Chapter 136 Chapter 136: The Prince of Kaifeng Yin Qin was appointed Crown Prince...
Fang Ying returned to the Ji Mansion and told Ji Yanlang about the matter when he returned. "I thought you would be willing to talk to His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin, so I took the initiative and agreed on your behalf."
Ji Yanlang said, "It's a good thing, Your Highness, that you have this intention. I'm certainly happy to do so." He chuckled to himself, "My second brother said I can't wait to tell everyone about Yinzhou who hasn't been there."
"Who else did you tell?"
"I gave my second brother Yue a farewell party yesterday, and when he asked about it, I told him the story again."
Yue Qing'e's second brother was summoned back to Beijing a few days ago and will be leaving Beijing to take up a new post soon. Yesterday, Ji Yanshou invited his uncle to his home, and invited his two younger brothers to accompany him, and held a farewell banquet for him.
After the banquet, Ji Yanlang returned to his room and brought back a one-year-old gift that his second brother Yue had given to Hong'er in advance.
Fang Ying smiled and said, "You must have been talking so excitedly again that you couldn't stop, that's why Second Uncle said that to you."
"Second Brother Yue wants to hear it. He's had dealings with the Dingnan Army before, so it's inevitable that he'll have something to say."
Fang Ying said nothing more. She had already made arrangements for everyone and was just waiting for news from Zhou Congshan.
On July 29th, Hong'er's first birthday, Fang Ying had a large desk placed in the middle of the hall. On the desk, as usual, there were books, pens, ink, abacus, flowers, rouge, food, embroidery thread and other items.
When the auspicious time arrived and relatives and friends gathered, Fang Ying asked Lichun to put the phoenix hairpin given by Zhou Congshan on the table.
Ji Yanlang was unwilling to be lonely, so he specially picked up a dagger inlaid with gold and jade and placed it in the place closest to the empty space.
"Is Liu Lang planning to raise his daughter as a son?"
Ji Yanlang looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was his fifth brother, his uncle Gao Siren, who was speaking. He smiled and said, "Why not?"
When Gao Siren saw that the child had been brought to him, he laughed and said no more.
Fang Ying signaled the wet nurse to put Hong'er on the table. The little one, who had just turned one year old, was surrounded by so many people for the first time and was a little timid. As soon as he was put on the table, he cried, "Mother."
"Hong'er, don't be afraid. Take a look at the things on the table. What do you like?" Fang Ying stood beside her and coaxed her softly, "Give it to mother."
Hong'er looked left and right, and was first attracted by the gorgeous dagger. She grabbed it and looked at it for a few seconds, but before her father could be happy, she dropped it again. Then she passed the abacus and rouge and saw the phoenix hairpin. She paused for a moment, turned around and said to her mother: "Bird."
The voice was a little vague, but Fang Ying understood it and nodded with a smile: "It's Phoenix."
Hong'er couldn't speak, so he reached out and touched it, then turned around and crawled straight towards the fresh fruits outside.
Fang Ying laughed and turned to look at Ji Yanlang, who was also laughing. Their eyes met and he mouthed silently, "It's okay."
At this time, Hong'er suddenly said, "Guoguo."
Fang Ying turned around and saw Hong'er already sitting down. He grabbed a red apple in one hand and held it towards her. She quickly walked around and took the apple.
Yue Qing'e immediately said from behind: "It seems that our Hong'er is a filial daughter."
A female relative echoed: "Yes, such a little kid, when he gets food, he thinks of giving it to his mother first. He is really filial."
Before he finished speaking, Hong'er had already brought another fruit to his mouth and took a bite. Immediately, his whole face wrinkled from the sourness.
The guests all laughed. Fang Ying felt that it was almost time and was about to ask the wet nurse to take the child down when Hong'er suddenly moved his buttocks and took out a chicken blood stone seal with his free right hand.
"Good, good, it's a blessing to be the head of the family." Yue Qing'e's sister-in-law praised.
Everyone agreed. Ji Yanlang walked over and picked up his daughter. Fang Ying saw that the seal was not big and was afraid that his daughter would put it in her mouth, so she reached out to take it.
"My second brother asked a famous artist to carve it." Ji Yanlang said with a smile.
Fang Ying nodded, handed the seal to Lichun and invited the guests to take their seats. It was not until the banquet was over and she had seen the guests off and returned to her room to sit down that she remembered the seal. When she asked Lichun to take a look at it, she saw that there was a wild goose with its wings spread out engraved on it.
"Hong'er would say it's a bird after seeing it." Ji Yanlang said with a smile.
Fang Ying also laughed, and when Zhou Congshan sent someone to deliver the message, she deliberately imitated Hong'er pointing at the phoenix hairpin and telling the funny story of the bird. A few days later, Ji Yanlang also "accidentally met" the King of Qin who was incognito inspecting the autumn harvest.
Since it was an accidental encounter, Ji Yanlang naturally had his own things to do - Deng Hehua and Wang Shu got engaged last year, and Aunt Deng originally wanted to have them get married in the winter of that year or the spring of the following year, but Yanlang had to go to Xijing with the emperor because he was over the age limit, so there was no time to do it. So she agreed with the mother and daughter to hold their wedding after the autumn harvest this year.
Last month he had set the auspicious date of August 20th with Aunt Deng and Wang Shu. This time he was going to deliver the dowry to Deng Hehua.
Although he was marrying a live-in son-in-law, Ji Yanlang still followed the custom of getting married and made a new set of furniture for their new house and bought clothes for all seasons. Fang Ying also asked a craftsman to make hairpins and bracelets for Deng Hehua.
The furniture was moved into the new house two days ago, and the valuables will be delivered today. We are just waiting for an auspicious day to get married.
