The night breeze was blowing, the lights were shining brightly, and the Prince's eyes swept across the laughing crowd and then he looked down at the girl beside him. He reached out to help her hold down the flying scarf behind her: "Shall I take you to taste the Yuanxiao?"
"Okay." Jiuzhu nodded with a smile, as if she always nodded and agreed to whatever suggestions he made.
"Your Highness." The Dragon Guard reminded quietly, "I have already inquired about it. There is a restaurant in front that makes excellent Yuanxiao."
They are worried that the ingredients sold at the stalls outside are not safe.
Jiuzhu retracted her gaze from the stall and pulled King Chen's sleeve: "Then let's go to that restaurant."
"Okay." Prince Chen took her hand and walked forward slowly. When they passed the lantern shop that said lanterns were not for sale, Jiuzhu discovered that the lantern hanging at the highest point was gone.
"What's wrong?" Prince Chen shook the lamp in his hand: "This lamp seems to be bought here?"
"Your Highness, I did buy it here."
When the shop owner saw Jiuzhu standing side by side with Prince Chen, he recognized her at a glance and gave her an awkward smile.
Jiuzhu turned around and whispered to Prince Chen: "When I asked the boss just now, he said he didn't sell it. How did you buy it, Your Highness?"
Chen Wang gave her a mysterious smile: "Guess?"
Jiuzhu thought for a moment and asked, "Have you guessed all the riddles in his house?"
Prince Chen smiled and shook his head, then continued walking forward holding Jiuzhu's hand.
"Your Highness." Jiuzhu was very curious about this matter: "Tell me."
"Add more money." Prince Chen suppressed his laughter and said, "As long as the money is enough, a business owner like this will always be tempted."
Jiuzhu: “…”
It turns out to be such a simple and crude method.
"But where do you get so much money, Your Highness?" Jiuzhu looked at him in confusion: "Didn't His Majesty say that he would not allow the Queen to subsidize you?"
"My father did tell my mother not to give me money, but he didn't say that he couldn't give me money." Prince Chen chuckled, "He gave me this money."
He didn't tell Jiuzhu that he was also rich, probably because... the way she seriously saved money for herself was so cute.
"Your Majesty is quite..." Jiuzhu glanced at the dragon guard behind him: "You are quite trustworthy."
Not allowing the mother to give money to the child, but secretly giving money to the child, isn't this a typical example of spoiling the child?
Fortunately, His Highness is a fairy boy who has descended to earth and has not grown up in a spoiled environment.
Prince Chen tried hard to hold back his laughter: "Yes, my father is always a man of his word."
Someone was selling flowers on the roadside. Prince Chen took out a handful of copper coins, bought a spring orchid and put it in Jiuzhu's hair.
The small spring orchid flowers did not look very eye-catching, but when Prince Chen was wandering on the street just now, he saw many men buying these things for the women around them.
"Ming Piggy."
"Hmm?" Jiuzhu looked up.
"We've arrived at the restaurant." Prince Chen looked at the phoenix lantern hanging at the entrance of the restaurant and smiled.
"Dragon and Phoenix, Five Blessings, Perfection..." Jiuzhu looked at the names of various Yuanxiao on the signboard: "The names are all very particular."
"On the Lantern Festival, everyone prays for good luck." Prince Chen raised his head and saw Prince Huai and his wife sitting on the second floor.
"Fifth brother." King Huai leaned against the window and looked at him with a smile: "Come up and sit."
Prince Chen asked Jiuzhu: "Are you going?"
Jiuzhu nodded: "His Highness invites you, how can His Highness not go."
Prince Chen looked at her and smiled, then took her upstairs.
Although many people tasted Yuanxiao during the Lantern Festival, there was no one else in the room where King Huai sat except him and his wife.
Prince Chen pushed the door open and walked in: "Big brother and sister-in-law have chosen a good place. The scenery here is just right. We can enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Lantern Festival."
Jiuzhu bowed to the two of them, and Princess Huai smiled and moved aside.
