"Your Highness, please go to the left. This is the Meditation Pavilion." The dean of the academy smiled shyly. "The garden next to it is planted with fruits and vegetables. When the students come to school, they will not only help them improve their diet, but also save some expenses."
Prince Chen glanced at the yard and nodded: "Radishes are good things, they are nourishing, and if you don't finish them, you can make dried radishes."
"Your Highness has good eyesight. This is indeed a carrot." The dean praised in an almost exaggerated tone: "Your Highness really knows the lifestyle of ordinary people very well. You even know these things. You really love the people like your own children!"
Li En smiled awkwardly. The dean of the academy was his classmate. He was pedantic and obsessed with academics. He had not been promoted in recent years. It was precisely because of this character that His Majesty chose him from a bunch of names to be the first dean of Hongwen Academy.
But flattery is not something that is suitable for him to do, as it is easy to flatter the horse's leg.
"Your Highness, the dean meant that although you have a luxurious life, you still care about the people's food, clothing, housing and transportation." Li En whispered to make up for his classmate: "There is no other meaning."
Prince Chen waved his hand: "I understand. Let's go and have a look somewhere else."
After inspecting the entire academy, Prince Chen praised: "It is well built. Since this is the academy that my father spent a lot of effort to build, I should also show my appreciation. I will ask my attendant to send three thousand taels of silver to the academy later. I will buy what I need for the academy."
"Thank you, Your Highness. Thank you, Your Highness." The dean was overjoyed. It seemed that he had a talent for flattery, otherwise how could he have gotten the huge sum of three thousand taels.
He couldn't remember a single word of what the King of Chen had said in the past. All he could think of was: King of Chen is generous! Open-minded! Generous!
After Li En and Prince Chen left, he happily plucked a few large radishes and called the students who had not yet left the door to come in for dinner: "Add meat to the dishes tonight!"
"His Royal Highness Prince Chen is so kind. Not only did he give you paper and ink for copying books for free, he also donated three thousand taels of silver to build the academy." The dean was so moved that tears welled up in his eyes: "His Royal Highness is a good man."
These poor students were already salivating at the thought of eating meat. When they heard the dean say that His Highness had paid for the paper and ink for them out of his own pocket, they all stood up and bowed towards the imperial palace.
Your Majesty is a good man, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Chen is also a good man.
One student blushed and said, "In the past, I was ignorant and believed others. I thought that Your Highness had...something wrong. I was ignorant."
"People's words are scary. You are all educated people. Regardless of whether you can be admitted to Hongwen College in the future, I hope you will remember one thing." The dean looked at these poor students: "When people say something, listen and think about it. Don't listen and believe it."
"Thank you for your guidance, Dean." The students bowed to express their gratitude.
"You are still young. I hope that in the near future, you can become the backbone of Dacheng. Be loyal to the emperor and be worthy of the people. Keep the sky clear and protect the world." The dean smiled and shook off the mud on the radish: "We scholars should remember one thing until we die, and we should be worthy of our conscience."
The news of Prince Chen donating money to Hongwen Academy spread quickly. Fewer scholars scolded Prince Chen, and more people praised him. Even in teahouses, the most popular story in the series of stories about the overbearing prince was the story of the overbearing prince who passed the imperial examination.
The common people thought that the overbearing prince must have passed the imperial examination himself and knew how difficult it was for scholars, so he spent so much money on the academy.
The story was outrageous, but the common people loved it. So in teahouses and under overpasses, whenever the storyteller told the story of the domineering prince who passed the imperial examination, there would always be crowds of listeners.
"Yun Duqing is such an idiot, he also knows how to please scholars." Prince Huai listened to the rumors outside and walked back and forth in the study room in anger: "You also said that the Ming family would not help him. If the Ming family had not given him advice, with his brain, could he have come up with such a method to win people's hearts?"
The strategist had never expected that the Prince of Chen would dare to use the academy built by His Majesty to build momentum for himself: "Your Highness, Hongwen Academy was built by His Majesty. The Prince of Chen is using the academy to build his own reputation, but he might end up shooting himself in the foot."
"Shoot yourself in the foot?" Prince Huai laughed: "Do you think that father will be resentful of him because of such a small matter?"
The counselors were puzzled, isn't this matter enough for His Majesty to take notice?
"You can say such things because you have never seen how much the emperor favors Yun Duqing." Prince Huai snorted and laughed in an ambiguous way: "You don't know him well enough."
