Since Zhou Qiongyue recovered from her illness, Zhou Zhiyi and Cheng had been coming to the palace more often. Cheng had also learned how to fish and would often come during the day to keep Zhou Qiongyue company.
In the evening, after Zhou Zhiyi finished his shift, he would come to the palace to have dinner together, and then return to the Earl's Palace with Cheng.
Zhou Qiongyue knew her eldest brother and sister-in-law were worried about her, and she appreciated their kindness. She tried to eat more and move more every day. Zhou Qiongyue also wanted to spend more time with these people who cared about her.
Zhou Qiongyue felt that since her aunt, parents passed away, she, who had liked quietness for most of her life, also began to like the hustle and bustle.
Unlike Zhou Qiongyue's peaceful and tranquil situation, the princes in the imperial court were already engaged in a heated struggle. The entire court was filled with a chaotic atmosphere, and every few days, someone would complain about the princes, back and forth.
Not to mention the emperor, even Yuan Chaochang, a small official, was annoyed by it.
The emperor has persuaded Yuan Bohua to return to the court three times, and now the emperor is eager to replace all the people in the court.
Yuan Bohua didn't want to be a knife in the emperor's hand at all. He just wanted to accompany his princess. They were both old and had passed the time when they were full of vigor and ambition to make a career.
Yuan Bohua felt that neither he nor the princess were in good health, and he didn't know how many more years they could stay with each other. He didn't want to waste his time on unimportant things.
The more Yuan Bohua refused, the more the emperor trusted him and liked to summon him to the palace to chat whenever he had time.
On this day, Zhou Qiongyue and Yuan Bohua had just finished fishing in the front yard of their palace, and the sun was shining brightly.
The two of them were preparing to have lunch in the front yard. Just as they had set up the lunch, they saw someone climbing over the wall.
Yuan Bohua and Zhou Qiongyue's servants immediately stood in front of the two masters.
Fang Fu recognized the emperor at a glance and immediately knelt down, "This humble servant greets the emperor, the emperor..."
The others also knelt down quickly, and Yuan Bohua and Zhou Qiongyue also saluted quickly.
"Cousin and Fu'an, there's no need to be so polite. Please sit down!" The emperor quickly stopped them and walked to the dining table and sat down.
"It's better to arrive at the right time than to arrive earlier. The food at my cousin's house looks delicious."
Zhou Qiongyue had the good things her aunt and father had left for her, so she felt confident when she spoke to her cousin, the emperor. "Cousin, just come. Why don't you go through the main gate?"
Zhou Qiongyue asked so directly that the emperor looked at his cousin curiously. Since he became the emperor, his cousin had not spoken in such a normal tone for a long time.
The emperor still misses her quite a bit. After all, no one dares to speak to him in that tone now.
The emperor was curious and asked directly, "What's this, cousin?"
Zhou Qiongyue's lies were all based on reason and evidence. "Nothing! My father told me before he died that if my cousin bullied me, I should not be afraid.
Then go to your aunt's tomb and cry. He will help the ministers fan the flames from below."
"This is truly a huge injustice. How dare I bully you with your bad temper, cousin? I'm afraid you'll set my imperial study on fire."
The emperor felt that the elders who loved his cousin were all like those with eye problems. Who was bullying whom?
Zhou Qiongyue remained silent, staring at the emperor. The emperor could only cough and explain, "If I hadn't come over the wall with the secret guards, your palace would have been trampled by visitors in less than an incense stick's time."
Yuan Bohua came out quickly to smooth things over, "My Royal Highness, have you had lunch yet? Let's have some together."
The emperor nodded without hesitation. He had missed the food at his cousin's place for a long time. When he was a prince, he could eat it often. But since he became the emperor, he could only eat imperial meals every day.
Even if the imperial meal was divine food, I'd been hurt by it over the years.
When Eunuch Hou saw that the emperor was going to eat the food here, he immediately took out the poison testing tools and began to test the poison one by one.
Zhou Qiongyue didn't stop him and cooperated perfectly. However, she was also hungry and didn't want to wait for the emperor. She picked up her chopsticks and started eating first.
The emperor looked at Yuan Bohua in surprise again. Yuan Bohua could only smile awkwardly, "Yue'er is hungry. We are all family. Your Majesty, you shouldn't mind, right? Yue'er always uses serving chopsticks to pick up food."
After Yuan Bohua finished speaking, he also took the serving chopsticks and personally served the dish to Zhou Qiongyue, "Yue'er, try this. Weren't you thinking about eating it yesterday?"
Emperor: I am such a grown man, can’t you two see me?
While Eunuch Hou was testing the poison, the Emperor made a request: "Cousin, please give me two jars of the fine wine you have in your collection!"
"Cousin, are you sure you want two jars?" It's not that Zhou Qiongyue is stingy. She is afraid that her cousin, who drinks so easily, will make her bear a false accusation.
The cousin's words successfully reminded the emperor of his dark history when he was still a prince.
He stroked his beard and tried to excuse himself, "What I meant is, give me two jars so I can take them with me when I return to the palace."
"Okay, I'll have someone move it for my cousin later." Zhou Qiongyue couldn't drink strong liquor at her age. The prince was in poor health and had stopped drinking in recent years.
During the time that the emperor and Zhou Qiongyue were talking about these two sentences, Eunuch Hou had already tested all the poisons.
When the emperor saw Eunuch Hou quietly retreating away, he understood what was going on and couldn't wait to pick up his chopsticks and start eating.
The emperor's movements during meals were not slow, but he still gave people a sense of elegance. Royal etiquette is engraved in his bones:
"My cousin's chef also makes delicious vegetarian food."
"If my cousin likes it, use more." Zhou Qiongyue felt that the chef would not give it to her anyway.
The emperor knew that his cousin would never give the cook food, as he had also asked for it before. So he did not bring up the subject and focused on eating instead.
The eunuch next to him took note of the dishes that the emperor took a few extra chopsticks of, and planned to ask the chef in the palace how to make them, and then let the imperial chef figure out how to make them after returning to the palace.
After everyone had eaten their fill, the emperor began to talk about the topic, "Why don't I see your Jiakang'er?"
"His princess is about to give birth, so I ordered him to stay at the Prince's Mansion to guard his princess!" Zhou Qiongyue explained to the emperor truthfully that this was Ren Xiyu's third child, and she was found to be four months pregnant before Marquis Cheng'en died.
What Zhou Qiongyue didn't know was that Ren Xiyu's first two pregnancies were both sons, and her position was secure, so she didn't even plan to have a third child.
The Queen Mother gave all her jewelry to her mother-in-law. Ren Xiyu and Gong Lianyu both thought that the amount of good things her mother-in-law could give to them must be very few.
Most likely it was for their future granddaughter, so they both worked hard to have a daughter. Gong Lianyu even cried during her confinement period because she gave birth to a son as her third child.
Yuan Chaochang and Yuan Chaokang didn't think too much about it. They just often heard their wives talking about their daughter, and they thought that since they both had sons, they were looking forward to a chubby daughter.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
