Food for the people

Just after noon on the third day, Prince Yan’s Mansion prepared a carriage to take Qiao Yu and Lu Jincheng into the palace. Besides the two of them, the Empress Dowager also asked them to bring Qiao Ling with them and let them go. she sees.

Qiao Yu has already entered the palace for the second time, and he is not as afraid of the emperor and empress dowager as others, so he will not feel nervous when he enters the palace a few times.

Qiao Ling was different. Except for Lu Jincheng, he had never seen any high-ranking officials when he grew up. What's more, Lu Jincheng's situation was different. It was he who knew him first before he knew that he was a prince. Consciously, it is much better to accept than face-to-face.

But this time he actually had to meet the Queen Mother directly. Ever since Qiao Ling heard the news last night, he has been nervous until now, and has no appetite for lunch.

When he got into the carriage, Qiao Ling's face was tense, and he sat opposite Qiao Yu with his back straight.

Qiao Yu called him twice before he came to his senses, looked at him in a daze and let out an ah, his hands twitched together, his small appearance revealed nervousness.

Qiao Yu was a little confused, knowing that it was useless to persuade him at the moment, so he simply pulled him over and rubbed the top of his head.

Qiao Ling changed into a small water-white robe today, and Qiao Ling specially ordered his hair to be combed carefully, and he kept a small face, which made him feel a little grown-up, but Qiao Yu felt that he was a bit too mature, although he was handsome, But it lacks the childishness that such a big child should have.

He rubbed it for a while, and made Qiao Ling's hair a little more casual. Qiao Ling felt that his hair was messed up, and he groaned again, covering his head.

"Brother, don't knead."

Only then did Qiao Yu let him go, and said: "Don't be so serious, you can talk to me as you are at home, and you can talk to the Empress Dowager as you are in the palace."

Sitting next to Qiao Yu, Lu Jincheng turned his head to look over after hearing the words, and said, "Your brother is right, don't be afraid, the queen mother is kind to others."

Although Lu Jincheng's words were comforting, they were of little use to Qiao Ling. He was still clutching his little hand, very nervous. After looking at Qiao Yu, he whispered in his ear, "Brother, I'm still nervous."

Qiao Yu beckoned to him, and then whispered in his ear: "Think about it this way, the Empress Dowager is brother Yan's mother, and we will be a family with us in the future. If you think so and are still nervous, don't speak. If she asks you, you will Uh oh yes, it's good to know, she just sees you and won't tell you too much."

Qiao Ling's little face had been tensed all morning, and finally he couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Then he glanced at Lu Jincheng and whispered, "You can't do this, it's not polite at all."

Qiao Yu also smiled: "Well, our family Xiaoling is the most polite, it's okay, don't be nervous, there is a brother, brother Yan said, Sanqi will go with you, if you have anything to do, you can find him, he You'll come to me right away."

Hearing what he said, Qiao Ling was finally relieved, nodded, and sat down in his seat.

The carriage wobbled to the gate of the palace, and now it was hot, Sanqi jumped down from the front of the carriage, opened a big black umbrella and lifted the curtain to shade the three of them.

He couldn't cover three of them by himself, and when he felt that something was wrong, Lu Jincheng took the umbrella from his hand.

"Go and give it to the young master."

Sanqi responded, handed the umbrella to Lu Jincheng, took out another umbrella from the carriage, and put it on Qiao Ling.

Seeing Qiao Ling's small face wrinkled slightly, Sanqi immediately knew what was the reason, and said with a smile: "Don't worry, young master, the queen mother is not difficult to talk to, but the two aunts in front are more fierce, every time I come to the palace, I will suffer Training, I get scared when I see them."

When Qiao Ling heard this, her small face wrinkled even more.

Sanqi came to his senses and realized that he had said something wrong, so he hurriedly tried to change the subject, followed behind Qiao Ling, and kept making jokes, trying to make him laugh.

Qiao Yu and Lu Jincheng took two steps slower and walked behind the two of them. After walking two steps, Lu Jincheng turned his head, looked at Qiao Yu and said, "Don't worry, the banquet will only be held at night, my little one." Ling won't stay with the queen mother for too long."

Qiao Yu also turned to look at him, and said with a smile, "I'm not worried."

Lu Jincheng raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

Qiao Yu said: "The empress dowager seems dignified and not easy to get close to, but in fact she is extremely defensive. Since she can accept me for you, she can also accept Xiaoling for you. Besides, Xiaoling is well-behaved and won't make the empress dowager unhappy. .”

Lu Jincheng didn't expect him to say that, he was taken aback, and then said with a smile: "My mother didn't accept you solely because of me."

This time it was Qiao Yu's turn to be puzzled.

However, Lu Jincheng did not continue to say that they had already walked outside the palace gate. The soldiers guarding the palace gate saw Lu Jincheng, knelt down and saluted repeatedly, opened the palace gate, and let them in.

Lu Jincheng passed through the palace gate before continuing: "You will know in the future, the queen mother likes you very much."

Qiao Yu wanted to ask again, but she saw Aunt Sui He was already waiting to meet them, so she had to put this topic behind her first, and went forward to hold Qiao Ling's hand.

Lu Jincheng followed closely behind, wrapping his arms around Qiao Yu's shoulders.

Aunt Sui He got the Queen Mother's order to meet them here, and when she saw them coming from a distance, she first bowed to Lu Jincheng and Qiao Yu, and then led them to Duanyang Palace.

The emperor held a banquet at night, and the queen mother announced them into the palace during the day, just to call people to Duanyang Palace to talk to her.

"Leave it alone, I don't have any appetite right now."

