snap.
The fan in Wu Yiqi's hand fell on the table.
After Fu Ling finished speaking, she hurriedly got up and left, leaving the two of them staring at each other.
Wu Yiqi: "...you guys really know each other?"
Qiu Che didn't know how to explain, so he had to pick up the teacup and muddle through.
She can't say that according to the trajectory of this life, Li Qingwu shouldn't know her at this time, right?
Letting the personal palace maid come to her in public just to say this sentence would make Qiu Che the target of public criticism even if others did not hear what they were saying clearly.
What does Li Qingwu mean?
Wu Yiqi looked hesitant to speak and wanted to speak, but out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of two figures appearing at the door, walking towards this side furtively and timidly.
He punched Qiu Che: "Hey, aren't those your partial father and idiot brother? They also received the invitation?"
After saying that, he saw the simple clothes on Qiu Chudong again, like... a little boy. dress up? Suddenly he was slightly stunned.
Qiu Che glanced at it and raised his eyebrows with unknown meaning.
Wu Yiqi looked at her expression and asked tentatively: "You didn't know they were coming?"
Qiu Che didn't say anything and took another sip of tea, but his expression said everything.
Wu Yiqi clicked his tongue in surprise and put on a look of understanding.
When the two people looked around and finally found Qiu Che, they got closer and saw Wu Yiqi sitting next to her. They were frightened to death.
In autumn, early winter, I didn't dare to look up for fear of being discovered, so I could only follow my son.
Qiu Zhe walked over stiffly under the gaze of everyone, and was about to sit down next to Qiu Che when Wu Yiqi suddenly raised his hand and said, "Wait a minute, brother - you are Qiu Che's brother, right?"
Qiu Zhe Freeze in place.
Ever since he knew that this man was the eldest grandson of the Prime Minister's family, because he had never spoken to a big shot, and because he had an impure purpose in entering the palace this time, he became stumbling when he spoke: "Ah? Mr. Wu... Mr. Wu , Okay, what a coincidence."
"Unfortunately, you are sitting in my father's seat."
Wu Yiqi said frivolously, "You want to be my father?"
Qiu Zhe jumped up as if his butt was burned: "Don't dare, don't you. I didnât know that this was Mr. Wuâs position, Iâm sorry, Iâm sorryâ¦â
As he said that, he unconsciously cast an angry and condemning look at Qiu Che, trying to get Qiu Che to stand up and save him.
But Qiu Che sat as firm as a mountain, looking intently, as if he didn't see his expression at all.
Wu Yiqi said: "I don't blame you. I see that there is really no space around. How about this? You can just stand? When Your Majesty comes, I will ask Your Majesty to give you two more chairs."
Even so, Qiu Chudong knew , their trip should not be too eye-catching, otherwise the plan will not be implemented.
This means they won't be able to sit down.
"But -"
But isn't Qiu Che also sitting?
Qiu Chudong lowered his head and gave Qiu Zhe a hand, asking him to swallow his unspoken words in time.
Then, with smiles on their faces and curses in their hearts, they both retreated to the position of the maid and the boy.
Qiu Che: "Your father is here too?"
Didn't it mean that the only son of Prime Minister Wu was wandering around and no one had seen him for many years?
Wu Yiqi said proudly: "You lied to them. My father has been traveling for many years and I haven't seen him much. Why did he come back suddenly? That position was originally vacant, but I don't like them, so I will help you teach them a lesson... Why, What's your expression? You still think I'm nosy?"
Qiu Che shook his head and said politely, "Thank you."
Wu Yiqi proudly showed a small tiger tooth and said eagerly, "Then do you think I am your friend now?" ?"
Qiu Che glanced at him: "What do you think?"
Wu Yiqi: "..."
What do you think? You should speak clearly!
He scratched his head and wanted to ask again. At this moment, he heard the eunuch singing in a shrill voice again: "The Queen, the Concubine Xian, and Princess Pingyi are here!"
"The Crown Prince is here, the Third Prince is here!"
"Your Majesty is hereâ â"
All of the people in the palace suddenly knelt down and shouted: "Long live your Majesty, long live your Majesty, and the Queen, a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand years -"
The bright yellow robe swept past Qiu Che's peripheral vision.
