Let's call Chapter 100... "Prelude to Water Melody"!

Let's call Chapter 100... "Prelude to Water Melody"!

Li Lizhi took a step forward, her eyes burning.

Su Mu shrank back: "I don't have a name, so I just... said it offhand."

"That's a lie."

Li Lizhi simply didn't believe it. "This poem has a lofty style and a broad vision; it's definitely not an ordinary work. Especially that line, 'The higher you climb, the colder it gets,' it perfectly captures the feeling of being alone."

She thought of her father, the emperor.

Every night, when the Emperor stood alone in front of the Liangyi Hall looking at the moon, didn't his back exude this chilling aura?

"It really doesn't have a name."

Su Mu's eyes darted around, thinking to himself, "I'm sorry, Su Dongpo. If I have to give it a name, then let's call it—'Shuidiao Getou'."

"Prelude to Water Melody"

Li Lizhi murmured these four words repeatedly, feeling a lingering fragrance on her lips and teeth.

"Brother!"

Xiao Sizi broke the eerie atmosphere.

She grabbed Su Mu's trouser leg and pointed at the ice jar: "Is the ice jar any good? Can you make it seven times?"

What are celestial palaces and magnificent buildings compared to sweet mooncakes!

Su Mu felt like he'd been granted a pardon and quickly squatted down: "That's enough, that's enough. Let's go, let's eat!"

He lifted the lid of the ice jar.

The chill dissipated.

The rows of tiny, snow-white moons on the plate were emitting an enticing, cool fragrance.

Su Mu picked up one and handed it to Xiao Sizi, then picked up another and handed it to Li Lizhi, who was still in a daze.

"Try it, this is the true taste of life."

Li Lizhi accepted the slightly cool mooncake.

It's soft and smooth to the touch, with an excellent feel, like holding a cloud.

She took a small bite.

Contrary to expectations, the tooth sank in almost without any resistance.

The cool, soft, and chewy outer layer glides across the tongue, carrying a subtle aroma of rice and milk.

Followed by.

The thin layer of skin broke.

A warm, thick, molten filling bursts in your mouth without warning!

It has the grainy texture of salted egg yolk, mixed with the richness of butter and the sweet aroma of milk powder.

Salty and sweet, ice and fire, soft and sandy.

These distinct textures blend perfectly in that instant, like fireworks exploding on the tip of your tongue.

"Hmm!"

Li Lizhi's eyes widened, and she quickly covered her mouth with her hand, afraid that the flowing filling would drip down.

It's so delicious!

Is this the different moon he was talking about?

Compared to the exquisite taste in my mouth, the shock brought by the brilliant lyrics just now seemed to be diluted a little by this sweetness.

No, that's not right!

Li Lizhi looked at the white mooncake in her hand with a missing corner, and then at her little brother next to her, who was eating it with his mouth full of oil and a happy expression on his face.

The coldness and loneliness in this poem are real.

But the sweetness and warmth inside this pancake are real.

What kind of person is this?

"Good! Good!"

Little Sizi didn't have time to think about anything else. Her mouth was stuffed full, and she mumbled indistinctly, "Brother, this flowing stuff smells so good! It's seventy thousand times better than that hard stone pancake!"

"I'm glad you like it."

Watching the two sisters eat, Su Mu's artsy tendencies vanished. He lazily slumped into a bamboo chair. "Remember to bring some back for Old Li, so he won't accuse me of hogging food and then blame me for breaking a tooth."

Li Lizhi swallowed the delicious food in her mouth and looked at Su Mu with a complicated expression.

"Su Mu".

"Um?"

"What about the second half of this poem?"

Su Mu froze.

Why isn't this over yet?

"I forgot."

He closed his eyes and pretended to be dead, covering his face with a palm-leaf fan. "I'll talk about it when I remember."

Seeing his shameless behavior, Li Lizhi was so angry that she wanted to smear the mooncake in her hand on his face, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to do it.

She carefully packed the remaining mooncakes into the food box, her movements as gentle as if she were storing rare treasures.

With each one placed, he would mutter to himself, "It's lonely at the top."

If Father Emperor were to hear this word and eat this cake, I wonder what his expression would be?

Along the long palace path, the palace lanterns cast long, slanted shadows.

The evening breeze blew down through the gaps in the glazed tiles, carrying a slight chill.

Li Lizhi walked ahead carrying the food box, her steps a little hurried. A little tail followed behind, its short legs flailing about.

They chased after them, panting heavily.

"Sister, slow down—my legs are short—"

Li Lizhi suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She turned around and, by the light of the lantern, squinted to examine her younger sister.

Little Sizi was nervously twisting her fingers, her big eyes darting around, but she didn't dare look at her older sister.

The most deadly thing was that there was a glistening yellow liquid hanging on the corner of her pink little mouth, reflecting the light under the palace lantern.

Li Lizhi felt her eyelids twitching.

She placed the food box on a stone bench by the roadside and reached out to lift the lid.

The six snow skin mooncakes that were originally neatly arranged now have a large empty space in the middle!

Only three remained intact, while one had a large hole in it, revealing the unevenly bitten egg yolk filling inside.

"Li Mingda!"

Li Lizhi called out his full name, her voice chilling.

Little Sizi shuddered, immediately clutching her stomach, her little face scrunched up: "Ouch—my tummy hurts! The pancakes Guoguo made were too slippery, they just slipped into my mouth! It's not my fault!"

"Did you sneak in by yourself?"

Li Lizhi chuckled in exasperation, took out a handkerchief, and roughly wiped the little girl's mouth. "So, this drool on your lips also jumped up there by itself?"

Seeing that it wasn't completely clean yet, the little ox stuck out its red little tongue and licked the corners of its mouth with lingering satisfaction, smacking its lips: "So delicious—and, and the boss didn't say we couldn't have more ducks."

"That's for Father and Mother!"

Looking at the pitiful state of the box, Li Lizhi felt a headache coming on. "There were only six in total, and you ate two and a half along the way! How are you going to explain this to Father Emperor later?"

Little Si blinked and pointed confidently at the one that was half-bitten: "This one is not finished!"

Give it to Father Qi! Father doesn't mind that his son is from a family with no connections!

Li Lizhi was speechless at this shamelessness and could only sigh and put the lid back on.

"Hurry up, if you dawdle any longer, the cool air will dissipate and the crust will melt and won't taste good."

Inside the Li Zheng Palace.

Li Shimin sat behind his desk, clutching a memorial presented by the Ministry of Rites. The more he read it, the more his brow furrowed. Finally, with a loud thud, he slammed the memorial down on the table.

"You bastard!"

Empress Zhangsun was sitting on the soft couch next to her, holding a cup of warm pear syrup in her hands. Her complexion was much rosier than it had been two days ago.

Seeing this, she asked softly, "What's wrong, Erlang? Did the Ministry of Rites upset you again?"

"It's still about the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet."

Li Shimin rubbed his temples, looking annoyed. "Those old fogies, they're still coming up with the same old lists. Steamed lamb, roasted venison, and that reunion cake that could kill a dog. Just looking at those lists makes my stomach churn!"

He pointed to a sample plate that had just been delivered by the Food Bureau on the corner of the table.

Those were several pieces of golden-brown flatbread, each as big as a washbasin, lying there hard and dry.

"This isn't a holiday, it's torture."

Li Shimin snorted coldly, "Every year I have to watch my ministers struggle to chew on this rock, and my cheeks start to ache."

Just as he was grumbling, a series of light footsteps came from outside the hall.

"Father! Mother!"