On the day his father ascended the throne, before the coronation ceremony began, he stood outside the Taiyang Palace and saw his father bend down and carry Yun Duqing, who was about to turn eight, on his back, not caring at all that Yun Duqing might wrinkle the dragon robe on his body.
From then on, he was very clear that in his father's heart, Yun Duqing was different from them.
Over the years, he never had any conflict with Yun Duqing, because he knew better than anyone that his father would definitely stand on Yun Duqing's side.
"Then...why don't we follow the example of the Prince of Chen and donate some money to Hongwen Academy?" The counselor said, "This way we can also gain a reputation as a benevolent person."
Prince Huai: “…”
That is three thousand taels of silver, not stones.
There are countless places in the palace that need to spend money. How can he play around with a few thousand taels of silver like Yun Duqing?
"Forget it." Prince Huai rejected the proposal: "With Yun Duqing in front, even if I follow him to donate money, it won't be of much benefit. Let's stop with this."
When the conspirators saw that the prince was unwilling to pay the money, they looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
Just as the advisers in Prince Huai's Palace had expected, the news reached the ears of Emperor Longfeng.
"Du Qing has made great progress under Ming Jingzhou, and now he knows how to care for poor students." Emperor Longfeng smiled with relief: "If I had known that he would make such great progress, I should have let Ming Jingzhou be his teacher."
Liu Zhongbao smiled and continued, "Your Highness is about to get married, so naturally things are different from before."
"The Ming family." Emperor Long Feng sighed. He felt guilty towards the Ming family.
The three brothers of the Ming family were so glorious when they were paraded through the streets on horseback, but in the end they were thrown into prison because of him and their entire family was exiled to the frontier.
Not long after the three brothers of the Ming family were exiled to the frontier, the late emperor, due to the slander of treacherous ministers, ordered them to be imprisoned in the palace.
He himself did not expect that the two years of confinement tortured him, but also saved his life. The other princes died or became disabled because of their rebellion and forced the emperor to abdicate. The best ending was to guard the imperial mausoleum.
I wonder what his father was thinking when he passed the throne to him before he died?
"If it weren't for me, Ming Jingzhou wouldn't have been separated from his daughter for sixteen years." Emperor Longfeng regained his composure and glanced at the night outside the window: "Tomorrow is the wedding day of the fourth son and Miss Sun?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Liu Zhongbao replied in a low voice.
He thought that His Majesty would show mercy to the Sun family or the King of Qi, but he waited for a long time and His Majesty never opened his mouth.
"Your Majesty, Concubine Ning requests an audience."
"It's late at night." Emperor Longfeng said without turning his head: "Let Concubine Ning go back and rest early."
"Yes." The young eunuch bowed and left the palace gate, and walked to Concubine Ning who was waiting outside: "Your Majesty, it's windy today, you should go back and rest early."
Concubine Ning looked at the brightly lit Taiyang Palace and smiled tenderly, "I understand. Thank you, eunuch, for passing on the message."
She turned around and walked along the long palace corridor, the fiery red lanterns swaying in the night wind.
"Your Majesty." Hongmei held her arm and said, "It's cold at night. Please sit on the sedan chair and let the palace maids carry you back."
"I want to go for a walk by myself." Concubine Ning pushed Hongmei away. She looked up at the lantern under the eaves and laughed at herself: "My son is getting married tomorrow, but His Majesty doesn't want to see me. He is really heartless."
Su has deceived His Majesty to such an extent that the entire harem is in vain because of her.
She hated His Majesty's ruthlessness, and hated Su for seducing His Majesty's heart even more. She wondered all the time when Su and her idiot son would die.
"Your Highness." Bai Shao glanced at Hong Mei who was pushed aside by Concubine Ning, and stepped forward to support Concubine Ning: "Among all the princesses, Miss Sun has the most noble status. If Your Majesty continues to reward her generously, the other princes will be jealous of Your Highness."
"You are right." Concubine Ning grabbed Bai Shao's hand tightly and said, "No matter what Miss Wu, Miss Liu, or Miss Ming, they are not as good as my son's princess."
Looking at the palm that was pierced by Concubine Ning's nails, Bai Shao smiled despite the pain: "If His Majesty really disliked Your Highness, why would he arrange for him to work in the Ministry of Revenue? In my humble opinion, His Majesty might be protecting Your Highness."
The blood on Bai Shao's palm flowed out along Ning Fei's nails.
The moment Concubine Ning loosened her hand, the cold wind blew across the wound, and Bai Shao curled up her five fingers in pain.
