12.10

As promised, Xu Jiansheng returned to Bai Yunyu's courtyard the following evening. He saw Bai Yunyu was eating alone.

"Where's your servant? Why are you eating alone?" Xu Jiangshend asked as he jumped in from the window.

"My servant, Meilan, is eating her dinner with other servants right now. Besides, I asked her to leave since I know that you'll be coming," Yunyu answered as he pinched the boiled fish in front of him and ate a bit.

Xu Jiansheng frowned when he saw the food. He asked, "How come you only eat that for your dinner? You're already bone thin. You should eat more!"

Yunyu answered calmly as he continued munching bits by bits of his evening food, a piece of boiled fish.

"This is part of my punishment. His Majesty punished me because I don't want to bow down to his order. So he punished me by eating this only every evening."

"His Majesty as in… your husband, Emperor Xianliang, right?"

"Indeed."