After the meeting ended, it was just around the corner of the afternoon meal.

Other ministers either asked eunuchs and servants to bring food boxes and barely deal with the black-hearted meals in the palace. Or they went out of the palace together and found a clean restaurant near the imperial city to eat some delicious food.

As the super-prime duke of the Ming Dynasty, Li Jinglong, who was in charge of various confidential ministers of the Nanshufang and was once the commander of the Imperial City Guards, had a separate and quiet hut next to the guard room in the palace.

The food I ate was also delivered to the palace from outside and carefully prepared by my own chef.

At this moment, five dishes were placed on the small round table in front of Li Jinglong.

Cook ham and mushrooms, cook bamboo shoots and chicken breasts with shrimps, and stew onions with stewed tendons.

There is also a milky white fresh fish tofu soup. The main food is silver silk rolls, honey crispbread, and sweet eight-treasure rice.

The windows of the small room were open, and the breeze slowly came in. The eunuch had arranged the rice with ease and smiled, "Master, it's all, please use it slowly!" As he said that, he bowed and retreated.

"I'm sorry to bother you all the time!" Li Jinglong smiled, his sleeves shook, and an exquisite little purse had been stuffed into the hand of the eunuch. He continued to say kindly, "It's not easy in the palace, the little father-in-law takes the wine!"

The little eunuch pinched his finger and knew that there were about a dozen yellow gold seeds in his purse, and he was immediately overjoyed.

This Duke Cao was polite and kind-hearted. He never used the eunuchs in vain. He was very generous and virtuous.

"I thank you for your reward!"

"Okay, okay, no, I'll give you a reward? Isn't this right?" Li Jinglong smiled.

The little eunuch smiled again and stepped back happily.

When he walked to a place where there was no one outside, he quickly took out the small purse and opened it. Sure enough, he was full of hard currency. He took out one and bit it with his teeth. He suddenly felt a silver. He said happily, "No wonder he can be a Duke. Look at his mind, this measure, this demeanor!"

~~

Not only are the food on the table exquisite, but the utensils used are also exquisite.

The overglaze pastel flowers and bird porcelain in Jingdezhen is as thin as paper wings, and the glittering silver chopsticks are exquisitely engraved patterns.

The small window was just open, and the wind from outside was slowly coming in.

As soon as Li Jinglong picked up the chopsticks, he heard footsteps coming from outside.

This place is specially for food, and no one comes on weekdays, so he looked up in surprise and happened to see his son Li Qi coming in from outside in a kirin suit.

"Why are you here?" Li Jinglong smiled, "I didn't have any meals, and I didn't sit down with my father!"

Li Qi lowered her head, and the expression on her face was very complicated.

"What's the matter with a sluggish head?" Li Jinglong took out a set of tableware for Li Qi from the food box and pushed it over, "But you encounter a difficult situation in the East Palace?"

"My son... is in Lezhizhai today. When you met in the small court just now, my son was Ermengang!" Li Qi whispered.

"Oh!" Li Jinglong's eyelids moved.

"Dad!" Li Qi obviously wanted to speak but stopped, "Son... I saw your actions in the palace just now by the emperor!"

"Oh!" Li Jinglong nodded again.

Second Gate Gate is a little far away from the emperor and cannot hear what the emperor and his ministers say, but if you pay attention, you can see clearly what is happening inside.

"Dad!" Li Qi suddenly looked up and looked at Li Jinglong's eyes, "You were in the hall just now, but I didn't notice... Isn't it that other ministers and ministers looked at you... Is there something wrong?"

Li Jinglong didn't say anything, picked up the chopsticks and picked up a slice of cooked Yunnan Xuanwei ham, and chewed it slowly in small mouths.

"Dad, son feels that you... have changed now! Since the Supreme Emperor left, you seem to have become a different person!" Li Qi muttered, "You are the royal relative, the superb Duke, the minister in charge of various confidential Nanshu, and the emperor's confidant. But sometimes, your son feels... too... too that!"

