Chapter 8: Fanhua, hold onto my hand tightly, don't get separated.
Zhou Cong said he came to apologize, and he kept his word. He also brought two large boxes of gifts. The outside of the wooden boxes were painted bright red, and he asked four servants to carry them. It was obvious that they were very heavy.
He arrived quietly, perhaps fearing to alert Emperor Yongchang, and dared not make a big announcement. He even chose a time when the male host was on duty. He sat in the champion's mansion for a moment, his face filled with disdain, before seeing Yu Xi, Zhou Xian's senior maid, emerge.
"This servant pays respects to Prince Yu." Yu Xi wore a respectful smile. She bowed to Zhou Cong first, then turned to the servant beside her and said, "What are you standing there for? Go and get the prince some boiling tea. It's freezing outside, and it's not easy for the prince to make this trip."
The little maid quickly agreed and ran to make tea.
Yu Xi smiled apologetically: "My lord, I am sorry to have made you laugh. The servants in this mansion don't quite understand the rules. I will definitely teach them well in the future."
"It's okay." Zhou Cong didn't even look at her. He supported his forehead with his hand and asked calmly, "Where's your princess? It's been five or six days. Is she still not well?"
Yu Xi: "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. As you know, the princess has been weak since she was young. She can't stand the wind. She needs to rest for a long time."
Zhou Cong laughed with an ambiguous smile: "Oh? So she's still sick? My poor sister lost her mother at a young age, and her own health is also poor. She is truly unlucky."
"Your Highness Prince Yu, what you said is true. Compared to people like you who are born into a wealthy family, who isn't unlucky?" Yu Xi was not angry. She was used to dealing with people in the palace and was quite good at making her masters happy.
She paused, then continued, "But my princess syndrome has been cured, it's just..."
Zhou Cong raised his eyes and looked down at her condescendingly.
"It's just that the princess doesn't want to come out to see people." Yu Xi sighed, "She has a sensitive personality. Every time she thinks of what happened that day, she keeps wiping away tears. Neither the servants nor the prince consort can comfort her. I'm afraid she won't be able to come out to see you today!"
"What did you say?!" Zhou Cong jumped up from his chair when he heard that, startling the maid who was serving tea next to him so much that she almost fell down. The maid immediately became like a quail, holding the boiling tea, and stood there in a daze.
"Waste!" Zhou Cong glared at the stunned maid. He was a man with a bad temper, and after Zhou Shan's words, he immediately threw up his sleeves and was about to leave.
Yu Xi acted surprised and chased after him, asking, "Your Highness is leaving now? He hasn't even had tea!"
Zhou Cong turned around and said grimly, "Sensitive? What nonsense are you talking about! Fine, I want to see how long Zhou Shan can keep up this act!"
…
"Zhou Cong is gone?" Zhou Xian was sitting on the porch playing with the sparrows. Seeing Yu Xi walk into the backyard with two large boxes of things, a smile appeared on his pale face. "Let me see what he gave me."
Yesterday it snowed again, and little sparrows, as big as glutinous rice balls, hopped and hopped across the snow, pecking at the rice grains Zhou Shan had scattered. As soon as Zhou Shan stood up, they fluttered up to the eaves, their little heads tilting this way and that.
"Qianshan, Muxue——" Yuxi called out, "Come and lend a hand."
Two older maids arrived, one in front and one behind. The taller of them, Qianshan, even brought Zhou Shan a hand warmer. They were both maids from the inner court, and considered Zhou Shan's senior staff, so they were very efficient.
They opened the two boxes together with Yuxi. The younger Muxue exclaimed "Ah" and seemed to be unable to speak about the things in the boxes.
"What's going on?" Zhou Xian heard the noise and took a few steps forward. He fell silent when he saw a pile of silk, rouge, and headgear in the box. He bent down, picked up a brocade box, and opened it with an indifferent expression. Two rare black inks were clearly visible.
He picked up one of them and examined it carefully for a moment. Then, out of anger, he laughed and said, "Humph, my Third Brother is quite considerate. He told me to stay in the inner house peacefully, and he even came all the way here to give me two boxes of women's things. Don't you think he's considerate?"
Seeing that he was obviously angry, Yu Xi said worriedly, "If the princess doesn't like it, I'll have it returned later."
"Why shouldn't I like it?" Zhou Xian threw the Luozidai aside and took out a set of kingfisher feather headwear. The emerald blue feathers flowed with a faint blue color under the sunlight, dazzling people.
He sneered, "Zhou Cong is truly wealthy. Only he can give away these conch dai and emerald green hairpins so casually. It's always good to lean on a big tree for shade. Noblewoman Shen and the Shen family dote on him, and they're not afraid of spoiling him to the point of being a queen, only to accidentally fall to his death."
"Prince Yu has indeed been too arrogant in recent years." Yu Xi continued.
Zhou Xian toyed with his kingfisher-inlaid pearl hairpin, his gaze fixed on the silk at the bottom of the chest. It was obvious it came from Jiangnan, its jacquard patterns and designs all in the latest fashion. He stared at the silk for a long time, then suddenly thought of something, and couldn't help but smile slyly.
Yu Xi sighed on the side. When she saw Zhou Shan's expression, she knew that her princess was going to do something bad.
"Wang Xiang, do you still remember who the current Zhejiang Provincial Inspector is?" Zhou Shan called Wang Xiang with an unchanged smile on his face.
