bestfiction Chapter 294: Not as Good as First Meeting
Chapter 294: Not as Good as First Meeting
Chapter 294: Not as Good as First Meeting
Queen Mother Li had knelt in Yanhua Palace and knew exactly who Ye Wenyan was leaning against. The Li family's ancestral tomb collapsed like that, so she had reason to suspect that Lord He had also provoked Ye Wenyan.
As a result, I actually found out after asking around. It turned out that after the fifteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Left Assistant Minister kept mentioning the disappearance of the Fourth Miss Ye outside the city in the court, which ruined Ye Wenyan's reputation.
When Baochan told her this story, Empress Dowager Li laughed.
It's good that it collapsed. If the He family's house collapsed, then the Li family's house would be no exception. In this case, it can be said that there is something wrong with the land in Li County. In addition, the Kyoto area also encountered an earth dragon turning over. She could just say that it was a bad year, which led to geological disasters in many places. The Li family no longer had any reason to suspect her. Queen Mother Li was very happy. Baochan was relieved to see her happy, and quickly brought her the freshly cooked snow lotus soup.
But before Empress Dowager Li could even take a few sips, a palace maid came in and said, "Your Majesty, the Prince Regent has arrived."
Empress Dowager Li frowned when she heard this. "I didn't summon him to the palace. What is he doing here? Has his injury healed?"
The palace servant who came in to deliver the message said, "It looks like he is fine, and he can walk quite well."
Baochan leaned over to whisper in her ear, "Someone from the Prince Regent's Mansion got hold of Miss Ye Si's pills."
Queen Mother Li suddenly realized that it was no wonder that he recovered so quickly, it turned out that he had secretly benefited from Ye Wenyan's help. But if that was the case, since the Regent had recovered a long time ago, had he deliberately avoided seeing her these days?
"Since you don't want to see me, there's no need for you to come to Yong'an Palace again. Go and tell the Regent to let him go back!"
Queen Mother Li waved her hand and impatiently drove the palace maid away. Unfortunately, she said this too late, and the Regent Quan Ji had already walked in. He was dressed in a gray robe and still looked like an elegant scholar.
It was almost noon and the sun was shining brightly. When the Regent walked in, a ray of light shone on the ground, shaking the jade tiles of Yong'an Palace. It was like a familiar scene when Li Xiaohan first met this person many years ago.
But she lived in the Li family back then and was the eldest daughter of the Li family. Now she lives in the Royal Palace and is the Queen Mother of the Royal West Palace.
"Your Majesty the Queen Mother, your servant Quan Ji, pays his respects to her." The Regent bowed to her, kneeling on the ground with full courtesy.
Empress Dowager Li gave Baochan a look, and Baochan led the palace servants to retreat. The palace door was closed, blocking all the sunlight outside, and the palace also became dark.
The incense in the incense burner filled the room with smoke. As soon as the door was closed, you could see the smoke. The fragrance was so strong that it was a bit choking.
Quan Ji did not need Empress Dowager Li to tell him to stand up. He stood up and walked to the incense burner, opened the lid, and used the clips beside to break the incense stick. Seeing the small piece of broken incense stick fall into the incense ash, it struggled to burn for a while before finally going out completely. Quan Ji then closed the lid again with satisfaction, and turned around and said to Empress Dowager Li: "It won't choke anymore."
Queen Mother Li did not speak, and Quan Ji did not seem to need her to speak either. He just turned around and walked back, looked at her for a while, then pulled a chair over and sat next to her, calling out, "Xiao Han."
Empress Dowager Li finally couldn't bear the silence any longer and said to him, "This is the imperial palace. You should call me Empress Dowager."
"This is Yong'an Palace. The palace gate is closed and there is no one inside." Quan Ji did not wait for her to ask and took the initiative to explain, "It's not that I didn't come to see you earlier. I really wanted to use my injury as an excuse to leave the little emperor alone for a while and let him deal with this mess himself."
"What's the result?" Empress Dowager Li laughed. "I heard that the young emperor did a great job. Now everyone in Lin'an, both inside and outside the city, praises him. They all say that the emperor can deal with such a disaster calmly and even personally ask Miss Ye for medicine. Such an emperor should take power as early as possible and will definitely govern Northern Qi better than before. Is this what you mean by drying?" Quan Ji also laughed. "So I came to the palace! I can attend court tomorrow. No matter what people say outside, Northern Qi has a rule that the emperor cannot get married or take power before he is 18 years old, so no matter how he messes around, the court still depends on me."
"Why don't you just usurp the throne and become the emperor yourself? Wouldn't that make things easier for you?" Queen Mother Li asked him tentatively, "Quan Ji, have you ever thought about becoming the emperor yourself? That way, you can pass the throne to your son in the future."
Quan Ji shook his head firmly, "No, I didn't rebel against him back then, and now I'm this old, what else is there to worry about? It's better to plan for our son and send him to that position, this is the most important thing."
