Chapter 141 Fat Old Nine

The first New Year's banquet after the mourning period was a grand affair. Members of the royal family, civil and military officials, and their families all attended.

"Wow, Ninth Brother, you've gotten quite plump."

"Go away, go away."

Yun Tang, with a dark face, tried to drive away her fifth brother, Yun Qi, who was there to watch the spectacle.

For the past six months, he's been busy with the expansion of the Royal Trading Company and only returned to Beijing a couple of days ago. Logically, he shouldn't have gained weight from being so busy. But dealing with those wealthy merchants from various regions inevitably involves eating and drinking, and coupled with his irregular eating habits due to his busy schedule, sometimes even having a late-night snack, he's unknowingly become quite "wider."

Yun Tang hadn't noticed before, but he still vividly remembers the look in Yin Zhen's eyes when he went to the palace to report two days ago. Under the other's admonition to "take good care of his health," Yun Tang hid back in his residence and didn't see anyone for two days.

If it weren't for the New Year's banquet today, he would definitely wait until he had slimmed down to his former handsome appearance before coming out to meet people.

Unfortunately, there was no escaping it. His premonition was right; from the moment he entered the hall, none of his brothers, who loved watching the drama unfold, spared him. Even his own brother came over to tease him.

"Tsk tsk tsk, Ninth Prince's pockets are bulging now, and he's got plenty of confidence too." Yunzhi, who was holding a wine glass, joined in the fun. To be precise, most of the princes were here to watch the spectacle, completely blocking the other curious members of the royal family. In any case, only the brothers could get the first scoop on the gossip.

"Third brother, don't forget that I filled your purse too." Yun Tang rolled his eyes and said irritably.

The eldest brother, Yun Ti, who happened to be walking over, overheard this and laughed heartily. He leaned over and put his arm around Yun Tang's shoulder, standing up for him: "Hey, third brother, how dare you offend the God of Wealth? Ninth brother, I'm different. I never watch your misfortunes. How about giving me a bigger share of this year's profits? Raising kids isn't easy for me..."

"Big brother, you..." Yunzhi was dumbfounded. So, you're stepping on me to get ahead, huh? "I was just joking with Ninth Brother. Don't try to renege on your promise. The amount of your share of the profits is fixed."

"How is Master cheating? Master is just trying to build a relationship with Ninth Prince, right, Ninth Prince?" Yun Ti was unconvinced. He didn't know the cost of living until he was in charge of the household. He had several daughters, so how could he not save up a lot of dowry?

"Brother, if you don't let go, I'll have no choice but to go underground and try to connect with you."

Yun Tang struggled, and Yun Ti then realized that he had been too excited and had been drinking, and had used too much force.

"Are you alright? I didn't do it on purpose."

"Cough cough, big brother, with that kind of strength, even the God of Wealth would be strangled to death by you." Yun Tang rubbed his neck and sighed helplessly.

"Ninth Brother, you're not doing well. You're all frail and weak. After the holiday, your older brother will train you." Yun Ti patted Yun Tang's shoulder, his strength almost knocking him over.

"No, I'm afraid I won't see tomorrow's sun."

"What are you afraid of, you real man? It's settled then!"

"Is Big Brother drunk?" Yunyou, who was watching the commotion, asked hesitantly as he watched Yunzhi insist on dragging his Ninth Brother to exercise.

His words drew everyone's attention to the leader, who noticed his increasingly unfocused gaze and was surprised to confirm that he had indeed drunk too much, no wonder he couldn't control his strength.

"How long has the banquet been going on?" Yunqi was very puzzled. Although his elder brother had been cultivating his character and drinking less in recent years, his alcohol tolerance shouldn't have decreased this quickly.

"I just saw my eldest brother and second brother having a drinking contest," Yunyou shrugged and explained casually.

"It's really..." Yunzhi and Yunqi exchanged a glance and smiled helplessly. After all these years, the eldest and second eldest still couldn't get along.

"Big brother, big brother, I agree, I agree, okay? Just let go..." Gaining weight is definitely not a good thing. Having never been able to escape from his boss's grasp, Yun Tang once again strengthened his determination to lose weight.

