Yi Qing had no idea who the other person was, yet the person seemed to know so much about her. It was obvious that this person had ill intentions. When on earth had she offended someone?
"General, when a mad dog barks in front of a lion, the lion loses if it reacts," Yi Qing said mockingly.
"You... are so vulgar!" Xie Hongyi fumed.
"Since when did I claim to be a virtuous and gentle woman?" Yi Qing looked at Xie Hongyi. "But you, for all your fine words, are actually despicable to the core. General, let's go." With that, she turned and left.
Xie Hongyi was so angry that his face turned ashen. He thought that Lady Xiao was just like a shrew.
"Who is he?" Yi Qing immediately asked Xiao Jinghan as soon as she turned around.
"Xie Hongyi, the current assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel."
"What's the relationship between the Xie family, who has a marriage contract with Miss Yuan, and him?" Yi Qing instantly understood.
Previously, both Xiao Jinghan and Deng Xiao had warned her, but she still cured Yuan Lingfei. She never thought that the Xie family would really hold a grudge against her.
"He is the one who has a marriage contract with Miss Yuan."
"Is Miss Yuan blind? How could she take a fancy to such a person?" Yi Qing said with a look of disgust. "Then will your assessment be okay?"
"The assessment only applies to ordinary officials."
...
The two of them didn't lower their voices. Xie Hongyi, who was standing behind them, was so angry that his face turned purple.
His official position was lower than Xiao Jinghan's, so he could only take the opportunity to show off his mouth when Xiao Jinghan was being scolded by the emperor.
Yi Qing felt that the feud with the Xie family was settled. Could it be that the reason the queen summoned her to the palace was also because of this matter?
"Are you sure you'll be okay going alone?" Xiao Jinghan looked at Yi Qing with some concern.
"I came to the palace with you. Even if the queen has some bad ideas, she won't act at this moment," Yi Qing said indifferently.
Xiao Jinghan nodded. "Then I'll go to the emperor. Be careful."
"Don't worry." Yi Qing had no intention of being cautious.
In previous years, this was the busiest time for the queen. But this year, at this time, she still had the leisure to look at the newly made clothes.
"Your Majesty, Lady Xiao is here," Mu Yu led Yi Qing into the inner palace and saluted.
Just as Yi Qing was about to salute, the queen waved her hand, indicating that she didn't need to.
"Come and help me see how this year's clothes look?" the queen asked with a smile.
Yi Qing felt that the queen had changed a lot in the past six months. She seemed younger. She looked at the embroidery on the clothes and lifted it slightly. "It's too heavy."
"I also think it's heavy." The queen motioned for the maids to spread the clothes out flat.
If the queen had only referred to herself as "I" once, Yi Qing might have thought it was a slip of the tongue. But since it happened twice, it was obviously intentional.
Don't underestimate this small change in address. It showed a different attitude towards people.
"Did you summon me to the palace just to help you look at the clothes?" Yi Qing looked at the queen's leisurely appearance.
"Servants!" the queen called out.
A row of maids filed in, each holding various rewards in their hands.
"It's almost the end of the year. The rewards for other noble ladies have already been sent to their mansions. You came back late, and I've been very busy. So I asked you to come to the palace to help me look at these things and see if you're satisfied with the rewards. If not, I'll ask someone to prepare them again."
Yi Qing liked these things. There were silk and satin, pearls and agates, as well as tribute rouge and powder. All the things that women used were included.
"Are you satisfied?" the queen asked with a smile.
"Of course I'm satisfied," Yi Qing said contentedly.
"Send them to the General's Mansion," the queen ordered.
Everyone carried the things and left.
"Is there anything else?" Yi Qing felt that her relationship with the queen wasn't that good. The queen's sudden kindness made her feel that there must be some ulterior motive.
The queen looked at Yi Qing's suspicious expression. "I already know about the matter of you treating Miss Yuan. You did nothing wrong. I tried to stop the Xie family from breaking off the engagement with the Yuan family at that time, but after all, it was a family matter, and I couldn't interfere too much."
Yi Qing let out a sigh of relief. "Then I'm relieved. I was just treating the sick and saving lives, and I even charged for it. It felt like I was forming a clique."
"That's how things are in the capital. You have to get used to it," the queen said, looking at Yi Qing's simple appearance. She thought that besides Xiao Jinghan, no one else could really protect Yi Qing.
"Why does it have to be like this?" Yi Qing didn't care.
The queen smiled helplessly. "You, the general's wife, are more unfettered than I, the queen."
"Your Majesty, I have something I'd like to ask you to help with," Yi Qing said with a smile.
"Speak."
"Does the palace need to buy fireworks and firecrackers? The Wen family's shop sells them. Your Majesty, could you ask someone to buy them from the Wen family's shop?"
"Are you trying to get business for your father?" the queen asked in surprise.
As far as she knew, the father and daughter were on bad terms. Before, Yi Qing deliberately made Marquis Huai'en look bad. How could she suddenly be so nice to him?
"To tell you the truth, Marquis Huai'en's title was obtained through my grandfather's military merits. Now my parents have divorced, but the title was bestowed by the emperor, so I can't just have his title taken away. He, a marquis, has done ungrateful things. He's simply wasting the country's resources. I want to find an excuse to get the emperor to take away his title," Yi Qing said directly.
The queen laughed when she heard what Yi Qing said. "Aren't you afraid of being impeached for doing this?"
"Anyway, only you and I know about this," Yi Qing said. Seeing that the queen wasn't angry, she thought this matter was probably settled.
The queen nodded. "I'll send someone to handle it. You don't get involved anymore. With your straightforward way of speaking, you're sure to offend people."
"Okay," Yi Qing was happy to see this happen. "Another day, I'll make some beauty pills for you. I'm sure they'll make you look even more beautiful."
"Everyone else sends gold, silver, and jewels. You're different. You even send medicine," the queen said.
"That's not medicine. That's a health supplement," Yi Qing corrected.
The queen didn't bother to argue whether it was medicine or a health supplement. After the matter of Yuan Lingfei, the queen completely trusted Yi Qing's medical skills. "You should come to the palace more often to chat with me. I once said I'd go out of the palace to find you, but you just left the city without saying a word."
"It was an emergency," Yi Qing didn't want to mention this. "By the way, there's a Huang Jingjing in the palace. How is she now?"
"Her? The emperor has locked her up alone in the Tongque Tower. No one is allowed to get close to her without the emperor's order. If you say she's out of favor, the emperor often goes to see her. But if you say she's in favor, the emperor hasn't given her any title and doesn't allow her to meet outsiders," the queen said, feeling very strange.
Huang Jingjing's status in the palace was very special. If it had been before, she would definitely have investigated it thoroughly, but now she was too lazy to care about these things.
Yi Qing suddenly understood. The emperor really regarded Huang Jingjing as a storyteller.
She accompanied the queen until noon. Then someone from the emperor's side came to invite Yi Qing to go over for lunch. Yi Qing said that the queen had already prepared lunch, so she would eat here. She also asked Xiao Jinghan to come over and eat.
"Listen, listen. The queen is really good at bewitching people. Now even Yi Qing listens to her," the emperor said angrily.
"Then I'll go over," Xiao Jinghan bowed.
"What do you mean? You're leaving me to eat alone?" the emperor looked at the table full of dishes.
"The emperor is supposed to be solitary. Eating alone shows your grandeur," Xiao Jinghan said respectfully.
The emperor was so angry that he almost smashed the table. Was this something a human would say?