Joy of Life: I, a man, became the Queen of Northern Qi?

Chapter 166 The right guest, the real purpose.

Inside Yong'an Palace.

"Your Majesty will be unable to leave for the time being. There are only two of us here. Why did Sister An'er place five wine glasses?"

What happened at the banquet in the front hall spread quickly without any word. This is the imperial palace, and it is also the place with the most up-to-date information.

Li An's original intention was to make tonight's events known to the public, so he acquiesced and did not stop them. Even Haitang Duoduo, who was guarding the rear palace, heard about it and silently glanced at Zhao Gao, who was becoming increasingly powerful in the palace.
Before the queen left the banquet, he sent someone to invite her to have dinner in Yong'an Palace.

Zhao Gao's vision and foresight are truly rare in ancient times and will be hard to find again in the future.

As if he realized someone was looking at him, Zhao Gao, who was standing at the entrance of the palace, looked back, smiled respectfully at Her Excellency the Saint, and then lowered his head, as if he was waiting for someone to arrive.

"Sister Haitang, you and I can't finish these dozens of dishes. Prepare a few more cups, naturally, in anticipation of more people to arrive."

Ang Lee leaned back in his chair, looking very relaxed.

He reached out his hand and slowly poured two glasses of wine, pushed one of them in front of Haitang Duoduo, looked at her with a smile on his face and asked softly: "Sister, what do you feel after knowing what happened at the banquet in the front hall?"

"please."

"Sister An'er, please."

The two drank the wine in their glasses. The liquid was clear, tasted mellow, and made their bodies slightly warm.

"Although your move is a bit drastic, it can clear away all the filth in the court in the shortest possible time. They are just corrupt officials forming cliques. Even if we don't kill them today, they won't be able to stay for long." Haitang Duoduo said calmly, and her tone was full of support for Li An. "The current Da Qi is no longer the same as before. Your Majesty is ambitious today, and there is no need to be as cautious as before. My sister took the initiative to act, and she was anxious for your majesty. It was really well-intentioned!"

After these words were spoken, even though Ang Lee was thick-skinned, he couldn't help but blush slightly.

Pretending to be profound, he was actually shocked and said, "The two glasses of wine we drank just now, one is named after the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet He Ningkun, and the other is named after the Right Censor of the Censorate Yang Shengxu. There was originally another glass named after the second son of Zhuang Mohan and the Prince's Junior Tutor Zhuang Yiwen, but the Queen Mother stopped us from drinking it. It's a pity."

"This table of dishes represents the present-day Great Qi. If you want to be full, you must first finish these glasses of wine as a prelude, and then you can enjoy the feast!"

With a slight smile, Li An looked at Haitang and asked, "Sister, do you know what will happen when all the wine is finished?"

"If the wine is empty, just refill it."

"But what if there is no more wine in the jug?"

"Isn't Eunuch Zhao Gao still here? It won't be too much trouble to have someone refill the drinks." Haitang Duoduo gestured to Zhao Gao at the door who was deliberately lowering his presence, with a smile on her face, showing her intention to trouble him.

"Zhao Gao is not eligible to refill the wine, because the wine pot is called Da Wei, and the wine inside is the remaining ministers. When the wine is poured out, the wine pot loses its function and is left broken." Li An frowned, sighed as if dissatisfied, and refilled the wine for the two people, and then said, "But Zhao Gao can only replace the wine with a new pot and continue this dinner."

"It's not that the wine in the previous jug is not tasty, but my sister doesn't like the style of this jug."

“It’s so ugly!”

It's too low.

What level do you have to dare to sit at my table?

It's so white and clean, too plain! There's no sense of grandeur and wealth at all
Our queen shouted towards the door, which frightened Zhao Gao: "Little Gao, throw this wine pot away from me. What kind of taste do you have?"

"Your Majesty, that is a perfectly integrated white jade wine jug." Zhao Gao walked up carefully and picked up the empty wine jug. He looked at it carefully for a moment, as if he was worried that the queen didn't understand, so he added in a low voice, "It could be worth a lot of silver."

"is it?"

Li An was shocked, as if he had failed in his attempt to show off, and at the same time he was doubting his own taste.

impossible!

Did I make a mistake?
Could it be that this wine jug is low-key, luxurious and has connotation?
Li An was not happy with this and said angrily, "You little dog slave, why are you reminding me now? Do you want to see me make a fool of myself?"

"Oh, Madam, how dare I think like that? Your ideas are so wild and unrestrained, like an antelope hanging its horns. Even if a mortal like me tries my best, I can't keep up with you!"

Zhao Gao had already gotten used to this kind of daily routine. He was sure that even though the queen had become a grandmaster, she had not changed. He felt a little relieved, but he said with a look of solidarity: "Tomorrow, I will sell all the wine jugs of this style and replace them with some glass ones."

"Hmm (second tone)?" Li Ang turned around, and it was impossible to tell whether he was happy or angry.

Zhao Gao waved his hands hastily: "No, no, I want to replace it with some gilded ones!"

"Hmm (fourth tone)."

What about colored glaze? That's not as good as this white jade one!

