Queen Mother, she just wants to lie down

"Does your mother want to hug him? The prince is very well behaved." Queen Wang said with a smile.

Ruan Qing was quite moved when she saw the baby who was prettier than the dolls in New Year pictures.

I want to hug her, but I’m a little afraid to do it.

After she returned to the palace, she took a hot bath and changed into a new set of clothes. She should not feel cold anymore, right?

The queen's eyebrows curved when she saw this, and she reached out to pick up the doll on the couch and put it in Ruan Qing's hands.

Ruan Qing, who had never held such a small baby before, suddenly froze up. He held him gently with both hands and did not dare to move at all.

What surprised her was that the baby was not shy at all. After being in her arms, he not only stopped crying, but also tilted his head to look at her for a moment, and then started giggling.

He smiles so happily at such a young age. He seems to be a rare smart kid.

Ruan Qing once heard from a doctor friend that the earlier a baby laughs, the better his brain development is.

Infected by the little boy's smile, Ruan Qing's body unconsciously softened. She supported his back with one hand and his butt with the other, and gently held him in her arms.

"Don't be nervous, mother. This child is well-behaved and easy to hold." Queen Wang saw Ruan Qing's nervous look and tried to comfort her.

"Well, this child is not only good-looking, but also very smart and well-behaved. The queen will be blessed in the future."

Ruan Qing nodded in agreement.

"It's all thanks to my mother." Queen Wang's pretty face blushed slightly.

She is now grateful to the Queen Mother from the bottom of her heart.

If she had not taught His Majesty so well, she would not have had the opportunity to marry His Majesty, and naturally she would not have been able to have such a beautiful child.

Ruan Qing stayed in Fengqi Palace for more than half an hour before returning to his own palace.

After I came back, I felt very tired. I had a bowl of porridge for dinner and went to sleep.

He had a dreamless night. The next day, he got up, practiced Eight-Section Brocade, and had breakfast. Ruan Qing was sitting on the couch in the flower hall reading a book.

Qiu Cheng walked in: "Your Majesty, Princess Ronghua and Princess Zhaoping are here."

Ruan Qing put down his hand, looked out the window, and found that snowflakes had been falling outside without him knowing.

"Ronghua and Zhaoping are here? Please invite them in."

"Ronghua greets the Queen Mother." Ronghua walked into the flower hall, saw Ruan Qing, and immediately stepped forward to pay his respects.

When Ruan Qing just became the empress dowager, Ronghua did not pay respect to her, after all, it was the special permission of the late emperor.

When greetings are performed occasionally, they are usually perfunctory.

But now when she saw Ruan Qing again, she instinctively regarded herself as a subject and walked forward in a proper manner to perform the etiquette between the monarch and her subjects.

The Queen Mother's performance during her half-year absence from the capital indeed proved that she was more capable than herself.

She is now a capable empress dowager who is feared by the court and the country. She is wise and intelligent, and has the world in her heart.

The daughter was right. She couldn't beat her. She couldn't beat her before, let alone now.

"Zhao Ping greets my aunt." Zhao Ping also came forward and bowed.

"No need to be so polite, please stand up. We are all here, so there is no need to be so polite. Come and sit down.

Qiucheng, go make a pot of hot tea." Ruan Qing waved his hand.

"Aunt, luckily it didn't snow on the way back, otherwise we don't know when we can reach the capital." Zhaoping said while patting the snowflakes off his body.

"That's right, luckily the heavens are on my side, otherwise I would not be able to make it to the Hundred Days Banquet for the Emperor's Grandson.

Ronghua, I heard that you are going to recruit a new prince consort?"

Ruan Qing nodded in agreement, and then asked Ronghua a question with a hint of mischief.

"Well, Xiao Hu has been asking me to give him a name. I thought about it and agreed." Ronghua answered without being pretentious.

After not seeing each other for more than half a year, Ronghua found that when he saw Ruan Qing again, he didn't even have the slightest thought of competing with her in his heart. The two of them seemed to have become old friends for many years.

"Xiao Hu is good, much better than Jiang Chi." Ruan Qing said.

"Didn't you two exchange commands? Zhaoping has already insulted me once at home.

Finally, when we arrived at the Cining Palace, you poked my heart again.

It seems that Zhaoping has been traveling with you for more than half a year. You two have become uncle and nephew, and I have become an outsider, right?" Ronghua pretended to be angry.

"In terms of vision, you are indeed not as good as me and my aunt." Zhaoping, who was sitting next to her, made a face at her.

"Bad girl, go away, I don't have time to argue with you.

Your Majesty the Queen Mother, I came to the palace today to discuss with you the little prince’s hundred-day banquet.

This child is the emperor's eldest son and also his first child.

When the full moon came, you, as a grandmother, were not there, and the war happened to break out, so the ceremony was not done.

The Hundred Days Banquet nowadays cannot be sloppy. I have made a gift list. Please see if there is anything that needs to be modified. " Ronghua pushed his daughter's head away and took out a thick gift list from his wide sleeves.

Ruan Qing took it and flipped through it quickly, then closed it after a moment:

"Let's reduce the menu at the palace banquet. All ministers above the fourth rank and all the nobles have been invited, so there will definitely be a lot of food and drink.

It’s cold, and it would be a waste if we couldn’t finish all the dishes.

In my opinion, ten dishes per table is enough, and a few more hot pots can be added. This will ensure that everyone is well fed and there is no waste.

