When Ming Jingzhou came home, it was already dark. He pushed aside the yard and saw his daughter, wearing a thick cloak, sitting in the yard waiting for him.
"Father." Seeing him coming back, Jiuzhu, who was tired, raised her head and gave him a bright smile: "Are you back? I'll keep the soup in the kitchen, so you can drink a bowl to warm yourself up first."
"Why didn't you go to bed?" Ming Jingzhou was cold and didn't dare to get too close to his daughter: "Where's your mother?"
"Mother has calculated the account books for the whole day, and has already gone to rest." Jiuzhu took out the hand warmer from her arms and handed it to Ming Jingzhou with a smile: "The soup will be served soon, father, use this to warm your hands first."
Ming Jingzhou smiled, and he put the man's slightly smaller hand stove between his hands: "Do you have something to say to me when you waited here on purpose?"
Jiuzhu touched her face and began to doubt herself, was she acting so obvious
Seeing his daughter's appearance, he shook his head and laughed softly, and sat down with his daughter in the main room. On the spring equinox, he came in with a cup of warm soup: "Master, this soup was specially ordered by the young lady to cook it for you. Be sure to drink more."
Picking up the soup and drinking it down, he smiled and nodded to his daughter: "It's delicious."
Jiu Zhu immediately smiled happily: "Before stewing, I added a few grains of wolfberry in it, so I was worried that my father would not be used to it, so it would be great if you like it."
Putting the empty soup cup on the table, Ming Jingzhou asked, "Jiuzhu, I used to be in Lingzhou, what were you doing during the Chinese New Year?"
"Clean up the Taoist temple with Master, then copy the scriptures and pray in front of the statue of Grandpa Sanqing." Jiuzhu held her cheek with one hand, recalling the life in Lingzhou: "Master said that other people's Taoist temples have many rules, but Our Taoist view has few people and few things, so there is no need to pay attention to it, and the emphasis is on sincerity.”
"Every year on the first day of the new year, when I put the first incense stick for Grandpa Sanqing, my daughter secretly prayed to them and asked them to bless you all in good health." Jiuzhu snickered: "After all, it is the first incense stick of the New Year, Grandpa Sanqing. Should be able to remember my wishes more clearly."
"Also, still. Every year during the Chinese New Year, the masters will make new clothes for me. The master always said that the second master's craftsmanship is poor, and the clothes he made are ugly, but I think they are very beautiful, and she will embroider very well on her daughter's sleeves. Cute puppy." Jiuzhu recited some interesting stories from her childhood, the corners of her eyes and brows were smart.
She talked about being punished by two masters for being naughty when she was a child. The last two masters bought her roast goose in order to coax her. When she heard her father laugh out loud, she looked at him seriously: "Life in the Taoist Temple. Although it was hard, the two masters gave their daughters everything they could."
"My daughter has learned to read and learn how to be a human being." Her black and white eyes are very gentle, and she seems to be coaxing someone who wants to cry: "I haven't suffered much since I was a child, I have a good meal and a good sleep, so Daddy, don't be sad because of your daughter's past."
At this moment, Ming Jingzhou only felt pain and itching in his heart like a thousand needles.
The child is comforting him.
"Daddy knows." Ming Jingzhou's voice was hoarse, he raised his head and smiled at his daughter: "Daddy knows, you... go to bed obediently, and when daddy comes back from the Ministry of Rites tomorrow, he will bring you roast goose."
Jiuzhu usually calls him "father" according to the rules of the capital, but he prefers his daughter's "father" who is somewhat squeamish and close.
Whenever Jiuzhu wanted to make him happy, she would call him like this.
"Then you can't be sad anymore." Jiuzhu pulled his sleeve: "You go to bed early, and I'll bring you lunch at noon tomorrow."
"Okay." With his already warm hand, he patted the top of his daughter's head lightly: "Go to sleep, Daddy won't be sad."
"Daddy is the best." Jiuzhu smiled sweetly at him, turned around and left the room with Chunfen.
Ming Jingzhou sat quietly at the table and covered his eyes with his hands.
"Master." Shen shi came out of the room wearing a coat, walked over to sit beside him, reached out and patted his back lightly.
"I'm fine." The hoarse voice said, and he could no longer hide his inner emotions.
Shen shi rested her head on his shoulder: "that child waited for you for a day, you were so angry yesterday, she didn't say it, but she was very worried. At this time in the past, she had already gone back to the house to sleep, why would she still be in the kitchen? Make soup?"
She didn't stop it because she knew that on this cold night, their father and daughter might need a bowl of hot soup and a quiet conversation.
She patted his shoulder gently, and after a long time said softly, "Don't cry, go to sleep."
"I didn't cry." Ming Jingzhou lowered his head and didn't want to look at her, but his voice turned into a broken gong.
"I asked someone to prepare a New Year's gift and give it to Jiuzhu's two masters." Shen shi didn't expose the fact that her husband was laughing at his son's tears: "It's a pity that the two masters are always reluctant to come to the capital, otherwise we can get close. take care of them."
"A cultivator might rather be a wild crane in the mountains than a rich cat in the capital." Ming Jingzhou sighed: "Let such an expert stay in the capital, how can we talk about repaying his gratitude?"
It's just that the two of them, husband and wife, owe the two masters their entire lives, and this is a debt that cannot be repaid.
He avoided Shen shi, wiped the wet corners of his eyes, turned to her and said, "Go to bed and lie down, it's cold outside, don't get sick."
Glancing at his red eyes, Shen shi called a maid to serve him in the wash. When the two of them were lying on the bed, Shen shi slowly said: "This year, the palace will hold a New Year's banquet, will you bring Jiuzhu?"