When the footsteps stopped, he heard the person above him slowly saying: "My dear friends, please get up."
Qiu Che stood up and sat back with everyone. When he raised his head, he caught a glimpse of the emperor's eyes with a vague expression on his face. Look at yourself here.
Her eyelids twitched.
Fortunately, the emperor's eyes did not stay on her for long, and then turned to other vacant seats in the room, frowning: "Why hasn't the Queen Mother arrived yet... and where is Prime Minister Wu?"
"Old minister, you are late," the voice just said. After falling, Wu Rusheng stepped into the hall with a smile, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, forgive me - this man is old and his health is getting worse day by day."
Li Shi's brows relaxed a little: "It doesn't matter. Wu Xiang, please take a seat. "
Wu Rusheng stroked his beard and walked leisurely to Wu Yi's side with an old minister's attitude, and glanced at Qiu Che next to him.
Wu Yiqi seemed to be unaware of it, raised his eyebrows, and shouted: "Grandpa, this is the autumn champion I told you, who is younger than me."
Wu Rusheng smiled and said: "Really? He is really a young student. , People should not be judged by their appearance."
Qiu Che saluted: "Junior Qiu Che, I have met Mr. Wu."
Wu Rusheng casually made a downward gesture, smiled and said that she did not need to be polite, and then took a seat with him. The emperor started talking.
Here the monarchs and ministers were chatting in low voices, and over there the queen and the concubine were also talking.
The prince and the third prince were drinking boredly.
As soon as Princess Li Qingshu of Pingyi came in, she ran straight to Li Qingwu and threw herself into her arms. She smiled with her ragged little teeth: "Sister! I haven't seen you for a long time!"
Li Qingwu caught her with a smile and listened. She spoke loudly and quickly made a silent gesture.
Princess Pingyi slapped her mouth shut.
She is less than ten years old this year. She is dressed up by her mother in a colorful and beautiful way, like a porcelain doll, and her blinking movements also look very cute.
She whispered: "I know, I know, we have to play the game of 'only the two of us know' again, right?"
Li Qingwu smiled: "Shu Shu is so smart."
"Sister, the mother-in-law said I would have it. "Brother-in-law, right?" Princess Pingyi asked curiously, "What does brother-in-law look like?"
Li Qingwu was stunned, then chuckled and thought: "Wow..."
Pingyi! The princess's eyes lit up, "Shu Shu likes good-looking people the most! Can I meet him?!"
As if she was afraid of Li Qingwu's rejection, Princess Pingyi made a "little bit" gesture with her fingers and whispered: " I just want to take a look! Secretly!"
Qiu Che was watching the emperor and Wu Xiang talking, and suddenly felt two eyes watching him.
She turned her head sharply, only to see two heads, one big and one small, coming together, looking furtively this way.
Caught by her, the little head was buried in Li Qingwu's arms, and he waved his hands in excitement and said something.
Li Qingwu smiled and nodded.
Qiu Che: "?"
It always felt like he was talking about something related to her.
She was slightly lost in thought, and then remembered that in her previous life, on the wedding night, Li Qingwu had told her that she noticed Qiu Che on the day when she was named on the gold medal list and paraded on horseback.
Her original intention was to say that marrying Qiu Che was also her own choice, and she didn't blame Qiu Che.
But Qiu Che only took the superficial meaning.
It was also because of this that when she was riding a horse and parading through the streets in this life, she had a sudden thought and wanted to raise her head to see where Li Qingwu was standing and how he was looking at her.
So just like that, a strange combination of circumstances led to that startling glimpse in Linglong Pavilion.
But if what Li Qingwu said was true, it was just a one-time relationship before marriage...Does she need to do that for Qiu Che later?
Even if it's love at first sight, it's not like this, right?
What's more, Li Qingwu later knew that she was a girl, and going to Jiangnan was her default choice.
Logically speaking, since he knew she was a woman, it was impossible for Li Qingwu to continue to like her.
But when it comes to friends, the friendship between them doesn't seem that deep.
Qiu Che thought that in the few encounters she had had in the past ten years, she really knew very little about Li Qingwu.
After a while, the emperor's face became a little bad, and the queen mother arrived late.
