Chapter 349: Acceptance and Acceptance

When I entered a towering palace, a slightly hoarse voice came from it: "Is the official family here?"

Zhao Ji quickly stepped in and bent his knees toward the woman sitting cross-legged on the couch and said, "My mother..."

Chen Ao then went in quietly and looked around. The whole palace was different from what he imagined. Although it was as luxurious as ever, it was a bit more deliberate and simple as it was. There were not many people in the room, and the woman sitting cross-legged on the couch was Empress Dowager Qinci. Beside Empress Dowager Qinci was King Zhao Zong next to Jin. The little princess ran to where she was. Zhao Zong looked at Zhao Ji with a grimace and looked nervous.

Zhao Zong's appearance made Empress Dowager Qin Ci frowned her eyebrows in pain, and her face was covered with frost, and she said, "The official family is the emperor, what is the queen of Ai's mother? I can't afford it."

Zhao Ji hurriedly said, "The mother has gracious grace to raise her son, how can she forget her son?"

Empress Dowager Qinci said with a stern face: "It's rare that you still remember it, but in your heart, is King Jin still your emperor's brother?"

Zhao Ji was so guilty that he said, "Why did the Queen Mother say this?"

Empress Dowager Qinci pinched the hand of King Jin and said coldly, "I want to ask yourself, King Jin and you are both born from the Ai family, a mother and a compatriot. When you were Duan, King Jin was close to you and your brothers. Now you have become emperors and ruled the world, but I don't recognize you as a brother. The Ai family asked you, why King Jin was so afraid of you? He just made some small mistakes, but he was so scared that he fled to Hangzhou. As the emperor brother, he was so afraid of you, you can still eat and have the mood to recite poems and paintings. Ask yourself, do you really have this legitimate brother in your heart?"

The more Empress Dowager Qinci spoke, the more angry she became. Zhao Ji could only bow and listen, not dared to refute, and hurriedly said, "I dare not, I dare..."

Empress Dowager Qinci said, "Don't come to the Ai family to perfunctorily treat the Ai family. Will the Ai family not know your nature? You are an emperor, it's amazing. What brothers are in your eyes? All the people around you will flatter you than the King of Jin. Humph, if you ignore our mother and son, the Ai family will move out of the palace and live in the King of Jin's house. If your brother makes you look at him, you will strip him of his title. We mother and son will no longer dare to bother you, and we depend on each other for our own lives."

Zhao Ji was sweating profusely and could only smile embarrassedly: "My son has no idea, and the mother is so serious."

Empress Dowager Qinci snorted coldly and said, "You said this, but I didn't think so in my heart. We mother and mother are miserable people and can't stand the great wealth, right? You don't think about it. When you were still Duan Wang, who was the closest to you? When you were a child, the osmanthus cake you enjoyed in the palace, the King of Jin still had to keep half of you. Now it's better, the world is yours, do you still want King of Jin to share your food?"

Zhao Ji glanced at Zhao Zong and then said, "Of course I remember these things, I will never forget them. King Jin is the younger brother of Erchen and the closest person."

Empress Dowager Qinci seemed to feel that he had said almost everything. She glanced at Zhao Zong who was still miserable and said, "The Ai family is going to ask you now. Now the censors are going to impeach King Jin and say that he left the capital without permission. What should you say?"

Zhao Ji said: "My son will put the memorials on the shelf."

Zhao Zong breathed a sigh of relief, the heat was almost done, and held Empress Dowager Qinci's hand and said, "My mother, the emperor is still very good to his son ministers. Don't blame him, he is the emperor and always has some concerns."

Chen Ao couldn't help laughing. Zhao Zong was really sinister and cunning. He made a mistake himself, but in the end he was still a good person. On the other hand, the emperor's brother was scolded without any nose and eyes, and he was still not a human being.

Empress Dowager Qinci immediately laughed and said to Zhao Ji: "Look, your brothers protect you like this. The truth is that harmony is the right thing. We are the imperial family, and we should set an example for the people of the world and teach them that the imperial family also has family affection."

Zhao Ji smiled bitterly in his heart, and still lowered his eyebrows and said with a pleasing look: "My mother has taught her a lesson right."

Since the matter has been resolved, Empress Dowager Qinci asked Zhao Ji to come and ask him if he had been too busy recently, which made him relieved. First, he hit Zhao Ji with a blow, and then offered a sweet date. Zhao Ji breathed a sigh of relief and said hurriedly: "It's nothing for a son, but the mother must take good care of her body."