The money saved can be used to set up more porridge stalls. I see that the higher-ups are planning to set up fifty porridge stalls outside the palace in the name of the eldest prince and provide porridge for five days.

Let’s change the fifty porridge stalls into one hundred, with five main workshops, each with twenty porridge stalls, and change the five-day service to seven days.

By the way, is there enough food in the Ministry of Revenue's granary?

If it’s not enough, don’t give out porridge, just give out money directly.

The notice was passed down that all people in the capital, whether they were from other places or locals, who were not officials or from noble families, could receive fifty coins each by presenting their household registration card, and beggars were no exception.

Each household can only receive the allowance once. No more than one allowance or false claiming will be allowed. Violators will be severely punished.

As for other disposable consumables, those that are too luxurious should be removed.

We just fought a big war, and there probably isn't much money left in the treasury, so we have to save as much as we can.

"This year, the new planting has just started, and the growth of grain production is limited. In addition, the court has reduced some taxes, so the Ministry of Revenue's surplus grain is not expected to be too much. It is indeed a good idea to give some money to the people.

But isn’t ten dishes per table too few for a palace banquet?

Your Majesty's eldest son, your eldest grandson, didn't even have a full moon banquet, so it would be inappropriate if the hundred-day banquet was too simple." Ronghua frowned.

You know, at the beginning she prepared twenty dishes for each table, but the Queen Mother reduced the number by half as soon as she asked.

"Ronghua, it is precisely because the prince is your majesty's eldest son and my eldest grandson that he should not be too extravagant.

Setting up a porridge stall outside the palace or distributing money can benefit the people.

Being simple in other aspects is just the way to accumulate blessings for him.

He is still so young, and being too extravagant would be a waste of blessings and would not be a good thing for him.

There are still countless people in the world who cannot even get enough food to eat.

We who live in the palace can only be supported by the people of the world in peace and stability if we can ensure that the people have enough food and clothing, the whole world is at peace, and no one dares to disturb the border." Ruan Qing sighed softly.

"Forget it, you are the little prince's grandmother. I will do whatever you say." Ronghua was silent for a moment and said nothing more.

After her daughter came home yesterday, she told her a lot of things about the outside world, which made her feel deeply touched.

Maybe her life could be simpler in the future. A person has limited food and supplies, and excessive luxury is really meaningless.

Ruan Qing was right. Only when the world was at peace and the people were loyal to their country could they, the royal family, be safely supported by the world.

Just like this war in the north, once Da Xi is defeated and the enemy is at the gates of the city, what good end will these nobles have?

"It's snowing outside. How about we have a hotpot for lunch?" After saying this, Ruan Qing quickly changed the subject.

"Okay, okay, my aunt's hotpot is delicious. I'll order the dishes." Zhao Ping said happily.

"Go ahead and order. Choose what you want to eat."

Zhaoping had never been polite to Ruan Qing when they had meals here before, and now that they had been out together for so long, he would be even less polite.

She quickly ordered a few dishes that she and her mother liked.

After ordering, he asked again: "Aunt, where is my disciple?"

"They are reading in the side hall. Qiao Jun is very diligent. Xiaoyu is also over there." Ruan Qing pointed to a side hall on the left.

Jiang Xiaoyu and Qiao Jun followed Ruan Qing back to the capital, and the two girls lived together as companions.

"I'll go find her." Zhao Ping said, and ran away like a gust of wind.

"This girl is getting crazier and crazier." Ronghua shook his head as he looked at her back.

"Although Zhaoping is crazy, she is smarter than anyone else when she needs to be smart. Maybe she will become a famous minister of Daxi in the future." Ruan Qing said.

"You really dare to praise me." Ronghua was speechless.

"I'm not praising you. You should try to understand your daughter better. She is very smart and her ability to handle things is top-notch."

Prosperity...

"Who is the disciple she is talking about?"

"There is a little girl from Jiangnan. I intend to train her and let her be in charge of the Women's Association of Jiangnan. She will ask Zhaoping to be her teacher." Ruan Qing said.

"For you to think so highly of her, she must be a girl with real abilities.

Hey, when you first said you wanted to start a women's association last year, although I didn't say anything, I felt quite disdainful in my heart.

I didn't expect that it was because I had lived in Beijing for so long that I was used to being a frog in a well.

I don’t know if a truly talented person can do and do well anything he can say. ” Ronghua said.

"Don't praise me like that, I don't deserve it.

The rapid development of the Women’s Association and its recognition by the world are inseparable from the help of all the participants.”

On December 16, the emperor's eldest son's hundred-day banquet was held, and the whole capital was in an uproar.

In order to celebrate the birthday of the eldest son, the empress dowager and the emperor set up a hundred stalls outside the palace to distribute money to the common people.

All ordinary people in the capital can receive fifty cents by showing their household registration.

This is like timely help and life-saving for many poor families or penniless people.

A family with more than five people can receive two or three hundred coins. Two or three hundred coins can allow the family to have a good New Year.

"Mother, I heard that the Queen Mother and His Majesty are going to give money to all the people in Beijing to celebrate the prince's birthday. They can get it by showing their household registration cards.

Once we get the money and buy some medicine for our mother, she will get better.” In a dilapidated old house, a boy of seven or eight years old said to a woman lying on the bed, who was so sick that she was only breathing her last, while she was crying.