Chapter 96
Purple Palace.
There was a delicious fish dish fresh from the pot on the table.
Emperor Chongzhao said to his youngest son, who was lying on the table, in a deep voice, "The fish is fine, can you take the medicine now?"
Doctor Yang was waiting nearby with a medicine box on his back.
He had been here for a long time. Not long after the Seventh Prince arrived, he was called over by the eunuch sent by Eunuch Yu. Unexpectedly, it was useless for him to come here. The Seventh Prince was playing tricks and only let him feel his pulse, but refused to take medicine.
Qu Dubian stretched out two fingers to represent the legs of the villain, walked to the side of Emperor Chongzhao, pinched his fingers, and tugged at his sleeve.
"Father, please try it first. If you don't eat it, I won't feel at ease while taking the medicine."
"..." Emperor Chongzhao picked up a piece of food with chopsticks and said, "I'll eat this one bite. If you don't eat it, I'll have someone pour it down your throat."
After watching Emperor Chongzhao swallow it, Qu Dubian jumped up and said, "You should be grateful for what you have eaten! Dad—"
Emperor Chongzhao spat out the fish and wiped his mouth with a brocade handkerchief.
Qu Watanabe: “…”
Emperor Chongzhao: "Little trick, you used this trick to trick me once, and that's how I lost my coral inlaid blue folding screen. Your father is not that forgetful."
He raised his eyebrows and said, "I know you want to stay in Shunning Palace for a while longer, but this time it really can't happen."
Qu Watanabe slumped down and lay on the table.
He had a lot of furry little hairs on the edge of his hairline, which usually looked cute, but now they were all soaked by the water from the ice pack and stuck to his skin.
It's so pitiful.
He muttered quietly, "Why?"
Emperor Chongzhao waved his hand, and the palace maid holding the wooden tray beside him placed the medicine bowl on the table.
"Drink first."
Qu Dubian knew exactly how much Lao Deng could tolerate him. He knew the limit of his temper, so he picked up the bowl and drank in small sips while frowning.
Emperor Chongzhao sighed.
It's no big deal, it's just a move. You're so reluctant to leave that you've even made yourself sick.
In the future, I can go back to Shunning Palace for lunch, and secretly go back every few days to stay for a night or two. Just tell him and he will use the back door and pretend he doesn't know.
This time I have to rest for several days.
Emperor Chongzhao: "During the time of the previous emperor, Princess Axiang, my sister, went to the northern border to marry a foreign envoy. Over the years, she has been maintaining peace in the northern border and has devoted a lot of effort to it."
The Northern Frontier was not a complete empire, but was divided into three large tribes and sixteen small tribes.
Three of the largest tribes took turns sitting on the throne of the king and ruling over the rest of the tribes.
This way of ruling leads to more cruel and fierce competition.
They all gave in but were not convinced, and often went southwards to plunder the northern border towns in violation of the royal court. There were even occasional conflicts and riots among them.
If the current royal court does not have enough deterrent power, there is no way to suppress the remaining tribes.
The late emperor sent Princess Xiang to marry into the Zhou dynasty. On the one hand, he wanted to support a tribe that was friendly to the Great Zhou and become the royal court. On the other hand, he wanted to use the princess to check and balance the internal situation of the northern border, maintain a divided but generally peaceful state, and prevent them from unifying.
However, even so, several large-scale conflicts broke out on the northern border.
It was not until recent years that the situation in the northern border stabilized after the leader of the group that was most disobedient to the royal court fell seriously ill.
So Princess A Xiang submitted a memorial requesting to return to Beijing to visit her relatives - mainly to visit Concubine Zhou.
Ah Xiang is the daughter of Concubine Zhou.
Concubine Zhou was old and had been seriously ill in the past few years. Her health had deteriorated. Later, she gradually got better thanks to the square dancing that Qu Dubian brought to the Cining Palace.
This time, the girl who married far away returned to her parents' home. As her brother, Emperor Chongzhao had to give her a grand reception, both out of diplomatic relations between the two countries and out of royal affection.
"Ah Xiang is back this time with people from Northern Frontier by her side, so no matter whether it's cleaning or the rules in the palace, we have to follow the rules to avoid losing face."
Qu Duanbian: "When will Aunt Xiang arrive in Beijing?"
