Emperor and Empress went to Jinren Palace.

   Li Hao’s recovery was obviously not as good as that of the Second Prince, and his walking was not very smooth.

   As soon as he came, Li Hao suffered more serious injuries. Second, Dean Zhou Yuan was a surgeon who was best at treating trauma. In comparison, Imperial Physician Wu was much inferior.

   More importantly, the Second Prince closed the palace to recuperate and saw no outsiders. Empress Qiao only went there once every three days.

  Su Zhaorong came to Jinren Palace every day, crying and wiping tears in her son’s ears every day, and rambling all the time. Li Hao was gloomy and depressed, where can he still recover from his wounds?

When Emperor Yongjia met Li Hao, who was dark and thin, his face suddenly sank: “What’s going on? Your second brother’s injury is almost healed, why are you so sluggish? Where is the imperial doctor who saw you? I want to punish him for his sins!”

  Li Hao cheered up and interceded for Doctor Wu: “Please calm down your anger. Doctor Wu has done his best to treat Erchen. It’s Erchen’s fault as I am overthinking and am in a bad mood.

   “Please don’t blame Imperial Physician Wu.”

Su Zhaorong, who was beside him, begged with red eyes: “Your Majesty, the one who is best at treating trauma in the imperial hospital is Dean Zhou. Now that the Second Prince’s injury has healed, the concubine asks the Emperor to have Dean Zhou come to see Ah Hao. Please grant this request!”

  Empress Qiao: “…”

  Li Hao: “…”

  Empress Qiao was secretly angry. Su Zhaorong said this in front of Emperor Yongjia, which was no different from accusing her, the Empress, of favoring her own son.

   Of course, this was also true.

The fact was that everyone has selfishness. What’s wrong with her favoring her own son?

  Li Hao was anxious and angry when he heard his mother cry and apply eye drops against the Empress. ^[1]It means she is trying to provoke the Emperor against the Empress.

  Empress Qiao came to visit her shu son in person, so she should be grateful to her. With a single mouthful, Su Zhaorong completely offended Empress Qiao.

   Even Emperor Yongjia was not happy when he heard these words, and his face sank.

  Su Zhaorong ignored everything and looked at Emperor Yongjia with tears in his eyes: “I ask the Emperor’s approval.”

  Empress Qiao’s heart pounded, and her anger swelled.

  Li Hao hurriedly opened his mouth to smooth things out: “Erchen thinks that Imperial Physician Wu is very good. There is no need to trouble Dean Zhou again.”

  Su Zhaorong was startled, and suddenly turned her head: “Ah Hao…”

   Li Hao gave Su Zhaorong a fixed look.

  Su Zhaorong swallowed the rest of her words aggrievedly.

As soon as Su Zhaorong shut up, Empress Qiao’s face softened a lot, and she said to Li Hao in a warm voice, “Although Su Zhaorong is a little disrespectful, she has a heart for you. It’s the same as a mother. Ben Gong ^[2]the royal “we” for the Empress won’t keep this in mind.”

   Li Hao showed gratitude on his face: “Royal Mother’s magnanimity is unparalleled inside and outside the palace.”

  Empress Qiao twitched the corners of her mouth. She thought to herself that if I was not magnanimous, how could I be able to suppress the concubines of the harem? Among them, none were fuel-efficient lamps.^[3]good people

When Emperor Yongjia saw his son was so polite and sensible, the trace of unhappiness disappeared: “Since you trust Imperial Doctor Wu so much, then let Imperial Doctor Wu continue to see you. I will give him another five days. If you haven’t recovered, I will not forgive him.”

   He paused, then said: “I came to see you today, and I want to ask you, you have been thinking by yourself for so many days, do you know why you were wrong?”

   Li Hao’s attitude toward admitting his mistake was even more sincere than the Second Prince: “Father, Erchen knows his mistake. No matter what the second brother says, as a younger brother, I shouldn’t do anything with the second brother.”

