Zhou Qiongyue was so happy thinking that she would finally get rid of the days of earning money.
Even Yuan Chaochang and Yuan Chaokang had noticed their mother's good mood in recent days. They thought that the prince had ascended the throne and their mother was happy.
The Yuan Chaochang brothers didn't think in any other direction at all.
Yuan Bohua could see why his princess was happy, but he felt that his princess' wish would most likely not come true.
Even after he looked through the account book, he was so shocked that he couldn't sleep well all night. He really wanted to ask the princess where she kept the money. Was it safe? Or should he just go and guard it there?
Not to mention the emperor and the emperor emeritus who are always short of money.
Yuan Bohua thought of others from his own perspective. He felt that the emperor would never let his princess give up this business no matter what.
But Yuan Bohua didn't want to say it out loud. It would be nice to make his princess happy for a few more days.
Time passed as Zhou Qiongyue was expecting, and the day came when she would go to the royal villa to meet the empress dowager.
Today's meeting with the Queen Mother was for official business, so Zhou Qiongyue did not bring her two children. Yuan Bohua sent her to the royal villa.
However, Yuan Bohua did not accompany Zhou Qiongyue to see the Empress Dowager. After all, the procedures for an outsider to meet the Empress Dowager were quite complicated. It was not possible to meet her whenever you wanted.
Yuan Bohua went directly to the farm next to the palace and waited. The farm was very close to the royal villa, and it could even be said that it was within the protection area of the royal villa.
It was given to the palace by the retired emperor as a reward during the drought of Yuan'an.
As for why Yuan Bohua did not ask for an audience with the retired emperor, he felt that the retired emperor, the emperor and his own princess were going to discuss the issue of money today, and he thought it would be better for him to know less.
As Zhou Qiongyue expected, when she arrived, she saw the Empress Dowager and the Emperor drinking tea in the yard.
Zhou Qiongyue walked up and saluted generously, "Niece greets aunt and uncle!"
In such informal occasions, Zhou Qiongyue would address them in a more intimate way, and would not rigidly say "Meet the Empress Dowager, the Retired Emperor."
I don’t know what the emperor thought after hearing Zhou Qiongyue’s words, but the empress dowager was very happy. The moment she saw Zhou Qiongyue, her face was full of smiles.
"Yue'er is here! Come and try it and see if your aunt's cooking skills have declined?" The empress dowager patted the seat on the other side of her, motioning Zhou Qiongyue to sit over there quickly.
Since her son ascended the throne, the Queen Mother has become more casual in her interactions with the Emperor.
However, the emperor also liked the queen mother's casualness. As soon as the queen mother finished speaking, the emperor immediately echoed, "Yue'er listens to your aunt."
After the two bosses said so, Zhou Qiongyue immediately climbed up the pole. Zhou Qiongyue bowed and sat directly next to the Queen Mother. She stretched out one hand to hug the Queen Mother's arm and said coquettishly:
"I miss my aunt the Queen Mother very much. Does your aunt miss me?"
The Queen Mother reached out and pinched Zhou Qiongyue's slightly round face with amusement, "Do you think I miss you?"
As the Queen Mother spoke, she poured a cup of tea into Zhou Qiongyue's hand and moved the salty snacks that Zhou Qiongyue liked on the table towards her.
Zhou Qiongyue answered without hesitation, "Of course I do. After all, I'm such a thoughtful woman!"
The Queen Mother was afraid that Zhou Qiongyue might choke, so she asked her to eat slowly.
Even though the Emperor knew that the Empress Dowager doted on her niece, he had never seen her take such good care of her. The Emperor thought about it and felt that maybe it was because he had not had time to care about these things before.
In fact, the emperor was overthinking it. The empress dowager was good to Zhou Qiongyue before, but definitely not as considerate as she is now.
This was the Empress Dowager's way of giving her niece face in front of the Retired Emperor. She wanted both the Retired Emperor and the Emperor to know that she treated her niece almost like her own daughter.
I hope these two men can protect their niece for her sake at all times.
Zhou Qiongyue, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor drank a few rounds of tea when someone came in to report that the Emperor had arrived.
The Queen Mother smiled and joked, "What day is it today? Why are you all coming here one by one, two by three?"
Zhou Qiongyue saw the look in the Emperor's eyes and casually explained, "Aunt, I just helped His Majesty with some business. Now that His Majesty has ascended the throne and has no shortage of people under his command, I want to hand it over to His Majesty."
"You're a good boy. You contributed both money and labor to this business, right? You, don't spoil the emperor too much. And calling him 'emperor' is so strange! Just call him cousin. Does that mean he's no longer your cousin just because he becomes the emperor?"
The Queen Mother knew her son well enough, and it was estimated that there were still rats running into his private vault.
In the past, emperors would inherit the private treasury of their predecessors upon ascending the throne, and theoretically, they would never be short of money. However, Li Jingchen's situation was different. The previous emperor abdicated, and there was no private treasury for him to inherit.
So no matter how poor he was when he was the crown prince, he was still just as poor when he became the emperor.
Just as the Queen Mother finished her last words, Emperor Li Jingchen came in. "Your Majesty is right. It's too distant to call him Your Majesty. It's better to call him Second Cousin."
After the emperor finished speaking, he strode forward and saluted in one breath, "Your son greets the emperor, father, and the queen mother."
Of course Zhou Qiongyue stepped aside and knelt aside. She couldn't be so stupid as to accept the emperor's gift.
Zhou Qiongyue waited until the emperor got up before she changed her tone and called out as before, "Second cousin!"
The Emperor took the initiative to greet Zhou Qiongyue and Li Jingchen. He couldn't wait to get to the point. "You two, take a seat! We're all family, no need to be so reserved!"
Zhou Qiongyue and Li Jingchen both thanked him and sat down.
Seeing that the three of them were about to discuss serious matters, the Queen Mother stood up and prepared to find an excuse to leave for a while.
But just as the Queen Mother stood up, the Emperor said, "Si'er, sit down too! It's just some money-making stuff, there's nothing you can't listen to."
The Emperor spoke, and the Queen Mother sat down. She was also curious about how much money her niece had earned to alarm the father and son.
Zhou Qiongyue signaled Gulan next to her to present the account book. Zhou Qiongyue turned directly to the last page and pointed it to the emperor and the emperor emeritus.
Even though the emperor and the emperor emeritus were mentally prepared, they were still shocked by the amount, which was almost three million taels of silver.
What a concept! Last year, the entire national treasury had only about 10 million taels of silver. That's almost one-third of the national treasury last year.
Seeing the expressions of the retired emperor and his son, the queen mother also leaned over to take a look out of curiosity. She took a deep breath and said, "Yue'er, did you write 'hundred' instead of 'ten'?"
The Queen Mother winked at Zhou Qiongyue frantically after she finished speaking, signaling her to tell her if she had any difficulties. She was here and would try her best to help her.
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