Summary of the previous chapter: Ma Xiaoquan returned to Ma's house and met Li Qinghan. He learned from Li Qinghan that the younger generation of the Dongfang family who was temporarily staying in Ma's house had been picked up by the clan a few months ago...
In the evening, Mrs. Ma hosted a banquet for Ma Xiaoquan and others. During the dinner, Ma Xiaoquan told the Ma family a lot about his experiences in the past two years. Of course, in order to exaggerate the atmosphere, Ma Xiaoquan appropriately added some exaggerations. Of all the people, Hua Yue understood the situation best, but given that the atmosphere of the banquet was very cheerful and everyone in the family was happy to listen to Ma Xiaoquan's stories, Hua Yue just kept smiling and nodding without gnawing. Dingdian Novel,...
After the evening banquet, Ma Xiaoquan returned to his study and said:
It had been a long time since he returned home. The study was the same as before he left, and the furnishings had not changed. Ma Xiaoquan subconsciously wiped the desk, and it was spotless. It seemed that someone had been cleaning it.
"Bang bang bang" someone knocked on the study door. Ma Xiaoquan stepped forward and opened it and saw that it was Li Qinghan.
"Qinghan, it's so late, aren't you still asleep?"
Li Qinghan lowered his head shyly and hummed softly.
"The study... I have been cleaning it for you myself. Is it still clean?" Li Qinghan walked into the study slowly, approached the desk, and said softly.
Ma Xiaoquan reached out to stop Li Qinghan from behind and whispered in her right ear: "Thank you for your hard work in the past two years..."
Feeling Ma Xiaoquan's gentle words, Li Qinghan was a little distraught, but after all, he was a mother. Li Qinghan exhaled, restrained his inner impulse, turned around and said: "You entered the study just after you came back. Are we, mother and son, so incompetent?" Do you want to see me?"
Ma Xiaoquan smiled bitterly and scratched his head, saying: "No, no, you have also seen that grandma held a banquet for me today, but Feng'er has been avoiding me. It's true, grandma, I have been gone for so long, and I didn't even write a letter. Tell me you have Feng'er..."
Li Qinghan shook his head and said: "I told grandma not to ask him to tell you. Not only that, I also asked no one in the Ma family to tell..."
"Why? You have my child, why can't you tell me?"
Li Qinghan cried and laughed: "No matter what, I am your sister-in-law after all. Although you are not the real Fourth Young Master Ma, to outsiders, you are the Fourth Young Master Ma... Besides, your current You have a prominent position. Although there are many rumors about you in the outside world, you have never been married. You said that if you suddenly have a son, your opponents...well, especially Wei Zhongxian and Lu Zhan, will definitely use it. The machine will attack you”
Ma Xiaoquan's face darkened and he asked: "Qinghan, tell me, is it that Wei Zhongxian and Lu Zhanyi have been causing trouble for our Ma family during my absence in Beijing?"
Li Qinghan sighed and said: "That's natural, but fortunately I have Xiaoshuang by my side. With Xiaoshuang, I became the Vulcan Empress. The emperor personally gave me this title, which is equivalent to grandma's. That first-grade imperial eunuch, Wei Zhongxian, is just a fourth-grade eunuch, and Lu Zhan is just a minister of the Ministry of Punishment, well, even they don't dare to make trouble in front of me."
Ma Xiaoquan was stunned and asked again: "Has Wei Zhongxian reached the fourth rank?"
Li Qinghan nodded and said in surprise: "Yeah, what's the matter?"
Suddenly remembering the development of history, Ma Xiaoquan slapped his forehead and said, "No, no, no, it's too bad."
"What's wrong?"
Ma Xiaoquan did not intend to tell Li Qinghan about Wei Zhongxian. He just smiled and said: "I didn't expect Wei Zhongxian to be promoted so quickly. In just over two years, he was promoted so quickly."
Li Qinghan nodded and said: "Yes, that old guy Wei Zhongxian is now both the eunuch of Si Li Bingbi and the owner of Dongchang Factory, and he also controls the capital. Well, I heard that Tian Ergeng, the commander of Jinyiwei, also has a close relationship with him.
.”
Ma Xiaoquan frowned and said calmly: "We must take strict precautions against Wei Zhongxian and Tian Ergen. Well, Qinghan, I am relieved that Xiaoshuang is by your side. However, it seems that we still have to do something about Feng'er.
It's more covert. I think Wei Zhongxian and Lu Zhan are currently working intensively to collect evidence against me. I just came back and happened to be promoted again. Now think about it, the best way for them to attack me at the moment is to go from Feng.
I’m going to take action.”
"Okay, I got it"
...
Little did Ma Xiaoquan know that while she and Li Qinghan were talking quietly in Ma's study, a short black figure outside the study door eavesdropped on their conversation clearly. Then, the short black figure
He turned over, climbed over the courtyard wall of Ma's house, and disappeared into the night.
...
The next day, Ma Xiaoquan put on his court clothes and prepared to go to court.
After talking with Li Qinghan in the study last night, Ma Xiaoquan hugged her and fell asleep.
