Chapter 099
When the eunuchs announced that Concubine Jing and the others had arrived, everyone at the table had different expressions. First, Shuxian looked at Zhan Yue and Jia Shan with a bad taste, and then Zhao Youcheng glanced at Zhao Youze with a gloomy look.
Concubine Zhuang was still the most sophisticated. She showed no emotion on her face, and she didn't even give them a glance. She just straightened her back with a mature and dignified look.
Zhan Yue's eyes quickly swept across the crowd and found Jiashan accurately at once, and he blinked at her from a distance.
Jiashan was not as thick-skinned as him. He dared to flirt with her like this even when his father was in front of him! She desperately signaled Zhan Yue to reply to Emperor Zhang He and not to be distracted!
Emperor Zhang He was a man of great insight. Of course, he had noticed that Zhan Yue was in a bad mood as soon as Jiashan and his party came in.
He smiled slightly, and his expression was rarely stern anymore, but rather teasing.
He said to Jiashan and the others, "But you are late. You will all be fined for drinking wine later. Jiashan can't drink, so the prince consort will be fined on his behalf."
Concubine Jing smiled and went to sit on the right side of Emperor Zhanghe. Jiashan and Zhao Youze also found their seats. Zhan Yue bowed to Emperor Zhanghe and then sat in the same row with Jiashan.
After everyone sat down according to their seniority, Concubine Jing said, "It's rare for me to meet the eldest princess, and I was delayed in talking for a while, so I didn't pay attention to the time. I didn't expect that I would be fined by His Majesty."
Concubine Jing's face flushed as she said softly, "I also feel quite wronged."
"You can drink a lot," Emperor Zhanghe said with a casual smile, "but Yuankang didn't drink much at the banquets. You can't be perfunctory to me today."
"Yuankang used to drink fruit wine, but only this year did he start to drink some real Du Kang with father. Naturally, he can't be compared with father and Concubine Jing." Jiashan took the initiative to defend Zhao Youzeyuan.
Emperor Zhang He seemed to be in a good mood today and did not put on any imperial airs.
He glanced at her with a smile, and joked cheerfully: "When I punished the Prince Consort to drink just now, I didn't see you come out to say anything. It seems that the Prince Consort is not as important as Yuankang in your heart!"
Jiashan was embarrassed. She never expected her father to say such a thing. Wasn't he deliberately trying to cause trouble in her backyard?
Sure enough, as soon as Zhang Hedi finished speaking, her hand was caught by Zhan Yue under the table. Zhan Yue gently used his fingertips to tickle the itchy flesh on her palm.
Jiashan was afraid of itching, and after she got pregnant, she gained more weight. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, she had to hold her breath, thinking, how could this person be so stingy that he even got jealous of Yuankang?
Zhao Youze, who was sitting opposite the two of them, smiled warmly. After thinking for a moment, he said loudly, "Father, this is wrong."
"To my sister, Yuankang is a younger brother, and since he is a younger brother, I will naturally love him more unconsciously. But to my sister, the prince consort is a husband. A husband is the most reliable person in my sister's life. Moreover, my brother-in-law is so heroic and extraordinary, why should my sister stand up for him?"
Zhao Youze's words soon made Emperor Zhang He's face happy. Even Jiashan and Zhan Yue smiled, and Zhan Yue's face was even brighter.
Emperor Zhanghe smiled and shook his head, raised his eyebrows, and said in a loud voice: "I always said that your elder sister was born with a clever mouth. Now it seems that Yuankang is not much behind. She actually made me speechless."
Zhao Youze pursed his lips slightly, raised his glass to toast Emperor Zhang He, and said no more.
Jiashan leaned on the table and grumbled in dissatisfaction, "Father, why did you have to take me along when you were talking about Yuankang? I only said one sentence today."
"You only said one thing, but in your heart you have probably argued with me thousands of times." Zhang Hedi twirled his beard slightly and said with a smile.
Jiashan shook his head and said hurriedly, "How could that be possible?"
Zhang Hedi narrowed his eyes and looked at her: "Really?"
At this time, Zhan Yue spoke up at the right time: "The princess has a simple mind, and her thoughts are written on her face. Whenever she plays chess with me, I can always guess where she is going to place the piece, and the princess often loses without a single move."
Zhan Yue smiled and said, "If the princess really had the intention of pretending to obey but secretly disobeying the emperor, I'm afraid that father would have seen through it long ago."
Jiashan was embarrassed by his words "not a single piece of armor left", so she pulled his sleeve, her beautiful face flushed, she stared at him and said, "How can you expose my shortcomings in front of so many people?"
A faint smile appeared in Zhan Yue's eyes. He said nothing, but reached out and fixed the slightly crooked hairpin on Jiashan's head.
Seeing how loving the couple was, Emperor Zhang He smiled and was very satisfied with the marriage he had arranged.
Turning around, I saw Shuxian sitting below Jiashan, with her chin raised high, looking very proud. She bit her cheek tightly, and I don't know what she was thinking. She didn't make eye contact with her husband, Zhongyi Bo Shizi.
The Prince of Zhongyi did not even look at her, but just lowered his head and drank by himself.
From the beginning of the family dinner till now, the two of them seemed to have not spoken a single word.
Emperor Zhang He couldn't help but put away the smile on his face and turned his head to look at Concubine Zhuang. Concubine Zhuang certainly also found out the inappropriateness between her daughter and son-in-law, and when she saw Emperor Zhang He looking at her, she forced a smile.
Emperor Zhang He then spoke calmly, "Shuxian, are you used to living in the Princess's Mansion?"
