Don't help me, I can sit up by myself

In this way, apart from the military expenditure of 50,000 taels, there is still profit, actually.

The emperor became proud: "I performed a little tonight and earned so much silver. It seems that making money is easy. It is not as difficult as people say."

Du Jiyan made a sound.

"Du Changzai, do you have a different opinion?"

"Those ministers who took out the money were only forced by your power, Your Majesty."

"what?"

He spoke too fast and his mouth was bald.

Du Jiyan hurriedly knelt down: "Concubine, I mean, aren't those ministers forced by the emperor's power? You must know that most of the money you earned, the emperor, is also the money of Chen Guo that they are greedy for. They are afraid that the emperor will pursue him. , that’s why I flatter you, Your Majesty. It’s just that Chen Guo has raised so many stupid and corrupt officials, it seems that Your Majesty is a bit stupid.”

The emperor gritted his molars.

This Du Changzai can always poke him in the heart. Do you want to kill him with a knife?

There are few emperors in the past dynasties who had few weak and corrupt officials, but the late emperor was so wise and powerful. Among the loyal and loyal ministers under him, some of them were picky and not greedy.

There is no absolute good minister, it depends on how the emperor controls him.

Then I thought about it, little girls know how to employ people in court matters, so let’s forget about arguing with her. After all, she came up with the idea of ​​hosting a New Year’s banquet, which helped the inner treasury tide over the difficulties. She even expanded the inner treasury. It deserves praise.

The emperor was addicted to making money. He imagined that if he also did some food business, wouldn't he also be able to make money? Which woman in the harem doesn't give him some face?

He learned that the emperor was actually trying to steal his business. Du Jiyan's eyes could poke holes in the emperor. You are so rich. How could someone who is more than ten thousand people in the Chen Kingdom steal business from Chang Zai?

Not daring to refute the emperor's intention, Du Jiyan pretended to be gentle and beat the emperor's legs: "Your Majesty - how can you do these menial jobs? Besides, selling food is not easy to do."

"What's not to do? The imperial kitchen has prepared the food, and I can eat it for everyone to see. I eat deliciously, and if I eat a lot, everyone will definitely want to buy it. Isn't this business coming?"

Tsk tsk, Your Majesty, you are addicted to being a host.

I also want to sell food live.

This is not about stealing business.

We must not let his evil plan succeed. If he starts this business, his own business will be ruined.

In the face of interests, women must not be kind.

Du Jiyan quickly slapped the emperor's thigh: "Your Majesty, this small business in the harem will definitely not fall into your eyes."

"Nonsense, I think doing business is fun."

It's fun.

Ha ha.

He actually said it was fun.

Outrageous.

Du Jiyan beat his legs with three points more force: "Your Majesty, the life of the women in the harem is not easy. Think about it, you only get so much money a month. It's not easy to live on a monthly basis. Your Majesty. If food is being sold and the sisters don’t buy it, wouldn’t the emperor be forcing it in disguise? Aren’t the sisters pitiful?”

The emperor frowned.

Du Jiyan quickly added fuel to the fire: "Your Majesty, the entire Chen Kingdom belongs to you. You are rich in the world. As long as you govern the country well and the country is peaceful and the people are safe, are you still worried about the lack of money in the inner treasury? This is the path that the emperor should take."

The emperor's brows furrowed even more tightly: "Du Chang is here, just say what you say, and can you please stop pinching my thigh."

what.

I only focused on talking, but I was a bit cruel and pinched the emperor's thighs until they turned red. I'm really sorry.

But at least he changed the emperor's mind about doing business, so it was not in vain.

The next day, the Queen Mother took the Queen and the nobles to the Palace of Supreme Harmony.

The Queen Mother directly took out 20,000 taels of silver notes: "This is the savings of the Yi family. Didn't the emperor say that the frontier fortress needs money? The stability of the frontier fortress is important. The emperor just takes these 20,000 taels and uses them."

How could he spend the old queen's money? The emperor immediately refused: "There is money in the inner treasury."

"The little money in the inner treasury is enough for what you can do."

"I also made some money at the New Year's banquet."

"That's just a drop in the bucket, I can barely cope with it. The emperor is in charge of the world, and money is used everywhere. The emperor will take the 20,000 taels, and the 50,000 taels of silver at the frontier will be considered as the Ai family's contribution."

The Queen Mother was so understanding and reasonable, and the Emperor was moved beyond words. He quickly asked Gao Rang to serve tea to the Queen Mother, and also ordered various fruits to be brought.

The Queen Mother looked at the Queen.

The queen was a little hot, so she took off her scarf and ate roasted chestnuts by the charcoal fire. Each one was crunchy and crispy.

The Queen Mother gave the Queen a look that can only be understood but cannot be expressed.

The Queen's back felt cold, she smiled awkwardly, and peeled three roasted chestnuts herself and sent them to the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother closed her eyes.

Alas, it didn’t work.

