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The sudden arrival of the Emperor and Concubine Xiang made the entire Duke Xin's Mansion busy.
Qin Mu saw this and said to Meng Ke, "Duke Xin, stop making a fuss. I came here incognito just to have some peace and quiet. Tell them to stop making a fuss, serve some side dishes, and we'll just have a couple of drinks."
"this... ... .."
"What's this?"
"Your Majesty, I obey your order."
Meng Ke led Qin Mu to the front hall. Li, seven or eight concubines, and servants all greeted them in front of the hall. Yun Qiao'er smiled sweetly, went up to help Li up and said, "I heard that Sister-in-law Meng is pregnant, so I couldn't help but come to congratulate her. Is Sister-in-law doing well?"
She called her sister-in-law sweetly, which made Li feel a little helpless and she even said "I dare not".
Meng Ke waved his hand to let the concubines and servants disperse, then extended his hand and said, "Your Majesty, please take a seat. Madam Xiangfei, please take a seat."
Yun Qiaoer smiled even sweeter, and turned around and said, "Brother Meng, don't think that I will forgive your debt just because you call me Niangniang. I don't want your money either. When you have a baby in the future, you can just let him recognize me as his godmother, and then we'll be even."
Li didn't react for a while. After hearing what Qiao'er said, Meng Ke pushed the golden mountain and overturned the jade pillar again, and did not forget to pull his wife Li to bow down together: "Your Majesty, I, Meng Ke, thank you for your grace and thank you for your kindness, Empress Xiangfei."
After Li followed her husband to pay his respects, she came to her senses. Xiang Fei's status in the palace was not much lower than that of the queen. She took the initiative to come to the mansion to be the godmother of her unborn child. This was not ordinary.
After the child was born, with Xiang Fei as his godmother, he was virtually guaranteed a golden medal of immunity from death, and the entire Duke's Mansion benefited greatly from it.
After thinking all this over, Li burst into tears of joy and thanked the emperor repeatedly.
Yun Qiaoer stepped forward and helped her up, saying, "Sister-in-law, get up quickly. You are pregnant. How can you have the baby if you get a miscarriage? Get up quickly, get up quickly."
Qin Mu also asked Meng Ke to sit down, and he sighed and said, "Ever since you old men have been fighting in your own areas, it's been hard for me to find someone to drink with. Come, let's not talk about state affairs tonight, and just have a couple of drinks."
"Since your majesty has said so, I will respectfully obey your command."
The two of them drank together under the moon and talked about the interesting things in the past. They seemed to be having a great time.
Yun Qiaoer pulled Li aside and whispered to her, no one knew what they were saying, but the clear laughter could be heard from time to time.
Qin Mu sat in the Xin Guogong Mansion for half an hour before leaving. Meng Ke and his wife came to the gate. Qin Mu smiled and said, "Okay, let's stop here. No need to say more."
Meng Ke knew that there must be many masters like Niu Wanshan protecting the emperor in secret. He bowed and said, "I respectfully send off your Majesty and your Majesty."
Yun Qiaoer said with a smile: "Brother Meng, you must take good care of my sister-in-law. She is the godmother of the child now. If you treat my sister-in-law badly, I will come to seek justice for her, hehe..."
"Your Majesty, what are you talking about? I will. I will..."
Qin Mu and Qiao'er's visit this time was equivalent to giving Meng Ke a reassurance. In fact, similar situations happen from time to time. This is also a small trick Qin Mu used to win over ministers, especially military generals like Meng Ke, who have great influence. It is necessary to reassure them appropriately.
Visiting someone occasionally and having a drink and chatting is more effective than summoning him a hundred times.
After getting in the car, Qin Mu saw that Qiao'er was full of energy and knew that she didn't want to go back to the palace immediately, so he smiled and asked, "Tell me, girl, where do you want to go?"
Qiao'er snuggled into his arms and said sweetly, "Your Majesty, I want to eat pancakes."
"Hmm? Well then, let's go to Aunt Li's house."
"Hehe, it's okay for me to go, but if Your Majesty goes with us, it would be strange if Aunt Li doesn't get scared."
"I'm not a monster."
"No, you're scarier than a monster."
"Girl, why are you still tired of me?"
"whee... ... ... ."
The night view of Nanjing becomes more beautiful as the night goes on. The fire and the moon shine together, the whole city is brightly lit, and the streets are bustling with people. The prosperous scene is no less than that during the day.
On the banks of the Qinhuai River, the waves are rippling, willows are swaying, and on the passing pleasure boats, beauties are dancing gracefully, and the sounds of flutes and pianos are touching.
The riverside houses on both sides all have balconies, the air is filled with the fragrance of flowers and orchids. The women living there and the prostitutes in the brothels are dressed in gorgeous clothes and have graceful figures, like fairies standing in the breeze under the moon, their dresses fluttering in the wind, as they are about to depart.
On the tall "Shengshi Hualou", the lights are even more brilliant, with wind chimes and painted corners, flying eaves and the moon, dancing figures, and the lingering music floating into the night sky.
