Being a member of the royal family isn't easy; if you arouse the emperor's suspicion, you could very well lose your life.
For Zhu Lin, the only people he could trust were those from Xianwu Island. The royal family was never on his list of trusted people. He had to be wary of the emperor, the concubines in the harem, and the princes and princesses. In the deep palace, one wrong step could lead to utter ruin.
Xingxing is too kind-hearted, so he often has to plan things out for her.
We need to investigate who instructed the storyteller to spread the news that the eldest princess was providing disaster relief everywhere. Only by knowing ourselves and our enemy can we be on the safe side.
Because the princess was seeking a husband, noble families and aristocratic sons from both the north and south flocked to the capital. Anyone between the ages of eight and eighteen was eligible to participate, as stipulated by the emperor.
Xingxing found it outrageous. The eight-year-old boy was two years younger than her, just a greenhorn. What right did he have to participate in the competition? And at eighteen, he was a bit old, being a full eight years older than her.
Sigh, whatever, these people have no chance of winning anyway. Brother Lin can take care of them all.
That day, the five Fu brothers encountered Tie Qingfeng on the street. At that time, the five Fu brothers were wandering around the street when a luxurious sedan chair passed by. A group of servants followed the sedan chair. Later, the sedan chair stopped, and Tie Qingfeng got out of the sedan chair.
Compared to the thin and frail boy he was a few years ago, Tie Qingfeng has now grown into a tall, elegant young nobleman.
However, the guys recognized him at a glance, because his appearance hadn't changed much, and he still maintained that aloof and slightly arrogant demeanor when interacting with others.
However, it was only because he took the initiative to greet them and his attitude was somewhat warm that Fu Ge and the others reluctantly acknowledged him; otherwise, they would have pretended not to see him, or if they had, they would have pretended not to know him.
"What? You mean you're going to participate in that damn competition to find a son-in-law?" Erfu looked at him with a puzzled expression.
Tie Qingfeng ignored Erfu's gaze and chuckled, "My father insisted that I go, so I had no choice but to go."
"And Miss Song, aren't you engaged?" Erfu asked.
"You may have some misunderstandings about my relationship with Song Jiao. Neither the Tie nor the Song families have any plans for an engagement," Tie Qingfeng said calmly, dispelling any doubts.
The five brothers rolled their eyes in unison, looking like they didn't believe a word of it. It was obvious to a blind man that Song Jiao had liked Tie Qingfeng since she was a child, and that this young master Tie had treated Song Jiao well in the past, but now he was denying their relationship.
"You didn't dump Song Jiao just to become the prince consort, did you? I advise you to give up. Xingxing has never liked you since she was little, and you should know her personality. The two of you are simply not suitable." Zhou Erfu looked like he had swallowed a fly, and decisively rejected Xingxing's idea.
"I don't want to get married so soon, nor do I have any intention of becoming a prince consort, so you can rest assured." As Tie Qingfeng said this, he recalled what the eldest princess looked like before she regained her identity. She was wearing an ordinary cotton-padded coat, but her little face was rosy and exquisite.
She has a pair of particularly beautiful big eyes. When she's being cunning, her dark eyes dart around. She also has quite a temper and doesn't like being touched by strangers.
"It's good that you don't have those thoughts. I advise you to treat Song Jiao better and not let that young girl's feelings go to waste." Zhou Erfu was still a little worried and tried his best to get him and Song Jiao together.
"I haven't seen Song Jiao for two years." Tie Qingfeng lowered his eyes. He couldn't deny that Song Jiao was indeed deeply in love with him. He had taken Song Jiao back to the capital before, and Song Jiao stayed in the capital for more than a year before returning to Nanyang Prefecture. After that, the two never saw each other again.
However, Song Jiao would often send him handkerchiefs she had embroidered herself, and she would also write love poems for him, hoping that he would go to the south to propose marriage. Unfortunately, Tie Qingfeng was likely to disappoint her, and the young girl's feelings would ultimately be misplaced.
The Fu brothers discovered that, whether in the past or present, they still had nothing in common with Tie Qingfeng and could quickly kill any conversation. This man's aristocratic air was too strong, which the Fu brothers couldn't get used to.
"We have something to do, we have to go. Young Master Tie, you should go back too." Only Erfu and Tie Qingfeng spoke the whole time; the other Fu brothers remained silent.
Tie Qingfeng didn't want to make a fool of himself any further. He got into the sedan chair and had it carried to Yixianlou in the south of the city, where several young men who were on good terms with him were waiting for him to have a drink and get together.
However, the Fu brothers didn't care what Tie Qingfeng was doing. The reason they had been wandering the streets these past few days was to listen to how the people of the capital were talking about the stars. They couldn't find out what was going on in the palace, so they could only find out about the situation outside.
The two elderly people in the family were worried and kept nagging, fearing that someone might frame Xingxing. But worrying was useless; they had to do something. So they sent their five sons out to find out what was going on.
Originally, Fu and his friends thought their parents were being unreasonable, insisting that they come to the street to ask for information. But the news on the street was spread by word of mouth, and by the end, it was all unreliable.
However, after listening for a few days, they found that it was somewhat useful. For example, when listening to storytelling in a teahouse, the customers could also hear all sorts of interesting stories. Although they weren't very credible, they could still glean some useful information from them.
"Father, Mother, we've found out that the eldest prince and the third prince's maternal family are from the same clan, the Zheng family in the capital," Zhou Erfu said eagerly, trying to take credit.
“My father and I already know this, why would you need to ask?” Zhao Guihua pushed him away and looked at her other sons.
Dafu scratched his head when she looked at him and said, "I heard that the Zheng family also sent several of their sons to participate in the competition. Consort Duan is fully supporting them. Maybe it was she who instigated them."
Zhou Sanfu continued, "Besides these two princes, there are three other younger princes in the palace. Their maternal relatives also want to participate in the competition. None of these people have good intentions."
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