Chapter 134

The Seventh Prince’s Mansion.

This is Qu Dubian's own courtyard. He started the vegetable garden long time ago and it is growing very well now.

After asking Concubine Yi for help in cleaning the mansion, he moved in half a month in advance.

The main reason is that he has too many things in the prince’s residence.

Not to mention the odd pieces of wood and small parts, there were also all kinds of strange-shaped weapons in the martial arts training ground, and even the vegetables he planted. The grown trees were difficult to move, but the other saplings had to be carried away as well.

The gifts I received over the years, the sundries in the storeroom...

It took His Majesty the Seventh Prince five full days just to move.

Adhering to the principle of not wasting vegetables, he picked all the vegetables in the small vegetable garden, and sent the tender and juicy vegetables to the residences of the princes and concubines one by one.

A little white also moved with him.

With its puppies--

Yidianbai's wife is a very handsome young iron-clad gold-faced cat. When Qu Dubian went to Xianghe County, he sent Yidianbai to the zoo, and Yidianbai secretly hooked up with her.

Now the puppies have given birth to a litter.

Iron wrapped in gold is called gold.

Qu Dubian became a grandfather. Jin Lai had little breast milk, and seeing that it was too hard for the mother dog to feed the babies, he found two ewes to serve as wet nurses for his grandchildren.

They were all placed in the backyard of the prince's palace.

Occasionally, the sounds of dogs barking and sheep bleating could be heard mixed together. It didn't seem like a prince's residence at all. If you didn't know, you would think you had come to the wrong place.

Qu Watanabe rolled up his sleeves, planted the sapling in the hole, and then filled it with soil.

Ye Xiaoyuan was reading the names of the people to be invited to the mansion-building banquet. "Your brothers will definitely come, as well as Princess Sihe and the other six ministers, but they may not come... Your Highness, who do you think should be invited?"

The iron hoe was thrust into the ground with a bang.

Qu Watanabe: "Just give them face, it's better to give less. The backyard has been transplanted and has become a vegetable field. There is no place for them to enjoy themselves. When they come, we can pick vegetables and make hot pot."

Those who want to come will come naturally, and there is no point in sending invitations to those who don't want to come.

Ye Xiaoyuan imagined the scene of the court officials picking vegetables and cooking hot pot on their own, "..."

Prepare two water tanks in advance, just in case, so that it will be easier to wash the vegetables.

Qu Duanbian wiped his hands on his waist twice, "Liu Liu is still in Qingzhou and Jeju, there should be no news yet, right?"

Ye Xiaoyuan: "Yes."

Qu Dubian nodded, "I don't know what will happen at the mansion construction banquet."

-

The eldest prince's palace.

The eldest prince was playing with his youngest son.

During this year and a half, the Second Prince's concubine gave birth to the eldest grandson. Emperor Chongzhao was overjoyed, but seeing that he had not appointed a principal wife for a long time, he gave him the legitimate daughter of the water transport envoy.

The rank of the Water Transport Envoy was third grade. Although it was lower than that of the eldest prince's father-in-law, it was a lucrative position and could be considered a money bag for the second prince.

The eldest prince followed suit and had a son.

However, he lost the advantage of being the eldest grandson of the emperor. Although Emperor Chongzhao was happy, he did not treat the second prince with great respect, but only reduced the rewards.

Shu Wenxin: "Okay, stop playing. The ministers who have surrendered to you should be waiting for your news. If you want them to go to the Seventh Prince's mansion-building banquet, you should start preparing now."

The eldest prince: "Let them do as they wish, just go and have a meal."

Shu Wenxin sighed, "Of course I would go under normal circumstances. But the relationship between the Seventh Prince and His Majesty is so strained that even the neutral faction would hesitate to go, let alone your ministers."

If I go, I'm afraid I might offend the emperor, but if I don't go, I'll have to look at the prince's face.

It is difficult for the ministers.

The eldest prince: "Then, pick a few representative ones and let them do whatever they want with the rest." He thought for a moment, "I don't know what the second prince will do."

