34 Daughter

◎ Over time, it is inevitable that he will notice it accidentally.◎

In the imperial study, the father and son each had their own thoughts.

Emperor Mingde weighed his words carefully, hesitating to speak.

After all, this matter couldn't be made public, and at the moment, it was just his speculation. If he spoke rashly, he was afraid of hurting Qi An's feelings, and he would be even less willing to confide in him in the future.

Lu Jing still said the same thing: "Father, I need to think about it a little more."

"Okay, okay." Emperor Mingde agreed. He needed to think this matter over carefully.

He had noticed Qi'an had only been acting strangely for the past few days, so he probably hadn't fallen too deeply into it. It wouldn't hurt to delay the matter of marriage. Once Qi'an had overcome this hurdle, and the palace had found him a few more beautiful concubines, the young man would eventually come to his senses.

"I'll take my leave."

Emperor Mingde ordered Li Ji to personally escort Prince Zhao out of the palace. He looked at the child's lonely back and felt guilty.

He should have planned Qi'an's marriage earlier. Even if Qi'an had been on the battlefield, he could have chosen a princess for him first. Why would he wait until today?

Emperor Mingde conveyed the decree to grant the marriage to the Prince of Huai's Mansion and confidently handed it over to the Empress.

He sighed. Yiwen passed away early, and Qi'an only had him as his father now. He had to pay more attention to him.

The sky was overcast, and without sunlight it felt a bit cooler.

As the imperial carriage returned to Prince Zhao's residence from the imperial palace, Sun Jing reported, "Your Highness, Lord Gu and the others are all at the parade grounds."

Originally, Lu Jing wanted to see less of that person, but then he changed his mind and thought, he just came to see the bows and arrows, so why should he be avoided?

There is no wind today, which is indeed suitable for practicing archery.

The training ground was bustling with activity, as a new row of targets had been placed.

When Lu Jing arrived, an arrow was shot into the air, flew through a distance of forty steps, and penetrated the edge of the bull's eye.

He looked in the direction the arrow came from and saw that it was shot by Yuan Le.

Gu Ningxi put away the short crossbow in her hand. Previously, she did not know how to adapt. His Royal Highness Prince Zhao only told her to shoot the arrow into the bull's eye, but never told her that she must use a longbow.

She only thought of this a few days ago when she heard Prince Zhen and others talking about the modification of bows and crossbows.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"Long live Your Highness."

A few people found a place to sit nearby. Xie Qian curiously borrowed the short crossbow from Gu Ningxi and looked at it: "This is quite interesting."

Gu Ningxi nodded. Compared to a wooden bow, a crossbow has greater lethality and a higher accuracy rate. It doesn't require advanced skills to wield. Her short crossbow had been specially modified. While its impact was lacking, its accuracy was greatly improved. With a basic understanding of archery, hitting the bull's eye at forty or fifty paces was no problem.

However, this short crossbow is far from enough to fight against the Turks.

Gu Ningxi looked at His Royal Highness Prince Zhao. Without her saying anything, Lu Jing understood that the person opposite her wanted to leave the palace.

Although it was a bet made casually, His Royal Highness Prince Zhao has not forgotten it.

Zhen Yuan carefully examined the crossbow and said with a smile, "This short crossbow is exquisite. I wonder where Lord Gu got it from?"

Gu Ningxi said, "My cousin from my maternal grandparents' family made this specifically for me. I'm afraid it's hard to find elsewhere."

Her cousin was a keen weapon lover and had several crossbows hidden at home. She had wanted to borrow one, but her cousin, after listening to her needs, spent several days crafting a new crossbow specifically for her, one that would be perfect for her and could be used for self-defense in the future.

If you listen carefully, it is not difficult to taste the pride and trust in Gu Ningxi's cousin Meng from his words.

Lu Jing was silent for a moment. Yes, he had been distracted too much by him recently.

The arrow hitting the bull's eye at this moment must be God's will.

Since he returned to Beijing, they have become too close.

Maybe it would be good for both of us to separate for a while.

…

It’s July and the hottest weather is gradually passing.

After returning from the training ground that day, Gu Ningxi began to clean up the duty room, and over the past two days he moved his belongings to the Gu Mansion one after another.

