After the morning meeting, we were just in time for lunch.
The other ministers either asked the eunuchs and servants to bring the food boxes and barely managed to eat the dirty food in the palace. Or they went out of the palace together and found a clean restaurant near the root of the imperial city to eat some delicious food.
As the supreme Duke of the Ming Dynasty, Li Jinglong was in charge of all kinds of secrets, and was the commander of the Royal Guards of the Imperial City. He had a separate and quiet room next to the guard room in the palace.
cabin.
The meals they eat are all brought into the palace from outside and carefully prepared by their own chefs.
At this moment, there were five dishes placed on the small round table in front of Li Jinglong.
Cook ham and mushrooms, braise bamboo shoots, chicken breast and prawns in oil, and braise tendons with green onions.
There is also a milky-white fresh fish and tofu soup. The main dishes are silver rolls, honey shortbread, and sweet eight-treasure rice.
The window of the small room was open, and a gentle breeze was blowing in. The little eunuch neatly arranged the dishes and rice, and said with a smile, "My lord, they are all ready. You can use it at your leisure!" After saying that, he bowed and stepped back.
"I'm so embarrassed to bother you all the time!" Li Jinglong smiled, flicked his sleeves, and stuffed a delicate little purse into the little eunuch's hands. He continued to say kindly, "It's not easy in the palace, little father-in-law.
Take the wine and go!"
The little eunuch pinched it with his fingers and realized that there were a dozen yellow golden melon seeds in his purse, and he immediately became happy.
This Duke of Cao Guo was very polite and kind, and he always used these eunuchs in vain. He was very lenient and merciful.
"My slave, thank you for the reward!"
"Okay, okay, where are the rewards? People come and go, shouldn't they?" Li Jinglong said with a smile.
The little eunuch smiled again and stepped back happily.
When I walked outside to a place where no one was around, I quickly took out the small purse and opened it. Sure enough, it was full of hard currency. I took out one and bit it with my teeth. I suddenly got a piece of silver. I was delighted and said in my heart, "No wonder he can become the Duke of the country. Look at it."
Such a mind, such tolerance, such demeanor!"
~~
Not only is the food on the table exquisite, but the utensils used are also of high quality.
Jingdezhen's overglazed pastel flower and bird porcelain is as thin as a paper wing, and its shiny silver chopsticks are beautifully engraved.
It happened that the small window was open, and the wind from outside came in slowly.
As soon as Li Jinglong picked up the chopsticks, he heard footsteps coming from outside.
This place was his special place to eat, and no one would come there on weekdays, so he looked up in surprise and saw his son Li Qi, wearing a unicorn suit, coming in from outside.
"Why are you here?" Li Jinglong smiled, "You haven't had a meal, you haven't sat down with your father!"
Li Qi lowered his head, with a complicated expression on his face.
"Why are you drooping your head?" Li Jinglong took out a set of tableware for Li Qi from the food box and pushed it over, "But did you encounter trouble in the East Palace?"
"My son is working a shift at Lezhizhai today. When you had the morning meeting just now, my son was at Ermengang!" Li Qi said in a low voice.
"Oh!" Li Jinglong's eyelids twitched.
"Dad!" Li Qi was obviously hesitant to speak, "Son... my son saw everything you did next to the emperor in the palace just now!"
"Oh!" Li Jinglong nodded again.
Ermengang is a little far away from the emperor, so you can't hear what the emperor and his ministers are saying, but if you pay close attention, you can clearly see what's going on inside.
"Dad!" Li Qi suddenly raised his head and looked into Li Jinglong's eyes, "When you were in the palace just now, you didn't notice... Didn't you notice that the other ministers and ministers were looking at you a little... something was wrong?"
Li Jinglong said nothing, picked up a piece of cooked Yunnan Xuanwei ham with his chopsticks, and chewed it slowly.
"Dad, my son feels that you have... changed now! Since the Supreme Emperor left, you seem to have changed into a completely different person!" Li Qi muttered, "You are a relative of the emperor, a top-notch Duke, and the person in charge of all kinds of things.
