Shen Ying took the dim sum out of the steamer, turned around and saw her son walking in dejectedly, and asked with a smile: "What happened?"
"Mother, let me do it, don't burn your hands." Ming Jiyuan took the cloth from the maid, brought out the steamed snacks and put them on the tray: "My sister and the prince seem to have a good relationship."
"Good feelings are a good thing." Shen Ying picked up a piece of dessert and handed it to him: "How does it taste?"
"Not too sweet or greasy, the taste is just right." Ming Jiyuan's eyes lit up: "Mom, you haven't cooked for a long time, but your cooking skills are still so good."
He reached out his hand to take the snacks on the plate, but Shen Ying slapped him away: "Why are you in such a hurry? Take it out for your sister and brother-in-law to try, and take out the other snacks in the pot as well."
Ming Jiyuan opened his eyes wide in disbelief: "Mother, I am your biological son."
Could it be that he can't even match the status of Prince Chen?
"If you are envious, you can also find someone you like and marry her. Then go back to her parents' home with her, and your parents-in-law will welcome you." Shen Ying walked around her son who was pretending to be pitiful and said without turning her head, "Hurry up and follow me with the snacks."
Ming Jiyuan followed his mother helplessly, holding the snacks. After all, a man without a wife is the person with the lowest status in the Ming family.
"Why don't you play cards anymore?" Shen Ying walked into the yard, put the snacks on the table, and said to Prince Chen and Jiuzhu who were sitting together: "Your Highness, Jiuzhu, come and try the freshly made snacks."
The maid helped the two of them wash their hands. After Prince Chen ate a piece of dessert, he began to boast about Shen Ying's cooking skills with a sincere tone and a genuine expression. After hearing this, Ming Jiyuan couldn't help but start to suspect that the imperial chefs in the palace were all good-for-nothings who couldn't even make delicious snacks.
He picked up a piece and put it in his mouth. It tasted good, but it seemed... not that delicious?
Looking at his mother who was smiling happily because of Prince Chen's coaxing, he suddenly understood.
Married men are so hypocritical.
After his sister and brother-in-law left in the carriage, Ming Jiyuan stood at the door and said to Shen Ying, "Mother, what do you think of... Prince Chen?"
"Better than you anyway." Shen Ying turned her head to look at him: "You just took office at the Dali Temple these few days, so you can read more files if you have nothing to do."
You have to have one thing that you can show off between your career and your family.
A man without a wife must strive to be successful in his career.
"How come he is better than me..." Ming Jiyuan recalled that three years ago, his mother had said that Prince Chen's behavior was a little absurd, so why has everything changed now?
Ming Cunfu seemed to know what Ming Jiyuan was thinking. After the elders returned to their rooms, he whispered to him, "Do you feel that the attitude of the elders at home towards His Royal Highness Prince Chen has suddenly become much better?"
"Yeah." Ming Jiyuan nodded: "Ever since I got Prince Chen as my son-in-law, my mother has been looking at me with a critical eye."
When he first returned to the capital, his mother was so gentle to him that she even wished she could bring him tea herself.
How long has it been since then? Everything has changed.
"You don't understand this. The previous Prince of Chen was a prince, a prince. But the current Prince of Chen is one of us." Ming Cunfu peeled peanuts: "Family members and outsiders are two different things."
"What's more..." Ming Cunfu laughed: "Uncle and Auntie all saw Prince Chen's attitude towards Jiuzhu."
Among the princes, none cares more about the princess than Prince Chen.
"Aunt San is good to the prince because she hopes that the prince and Jiuzhu will have a good relationship." Ming Cunfu shook his head and threw the peanut shells into the plate: "Third brother, you are still young and don't understand."
"How can you talk like that?" Ming Jiyuan gently kicked his calf: "You are disrespectful."
Ming Cunfu staggered after being kicked: "Third brother, please be nice to me. I am just a weak scholar and cannot stand your kicking like this."
Ming Jiyuan flicked his sleeves and snorted coldly: "I know what you mean."
He was silent for a while, then turned and walked towards his yard: "I know everything."
Halfway through the journey, he turned back and asked, "When you found Jiuzhu, was she really doing well?"
Ming Cunfu nodded: "Although the mountain is poor, her two masters treat her very well."
"That's good." Ming Jiyuan sighed. Perhaps he should have accepted the fact that his sister had married Prince Chen long ago.
In Zhangliu Palace, eunuchs and palace maids were cleaning the courtyard where Prince Chen had lived some time ago, and they put all the items he had used in order. If they were not needed by Qilin Palace for the time being, they would all be sealed up in the private vault.
Things that have been used by the prince cannot be used by others.
"Cough, cough, cough." Prince An stood at the gate of the courtyard and coughed a few times because of the dust flying up from the inner courtyard. "Are you planning to turn over the ground of the courtyard where Fifth Brother lived?"
