Chapter 138 With you, that's enough. : "Isn't the Shi family's daughter good enough? Why won't you let me arrange this marriage for you?" ...

"Isn't the Shi family's daughter good enough? Why won't you let me ask for this marriage for you?"

"How could the eldest prince's cousin be bad? Besides, I don't even know if she's good or not. How am I supposed to answer that question?"

When Shen Wanqing went to Yongshou Palace, Yuqing Palace was preparing for the hunting trip outside the city the next day. Hongxi and Yi'an sat facing each other in the study of Jide Hall, letting the morning sun slowly climb up the windowsill and shine on them through the glass window.

Yi An explained his thoughts to Shen Wanqing, and after receiving his mother's approval, it was as if he had received a royal decree. When he entered the palace and was once again hinted by Hongxi that he wanted to set him up with his cousin from the Shi family, he immediately shook his head and confessed all his thoughts.

"Don't always act so nonchalant. You think you can get away with not taking me seriously?"

"No, I only told you this because I trust the First Prince. If you want to get angry with me, then I won't say this again."

The two had known each other since childhood, and Hongxi's childhood was even lonelier than Yinreng's. The second and third princes in Yuqing Palace had mothers of humble birth, and although the brothers had a good relationship, there was always something between them.

The older he got, the more obvious this gap became. Yinreng's attitude towards Hongjin and Hongwan was always very clear: be good and don't have any improper thoughts. If you are obedient, you will have a good life. Yuqing Palace will not produce another Grand Prince like the one from back then.

Two years ago, when the Emperor ascended the throne, he bestowed titles upon the women of the harem. Lady Li, who had given birth to the Third Prince and the Second Princess, was made a Consort, and Lady Lin, who had given birth to the Second Prince, was made a Concubine. The rest of the concubines were all made Noble Ladies and Attendants.

Lady Li and Lady Lin had served Yinreng for so many years and even had children, yet they hadn't received any official titles. The greater significance of bestowing upon them the title of Consort was to save face for Hongjin and Hongwan; it wouldn't do for the birth mothers of the two princes to still be living in the side halls.

After all, Yinreng's harem was quite different from his father's; it only had a handful of concubines, more than enough to accommodate them even after three more selections. There was no need to worry about insufficient housing for the harem.

Therefore, when Yinreng ascended the throne, Hongjin and Hongwan moved to the Fifth Palace in the East, leaving only Hongxi to live alone in Yuqing Palace. These two younger brothers became even more fixated on their status as "subjects and brothers." Subject first, brother second.

Compared to them, Hongxi was even closer to his cousins ​​Hongyu and Hongsheng, who had studied in the Imperial Study together back then. But since they were cousins, they were naturally a step further apart, and there were some things he couldn't say. So, after all things considered, Yi'an and Shixin were the closest. They studied together, rode horses, hunted together, and could talk about anything.

“You’re only two years older than me, so stop pretending to be so sensible. You don’t need to say anything harsh about leaving the capital or not. I haven’t revealed anything to the Shi family. If you really don’t want to, can I just let this go?”

Hongxi carefully observed Yi'an's expression and realized that he didn't seem to be playing the game of feigning retreat. He immediately relented. His cousin was good in every way, but if it meant forcing Yi'an away for her sake, then so be it.

“Hongxi, I’ve told you this principle so many times. Besides the Hesheli family and the Shi family, you have to win them over, but you can’t be completely careless about them either.”

“My father only has one son. If I marry a girl from the Shi family, aren’t you afraid that the Shi family will secretly try to win me over and make you a puppet?”

He pretended to be a proper servant in the first two sentences, but when he saw that Hongxi was still preoccupied with his relationship with the Shi family girl, he immediately forgot all about rules and regulations.

Yi An was truly exasperated. Hong Xi was clearly quite clever and knowledgeable about court affairs, but for some reason, he kept thinking about forming a sworn brotherhood with him and Shi Xin.

You! The Emperor's eldest son, born of the legitimate wife, you can read history books like the Records of the Three Kingdoms and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but you're not meant to learn from Liu Bei.

Besides, is that really the case? The Hesheli family and the Shi family are two generations of maternal relatives, and both of them are maternal relatives whose heads hold real power in the court. The relationship between them is too delicate.

Yi'an had witnessed how the Empress balanced Shen Wanqing and the women of the Shi family over the years, or rather, how the Shi family and the Hesheli family cooperated and checked each other.

For a long time during his childhood, he always felt that his mother was better than his father. Sometimes, when his father encountered difficulties, he would inevitably bring his unhappiness from the Ministry of Revenue and the court home, and he would have to complain to his mother until he felt better.

But Mother was different. No matter what happened, she would just smile or scold and punish the person in the moment, and once the matter was explained clearly and a solution was found, the matter would be over.

