When Prince Chen met Ming Jingzhou and took a few yellowed books from him, he understood one thing: he could escape his father but not his father-in-law, and there would always be someone who could make him write quickly.
"Father, what kind of book is this?" Jiuzhu curiously picked up a book and opened it. After a moment, she returned the book to the Prince of Chen and said with a bitter face, "I know all the words on it, but I can't understand a single word. Your Highness, don't you have a headache reading this kind of book all day?"
"How difficult is that?" Seeing Jiuzhu's admiring eyes, Prince Chen instantly felt refreshed and energetic: "I'll tell you tonight?"
"Okay, okay." Jiuzhu's big eyes flashed with brilliant light: "Your Highness is so awesome!"
"That's nothing." Prince Chen raised his chin slightly: "It's not worth mentioning."
A man who is admired by his wife is an excellent man.
Ming Jingzhou watched this scene with a smile on his face.
It turns out that no matter how unruly a man is, he may compromise because of a look.
At this moment, as a father, he finally felt relieved.
When a man changes his old habits and tries to do better just to get an admiring look from her, it means that this woman already has the most unique position in his heart.
That kind of thing is often called love.
"Your Highness, the book has been delivered. I'm taking my leave." He stood up and prepared to leave.
Seeing that he was about to leave, Jiuzhu wanted to keep him for dinner, but Ming Jingzhou refused: "Your brother is handling a case at the Dali Temple today and will be back home very late. I want to go back and have dinner with your mother."
Jiuzhu heard this and stopped trying to persuade him to stay. She nodded with a smile and said, "Daddy is right. We can't let Mom eat alone."
"I'll go see my father-in-law off." Prince Chen stood up and whispered in Jiuzhu's ear, "Tonight... I'll read to you."
After saying that, he walked away with a smile.
Jiuzhu was stunned for a moment, then slowly covered her face.
Her little fairy prince was so naughty just now!
"Father-in-law." After walking out of Qilin Palace, Prince Chen said, "My father asked me to perform the worship ceremony on his behalf, and I agreed."
Ming Jingzhou stopped. He and Prince Chen had always maintained the proper distance between a minister and a prince. No matter how you looked at it, he could not be called a "confidant" in front of Prince Chen. He did not expect that Prince Chen would tell him something that His Majesty had not yet made public.
"Your Highness is already an adult. As His Majesty's child, there is nothing wrong with you performing the worship ceremony on His Majesty's behalf." Ming Jingzhou bowed and said, "I believe Your Highness can do his best."
The wind blew up the corners of their robes. Prince Chen was silent for a moment: "I just want to be my father's child."
"Your Highness has always been a good child of His Majesty." Ming Jingzhou understood what Prince Chen meant, "I think His Majesty thinks so too."
Prince Chen looked at him and said nothing.
As he spoke, he bowed to Prince Chen and said, "Your Highness, I will take my leave."
"I thought my father-in-law would have different ideas from my father."
"It might have been different originally, but when Your Highness stepped into the door of the Ministry of Rites and carefully recited what I gave you, my thoughts changed a lot." Ming Jingzhou was silent for a moment: "I saw some good qualities of His Majesty in Your Highness."
"It was my fault in the past." Ming Jingzhou bowed deeply and said, "People's words are scary. I just follow what others say. I also made such a mistake."
Prince Chen returned the greeting to his junior: "Father-in-law is right, I am indeed unlearned and incompetent."
"No, Your Highness has a sincere and kind heart." During this period of time, he carefully checked the rumors related to Prince Chen, such as oppressing scholars, bullying sons of noble families, and humiliating military generals, and found that everything had its reasons.
The literati who were oppressed by him were heartless men who deceived women's feelings.
The young man from a noble family who was punished by him hit a child with his horse.
The generals who were humiliated by him spoke ill of Empress Su in private and even tried to force a girl from a decent family to be his concubine.
Every single one of them became evidence of Prince Chen’s tyranny. Every force is eager to suppress his reputation.
The one who is wrong is not the simple and straightforward Prince Chen, but the one who is hiding the filth and trying to cover up the truth.
Although he took into account the relationship between the monarch and his subjects and never said anything bad about the Prince of Chen in the court, he also never tried to understand the Prince of Chen.
The arrogance inherent in the scholar's nature made him prejudiced against Prince Chen. When he was prejudiced against Prince Chen, he didn't know that he was his daughter's savior.
If it weren’t for Jiuzhu, perhaps he would not have known the merits of King Chen until now.
"Father-in-law, you are so great today..." Why praise him so much?
Are there more books waiting for him to copy?
Prince Chen was worried.
"Don't worry, Your Highness. Officials from the Ministry of Rites are here for the worship ceremony." Ming Jingzhou smiled cheerfully, "With officials from the Ministry of Rites here, no one can do anything."
After sending Ming Jingzhou to the palace gate, on the way back, Prince Chen met Prince Huai and his wife who had just come out of the harem.
King Huai didn't look very well, and there were a few stains of medicine on his cuffs.
"Fifth brother." Seeing Prince Chen, Prince Huai forced a smile.
"Brother, sister-in-law." Prince Chen bowed perfunctorily.
King Huai didn't care. For him, Yun Duqing's perfunctory greeting was enough for him. "Where are you from, Fifth Brother?"
"I just sent my father-in-law out of Suzaku Gate." Prince Chen glanced at the tired look on Prince Huai's face and said, "Brother, you should take good rest."
"Thank you, fifth brother." Princess Huai spoke first: "Mother has been seriously ill in recent days. Your Majesty is worried about her health and has been serving her every day. He looks much more haggard."
"Is Concubine Xu sick again?"
The word "又" is full of multiple meanings.
