At the city gate.
A pretty girl was lifting the carriage curtain with one hand, and looking out excitedly at the tall and magnificent city gate, "Mom, the city gate of the capital is much higher than our Chuzhou!"
Inside the carriage, a gorgeously dressed woman patted her head lovingly, "This is the capital, at the feet of the emperor, so the city gates are naturally higher than those in Chuzhou."
After he finished speaking, a young man rode over to the carriage and said, "Mom, sister, there are so many people queuing up to enter the city! It seems we have to wait for quite some time."
If Tian An and Zhao Yiming were there, they would definitely be able to see that the boy's eyebrows and eyes were 50% similar to Xiao Qingheng's, but his face was more childish and his facial features were not as three-dimensional as Xiao Qingheng's.
Hearing this, the girl who was looking at the outside with great interest immediately pouted and became unhappy. "I am a princess. I never had to queue up to enter the city in Chuzhou. Why do I have to wait with those lowly people in the capital?"
Although the little girl looked well-behaved and lovely, she was full of arrogance and disdain when she spoke.
Unfortunately, the two people beside them didn't think anything was wrong. The woman in the carriage saw that her daughter was unhappy, and even called the escorting guard forward and threw him a token, "Go tell the soldiers guarding the city that we are the family of Prince Wenxuan, and we have come to the capital specifically to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday. Let us go in first."
These three people were none other than the princess consort of Prince Wenxuan, and their son and daughter. The boy was Prince Wenxuan’s second son, Xiao Qingwei, and the girl was their youngest daughter, Xiao Minru.
It had only been three days since Prince Wenxuan's memorial entered the palace, but they had already arrived at the palace gate. I guess they were sure that the emperor could not refuse, so they set off from Chuzhou early.
Let Lords Yang and Lu specifically bring up this matter at the morning court. If the emperor disagrees, it means that he cannot bear to see the mother and son reunited. Even if it is said mildly, he will be accused of being narrow-minded and intolerant. It must be said that Prince Wenxuan's move was really hurtful.
After a short while, the guards who had gone to ask for directions returned, but they weren't given the privilege of cutting in line. "The soldiers guarding the city said they hadn't received any news from the court about the recall of Prince Wenxuan's family. They needed to verify it first, fearing it was a fake."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Minru's face in the carriage immediately darkened. "I'm right here, what else do you need to verify? And there's a token, it can't be fake!" She said, looking at the guard with a cold face, "Didn't you show them the token?"
The guard cried out in injustice, "I showed them the token as soon as I got there, but they said the prince couldn't return without a summons. They had to send someone into the palace to verify it first, otherwise, otherwise..."
"What else?" Xiao Minru said coldly and aggressively.
At this moment, Princess Wenxuan interrupted her, "Minru, this is the capital, you should control your temper." Then she waved her hand and asked the guards to go down first.
Seeing Xiao Minru's face flushed with anger, Xiao Qingwei beside her tried to comfort her, "Don't be angry, sister. Maybe we came too early and the imperial decree hasn't been announced yet. Let's just wait for a while."
"Then I'm going to go down and take a walk." She was a lively person and couldn't stay in the carriage.
As for this sister who has been spoiled since childhood, Xiao Qingwei naturally does whatever she says.
He immediately dismounted and took her on foot to walk around the city gate.
Because of the large flow of people passing through here, the imperial court cleared out a piece of land not far from the city gate, and many small vendors set up stalls here.
The two walked around and stopped in front of a wonton stall owned by an elderly couple.
"Would you like to try it?" Xiao Qingwei asked considerately when he saw Xiao Minru looking at the steaming wontons in the pot.
They arrived early and originally planned to go into the city to eat, but they were stopped at the city gate. They were indeed a little hungry, so Xiao Minru nodded.
But when he walked to the empty table, he frowned and shouted at the old woman, "Come here and wipe the table. Your table is so dirty, how can I sit here?"
The old woman who was busy clearing dishes at the table next to her heard this and thought she had not wiped the table clean enough, so she immediately ran over with a rag.
But when she looked at the clean and tidy tables and chairs in front of her, she was stunned for a moment and subconsciously turned her head to look at Xiao Minru who asked her to wipe the table.
He immediately understood and wiped the tables, chairs and benches twice in front of the two siblings. Then he took out a clean handkerchief from his arms and put it on the bench before asking Xiao Minru to sit down.
But even so, Xiao Minru was still disgusted. In the end, Xiao Qingwei replaced the old woman's handkerchief with his own, and only then did she give up!
He sat down, frowning with an unhappy look on his face and muttering, "It seems that I have to bring Chunxi with me from now on." They had just left in a hurry and only brought two guards with them. They were like fools and had no sense at all.
After what happened just now, the old couple treated the brother and sister more carefully.
The wontons were freshly made, for fear that they would be rejected for not being fresh. The dishes and chopsticks were also washed twice with clean water, for fear that Xiao Minru would reject them for being unclean.
Xiao Minru saw how much the old couple valued them, and didn't say anything until the wontons were served.
Besides, she was hungry now. The smell of the delicious wontons made her appetite grow. She quickly and quietly finished a bowl of wontons.
However, after the brother and sister finished eating the wontons, they wiped their mouths, stood up and were about to leave with their guards.
The old couple looked at each other, then quickly trotted over to catch up with the two men and called out to the guards, "Greetings, gentlemen. Two bowls of wontons, sixteen cents in total."
The two guards frowned and impatiently pushed the two men aside. "Go away, go away. My young master and princess ate your bowl of wontons out of respect. Don't be so shameless."
When the old couple heard this, they thought that this guy wanted to eat for free in a legitimate way!
He immediately quit and ran to Xiao Qingwei, pleading, "Sir! We are a small business, you can't do this!"
Xiao Qingwei frowned, "It's just a bowl of wontons! What else do you want?"
When the brother and sister were in Chuzhou, they never carried any money when they went out. They used facial recognition to pay their way wherever they went. No matter if it was a restaurant, a teahouse, or a street vendor, as long as they saw him, everyone would pay tribute to him like a ancestor, and no one dared to ask him for a penny.
It was the first time that the old man had seen people eating and free dining so unscrupulously, but looking at their clothes and appearance, he was afraid that they had really offended some big shot and might lose their life, so he decided to swallow his anger and consider himself unlucky.
However, he didn't expect that even after he had compromised so much, the other party would still refuse to give in.
Xiao Minru looked at the old man's angry expression and immediately became unhappy. "What's with that expression? It's so unlucky so early in the morning."
When his sister was unhappy, Xiao Qingwei, as her brother, immediately got angry.
Pointing at the wonton stall, he said, "Smash it for me, young master."
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