AUBTN -Chapter 291 Leisure Time

The hand with which Shen Jue toyed with his folding fan suddenly stopped.

In his deep, dark eyes, waves of fascination surged.

In this world… there actually existed a woman who could see through the grand currents of power and destiny so clearly—so shockingly clearly that it shook the heart!

The hand of Lu Yan, which had been resting on his blade, tightened abruptly as well.

The legitimate line of Great Wei!

Those four words were precisely the absolute bottom line passed down through generations of his Jinwu Guards—something they swore to protect even at the cost of their lives!

Yu Qing was completely stunned by Su Hewan’s grand vision.

She curled her lips. Though she still felt a bit dissatisfied, that resentment had strangely dissipated by more than half.

“Fine, fine. You’re the smart one and the beautiful one. Everything you say is right.”

She hooked her arm around Su Hewan’s, grumbling in a tone that was half surrender, half complaint.

“Let’s just treat it like we’re angel investors and we’ve invested in a high-potential stock.”

“When he becomes a great emperor in the future, we’ll be the ones enjoying the good life too!”

But then, the image of the young emperor’s pale, childish face floated into her mind again.

“Still…”

Yu Qing pouted, her disdain completely unconcealed.

“He’s just a kid in his early teens. Always suppressed by the Empress Dowager—what does he know about schemes? What does he know about court politics?”

“Even if we pave the road for him and hand him the knife, can he even hold it?”

At her words, Su Hewan’s footsteps paused slightly.

She turned her head and looked at Yu Qing’s innocent face, fixedly.

The cool night wind lifted the loose strands of hair by her ear, and her red lips curved faintly into a soft, almost imperceptible smile.

“You really think… he understands nothing?”

Su Hewan’s gaze turned deep and unfathomable in an instant.

“A person who has survived two palace coups and the Empress Dowager’s constant surveillance… how could he possibly be a lump of clay for others to shape?”

She paused.

“He just hasn’t grown his claws yet.”

Seven days of waiting passed like this—an eerie calm before a storm that hung over the entire court of Great Wei.

The Empress Dowager’s hidden agents grew restless, watching their every move without pause.

Yet these four people were living a rare, almost leisurely cohabitation life inside the Yu Garden.

On a warm autumn afternoon, inside the garden’s heated pavilion—

“Clack, clack, clack—”

A sharp, crisp sound of tiles colliding broke the sleepy silence.

“PONG!”

Yu Qing slammed the table, her momentum fierce as she threw down a tile, her eyes lighting up.

With nothing better to do, she had once again introduced the modern pastime of mahjong into their world.

But this time, the situation at the table had completely reversed.

Lu Yan was staring at his tiles, his brows so tightly furrowed they looked like they could kill ten thousand enemies in formation—and still lose.

That expression was even more serious than when he faced an army of a hundred thousand.

“Hahahahaha! I’m dying!”

Yu Qing was laughing wildly in her mind, hands on her hips in triumph.

【Last time I lost because I wasn’t serious! I’ve trained hard since then. Today I’m definitely bankrupting these two capitalists!】

Lu Yan’s mouth twitched almost imperceptibly at that thought.

He silently placed the “One Bamboo” tile back, then casually discarded a completely useless one instead.

“Hu!”

Yu Qing screamed in excitement and slammed her tiles down.

“All clean suit! Pay up, pay up!”

Across from her, Shen Jue leaned back lazily in his chair, his long fingers idly playing with a jade mahjong tile.

There was an indescribable ease in his posture.

At her words, he let out a soft chuckle and casually flicked a silver ingot from his sleeve toward her.

“President Yu,” he said with a faint, teasing smile, “is this winning money making you happy?”

Yu Qing nodded vigorously: “Happy, so happy!”

Upon hearing this, Shen Jue let out a light snort and glanced at Lu Yan.

He looked like he was cooperating with the act, silently urging him to hurry up and return his money.

But Lu Yan pretended not to see him at all.

Shen Jue had no choice but to look toward his own wife instead.

Seeing him lose money, Su Hewan instead smiled in a charming, radiant way.

He couldn’t help but laugh helplessly.

But Su Hewan knew very well that Shen Jue’s ability to scheme against people was second to none in the world.

And Lu Yan’s eyesight and memory were equally exceptional.

Two men who could toy with the court at will—how could they possibly not know how to play mahjong?

It was obvious they were deliberately feeding Yu Qing tiles and teasing her into happiness, still shaken from sneaking into the palace a few days ago.

Shen Jue heard Su Hewan’s clear insight and the curve of his lips deepened.

No one understands him better than Wanwan.

Yu Qing, completely unaware of all this hidden reasoning, was now standing with her hands on her hips, proudly stacking the silver she had won into a small hill in front of her.

“See that! This is what you call skill!”

She lifted her chin proudly.

“You two—one only knows how to fight and kill in court, the other only knows how to scheme in the shadows!”

“You have zero sense of entertainment. You’re boring to the core!”

“Good thing I trained hard after losing to you last time!”

Lu Yan smiled faintly without speaking, just quietly watching her triumphant little expression, his eyes full of indulgent warmth.

Su Hewan sat to the side, smiling knowingly.

Not exposing the truth is the most basic courtesy in the adult world.

Finally, it was mealtime, and the mahjong game came to an end.

But what no one expected was that these two powerful men who stood above the court would end up clashing again—in the kitchen!

Today’s theme in the small kitchen of the Yu Garden was: steamed buns.

It all started because Su Hewan and Yu Qing casually mentioned that they were craving hot, juicy Yangzhou soup dumplings.

As a result, these two big shots rolled up their sleeves at the same time and insisted on cooking themselves.

Inside the kitchen, the atmosphere was tense and hostile—more terrifying than an interrogation in the imperial prison.

Lu Yan was in charge of kneading the dough.

The mighty commander seemed to be treating the dough like a stubborn assassin.

With each punch, the chopping board trembled violently three times.

Amid flying flour, the poor dough was kneaded so hard it turned stone-like.

“L-Lord Lu… please go easier… the board is going to crack…” the fat cook stammered, trembling, barely daring to breathe.

On the other side, Shen Jue was in charge of preparing the filling.

The scene was even more bizarre.

In front of Shen Jue were more than a dozen delicate white porcelain bowls, filled with various spices and sauces.

He held a silver chopstick in his hand, his expression focused and cold.

A pinch of salt, a drop of sesame oil, then a sprinkle of fine ground pepper.

The meticulousness, the precision of measurement—this didn’t look like making meat filling at all.

It looked like he was concocting some kind of lethal poison.

“Eunuch… too much star anise will make it bitter…” the cook was on the verge of tears. That was high-quality black pork thigh meat, and it was being ruined like this!

As expected, when the two men combined their “masterpieces,” the resulting buns were simply tragic.

All the servants in the kitchen crowded at the doorway, anxious and scratching their heads, wanting to speak but too afraid to.

Su Hewan and Yu Qing arrived after hearing the news, and the moment they reached the entrance, they saw this kitchen disaster scene.

“Pfft—”

Yu Qing couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing, leaning against the doorframe until she doubled over.