He remembered that Concubine Xu had always been in poor health and was always sick, but she had managed to survive all these years.
Now that Prince Chen heard Princess Huai say that she was ill, he was not surprised at all.
"Fifth brother." King Huai said, "I heard that there is an old imperial physician in the Imperial Hospital. In recent years, he has not diagnosed anyone else except my father and my mother. Big brother, please help me invite this old imperial physician to Zhaoxiang Palace to check on my mother."
The old imperial physician that King Huai was talking about was over ninety years old. He had children and grandchildren around him at home and was in good spirits.
His father and mother could not bear to see him walking around in the palace at such an old age, so they told outsiders that they were only checking the pulses of the Emperor and Empress. In fact, they had never let him do anything in the past few years.
Prince Chen had not expected that Prince Huai would make such a request to him, and the relationship between the brothers was not very good.
Could it be the brotherhood accumulated from eating hot pot together in Yun Yanze’s house some time ago?
"I can't make the decision on this matter. The old imperial physician is old. If you really want to invite him to the palace, send someone to bring a sedan chair to invite him." Prince Chen did not embarrass him: "I will go and talk to my father and mother on my behalf. But whether the old imperial physician is willing to come to the palace or not, you must not embarrass him."
"Thank you, fifth brother." Prince Huai bowed to Prince Chen sincerely, with his back bent deeply.
"It is more important for Concubine Xu to be cured." Prince Chen waved his hand and did not take the matter to heart.
Prince Huai looked at his departing back, wondering what he was thinking. After a long while, he said to the equally exhausted Princess Huai, "Go back to Zhangliu Palace and rest first. I'll send someone to fetch the old imperial physician."
Princess Huai looked at the bruises under his eyes and sighed, "My Lord, Mother is not well yet. You can't exhaust yourself."
"I know everything." Prince Huai has never been attentive enough, and he did not notice the tenderness in his princess' eyes, and directly sent her back to sleep.
He is a big man and can hold on, but women cannot compare to men in terms of physical strength, so let her take a rest.
After arranging for someone to pick up the old imperial physician, King Huai returned to Zhaoxiang Palace.
Concubine Xu had already woken up and was leaning against the head of the bed. The room was filled with the bitter smell of medicine.
"Mother, are you feeling better now?" King Huai put down what he was holding and strode to Concubine Xu.
"It's okay. This is an old problem that I've had for many years." Concubine Xu coughed a few times and said, "Just let the princess take care of me here. You can go back and have a good rest."
"How can she understand your preferences like my son?" King Huai didn't understand what Concubine Xu meant and rejected her proposal directly: "Bring the medicine, my son will help you take it."
The maid looked at Concubine Xu, and she nodded.
"My son just met my fifth brother in the palace." After feeding him the medicine, King Huai put down the bowl and said, "It seems that he has a good relationship with the Ming family."
Concubine Xu smiled weakly: "It seems that the Ming family values their daughter Ming Jiuzhu very much."
"I originally thought that the Ming family would give up Ming Jiuzhu for the sake of their reputation, but I guessed wrong." His face struggled, and finally turned calm: "Now that Fifth Brother is the only legitimate son among us brothers, and he is favored by our father, I have to let go of my worries."
Perhaps he should have given up as early as the day his father ascended the throne, when he saw his father wearing the dragon robe and carrying his fifth brother on his back.
Concubine Xu coughed a few times and said nothing.
"Mother is seriously ill, and I shouldn't have told you this." Seeing that his mother looked particularly unhappy, King Huai thought it was because the medicine was too bitter, so he gave her some candied fruit to eat. "Just now I asked my fifth brother to ask father to plead for mercy, and asked the old imperial physician who is over 90 years old to come and diagnose your pulse..."
Concubine Xu grabbed his hand and said, "I am just suffering from a minor illness. I cannot trouble this old man."
"You are so seriously ill, how can you say it is a minor problem?" King Huai said, "Mother, I know you are considerate, but for your health, I must be willful for once."
"Don't worry, my son has already sent someone to pick him up in a sedan chair. It won't tire the old imperial physician out."
"What?" Concubine Xu grabbed the prince's hand and increased her strength, causing the back of the prince's hand to hurt. "You said he's on his way?"
"Calculating the time, it's about time." King Huai looked down at his hand that was hurt by the pulling, not daring to cry out in pain. I felt somewhat happy in my heart, because my mother's hand was so strong, which meant that the condition had not worsened.
"No." Concubine Xu held Prince Huai's hand and said, "Liu'an, send someone to send the old imperial physician back. I don't need him to diagnose my pulse here."
She knew that this old imperial physician was a master who could be called a genius in traditional Chinese medicine. No matter what the disease was, he could diagnose it clearly by taking the pulse.
"Why?" King Huai was puzzled. "Are you worried about being punished by our father and the queen? You don't have to worry about that. My fifth brother is the kind of person who will never nod if he doesn't agree, and he won't fool people if he agrees..."
"I said no, that's it!" Concubine Xu raised her voice: "Liu'an, listen to mother and send the old imperial physician back."
When Concubine Xu raised her voice, it sounded a little sharp and harsh. King Huai seemed to have thought of something, and his expression gradually changed: "Okay."
The room fell silent. Concubine Xu raised her hand to ask the other palace servants to leave. "It seems that you have already guessed it?"
King Huai moved his lips but said nothing.
Just at this moment, the eunuch's voice sounded outside the house: "Your Majesty, the old imperial physician Liu is not feeling well and cannot go out."
Concubine Xu's expression relaxed.
"But he said that his granddaughter inherited his legacy. Would you like to summon her?"
"What kind of illness can a woman treat?" King Huai said through the door: "Since Mr. Liu is not feeling well, wait until he recovers and then invite him to the palace."
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