Originally, the original owner kept making trouble and required the Queen Mother to worry about him, which made the Queen Mother feel worried. But now that An Jingzhi doesn't need her to worry about him, she feels like she has nothing to do.
When she was bored, she wanted to find something to kill time and relieve her boredom. She fell in love with folk story novels and read them every day. She already had presbyopia due to her age, and now it has become more serious. Fortunately, An Jingzhi got some glasses made and gave the empress dowager a pair of reading glasses.
After getting reading glasses, the Queen Mother became more enthusiastic about reading novels. Sometimes she would get so excited that she would even read under candlelight at night.
An Jingzhi said it several times but there was nothing he could do. He could only send people to keep an eye on it, but those people who were watching dared not offend the empress dowager, so they could only be treated as decoration.
After the palace was connected to electricity and had light bulbs, the old lady even stayed up all night!
An Jingzhi was so frightened that he forced her to stop reading novels.
Seeing An Jingzhi coming in, the empress dowager felt a little guilty. The old lady wanted to hide the books on the table, but it was too late. She put the books away slowly and sat on them.
Wearing a pair of reading glasses, he asked, "Why are you here so early today?"
On weekdays, the Queen accompanied the Queen Mother, but An Jingzhi would occasionally come here to eat.
It wasn't even time for dinner yet, but An Jingzhi came over.
An Jingzhi came to arrest her, "Mother, don't you want these eyes anymore? What did you promise me? You won't read novels anymore, right?"
The Queen Mother said weakly, "My Queen Mother didn't see it..."
An Jingzhi laughed in anger. He pointed at the book under the Queen Mother's buttocks and said, "Mother, do you think I am blind?"
When he came in, the palace maid at the palace gate wanted to report it, but was stopped by him. He just wanted to catch the empress dowager off guard, and he caught her, and now she is still quibbling in front of him.
The Queen Mother's eyes dodged, like an old lady playing rogue, "I didn't want to look either, I just found it suddenly, and I just took a look and you came."
An Jingzhi mercilessly pulled out the book she was sitting on. The traces of flipping through it didn't seem like he had only glanced at it. "It seems that your son didn't check carefully enough. I will send someone to search for any novels or stories that have been missed, so that your mother won't accidentally see them."
When he said the word "accidentally", he deliberately emphasized it.
An Jingzhi could understand that the old lady was bored being alone in the palace, but the problem was that he did not confine the empress dowager to the palace and she was free to come and go. But the empress dowager was like a stay-at-home girl who only liked to hide in the palace and read novels.
Just keep looking without any restraint, your presbyopia has turned into myopia!
She's already old, and she still stays up late! Who would dare to let her continue watching?
After having lunch with the two of them at noon, An Jingzhi called Wei Li and said, "Go and find a good opera troupe for me and have them come in to perform for the Queen Mother."
As he spoke, he handed a few books in his hand to Wei Li. They were all the vernacular stories that the Queen Mother liked.
"Let them rehearse and sing these stories to the Queen Mother."
This is equivalent to watching TV, which will not make the Queen Mother feel bored and will not hurt her eyes.
Only An Jingzhi could have asked a high-ranking official of the imperial court to find a troupe, but Wei Li was ecstatic after receiving the task. What did this prove? It proved that His Majesty considered him one of his own!
Wei Li has become the Minister of Works, and is specifically responsible for the Ministry of Works, which An Jingzhi attaches the most importance to.
Kyoto was becoming more and more prosperous, and opera troupes could be seen everywhere. When Wei Li personally found the largest troupe, the owner of the troupe even knelt on the ground in fear, thinking that he had caused some big trouble. When he heard Wei Li say that he wanted to invite them to the palace to perform for the empress dowager, he was so scared that his legs went weak and he couldn't even kneel.
Then crazy joy exploded in my mind.
He took the scripts handed to them by Wei Li, declined all business, refunded all the money that should be refunded, paid all the compensation that should be paid, called all the people in the opera troupe, and began to rehearse the stories in the scripts without a second's rest.
The stories in the storybooks were widely circulated in Kyoto, and the theater troupes were also familiar with them, and sometimes even rehearsed the stories.
When they were invited into the palace, everyone trembled as they carried their food and followed the eunuchs to the destination.
A huge stage had already been built in the palace, waiting for this troupe to perform.
The Empress Dowager was heartbroken when her only vernacular novel was taken away, but she knew her son did it for her own good. She just couldn't help it. Later, when she learned that her son had invited a troupe to perform, she was no longer sad that she couldn't read the novel, and she looked forward to the troupe's arrival every day.
By the time the troupe was in place, the Queen Mother had already taken her seat in the distant stands, with fruits and tea beside her, and palace maids serving them.
After a while, the people on the stage began to sing.
The Queen Mother watched with great interest and didn't even notice when An Jingzhi quietly sat down next to them.
After the troupe finished the first play and went down to change their costumes, the empress dowager picked up the tea beside her and drank it with reluctance. Only then did she realize that An Jingzhi had unknowingly sat next to her.
"Your Majesty? When did you arrive?"
An Jingzhi: “…”
Although it is interesting, it shouldn’t be that good-looking, right?
If he invented a radio and television, wouldn't the Queen Mother be obsessed with it?
…
The members of the troupe sang for the Empress Dowager all day long, and their throats were sore from singing before they were allowed to rest.
After the palace maids left, everyone in the troupe excitedly discussed what they had seen and heard today in low voices.
"Is that the Queen Mother? She looks so kind!"
"Yes, yes, the Queen is so beautiful too!"
"Your Majesty is indeed as handsome as the rumors say, but I was terrified at the first sight of him."
"Is this the imperial palace?" A young woman touched the decorations around her and turned off the light above her head with a click. She was so scared that she immediately pulled it and turned the light back on.
"Yuxiang, stop playing. We can't afford to pay for it if it breaks!"
Although the electric light had been invented, not many ordinary people could afford it.
Only the dignitaries, big restaurants and some businesses open at night reluctantly installed electric lights for the sake of business.
"Are we all going to perform for the Queen Mother in the future? I think the Queen Mother likes us very much." Someone said happily while touching the box of silver and jewelry bestowed by the Queen Mother.
This is their profit for the year.
"It would be great if we could really perform for the Queen Mother, so we wouldn't have to travel so much anymore."
Although their opera troupe is quite large, they often have to travel around. They have to go wherever they are invited, and they can't afford to offend anyone. Sometimes they can only bear the bullying of those nobles.
"I think the Queen Mother really likes the pieces we sang. Why don't we practice some other things? If the Queen Mother is happy, she might even let us stay."
So the entire troupe stayed up all night.
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