She coughed three times in one step, and with the support of the eldest palace maid Yi Ning, she appeared weakly.
The moment he stood up after bowing and saw the other person's face, Qiu Che showed a timely expression of surprise and confusion, but just right.
Sure enough, the other party accurately found her position among the crowd and gave her an interesting look.
She seemed satisfied with her expression.
Wu Yiqi stared at the six directions and sat next to Qiu Che. He immediately caught this look and said without words: "You are not going to tell me... you still know the Queen Mother, right?"
Qiu Che looked away: "Guess."
Wu Yiqi : "..."
As expected, the visitor was Mrs. Jun who often chatted with Qiu Che in Ganyu Temple - or rather, the Queen Mother Fu Yijun.
Qiu Che had a look of surprise on his face, but what he was thinking in his heart was that it was just as expected.
In fact, she was suspicious of Mrs. Jun's identity when they first met outside the city.
After combining various doubts later, the only identity that can be matched is that of the Queen Mother Fu Yijun who seemed to disappear out of thin air three years ago.
She had never been to Ganyu Temple in her previous life, so naturally she had never met the Queen Mother.
It was too late to enter the power center of the court, and it took three years before he was reused by the emperor.
The Queen Mother at that time had long since disappeared.
Until Qiu Che became the new prime minister, he only met the Queen Mother once at this birthday banquet.
Qiu Che wasn't sure if he remembered it wrong, so he chose to take a gamble.
She deliberately revealed the information about why she didn't go on duty in front of Mrs. Jun, and deliberately looked helpless, as if she was unable to resist Qiu Chudong's order.
Of course she was not unable to resist Qiu Chudong, but she came to Ganyu Temple voluntarily.
But Qiu Che knew very well that if he was unlucky and the emperor got angry about this one day and just said that he was punished by his father and went to Ganyu Temple, the emperor would not believe it.
It is difficult to dispel the emperor's anger.
Only if another person with the same status can stand up to testify for her can she avoid being angered by the emperor.
She simply made the right bet.
When he saw the Queen Mother, the expression on the Emperor's face softened a little. He stood up to greet the Queen Mother and said, "Mother, are you coughing again?"
"It's an old problem," Fu Yijun said with a smile. "It's okay to worry about the Emperor."
The two of them. After saying a few words, the Queen Mother was helped to the throne by the Emperor.
Seeing how the two of them behaved happily in front of their ministers, looking like a loving mother and a filial son, those who didn't know might have thought that the emperor had never united with outsiders to force the palace to seize power.
The Queen Mother is very tolerant.
The emperor is very good at pretending.
Qiu Che nodded in his heart.
After everyone had arrived, the palace banquet officially began. Li Shiduan sat at the head of the table and said with a smile: "You don't have to be formal. It's the Queen Mother's birthday banquet or a family banquet. Just relax."
The singers and dancers took turns to perform, and the singing and dancing were in full swing. , after three rounds of drinking, the tense atmosphere at the scene also dissipated.
Seeing that the young ladies could no longer sit still and wanted to go out for a walk, Li Shi gave the queen a wink.
The queen understood, stood up, nodded squarely and said: "Everyone."
The slightly noisy banquet suddenly became quiet.
"I see that everyone is a little tired after drinking. It happens that my daughter is quite proficient in piano art. How about letting her perform for fun?"
Someone wondered: "May I ask the empress, which highness is she talking about ? ? "
The current emperor has two daughters, but the one who can be called younger in the queen's mouth is actually only one named Li Qingwu.
But no one dared to believe it for a while.
The Queen smiled, as if she was waiting for these words: "Of course it's my son - Lehe."
Everyone was silent, and then there was an uproar.
Let the eldest princess perform on the stage like an oiran and a singer?
Is the Queen crazy or did they all hear wrongly?
Amid the commotion, Li Qingwu lowered his eyelids quietly. Behind him, Poria was trembling with anger, but could not say a word.
Pingyi touched Li Qingwu's hand blankly and said, "Sister, your hands are so cold."
Li Qingwu forced a smile and just opened his mouth, but someone opened his mouth faster than her.
Qiu Che stood up and saluted with neither humility nor condescension: "Your Majesty."
The Queen looked sideways upon hearing this.
"Wei Chen thinks it's inappropriate."