AUBTN -Chapter 107 Happy New Year

“This soup is called the ‘Fortifying and Vitalizing Spirit-Locking Soup.’”

Su Hewan presented it with both hands.

“I scoured countless ancient texts to create it specifically to complement the National Preceptor’s elixir. Its effect is to firmly lock the medicinal efficacy of the National Preceptor’s pills within Her Majesty the Empress Dowager’s body. It keeps her spirit invigorated while nourishing her organs and replenishing depleted vitality.”

“Simply put, it doubles the effect of the National Preceptor’s divine pills, harms the phoenix body in no way, and even improves beauty and complexion!”

At the right moment, Yu Qing chimed in from the side, her eyes full of admiration as she played the perfect foil:

“Your Majesty, you don’t know—every single herb in this soup was rigorously selected over… ninety-nine days—ah, no, carefully screened! Last night I secretly tasted the base ingredients, and this morning, my skin feels so soft and supple it could practically squeeze water out!”

As she spoke, she exaggeratedly touched her face.

The Empress Dowager looked at Yu Qing’s dewy, radiant face, then at Su Hewan’s confident gaze, and most of her doubts melted away.

Most importantly, the aroma of the soup was genuinely comforting, and the internal heat she had been feeling seemed to ease somewhat.

“Double the effect…” the Empress Dowager murmured, a glimmer of desire flickering in her eyes.

“Present it,” she finally extended her hand.

Su Hewan’s heart surged with certainty, but her expression remained calm and respectful as she handed the bowl to the Empress Dowager’s chief palace maid.

Watching the Empress Dowager lift spoonfuls of the soup to her lips, her expression gradually relaxing, Su Hewan and Yu Qing exchanged a glance, each catching the fleeting glint of cunning in the other’s eyes.

The first step—successful.

At the same time, hidden in the shadows, Shen Jue and Lu Yan both let out a silent sigh of relief.

Only Lu Yan, watching Yu Qing weave her tall tales before the Empress Dowager, couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his mouth again.

This woman’s tongue… truly a deceptive little demon.

Word of this quickly reached the National Preceptor’s mansion.

Zhao Shuo, listening to his informant’s report, had a trace of scornful amusement creep onto his previously sullen face.

“Moisturizing yin, nourishing dryness? Balancing yin and yang?”

He casually tossed an unrefined, failed pill into the furnace, sending up a burst of blue flames.

“Shen Jue… Shen Jue, I thought you were capable, but it turns out this is nothing more than women’s soft-hearted tricks.”

In his eyes, Shen Jue was merely trying to curry favor with the Empress Dowager and get a share of the spoils.

A glint of ruthlessness flashed in Zhao Shuo’s eyes. With a wave of his hand, he ordered, “Notify the palace: the Empress Dowager’s phoenix body is weak; increase the dosage. Deliver three more boxes of golden pills, and tell Her Majesty these are specially improved by me. Combined with that ‘Jade Dew Soup,’ the effect will be even better.”

If he could kill two birds with one stone, all the better!

Zhao Shuo’s push forward, however, played right into Su Hewan’s hands.

With Zhao Shuo’s endorsement, the Empress Dowager drank the soup without hesitation.

A bowl of the specially enhanced Jade Dew Soup each day gradually neutralized and expelled the accumulated toxins of the Red Flame Herb from her body.

This silent game of strategy had temporarily reached a delicate balance.

Time flew, and it was already the 30th day of the twelfth lunar month.

All across the capital, firecrackers exploded, and the fresh snow promised a bountiful year.

Yet in the study of Yuyuan Garden, the atmosphere remained as tense as iron.

Shen Jue stared at the deployment map, Lu Yan polished his embroidered spring blade, and Su Hewan was buried in medical texts!

The three of them were like emotionless work machines!

“Bang!”

A loud noise shattered the room’s silence.

All three looked up to see Yu Qing standing before the desk, hands on her hips, radiating sheer force!

She waved her sore hands, baring her teeth, complaining loudly!

“Three big shots, could you please stop for a moment and let me speak?”

The three of them chuckled lightly. Su Hewan said, “Alright, what do you want to say?”

Yu Qing took a deep breath, her almond-shaped eyes wide with excitement.

“Look outside! The lanterns are hung, the firecrackers are going off—it’s New Year’s Eve! Don’t you get it?”

Lu Yan frowned. “Although Zhao Shuo is holding his position for now, it’s the calm before the storm. We mustn’t let our guard down…”

“Don’t be such a big-headed ghost!” Yu Qing cut him off directly.

“Are you even human? Even villains can’t compete with you two!”

She sidled up to Su Hewan and lowered her voice. “Wanwan, this is our first New Year in this world! Don’t you feel anything?”

“What do you want to do then?” Su Hewan asked, smiling wryly.

Yu Qing suddenly put her hands on her hips and loudly declared, “I want dumplings—pork with pickled cabbage filling! I want to hang spring couplets! Set off firecrackers!”

“This dull study is freezing, it doesn’t feel like New Year at all—it’s more like a courtroom! Three of you, what say you?”

Lu Yan and Shen Jue exchanged a glance, then both laughed.

Lu Yan silently sheathed his embroidered spring knives.

Shen Jue’s gaze swept over Su Hewan, who was quietly massaging her sore wrist, and a faint, almost imperceptible softness flickered in his eyes.

“Then… it’s settled. As you wish,” said the Master.

Yu Qing’s expression changed faster than flipping a page. She snapped her fingers. “Perfect! To the kitchen!”

Half an hour later.

In the small kitchen of Yu Garden, Yu Qing waved her hand to send the servants off for the holiday and got to work with the three of them.

“Lu Yan! That’s for chopping meat, not heads! Why are you swinging so hard? You’re going to split the cutting board in half!”

Yu Qing stood aside, watching Lu Yan wielding two kitchen knives with fierce precision. The pork on the board was instantly minced into paste, wood shavings flying everywhere—it was almost too chaotic to look at.

Lu Yan paused; a flicker of embarrassment crossed his cold, stern face as he moderated his strength.

Meanwhile, another bizarre scene unfolded.

Su Hewan was teaching Shen Jue how to knead the dough.

The normally fearsome Master, confronted with a bowl of limp flour, looked awkward and clumsy.

“Too much water? Add flour. Too much flour? Add water… Master Shen, are you just muddling through?” Su Hewan couldn’t help but chuckle.

Shen Jue’s brows were tightly furrowed, as if he were deciphering a supreme martial arts manual.

He nodded knowingly and added another scoop of flour, instantly raising a white cloud of dust.

Shen Jue’s once sharp, handsome face turned completely white, even his eyelashes dusted with flour.

The room fell into a stunned silence.

Then Yu Qing erupted into wild laughter: “Hahaha! Flour Master! This look is too stylish! Hahaha!”

Lu Yan looked at his rival’s embarrassed state. Though he tried to restrain himself, the corners of his mouth betrayed a slight upward twitch.

Shen Jue’s expression darkened as he was about to lose his temper.

A handkerchief, faintly scented with herbs, gently covered his cheek.

“Don’t move—don’t get it in your eyes.”

Su Hewan tiptoed, carefully wiping the flour from around his eyes and the tip of his nose.

They were extremely close.

Close enough that Shen Jue could see his own disheveled reflection in her pupils, close enough to smell the comforting scent of books emanating from her.

His usually restless inner energy instantly calmed.

He lowered his gaze to the woman diligently wiping his face, feeling his heartbeat go slightly out of control.

【This Shen Jue, usually so strict with strangers, looks a bit dumb-cute with flour on him… even more handsome than those men in ancient paintings,】 Su Hewan thought, but her hands didn’t stop moving.