Emperor Chongzhao: "It's only a month. Take care of yourself and move to the prince's residence before they come. When Ah Xiang returns to Beijing to visit her relatives, she will definitely visit the Cining Palace. Shunning Palace is close to the Cining Palace, and it would be bad for her to say that you are unruly."
Qu Watanabe understood it completely.
His tricks of throwing tantrums and making trouble in order to continue staying in Shunning Palace were totally unsuccessful.
My cheap dad cares so much about his reputation that he will definitely not lose his manners in front of the people from Northern Frontier because of this little problem of his.
He stood up from the chair, walked to the big kang in front of the bed with a sigh, and leaned against it.
Emperor Chongzhao waved his hand and asked the other irrelevant palace servants in the hall to disperse, leaving only Eunuch Yu and Ye Xiaoyuan.
He then took a handkerchief, walked over to Qu Dubian and sat down, wiped the water droplets on both sides of his cheeks with the handkerchief, and said slowly: "Are you angry?"
Qu Dubian kicked off his boots and grabbed Emperor Chongzhao's arm: "The prince's room is too shabby! Daddy——"
Emperor Chongzhao did not say anything like "if your brother can live there, why can't you?" He subconsciously believed that his youngest son was indeed much more difficult to raise than his other children.
It’s not easy to live to this day.
"I'll ask someone to fix it for you within half a month. All the layouts will be based on the one in your bedroom," he held Qu Dubian's hand, patted it gently, and said secretly, enduring the pain, "I'll also let you pick... three things from my private storehouse."
"No, I want ten!"
"make a deal!"
Qu Watanabe: “…”
Damn, I didn't say enough.
Qu Duanbian coughed a few times: "When you move to a new house, you always have to fumigate the walls with incense... Even if you move a little white, I'm going to make a golden bowl, golden spoon, and golden doghouse for it. I want to hide my dog in a golden house!"
Emperor Chongzhao: "Why didn't you say that the golden house hid you?!"
Qu Watanabe was delighted: "That's fine, that's fine!" He didn't mind the golden house in the physical sense!
Emperor Chongzhao was so upset that he endured for several seconds to resist the urge to slap him.
He put the handkerchief into Qu Watanabe's hand.
"I will take care of the prince's relocation for you. Let Ye Xiaoyuan and Eunuch Yu discuss it. You don't need to worry about it. Just take a good rest."
Eunuch Yu nodded towards Ye Xiaoyuan.
After discussing with him for a while, Ye Xiaoyuan left Qu Dubian in the Zichen Palace, and together with Eunuch Yu, he took the craftsmen to the prince's residence to look at the general layout.
Qu Dubian was lying on the kang.
It was warm in winter and cool in summer, and it was very comfortable to lay on it with a brocade ball on it. He picked up a pillow and lay on it.
Opposite him, Emperor Chongzhao sat cross-legged reading memorials. He often stayed up late and did not get enough sleep. He had a cup of strong iced tea at hand to refresh himself. The wrinkles between his brows had become much deeper than in the previous two years.
Qu Dubian watched for a while and fell asleep unknowingly.
Emperor Chongzhao raised his head when he heard the little snoring, then leaned over after a few seconds and put the small blanket on him.
Then he took a sip of strong tea and continued to review memorials.
-
Qu Dubian stayed in Shunning Palace for another half a month.
Concubine Xuan was busy helping him pack his things, checking whether the new bedding was suitable and comfortable and whether he used it often. She and Concubine Guo also prepared delicious food for him in different ways.
Zhiyi also gained two kilograms.
They looked at him as if he was going to a refugee camp instead of the prince's residence.
Qu Watanabe was both amused and touched.
Although he and Concubine Xuan were not related by blood, they were like mother and son. After ten years of getting along, they had already become like family. But he had never been able to call her "mother". Even a shameless person like him would be embarrassed.
Zhiyi is his biological sister, and Empress Guo is also a kind elder.
Shunning Palace is his home.
On the day of moving, the fourth, fifth and sixth princes all came to help.
The fourth prince had reached the age to leave the palace and build his own residence. The fifth prince still had one year to go, and the sixth prince still had two years to go. The fourth prince came back specifically to help.
Of course, he was also quite lazy and just helped Qu Dubian carry some light and valuable items.
The courtyard where Qu Dubian lived in the prince's residence was called [Pingguiyuan], which was the largest room in the prince's residence. It was originally very dilapidated, and he started to clean it up after he chose it.
