The Gu family soon settled down in Chang'an City, and Gu Qu went to the Ministry of War to take up his post. Sixteen years ago, he was Minister of the Ministry of War. Although it had been many years, he quickly adapted to it.
When facing Emperor Zhaokang in court, Emperor Zhaokang did not embarrass him or treat him coldly, which is the usual attitude of a king towards his subjects.
Seeing this situation, many people couldn't help but speculate in their hearts. Is it true that His Majesty is planning to reuse the Gu family again, regardless of previous suspicions
Tao Ti didn't understand the treacherous and changing situation in the court, she was very busy with the Taotie Pavilion.
After half a year of hard work, milk tea has quickly gained a firm foothold in Chang'an City by virtue of its taste that is suitable for all ages.
There are 108 squares in Chang'an City, and the milk tea shops in Taotie Pavilion have opened in 50 squares. This momentum is not inferior to those chain milk tea shops in modern times.
Of course, if something becomes popular, someone will imitate it.
Seeing that milk tea is so popular, some people also set up a stall to sell it, and the price is even cheaper than Taotie Pavilion.
At the beginning, it attracted some people, but after the customers tasted the taste, they stood up and down. Except for some poor people who would buy a cup or two of cheap milk tea to coax their children, those rich ladies and noble daughters who are not short of money still prefer to buy it at Taotie Pavilion.
You get what you pay for, and it’s more reassuring to choose a big store for what you eat.
Let’s say Mrs. Zhang lives comfortably in Luoyang, and bought a new house in Luoyang City, and wrote to Tao Ti, asking her if she has any plans to open a milk tea branch in Luoyang. If so, she can be the shopkeeper in Luoyang of.
Tao Ti had originally planned to open a branch in other places, and considering Zhang's current state, if she was busy with other things, she could get out of the shadow of her previous failed marriage as soon as possible, so she readily agreed.
After Xu Wenchan knew about it, he sent two capable people from Chang'an's old shop to Luoyang without hesitation as technical support.
Mrs. Zhang is full of energy, looking for shops, hiring labor, buying raw materials, busy and fulfilling.
Seeing that the milk tea shop was in full swing, Tao Ti discussed with Xu Wenchan about opening a chain fried chicken shop, tentatively planning to sell four kinds of fried chicken legs, fried chicken wings, fried chicken cutlets, and fried sausages.
In order to make the taste of fried chicken more suitable for the people of Dayuan Dynasty, Tao Ti also adjusted the fried chicken recipe several times.
Therefore, for a long period of time in September, there will be a burst of fragrant and crispy meat fragrance from Yaoguang Temple.
The palace servants who were on errands elsewhere were drooling with greed, and the palace servants and the cat Yuanbao in Yaoguang Palace became round at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After the final version of fried chicken drumsticks was ready, Xu Wenchan cried and touched the fat on her stomach while eating the golden and crispy fried chicken drumsticks, "Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo L L L I want to lose weight !! Why can't I control my broken mouth... "
After crying, he gnawed down a large piece of chicken leg with an "owwow", and his mouth was full of greasy food.
Seeing her crying and laughing at times, Qinghe persuaded her dumbfoundedly, "Then you finish eating the one in your hand, and stop eating later."
Xu Wenchan immediately shook his head, "No, Arti also fried crispy chicken wings, I want to eat that too."
Qinghe, "..."
Xu Wenchan swallowed a big mouthful of chicken leg meat in retaliation, and muttered indistinctly, "When the fried chicken shop opens, I will definitely do a good job of promoting it, well, all the girls in Chang'an City will come to buy it! Let's get fat together!"
Tao Ti came out with the fried chicken wings, and couldn't help laughing when she heard Xu Wenchan's words of "revenge on society".
Xu Wenchan looked at her aggrieved, "Why don't you get fat every time you eat so much, Arti? I'm too miserable, I grow as much as I eat."
"It's probably due to the difference in individual physique." Tao Ti said, I am a racial talent, if Taotie is fat into a ball, what would it look like.
Qinghe looked at the plate of golden and tempting chicken wings, her nostrils moved slightly, and she felt the strong fresh fragrance go straight into her nose, which made her greedy.
She picked up one and put it in her mouth. The bread crumbs and egg liquid on the outside of the chicken wings were fried crispy, and the kazi kazi slag fell off. When the crispy skin was bitten off, the chicken inside was extremely tender and fragrant. The juice in the mouth shuttles between the lips and tongue, and the aftertaste is endless.
"Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, juicy in the mouth, delicious, especially delicious!" Qinghe praised sincerely.
Xu Wenchan hurriedly finished eating the chicken leg in her hand, and also took a chicken wing. She just took a bite, but she couldn't help nodding and said, "Ah, the chicken wing meat is indeed more tender than the chicken leg meat, especially the little bit of deep-fried old meat on the tip of the wing. It's really delicious!"
The three sat in the courtyard and chatted while eating.
Qing He's marriage has been decided, and although Xu Guangji and Xu Guangji can't meet often, there is Xu Wenchan, an enthusiastic little girl, who is back and forth between the two of them. You give me a hairpin today, and I will return it to you tomorrow. One personally embroidered the purse, and the relationship became sweeter and sweeter.
Qinghe was grateful for Xu Wenchan's friendship in his heart, and thought of his brother's melancholy appearance of being trapped by love, so he couldn't help asking tentatively, "Achan, what kind of man do you want to marry in the future?"
Xu Wenchan gnawed the chicken wings for a while, and seeing Qinghe looking at herself with a pair of clear water eyes, she immediately guessed what she meant, and said vaguely, "What's so good about being married, I am rich and wealthy , aren't you having a good time?"
Seeing that she was trying to avoid her, Qinghe pursed her pink lips, and didn't want to ask any more.
After eating the chicken wings, the three of them saw that the weather was fine, so they went to the Imperial Garden together.
The scenery in the imperial garden is beautiful, and the sun is just right at this moment, and it is very comfortable to shine warmly on the body.
The three of them walked leisurely along the winding gravel road, and the flowers on both sides were mostly rare varieties of chrysanthemums, such as jade plume, black peony, black chrysanthemum, cinnabar red frost, snow sea, rouge point snow, nijinxiang, etc. , colorful, truly beautiful. When the breeze blows, bursts of elegant chrysanthemum fragrance blow on the face, intoxicating.
"It's really good that this rouge lightens the snow." Qinghe said softly.
Tao Ti's eyes fell on the somewhat ordinary white chrysanthemum, her eyes turned, she had a new idea, and she suggested enthusiastically, "When you come to Yaoguang Palace in two days, I will use this white chrysanthemum to make hot pot for you. "
Both Xu Wenchan and Qinghe became interested, turning into curious babies, "What is hot pot? How do you eat white chrysanthemum?"
"Hot pot is a kind of warm soup pot. Well, the soup base is a thick soup made from old hens, ducks, pig's trotters, pork bones, scallops, etc. After the soup is boiled, wash the white chrysanthemums and wash them. , Put it into the pot, the soup base cooked in this way is not only delicious, but also exudes a faint fragrance of chrysanthemums, and it also relieves greasy and invigorates the spleen."
Tao Ti explained briefly, and Qinghe smiled with crooked eyes, "It sounds very elegant. Biao sister-in-law, if you make this chrysanthemum hot pot, I will definitely come."
Xu Wenchan, "Me too!"
When the three of them were chatting happily, suddenly, a sharp sneer came over, "Today is really bad luck."
Tao Ti narrowed her black eyes, and turned to look at the path around the corner, only to see that the person who came was Pei Lingbi, whom she hadn't seen for a while.
She was dressed in an autumn-colored palace dress, she was quite thin and haggard, and her face was abnormally pale like she had been locked up for a long time.
At this time, she was staring at Tao Ti and the three of them with a gloomy gaze, like a poisonous snake crawling on a tree branch.
Qinghe still had shadows on Pei Lingbi, subconsciously clenched her fingers tightly. Seeing this, Xu Wenchan took the initiative to protect her future sister-in-law behind her.
Tao Ti gave the two of them a comforting look, and then imitating Pei Lingbi's tone, she sighed, "Oh, who said otherwise? Today is really bad luck! If I knew I should have looked through the almanac before going out, I would have been negligent. .”
Originally, Pei Lingbi was grounded, but after the Double Ninth Festival, Emperor Zhaokang fixed Pei Lingbi's wedding date on the ninth day of November.
It is now the end of September, which means that in another month or so, Pei Lingbi will marry Saburo Zhou.
