The little lady in the dining room

Chapter 140
At dawn the next day, Xue Li took A Yao and A Yuan out of the palace together.

Because the prince and concubine are all there, there are more palace people accompanying this trip than last time.The escorting imperial guards consisted of three hundred households, and in the Liuge courtyard, only Nanny Bai and four young eunuchs were left to "guard the house", and the rest were dispatched.

She even brought the kitchenette with her.

So as soon as he got home, he heard that Chef Gu asked for leave to go back and rest.

The eldest brother Ruan Song couldn't help laughing when he mentioned this: "The letter I got last month said that you would come back in the middle and late this month. At the beginning of the month, he suddenly said that something happened at home and he had to leave—who doesn't know that his brother is going to come back?" Dui, if something goes wrong, you don't need him, who is far away in Luo'an, to take care of you? This is escape!"

Xueli just laughed, and said with a serious face, "He knows he's smart if he runs away, but I brought a small kitchen with me this time, no one is worse than him!"

Then the brothers and sisters bickered with each other, until Mrs. Gao came in and scolded her brothers and sisters, then she could rest in peace.

"Don't pay attention to them. I've been nagging since I knew you were coming back, and I knew that I would have to bother you." When Gao came in, he held a paper bag in his hand, and opened it while talking, and there were a few pieces of peanut candy inside.

Xueli would not be polite to her mother, she rubbed her hands and happily took a piece to eat, and broke off a small piece for A Yao, and said to her, "Eat it yourself, don't let A Yuan see it, you know it!"

"I know!" A Yao nodded solemnly.

Ah Yuan has grown up a little bit now, and his curiosity has become more and more serious. The new problem recently is that he likes to put everything in his mouth. After being bored under the bed for a long time, Xueli was so angry that she called the four nurses in and trained them one by one.

It must be watched now.Biting Yuxiang's tail is still a trivial matter, what if he grabs a stone and stuffs it into his mouth one day?If you don't look carefully, will you kill someone?
After that, Sydney paid extra attention, not only would stop him from eating indiscriminately, but also try not to eat in front of him—he is mainly imitating the behavior of adults at the moment, maybe it will be better if he sees less a little!
So A Yao, who is the elder sister, also pays attention to Xue Li.After taking the peanut candy, I looked around and saw my younger brother sitting on the couch with his eyes wide open, so he quickly sneaked out and hid to eat.

Both Gao and Xueli were amused by her "creeping" appearance, and then the mother and daughter sat down together, and Gao picked up A Yuan by herself. Looking around, she felt a little emotional: "Last time you brought Yuan Seeing Diji come back, I still feel that you are still young. After two years, not only Diji taught well, but the eldest son of the emperor is also sensible, more dexterous than your two elder brothers' children."

"It's in the palace, it's inevitable to raise it carefully." Xueli was not too modest, sticking out her tongue and speaking briskly.

In fact, she was still pretending to be something in her heart, and the palace was full of tension.

But she can only pretend to be ignorant and can only live her own life with peace of mind. After all, she can't help much—Xue Li felt for the first time that "only to live her life with peace of mind" can be a very helpless thing.

She made up her mind, forced to put aside the gloom, and smiled again: "Mother, let the children of my brother and sister-in-law come to my place for a while in the afternoon, let them play with Ayao, Ayao will be happy if there are more children. I still have two little girls here, let's make trouble in the yard with them, and I will take them out for a stroll at night, mother?"

"All right, all right!" Mrs. Gao should be straightforward, thinking that her daughter's request is fine.In addition, when she came back, Sydney wanted to go out for a stroll, but when her father was beaten, everything was messed up. Of course, Gao hoped that she would have a comfortable stroll this time.

So that afternoon, the yard where Sydney lived was filled with children's laughter.Even the sour plum and ebony are rare to let go, kicking shuttlecock with Ruan Song's daughter Xiaohe, the three girls had a great time playing, and even taught Ayao together.

But the three boys made trouble for them, always jumping up and grabbing the shuttlecock that hadn't landed when they were kicking it to their companions.

Xueli watched from the side, Xiao He was disturbed the most times, followed by sour plum and ebony, but when it came to Ah Yao, no one disturbed her.Every time the shuttlecock fell steadily, at most she couldn't catch it by herself.

It seems that the brother and sister-in-law have more or less told them not to bully A Yao. No matter whether they emphasized A Yao's identity or age, she can rest assured that the children can be more careful-she is really afraid that they will play. If you are in a hurry to fight, it is not good to hurt anyone!If A Yao is hurt, things will be even worse!

