Chapter 212 A new round of competition for favor begins

Concubine Xian heard Lu Li's thoughts and nervously clenched the cup.

After a moment, she remembered that she and the Queen were the only ones present who could hear the Ninth Princess's thoughts, and she felt relieved immediately.

The Emperor has already told the Empress about the matter of Qu Fufeng and Qi Xingrou, so there is no need to worry.

Concubine Xian heaved a long sigh of relief, and after a moment she silently lit a candle for Qu Fufeng in her heart.

From what the Ninth Princess said, his vacation is over.

Everyone pricked up their ears, waiting for the Ninth Princess to continue revealing her secrets, but unexpectedly, her mind was full of smallpox vaccine.

His little face was wrinkled and he seemed very distressed.

Xia Shuyi couldn't bear to see her unhappy look, so he reached out and smoothed the wrinkles between her brows.

"Your brother is here with his sisters. They must miss you very much. Go and play with them."

"Okay!" Lu Li nodded happily and followed the palace maid to the back to play with her brothers and sisters.

Lu Li took out the gift that she had prepared earlier.

"Wow, thank you, Sister Nine, I love it!"

"I like it too!"

Lu Heng, Lu Linlang and Lu Xuanyi all thanked him happily.

Only Lu Qionghua looked at the shell wind chime in his hand that he had never seen before with red eyes.

"The Fifth Princess has been looking forward to your gift, but she can't receive it."

"I had someone send the gift to the fifth princess yesterday. It's the same as yours. She received it and asked someone to thank me." Lu Li smiled sweetly.

Qu Fufeng taught her how to make this shell wind chime.

It hangs by the bed, making a jingling sound, and she likes it very much.

So with the help of Helian Qian, he made a lot of them and gave them to his brothers and sisters.

"Ninth sister, you are so nice!" Lu Qionghua burst into laughter immediately, hugged Lu Li and kissed her hard.

"I want to kiss my ninth sister, too." Lu Linlang looked at her with envy and kissed Lu Li as well.

The group of people were unwilling to submit to each other and all wanted to be close to Lu Li.

Lu Heng was so angry that he stamped his feet. He was a man and could not compete for favors like them.

So he put his face in front of Lu Li, pointed at his cheek and said: "Xiao Jiu, my brother has missed you so much recently that he couldn't even eat and lost weight. Can you kiss me?"

"Okay." Lu Li kissed him readily.

Lu Heng looked at the others showing off with pride.

They could only kiss the ninth sister, but the ninth sister only kissed him.

"You're talking nonsense. I heard from the chief steward of the kitchen that you clearly ate two big bowls of rice yesterday." Lu Qionghua looked at him angrily.

Lu Heng argued cunningly: "That was eaten by the Queen Mother."

"I don't care. Ninth sister wants to kiss me too." Lu Qionghua also put his face in front of Lu Li.

Of course Lu Li treated everyone equally and kissed them all.

So a new round of competition for favor begins again...

…

The court officials were very surprised to see Lu Yanshi return.

They rushed to complain that Concubine Shu was too overbearing and wanted Lu Yanshi to take away some of her military power.

Unexpectedly, Lu Yanshi actually protected Concubine Shu.

"Instead of focusing on the military power in Concubine Shu's hands, why don't you think carefully for me about who is suitable to be stationed on Fuso Island?"

When it comes to Fuso Island, everyone is speechless.

They were very happy when they first heard that Daxia had expanded its territory. But they were shocked to learn that there was nothing on the island, just like a wasteland that had not yet been reclaimed.

What is the difference between being stationed there and being exiled?

Now those ministers who had been jumping for joy before dared not say a word, for fear that the emperor would remember them and send them to Fuso Island.

"Du Qingyun, are you willing to work for Daxia and take over Fuso Island?" Lu Yanshi called out the name of the Minister of War.

Du Qingyun's heart skipped a beat.

