The fifth prince's diversion of the Grand Canal directly harmed the interests of Weiqing County and had little to do with him.
Seeing this, the Seventh Prince nodded with understanding: "I personally don't recommend that you get involved. For now, except for the original docks on the canals, the remaining new docks to be built are all occupied by senior officials, The honorable nobles have been robbed, let alone big businessmen, even those with slightly lower official positions are not qualified to get involved."
Hearing this, Li Qiao could only smile bitterly again.
Understood.
Even the Seventh Prince didn't suggest it, so he should give up the idea for now.
It would not be worthwhile to confront the Fifth Prince directly just because it was convenient for the Li family to come to Beijing.
For now, the fifth prince has not provoked him directly. If he took the initiative to snatch the meat from the fifth prince's mouth, he would not only be acting in vain, but also overestimating his own capabilities.
After coming out of the Seventh Prince's Mansion and getting on the oxcart going home, Li Qiao explained to Li Dashan that it wasn't that he, the head of the Li family, didn't work hard, but that the other party was too powerful.
After hearing this, Li Dashan understood very well. The other party was the fifth prince, and he was frightened to death: "Uncle, you are right not to interfere. Anyway, the Han family's caravan is here. As long as my parents want to come, they can come every year." .”
It’s not that I can’t come, it just takes a lot of time on the road.
In order to make Li Qiao give up his thoughts, he quickly said: "Uncle, we don't want to worry about this anymore. Let's celebrate the New Year well. Today is the 25th of the twelfth lunar month. According to custom, it's time to grind tofu."
Li Qiao smiled when he heard this: "Okay. Now Ershan should be leading Li Dao and several others to make tofu. We can eat hot tofu when we get home."
"Yes!" Li Dashan responded happily: "The hot tofu is paired with the chili oil prepared by Uncle Zhu and sprinkled with a little chopped green onion. It tastes delicious."
Hearing this, Tao Zhu also smiled: "I want to eat what you said too. Go home quickly."
"Okay." Li Dashan immediately shook the whip in his hand.
Li Qiao grabbed Tao Zhu's hand, turned to him and said, "Let's make more braised dried beans this year. It will be delicious with braised chicken feet."
Tao Zhu Lu's chicken feet were delicious, spicy and flavorful enough. He could eat more than twenty of them in one sitting.
The fried dried tofu is soaked in the marinade and absorbs the spicy soup. It tastes great. Whether eating noodles or dumplings, it is extremely delicious with this dried tofu.
"Okay. When you get back, you watch the child while I go to the kitchen to cook."
Tao Zhu smiled and nodded.
I don’t want to think about the Grand Canal anymore. The most important thing is to be friendly with Li Qiao’s children and celebrate the New Year.
When they got home, the two cubs were being held in the arms of Li Xia and Zhao Shen, watching Li Xiaorui play on a scooter. The two chubby faces were originally smiling, but when they saw their biological father and father, they both felt aggrieved.
The small mouth shrank, and tears appeared in the big eyes.
Li Xia immediately smiled: "I miss you all. But I was obedient before and didn't cry at all."
"You were clearly smiling just now, but you felt aggrieved when you saw me and Brother Zhu, you little clever guy."
Li Qiao was amused by the speed at which the two little boys changed their faces. He took Li Changfeng's little fat friend from Zhao Shen's arms and couldn't help pinching Li Changfeng's fat face: "Am I right?"
Li Changfeng's little chubby friend couldn't understand his complicated words, but he still called him "Daddy" with an aggrieved look on his face.
His little arms were still stretched out to hug Li Qiao's neck.
Li Qiao immediately softened her heart, kissed his fat face several times, and then lifted her up high. After a while, she finally made him laugh.
Next to him, Tao Zhu also coaxed little fat friend Li Yunfan. Tao Zhu handed little fat friend Li Yunfan to Li Xia and then went to the kitchen.
Let's start with a bowl of hot tofu, and then we can make dried tofu and braised chicken feet.
It’s great to celebrate the New Year. Ordinary home-cooked food can also have a taste that you don’t usually have.
On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, stew meat.
On this day, Li Qiao's house was equally lively, with people making sausages, stewing meat, and braised pork, and every pot was used.
Li Qiao and Tao Zhu did not do anything themselves. They took care of the two cubs.
On this day, there is no need to cook seriously at all. After each meal is prepared, taste it and you will feel full after tasting it.
It was just a little greasy, and he ate all meat all day long. In the evening, Li Qiao went to the house where the strawberries were grown and picked some strawberries. He washed them and carried them back to the greenhouse, ready to use strawberries to relieve the greasiness.
Tao Zhu was sitting on the kang, looking through the picture book that Li Qiao had customized for Li Xiaorui. The little boy was lying on the kang, sleeping soundly.
Seeing him coming in with a bowl of strawberries, Tao Zhu groaned: "We should have asked Li Yu and the others to make some cream in advance."
