Chapter 83

August 13th.

It is suitable for getting married, meeting friends and offering sacrifices.

Auspicious gods should seek heaven's grace, four ministers, no generals, and happiness.

From the eldest prince's residence to the Shu residence, the ground was covered with red cloth and a sedan chair was carried by eight people.

The restaurants and teahouses along the way were bustling with activity.

Qu Dubian was sitting in a private room on the second floor of Ruyi Tower, leaning against the railing, eating melon seeds and watching the fun below.

Xia Fuyang was leaning lazily beside him. He was fourteen years old now, and his stature had grown very fast, looking like a teenager. Because he had opened up his Dantian through martial arts training, his body muscles were very smooth, and with his waist tightened, at first glance, he looked like a handsome, sunny and beautiful boy.

"You like to watch the fun, why don't you go to the Shu family or your eldest brother's house?"

Qu Duanbian: "It's boring. Everyone who comes in and out greets you, calling this one the Seventh Prince and that one the Seventh Prince." He shook his head, "and the food in Big Brother's house isn't very good."

Xia Fuyang looked down and saw the makeup of the royal wedding procession. His eyes lit up and he reached out to grab Qu Duanbian's wrist.

"Come, come here——"

Qu Duanbian retracted his hand instantly and dodged subconsciously.

Xia Fuyang paused, looked over, and said with a puzzled look on his face: "What are you doing? You can't touch me?"

Qu Dubian flicked the dust off his clothes and said, "I can walk by myself."

His meridians are slightly damaged and disordered, and this guy has opened his Dantian and has internal Qi. If his wrist is grabbed and he senses it, he will have to find a way to lie.

"oh……"

Xia Fuyang shouted into the house, "Judge Xi! Come and take a look."

A few seconds later, Xi Zixing came out with dark circles under his eyes. In his hand was a booklet that he had bound himself with blank rice paper. It read: Evaluation Form 1

This 'one' refers to the eldest prince.

For the first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth princes, whenever they left the palace to build their own residences, or moved into the prince's residence, he made a blank book, which contained evaluations based on his selection criteria.

It was originally a secret known only to him.

Later, one time when the three of them went out to play together, his booklet fell down. Xia Fuyang pestered him and asked him what it was, and he finally told him.

Qu Watanabe was so happy.

As for Xi Zixing, after knowing him for a long time, you will find that he is actually very smart. His memory is even better than Qu Dubian's. He can remember everything he sees, and is a master in reading.

But his obsessive-compulsive disorder became more and more obvious as he grew older, and he sometimes acted like he was having a seizure.

He also told the two of them that he only started to study seriously for exams after Qu Dubian turned his "Still Waters Run Deep" upside down. Before that, he basically just glanced around.

Qu Watanabe asked at the time, if the painting didn't turn over, would you stop studying?

Xi Zixing said with a straight face that he would ask his servant to bribe a customer to come in and turn the painting over. He didn't know who the bribed customer was, so it didn't count as breaking the oath he had made.

Flexible and rigid, with a full sense of ritual.

This guy is still taking exams, but he has already started preparing to choose who he will be loyal to in the future.

He also used the money he earned from his bookshop to bribe Qu Watanabe to ask him to secretly bring the answer sheets of other princes from the academy. He wanted to see the foundation of the fourth, fifth and sixth princes from the answer sheets.

If other people knew that a boy with barely grown hair was trying to choose a prince, they would definitely point fingers at him and ridicule him.

Qu Watanabe doesn't think so. What's wrong with taking a look at his future boss in advance?

He enthusiastically stuffed into his hands a number of discarded prince's answer sheets by the teachers.

Every time he looked at it, Xi Zixing would give him a score in his little notebook, even more so than the teacher. He would mark it with a red pen, either with a check mark or a big cross.

So Xia Fuyang gave him the nickname "Judge".

Xi Zixing glanced at the wedding procession below and said: "It has been a long time since the capital has been so lively."

Qu Watanabe: "My eldest brother is getting married. He is the first of his sons. The old man in the family still attaches great importance to the wedding. The ceremony was held at a higher level, according to the standards for a prince."

Xi Zixing sighed, "Don't let any accidents happen again like when we opened the government a few years ago."

