The street was bustling with people. Prince Chen looked at the bustling teahouse and walked inside. After two steps, he turned around and saw Jiuzhu standing outside the door without following him: "What's wrong?"
Jiuzhu shook her head: "Nothing."
She took small steps slowly and followed behind Prince Chen.
Prince Chen looked at her with a half-smile, suddenly reached out and grasped her wrist, pulling her upstairs.
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu walked beside him obediently and whispered, "There are many female guests upstairs..."
"It doesn't matter. I don't care about these things." Going upstairs, Prince Chen heard some women's cheers. He lifted the pearl curtain and saw many female guests sitting inside. There were a few scattered male guests sandwiched among the women, with looks of despair on their faces.
Zhou Shucheng was one of them. He glanced at his spirited sister, sighed deeply, and turned around with a startled look. Why was Prince Chen here?
He bent down, trying to hide himself with other guests: "Sister, let's go quickly."
"Wait a little longer." Zhou Xiao was unmoved: "The overbearing prince will come soon to suppress the bandits and save the beauty!"
"I saw the tyrannical prince holding a nine-foot-long spear and riding a horse into the bandit's lair. In an instant, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and the sun and moon lost their light!"
Cheers from the women came from the audience. Zhou Shucheng silently covered his face with his hands, no longer daring to look at the Prince's expression.
"The bandits were so impressed by the prince's heroic presence that they knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, like drowned dogs."
Upon hearing that the overbearing prince had saved the weak woman in the woodshed and disappeared into the night covered in moonlight, the female guests began to admire him excitedly.
Looking at these crazy female guests, Prince Chen turned to look at Jiuzhu and pulled her to sit at an empty table in the back. The attendant quickly told the waiter to bring fruits and snacks.
"Come, eat and listen." The Prince pushed the snack in front of Jiuzhu and teased, "How can a prince go to suppress bandits alone? Unless your head is filled with mush."
Jiuzhu's hand holding the snack trembled, and she quietly retracted it.
"Why don't you eat?" When Prince Chen saw her take her hand back, he changed the plate of snacks for her: "Don't you like it?"
"One more, one more!"
A wealthy female guest threw a piece of gold on the table. The lady looked at the glittering gold and took a few gulps of tea: "Since the guests are so enthusiastic, I will continue to tell you the story of the domineering prince who returned to the capital after suppressing the bandits and was awarded the Wansui Award."
The storyline became more and more exciting. A female guest in the audience whispered, "I don't know what the real King Chen looks like. It's a pity that the princes and nobles can't get close to him easily, otherwise I would definitely take a good look."
When Prince Chen heard this, he wondered what the overbearing prince with a bad brain in this story had to do with him?
"Your Highness, I also think these stories are boring." Jiuzhu tugged at the sleeve of the King of Chen: "How about we go back first?"
"Wait a minute." Prince Chen broke a pear with his bare hands and gave half to Jiuzhu. Thinking that dividing a pear had a bad meaning, he stuffed the other half into her hand and sneered, "I want to hear how absurd the story of this overbearing prince is."
Jiuzhu took a bite of the pear in her left hand, then took another bite of the pear in her right hand. Her mouth was full. She secretly looked at the expression on Prince Chen's face and began to think about what she would do if His Highness got angry.
"The overbearing prince took the golden hairpin awarded by the emperor and rode to the young lady's house. The young lady's father promised that if he succeeded in suppressing the bandits, he would marry his daughter to him."
"Heh." Prince Chen sneered. Which minister in the court dared to treat the prince with such an attitude?
How could anyone like such a messed up story?
"Tell me, did the Prince of Chen give his fiancée a gold hairpin?"
"Yes, I have heard about it. Not long ago, the Prince of Chen bought a lot of gold and silver jewelry at the Gold Painting House and had it delivered to the residence of Minister Ming."
"real?"
"Of course it's true. My aunt works at the Jinhua Building and is responsible for receiving female guests. She came back and told us that the Prince was very generous and bought a lot of jewelry for his fiancée."
Hearing the female guests' whispered conversation, Prince Chen tilted his head to look at Jiuzhu, who lowered her head and silently ate a pear.
The story ended, and the guests left the teahouse one after another. The Prince sat on a wooden chair, his hands clasped around his chest, glanced at the lady on the stage who was bending over to collect the silver, then lowered his head and took out a handkerchief from his sleeve.
