Chapter 10
Outside the morning court hall, a censor, holding a tablet, approached Duanmu Huaixin and whispered, "Second Prince, the palace was bustling yesterday."
Duanmu Huaixin just nodded, as calm as usual.
The Imperial Censor shook his head, made a gesture of spreading out his arms to his colleagues, and left Duanmu Huaixin's side.
"Second brother, this is your fault." Seeing the embarrassment of the Imperial Censor at being humiliated, the Crown Prince, who had been watching for a long time, came over and bowed slightly to the Imperial Censor. "Second brother has been arrogant since he was young, so please bear with me."
The Imperial Censor quickly dodged the Crown Prince's bow and returned the greeting, "Your Highness, I am terrified that you are joking."
The prince secretly spat at these stubborn old men, but still wore a friendly smile on his face. "That's good. My second brother doesn't like to talk, and people often misunderstand his meaning, which makes me worry a lot."
The prince turned around again, looking at Duanmu Huaixin with a concerned smile, "Second brother, I heard that you dispersed all the wives and concubines in the mansion. Is this true?" His voice was low, and he emphasized the word "wife". "That won't do, second brother. It's not right for you to favor your concubines over your wives."
Duanmu Huaixin stared at the prince with his deep eyes, nodded slowly, and then shook his head.
"Alas, it seems... what do you mean by shaking your head?" The prince thought he had caught his brother's fault, but he didn't expect Duanmu Huaixin to shake his head again. Could it be that he was trying to cover up his own fault? That would be a wrong move. The prince's mouth curled up, "Second brother, there is no need to quibble. My wife's cousin cried to her yesterday, begging you to give her justice. I must intervene in today's matter."
"No." Duanmu Huaixin uttered a word, then ignored the prince and entered the hall.
"．．．．．．．" The ministers who were secretly eavesdropping around expressed their disappointment, as they had thought that Prince Huai would change.
"!" The prince became more and more resentful. This was just a bastard born to a concubine, and he was the prince personally appointed by his father. Why should this bastard be crowned king before him? And his father even praised this bastard's temperament. It was really hateful.
Today's court meeting was brief, but an irrepressible agitation surged among the officials. They winked at each other, asking, "Didn't you write a memorial?"
'You didn't write it either?'
'I wouldn't dare.'
"Why doesn't the Prime Minister speak?"
'Perhaps this is the emperor's intention'
The emperor briefly mentioned a few things and then signaled the end of the morning court.
The chief eunuch drew out his voice, "If you have something to say, please report it. If not, please dismiss the court——" He muttered to himself, "Let this be over quickly. Don't let anyone stop me——"
"Wait! I have something to report!" The Prime Minister did not look up, but knelt respectfully and handed a letter to the eunuch. "I have something to report. I want to report that Prince Huai favors his concubine and neglects his wife, and is disrespectful to his first wife!"
The prince's face was filled with anxiety and disbelief. He glanced at Duanmu Huaixin, then shook his head, as if he wanted to say something, but looked at the emperor.
The emperor picked up the prime minister's memorial, written with sharp words and a poignant tone that moved everyone. His face was filled with anger, and he called out Duanmu Huaixin's name in a stern voice, "Duanmu Huaixin, tell me what's going on?!"
"It's true." Duanmu Huaixin said.
"Second brother! You really did something worse than pigs and dogs! I knew you were cold-hearted in the past, but I didn't expect that you would do such a thing. Princess Huai hasn't been married for half a year yet?" The prince had a look of grief on his face, as if he was really a good brother who loved his younger brother and was disappointed in him.
Following the lead of the prime minister and the crown prince, the imperial censor who was in charge of supervising officials also stood up and denounced Duanmu Huaixin's atrocities, from his unruly behavior in daily life to his rude and ruthless handling of affairs. In summary, according to the law, Prince Huai should be stripped of all his titles and sent to guard the imperial mausoleum.
"If you have anything else, present it all." The emperor's face became even worse, and it seemed that he was going to severely punish Prince Huai. The courtier immediately presented the "evidence" that he had prepared in his arms to the emperor.
The chief eunuch took an inadvertent glance and was even more frightened. He couldn't help but wonder, had Prince Huai really committed so many crimes in the past?
The emperor flipped the papers in his hand quickly, and the rustling sound seemed to hit everyone's heart. Some people secretly glanced at Prince Huai, but saw that he still had that cold and composed look. They couldn't help but sigh in their hearts, thinking that this time Prince Huai was the one being pushed down by everyone.
Finally, the emperor finished reading. He threw the stack of papers in his hand to the ground and stared at Duanmu Huaixin. "Duanmu Huaixin, do you have anything to say?"
Duanmu Huaixin was prepared. He pulled something out of his sleeve, but all he heard was the emperor's furious curse, "You unfilial son! The evidence is so conclusive, how are you going to argue? Why don't you plead guilty?"
Duanmu Huaixin was stunned for a second, then stared at the emperor for three seconds. After confirming that he really didn't seem to remember, he reminded him, "Father, half a year ago..."
"Come here, hold him down and wait for your punishment in the palace." The emperor made the decision with firm determination.
The Royal Guards carefully surrounded Prince Huai, fearing that this prince with great martial arts skills would suddenly attack and hurt people. They always admired Prince Huai's achievements in leading the army in battle, but if the emperor gave the order, they could only take Prince Huai away.
Duanmu Huaixin was not as angry as the Imperial Guards thought. He nodded to them and left with the Imperial Guards.