Thinking of the upcoming wedding, Empress Zhou pleaded with Emperor Zhaokang in every possible way, and Emperor Zhaokang was annoyed, so she allowed Pei Lingbi to come out three times to let her breathe.
As a stay-at-home girl who seldom visits the imperial garden once in a few months, Tao Ti never expected that such a small probability event would make them bump into each other.
The two sides looked at each other unpleasantly, and the surrounding aura was obviously suppressed.
Tao Ti didn't want to talk to Pei Lingbi, but perhaps Pei Lingbi had been locked up for too long and was too lonely, so she had to pick things up.
She stepped forward arrogantly, took a look at Tao Ti, and said with a smile, "I heard that the genius doctor Xu Wenhe is taking care of the crown prince in the East Palace. If the crown princess is free, I will let Xu Wenhe show it to you. They are all married into the East Palace. It's been half a year, and my stomach still hasn't moved. If you can't give birth, you might as well be more virtuous and generous, and choose some good wives and brides for the prince, and you can sell them well in front of the emperor and the prince."
Tao Ti glanced at her coldly, not giving her the slightest sympathy, "Do you want to take care of my East Palace?"
Pei Lingbi was sullen, and just about to start scolding, she saw Tao Ti turn her wrist, and said calmly, "Second Princess, you can go to the garden if you want to, if you have to rush to find it, then we won't be ashamed. So... Are you sure you want to show off your tongue for a while?"
Seeing that she was about to strike, Pei Lingbi's face turned pale, and she subconsciously took a step back.
She also knew that she couldn't please Tao Ti, so she turned her attention to Qinghe and Xu Wenchan who were behind Tao Ti.
She wanted to ridicule Qinghe, but when she reached the point of her mouth, she suddenly remembered that Qinghe was made a princess last month by her father, and also bestowed a good marriage—Qilang, Xu Guangji, from Dingbeihou's family.
Pei Lingbi had met Xu Guangji before. That clear, handsome, slender man was no worse than his favorite Young Master Xie.
Thinking that Qinghe, a weak non-laying hen, can marry a good man like Xu Guangji, while she is a princess and the queen's daughter, so she can only marry someone like Zhou Shaohui, Pei Lingbi feels his blood surge and his mind twitches. gosh.
Thanks to the palace lady's sharp eyes and quick hands, she supported her in time, and she was able to stabilize her footsteps.
Seeing Pei Lingbi's depressed and deflated look, Tao Ti felt secretly refreshed, and deliberately said "concern", "Ah, what's wrong with you, Second Princess? You look so bad. Could it be that you haven't gone out for so many days, and you just came out?" Are you still not used to it?"
Pei Lingbi was even more annoyed by her poor acting skills, she gritted her teeth and said, "I don't need your hypocrisy."
Tao Ti spread her hands, with a helpless expression, "Okay."
The palace servant beside Pei Lingbi advised softly, "Second Princess, it's getting late, shall we go back first?"
Pei Lingbi bit her lip, she hated the people in front of her, but she also knew that she couldn't do anything to them right now.
Taking a deep breath, she straightened her waist and hummed coldly.
But before leaving, she still couldn't help but say something mean, since she couldn't scold Tao Ti and Qinghe, she chose to attack Xu Wenchan—
"Miss Xu, I haven't seen you for two months. How come you are round again? You don't have to bow your head, the double chin is very obvious. Hey, you should eat less when you have time, otherwise what kind of gentleman would dare to marry you? It would be embarrassing to take it out."
Xu Wenchan, "???"
Her eyelashes trembled, and she clenched the hem of her clothes tightly.
Before she could open her mouth to fight back, Qing He stood up angrily, "You don't need to worry about the second princess, my brother even wants to marry A-Chan back to the Duke's mansion in his dreams! It's not like you..." Speaking of this, Qing He He almost slipped his tongue and kept silent in time.
Pei Lingbi's expression froze, turning white and blue at times.
Young Master Xie wants to marry the ugly Xu Wenchan? !
Is he blind!
What made Pei Lingbi even more angry was Qing He's half-sentenced "It's not like you".
Not like her? It's not like her stalking and courting her in every possible way, but the little father-in-law doesn't even want to look at her more.
The more Pei Lingbi thought about it, the more angry she became, and she stood there in a daze, as if her soul had been sucked out.
Tao Ti didn't want to entangle with her anymore, so she gave Qinghe and Xu Wenchan a wink, knowing each other, they turned and left together.