Wang Xiang's eyes flickered as he saw the two large boxes of silk and satin. He then recalled the faction behind Third Prince Zhou Cong and immediately understood what Zhou Xian was up to. He said, "If I remember correctly, it's the current Prince Yu's uncle and Concubine Shen's fourth brother—Shen Wen."
"That's right," Zhou Xian nodded in affirmation. "In recent years, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions have been converting farmland into mulberry trees, and Shen Wen has been a major contributor. Converting farmland into mulberry trees is said to increase silk production, but in reality, the profits behind it are all reaped by wealthy merchants and officials. Two years ago, a censor reported Zhou Cong and Shen Wen for their close relationship, suspecting that the two were secretly embezzling public funds. Unfortunately, there was insufficient evidence, so the case was not made public..."
"What does the princess mean?" Wang Xiang asked in a low voice.
Zhou Xian had been standing for a long time and felt a little tired, so he stretched himself and said, "He doesn't want me to have an easy life, and I don't want him to have an easy life either. It just so happens that I have some leverage over him. If I can expose the fact that he and Shen Wen have amassed huge wealth in Zhejiang..."
The sunlight after the snow was dazzling. He squinted his eyes, which shone with an amber luster. His pupils shrank slightly, like a cat about to pounce on a bird, excited but cautious at the same time.
"Princess, how do you plan to arrange this?" Wang Xiang reminded her. "It won't be easy to make a big deal out of this matter. After all, given your status, it might be difficult to arrange it."
"Hmm..." Zhou Xian curled his lips. He suddenly heard some noise coming from the front yard. Servants and maids were running around, as if someone was coming.
A moment later, he saw Zhang Jinwei, wearing a black gauze hat and a green official robe, walking towards him hurriedly, bypassing the screen wall.
Zhou Xian whispered, "Isn't the one in front of me... a perfect target?" He sighed inwardly, thinking that he was probably going to be a "troublemaker" and whisper in the ear of this old cabinet minister's good student, the reserve army of the clean stream, and a good consort in the eyes of the emperor.
But...how should I blow it?
…
Zhang Jinwei had just changed out of his official robes and donned a plain blue robe, complete with a scarf in his hair. He walked into the bedroom he shared with Zhou Xian and asked gently, "Has Prince Yu been here?"
"He came around 9:00 this morning," Yuxi replied. "He sat for a while and then left. He gave the princess many beautiful hairpins and silks. He didn't even have tea before rushing off to attend to his official duties."
"The princess doesn't want to see him?" Zhang Jinwei understood what was said and sat not far from the dressing box and asked.
Zhou Xian whispered, "I don't want to see him."
Zhang Jinwei burst out laughing.
What are you laughing at!
Zhou Xian was comparing the rouge while feeling indignant. He was wondering why this person came back so early in the morning. Her half-painted eyes kept looking at the man.
"I had originally planned to take a day off tomorrow, but unfortunately the ministers are coming for an inspection, so I have no choice but to take it off today." Zhang Jinwei noticed his wife's puzzled look and explained with a smile, "I promised the princess a few days ago that we would go out for a walk. Since I promised, I must not break my promise. Let's go out after lunch, okay?"
Zhou Xian's eyebrows almost trembled from the way he drew them. He turned around and looked at Zhang Jinwei with bright eyes, and asked in surprise, "Really?"
"Of course it's true." Zhang Jinwei smiled.
"How... am I supposed to go out?" Zhou Xian, despite his meticulous thinking, was still a child raised in the palace. He couldn't refuse the offer to "go out for a walk," and he almost dropped his dignified mask. He wondered if he should disguise himself as a servant, a maid, or...
"Just dress simply and don't be too nervous." Zhang Jinwei said.
Zhou Xian was stunned. He asked, "What if we're discovered by the Imperial Guards?"
"It's okay." Zhang Jinwei walked forward, took the eyebrow pencil from his wife's hand, and examined it carefully. "No Jinyiwei will come to disturb us, Princess, don't worry... Is this an eyebrow pencil?"
Zhou Xian: ...
He hurriedly took the eyebrow pencil back from the man, fearing he would suddenly say, "Let me help the princess draw her eyebrows." Zhou Xian had no expectations of anyone else's eyebrow-drawing skills. If the painting was ruined, he would have to spend a long time in front of the bronze mirror.
Fortunately, Zhang Jinwei did not insist. She watched him put on makeup with a faint smile on her face.
After lunch, Zhou Xian went out in a sedan chair. He then realized that Zhang Jinwei had not thought about covering up at all. The Jinyiwei followed them closely, and it was unclear whether they were monitoring them or protecting them.
When he got out of Xuanwu Gate in the sedan chair, it stopped. Zhang Jinwei put on his veil and carefully helped him out of the sedan chair, saying softly, "Princess, look, right in front of us is Xuanbeifang in the outer city."
Zhou Xian lifted a corner of her veil and slowly opened her eyes.
There were many people, all kinds of people. It was the end of the year, and the streets were full of vendors selling everything. Zhou Xian even saw a few Westerners. Suddenly, a carriage passed by, raising a cloud of dust. Zhou Xian hurried to get out of the way, but Zhang Jinwei held her hand tightly and half-held it in his arms.
Zhou Xian paid little attention to the man's movements. He stared intently at the rising dust and the people passing by. For the first time in eighteen years, he saw the so-called "human world," so prosperous and vibrant. He thought, the capital of Daning has a population of millions, and he is just a grain of sand in such a vast city.
He subconsciously tried to break free from the man's hand and throw himself into the vast world, but was held tightly.
The man whispered in his ear: "Hold my hand tight and don't get lost."
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