"You haven't even married a princess, what do you know about jewelry?" Emperor Longfeng laughed and scolded his son, "Go back to your Zhangliu Palace and don't bother me and your mother."
"Father, you can't say that. Although I don't have a princess yet, I have a fiancée." The Prince of Chen shamelessly approached Concubine Su Gui and said, "Mother, let me help you take a look at the jewelry sent by the Palace Department this year."
As he spoke, he stretched out his restless hands and began to rummage through the jewelry box.
"My mother is as elegant and noble as a peony. This hairpin does not match her beauty and elegance." The Prince of Chen picked out a flower hairpin and shook his head: "This one doesn't work either."
"How come the people in the Palace Department are doing bad things this year?" Prince Chen put down the box of hairpins and frowned. At first, he wanted to help Jiuzhu pick out some good things, but after a closer look, he found that these jewelry were indeed not suitable for his mother.
What does the Palace Department mean by being so perfunctory?
"I will not disturb my father and mother, so I'll take my leave now." He finally understood why Ming Xiaozhu wanted to roll up his sleeves and hit people when he was angry. Now he also wanted to lift the roof of the Palace Province.
"Where are you going?" Concubine Su looked at him with a smile.
"Let's go take a walk in the Palace." The Prince of Chen held back his anger in front of his parents and said, "It's almost the New Year, I'm going to go see the people working in the Palace."
"No need to go. Take this box of jewelry to Jiuzhu." Concubine Su held back her smile and handed him the box of jewelry that didn't fit her at all. "I'll make the decision and ask your father for mercy on your behalf. Let you go to the Ming family and personally take your fiancée to the palace."
"How can a little girl like her wear so many jewels?" Prince Chen took the heavy jewel box and said, "Mother, you treat your future daughter-in-law so well. Aren't you afraid that she will become arrogant because of your favor?"
"You have a point." Concubine Su nodded: "Jiuzhu is the daughter of the Ming family, and she has the cold and arrogant blood of a family of civil officials. If I am too good to her..."
Hearing that something was not right, Prince Chen quickly interrupted her and said, "Mother is very thoughtful. If you treat her well now, there will be no conflicts between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law after you get married. It is my son who is short-sighted and does not think things through. Fortunately, mother reminded me."
"Jiuzhu has been fostered in the Taoist temple by the Ming family for many years. Her temperament is different from that of ordinary young ladies from scholarly families." Prince Chen hid the jewelry box behind him and said, "I heard that Taoism emphasizes cause and effect. You are good to her, so she is close to you. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are as close as mother and daughter. If other concubines and princesses see you, they will definitely envy you."
He originally wanted to let his mother feel that she was the most important to him, so that she wouldn't have any opinions about Ming Xiaozhu and the two of them wouldn't get along happily in the future. Unexpectedly, his words were superfluous and seemed to be fanning the flames and sowing discord.
It is said that mediating the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law is what a mature man should do, but it seems that his ability is not enough.
Seeing her son talking so much, Concubine Su laughed out loud: "Okay, I'm just teasing you. How can I explain the fate between Jiuzhu and us mother and son in a few words? Seeing that your marriage with her is imminent, as a mother, I just hope that you two will live happily and healthily after marriage."
"Thank you, mother. I will go and fetch Ming Xiaozhu to the palace." Prince Chen winked at Emperor Longfeng beside him and said, "Father, please play with mother. I will take my leave now."
"Go ahead." Seeing his son's toes pointed outward, as if he wanted to fly out of the palace immediately, Emperor Longfeng said, "Let the dragon guards go with you. I have already said that you princes are not allowed to leave the palace. If you take the dragon guards with you, others will not be able to accuse me of going back on my word."
What this means is that you should save face for your father, whose word is law.
"I will obey my father's holy order." Prince Chen bowed and walked out of the room with a smile. As soon as he left the room, he turned around and ran away.
"Your Highness..." Xiang Xian hadn't said a word yet when she saw His Royal Highness Prince Chen had already escaped from the gate of Mingyue Palace. She looked at the eunuch beside her in confusion: "What's wrong with Your Highness?"
The palace maids and eunuchs shook their heads, guessing that maybe he had received some good things from the Imperial Concubine.
Thinking about how His Majesty had just said not long ago that the Queen Mother was not allowed to send things to His Highness, it wasn't long after that, but His Highness took something from the Queen Mother in front of His Majesty.
For the moment, it is unclear who between His Majesty and the Queen is the one who dotes on the child the most.
"Your Highness, I just saw His Highness Prince Chen leave the palace." The eunuch said to Prince Huai, "Do you think he disobeyed your Majesty's orders and sneaked out?"
"It was broad daylight, and even you saw him leave the palace. You still call this sneaking away?" Prince Huai said unhappily, "Among the five of us brothers, only the fifth brother has not yet married. I'm afraid that our father specially allowed him to leave the palace."
Besides, even if he really sneaked away, his father would definitely forgive him in the end. He would not be stupid enough to ask Prince Chen why he was allowed to leave the palace.
"Brother." Prince An and Prince Jing walked into his courtyard and sat down beside him: "We heard that Fifth Brother can leave the palace, and we also want to..."
"No, you don't." Prince Huai interrupted them ruthlessly: "At least I don't want to."
The fact that they had previously raised conspirators and spies in the palace was already known to the emperor clearly. If they were to leave the palace now and something happened again, it would be like yellow mud falling into one's crotch, and it would become true or false.
A smart person should stay in the palace at this moment, don't go anywhere, and don't ask anything. In this way, even if something happens, it has nothing to do with you.
In the past few days, he has been thinking over and over again about the various methods used by the emperor's uncles and uncles to fight for the throne when the late emperor was alive. In the end, he came to the conclusion that his father was right and that the methods used by his brothers were all left over from his uncles and uncles.