Qu Watanabe: “…”

Xia Fuyang: "..."

He covered Xi Zixing's mouth and said, "You are really talking about something irrelevant. Just shut up."

Qu Dubian sighed: "Don't worry, Commander Zuo is leading the imperial guards to guard the Shu family and the prince's mansion, nothing will happen."

The first incident was suppressed because he guessed that his stepfather had speculated that the second or third prince might have been responsible, so no follow-up news has been released until now.

But if something goes wrong on the eldest prince's wedding day, it would be a disgrace to the royal family.

My cheap dad won't allow it.

Xi Zixing: "The eldest prince has not married a concubine or a maid in the past three years. He was the first to build a mansion. If he had an heir, it would be more stable."

If he has a son, he will be the eldest grandson of the emperor, and like the eldest prince, he has the word "eldest" in his name.

Qu Watanabe: "You think it's bad?"

Xi Zixing pondered and said objectively: "If you look at it purely from the perspective of a counselor or staff member, it's naturally not good. If you look at it from the perspective of the Shu family, the eldest prince is also a good match in the royal family."

Xia Fuyang snorted and laughed: "I don't care about anything else, but if the man my sister marries dares to be indecisive, I will break his legs."

"Well... Xiaoqi," Xi Zixing came to his side reluctantly, "why don't you take me to the eldest prince's mansion to have a look?"

Qu Watanabe: "You still want to observe Big Brother up close."

Xi Zixing: "Who told me that I can only use the back door here?"

As he said this, he took a step back, bowed his hands and said, "I beg you, Mr. Xiaoqi, to come to me——"

"Hey, stop, stop," Qu Dubian waved his hands repeatedly.

Xia Fuyang punched Xi Zixing and said, "Don't tease him all the time. If you feel like acting, go to Chunfeng Tower and perform."

Xi Zixing stood up slowly and touched his face, "That might be more than what you can earn on stage."

Xia Fuyang's face twisted and Qu Dubian laughed.

Xi Zixing added: "But the two of us combined probably don't make as much as Xiao Qi."

Xia Fuyang immediately changed his target: "That's right, that's right."

Qu Watanabe stopped laughing and started chasing after them and beating them.

-

The eldest prince's palace.

Qu Dubian followed the wedding procession and pulled Xi Zixing in as a friend.

The wedding scene was very lively.

The eldest prince's face was beaming. He did not kick the sedan chair or show any authority. Instead, he held the other end of the red silk and led the girl from the Shu family into the main gate.

Concubine De sat in the main hall.

The emperor did not come, but he sent a plaque with the words "A Perfect Match".

After the ceremonial officer sang three times, the bride paid her respects to Concubine De.

De Fei smiled so hard that her teeth could not be seen, "Okay, okay!"

She looked at the eldest prince again, tears in her eyes, "Finally, someone has taken care of this evil creature."

People around laughed kindly.

But after the fan, Shu Wenxin also curled her lips.

After the ceremony, the bride went to the bridal chamber, leaving only the guests drinking in front.

Xi Zixing immediately perked up and watched the eldest prince's every move in the corner.

Unlike the banquet for the establishment of the mansion, 50% of the ministers who came to attend the eldest prince's wedding banquet were on the sidelines, and the other 50% had the intention of joining the army.

If the eldest prince can grasp the situation well, he will definitely be able to win over a few ministers who have a say in the court.

The eldest prince obviously knew it too.

He called Dou Shun, his former study partner and current aide, raised his glass, and walked towards the ministers.

The first minister: "Hahaha, congratulations, Your Highness! You're getting married today. I'm sure His Majesty will value you even more in the future!"

The eldest prince: "Hahahaha, yes, this prince thinks so too!

I patted his shoulder vigorously and admired him: "Well, you are very good, but a little young."

Empty your glass and move on to the next one.

Minister No. 1: “…”

Dou Shun, the aide, came up and said, "Your Highness means that you are young and promising, very good, please keep in touch with us in the future."

The second minister whispered: "Your Highness should have gotten married a long time ago. Marrying more women will also help you get more help from Yue family, right?" The implication was that he wanted to marry his own daughter into the family as well.

The eldest prince pondered: "That makes sense, but I'm worried that they will fight for me. Think about it again, think about it again..."

