Harem Daily Life

This child looks so much like the emperor when he was a child!

The eyebrows, nose and mouth are very similar, the only thing that is different is the eyes.

Although the Queen Mother's heart was in turmoil, her face remained calm. She asked, "How old are you this year?"

Little Jinan stretched out four fingers and counted: "One, two, three, four, four years old."

The Queen Mother recalled what happened five years ago. The Emperor was busy suppressing a rebellion at that time. He should not have had the time to leave a child among the people, right?

The Queen Mother narrowed her eyes and asked, "Have you been wandering outside before?"

Little Jinan nodded: "As far as I can remember, I followed Uncle Zhong and his friends to beg for food on the street. Uncle Zhong said he found me in the suburbs of Beijing, and took me away because he felt sorry for me."

The Queen Mother frowned: "Did they tell you where your biological parents are?"

Xiao Jinan shook his head, looking dejected: "I was thrown into the wild, I don't know who threw me there."

The child's heart is very fragile, and tears have begun to well up in his big eyes.

Tao Yanyan watched from the side and didn't understand anything. He just thought that the empress dowager thought the child was cute and asked a few more questions about his life experience.

"Okay, okay, I won't make you sad anymore. Just forget the past. Fortunately, you are still young. When you grow up, you won't remember your past experiences. In the future, just follow your sister. Tell her what you want and she will get it for you." The queen mother coaxed the child, quite kindly.

Little Jin'an felt the Queen Mother's kindness and smiled: "I don't need anything, as long as my sister makes delicious food for me every day."

"Oh?" The Queen Mother rolled her eyes and said, "What does little Jin'an like to eat? My kitchen has all kinds of dishes. I'll ask your sister to cook for us later."

Little Jinan tilted his head: "Why? I can go back and eat later."

Queen Mother: "..."

You go back and eat, then what should I eat?

The Queen Mother coaxed, "I have dishes here that you can't get. There are a wide variety. Don't you want to try new dishes?"

Xiao Jinan turned his head and looked at Tao Yanyan with bright eyes, as if asking if he could eat here?

Tao Yanyan thought that the Queen Mother did not believe that the mooncakes and dishes she had made before were all made by her own hands, and was testing her, so she readily agreed: "Yes, then please, Queen Mother, take care of Jin'an, and I will go to make dinner."

Eunuch Qin sent a palace maid to take Tao Yanyan to the kitchen, leaving only the empress dowager, little Jin'an and Eunuch Qin in the hall.

The Queen Mother found a palace maid to play with little Jin'an, and called Eunuch Qin to her side and whispered, "Do you think this little Jin'an looks familiar?"

Eunuch Qin actually felt that the woman looked familiar from the beginning, but he didn't dare to think too much about it. Now that the empress dowager asked, he knew that the empress dowager thought the same. After decades of companionship, he knew exactly what the empress dowager was thinking.

Eunuch Qin considered and said, "People in the world may have some similarities, but they are not necessarily related by blood. Besides, the child is four years old. According to this age, isn't he about the same age as Ye'er, born to Concubine Rong? That year, Your Majesty was suppressing a rebellion and should not have had time to stay among the people..." Eunuch Qin did not say anything else. He thought he was living too long to speculate about the emperor!

The Queen Mother frowned so hard that a fly could be pinched to death: "Is it possible that the children in the palace could be taken away?" After asking, she denied it herself. She was watching so closely, it was impossible for someone to give birth to a child and then be taken away from the palace. Otherwise, it would be a provocation to her years of managing the harem.

Unable to find an answer, both of them remained silent for a long time.

Eunuch Qin said, "How about we go ask His Majesty?"

He couldn't have forgotten what he had done, right?

The Queen Mother thought for a moment and shook her head: "Don't alert the enemy. Ask someone to keep an eye on it and see if there is anything unusual."

Tao Yanyan looked at the fresh vegetables in the kitchen. As expected, there was a wide variety of dishes. Except for seafood and beef, all other meats were available.

Tao Yanyan first found the spareribs and asked the kitchen staff to help chop them into finger-length pieces. She also asked them to mince the meat, sort the chicken, duck and fish, wash the eggplant and various vegetables, and only after all the dishes were prepared according to her requirements did she start cooking.

Thinking that the Empress Dowager and the Emperor were mother and son, their tastes should be similar, Tao Yanyan made boiled fish fillet, steamed shrimp with garlic scallops and vermicelli, diced lotus root with vinegar, braised spareribs, minced meat eggplant, boneless chicken thighs with scallion oil, chicken soup with mushrooms, stir-fried vegetables, fried eggplant boxes, spicy braised duck, and minced meat stewed eggs. He also made a peanut millet porridge.

When He Linzhang rushed into Changchun Palace in a hurry without waiting for the notice, he only saw an old man and a child playing, but Tao Yanyan was nowhere to be seen.

He Linzhang calmed down and greeted the Queen Mother: "Your son pays respects to the Queen Mother. I wonder where Lady Tao is?"

When the Queen Mother saw him, she thought of Xiao Jin'an's life experience and became furious: "As soon as you came in, you asked where your beauty was? Why didn't you ask if I had eaten well and slept well recently?"

Seeing that the two of them seemed unhappy, Xiao Jinan stood up and ran to the emperor, hugging his thighs: "Sister, go and cook! Let's eat here tonight!"

He Linzhang frowned. Was he not beaten with a stick but was punished to do odd jobs in the kitchen?

"You stay here with the Queen Mother. I'm going to go see your sister." The emperor touched little Jin'an's head, turned and went to the kitchen. The Queen Mother didn't even bother to look at his hurried footsteps.

Eunuch Qin glanced at the Queen Mother and hurried to explain, otherwise he would not be able to eat happily tonight.

Unexpectedly, when Eunuch Qin came to the kitchen, he saw the most jaw-dropping scene in his life.

I saw the emperor standing in the kitchen, with a beautiful lady beside him feeding him with chopsticks.

"Is this delicious? Can you try it and see if there is enough salt?" Tao Yanyan looked at the emperor expectantly while holding the dish.

He Linzhang opened his mouth and ate it, saying expressionlessly: "It's OK. It's OK."

Then Tao Yanyan picked up something else: "What about this? I made this recently, you haven't eaten it before."

He Linzhang looked at the people around him, opened his mouth and started eating. It had a sour and crispy taste, which was very refreshing.

He raised his eyebrows: "Not bad."

"Then you can go out first. It's too fumy here. We can eat in a while." Tao Yanyan pushed people out and met the stunned eunuchs Qin and Zhang at the door. He smiled and said, "The food will be ready soon. We can eat in a while. Please wait a little longer, Queen Mother."

Eunuch Zhang was used to the couple's daily love affairs, so he was relatively calm at this time. When he saw that Eunuch Qin didn't respond, he quickly nudged him with his arm and said, "Go and reply, Eunuch Qin. I think the Queen Mother must be waiting anxiously."

Eunuch Qin then came to his senses and hurried to report.

Oh, was he dreaming? The lion who would get angry from time to time in front of the Queen Mother was so obedient in front of Lady Tao?

How can it have the majesty of a lion? It's just like a cat!