"Master, I wonder what the astrology and destiny you mentioned mean?" The Ming family members were terrified when they heard this, but they were also afraid that if they asked too much, they would cause trouble for the two masters. After holding it in for a long time, Shen Ying, who was also a woman, finally asked a question.
"Oh." The master looked up at the sky. "It's something that can change at any time. Just bend down and pick up a leaf, or say one more word, and it may change."
The Ming family became even more confused.
"In this life, just do good deeds and don't worry about the future." The Great Dao laughed: "Life and death have a destiny, but also no destiny, it all depends on one thought."
The Ming family members understood that this was the realm of a master. It didn’t matter if they didn’t understand, as long as Jiuzhu was safe.
"The feng shui of the capital is not favorable for our cultivation. We will return to Lingzhou tomorrow." The Taoist priest greeted the Ming family and said, "You don't have to entertain us. Go and rest."
"My two immortals, Jiuzhu misses you very much. Please stay in the capital for a few days and talk to Jiuzhu." Ming Jiyuan saw the two immortals preparing to leave and tried to persuade them to stay: "I will go to the palace early tomorrow morning to deliver a message so that Jiuzhu can leave the palace to meet you."
"Let's talk about tomorrow's matters tomorrow. Let's go to sleep first." The Taoist priest yawned. This is the bad thing about the people in the capital. They are better at staying up late than the other. It's already past midnight, but they are still full of energy.
"We dare not disturb the immortals' rest. Please come this way." Ming Jiyuan was relieved. The two immortals did not leave directly, but said that they wanted to see Jiuzhu.
As the morning light just broke, Jiuzhu woke up from her dream. She looked at the gorgeous bed curtains and suddenly came to her senses.
"You woke up so early?" Yun Duqing put his hands around her waist and said vaguely, "Sleep a little longer."
"Your Highness, I dreamed of my master."
Hearing the longing and depression in Jiuzhu's tone, Yun Duqing opened his eyes, sat up, and wrapped himself and Jiuzhu in the quilt: "Do you miss them?"
"I dreamed that they were carrying a large pot of medicine and chasing me desperately." Jiuzhu shuddered: "The last time I had such a terrible dream was when I secretly poured out the medicine."
"Ming Xiaozhu, you were quite naughty when you were little. You even dared to secretly pour medicine." Seeing her guilty look, Yun Duqing reached out and ruffled her long hair: "Sleep for another half an hour, and I will accompany you home to visit your parents-in-law later."
"Okay." Jiuzhu rolled onto his chest in a daze and lay back on the bed, not forgetting to pull up the quilt to cover Yun Duqing's exposed arms.
After being tormented by her like this, Yun Duqing lost his sleepiness. He turned his head to look at Ming Xiaozhu who was sleeping soundly. He laughed out of anger. Ming Xiaozhu was really worthy of being called a little pig. He could fall asleep as soon as he said he would.
He put on his clothes quietly and told Yang Yidu to prepare the carriage as he wanted to go to the Ming family with the Crown Princess.
"Your Highness." Yang Yiduo said hesitantly, "You have just been crowned as the Crown Prince, and you are taking the Crown Princess to Minister Ming's house. I am afraid that other court officials will think that you are close to the Yue family."
"They actually need to think about this kind of thing?" Yun Duqing asked arrogantly, "Isn't it the truth?"
Yang Yidu was so shocked by the Crown Prince's righteousness that he was speechless for a long time.
That being said, sometimes it's okay to... not be so blunt.
"Your Highness, the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion have been selected. Would you like to meet them today?" Yang Yidu gave up the previous question and turned to mention the newly established Zhanshi Mansion.
Logically speaking, the officials of the Zhanshi Mansion would include a few of the prince's trusted advisers, but since their prince had just become the prince and had no habit of keeping advisers and retainers, all officials in the Zhanshi Mansion were decided by His Majesty and the Ministry of Personnel, and His Highness himself did not have to worry about it at all.
"Even if they don't meet, I can guess that they must be familiar faces in the capital. It doesn't matter whether they meet or not. There's no need to bother them back and forth." Yun Duqing waved his hand generously: "Just wait until they start their shift in three days and then meet again."
It is said that a new official will start with three things. Your Highness, are you so lazy that you don’t even plan to start a new job?
"Okay, I will send someone to deliver the message to the residences of the gentlemen."
The officials who were about to go on duty at the Chancellery Palace did not feel relieved but became even more uneasy when they heard that the Crown Prince was not in a hurry to see them.
The Ministry of Personnel and Your Majesty arranged for them to work in the Prince's Palace, but the Prince was unwilling to meet them in advance. I wonder if he was dissatisfied with them or did not trust their abilities?
Those who could stay in the capital to be officials were most likely to overthink. After thinking about it over and over again, they could not come up with an answer, so they could only work hard and wait to show their talents in the Prince's House of Officials so that the Prince would look at them differently.
