Chapter 39
Changxin Palace.
Qu Dubian fed Dahei for half an hour and even found a small comb to comb Dahei's hair.
Just don’t enter the temple.
Concubine Chu, who was waiting at the dinner table, could no longer sit still. It was freezing outside, and what if the Seventh Prince got frozen outside?
She came out of the palace, dismissed the palace maids who were looking at each other helplessly, and walked forward: "Little Prince, if you don't go in now, the food will get cold. Your father prepared it for you, if you don't eat it, he will be very sad."
"Besides, it's cold outside."
Qu Watanabe: "Dahei is also cold."
Lady Chu: "Then let it sleep in the servants' quarters and make room for it."
Qu Watanabe: "But I want to sleep with it. I sleep with His Majesty in the Purple Palace. If His Majesty kicks me out, I will sleep with the dog."
Lady Chu: “…”
So your majesty is equal to?
She forced a gentle smile: "Your Highness, please don't stay outside. It's getting late."
Qu Dubian didn't want to make things difficult for her. After all, the actions of Concubine Chu and Emperor Chongzhao only touched on the points that he didn't like and didn't really hurt him.
"My lord, His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince from the East Palace is here."
Concubine Chu frowned. What was the Fifth Prince doing here?
She and the fifth prince's mother, Concubine Rong, lived in Changxin Palace. Concubine Rong was not the main lady, but because of Concubine Lan, she could raise the fifth prince personally and occupy two side halls of Changxin Palace.
The two of them had a lot of grudges against each other.
"Mrs. Chu, Seventh Brother, I am well."
The fifth prince was wearing a thick light blue cloak, and there was still some sleepiness on his face, as if he had just been called up.
Concubine Chu: "Fifth Prince, is there something wrong?"
The fifth prince said, "Mother said that if my seventh brother is not used to living with Queen Chu, he can live with me."
Lady Chu's expression immediately turned ugly, but it was not noticeable due to the darkness.
Her relationship with Concubine Rong was only peaceful on the surface. In fact, both of them were eyeing the main position of Changxin Palace. If the Seventh Prince really asked her to raise the child, Concubine Rong would have no chance of taking the main position.
It's obvious that Concubine Rong is here to cause trouble!
"How can this be done? How can two princes live in one bedroom, plus the servants who serve them, make it spacious?" Concubine Chu said, and reached out to grab Qu Dubian's arm, "Young Prince, come back with me." She exerted a little strength.
Qu Dubian stopped combing his hair, squatted on the ground and looked up at him.
"But I want to play with Brother Five."
Concubine Chu: "How about letting the Fifth Prince stay here and play with you for a while?"
Qu Dubian broke free from her hand, stood up, and reached forward to hold the Fifth Prince's cold hand. He immediately discovered that he was only wearing a thin nightgown under the thick cloak.
"Fifth brother, why are you wearing so little? You'll get sick."
The fifth prince just held him gently, and his tone was slightly nervous, "Seventh brother, do you want to stay here or come with me?"
Qu Watanabe was slightly stunned.
Soon he smiled and said, "Of course, I really want to play with Fifth Brother. The food in the imperial kitchen is delicious. I'll go to Fifth Brother's place and we can eat together, okay?"
Seeing that he agreed, the Fifth Prince breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay!"
They instantly became good brothers holding hands. Seeing that they were about to leave, Concubine Chu was anxious: "Seventh Prince!" She tried to slow down her tone, "It was His Majesty who asked you to live here."
Qu Dubian asked Wen Xiaochun and Ye Xiaoyuan to pack his things, shaking his head and saying, "No, that's not right. His Majesty only told me to live in Changxin Palace, but he didn't say I must live with Empress Chu. My fifth brother and I also live in Changxin Palace."
After saying this, she took the fifth prince's hand and left quickly.
Fifth brother is a real child, only five years old. It is easy for him to catch a cold if he goes out to see him wearing so little.
Wen Xiaochun followed him closely, while Ye Xiaoyuan stayed behind, with a smile that the other party could not find fault with, and said, "Lady Chu, I will pack up the little prince's things. The prince is old and will make a fuss in the evening if something is missing. If the emperor knows about it, you will not be able to explain it to the emperor, right?"
Concubine Chu also smiled and said, "The two princes are young and always like to play. Eunuch Xiaoyuan, please follow me."
When Ye Xiaoyuan heard the four words "Eunuch Xiaoyuan", he smiled even more politely. It seemed that this noble lady Chu knew the people around the young prince very well.
-
East side hall.
Qu Dubian followed the Fifth Prince to his bedroom. The princes had to live in the prince's quarters when they were six years old at the earliest and ten years old at the latest, and could no longer live in the harem.
The fifth prince was still young and lived in Changxin Palace with Concubine Rong.
As soon as he entered the house, the Fifth Prince's trembling body gradually calmed down. He let go of Qu Duanbian's hand embarrassedly, "Seventh brother, I'll ask someone to get you some water to wash up."
"Don't worry, don't worry, Fifth Brother, eat something first."
He had only eaten half of his meal in Shunning Palace when he was called in, and now was the perfect time to finish the other half. Soon, a palace servant brought in the food sent from the imperial kitchen.
Twelve dishes filled the table.
All of them were the dishes that Qu Watanabe showed he liked to eat in Zichen Hall.
He curled his lips in his heart. If it were any other time, his stepfather would never prepare everything for him because he couldn't finish it. Now this table full of dishes was probably to appease him.
The fifth prince slowly opened his eyes.
"This is the food from the imperial kitchen..."
Smells nice.
Qu Duanbian said generously: "Fifth brother, eat with me."
