After eating crabs and admiring the birds, the weather gradually became cooler.

The Emperor's new concubine, Concubine Wang, gave him a prince, and the Crown Princess Fang gave him a grandson. The third prince was named Prince Yong and opened a separate residence in Chongwenfang. In the autumn of the twelfth year of Yonghe, everyone had a lively time. But Madam Zhou did not forget Jing'er's birthday. On the tenth day of the tenth month, she personally visited him and gave Jing'er two Hu brushes, two boxes of Hui ink, a pair of Duan inkstones, two royal blue silk robes, and two pairs of cloud shoes with the word "Fu" as birthday gifts.

Eleventh Lady felt very embarrassed, and hurriedly invited Madam Zhou to sit in the inner room and invited her to have lunch: "…It's just a casual meal for the children, and I'm sorry that you spent so much money on it."

"You are being too formal with me when you say that." Madam Zhou smiled and hugged Jing'er who thanked her. "Our Jing'er is the lucky man destined for the Crown Princess!"

Eleventh Lady was a little amused and helpless.

Mrs. Zhou attributed the credit of Fang Jie'er giving birth to a child to Jing'er.

"This is also the Crown Princess's own good fortune!"

With two sons by her side, Fang Jie'er has finally managed to gain a foothold temporarily.

Mrs. Zhou smiled but said nothing. She took out a piece of Hetian jade from her sleeve and hung it around Jing'er's neck: "I know you like these things. This was brought out by the princess from the palace a few years ago. Knowing that I would come to see Jing'er, she specifically asked me to give it to Jing'er." Then she took out a pair of red gold bracelets and put them on Jing'er's hands, "This is a gift from your uncle Zhou." She took out a jadeite ring and hung it around Jing'er's waist, "This was blessed by Master Jining when I went to Ciyuan Temple to fulfill my vow for the Crown Princess. May our Jing'er be quiet and safe!" She also took out a purse with a large red background and a pattern of "Year after Year of Abundance" embroidered with gold thread, "There are a few oriental pearls in it. You can take them and play with them!"

Eleventh Lady couldn't help sweating on her forehead.

"Sister Zhou..." She just opened her mouth to shout, and Madam Zhou had already stuffed the purse into Jing'er's arms, "This is given to children by us elders, not for you. Just say less!" Then she smiled and said to Jing'er, "Good child, auntie knows that your grandmother has many good things, and you have high standards, so you don't care about these things. It's just that auntie came in a hurry today, so when the New Year comes, auntie will find you some interesting things to play with."

Seeing that the Hetian jade was white, delicate and warm, and the jadeite was crystal clear and translucent, they were not ordinary items, and he liked them very much. Seeing that his mother was rejecting him, he had to push the things into Madam Zhou's arms: "Aunt, I can't take it!"

Madam Zhou ignored him and stuffed the things back into Jing'er's arms while talking to Shiyi Niang: "I heard that Jing'er started to learn martial arts from his master?" Before Shiyi Niang could speak, she said angrily, "What are you doing this for? You train in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer. Practicing martial arts is so hard! How can you bear to do that? Does our Jing'er have to rely on this to get promoted?"

Mrs. Zhou was speaking up for Jing'er, while Mrs. Wu was also speaking up for her own son.

"...After all, he is not a master I hired. He is biased when teaching children." She sat on the brocade stool in front of the bed of Old Marquis Sun, carefully blew the medicine to cool it down and fed it to Old Marquis Sun's mouth. "It's the same horse stance. Master Pang taught Jin'er internal strength privately. Now he can squat for four or five incense sticks easily. Our Chen'er is at a disadvantage. Squatting for three incense sticks is already cramping his legs and feet. But our Chen'er is a stubborn person and refuses to admit defeat. I advised him that ten fingers are different in length. Jin'er's horse stance is good, but his archery is not as good as yours. Not only did he not listen, he also squatted in the morning and continued squatting in the evening. Dad, what do you think we should do?"

The implication was that Lord Sun should find a master for Brother Chen.

"Oh!" Lord Sun was slightly stunned. "So, Marquis Yongping agreed to let Brother Jin learn internal skills from Master?"

When people get old, they can no longer bear hardships. Ever since the Mid-Autumn Festival, when Old Marquis Sun caught a cold, he has been ill and bedridden. It has been almost two months now. When the Madam Tai knew about it, she asked Xu Lingkuan to take the Fifth Madam and the children back to Hongdeng Hutong for a short stay. The Fifth Madam has been taking care of her father every day these days.

Seeing her father's surprised expression, the Fifth Lady said hurriedly, "Yes! I also heard that Jin Ge'er squats in horse stance every morning to practice external martial arts, and goes back to meditate every night to practice internal martial arts. For this reason, the Marquis asked Mr. Zhao to reduce Jin Ge'er's homework by half."

Old Marquis Sun leaned back on the large pillow, and a solemn look appeared on his face, which had been relaxed just now.

He drank the medicine in silence. When Madam Wu packed up her things and was about to leave, he pointed to Jin Wu beside him and asked her to stay: "Then do you know that after learning internal martial arts, although it will be twice as effective to learn external martial arts with half the effort, it is best not to get married when you are laying the foundation. Otherwise, your martial arts training will be in vain!"

The Fifth Lady was completely stunned.

"Do you still want your son to learn internal martial arts?" Old Marquis Sun asked his daughter meaningfully.

