Seeing that Fu Tingye was being criticized, Hua Qingxue couldn't help laughing, "General, he cares about me. Okay, let's leave quickly..."
The two of them were walking out hand in hand. Fu Tingye felt that it was an eyesore and couldn't help but said, "Let's go after breakfast."
"What kind of breakfast are you having here?" Li Jingnan pulled Hua Qingxue out and said without looking back, "Let's go to Xiankelai Restaurant for dinner. The crab meat buns there are the best in Shengjing! Let's go..."
Hua Qingxue asked him: "How do you know? Do you often leave the palace?"
"I don't leave the palace, but Xiaodouzi often goes out of the palace on errands. He told me." Li Jingnan turned to ask Xiaodouzi beside him, "Xiaodouzi, are the crabmeal buns delicious?"
Xiaodouzi lowered his head and replied respectfully: "I heard from others that merchants from out of town would come to Cyclamen and ask for a crab roe bun, which is considered a true visit to the capital."
"How pitiful, it turns out this is someone who has never eaten it before." Li Jingnan generously patted Xiaodouzi on the shoulder, "I'm following you today, you're in for a treat!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty for your grace..."
The three of them walked further and further away, and all the palace guards on both sides followed them. A large number of people left Zhuangzi with a roar.
Fu Tingye watched Hua Qingxue being abducted by the emperor without even looking at him, with mixed feelings in his heart...
What is this woman's conscience made of
The old butler Zhou Bo beside him whispered: "Master, Miss Hua seems to have a very close relationship with the emperor?"
Fu Tingye looked at the people leaving in the distance with an indifferent expression, "There is no need to mention this matter to the old lady."
Uncle Zhou lowered his head and said yes.
…
In the carriage, Li Jingnan was still chattering.
"... I knew you would arrive yesterday, so I specially brought someone to wait at the city gate. Who knew Fu Tingye was so lazy! He would have arrived before the curfew if he had to hurry up, but he actually ran to Zhuangzi!"
Li Jingnan became furious when he thought of this, "I waited in vain at the city gate for a long time! Fortunately, I was smart and guessed that he might go to Zhuangzi to rest, but do you know how many Zhuangzi houses the Hou Mansion has outside Shengjing? It's just a short distance away There are six or seven of them! I sent someone to look for you all night before I found out that you were here with him, so I came here before dawn!"
"Then you didn't sleep all night last night?" Hua Qingxue was shocked by Li Jingnan's mobilization of troops.
"Sleep, sleep, there are always two or three hours." Li Jingnan received Hua Qingxue and was in a good mood. He didn't care about the problem of missing sleep at all. "Fortunately, I came, otherwise he wouldn't know what to do." How long can I hide you? I don’t think he has any intention of taking you into the city!"
Hua Qingxue thought of Fu Tingye's various anomalies, maybe it was really...
"Maybe... maybe I'm worried that the Liao people will be unfavorable to me?" Hua Qingxue told Li Jingnan with a complicated mood, "You don't know, the Liao soldiers once wanted to kidnap me, and another time, Nanzhao also wanted to kidnap me. Leave me."
Hua Qingxue said seriously: "I have a lot of people snatching it now."
"They have a good idea!" Li Jingnan said with a look of contempt on his face, and said seriously, "So it is safest for you to stay in Beijing. Stay at the border. If something happens, you won't be able to catch up."
Hua Qingxue smiled: "It'll be okay, General Fu is here."
Li Jingnan didn't take it seriously, "It's impossible for him to look after you for the rest of his life."
Hua Qingxue smiled and said nothing, thinking to herself, he does have plans to take care of me for the rest of his life...
"But..." Li Jingnan suddenly changed the subject, with a narrow look on his face, "It's no wonder he doesn't have the heart to take you into the city. The things at home alone are enough to keep him busy."
"Is there something going on at home?" Hua Qingxue asked curiously, not knowing what was going on.
"You don't know?" Li Jingnan opened his eyes wide and then realized, "Yes, of course you don't know... In a border town, people there naturally don't know what is going on in the Marquis' Mansion in Shengjing City, and no one will tell you."
Hua Qingxue was stunned when she heard this, "...What on earth is going on?"
Li Jingnan squinted and replied: "Actually, it's nothing, it's just... General Fu doesn't have a good relationship with his wife, Mrs. Fu, so he usually tries to avoid returning to Beijing."
Li Jingnan couldn't help but laugh evilly as he spoke, "Why else would you hide in Zhuangzi? I guess they must have sent someone to coax Mrs. Fu first, so as not to go back and be punished and scolded! Hahahaha!..."
Hua Qingxue didn't understand and asked, "Why is the relationship bad? Aren't they mother and son?"
"They are not related." Li Jingnan shook his head and curled his lips and said, "The old Marquis and his wife had no heirs in the early years, so he adopted Fu Tingye from the clan and raised him under his knees so that he could inherit the title. As a result, when Fu Tingye was seven or eight years old, , Mrs. Houye, also known as Mrs. Fu, unexpectedly became pregnant and gave birth to a son. At that time, Fu Tingye was already the heir apparent of the Hou family, but Mrs. Fu insisted that Mr. Hou make his own son the heir apparent. At that time, The matter is very big and everyone in Shengjing knows about it."