The prince of Qi got married, and the princes, princesses, and ministers all went to the palace to congratulate him. The palace was decorated with lanterns and even the treetops were hung with gorgeous red lanterns. The road outside the palace was crowded with carriages from various palaces, and it was very lively.
When the Ming family's carriage arrived, the carriages had already blocked the alley. The visitor who was blocking the way recognized the Ming family members and got off the carriage to apologize, and even tried to give up his carriage.
"Absolutely not." Ming Jingzhou quickly stopped the other party from doing this, and bowed with a smile, saying: "This place is not far from the Qi Palace. From my limited knowledge, why don't you let the coachman drive the carriage back and we will go on foot."
"Mr. Ming is right." The other party glanced at the other carriage of the Ming family and asked, "Is it your wife and daughter in the back?"
"That's right." Ming Jingzhou and the other party exchanged greetings and said, "Brother, please feel free to do as you please. I will go down and ask Zhuo Jing and my daughter to get off the carriage."
"Master Ming, take care." The other party bowed again.
When Mrs. Ming and Miss Ming got off the carriage, he couldn't help but take a few more glances. He saw a girl in a goose-yellow dress jump off the carriage, turn around and reach out her hand into the carriage with a smile.
The little girl has a lovely face. When she smiles, she looks very attractive and pretty.
It was not until he saw the wife of Minister Ming holding the hand of the little girl as they stepped off the carriage, and then affectionately helped the little girl adjust the golden hairpin on her temples, that he was sure that this was the future Princess Chen.
No wonder officials from the six ministries were saying that Ming Jingzhou didn't want his daughter to marry into Prince Chen's mansion. Which father would be willing to let such a well-behaved and lovely daughter marry a domineering prince?
"There are so many people." Jiuzhu looked at the carriages that were jamming the intersection and said, "With so many carriages, how are we going to get the bride's sedan chair in later?"
"The Jinwu Guards will be here to maintain order soon." Shen was not in a very good mood. She looked at the red silks hanging at the ends of the streets, and her expression looked a little lonely.
"Mother, are you feeling unwell?" Jiuzhu looked at Shen worriedly.
"No." Shen looked at her still ignorant daughter. Does this child really know the meaning of getting married?
"Your uncle wrote to me a few days ago, saying that he will be back in Beijing in about six or seven days." Shen changed the subject: "When your sixth brother Fu asks you to go out and play, don't agree to him."
"Why?"
Shen smiled and said, "Your uncle wants to test him on his homework, and I'm afraid he will use you as an excuse to escape punishment."
"Oh." Jiuzhu nodded slowly, secretly planning in her heart that when her uncle came back and wanted to beat Fu Liuge, she would go to rescue him.
She is a girl and this is their first meeting, so there is no way that her uncle would embarrass Brother Fu Liu in front of her.
Shen saw through Jiuzhu's plan at a glance, smiled and didn't expose her.
"Mr. Ming, the Minister of Rites, has come with his wife and daughter to congratulate His Highness on his wedding."
When everyone heard the announcement, they turned their heads and looked towards the gate. Officials who were familiar with Ming Jingzhou came forward to greet him. Jiuzhu called them uncles and followed her mother to the inner courtyard where the female relatives were received.
"Sister Ming." Miss Chen saw Jiuzhu and knelt down to greet Shen. She took Jiuzhu's arm affectionately and said, "Sisters have been waiting for you for a long time. Come and sit with us."
Shen smiled gently as she watched Jiuzhu being pulled away by her younger sisters, then turned around and sat with the other ladies.
"Concubine Su Guifei of Mingyue Palace sent an envoy to congratulate His Royal Highness Prince Qi on his wedding."
"Concubine Xu of Zhaoxiang Palace sent an envoy to congratulate His Royal Highness Prince Qi on his wedding."
"Lv Zhaoyi of Yunlai Palace sent an envoy to congratulate His Royal Highness Prince Qi on his wedding."
"Sister Chen." Jiuzhu asked Miss Chen in a low voice: "Who is the Concubine Xu of Zhaoxiang Palace?"
Whether it was the Imperial Concubine's birthday banquet or the last time she copied the sutras, she had never heard anyone mention Concubine Xu.
"Concubine Xu is the biological mother of Prince Huai. After His Majesty ascended the throne, she has been fasting and chanting in the palace, rarely appearing in public." Miss Chen whispered, "No one knows what happened. Some people speculate that Concubine Xu did something wrong to His Majesty, but I don't think that's the case."
