Chapter 1838 Daydreaming
Manbao said guiltily: "I, I brought it in."
She didn't dare to identify Mr. Zhuang. Although the Crown Prince would surely know if he asked, she still said vaguely, "Because I live in the palace, I can bring some food..."
The prince walked up and sat down in Bai Shan's seat, then looked at the palace servants serving beside him.
The palace maid was stunned and unable to react. It was not until Eunuch Wu stepped forward and took out a spare set of bowls and chopsticks from the food box beside her and gave them to the prince that the matter was finally put to rest.
The prince picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, took a bite, nodded slightly, and ate all the meat on the chopsticks in one bite. Then he wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, ordered one of the bowls, and said to Eunuch Wu, "Bring one bowl to the Crown Princess."
Eunuch Wu quickly agreed, and he and a eunuch took the food box from the palace maid, put the steamed meat in it, and then left with the food box under everyone's sharp gaze.
The prince then tapped his chopsticks and said, "Sit down, what were you discussing just now? From a distance, I noticed that the atmosphere between you two wasn't very good. Were you arguing?"
Everyone shook their heads to indicate that they had not quarreled and that they had a very good relationship with each other.
The prince had already picked up another piece of meat and pointed at the bowl in front of him and said to the palace maid, "Bring me a bowl of rice."
The palace maid quickly agreed and carefully took the bowl to serve the prince some rice.
This kind of steamed meat is delicious when paired with rice. Manbao and his friends had planned to do so before, so they didn’t eat rice while eating barbecue before, just waiting to eat it now.
Seeing that the prince was already eating with hearty appetite, several people couldn't help but freeze.
Finally, Mingda handed the bowl to the maid and said, "Give me some rice too."
Manbao and Changyu immediately held out their bowls.
The prince glanced at them, pointed at the dishes on the table, and said, "You're all so full, and you haven't started eating yet?"
Everyone smiled embarrassedly with their heads down.
The prince then said to the palace servants, "Go ask the kitchen to prepare a few more dishes and send them over."
The palace maid responded and left, and everyone saw the prince continuing to pick up pieces of steamed meat one by one. He finished a bowl of meat before their meal was served.
Changyu was about to cry. She had been looking forward to the steamed meat for a long time.
Mingda felt both distressed and amused when she saw this, so she simply picked up the chopsticks and picked up a piece for her. When she was about to give it to Manbao, she saw Manbao stretched out the chopsticks himself. She felt sorry for Yin Huo who had not eaten much and was just waiting to eat the steamed meat.
So I gave him a piece.
Bai Shan picked up a piece for Manbao, and Manbao followed suit and picked up a piece and put it in his bowl as a return gift.
Seeing that they had all started to eat, Liu Huan also plucked up the courage to pick up a piece. Bai Erlang, who was a step slower, looked at this one and then that one, and felt that everyone was giving in to each other. It was not convenient for him to not show any reaction, so he stared at Liu Huan.
Unfortunately, Liu Huan had no intention of being friendly at all. He didn't even look at him and just picked up the meat and ate it.
Bai Erlang hesitated for a moment, and seeing that Mingda hadn't eaten yet, he put the pieces into her bowl. When he wanted to reach out for his chopsticks, the remaining two pieces had been taken away by the prince.
Shirojiro:......
He turned his head to look at Mingda and thought to himself: Is it too late to regret now?
Mingda looked up at him, not understanding what he meant. She didn't mind giving in, but it was very rude to return the food in the bowl.
So she smiled politely at Bai Erlang, then lowered her head and started eating meat.
It would be rude for others to give it to Bai Erlang, but Bai Shan and Manbao, who grew up with him, felt both distressed and amused when they saw it, and directly gave half to him.
Mingda felt more at ease around the Crown Prince. After all, he was her biological brother, and they had a good relationship. She asked bluntly, "Brother Crown Prince, why are you trying to steal our food?"
The prince said, "I didn't eat much at lunch and I'm already hungry. Why are you not happy to eat a few pieces of your meat?"
Mingda said, "This is steamed meat made by Manbao's sister-in-law, but it's very difficult."
The prince said to Zhou Man, "Since it's made by humans, just send in a few more bowls later."
It’s not done by gods, isn’t this simple?
Before Manbao could say anything, Mingda said, "Food from outside the palace cannot be brought in casually. It's already difficult for her to bring in these few bowls. If there are more, not to mention others, the guards at the gate will not be very happy."
The prince said, "Just have someone deliver it to the palace gate, and I'll send someone to get it."
That person was naturally Eunuch Wu.
The Eastern Palace has its share of purchases, so just bring it in among the purchases. It’s no big deal.
Bai Shan pondered the proficiency of this loophole exploitation and couldn't help asking, "Do the people under His Highness also do business?"
The prince raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and asked, "What's wrong?"
That’s it!
Changyu then remembered this matter and immediately turned to look at Mingda with an accusing look in his eyes, "Look, big brother is involved, why can't I?"
Mingda: ...
She looked at her eldest brother, opened her mouth, and then said with a stiff upper lip: "Brother, we can't participate in business affairs, right?"
The prince said confidently, "It's just a few of my followers running a small business. I haven't stolen any state money, so why can't I?"
The prince asked, "Why, has it reached your ears that someone is looking for trouble with me?"
Mingda shook his head and looked at Manbao.
Manbao cleared his throat and said awkwardly, "We are doing a study. The imperial court has issued a decree prohibiting officials and royal relatives from engaging in business, but no one seems to be complying, so we are thinking about how to fill these loopholes."
The prince said directly: "These loopholes cannot be filled."
He looked at all the young men, then sneered and shook his head, "Young men, you are still too young and too imaginative. Are you daydreaming about cutting off officials and royal relatives from participating in the business?"
Everyone: ...
No one expected the prince to be so straightforward.
The prince took a sip of tea and felt his hungry stomach feel better. He leaned back in his chair and smiled at them, "Let's not talk about others, but did you know that the emperor has a private treasury?"
Everyone nodded in confusion.
"Do you really think that His Majesty's private treasury is just grain collected from the imperial farms? Or perhaps it's some hard-to-cash items taken from officials' homes?" The prince said bluntly, "Your Majesty also has his own businesses, and those are managed by the inner treasury."
The emperor allowed his subordinates to participate in business, so why couldn't officials and other royal relatives make their lives more prosperous?
For example, he doesn’t need money to support his staff or his confidants?
He glanced directly at Mingda and Changyu, "You also have to bring shops with you when you get married. Those shops are given to you by the emperor."
Mingda: "But even though those shops are under our name, they are for rent, right?"
The imperial court allowed them to buy properties and shops, but only restricted them from operating the shops under their real names. Therefore, many officials bought shops and registered them under their own names, but let their servants or relatives run them, and basically no one would check.
If someone investigates, the landlord will just write a lease contract and say that he rented it to someone else. Without any evidence, who can really do anything about it?
See you at eleven
(End of this chapter)
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