At three quarters of noon,
Qin Ming and his party returned to Qin Mansion.
After working in the fields all morning, everyone was a little hungry.
Wan'er, who had received the news in advance, had already prepared two tables of sumptuous dishes.
When Qin Ming and his party entered the courtyard of the restaurant, Wan'er, wearing a ponytail and a pink apron, hurried forward to greet them.
Wan'er saluted everyone and said:
"Slave, please see Your Majesty, please see the Queen..."
Before Li Shimin could answer, Li Yuan, who was standing in the crowd, waved his hand towards Wan'er and said:
"Girl Wan, is the food ready?"
Wan'er raised her head when she heard this and smiled sweetly at Li Yuan.
"Reply to the old man, the food is ready."
Li Yuan was overjoyed when he heard this, rubbed his hands and said with a smile:
"That's great, don't stand here anymore, come inside quickly."
After speaking, Li Yuan took the lead and walked towards the restaurant regardless of the others.
Seeing this, Qin Ming bowed to Li Shimin and said:
"Your Majesty, my ancestor is probably starving. Please don't blame me!"
Li Shimin's mouth twitched when he heard this.
[Blame him? I, how dare you? 】
Queen Changsun on the side smiled and waved her hands and said:
"My dear nephew, there's no need to worry. Let's go into the house quickly. Don't keep the old man waiting."
Qin Ming glanced at Li Shimin and couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that there was no unhappy expression on his face!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Highnesses, please come to the Prime Minister."
Li Shimin nodded slightly and led everyone into the room.
Li Yuan, who was sitting on the main seat, saw everyone coming in, waved to Qin Ming and said:
"Brother Ming, come and sit next to grandpa."
Qin Ming sighed after hearing this and said to Li Yuan:
"Grandpa, please eat first. My grandson will come over later."
After finishing speaking, Qin Mingchao Wan'er said:
"Wan'er, please take the queen and several highnesses to sit down in the back room first. Later, let the kitchen cook some food and send it to Qingxinyuan."
Wan'er nodded obediently. She had searched around the crowd just now, but she didn't see her cousin, Mao Tu, Chunhua, Qiushi and others.
When she heard what Qin Ming said, she immediately realized that her cousin must have returned to Qingxinyuan.
"Mother, your highnesses, please come inside."
Queen Changsun smiled and shook her head when she heard this.
If it were in the past, Empress Changsun would definitely take her daughters to the back room of the restaurant or the backyard to have a meal together.
But after she noticed Qin Ming's alienation from her today, she changed her mind!
On the carriage back home, she carefully recalled her recent contacts with Qin Ming.
It seems that after Qin Ming recovered from his injury, Qin Ming's attitude towards her began to change.
It's just that this change is not obvious, it is the kind of superficial closeness, but in fact alienation!
This can be seen from the fact that he doesn't easily call her empress instead of aunt.
Often only the expressions, actions, and words that a person does not reveal easily can express a person's truest inner thoughts!
Qin Ming's change in attitude towards her reminded her of the assassination of Qin Ming by her nephew!
She was just in the carriage, putting herself in his shoes and recalling what happened to Qin Ming these days.
On the Lantern Festival, he had obviously made concessions to the Changsun family and gave up part of the benefits of the coal business, but that night he was assassinated by the Changsun family!
And she, who was regarded as an elder by Qin Ming, did not make any statement after learning the truth of the matter!
He neither punished his nephew for this nor apologized to Qin Ming on behalf of his nephew!
Instead, she was worried that her nephew would displease His Majesty and lose his favor because of this!
What about Qin Ming? After he learned that it was Changsun Huan who hurt him, he just chopped Changsun Huan and revealed the matter!
After that, her gas disease recurred and she came to the Qin Mansion to see a doctor!
Although it was Daozhang Sun and Lady Baili who helped diagnose and treat her, Qin Ming also had a share of the credit.
If he hadn't left Daochang Sun behind, her illness wouldn't have healed so quickly!
At the same time, on the day she came to the Qin Mansion for medical treatment, Chong'er's condition also worsened!
For this reason, Qin Ming asked Sun Daochang to personally visit Changsun Mansion to see Chong'er!
Later, she also heard that in order to heal Chong'er, Qin Ming asked Sun Daozhang to bring the century-old ginseng treasured in the mansion to nurse Chong'er back to health.
Now think about it, both her eldest grandson Wugu and the eldest grandson's family owe Qin Ming a huge favor!
In the past, she had always regarded Qin Ming as her junior and future son-in-law, so she took it for granted!
But she is so thoughtful, after noticing Qin Ming's changes today!
Suddenly I realized that I had ignored Qin Ming's feelings these days!
These were all things she thought about after thinking for a long time on the carriage!
At that time, she put herself in Qin Ming's position and thought deeply about it.
If she were Qin Ming, as a small county boy, she would be assassinated by the top dignitary in the court!
And the queen, who he once regarded as his elder, was indifferent as a direct relative of the distinguished noble.
What will happen to me?
The answer is to be patient with your enemies and maintain superficial respect for yourself, who you originally regarded as your elders, but gradually become alienated in your heart!
Maybe there's more to it than that!
After careful consideration, Queen Changsun turned back and looked at Qin Ming's inadvertent performance today, and felt that everything made sense!
[When we were young, my eldest brother and I were not like this, living cautiously at my uncle's house! 】
Thinking of this, Queen Changsun felt extremely guilty!
Empress Changsun walked up to Qin Ming, pointed to the dining table next to her that could accommodate more than a dozen people, and said with a smile:
"My dear nephew, it's getting late. The food on this dining table is enough for a dozen people. Auntie, Li Zhi and the others are right here, so they can eat at the same table with you."
"Don't keep the cooks busy. Let the maid carry the food from the back room to the backyard for Madam Yang and the others."
Qin Ming frowned when he heard this, and turned to look at Li Shimin as if asking for help.
"Your Majesty, look..."
Li Shimin didn't care about this, after all, he had dined at the same table in the Qin Mansion before!
"As the Queen said, everyone should sit down and have a meal."
After saying this, Li Shimin took Empress Changsun and sat on Li Yuan's right side.
Next to Queen Changsun were Princess Changle, Princess Yuzhang, Princess Chengyang and Fang Xuanling.
Qin Ming just sat on Li Yuan's left side.
Si Zi, who had her hair combed into a bun, jumped up to Qin Ming's side.
Si Zi pulled Qin Ming's sleeve and said sweetly:
"Brother Ming, Si Zi wants to sit next to you."
Qin Ming grinned when he heard this, reached out to pick up Sizi and put him on his lap.
"Si Zi, good boy, you are still young. Can Brother Ming help you pick up the food this time?"
After hearing this, Si Zi turned around and smiled with narrowed eyes at Qin Ming:
"Thank you, brother Ming."
...
