Hua Zhi responded to every word of the Queen Mother, but she knew that this was not what the Queen Mother really wanted to say.
Sure enough, after drinking a sip of tea, the Queen Mother said, "The Crown Prince is still young, and his character is not yet settled. Now is the most critical moment. I am extremely worried, afraid that I will not pay attention and let him go astray. I am really afraid that the Daqing Empire will crush him, and I am also afraid that he will ruin the empire."
The Queen Mother smiled bitterly, "Prince Ling is unreliable. Even if he is filial and does not cause trouble, the other princes cannot be relied on. Yan Xi can be relied on, but he will probably have to run around for the Crown Prince in the future. After all, we are the only two left in the palace to depend on each other. But at my age, how many days can I live?"
Hua Zhi replied cautiously, "You will live a long life."
"You are so flattering. Don't say those words of Thousand Years Old." Seeing that she didn't take the bait, the empress dowager was helpless but happy at the same time. No matter from which perspective, it was a good thing for her that Hua Zhi was difficult to deal with. She was truly one of her own.
"I've always heard that you're straightforward, so I won't beat around the bush with you."
"Yes, just give your orders."
"I want you to come to the palace for two hours every day to teach the prince. You don't need to go to the study. The teaching location is in my Fushou Palace."
Hua Zhi was stunned. What puzzled her was not why she was asked to teach in the palace. Since she was the Grand Tutor, she was mentally prepared and even had an idea of what to teach. But why was she asked to teach in Fushou Palace
The Queen Mother thought she could understand, but she looked like she didn't understand
After a little thought, she vaguely understood that this silly girl had probably never thought about it in that direction. Yes, if she had never had those other thoughts, how could she have thought about it in that direction? But she needed to point this out to her. With this in mind, she would be more careful in her actions and not let others catch her.
"The prince is twelve years old, and he is at the age of being young and affectionate. I know that you treat him as your brother and a relative, but others don't think so." The Queen Mother held her hand and smiled, "You have a good heart. I like you and am looking forward to you becoming my granddaughter-in-law. It's always better to have fewer waves in this, don't you think?"
"I am stupid. I didn't think of this." Thinking is inertial. In her eyes, Xiaoliu is only twelve. In her previous world, he was just a junior high school student. How could she involve such a child in love? But she forgot that here, people can get engaged at the age of twelve, and can become parents at the age of fifteen or sixteen.
Twelve years old is indeed the age of the young Mu Ai, but the strange thing is that even after being awakened by the empress dowager, Hua Zhi's first thought was still the rebellious period of children that comes with puberty. It would be terrible if an emperor had a rebellious period, because his power is too great.
Pulling her thoughts back to the distant past, Hua Zhi assured the Queen Mother, "I know what to do."
"You are not the one I worry about having problems with." The Queen Mother shook her head, patted her hands and stood up. "It is a luxury to talk about feelings in the royal family. I have never experienced what the family harmony of ordinary people is like. I only hope that Yan Xi can be well and the prince can be well. They are the hope of Daqing and my hope. Only with these two people supporting Daqing can the country be well and I can close my eyes."
Hua Zhi heard the helplessness in the tone and understood the Queen Mother's warning. If she became the reason for the discord between the two, the Queen Mother would never tolerate her. The royal family has always been ruthless. She understood that, but still couldn't help feeling a chill on her back.
For the first time, Hua Zhi had such a clear understanding of Yan Xi's identity. He was not an ordinary person, but a prince, a member of the royal family who had the power of life and death in the world. This also meant that he was destined to be helpless.
If one day, the royal family wants his life...
Lowering her eyes, Hua Zhi suppressed this possibility. It would not happen. In order to live safely in a corner, she had already taken the most difficult 90 steps out of a hundred. There was no reason to fail in the last 10 steps.
Hua Zhi reminded herself in her heart that it was not time to relax, at least not now. If she married Yan Xi... she would probably not be able to relax for a long time.
Hua Zhi pursed her lips habitually to suppress her resistance, then let out a long breath. She looked up and was about to speak when she met the empress dowager's complicated eyes. She lowered her head again inexplicably embarrassed, no longer her usual calm and composed self.
The Queen Mother turned her back and walked to the door, looking at the exquisite scenery outside that never made her feel beautiful. She did not want to force Hua Zhi to be estranged from her. She even hoped that Hua Zhi could be close to her. There is no shortage of smart people in the world, but there is a shortage of people who use their intelligence in the right place. People are born with a smart mind, but they don't use this smart mind on their own people. How rare it is. She also wanted to have such a junior by her side, to sit and talk happily.
But now the emperor has passed away, the prince is young, and there is no one in the harem. As the empress dowager of Daqing, for the sake of Daqing's stability, she can only be the bad guy and plot and threaten a person who has made countless contributions.
She couldn't hope that the prince would know the importance of the matter, that was too unrealistic. Hua Zhi was smart, she would definitely know how to guide Xiao Liu in the future, strengthen the family relationship between them, and prevent Xiao Liu from going in the direction of love between men and women.
In her heart, the importance of this matter was no less than the death of the emperor.
The one sitting on the throne is Xiaoliu, and the one who might stabilize the country is Yan Xi, at least it will be like this before the prince comes of age. Personally, she also hopes that the child who has suffered so much can marry someone who loves him, have children around him, and have many grandchildren, so she wants to cut off any possibility of destroying it all in advance, even if... she wants to be a bad person.
These are the only two people the Gu family can use. She cannot afford any risk, and the same goes for Daqing.
"Two days ago, Xiaoliu was very sensible. Even without his mother's protection, he still grew up to be a child who knows when to advance and when to retreat, is reasonable, loyal to the emperor, and treats others with kindness."
The Queen Mother turned around and looked at Hua Zhi, who had calmed down.
"I also believe that he will not lose these beautiful things in the future, because in the future he will still have you, Yan Xi, and my little daughter by his side. There will be many more wise ministers and generals than before. There will be no relatives to harm him, and no one will dare to say that they have the merit of following the dragon and try to use it to achieve any purpose. There is a broad road in front of him. He only needs to go into battle and learn how to be a wise ruler. I believe he will do well."
After a pause, Hua Zhi continued, "Don't worry, he will not let you down."
The empress dowager choked up and didn't know how to express her opinion for a moment. What she had planned to do was what Hua Zhi was confident that she could do. So, she could only be trapped in the deep palace. Hua Zhi could hold a high position as a woman, but how could her full of calculations compare to her broad-mindedness
PS: I saw a girl saying that the previous chapter was not good, so I tried to fix it but I couldn’t find the feeling. So I’ll leave it like this for now. This chapter should be better because I finally didn’t burn it today.