"Father?" Jiuzhu saw Ming Jingzhou didn't say anything and blinked at him in confusion.
Ming Jingzhou came back to his senses, smiled and nodded: "Don't worry, as a minister, father will fulfill his duties and will not let your majesty down."
If it was Prince Chen who disappointed His Majesty, it would have nothing to do with him.
"It's getting late, you should go back first." Ming Jingzhou smiled: "Father will take His Highness in first."
"Okay, I won't disturb father and His Highness." Jiuzhu stepped back a few steps and waved her hand: "You guys go in quickly."
Prince Chen heard the perfunctory tone in Ming Jingzhou's words, raised his eyebrows and smiled at Jiuzhu, then followed Ming Jingzhou into the gate of the Ministry of Rites.
The officials from the Ministry of Rites who met him on the road saw him as if he had seen a ferocious monster. They hurriedly performed their greetings and ran away. Compared with these people, Ming Jingzhou, who was leading the way in front, seemed normal.
"Your Highness, this is where I and my colleagues have meals. Why don't you go to the room and have a rest first? After I finish my meal, I will report to you about the relevant matters of the Ministry of Rites." Ming Jingzhou put the food box on the ground and respectfully saluted the King of Chen.
"You are welcome, Master Ming." The Prince of Chen bent down and picked up the lunch box, then took out a handkerchief and wiped the bottom of the lunch box. "It just so happens that I haven't had lunch yet, so I am so shameless to eat at the same table with you, Master. I think you won't mind."
Ming Jingzhou: “…”
I do dislike it, but I don't dare to say it out loud.
"Your Highness, please." Pushing open the door of the Ministry of Rites' public kitchen, Ming Jingzhou saw his colleagues suddenly stop talking, hurriedly put down their chopsticks, stood up and saluted Prince Chen, and he felt a strange sense of satisfaction in his heart.
That's right, we are colleagues only if we share the same difficulties.
"No need to be polite, my lords. I came here to ask for your advice." The prince chose an empty table and put the food box on the table. "We will work together in the future. Just treat me as an ordinary colleague."
Everyone knew that the Prince of Chen was just being polite. To them, the Prince of Chen's willingness to be polite was already giving them enough face.
In their expectations, the Prince of Chen might come and leave, or he might order them around, or even give them orders and make nitpicks about them.
The Minister of Rites breathed a sigh of relief. His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen...is not that difficult to serve.
Human nature is like this. If you have too high expectations of a person, you can't help but find faults everywhere. But if this person has always been arrogant and unreasonable, and suddenly says a few polite words, people will feel relieved, and even feel that they are different from others and have this special status.
The Prince placed all the dishes in the food box on the table and asked the clerk to serve the food. Seeing Ming Jingzhou still standing beside him, he smiled and greeted him, "Master Ming, please sit down and have dinner with us."
Ming Jingzhou looked at the delicious dishes, and his hands hidden in his sleeves trembled a little.
These are all his dishes, which are kept warm in the hot water at the bottom of the food box so they will not get cold during the journey!
Ming Jingzhou lifted his robe and sat down, then picked up the chopsticks on the table. With a snap, the chopsticks broke into two pieces.
The Prince of Chen paused in his attempt to pick up food and stared in amazement at the tip of the chopsticks that had fallen on the table.
"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, Your Highness." Ming Jingzhou smiled awkwardly and changed to a new pair of chopsticks: "The Ministry of Rites has limited funds, and the bowls and chopsticks are used repeatedly, so they are quite fragile and easy to break. Therefore, even weak people like me often break them accidentally."
"I see." Prince Chen picked up the broken chopsticks and threw them into the rattan basket beside him. "My lords all live in poverty. Once I am familiar with the affairs of the Ministry of Rites, I will report to my father and ask him to allocate funds to repair the Ministry of Rites."
"Thank you, Your Highness." Li En, the Minister of Rites, came over with the bowl and chopsticks, and said with a thick face: "I will take Your Highness around later and tell you which places are in serious disrepair, so that Your Highness will not be hit on the head by tiles or wall plaster when you accidentally pass by these places in the future."
Prince Chen: “…”
"If Your Highness finds it boring for me to accompany you alone, Lord Ming can also come." Minister of Rites Li En smiled flatteringly at the Prince of Chen: "What do you think, Your Highness?"
Prince Chen was silent. He began to recall which wrong step he had taken that led him to embark on the journey of asking for funds for the Ministry of Rites.