"Fifth brother, Princess Ming, please take a seat." King Huai smiled and invited the two to sit down: "The capital is so big, and I can actually meet you by chance. This is also our fate."
The waiter brought the cooked Yuanxiao over and said, "Dear guests, this is auspicious dragon and phoenix, please have a taste."
"What does dragon and phoenix mean?" Jiuzhu asked curiously.
"The Yuanxiao in the bowl has two kinds of fillings that complement each other. It is not greasy when eaten and leaves a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth. This is the auspicious sign of dragon and phoenix." The waiter bowed with a smile: "I also wish that the two of you will always love each other and that your life will be sweeter than the Yuanxiao."
"You can talk." Prince Chen took out a silver coin and handed it to the waiter: "Go and bring some snacks."
"Okay, thank you, sir." The waiter happily retreated with the silver and carefully closed the door for them.
"Try the filling inside and see what it tastes like." Prince Chen brought the Yuanxiao to Jiuzhu.
"Fruit filling." Jiuzhu ate one and scooped up another one: "It's still fruit filling."
"Didn't you say there were two kinds of fillings?" Prince Chen picked up the spoon, picked up a Yuanxiao from Jiuzhu's bowl and put it into his mouth.
"What's that smell?" Jiuzhu looked at him nervously.
Prince Chen put down the spoon and wiped the corners of his mouth: "Peanut and sesame filling."
King Huai glanced at the bowl of Yuanxiao next to him that no one was paying attention to. Was it that this bowl of Yuanxiao was not worthy of Yun Duqing or something? Why did he have to use a spoon to scoop it into County Master Ming's bowl?
"What kind of filling does Your Highness like?" Jiuzhu asked.
"Let's make do with it." Prince Chen seemed to finally remember that he also had a bowl of Yuanxiao, and brought it over and placed it in front of him: "It's just for good luck. I don't usually like to eat this kind of sticky food."
However, thanks to its reputation of bringing good luck to both the dragon and the phoenix, he was able to finish it.
"Your Highness, look." Jiuzhu pointed outside the window. The streets hung with lanterns looked like beautiful galaxies, brilliant and glorious.
Prince Chen stood up and walked to her side, the night wind blew their hair.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
"Yeah." Prince Chen looked at her sideways and said, "Very beautiful."
Such a night, such a wind, and such a her.
It is the most beautiful Lantern Festival night.
King Huai felt that calling his fifth brother and Princess Ming to sit together might have been a wrong choice.
"The higher you stand, the more beautiful the view will be." The waiter brought fruits and snacks up, and King Huai waved him out. He said to King Chen who was admiring the view, "It's just that it's windy and cold up there. Fifth brother, have you ever thought about having someone build a tall building for you so you can see all the beauties in the world?"
Prince Chen smiled and sat back in his seat: "Brother, you are joking. The whole world belongs to our father. As his children, what tall building can't we go to? Why waste people's money and energy to build another tall building?"
King Huai looked at King Chen and said, "Fifth brother is right. The whole world belongs to our father. We are under his protection, so we can go anywhere."
Someone was hawking downstairs, and the shouting passed through the streets and reached Jiuzhu's ears. She leaned on the window frame, looking at every passerby downstairs with interest.
Princess Huai observed the girl who had returned to Beijing less than a year ago and brought the cheese cake to her: "Princess Ming, try this cheese cake."
"Thank you, Princess." Jiuzhu thanked her and lowered her head to concentrate. She did not ask her about anything in the palace, nor did she take the initiative to get close to her.
Princess Huai was very puzzled. Could it be that Ming Jiuju had never considered what would happen after marrying into the royal family?
Even Sun Caiyao had tried to show her favor in roundabout ways before she married the Fourth Prince. Does Ming Jiuzhu, a girl who is fostered outside and not close enough to her family, really have no concerns at all?
"Open your mouth." Prince Chen picked up a piece of Jiuzhu's favorite snack with chopsticks and fed it to her mouth.
