It has to be said that Guan Yingying's "panacea" is really effective.
That lump, the size of a pigeon egg, was a panacea with black sesame and walnut flavors, containing at least three soybean-sized pieces of ointment.
The prince ate it and found it fragrant and sweet. Before long, his mind became sluggish. The pain stopped, and he felt incredibly comfortable throughout his body, as if he were floating on air.
If it weren't for the pain of pulling out the arrow, what the crown prince would most want to do right now is to favor women, and the kind where he has thirty-two women in one night.
***
On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year, Gu Shaoyu finished his court session. Xie Zhaozhao was leading Yuanyuan, Manman, and the others in the small kitchen of Qingpu Courtyard to offer sacrifices to the Kitchen God.
Gu Shaoyu watched curiously from the side; it was the first time he had ever seen the Kitchen God Festival.
After they finished, he took Xie Zhaozhao's hand and led her into the inner room, whispering to her, "Today the Empress discussed with His Majesty the possibility of arranging a marriage for the Crown Prince at the New Year's Eve palace banquet, and the list has been finalized."
Xie Zhaozhao frowned and said, "The Crown Princess's body is barely cold, and you're already holding a selection of concubines? That's just too heartless."
Emperor Hui said the same thing, severely reprimanding the Empress and ordering her to behave herself in the palace. He also ordered the Crown Prince to stay at home and recuperate, and to discuss the marriage arrangement a year later.
“However, the Empress may not listen. Today, Hua Zisheng told me the list. Miss Liu, the granddaughter of Grand Secretary Liu, Miss Li, the eldest sister of the Duke of Yingguo, and your third sister are all on the list. Your fourth sister is also mentioned in the notes,” Gu Shaoyu said.
Xie Zhaozhao had a headache. Any of her good friends who became the Crown Prince's woman would be doomed.
If Xie Tingting becomes the Crown Prince's woman, Xie Zhaozhao will be the first to suffer.
The Crown Prince broke ties with the Emperor, forced his former Crown Princess Shi Yingying to her death, and chose a woman from a prominent family or a top noblewoman instead, refusing to marry a woman from a poor family. This was a disguised declaration of war.
Gu Shaoyu said, "The women on the list were all chosen privately by the Empress, the Duke of Cheng'en, and the Crown Prince, and have not yet been informed to the various households. Originally, the plan was that once His Majesty agreed, she would immediately send the list to the various households. Even if they were in the process of discussing marriage, as long as no betrothal was made and no betrothal gifts were exchanged, they had to stop and the Crown Prince would choose his consort first. Only those he could not choose could marry someone else."
Xie Zhaozhao looked at him, and the two said at the same time, "Brother!"
That's right, Xie Yu hasn't arranged a marriage yet.
Xie Zhaozhao asked, "Whose opinion is more appropriate?"
"The Duke of Yingguo's family holds the title of Duke of Yingguo, but Li Yunhuai has accomplished nothing in the court. Even though the Crown Prince chose Li Ranran as his Crown Princess, it didn't help the Crown Prince much. On the other hand, Miss Liu Si has disciples all over the world from Grand Secretary Liu..."
Xie Zhaozhao nodded; that was what she thought too.
In her previous life, Liu Yiyi eventually became Consort Rong of Emperor Xiao. Later, the Liu family was wiped out and Liu Yiyi died in the cold palace.
The Liu family and the Xie family were destroyed almost simultaneously.
However, in her previous life, Liu Yiyi was betrothed to the Crown Prince as a concubine half a year later, before the Crown Princess Shi Yingying had died.
In this life, not only did the Crown Princess die early, but Liu Yiyi was also the most likely candidate to be chosen as the Crown Princess.
"Tomorrow, lend me Nanxing and Beichen. I want to go to the Palace Guard and test Xie Jue's martial arts skills."
Gu Shaoyu smiled like an old fox: "Okay."
It's not unreasonable for her to take people to test her cousin's martial arts skills, is it?
The next morning, Xie Zhaozhao went out with a basket of oranges and took a carriage to the Imperial Guards' training ground.