At first, he just wanted to visit the Ministry of Rites and then find an excuse to tell his father that the Ministry of Rites was not in harmony with him.
"Your Highness?" Li En looked earnestly.
Prince Chen put down his chopsticks and said, "Thank you, sir. I will pay more attention in the future."
Li En nudged Ming Jingzhou lightly with his elbow, hoping that he could speak up and let His Highness understand that the important point was not to pay attention to the lost things, but that their Ministry of Rites was in tatters and needed money to repair it.
Ming Jingzhou lowered his head and ate in an elegant and graceful manner.
He was just a weak, hungry little minister who just wanted to eat.
After delivering the meal to her father, Jiuzhu got on the carriage back home in a good mood.
Halfway through the journey, the carriage stopped.
"Miss, there is a carriage from the Pingyuan Marquis's Mansion ahead." Chunfen lifted the curtain and leaned forward to ask Jiuzhu: "Should we give way?"
"Marquis Pingyuan's Mansion?" Jiuzhu stuck her head out of the window and took a look. Countless servants surrounded the carriage, and passers-by all gave way.
"Let him go." Jiuzhu retracted her gaze, lowered the car window curtain, and stopped looking.
Chunfen nodded, turned around and said to the driver, "Young lady has ordered us to give way to the carriage of Marquis Pingyuan's mansion."
The old lady of Pingyuan Marquis's Mansion saw the carriage stopped for a while and asked the maid beside her: "What's going on ahead?"
"There was a carriage blocking our way ahead. After the other party knew who we were, they gave way." The maid bent over to get into the carriage and gently massaged the old lady's shoulders.
"Tell the young ones at home not to publicize this when they are out, lest it bring trouble to the reputation of the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Qi." The old lady closed her eyes to rest and hide her fatigue: "Do you know whose carriage it is? Let Wangnan go to thank them in person."
His son was seriously ill, and his eldest grandson was the heir apparent of the Marquisate. Only if he passed away could the humility of the Marquisate be demonstrated.
"I am Zheng Wangnan, the young master of Pingyuan Marquis's Mansion. Thank you for making way for me." Zheng Wangnan looked at the carriage without the family emblem and bowed on the horse's back without even getting off.
"Prince Zheng, you are too polite. Elders are respected. As a junior, my lady should let the old lady go first." Chunfen jumped off the carriage and bowed deeply.
Zheng Wangnan looked at the maid and felt vaguely that he seemed to have seen her somewhere before.
"Prince, please come in." Chunfen waved his sleeves and made a gesture of invitation.
"Thank you, miss." Because of this vague familiarity, Zheng Wangnan bowed again in the direction of the carriage.
He patted the horse under him and was about to turn around and leave when another person rode towards him.
"Your Highness the Prince of Qi!" Zheng Wangnan saw the person on the horse clearly, and quickly got off the horse and pulled the horse to the side.
"Cousin." King Qi noticed the carriage of Marquis Pingyuan's mansion and stopped the horse.
All the people in the marquis' mansion who were sitting in the carriage just now got out of the carriage.
"Grandma, please don't be so polite." The King of Qi dismounted and supported the elderly lady of the Marquis' Mansion: "Grandma, where are you going?"
"Your Highness' wedding date is approaching. I am too old to do anything, so I can only take the younger generation in my family to the temple to pray for blessings, and pray that God will bless Your Highness with continuous blessings and success in everything." The old lady of the Marquis's Mansion looked at Prince Qi with loving eyes: "Your Highness, how are you these days?"
"Thank you for your concern, Grandmother. I am fine. But you are in poverty. If you are troubled by my affairs, how will I cope?" The Prince of Qi noticed a carriage without a family crest parked in the corner. It was clearly avoiding the carriage of the Marquis of Pingyuan Mansion. "Whose carriage is this?"
The curtain of the carriage moved, and a young girl in a light lake-colored dress came down, holding the hand of a maid, stepping on a footstool.
"I have met His Majesty the Prince of Qi."
Zheng Wangnan's eyes lit up. It was the lady who turned the tacky hairpins into shining stars.
The women of the Zheng family were shocked. The person sitting in this ordinary-looking carriage was actually the Prince Chen's fiancée? !
Thinking of Concubine Su's open protection of her at the Concubine's birthday banquet, they felt a little guilty.