Speaking of this, Li An was filled with anger. To put it bluntly, glassware was all made of fine sand. They all came from Nanqing and were Ye Qingmei's "inventions". All the money was earned by Nanqing's inner treasury!

If anyone dares to give him glass or crystal products as gifts in the future, he will be angry!

Let’s let Zhao Gao go today.

She waved her hand and asked him to wait by the side to pour wine for the two of them. It would not delay the meal for her to do the whole thing.

"Sister An'er is thoughtful and thoughtful. It's a pity that I have to go to the back hall today and can't see your elegance in person at the banquet!" Haitang Duoduo's facial expression did not change much from beginning to end. She just stared at Li An blankly without any reaction. There was a hint of admiration in her absent eyes. She let the other party talk at the table with high spirits.

Under the table, she slowly reached out her hand, wanting to see if there were any changes in An'er's skin recently.
Suddenly, there were a few unusual gusts of wind outside the door, causing her to instantly withdraw her hand that was about to successfully touch Li Ang, and turn her head to be alert to the outside world.

Master!

Zhao Gao was always paying close attention to the two people in the hall. After seeing the changes in Her Excellency the Saint, he looked out the door belatedly. He quickly walked a few steps to the door and stood there. After bowing, he said in a deep voice, "Please come in. The Queen has been waiting for a long time."

Among the three, Taoist He nodded slightly, and Taotie smiled slightly, as if they realized they were being rude, and bowed their hands, and responded: "It's our fault for being a little late. It's difficult to enter the palace, so we were delayed for a while."

Only the Iron Judge in the middle, wearing a cold iron mask, remained indifferent. He just looked at Zhao Gao with disgust and said in a deep voice:

"Either lead the way or get out of the way."

Zhao Gao's eyelids twitched, and he finally understood why the three people were so late. The leader was wearing a mask and had such an arrogant attitude. It was good enough for him to enter the palace. Now, he had to think more about whether the three people entered the palace by the regular route!
I wanted to remind the three of them to remember to respect the Queen Mother, but I didn't expect that I would be met with a soft nail.
Zhao Gao stepped aside to let the three people enter the hall, then winked at a young eunuch in the distance. The eunuch understood and silently left the Yong'an Palace with a lantern in his hand, heading towards a side hall.

"Are you all here? Sit down, let's talk."

Li An smiled at Judge Tie and said, "I won't talk about those two for now. It's hard for you to rush back to the capital from his county." Zhao Gao placed the three extra cups in front of the people, poured wine for them one by one, and then stepped behind them. However, his eyes were always on Judge Tie's back, without any concealment.

He was not afraid of this man.

Even though the other party had revealed that he was the Iron Judge who had killed countless corrupt officials in recent days, he showed no fear.

"Eh? Where was I just talking about?"

Li An moved his chopsticks and tilted his head to ask Zhao Gao. The glutton had already been unable to hold back, and after a polite smile to the deity, he ate and drank without regard for the rules and etiquette, and even had no interest in the content of the conversation between the few people. He was very happy in his heart, looking at these dozens of dishes with full portions?
It’s me who sympathizes with him!

Zhao Gao lowered his eyebrows and replied, "Madam, we were just talking about changing the wine jug."

"What do you mean by wine jug or no wine jug? I'm talking about officials from the previous dynasty!"

Li An waved his sleeves, shook off Haitang Duoduo's hand, raised his head to reveal eyes full of wisdom, and said loudly: "Since ancient times, there has been a very common conspiracy in the court. That is, whenever the meritorious officials have made too much contribution or the power of the court officials is overwhelming, His Majesty the Emperor will appear to be in a difficult position."

"If I kill these people, I will lose the support of the people, but if I don't kill them, I will feel uneasy."

“It’s very difficult to handle.”

"So at this time, His Majesty will pretend to be confused, tacitly allow treacherous ministers to be in power or the evil queen to interfere in politics, and then use the latter to kill loyal ministers and powerful officials, letting them bear all the anger of officials and the people. When the matter is done, His Majesty will wake up again, and then punish the treacherous ministers and blame me... Ahem, the harem, vindicate the dead loyal ministers and high-ranking officials, so the anger of officials will subside, the anger of the people will subside, and everyone will shout that the emperor is wise, and the remaining ministers will move closer to His Majesty!"

Li An had a self-satisfied look on his face, and his expression showed to everyone, "Come and praise me," but no one responded:

The glutton was eating and drinking as usual, and had no interest in even talking to me. He is such a familiar figure to me, so who doesn't know who?

Let's see that I am the master of pretending to be confused.
He Daoren had a blank expression on his face, and politely drank a glass of wine with the Queen. As for the "treasonous" meaning in the other party's words, he said that he didn't hear a word, and he would give the same answer to anyone who asked him!

The Iron Judge looked at the deity with an expression that said if he didn't go to hell, who would? For a moment, he felt his hands itching and wanted to grab the judge's pen to poke something. He resisted the urge to do it, but it had little effect. In the end, he simply closed his eyes, blocked his senses, and turned a deaf ear to everything.