Yun Duqing, whose thoughts were being speculated by countless officials in the Zhanshi Mansion, had now arrived at the gate of the Ming family in a carriage with Jiuzhu, and ran into Ming Jiyuan who was about to enter the palace to deliver a message.
"Sister, you're back just in time." Ming Jiyuan was overjoyed: "Your master is at our house, go and meet them!"
Ming Xiaozhu’s master has arrived?
Yun Duqing subconsciously looked down at what he was wearing today to see if there was anything inappropriate.
Upon hearing that the master had arrived in the capital, Jiuzhu pulled Yun Duqing and prepared to rush to the gate, but she pulled him and he didn't move.
"Your Highness?" She turned to look at him in surprise.
"Oh, it's okay, let's go." Yun Duqing straightened his clothes and was about to walk into the house gracefully, but Jiuzhu pulled him and blew into the inner courtyard of the Ming family like a gust of wind.
"First Master, Second Master!" Seeing the masters, Jiuzhu let go of his hand and flew into the arms of the two Taoist priests who were having breakfast.
The two Taoist priests held up the bowls with one hand and held Jiuzhu with the other, without spilling any of the porridge in the bowls: "Slow down, slow down, don't let the porridge spill."
"I missed you guys so much." Jiuzhu didn't care about the porridge and rubbed against the two of them.
Yun Duqing adjusted his hat, straightened his sleeves, walked up to the two of them, and bowed as a junior: "Junior Yun Duqing, nice to meet you two masters."
"Your Highness, there is no need to be so polite." The Grand Master pushed Jiuzhu to sit on the chair, took a cake from the table and put it in her hand, then turned to Yun Duqing and nodded with a smile: "Your Highness, please take a seat."
Although the two men were hermits from the mountains, they were neither humble nor arrogant when facing Yun Duqing. They only had friendly expressions and seemed to have a good impression of him.
"Jiuzhu often mentions His Highness in his letters." The Second Taoist Priest also took a piece and handed it to Yun Duqing, and his movements were exactly the same as when the First Taoist Priest coaxed Jiuzhu just now: "Seeing is believing, His Highness is pure and upright, and has a good appearance."
"Thank you for the compliment, Master." Yun Duqing brought a stool, squeezed in next to Jiuzhu and sat down, then started to eat the pastry given to him by the second master.
The Ming family members looked at each other, then left the house silently, leaving the house to the two masters and Jiuzhu Yunduqing.
"You've gained weight." The second Taoist priest pinched the baby fat on Jiuzhu's face and said, "It seems that you have had a good meal since returning to Beijing."
"Second Master, other people's elders like to say that children have lost weight when they see them." Jiuzhu covered her face and hid her head in Yun Duqing's arms.
Yun Duqing smiled politely at the second Taoist priest and covered Jiuzhu with his wide sleeves.
"Tsk." The second Taoist priest withdrew his hand and continued to eat his meal with his head down.
The Taoist Priest noticed Yun Duqing's unhesitating move to protect Jiuzhu, and put down his chopsticks: "Seeing that you are doing well, your Second Master and I are relieved. We will set off to return to Lingzhou in two days."
"Master." Jiuzhu reached out and grabbed her sleeve: "Can you and Master stay in the capital for a while longer?"
"The feng shui of the capital is not good." The Taoist priest looked at Yun Duqing calmly and said, "I can't get used to being with your second master."
"You came to the capital this time to see how I am doing?" Lingzhou is thousands of miles away from the capital, and the two masters traveled through mountains and rivers just to see her.
"You have a nice idea." The second Taoist priest stretched out his hand to poke Jiuzhu's forehead, but seeing Yun Duqing's distressed expression but unable to stop him, he bent his finger and tapped her head lightly: "Someone paid a lot of money to ask us to perform a ritual, so we came to see you on the way."
Jiuzhu just didn't believe it. How could the two masters, who were so lazy that they didn't even want to wash the dishes, run so far to perform rituals for others just to make money?
However, she did not expose them. She just reached out and gently held the hands of the two masters.
"Little pig, you talk to the two masters. I'm going to go out and talk to my father-in-law." Yun Duqing stood up and bowed to the two Taoist priests. When he closed the door for them, he saw that the two Taoist priests' eyes were full of kindness for Jiuzhu.
He did not go to look for Ming Jingzhou, but stood under the pomegranate tree in the yard, looked up at the blooming pomegranate flowers, and smiled softly.
Ming Jiyuan was standing outside the yard and saw this scene. He was about to step into the yard but stopped. He hesitated for a moment, turned around and walked to the wall of the yard, calling Ming Cunfu who was studying hard through the wall.
"Third brother, if you have anything to say, tell me now. Don't delay my study for the imperial examination." Ming Cunfu leaned against the wall, but his eyes never left the book.