After watching for a while with a smile, Xueli rolled up her sleeves and went to the kitchen to find Su Zixian.The two discussed and planned to make chestnut chicken porridge for A Yuan, and three fresh tofu mash, and put them in a food box when they went out at night. When A Yuan was hungry, he would eat them.

Ah Yuan is now one year old, and there are a lot of things to eat, but Sydney still doesn't let him eat the things sold outside for the sake of prudence, so he can cook by himself.

"Ayao also likes tofu with three delicacies, let's make more." Xueli thought as she cut more tofu that was two fingers wide.Cut it into pieces and pressed it to Su Zixian, and asked her, "Would you like to go out together at night? If you are idle at home, you are also idle. Your Majesty took me to a restaurant that serves Western Region cuisine. The mutton buns are very good. Let's go eat together." go?"

"No way." Su Zixian shook her head while chopping minced pork, "I didn't sleep well last night, and I want to go to bed early today. If you go to Dongshi and pass by the shop called 'Hawthorn Feng', bring me back two taels of hawthorn cake, It’s delicious. There’s another one over there in the West Market, but it’s not as good...but it’s okay!”

Su Zixian loved to eat hawthorn since she was a child, and even the hawthorn glutinous rice balls are very delicious. It is not surprising that she loves hawthorn jelly and pears.But it was surprising that she was already quite familiar with the market. She had been out of the palace by herself a few times before, and she dared to go shopping!
When the sun was setting, Sydney began to add clothes to the children, and then the group went out.

Su Zixian pointed out that she wanted Dongshi's hawthorn cake, so she chose Dongshi to visit.This was told to the imperial guard a moment before leaving the house, and then the road from Ruan's house to Dongshi was cleaned up as a matter of course.

It's a bit overbearing to do so, but it's safe.Besides, the prince Diji had to clean the streets when going out, it was not easy for Sydney to break this rule.

When they arrived in Dongshi, it was changed to whichever store they wanted to visit, and they would be cleared within a radius of ten feet—this made Sydney feel at ease.She was trembling all the way!Especially afraid that the imperial guards will empty out the entire East City!

No one is deserted and still shopping for any episodes!

Then the group ate almost all the way.

At first, Xueli and Ayao were eating, and the first thing they bought was brown sugar glutinous rice cakes.Afterwards, when Ah Yao was happy to eat, he gave Xiaohe and sour plums and ebony plums, and Xiaohe took them to his elder brothers and younger brothers. Afterwards, the children played modestly and had fun, so they bought two more dishes and "voted all the nurses, maids, eunuchs, etc. Hello" again.If Sydney hadn't stopped her, maybe even Xiao A Yuan would have to pay two dollars!

When walking down the second street, Ayao pointed at the mutton skewers and shouted, "Mother, that meat is so big!"

Sydney turned around and sighed once again that the folk food is really tough!
The mutton kebabs at the stall next to it are grilled and sold on the spot. The big bamboo sticks used to skewer the mutton kebabs must be one foot long.The pieces of meat are cut irregularly, but each piece is as big as a head of garlic, and oil is bubbling on the charcoal fire. After watching it for a long time, I feel quite appetizing.

So Sydney said: "Okay, Mom will buy it for you."

After saying that, she went to the stall. The stall owner seemed to be from the Western Regions. He was in his thirties. He was already terrified by the situation on Yuling Weijing Street. Seeing Xueli approaching, he didn't leave the stall and ran straight away. .

After that, the communication between the two was a bit difficult, mainly because the stall owner’s Chinese was not good enough, and he was trembling. After listening to it several times, Sydney heard him saying: “I am allowed by the government, and it is not against the law. !"

...Did he think she was here to investigate? !

Sydney wants to cry but has no tears.Fortunately, the price is marked on the stall: [-] cents a string of mutton skewers.

She touched twenty Wen directly, and his Chinese was not easy to understand: "I'll buy your meat skewers, twenty Wen, two skewers!"

The stall owner looked like he had just woken up from a dream.Immediately brought her two freshly baked skewers, brushed the sauce and asked her: "Do you want spicy?"

"I want one, but I don't!" Xueli was afraid that he wouldn't understand, so she even said and gestured.

The stall owner looked like he had just woken up from a dream. He first handed her a bunch of non-spicy ones, and then turned around and sprinkled peppers on the other bunch.

