Chapter 300 Preparation (Two Chapters in One)

The emperor gave Wan Ruyi the Princess's Mansion, but the house still needed to be renovated and it would take at least one or two months before she could move in. Zhao Shiqing did not live in Tianshui Hutong, but took Wan Ruyi to live in another house she owned in the capital.

Miss Zhao Er is very wealthy. In addition to the one she lent to the emperor, she also has several low-key and luxurious houses in the capital.

Of course, these were all the dowry that Zhen Wuduo prepared for her.

The reason why I didn't return to Tianshui Hutong was all because of Zhen Wuduo.

She knew very well what was going to happen next, so she didn't want anyone to notice Zhen Wuduo. As long as he was not with her, Zhen Wuduo was just a little old man walking his bird.

Zhen Wuduo felt that this was unnecessary, but he dared not disobey his beloved granddaughter's decision.

As the news that the retired emperor had found his biological daughter and named Zhao Shiqing a princess spread throughout the capital, the news that Zhao Shiqing was the adopted daughter of Prince Liang's Mansion and was now adopted as the adopted daughter of Princess Jiabao also spread.

The Queen Mother and the Dowager Consort both gave many rewards, and Concubine Qiao and the masters of each palace also sent gifts.

However, the largest amount was sent from Princess Jiayi's Mansion.

When Princess Jiayi's mansion sent gifts, other mansions also came to send gifts. So in less than half a day, the news that Princess Jiayi took a fancy to Zhao Shiqing and wanted to strengthen her relationship with Princess Jiabao spread.

Princess Jiayi: That’s right, I spread it on purpose to prevent someone from snatching my daughter-in-law from me!

Because of Zhao Shiqing, Princess Jiayi also began to take a liking to Madam Yu from the Duke of Wei's mansion. When they met outside, for the first time ever, there was no quarrel. Princess Jiayi even said to Madam Yu with a fake smile, "Invite the Crown Prince to come to my banquet in two days."

After all, Zhao Shiqing is not only the adopted daughter of Princess Jiabao, but also the adopted daughter of King Liang. From now on, she will have to call Yan Xia brother-in-law.

Afterwards, Princess Jiayi said to Prince Consort Xiao, "If it weren't for my daughter-in-law's sake, I wouldn't have paid any attention to Yu Lajiao."

Prince Consort Xiao hurriedly coaxed her again and again.

The two eldest princesses, Jia'an and Jianing, were drinking tea together when a quick-talking maid shared some news she had heard from outside. Jia'an laughed and said, "When I heard that the Grand Emperor had brought Xiao Zhen back home and adopted a pair of godchildren, I guessed it. The Princess of Nanyang's surname is Zhao, so she can't be betrothed to Zhao Guanyue. But Xiao Zhen is more suitable."

Princess Jianing thought more, "Alas, the Princess of Nanyang was raised in the Liang Palace, so they must have a close relationship with it. Her status is noble, but the Xiao family is also from Liang. This marriage is a good match, but I'm afraid it will be an eyesore for that person."

It's obvious who that person is.

Princess Jia'an looked around, and the attendants beside her consciously withdrew. Princess Jia'an lowered her voice and said, "There is a young man in my mansion. He used to be in an opera troupe. His master was a fellow apprentice of the famous actress Xiao Huangying. Therefore, he has met Xiao Yue. You should know who Xiao Yue is, right?"

Princess Jianing was stunned for a moment, then tentatively asked, "The surname Xiao... is that the concubine of my sister's family called by that name?"

Princess Jia'an nodded, a look of mystery on her face. "That Xiao Yue often sneaked out to play with the opera troupe when he was little. My servant had seen him before. That day, when Zhao Guanyue came to the city, the servant was in my carriage and saw Zhao Guanyue. He said that Zhao Guanyue looked a lot like Xiao Yue, and the more he looked at her, the more similar they became."

The young man that Princess Jia'an mentioned was, needless to say, one of the lovers in her mansion.

Princess Jianing said helplessly: "You are so brave. Even though the emperor is returning to the capital, you still bring a concubine with you. Aren't you afraid of being discovered?"

Princess Jia'an smiled and held up two fingers: "I brought not one, but two. One to massage my legs and one to massage my shoulders. If my sister wants to enjoy this blessing, I will give you a few."

The two sisters laughed for a while and no one mentioned what had happened just now.

At the same time, Princess Huixin also heard the news.

Now she has moved out of Princess Jiarou's mansion. Concubine Qiao asked for a favor on her behalf, and she finally has her own mansion.

This mansion was formerly the Prince of Fuling's Palace, also known as the Second Prince's Palace.