"Student has met the prince." After the guests left, Zhou Shucheng could no longer hide, so he had to bite the bullet and pay his respects to Prince Chen.
Handing the handkerchief to Jiuzhu, Prince Chen glanced at Zhou Shucheng and saw that he was wearing the clothes of a student from the Imperial Academy with a slightly wrinkled brow. How come even a scholar with thick brows and big eyes likes to listen to such a messy story?
"Today I accompanied my sister to the teahouse to listen to a story, and I never thought I would meet the prince." Zhou Shucheng didn't know how the prince viewed him, but at this critical moment, he still wanted to distance himself: "Prince, are you here to listen to a story as well?"
Prince Chen asked back, "Do you think I am someone who likes to listen to this kind of story?"
Zhou Shucheng was silent.
Does it look like it? Aren’t you here?
"Sister Ming." Zhou Xiao packed up her things and turned to see Jiuzhu and King Chen. Her expression changed slightly. After paying respect to King Chen, she whispered to Jiuzhu, "When did you come here, sister?"
The point is, did the Prince hear the story told by the female teacher?
Jiuzhu held the Prince's handkerchief and whispered, "The lady said that the Prince...we came here when the Prince killed the bandit leader."
Zhou Xiao gave Jiuzhu a look. Why not take the opportunity to leave quickly with your men before the prince can react?
Jiuzhu perked up: "Your Highness, now that we have heard the story, let's..."
"Miss, is that you?!" The lady walked towards Jiuzhu with a purse full of reward money and a smile on her face: "I haven't seen you for a few days, I haven't had a chance to thank you properly."
Prince Chen turned his head to look at Jiuzhu. Jiuzhu was silently moving towards the door, but was caught back by him.
"Fortunately, I listened to you last time. Since I told the story of the evil prince, the rewards from customers have increased. Now all the storytellers in the streets and alleys are following my story." The lady bowed to Jiuzhu and said, "Thank you for pointing out a way to make money for me."
Jiuzhu said unconfidently: "I just asked you to tell more about his story. These stories are not told by me."
"Miss, you are so kind. You pointed out a way to make money for us beggars, but you didn't take credit for it." The lady was extremely grateful to Jiuzhu. "Miss, if you want to hear any more stories next time, just tell me and I will tell you according to your preferences."
"No, no need." Jiuzhu didn't dare to look at the King's expression: "You go ahead, I have some things to deal with."
The female teacher glanced at the handsome man beside Jiuzhu and smiled considerately: "I won't bother you anymore, young lady, please feel free to do as you please. Bye."
The female teacher left tactfully. Zhou Xiao looked at Jiuzhu worriedly. Zhou Shucheng did not dare to disturb Prince Chen and forcibly pulled her away.
"Guard the outside and don't let anyone in." The Prince raised his head and asked the guards to guard outside. The attendants looked at each other, bowed and retreated outside the pearl curtain.
Knock, knock, knock.
The Prince of Chen tapped the tabletop lightly with his index finger knuckles and looked at Jiuzhu who didn't dare to speak loudly: "Come, sit down and talk."
"Your Highness, I didn't mean it. I didn't expect things to turn out like this." She blinked at the Prince with her watery eyes: "Don't be angry with me, okay?"
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Prince Chen laughed instead of getting angry: "Tell me first, what's going on?"
"It all started on a bright sunny morning..."
Prince Chen reached out and gently poked her bun: "Get to the point."
"I went to the teahouse to listen to a story, and I found that the story of the beautiful king and the evil king told by the female teacher was a hidden meaning, so I stopped her from continuing." Thinking of the money she spent that day, Jiuzhu felt a pain in her heart: "In order to let the female teacher change the story, I spent two months' salary, two months."
"How much do you get a month?" Seeing how distressed she was, Prince Chen became curious.
Jiuzhu held up two fingers.
"Two hundred taels?" Prince Chen sighed. It seemed to be true that Ming Jingzhou was an honest official.
Jiuzhu widened her eyes and said, "How can there be so much? It's twenty taels."
Twenty taels is already a lot. When she was in the Taoist temple, she and the masters could not spend that much in a year.
Twenty taels?
Prince Chen looked at Jiuzhu with pity. What kind of miserable life was this little girl leading?
No wonder he only gave a small amount of silver to his general as funeral expenses. It turned out that he was too poor.