Empress Dowager Qinci was just trying to teach Zhao Ji a lesson, but Chen Ao, who had no concerns, followed him in. Now he had free time. His eyes fell on Shen Ao. Seeing Chen Ao standing beside the door, he said, "Who is this? Why don't he talk when he comes in?"

Chen Ao thought to himself, do I dare to speak? If you say it, you think I'm too much.

Although he felt wronged, Chen Ao still bowed to Empress Dowager Qinci with great respect and said, "I am accused Ren and the county magistrate Chen Ao, I have met the Empress Dowager."

Empress Dowager Qinci thought about it and immediately laughed. In front of outsiders, Empress Dowager Qinci had a very motherly image. Looking at Chen Ao, she smiled slightly and said, "Chen Ao, the Ai family remembered that the girl An Ning and Zi Heng mentioned you, and Mrs. Xian, and she also mentioned you. It is said that you are the top scorer in the art exam and the imperial examination. I didn't expect you to be as young as you!"

Chen Ao smiled and said, "The Queen Mother is too rewarded, but the Wei Minister is just a little famous."

"This is not a false reputation. How many people in the world can get the top scorer? It is said that you have also treated An Ning. An Ning, a child who has been weak since childhood, and many imperial physicians are helpless. If you have such a skill, the Ai family will thank you."

While saying that, Empress Dowager Qinci asked someone to move Jindun to let Chen Ao sit down.

Chen Ao looked at Empress Dowager Qinci up and down, thinking to himself that this Empress Dowager is very good at being a human being. He only had a thought of his happiness and anger, and he prepared two faces at any time. It seemed that none of the women in the palace were easy to save money. Just based on her words just now, Chen Ao felt that this Empress Dowager was not a person to be underestimated.

But this doesn't matter. No matter how high the Queen Mother's methods are, they are used to manage the harem. She has no conflict of interest with her, so there is no need to be afraid of anything. She smiled and said, "The Queen Mother is accused of it, and I am ashamed of it."

Empress Dowager Qinci smiled and said some encouragement words, then suddenly said, "By the way, are you a relative of Duke Qiguo?"

Chen Ao nodded and said yes.

Empress Dowager Qinci smiled and said, "No wonder she is so clever. It's very good. You are considered a hero of Xuanli. The official will not treat you badly."

Chen Ao was ashamed and smiled, "When the Empress Dowager treats the empress do his best, the empress do his best." After saying this, his eyes accidentally fell on the Empress Dowager Qinci's case. There was a pair of leaves on the several cases, and he couldn't help but feel curious. As a thief, he was naturally familiar with the gambling instruments, but he had only heard of the leaves from ancient books, but he had never really seen them.

The Ye Zi brand was popular in the late Tang and early Song dynasties. It was generally a tool for entertainment among nobles, especially the wives of various families were the most enthusiastic. The reason was very simple. Most women in this era tried to minimize the chance of showing up and there were few entertainment items, so the Ye Zi brand became a rare entertainment tool.

The so-called Ye Zi Card can be regarded as the earliest card game in the world. Chen Ao didn't understand the specific rules, and couldn't help but think that this Ye Zi Card has any connection with poker.

Empress Dowager Qinci noticed Chen Ao's gaze and pursed her lips and smiled: "What? Does Chen Ao also like to play Ye Zi Card?"

Chen Ao hurriedly said, "Weichen doesn't know, it's just the first time I've seen this card, and I'm a little interested."

Empress Dowager Qinci smiled and said to Zhao Ji, "It's amazing that the big man is interested in Ye Zipai. This is the first time the Ai family knows it."

In fact, there are more men playing Ye Zi Card. Men like to bet, and Ye Zi Card is an excellent gambling tool. The reason why she doesn't know is that there are not many men around her. Zhao Ji and Zhao Zong each have their own hobbies and are not very enthusiastic about Ye Zi Card.

Qin Ci waved to Chen Ao and said, "Come on, Ai's family will teach you."

Chen Ao was not afraid, and walked over calmly, thinking to himself that Empress Dowager Qinci must be a card fan. When he saw that he showed a little interest, he couldn't help but want to give her experience of Ye Zipa.