Xue Li handed the non-spicy one to A Yao first, and after he gave her the spicy one, she bowed her head again: "A Yao, where's your skewer?!"

A Yao's little finger pointed not far away: "Master Shi."

Sydney: "..."

This time, among the imperial guards who escorted her back to visit her relatives, Shi Zhan was the leader last time.Right now, Shi Zhan is standing a few steps away in embarrassment, holding a bunch of wild-looking big meat skewers in his hand, neither eating nor not eating.

"...My lord, you can eat." What else can Xueli say besides this?Then she cooperated very well and bought a bunch of skewers for each person in the hundred households who came out to the market. It was just one tael of silver. !
Since then, this shopping scene has become strange.

The people of Luo'an, who were blocked far away, watched in horror as a hundred imperial guards formed a large square. Who was guarding in the middle could not be seen clearly, but they could see what the imperial guards were doing. Very clear.

Under the lights at night, each of them held a large meat skewer about one foot long in their hands, and they ate it with pride.
Eating and walking all the way like this, coupled with the aura created by the large number of people and the neat flying fish suits, forcibly created a feeling similar to "local snakes"...

It would be more alike if they were not full of flying fish suits but full of tattoos!

After a night of eating and drinking like this, Sydney really forgot for a short while the tension in the palace.After returning home, when she first heard that Shi Zhan was going to report to the palace, her heart was tense again.

——One is that all kinds of worries come back to my heart, and the other is... When the emperor knows that she let a hundred imperial guards eat mutton skewers in the street, will he kill her again at the door and drag her away to "teach her a lesson"? pause!
On the first day at home, Sydney couldn't fall asleep just like that.

He should be fine...he said it wasn't serious!
At three o'clock in the child's hour, the inner hall of Zichen Hall.

He hadn't felt such tension for a long time since the nobles of the family were almost suppressed.

In addition to being nervous, there is also some pleasure.Those who sit on the throne are always excited to hold the imperial power more firmly in their own hands.

Even before that, it was all killing.

At the same time that Sydney left the imperial city, more than ten thousand imperial guards began to take orders to run errands.Except for the [-] people who went to protect her, the rest of the imperial guards will have a very hard time these days.

Today was only the first day, and the Mou family, who Xie Zhaona had some relationship with the empress dowager and did not have much influence, had the surgery.

On the surface, the only relationship between the Mou family and the Empress Dowager that can be found is that the eldest son of Mou married a daughter of the Empress Dowager's natal Qu family five years ago-this so-called daughter is actually separated from the Empress Dowager. The relationship between aunt and nephew is thousands of miles away.At that time, the emperor didn't even know if the empress dowager could name this person, but out of caution, he sent the imperial guards to watch over her.

As for finding out that Mou's house was indeed unclean along the way, even he was a little surprised.

Two years ago, the Mou family was charged with a big or small crime - buying an official.

The centipede is dead but not stiff. Although the Qu family has been defeated for a long time, this kind of thing can still be done.Mou's eldest son bought a local master book through his wife's family relationship, because there are some documents that should be there, so it is okay to say "buy officials", but it is not impossible to say "donate officials".

At that time, Xie Zhao didn't touch him, and let him go for the time being, so that he could use it in case it would be of great use one day, which was better than doing it at the time.

But even Xie Zhao didn't expect that the return of Mou's family was his first move after he and the Queen Mother broke up.

The imperial guards found tens of thousands of taels of silver in Mou's Mansion in Luo'an, as well as some pearls and emeralds.He took his family members for questioning, and everyone said that someone in the family was an official, and this was the salary given by the imperial court.

——This is good.The imperial guards had already found out that the eldest son of the Mou family was the official official, and he was still a small local master. He could not get so much money after being an official for thousands and eight hundred years.

Whether it's corruption or bribery, such a huge amount is enough to bring this person back for questioning. If you follow along, you may not be able to touch the Qu family.

As long as there is a relationship with the Qu family, the whole situation will be opened.

Therefore, the emperor has been worrying about this little Mou family all day long, waiting for a letter about the Mou family all day, every step of progress made him dare not take it lightly.

When he needed to slow down, he took a pen and drew a picture.There is only one character "qu" in the center of the picture, and three or four layers extend outward, all of which are the relations spread by the composers.

In the past so many years, his thinking seems to have never been so clear.In other words, it has never been so clear to goug out these people.

