Bring some shock to the world of cultivating immortals

Zhou Li had thought about what his meeting with the emperor would be like.

Whether it was in a magnificent palace or a dim military affairs room, he might be surrounded by powerful officials or three thousand imperial guards ready to go.

But he never expected that he would meet the emperor in the kitchen.

"Come, I know you haven't eaten, come and eat."

There was a copper pot on the wooden table in the back kitchen, and the steaming meat soup was emitting an appetizing aroma. Behind the copper pot, a fat, kind-looking middle-aged man wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, holding a bowl and chopsticks in his hands, said to Zhou Li and the others cheerfully:

"The best copper pot hot pot meat. I specially asked the kitchen to slaughter the sheep. Do you want chives or fermented bean curd?"

Zhou Li and Tang Wan obviously didn't expect this kind of scene. Zhou Li looked at the emperor with small eyes and fat body, and didn't know what to say for a moment. After a while, he sighed and said:

"I, Zhou Li, pay my respects to His Majesty."

"I, Zhou Li, pay my respects to His Majesty."

"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean by common people or not?"

The emperor waved his hands and said with a smile: "The fact that I am meeting you here means that I treat you as guests. You should not treat me as the emperor, just treat me as..."

Looking at the King of Han who had a sullen face, the emperor said cheerfully: "Just treat me as an elder like the second brother."

"What elder?"

The King of Han scoffed at this, "It's not time for you to ask me to kneel down and call you the Emperor."

Completely ignoring the King of Han who was standing beside him, the Hongxi Emperor, who was full of kindness and fatness, looked at the two with a smile, waved his hand, and said, "Come, sit down. Today is just a family dinner. No need to be polite."

Zhou Li and Tang Wan looked at each other, and then sat down in front of Emperor Hongxi. Zhou Li looked at the copper pot in front of him, took a bowl, and then said to Emperor Hongxi: "Your Majesty, do you have any instructions for me to come here this time?"

"Get straight to the point. You are a straightforward person."

The emperor pulled the King of Han to sit on his seat, and personally poured a bowl of sesame sauce for Zhou Li and handed it to him. He poured another bowl of oil sauce and handed it to Tang Wan, and then said, "Do you know why we have to meet here?"

"Safety."

Zhou Li looked around and said, "Secret?"

"neither."

The emperor always seemed to have that smile on his face. It was not the annoying fake smile, but a gentle, trusting smile. "It's because I'm hungry, and you're hungry too. It's that simple."

Zhou Li was stunned for a moment, then he turned his head and saw Tang Wan eating cooked cabbage rolls with lamb.

Really.

Zhou Li smiled and shook his head, and the originally solemn atmosphere became a little more lively.

"Zhou Li, do you blame me?"

The emperor looked at Zhou Li and suddenly asked.

"How to say?"

Zhou Li asked.

"Back then, I was beside the prime minister beside Beiliang City."

Picking up a piece of tofu, the emperor asked, "He destroyed your meridians and ruined your cultivation. Don't you hate me?"

"The emperor smiled."

Zhou Li swallowed the mutton in his mouth and said calmly: "This matter was caused by me, and it was also done by the prime minister. If I neither attribute this matter to the prime minister nor reflect on myself, but instead put the blame on you, then I am afraid I am just a shameless villain."

"It's the truth."

Nodding, the emperor said: "I can see that you don't hate me, because you can tell who is right and who is wrong. And after so long, you should know my situation back then, and you should also know how powerful the prime minister is." After taking a sip of hot soup, the emperor raised his eyes and asked another question.

"So, Zhou Li, why don't you respect me?"

Zhou Li didn't say anything, a little surprised.

It's surprise, not shock.

A person's tone can reveal a lot of things, for example, if it's a question like "Why don't you respect me?", Zhou Li would naturally be able to hear it.

But the emperor's tone was only full of curiosity.

Pure curiosity without any subjective intention.

"Don't worry, I don't blame you."

The emperor suppressed the King of Han and looked at Zhou Li. There was only a simple question in his words, "I am just curious, why do you live in the Ming Dynasty but have no respect for the emperor, and the same is true for the prime minister."

"I have seen many people who are not afraid of power, and I have also seen people who are as dazzling as the sun. But no matter what, when they see me, the first thing they see is always the dragon robe I am wearing, and then they look at me."

"You are different."

The emperor put down his bowl and chopsticks. The sound of the porcelain bowl and ivory chopsticks colliding could be heard, and then he said, "The first person you looked at was me."

Zhou Li was silent.

"If you put mutton in boiling water for a long time, it will be cooked. If you put people in the Ming Dynasty for a long time, they will respect me."

The emperor did not sit properly, and even looked a little tired. "Zhou Li, I don't know if you can understand what I mean. Many people respect me because I am the Son of Heaven, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. But when you salute me, you are only saluting Zhu Gaochi, not the Emperor."

"You don't need an emperor."

This is the conclusion drawn by Zhu Gaochi.

"I am a lawless person, that's it."

Zhou Li gave an answer.

"No, that's not the case."

Waving his hands, the emperor said solemnly: "People who sit in a well and look at the sky can only see the size of the well mouth. They cannot imagine the world outside the well mouth. They just think that the small piece of the well mouth is the sky. Therefore, when the people of the Ming Dynasty see me, they will think that I should be the Son of Heaven. Everyone should respect and fear me."

"But you are different."

The emperor looked at Zhou Li, sighed, and said, "You sit on the well mouth, looking at the vast sky, so you don't care about the small piece of sky on the well mouth."

"Zhou Li, you have seen a world without an emperor, right?"

This question completely stunned Zhou Li.

He had not expected that this fat emperor, who seemed kind-hearted and amiable, could see through what he had been hiding and his unusual origins in just a few minutes.

"Can you tell me what kind of world that is?"

The emperor ignored the astonished King of Han. At this moment, he looked at Zhou Li, his eyes full of desire and exploration for the unknown. "This is my request to you."

Zhou Li said nothing, but looked at the emperor with a complicated expression. He had never thought that the first person who made him helpless was actually the emperor whom he had never met.

"Brother, what are you talking about?"

The King of Han could no longer hold back and asked, "What do you mean a world without an emperor? Isn't that a primitive period? How could Zhou Li live so long?"

The emperor did not answer the King of Han's words. He just looked at Zhou Li nervously and asked:
"You must have seen that world. No, you must have lived in that world."

"Zhou Li, tell me, what is the world like without an emperor?" (End of this chapter)