was so preoccupied that Wang Xiaolai sat in his room and had no other thoughts.

The heavy snow outside was drifting more and more urgently, and when it came to the morning, Shu Jiuchai walked over to Wang Xiaolai's side and said in a low voice: "Master, someone has come to the palace." ”

Wang Xiaolai raised his head and sighed blankly.

"Gonggong Le has been ordered by His Majesty to take you into the palace."

Wang Xiaolai hummed, then got up and walked out, Shu Jiuchai picked up the fox fur cloak hanging on the side and draped it on Wang Xiaolai's body, and at the same time, he also planned to call Xian Jingyu to follow Wang Xiaolai.

But shouting left and right, there was no shadow of Xian Jingyu, in the end, it was Wang Xiao who said, let Xian Jingyu go out to do something, Shu Jiuchai gave up, he took the initiative to follow Wang Xiaolai, came outside with Grandpa Le, looked at the direction of the palace.

On the road, when walking on the street, through the window of the carriage, Wang Xiaolai saw many people walking on the street in groups, knocking on doors from door to door, and talking to the host's family.

Seeing that Wang Xiaolai was puzzled, Shu Jiuchai, who was riding a horse and following the side of the carriage, said in a low voice: "Those people are royalists who want silver taels. ”

Hearing this, Wang Xiaolai's eyes widened.

Shu Jiuchai said: "For the past month, it has been like this every day. ”

Wang Xiaolai lowered his head and gritted his teeth and sighed: "After all, the royalists have gone far on the wrong path." ”

Father-in-law Le, who was driving, sighed curiously, followed the carriage and asked, "Royalists?" General, you also know about the royalists? ”

Wang Xiaolai lowered the window curtain, then lifted the car curtain, and followed Le Gonggong and said, "Well, I've heard of it." ”

Father-in-law Le smiled: "General, you are the second-in-command in the army and the pillar of the imperial court, it stands to reason that you should be close to the royalists." ”

Wang Xiaolai didn't understand: "Oh, why? ”

Father-in-law Le smiled and said: "Your Majesty attaches more and more importance to the Royalist Party, and even with it, Lord Feng Qingyunfeng, the servant of the Criminal Department who was originally formed to protect the Royalist Party, is also highly regarded by His Majesty, and it is said that the position of the Secretary of the Criminal Department will soon fall to Lord Feng Qingyun." ”

Wang Xiaolai didn't know where Grandpa Le got the news, but after hearing it, he just pursed his lips and smiled: "Thank you Grandpa Le for reminding me, in the future, I will be close to the royalists." ”

Speaking of the last few words, Wang Xiaolai almost gritted his teeth and said it.

Gonggong Le didn't see Wang Xiaolai's expression, he nodded: "Is this right, the royalists and the general, you are also His Majesty's right and left hands, and you should take care of each other." ”

Wang Xiaolai pursed his lips and didn't speak.

Father-in-law Le said a few more words, and when he saw that Wang Xiaolai did not answer, he chose to close his mouth.

Sending Wang Xiaolai all the way to the palace, Shu Jiuchai waited for Wang Xiaolai to come out in the Wumen City Building as before.

And the father-in-law of Nale drove into the palace and went straight to the direction of the imperial garden.

Although Sui Yang rules that carriages and horses are not allowed to enter the palace, the carriage carrying Wang Xiaolai was specially approved by the empress, so that the generals guarding the city gate did not dare to stop it.

When he arrived at the Imperial Garden, Father-in-law Le first stopped the car, and said to Wang Xiaolai: "The general will wait for a while, and let me say a word." ”

Wang Xiaolai hummed, and stood outside the garden, looking at the falling snowflakes in a daze.

After a while, Father-in-law Le came out of the garden and saluted Wang Xiaolai: "Your Majesty invites the general to come in." ”

Only then did Wang Xiaolai walk towards the Imperial Garden.

When he entered, he happened to see Feng Qingyun standing next to the empress in the pavilion of the imperial garden, and the empress was holding a fold in her hand, which was exactly what she had just finished reading and put at hand.

Wang Xiaolai walked forward, clasped his fists and shouted to see His Majesty.

When the empress heard this, she raised her head and said with a smile: "Xiao Laizi is here, come here." ”

As she spoke, the empress turned her head to look at Feng Qingyun again: "Okay, I already know, you go down first." ”

Feng Qingyun hummed, replied respectfully yes, and then turned to leave.

When passing by Wang Xiaolai's side, Feng Qingyun stopped, raised his fists, and said that he had seen the general.