Seeing that Hua Qingxue still looked confused, Li Jingnan was afraid that she wouldn't understand, so he explained: "The emperor has to issue an order to establish a crown prince. There has never been a precedent in Da Qi for changing the crown prince, but Mrs. Fu insisted on it. The Marquis refused, so she begged to my queen mother, who interceded, and my father reluctantly agreed and decreed that the second son of the Fu family should be crowned heir apparent."
After that, the late emperor may have had pity for Fu Tingye, or he may have felt that Fu Tingye was a talent that could be made. Intentionally or unintentionally, he would always take care of and promote Fu Tingye.
Hua Qingxue finally understood and murmured to herself: "It turns out he has a younger brother..."
"No." Li Jingnan said in a rather gloating tone, "He died within a few years of his birth. I heard he was born with a weak body and a cold would kill him. Everyone was secretly talking about it, saying that it was Mrs. Fu who killed her son. That’s what happens if you raise it too carefully.”
Hua Qingxue looked at him strangely, "Aren't you only eight or nine years old? How come you know so much about what happened back then?"
"My father said that Fu Tingye was a worthy minister, so he told me many things about him." Li Jingnan said, helplessly spreading his hands, "And every time Fu Tingye comes to Beijing, these old stories will be dug up. I think it would be difficult to discuss it again without knowing.”
Hua Qingxue sighed quietly and said, "No wonder he seems to be in a bad mood."
"Huh? Is he in a bad mood?" Li Jingnan thought about it carefully, but he didn't feel any difference. In his impression, Fu Tingye always had a straight face and a serious expression, no matter whether he was happy or not.
"His beard has become prettier." After thinking for a long time, Li Jingnan only remembered this.
Hua Qingxue replied proudly: "I treated him!"
Li Jingnan said: "Okay! When I grow a beard in the future, you can also help me trim it like this!"
Hua Qingxue laughed loudly after hearing this, "You have a beard?! Hahaha... How many years will it take to wait! Hahahaha..."
Li Jingnan blushed slightly and said seriously: "I am already nine years old and I will grow a beard soon!"
Hua Qingxue was overjoyed. The little emperor's face with a beard appeared in her mind, and she couldn't stand upright with laughter.
Outside the carriage, Xiaodouzi, who was accompanying him, listened to the laughter coming from inside, watching his nose and heart, just not knowing.
Xiaodouzi felt very deeply that there was probably only one person like Hua Qingxue in the world who could make fun of the emperor unscrupulously without getting his head chopped off.
Even the Queen Mother would not be so careless when talking to the Emperor.
The emperor is indeed young and lacks dignity in front of the court ministers, but he is the emperor after all.
At least, in the eyes of these eunuchs and maids in the palace, Li Jingnan is the master who has the power of life and death. Because he is young, he will be willful, and because he is willful, he will be violent and moody...
…
The carriage stopped in front of a vermilion gate.
The high gate courtyard has green tiles and white walls, and the two large stone lions at the entrance look particularly majestic.
Li Jingnan was like a proud rooster, leading Hua Qingxue in with great vigor.
As soon as you enter, you will see the open front courtyard. In the courtyard is a relief screen wall full of ancient charm. There are also bamboo forests and flowers and plants. The scenery is layered with mountains and stretches all the way in.
Ancient architecture pays great attention to the sense of hierarchy, that is, no matter which angle you look at it, you can see the distant, middle and near scenery at different distances intertwined in an orderly manner.
Hua Qingxue's current feeling is such a layered feeling.
What a waste of natural resources...
She looked at the cornices and animal heads on the houses, the carved beams and painted beams, and the ingenious bridges and flowing water in the yard, and this idiom couldn't help but come to mind.
It's really... such a waste.
"This place is so big." Hua Qingxue felt like she was visiting a garden and said to herself in shock, "How can I live here alone..."
Li Jingnan gave her a roll of his eyes, "Don't always be so poor, okay? You are now the wife of a soldier in my country of Da Qi. With such an identity and such a house, it is just right!"
"But..." Hua Qingxue looked around. In such a large place, just cleaning would take several days, right
"I'll send a group of palace maids to serve you later." Li Jingnan said generously.
Hua Qingxue only felt horrified and immediately shook her head!
"No, no need! I'm not used to it!"
Li Jingnan didn't force it. In fact, he had had enough of looking at the faces in the palace every day. If he came to Hua Qingxue, he would have to face those faces, which would be really boring.
"Then the nursing home must be needed, right?" Li Jingnan was very considerate of her and said, "If you live alone, won't you be scared at night? If something happens, you'd better have someone to help you."
This is quite...
The courtyard is quite deep and looks antique and beautiful. But at night, it feels different...
"The Firearms Camp has just been established. I definitely can't stay here for too long." Hua Qingxue thought for a moment and said slowly, "Let's just make do with it for a few days. Now that we have hired people, it won't be easy to arrange when we leave in the future."
"What's the matter? I can just leave the guards to you."
Li Jingnan wanted to be generous again, and Xiaodouzi beside him immediately changed his expression!
Palace guards are no different from ordinary guards. These people are all the best ones. After rigorous training and selection, they can come to the emperor's side, and they have more or less official titles. They are definitely not ordinary people!
It can be said that the emperor's close bodyguards must show courtesy even to ordinary courtiers, but now...
The emperor actually wants to leave his bodyguard to Hua Qingxue
Isn't this favor just like putting Hua Qingxue on the fire? !
"No, I'll go back to live in Zhuangzi later. The general has made arrangements." Hua Qingxue smiled slightly and declined politely, "It's better not to let the general's efforts go to waste."