

The weird stone that Steward Zhang unearthed looked like a little fairy mountain shrouded in clouds, and she wanted to carve beneath it flowing water that encompassed the fairy mountain.

So, there she was, terribly bored with nothing to do, idly sitting with Nanny Qi.

Later, a thought struck her; since they were going to roast the chicken, why not do it outside? That would be so much more fun.

Recalling the flower viewing feasts and autumn day feasts organized by the Noble Consort, oh, she too could imitate those and hold a roast chicken feast!

No sooner said than done, she consulted with Xiao Jizi and two others for a long while and immediately decided to roast the chickens and send a few to Huaqing Palace and two to Consort Fang Pin.

The other people in the remaining palaces were not considered, as they were not close.

She originally wanted to invite Sister Consort De and others over, but later Nanny Qi reminded her that the Noble Consort was unwell, and Consort De had just started managing the harem, which was a particularly busy time, so she decided against it.

Thus, she only sent Xiao Jizi to invite Consort Fang Pin, but Consort Fang Pin’s Palace Maid Jin Xi said the consort had secluded herself after receiving her request, starting to paint and discarding many unsatisfactory papers, hence she was not to be disturbed by anyone.

Feeling regretful, she gave up and wrote a letter, just handed it to Xiao Jizi to deliver.

In the letter, she praised Consort Fang Pin and expressed her thanks, asking Consort Fang Pin to take care of her health and suggesting that if the painting was difficult, to just rush it through—it wasn’t important.

She truly believed so; the importance of the strange stone artifact lay in the strange stone, not the base.

A too-perfect base would overshadow the stone, which would be putting the cart before the horse, she understood.

This was similar to the Peach Wood Sword she had given to Sister Consort De, where the outer box was very simple.

When she was young, she had learned a phrase, "buying the casket and returning the pearl," which had left a deep impression on her; a too-fine box could make people foolish, treating treasures as non-treasures, and she did not want to imitate that.

Now the chickens were marinated, the charcoal fire was lit, and the chickens strung on sticks were ready to go.

She looked up at the sky and thought, "Hmm, about time, almost time for lunch," and then she said to Xiao Qing and the others, "Guys, start grilling!"

"Right away!" Xiao Qing and the others couldn’t wait to start. They put the skewered chickens on the rack and began to rotate the skewers to grill them.

Xiao Linzi, in particular, was drooling as he started grilling.

Lian Hua was pleased. She turned with a smile toward the pavilion, "Nanny, it will be ready soon, please wait a bit longer."

"Ah," Nanny Qi also responded with a smile.

The chickens sizzled as they grilled over the bright red charcoal fire. Those close to the fire were warmed by the heat until their faces turned red, and everyone’s faces were brimming with joy.

Dong Xue had never experienced anything like this. She turned the chicken joyfully, her face beaming with excitement.

For her, this experience was incredibly fresh. Under the clear, sunny sky, everyone joyously grilled chicken together, feeling warm both outside and inside. Master Lian had said that they would all have a share once the chickens were grilled.

By now, her initial rejection of Canglan Court had gradually faded. Although she did manual labor here, she slowly accepted it and even found it much more interesting than at Star Palace, and the food was also much better.

The tasks at Star Palace were lighter, but life was extremely dull, with the Senior Palace Maids managing the Little Palace Maids day after day.

But it was different at Canglan Court. Following Master Lian, one could never be lonely, from the mooncake-making contests, collective distribution of festive money, Mid-Autumn moon watching with pastries, today’s courtyard chicken grill, to many other big and small unique experiences absent from Star Palace.

By now, her view of Master Lian had changed, and she subtly felt that some things Sister Xia Liu had said weren’t right.

Sister Xia Liu always stated that they were outsiders and should be careful with their words and actions, otherwise, they might end up with no good outcome, and they might not be able to return to Star Palace or even stay here.

However, having been here for so long, she hadn’t seen that. Although Nanny Qi was strict with them, the punishments were deserved and were even lenient compared to the palace rules. If it were at Star Palace, the penalties would be stricter than the palace rules, and she acknowledged that.

Moreover, though she was under Nanny Qi’s supervision and couldn’t serve Master Lian closely, Master Lian never forgot about them whenever she did something, just like this time.

Everyone knew from observing how Xiao Linzi and the others were treated that Master Lian was good to her subordinates.

She envied Xiao Qing and his peers, who were directly under Master Lian.

Sometimes she wondered if she worked hard, might she also have a chance, like Xiao Linzi, to be assigned to Master Lian and serve by her side?

In the end, she was just a young girl with not much depth to her thoughts. Whoever treated her well, she would reciprocate with goodness.

"Oh, Xiao Linzi, so much oil has dripped from your charcoal, it has started to catch fire and smoke black smoke. Quickly use the tongs to move the smoky charcoal aside, or it will char the chicken black. Didn’t I just mention this!"

"Oh, Master, I wasn’t paying attention."

"Silly, your eyes haven’t left the chicken, how could you have paid attention? Shift your gaze around a bit. Don’t you need to be watchful in all directions while grilling chicken?"

Dong Xue snapped back to reality and hurriedly checked if her own charcoal was producing black smoke. Seeing that it wasn’t, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Only then did she notice the aroma of the grilled chicken. It smelled so good. Whatever marinade Master Lian had prepared, it made her mouth water just by smelling it.