A eunuch was walking by holding a scroll and accidentally fell. The scroll rolled to the ground and landed in front of Prince An, where it spread out.
"Wow, what a beautiful painting." Prince An bent down to pick up the painting and could not help but praise it: "The mountains are covered with fog, the mountains are connected to the clouds, and there is a light boat on the misty river."
"There is no seal or poem on it." Prince Jing walked up to him and looked at the painting in his hand: "Could this be a painting by my fifth brother's wife?"
"Second brother, third brother, what are you looking at?" Prince Chen walked into the yard and saw the painting in Prince An's hand, his eyelids moved slightly.
"Fifth brother, this painting fell, I picked it up, I didn't mean to peek." Prince An was afraid that Prince Chen would misunderstand him for peeking, so he quickly explained: "Now it is returned to its original owner."
You haven't even got close to your fifth brother yet, so don't offend him first.
"It's okay." Prince Chen took the painting handed to him by Prince An and rolled it up.
"Fifth brother, this painting... is it your sister-in-law's calligraphy?" Prince Jing praised: "As expected of a descendant of the Ming family, this painting has beautiful scenery and beautiful ideas. It can be called a rare masterpiece."
Prince Chen looked at him and nodded: "Yes."
Then he left with the painting.
"It's really my brother's wife's painting." Prince An looked at his fifth brother's departing back and nudged Prince Jing's arm with his elbow. "What a pity, I didn't take the opportunity to take a closer look just now."
In his impression, he rarely saw his fifth brother interested in poetry, calligraphy and painting, so apart from his fifth brother's wife, whose paintings were there, he didn't even use the seal and just put them in the yard where his fifth brother lived.
"Yes." Prince Jing looked towards the gate of Zhangliu Palace: "What a pity."
"What a pity?" King Huai came out and saw his two brothers talking together. He said loudly, "Stop playing around with each other all day long. Think about how to leave the palace."
He felt uncomfortable living in such a small yard every day.
"Brother, the palace is pretty good." Prince An said with a clear conscience, "All expenses are saved from the palace, and I don't have to spend my own money."
Now they are still being fined by their father, and they will have to spend their own money to move out of the palace.
Why not save some money and make jewelry for the princess?
"Just to save some money, are you willing to stay here?"
"How can it be just a little expense?" Prince An said, "How many people are there in the palace? Etiquette exchanges, various banquets, utensils, food and oil, which one doesn't cost money?"
"It's so good now. I don't have to report to the six ministries, I don't have to worry about the expenses of the palace, I can ask the small kitchen to cook whatever I want, and I don't have to pay for it myself." The more Prince An talked, the more he felt that life was beautiful, and he couldn't help but sigh: "If only my father could let me live like this for the rest of my life."
King Huai knew that his second brother had no ambition, but he never expected that he would be so unambitious.
How could there be such a useless heretic among the royal children?
"Forget it, just scatter grains to catch sparrows." King Huai regretted his nonsense with King An.
What does that little salary mean? The filial piety from the people below and the real power in your hands, which one is not better than saving on salary?
"Thanks for the reminder, big brother. There will definitely be more sparrows in the spring."
Unexpectedly, the second son took his sarcastic words seriously, and King Huai was almost angry to the point of vomiting blood.
"Brother, please don't mind it." Prince Jing looked at Prince An's back as he ran away happily, "Second brother doesn't understand. Birds can easily find food in spring and are not attracted by grains."
King Huai looked at him in confusion. What was going on?
None of these brothers are normal.
He turned and left, and ran into Yun Yanze who had just returned from outside. He snorted and strode back to his own courtyard.
"Third brother, what's wrong with eldest brother?" Yun Yanze didn't seem to care that King Huai got angry at him for no reason. He turned his head and smiled at King Jing.
"Just now, my fifth brother came over and took a painting. My eldest brother told us that we should find a way to move out of the palace, but my second brother didn't want to, so there was some unpleasantness."
"Painting?" Yun Yanze asked casually, "What kind of painting?"
"It's a beautiful painting with a beautiful landscape and clear waters." Prince Jing exclaimed, "It's a pity that my brushwork is limited and I can't imitate half of its charm."
"Third brother's painting skills have always been the best among us brothers. How can you underestimate yourself?"
"This painting was not made by my fifth brother, but by his wife." Prince Jing said with regret, "It's a pity that the Ming family's paintings are never passed on to others, otherwise I would rather spend a fortune to ask for a painting."
Yun Yanze sighed: "It's a pity that my brother has no chance to appreciate it."
"If you don't mind, you can come to my yard and I'll copy it for you." Prince Jing said, "Although my painting skills are not as good as that of my fifth brother's wife, I can copy some of her painting style."
Copy...painting style?