The queen mother really interfered with him too much.If she doesn't put her in an isolated place, she will continue to interfere in his harem, trying to get rid of Sydney, and even her own grandson who doesn't satisfy her in terms of background.

The Yu family, the Lu family, the Wu family, and the Nangong family, these four families are closest to the word "Qu" on the map, and they must be completely eradicated by ruthless hands. If you want to ransack your home, you must not give them a chance to stand up.

Further down, more than [-] surnames, large and small, were involved, and the emperor had his own plans.There are two surnames, which he circled separately with cinnabar, one is "Yi" and the other is "Tan".

He knows that these two families have made a little progress through their married daughters in recent years. The empress dowager has promoted them a little bit, but he can ignore them, as long as they can see clearly in the future.

The Yi family is the mother's family of the Yi family next to the seventh brother; the Tan family is the mother's family of Concubine Hui.

He wants to protect these two people.The former was about brotherhood, and as for the latter, he probably had nothing else to offer her.

The emperor reorganized the relationship between each family in the picture and added some necessary comments, then folded the paper in two and put it on the desk.

Just about to go to bed, Chen Jijiang reported that Shi Zhan had come.

"Let him in." The emperor did not delay.

After Chen Jijiang replied, Shi Zhan immediately entered the hall, clasped his fists and gave a detailed account of today's events.

"Miss Ruan came home at noon, had a simple lunch, slept for a while, called the children of her two elder brothers to play with Di Ji in the afternoon, and took a few children to Dongshi to go shopping in the evening. "Shi Zhan paused, and then continued, "When she was in Dongshi, she bought the hawthorn cake of 'Hawthorn Feng', and ate brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, double-skin milk, meat jelly, mustard cakes, and tea eggs with Di Ji. , and there is also a kind of thing made of various dried fruits sold by foreigners, I checked it, the locals call it 'martin candy', and Luo'an calls it 'cut cake'."

It was hard for Xie Zhao not to relax after listening to the series of food that had been tense all day long.

She can take the child to eat, sleep and have fun, even if she didn't go out for nothing.She was so terrified yesterday that he was really worried about her.

He couldn't help but smile as he thought about it: "Continue."

"There is also..." Shi Zhan's expression was a little unnatural, and he bowed again, "And when buying mutton skewers, Diji handed a skewer to Chen, and Lady Ruan bought one for each of the accompanying Baihusuo. string."

After all, Shi Zhan didn't dare to say "we've become a beautiful scene in Dongshi".

But Xie Zhao thought about the scene of hundreds of people lining up to eat skewers at the market...

He intends to formally hand over the position of commander to Wei Chen after finishing this matter, so as not to be ashamed of being with the imperial guard!

"Is it delicious?" the emperor raised his eyebrows and asked Shi Zhan.

Shi Zhan thought about it in embarrassment, and replied truthfully: "It tastes good, but there is a bit too much fat."

——My wife bought it with money, my daughter handed it to you, and I didn’t even eat it. How dare you pick it? !
Xie Zhaodeng was serious about rolling up his sleeves to challenge him, but just as he gritted his teeth, another imperial guard rushed over from outside the hall: "Your Majesty!"

The visitor made the emperor's brows that had just eased to wrinkle again, Shi Zhan stepped back to the side, and clasped his fists: "Master Zhenfushi."

The appeasement officer obviously had wounds on his waist, and he covered the wound with his hands, the blood oozing from his fingers was horrific.

"The ministers and others were suddenly attacked when they returned from Mou's house," the governor knelt on one knee, "the assassins were numerous and well-trained. They killed six people in a row, wounded two, and..."

He suddenly choked on his words, looked up at the emperor, gritted his teeth for a long time and did not speak again.

"Say!" the emperor urged.

The eunuch often took a deep breath: "The assassin wanted to flee after he injured someone, and he didn't give me a chance to fight back. Master Wei reacted quickly and chased him out first. I... I have already set up two thousand households to go out. , After searching for a while, I still couldn't find him."

The emperor's eyes suddenly trembled: "What did you say?"

"They're all too fast, and it's dark at night again..." The governor's voice choked slightly, "As a minister, I can only mobilize two thousand households at most, Mr. Wei..."

"Transfer another 3000 people, and seal the city to look for him." The emperor's voice turned calm, and after a pause, he picked up the small seal on the table and handed it to him, "But the imperial guards can't move anymore. You go to the palaces of the princes and borrow the palaces to protect them."

(End of this chapter)