Regardless of whether Jing Li’s prayers worked or not, the emperor’s illness was good news for them.
But there was a hint of joy on Qin Zhao's face.
Jing Li asked: "Why do you...seem unhappy?"
Qin Zhao closed his eyes and said softly, "I think this is so right."
"What?"
"Your Majesty is only twenty-three this year. How could he fall ill just because of a cold? Could it be that the entire Imperial Hospital can't even cure a minor cold?"
That was the emperor, not an ordinary family like them. How could a supreme ruler, dressed in fine clothes and fed with delicious food, fall ill because of a cold and even miss the morning court
After hearing what Qin Zhao said, Jing Li also reacted: "Do you think the emperor is pretending to be sick?"
"I don't know yet." Qin Zhao said, "Your Majesty has not attended the morning court for such a long time, and the backlog of government affairs in the court must be dealt with by someone. We will know what is going on if we investigate."
Jing Li asked: "Are you going to ask someone to check it out now?"
"No, they know what to do without my instructions." Qin Zhao smiled faintly, "It will take at least half a month for the secret letter to arrive from the capital. This is just the first letter. I guess a new secret letter will be delivered in a few days, and we will know then."
Jing Li sighed: "It's great..."
Qin Zhao didn't understand: "What's so good?"
"They are really smart." Jing Li played with the fish's little hands and muttered, "I was just thinking that I may never be able to help you do this kind of thing in my life. I don't have enough brains."
Qin Zhao burst out laughing.
He waved to Jing Li, who came over and was hugged by Qin Zhao along with the baby in his arms.
"But I only like you." Qin Zhao said seriously.
Knowing that Qin Zhao was deliberately coaxing him, Jing Li's face turned red with anger. He stuffed the kid into his arms and slipped back to the bed to continue packing.
The next day, they boarded a boat back to Linxi Village.
The ferry waded down the water. It was the first time for Yuzai to ride a boat. He leaned over the side of the boat and looked into the water curiously: "Wow!"
Ah Qi stood beside him with a serious expression, alert and cautious, as if he was afraid that he would fall.
But Jing Li knew that Ah Qi was afraid of this. He was afraid that this little ancestor would have too much fun and forget to hide his identity in front of outsiders, and would directly change back to his original form and jump into the water.
The young man's face was full of solemnity. Even when Jing Li came out to give them water, he just responded briefly and immediately turned back to guard the brat.
…It can be called professionalism.
Jing Li hesitated for a moment and said nothing. He turned around and went back into the cabin.
This ferry travels between the prefecture and the towns. On normal days, there are only a few passengers, and sometimes more than ten. But today, there are only Jing Li and his family on such a big boat.
Qin Zhao chartered an entire boat.
Jing Li was used to saving money, and he felt a little distressed at first, until Qin Zhao calmly told him: "The Gu family will pay."
… ok.
Jing Li only found out about the fact that Qin Zhao was the mastermind behind Gu Changzhou after he heard Qin Zhao say it.
It was already an extraordinary performance for him to guess Qin Zhao's identity from a small oddity, and he had never doubted Gu Changzhou's identity. So when Qin Zhao told him the truth, Jing Li was stunned for a long time.
Even when Qin Zhao admitted that he was the former regent, he was not so surprised.
Jing Li suddenly realized, "No wonder the Gu family's master sends people to deliver things every few days. I have always felt that he cares about you more than his parents and wife. It turns out that it is true—"
There was something wrong with what he said, so Jing Li coughed lightly and stopped talking.
Qin Zhao just smiled.
He had the Gu family as his support, so he was not short of money. If he had not dared to confess to Jing Li before, Gu Changzhou would have given him a nice house in the capital city several times.
Qin Zhao knew the truth about this family. Ah Qi devoted himself to serving the master, while Xiao Yuzi only ate, drank and had fun every day, not caring about other things. In the end, Jing Li was the only one who was seriously worrying about his livelihood.
That's too much.
The empty cabin in front of him reminded Jing Li of this matter again, and he was slightly distracted. Qin Zhao saw it and said, "Why are you daydreaming there? Come over here."
The cabin was originally filled with simple beds for travelers to rest. Now that Qin Zhao had chartered the boat, he naturally removed the extra beds and placed a table by the window, where he leaned against to look at the scenery.
The scenery on both sides of the river from Jiangling Prefecture to the township is very beautiful, but unfortunately the sick plants cannot get caught in the wind, so we can't even go to the deck, so we can only feast our eyes here.
There was a small teacup on his table with the water just boiling. Jing Li walked over, opened the lid and sprinkled a handful of tea leaves into it.
"Your tea-making skills are getting better and better." Qin Zhao said.
"Of course, I've been learning this for a long time." While waiting for the tea to be brewed, Jing Li sat down opposite Qin Zhao, "I have to learn more about this stuff, so that you won't despise me in the future."
Qin Zhao raised his eyebrows: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"You're kidding." Jing Li winked at him, and after a moment, he poured out two cups of tea, "Your Highness, please have some tea."
"… "
Qin Zhao was helpless.
Perhaps because he had guessed it in advance, Jing Li had no problem accepting his identity, and all these reactions made Qin Zhao feel more at ease to adapt.
Through the window, you can hear the chirping and laughter of the little fish on the deck, they seem to be having a great time.
