In the palace, Zhou Shuren stood motionless. The emperor was reviewing memorials, but he was still in the mood to think instead of kneeling and waiting. To be honest, the prince's taste was hard to describe. The emperor could suppress his anger. It was clearly the emperor's fault that the prince was becoming more and more unruly.
Eunuch Zhang glanced at Lord Zhou and thought to himself, the prince really did learn this from Lord Zhou.
The emperor was not entirely focused on the memorial, he was also paying attention to Zhou Shuren. Don't think he didn't notice that Zhou Shuren was observing the bonsai several times.
The emperor put down his pen and asked, "Master Zhou, what do you think of my bonsai?"
Zhou Shuren, "... unique."
The Emperor: “… …Hehe.”
Zhou Shuren responded to all changes with silence. Silence is golden. On one side is the emperor, and on the other side is the prince. Whatever he said was wrong. It was really a dilemma.
The emperor really didn't hold grudges against Zhou Shuren, but he felt a little headache when thinking about the prince's temper. He thought his son was too naughty. The feeling was different from that of a annoying younger brother. How to put it, alas, the child was still too young.
The emperor reflected on himself, "Do you think I forced the prince to learn too much?"
So children have a rebellious mentality and they have to cause trouble.
Zhou Shuren, "???"
The emperor has been using his own learning experience to teach the prince. He asked Academician Wu to follow the courses he learned when he was a child. His son became naughty and distracted him, and he was really worried.
Zhou Shuren looked at the emperor in deep thought woodenly. Pah, he was shown a full display of fatherly love.
In the Queen's bedroom, Concubine Liu held a fan to cover her face, the corners of her mouth curled up more and more, "Your Majesty, I'm not saying anything too much, you should really pay more attention to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
When I heard the news last night, she said she had a good sleep and rest, and she felt refreshed.
The Queen put down the teacup in her hand forcefully. The hall was instantly quiet. The Queen looked at Liu with sharp eyes, "You are the one who can make irresponsible comments about the Crown Prince?"
Concubine Liu's eyes froze, and she gritted her teeth, "I know I was wrong."
The Queen watched Concubine Liu kneel down without saying a word, until Concubine Liu could no longer bear it, then she spoke, "This is only the first time, I will never forgive you if it happens again."
Concubine Liu had already bitten her teeth, "Yes."
The queen looked at the concubines in the hall. When they lowered their heads, the queen withdrew her gaze and said, "Okay, you all go back."
The female official waited until the queen left before saying, "Your Majesty!"
The queen raised her hand to interrupt the female official. She was worried at first, but later when she found that the emperor was paying more and more attention to the prince, she felt relieved. Her son was already grown up and she just needed to take care of the harem.
At the Zhou family, Zhulan was holding the list of flowers that her eldest granddaughter was planning to host. This was the first time that a young lady from the Zhou family had invited a young lady of the same age. It hadn't been possible before because Yu Shuang and Yu Lu's fathers were commoners. Later, one of them became an official and the other could inherit the title, and it happened that the new emperor ascended the throne, so they all had their eyes on the Zhou family to a certain extent.
The Zhou family kept a low profile and the banquet was cancelled.
Now that it has been a year and there are no more worries, hosting a banquet is a natural thing to do.
Zhulan smiled, "You sisters have all been in contact with housekeepers since childhood, especially Yushuang, who is even better. You didn't miss anything in your preparations, which is very good."
Yu Shuang's cheeks blushed slightly, which was an affirmation of her ability. "My granddaughter still has a lot to learn. It's not good enough yet."
Zhulan looked at the younger granddaughters. Although Yuwen was lazy, she had a mother with a huge dowry. Yuwen was the best at abacus and math in the family. Thinking of Yuwen's words, Zhulan wanted to laugh again. This girl said that in order to not be fooled in the future and to be able to be lazy with peace of mind, she must learn well.
The flower banquet hosted by Yu Shuang not only invited the young ladies with whom she had gotten along well over the past few years, but also the daughters of other officials’ wives in the capital. This was the first time that Miss Zhou had prepared a flower banquet, so it had a different meaning.
Li said, "Everything is ready, you can send the invitation now."
Yudie stretched out her hand, "When my sister was preparing the post, I also helped choose the pattern."
Zhao doted on her little girl, "You are the only one who can do it."
Yudie ran behind Yuyi and her mother couldn't catch her. She even made faces. Yushuang patted her sister's head and Yudie finally calmed down.
In the following days, the Zhou family's invitations were sent out one after another. Tao came to the mansion and said directly: "Do you have any blank invitations left? Give me a few."
Zhulan was confused. "What post?"
Tao, "It's my fault for not explaining it clearly. Please give me some blank posts for the flower banquet at the Earl's Mansion."
Zhulan understood this time, "You're welcome."
"You and I have known each other for so many years, there is no need to beat around the bush."
Zhulan was curious. "There are still some spare blank posts left. Tell me what you want the posts for first."
Mrs. Tao was very annoyed. "Everyone in the capital knows that we have a good relationship. This is the first time that the Earl's Mansion has invited Miss to a flower banquet. There are too many people who want to come. I am the future mistress of the Wang family. I really can't refuse this. I can only beg you for help."
Zhulan, "Why are our posts so popular?"
"What do you think?"
Zhu Lan sneered, "You have other motives. Everyone knows that the prince has dealings with the Earl's Mansion, so you are so bold!"
Tao signaled the maids to go down, and then whispered, "The Queen is a living example of how the Crown Princess was promoted smoothly. The Crown Prince has no engagement yet, so he is eyeing the position of Crown Princess with all his might. You can see that the people who come to the flower banquet this time are not too old."
Zhulan thought with a dark heart, can the rest of the blank posts in the eldest granddaughter's hand be sold? There will definitely be people bidding for them.
But he dismissed the idea as soon as it came to his mind because the Emperor and the Empress were watching, and the Emperor would not allow anyone to make trouble for the Crown Prince.
Zhulan asked the maid to ask her eldest granddaughter for a few invitations and handed them to Tao, who did not keep any for long.
In the Ministry of Revenue, Zhou Shuren and Qiu Yan have been together for many years. When they were at the same level, they got along well. Qiu Yan made an indispensable contribution to the stability of the Ministry of Revenue.
Now that they have become a superior and a subordinate, Qiu Yan is also doing his job.
Zhou Shuren handed his granddaughter's invitation to Qiu Yan, "My eldest granddaughter is holding a flower banquet. This is the invitation to your granddaughter. You can take it back."
It is said that even though he and Qiu Yan get along well, the children of the two families actually do not have any contact with each other. Even when they meet at a banquet, they just nod to each other.
Qiu Yan's offspring are not outstanding. Now the Qiu family depends entirely on Qiu Yan. If they want a good marriage, they have to attend more banquets. Qiu Yan is a cautious person. Of course, his grandson is the most important in his heart. He can ask people for his grandson, but the situation for his granddaughter is much worse.
Zhou Shuren also heard Qiu Yan muttering that his granddaughter had reached the age of 15 but had not yet found a marriage, which made the family very upset, so he asked for an invitation from his granddaughter.
Qiu Yan moved his mouth and said, "Thank you."
In fact, his wife had mentioned the flower banquet at the Shangshu's home to him many times and asked him to ask for a few invitations. After working together for so many years, he still had the dignity to do so, but he just didn't agree.
Zhou Shuren said, "We have worked together for many years, so you are too polite."
Qiu Yan held the post in his hand and sighed in his heart. He didn't mention it, but Zhou Shuren kept it in his heart. Having this thought was enough.