"You want them all?" Zhao Liben almost burst out laughing, "Your appetite is too big!"

China and overseas are two completely different worlds. They have only one thing in common: you may not be able to achieve your goal even if you try your best.

Now this kid actually said that he wanted to have it both ways, which was really going to make the old man laugh to death.

"I have carefully considered this over the past two days. As long as we plan our time properly, it is entirely possible to do both well." Zhao Hao said with a firm face:

"At least for the next three years, father can stay in Beijing and be at ease. Grandpa and I will go back to the south and try our best to see if we can make a difference. If it takes longer, father can continue to spend his days in the Imperial Academy."

It's not that Zhao Hao thinks his father is a hindrance, but the career trajectory of the top scholar has always been like this. Basically, he has to move between the Hanlin Academy and the Zhanshi Mansion for more than ten to twenty years, and then gain experience in the ministry as a vice minister, and wait for the right opportunity to enter the cabinet and become a prime minister.

So Zhao Hao felt that he had enough time to go to the southeast and give full play to his abilities.

However, his grandfather's words shattered his beautiful dream.

"I'm afraid it won't go as you wish." Zhao Liben said calmly, "Grandpa, I heard that Gao has never given up. Moreover, the emperor has specially sent people from the East Factory to protect him in Gaojiazhuang. What does this mean? I don't need to tell you, right?"

"The emperor should be prepared to let him take over as soon as Lord Xu retires." Zhao Hao thought to himself, it seems that it is a well-known secret that Gao Xinzheng will make a comeback.

If so, Lord Xu must have something on his mind, no wonder he has never been able to get along with the emperor.

"But Grandpa, what kind of irreconcilable grudge do you have with Gao Xinzheng that should our whole family avoid him like the plague?" Zhao Hao finally couldn't help asking.

"..." Zhao Liben's face was changing from dark to bright, and his expression was complicated and hard to understand. After a while, he shook his head and said, "Forget it, don't ask. If you ask, it's just a deep hatred."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded obediently. His curiosity about this matter was simply beyond words.

"My dear grandson, you just need to know that this is a situation of tigers and wolves. You have outlasted Xu Huating, and now you have Gao Xinzheng. There are wolves in front and tigers behind. This capital is really not a place for us to stay for long." Zhao Liben quickly changed the subject:

"So, grandpa is not at all worried about your father being in Beijing. If you weren't there to take care of him, wouldn't he have been beaten to death by those people?"

Zhao Hao thought to himself that it was not necessary, as he had his mother. Of course, he could never say this out loud.

Because in the old man's eyes, the eldest princess is the worst of the bad guys, the worst one.

"So what does grandpa mean?"

"Of the thirty-six strategies, running away is the best one." Zhao Liben said in a deep voice, "Rather than being manipulated by others at that time, why don't we choose a good place to hide first."

After a pause, he smiled cunningly and said, "Of course, it would be best to go to Suzhou. That way, not only will we not be delayed, but we will also have great benefits."

Zhao Hao immediately understood that the old man had already thought of a way to have the best of both worlds, which was why he acted so magnanimously.

"Huh? Can people from Nanzhili go to Suzhou to be officials?" But he immediately thought of a question.

"Wrong. First of all, there is no Nanzhili, only Zhili. The so-called 'Nanzhili' is just a common name." Zhao Liben explained to his grandson: "And 'Zhili' means directly under the capital, not a separate province. Therefore, the 14 Zhili prefectures in the south and the 10 Zhili prefectures in the north are all responsible to the six ministries and have no connection with each other. Do you understand?"

"I understand." Zhao Hao thought to himself, it's a municipality directly under the central government.

"So the restriction of the Ministry of Personnel that 'you cannot serve as an official in the same province' does not apply to Zhili." Then Zhao Liben smiled faintly and said, "During the reign of Emperor Taizu, there were not many cases where people from Suzhou served as county magistrates in Changzhou and people from Wuxi served as prefects in Taiping Prefecture. Later, during the reign of Emperor Xuande, a rule was issued that officials in Zhili Prefecture must serve 500 miles away from home."

"Is that so?" Zhao Hao nodded, and asked uncertainly, "Is it five hundred miles from Xiuning to Suzhou?"

"Six hundred miles." Zhao Liben made the gesture of six.

"Okay, then let's try to make Suzhou our next stop." Zhao Hao thought to himself, his old friend is really cool.

"Haha, okay, my dear grandson, as long as we two work together, there is nothing we can't do!" Zhao Liben laughed proudly, everything was under control.

Zhao Hao couldn't help but feel suspicious when he saw this. He thought to himself that the old man insisted on letting his father go to Suzhou. Maybe he wanted to keep him away from the eldest princess?

Well, very likely.

However, the old man has squeezed multiple purposes into one thing, and as long as he refuses to admit it, he can't speak for his mother.

I'm sorry, mom, your son can't beat grandpa...

~~

Forbidden City.

The eldest princess sat in a phoenix sedan chair and came to meet Concubine Li.

As soon as the phoenix sedan landed at the gate of Chuxiu Palace, she saw Concubine Li, with a big belly, holding the prince's hand, and staggering towards them.

"Aunt." As soon as he saw the eldest princess, the prince shook off his mother's hand and ran up to her happily.

"Hey." The princess responded kindly, stretched out her hands to pick up the plump little prince, pinched his cheek, and said with a smile: "You are the prince now, you must be steady."

"What is stability? Can we eat it?" the chubby little boy asked in a baby voice.

"Haha, you can't eat that." The princess took the string of candied haws from Lady Liu and handed it to the prince, saying, "You can eat this one."

The prince reached out to take it, but the princess deliberately refused to give it to him.

"Thank you, aunt." The prince understood and hugged her and kissed her. The eldest princess then stuffed the candied haws into his chubby little hand.

She finally had time to greet Concubine Li: "Concubine, it's been six months. You should stay well in there."

"When others come, they naturally stay in the house, but when His Highness comes, as long as you can move, you have to come out to greet him."

Empress Li's attitude today was completely different. Her eyes and eyebrows were full of smiles, and she no longer had any intention of showing off.

She certainly won't try to show off again.

That day the emperor told her that the eldest princess had voluntarily given up the imperial property, which made Concubine Li very happy.

After she was satisfied, she began to reflect on whether she had gone too far.

Oh, it's all my fault. They kept telling me things like 'The princess is greedy for the royal property and won't let it go easily', 'Even if you want it now, you won't get it back in a few years', 'If it's too late, I'm afraid she will sell all the valuable properties', etc...

As a result, she became worried and always feared that what her parents said would come true, so she kept nagging the emperor and the empress all day long, wanting to take back the imperial property.

As long as she didn't get carried away, Empress Li was still a very shrewd woman. She knew that her words would more or less reach the ears of the eldest princess.

In order to restore the relationship, she invited the eldest princess to the Chuxiu Palace for a cold food banquet.

Seeing that the eldest princess was in high spirits and had a friendly attitude, Concubine Li also secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The two of them chatted and laughed as they entered Chuxiu Palace.

ps. Second update, please give me monthly votes and recommendation votes~~