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◎Back to the palace!◎

After a snowfall, Emperor Xingwu decided to stay in Jizhou for four days.

Qingyang spent the first three days with his father. On the last day, during breakfast, he asked his eldest and second brothers, "My third brother and I are going to the market later to buy some gifts for Mother and the others. Do you want to come?"

The gift may be small, but the sentiment is great. Every time Qingyang stopped in a big city along the way, he would buy some rare and exquisite gadgets as gifts to take back to the capital.

Qin Hong looked at his father.

Emperor Xingwu: "Go if you want. I will not go out today."

Qin Hong accepted his sister's invitation.

Qin Bing muttered, "You all gave gifts, so if I don't, wouldn't it be like I'm not thinking about Mother?"

Qingyang: "The Imperial Concubine may not be interested in your things, but what about Sister Meng Yao?"

Qin Bing was not used to being teased about his marriage by his sister suddenly, so he started eating with big mouthfuls.

After dinner, because the third brother and sister were wearing fine cloth clothes, Qin Hong and Qin Bing, who were wearing silk clothes, also went back to their rooms to change clothes, so as to avoid the four brothers and sisters looking out of place when walking together.

Qingyang took his third brother to wait in front of the official post station. When they passed by the yard of Zhang's father and son, Qingyang stopped and asked his third brother to call Zhang Su out.

Qingyang didn't want to interrupt Zhang Su's reunion with his father and elder brother. He was just curious about one thing: "Since the Duke has come from Liaozhou, has he prepared any gifts for you to take back to the capital?"

Zhang Su thought for a moment and said, "No."

Qingyang: "Duke, you didn't expect that the Emperor would let him continue to serve as the General of Liaozhou. So, remind him to go and get a gift while he has time today. He can't return to the capital himself, and a gift will make your mother happy."

Having tasted the pain of being separated from her mother, Qingyang could now understand the hardship that Weiyuan Marquis Meng Ji and his wife had endured after being separated for so many years. Qingyang was not in a position to care about other soldiers, but she had attended two of the Zhang family's weddings, and Madam Xu had been extremely kind and friendly to her. Qingyang wanted to bring some comfort to Madam Xu, who would not be able to reunite with her husband for a while.

"Come in, we're leaving."

Zhang Su stood at the gate of the courtyard and watched the little princess and the third prince walk away before he turned around and returned to the small courtyard where he was staying temporarily.

Zhang Jie, Zhang Jian, and Zhang Heng were all sitting in the main hall. Seeing his brother return, Zhang Heng asked curiously, "Didn't the Third Prince ask you to leave?"

He knew that the two princes liked to invite his third brother to go shopping with them.

Zhang Su: "The four princes are traveling together today."

Zhang Heng: "What happened just now?"

Zhang Su looked at his father who was sitting in the main seat, but was unable to speak for a moment.

Zhang Jie: "But what does the Third Prince have to say?"

Zhang Su avoided his father's gaze and whispered, "It's the princess. She guessed that my father was in too much of a hurry to get to Jizhou, so she asked me to remind you to take advantage of your free time today to make a backup of the gifts for my mother so we can bring them back tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jian and Zhang Heng looked at their father at the same time.

Zhang Jie: "...Since the princess is so concerned about your mother, I will go out for a while."

Zhang Heng: "I'll go with my father." He also forgot to prepare a gift for his wife.

.

Emperor Xingwu was not idle on the way back to Beijing. He would stay for two days in every big city he passed through, and inquire about the fields, prisons, lawsuits and construction work in each county. In addition, he would make secret visits on impulse. Once he heard from the people that some officials were oppressing the people or some local tyrants were bullying others, Emperor Xingwu would directly transfer the case to the local Executive Censorate and demand a thorough investigation. Fearing that the Executive Censorate would not do its job well or had colluded with local officials, Emperor Xingwu would also leave a team of guards to supervise.

There were not many unjust cases, but whenever one occurred, Emperor Xingwu would get angry.

The three Qin Hong brothers didn't dare to say a word. Only the little princess dared to sneak into her father's carriage without an imperial decree.