"How should we send it off?" Empress Dowager Li felt helpless. "The late emperor left a will, passing the throne to his youngest son. This was read out in front of all the court officials, and it has been deeply rooted in their hearts. I have noticed that those who once supported our son have lost interest in him after the will and the earth-shaking incident. Many people owe Quan Qingcheng and Ye Wenyan a favor, so our plan is extremely difficult and there is almost no hope."
Quan Ji shook his head, "That's because someone is sitting on the throne, so they don't care. But what if the emperor dies?"
Empress Dowager Li was stunned, "You want..."
"Shh!" Quan Ji raised a finger, "Don't say it, I haven't done it yet! I'm just mentioning it so you can think about it. If the throne is vacant, then according to the late emperor's will, the next in line to inherit the throne must be our son."
"You can't be impulsive." Queen Mother Li calmed down and said to him, "I have reminded you that Ye Wenyan is very close to Quan Qingcheng. No matter what happens to Quan Qingcheng, as long as he asks, Ye Wenyan will help him. And that Ye Wenyan..."
"That's enough!" She was interrupted by Quan Ji before she could finish her words, "Don't tell me that thing again, it's simply impossible! It's been more than 400 years, where in the history books has it been recorded that that person liked which girl? How could something that hasn't happened in more than 400 years happen in our generation? No matter how beautiful Miss Ye Si is, she will never be in his eyes!" "But how do you explain what happened at the palace banquet?" Queen Mother Li was really anxious, "Ye Wenyan performed the Fire Phoenix Dance, and a dragon roar came from Yanhua Palace. And the banquet hall collapsed, it was clearly because of a word said by the Guiyue envoy. He said that he would send Ye Wenyan to Guiyue to marry, so the person in Yanhua Palace was angry! In a rage, he not only destroyed the banquet hall, but also killed the Guiyue envoy. You don't remember all this? Quan Ji, you are a smart person, you must understand the reason."
Quan Ji took a deep breath, and tried his best to speak to Li Xiaohan calmly, "Of course I understand, but what does it matter if I understand? Xiaohan, are you going to give up your son's cause because of this? The Emperor doesn't care about the affairs of the mortal world, and it has been like this for hundreds of years. In which dynasty and generation of the royal family did not fight to the death for the succession to the throne? When have you seen him care about it? The reason why Envoy Guiyue ended up like that was because he touched Ye Wenyan. As long as we don't touch Ye Wenyan, he has no reason and no time to care about the internal fighting of the royal family. Xiaohan, don't worry, I know what's going on."
Empress Dowager Li was still panicking, "Do you really know what's going on? You don't know, the current Yanhua Palace may not be what you imagined. Maybe the person in the past really didn't care, but now... now it's hard to say."
"It's hard to say, but we have to do it!" Quan Ji was very determined. "Wealth and honor are always sought through risk. If you don't take any risks, how can you enjoy the wealth and honor of this world? Xiaohan, you don't have to worry about these things. I will do it. You just sit here in Yong'an Palace and wait quietly. One day, all six palaces will be under your control, and no one will share the honor of the queen mother with you."
Queen Mother Li closed her eyes, wanting to follow his words and imagine such a scene. Unfortunately, she could not imagine that as soon as she closed her eyes, she would see Ye Wenyan's extremely beautiful face and her son whom she had not seen for a long time.
So she asked Quan Ji: "Where did you take my Lu'er?"
Quan Ji was a little unhappy after hearing this, "Xiao Han, you still don't believe me. Lu'er is also my son, and I naturally love him from the bottom of my heart. I hope you can also love Yin'er sincerely like I love Lu'er. Xiao Han, he is also your son, and the son you owe the most. Even if you don't compensate him, you shouldn't be too partial to one over the other."
"I want to see him." Queen Mother Li didn't want to argue with him about whether she loved him or not, nor did she want to analyze whether she owed him anything or not. She only had one thought in mind, "Let me see Lu'er."
Quan Ji shook his head, "No, you can't leave the palace, and he can't enter the palace. Where are you going to meet? No one except you and me knows that there are two identical Sixth Princes. Xiaohan, if you lose your temper at this time, there will only be one result, that is, neither of your two sons will survive. This is not our world now, so we must be careful about everything."
"I don't care, I just want to see my son!" Queen Mother Li was almost crazy, she rushed forward and grabbed Quan Ji's collar. "Don't pretend to be gentle and loyal in front of me, I have seen through everything over the years. Both of them are your sons, but ask yourself, which one do you like? Everyone likes the one who is raised by their side more, so you want to push him to the top, and once this thing succeeds, you will definitely eliminate the trouble for him. By then, my Lu'er will become your stepping stone and the person who should not be alive in this world. Quan Ji, if there really comes such a day, I will fight you to the death! Remember this!"
She let the man go, straightened his collar, and snorted, "What a lunatic!" After saying this, he turned around and left.
No matter how many times Empress Dowager Li called him from behind, he acted as if he didn't hear her and didn't even turn his head.
When the palace door was opened again, the sunlight outside had been blocked by a cloud that suddenly floated in. She looked at Quan Ji's back and saw that it was covered with a dark cloud, no longer as bright and sunny as before...