Chapter 232 Since Yu is born, why is Liang born?
Rong An was filled with complaints, but he didn't dare show them on his face. He kept a forced smile on his face, "Your Majesty, I saw you and Master Zhu discussing important matters, so I didn't dare to come in and disturb them. That's why I let the tea get cold."
As he said this, he bent his knees and knelt on the ground. He raised one of his fat hands, raised it high, and then lightly slapped it on his white bun-like face, repeatedly apologizing.
"It's all my fault, my failure in duty. Please punish me, Your Majesty!"
Lu Haozhi frowned and shouted in a deep voice, "You're the chief steward in front of the emperor. It's okay if you forget because you're busy. But none of the apprentices you took in even remembered to remind them? It's obvious that none of them cares! What are such clumsy people doing in the palace?! The Imperial Household Department is getting more and more lazy these days. They can choose any kind of idiot to work in the palace!"
This is called taking your anger out on others.
The emperor is really unreasonable, but then again, who says he is the emperor?
As Rong An muttered, his thoughts suddenly shifted, and he asked carefully, "Your Majesty, I heard from the palace servants in the Imperial Garden that the Empress has already returned to Changchun Palace. Didn't Your Majesty order the Imperial Kitchen to prepare a bowl of sour bamboo shoot and old duck soup? It's almost noon now, so it's time. I was thinking that Your Majesty should go over now. Firstly, the Empress will be pleased to see Your Majesty's kindness; secondly, Princess He'an will be back from school for a while, so you and the Empress can have some more personal conversation before the princess returns."
As the saying goes, the person who tied the bell must untie it. Since this matter started with the Queen, you two should just deal with it behind closed doors.
Anyway, the Emperor has always been unable to raise his head in front of the Empress, and now that the Empress is pregnant, there is nothing to be afraid of.
It's really strange. Why did the emperor suddenly become suspicious of the Empress and Imperial Physician Xiahou?
These two people didn't seem to have any contact with each other in the past...
Rong An pondered in his mind, but didn't dare to say a word.
He was an old man in the palace and understood the taboos of palace life very well. As the saying goes, too much talk leads to mistakes and a careless word can cost one's life. He had not yet sat in the position of the chief steward of the imperial court for long. His nephews and nieces in his hometown were still young and needed his care, so this big fat head still needed to sit firmly on his neck.
As a small eunuch in charge, he had no right to interfere in the affairs of the Emperor and the Empress.
Lu Haozhi's face became more and more twisted, as if he had swallowed a mouthful of century-old vinegar.
If Yan'er had not fainted before, and he had sent a large number of internal guards to search among the people for the whereabouts of Yan'er's grandfather, the Medicine King Ning Zhonghuai, he really would not have known that the Xiahou family had such a connection with the Ning family.
Those internal guards searched everywhere among the people but could not find any trace of Ning Zhonghuai. Instead, they dug up all the past experiences of the Ning family in their early years.
In his early years, Meng's father and the old man of the Ning family followed the late emperor in the war and entrusted the mother and daughter of the Meng family to the care of the Xiahou family.
Xiahou Yu had known Yan'er as early as that time, more than ten years earlier than him!
Although they were both still young at that time, and Yan'er was even a little girl, but precisely because of this, they could be called childhood sweethearts, right?
Furthermore, the inner guards learned from the retired elders of the Xiahou Mansion that the elders of the two families had verbally arranged a marriage for the two of them...
Later, Yan'er fell seriously ill, apparently because of Xiahou Yu, and was taken away by Ning Zhonghuai overnight. After that, the late emperor established his rule in the Central Plains, and the Meng family moved to the capital, where they were granted titles and established their own residences. Meng Yan never left the capital again. By the time Xiahou Yu was ordered to enter the Imperial Hospital, she had already been selected to join the Eastern Palace and become his concubine. It's likely that they never met again until he ascended the throne.
After Yan'er suffered a serious illness, she seemed to have lost some of her memories. After she married me, sometimes when I asked her about her childhood, she would just say that she couldn't remember it. All she could talk about were the anecdotes she saw and heard in the capital after she was ten years old.
Yan'er and Xiahou Yu should be fine.
Lu Haozhi naturally believed in Meng Yan's character, but when he remembered that Xiahou Yu and Yan'er had a childhood friendship... and even had an engagement with Yan'er, he felt a nameless anger burning in his chest.
How could that man have known Yan'er more than ten years earlier than him? And how could he have known and been with Yan'er since she was a child?!
Obviously, he is Yan'er's legitimate husband in this life!
