Eunuch Liu led the way in front, Li Hai followed behind, surrounded by the imperial guards, and came to Fengzao Palace.
It seems that Fengzao Palace has not been cleaned for a long time. Dark green moss grows on the steps, and some small daisies bloom golden flowers the size of copper coins under the verandah. It seems that no one has lived in it for a long time.
Even though Li Hai hated the queen mother, he couldn't help feeling sad when he saw this scene.
"It's been a long time since I've been here. Who would have thought that Fengzao Palace doesn't look like a palace where the empress dowager lives."
"Where's the Queen Mother?" Li Hai asked the eunuch in the palace after talking to himself.
The eunuch pointed to the small garden outside the Moon Gate, "The Queen Mother is walking the birds in the garden! Very sad."
What's so sad about walking a bird? Li Hai frowned, and said to Eunuch Liu, "Let's go to the small garden to see what the Queen Mother is doing?"
Go out of the moon gate, walk through a corridor, and come to a small pavilion.
A birdcage was hung on a hook in the pavilion, and the Queen Mother turned her back to Li Hai, talking to herself.
"You are a sparrow from the south, and you were brought here by a businessman. The climate must be wrong, the environment is wrong, even the companions who play with you in the garden every day are not to your liking, that's why you are depressed and thin. Wuyou So, how embarrassing is it! Forget it, forget it, I don’t want to lock you in a cage forever, looking at the wonderful world outside. I’ll let you go today, and hurry back to your south while it’s spring in March!”
The queen mother opened the gold-covered iron cage, and Que'er was not polite, fluttering its wings, flying on the peach tree outside the pavilion, tilting its head, looking here and there, as if yearning for Fengming Palace, The queen mother seemed unwilling to go away.
"Let's go! Let's go!" The queen mother held a handkerchief and waved to Que'er, "If I could release the iron cage like you, I would have gone far away!"
The bird seemed to understand what the Empress Dowager said, puffed its wings, circled around the Empress Dowager a few times, then flapped its wings, left Fengzao Palace, flew south, flew out of the powder wall, and turned into a bird. The bright spot disappeared from the Queen Mother's sight.
Hearing the Queen Mother sigh, she turned her head and sat on the stone bench, just in time to see Li Hai and Eunuch Liu standing outside. She pretended not to notice, coughed twice, took a cup of ginseng tea from the stone table and drank it.
Li Hai walked into the pavilion, nodded with his knees down, and performed a little etiquette: "Auspicious Queen Mother!"
The queen mother hummed, but did not raise her eyes to look at Li Hai.
"Queen Mother, that bird has always been your favorite, why did you show kindness today and let it go?"
The queen mother's eyes showed sadness, "Why lock it in a cage! I'm an old man, almost seventy, it doesn't matter if I stay in one place; but the bird is still young, why can it be locked in a cage?" She still has a great youth and a wonderful life, I can't artificially lock it up. That way, I always feel too cruel!"
Hmph, needless to say, the Queen Mother was referring to Sang scolding Huai, insinuatingly blaming Li Hai for putting the Queen Mother under house arrest and leaving Ziyan in the cold palace.
Li Hai muttered: "The queen mother is so kind, even a bird can be so caring, let alone all living beings! I only hope that the queen mother will live longer than Nanshan, and then there will be no conspiracy or rebellion in Dajing Kingdom, and there will be no natural or man-made disasters!"
The Empress Dowager would scold Li Hai secretly, and Li Hai also said kind words, just to satirize the Empress Dowager's hypocrisy, pretending to be kind, showing kindness to birds, but not to people; Is this considered kind
The Empress Dowager had a gloomy face, and ignored Li Hai's ridicule. She just took a sip of tea and enjoyed it, then raised her eyes slightly, and looked at Li Hai squarely.
"Your Majesty, why are you looking for me at this time?"
Li Hai didn't care if the queen mother would let her sit or not, so he sat beside her, poured a cup of ginseng tea from the teapot, and drank it: "Well, it's good, it's good tea!"
The Queen Mother pointed to Xu Feng: "It's the tea soup that the doctor next to me boiled for me. It's very good, and it can nourish my sick body."
Li Hai also asked what disease the Empress Dowager was suffering from, and looked at Xu Feng standing beside him like a stone pillar: "Your name is Xu Feng? Why haven't I seen you here before? Are you the imperial doctor just recruited from the imperial hospital? "
Xu Feng respectfully replied: "The villain is not too hospital, the villain is..."
The Queen Mother helped out and said: "He is the person next to Rong Changan. He originally served Rong Changan, but Rong Changan was a little filial. Seeing that I was not feeling well, he introduced Xu Feng to me and asked him to take care of my daily life. After leaving Xu Feng, my body is not as bad as before. If the emperor likes this pot of tea soup, I will ask him to brew a pot tomorrow and send it to the emperor."
"That's the most..." Li Hai just wanted to say that it would be the best, but when he remembered that the empress dowager and him were incompatible, if the empress dowager took the opportunity to put poison in the tea soup to kill him, it would be terrible. So he waved his hand and said with a smile, "No need! I have Imperial Physician Li serving by my side, and he is just as considerate! By the way, I came today to discuss with the Queen Mother about her 70th birthday. I don't know what the Queen Mother thinks about her birthday Thoughts?"
The queen mother sighed again, and looked at the flowers and willows in the garden desolately: "I am almost seventy, what else can I think about! Maybe after seventy, there will be no seventy-one! The emperor can do whatever he wants. !"
Having said that, the queen mother is thinking of a big event in her heart.
"Queen Mother, what do you think, just tell me, I will definitely satisfy your wish."
The empress dowager's cloudy eyes turned: "After so many years, I actually have a wish that I have not fulfilled. I wonder if the emperor can help me realize it."
Li Hai said: "Please tell me, Queen Mother."
"I think of a temple. If I die in the future, there will be a place to live. There is my wooden master in it. If the emperor is filial, or other officials and relatives, those who are filial can also go to my temple and put a stick Xiang. I don’t know, can the emperor grant my wish?”
Li Hai thought it was just a matter of building a temple and arranging the empress dowager's wooden master, so what's so difficult about it! As long as she doesn't make trouble anymore, Li Hai is also willing to build a small city for the queen mother and let her retire to the end of life.
"Hahaha, the queen mother's wish is too small. If I can't make you wish, then the world of the Great Jing Kingdom will be in vain! Don't worry, the queen mother, I will take care of this matter for you as soon as I go back, and build the temple as soon as possible. "
Just as Eunuch Liu said, Li Hai tried his best to satisfy the queen mother's wishes in order to appease the relatives who had financial power and military power behind the queen mother.
There was a faint smile on the corner of the queen mother's mouth: "I am really grateful to the emperor! Besides this, I have one more thing that needs the emperor's permission."
Li Hai asked, "What's the matter?"
The queen mother said: "It will be my seventieth birthday in a few days. I want to ask Ziyan to come and accompany me. I don't know if it is possible? Ziyan is a real child. I haven't seen her for a long time. I miss her." If you have the emperor, you forget about yourself. Could it be that she forgot that I am her blood relative!"
As she spoke, the queen mother glanced at Li Hai from time to time.