"Thank you, father-in-law. Please send me a message. I will go to the palace to see the empress tomorrow."
Originally, he had to go to the palace to express gratitude on the second day after receiving the reward from the palace. What Qiao Yuandong said was nothing more than telling Eunuch Hai that he understood what he meant.
Eunuch Hai happily accepted the post and returned to the palace.
Qiao Yuandong thought for a while after returning to the house, thinking about what the queen would say to her tomorrow and how she would respond.
It is understandable that Feng did not persuade her here, and instead went to the palace to find the Queen to persuade her about this matter.
It's just that for Qiao Yuandong, it's more troublesome and there are more people to explain.
Early the next morning, Qiao Yuandong put on the attire of a first-class lady, took the people out, got on the carriage, and headed to the palace.
The wife is also a foreigner, but she is old, so there is no need for her to go to the palace to express gratitude.
After entering the palace gate, the maids and servants were blocked outside the palace gate. Only the Queen's servants came to take Qiao Yuandong into the palace.
The queen lives in Yongshou Palace and walks along the long corridor.
The little palace attendant who led Qiao Yuandong to walk was replaced by the nun from the Yongshou Palace. After walking for another quarter of an hour, they arrived at the Yongshou Palace.
The empress sat upright and accepted Qiao Yuandong's gift. Then she dismissed the servants and asked her to come forward to speak.
Qiao Yuandong followed the instructions and walked to the Queen's side and sat down. The Queen grabbed her hand and her eyes started to turn red before she opened her mouth.
"Dong'er, sister missed you!"
The word "Dong'er" startled Qiao Yuandong, and he immediately wanted to kneel down to the queen, but the queen got emotional and held her hand tightly.
Fortunately, there was no one else in the hall at this time, so I was not worried that this matter would be spread out and someone would arrange it.
After about half a cup of tea, the queen stopped crying.
When she looked up, she saw Qiao Yuandong accompanying her with a calm expression. Although there was sadness in his eyes, there were no tears. She felt a little embarrassed for a moment.
The queen opened her mouth and didn't know what to say, but Qiao Yuandong broke the silence: "Sister, you are fine."
The queen finally pursed her lips and smiled: "You still think of me as your sister, but I thought you only thought of me as the queen."
Qiao Yuandong couldn't answer this, so he just lowered his eyebrows and smiled. The queen glanced at her and sighed.
"Time flies so fast. I think you were an innocent little girl back then, but now you have become so chaste, quiet and elegant."
When the queen brought up old things, she started talking, holding Qiao Yuandong's hand and talking about the past.
The queen also comes from the Qiao family and is cousins with Qiao Yuandong. The two have had a close relationship since childhood.
She was still a little girl at that time. When the queen was naughty, she even dragged the younger Qiao Yuandong into a group fight.
The one who was beaten was the grandson of Zhao Shilang's family. In the end, the child cried and went home to complain. In the end, Zhao Shilang even dragged his grandson to the door to apologize.
Even if you fight with a girl, you still lose, and if you lose, you still cry and complain, are you ashamed?
Zhao Shilang's grandson never started fighting with anyone since then.
He was well versed in the principles of a gentleman's words but not his actions. When he grew up, he entered the court and became a powerful censor who spoke in all directions.
"No, my predecessor Zhao Yushi had a big quarrel with Marquis Zhongyong in the court over the arrogance of Wu family servants, and almost started a fight on the spot."
Qiao Yuandong listened to the Queen's words slowly and recalled in his mind the famous quick temper of Marquis Zhongyong, and felt that he was indeed capable of beating people in the court.
The two chatted for some time, and finally got to talking about Feng.
The queen glanced at Qiao Yuandong, thought about it in her mind, and decided to get straight to the point.
"My uncle and my aunt want you to go home. What do you think?"
When Qiao Yuandong heard the title "Queen", he knew that she was discussing this matter as a family matter and wanted to be honest with her, so he had no intention of making any detours with her.
"My father and mother are doing their best for me, but I don't want to get married again. Besides, the Duke's Mansion is in such a situation right now. If I leave immediately, they won't even have support."
"Your Majesty is not such a heartless person. Duke Zhen Guo has dedicated his whole life for the sake of the Jin Dynasty. No one will bully the Xiang family."
When the queen said this, seeing Qiao Yuandong's silence, she sighed after thinking of something.
"I am your cousin and the empress of the Jin Dynasty. I can naturally give you a guarantee that what happened to Mr. Xiaoguo was indeed not His Majesty's original intention. Don't worry, Your Majesty will always give you justice. ”
The Queen's words came to this point, and Qiao Yuandong could only express his position: "I have never had any resentment, and I have always believed in Your Majesty and Your Majesty."
"Then you can tell me the truth about what you think. If you are afraid of displeasing the Xiang family, I can mediate for you."
Qiao Yuandong glanced at the queen with some regret, knowing that it was not easy for her to say this.
She is the queen first, and the daughter of the Qiao family second.
The queen could come forward to persuade Qiao Yuandong to go home, but it was unfair to the Xiang family. To be honest, the queen still wanted to protect the Qiao family more.
"Cousin." Qiao Yuandong bowed deeply to the queen.
"When I got married to Xiu Kai, I did have expectations for my husband in the future. But since he disappeared, I suddenly realized it. At that time, I felt that getting married was nothing more than this. The life I live now is really Very satisfied.”