He is the one who is in bed with Yan'er and plays with her childhood sweetheart!
Oh my God, this marriage has clearly been given to him, why did he have to get Xia Houyu involved?
When Lu Haozhi heard the news, he felt a sense of regret, thinking, "If we have Yu, why do we have Liang?"
As if by some strange coincidence, he secretly sent Zhu An to lurk in the palace and spy on the Queen's every move. On the surface, he simply said that the Queen was pregnant and feared that she would be taken advantage of by traitors and suffer an unexpected disaster. However, the underlying meaning was tacitly understood by everyone.
The Imperial Palace was heavily guarded, so how could the mother of a nation be easily taken advantage of by scoundrels? This excuse was far-fetched.
Besides, it would be fine if he just secretly guarded the Queen, but why did he have to keep an eye on the Queen's interactions with the Imperial Physician Xiahou?
This clearly means that the emperor is clearly suspicious of these two people...
It was obvious that the Emperor of the Great Zhou was jealous.
The attendants around Lu Haozhi all knew it, but who dared to speak out?
After a long while, the emperor did not speak. Rong An raised his sleeve, quietly wiped the sweat from his forehead, and glanced at the emperor's face.
As the saying goes, serving the king is like serving a tiger. This job is so difficult!
Lu Haozhi remained silent, his heart in turmoil.
Xiahou Yu was naturally happy that Yan'er asked him to leave the palace, but why did Yan'er suddenly do this?
Given her intelligence and sharpness, she might have noticed something...
If she really knew that I had sent people to investigate her past and even spied on her every move in the palace, I'm afraid she would not be allowed to step into Changchun Palace for ten days or half a month.
However, deep down in his heart, it was as if there was a kitten scratching, urging him to go see her...
After a long while, Lu Haozhi suddenly spoke, "Is the soup really ready?"
Rong An shuddered and quickly replied, "Your Majesty, I calculated that it's almost time. Since Your Majesty asked, I sent a young eunuch to ask."
Lu Haozhi nodded slightly, "Then go to the imperial kitchen. Once the soup is ready, please pack it up and send it over. I will personally deliver it to the Queen."
Hey, the emperor found a way out on his own!
Rong An laughed secretly in his heart, but his face was tense. He responded, got up from the ground, and went out to do his job.
Lu Haozhi looked at the plump back of the Imperial Steward and couldn't help but wonder if this old man had gained weight again.
Well, Yan'er...you won't be angry with him, right?
When the empress's carriage returned to Changchun Palace, the sky was clear and blue, with not a single cloud in sight. The only thing that stood out was the sun. If it weren't for the puddles everywhere on the ground, one would have no idea that a sudden downpour had just occurred.
After entering Changchun Palace, Meng Yan did not go into the main hall, but ordered the sedan chair to go directly into the inner hall.
After returning to the bedroom, Meng Yan was helped by the palace maid to change into a set of casual clothes. She wanted to enjoy the cool breeze in the courtyard, so she asked the palace maid to put a nanmu lounge chair on the corridor and sat there.
The palace maid brought up a plate of bayberries on a gold-threaded crystal plate. Meng Yan picked one up and put it into her mouth.
"The bayberries are really good this year, sweet and juicy. Why hasn't that girl Doukou come back yet? She always loves these sweet fruits."
Ruizhu knew the Empress would ask, and when she returned, she had already sent someone to inquire. She replied, "Your Majesty, I sent someone to Yongfang Pavilion to ask. The princess has finished her lessons, but she still needs to learn archery with the Duke. She won't be back for about another half hour."
Meng Yan listened and laughed, "This naughty little girl, she's a naughty monkey learning things. She even came up with some new idea the other day, insisting on learning some kind of archery or charioteering technique. She knew no one in the palace was willing to teach her, but since her brother was easy to talk to, she somehow managed to get him to agree, and now she's taking it seriously and starting to learn it. Anyway, I'm getting heavier and heavier, and I really don't have the energy to care about her, so let her be naughty."
Ruizhu listened and laughed along.
After chatting for a while, Meng Yan found some excuses to dismiss the palace maids standing beside her, leaving only Ruizhu and Yunxiang, two trusted maids.
Ruizhu felt a little uneasy when she saw this situation.
But Meng Yan said, "I know you were targeting the jasmine cream and asking me to praise Xia Houyu's merits so that I could keep him in the palace. Is that right?"
Ruizhu blushed slightly, and after a moment she said softly, "Your Majesty has a keen eye, nothing can be hidden from you."
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