Qiao Yu and the others walked to the entrance of Duanyang Palace and hadn't entered yet, when they heard the Queen Mother's voice from inside.

"Empress Dowager, Lord Yan and Mr. Qiao are here." Aunt Suihe stepped forward to announce.

"Come in, please," said the Queen Mother.

Qiao Yu pulled Qiao Ling, and then entered the gate of Duanyang Palace together with Lu Jincheng.

The Empress Dowager was lying on the couch, when she saw them coming in, Aunt Guanqiu helped her to sit up.

Lu Jincheng and Qiao Yu bowed to the queen mother one by one, Qiao Ling stood up in Qiao Yu's gesture, stood up in a proper manner, and said softly to the queen mother: "May the queen mother be blessed and safe."

The queen mother narrowed her eyes, looked at Qiao Ling, and then waved to him: "Come, come here and let the Ai family have a look."

Qiao Ling looked up at his brother, Qiao Yu gave him a wink at Ya Jing, then smiled again, he was relieved, and walked towards the empress dowager.

"At first glance, it doesn't look like your brother, but if you take a closer look, you can tell that the eyes came from a mother's womb."

The Empress Dowager asked Qiao Ling to stand in front of her, touched Qiao Ling's hand, and said softly.

The Queen Mother is well maintained, even now she looks like a complete beauty. Although she speaks with dignity, because of her gentle tone, Qiao Ling is more relaxed than when she first came in.

He nodded and said in a low voice: "My brother is like my mother, and my mother said that I am more like my father."

The Empress Dowager knew Qiao Yu's life experience early on, and naturally knew that Qiao Ling's parents were gone, so she didn't follow up on this topic, but nodded and said to Lu Jincheng: "Since you grew up, mourning I have never brought such a big child before my family, and I really like this child today, if you have no objections, let him come and talk to me more in the future."

The queen mother meant that she liked Qiao Ling, and the deeper meaning was to support Qiao Yu.

Qiao Yu has no father or mother now, and there is no official position that can be obtained for several generations. He himself is not a courtier, even if the emperor wants to praise him, he has no place to praise him. Criticism, the Queen Mother actually sees it.

Qiao Yu's summary of her was also quite accurate. She was indeed not a good man and a faithful woman. What she did in this life was only the emperor and Lu Jincheng.

This is her reverse scale, which is absolutely untouchable.

And within the circle she approved of, there were also people who were untouchable by others.

And now Qiao Yu is also standing in this circle, so no matter who he is or what his identity is, in the eyes of the Queen Mother, he is definitely not someone that others can criticize.

In short, it is to protect the calf.

Qiao Yu's background clearly shows that he can't do anything else, and he doesn't enter into an official career, so even if he wants to give him a famous official, he can't afford it. Since he can't give it to Qiao Yu, it's the same for Qiao Ling .

Qiao Ling is only nine years old this year, and he will have a long time to come. If the Empress Dowager likes it, she can bring him by her side from time to time to raise him, and those who are brought by the Empress Dowager's side will be favored by the Empress Dowager. As long as Qiao Ling is not an idiot, the future Life will definitely not be difficult, and Qiao Ling is certainly not an idiot.

The Empress Dowager is going to use this method to stop the mouths of the world.

It is true that Qiao Yu has nothing, but it doesn't matter, Lu Jincheng is willing to pamper him, and the Queen Mother is also willing to be used to it, even if his name can't be raised any further, the one who mentions Qiao Yu is the same.

When Qiao Ling's status rises, no one will dare to speak of his elder brother.

The key point of this is clear, even Qiao Ling understands, how could Qiao Yu not know.

He turned his head and glanced at Lu Jincheng, and only then did he understand why he said the Queen Mother liked him.

Doesn't the Queen Mother like him very much, if she didn't like him, she wouldn't go to such lengths to keep Qiao Ling by her side to teach her.

Qiao Yu never expected that the queen mother would put in so much effort for him. It was as if her daughter-in-law, who had been opposed all along, suddenly got her mother-in-law's approval. Glancing at Lu Jincheng, in Lu Jincheng's smiling eyes, he curled his lips very restrainedly.

I'm so happy that I'm about to jump up, okay?

But Qiao Yu was very happy, but he didn't answer the queen mother's question. Although this matter was of great benefit to him, he still had to ask Qiao Ling about it.

The Empress Dowager wanted to keep Qiao Ling and not him. Although he was Qiao Ling's older brother, he couldn't do it for him. Whether he wanted to or not was up to Qiao Ling himself.

So Qiao Yu paused, and then said: "I am flattered by the empress dowager's love, but I have to ask Xiaoling about this matter. Although I am his elder brother, I can't decide his own affairs for him. I hope the Empress Dowager will forgive me."

There was a flash of surprise in the Queen Mother's eyes when she heard the words, and then she admired Qiao Yu in her heart.

"It's because Ai's family is confused." After she finished speaking, she looked down at Qiao Ling, reached out and touched his head, and asked again: "If you are free in the future, let you come to the palace to talk to Ai's family, would you like ?"

Qiao Ling is so smart, just hearing what the queen mother said, he understood the deep meaning behind this move, knowing that the queen mother is intentionally being a backer for her brother, so why would she be a little bit unwilling.

Regardless of whether the Empress Dowager really likes him, or for the sake of his brother, as long as it is good for him, he is willing to do it.

So he didn't look at Qiao Yu this time, nor did he seek Qiao Yu's opinion, but looked at the Queen Mother's gentle and majestic eyes, and nodded slightly.

"The Empress Dowager Xie likes it, and Xiaoling is willing."