"No!" The Fifth Lady said without a second thought, "I'm still hoping that Brother Chen will get married and have children soon!" She hesitated as she spoke, "Sister-in-law Four only has this one son, how can she bear to give him up..."

"Yes!" Lord Sun looked at his daughter, "She was willing to give up, so why can't you give up your two sons?"

The fifth lady was stunned.

Old Marquis Sun has already loudly ordered the people around him: "Go and call the Seventh Young Master in!"

"Dad!" Madam Wu felt something was wrong.

However, Old Marquis Sun waved his hand at her, signaling her not to say anything more.

Brother Shen was practicing archery on the training ground accompanied by several guards from the Sun family. When he heard that his grandfather was looking for him, he quickly wiped his face and ran over.

"Grandfather, Grandfather." He skipped and ran to the front of Old Marquis Sun.

My grandfather liked him very much. When he saw him, there was a smile in his eyes.

Old Lord Sun gently stroked Brother Chen'er's hair. The more he looked at this healthy and lively grandson, the happier he felt.

"Do you want to learn inner skills from Master like Brother Jing?"

"Yes!" Chen Ge'er's eyes lit up. He knew that his grandfather would have a way to make him as powerful as Jing Ge'er. He answered his grandfather without thinking.

"Dad!" Madam Wu couldn't help but frown, "He's still a child. What does he know..."

"Okay!" Lord Sun interrupted his daughter calmly, "I know what's going on with this matter." After that, he looked at Chen Ge'er with a friendly expression, "But it's difficult to learn internal martial arts. Besides, you can't get married before you learn it well..."

After hearing this, Chen Ge'er immediately asked loudly, "Is Sixth Brother married?"

Old Marquis Sun couldn't help but sneer: "He's the same. He can't get married before he learns well!"

"Then I won't get married either!" said Chen Ge'er immediately.

"Good!" Lord Sun shouted happily, "You have great ambition!" Then he smiled and made a pinky promise with Chen Ge'er, "You can't break your promise!"

Chen Ge'er nodded repeatedly: "Grandfather, don't worry, I will definitely not break my promise. And I will definitely learn better than Sixth Brother!"

Old Marquis Sun nodded with great satisfaction, asked the servants to take him away, and told the Fifth Madam: "Go and find Ling Kuan. I have something to say to him!"

"Dad!" Mrs. Wu was very uneasy.

Is my son's future decided like this?

"We are living in a peaceful and prosperous age now, and there is no need to fight a war. What's the point of learning these things?" She objected. "Besides, even if there is a turmoil in the world, it will never be our brother's turn to fight the enemy in the battlefield with real guns and swords!"

"You understand this principle, so how could your fourth uncle not understand it?" Old Marquis Sun said with a smile, "You need to use your brain! Go and call Ling Kuan in!"

The fifth lady left feeling somewhat depressed.

The attendant who had been standing silently with his back bent at the head of the old marquis' bed finally raised his head and said, "Marquis... Regarding this matter, do you think we should wait and see... The Seventh Young Master is still young..."

"No need!" Old Marquis Sun shook his head. "There is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. Those scholars can't tell the difference, so they have to rank according to seniority. We are from the military, but it's different. With one punch, it's clear who wins and who loses. Whoever has the harder fist will be the winner. If Xu Lingyi didn't have good martial arts skills, how could he have stopped those old foxes in the barracks so quickly? Do you think they are really afraid of his identity as the Marquis of Yongping? Since our brother Chi Sooner or later, we will have to take this path, so we might as well plan it early. It's better than sharpening the spear before the battle! Besides, the Xu family has such a big stall in the army, Xu Lingyi can't just leave it alone, right? "Old Marquis Sun said, staring at the blue-green six-sided pattern on his head, and his voice gradually became low, "The west has been stable for ten years... The emperor is now young and strong, so there will be nothing wrong... But what about another ten years? By that time, Brother Jin should be fifteen or sixteen years old, right?"

The long-servant was shocked: "My Lord..."

"If you don't think about the future, you will have immediate worries." Old Marquis Sun smiled, "Xu Lingyi is not the kind of person who lives his life on his toes. If you don't believe me, we'll just wait and see!"

* * * * * *

A few days later, Brother Chen returned to Lotus Garden in a triumphant manner.

He pointed to a burly man beside him, glanced at Master Pang who was limping slightly, and said with a smile: "This is Master Yang. My grandfather gave him to me. From today on, I will start to learn internal martial arts from him."

Jing'er's jaw almost dropped.

He went back and waved his fist at Shiyi Niang and said, "I'm his brother, but I can't beat him. Isn't it ridiculous..." He used to stay in bed for a while when he got up in the morning, but now he got up by himself without waiting for Hongwen to call him and went to Shuangfuyuan early.

Even so, he was still a little worried, and asked Shiyi Niang privately, "Brother Chen has two masters?"

Eleventh Lady smiled and asked him, "Were you able to squat in horse stance for a long time in the past?"

Jing Ge'er thought for a moment and said, "It takes only one stick of incense to make a person like that!"

"How long can you hold your position for now?"

"Five incense sticks!"

"That's all!" Eleventh Lady laughed, "Although Master Pang is only one person, he allows you to squat from one incense stick to five. Why do you need so many masters? As long as they are useful, that's all!"

"Yes!" Jing'er was happy to hear that. "I was only Master Pang before, but he squatted better than Chen'er."

Since then, I have regained my confidence!

※

I will take a break this weekend, so I will only update once. I will start updating next week!

O(∩_∩)O~