"Take her there." Ming Jingzhou put his head in the quilt, and said in a loud voice, "When I met His Majesty today, he specifically told us to bring Jiuzhu with us."
"Okay." Shen shi was silent for a moment, then reached out and patted the bulging bag in the quilt: "Even if she gets married, she is still under our noses, better than..."
It's better than not even knowing whether the child is alive or dead.
The principle is such a principle, but as a parent, how can you be happy
"Hang the lantern high, don't crook it."
"Aunt, where is this glass eight-treasure lantern hanging?"
"This lamp was prepared by the goddess for the county lord Ming, and put it in the house where the county lord lived a few days ago. Be careful not to break it."
"Auntie, the palace has sent fashionable fabrics, would you like to take a look?"
"Let's put it aside for now, I'll take a look later. Have all the rewards for the concubines and concubines of the palaces been sent?"
"It's all delivered, it's delivered. But the servants serving at the Qianyi Pavilion said that Zheng Meiren is ill."
"Sick?" Xiangxian pondered for a moment: "Wait here, I'll go ask the empress."
Concubine Su Gui was trying on the clothes she was going to wear for the palace banquet at night. The eight-tailed bead and the phoenix hairpin lay quietly in the jewelry box, exuding a charming and bright light.
"Zheng Lanyin is ill?" The smile on Concubine Su's face faded a little: "Send someone to the imperial hospital and get her an imperial doctor."
"Niangniang, tonight is New Year's Eve, and the servant is afraid that it will be unlucky to ask an imperial doctor."
"What's auspicious and unlucky, I don't believe in this." Concubine Su snorted: "What's more, Your Majesty is a wise master, and you have His Majesty's dragon energy to protect your body, so you don't dare to come over to anything that is inauspicious. "
"It turns out that in the heart of Concubine Ai, I still have the ability to exorcise evil spirits." Emperor Longfeng, wearing a dragon robe that was only worn in the previous dynasty, strode into the house: "I asked the palace to save you new jewelry, but I still like it. ?"
"I heard that this bracelet is a pattern drawn by Your Majesty?" Concubine Su took out a silk-wrapped bracelet from the jewelry box: "Your Majesty has been busy all day, so you are busy making this for me?"
"No matter how busy you are, you can't forget your preferences." Emperor Longfeng took the bracelet and put it on her wrist, nodding with satisfaction: "Concubine Ai's wrist is weak and boneless, like the brilliance of the white moon. This bracelet is just looking at It's beautiful, it's like the stars next to the bright moon when you wear it on your wrist, it's not worth mentioning."
"Where did Your Majesty learn to be eloquent?" Concubine Su glared at him with a smile, but did not take off the bracelet: "Did you mention to Ming Jingzhou about bringing Jiuzhu to the palace for a banquet?"
"I mentioned it, but I'm just worried. If things go on like this, there will be problems in the friendship between me and Caritas." Emperor Longfeng, with his little remaining conscience, rebukes himself slightly: "Their family finally took their daughter away. When I got it back, I was married by our child before I warmed up. You said that he is a father, can you be happy in your heart?"
"Find it back?" Concubine Su Gui was surprised: "Isn't the little girl from the Ming family fostered in Lingzhou?"
She clearly remembered that when His Majesty talked to her about Du Qing's marriage, he mentioned the origin of the girl from the Ming family. What about the three brothers of the Ming family who were sent to the cold frontier, fearing that their newborn daughter would die on the road, so they were sent to Lingzhou for foster care.
Why is it that he has come back now
"I haven't seen her in Lingzhou for so many years, isn't it the same as finding it back?" Emperor Longfeng regretted a little, and he should not have concealed the truth of Ming Jiuzhu's recovery because he was worried that his concubine would think too much about Ming Jiuzhu's life.
Now if Aifei finds out the truth...
Fortunately, Concubine Su didn't think much about it. She picked up the jewelry and complained: "I don't know what the Ming family thinks. They have been fostering their daughter in a Taoist temple for so many years. Can they feel relieved? Say they don't care about daughters, right? It's not like that. On the day of her birthday, Mrs. Shen looked at Jiuzhu as if she were looking at precious beads."
"I really don't understand, since I cared so much, why didn't I bring people back earlier? How hard would life be if the child was raised outside?" Su Guifei sighed: "No wonder someone in the capital said in private that the Ming family doesn't care about this daughter, I If I hadn't seen Shen's carefulness towards Jiuzhu, I'm afraid I would have thought so too."
Emperor Longfeng did not dare to answer.
"Fortunately, we Jiuzhu have a good temperament and a good heart." Concubine Su was pulling on the jewelry suitable for Jiuzhu: "Everything is likable."
We nine beads
Emperor Longfeng wanted to remind Concubine Ai that Jiuzhu belonged to the Ming family, not hers, but he dared not.
Reaching out and picking up the jewelry box with the phoenix hairpin on the table, he frowned slightly, the eight-tailed phoenix hairpin is not as good-looking as the nine-tailed phoenix hairpin.
"Your Majesty, what do you think of this hairpin?" Su Guifei turned to look at him.
Emperor Longfeng smiled: "I'm thinking, I'll make you a new Zhengfeng hairpin after the new year."
"I have quite a few phoenix hairpins here, why do I need so many new ones?" Concubine Su looked out the window casually, and saw her son strolling towards here.
Emperor Longfeng smiled and said nothing, because he wanted to give a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin to the woman he loves the most.
The nine-tailed phoenix hairpin cannot be worn by non-empresses and imperial concubines.
"My son has seen the father and the mother." King Chen stretched his neck and looked at the jewelry on the dressing table, his eyes lit up: "How about picking jewelry?"
"Why don't the son-in-law come to give the mother and concubine some details?"
If there is something that is not suitable for the mother and concubine, but is just suitable for the little girl, let him take it away.