Unexpectedly, as soon as Gu Lingze half-bent his knees, the emperor started shouting.

"You don't have to bow when you meet anyone from now on." The emperor now knows the ins and outs of everything. A powerful outsider like Gu Lingze would probably not want to be bound by this.

Gu Lingze finally breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Please sit down." The Queen said.

After Gu Lingze sat down, Zhao Chengmo pushed the teacups and snacks towards him.

Gu Lingze looked up at the Emperor and the Empress. If he wanted to eat, it seemed against the rules. If he didn't want to eat, his stomach would growl with hunger. He should have had a vegetarian meal at Tanxi Temple before coming back.

Qi Yuanjing and Ji Zixuan looked at his expression and couldn't help but laugh. "We had a small dinner, so we must be a little hungry now. Why don't you all accompany me to have some tea and snacks?"

After hearing this, Gu Lingze kept praising the other party as a good emperor in his heart, and then picked up the pastry and started eating.

If Qi Yuanjing could hear what he was really thinking at this moment, he would probably be even more amused and helpless.

The Emperor and the Empress originally wanted to give Gu Lingze a way out, but they didn't expect that after taking two bites of the snacks, they found that they tasted very good.

"Madam Xie, were these two snacks invented by the chef in your house? They taste good." Ji Zixuan asked.

Xie Qingwan stood up and replied, "Reporting to the Queen, these two snacks are osmanthus crystal cake and butterfly cake, and the recipes are both from Shixiangzhai."

Shixiangzhai was the name decided upon by Gu Lingze and his group before.

"Shixiangzhai? I've never heard of it before." The appearance and taste of this dim sum are good, and even the name is not bad.

Gu Lingze desperately winked at Xu Mingyan, who smiled helplessly and saluted in return, "Your Majesty, Queen, the snacks at Shixiangzhai are made by my student's family."

"Who are you?" Qi Yuanjing narrowed his eyes and looked over.

"My student Xu Mingyan is a juren from Beiyong Prefecture."

At this time, Xie Xiru stood up and said, "Your Majesty, this is the student I mentioned before."

The emperor nodded and said, "Yes, he is indeed very measured and polite."

Xu Mingyan hurriedly bowed, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the compliment."

"After the vassal states pay tribute, I will personally investigate the imperial examination. If you are truly as talented and learned as Grand Tutor Xie said, I will grant you a place in the palace examination."

After hearing this, Gu Lingze and Zhao Chengmo also smiled and were sincerely happy for Brother Xu.

"Okay, no need to keep kneeling, sit down."

At this time, Gu Lingze also swallowed the last bite of snack, patted the residue on his hands, took another sip of hot tea, and finally felt full.

He stood up, bowed to the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, let me feel your pulse first."

Ji Zixuan heard it and said, "That's great."

Gu Lingze stepped forward to feel the emperor's pulse. Apart from the fact that his belt pulse was a little weak and his qi was sinking, he had no other symptoms.

It seems that Cheng Jiao was too conceited and thought that no one in the world could destroy the corpse flower, so he did not use any other means.

Ji Zixuan looked at Gu Lingze anxiously, fearing that Qi Yuanjing would be like him in the beginning, with one poison left after removing it.

"Your Majesty, there is no need for the Queen to worry. Apart from the fact that his health has deteriorated in recent years and his spleen and stomach are weak, there is nothing else wrong with him. He just needs to take good care of himself."

Not only the emperor and the empress, but everyone else present also breathed a sigh of relief.

"I will write a prescription for your majesty to replenish your body. Your majesty can ask the Imperial Hospital to review it before considering whether to use the medicine."

As the saying goes, living with the emperor is like living with a tiger. The emperor seems to be approachable now, but he gave himself to Qi Yixuan as a concubine in the past. There was no Cheng Jiao at that time.

When Qi Yuanjing heard this, he knew that he had not yet let down his guard, so he did not force him. He just smiled and said, "Master Gu, you don't need to be humble in the future. Just call yourself "me" in front of me, just like the queen."

Gu Lingze also laughed dryly twice, "Then please call me by my name, Your Majesty. The name of Master Gu is really a bit awkward."

"Hahaha..." The emperor suddenly laughed happily and found Gu Lingze really interesting.

Everything else has been resolved, and now there is only one thing left that Gu Lingze has not explained clearly, and that is why Concubine Yu and Qi Yixuan, mother and son, cannot be dealt with.

Concubine Yu and Qi Yixuan spent the whole day in fear. Even though they had the news sent by Cheng Jiao, they thought that even if the emperor didn't remember what happened in the past few years, the Queen and Xie Xiru were not dumb and would definitely tell the emperor.

If the emperor believed it, then they and their son would be in great danger.

At this time, a secret guard ran in from outside.

"How is it going? Have you found Cheng Jiao?" Qi Yixuan asked anxiously.

"I am incompetent and failed to find Master Cheng."

These secret guards were originally brought by Cheng Jiao. They have been used by him for the past few years and have been very beneficial to him. Unexpectedly, they cannot even find their master now.

Qi Yixuan tried his best to suppress his irritation and asked, "How is the news from the emperor going?"

"Since His Majesty regained consciousness, he has only ordered people to beat Eunuch Liu to death with a stick, and has not issued any other decrees."

"Is the emperor still in Taichu Palace now?" Concubine Yu asked immediately.

"Reporting to the Imperial Concubine, the Emperor and the Empress went to bed at night."

When Concubine Yu heard this, she trembled all over and her long nails pierced into the palms of her hands, leaving a series of bright red marks.

Qi Yixuan waved his hand and said, "Back off and find Cheng Jiao as soon as possible."

"yes."

"Mother, since the emperor has not yet held us accountable, it proves that Cheng Jiao's trick worked, and the emperor does not completely believe what the queen and Xie Xiru say."

Qi Yixuan saw her sitting there dejectedly and knew that she was sad after hearing the secret guard's words.

"Mother, as soon as Cheng Jiao comes back, father will still pamper you like before."

Concubine Yu laughed bitterly twice. Even under Cheng Jiao's control, Qi Yuanjing only doted on her and never showed the same genuine love for her as he did for the queen.

All of this is like a bubble, it's just self-deception.

"So, we must make Cheng Jiao believe that he can still control your consciousness. Only when he comes back can we catch him in the trap."

With a "bang", the tea set on the table shook. Qi Yuanjing narrowed his eyes, and a cold murderous aura emanated from his whole body.

Cheng Jiao was so bold that he actually dared to touch the dragon vein of the imperial mausoleum and use the foundation of Qianyuan Kingdom as his stepping stone. He deserves to be cut into pieces.

"But even if they think I have lost my memory of the past few years, many people know that I trust the Queen and Master Xie very much, and they will definitely tell me the truth. Don't they, mother and son, have any doubts?"

"So the emperor needs to pretend to be controlled by Cheng Jiao from time to time, and not be too close to the queen and grandfather, and not be too distant from the imperial concubine and her son."