"Wait." Jiuzhu stopped the concubines who were holding incense and preparing to worship: "Ladies, please offer incense to the sky. You should hold the incense with your right hand, cover your right hand with your left hand, and hold the incense to your forehead."
The ladies were so pious, how could she bear to watch their sincerity go to waste?
"Jiuzhu." Concubine Su smiled and said, "Go and show them how to do it."
After taking the incense, Jiuzhu calmly bowed to the altar and lit three sticks of incense.
The fragrance was lingering in the air, and the concubines looked at the girl who was burning incense. They seemed to feel that her every move was elegant and natural, with a bit of the demeanor of an otherworldly master.
After inserting the incense into the incense burner, Jiuzhu bowed and turned to look at the concubines: "Ladies, please."
"Do you understand everything?" Concubine Su raised her soft hands and the palace maids brought the incense over: "Follow Miss Ming's movements and do it again."
The concubines looked at the incense being brought before them, and dared not be angry or say anything.
"What are you all standing there for?" Concubine Su looked at them with a half-smile, "There are only twelve hours in a day. If you keep dawdling, you may have to stay up all night copying scriptures to show your sincerity."
"Thank you for your reminder, Concubine Su." Concubine Ning smiled gently, took the lead in picking up three incense sticks, and stepped forward to burn incense. Seeing that Concubine Ning was about to succumb to Concubine Su's tyranny, the other concubines had no choice but to step forward obediently.
Jiuzhu was moved by the concubines' piety and turned to Concubine Su Gui and said, "Your sincerity is really touching."
"Yes." Concubine Su nodded slowly: "I am also moved."
Other concubines: "..."
This is so touching, why don't you two come and copy it together? !
Who cares whether you are moved or not? !
"Ms. Ming knows so much at such a young age." After offering incense, Concubine Ning said in a gentle tone, "It seems that during these years in the Taoist temple, you have not only recovered your health, but also learned a lot."
Jiuzhu looked at the beautiful woman who was speaking, and was not quite sure of her identity.
"This is Consort Ning Zheng, the mother of His Royal Highness Prince Qi." Consort Su Gui added, "Marquis Pingyuan's concubine sister."
When she heard the word "bastard", Concubine Ning's hand holding the pen paused slightly, but the gentle smile on her face did not change.
"Hello, Concubine Ning." Jiuzhu knelt down and bowed to Concubine Ning: "Thank you for the compliment, your majesty. My teacher also said that I have learned well."
With a plop, the ink fell onto the paper along the tip of the pen, and Concubine Ning's hand holding the pen was trembling slightly.
"Oh, my Goddess!" Jiuzhu reminded in a startled voice: "The scriptures offered to God must not be tainted."
"Thank you Miss Ming for your reminder." Concubine Ning put down her brush and crumpled the paper into a ball with a smile. She crumpled it so hard that her knuckles turned white.
Shut your mouth now!
At the grand court meeting, officials from the six ministries were arguing fiercely. Officials from other departments such as the Dali Temple and the Hanlin Academy joined the battle from time to time. The tablets were waved in the air from time to time, and the scene was very lively.
Looking at this heated scene, Emperor Longfeng not only did not get angry, but he changed to a more comfortable sitting position on the dragon chair and watched them quarreling with great patience.
The Imperial College Priest said: "Your Majesty, the Imperial College is a place to train students. How can you keep using a worn-out desk?"
Minister of Revenue: "The Ministry of Revenue has no money."
Minister of War: "Your Majesty, the selection of military officers is imminent. I am very humbled. May I ask when the Ministry of Revenue will allocate funds?"
Ministry of Revenue official: "..."
It's almost the end of the year, and all departments are actively striving for funding for the coming year.
Since entering the court, Minister of Rites Li En and Minister of Revenue Zhao Boxun have often had disagreements on political views. When they were angry, they once smashed their tablets at each other.
During this grand court meeting, the Minister of Revenue Zhao Boxun did not target Li En, which was rare. He just glanced at Li En from time to time with a gloating look, which made Li En furious.
"Sir, calm down." Zhou Rui secretly grabbed Li En's sleeve and whispered in his ear: "The Ministry of Revenue is here now, and the Prince of Qi is here too."