It's over. The Emperor wouldn't be holding a grudge against him for the trouble he caused to Concubine Shu before, so he's looking for him first, right?

"Of course I am willing to serve Daxia. But my mother is already over 80 years old, and I don't know when she will pass away. If I can't show my filial piety to her before she dies, I will feel sad. I can't take my mother with me to Fuso Island, can I?"

Du Qingyun answered carefully.

His whole family had lived in the capital for decades, and he couldn't bear to move to a remote and poor countryside now.

"Well, my dear minister, what you said makes sense. Then I will change someone else." Lu Yanshi nodded, not showing any sign of getting angry.

"Where is Sheng Ning? How about you go to guard Fuso Island?" Lu Yanshi named the next official.

Sheng Ning saw that it was okay for Du Qingyun to refuse, so he also found an excuse to politely refuse.

Lu Yanshi still didn't get angry and continued to call the roll.

The official declined.

The atmosphere in the court suddenly became tense.

It's over. After being rejected so many times in a row, the emperor must be very angry.

The ministers were all very nervous, fearing that they would be the next to be called.

I've been refused so many times, it would be rude to refuse again.

I didn’t expect Lu Yanshi to not call the roll.

He put down the memorial in his hand and took out a small notebook from somewhere. The expression on his face did not reveal his current mood.

He said calmly: "I am not the kind of person who forces others to do things. Since you don't want to go, I won't force you. On the contrary, I will definitely find a way to realize your wish."

When these words came out, the hairs on the ministers' backs stood up. They felt that something dangerous was about to happen.

"Minister Du, if your mother passed away tomorrow, could you pay your respects to her at her grave? Then you can go to Fuso Island with peace of mind after a while?"

Du Qingyun, who was named, shuddered and immediately knelt down to beg for mercy.

"Your Majesty, please spare my life. I know I was wrong. I am willing to go to Fuso Island to guard it." He kowtowed to the ground.

He was afraid that if he kowtowed too slowly, the emperor would send his mother to heaven.

"What's wrong with Minister Du? I was just assuming it casually." Lu Yanshi stared at him with a forced smile.

Du Qingyun was speechless and could only kneel on the ground in embarrassment.

Several court officials who had just rejected Lu Yanshi immediately stood up and expressed their willingness to go.

"We said we wouldn't go before because we wanted to give the young adults some opportunities to temper themselves." Sheng Ning smiled dryly.

"Minister Sheng is right. Young people should have more opportunities to exercise." Lu Yanshi nodded.

"How about this, Lord Sheng, you take charge and let the warehouse doctor Fu Ye take over your official duties."

Fu Ye, the doctor in charge of the warehouse, was both surprised and delighted. He couldn't believe that this big cake actually fell on his head.

He took over Sheng Ning's official duties, which was a double jump.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Fu Ye immediately agreed happily.

But Sheng Ning's expression turned extremely ugly.

Lu Yanshi named several young court officials and asked them to take over their superiors' tasks, as if he wanted to train them to be his successors.

Those older ministers all glared at Sheng Ning.

The emperor had long disliked these old people, but in order to show that he treated his old ministers well, he had not touched them.

Sheng Ning has now presented such a good excuse to the emperor, how could the emperor miss it?

Now, all the power in their hands has been divided.

"Okay, let's end today's morning court here. I will select the person to guard Fuso Island on another day." The division of power between Lu Yanshi ended, and Xiaosha withdrew from the court.

As soon as he arrived at Yu's study, he saw the maid who took care of Lu Li in Weiyang Palace waiting for him.

"Your servant pays homage to His Majesty." Lu Ran bowed to Lu Yanshi.

"Where is the Ninth Princess?" Lu Yanshi looked left and right, but didn't see Lu Li, feeling a little disappointed.

"The Ninth Princess was taken away by the Third Prince to the Beast Garden." Lu Ran replied hurriedly.

"Then why did you come to see me instead of accompanying the Ninth Princess?" Lu Yanshi frowned slightly.