Sitting under the Queen Mother, Wei Guiren took out a silver note from his sleeve and handed it to the Emperor respectfully: "This is the money I brought with me when I entered the palace, but I haven't used it yet. I heard that the frontier fortress If necessary, I brought it here specially to ask the emperor to use it as military expenses. It can be regarded as my contribution to Chen Guo."

"Your Majesty Wei doesn't have many monthly appointments, so just forget about these one thousand taels." The emperor declined.

"If Your Majesty doesn't take it, it's too little." The nobleman Wei was a little aggrieved, but his grievance was also filled with determination. Although he had eyes pleading with the Emperor, he sat in a neither humble nor overbearing manner, quite like a concubine.

The emperor had no choice but to accept one thousand taels of silver.

The queen had already peeled a chestnut and stuffed it into Guiren Wei's hand: "Zhao Ning, it's cold. Here, warm your hands with a hot chestnut."

Just know how to eat.

The Queen Mother was speechless and choked.

"Queen, I'm not hungry." Wei Guiren declined, the chestnut fell to the ground, and Gululu rolled away like a ball.

The emperor peeled a chestnut himself and handed it to Guiren Wei.

Wei Guiren shyly pinched the chestnut and carefully put it into his purse without eating it.

"Zhao Ning, the emperor has peeled it for you, why don't you eat it? It won't taste good after it gets cold." The queen made a sound and ate another one.

Wei Zhaoning's face turned red: "Because the emperor peeled it himself, I am reluctant to eat it."

The chestnut in the queen's mouth suddenly lost its aroma.

She wouldn't be able to get away with this situation no matter how hard she borrowed it. The Queen Mother was obviously very satisfied with Guiren Wei's performance. She took Guiren Wei's hand and recommended to the emperor: "Your Majesty, it's rare for Guiren Wei to have such a big heart. The emperor should cherish it."

After the Empress Dowager's recommendation, Mr. Wei stayed at the Taihe Palace that night.

The queen helped the queen mother out of the Palace of Supreme Harmony. The queen mother shook the queen's hand and said to her sincerely: "Zhaonan——"

As soon as the Queen heard the Queen Mother calling her name, she lost her soul and said, "Please give me a clear explanation."

"Hey, Zhao Ning went to bed. Are you feeling uncomfortable? I saw you coming out of Taihe Palace with a lot of worries. But under our feet is the palace. The palace is no better than the private sector. Here, it is common for sisters to serve the same husband. There is something. You have to know that the emperor's heirs are few and far between, and you are not lucky. In the years since you have been in the palace, you have not given birth to anything. The imperial doctor often diagnoses your pulse, and you also drink a lot of decoctions. The Ai family is watching. , I’m afraid you are”

"The Queen Mother-" The Queen interrupted the Queen Mother.

"Oh?" The Queen Mother was stunned.

"Queen Mother, I don't understand what you are saying." The Queen looked back at the brightly lit Taihe Palace: "There are still two roasted chestnuts on the charcoal fire. It would be a pity not to burn them again."

Queen mother

Queen, where is the oil and salt?

Even if I want to teach, I don’t know where to start.

As soon as the Queen Mother mentioned the donation to the Palace of Supreme Harmony, Mr. Wei immediately took out his own money and donated it without saying a word. When it was the Queen's turn, the Queen simply stood up and put her arm around the Queen Mother: "Let's go to the Taihe Palace together, so we can have company."

The Queen Mother fell down in anger, thinking to herself that at least the Emperor was willing to favor Wei Zhaoning, which was a blessing to the Wei family. Once Wei Zhaoning got a boy, the Wei family would be considered stable, and they could keep the queen and promote them anyway. She tried very hard and couldn't move anymore.

Sure enough, after Wei Zhaoning stayed in bed, he was promoted from Wei noble to Wei concubine.

When Wei Zhaoning went to greet the queen, the queen happily invited her to eat roasted peanuts. The queen peeled the roasted peanuts herself and put them in Wei Zhaoning's hand. Wei Zhaoning's fingers opened and the peanuts fell to the ground.

"Isn't it to your taste? Zhao Ning, longan, go and bring some Ruyi rolls to Wei Bin. Ruyi rolls are sweet and Wei Bin has loved eating them since she was a child."

Guiyuan went to bring the Ruyi roll. The golden roll was piled on the milky white porcelain plate. Wei Zhaoning did not look at it, but gently touched the jade bracelet on his hand and said: "Empress, now I am personally sealed by the Emperor." Guard concubine."

"I know, you are the concubine of the emperor, and I am the queen of the emperor. I am not stupid, don't you understand this?"

"Although she is a concubine, she is still one step away from the concubine position. I am the daughter of Duke Fu, and sister, you are already the queen."

"Zhaoning, you don't want to be the queen, do you? Don't even think about such a treasonous thing."

Wei Zhaoning smiled slightly and held the queen's hand tightly, showing a rare look of intimacy: "What are you talking about, sister? We are sisters. How dare you have such thoughts? I mean, in the future, We need to make more progress and serve more diligently in order to win glory for the Wei family."