In reality, Emperor Xingwu had already calmed himself down and was only feigning anger to intimidate the accompanying generals and local officials. When his daughter arrived, Emperor Xingwu offered her counsel: "You must be angry when you encounter incompetent, corrupt, and evil officials, but you can't remain angry forever. These scoundrels are like pests in a field. Even if you find and crush all the pests today, you'll find a new crop tomorrow. If you keep getting angry, you'll only end up hurting yourself."

Qingyang: "What pests are there in the fields?"

Emperor Xingwu, who was poor and could only work as a tenant, renting other people's land to farm, had to catch insects and could not save much grain: "..."

He was amused by his daughter's ignorance in this regard, but was also proud that he had made his daughter a princess by birth. He patted his daughter's head and said, "Wait, next summer or autumn, your father will take you to the fields to see it."

Yes, he couldn't just train his children in patrolling the border, fighting wars and managing government, he also had to let the children do farm work and experience the hardships faced by the vast majority of the people in the world.

Emperor Xingwu continued, "Although most local officials are seventh-rank county magistrates, and their influence is insignificant in the capital, in the eyes of the local people, the county magistrates have more power than the emperor in the capital. A good county magistrate can ensure that tens of thousands of households have enough food and drink, while a bad county magistrate can cause these tens of thousands of households to starve. If he makes good reports in his memorials and bribes his superiors, it is not difficult for him to conceal his situation from the emperor who is thousands of miles away. Therefore, an emperor cannot always hide in the palace. He must go out and see for himself every three to five years. Whether the people are living a good life or not, a single encounter is enough to tell."

"Of course, whether or not we can travel far depends on the timing and the nation's strength. If we are too busy with state affairs to spare time, we can't force it."

Qingyang: "If your father is busy, you can send us to take your place. When I grow up, I can also help your father share his worries."

Emperor Xingwu smiled and said, "Okay, then I will appoint you as a minor imperial envoy and give you a golden medal."

.

On the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month, Emperor Xingwu, after touring the northern part of the Great Qi with his four children, finally returned to the capital.

Prince Yong brought all the civil and military officials out of the city ten miles to greet him, loudly congratulating the emperor for his two great achievements in suppressing Yuan Zhaoxiong's rebellion and conquering the Western Hu.

The little princess who had "sneaked out" of the palace five months ago was sitting in the carriage behind the emperor and did not show up. Anyway, Qingyang recognized these officials. Instead of getting out of the car and being scrutinized by the Left Prime Minister Yan Xizheng and the Imperial Censor Nie Ao, it was better to stay comfortably in the car.

Emperor Xingwu, who was standing outside, noticed that Yan Xizheng and Nie Ao both glanced at his daughter's carriage, and was very pleased with his daughter's foresight.

After the meeting between the emperor and his ministers, Emperor Xingwu returned to the imperial carriage and the group continued to head towards the capital.

As they were about to enter the city, Qingyang lifted the curtain of the carriage and looked at Zhang Su, who was some distance behind. Zhang Su urged his horse to come over.

The little princess looked at him with a look of reluctance: "Father has given you a holiday in advance. After this farewell, we will not see each other again until the sixth day of the first lunar month."

Zhang Su could only agree.

Qingyang: "Are you still going to stay home for this year's New Year's Eve palace banquet?"

Zhang Su understood the little princess's meaning and said, "If the emperor grants a banquet, I will accompany my mother to the palace to express my gratitude."

Qingyang smiled and lowered the curtain with satisfaction.

As the carriage gradually approached the imperial city, Qingyang forgot about Zhang Su and even his father, and leaned out of the window to look forward.

Zhang Su had to send the emperor back to the palace before he could finish his work for the day. Seeing this, he advised: "Your Highness, you can't see Concubine Li here yet. Please be patient."

Qingyang couldn't calm down, staring at him and saying, "I miss my mother so much!"

She liked to accompany her father on his border patrols, but she had long missed her mother, and the closer she got to the capital, the more she missed her.

