C18 They left the palace together!

"Your Majesty, where is that person?"

"He left." Chu Linglang said as she walked away.

"He left. He didn't say why he gave us clothes and tokens?"

"He said that he was asked by someone. He flew away before he finished asking. Why is he so long-winded? He could leave the palace and still talk so much. Hurry up and go back to the palace to change clothes."

Chu Linglang suddenly stopped. "Eh, that's not right. Why is that person so familiar? I seem to have seen him somewhere before."

"Your Majesty, is that person good-looking?" Chunhe asked curiously.

"Yes, he looks pretty good. He has a good figure."

"I said it! Your Majesty has always been familiar with good-looking men."

"What did you say? I have such a person?" Yulan and Chunhe nodded at the same time.

"Alright then! He is indeed very good-looking. Could he be one of the beauties that Feng Xuan recruited for me? Who cares!"

Chu Linglang, Yulan, and Chunhe put on the guards uniforms, put on fake beards, and prepared to leave the palace.

When they arrived at the palace gate, the three of them took out their identity tokens guiltily.

When the guards saw the identity tokens, they immediately felt relieved.

Chunhe even lowered her voice and pointed at herself and asked the guard, "Can we leave like this?"

Being dragged by Chu Linglang, she hugged her shoulders and whispered, "You fool, I told you to leave, but you still said so much nonsense." Yulan followed closely behind.

"No, Your Majesty, my heart is beating so fast. I have prepared a lot of reasons, but none of them worked." Chunhe retorted.

Chu Linglang covered Chunhe's mouth and said, "Do you want everyone in Xiliang to know that I am the empress dowager? Don't call me empress dowager when you leave the palace. Call me Young Master Chu."

"Let's go and buy three sets of clothes and an inn."

"Why do we need to buy clothes and an inn?" Chunhe asked curiously.

Chu Linglang hit her head and said, "Are you a fool? It's not convenient for the three of us to wear the guards uniforms. Of course, we need to change clothes in an inn!"

"Oh."

Tanghuang, delicious candied fruits.

Chunhe ran to the side of the stall selling candied fruits and looked at Chu Linglang with great desire. "Ah, no, no, Young Master Chu, I want this." Chu Linglang really wanted to kick her, thinking that she would never bring her out again. However, she couldn't do anything about it. After all, she was the one who spoiled her servant girl! Chu Linglang nodded.

"Boss, how much are the three candied fruits?" Chunhe asked.

"General, the three candied fruits are worth ten coins. It's usually five coins per candied fruit."

Chunhe quickly retreated and asked Chu Linglang in a low voice, "How much is ten coins?" Chunhe's monthly salary in the palace was calculated based on two coins, not copper coins.

Chu Linglang frowned and took out the money from her pocket and handed it to the boss. She took three candied fruits and dragged Chunhe away.

"Young Master Chu, don't leave so fast. I am about to eat my candied fruits until my nostrils." Chunhe said impatiently.

"Stop talking nonsense. If you continue to talk nonsense, I'll throw you here."

They arrived at the clothes shop just like that. "Servant, give us three sets of clothes." Chu Linglang said in a low voice.

At this moment, Chunhe seemed to have discovered a new world. She ran towards the women's clothes and said while touching them, "I think this one looks good. I think it's better than what Granny Feng made."

The waiter was stunned.

Chu Linglang coughed lightly to ease the awkward atmosphere. Chunhe then remembered that the three of them were wearing men's clothes. She smiled awkwardly. "It's been a long time since I saw my sister. I missed her a lot. Seeing such a good dress, I thought of her and wanted to buy two for her."

The waiter handed the three clothes to them. He did not try them on and just took a look at them before leaving with the money.

After leaving the shop, Chu Linglang warned Chunhe, "If you continue like this, I will definitely punish you for a year of salary when I go back."

Chunhe pouted, "Every time you ask for rewards and punishments, it's really too much! Rewards are fine, but you still want to punish me."

Yulan touched Chunhe, and she stopped complaining.

"Let's go." Chu Linglang looked around and said.

"Customer, please come in."

The boss saw the three of them wearing the clothes of palace guards and personally came over to welcome them. "Yo! General, welcome to the shop. What do you need?"

"Give us a room," Chu Linglang replied.

"Customer, are you busy with official business? Is one room enough? If not, give us three rooms and we will give you two rooms."

"Cut the crap. Just say one room. You really know how to do business. Is it a black-hearted shop?" Chu Linglang glared at him and said.

"General, you have wronged me. How could I dare to be so arrogant in front of you? I just feel that the three of you staying in one room is too crowded. Waiter, quickly take the three generals upstairs to the biggest room," the boss hurriedly explained.

After they went upstairs, the boss muttered, "With such a big temper, I really can't afford to offend you."

"General, if you have any orders, just call us anytime." The waiter put down the tea and closed the door.

"Empress Dowager, why are you talking so fiercely to them?" Chunhe asked curiously.