Until one day, her mother came out of the palace, her face ashen, and swept past her like a gust of wind. After entering the house, she slammed the door shut, and soon after, the sound of things being smashed came from inside.

The maids in the courtyard were so frightened that they didn't dare to speak to each other. Qiuwen and Ningxiang, who had been by their mother's side for many years, stood under the eaves, pulling and pushing each other, neither daring to knock on the door, let alone go in.

Fortunately, Wang Shun, the gatekeeper, was quick-witted. He noticed that Shen Wanqing's expression was particularly strange when she got off the carriage, so he immediately went to the Ministry of Revenue to find Yu Lang.

Upon receiving the news, Yu Lang rushed home and never came out again after entering the house. It wasn't until noon the next day that Yi An, who had already moved to the back courtyard to live alone, went to the east courtyard to have lunch with his mother and father. Only then did he see his mother chatting and laughing as if nothing had happened, showing no sign of the great anger she had displayed the day before.

At the time, Yi'an didn't dare to ask. It wasn't until about half a year later that he finally asked his mother the question that had been weighing on his mind: what had happened that day that made her so angry?

That day was also the first time Yi'an had seen her own mother look so confused in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak, but didn't know what to say, or rather, she no longer felt there was any need to talk about it, since it was no longer a big deal once it was mentioned.

The matter was actually extremely trivial: the women of the Shi family repeatedly interrupted Shen Wanqing while she was talking to the Empress, which angered Shen Wanqing, who then feigned surprise and said that she hadn't thought that much about it at all.

At that moment, Shen Wanqing was so angry that she wanted to pick up the teacup in her hand and smash it, but she didn't. She was not only the eldest mistress of the Hesheli family, but whatever she did or how much trouble she caused was still just a family matter.

She is now the most favored and trusted Lady-in-Waiting in the Empress's court. Many things are not up to her to say, and all her statements represent the Hesheli family, so she cannot easily lose her temper.

Even if Shen Wanqing had a hundred ways to get revenge on the Shi family afterward, her anger at that moment had nowhere to go, yet it felt so real.

From then on, Yi'an, who had previously seemed to be separated from the struggles of different factions and families around Hongxi by a veil, suddenly saw the issues much more clearly.

The Emperor, the Hesheli family, and the Shi family form a naturally strong alliance based on blood ties, but each has different core interests.

“Not only can you not leave the Shi family, but the Empress cannot either. Besides, where can Shi Xin go if he's not in the capital? You are the eldest prince, so where can you go if you're not in the capital?”

“Only me, even if I leave the capital, my father and mother are still here. If I go a little further away, I can still help you and us see what this world and this land are really like.”

Just as Yinreng needed to use Yinzhi, he had to keep Consort Hui and the entire family of Prince Zhi in the capital, because Yulang and Shen Wanqing were both there, so Yi'an could leave the capital.

"several years?"

"What?"

“I said, if you insist on leaving the capital, it will take you several years. When will you leave? You should wait until after you get married.”

"Of course, if I just left like that, my father would skin me alive."

Therefore, it was impossible for him to marry a woman from the Shi family. Firstly, the idea of ​​a marriage alliance between the Shi and Hesheli families sounded like a pipe dream. Secondly, the Shi family was now the most legitimate maternal clan of the Empress, so how could they possibly be willing to let their daughter marry him and then follow him to his post outside the capital to suffer hardships?

The fact that Hongxi was able to ask this question meant that he had made a concession. Yi'an watched Hongxi think about it seriously for a long time. Affection is a very solid but also very elusive thing. It would be too short to go away for three years and then come back. No matter where his family arranged for him to take up a post, if he came back as soon as he had figured out the situation, it would be as if he had gone for nothing.

Seven or eight years is too long. By then, when Hongxi gets married, a new family will come in as in-laws. If I stay away from Hongxi for too long, I won't have a place when I come back.

"Five years?" Yi'an stated a number, then nodded as if confirming his own conviction. "Just five years. I can return to the capital to report for duty every three years, and I can come back at least once in between, so that the First Prince won't forget about his servant."

“Alright, then it’s five years. Whether you succeed or not, you have to return to the capital after five years.” Hongxi considered it seriously for a while before agreeing, and then couldn’t help but smile.

He recalled how he had insisted on bringing Yi'an into the palace to be his study companion back then, when Yi'an entered with an air of reluctance from head to toe. Now that they were both grown up, this wild and unruly boy was finally going to let the sky fly high. It seemed that everyone's fate was predetermined and could not be forced.

The two children were haggling in Yuqing Palace about whether to leave or not, whether to stay for five or eight years, thinking themselves so mature. In the study of Yangxin Hall, Yinreng and Yulang were also sitting opposite each other, discussing Yi'an's marriage.