The minister of the confidential South Study is a close confidant of the emperor. But you...sometimes, when your son sees it, he feels...too...too that!"
"Which one?" Li Jinglong finally spoke, his voice light.
"That's it!" Li Qi frowned, unable to express the words in his mind, "When we were leaving the court just now, my son overheard several Hanlin bachelors passing by saying that you... they said that you...
"As he spoke, he stamped his feet fiercely and sighed heavily, "Hey!"
"Are you saying that I am a sycophant or a jester? That I only know how to flatter the emperor and please the emperor?" Li Jinglong suddenly smiled freely and showed no concern.
Li Qi moved the stool and came closer, "Dad, you were never like this before! My son can see now that you are deliberately trying to please the emperor! You are a minister of the country, not..."
"It's not what?" Li Jinglong interrupted his son again and said with a smile, "Your father and I are ministers of the country. We should have the demeanor and appearance that ministers should have, instead of being like those slaves, hanging around the emperor, which is devoid of grace and propriety.
Yes or no?"
He said, squinting his eyes, "You mean, your father is a minister of the Ming Dynasty, not a servant of the royal family, right?"
"I..." Li Qi was speechless and kept sighing.
"Do you think your father's current behavior is a bit looked down upon by others?" Li Jinglong asked again with a smile.
Li Qi didn't say anything, which was like acquiescence.
The king is a king and his ministers are ministers, but in the traditional Confucian concept, the king and his ministers are by no means equivalent to masters and servants. The king can want his ministers to die, but the ministers can also choose not to be greedy for wealth and to take care of themselves.
"You're so fucking stupid at studying!" Li Jinglong scolded, but he didn't look too angry. Instead, he pushed the honey shortbread in front of him, "Try this, the Suzhou master just hired by the family doesn't have this skill in the palace.
!”
"Dad!" Li Qi raised his head again and looked into Li Jinglong's eyes, "My son knows that you must have some difficulties!"
"You're not that stupid!" Li Jinglong smiled and poked the tender roasted mushrooms with his chopsticks. Then he sighed, stood up and looked out the window, "Son! Whether you are a sycophant or a jester, others look down on you.
That’s fine, I don’t get along with our family or your father!”
As he spoke, he turned around, slowly served himself soup, and took a sip, "Even if they look down on me, who dares to say it to my face? They said it behind my back, and they didn't ask for it when they saw me in front of me? Then
Think about it, who is the villain?"
As he said that, he turned around and looked out the window, "In the Ming Dynasty, is there a shortage of so-called gentlemen around the emperor? Is there a shortage of rigid people who dare to remonstrate to death?"
"You said that I please the emperor and that I am like a slave. Have you ever thought about why the emperor likes your father and me?"
Li Jinglong turned around again, sat down again, served rice to Li Qi, and pushed it over, "I am not trying to please or be a sycophant. I treat the emperor as a relative of my family." He said with another smile, "The emperor also likes your father.
I circled around him because the emperor was unhappy when he was with others!"
In fact, there were a few words that Li Jinglong didn't say that he couldn't say.
Now that the Supreme Emperor is gone, not only is the sky falling over the heads of the vassal princes, but also the Li family too?
Now in his Li family, the only person Li Jinglong can rely on is the emperor.
The fact that the emperor trusted him in the past does not mean that he will always trust and favor him in the future.
The government is destined to change in the future, so why does he, Li Jinglong, remain standing?
"Let's eat!" Li Jinglong said calmly, "From now on, if other people say something like this, let it go in one ear and pretend you didn't hear it!" He said with another smile, "Don't imitate me. If you can't imitate it, just do it."
Just serve the prince well!"
Li Qi had mixed feelings in his heart. Which son doesn't want his father to be a good man who stands upright? On the one hand, he doesn't agree with his father's current way of doing things, but on the other hand, he also sees a little helplessness in his father's eyes.
and melancholy.
The father and son were sitting, eating their meals absentmindedly.
Suddenly, footsteps came from outside again.
"Are you in Jiujiang?"
Hearing this, Li Jinglong frowned, "Why did Xu Huizu come here?"