How strange! Father clearly knew my plan, so why didn't he let me speak? Duanmu Huaixin looked up at the emperor's old face with a hint of understanding. This man simply sensed my 'threat' and that I was no longer in his control. He wanted to teach me a lesson, but he didn't know to what extent he wanted to teach me a lesson.
When walking out of the hall, Duanmu Huaixin turned his head and looked inside the hall. He saw the noisy ministers, the complacent prince, and the royal brothers who were surrounding the prince and flattering him. The emperor pressed his forehead and tiredly signaled the eunuch to dismiss the court.
In Prince Huai's mansion, the bad news from the court had not yet arrived. Wen Weili was in the small kitchen, washing the hawthorns in her hand one by one, removing the cores from the middle, and stringing them on bamboo sticks.
After stringing up many candied haws, Wen Weili put snow sugar, which was said to be a tribute sent from Jiangnan, and water into the pot, lit a blazing fire in the stove, and boiled the snow sugar into syrup.
When the big bubbles in the pot turned into small bubbles, the sweet smell of sugar lingered at the tip of her nose. Counting in her heart, Wen Weili stopped adding firewood.
Wen Weili picked up the chopsticks and gently picked up a strand of syrup. The sticky sugar thread hung down from the chopsticks, pulling out a crystal clear and thin sugar thread, as thin as a flower pistil, and almost breaking, indicating that the syrup was cooked very successfully.
Afterwards, Wen Weili placed the strung hawthorns in the syrup and rolled them left and right, and a string of candied haws covered with a transparent thin coating was completed.
Wen Weili placed the syrup-coated candied haws on a rack to dry. With one hand, she rolled the hawthorns in the syrup while the other hand rested on the wooden rack. She quickly used up the entire pot of syrup. At last count, there were as many as fifty or sixty haws.
After thinking about it, Wen Weili distributed some of the candied haws to the children in the mansion and the maids around her.
"Miss, weren't you urged by Madam to make something delicious today?" Zhiyun was holding the candied haws when she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, right, we're no longer in the Wen Mansion, and Madam is..."
Wen Weili comforted Zhiyun, saying, "It's okay. My mother always asks me to prepare delicious food for her on the first day of June. Now that I'm in Prince Huai's mansion, I'm used to it."
"Yes, Miss, I'll go over there to help distribute the candied haws." Zhiyun knew she had said the wrong thing and hurried to the side to help.
Wen Weili fell into deep thought. Her mother, Mrs. Wen, was a peculiar woman who always had many strange ideas, such as dividing the washing area in the house into two areas, "dry" and "wet", or telling her that this day was "Children's Day". When she was a child, she would always receive gifts from her mother on this day, and when she grew up, it became her turn to make delicious food for her mother on Children's Day.
Thinking about her childhood, Wen Weili started busying herself in the small kitchen again. She put the almost-made winter melon candy strips into the syrup made from snow sugar and stir-fried them over and over again until grains formed on the surface of the winter melon strips. Wen Weili stopped adding firewood and continued stirring in the pot.
Soon, the winter melon strips were covered with a layer of fine white coating, and the winter melon strip candy was ready.
The prepared winter melon candy was placed aside to dissipate heat. Wen Weili boiled the green sugarcane juice sent by someone in a pot and slowly added firewood until the green sugarcane juice turned from liquid to sticky gel in the pot. Then she added rice flour and malt and boiled them. At this time, she stopped adding firewood and began to stir the pot vigorously to prevent the cooked candy from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
The cooked candy is soft and delicate, and the golden ball looks particularly dazzling in the sun. Wen Weili cuts the candy into small pieces and sets them aside to cool.
The sweet aroma coming from the small kitchen had already attracted several younger servants in the house. They were waiting outside the kitchen with their fingers in their mouths, their eyes wide open.
Wen Weili found it very interesting, so she took a few pieces of candy to tease the child.
Zhiyun opened the door breathlessly, "Miss, the prince has been escorted back."
The candy in Wen Weili's hand suddenly fell to the ground. She quickly picked it up, put it on the kitchen counter, and ran out of the yard, "Where is it? Is Xinxin hurt?!"
"In the main courtyard, Miss, please run slower, Miss..." Zhiyun couldn't stop Wen Weili's anxious pace, so she had to run after her.
"Xinxin, how are you?" Wen Weili ran to the main courtyard in one breath. She supported her hands on her knees, breathing rapidly. Her hair was scattered while she was running. She looked even more embarrassed than Duanmu Huaixin who was escorted back to the mansion.
"Sister Wen, I'm fine." Duanmu Huaixin didn't care about appearing cold in front of outsiders. He supported Wen Weili and blamed himself, "It's my fault. I didn't tell Sister Wen in advance. I made her so worried."
"Why did you tell me this in advance?" Wen Weili was originally very angry, but she was amused by Duanmu Huaixin's self-blame. She took a few deep breaths, stood up, looked at the imperial guards who were escorting Duanmu Huaixin, and then saw Duanmu Huaixin nod to her. She knew it was not a big deal, and she felt relieved.
After the Imperial Guards had secured Prince Huai's mansion inside and out and pacified everyone in the mansion, Wen Weili pulled Duanmu Huaixin aside to ask him in detail what had happened.
Duanmu Huaixin explained, and Wen Weili was completely relieved. She brought out candied haws, winter melon candies, and malt from the small kitchen. Duanmu Huaixin was very surprised. He asked repeatedly, "Sister Wen, why did you think of making so many sweets today? Don't you usually only give me one or two pieces of dessert?"
Wen Weili held up a candied haws and said with a smile, "Xinxin, happy Children's Day. Today is a special day for candy."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