When the word "win for glory" was mentioned, the queen was a little uninterested.

In the past few years, the Queen Mother had been nagging in her ears every day, saying nothing but words to bring glory to the Wei family. Finally, the Queen Mother stopped making noises, and her sister Wei Zhaoning took over again.

Wouldn't it be nice to live in peace and quiet? Aren’t the Wei clan doing well too? Why think about these mind-bending topics.

The queen couldn't understand.

If you have time to think about this, you might as well eat roasted peanuts.

Wei Zhaoning was worried: "Last night when I went to bed, the emperor asked me something."

"Did he ask me why I didn't donate money?" The queen walked around Jingren Palace with her little hands behind her back: "I am careless, I should donate a little."

"The emperor didn't mention you at all, queen." Wei Zhaoning sighed: "The emperor said that he would move the palace for Du Changzai in the next two days. He asked me what I thought of Du Changzai."

The queen admired Du Jiyan very much. She felt that she was upright and informal. Although she was liked by the emperor, she was not flattering and arrogant. She was also respectful to her as the queen and often came to her rescue. After having Du Jiyan , the imperial concubine Meng Yuzhu was deflated several times. From the Queen's point of view, Du Jiyan was simply sent to earth by Empress Guanyin to save her.

"How did you get back to the emperor?"

"I'm just telling the truth. I said that Du Changzai is very smart, but his vision is not high."

Queen

"Du Changzai has some cleverness and can often turn danger into danger, but as a concubine in the harem, he doesn't think about how to better serve the emperor, but instead spends his energy on those meals. Isn't this putting the cart before the horse? We women in the harem are responsible for The emperor has no heirs to carry out the responsibility of spreading the incense, we should reflect on it day and night, but Du Changzai often works hard for a few taels of silver. Isn’t he ignoring the emperor’s favor? Isn’t he not having a high vision?”

"This...but" the queen let out a long sigh. When the critical moment came, her mouth became awkward. She always felt that Wei Zhaoning was wrong in what he said, and wanted to defend Du Jiyan, but she didn't know. Where to start from, after all, I will suffer from my stupidity.

Wei Zhaoning also felt that he couldn't get along with his sister, the queen, so he simply went to his room to play the piano on the pretext that the attendant was tired.

After playing two pieces of music, I heard Gao Rang coming to deliver the message. It turned out that the emperor had asked the queen to go to the Palace of Supreme Harmony.

Wei Zhaoning chased after him and stood in the corridor and asked Gao Rang, "Is there something wrong with the Palace of Supreme Harmony?"

"Your Majesty, Empress Xuan, please speak. It's cold. Concubine Wei, please rest." Gao Rang smiled with a sense of humor.

"Queen, do you need me to accompany you?"

The queen had a meal.

Gao Rang shook his fly whisk and said, "The Emperor simply calls you the Queen."

Wei Zhaoning bit her lip gently and watched the queen get on the sedan chair and go out. She was holding on to the vermilion pillars of Jingren Palace, feeling a little distracted.

The queen was naturally flattered. She didn't remember until she arrived at the gate of Taihe Palace that she had arrived in her regular clothes and her hair in a bun before she had properly dressed up. It was really rude.

But the emperor took her hand and took her to the east hall, where chestnuts were roasting on the fire.

When the queen saw the chestnuts, she swallowed her saliva. She thought of the Queen Mother's slanted eyes, her identity as queen, and the rules of Chen Palace. Then she suppressed her desire to eat chestnuts and kowtowed to the emperor respectfully. The gift.

The emperor personally helped the queen up, peeled several chestnuts for her, and asked Gao Rang to personally serve the queen's favorite almond milk tea.

The queen looked at the emperor's doting eyes and decisively ate chestnuts and drank milk tea.

"Ahem—" The emperor coughed twice.

The Queen looked like a primary school student when she saw her class teacher. She quickly put down her milk tea and fell to the ground: "Your Majesty, have I been rude to you, my concubine?"

The queen was still chewing chestnuts in her mouth, neither swallowing nor not swallowing, like a squirrel.

"Why are you so polite? Have you lost your courage after becoming the queen? Get up." The emperor helped the queen up and fed her a few more chestnuts: "The queen mother is not here, you just eat yours, no one will say anything you."

This is the truth.

The queen showed off her courage.

After showing off about seventy or eighty chestnuts, I felt something was wrong. I put down the milk tea and raised my face: "Your Majesty called me here. Is there something wrong?"

A necklace inlaid with red gold beads hung around the queen's neck. The light of the beads made the queen's face look white, round and soft. During this year, the queen's appetite increased, and she became visibly fatter, as if she was inflated. After all, the biggest brother in Du Jiyan's kitchen is none other than the Queen.

And her innocent and slightly stupid eyes make her stand out among this group of smart and intelligent harem women.

Tsk tsk.

The queen was able to draw inferences about other cases while eating chestnuts, and even asked her if something happened.

The emperor felt that the queen had made a little progress.

I wrote very late today. My cat was sick and I spent the whole day wandering around the cat.