Queen Mother Qinci asked Chen Ao to go to her side and tell Chen Ao what this card was and what that card was. This card was originally an imperial object, and it was very well-made, not inferior to poker in later generations. In addition, the rules of Ye Zi Card were simple, which was slightly similar to mahjong in later generations. After understanding the rules, Chen Ao thought to himself that this was really the ancestor of mahjong, and it was also a fool version of mahjong, such as mahjong, which had tubes, ten thousand zi, shuttles, and east, south and north winds, etc., but the Ye Zi Card had four colors: 100,000 jin, ten thousand jin, zi, and ci. Among them, ten thousand jin and ci. One card was from one to nine, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card, one card

Qin Ci was very happy when she saw Chen Ao learning quickly, and even her son couldn't care about it. She said, "It's better to do this. You're fine, so you can play a few games with the Ai family."

Chen Ao said guiltily: "When playing cards with the Queen Mother, do you want to win the lottery? The Queen Mother, the student's family only has tens of thousands of coins, but he can't stand losing. Can we play a smaller game? One hundred coins per game, and it's a small gambling to enjoy the fun..."

Zhao Ji was so angry that he glared at him: "Do you think this is a gambling device? Do you want to play a small bet with the Queen Mother?"

Empress Dowager Qinci smiled in a good mood and said, "Okay, just bet on the fun, one hundred official games, should the official and the King of Jin come and have fun?"

The two of them were not interested in Ye Zipai, so they shook their heads quickly. Zhao Ji said, "Mother, my son has something to deal with. I will take the leave first and come to greet you tomorrow."

King Jin said: "I have been in the palace for so long and haven't returned home to see the princess. My son and minister left first, and my mother and queen have fun with the cards."

The two of them ran away in a panic and must have hated Ye Zipai deeply.

Empress Dowager Qinci said, "We have to find two more people. Isn't Mrs. Xian your aunt? Why don't you just call her here? An Ning has nothing to do, and go and ask her if she has any time."

The eunuch immediately went to call someone. After a while, the virtuous concubine came in slowly and greeted Qin Ci. When she saw Chen Ao, she smiled slightly and said, "Chen Ao, haven't you gone to Hangzhou?"

Chen Ao said: "I was called back by the emperor again."

Concubine Xian smiled and said, "It's good to come back, but it's not necessarily better to be an official outside than Bianjing." After that, she sat on the side of Empress Dowager Qinci and asked about the good news.

After a while, Princess Anning also came. Princess Anning lost weight again. When she saw Chen Ao, she forgot to greet the queen mother for a moment. Her misty eyes looked at Chen Ao deeply, as if she was resentful. She immediately noticed her loss of composure and turned her pretty face to the side. She did not dare to look at Chen Ao anymore. She saluted to the queen mother and said, "I have seen the queen mother." After that, she stood aside obediently and said, "Didn't you say you want to play the Ye Zi card? Why is there one person missing?"

Qin Ci smiled and said, "Where are there fewer people? In addition, this Master Chen, aren't there four?"

Princess An Ning said shyly: "Are he a big man who also plays the Ye Zi card?"

Chen Ao laughed in his heart and said seriously: "I am just a beginner, so I have to ask everyone to give in."

After explaining the rules, the four of them sat in a corner of the table and pushed the cards. Each of them took eight cards. Chen Ao took the cards and just saw them, he followed the previous one to play cards. He had experience in mahjong. In later generations, the most profound method of cheating on mahjong was not to change cards, but to special abilities, it was nonsense. What was really useful was to calculate cards, that is, to calculate which cards had been produced and which cards had not appeared from the cards played. This method requires a high level of memory. Chen Ao used to take some effort to learn this method. The number of leaves is much smaller than that of mahjong, so it is much easier to remember.

After a round of cards, Chen Ao had almost the bottom of his heart. The Empress Dowager's level should be the highest, followed by the Virtuous Concubine. As for An Ning, Chen Ao lost two games deliberately and observed the three of them first. There are tricks here. Different people have different facial expressions when they get good cards and bad cards. For example, if Empress Dowager Qinci, if she gets good cards, she can't help but blink. This is just the subtle expression, but if she observes carefully, she can see the clues.

"Okay, let's see that I'm going to kill all the people, and make some pocket money first to spend money." Chen Ao felt at ease, and his ambition surged in his heart, but he said to Empress Dowager Qinci with a bitter look on his face: "The Empress Dowager's card skills are superb, and the Wei minister is really far from it."
Chapter completed!