"It's as if there is no prince in our Ministry of Rites." Li En looked at Zhao Boxun's smug face and couldn't calm down: "He is the only one who is amazing."
Zhou Rui thought, if there hadn't been a prince coming to our Ministry of Rites, the Minister of Revenue probably wouldn't have looked at their Ministry of Rites in this way.
"Sir." Ming Jingzhou reminded: "It is urgent to repair the Ministry of Rites."
"You're right." After hearing Ming Jingzhou's reminder, Li En came to his senses, suppressed his anger, raised his chin proudly at Zhao Boxun, and turned his head away from him.
Minister of Revenue Zhao Boxun: "..."
The devil has gone to their Ministry of Rites, why is Li En still so arrogant?
"Your Majesty." Li En stepped out, bowed, and began to recount the efforts of the Ministry of Rites in the past year, from presiding over imperial examinations to a certain official sending an old man home. In the end, he concluded that the Ministry of Rites was good and great, and it would be even better if Your Majesty was willing to allocate some money to renovate the dilapidated Ministry of Rites office.
Emperor Longfeng looked at the eloquent Minister of Rites. If he remembered correctly, when the Minister of Rites took part in the imperial examination, he seemed to have won the second place in the first class. No wonder he was so eloquent.
"Prince." After Li En finished speaking, Emperor Longfeng looked at Prince Chen who was standing in front of the team and said, "You have been in the Ministry of Rites for several days to consult with the masters. What do you think?"
All the officials of the Ministry of Rites looked at Prince Chen. At the critical moment, Prince Chen had to stand on the side of the Ministry of Rites.
Li En asked Ming Jingzhou in a low voice: "Tell me, did he understand what I hinted to His Royal Highness Prince Chen last time?"
Ming Jingzhou said calmly, "Sir, I don't know."
"Alas." Li En sighed, "I should have been more straightforward last time."
The scorching gaze almost penetrated Prince Chen's back. He knew without turning around that the people staring at him must be those from the Ministry of Rites.
"Father, I have only been at the Ministry of Rites for less than ten days, so I don't understand it well enough."
The officials of the Ministry of Rites withdrew their gazes in disappointment. They were wrong. They should not have counted on Prince Chen from the beginning.
Prince Qi glanced at Prince Chen, then glanced at the officials from the Ministry of Rites behind him, and then looked away.
"But in my humble opinion, the officials in the Ministry of Rites are dedicated to their duties and do not seek enjoyment. Although I have only been here for a few days, I have learned a lot and I admire them."
Ministry of Etiquette official: Hmm?
The Prince actually praised them at the grand court meeting, and they seemed... a little flattered?
"But the Ministry of Rites still has many problems?"
Ministry of Rites official: They are too happy too early!
"Oh?" Emperor Longfeng seemed to be particularly patient with Prince Chen: "What's the problem?"
"The walls are peeling, the table legs are uneven, and there are even places where tiles are falling off." Prince Chen frowned and said, "As one of the six ministries of our dynasty, the Ministry of Rites is really too shabby. The people of Dacheng live and work in peace and prosperity. If the office is so shabby, isn't it a disgrace to Dacheng?"
The officials of the Ministry of Rites nodded quickly. His Royal Highness Prince Chen was right. There were still many shortcomings in their Ministry of Rites.
"What does Prince Chen mean?" Emperor Longfeng smiled.
"I think that we should allocate appropriate funds to help the Ministry of Rites repair the damaged parts."
"Yes." Emperor Longfeng nodded: "Prince Chen's words make sense. The Ministry of Rites not only needs to handle many important domestic affairs, but also needs to receive foreign envoys. If the office is in disrepair, it will indeed be unsightly."
"Is the Minister of Works Lin Zhongling here?" Emperor Longfeng looked at the Minister of Works who was standing next to Zhao Boxun.
Zhao Boxun had a bad feeling in his heart.
"I'm here." Lin Zhongling stepped out with his tablet in hand.
"Starting tomorrow, arrange for craftsmen to repair the Ministry of Rites. Do not delay." After Emperor Longfeng arranged the matter, he turned to the Minister of Rites Li En and said, "Lord Li, my son is young and ignorant. If he does something wrong, you can punish him, but don't worry about it."