Jiuzhu ate the snack.
Princess Huai looked at the two intimate people, lowered her head, picked up the tea in front of her and took a sip. When you are young, you have the favor of people around you, so you are naturally fearless and not afraid of anything.
But men are fickle.
She turned her head and glanced at Prince Huai, pretending not to care about the concubines in the palace.
Although the courtyard of Zhangliu Palace was small, there were only the prince and her in the courtyard. She no longer had to worry about which woman's courtyard the prince went to, nor did he have to be upset with her.
Looking at the girl in front of her with an innocent smile, Princess Huai felt a little pity for her. There was no room for naivety for a woman who married into the royal family.
"My fifth brother and Princess Ming are getting married soon. I wish them a long and happy marriage and a long and prosperous marriage." Prince Huai picked up the teacup and said, "My fifth brother must drink a few more cups with me when the time comes."
Prince Chen picked up the teacup and smiled: "Don't drink too much, just be happy."
"If we had known that my fifth brother would go with Lady Ming, we should have made an appointment to go out for a walk together. It would be more fun with more people." King Huai said with a half-smile, "My fifth brother didn't like to join in the fun in previous years. I thought Lady Ming would be with her family, so I didn't think much about it. It's my fault that I didn't think carefully and didn't take care of you."
Prince Chen raised his eyebrows and said bluntly: "Brother, you drank tea today, how come you are drunk?"
King Huai: “…”
He was so obviously trying to surrender and show goodwill, did Yun Duqing really not understand, or was he pretending not to understand?
"Brother and sister-in-law are spending the Lantern Festival together, how can I disturb them?" Prince Chen chuckled, "Brother, sister-in-law will be angry if you say that again."
King Huai smiled cheerfully: "Fifth brother, your words are too kind. Your sister-in-law has always been virtuous. Why would she care about such a small matter?"
"I don't want to disturb my elder brother and his wife, nor do I want others to disturb me and my fiancée." Prince Chen put down his teacup: "The Lantern Festival is over, and we should leave."
You don't care about your princess' feelings, but I still care about what my fiancée thinks.
"Fifth brother." Princess Huai spoke gently, "The view upstairs is great. Let Princess Ming sit for a while."
Prince Chen turned his head to look at Jiuzhu.
"I will listen to you, Your Highness." Jiuzhu said seriously, "Where else do you want to go, Your Highness?"
"I'll take you to a good place." The King of Chen stretched out his hand in front of her. Jiuzhu handed it to him and stood up as the King of Chen pulled her. "Where are we going?"
"You'll know when you get there." Prince Chen walked to the door and raised his chin lazily to Prince Huai and his wife: "Big brother and sister-in-law, goodbye."
"Fifth brother, take care." King Huai listened to the footsteps of the two people going downstairs, and the smile on his face faded: "I don't know who Yun Duqing inherited this character from, he is slippery and stubborn."
"Your Highness." Princess Huai walked to the window sill and saw Prince Chen leading Ming Jiuzhu out of the restaurant. The two walked away in the bustling crowd, talking and laughing. A smile appeared on the corner of her mouth: "Fifth brother and Princess Ming have a really good relationship."
"It's good or bad, that's all." King Huai was not interested in this topic at all: "After three or five years, it won't prevent other women from entering the palace. You women, don't think about this all the time."
He glanced at the bowl of Yuanxiao that Prince Chen had eaten: "Wow, he actually finished a bowl of Yuanxiao, that's really rare."
I remember when Yun Duqing was five years old, everyone was sitting at the table eating Yuanxiao, but he was the only one who refused to move the spoon and said that the Yuanxiao was sticky and not tasty.
From then on, every Lantern Festival, the Yuanxiao in Yun Duqing’s bowl was replaced with other foods, without exception.
"It seems that people will change." Prince Huai followed Princess Huai's line of sight and looked out the window, only to see a dense crowd of people.
"Let's go back to the palace."
He didn't know if it was his illusion, but his fifth brother's speech became mysterious and profound.
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