Adoption brings disaster

A-da was very efficient in his work. He waited for me to leave the palace, and then arranged for someone to go outside the palace to call Li Er to wait at the palace gate.

After receiving the news, Li Er naturally hurried to the palace gate. The person who delivered the message, A Da, was also a martial arts expert. Seeing Li Er coming to the palace gate, he naturally took him to perform light skills, and soon they arrived at the palace gate.

Li Er was waiting at the palace gate early. When he saw me come out, he hurried over to pay his respects.

When he ran over, he was a little anxious and tripped and fell. He fell straight in front of me like a dog that had eaten shit.

Seeing Li Er like this, I found it funny, so I took a golden melon seed and stuffed it into Li Er's clothes, saying jokingly, "It's still a long time before the New Year. Even if you want lucky money, there's no need to rush."

Li Er was smart and understood what I meant immediately. He was not annoyed but very happy instead.

He kowtowed three times with a smile on his face, and said a bunch of nice and auspicious words before saying, "For me, meeting Your Highness is a good day for the New Year."

Everyone likes to hear nice words, and I am no exception. I was also happy to hear Li Er say this, and then I joked, "You are nice to hear, but I don't have that many gold melon seeds to reward you."

"I sincerely worship Your Highness and only wish to be by His Highness' side. I don't care about material possessions."

Li Er's words were interesting, so I decided to tease him a little more. I held out my hand and said, "Give me back the golden melon seeds."

When Li Er saw that I wanted it, he didn't delay and immediately took out the golden melon seeds and gave them to me.

I didn't really want it, I was just teasing him. But when he really gave it back to me, I lost interest and took my hand back, saying, "I'm just kidding. I'm not a black-hearted boss. How could I possibly take money from people like you?"

"What is a black-hearted boss?" Li Er and A Da were all puzzled.

There's no such word as "boss" in this era, and even the word "black-hearted" is rarely used. No wonder they don't understand. I explained, "Boss means owner. Black-hearted, think about what kind of people have a black heart."

When Li Er first came to the capital, he was also deceived by others. Naturally, he understood what a black heart was. He said, "People who do evil things and have no conscience have black hearts."

"Yes, so a black-hearted boss is someone who does nothing good and doesn't care about the lives of others."

After hearing my explanation, Li Er seemed to have thought of something and said angrily, "These black-hearted people should be hacked into pieces and their bodies should be thrown into a mass grave to feed the wild dogs. Only by doing this can I get rid of my hatred."

After saying this, he realized he had spoken out of turn and quickly explained, "If every boss was as capable and considerate of his servants as His Highness Qianqiu, the people would have a good life."

I don’t think I am a good person, and what I do is just the basic morality of a person who grew up in a peaceful era with abundant material resources. However, for people of this era, kindness is extremely rare.

Li Er's flattering words were almost praising me to the skies. I felt really embarrassed and blushed as I said, "Come on, stop talking nonsense. It's already late. Why don't you take us to that delicious restaurant you mentioned?"

The person who came to deliver the message naturally explained everything clearly. Li Er had also arranged people to reserve a seat long ago. When he heard me say this, he drove our horses towards the restaurant.

I have no idea where the restaurant recommended by Li Er is located in that remote corner. The carriage was circling around in the alleys, and it made me almost vomit.

I didn't expect that the first time I got carsick was in a horse-drawn carriage.

After waiting for a long time for the carriage to stop, I hurriedly got off and vomited. When I recovered, what caught my eye was a reed marsh.

I looked around the reed marsh and didn't see the restaurant that Li Er mentioned. If it weren't for the noises coming from the secret guards in the reed marsh from time to time, I would have thought that Li Er was trying to trick me somewhere and kill me.

I was already feeling unhappy after being beaten yesterday, and now I'm vomiting like crazy. How can I be happy? Seeing this desolate reed marsh makes me even more annoyed. I said coldly, "Where is the restaurant you mentioned? If I hadn't sensed murderous intent, I would have thought you were trying to trick me into death."

Li Er dared not respond, so he kowtowed hurriedly and pointed ahead, saying, "This place is remote. I deserve death for bringing Your Highness, your royal body, to such a filthy place. However, the restaurant is not far ahead. Please move ahead and have your meal first. It won't be too late to punish me later."

I looked in the direction Li Er pointed and saw a faint path in the reed marsh. The path had obviously been repaired, but it was still obvious that the road was in bad condition. I didn't know how bad it was before.