Counting the days, she had been on duty in Prince Zhao's mansion for nearly half a year, and the total amount of things she had collected was quite a lot.

Just as he finished counting the brushes, his long-servant came outside to announce, "Master Gu, the Marquis of Wu'an is here to visit."

Gu Ningxi nodded: "Please come in, my lord."

Xie Qian had nothing to do when he visited today, he mainly came to show off his wooden chariot.

After showing it to Lord Gu, he still had to go to the Zhending Palace.

The table is empty and the wooden chariot can gallop freely.

Gu Ningxi praised it generously, "Finally, it's fixed. I told you, it's truly majestic and exquisite."

"Yes." The wooden chariot took a long time to build, and Xie Qian would visit the Imperial Household Department whenever he had free time. He always reminded the craftsmen not to rush, but to take their time and work meticulously, striving for perfection. After several months of hard work, they finally had a flawless wooden chariot.

As he spoke, Xie Qian also looked at the half-empty duty room.

He asked, "Master Gu is leaving?"

"Well, I will go back to the East Palace tomorrow."

Although I had vaguely heard the news a long time ago, the feeling was inevitably different when I actually heard it with my own ears.

Xie Qian also knew that Lord Gu had taken on the position of Prince's Assistant and would return to the Eastern Palace sooner or later.

After getting to know each other, Xie Qian smiled at Gu Ningxi.

There is no need to be sad. After all, they are still officials in the same court and they will see each other again in the future.

Although they are divided into two parties, they can still be friends as long as the situation does not reach the final step.

Gu Ningxi ordered someone to prepare tea, using it instead of wine: "Good times will come after bad times."

This is true for the wooden chariot in front of us, and also for Xie Qian, the Marquis of Wu'an.

The two clinked their glasses, and Gu Ningxi prayed silently in his heart.

I hope her dream will also be like this, turning bad luck into good luck.

…

The days back in the Eastern Palace were smoother than Gu Ningxi had imagined.

As she wished, since she had been in Prince Zhao's mansion for a long time, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would not feel comfortable using her again, no matter what the purpose was.

The Eastern Palace is full of talented people, so it doesn't matter if she is missing a sixth-rank official.

Gu Ningxi felt relieved. While his cousin was still in the capital, he picked a free day and invited him to a teahouse.

The aroma of tea filled the air. Meng Ting looked at the person with a happy expression between his brows and smiled with her unconsciously: "You seem to be in a good mood these days."

"Yes." Gu Ningxi poured tea for her cousin. She held a banquet today to thank her cousin for making the short crossbow for her, and secondly, to congratulate her for escaping from Prince Zhao's Mansion unscathed.

She had repaired her relationship with His Royal Highness Prince Zhao and had always been respectful to the Eastern Palace. No matter who ascended the throne in the future, she should be able to successfully request permission to be sent out.

After she improved the Jiangdong plow, she would think about building a new drum cart and occasionally participate in some recreational work. With enough achievements, she should have more options when she was transferred to a new post.

Meng Ting looked at the bright smile on her face and said, "But I heard you say before that you were living well in Prince Zhao's mansion?"

Now that she has left the palace, Xier is so happy. Could it be that she was wronged in the palace?

"That's not the case."

Gu Ningxi sipped her tea. She could have stayed in Prince Zhao's mansion. However, she was a member of the Eastern Palace, so it would have been inconvenient for her to remain there for long. Furthermore, while Prince Zhao didn't currently suspect her identity, it was inevitable that he would notice her over time. Since the timing was right, it would have been best for her to leave immediately.

She thought it through carefully, and Meng Ting nodded with a smile.

As the sun sets, laughter fills the room.

The same afterglow of the setting sun shone into the duty room of Prince Zhao's mansion.

"Your Highness." Sun Jing called for someone to unlock the door. This duty room had originally been used by Lord Gu. After Lord Gu moved out, he thought about it and told the steward of the West Courtyard not to use the room for other purposes for the time being.

It was originally just an unintentional reminder, but I didn't expect that His Royal Highness Prince Zhao would relax in the palace at night and unknowingly walk here.