Wang Xiaolai also returned the salute, and the tip of his nose snorted, which was polite.

Then, the two staggered by, and Wang Xiaolai went straight to the pavilion.

Before entering the pavilion, the empress took the dust from the first hand standing on the side, and after Wang Xiaolai reached out and hit back and forth a few times, he slapped the snow clean, and then pulled Wang Xiaolai into the pavilion.

When I came in, I felt a fresh fragrance, and when I looked up, there was a pot in the pavilion, and a pile of snow that had just been thrown into the pot was melting rapidly.

On the stone table of the gazebo, there are slices of meat and vegetables filled.

The fold that the empress had seen earlier was placed in the corner of the table.

Seeing this appearance, Wang Xiaolai couldn't help but be stunned: "Your Majesty, who are you?" ”

The empress smiled: "You didn't always mention hot pot or something to me before, but when I saw that it was snowing heavily this morning, I had a whim, and told the imperial dining room about the hot pot you told me, and asked them to help prepare it, but I don't know, it's as different as you said." ”

Wang Xiaolai looked down twice, and then smiled: "It's the same, it's exactly the same, I didn't see it, Your Majesty, your memory is really good, I'll just tell you a few times, and you will remember it all." ”

The empress snorted when she heard this, and smiled proudly: "That's, you don't look at who I am." ”

Seeing the empress showing off, Wang Xiaolai couldn't bear to hit her, the clear soup in the hot pot was lacking in water, so a little bit of material was added, what kind of taste could it have.

A hot pot without red ninety-nine as the base material is incomplete.

Thinking of this, Wang Xiaolai sighed.

The empress didn't care much about why Wang Xiaolai sighed, beckoned Wang Xiaolai to sit down, and instructed the maid next to her to wait.

The two of them were eating hot pot in the snow and chatting about idle white.

Wang Xiaolai deliberately led the topic to the royalists, he deliberately pretended as if he had suddenly thought of it, and asked: "By the way, Your Majesty, do you still have an impression of the royalists?" ”

Wang Xiaolai's sentence can be said to be asked knowingly.

The empress didn't doubt him when she heard this, and nodded: "Yes, what's wrong?" ”

Wang Xiaolai sighed: "That's your majesty." As he spoke, Wang Xiaolai picked up a piece of meat that was not spicy and threw it into his mouth, chewed it indiscriminately and swallowed it: "I heard that the reputation of this royalist party is not very good, and they force the people to take the silver." ”

The empress nodded: "There is such a thing. ”

Wang Xiaolai frowned: "Then Your Majesty, don't you care?" ”

The empress sighed and put down her chopsticks: "Little Laizi, you guy, why don't you let me rest for a while and save your worries." ”

Wang Xiaolai: "···"

The empress said: "This year, because of the Zhao Sui Rebellion, I exempted the taxes of Sizhou, Yuzhou, and Yangzhou, but these three prefectures and counties are the major provinces of Suiyang, and without their taxes, the annual tax of Suiyang will be reduced by half. ”

"But that's based on the exploitation of people." Wang Xiaolai said.

The empress nodded: "I also know, so, when Feng Qingyun was there just now, I told him that this situation only needs to last until the end of the year, as long as this year passes, he is not allowed to cross the line by half a step." ”

Wang Xiaolai frowned: "Really? ”

The empress smiled: "What did I lie to you. ”

Wang Xiaolai muttered: "I think there are only seven days left before the New Year, and it is not too bad for these seven days." ”

The empress looked at Wang Xiaolai with a smile: "Do you think I did something wrong?" ”

Wang Xiaolai hesitated for a moment, and then nodded: "It's a little." ”

The empress shook her head and sighed: "That is, Xiao Laizi, you dare to say this to me." ”

Wang Xiaolai muttered in a low voice: "What I said is the truth. ”

The empress pursed her lips: "I'll tell you the truth, after I heard about the royalists, I also felt that they had done it, and I had already ordered Feng Qingyun to stop this behavior just now, and I had also ordered Feng Qingyun to return the silver they got before." ”

Seeing that Wang Xiaolai still didn't believe it, the empress laughed angrily: "What, you don't believe my words?" ”

"It's not that I don't believe it, but I always feel that Your Majesty didn't tell me the truth." Wang Xiaolai muttered.

The empress looked at Wang Xiaolai speechlessly: "If you don't believe it, just ask Narcissus." ”

Wang Xiaolai looked up at Narcissus, Narcissus sighed, and ignored Wang Xiaolai.

Wang Xiaolai: "···"