Yun Yanze smiled faintly at Prince Jing: "Thank you, Third Brother."
"Your Highness, what did you take?" Jiuzhu saw Prince Chen coming out with a roll of something and looked at it curiously.
"I just drew these two random strokes when I was free." Prince Chen handed the scroll to Yang Yiduo: "The peach blossoms are about to bloom, I need to practice my hand so that I can paint with you."
Jiuzhu called Yang Yidu and said, "Manager Yang, bring the painting here for me to see."
Yang Yidu bent down and presented the painting to Jiuzhu, directly omitting the King Chen's opinion.
Prince Chen looked nervously at the painting held in Jiuzhu's hand. After Jiuzhu saw his painting, would she find out that his previous praises of her painting skills were all lies?
He is not afraid of anything else, but he is afraid that Ming Xiaozhu will be sad.
It doesn’t matter whether the painting is good or not. What matters is that Ming Xiaozhu enjoys painting.
"Your Highness's painting... is not bad." Jiuzhu looked at the painting carefully: "It's just too realistic, lacking some artistic conception and interest."
Seeing that Prince Chen was silent, Jiuzhu thought he was sad, and quickly tried to make amends: "But the brushstrokes are very good, and they are better than my painting skills."
Prince Chen: “…”
Seeing the expression on Ming Xiaozhu's face that said, "Although you draw worse than me, I must say you draw better than me to please you," he walked to her side silently, put the painting away, raised his head and looked at her gently: "The most important thing in painting is the artistic conception. My painting is not good enough. You have to teach me more in the future."
"Okay." Jiuzhu patted his chest: "No problem."
Looking at Ming Xiaozhu who was smiling so happily and contentedly, Prince Chen took her into his arms with one hand to prevent her from seeing his expression.
The most important thing for a man is to be able to bend and stretch.
To make your wife happy cannot be called bowing your head, and certainly not called lying, that is called... interest.
Sun Caiyao changed into new spring clothes and wanted to wear them to show His Highness. Just as she reached the door, she heard His Highness' voice coming from inside the house.
"Are you sure that the Taoist temple where Ming Jiuzhu is fostered is here?"
She paused.
"Your Highness, it is indeed here."
"Who's outside?" Yun Yanze's tone suddenly became higher.
"Your Highness, it's me." Sun Caiyao lifted the curtain and walked into the room. She glanced at the eunuch standing in the room and said, "Your Highness, this eunuch looks a little unfamiliar."
"Your Highness, I am on duty in the palace." The eunuch in blue bowed.
"Oh." Sun Caiyao put down the snacks in her hand, not seeming to care about the eunuch: "Your Highness, try the new spring flower cakes."
"Thank you for your hard work." Yun Yanze took a sip of tea and said to her, "Go and rest first. I will have dinner with you later."
"Okay." Sun Caiyao walked out of the house, looked down at the embroidery on the hem of her skirt, and smiled at herself.
His Highness would rather inquire about Ming Jiuzhu's childhood residence than even look at her.
Her elaborate attire today seemed like a joke.
"Princess, someone from the Clothing Bureau wants to see you." Bai Shao walked up to her and whispered, "Do you want to see me?"
"Let's meet." Sun Caiyao walked in front, hiding the disappointment in her heart: "Bai Shao, you have served my mother for many years, have you ever seen His Highness get close to other women?"
Bai Shao shook her head: "Not really."
"His Highness has been quite cold to me these past few days." Sun Caiyao smiled bitterly, "If you knew what kind of woman he likes, I would take her in for him. At least... I can please His Highness."
"Princess, please don't think like that." Bai Shao advised: "Your Highness is not a womanizer. If you really take a concubine for Your Highness, it will hurt the relationship between you two."
Sun Caiyao felt even more bitter. When she saw the person from the Clothing Bureau and heard him say that the other spring clothes she had ordered would take a while to be made, she frowned.
"That's not how you responded to me before."
"Please forgive me, Princess, but His Royal Highness Prince Chen has ordered several sets of spring clothes for Princess Chen, and the clothing bureau is too busy to handle it."
Sun Caiyao really wanted to ask, since Prince Chen wanted clothes, did she have to postpone her request?
But in front of the manager of the clothing department, she just smiled politely: "Since it is your fifth brother who is custom-making clothes for your fifth brother's wife, it doesn't matter if I'm a few days late."
"Thank you, Princess!"
The steward thanked him repeatedly.
Sun Caiyao looked down at the hem of her skirt. His Highness would not notice if she changed into new clothes, but Prince Chen took the initiative to customize new clothes for Ming Jiuzhu.
"Send this letter to the Taoist temple where Ming Jiuzhu is fostered." Yun Yanze handed the thick envelope to the eunuch in blue.
On the envelope, the sender's name was Ming Jiuzhu.
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