"Father is too partial." Prince An held back for a while, still feeling a little uncomfortable: "We agreed that no one is allowed to leave the palace, so why can Yun Duqing leave?"
Prince Huai looked at him sideways, he is already this old and he just realized that his father is partial?
"Brother, you should get used to this as soon as possible." The usually quiet Prince Jing said calmly, "If you are unhappy, shall we go to Fourth Brother's room and cook a hot pot?"
"I can't tell, Third Brother." Prince Huai put his hand on his shoulder and said, "You are quite good at having fun."
"I'm not." Jing Wang waved his hands quickly: "I just noticed that everyone feels very happy every time they go to Fourth Brother's place to eat hot pot..."
"No need to explain, we all understand." Prince Huai nodded: "You are right, let's go to Fourth Brother's room to cook a hot pot now."
Prince Huai set off as soon as he said he would. Just as he reached the gate of the courtyard with his two younger brothers, he saw a man sitting under a tree drinking tea. He exuded an ethereal energy that made him seem as if he could ascend to heaven on the spot.
"Big brother, second brother, third brother." Yun Yanze looked up at the three of them and smiled slightly: "The palace banquet is coming soon, why don't you have a cup of light tea and sit and watch the clouds roll in and out?"
Prince Huai looked up at the gray sky, listened to the howling wind in the palace alleys, turned around and walked away.
There's something wrong!
Who are you pretending to be disgusted with?
When Prince An and Prince Jing saw Prince Huai leave, they were at a loss as to whether to leave or stay, so they could only smile awkwardly.
They forgot that they dared to cook hot pot in the fourth brother's room because the fifth brother was there. Now that the fifth brother was not there, they...did not dare to offend this brother who was quite famous among the civil officials.
Not every prince is Yun Duqing.
Seeing that the New Year was approaching, Jiuzhu gave the little white horse a bath. She was afraid that it would be cold, so she brought a brazier when bathing it.
After wiping the water off the horse's fur with a dry towel, Jiuzhu touched the little white horse's head, and the little white horse rubbed against her affectionately.
"Good boy, good boy." The horse hair rubbed against her body and it was a little itchy. Jiuzhu smiled and took a few steps back.
"Miss." Xiangshen ran to the stable breathlessly, "His Royal Highness Prince Chen is here to visit."
"His Highness is here?" Jiuzhu was overjoyed. She took two steps, turned around and saw the pony following her. She simply led it to the front hall.
When Prince Chen saw Jiuzhu coming in with a small animal, if he hadn't seen the reins on the animal, he would have almost said, "Your dog is quite strong."
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu walked up to Prince Chen and asked, "Why did you leave the palace?"
She had heard from other sisters that the five princes were locked up in the palace and no one was allowed to go out. How did His Highness get out?
Suddenly, her expression changed and she asked in a low voice, "Your Highness, did you sneak out?"
"What are you thinking about in your little head?" Prince Chen laughed: "The palace is heavily guarded, and the outer palace wall is thicker than the house, about several feet high. Even if I have wings, I can't sneak out."
I hope it didn't sneak out.
Jiuzhu breathed a sigh of relief: "Then your highness left the palace, is there something important to do?"
"This." Prince Chen pointed to the jewelry box on the table: "For you."
When Jiuzhu got the jewelry box, Prince Chen smiled and said, "Open it and have a look."
Jiuzhu opened it and saw a box full of jewelry. She blinked and looked at the prince, who was also looking at the jewelry: "Your Highness?"
"I'm here to take you into the palace." Prince Chen clapped his hands, and the palace maids and eunuchs brought out a newly made palace skirt without the colorful canopy.
"Try it on." He was too embarrassed to say that he had asked the clothing department to make it especially for Jiuzhu: "The skirt of this palace dress is not long, so it is more convenient to walk in. Go back to your room and change into it. If it fits you well, you can wear it to the palace banquet tonight."
"Okay." Jiuzhu handed the reins of the little white horse to Prince Chen: "Your Highness, wait for me. I will go and change it now."
Prince Chen looked at the reins in his palm, then looked at the silly little pony that was not as tall as his legs, and reached out to touch its sideburns.
Not long after, Jiuzhu came back after changing her clothes. She held up the hem of her skirt and walked in front of him: "Your Highness, I'm done."
The young girl was wearing a brightly colored palace skirt with intertwined branches on the hem. In the eyes of Prince Chen, there was no more vivid scene in the world than this one.
"It looks good." He stood up and walked in front of Jiuzhu, with the same intertwined branches pattern faintly visible on his sleeves: "It looks good."
He pulled out a jade piece worn by women from his sleeve, bent down and tied it around Jiuzhu's waist.
After fastening the jade pendant, he stood up and looked down at her: "Ming Xiaozhu."
"Hmm?" Jiuzhu raised her head and looked into his eyes.
"Please wear the jade and don't lose it." He pointed to his waist, where a piece of the same jade was hanging. "It's New Year's Day, so I want good luck. Do you understand?"
"Yeah, I understand." Jiuzhu touched the jade pendant and nodded obediently: "Don't worry, Your Highness, I will definitely keep it well."
Prince Chen was afraid that she would put it away now, so he emphasized: "But you still have to wear it at the palace banquet tonight."
Jiuzhu stopped when she was about to take off the jade pendant.
He smiled, hesitated, and stretched out his hand to her: "Come on, follow me into the palace."
Jiuzhu put her hand into King Chen's palm without thinking, looked up at him and smiled.
The two hands were lightly clasped together, and even the ten fingers were too embarrassed to be intertwined.
Outside the door, Shen stood under the tree, looking at the man and woman smiling at each other, and did not go out.
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