According to his request, there were no strange rockery stones in the yard, the front yard was reserved for farming, and the backyard was much smaller, so he built a martial arts platform.
There are two trees behind the house, and he can tie a small hammock to it and lie down to rest when he is tired.
Inside the house are his furnishings from Shunning Palace.
Everything, including the small study with partitions, is exceptionally well restored.
The Fifth Prince: "Almost everything has been changed," he said with emotion, "We live in the Prince's Residence, and we have seen them change it during this period. The speed is very fast."
Qu Duanbian sighed: "Father just wants to kick me out of Shunning Palace as soon as possible."
The Sixth Prince looked at him with envy: "How about we change where we live?"
The Fourth Prince: "You were too lazy to clean up and wanted to live in a ready-made place. Now that my Seventh Brother has cleaned up this place, you come to grab it again. How can this be justified?"
The Sixth Prince: "What does it have to do with you? Xiao Qi didn't clean up the mess himself. Father helped him. Otherwise, the palace servants wouldn't have been so dedicated."
"Okay, stop," Qu Dubian said, skillfully trying to stop the fight. "I just moved here. Let's have a drink and get together tonight, shall we? I'm twelve years old now, and no one is allowed to stop me this time."
The Sixth Prince snorted, "Of course, but I definitely don't want to be next to the Fourth Prince."
Qu Dubian exchanged glances with the Fifth Prince, who found an excuse and took the Sixth Prince away.
The fourth prince frowned and said, "Noble Concubine Lan indulges him too much. Xiaoliu's character is becoming more and more arrogant. This is not a good thing. He will suffer sooner or later. But logically speaking, since he is in the prince's residence and does not have frequent contact with Noble Concubine Lan, his temper should be better..."
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.
Qu Dubian paused, and his mind flashed quickly back to the submissive smile on his fifth brother's face when he was persuading the Sixth Prince to leave. His heart suddenly skipped a beat.
In his impression, although the fifth brother is silent, he is a gentle and kind person at heart. He chooses to rely on the Sixth Prince, and Qu Watanabe has no way to force him to change his choice. He only helps the fifth brother when the Sixth Prince is obviously bullying others.
But now... a thought suddenly popped into his mind.
Could it be that Fifth Brother is deliberately indulging Sixth Brother?
The Fourth Prince: "Xiao Qi, what's wrong with you? What are you thinking about?"
Qu Dubian came back to his senses and shook his head, "It's okay."
Maybe he was overthinking it.
-
night.
Five, six, or seven princes had a dinner together.
It was very late before he returned to his yard.
It was the first time that no one called him to go back to bed, and it was the first time that no sister or Empress Xuan said good night to him.
Qu Watanabe couldn't sleep.
He first went to the martial arts training platform and performed a set of boxing. The internal energy circulated twice in his body, and he felt that a lot of fatigue from the day had dissipated.
Ye Xiaoyuan handed him a face towel and said, "The bath water is ready. Your Highness, please come over later."
Qu Watanabe: "Don't worry."
He shouted: "Six six."
Yi Twelve appeared in front of him. He was actually almost off work. "Your Highness."
The style of his clothes has never changed. He wears black tights and has a good figure. In his previous life, he would have been the cool and handsome type who could charm many girls.
Qu Dubian walked around him and touched his chin. He couldn't imagine what Yi Twelve's face looked like.
"Liuliu, don't go back tonight. Sleep in Pingguiyuan."
B12: "Okay, what's the matter?"
Qu Watanabe: "It's not that there's something wrong. You should live here from now on. I've reserved a room for you. It's right across from Ye Banban."
Yi Twelve was stunned.
Qu Watanabe: "It was inconvenient to stay in Shunning Palace before. Now that I have moved out, you can do as you please in the prince's residence. You don't have to hide in the dark anymore."
She was obviously not a secret guard anymore, but when she lived with him in the harem, she avoided showing up if possible. It was really pitiful.
For some reason, Yi Twelve did not agree immediately.
He looked a little nervous and unconsciously twirled the corner of his clothes with his fingertips.
Qu Watanabe: “Hmm?”
After a while, Yi Twelve asked stumblingly, "Then can I...can I read the storybook and drink milk tea here?"
Qu Dubian almost laughed, and then said: "I have two vegetable gardens in the front yard. Just help me keep an eye on them and make sure the weeds don't eat the seedlings. As for the rest... it's up to you!"
Yi Twelve breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay."
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