Chapter 832 This is a delaying tactic
The palace banquet in the Western Rong Kingdom was filled with singing and dancing, and was extremely lively.
Cheng Wanwan sat in a high position, very close to the powerful ministers and concubines. She lowered her head to eat, but listened to everything around her and heard many things happening in the palace.
Twenty years ago, Princess Taiping married into the Western Rong Kingdom as part of a political alliance. She became pregnant that same year, gave birth to a son the following year, and then became pregnant again the year after that, giving birth to a daughter.
Princess Taiping's son was the eldest son of the legitimate wife, and of noble status. He was named the Crown Prince on the very first day of his birth.
Perhaps because of his noble status, this crown prince was in poor health from a young age and spent his time recuperating in the inner palace, rarely seeing anyone.
The accident happened ten years ago when the young crown prince drowned. After the crown prince's accidental death, the relationship between Princess Taiping and the King of Xirong broke down.
The year after the Crown Prince's death, Princess Taiping's youngest daughter fell from the attic and cracked her head. Although she did not die, she was practically dead—lying in bed year-round, neither alive nor dead, unable to open her eyes or speak. If it weren't for the rise and fall of her chest, she would have looked like a corpse...
In Cheng Wanwan's words, he's like a vegetable.
She looked at Princess Taiping sitting in the highest position, and pity involuntarily welled up in her eyes.
A child is a mother's everything, but Princess Taiping's situation was tantamount to losing both of her children...
A frail woman was married off to the Western Rong tribe. Deep in the inner palace, her children kept dying one after another, and her trusted confidants died one after another. How did the princess survive all these years?
Seemingly sensing her gaze, Princess Taiping looked over.
Cheng Wanwan immediately withdrew the pity in her eyes and smiled.
Princess Taiping remained calm as she picked up her wine cup and took a sip.
"Your Majesty hasn't had a drink in so many years, it's quite unusual today," said a woman with glamorous makeup sitting below the throne. "Although it's fruit wine, it's quite potent. Your Majesty should be careful on your way back to the palace."
Princess Taiping glanced at her sideways and said coldly, "I am no longer concerned with my affairs, Lady Li."
"Your Majesty, I was just concerned about the Queen..." Lady Li looked at the King of Xirong on the throne with a wronged expression, "The Queen is always like this, so cold and aloof..."
The King of Xirong looked in Princess Taiping's direction and said with displeasure, "No one forced you to come to the banquet. Who are you trying to spoil by always having such a cold face?"
Princess Taiping remained calm. After finishing the fruit wine in her glass, she stood up indifferently and left, trailing her long, flowing dress.
"The Queen is so ill-mannered," Lady Li said, pursing her lips. "Shouldn't she have told the King before she left?"
Several of the Western Rong concubines nearby echoed this sentiment, and the Western Rong king's expression grew increasingly grim.
Cheng Wanwan glanced at the beautiful Mrs. Li.
She had just heard someone mention this person as well. After Princess Taiping became pregnant with the Crown Prince, Lady Li was sent to the side of the King of Xirong. After Princess Taiping gave birth to her son, Lady Li also gave birth to the second prince of Xirong. In the years that followed, Lady Li gave birth to a total of three sons and two daughters. She was the concubine with the most children in the palace, and her status was second only to the Queen.
She had every reason to suspect that the successive misfortunes of Princess Taiping's son and daughter were closely related to this Lady Li.
The banquet lasted until late at night.
Exhausted, Cheng Wanwan returned to the courtyard. She had received too much information tonight and needed to sort it out.
As a result, she barely slept all night.
The next day, I woke up with dark circles under my eyes, a bluish-black bruise that even thick rouge couldn't hide.
She fussed over herself in front of the mirror for a while before getting up and going outside.
As she walked into the courtyard, she saw many familiar faces. Apart from He Xiao, the Prince of Qin, and the more than one hundred guards, everyone else was there.
"Our King is magnanimous and will try his best to fulfill any request Lady Sui makes," the Grand Minister said, cupping his hands in greeting. "If there are not enough people, Lady Sui is welcome to ask again."
Cheng Wanwan returned the greeting with a polite bow: "Thank you, King of Xirong, thank you, Grand Minister. I will definitely cultivate rice varieties suitable for the Xirong land as soon as possible, and live up to the King of Xirong's cultivation and trust."
Da Xiang nodded with great satisfaction and immediately arranged for carriages and horses to take Cheng Wanwan to see the experimental field prepared by the Western Rong.
The experimental field was located at the foot of the mountain behind the palace. It was said to be excellent farmland, but in reality, the soil fertility was not as good as that of the middle and lower-grade land in Dahe Town.
She shook her head and said, "This land needs to be nurtured for a while before we can start the experiment. San Niu, take the craftsmen from Xirong to rebuild the farming tools. Cheng Yi and Cheng Ding, you two divide all the guards into four groups and bring them over. Granny Qi, I'd like to trouble you and all the maids to collect soil from each acre of land, put it in different containers and record it. Lord Shen, Lord Bi, thank you..."
She stood on the edge of the field, giving instructions methodically.
Four Western Rong officials beside the Grand Minister were diligently taking notes in their notebooks.
Seeing that Cheng Wanwan was fully absorbed in her work, Da Xiang stroked his beard with great satisfaction, then turned and left.
Cheng Wanwan was busy at the experimental field until evening before taking a carriage back to the palace.
Shen Dongming, Lord Bi, and others stayed at the manor next to the experimental field, along with the Prince of Qin, who was recuperating from his injuries, and He Xiao, who was under close surveillance.
Zhao Sanniu is Cheng Wanwan's son, Cheng Jia, Cheng Yi, and Ruan Mingzhu are her guards, and Granny Qi, Gu Leng, and Gu Bing are her maids. Naturally, she brought them all back to the palace to live together.
The courtyard where she lived was rather small, with only one main hall and four side rooms. It was small, but it was still spacious enough for everyone to squeeze in.
There were four guards in the courtyard, two at the entrance and two at the main hall entrance. Because the courtyard was small, the four guards were enough to monitor everyone.
Cheng Wanwan gave Granny Qi a look, and Granny Qi went to the chests in the inner room and rummaged through them. She found two jars of fine wine sent by the Kingdom of Asab and handed them to the guards: "Our Lady Sui has stayed here for a few days. Thank you for taking care of her. This is a fine wine that is only available in the Asab Palace. Please accept it without being offended."
She spoke a broken Western language, barely comprehensible to most.
After she finished speaking, she lifted the lid of the wine jar, and a fragrant aroma immediately filled the air.
The four guards stayed there for six or seven days, but Cheng Wanwan didn't cause any trouble, so they relaxed their guard and took a bite.
Once you start eating, you can't stop.
After a few more sips, my head started to spin.
Cheng Jia, Cheng Yi, Gu Leng, and Gu Bing emerged from the shadows, each dragging one of them into the bushes. The four of them changed into guards' clothes and stood guard at the door.
Cheng Wanwan closed the door, leaving only her, Zhao Sanniu, and Ruan Mingzhu in the room.
"Mother..." Zhao Sanniu couldn't help but ask, "Are we really going to stay in the Western Rong Kingdom and let them farm for us?"
Ruan Mingzhu glanced at him: "You really are stupid. Can't you see that Aunt Wanwan is using this as a delaying tactic? If she didn't use this trick, why would the Western Rong King let us meet? Isn't that right, Aunt Wanwan?"
Cheng Wanwan sat down at the table: "How is the King of Qin's injury? And what's the situation with He Xiao?"
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