Empty your glass and move on to the next one.

Minister No. 2: “…”

Dou Shun came up quickly and said with a smile, "I've heard that your Excellency has pearls and jade in his family. Why don't you wait until the next time that the Empress Defei holds a palace banquet, and then I'll ask Your Highness to send out an invitation?"

The eldest prince drank glass after glass of wine.

Dou Shun turned around and around.

Xi Zixing read the lip reading silently. The more he read, the more the corners of his mouth twitched.

God, even though he had heard from Xiao Qi that his elder brother was not good at beating around the bush, now seeing him in person, he felt that Xiao Qi was being too euphemistic.

The eldest prince not only doesn't know how to turn a corner, but his communication with his ministers is like a collision between a horse cart and a donkey cart, with the donkey talking about nothing.

His eyes couldn't help but shift to the aide who was patching up the eldest prince's words. He looked about the same age as the eldest prince, but his hairline was already very dangerous.

...Help me, is it so torturous to be the Crown Prince's aide?

Xi Zixing silently took half a step back.

He flipped forward in the booklet and changed the original 5 points in the [Language Comprehension Ability] section to 2 points.

Dou Shun breathed a sigh of relief only after the eldest prince left the front hall.

Xi Zixing couldn't stand it anymore and went to the backyard for a walk.

After arriving at a rockery, he found a stone to sit on and began to calculate the scores for the eldest prince.

The eldest prince himself is a little naive, but he is not a bad person. If someone assists him well, perhaps his personality will change. He also has a lot of helpers around him.

For example, Concubine De.

If the famous palace ladies, as well as the eldest prince's wife, could give advice and suggestions, perhaps...

In front of the rockery, a sigh came: "I haven't left the palace for a long, long time."

Xi Zixing paused and thought that the only middle-aged woman who could call herself "the palace" in the eldest prince's mansion was probably Concubine De.

Defei was supported by her personal maid, looking at the sunset, her eyes full of joy.

She took a deep breath.

"It has been more than ten years since I entered the palace, and I finally smelled the air outside. The flowers are clearly the same as those in the palace, but I feel that they are more fragrant than those in the palace."

Palace maid: "After a few years, you can apply to leave the palace and live with the eldest prince."

"That will take many, many years. Maybe by then, I will already be gray-haired and unable to do square dance anymore. I can't move from a big house to a small one. It makes no difference whether I am free or not."

Palace maid: "Madam..."

Defei took another deep breath, as if she wanted to make up for the loss in one go.

"If there is an afterlife, I want to be a bird, flying around and shitting wherever I want."

Palace maid: “…”

Xi Zixing: “…”

He sighed.

-

The other side.

Qu Dubian stole some fruit wine, avoided Ye Xiaoyuan, and drank it bit by bit while hiding in a big tree next to the kitchen.

Xia Fuyang also lay on the branch with him.

The figures of the two were hidden by the golden leaves, and none of the servants coming and going below noticed them.

As the autumn wind blows and the sun sets, it is so pleasant.

Qu Duanbian said, "Would you like some?"

"Be careful or I'll tell your family about this," Xia Fuyang said, "What's so good about this sweet fruit wine? Strong liquor is stronger."

Qu Watanabe: "How strong a drink do you like?"

Xia Fuyang: "The stronger the better."

"I'll give you a jar on your birthday." It's distilled grain liquor. I happened to have won the device drawings in the last lottery. It would be a waste if I don't use it.

"Really? Then I want the treasures of His Majesty!"

"I promise it's better than those."

Xia Fuyang lay down again, "I'm looking forward to it, but my birthday is still a long way off..."

After a while, he said, "Let me ask you something."

Qu Watanabe: "Well, go ahead."

Xia Fuyang rested his head on his arms, looking at the leaves rustling in the autumn wind above his head. The moon was almost full.

"Why are your meridians so disordered?"

Qu Dubian stopped secretly sipping the sweet wine.

Xia Fuyang: "When you hid in the afternoon, I felt something was wrong, so I touched you when you weren't paying attention when I entered the mansion."

Qu Watanabe was shocked: "You didn't even pay me, so why did you touch me?"

Xia Fuyang: "..."