The Fifth Prince looked at his brother's clear and trusting eyes and fell silent for some reason. He sat next to Qu Dubian, holding a small bowl and silently picking up food.
Even after being reheated twice, the food still smells delicious.
He had never eaten the food from the imperial kitchen. If he told his brother the real reason why he was called here, would his brother still give him some food?
After dinner, Ye Xiaoyuan came back with a quilt and spread it next to the Fifth Prince. He felt the quilt and felt that all the coldness was gone, then he called Qu Dubian to come to sleep.
The two princes lay on the bed, like two radishes of different sizes.
Qu Duan turned over and said, "Fifth brother, why did you come to see me just now?"
The fifth prince pinched the quilt nervously.
I can't help but think of what happened just now.
He went to bed early, and had just fallen asleep when his seventh brother came to Changsheng Palace.
But soon, his door was opened by his mother, Concubine Rong Guiren, who came hurriedly with a look of jealousy on her face and woke him up:
"Sleep! Still sleeping! All you know is sleep!"
The fifth prince looked confused: "Mother...?"
Concubine Rong paced back and forth, anxiously saying, "How can you sleep?! That bitch brought the Seventh Prince here. If she keeps the Seventh Prince, where will there be room for us in Changxin Palace? I'm not a concubine, and I might not even be able to support you by then!"
"What a bummer! Among all the princes, why does His Majesty pay no attention to you? The Seventh Prince can still make trouble in the Purple Palace despite his bad reputation. How many troubles have I had since you were born? Can't you fight for your dignity?"
The fifth prince's sleepiness gradually disappeared.
Noble Lady Rong was still talking: "Have you tried to curry favor with the Sixth Prince? His Majesty often goes to Xiuxiang Palace, and Noble Concubine Lan has a good family background and has helped us a lot. If you follow the Sixth Prince, do you still worry about having no future?"
The fifth prince lowered his head and listened quietly.
Rong Guiren pulled him up from the bed, "Be good, don't sleep anymore, do your mother a favor. Go to the front hall and coax the Seventh Prince over. It doesn't matter if he's throwing a tantrum or making a scene, just get him here.
As long as the Seventh Prince doesn't get close to him, mother will still have a chance to compete for the position of concubine in Changxin Palace! Your status will be higher in the future."
He only had time to put on his shoes and a thick cloak before he ran to Concubine Chu's residence in the urgency of Concubine Rong.
Although he was young, he vaguely knew it.
Concubine Chu is the adoptive mother chosen by my father for my younger brother. If she kidnaps my younger brother, will my younger brother be without a mother in the future?
The fifth prince felt very guilty.
But this was something his mother had told him to do, and he couldn't tell her about it.
So in response to Qu Watanabe's question, he lied.
"Seventh brother, you haven't been to the academy for a long time. Fifth brother misses you a little. Oh, by the way, fourth brother also wants to ask you when you will go to the academy to sleep with him."
When children lie, there are flaws everywhere.
Qu Dubian intuitively felt that it was related to Concubine Rong, but he did not expose it. He leaned back and said, "I don't know. I'm not even three years old yet. I don't necessarily have to go." The princes would be forced to go to school only after they were three years old.
If it weren't for learning to read and write papers, he wouldn't want to suffer the hardship of studying.
Today's events kept rolling around in his mind. Qu Dubian was so angry that he couldn't sleep. After rolling around on the bed for a few times, he said, "Fifth Brother, let me teach you a game."
The Fifth Prince: "What?"
Qu Dubian found ten pieces of rice paper and asked the palace maid to cut them into four pieces. He also found two charcoal pencils and said, "The game is called Gobang."
The Fifth Prince: "Is it Go? The Master hasn't taught me yet."
“No.”
Qu Dubian explained the rules of Gobang to him. The rules sounded relatively simple, and the Fifth Prince became interested and started playing Gobang with his brother. It was the first time he saw chess pieces drawn on paper.
Before the start, he was still thinking about giving in to his younger brother. Half an hour later, the Fifth Prince was about to cry because of losing. Every time he couldn't stand losing any more, Qu Duanbian let him win once, causing the Fifth Prince's eyes to be red.
There is already a thick stack of used papers.
He just lost six games in a row!
The fifth prince wanted to cry but couldn't. He drew a circle on the paper with his trembling hands, "Okay... This time, I will definitely win this time. Brother, it's time for you to go."
After waiting for a long time and hearing no sound, he looked over to see his brother lying on the pillow, soundly sleeping and relaxed.
Bullying your brother is also a way to grow your relationship, right?
The fifth prince was stunned. He could no longer hold back his tears and finally fell.
Woohoo, he should be able to win this round, wake up, brother!
He covered his mouth and cried, but in the end he did not disturb his brother's sleep.
-
Concubine Chu hardly slept all night.
She did not smash the pots and bowls, but was more careful about her words and actions, so as to avoid the servants around the Seventh Prince seeing her unhappy face and informing His Majesty, which would be the real hope for her.
She was extremely angry at Concubine Rong for snatching people away.
If Concubine Rong had come by herself, she could have fought back, but she chose to ask the Fifth Prince to come. It was reasonable for the two brothers to sleep together.
This was the first night. If every night was like this, there was no way she would be able to raise the Seventh Prince!
We have to think of a way to prevent the Seventh Prince from leaving here.
-
The next day.
The fifth prince was called up by the palace servants.
He glanced at the dark sky outside, then at his brother who was sleeping soundly, and tenaciously overcame the drowsiness that could make him dizzy.
He asked his servants to bring a few more charcoal pencils and more paper.
After losing so badly that night, he felt that his Go skills had improved by leaps and bounds, but his older and younger brothers in the school were definitely as new as he was.
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