After the death of the second prince, he was posthumously named Prince of Fuling. The title of Prince of Fuling was a county prince, and it was not hereditary. He had a son and a daughter. The daughter was four years old and the son was still in swaddling clothes. Half a year ago, the Princess of Fuling took her two children to Fuling to establish a fiefdom. Not long after arriving, the mother and her two children died one after another due to "inadaptability to the local climate and water".

Without a son to inherit the throne, the line of Prince Fuling was cut off.

Emperor Yongjia revoked the title of Prince of Fuling, and the Fuling Palace in the capital no longer needed to be retained. It happened that Concubine Qiao mentioned Princess Huixin's current situation. Emperor Yongjia was very concerned about his reputation and naturally did not want to be known for mistreating his niece, not to mention that Princess Huixin was the daughter of Emperor Xiaokang.

Moreover, the Prince of Fuling was the one sent by him and was killed in this palace.

The emperor was ruthless, but the person he killed was his own son after all, so he still had some concerns.

Therefore, even if Princess Huixin did not exist, Emperor Yongjia would have awarded this palace to someone else as soon as possible.

Although Princess Huixin had her own princess mansion, Princess Fuling almost emptied the mansion when she left. The only things she couldn't take away were some immovable furniture and a group of servants with their own thoughts.

When other princesses set up their own residences, even if the emperor and empress did not give them any rewards, their own mothers and maternal families would provide subsidies. This was the case with Princess Jiarou. Even though she spent most of her time in the Taoist temple, any piece of furnishing in her residence was worth a fortune.

Princess Huixin did not have these things. Her parents died early and she was just an orphan.

But for some unknown reason, the Meng family took back half of the shop they had given them on the grounds that Princess Huiming was sent to Ci'en Temple.

The owners of these shops were all from the Meng family. Except for the candy shop, Princess Huixin had no say in the management of the other shops. All along, she and her sisters had only taken money. Therefore, she only found out about this after the head owner sold the other shops.

The fiefs of the Princesses of Dayong were all given as dowries. Wan Ruyi was an exception, but she was already in her forties and probably would not marry in the future. Moreover, she had a daughter. Therefore, the emperor gave her a fief of 5,000 households. This was not a dowry, but for her old age.

Princess Huixin was unmarried and young, so she had no involvement in either family. Her only source of income was the princess' salary and the rewards from the palace. Her only private property was the candy shop.

These may seem like a lot, but she has to support not only herself, but also more than 200 servants in the Princess Mansion. The daily maintenance of the Princess Mansion costs a huge sum of money every year.

Princess Huixin was struggling financially. Although she had her own mansion, her life was even tighter than before.

She couldn't wait to get married. If she married Xiao Zhen, then even if she didn't have 5,000 households, she would at least have 3,000 households, which would relieve her pressure. Besides, if Xiao Zhen became her son-in-law, then Princess Jiayi would be her mother-in-law. With this support, she wouldn't have to be so humble in front of Concubine Qiao.

More importantly, this is Xiao Zhen, the Xiao Zhen she has liked since childhood!

In order to attend the banquet hosted by Princess Jiayi for Xiao Zhen, she made preparations early. She wanted to appear in the most perfect image that day. She wanted to let everyone know that she and Xiao Zhen were a couple, and they must be a couple.

But now, the rumors about Xiao Zhen and Zhao Shiqing reached her ears. Princess Huixin was stunned for a moment, and then gritted her teeth.

How could she forget that before revealing his identity, Xiao Zhen had bought a lot of candy from the candy shop. Those candies were obviously not bought for Princess Jiayi, and Xiao Zhen's sister was too young to eat candy.

This is something she has always been unwilling and afraid to think about.

Xiao Zhen already has a woman he likes!

Who is that woman?

At that time, Xiao Zhen was dressed in cloth, riding in the most ordinary carriage, and had no public identity, so the only people he could get in touch with were commoner women.

She is just a commoner woman. Princess Huixin will not take her seriously. It doesn't matter whether she exists or not. If Xiao Zhen follows the example of Prince Consort Xiao and keeps that woman away in the future, she has plenty of ways to make that woman disappear from this world.

The most important thing is that the woman was obviously not Zhao Shiqing who had just arrived in Beijing.

Zhao Shiqing is the adopted daughter of the old Prince of Liang and a princess registered in the Ministry of Clan Affairs. No one from the Prince of Liang's Mansion can enter the capital without being summoned. If it weren't for the retired emperor, Zhao Shiqing would still be in Liang.

Before this, she had never been to the capital.

And if Zhao Shiqing and Xiao Zhen were in love, it happened in Tongzhou. She was a noble lady and could easily get close to Xiao Zhen with the help of the emperor.

This Zhao Shiqing is so shameless!

Under the banner of disaster relief and charity, she seduces men.

However, she made a good move. Not only did she seduce Xiao Zhen, but she also got herself the title of princess. From an ordinary royal family girl who could not ask for a title, she transformed herself into a princess with a fiefdom!

