On the morning of August 29, in Wuyi Lane, east of the imperial city, Zhou Yizheng, the eldest brother of the empress, was sweating profusely and commanding more than a dozen servants to sweep the roads in the alley, preparing to welcome the empress home to save her relatives.

The east-west Wuyi Lane is a large alley that can accommodate two horse-drawn carriages in parallel, and there are gray brick walls more than 2 people high erected on both sides of the alley. In the past, when pedestrians passed by, they could probably hear the laughter of women coming from inside the high walls, but today except for the sound of sweeping the floor and the sound of Zhou Yi reprimanding the slaves, the walls on both sides were very quiet.

Zhou Yi hid in the shadow of the high wall, collected the sweat on his body, raised his head and looked at the sky, and while instructing the housekeeper around him to keep an eye on the servants to work, he turned around and walked towards his own mansion, ready to wash and change clothes, and waited for the queen to return home.

After he walked into the courtyard, he saw that only his mother Ding and his younger brother were in front of the hall to greet him, but his father was not here, so he suddenly stepped forward and asked in a hurry: "Why hasn't my father come out yet, my sister's car is almost here." ”

Ding Shi looked at him speechless, but the little brother who was standing beside her to help pouted and said: "Daddy is probably still lying on the bed sulking, yesterday he went out to eat, I don't know who touched his moldy head." When I came back, I had a face that was not a face, and my nose was not a nose, and I had to scold everyone when I saw it, and even my mother didn't hide from it. Now who knows if his anger is out or not, who dares to call him. ”

Ding hurriedly pulled his youngest son, Zhou Yi was born to Zhou Kui's ex-wife, before she married into the Zhou family, Zhou Yi was almost Zhou Kui's assistant in business, and was also in charge of most of the Zhou family's business. Before Zhou Yufeng was elected to the palace, although she had the title of filling the house in name, she was actually doing the affairs of a slave in the Zhou family.

Now although the Ding family has established the identity of the Zhou family's housewife with the identity of her daughter, under the habits she has developed in the past, there is still a sense of awe in her heart for Zhou Kui and Zhou Yi.

Therefore, hearing her youngest son's complaint made Zhou Yi feel a little unhappy, she hurriedly stopped her youngest son and said, "The master probably drank too much last night, so I want him to rest a little more today to relieve his hangover." Since the hour is near, I will go and serve him and get up. ”

Zhou Yi's face suddenly softened, and he said with a smile: "Father's temper, I don't know yet." It is estimated that I didn't know which fox friend was ridiculed by my dog friend yesterday, so I came back to embarrass my mother. At this time, let me persuade my father to be good, and my mother will welcome my sister later, so don't be in a bad mood.

But Mother, when my sister comes back this time, you really have to say a few words for us. Since ancient times, how can the emperor's relatives not be knighted. Even if the court is in difficulty, it can't be difficult for our family. My sister is the justifiable Queen of the Ming Dynasty, and in this Ming world, she has to let her mother's family enjoy the happiness, right?

My father and I don't care, but this little brother is the younger brother of the same mother as my sister. The dignified Empress of the Ming Dynasty can't even take care of her younger brother and be a flat-headed person for the rest of her life, right? ”

Zhou Yi's words made Ding very embarrassed, she didn't know how to answer the temptation of her eldest son, and she was also very worried about the future of her younger son. As a mother, even if her daughter Zhou Yufeng is the queen of the Ming Dynasty, she still hopes that her son can be more promising.

Seeing that Ding seemed to be moved, Zhou Yi stopped instigating, and he casually said a few words and walked to the backyard. Zhou Yi did not go directly to his father's bedroom, but went to his own small courtyard first.

As soon as he returned to his room, he saw his wife, who was dressed neatly, changing the clothes of his five-year-old son, and teaching him how to talk when he met the queen's aunt.

Zhou Yi took off his coat and said to his wife: "Just teach a few words, do you really think he can remember so much?" Bring me clothes first, and I'll have to coax my father to go when I change them. ”

Bu Shi got up and walked to the side of the cabinet to rummage through the clothes, and complained: "Do you think I want to, it's not that your sister didn't come out of the belly of your mother, if you don't let Shixian please her more, won't all the benefits fall to her own brother?" The previous generation of the queen's family who was not knighted and allowed to be an official, but when it was our turn, we had to change the rules, maybe your sister still remembered the things of the past..."

"Ahh Back then, who the knew she could be a queen. If I knew, I wouldn't be there for her every day. This man has to depend on his fate. There are times in life when you have to have it, and there are times in life when you don't have to force it..."