Xie Jue has already entered the Palace Guard Division, but when he is not on duty, he is always training in the Imperial Guard Camp.
The Imperial Guards underwent extremely rigorous training, enduring the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, and even as the New Year approached, their training continued without pause.
When Xie Zhaozhao arrived there, she sent someone to call Xie Jue, and Xie Jue came running out shortly afterward.
It was the dead of winter, and he was dressed very lightly, with sweat beading on his forehead.
Upon seeing Xie Zhaozhao, she said happily, "Elder sister, what brings you here?"
"If I don't come to see you, you won't come to the Marquis's residence to see me either!" Xie Zhaozhao said with a smile. "How's your studying going?"
Xie Jue said proudly, "Coach Cui said I am the most talented among these people. I can now go through a hundred moves with him without losing."
"Impressive, second brother! You've become so skilled in just half a year! Today I've brought your brother-in-law's guards. How about you spar with them a few times?"
Xie Jue wasn't afraid; he needed to know just how big the gap was.
Hearing that Grand Secretary Gu's guards were going to spar with Xie Jue, Instructor Cui stopped training and told the others to train first. He then led them to a separate training ground and said, "This place has a good training ground and all the weapons are available."
Xie Zhaozhao and Yuan Yuan stood on the high platform, while Nan Xing went down to compete with Xie Jue first.
Xie Zhaozhao said to the two of them, "You must give it your all. I want to see the difference. There is no mercy on the battlefield. You must do your best."
It's basically telling Nanxing not to be polite.
The first one is running laps.
This is a competition of speed and endurance, one of the most important abilities on the battlefield.
Yuanyuan stared intently at Nanxing. Nanxing was the Grand Secretary's personal bodyguard, so his martial arts skills must be quite good, but she didn't know exactly how good they were.
Coach Cui stood at the starting line and shouted to Xie Jue and Nan Xing, "Run twenty laps around the track. The first one to reach the finish line wins."
After shouting "Start!", Xie Jue and Nan Xing shot off like arrows released from a bow, rushing out like the wind.
This training ground is a mile long. Nanxing is much faster than Xie Jue. Xie Jue runs one lap, while Nanxing has already run two laps.
Yuanyuan realized that Nanxing was really amazing.
However, Xie Jue was also quite good. His speed was even, his breathing was steady, and he seemed to be getting faster and faster as he ran. On the battlefield, escaping would definitely not be a problem.
After running laps, lift weights. The weights used for training are quite heavy; the smallest one weighs 18 pounds.
Nanxing Gu shrugged his shoulders and lifted the stone weight as easily as if it were a steamed bun.
Xie Jue lifted it with ease, but he was still far from reaching Nan Xing's level.
Later, they competed in several other projects, and Xie Jue naturally couldn't beat them all.
Xie Zhaozhao smiled, showing no shame for having led her brother to crush him, and pointed at Bei Chen, saying, "Do you want to compete with him in lightness skill?"
Xie Jue scratched his head and said, "My lightness skill is not good."
Never mind then, we won't need Bei Chen today.
He asked Moyan and Guanyan to carry a basket of oranges down, and said to Instructor Cui, "Thank you for teaching my second brother. These oranges are for the children to eat during the New Year."
In winter, there are very few oranges for sale on the streets of Dagan, so this was brought to her specially from the south by Yin Jin'an.
Instructor Cui was extremely excited. He was a martial arts instructor with no family background, while many of the Palace Guards or Imperial Guards were sons of powerful and wealthy families.
The Xie family is one of the four great families, and Xie Zhaozhao is an outstanding one. Giving him a basket of oranges is enough to make him do anything for them.
After giving Coach Cui some oranges, Xie Zhaozhao left.
Xie Jue pressed his chest, and after completing his normal duty shift in the camp, he immediately returned home.
Upon arriving at the mansion, he first went to greet his mother, and then went to the Wutong Garden to greet his grandmother.
“Grandmother, my eldest sister came to visit me today and brought a basket of oranges for my instructor.”
Madam Xie knew something was amiss, so she told Ying'er and Granny Liu to go out.
"What's wrong with your eldest sister?"
Xie Jue immediately took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Madam Xie.
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