There is an old Chinese saying that goes, "Now that you're called, you're here." Although I was unhappy in my heart, I still followed Li Er along the path.

Li Er led the way in front, and I followed behind with a gloomy face, followed by A Da and A Si who were cursing, and Chun Yu who gave us some advice from time to time.

We walked like this for about an incense stick of time before we finally saw a bamboo house built on the water. When we approached, we saw seven or eight fishermen sitting inside, drinking and chatting loudly.

Ah Da was also very angry with Li Er and wanted to beat him up to vent my anger, but I didn't say anything and just kept holding it in.

Seeing this, he could no longer hold back and kicked Li Er to the ground, cursing, "You little bitch! Who is His Highness? How can you dine in such a shabby place? Today I will marry you and let you know the majesty of the royal family."

I was also very unhappy, but I didn't stop Ada. I just let Ada hit Li Er twice, and then I waved my hand to let Ada stop.

A-Da stopped but kept cursing. I felt unhappy and annoyed by the noise, so I ignored them and walked in first.

As soon as I entered, the mixed smell of fish and sweat almost suffocated me.

I suppressed my discomfort and said expressionlessly, "I hope the food here is delicious, otherwise."

Ah Da also smelled the stench and became even more angry. He threw Li Er to the ground and was about to hit him again.

Li Er fell to the ground, and regardless of the pain, he crawled to my side and called for the boss to come and serve him.

Although the bamboo house was simple, it had a long corridor that led to a small pavilion on the lake. I was very interested in the pavilion and immediately asked the owner to set up a table of his specialties in the pavilion.

Li Er saw that I was about to go to the pavilion and advised me, "Your Highness, the wind is strong on the lake. There is a private room on the second floor. Let's go there."

I stared at Li Er, feeling a little unhappy. Li Er shrank his neck in fear, but he still forced a smile and said again, "Not only is the wind strong on the lake, but the smell is also unpleasant. The private room on the second floor is better."

"No matter how bad the smell is, it can't be worse than here. It smells like a pigsty." Ah Da cursed with a cold face.

When the fishermen heard this, they all looked up and saw the burly Ah Da and Ah Si, and the beautiful spring rain. They hurriedly lowered their heads to eat, and some even stopped eating, frightened and hurriedly paid the bill and left.

As soon as the fishermen left, the restaurant was in a mess, which was really disturbing to look at. If we were to dine in the pavilion, how could we eat with all this mess visible?

I looked at the sun outside again. It was also very bright and shone completely into the pavilion. I was afraid that it would be very hot to have a meal in the pavilion.

I pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's go to the private room on the second floor."

It is called a private room, but it is just a small separated room. It is extremely simple inside, with nothing else except a table and chairs.

From time to time, the cries of wild ducks could be heard from the reed marsh, which was very noisy. The word "elegant" was definitely not what this place had in common.

I didn't say anything. Instead, Ada kept scolding Li Er. Even Chunyu was so angry that she said a few words to Li Er. Li Er didn't dare to refute him, but just kept admitting his mistakes and begging for forgiveness.

Soon, a young girl wearing a veil came in with food.

This restaurant is filthy, but the food smells good, it just doesn't look that good.

The aroma made me hungry, so I picked up a piece of fish and tasted it.

Although the taste is not amazing, it is also special. It is not a waste to come all the way to have this meal.

I was happy to see the delicious food, and I said to the woman, "The food in your house is pretty good."

When Chunyu saw me praising her, he took out a small ingot of silver and put it in the girl's hand as a reward.

However, this reward not only did not make the girl happy, but instead frightened her so much that she stepped back repeatedly. The words of begging for mercy from her mouth coupled with her pitiful crying voice were truly pitiful.

"What are you doing? The noble has rewarded you, but you act like this. Are you trying to slander our prince?" Chunyu didn't know why the woman was like this, but was afraid that I would get into trouble, so she shouted first.

I waved my hand, and Chunyu retreated behind me and asked, "Why are you wearing a veil?"

After hearing this, the girl cried even harder. I looked at everyone in confusion, and Ada and the others didn't understand why either.

Li Er hurried forward and said, "Your Highness, this girl is the daughter of a shop owner. The shop is small and the profits are slim, so she can only work as a waitress."

After listening to Li Er's words, I seemed to understand a little bit, and then said: "But it is not convenient for women to show their faces in public, so they cover their faces with veils. Although they can't have the best of both worlds, they can at least feel at ease, right?"