But before they took a few steps, there was a panicked voice from behind them——
"Second Princess!"
Tao Ti and the others paused, subconsciously looking back.
Pei Lingbi rolled her eyes and pouted straight back.
Tao Ti, "..."
Touch porcelain? ?
—
After being diagnosed by the imperial physician, Pei Lingbi just got angry and fainted.
This matter spread to the ears of Queen Zhou and Emperor Zhaokang, a daughter who loved her dearly, sobbing endlessly;
One is to directly avoid Pei Lingbi's remaining two opportunities to go out, so as not to cause any trouble before she gets married, and it is more worry-free to lock her up in the palace safely.
As for Tao Ti and the other three, Emperor Zhaokang didn't reprimand them, and after confirming that Pei Lingbi was fine, he let them go back.
That night, Tao Ti tossed and turned on the bed, unable to fall asleep.
Under the flimsy cloud silk brocade quilt, Pei Yan patted her buttocks lightly with his warm palm, pulled her closer to his arms, and said lazily, "What's wrong?"
Tao Ti lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "It's nothing."
As soon as Pei Yan heard what she said, she knew it was a lie. After pondering for a moment, she comforted, "If you are worried about what happened to Pei Lingbi today, then there's no need for it. She's doing it on her own."
Tao Ti didn't make a sound.
Pei Yan frowned slightly, "Are you worried about Father's attitude? Don't worry, Father is still very fair. He didn't even say anything serious today, which shows that he has no intention of blaming him."
Tao Ti shook her head, "I'm not thinking about that."
"Um?"
"I… "
Tao Ti raised her head, and through the faint light through the curtain, she saw Pei Yan's deep and clear eyebrows.
After hesitating for a while, she asked softly, "Your Highness, since your body is in good health, will you take concubines in the future?"
Qiongqi also told her about this issue before, after all, it is so rare and unbelievable for the ancient emperors to stick to one end.
At that time, Tao Ti had a mentality of avoiding the question, and vaguely covered the topic.
Hearing Pei Lingbi mention this matter again today, Tao Ti also realized that some problems still have to be faced, and escape cannot be solved.
In the darkness, Pei Yan half closed his eyes and remained silent.
When he didn't speak, Tao Ti's heart clenched unconsciously, anxiously waiting for an answer.
After a while, Pei Yan's thin lips parted slightly, "I will..."
Tao Ti, "???!"
As soon as she opened her eyes wide, she was tapped lightly on her forehead, "It's going to be a ghost."
Pei Yan opened her eyes, turned over suddenly, covered most of Tao Ti's body, one strong arm was propped beside her head, the pillow was slightly sunken, and the other hand pinched her soft body like punishment. cheeks.
They were very close to each other, he stared at her condescendingly, the man's strong breath surrounded her tightly, his tone was soft, with a bit of helpless pampering, "You don't sleep at night, thinking about these outrageous things in your little brain? "
Tao Ti was inexplicably lacking confidence, and stammered, "Then you are the prince, and you may be the emperor in the future. What if one day you are squinted by other women, and then you will be in the Sangong Sixth Courtyard, and there will be groups of concubines... "
Pei Yan was serious and determined, "Nothing happens."
He looked at her deeply, even in the dim light, Tao Ti could still see that his eyes were shining, as if they were filled with bright stars.
"I already have the best little girl in the world."
He leaned down, kissed the center of her brow with his thin lips, and said in a gentle and outrageous tone, "Ah Ti, you are enough."
Tao Ti's heart immediately warmed up, her cheeks blushed, and she asked softly, "Really?"
"Well, really." Words are too light, and he will spend his whole life to prove it.
"Okay then, I believe you."
With a smile on the corner of her mouth, she lifted her chin, wanting to kiss his lips too.
Never thought that when Pei Yan just raised her head, her lips did not kiss his lips, but stuck to his obvious Adam's apple.
In the dark, she heard Pei Yan make a soft, satisfied, and very seductive nasal voice.
Tao Ti was startled, and after a while, she realized that her Adam's apple seemed to be Pei Yan's sensitive point
But when she realized it, she had already been kissed fiercely by the man.
"Since you're not sleepy, why not do something pleasant."
After he finished speaking in a hoarse voice, he poked his fingers under the light and smooth pajamas with ease, and became unscrupulous.