"I already said, don't call me Empress Dowager outside. We are men now. Have you ever seen a man being so impatient?" Chu Linglang explained.

Yulan walked around the room and said, "Empress Dowager, this place is so shabby. Are you used to it?"

Chu Linglang squeezed out a big smile and said, "Is this still shabby? After dinner, I'll take you guys to see what a shabby place is. Quickly put on your clothes and follow me out for dinner."

The three of them changed into their new clothes and walked out. When they walked downstairs, the boss rubbed his head and muttered, "These three generals are really strange. Could it be that they came out to investigate secretly? I've only heard that the emperor is out on an official visit, and this is the first time I've seen a guard."

The three of them arrived at a restaurant and found a table near the window on the second floor.

"What would you like to order, sir?"

Chunhe looked at the other tables and smacked her lips, "Young Master, I want that duck."

"Okay, bring me the specialty of your restaurant." Chu Linglang said. Yulan and Chunhe were also shocked. The empress dowager was very frugal in the palace. What was she doing?

The dishes were served one by one, "Sir, if you can't eat it, I'll put it on this table."

"No need, we only have four dishes here. Pack the rest for me. I'll take it away later and send it to you."

"Alright, sir."

"Young Master Chu, where are you going?"

Chu Linglang smiled, "You'll know in a while."

"Come, eat more, don't leave any." Chu Linglang said with concern.

"Young Master Chu, this is delicious! It's so sweet." Chunhe's face was slightly red.

Chu Linglang grabbed the wine cup and said, "Don't drink it."

"No, I still want to drink it." Chunhe said coquettishly.

Yulan shook her head helplessly. If she knew this would happen, she wouldn't have let her drink it.

After Chu Linglang paid the bill, she helped Chunhe back to the inn.

After that, she went with Yulan and the waiter to the poor area where the beggars gathered in the city.

Yulan covered her nose and thought that although her family was poor when she was young, she had never been to such a shabby place.

Chu Linglang looked at Yulan and handed her a handkerchief. The waiter also asked, "Young Master, we have already walked so far. Although you are a big customer today, you can't order people around like this!"

"We're almost there. Put down the dishes in a while!"

A little boy pulled on the corner of Chu Linglang's clothes. "Brother, can you give me some food? I haven't eaten for three days."

Chu Linglang squatted down and looked at him. "Can you do me a favor? Can you call all the children nearby like you over?"

The little boy nodded and ran away. After a while, dozens of children ran over and surrounded Chu Linglang and the others.

The waiter saw this and said, "That, Young Master, the food is here. I'll be leaving first." He quickly ran away, afraid that these little beggars would eat him up.

"Are you hungry?" Chu Linglang asked.

The children nodded.

Chu Linglang said, "Then you guys line up and get a bowl of food. There are also steamed buns here."

The children obediently lined up. Yulan didn't cover her nose anymore. Looking at their dark faces and bright eyes, the corners of her eyes could not help but wet.

A little girl asked, "Brother, can I get a bun for my mother? Mother gave me all the food, but she didn't have any milk to feed my brother."

Chu Linglang touched the little girl and said, "Of course you can. I'll get you two later."

The little girl knelt down. "Thank you, big brother. Big brother is a good person."

Some of the older ones were forced to cut in line. They were scolded by Chu Linglang fiercely, "Whoever cut in line, I won't give you any food."

After the food was distributed, Chu Linglang took Yulan around the area. These children were as thin as skeletons, and they ate with their eyes wide open. Even the food that fell to the ground was picked up and eaten by them. They did not waste any food. They squatted there and ate vigilantly, as if they were afraid that someone would steal their food.

There were dozens of little beggars who rushed over after hearing the news and knelt under Chu Linglang and Yulan's feet. "Big brother, they said that you have food here. Can you give us some?"

Chu Linglang bent down and said, "Big brother, the food is all distributed today. I'll come again another day."

She said to a few boys who looked older, "Look at you. You are already over ten years old. You can't always rely on begging to survive. You have to rely on your own ability to earn money to support yourself." She did not know if they would understand her intentions. She only hoped that there would be fewer people who could not eat their fill on the streets of Xiliang one day.

The children left in disappointment.

Yulan asked Chu Linglang, "Why didn't you give them some silver taels and give them food instead?"

Chu Linglang said thoughtfully, "Did you bring the silver taels? What they need is how to survive in this world."

After the little beggars had their fill, they ran over to find Chu Linglang and kneeled down to thank her. Chu Linglang also gently said goodbye to them.

"It's getting late, we should go back." Chu Linglang said to Yulan.

When they returned to the inn, Chunhe was still sleeping soundly.

Chu Linglang whispered into her ear, "The chicken is ready, it's time to eat."

Chunhe immediately opened her eyes and asked, "Chicken? Where is the chicken?"

This made Chu Linglang and Yulan laugh out loud.