Shuxian had not expected to be suddenly mentioned by Emperor Zhanghe. She thought that her father was thinking about her, so she quickly put on a smile and replied with a curved mouth: "Thank you for your concern, father. I am living very well."
Emperor Zhanghe cast a stern look at her: "Girls are precious, and girls from the royal family are even more precious. Emperor Taizu built a mansion for the princess just to prevent you from being bullied by your husband's family after you get married."
At this point, Emperor Zhang He stopped looking at her and said calmly, "You are lucky to be reborn. This is a rare fate. But remember, the Princess's Mansion is not a place for you to be arrogant."
The whole room was silent for a moment.
Shuxian and Concubine Zhuang's faces turned ugly one after another. They probably didn't expect that Emperor Zhanghe would scold his daughter like this in front of Shuxian's husband. Wouldn't this make the Zhongyi Earl's family look down on Shuxian?
Lian Jiashan frowned, but Zhan Yue whispered beside her, "Some time ago, Princess Shuxian enclosed a manor in the suburbs of Beijing for her own use."
"The manor originally had an owner, and the victim came to the princess's mansion, but Princess Shuxian sent servants to drive the owner out of the capital. The prince consort went to persuade her, but the princess did not listen to his advice, and the couple even had a quarrel because of this." Zhan Yue said indifferently, "Because of this matter, Princess Shuxian was almost reported to the emperor, but it was thanks to the loyal and righteous mansion running around for her that the matter was settled."
Zhan Yue glanced at Emperor Zhang He's expression and whispered, "However, it seems that Father should know now."
Jiashan quickly glanced at Emperor Zhanghe and Concubine Zhuang at the top, and then glanced at Shuxian out of the corner of his eye.
I thought that although Shuxian was also arrogant and willful in her previous life, she had never developed to the point of buying people's land and estates. Even later, when Zhao Youcheng was made the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, Shuxian only came to her princess's mansion to show off her power.
Why are you so impatient this time?
She dares to rely on her power to openly grab land. Is she short of money?
Jiashan sat quietly for a moment, then quietly asked Zhan Yue, "Does Concubine Zhuang know?"
Zhan Yue seemed to enjoy whispering in her ear. He put one hand on Jia Shan's waist, pulled her closer to him, and turned his head to whisper to her, "I think he knows."
"The day before yesterday, Concubine Zhuang sent her own wet nurse to her princess's residence to be the head of the residence."
Concubine Zhuang's wet nurse, also known as Nanny Dou, was the one who always gave Concubine Zhuang advice.
Nanny Dou was a senior official in the palace, older than Nanny Zheng, and was the most trusted confidant of Concubine Zhuang. Hanzhu was fooled by Nanny Dou's sweet words and served Concubine Zhuang for more than ten years.
Jiashan stayed at home to take care of the baby during this period, and the rest of his energy was divided into Princess Qin. He did not expect that Shuxian could do such a shocking and heart-wrenching thing.
I think Concubine Zhuang was probably worried about Zhao Youcheng recently, which is why she allowed Shuxian to cause such a disaster.
Jiashan doesn't care about Shuxian's troublesome lawsuit.
Zhan Yue just said that her "everything she's thinking is written on her face", which may be true. But only someone like Zhan Yue who is in tune with her can clearly see what she's thinking.
On the contrary, Shuxian was stupid and simple-minded, and her thoughts were easily known to others. Jiashan had never taken her seriously. Now that she was destroying the Great Wall, he would not regard her as an opponent.
But it's a pity that the Duke of Zhongyi has to deal with such a daughter-in-law for nothing.
Jiashan smiled, stopped thinking about Shuxian, and lowered his head to concentrate on eating the rouge goose breast in front of him.
This dish was delicate and delicious, and it was drizzled with apricot juice, which just suited Jiashan's current sour taste. She picked up the silver chopsticks and ate it bite by bite.
Zhan Yuezheng was drinking with Zhang Hedi and Zhao Youcheng. Seeing that Jiashan liked the dish of rouge goose breast, he shaved the remaining goose breast and placed it on a small plate in front of Jiashan.
His behavior was so intimate and natural that Jiashan didn't seem to find it strange and continued eating with his plate.
The prince of the neighboring Zhongyi Earl saw this and looked at Shuxian uncomfortably. Even Zhao Youcheng, who was sitting diagonally opposite, looked strange.
The two of them were thinking about the same thing:
"A man of honor should be a man of high rank. How can he serve his wife like this? He would lose his dignity."
He was questioning, but he felt a little disappointed. Because the Prince of Zhongyi knew in his heart that he would never do such a thing for his wife in his lifetime.
Zhao Youcheng, on the other hand, had more expectations for his future wife.
Just when everyone was deep in thought, a eunuch outside the palace passed by the crowd, knelt down in front of Emperor Zhanghe and whispered a few words.
Emperor Zhang He seemed to be stunned for a moment, and subconsciously looked towards the positions of Zhan Yue and Jia Shan.
Noticing her father's gaze, Jiashan put down her silver chopsticks. She suddenly had a very bad premonition and looked at Zhan Yue in panic.
Zhan Yue seemed to understand, his breathing stuttered for a moment, and his fingertips holding the cup suddenly clenched.
The next second, Zhang and Di opened their mouths, and he said slowly, "The old lady of the Duke of Anguo's mansion is in trouble. You two should return home immediately."
Zhan Yue's hands, which were placed under the food table, had already clenched into fists. Although he was still wearing red clothes, at this moment, his face was no longer red.
"Yanqing, calm down." Jiashan held his hand tightly and interlocked his fingers with Zhan Yue.
Her voice was a little hoarse: "We are going back to see grandma now."