Chapter 1886: Angered
The prince had not expected such a thing to happen. He laughed and looked at Manbao: "So your last name should be Xia. Is there anyone else from your mother's family?"
"No more," it was still Old Zhou who said, "Her mother was the only daughter in their family. Her parents brought her back to their hometown only after her grandfather and grandmother passed away."
The prince picked up the tea beside him, hid his smile by drinking it, and simply continued to ask, "Then where is her mother's family? Um, I remember it was in Shangzhou?"
He seemed to have seen it when he was checking Zhou Man's background.
Old Zhou nodded repeatedly, "It's in Shangzhou. Manbao's parents left her some property in Shangzhou. I wonder if it's still there after all these years."
The prince smiled and said, "Whether he is there or not, we can go and take a look and find out."
Old Zhou sighed, "I've always wanted to go, but Manbao has never been able to find the time. Even during the Chinese New Year, we can't leave Beijing freely. It's not legitimate for people like us to go there, so we keep putting it off."
Prince Gong said, "After all, I have no gratitude for raising you. If you really wanted to, how could you not even find a few days to spare?"
Mingda glanced at Prince Gong disapprovingly, "Third brother!"
Prince Gong sneered and glanced at Zhou Man coldly, his attitude was very clear.
Manbao was stunned for a moment, then thought about it carefully and felt that what he said was right. She was indeed not paying enough attention, otherwise, as long as she squeezed out the time, she would always be able to squeeze it out.
The Crown Prince frowned slightly, naturally unwilling to see his people attacked for being unfilial. He thought for a moment, glanced at Queen Gong beside him, and said, "Shangzhou is not too far from the capital. So, after the Dragon Boat Festival, I will give you a few days off. You can take the opportunity to go back and deal with these matters."
Manbao felt a little nervous, but also a little happy, and asked in surprise: "Really?"
The prince smiled and nodded, "I wouldn't lie to you about these things."
Bai Erlang quietly pulled the back of Manbao and Baishan's clothes.
Bai Shan pulled his clothes back and asked for leave without changing his expression. "I am worried about her going alone. Please allow us to take a few days off so that we can go with her."
The prince glanced at them and nodded slightly in agreement.
Bai Shan lowered his head and slightly raised the corners of his mouth, and Bai Erlang was also very excited.
When Manbao heard that Bai Shan and Bai Erlang were going with her, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Eunuch Wu came in quickly and nodded to the prince, indicating that it was time to eat.
Mingda and Changyu sat down, and then called Manbao to sit down with them. The prince simply kept Old Zhoutou Qian and Old Madam Liu, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, to stay as well. Coincidentally, he had something he wanted to ask, "I see that you have managed your official fields well and even have an experimental field. Are the seedlings planted there any different from ordinary seedlings?"
Old Zhou swallowed his saliva. He had a lot to say about farming, but he was a little nervous at the moment, so he couldn't speak.
He couldn't help but look at Manbao.
Manbao was about to answer when Qian smiled and said, "It's just that the seeds are different. The children brought back a handful of seeds from somewhere else, saying they were from another place. They wanted to see if they could grow better rice, so they set aside a piece of land to plant them."
She whispered, "The rice has just been planted, so it's hard to tell whether it's good or bad. But the seeds have sprouted, so there's obviously no bad seeds. They were all planted on the same day, ten days later than the other seedlings, so they look shorter."
The prince nodded slightly and said to them, "Agriculture is a matter of great importance to people's livelihood. If you can grow new rice seeds, you will be a great hero to the country."
They had not taken much credit for the contribution of wheat seeds before, but with Zhou Man as an official in the court, the court would obviously not let it go.
Manbao winked at her father and said, "It would be okay to let the eldest and third brothers farm the land, right?"
Changyu started eating the steamed meat as soon as the prince picked up his chopsticks. Although it was summer and the weather was hot, she still liked to eat meat.
Prince Gong picked up a piece of food with a look of disgust. After taking a bite, his expression straightened up slightly. He ignored the prince who was still gossiping and started eating seriously.
As he was about to serve his third bowl of rice, the Crown Prince raised his eyelids and glanced at the eunuch behind Prince Gong. He said to Prince Gong, "Third brother, you've just lost weight. You'd better eat less, otherwise you'll gain weight again. You probably don't want to go hiking in Daming Palace again, do you?"
Prince Gong's body stiffened.
In a year and a half, he lost about 50 kilograms and changed completely. He felt that he was thin enough, but every time Zhou Man came to see him, he still considered him a little fat and wanted to continue losing weight.
God knows that no matter how much he practiced martial arts recently, he couldn't lose weight. Instead, his appetite was getting better and better. Aunt Pian Shang was in charge of the food in his palace, so he couldn't eat much at all. He only occasionally got more food from his wife and children.
The eunuch did not dare to disobey, and did not dare to go to add more rice for Prince Gong with the bowl in his hand. He could only lower his head and put the bowl back on the table.
Prince Gong was furious. He slammed the table at the eunuch and started to rage, "Why, can't I just have a bowl of rice?"
The eunuch fell to his knees with a thud and lay on the ground trembling.
The prince snorted coldly, "Third brother, this is all for your own good. After all, obesity shortens lifespan."
Old Zhou looked so frightened that he almost choked on the food in his mouth. He looked at Manbao helplessly.
Manbao picked up the serving chopsticks and picked up a meat pie for Prince Gong, saying, "Your Highness, please stop eating and try my meat pie."
Then he said to the prince, "It's okay to eat once or twice now and then. I'll seriously reduce my weight when I return to the palace. Then I'll give the prince acupuncture."
Prince Gong was so angry that he dropped his chopsticks and left.
Seeing him leave in a huff, Manbao sighed and said to the eunuch kneeling on the ground, "Get up. Let the prince calm down a little."
Mingda glanced at the prince and said to the eunuch, "Get up."
The eunuch then trembled and stood up, bending over and stepping aside.
The prince successfully angered Prince Gong and was very happy. He took a meat pie and started to bite it.
Manbao and Mingda looked at each other, and Youyou sighed in her heart.
Bai Shan also felt that these two should not be together. He really didn't know what the emperor and empress were thinking, actually letting the prince and Prince Gong travel together.
However, as long as they are not around, whether they are fighting or quarreling, it has nothing to do with them.
So Bai Shan quickened his eating pace. Like Manbao, he just wanted to send the Crown Prince and Prince Gong away quickly.
But the prince ate slowly. After he was full, he sat down and drank a cup of tea before getting up and leaving.
Prince Gong had already left with his entourage. He was very angry and didn't want to see the prince again.
The prince didn't mind. He turned around and said to Mingda Changyu, "I will leave a team of guards for you. Don't play too late. Return to the palace as soon as possible."
Mingda agreed, and after watching the prince leave, he breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Manbao and said embarrassedly, "Did I scare your family?"
Manbao shook his head. "It's okay. My father is a careless person and will forget about it soon. But the Crown Prince and Prince Gong won't fight on the road, right?"
Mingda was also a little worried, but still said, "I don't think so. Father specially asked the officials from the Eastern Palace to accompany him. They should be able to persuade the Crown Prince."
See you tomorrow
My eyes hurt so much, everyone must protect their eyes. As a lesson learned from the past, myopia is really too torturous.
(End of this chapter)
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