As the year was coming to an end, all departments had closed their doors and Hua Zhi naturally stopped serving as the Grand Tutor. She lived happily in the library and anyone who wanted to find her would be able to find her in the library.
The Empress Dowager took off her traditional clothes and came straight to the library with an old maid. She now spends most of her time in the Regent's Palace, living in a corner of the inner house. She never shows off her ancestor status. Over time, people in the palace treat her as an ordinary ancestor.
This was her first time in the library. She signaled to the maid not to follow her and pushed the door open, walking in. The first thing she saw was Hua Zhi climbing up the ladder to get a book.
Hua Zhizi also saw her and hurried down to pay her respects.
"Slow down, don't fall."
The Empress Dowager smiled and walked over to her, gave her a helping hand, and when she got down from the room, she refused to let anyone bow. She took her arm and led her to sit at a small table nearby. She looked around and said, "Is Xiaohan not here?"
"Thank you for your concern. He went to the Hua family to study today. He can't avoid contact with people."
The Grand Empress Dowager nodded. Hua Zhi had already announced that she would no longer accept disciples. One of her disciples lived in the palace, and only Zeng Han was with her all year round. She didn't know if her body could give birth to a child. The people in the palace treated Zeng Han almost like their master. Even though she had wanted to be happy for a long time, she still felt a little complicated. This was really her only regret at the moment.
Putting aside these distracting thoughts, the Grand Empress Dowager looked at her granddaughter-in-law with a smile, "Grandmother won't beat around the bush with you. I came to you today because of the emperor's marriage."
Hua Zhi was not surprised, "If there is anything you need me to do, just tell me."
"I'm not here to give you orders." The Empress Dowager turned her head away and set her sights on the bookshelves that required one to look up to see the top. "I think the Emperor would rather you take charge of this matter for him than me."
Hua Zhi was stunned for a moment. She suddenly remembered that before Shaoyao's wedding, the emperor had asked her if she would take so much trouble in his marriage, and she had agreed.
"I believe in your vision, and I also believe that you will wholeheartedly consider the emperor's interests." Patting her hands, the Grand Empress Dowager picked up a book and flipped through it. The fragrant scent of ink made her take a deep breath. The longer they spent together, the more she felt that her previous worries were unnecessary. Hua Zhi was more responsible and self-controlled than she had expected, and she never overstepped the line. Her ambition for a career was not even as great as this library. As for her granddaughter-in-law, except for the difficulty in having children, there was no other problem with her.
Hua Zhi agreed to the matter without much thought. She knew that it would be more difficult to choose a queen who was suitable and pleasing to the emperor than the eldest son of the Hua family. But she had no choice but to do it as this was a promise she had made.
On New Year's Eve, the Emperor did not entertain his ministers as he did in previous years. Even the royal family only had a reunion dinner and then ordered the family to disperse. It was far less lively than in previous years. When the Empress Dowager stayed up late at night, she had gone to bed early. Only the Regent and his wife and Xiaohan accompanied the Emperor in the warm hall. They sat in a circle on the floor, looking natural and close.
"I'm afraid everyone will be worried." Hua Zhi gave a subtle reminder, but she didn't think there was anything wrong with it. New Year's Eve is a day for family reunions, so why go through all these formalities? It's just that they have been celebrating this way in previous years, and it has become a habit.
"You'll get used to it after a few times. I don't want to waste my time on unnecessary things." The emperor held Zeng Han in one hand and held the wine cup in the other to tease him. Zeng Han was not as afraid of him as the others. He dodged by swaying left and right with a look of disgust, which made the emperor laugh.
The people sitting there at this time were truly his own people. The emperor was very relaxed and fooling around, and his eyebrows, which were usually sharp, softened at this moment.
The couple did not stop them. Gu Yanxi leaned against the cushion and drank the wine, while Hua Zhi ate the nuts at hand one by one. She watched with a smile as her little disciple was unable to escape the poisonous clutches in the end. After being forced to drink a sip of wine, his facial features immediately wrinkled.
The emperor laughed even louder.
"Don't blame him if he doesn't want to enter the palace next time."
The emperor was just being inspired by his youth, and he was so angry when he heard this that he stopped the person who was about to run away and threatened him with a cup of wine: "Next time I summon you to the palace, will you come?"
Zeng Han's face turned red, and he didn't know if it was because of the wine or because of his anger. He widened his eyes and opened his mouth to say nothing, but looking at the wine cup that was almost touching his nose and smelling the wine, he gave in and said angrily, "Come on."
"Be good, when you grow up, I will give you an official position."
Zeng Han crawled to sit next to his master, not even looking at him. Calling him "senior brother" was really annoying sometimes.
Hua Zhi fed a piece of walnut meat into the little disciple's mouth, raised her head and looked at the big disciple who was half leaning on the cushion and holding his cheek with a smile, "The emperor really likes Han'er."
"If I answer that you are Grand Tutor, do I have to send my junior brother to the palace to accompany me?"
"That depends on whether Han'er is willing or not."
Zeng Han shook his head without even thinking, "No."
"Did you hear that?" Hua Zhi fed another piece of walnut meat to the little disciple, "If the emperor can find some rare books to coax him, it might be possible that he will voluntarily come to the palace."
The emperor laughed happily, raised his wine cup and clinked it with the regent. He didn't have any rare books to give to his junior brother, hadn't he given them to the tutor to fill her library? The tutor took them and refused to acknowledge them!
"Recently, there have been more and more petitions for the enthronement of a queen."
Hua Zhi had no intention of talking about this kind of thing publicly, and in her heart she even thought that if the emperor didn't want to get married too early, she was willing to help delay it. Even if she could retire after the emperor took the queen, she had endured for several years, so this was not a big deal.
Now that the topic had been raised, she took the opportunity to ask, "Is the Emperor willing to comply with the wishes of the ministers?"
"Will the Master come to take care of this for me?"
"If Your Majesty is willing, I will naturally do my best to help you."
The emperor raised his lips, "Then I'll have to trouble you, Master."
"Yes, I obey your order."
The emperor seemed to suddenly become interested, "Does the Grand Tutor have a candidate in mind?"
"A few days ago, Grandmother talked to me about the Emperor's marriage. I have taken note of it, but it is too short a time to decide. Does the Emperor have a candidate in mind?"
So the Imperial Tutor had already been worried about this before? The Emperor was in a better mood, and took advantage of the wine to smile even more brightly, "I trust the Imperial Tutor's vision, so please make the decision for me."
Hua Zhi laughed, "Berlin also said this."
Yes, that kid is about the same age as him. As the eldest son of the Hua family, the younger brother of the Grand Tutor, and his study partner, he has been targeted by countless people. Thinking of this, the emperor felt a bit like a brother in distress. Tsk, he should keep the kid to stay and celebrate the New Year together, no matter what people say outside.
PS: Isn’t it a surprise that there are two more chapters in the extra story? Hahaha.