In the blink of an eye, days flew by.
The turbulent Dafeng capital still maintained a calm appearance, and there was no heated discussion in the political arena due to Qi Yu's arrival. The atmosphere was as before, as if nothing had happened.
Of course, unobservable private discussions among the public are not included here.
As far as the government and the opposition are concerned, we are at a highly sensitive time right now, and we should say as little as possible. No one else would want to be the first finger to puncture the window paper.
However, appearances are always appearances and cannot represent the real reality.
The news of Qi Yu's arrival in Beijing had actually reached the ears of Su Liu, Lu Boxuan and others. They chose to remain silent, but that didn't mean they didn't pay attention.
But surprisingly, Empress Dowager Su behaved very calmly, which was even worse than the government and the public watching.
Others can pretend to ignore it, but she shouldn't! This country belongs to their Li family. As the ruler, how can you ignore it?
More or less, you need to brush up on your presence, right?
Could it be that she did this on purpose?
Not only the politicians, but also Qi Yu showed confusion.
Su Liu is different from ordinary people. As a prophet with advanced cognition, she is definitely ahead of the current era. It is really surprising that she does not do anything.
As everyone knows, she has her own unspeakable difficulties.
The pressure we are facing right now is really a bit big.
In addition to Qi Yu's personal factors, she also faces three other unsolvable problems.
First of all, the emperor's long absence was very detrimental to her centralized operation. Without this point of attachment, all her efforts were reduced to extra work.
Next is the Qi family army entrenched in the north. They have roots in the desert.
The North and the North are looking at each other. Although there is no sign of rebellion yet, they have also formed a momentum that cannot be lost. With such a powerful force standing beside the bed, how can we not worry?
What made her even more aggrieved was that Qi Jiajun could not be beaten or scolded, but he had to be conciliatory and conciliatory. It felt like being a grandson.
What bothered her the most was the current expansion of Nanyang's territory, which was so vast that it was beyond the reach of the imperial court. In such a vast territory, not to mention reaching out to govern it, if it can stabilize it without causing trouble, it is already Amitabha. Su Liu clearly knew that this territory did not belong to Dafeng's traditional sphere of influence, and the basis of public opinion was quite weak. Once it changed, the consequences would be disastrous.
It is a good thing to expand the territory, but if it is too large, it will become a burden and hidden danger.
All the above pressures made Su Liu unable to breathe, and he was walking on thin ice when doing things. He was always wary of danger, for fear of causing trouble.
It was precisely because she was too cautious that she did not take the initiative to provoke Qi Yu, and she did not say anything about the question of whether to use Qi Shaobao that everyone was concerned about.
In fact, Su Liu is quite contradictory.
She not only hopes that Qi Yu can control the political situation and sort out the relationship between the north and the south properly, but at the same time, she also hopes that Lu Boxuan can check and balance him to prevent him from becoming an uncontrollable wild horse.
It seems that the best way is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger, and take chestnuts from the fire.
Maintaining the status quo.
However, as an old politician, Qi Dalang was not a vegetarian. He just guessed Su Liu's general idea after just thinking about it. He even guessed her concerns.
But in Qi Yu's eyes, these concerns became his support.
To put it bluntly, Su Liu's fear is where his confidence lies. In this case, it is better to find a time to talk to her alone. As long as he convinces her, the rest will be easy.
So, he asked Huang Fei to quietly enter the palace and send a private greeting card. The post stated that he wanted to invite him out of the palace to discuss some important matters.
Qi Dalang firmly believes that the other party has no reason to refuse his kindness.
In other words, this matter is basically certain.
For the sake of confidentiality, Qi Yu also specially set the location in Wanshou Temple. This place is rarely visited by people on weekdays, including officials from the imperial court.
Although it is just a newly built ordinary temple, it has a special aura shrouded by royalty. This place basically does not accept other events except for the emperor to pay homage to Buddha and the queen mother to congratulate her on her birthday.
In terms of nature, this temple is a veritable royal villa. Naturally, outsiders will deliberately avoid it.
Even so, Qi Yu also specifically explained that if Su Liu was allowed to leave the palace in a low-key manner and in the name of paying homage to Buddha, even if someone noticed, they would not associate it with the so-called secret trader.
The matter went smoothly. Within half an hour, Huang Fei walked out of the palace with the Queen Mother's decree.
Then, he went straight to Wanshou Temple to make advance arrangements.
…
The day of the meeting came in a blink of an eye, and the sky was very beautiful. The sky was blue and the sun was high.
Su Liu came to the appointment very low-key.
"You are quite at ease. After coming to the capital, you neither participated in the court meeting nor reported to the official department. Now, you have asked the Ai family to condescend to come to see you. You are really high-profile!" After sitting down, the Queen Mother glanced at him.
Feigning anger.
"Haha, that's wrong!" Qi Yu sipped his tea and said slowly: "I came to Beijing this time to arrange a funeral for Yin Jun, not to do official business for the country. If this is the case, why bother to alarm the officials? As for going to the palace to report on your duties, you might as well go after the funeral."
Not on business?
Say this...do you believe it yourself?
Su Liu did not hide his contempt at all, rolled his eyes at him and said: "Let's not discuss these unnecessary things for now, tell me quickly, what do you mean by inviting me over?"
Qi Yu put down his tea cup and said: "As the saying goes, those who know the king will share their worries, but those who don't know the king will tell you what the king wants. Today's invitation is to help the Queen Mother share your worries!"
Share my worries?
What does this mean?
Su Liu suppressed the surprise in his heart and said calmly: "Tell me, what am I worried about?"
"In a word, the troubles of happiness."
"Oh? What are the worries about happiness?"
"To hold the ancient territory but not be able to control it, to stand proudly in the prosperous world but feel dejected is like having a peerless beauty but being alone in admiring it. If not, what is the trouble of happiness?"
"Humph, you are really considerate..."
Although there were only a few words, they all spoke to Su Liu's heart.
The current territorial troubles he was facing really made Su Liu restless and unwilling to eat.
It is very appropriate to describe it as the troubles of happiness.
"You still have the nerve to say that these troubles were not caused by you?" Su Liu stopped mid-sentence. She suddenly remembered what the other party had just said.
Qi Yu claimed that the purpose of this invitation was to share his worries, and it was obviously meant to be helpful.
Since you are here to send goodwill, why should you add insult to injury?
So, she even
He quickly changed his words and said, "I wonder if Mr. Qi has any magic method to resolve this trouble?"
Qi Yu smiled lightly and said: "The method is not difficult, as long as you follow the trend, if you are willing to give up, you will gain something."
"Are you willing to give up?" Su Liu murmured a few words, and suddenly his eyes flashed: "Are you talking about the constitutional monarchy that was proposed before?"