Jiuzhu looked at Miss Chen in surprise.
"Tsk." Miss Chen pulled Jiuzhu to a corner and whispered, "I know you are not a talkative person, and you will marry into the royal family in the future. Some things will not harm you if you listen to them. I will tell you, and you should listen and be more careful in the future."
"Your Majesty's biological mother was not valued by the previous emperor and had a very hard life in the harem. It is said that she died due to a long-term illness and lack of good medicine. So after Your Majesty ascended the throne, he had sympathy for the women in the harem and specially set up the Palace Department in the harem to not allow anyone to deduct the food, clothing and expenses of the concubines and the imperial concubines." Miss Chen sighed, "It's a pity that the Holy Mother Empress Dowager passed away early and did not enjoy the blessing of Your Majesty."
"Then..." Jiuzhu asked cautiously, "What does this have to do with Concubine Xu?"
Miss Chen tapped Jiuzhu's cheek and said, "Because your majesty is the emperor, even if he has sympathy for the women in the harem, he cannot tolerate the mistakes of his bedmates. That's why I said that the rumors about Concubine Xu are not true."
"Perhaps Your Majesty is not bothered by many things because she gave birth to Prince Huai?"
"You." Miss Chen smiled and shook her head: "You don't understand men."
Jiuzhu was confused. How could such a simple matter involve men and women?
Master said that if there are things that you just can’t figure out, maybe the truth is as simple as it appears on the surface. It’s just that people always complicate simple things and end up being deceived by their own brains.
As night fell, the bride got out of the sedan chair, and Jiuzhu and the other young ladies crowded into the corridor to see the bride and groom.
Miss Sun, wearing a phoenix crown and holding a fan to cover her face, walked into the inner door holding a red embroidered ball. The groom, Prince Qi, held the other end of the red embroidered ball, and his bright red groom's suit made his face look a little pale.
"The bride is coming in!"
There were children cheering behind her. Someone gave her a hard push, but she just held onto the railing without moving.
She turned her head sharply and made eye contact with a little kid.
"You...I didn't mean it." The second young master of the Zheng family squeezed out of the crowd, turned around and ran.
Just after he ran a few steps, he felt his clothes tightened and he was lifted into the air.
"ah……"
"Shut up." Prince Chen stared at him impatiently: "If you dare to shout, I will make your family's title fall completely!"
The naughty child of the Zheng family looked at the Prince of Chen with tears in his eyes, not daring to shout again: "You, you can't bully children."
"What's wrong with bullying a kid?" The King put the kid on the ground and sneered, "Ten years ago, I could have kicked away twenty brats like you."
Jiuzhu looked at Prince Chen with admiration, his highness was even more powerful than her.
The naughty child was trembling with fear. He had heard from his family that this prince was particularly bad and would eat children who did not sleep well.
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu squeezed out of the crowd with difficulty, stretched out her hand, and picked up the naughty child again: "Why did you push me?"
"Let me go, you bad woman!" The naughty child kicked his legs. "I'm going to tell my cousin that you bullied me."
"Who are you going to tell on?!" The Prince of Chen knocked the kid hard on the forehead and said, "Who do you dare to tell on when I am here?"
The naughty child finally couldn't help it and opened his mouth to cry loudly.
"You dare to cry?" Prince Chen crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Come here, call the adults of the Zheng family. I like to hear the young and old cry together."
"Burp." The naughty child burped and forced his crying back into his stomach.
"Doesn't this mean he can understand what people say?" Prince Chen sneered. How dare this naughty kid who pretends to be innocent and does bad things show off in front of him? You know, he was the eldest among the naughty kids back then.
"Alright, put him down. I don't believe he dares to run away." Pretending not to notice the strength of Jiuzhu's hand, the King of Chen noticed the cunning in the eyes of the naughty child and continued, "If he dares to run, I will arrest all the Zheng family members and put them in jail."
Jiuzhu put the naughty child down, tiptoed and whispered in the ear of the King of Chen: "Are you really going to put all the members of the Zheng family in jail?"
Prince Chen: “…”
She actually believed the words used to coax a child?
"You want to put them in jail?"
If Ming Xiaozhu really has this idea, he can try hard and there is hope.
"Then forget it." Jiuzhu looked down at the naughty child from the Zheng family: "You pushed me on purpose just now, I saw it."
"I didn't mean to do that."
"It was intentional." Jiuzhu stood side by side with King Chen: "With such great strength, how could it not be intentional?"