Well... Li Qinghan is over thirty and has officially entered the age of a wolf and a tiger. In addition, after holding it in for so long, he finally waited for the man to come back, so...
Ma Xiaoquan blinked at the bronze mirror and sighed softly, his eye circles were a little dark, hey...
At this moment, the study door opened, and Li Qinghan walked in carrying a tray with a smile on his face.
"Come on, eat something quickly. It's my first time to go to court after coming back. I need to eat enough."
Ma Xiaoquan came over to take a look, and couldn't help but feel a chill running down his spine. Although the dishes on this plate were good, they were all nutritious. There were deer antler porridge, ginseng soup, and a plate of side dishes that Ma Xiaoquan had never seen before.
"Uh, Qinghan, what is this side dish?" Ma Xiaoquan asked, pointing to the side dishes on the plate.
Li Qinghan said: "This, Qianqianrou, is very delicious, especially filling..."
Ma Xiaoquan blinked and asked again: "What is this money and meat for?"
Li Qinghan's face turned red: "It's disgusting that you still ask after you know it." After that, Li Qinghan left the study.
Ma Xiaoquan scratched his head: "I don't know?"
The study door was open, and a cook from the Ma family happened to be passing by. Ma Xiaoquan stopped him and asked: "What is this money and meat made of? Well, it looks like copper coins."
Cook Ding smiled and said: "Sir, this Qianqian Pork is a specialty of the northwest. It is very rare. Recently, a new northwest restaurant opened in Beijing. Ouch, business is very good, especially here.
Qian Qian Meat is particularly popular, and those gentlemen especially like to eat it...
Ma Xiaoquan interrupted impatiently: "Why are you talking so much? Just tell me what this money and meat are for, right?"
Cook Ding blinked and asked: "Sir, you are well-informed. Do you really not know?"
"Nonsense, you know I asked you, why are you asking?"
The cook Ding chuckled, pointed at the money and meat in the small plate and said: "Then the adults will give the little ones a piece to eat first, and if they are small enough, they will tell the adults."
"What a piece of shit!" Ma Xiaoquan laughed and cursed, picked up a piece of meat and threw it to the cook.
Cook Ding took the meat and put it in front of his nose and smelled it carefully before opening his mouth and eating it. Although it was only such a thin piece, Cook Ding ate it very seriously.
After finishing the only piece of meat in his hand, Chef Ding looked at the remaining items in the small plate with some greed, swallowed his mouth and said: "Sir, this money and meat are just what the jackass said...
....”
Ma Xiaoquan groaned and shook the money and meat that he was about to put into his mouth back into the small plate: "What? This..."
Cook Ding was startled by Ma Xiaoquan's reaction, thinking that his glib tone just now had angered Ma Xiaoquan, so he quickly knelt on the ground and kowtowed his head.
Ma Xiaoquan stopped the cook and asked, "Can this thing really be made of a male donkey?"
The cook Ding was stunned for a moment and nodded like a chicken pecking at rice: "Sir, this is a top-quality nourishing food. It is sold in that northwest restaurant. Such a small plate can be sold for one to two or five dollars."
"So expensive?" Ma Xiaoquan was shocked.
"Yes, Sir, please think about it, there is only one male donkey, and one donkey is one plate. You will castrate one male donkey with one plate..."
"Okay, okay," Ma Xiaoquan waved his hand to stop the cook, "Go on, go on."
"Hey, I have to resign then."
"Wait a minute," Ma Xiaoquan called to the cook, "This matter is not allowed to be publicized to the outside world. Otherwise, you will reap the benefits. Do you understand?"
"Don't worry, sir, I'm just a cook at this young age, hehe."
Ma Xiaoquan thought for a moment, then gave all the money and meat left in the small plate to the cook Ding, saying: "Take it and eat it, don't waste it."
"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir." Cook Ding kowtowed to Ma Xiaoquan several times, and then happily left with the small plate.
...
Just after the cook left, Li Qinghan came back. Seeing that the food she gave Ma Xiaoquan was missing money and meat, Li Qinghan laughed and said: "Damn you, you still said you didn't know, you ate so much that even the plate was gone."
Ma Xiaoquan didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and thought to himself, no matter what I do, I can't finish the plate, right?
Ma Xiaoquan didn't explain either. The more he explained, the more unclear he became.
After saying goodbye to Li Qinghan, Ma Xiaoquan hurriedly ran to the Forbidden City.
...
Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao, a carpenter emperor with great carpentry skills, actually did not go to the morning court, but his absence did not mean that the ministers did not come. If the emperor did not go to court, the ministers still had to go to Taihe as usual every day.
Waiting in the palace, the ministers could not withdraw until the eunuch who announced the decree shouted, "If there is something to do, there is nothing to do but retreat."
And if Zhu Youxiao suddenly got interested and wanted to summon the ministers, even if it was midnight, or even if he was having sex with his concubines, the ministers would have to hold up their trousers to see the emperor.
However... since the cabinet helps handle internal affairs of the court, under normal circumstances, Zhu Youxiao does not go to court.
As for the previous rule of waiting at the gate of the Hall of Supreme Harmony before dawn, it seems that it has not been implemented effectively since Zhu Youxiao's enthronement ceremony.