Seeing Yun Tang's predicament, in order to protect their God of Wealth, the three princes decided to sacrifice themselves and stop the eldest prince, who was a drunkard.

Unfortunately, people who are drunk are often unreasonable, but Yun Ti didn't make a big fuss. However, he was stubborn, and all he cared about was saving up a dowry for his daughter, so he insisted on training his ninth son for that purpose.

No matter how his third and fifth brothers tried to persuade him, he refused to let go, fearing that if he did, the "dowry list" would disappear.

Yunyou sighed helplessly; it was up to him to take action. He told the third and fifth brothers to release him, then stepped forward and said only one sentence to the eldest brother.

"Big brother, second brother says you're not good enough."

"Who? Who's not good enough? Who does the second brother say is not good enough?" Yun Ti stood up abruptly.

"Second brother said you were drunk and couldn't beat him."

"Nonsense! Even if the second brother gets drunk, I won't get drunk. Don't underestimate me. Where is the second brother? Let's have another round!" Yun Ti didn't know if he was drunk or angry, his face flushed red. He got up and walked out without trembling, looking for Yun Reng's footprints.

After seeing off the eldest brother, Yunzhi and Yunqi silently cast admiring glances at Yunyou. They hadn't realized that the seventh brother would even dare to use the second brother.

Yunyou smiled indifferently. It was just a slip of the tongue. Besides, considering that he had handled salt administration with his second brother and gone through life and death together, his second brother probably wouldn't be angry, right? No, my life is more important. I should leave first.

"Ah, I'm suddenly feeling a bit dizzy, probably from drinking too much. I'll be going now." Yoonwoo made up an excuse and left in a hurry.

Yunqi watched his retreating figure, somewhat puzzled: "Seventh Brother only had one drink, right? Are all the brothers' alcohol tolerance so low these days?"

Yunzhi, standing to the side, twitched the corner of his mouth. The fifth brother was as simple and honest as ever. "I guess it's not the wine that makes people drunk, it's just the feeling. I'm not going to say anything more. I'm getting old. I'm going back to sleep."

Hilarious! What if the eldest and second eldest brothers start arguing? He doesn't want to deal with their troubles on such a good day. It's best to leave first.

"Huh?" Seeing that his third brother had also left, Yunqi touched his head, feeling that something was wrong. He was about to talk to Lao Jiu about it when he turned around and found that Lao Jiu had slipped away to join his younger brothers.

"What are you talking about? Come inside and make room for me."

Yun Tang took advantage of his brothers' inattention and ran away. After finally escaping, he saw his inseparable brothers, the tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth, huddled together, chatting about something.

Curious, he moved closer and sat down next to Yun, but unfortunately, he was quite large at the moment, so he had to ask Lao Shi to move further in.

"Ninth Brother, what's wrong with you..." Fourteenth Brother looked at Yun Tang with some surprise, while Twelfth and Thirteenth Brothers were also curious. As for Tenth Brother, he had already seen his Ninth Brother's appearance on the very first day Yun Tang returned to the capital, so he was no longer curious.

"Don't mention it, we're still brothers." Yun Tang rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"It's alright, Ninth Brother. The God of Wealth always looks prosperous. Besides, didn't you always think you were too effeminate? Now look how lucky you are."

Yun sincerely wanted to comfort the heartbroken Ninth Brother, but as soon as he said this, the other three lowered their heads and suppressed their laughter. It had to be the Tenth Brother; he really knew how to hit two sore spots at once.

Yun Tang's face darkened instantly, and she glared at Yun through gritted teeth.

"I forgot to mention you. Your silence is the greatest comfort to me."

"Okay, but Ninth Brother, I'm not saying this just to comfort you; I genuinely feel this way."

"Pfft!" Yoon's sincerity won over everything, and Yoon-jung next to him couldn't help but burst out laughing first. This immediately triggered a chain reaction, and the other two couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Shut up!"

"oh."

"And you three, you're not allowed to laugh either."

"Haha... I'm not laughing, I'm not laughing, what's so funny?"

"Yes, yes, it's not funny, haha, it's not funny..."

"Hahaha, sorry Ninth Brother, we didn't mean to..."

"Ninth Brother, I was wrong!" *3