Looking at her husband who had changed his clothes and went out, the unconvinced Bu Shi whispered to his son: "My good girl, you can't learn from your father, my mother is still waiting for you to earn a life and come back." ”

The young Zhou Shixian suddenly shouted loudly: "Mother, I will definitely earn a life for you to come back." ”

These words suddenly made Bu Shimei laugh, "Then how are you going to earn a life for your mother to come back?" ”

This difficult question made Zhou Shixian, who was in a lump of meat, bite his nails and think for a long time, before he said with some uncertainty: "Are you going to ask my aunt?" ”

Zhou Yi walked to the door of his father's bedroom, knocked on the door and said carefully: "Father, it's not early, it's time to get up and prepare." ”

After he finished speaking, he waited quietly at the door, only to hear the sound of the ropes in the room for a while, and someone opened the door, looked at him and said with an unhappy face: "The hour has come, as for being so nervous?" Even if Yufeng is now the queen, it is also the species of my Zhou family, and she has to call me father when she sees me. ”

Zhou Yi replied with a smile on his face: "Yes, yes, my father is right." But it's okay to talk about this at home, in front of outsiders, we still have to abide by the rules. If the father has any complaints in his heart, he should go out and take his sister home first. Otherwise, if people outside look at it, wouldn't it be even more rumor-mongering? ”

Zhou Kui was silent for a while, and finally began to tidy up the clothes on his body, but he still said with dissatisfaction in his mouth: "What other rumors can be spread outside, and who else in the capital now takes our family in their eyes?"

Obviously, Lao Tzu's daughter is His Majesty's main palace mother, but what benefits do you have to let that person surnamed Tian go? Yesterday I went to Emperor Li's mansion to drink, but more than half of the guests did not show up, I inquired, it turned out that they all went to praise the stinky feet of the surname Tian, saying that the surname Tian was valued by His Majesty and was sent on a business trip.

A few people were still talking sneakily from me, saying that His Majesty's support for the surnamed Tian may not be paving the way for the one in the west, but they are really bastards..."

Zhou Kui vented to his eldest son, and finally spit out the resentment that he held in his stomach last night, which made him feel a lot better. Zhou Yi was submissive and didn't dare to answer, after all, his father's words were greatly out of bounds. Regarding the issue of the succession to the throne, how could they discuss it privately, and if it was passed on, I am afraid that even his queen sister would not be able to afford it.

Looking at the eldest son's timid appearance, Zhou Kui really looked down on him, he had always felt good about himself, and after becoming the ruler of the country, he greatly reduced his awe of imperial power. In his opinion, talking about the inheritance of the imperial throne is as common as talking about the son-in-law's property in the countryside.

However, since the eldest son showed this attitude, it also made Zhou Kui lose the interest to continue talking. With the help of his son, Zhou Kui, who had sorted out his clothes, finally walked out of the bedroom and went to wait outside the mansion.

Not long after the people of the Zhou Mansion waited outside the gate of the mansion, they saw a mighty car appear in the alley. Zhou Yufeng, who was sitting in the carriage, looked at the scenery outside through the window glass, the mottled gray brick walls were crawling with patches of green vines, and where the sun hit, it seemed to inlay a layer of golden light on the edges of those leaves, which seemed to be extraordinarily beautiful.

However, such a scene could not be eliminated, and a few traces of worry appeared on Zhou Yufeng's delicate brows from time to time, and she was almost frightened after getting her father's unobtrusive mouth outside from Wang Chengen.

Originally, she wanted to pass the word to her father through her mother, but she was worried that her mother Ding's too cowardly character would not be able to fully convey her meaning, and then her father would not be able to realize the seriousness of this matter, so she finally arranged this time for Guining.

Zhou Yufeng was also a little happy in her heart, fortunately, there were no strong elders in the harem, whether it was the concubine or Queen Zhang, they were nosy characters, and Chongzhen was also laissez-faire to the harem concubines, so she was able to arrange this trip out of the palace for herself.

When Zhou Yufeng got down from the carriage and glanced at the family members who were greeting him on the side, he walked in through the open door of Zhou's mansion.

After entering the mansion gate, because a large number of accompanying guards stayed outside the door, the atmosphere in the mansion was finally a little less serious. Zhou Yufeng, who was standing in the courtyard, put down his body and began to greet his family one by one, and hugged his nephew.

Seeing that the atmosphere began to slowly become lively, Mother Ding finally said out loud: "Your Highness, please go into the backyard to drink tea, although today's sun is not poisonous, but you will get dizzy after standing for a long time." ”

Zhou Yufeng nodded at her mother, then turned her head to the female official beside her and said, "Today is a family gathering, and there are no outsiders, so you don't have to follow up, and let the palace and the family say a few thoughtful words." ”

Under her order, the eunuchs and maids accompanying the palace stayed in the front yard, while Zhou Yufeng took the lead in the backyard with her mother.

The Zhou family sat down in the backyard living room, drank tea and chatted for a while, and after Zhou Yufeng found an excuse to send all the irrelevant people out, leaving only his mother, father and eldest brother.

At this time, Zhou Yufeng opened his mouth to ask his father about his conflict with Tian Guozhang outside. Zhou Kui naturally didn't feel that he was at fault, he hid the several incidents he provoked, put the blame on Tian Guozhang, and added a lot of charges to Tian Hongyu.

Although Zhou Yufeng is a little unaccustomed to Tian Xiuying's style on weekdays, and she is also a little annoyed that Tian Xiuying has an arrogant attitude, she also knows how unreliable her father's words are.

Therefore, Zhou Yufeng was not angered by his father's words, but persuaded bitterly: "Father, now that the imperial court is in an eventful time, you, as the imperial prince, should share your majesty's worries..."