As soon as the carriage stopped, Qingyang stood on the shaft and waved to Zhang Su without waiting for the driver to get a footstool.

Zhang Su held the little princess's armpits and carried her down.

Qingyang saw his mother outside the palace gate. His mother, who had always been well-behaved beside the Imperial Concubine and never dared to speak or act before the Imperial Concubine, now stuck her head out. Seeing her, she took a step forward.

"Mother!" Qingyang ran towards his mother crying.

Concubine Li cried even harder than her daughter. She ignored Emperor Xingwu who appeared on the imperial carriage and rushed out to hug her daughter who had obviously lost weight. The mother and daughter cried together.

Qin Hong, Qin Bing and Qin Ren all dismounted. Seeing this scene, Qin Hong looked at the Crown Princess Lü Wenrong, who also had tears in her eyes, behind the Imperial Concubine. Because his eyes were full of his wife, he did not notice that his elder sister Yongkang was also looking at him with tears in her eyes.

Qin Bing was very afraid that his mother would also run over crying and try to hug him. However, when he looked up, he saw his mother respectfully bowing to his father. But for some reason, Meng Yao, who was standing behind his mother, looked at him with a complicated expression. When their eyes met, Meng Yao glared at him, then lowered her head, her face flushed.

Qin Ren actually missed his mother very much, but at this moment his mother seemed to have only one daughter and just hugged his sister and cried. Qin Ren touched his nose and followed his second brother to pay his respects to the imperial concubine.

Emperor Xingwu excused everyone from the formalities. It wasn't a good time to visit Concubine Li, and his eldest daughter had no intention of getting too close to him. So, Emperor Xingwu lifted up his one-year-old granddaughter, Xi'er, and holding her tiny hand, he asked, "Xi'er, do you miss your grandfather?"

Xier didn't even recognize her grandfather, the emperor. Not only did she not want to see him, she was also a little shy, and immediately reached out to her mother.

Emperor Xingwu smiled and cooperated by returning his granddaughter to his eldest daughter.

Yongkang felt a little guilty in front of his father, because when his father decided to lead his brother to the army, Yongkang went to the palace to oppose it and was scolded by his father. Unexpectedly, while she was worried about this and that, Liangzhou brought two pieces of good news: his father suppressed Yuan Zhaoxiong without any soldiers and dealt a heavy blow to the Western Hu, making her previous worries particularly unnecessary.

Emperor Xingwu didn't care about the momentary unhappiness. He patted his eldest daughter's shoulder and said to everyone, especially Concubine Li who was still wiping away tears, "Okay, let's go back to the palace and reminisce about the past slowly."

It’s the twelfth lunar month now, it’s dry and cold, don’t get your face frozen!

.

The emperor returned to the capital, and the harem, which had been quiet for a long time, finally became lively again. Qingyang cried with her mother outside the palace, and then she laughed non-stop when she entered the Qianyuan Hall. She first gave away the gifts she had bought for the imperial concubine, sister-in-law, elder sister, nephews and nieces, and even gave one to her aunt Prince Yong, with whom she was not very close.

They reminisced about the past and chatted, then returned to Jiuhua Palace to bathe and change clothes. In the evening, they had a lively family dinner. At the end, Qingyang stuck close to his mother, intending to sleep with her tonight.

Concubine Li also wanted to accompany her daughter, but she secretly glanced at Emperor Xingwu who seemed to be drunk, and met Emperor Xingwu's threatening gaze.

Concubine Li was still more afraid of the emperor, so she had to continue to fool her daughter: "Father is drunk, mother has to take care of him, Lin'er, please go back to Xianfu Palace and wait for me..."

Qingyang was reluctant to let his mother run back and forth on such a cold winter night, so he said, "Then mother, please take care of father with peace of mind. I will come to see you tomorrow night."

Concubine Li heaved a sigh of relief, but soon became melancholy again. For now, she had fooled around. In a few years, when her daughter grew up and recalled tonight...

It’s all the emperor’s fault. He’s already a grandfather but still cares so much about this!

【Author’s words】

100 little red envelopes, see you tomorrow~