"Which?" Li Jinglong finally spoke, his voice faintly.

"That's it!" Li Qi frowned, unable to say the words in his heart. "When the court was dispersed just now, my son accidentally heard a few passers-by Hanlin scholars saying you... they said you..." As he said that, he stomped his feet suddenly and sighed heavily, "Oh!"

"Say I am a slander or a jester? I only know how to flatter and please the emperor?" Li Jinglong suddenly smiled freely and looked indifferent.

Li Qi moved down the stool and approached a little, "Dad, you didn't do this before! My son can see now that you are deliberately praising the emperor! You are a minister of the country, not..."

"Not what?" Li Jinglong interrupted his son again and said with a smile, "Your father, I am a minister of the country. I should have the style and manners that a minister should have, instead of wandering around the emperor like those servants, without being demeanor and decent, right?"

As he said, squinting his eyes, "You mean, your father was a minister of the Ming Dynasty and not a slave of the royal family, right?"

"I..." Li Qi couldn't speak and kept sighing.

"Do you think your father's current style is a bit despised by others?" Li Jinglong asked again.

Li Qi didn't say anything, which was equivalent to a default.

The king is the monarch and the minister, but in the traditional Confucian concept, the monarch and the minister are by no means the master and servant. The monarch can ask the minister to die, but the minister can also choose not to be greedy for wealth and honor and to be alone.

"You fucking stupid to study!" Li Jinglong cursed, but he didn't seem angry. Instead, he pushed the honey cake in front of him, "Try this. The Suzhou master I just hired at home doesn't have this skill in the palace!"

"Dad!" Li Qi looked up again and looked at Li Jinglong's eyes, "Son knows, you must have some difficulties!"

"You are not stupid!" Li Jinglong smiled, poked the tender mushrooms with chopsticks, then sighed, stood up and looked out the window, "Son! Whether it is a slander or a lie, or others look down on you, I don't have anything to do with our family or your father!"

As he said that, he turned around and slowly served himself the soup, and took a sip, "Even if they look down on me, who dares to say it in front of me? They said it behind my back, and when they saw me, weren't they asking me? Then think about it, who is the villain?"

As he said that, he turned around and looked out the window, "Now in the Ming Dynasty, is the emperor lacking the so-called righteous gentleman around him? Are there anyone who dares to give advice to death?"

"You said I would please the emperor, and said I was like a slave. Have you ever thought about why the emperor likes your father and me?"

Li Jinglong turned around, sat down again, served the meal for Li Qi, and pushed it over, "I'm not pleasing or treacherous. But I treat the emperor as my relative." As he said, he smiled again, "The emperor also likes your father and I am around him, because he is with others, and the emperor is unhappy!"

In fact, there are a few words that cannot be expressed in words, but Li Jinglong did not say.

The Supreme Emperor is gone, not only the sky on the heads of the vassal kings has collapsed, but why is the Li family the same?

Now, the only thing Li Jinglong can rely on is the emperor.

The emperor trusted him in the past, which did not mean that he would always trust him and favor him in the future.

The future dynasty is destined to change. Why should he, Li Jinglong, always stand firm?

"Let's have a meal!" Li Jinglong said lightly again, "In the future, let's go to the left ear and go into the right ear, pretending that I didn't hear it!" As he said, he smiled again, "Don't learn it, you can't help the prince!"

Li Qi was mixed with feelings. Which son didn't want his son to be a good man? On the one hand, he was a little disagreeing with his father's current way of doing things, but on the other hand, he also saw a little helplessness and melancholy from his father's eyes.

The father and son were sitting, both absent-mindedly eating.

Suddenly, footsteps came from outside.

"Can Jiujiang be there?"

Upon hearing this, Li Jinglong frowned, "Why did Xu Huizu come here?"
Chapter completed!