   “I was so angry that day, I was blinded by anger for a while. These days, I closed my door and introspected. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became.”

   “Please rest assured, Royal Father, this is the first and last time. In the future, Erchen will never do anything with the brothers again.”

   This sounded pretty good.

  Emperor Yongjia was quite satisfied: “You can think clearly and understand.”

  Su Zhaorong finally got the chance to interject: “Your Majesty, since Ah Hao’s health is better, why don’t you let him go to court!”

  Li Hao: “…”

   If you can’t keep quiet, can you say a few words less?

  Emperor Yongjia’s face sank slightly, and he glanced at Su Zhaorong: “You don’t know anything about the government, why do you suddenly talk about this? Could it be that Ah Hao complained in front of you?”

  Su Zhaorong was not stupid after all and repeatedly denied: “Nothing. These days, Ah Hao didn’t even say a word, let alone complain.”

   “This concubine was thinking that there are many government affairs in the country, and the Emperor often leads troops to fight outside. Ah Hao should share his father’s worries.”

   This time she must be right!

  Su Zhaorong thought happily in her heart, but seeing her son Li Hao’s helpless expression, he kept winking over and motioning her to shut up.

  Su Zhaorong was startled.

   What did she say wrong again?

  The hard-working Li Hao had to rescue his mother again: “Mother is simple-minded, she can say whatever she thinks. In fact, there is no malicious intent. Please don’t take offense to this Royal Father and Royal Mother.”

Empress Qiao couldn’t bear it anymore and said in a light and serious way: “The Emperor leads the army and entrusts the government affairs of the court to the civil servants such as Prime Minister Qiao. In the past six months, Prime Minister Qiao has worked hard, devoting himself to the affairs of the court, and fell ill for two days.”

   “If the Emperor can’t trust Minister Qiao and other civil servants, and goes out to lead in a war in the future, it’s enough to keep the Second Prince in the court.”

   Li Hao, who was born out of a concubine, could never get around.

  Su Zhaorong realized that she had lost her words again, and smiled shyly: “What the Empress said. The concubine has not read any books, and her knowledge is shallow. The Empress should not have the same knowledge as the concubine.”

   Queen Qiao smiled lightly: “How can Ben Gong be such a narrow-minded person?”

   She didn’t care about Su Zhaorong at all.

   Speaking of which, Li Hao was also pitiful. He was so calm, intelligent, shrewd, and capable, but he had such a narrow-minded and short-sighted mother.

His mother was simply dragging his legs. ^[4]It means his mother was holding his progress back.

  …

   Two days later.

The Palace exam results were declared, and the new scholars came riding horses and were felicitated on the street. This was the most lively event for the people of the capital.

  Lu Mingfang deliberately hired a private room on the second floor of the teahouse. The brothers and sisters sat together in the private room, eating melon and fruit snacks, drinking fragrant hot tea, and waiting to see a group of new scholars.

   The only regret was that Lu Mingyu was not able to come today.

   “It’s really strange, it’s so nice, what did the Empress mean when she called the fourth sister into the palace?” Lu Minghua was a little puzzled and muttered in a low voice.

   Only now did Lu Mingfang know that Lu Mingyu was called into the palace by Empress Qiao, and she thought about it and said, “Perhaps the Empress wanted to ask the fourth sister in person if she really wants to invite a son-in-law to enter the house.”

  Lu Mingyue murmured softly, “The Empress is really worried about eating radishes.”^[5]She wants to still arrange a marriage between Mingyu and her sons.

   Wasn’t it?

   Does Lu Mingyu want to recruit a son-in-law? What does it have to do with Empress Qiao?

   However, apart from this, everyone really couldn’t think of a second possibility.

  Lu Xuan shook his head arrogantly: “With Fourth Sister’s skill and temper, no one can dare to eat her. Even if she enters the palace, no one dares to provoke her.”

   This made sense.

  Lu Minghua and Lu Mingyue nodded together.