Princess Huixin hated Zhao Shiqing.

The maid turned around and reported Princess Huixin's joys, sorrows, anger and happiness to Madam Yang.

Nanny Yang came from the palace and was also Concubine Qiao's person.

Nanny Yang curled her lips. "Don't you think about your own status? Apart from being a biological daughter, how can she compare to Princess Nanyang? Although Princess Nanyang is only an adopted daughter, she has the Liang Palace behind her. She is now valued by the Emperor Retired, and has Princess Jiabao as her godmother. I heard that although the old Princess Liang doesn't like her, the King of Liang and his wife dote on this little sister very much. They even had a falling out with the old Princess Liang because of her."

Concubine Qiao had exchanged letters with the old Princess of Liang, Nie, and knew a lot about the affairs of the Prince of Liang's Mansion. Moreover, the fact that the old Princess of Liang was almost under house arrest was no secret in Liang.

Nanny Yang was by Concubine Qiao's side, so she knew a little about it.

She looked down on Princess Huixin from the bottom of her heart. It was all her bad luck to be assigned to serve such a master. There was no money to be made and her future was also uncertain.

Princess Huixin knew nothing about this, and she had no idea that she was not the only one who planned that feast.

The third prince’s wife Feng Jiahe is one of them.

But her target was not Xiao Zhen, but Fan Qiujun.

Some people are so ridiculous. It was the third prince who made Fan Qiujun pregnant, it was the third prince who had an affair with Fan Qiujun in the palace, it was the third prince who cuckolded the second son Qiao, and it was the third prince who betrayed Feng Jiahe. But it was Fan Qiujun that Feng Jiahe wanted to take revenge on and destroy.

The instigator of the incident, the Third Prince, was now tirelessly running towards the Wuji Temple.

The emperor was either meditating or discussing Taoism with Master Liu from Wuji Temple. The third prince was rejected again and again. Fortunately, he found out that after the announcement of Princess Jiabao's identity, the emperor had never summoned anyone else. Just like when he was in Changshou Palace, his mind was completely focused on cultivating immortals.

Now the only one who can see the retired emperor is Zhao Guanyue. Zhao Guanyue has no title and no house, so he lives with the retired emperor in Wuji Temple.

Today, the third prince came to Wuji Temple, but still failed to see the emperor.

He did not leave in a hurry, but walked around Wuji Temple.

When the retired emperor was in power, he often came to Wuji Temple and once wanted to change the name of Wuji Temple to Wuji Palace. Unfortunately, Emperor Xiaokang died here later, and Wuji Temple became a sad place for the retired emperor, so he built Changshou Palace. In the more than ten years before that, the retired emperor had not returned to the capital, let alone come to Wuji Temple.

The popularity of Wuji Temple plummeted from then on. Even Master Liu probably didn't expect that one day the emperor would not only come to Wuji Temple again, but even live here.

The third prince felt emotional. He was certainly not interested in this Taoist temple, but he wanted to meet someone here by chance.

His visits these past few days were not in vain. Although he still failed to catch up with Wang Daban, he bribed Wang Daban's godson Wang Daixi.

Perhaps because he couldn't make any money in Changshou Palace, Wang Daixi was extremely greedy for money.

However, after giving him a little money, Wang Daixi told the third prince that the young man named Chen Wangxing who was beside Zhao Guanyue loved reading storybooks the most. However, the Taoist temple was a place for meditation, and he could not enter and leave casually, so he could only secretly ask the young Taoist priest who went out to buy something to bring some for him.

Another one, named Ni Xiaoqiu, is a greedy person and likes people to bring him snacks from outside.

Wang Daixi also said that Chen Wangxing and Ni Xiaoqiu were very short of money. After all, they were both orphans, so how much money could they have?

As for Zhao Guanyue, he likes to make perfumes. The perfume that the emperor is using now was made by him personally.

The retired emperor liked the spices he made very much. After moving into Wuji Temple, he asked the temple to vacate two rooms in the flower garden, and Zhao Guanyue made spices there.

The place where the third prince is going now is the flower garden of Wuji Temple.

The flower garden at Wuji Temple is not an ordinary flower garden. The flowers and plants grown here can be used as medicine and can also be used to make incense.

The third prince was accompanied by only one attendant. Before he even entered the flower garden, he saw the green figure hidden among the flowers and plants.

The fifteen-year-old boy was tall and thin, wearing a loose Taoist robe. A green ribbon was tied on his waterfall-like black hair. The breeze blew the branches of flowers, and his clothes fluttered. The ribbon also drifted in the wind, just like the green willows on a green lake, creating layers of ripples.

The third prince was stunned for a moment. He had seen Zhao Guanyue before, but it was just a quick glance and he only knew that he was a handsome young man.

But when he saw her again today, just her back made him feel ashamed.