Harem Daily Life

Chapter 252 Taking the Children to a Dinner Party

Tao Yanyan prepared braised lion's head meatballs today. They were all freshly fried big meatballs, golden yellow. As soon as they came out of the pan, the Queen Mother asked for two to taste.

After all the basic preparations were ready, she took Qingfeng and Xianglan to pick up the children from the kindergarten.

When Xiao Jinan came out, his cheeks were flushed and he looked quite excited. He was the first to run to Tao Yanyan and hugged Tao Yanyan's thighs: "Mother, mother, I answered two questions today, and the teacher praised me for being teachable!"

Tao Yanyan touched his head and said, "Jin'an is awesome. I'll give you a big chicken drumstick when I get back."

He Xuan said proudly, "Mother Consort Tao, I gave the painting to the teacher today. The teacher praised my painting for being interesting and said that there is still a lot of room for improvement!"

After hearing this, Tao Yanyan looked at He Xuan's arrogant expression and couldn't bear to discourage her, so she blinked and said, "Well, then mother will invite a painting master for you in the future to teach you well."

He Xuan was so happy that she laughed out loud, her little face flushed.

He Yue stood beside the two of them, pursed her lips and said nothing.

Tao Yanyan pinched her little face: "Where is the second princess? Do you have any interesting stories to share with me?"

He Xuan and Xiao Jinan both moved closer to Tao Yanyan, looking alert.

The second princess looked at the eldest princess and little Jin'an, pouted and said, "I asked them to look at my friend, and they were all scared and crying."

Tao Yanyan had a bad feeling and intuitively felt that the second princess' "friend" was definitely not a good person.

As expected, He Xuan grabbed Tao Yanyan's hand and said in fear: "The second princess showed us the earthworms she caught. They were wriggling around and I was almost scared to death. Fortunately, Jin'an was not afraid. The two of them even buried the earthworms."

Little Jinan looked at Tao Yanyan and said, "Earthworms are not scary. I encountered them when I was turning the soil. They can loosen the soil. This is what my mother told me. But spiders are scary. The second princess insisted on giving me a spider, so I was scared and cried."

The second princess was not convinced and frowned, saying: "They are obviously very cute, humph, you don't know how to appreciate them!"

Tao Yanyan took a deep breath and looked at He Yue: "Spiders are poisonous, Second Princess should play with them less. Earthworms are not poisonous, but those that come out of the soil are not clean either."

The second princess nodded: "Then I won't play with spiders anymore. I will wash my hands carefully after playing with earthworms."

Seeing that she loved these small animals very much, Tao Yanyan stopped persuading her. Maybe in the future, a child like the second princess can become an animal research expert!

Seeing that the time was almost up, Tao Yanyan said, "Let's go. Your Royal Grandmother is waiting. Let's go to Changchun Palace for dinner."

The second princess was stunned: "Then can I go?"

Tao Yanyan looked at the Second Princess's entourage and said, "How about Mammy send someone to Fengyi Palace to report to the Queen, and tell her that I am taking the Second Princess to Changchun Palace for dinner, and will send her back after dinner."

The nanny did not dare to disobey, so she sent a eunuch to report. Tao Yanyan directly took the three little ones and rode in sedan chairs to Changchun Palace.

When the Queen Mother saw that three of the four children had come, she said happily, "Yue'er is here too? Yue'er hasn't come to visit the Imperial Grandmother for a long time. Come to me quickly."

He Linzhang's four children are all very good-looking, especially the second princess, who is so cute that if you ignore the fact that there is a tomboy living in her soul, everyone will be attracted by her appearance.

She walked to the Queen Mother with her short legs. The Queen Mother pulled her and looked at her carefully: "Well, you seem to have grown a little taller. Today, Concubine Tao personally cooked a lot of delicious dishes. You can eat more later."

The three children accompanied the empress dowager while Tao Yanyan went to cook. Not long after, He Linzhang came. He talked with the empress dowager for a while in the main hall, and then went to the kitchen to see the busy little Zhaoyi.

As soon as Tao Yanyan took a dish out of the pot, she saw the emperor standing outside the door and the others were waiting anxiously. She handed the last remaining dish to the imperial chef, took off her apron and went to accompany the emperor.

"Your Majesty did not sleep well last night? There are dark circles under your eyes." Tao Yanyan said as they took his arm and walked back to the main hall.

He Linzhang smiled and said, "I discussed with the Ministry of War overnight and decided to lend troops to the State of Chu to quell the rebellion. That's why I was a little worried and didn't sleep for several hours."

Tao Yanyan didn't understand these national affairs, so he just advised: "Staying up late is harmful to your health, so Your Majesty should go to bed early tonight and get enough rest to make up for it."

He Linzhang squeezed her palm and said, "Come and accompany me earlier tonight, okay?"

Tao Yanyan blushed and nodded.

Seeing Xiao Zhaoyi's shy look, He Linzhang couldn't help but curl his lips and said, "You have accompanied me so many times, why are you still so shy?"

Tao Yanyan glared at him: "It's not even a year yet, how can there be so many times?"

He Linzhang raised his eyebrows: "Oh, so Yan Yan thinks the frequency is too little! Then I will do it more tonight..." Before he could finish his words, Tao Yanyan raised his hand to cover his mouth.

"Your Majesty, this is Changchun Palace." Tao Yanyan looked around. Whether it was the emperor's attendants or the palace guards at various points, there were quite a few of them. How could anyone face this?

He Linzhang looked at her with a smile on his face, and put his arm around her waist for a while.

After the food was served, everyone sat around the dining table. The Queen Mother was very happy today, and the children were also very happy, and they all ate with sizzling taste.

When they were almost done eating, the Queen Mother said, "Emperor, there are many vacancies in the harem now, it's time to raise the rank of concubine."

He Linzhang said: "But we both have no children. It is not appropriate to make a concubine without a child."

The Queen Mother nodded: "Since you know this, you should visit the palaces more often. There are so many young concubines, but only a few children in the harem. How can you have children if you don't go? Even if you are busy in the former dynasty, you must always remember that it is your responsibility to have children."

After being scolded, He Linzhang looked up at Tao Yanyan, trying to see some signs of reluctance or jealousy on her face, but he saw nothing and couldn't help feeling a little depressed.

"Yes, I will remember your teachings and will make arrangements. However, the State of Yan has been in turmoil recently. If Yan is in chaos and the pro-war faction comes to power, it will inevitably affect the border situation between the two countries. So I don't want to stay in the harem. I will wait and see. If your mother thinks that the position of concubine should not be left vacant for too long, why don't I promote Concubine Tao first? She is raising two children now. Although they are not her own, she still has children by her side."

Tao Yanyan was stunned. Can I still be promoted like this? Are you giving me too much slack?

The Queen Mother looked at Tao Yanyan and said, "Alright, then you will be promoted to Tao Zhaoyi first. However, Tao Zhaoyi, you must also recover as soon as possible and try to give Zhang'er a child. That will make it more legitimate."

Tao Yanyan stood up and saluted: "Yes, I will follow the Queen Mother's instructions."

After the meal was over and the emperor and Tao Yanyan left with the children, Eunuch Qin asked in confusion: "Why did the queen mother mention to Concubine Tao that Your Majesty should go to other palaces more often? Will Concubine Tao think too much?"