The duty room is not big, but perhaps because there are not many things in it, it seems particularly empty.

Lu Jing walked into the house and told everyone to leave.

The door of the duty room was closed from the outside. Lu Jing sat alone behind the desk, looking at the clean and tidy table in a daze.

It was his habit to keep his desk cluttered with things. Sometimes, when he was so absorbed in drawing, it was not uncommon to find a dozen or so brushes scattered across the table. No wonder he always had trouble finding his books.

Thinking of the old days with Yuan Le when he was young, Lu Jing smiled.

It's been four days since I last saw him, he thought.

I wonder how he is doing after returning to the East Palace, and whether he will be troubled by others?

Lu Jing knocked his knuckles on the wooden table intermittently.

Why must he avoid Yuan Le? he suddenly thought.

He clearly has a clear conscience, and going to great lengths to avoid it only makes him seem guilty and unusual.

His feelings for Yuan Le may not necessarily be love, but just admiration for his good friend.

Yes, looking around Kyoto, there are countless people who appreciate Yuanle.

He has no experience, so how can he conclude that this is love?

After tossing and turning his thoughts for a long time, Lu Jing suddenly felt speechless. He rarely retreated on the battlefield, so why was he so evasive in this matter?

Could it be that he has become indecisive since returning to Kyoto?

As the sky gradually darkened, the steward of the kitchen went to the west courtyard to ask His Highness Chief Steward Sun whether he wanted to serve the meal.

Sun Jing was also undecided. His Highness had been sitting in the room for a long time, and it seemed that he was thinking of something important.

But after another quarter of an hour, when Sun Jing went forward to knock on the door, His Royal Highness Prince Zhao looked back to normal.

Lu Jing did seem to have figured things out.

Perhaps there were not enough political affairs to deal with, so he had so many distracting thoughts.

Since he has gradually taken over the affairs of the Secretariat, he should be more diligent.

…

As the morning light broke, a steaming hot breakfast was already prepared in Qinlan Courtyard.

As he was celebrating the good news, Gu Ningxi had a good appetite recently and even ate half an extra sugar packet when dining with his mother.

Madam Meng and her men prepared some afternoon snacks for her: "If you have nothing to do in the evening, go home early and rest."

"The child knows."

Mrs. Meng smiled gently. When Xier was in the East Palace, sometimes they would discuss matters until dark.

Gu Ningxi had no choice. Everyone in the Eastern Palace was incredibly diligent. None of the high-ranking officials had left. As a newcomer to the officialdom, with no family to worry about, what excuse did she have to return home?

As he boarded the carriage bound for the Ministry of Industry, Gu Ningxi mentally arranged several drawings he would look at today.

She was about to think about Jiangdong Li when, around mid-morning, she heard some faint noises coming from outside the window, seemingly coming from the east.

Gu Ningxi was completely focused on looking at his own drawing.

It was almost lunchtime when she finally rubbed her brows and found the leisure to ask a well-informed colleague from the Ministry of Industry, "What's going on outside?"

That colleague's surname was He, and he was also born into an aristocratic family. He had entered the civil service in the same year as her, serving as a seventh-rank official in the Ministry of Works. As both were members of the younger generation within the Ministry, they had a good personal relationship.

He Zhubu said, "I'm cleaning up the central duty room. The ministers from the six ministries are waiting in turn to see me."

Gu Ningxi looked in the direction he was going. The duty room in the center belonged to the Minister of Chancellery, that is... His Royal Highness Prince Zhao.

The six ministries of the Secretariat each have their own responsibilities. Although the Shangshu Ling has a high status, he has the six ministers and vice ministers to share his responsibilities, so he does not have many trivial matters on weekdays.

Moreover, the current Shangshu Ling is His Royal Highness Prince Zhao, and His Royal Highness has only been back in Beijing for half a year. This second-rank official title is just icing on the cake for him.

He Zhubu lowered his voice quietly: "I heard that His Royal Highness Prince Zhao will be in the Ministry of State Affairs for the next few days. Brother Gu and I will have to be more careful when we do our work."

【Author’s words】

Female goose: Move out from Prince Zhao’s palace!

Xiao Lu: Let’s go!