As for Haitang Duoduo - she was still staring at Li Ang blankly, with some rare charm in her eyes. At this moment, she just thought that sister An'er was so great and beautiful, and she thought everything she said was correct!

The only flaw is that she doesn't allow me to hold hands.
The atmosphere was a little chilly, but Zhao Gao, the supporting actor, immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty's good intentions are best understood by me! I believe that Your Majesty and the Queen Mother have also seen it and kept it in mind!"

"The world is ignorant, please don't be provoked by those nonsense. I will inform the two eunuchs of the East and West Factories. Anyone who dares to gossip in private will be caught and punished!"

"Hmm~" Li An nodded with satisfaction. As expected, the atmosphere would never be dull as long as Zhao Gao was there. He really won my heart!

"These are just some minor things, and they are also to relieve your majesty's worries. This is what I should do, and it doesn't count for anything."

Ang Lee's performance continued, as if only a few people in the audience could truly understand how lonely he was. After a look of loneliness on his face, he sighed quietly, "The Qingming government is a matter of great importance, how can it be treated as a joke?"

"The remaining methods are only two."

"First, gentleness is the easiest way to be accepted by the ministers, and second, that's what I did tonight. It's not that I don't want to be gentle, but time waits for no one, and this opportunity is rare~"

Suddenly, the Iron Judge spoke. He opened his eyes with a gleam in his eyes, and even his hands unconsciously clenched a little. He said:
"Good kill!"

"If they hadn't been worried about ruining your plans, they wouldn't have been able to stay alive this long!"

Arrogant words!

Zhao Gao subconsciously wanted to punish this disrespectful person, but he also knew that he was no match for this murderer. He looked out of the palace, wondering why his men hadn't brought Jiang Yannian over yet.
Even Haitang Duoduo came back to her senses briefly and carefully observed the cold and murderous man in front of her. After a moment, she came to the conclusion: she couldn't see clearly!
I can't see through the other party's strength!

"Really? You also think that I handled it well, right?" Li An narrowed his eyes and asked the Iron Judge, who was the only one among the three who spoke to him, "If it were you who would kill first to start?"

"Zhuang Yiwen!"

As soon as these three words came out of his mouth, everyone's heart shuddered. Only the glutton was still eating with gusto. His stomach was like a bottomless pit. He ate a lot but his stomach didn't show any signs of fullness.

The Iron Judge did not explain further, and everyone did not know what Zhuang Yiwen had done to make this iron-faced and impartial man say so. However, they were concerned about the influence and weight of his father: Zhuang Mohan was a great man of the Great Qi Dynasty. He was able to annotate books and study since he was young. He could recite scriptures and classics by heart, and he had countless moral articles throughout his life.

But from what this person said, even such a "perfect man" was unaware of what his son was doing. It's really sad.

"Kill him first, and you will have influence and deterrence, and things will go much more smoothly afterwards. This time, you should really be in charge." Li An laughed and said, "However, even you and I can see the influence of Zhuang Mohan on Da Qi, so how can others not see it?"

After a pause, Li An helplessly picked up the wine glass and said helplessly, revealing the inside story of today's banquet.

"Zhuang Mohan's reputation is too great. In the hearts of the people, he is even higher than His Majesty and the Queen Mother. This has already subtly surpassed the court. It has reached the point where he must be removed."

"But to achieve this, we have to let this evil queen intervene, and use Zhuang Mohan's weakness to make him afraid to act. You know, Zhuang Mohan is the Emperor of Literature, and Your Majesty is trapped by filial piety, and the Queen Mother is forced by etiquette. Even if both of them are in high positions and have great power, it will be difficult to do it. It is just right to use me to get rid of him."

"Sister An'er!"

Listening to Ang Lee describing things in such a complicated way and viewing human hearts as so dark, Haitang Duoduo murmured worriedly.

Faintly, she had already understood what Li An meant.
"Hahahaha, sister, why are you so nervous? I'm not blaming anyone by saying this. On the contrary, I really admire the vision and strategy of your Majesty and the Queen Mother!"

How could the Jinyiwei and the East and West Factories, which had previously been secretly investigating the criminals, have hidden it from the two people in the palace?

It is not surprising that Shen Zhong can appear at the banquet tonight. Although Yu Huatian and Cao Zhengchun are factory supervisors, they are still eunuchs. The fact that they are among them proves that something happened tonight. How could it be possible without the tacit approval of His Majesty?

In other words, Doudou and the Queen Mother already knew that he was going to lose his temper tonight.

But no one said much, just went with the flow.

As I have the cultivation level of a grandmaster and there is no need to worry about my own safety, I am the most suitable person to do this.

"From this we can see the wisdom of the Imperial Master. He lives in the mountains, far away from the court, and is the most indifferent and free. But I have to work a little harder. I am domineering as a ninth-rank official, and I am cruel as a grandmaster. Although I don't resist the title of Demon Queen."

Li An looked at Haitang and said with a smile: "Sister, you should learn more from your master's wisdom, understand your role and position, and do your part well."

"After saying so much, I believe you all understand. This is why I asked you to come to Yong'an Palace today."

"That's the reason!"

(End of this chapter)