The Pheonix and The Dragon

16.Picking Flowers

Lisa felt that it was not appropriate for her, an outsider, to sit here during Empress Dowager Jieun and the emperor's mother-son time. So she suggested leaving.

"It is almost noon. What are you going to do when you return?" Empress Dowager Jieun immediately refused. "I had the imperial kitchen prepare your favourite dishes. If you leave, won't those dishes be wasted?"

Jungkook also smiled and said, "Junior Sister, do not leave. I still want to get a free meal from Mother-Empress with you. If you leave, Mother-Empress will not be in the mood to dine, and I fear I will be disliked."

Empress Dowager Jieun smiled and glanced at Jungkook. She nodded and said, "Emperor is correct."

Since the two already spoke like this, if Lisa still refused, then it would be untactful. Also, in the past when she came to Kangquan Palace, the empress dowager frequently dined with her. If she persisted in leaving today due to the emperor's presence, what if she caused the young emperor's unhappiness and he bullied her father?

This young emperor was at the age of teenage rebellion.

Seeing Lisa finally stop mentioning leaving, Empress Dowager Jieun's smile grew bigger. She had the palace attendants serve a cup of appetizing tea for Jungkook and Lisa and spoke of what had happened a few days ago at the racecourse in front of the emperor.

"I heard that the two girls in the accidents were all from legitimate branches?" Empress Dowager Jieun looked at the emperor who was drinking tea with his head held low and said meaningfully, "The women of these two families are not simple people. Lili, you have to be careful when you interact with these girls in the future."

"This subject will remember." Lisa nodded and said, "The girls from the Jung Family are pretty good." She hesitated and did not say that Jessica had warned her to be careful.

In her eyes, this may just be the other innocently giving her a kind reminder. But after the horse accident, everyone's actions would be magnified. Even ordinary concerns would have different meanings in other people's eyes.

She and Jessica had not had many private interactions and their relationship was a surface one. But Jessica treated her with more friendliness than hostility, so she was not willing to think the worst of a girl not yet fifteen.

"The Lee Family..." Empress Dowager Jieun recalled that someone had mentioned a few days ago that the Lee Family wanted to be in-laws with the Kim Family. But the Kim Family hadn't had any interest and then the matter was left unsettled. But she swallowed the words as she did not want to mention this matter when she thought about Lili's young age. "I've had the imperial chef learn the recipes you gave me a few days ago. Remember to have a taste and see if the imperial chefs have mastered them."

Lisa smiled and responded positively. The pair's conversation moved from the racecourse accident to delicious food.

When women were extremely interested, men could not participate in their discussion. Jungkook listened silently from the side as the empress dowager's topics reached further to the grudges of the past few decades.

Matters such as the patriarch of the Lee Family being a famous jade-faced young master in the past, the conflicts between the three branches of the Sima Family, or what absurdity the Bae Family had once had.

When Jungkook heard of how a man of a certain family had secretly kept a mistress outside and cried and begged when his wife found out and beat him up, he took a sip of water to suppress his shock.

As expected of the women in the capital. They were even more ferocious in personality than the women he encountered in Jin Prefecture.

He inexplicably glanced at Junior Sister Kim. Seeing her listen intently with her eyes shining, Jungkook couldn't help but cough. "Mother-Empress, it is already noon."