Shu Wenxin: "Even if he doesn't let his men go, he won't let anyone find fault with him."

-

The Second Prince’s Mansion.

"Two of the powerful ones will go, and the rest will be replaced by the younger generations in the family."

The second prince ordered, "Those with lower positions don't need to come. Although Xiaoqi hasn't hired a royal doctor in the past year, it's not good to be too tired. It's better to have more people of the same age at the mansion banquet. It's quieter."

"Father and Xiao Qi are still in a stalemate. What will Father think if we all go?"

He was familiar with his father's temper.

Xiao Qi and his father had such a fight more than a year ago. Even if his father treated Xiao Qi differently from them, after such a long period of cold treatment and stalemate, there is still some father-son relationship left.

Let’s take a look at the third brother who was favored at the time.

Now I am still a lonely person, and I have never received much comfort from my father.

"yes."

-

Under the attention of all parties.

The Seventh Prince’s Mansion Building Banquet has finally arrived.

On the day of the palace construction, firecrackers exploded. The first to arrive were the fifth and sixth princes. They even took a basket of firecrackers and stood at the door: "Come in, come in! Everyone, help yourself!"

The fifth prince followed beside the sixth prince.

Qu Dubian came out to greet them: "Fifth brother, Sixth brother. You came so early?"

"Yes, I'm here to help," the Sixth Prince hooked his shoulder and whispered, "You'll be living outside from now on. You don't know how free it is to live outside! By the way, after the mansion construction banquet, you should go to court tomorrow morning. If you have any troubles after taking office, throw them to Fifth Brother. He does a lot of my work and he's reliable."

Qu Watanabe: “…”

He glanced at the fifth prince.

The fifth prince smiled and said, "Sure, whatever Xiaoqi doesn't want to do, just throw it to me."

Qu Watanabe: "Okay, I will definitely not be polite if there is something wrong."

The three of them were chatting and laughing. The next one to arrive was the Fourth Prince. He was carrying two baskets of young flowers. The soil under the roots of the flowers was still moist, and it was obvious that they had just been transplanted.

"Come on, Xiaoqi, take a look at this, the warm hibiscus from Penglai along the coast."

Qu Watanabe: "The survival rate is very low, Fourth Brother, you are amazing."

He quickly asked people to move to a shady place in the backyard.

The light fragrance of warm hibiscus is refreshing, and it smells fragrant even before it blooms. It is a treasure among flowers.

"It's better not to send flowery paper this time, send some real flowers."

Although the number of ministers following the three princes was not as many as that of the eldest prince and the second prince, there were still quite a few. After the three of them arrived, some ministers came one after another.

The eldest prince and the second prince arrived one after another. Sihe arrived a little late and was taken to the table for female guests.

Qu Watanabe had a shallow relationship with the two brothers, so he exchanged some pleasantries with them and then went into the inner field.

But there were fewer ministers coming later.

Or it's to express apology.

"I'm sorry, Seventh Prince. My father has something to do today, so he sent me here to take his place."

Or maybe it was the subordinates who came.

"This is together with the gift from our chief officer, hahaha. When our chief officer is busy, we have nothing to do, so we have to ask someone to bring the gifts."

In short, very few senior officials from the six ministries came.

Qu Dubian calculated the seats for today's banquet. Fortunately, they could still sit at the table to eat. If more guests came, he would not have enough seats.

Master Fang and Xi Zixing came together. Xi Zixing followed behind the old man, looking like a junior.

"Hahahaha, I'm not late."

Qu Watanabe: "No, please come in, Master. I have reserved a seat for you."

The ministers present all greeted him.

As soon as Master Fang arrived, the Second Prince frowned imperceptibly.

The Sixth Prince bit his chopsticks and said, "Hmm...it seems that the Grand Tutor has never attended our palace establishment banquet. Tsk, seeing the teacher in such an occasion, I can't eat freely."

As Emperor Chongzhao's energy declined and he relied more on the three grand secretaries, the status of Grand Tutor Fang became increasingly important.