Since the store is small and the profit is thin, then my reward money is more than their family can earn in a month. Why are they so afraid? Could it be that they have been wronged?

Thinking of this, I said, "Miss, if you have suffered any injustice, please tell me. Although I am not a powerful person, I do have some connections in the capital. If you are really wronged, I can help you."

After hearing this, the girl was not so scared anymore. With a timid look in her eyes, she took the reward from Chunyu's hand, thanked him in a barely audible voice, and ran out.

I ate the food on the table, looking out the window with a vacant look in my eyes, and said to Li Er nonchalantly, "You went to so much trouble to get me here, I guess it was just for this store owner and his daughter."

I changed into a comfortable position and said, "Tell me what difficulties the father and daughter of this shop owner are facing."

Plotting against the master was a serious crime, so Li Er did not refute it, but just knelt down and confessed his guilt.

"If there really is any injustice, I can let today's incident go." I know best how difficult it is for ordinary people to survive, and I didn't blame Li Er. I just asked him to explain clearly.

"They, father and daughter, have their grievances, but they have another, even greater grievance that they would like to ask Your Highness to resolve."

I looked at him and smiled, saying, "With the protection of the Zhenbei Palace, is there anyone who dares to bully you?"

"With Your Highness's care, I will definitely not suffer any injustice. However, a good friend of mine has suffered a great injustice, and I beg Your Highness to help him."

"If you have grievances, go to the Dali Temple. What's the point of asking His Highness for help? Do you want His Highness to bully others with his power?"

"Miss Chunyu, you have lived in the palace for a long time and don't understand the principles of mutual respect between officials. If you hadn't tried every possible way and were truly at your wit's end, you wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to beg His Highness."

"Chun Yu, there are still a few dishes that haven't been served yet, hurry up and rush them."

I looked at Li Er, asked him to stand up, and said, "Since you are here, I will listen."

Li Er was overjoyed and shouted outside. Then a man in sackcloth came in, knelt on the ground and kowtowed hard.

"I've met His Highness Qianqiu. I beg His Highness Qianqiu to make the decision for me."

"Tell me what happened."

"My family has been practicing medicine for three generations and owns a clinic in Beijing. A while ago, the younger brother of Prince Gong's twelfth concubine came to the clinic and wanted to buy my family's ancestral thousand-year-old ginseng."

The man wiped his tears and continued, "If my family really had that thousand-year-old ginseng, I would have given it to him, just to avoid disaster with a loss of money. But we really don't have it, and that person didn't believe me, so he put my father in jail. It's been three months now, and I only managed to sell my property and smooth things over a few days ago, so I could go see my father in prison."

The man was so distraught that he nearly fainted. Li Er quickly poured him a cup of tea. The man knew he couldn't faint now, so he suppressed his grief and continued, "My old father has been kind and helpful for so many years, but I never expected he would suffer such a terrible loss in his old age. When I saw him a few days ago, he was already in his twilight years, looking like he was on his last legs. I'm afraid he won't live many days."

The man sobbed softly after he finished speaking, looking really pitiful.

Li Er also said, "This matter has nothing to do with me. It's just that I lost my purse when I first arrived in the capital. If it weren't for the help of these two people, I would have starved to death on the street. I must repay this great kindness."

"You have given us so much money over the years. We have already repaid you for your kindness."

"If you had not seen the people's poverty and had not often given them medicine, even with your medical skills, this would not have happened."

"Are you telling the truth?" I asked, looking at the patterns on the teacup.

"If I tell even a single lie, I will be torn to pieces." The man and Li Er swore together.

"I will have someone investigate this matter. If what you said is true, I will naturally give you an explanation."

I sneered and said, "If this is false, Li Er, you are guilty of an even greater crime. I don't need to tell you what the consequences will be."

Ah Da looked at the two of them with a ferocious grin in his eyes. Although they were a little scared, they still straightened their backs and expressed their gratitude.

Judging from their expressions, it seemed to be true. I asked Ah Da to find out the reason for the incident. Chun Yu whispered in my ear, "Your Highness, this Prince Gong is your Majesty's uncle. He is extremely fond of his twelfth concubine."

"In life, there are things you should and shouldn't do, and I know that."

I shouldn't have gotten involved in this matter, but my sense of justice as a teacher forces me to get involved. I just hope that this matter can be resolved peacefully without any trouble.

The only thing I didn't know was how to resolve it peacefully, but it ended up causing such a big mess.

To know what kind of trouble it is, please listen to the following explanation.