When the two carriages met just now, they didn't even think about it, just waiting for the other party to give way. If Concubine Su knew that they were forcing her future daughter-in-law to give way on the street...
King Qi glanced at the expressions of the Qi family and returned Jiuzhu's half-salute: "Miss Ming."
Jiuzhu turned aside to avoid the greeting, lowered her head and frowned: "I dare not accept your Highness' greeting."
"I didn't know it was Miss Ming who passed by just now. The driver was ignorant and delayed Miss Ming's journey." The old lady of the Marquis's Mansion took a step back and said, "Miss Ming, please."
Jiuzhu smiled: "The old lady is the elder, how can a younger generation disrespect the elder? But now the old lady is talking to His Royal Highness Prince Qi, and the younger generation does not want to disturb them. Please forgive me for going first."
The carriage from the Pingyuan Marquis's Mansion moved aside, leaving a wide path.
Jiuzhu knelt down and bowed to the old lady of the Marquis' Mansion and Prince Qi: "Thank you, Your Highness Prince Qi, and thank you, old lady."
From beginning to end, she never even glanced at Prince Qi, even though he was famous throughout the capital and had won the hearts of countless women.
"She, she is the young lady of the Ming family?" Zheng Wangnan stared blankly at the carriage going away, "How can she be the young lady of the Ming family?"
Isn’t Miss Ming the Prince Chen’s fiancée?
King Qi heard Zheng Wangnan's low murmur and turned to look at him.
"Wangnan." The old lady said, "Go to the carriage and get the amulet I asked for His Highness."
"Yes." Zheng Wangnan came back to his senses and didn't even have time to mourn the fawn in his heart that had died before it was even born.
"Miss." Chunfen carefully observed Jiuzhu's expression: "You don't seem to like Prince Qi and the people of Pingyuan Marquis's Mansion. I thought that even if you don't like a man as elegant, gentle and handsome as His Royal Highness Prince Qi, you wouldn't be too disgusted."
Her young lady is such a lovely and considerate person, she would not target anyone for no reason. There must be something wrong between Prince Qi and the Marquis Pingyuan's Mansion.
"He's good-looking?" Jiuzhu disagreed: "It's obviously His Royal Highness Prince Chen who's good-looking. When His Royal Highness smiles, his eyes are so bright, like the morning sun."
Chunfen didn't think there was any difference in the way the two princes laughed, after all, they were both princes of noble status.
"Sister Chunfen, I hate them so much, it's obvious?"
"It's not too obvious. Others can't see it, but our family members can see some clues." Chunfen lifted the curtain and looked back. Prince Qi was holding the hand of the old lady of the Marquis' Mansion. There were many women on the street, secretly looking at him.
Jiuzhu recalled the struggle and despair she felt eight years ago when the river water rushed into her mouth and nose. "Maybe some people are just born incompatible. If you don't like it, you just don't like it. No matter how hard you try, it's useless."
No matter how beautifully the King of Qi smiled, she still couldn't help but think of the river water mixed with the smell of mud.
Dark, damp, and smelling of death.
In the Taiyang Palace, Emperor Longfeng personally drafted two edicts, neither of which had been stamped with the imperial seal.
An imperial decree was issued to confer the title of Ningkangbo on Ming Jingzhou.
An imperial decree appointed the daughter of Jinming Jingzhou as the county magistrate.
"Your Majesty, the Qintian Prison has arrived."
"My dear, after all this time of calculation, have you figured it out?"
"Your Majesty, the horoscopes of Miss Ming and His Royal Highness Prince Chen are like the clouds and mists dispersing, the bright moon shining, the sun rising in the sky, the trees flourishing and the vines green, and the trees dying and the vines withering."
"Your Excellency, please speak more bluntly."
"The fates of the two people are intertwined. If they are together, they will prosper. If they are apart, misfortunes will follow one after another."
Emperor Longfeng chuckled and did not comment on the fate theory: "Then can you calculate a suitable wedding date for the two of you?"
"On the second day of the second month of next spring, the flower god will descend."
"February 2 is also a good day for the dragon to rise up." Emperor Longfeng chuckled, picked up the seal, and stamped it heavily on the imperial edict to confer the title of Ning Kangbo on Ming Jingzhou.
Eunuch Qin Tian was lowering his head even lower. Most emperors were sensitive to the word "dragon", so he didn't dare to answer.
"This day is worthy of my son's wedding."
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