"Nothing, I just want someone to stand with me."
Look, how pitiful a man without a wife is, he has no one to accompany him.
"What are you looking at?" Ming Jiyuan raised his eyebrows.
"A look of admiration." Ming Cunfu looked at the bricks whose edges were crushed by Ming Jiyuan and swallowed his saliva: "Brother, you are jealous of me because you passed the imperial examination. Unlike me, I was locked up in the yard every day to study hard."
"You said..." Ming Jiyuan didn't bother to argue with him: "What is destiny?"
"Destiny?" Ming Cunfu's mind was fuzzy from reciting the book. When he heard this, he said without thinking, "It's probably like waking up in the morning and feeling hungry, and wanting to eat buns but only having dumplings, or wanting to eat buns but only having buns. The former is a regret, and the latter is a fulfillment."
"You are right." Ming Jiyuan nodded suddenly, "Sixth brother, that's a good idea."
Looking at Ming Jiyuan who turned and left, Ming Cunfu was confused. What had happened to his third brother?
"Mother, Du Qingke sent someone to deliver this." Prince Jing put a book in Concubine Wei's hand: "He said that what happened yesterday was the result of the servants' incompetence and it was not his will. Here is what you want."
Concubine Wei sneered. She didn't believe a word Du Qingke said.
Open the book, it is a storybook.
The story goes that two descendants of the previous dynasty became monks and raised a disciple, who was asked to seduce the prince and eventually disrupt the dynasty to avenge their ancestors.
"What a mess..."
Concubine Wei closed the book and was about to throw it away when she suddenly became unusually excited and turned to look at Prince Jing: "My son, what do you think would happen if someone assassinated the empress and all the evidence pointed to Ming Jiuzhu?"
Prince Jing was about to speak when Concubine Wei raised her hand to interrupt him: "No, there is also Du Qingke. If I remember correctly, the Du family is an old family that has been passed down for hundreds of years. They were already a famous family before the fall of the previous dynasty."
It would be a good show if the head of a noble family joined hands with the Crown Princess to avenge the previous dynasty that had been extinct for two hundred years.
Because of Ming Jiuzhu's involvement, Yun Duqing will never be able to become the next emperor.
"In a few days it will be Grain in Ear. The Emperor and Su Meidai will go to the outskirts of Beijing to participate in the An Miao sacrificial ceremony." Concubine Wei threw the storybook into the brazier and watched it burn to ashes. "Tell Du Qingke to arrange the assassins. I will arrange people to cooperate with him from inside and outside."
"Mother, Father and Empress Su are heavily guarded. I'm afraid the assassination will not succeed."
"Whether it succeeds or not is not important. What's important is that the masterminds of this assassination are Ming Jiuzhu and Du Qingke." Concubine Wei took a pot of tea and poured it on the burnt ashes: "If Queen Su can die at the hands of the assassin, and the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess become enemies, I will be happier."
"I understand what my mother means." Prince Jing's dull and ordinary face showed a murderous coldness without any disguise.
Under Jiuzhu's persuasion, the two Taoist priests decided to leave Beijing after the Grain in Ear Festival.
What impressed them was the delicious food on the Grain in Ear Festival.
People who practice cultivation do not care about the desire for food. What they do is not called greed, but rather a taste for all the flavors of the world.
The Grain in Ear Festival's miao ante-miao sacrificial ceremony is meant to pray for a good harvest and the safety of the people, so this day is especially lively every year.
When Empress Su put on her phoenix robe and was choosing her jewelry, she saw a peach wood gourd carved by Jiuzhu herself in the box.
The peach wood gourd was round and cute. She picked up the gourd and tied it around her waist.
"My lady, is it inappropriate to wear this today?"
"Why not?" Empress Su touched the gourd and said with a smile, "Today I am offering sacrifices to the gods and praying for blessings. This gourd has a good meaning. Wearing it will bring you good luck. It has a good meaning."
Xiang Xian smiled, "Yes, yes, anything carved by the Crown Princess herself must be good. Wearing it will protect you from all evil, turn misfortune into good fortune, and bring you great blessings and luck."
Everyone in Mingyue Palace knew that the Empress loved the Crown Princess very much, so the palace servants all laughed when they heard this.
The atmosphere was extremely cheerful.
"Stop laughing, go to Qilin Palace and see if the Crown Princess is ready." Empress Su smiled and said, "This is the first time the Crown Princess is attending this kind of sacrificial ceremony. I'll ask the ceremonial officer to arrange for the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince to stand behind me. Du Qing and I will take care of her so she doesn't get nervous."
After saying this, she lowered her head and stroked the peach wood gourd on her waist. "By the way, prepare an extra set of clothes for them. After the An Miao sacrifice, some newlyweds will go play mud fights. I think these two will definitely join in the fun."
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