Qin Mu rarely went out for a night tour, and he didn't want to disturb the people, so he didn't get out of the car when he arrived in front of Aunt Li's pancake shop. Yun Qiaoer got out of the car with her skirt tucked up and hurried to the shop.
She was a frequent visitor here, so Aunt Li was not too surprised and quickly invited her in when she saw her.
After a while, Yun Qiaoer came into the car with a few fragrant pancakes and a big bag of snacks. Qin Mu took them and saw that some of the pancakes were still the same as before, but some of the snacks were made very delicately but not as before.
"Your Majesty, Aunt Li hired a pastry chef from Suzhou. Now she doesn't just sell pancakes. Here's another bag of the most delicious snacks. They're no worse than those in the palace."
Qiao'er was in high spirits and kept praising Aunt Li. She stuffed a pair of chopsticks into his hand and urged him to try it quickly.
Qin Mu tasted a piece and it was indeed delicious.
"Your Majesty, where are we going to play next?"
"You, don't you want to go back to the palace tonight?"
"No, but...but it's still early."
"Okay, let them get a pleasure boat, and we'll go to the river to row a boat, watch the moon and eat pancakes, hahaha..."
"Okay!" Yun Qiaoer was so happy that she kissed him several times.
"Girl, are you done yet? You're drooling all over. You're so old, and you're still drooling."
"No way, Your Majesty, you are just talking nonsense. I will ignore you."
"Did I say anything nonsense? Look, this is your saliva."
"I'm not watching it, you're just talking nonsense, just..."
Li Shi and his men wanted to get a painted boat, which was naturally a piece of cake. Soon Qin Mu and Qiao'er got off the car at the pier by the river and boarded the boat. In addition to the boat girl, there were also several musicians on the boat. Seeing that Qin Mu was actually bringing a young girl on the boat, the women on the boat were stunned, but as they had seen a lot of the world, they quickly bowed and then gave him a warm welcome.
There are painted boats coming and going all around, the moonlight is clear, the waves are rippling, there are laughter, singing, music, lights and oars, moonlight and flower fragrance, making the Qinhuai River at night like a fairyland.
Qin Mu took Qiao'er's hand and walked into the cabin, then asked the female entertainer on the boat to bring a plate, put the pancakes and snacks on it, and they ate them happily, taking a piece each.
The courtesan had obviously never seen such a foodie who only cared about eating as soon as he got on the boat. She smiled secretly, then stepped forward and said politely, "I wonder what songs the two guests would like to listen to?"
"Girl, what do you want to hear... touch..." Qin Mu didn't swallow the snack in his mouth, and his voice was a little out of tune.
Qiao Er, who was sitting next to him, laughed so hard that she fell on him: "Brother Qin, let's listen to Eighteen Touches."
Puff! All the snacks in Qin Mu's mouth sprayed out. He stretched out his hand and twisted her ear, saying fiercely: "Girl, who taught you this? Well, I have to discipline you today. Eighteen Touches, this is you... Hey, tell me, do you usually listen to this when you go out? Tell the truth..."
“Hehe… Haha…”
"dare you laugh!"
"Okay, okay, I was wrong, Brother Qin. I really know I was wrong. I'll be honest. I didn't listen to you. I just saw that you were busy all day and it was rare for you to come out. I just wanted to make you happy..."
"Hehe, if I knew you came out to listen to the Eighteen... ahem... I would beat your ass to pieces."
Yun Qiaoer blinked her big eyes that were as bright as stars, smiling like a flower. She was not afraid of him at all. She stretched out her delicate hand and stuffed a piece of dessert into his mouth without even using chopsticks. "Brother Qin, eat quickly. It won't taste good if it gets cold."
“Well… you…”
The musicians standing by waiting could not help laughing out loud when they saw the two of them doing this. This kind of playfulness as if no one was around was a little surprising at first, but upon closer inspection, the natural and unaffected laughter reminded people of the poem "In ** Changganli, the two young children have no suspicion of each other".
Qin Mu swallowed the cake and took another sip of tea. He then glared at Qiao'er and turned back to the courtesan and said, "What kind of music are you good at?"
"My lord, I dare not say that I am an expert in music, but I know a little bit about it. I will try to play whatever piece of music you want to hear, and I hope you can give me some advice."
Qin Mu heard her words, which seemed humble on the surface, but in fact it was tantamount to saying that no matter what song it was, she was good at it.
Her voice was soft and very pleasant to the ear. Qin Mu then looked up at her appearance. She was a woman who looked to be in her twenties, which was considered an older woman in the harems along the Qinhuai River. However, she was dignified and beautiful, with outstanding grace, hair like clouds, a rosy face, a slender figure, a slender waist, and an extraordinary demeanor.
Qin Mu couldn't help but ask: "What's your name?"
The girl bowed and replied, "Thank you for asking, young master. My surname is Gu and my humble name is Hengbo."
“Gu Hengbo… … ..”
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.(To be continued..)
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