The renovation funds, which had been under dispute for a long time, were finally received. For the first time, Li En felt how wonderful it was to have "someone above you".
"Your Highness Prince Chen is intelligent and motivated."
Although he didn't see him reciting the list of successful candidates Ming Jingzhou gave him, at least he brought it back home. Rounding it off, he was still considered to have made progress.
"A polite and virtuous corporal."
After Prince Chen came to the Ministry of Rites, he did not deliberately make things difficult for anyone. Most importantly, he helped the Ministry of Rites obtain funds for renovation. Based on this alone, he can be considered half a member of the Ministry of Rites.
"I ate in the public kitchen with my colleagues from the Ministry of Rites and never had any complaints."
Although the meal was from Minister Ming's home, it was indeed prepared in the Ministry of Rites' public kitchen.
"I believe that with your talent, you will be able to master the affairs of the Ministry of Rites quickly and relieve Your Majesty of the worries." The funds for renovating the Ministry of Rites were in place, and Li En praised it sincerely.
The praised King Chen: "..."
Perhaps, this is the flexibility, maturity and adaptability of the literati.
Other officials looked at Li En with the corner of their eyes. For the sake of the funds for repairing the Ministry of Rites, he actually praised the Prince of Chen so much. Li En, Li En, you shouldn't go to the Ministry of Rites to be a minister. You should go to the Palace Music Bureau to set up a stage for His Majesty to perform.
Li En didn't care what others thought of him. Anyway, their Ministry of Rites had taken the benefits, so what was wrong with saying a few more nice words?
After leaving court, Emperor Longfeng was in a good mood. If he had not heard someone crying on the way, he would have been in an even better mood.
"Liu Zhongbao, go and ask what's going on?" Emperor Longfeng listened to the crying sound coming from behind the flowers, without a trace of tenderness on his face.
After Liu Zhongbao inquired about the news, he quickly replied: "Your Majesty, the one crying is Liu Cairen."
"Talented Liu?" Emperor Longfeng had no impression of this Talented Liu.
"Liu Cairen is an old servant sent to the palace by Empress Dowager Pingxian in the 21st year of Xiande." Liu Zhongbao recounted Liu Cairen's origins: "She entered the palace in the same year as Consort Su Guifei."
"Well, go on."
"She cried because... because the Imperial Concubine asked them to copy scriptures every day. She was not good at writing, and her copying speed was not as fast as other nobles, so she cried." Liu Zhongbao knew in his heart that even if he really wanted to cry, he didn't need to cry here. It was obvious that she wanted to let His Majesty find out.
"The Concubine asked them to copy the scriptures?" Emperor Longfeng became interested: "What's going on?"
"Your Majesty, after the Queen passed away, she began to ask other queens in the palace to copy scriptures." Liu Zhongbao saw the smile on the Queen's face and continued, "I heard that the Queen called Miss Ming into the palace today and asked her to supervise the other queens copying scriptures together with the Queen."
"Copying scriptures is good for self-cultivation and character development. This is very good." Emperor Longfeng smiled and nodded. "But it is very tiring for the concubine to supervise them copying every day. Please send some nourishing and sleeping supplements to Mingyue Palace."
"As for Concubine Wang, since she finds copying scriptures too hard, she won't have to do it anymore." Emperor Longfeng said indifferently, "Send her to the Buddhist temple to recite Buddhist scriptures, and she is not allowed to appear in front of Concubine Gui from now on."
Liu Zhongbao did not remind His Majesty that this talented man's surname was Liu, and he smiled and left.
Your Majesty has been accustomed to all kinds of schemes and tricks used by the women in the harem since childhood, so how could you not see through Liu Cairen's intention of crying on the side of the road?
As soon as Liu Zhongbao received the order and withdrew, he saw Miss Ming walking towards the pavilion where Liu Cairen was.
Seeing this scene, he stopped and heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned around and bowed, "Your Highness."
Prince Chen put his hands behind his back and glanced casually in the direction Liu Zhongbao had just looked.
Is that... the little girl from the Ming family?
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