Qin Zhao said: "Yuzai likes to take a boat, we can go north by boat."
"Really?" Jing Li's eyes lit up and he nodded, "Going by water is better, it's more comfortable than taking a carriage. A carriage makes you ache all over. And I've asked around, is going by water faster than taking a carriage?"
"It will probably be a few days faster."
In this era, going to Beijing to take the imperial examination was actually a very risky thing.
Many people have never traveled so far since they were born, and are not familiar with the route. In addition, many places have not yet been paved with official roads, so they don't know how many dangers they will encounter on the road. Even so, there is still the threat of bandits.
Jing Li had heard that some highway robbers would specifically target the few months between the end of the provincial examination and the beginning of the metropolitan examination to rob scholars going to Beijing to take the examination.
Therefore, many people would die in foreign lands before they could even reach the capital.
Going north by boat is a relatively safe option.
Of course, the price is also higher.
Even if you take the cheapest cargo ship, the price is several times higher than that of a horse carriage. Not to mention the special merchant ship, the price of a night is even equivalent to staying in an inn in Jiangling Prefecture.
Only wealthy people can afford such expenses.
This is also the reason why Jing Li had never considered taking a boat north before.
Now...
I heard that the Gu family owns dozens of merchant ships and cargo ships.
Jing Li's abacus beads clattered in his mind. Qin Zhao saw what he was thinking and said, "When we get back to the village, I will send a letter to Gu Changzhou and ask him to prepare it."
Jing Li nodded in agreement and asked, "When do we set off?"
Qin Zhao did not answer immediately.
Jing Li asked: "I feel like you want to go to the capital as soon as possible, right?"
Qin Zhao tilted his head to look out the window, as if trying to hide some emotion.
After a while, he said softly: "...Yes."
"Are you..." Jing Li hesitated for a moment and asked his guess cryptically, "Are you a little relieved about what was said in the letter?"
Qin Zhao's reaction could fool others, including Jing Li. Ever since receiving the letter, Qin Zhao has been worried.
What is he worried about
Are you afraid that the little emperor is pretending to be sick this time? What will happen
When this matter was mentioned, Jing Li couldn't suppress his curiosity.
Qin Zhao had only told him his identity before, so Jing Li only knew that Qin Zhao and the current emperor had been a teacher and a student. Qin Zhao had never mentioned what kind of person the other person was.
After hearing Qin Zhao's story, Jing Li naturally believed that the mastermind behind the scenes was the emperor.
But judging from Qin Zhao's attitude, he seemed not too willing to suspect that the emperor was behind it.
Jing Li couldn't help asking: "What happened to your little emperor?"
"If you want to hear it, I can tell you, but don't let your imagination run wild." Qin Zhao seemed to be able to foresee Jing Li's reaction and said in advance.
Jing Li nodded repeatedly: "Yeah, I know."
"I watched His Majesty grow up." Qin Zhao took another sip of tea and said slowly, "He is the youngest son of the late emperor, the son of a concubine. Before he was born, his mother had fallen out of favor and was banished to the cold palace. He was born in the cold palace, which is why he was able to survive the initial battle for the throne."
The late emperor had only this one son, but all the princes died in the power struggle back then. Only this child survived because no one cared about him in the harem.
"The late emperor took him out of the cold palace and sent him directly to my house, asking me to teach him and protect him."
"The child was very timid and cried loudly when he first saw me. I was just an adult at that time and had no idea how to take care of a child, so I let him stand in the yard and cry. I only gave him food when he cried enough and got tired."
Jing Li: “…”
Qin Zhao used to be so scary.
Seeing Jing Li's indescribable expression, Qin Zhao asked with a smile: "Why, are you scared?"
"No..." Jing Li shrank his neck and said, "I was just thinking, it's a good thing I didn't meet you ten years ago, otherwise I might have been boiled in your pot."
Impatient and callous.
He is worthy of being the Regent.
Qin Zhao frowned, as if he had some complaints about what he said, but he didn't comment much and continued, "In the first few years after His Majesty ascended the throne, I purged the court in his name, which caused a big stir. That kid was timid and soft-hearted, and I scolded him and made him cry for this. But even so, once he encountered something, the first thing he thought of was to hide behind me."
"I spent nearly seven years teaching him how to be a good emperor, and I told him more than once that once he had learned, I would let him take power. I understand..."
He didn't understand. How could the child who only knew how to hide behind him and cry when she was little become so scheming overnight
"Let's go to the capital as soon as possible." Jing Li said, "When it's November, we'll go back to the village to rest for a few days and then set off."
It is almost October now. If they rest for a few days before setting off by water, they can reach the capital in early November.
The sooner we arrive, the sooner we can find out the truth.
Qin Zhao shook his head: "Don't be so anxious, Gu Changzhou still needs some time to prepare."
"Let's wait for the new secret letter to arrive. Maybe I'm just worrying too much."
Jing Li looked at him and said sourly, "I think you are worrying for no reason. You are worried that the emperor will really have some strange disease, right?"
Qin Zhao: “…”
What happened to our agreement to not let our imagination run wild
Jing Li lowered his head and played with the teacup in front of him, his voice gnashing with teeth: "You watched him grow up."
"He taught him for seven years."
"Whenever he encounters trouble, he hides behind you and cries."
"Even now, you still trust him so much and believe that he will not hurt you."
So sour.