"In the story, the beautiful prince is good in every way, but the evil prince is said to be so bad. It is obvious that some bad people are deliberately slandering your highness." Jiuzhu Chao whispered, "Your highness is so good, why do you let bad people slander you?"
"So you spent all your money on changing the story?" Prince Chen looked at the girl with a bun, feeling indescribable strangeness in his heart, and just wanted to poke her fair face again.
"Although I feel a little sad, as long as no one says bad things about Your Highness, it is still a good deal." Having said this, Jiuzhu lowered her head guiltily: "It's just that I didn't expect that the story would become more and more outrageous..."
Facing such a pitiful face, who would have the heart to blame?
Is this Ming Xiaozhu's fault?
It was clearly the fault of those storytellers. How could Ming Xiaozhu have any bad intentions? He just wanted to protect him.
"It's just a story. The overbearing prince is the overbearing prince. Anyway, he didn't mention me by name." Prince Chen raised his eyebrows: "Next time you encounter this kind of thing, you don't need to pay, just say my name, and see who dares not to listen to you."
Jiuzhu shook her head: "Your Highness, this is not good. Storytellers are just trying to make a living. If I bring up your name, it will only make her anxious and restless, and she will live in fear for the rest of her life."
Prince Chen stood up and said, "Let's go."
"Where are you going?"
"I'll take you back."
The carriage stopped in front of the gate of Minister Ming's residence. Jiuzhu got off the carriage, looked up at Prince Chen riding on horseback, and smiled brilliantly.
"What are you laughing at?"
"I just think it's great to meet Your Highness." Her eyes were clear and bright, with a clear reflection of Prince Chen in her pupils.
"Your Highness is not only gentle and kind, but also tolerant and generous." Jiuzhu tilted her head: "Your Highness is really a god who has descended to earth, right?"
Because of her, there were so many messy stories about overbearing princes in the capital, but His Highness never blamed her. If she wasn't a deity, how could she be so gentle?
The Prince of Chen looked at the serious girl, and his ears instantly turned red.
Do all the girls who grew up in Lingzhou speak in such a sticky way?
This king is strong and sturdy, what does that have to do with being gentle and kind...
"What do you know, little girl?" He rubbed his ears, which were a little hot. "Go home early, so that your father and mother won't worry."
"Yeah." Jiuzhu nodded and turned to leave.
"Wait." Prince Chen took out a stack of banknotes from his pocket and handed them to Jiuzhu: "Take it."
Jiuzhu looked at her in confusion: "Your Highness?"
"If there are any stories you want to hear in the future, you can ask the storyteller to change them in any way you want." Putting the banknote into Jiuzhu's hand, the Prince looked up at the sky awkwardly: "Spend it as you like, I have money."
Isn't it just some outrageous story about a tyrannical prince? If the little girl likes to listen to it, let her listen to it.
As a grown man, he doesn't need to bother with a young girl.
Jiuzhu took a deep breath when she saw the denomination of the top banknote.
Five hundred taels?!
She had never seen such a large denomination of banknotes!
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu quickly stuffed the money back into the hands of the Prince of Chen: "This is too much money. I won't be able to sleep if I carry it with me."
If it was lost or stolen, she would cry for three days and three nights.
"What a good thing." The Prince of Chen got off his horse helplessly, rummaged through his pocket, found a twenty-liang note and some small change, and handed them to Jiuzhu: "You have to accept this little money."
Seeing that Jiuzhu still wanted to refuse, he said with a straight face: "If you don't accept it, I will be angry."
"Your Highness?" Ming Jingzhou saw a carriage parked in front of his house from a distance. He walked in and found that it was his daughter and His Highness the Prince of Chen.
A closer look at what the Prince wanted to give to his daughter revealed that it was actually a twenty-liang silver note and a few small coins that totaled less than four or five liang.
He looked at Prince Chen with subtle eyes, feeling very complicated.
The Emperor doted on Prince Chen very much and rewards were sent to his palace from time to time. Prince Chen was almost the richest of all the princes.
I didn't expect such a wealthy prince to be so stingy with girls.
Prince Chen noticed the way Ming Jingzhou looked at him: "..."
This was the first time in his twenty-one years of life that someone suspected him of being stingy, and that person was the father of the future princess.
"Father." Jiuzhu was very happy to see Ming Jingzhou: "Did you play?"
"Yes." Ming Jingzhou bowed to Prince Chen and said, "Your Highness is visiting. I am sorry for not coming to greet you in person. Please come to my humble abode for a cup of light tea."
