Chapter 337: Flattery
The emperor was just stunned for a moment and then woke up.
Luo Meiren also noticed the emperor's presence at this time and bowed silently.
The emperor waved his hand casually, and then his eyes fell on Niu Niu. The Queen Mother's words "the joy of being a parent" kept echoing in his mind.
The little girl was holding a writing brush in her hand. Despite the chaos around her, she was still writing big characters seriously, as if the matter in front of her was the most important thing in the world.
It wasn't until she finished writing a whole page that Niuniu stopped, looked at the large characters she had written carefully, and sighed.
"What are you sighing for?" the emperor asked with a smile.
Niu Niu stood up and saluted the emperor.
The emperor bent down and stretched out his hand to help the little girl up. He didn't know why, but he couldn't see Niu Niu saluting him.
Niu Niu answered the emperor's previous question: "I have been writing for so long, but my words have not improved much. I am afraid that when I go home and let my father see it, he will be disappointed."
The emperor could naturally tell that Niu Niu was afraid of disappointing Gu Mingda, rather than being afraid of being beaten. It was obvious that the little girl cared about Gu Mingda very much.
The emperor's teeth were a little sore and he asked casually: "Do you think something is wrong?"
The emperor took two steps and arrived at the stone table, looking at a bunch of big characters on the table.
Niu Niu's handwriting was not particularly good, but at her age, the emperor thought it was pretty good, at least it looked very neat.
But Niu Niu herself was not satisfied. The little girl pointed to one of the characters and said, "Uncle Emperor, look, the characters I wrote have no form, no spirit, and are soft."
The emperor laughed and said: "You are only six years old. You will be fine when you are older."
Luo Meiren opened her mouth, thinking about speaking, but in the end she held back.
Niu Niu just raised her head, saw Luo Meiren's hesitation, and asked: "Sister Beauty, do you think there is something wrong?"
The emperor also followed Niu Niu's words and looked at Luo Meiren.
Judging from this face alone, Luo Meiren is one of the best in the entire harem. The emperor is also a normal man, so he naturally likes such a pleasing face. It's just that the imperial concubine doesn't like Luo Meiren.
Even though he knew that Luo Meiren had done nothing wrong, the emperor still felt a little awkward.
Luo Meiren smiled lightly and said: "My dear, your majesty is right. You feel that the handwriting is soft now because you are still young and have no strength in your hands. If you want to practice the calligraphy as soon as possible, , what we need to do is actually to increase our strength.”
Niu Niu immediately asked: "Sister, how can I get stronger? Do I need to eat more? Five meals a day? More snacks?"
The emperor and Luo Meiren couldn't help laughing when they saw Niu Niu's greedy look.
When Niu Niu saw their reaction, disappointment suddenly appeared in her black and white eyes: "Isn't that so? What is that?"
The emperor smiled and said: "When I was practicing calligraphy when I was young, my husband had someone tie a sandbag around my wrist. This lasted forever, so that the handwriting I wrote was quite strong."
Niuniu couldn't help but ask: "How heavy are the sandbags?"
"It started out as one pound, and then slowly went up," the emperor said.
Niu Niu frowned and looked at Luo Meiren expectantly.
Luo Meiren said with a smile: "My mother taught me another method. Hold the egg in your hand and squeeze it from time to time. If you do this for a long time, you can gradually increase your strength, but it will definitely not be as effective as your Majesty's method. ”
Between the big hardship and the small hardship, Niuniu quickly chose to eat the small hardship. She even asked: "If I grab a hard-boiled egg, can I eat it directly when I get tired?"
The emperor laughed again and said, "You little girl, you really want to eat all the time!"
Niuniu replied confidently: "Eating and drinking are important events in life! If a person doesn't think about eating, is he still a human being?"
What the little girl said casually sounded like nothing wrong at first, but after the emperor listened carefully, he thought it made sense. He later recalled that the five little girls' testimonies all mentioned one sentence: Mr. Wu said But Niuniu.
"Lingya, you, if you find a husband in the future, I'm afraid you will have to quarrel and quarrel every day!" When the emperor said this, he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable again.
He couldn't help but wonder, did he really regard Niu Niu as his daughter? He is actually like those fathers among the people who are reluctant to marry their daughters.
The emperor actually once thought that if he had a daughter and was reluctant to get married, the worst he could do would be to imitate Beigong's baby, raise her in the palace, and never marry.
He didn't expect that not only did he have this love for his daughter, but Gu Mingda also did so.
"My father said that if I can't find a suitable husband in the future, I don't have to marry anyone! I don't want to quarrel with a stranger!" Niu Niu said confidently.
When the emperor heard Niuniu mention Gu Mingda, his mind suddenly moved and he asked: "When you were at home, your father taught you your homework before?"
Niu Niu nodded vigorously and said, "My dad taught me well! I like dad the most!"
The emperor's teeth became sour again. He lowered his head and looked at the big characters written by Niu Niu on the table. The teacher was not watching, nor did he deliberately assign homework. Niu Niu knew that she took the initiative to practice the big characters, which shows that Gu Mingda did teach the children well.
"What would you think if your father came into the palace to teach you?" the emperor asked.
When Niu Niu heard this, she was so excited that her eyes lit up like stars in the sky: "Really? Is it really possible to see daddy every day! Then I will study hard!"
The emperor was even more jealous. He didn't have his own children yet, but now he was witnessing the deep bond between other fathers and daughters.
Niuniu saw that the emperor hadn't spoken for a long time, so she immediately grabbed his sleeve and started pestering him: "Uncle Emperor, you are the best person, Niuniu likes you the most, please, let my dad come in as a teacher! I really want to see my dad every day!"
The cute little girl was acting coquettishly in a baby voice, and probably few people could bear it. Concubine Luo was watching from the side, and at this time she wanted to help Niuniu to beg for mercy.
The emperor enjoyed this feeling very much, and deliberately pretended to be thinking.
The more this happened, the more active Niuniu became.
She picked up the teapot and cup on the stone table, poured out a cup of tea diligently, and brought it to the emperor pitifully: "Uncle Emperor, this tea is warm and can be drunk directly! You just said so much, you must be thirsty."
The emperor took the tea, but did not drink it immediately, but said: "Is it just tea? I am a little hungry too."
The little girl did not hesitate at all, and immediately trotted into her room, and then brought a handful of snacks to the emperor: "Uncle Emperor, these are very delicious, you try them!"
Beigong Yingying refers to a filial daughter who does not marry and stays at home to support her parents in their old age. [Source]: "Strategies of the Warring States·Strategies of Qi IV": "Is the baby of Beigong's daughter okay? She took off her rings and did not marry until she was old to support her parents. They all led the people out of filial piety. Why haven't they come to court until now?"