The spring in February was just right. All the spring in the palace was revealed, and all the flowers in the changle palace began to bud.

  Qiao Jinniang had nothing to do, so she used the flowers in the palace to make flower cakes. In another half a month, it would be clear and bright again. She was a little greedy for green balls to eat, but there was no wormwood in the palace.

  So she went to the temple to burn incense and pray for blessings. She made a trip to the Yuan Xi Temple.

  There were many wild vegetables and weeds on the mountain of Yuanxi Temple. The people of Chang ‘an did not like to eat green tuber, so no one picked the whole piece of Wormwood.

  Qiao Jin dismissed the internal attendants and palace maids. She only took Yuyan and hongling to the mountain behind Yuanxi Temple to pick wormwood.

  Today, she was only wearing a green traditional dress. The hairpin on her head was also a low-key silver hairpin. She did not wear any gold jewelry, because she was afraid that people would find it troublesome to recognize her identity.

  “Have you heard that the Qiao family forced His Majesty to drink pill pills? The Qiao family’s relatives have exclusive power, and the Empress is really too much to control the court!”


  Qiao Jinniang, who was digging wild vegetables with a small hoe, was stunned when she heard this. If she really controlled the court, she would not have the leisure to come here and dig wormwood.

  “Ye suxin, is this true?”


  “That’s right, suxin. Your grandfather is the chief physician of the imperial hospital, and your father is the imperial physician. You must know about this.”


  Ye suxin said, “Aiya, I’m an unmarried woman. My grandfather and father won’t tell me much. Don’t talk nonsense.”


  “The spring breeze is gentle today, and the sun is just right. Why don’t we put the paper kites here?”


  A group of young girls said, “The Empress is also in the Yuanxi Temple. We are flying kites here. Will we disturb her later?”


  “The Empress is in the abbot’s room. Why would she come to the back of the mountain? Let’s put the paper kites here!”


  Qiao Jinniang picked a small basket of mugwort and felt that it was enough. Just as she was about to leave, a paper kites coincidentally fell under her feet.

  Ye suxin rushed over and saw that her paper kite was stepped on by a young woman. She felt her heart ache and said, “This paper kite was drawn for me by my grandfather. Why did you step on my paper kite?”


  Hong Ling berated, “How dare you. You Don’t even bow when you see the Empress. How dare you loudly blame her?”


  Ye suxin looked up and saw Qiao Jinniang’s appearance. She hurriedly knelt down and said, “Your servant, your servant greets the Empress.”


  Lady Qiao said, “If paper kites were precious, you shouldn’t have taken them out to play with. Get Up.”


  Ye suxin looked at Lady Qiao’s back with some lingering fear. Fortunately, the Empress didn’t blame her for her rudeness just now. But what was the use of the empress picking so much wormwood back home?

  Lady Qiao returned to the palace. Just as she mashed the wormwood leaves into green juice, she heard Consort Qi and Consort Chu asking for an audience.

  Qiao Jinniang didn’t stop what she was doing and let the two of them in.

  Consort Qi said, “Your Majesty, there are quite a few madams outside the palace saying that you forced His Majesty to use the pill to avoid the child. That Lady Lin Xiang and Lady Hong even came to look for Consort Tai together……”


  Consort Chu also followed up, “Not only that, the imperial concubines are all looking for the imperial concubines and want to write a letter to impeach you. Lady Lin Xiang also came to me, but I ignored her.”


  Qiao Jinniang poured the wormwood juice into the glutinous rice flour and rubbed the green glutinous rice flour:

  “Ha, what medicine does his majesty take? They are very well-informed. I have a good temper. If I don’t punish the people in the palace, they will become lawless.”


  Consort Chu advised, “Consort, don’t be angry. What are you doing? I have never seen it before.”


  Consort Qiao said, “This is the famous green mass of Jiangnan during the Qingming Festival. It has bean paste and sesame paste. If you two are free, please wait for a moment. After it comes out of the oven, bring a few back to the imperial residence for your mother and the commandery prince to try.”


  “Thank you, Empress.”Consort Qi said with a smile, “Brother Bao is thinking about the pastries you made. He said that the pastries of the hundred savory restaurant are not as delicious as those personally made by the Empress.”


  Qiao Jinniang smiled lightly at this compliment. She placed the green blobs into the steamer and steamed them. When they came out of the steamer, the green blobs mixed with the fragrance of Wormwood could not help but stir one’s appetite.

  Qiao Jinniang packed two boxes and ordered someone to deliver them to marquis an Yuan’s estate. She also packed two boxes each for consort qi and Consort Chu.

  There was not much left, so she took them to the Tai Chi Palace.

  It seemed that she had not made pastries for Lu Chen for a long time.

  When she arrived at the Tai Chi Palace, she did not need to notify anyone to enter directly. Just as she was about to enter, she heard Hong Yang’s voice coming from the main hall.

  “Your Majesty, the royal family’s heir is related to the country and the state. You Are Really……”


  Lu Chen’s voice was calm, and it was hard to see whether he was angry or happy as he said, “Men, go and call all the imperial physicians in the Imperial Physician Hospital.”


  Qiao Jinniang knew that Lu Chen was already extremely angry. She entered the main hall and saw Hong Yang, Lin, and the other high officials, she smiled and said to Lu Chen, “Today, I made some green balls. I thought that you haven’t eaten for a long time. Try It while it’s still hot.”


  Lu Chen saw Qiao Jinniang coming over and said, “Okay.”


  Qiao Jinniang ordered the palace maids to take the plates down and let Hong Yang and the others try it. “The Lords can also try it.”


  Hong Yang and the others could only reach out and take it. The Empress’s reward was even arsenic.

  Empress Qiao Jin said, “Sirs, you are all the pillars of our great Tang. His Majesty has just ascended the throne and is currently busy with his official duties. Sirs, you don’t want to help His Majesty with his administrative matters, but instead, you are staring at the matters between the husband and wife of His Majesty and me. isn’t that putting the cart before the horse?”


  Hong Yang blushed and said, “Your Majesty, the matter of the royal heir is related to the country……”


  Qiao jinniang said, “I have read the history books. There are many childless emperors in history, but his majesty and I already have two sons. His Majesty and several Royal Brothers are also brothers. The royal family is not a poor family.”


  “Before I came to Chang ‘an, I was just an ordinary citizen. In the eyes of the common people, the country and the country are not enough to eat. As long as the officials are well-fed, they will be fine.”


  Qiao Jinniang took a sip of the tea placed in front of Lu Chen and continued,

  “In fact, to the common people, the descendants of the royal family are not considered the country and the country. Whoever becomes the emperor will live the same life. Only when the Emperor dies will he wear plain clothes to show his filial piety.”


  Hong Yang and the others frowned as they looked at Qiao Jinniang. Prime Minister lin trembled and said, “Your Majesty, that’s not true.”


  Qiao Jin continued, “I was born as a commoner. I heard that Prime Minister Lin and Emperor Hong were born poor too. Why Don’t you think about what you all thought when you were young?

  Among the commoners, whenever the commoners had enough to eat and wear, they would praise the emperor as a wise ruler.

  If the crops in the fields did not grow well this year, they would not say that the emperor was a wise ruler.

  The hearts of the commoners were very simple. They did not care whether the emperor accepted admonitions or how many children he had. As long as he had a good day, he would be a good ruler.

  “When he suffers a disaster, he will not have a good life. When the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, he will scold the dog Emperor to relieve the depression in his heart.”


  The imperial censor who was listening at the side immediately said, “Your Majesty……”