"No thanks." The Prince of Chen put on a stern face and stuffed the banknotes and small change into Jiuzhu's hand: "I have something else to do and will go to the palace. I will not disturb Master Ming."
"Farewell, Your Majesty." Ming Jingzhou smiled politely.
"Your Highness, wait a minute." Jiuzhu was afraid that if she refused the money, His Highness would really get angry, so she had to accept it. She took out the jade pendant in her purse: "Your jade pendant..."
"I'm giving it to you." Prince Chen got on his horse and said to Jiuzhu, "Ask a master to bless the jade pendant. You can hang it anywhere you like."
With this jade pendant, Ming Jingzhou should no longer suspect that he is stingy with women?
Jiuzhu watched the Prince of Chen riding away with his guards. She turned around and saw her father smiling in the direction where His Royal Highness Prince of Chen left. "Father?"
"It's okay, come home with your father." Ming Jingzhou looked at the jade pendant in Jiuzhu's hand with a smile, put his hands behind his back, and walked into the door leisurely.
In Taiyang Palace, Emperor Longfeng had just put down his red brush when Liu Zhongbao walked in.
"Your Majesty, His Royal Highness Prince Chen requests an audience."
"Let him in." After looking at the sky outside, Emperor Long Feng stood up and took a few steps.
"Your son greets you, father." Prince Chen walked into the hall and bowed deeply.
He was so polite and respectful, so he must have something to ask for. Emperor Longfeng asked, "What trouble did you cause outside again?"
Did he make the civil officials dizzy, or did he have a dispute with the military generals?
"Father, I have been studying hard in the Ministry of Rites recently. When have I ever gotten into trouble?" Prince Chen said righteously, "I just sent Miss Ming back home. I was feeling emotional about something and wanted to talk to you, Father."
"Oh?" Emperor Long Feng raised his eyebrows.
"Minister Ming is incorruptible, wholeheartedly serves the people, and is frugal in his food, clothing, and daily expenses." Prince Chen was full of admiration: "This style makes this son admire you."
Emperor Longfeng waited patiently for what was to come.
"It's just that Miss Ming is a delicate and tender girl. She has to spend money on makeup, hairpins and jewelry. It's not right to be short of money." Prince Chen looked at Emperor Longfeng: "After all, she is your future daughter-in-law. If she can't take out a few taels of silver, it will be a disgrace to our royal family, right?"
"I remember you have a lot of silver on you..."
"Father, what you said is not right. Miss Ming and I have not yet married. I gave her banknotes, but she was unwilling to spend them." Prince Chen coughed dryly, "What I mean is that you can find a reason to reward the Ming family with some gold and silver. With you in the spotlight, it will be a fair and aboveboard matter, and no one can say anything about it."
"It seems my son likes Miss Ming very much."
"I just don't want the future princess to bring shame to our royal family." The tip of Prince Chen's ears turned red as blood: "Father, you misunderstood."
"Forget it." Emperor Longfeng sighed, "Originally, I was going to confer a title on the young lady of the Ming family because of your regard for her. Since you don't have much affection for her, this matter will be cancelled. Tomorrow I will summon Ming Jingzhou to the palace and confer him 100 taels of gold so that he will have enough money to spend on his daughter's dowry."
Give Ming Xiaozhu a title?
Prince Chen said quickly: "Father, my mother loves Miss Ming very much. She will marry me sooner or later, and I can give her this title."
With the title, Ming Xiaozhu could receive a salary every month, so she wouldn't have to worry about a few taels of silver before marrying him.
When he heard the word "marry", a tingling sensation rose in his heart.
"After all, it is a title, and it cannot be given lightly." Emperor Longfeng shook his head: "I will think about it again."
"It's just a small title. There are many women in our Yun family who have been given the titles of princess and county lady." Prince Chen thought for a moment, took the tea from Liu Zhongbao, and handed it to Emperor Longfeng: "Why don't you give Miss Ming the title of county lady, which is neither conspicuous nor dignified."
Looking at his son who was bowing and kowtowing to him, Emperor Longfeng pretended to be embarrassed: "In this case, since your mother likes the daughter of the Ming family, I will give her the title of county lord."
"Thank you, father. Your Majesty is wise and brave, loyal, kind and forgiving, and loves the people like his own children." Prince Chen flattered him and then walked to the table: "How about I grind ink for you now?"
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