Although these strawberries are more successful than last year, they are smaller and not sweet enough. They are best eaten with cream.
"No, you have already eaten the cream cake today."
Li Qiao stood by the Kang, picked up a strawberry and fed it to him: "If you want to eat it, I can do it tomorrow."
Tao Zhu opened his mouth, put the strawberry in his mouth, looked up at Li Qiao's serious face, and couldn't help but smile.
Looking at Li Qiao from this angle, Li Qiao still looks pretty good.
He raised his hand and tugged on Li Qiao's sleeve: "Then prepare more cream tomorrow. We haven't played with cream for several days."
Although the cream is not easy to wash off when applied to the body, it is really interesting.
Li Qiao: "...Okay."
He looked at Tao Zhu's sparkling eyes, picked up another strawberry and fed it to Tao Zhu, unable to stop the smile on his face.
Brother Zhu, who was led by him, said this openly and without any shyness.
very good.
He likes such enthusiastic Brother Zhu.
However, since the birth of the little boy, he and Brother Zhu can no longer be as happy every night as before.
Although the two little ones are well-behaved, they still need to eat goat milk and pee in the middle of the night. In order to prevent lack of sleep from affecting their work the next day, he and Brother Zhu calculate that they can only be happy once every three days.
Thinking like this, he couldn't help but said: "When will the two little cubs be able to sleep independently? It will affect our love so much."
"...Don't think about it, at least you have to endure it for another seven or eight years."
Tao Zhu thought about it carefully and couldn't help laughing.
He turned around to look at the sleeping cubs, and couldn't help but pinch their fat faces. He and Li Qiao had paid too much for them!
Soon it’s New Year’s Eve, and it’s the day of making dumplings again.
Tao Zhu is not pregnant this year, so she must do the job of making dumplings herself. When Tao Zhu makes dumplings, Li Qiao and Li Xia sit aside and take care of the two cubs.
This year's dumplings still have many kinds of fillings. While Li Qiao was planting strawberries, he planted some off-season vegetables. Although they didn't grow very well, they were a rare delicacy in this winter.
Wrapping these vegetables into dumplings tastes very good.
Several people were making dumplings lively when suddenly, there was some rapid sound of horse hooves at the door.
Immediately afterwards, Shen Hua's voice sounded.
"Brother Qiao, Brother Qiao! Brother Qiao, Brother Qiao!"
The kitchen was in the front yard, and Shen Hua's voice was so shrill and panicked that everyone present heard it, not to mention Li Qiao, who had good hearing.
"what happened?"
Tao Zhu immediately stood up and walked out quickly.
Li Qiao pushed Li Changfeng's chubby friend in his arms to Zheng Qianqian, whose hands were covered in flour, and stood up and left the kitchen.
After a few steps to the courtyard entrance, Shen Hua stumbled open the courtyard door and came in. When he saw Tao Zhu and Li Qiao with concerned faces, his nose became sour and he cried immediately.
"Brother Qiao! Please go find the Seventh Prince. Just now, two officials from the Ministry of Revenue came and said that my cousin embezzled money from the imperial court and made false accounts. They took my cousin away!"
"What?"
Li Qiao and Tao Zhu exclaimed in unison.
Li Qiao walked directly to the door: "I'm going to find the seventh prince."
"Brother Zhu, take a good look at Brother Hua."
"No, I'm going too, Brother Qiao, take me with you."
Shen Hua wiped his tears and followed Li Qiao's footsteps: "You go in my carriage. The carriage is fast."
Li Qiao turned to look at him and nodded: "Okay, you can go together."
"You two go, don't worry about the house." Tao Zhu said hurriedly when he saw this.
"Okay, you continue making dumplings."
Li Qiao hurriedly explained, and then got into the carriage with Shen Hua.
Sitting on the carriage, Li Qiao asked for details.
He didn't believe that Xu Ying would be greedy for the money from Mo Fanyin.
How could Xu Ying be attracted by just the little money from Fanyin?
joke!
This matter must be framed.
It just so happens that the fifth prince serves in the Ministry of Household Affairs...
*
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Chapter 139 An unforgettable New Year’s Eve dinner in prison
Li Qiao and Shen Hua arrived at the Seventh Prince's Mansion in a carriage. As soon as they jumped off the carriage, they saw the door of the Seventh Prince's Mansion open and Meng Yue walked out.
"Brother Li? Brother Hua?"
"Brother Meng?"
"Brother Meng?"
The three of them were extremely surprised when they met.
Meng Yue coughed lightly: "Isn't this the New Year? I'm here to give the seventh prince a New Year gift."
Shen Hua opened his eyes wide and said subconsciously: "Isn't it too late for you to give it away? It's already New Year's Eve."
Give yourself a New Year gift from Shangfeng, how can you give it on the 30th day of the year?