His presence at the Seventh Prince's mansion-building banquet would make the court officials unable to help but think -

Even the people closest to His Majesty have come. Does this represent His Majesty's intention?

If it was His Majesty who hinted at Master Fang to come, then it means that the rift between His Majesty and the Seventh Prince is not that deep?

Those who have been in the court for a long time have all become very cunning, and they have to figure out who comes and who doesn't.

Although the Seventh Prince is not very competitive nowadays, the outcome is still uncertain after all, and upsets have happened before.

Qu Dubian knew, however, that Master Fang did not think too much about it and just came to ask for a drink.

He punched Xi Zixing and asked, "Why did you come here with the Grand Tutor?" He leaned in and whispered, "Your father doesn't seem to allow you to go out casually."

Xi Zixing shrugged: "I came to study with Master Fang. It just happened that we came together. There won't be a place for me, right?"

Qu Watanabe: "Well, I'll just give you a stool."

Xi Zixing smiled and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

Qu Watanabe: "Go down quickly, go down quickly, if there are not enough people, you can go to the back kitchen to serve dishes."

Xi Zixing: “…”

He sighed with disappointment and went straight to the backyard. When passing by the corridor, he glanced at the officials coming out of the court and frowned slightly.

Tsk.

Not to mention the people of the eldest prince and the second prince, there are quite a few other officials who are fence-sitters.

When the banquet was about to begin, the seats prepared by Qu Dubian were almost all occupied, and the number of people was not much different from what he expected.

He asked everyone to start eating, and then pulled Ye Xiaoyuan aside.

Ye Xiaoyuan: "Your Highness, is there something wrong?"

Qu Duan thought for a while and said, "Not sure... Is the copper stove in the kitchen ready?"

Ye Xiaoyuan: "Yes, but not too much."

Qu Watanabe: "That's fine, wait a minute..."

Suddenly, a shrill voice came from outside: "The imperial edict has arrived——!"

Because of the palace construction banquet, the gate of the prince's mansion was open, so Eunuch Yu walked in directly holding the imperial edict with a smile on his face.

"Your Majesty's decree is here, please accept it, Seventh Prince!"

The officials who had just been eating put down their chopsticks immediately and hurried over. The eldest prince, the second prince and others also quickly came to the courtyard.

Qu Dubian narrowed his eyes and patted Ye Xiaoyuan on the shoulder, "Finally you're here, Banban, go to the kitchen and ask them to put up the copper stove."

Then he walked to the courtyard, "Long time no see, Eunuch Yu."

Eunuch Yu smiled and said, "I miss you."

He opened the imperial edict and read: "My seventh son has established his own palace and established his own government. I am very pleased. Considering his academic success and the fact that he has lived alone in the prince's palace for a long time without his brothers, I specially grant him a pearl and jade colored glass fan, a pair of colorful cloud animal earrings, twelve sets of prince's court robes, some spices, and three golden sandalwood dog beds... to congratulate him on the establishment of his own palace!"

Qu Dubian: "I, your son, accept your order and thank you for the gift."

When Eunuch Yu heard the word "Your Majesty", he was worried for a moment, then closed the imperial edict and handed it to Qu Dubian.

"After building the mansion, you will be an adult. Your Highness, take care of yourself," he whispered, "His Majesty actually pays close attention to you."

Qu Watanabe's expression did not change, "Thank you, father-in-law."

Eunuch Yu: "You're welcome. I'll carry the gift to the backyard for you later. After the banquet, remember to check the box on top."

Qu Dubian was slightly stunned.

"Okay, I'll make a note of that."

Eunuch Yu then looked at the other people in the courtyard and said, "I am only here to announce an imperial decree. I will leave now and will not disturb the interest of the adults."

"Go slowly, father-in-law."

Qu Dubian turned the imperial edict around in his hands, causing the others to blink.

Put it away well!

Qu Dubian took in the expressions of his brothers and waved his hand: "Alright, alright, let's continue the banquet."

He went to the inner room.

The second prince straightened up, still with a gentle look on his face, and went in, chatting and laughing with the people next to him.