The naughty kid knew he couldn't defend himself, so he threw in the towel and said, "I did it on purpose, so what?"
"Who made you a lackey of the witch concubine? Who made you marry a prince who eats children? If it weren't for you, our family wouldn't have lowered your title. People like you are... are..." The naughty child thought of the words he had heard a few days ago: "A lucky star!"
When Jiuzhu heard this, she started to roll up her sleeves.
"What are you doing?" When Prince Chen saw that she was angry and wanted to hit someone, he quickly rolled down her sleeves.
"Beat the child!" Jiuzhu rolled up the sleeves that King Chen had pulled down.
"Forget it, forget it." Prince Chen grabbed her wrist and said, "The child is ignorant. It's all because the adults didn't teach him well. I'll take you to bully their parents later."
Jiuzhu struggled for a few times, then suddenly stopped. She looked at Prince Chen aggrievedly: "But he scolded you and also scolded the noble concubine."
Prince Chen was slightly startled, and stretched out his hand to straighten the crooked pearl flower on her temples: "Are you stupid? If you beat a child here, others will say, "He is still a child, and ask you to let him go."
"What should we do?"
"Let's find a deserted place and bury him in a pit." Prince Chen said casually, sneering, "Such an annoying child, there is no hope for him."
The naughty child, who had been holding back for a long time, was finally frightened and burst into tears.
The King of Qi had just sent his bride to the bridal chamber and was about to go out to receive the guests when he saw the eunuch hurriedly running up to him and saying, "My Lord, something has happened."
"What's the matter?" King Qi frowned.
"The young master of the Zheng family tried to push down the young lady of the Ming family. He was discovered by the Prince of Chen while escaping. He then verbally abused the noble concubine, the Prince of Chen, and the young lady of the Ming family." The eunuch's shoulders were shaking violently. It was not known whether it was because of fear or the cold wind outside.
King Qi sighed and said, "I'll go take a look."
In the bridal chamber, Sun Caiyao heard what the Prince of Qi and the eunuch said, and she became even more disgusted with the Zheng family. What else could this family do except cause trouble for the prince?
In the side hall, Prince Chen looked at the Zheng family members who were cowering and not daring to raise their heads: "I thought your family was very bold to allow the servants to make irresponsible remarks about the royal family, but I didn't expect that I underestimated you."
"Your Highness, I was not strict in educating my son. Please forgive me." Pingyuan Bo's wife knelt on the ground and cried to the Prince of Chen: "Please have mercy, Ming is just a child..."
"Children are ignorant and like to follow what adults say." Jiuzhu interrupted her: "So his words and actions are influenced by you adults."
"That's not what I meant." Lady Pingyuan was panicked: "Even if I had the courage of heaven, I would not dare to say anything bad about the royal family."
After saying that, she pulled her son over and hit him hard twice: "Hurry up and apologize to Lord Wang and Miss Ming!"
"Don't beat the child in front of me." The Prince of Chen stood up and said impatiently, "As my fourth brother's relatives, everything you did was to make me unhappy. I don't care whether you acted on your own or were instructed by someone else, I will never take today's matter lightly."
"Fifth brother!" King Qi opened the door and looked at the Zheng family kneeling on the ground: "Today is my big day, fifth brother, please give me some face and don't let outsiders laugh at me."
"When the Zheng family was plotting against my future princess, they didn't think of leaving you any face." Prince Chen sneered, "Don't worry, Fourth Brother, I will never mistakenly think that you ordered the Zheng family to do these things."
The Zheng family's faces changed.
King Qi turned around and looked at Jiuzhu who was sitting next to him without saying anything. He bowed to her and said, "Miss Ming, my fifth brother has always been straightforward. Please give him a few words of advice and ask him to give up the idea. Don't make things out of hand and end up embarrassing both of us."
He noticed that Yun Duqing had some special feelings for Miss Ming, and perhaps Miss Ming could persuade him.
"Your Majesty." Jiuzhu stood up and bowed deeply, returning the gift from King Qi: "Today's incident was caused by your cousin's conspiracy against a weak woman like me, right?"
King Qi glanced at the Zheng family and nodded slightly.
"Your Highness helped me to seek justice, but was insulted by your cousin." Jiuzhu frowned, as if she couldn't understand the King of Qi's behavior: "So, Your Highness vented your anger for me, but you want me to speak for you and stop Your Highness?"
"Your Highness, Prince Qi, are you joking with me?"
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