Red Mansion and Crimson Pearl

By the time Daiyu was called into Jingfuzhai again, Tao Xingjian was already exhausted and haggard. He was trying to stand by and was already staggering.

Daiyu bowed to the Queen Mother and immediately looked at him worriedly. She opened her mouth, but then felt something was wrong, so she looked at the Queen Mother: "Zhaoqing will listen to the Queen Mother's orders."

"The capital is not peaceful, and I can't bear to see the emperor pass away and still worry about him.

“Why not let the body stay here for forty-nine days, let the monks and Taoists perform the rituals, and then let the emperor come to take him to the mausoleum.

“Just telling you.

"Because the emperor will be busy in the capital, you and Yimin will be the only ones by my side."

The Queen Mother finished speaking slowly and gently, looked at Daiyu, and forced a smile, "You don't have to worry about it. From now on, just take care of my food, clothing, housing and transportation!"

The Empress Dowager and the Concubine Dowager called themselves "Aijia" because their husbands were no longer around.

When the Supreme Lord was alive, the Queen Mother was impatient with people who put on airs and called themselves "I" or "this palace", and always used "I" here and there.

Now that the Emperor has passed away, the Empress Dowager finally began to call herself "Ai Jia".

But as soon as the word "Ai" was uttered, everyone from the Empress Dowager to Daiyu couldn't help but have tears in their eyes.

Daiyu was afraid that the empress dowager would cry again, so she forced a smile and said, "That's great. For the next month and a half, you must obey me as to the time of walking, sitting and lying down and the rules!"

After a slight pause, he immediately straightened his chest and raised his chin to look at Tanchun, "Yimin, listen to my orders!"

After this exchange, Tanchun, who had been sitting there blankly, finally came to her senses. She realized that Daiyu was trying to amuse the empress dowager, so she actively cooperated, stood up, and bowed respectfully:

"Yimin is here."

"This princess orders you to immediately accompany the Queen Mother to the back room for a rest. You must take off your hair, change your clothes, and get a good night's sleep for an hour and a half!

“Unless this princess comes to wake her up personally, no one is allowed to disturb the Queen Mother’s nap.

"Do you remember it clearly?"

Daiyu held her head high.

Tanchun knelt down and agreed, "Yes. Yimin has made a note of it."

Then she stood up with a smile and went to support the Queen Mother: "Mother, you have seen that my sister has spoken. If I don't obey, I am afraid I will be beaten!

"Would you please come with me and sleep for a while?"

The Queen Mother had long been amused by Daiyu's little appearance. She nodded and stood up: "Okay, let's go and rest. Let her do whatever she wants!"

Daiyu called out and Aunt Meng and Zijuan hurried in and accompanied them to the bedroom in the back.

Just as she was about to turn around the screen, Tanchun turned around and looked at Daiyu.

Daiyu was also looking at her.

The two looked at each other, nodded, and understood each other.

Daiyu, who was at the back, no longer cared, stepped forward, supported Tao Xingjian, and asked anxiously in a low voice: "Uncle, can you still hold on?"

From "uncle" to "uncle", just one word difference, but how close they are!

While Tao Xingjian was pleased, he also felt exhausted and dizzy, and was about to fall backwards!

A pair of hands supported him from behind, and then Tao Mo's anxious voice rang out: "Master! Master, are you okay? I will go find the doctor right away!"

"You don't need to find a doctor!" Qingwen stepped forward quickly, took Daiyu's hand, grabbed Tao Xingjian, turned her head and glared at Chu Qian.

"Come here! Carry me on your back!"

Chu Qian then realized that besides the girls, there was only Tao Mo, a young eunuch, present, and he was the only one who practiced martial arts.

He hurried forward, bent down and carried the drowsy Tao Xingjian on his back.

Qingwen then instructed: "Lei Kun, go find Doctor He. Supervisor Tao's residence is at the Shen Gong Academy next door. You take Doctor He directly there.

"Chu Qianlei Kun and Tao Mo, together with General Zang Ao, will live there together from now on."

He also ordered the palace servants to fetch hot spring water, hot spring noodles and ginseng soup, and sent them directly to the wing rooms of Shen Gong Academy.

——In the royal palace, eunuchs and guards had no right to live in the main room unless they were rewarded by the emperor himself, so Tao Jian was arranged to live in the side room.

Seeing that Qingwen had been properly arranged, Daiyu nodded with satisfaction and praised her: "Good girl, you have finally gained experience. It is worthwhile that Supervisor Tao has been so kind to you."

Half a minute later, Tao Xingjian sent a message saying that Tao Jian was just overtired and caught a cold, so he took a bath and drank ginseng soup, and then insisted on going to the Tai Shang Ling to kowtow and burn incense.

I went back and ate another half bowl of noodles. Now I have taken medicine and fallen asleep with Tao Mo's help. I think I will be fine tomorrow morning.

The Empress Dowager also sent a message saying that he only shed a few tears and was coaxed to sleep by Princess Yimin.

Daiyu breathed a sigh of relief, sat there thinking for a while, and ordered people to invite Prince Kejin, the second prince and General Zhou Yan over.

The three men had just finished arranging for the officials to kowtow and burn incense in the mourning hall, and then took them to stay outside the palace. Just as they were about to pull Zhai Daogong, who had just finished washing up, to inquire about the inside story, they received a notice that "Princess Zhaoqing, please go to the outer corridor of Jingfuzhai to talk."

"In the outer corridor of Jingfuzhai?" Prince Kejin was a little confused. "Can't we talk in the main hall?"

Zhou Yan was polite and smiled: "The prince and the second prince are both relatives. If the queen mother wants to talk, it will be in the main hall.

"But Princess Zhaoqing is just a princess of a different surname no matter what, and we are all outsiders to her.

"She didn't dare to overstep her bounds, and she had to be careful of gossip, so the corridor was the right place."

After that, he nodded and praised, "This princess is really smart, and she knows the rules and is very polite. I heard that she lost her mother when she was young and her father when she was young. It's really rare for her to grow up like this."

Prince Kejin nodded in understanding: "It seems that she is the only one who asked us to speak."

The Second Prince's ears had already turned red with joy when he heard Zhou Yan praising Daiyu. When he heard Prince Kejin guess that Daiyu was the only one there, he could not wait to speak:

"That must be because there's something important that's hard to decide, so they asked us to come over and discuss it! Let's not let her wait in the corridor in the cold weather, let's go!"

Holding Prince Kejin's hand, he strode forward.

Zhou Yan looked at the second prince in surprise. His eyebrows twitched and a half smile appeared at the corners of his mouth, but suddenly it retracted. Both corners of his mouth dropped and his eyes became three points colder.

When the three men arrived, Daiyu had already set up the table and chairs in the corridor and had been waiting for a long time. She did not explain the place where they were talking, but only asked Xiaohong to serve hot tea to the three men.

Then he passed on the Queen Mother's words to the three of them verbatim, and briefly described Zhai Daogong's fierce behavior during the court session. Finally, he said:

"Tao Jian has been running around for a long time and has been overworked. He just fell asleep when he got home. Doctor He said that if he could get a good night's sleep, he would be half as well at his age.

“So I decided to let him go to bed first.

"From now on, the etiquette inside and outside the palace will be arranged by Minister Zhai. General Zhou will set the rules for the guards and patrols. As for the vigil, Your Highness the Second Prince and the Prince will arrange the shifts.

"We in the inner chamber can't help with the outside affairs. We have to restrict the palace servants, take care of the utensils, and arrange the meals. I can bring Yimin and Aunt Meng to help out.

"What are you three watching?"

The three of them were very happy and nodded immediately: "Let's do as the princess says!"