Qiao Yuandong kept these words in his mind for three years and never mentioned them to anyone. When the bad news came that year, she stood at the gate of the city and looked at Xiang Xiukai, who was covered in white cloth. She sighed more than she felt sad.
Her marriage to Xiang Xiukai was originally ordered by her parents. There may be some affection between the two, but it is still in its infancy. She has always admired the young master's youth and promise.
When I met him, I regarded him as a friend in my heart, and after getting engaged, I regarded him as a friend who could live together.
As for the love between husband and wife, they have never had sex together, so there is no such unforgettable feeling of being connected by fate.
However, Qiao Yuandong doesn't plan to experience it in the future.
Seeing that she was speaking truthfully, the queen couldn't help but feel filled with emotion when she thought about the earth-shaking changes in her cousin in the past few years.
It is easy to change people's hearts, but they say that people's hearts are easy to change.
I don't know if she thought of her situation in the palace, but the queen couldn't help but sigh: "Well, I won't force you. Maybe you can live like this as a kind of freedom and happiness."
The two talked to each other for a long time, and Qiao Yuandong said goodbye when the time came.
It wasn't until she was gone that the queen recovered from her sadness, patted her forehead lightly and said, "Ah, I forgot to tell her something!"
The eldest maid who was waiting for her said hurriedly: "My queen, there is something important. Madam Guo has not gone far yet. I can catch up if I run faster."
The queen opened her mouth for a while and then closed it again. Finally, she waved her hands and said, "That's all, she doesn't have that intention anyway. It doesn't matter if they meet."
What the Queen forgot to mention is that when Qiao Yuandong entered the palace to express his gratitude, Your Majesty also happened to summon Yun Xingqing, the son of the Taifu family.
It is estimated that when the two of them left the palace, there was a high probability that they would bump into each other.
Just as the queen expected, Qiao Yuandong happened to meet the young master of the Yun family who was also leaving the palace on the corridor.
What's more coincidental is that the little palace attendant who was leading Qiao Yuandong suddenly felt abdominal pain and wanted to go to the toilet. The little palace attendant who was leading Yun Xingqing suddenly remembered that there was something important that had not been done.
Anyway, the palace gate is right in front and you can't get lost no matter how you walk, so I had to trouble the two nobles to get out of the palace by themselves.
Qiao Yuandong looked at Yun Xingqing who was also alone in silence.
It stands to reason that when a female family member meets a foreign man, the female family member should avoid them.
However, Qiao Yuandong was a first-class wife, and Yun Xingqing was the prince's companion from the Imperial College. Although they had a promising future, they did not have official status.
Regardless of the size, he should take the initiative to avoid the first-rank lady.
When Yun Xingqing saw Qiao Yuandong, he was stunned for a moment, curled his fingers and finally walked over.
The Yun family has been scholarly for generations, and every generation has been an official, both noble and noble.
Yun Xingqing was Taifu Yun's most proud eldest son. He had been taught and trained by his side since he was a child, and he had developed a pure and gentle temperament.
He is handsome and handsome, wearing a moon-white Confucian shirt that looks as good as the breeze and the bright moon. He is an eye-catching presence wherever he goes.
It is such a good son with such a family background. Back then, Master Qiao wanted to marry his daughter to the Yun family.
After all, the two families have always been on good terms. Qiao Yuandong and Yun Xingqing have known each other since childhood and can be considered childhood sweethearts.
However, for some unknown reason, the marriage did not take place, and Qiao Yuandong eventually became the daughter-in-law of the Duke's Mansion.
In this matter, Qiao Yuandong just felt that her parents' order to marry a matchmaker was basically the same to her, whether she married into the Yun family or the Xiang family.
However, she vaguely heard that Yun Xingqing was very sad about this incident, and boldly approached Xiang Xiukai to express his desire for fair competition.
Therefore, gardenias in the capital were particularly popular that year.
For this reason, the Grand Tutor put Yun Xingqing under house arrest for a while, and did not release him until the marriage between the Qiao family and the Xiang family was completed.
All in all, Qiao Yuandong had not seen Yun Xingqing for many years.
Yun Xingqing probably had the same emotion. When he was three steps away from Qiao Yuandong, he stopped, glanced at her briefly and said with a smile, "Long time no see."
Qiao Yuandong saluted him and said calmly: "You're fine."
It was almost noon, and there was no one else on the palace road except Qiao Yuandong and Yun Xingqing, so Yun Xingqing dared to look at her carefully.
Qiao Yuandong, who was wearing the life-wife uniform, was like a flower wrapped in solemnity, blooming beautifully under the heavy prosperity, more silent than alive.
She is still the Dong Niang in her memory, but not completely.
"You have changed a lot." Yun Xingqing said with emotion.
Seeing that there was no one around, he added another sentence: "If I had known, I should have climbed over the wall to break Xiang Xiukai's legs, so as not to let him die outside."
Qiao Yuandong glared at him angrily and mocked unceremoniously: "After all these years, your mouth still deserves a beating."
Everyone in the capital praised the Taifu for raising a good son, a gentle and refined young man full of poetry and calligraphy.
But only after getting to know him deeply can you understand how mean this guy is in private!
(End of chapter)