Originally, Yinreng really intended to choose a member of the imperial clan to be betrothed to Yi'an, even if she wasn't a princess, she should at least be a county princess.

The only difficulty was that Yinreng wanted to choose a niece from his brothers' residences, but Yi'an was a bit too old, and his nieces were a bit too young.

The reason for wanting to do this is very simple: Yu Lang is his uncle by seniority, and if Yi An doesn't pull some strings into his family, they'll become even more distant.

But now that Yi'an says he wants to leave the capital for experience, this choice needs to be considered even more carefully. It's not that Yinreng is disparaging his own family, but if Yi'an leaves the capital for a position that isn't particularly sought-after by everyone, it will certainly be a key official post in a key place.

For Yi'an to serve as an official in such a place, his wife should ideally be someone capable of her own but from a less prominent family. A princess or county princess of the imperial clan would have too high a status and wouldn't be able to integrate with the local officials' wives and concubines, making it even more difficult to understand many things.

"The Tong family or the Niu Hulu family, you choose one."

"This servant wouldn't dare. It's already a blessing for that boy Yi'an that His Majesty has arranged a marriage for him. How could this servant possibly be picky?"

"Stop trying to fool me with these jokes. You don't want to choose Aling as your in-law, but you can't say it directly. Do you have to make me point it out to you?"

Yinreng certainly knew what Yulang meant. Yulang had been keeping a low profile for years, but it was almost impossible to suppress his ambitions. He was not even forty years old yet and was already the Minister of Revenue. In a few years, he would be promoted to Grand Secretary and become a prime minister. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was a prime minister.

Given his illustrious background, arranging a marriage between him and the Niohuru family would be a bit too ostentatious.

The Tong family was also prominent, but the late emperor neglected state affairs in the last few years, and Tong Guowei was getting old. The Tong family now had a status but no real power.

Yinreng had his eye on the daughter of Tong Guowei's sixth son, Qingfu. Qingfu was a steady and composed man who had served in the government for many years but never caused trouble. It was said that his son and daughter were just like him. With Yi'an's wild heart, he needed a wife like this who could keep him in check.

"As Your Majesty knows, in my household, it has always been my eldest mistress who makes the decisions. As for what kind of family to recommend to Yi'an, I really can't decide that."

The blame was pinned on Shen Wanqing, leaving even Yinreng helpless. In any case, if it wasn't one of these two families, they would have to be chosen from those of similar standing; Yinreng simply needed to define that range for him.

The family of three entered the palace on the same day, all for one thing. After comforting Hongxi, Yi'an stayed in Yuqing Palace and didn't return. He had to accompany the young master out of the city to hunt the next day, and he was too lazy to go back and forth between the palace and home.

Yu Lang walked along the wall towards Yongshou Palace after leaving Yangxin Hall. When he reached the entrance of Yongshou Palace, he ran into Shen Wanqing coming out of the palace.

"Has Grandma said everything she wanted to say?"

"Didn't I already say it? Do you think it's divided into two parts?"

When Shen Wanqing was young, she walked with a brisk pace, as if she wanted to leap forward. Now, she doesn't feel old at all, but perhaps because she has two children who are old enough to be married, her pace has slowed down.

The palace had strict rules, so holding hands was definitely not allowed. The two walked slowly forward side by side, their sleeves brushing against each other, and even their shadows on the ground overlapped, making it almost impossible to tell whether it was one person or two.

Some things don't need much questioning; both of them know the other will handle it. They strolled leisurely out of the palace, and when Shen Wanqing looked up, she couldn't find her carriage.

Where did the carriage go? Shen Wanqing didn't know and couldn't find it for a while, but fortunately, Lord Yu still had a horse waiting at the foot of the imperial city.

Yu Lang gestured for her to mount his horse, and Shen Wanqing couldn't help but burst into laughter. If she rode home with Yu Lang today, another rumor would spread throughout the capital tomorrow. Perhaps the censor would even impeach them for their lack of manners.

But so what? Shen Wanqing stepped into the stirrups and mounted her horse first, followed closely by Yu Lang, who also leaped onto the horse and sat close behind Shen Wanqing, pulling the reins to head back.

The guards at the palace gate are all watching, but what does it matter? We can deal with tomorrow's troubles tomorrow; today's joy is enough to share with those around us.

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The main story is finished. What follows is a series of stories about Jiyun and her dog's daily life, plus a time-travel storyline with an alternate timeline (daily updates, and I will provide a leave notice if I need to take a break).

This column features pre-orders for several novels: "Jiang Girl's Exile Notes" (ancient time-travel), "Twenty-Five Years of Summer" (modern romance), and "Farming in the Wasteland" (post-apocalyptic).

Please bookmark this page if you're interested! [starry-eyed][starry-eyed]

Red envelopes are dropping in the comments section of this chapter! [shy][let me see]