"I've discussed it with Auntie. We're going to bring them here on Mid-Autumn Festival. We'll have a day together. If you have anything to say, you can tell your sister quietly. You don't have to go on the wedding day."
After all, it was inside the manor. Ji Yanlang himself used to complain about the dust. On the wedding day, there would be too many people and it would be even more chaotic. The villagers didn't know the rules. If someone was so foolish as to bump into Fang Ying, it would be difficult to deal with it on such a happy day.
"Okay." Fang Ying had no objection.
"Aren't you going to ask what His Highness and I talked about?"
"You must be talking about something important. Why am I asking?"
Ji Yanlang laughed and said, "What's the big deal? It's still what I learned from you, and the messy accounts of the northwest Uighurs and the Tibetan tribes."
At this point, he realized that Fang Ying really didn't like to hear this, so he added, "He also talked about our Hong'er."
Fang Ying: "Not again..."
Ji Yanlang smiled and nodded. "However, His Highness didn't mean to arrange a marriage. What he meant was that since you and the princess are so close, and he and I are quite compatible, when the two children are older, if the little prince has a decent character, we might as well marry him."
"Actually, I've thought about this occasionally. Although the child is still young, our family is not out of reach of others in terms of social status. For the King of Qin, marrying into our family would be more refreshing than marrying into the official's old subordinates."
"Refreshing..." Ji Yanlang was amused by her choice of words.
"Am I wrong?" Fang Ying asked, tilting her head.
"Right, right, right. That's right." Ji Yanlang emphasized with a smile, "Those people had paid many tributes to the King of Wei before, so the King of Qin naturally looked down on them."
After he finished speaking, he took a sip of water and then recalled, "His Highness also said that the princess missed Hong'er and might invite you and Hong'er to visit her someday."
"Yeah, I told you last time."
But Mid-Autumn Festival was coming up, and Fang Ying estimated that Zhou Congshan would be busy. Back home, there were a lot of social interactions and things to do, and Deng Hehua was getting married. "It must be the second half of the month at the latest."
It was late August and the weather was not cold yet. Ji Yanlang nodded and continued talking about the Deng family.
Neither of them expected that before the end of the month, before the Mid-Autumn Festival, the government would announce to the world that King Qin of Kaifeng would be appointed as the crown prince and grant a general amnesty.
Fang Ying was surprised and delighted when she heard this: "So they still live in Kaifeng Mansion?"
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is still sentenced to Kaifeng Prefecture, but he will probably have to move into the Eastern Palace." Otherwise it would seem a bit unreasonable.
After hearing this, Fang Ying shook her daughter's hand and said, "Then I'm afraid we won't be able to meet."
The enthronement ceremony will be held on the 18th, with sacrifices to heaven and earth and visits to the Taimiao. There are only a few days left. The little prince is still so young, and Zhou Congshan must be very busy, so it is impossible for him to take them there.
However, "To be crowned so soon, isn't there any need to prepare in advance?" Fang Ying asked.
"It's likely that they've already made preparations, but we just didn't know about it." Ji Yanlang said, "Besides, they just appointed a crown prince a few years ago, so there's a precedent."
"That's right."
After Fang Ying finished speaking, she thought of Crown Prince Zhaoyi, and became a little worried about her friend - if she really moved into the Eastern Palace, she would inevitably be reminded of the past and her old friends. Could she ever get over this?
No matter how she thought about it, she felt uneasy, so Fang Ying decided to let Lichun go the next day.
"You said that I'm afraid we won't be able to see each other often in the future, but I always think of the princess and the little grandson in my heart. I hope she is safe and healthy, and I look forward to everything."
Lichun repeated it and Fang Ying nodded. She wanted to say something but couldn't remember it. She just found something as a gift and asked her to take it with her.
As the Mid-Autumn Festival approaches, Fang Ying and Yue Qing'e still have many things to deal with in the mansion, including the holiday gift for the Fang family, which must be delivered today.
Since returning to the Fang family last year to pack Chu Yin's things, Fang Ying has only gone back once in the first month of this year. When facing his father and stepmother, he was indifferent and just wanted to find no mistakes in the gifts.
When Hong'er turned one year old, she didn't even invite her stepmother to sit in her own courtyard, but just treated her like other female relatives. Anyway, Fang Quan came to Ji's house twice a month, so the two sisters didn't have to talk on this day.
Fang Ying didn't have any special instructions for delivering the Mid-Autumn Festival gift this time. He just said a few words of greeting as usual and let the servant go.
She was always thinking about Zhou Congshan. In order to wait for the beginning of spring, she didn't even take Hong'er to the garden. They just played in the yard for a while.
Fortunately, Lichun was not away for long and returned to Ji Mansion before noon.
"The Crown Princess said she wanted to send someone to see you later, but she didn't expect me to go there first."
Fang Ying was unpacking the bag Lichun had brought back. She was startled when she heard the words, then sighed, "I forgot. Now I should be called the Crown Princess."
"Yes, I went there and heard people reporting that they all called her the Crown Princess, so I changed my tune."
Fang Ying nodded and saw that inside the bundle was a small set of clothes, from dresses to shoes and socks.
"The Crown Princess said that she had originally wanted to wait for the young lady to come and try the dress on in front of her. Now we can only try it on ourselves and alter it if it doesn't fit."
Fang Ying looked through the clothes, shoes and socks one by one, and only then did she discover a bound book underneath.
Lichun continued, "The Crown Princess said she mentioned this booklet to you last time. You will understand it once you see it."
Fang Ying nodded. It was Zhou Congshan's supplementary notes on pregnancy. She could read them later. What she was more concerned about was: "What else did the Crown Princess say?"
"The Crown Princess said, 'Don't worry, my lady. I will continue on my way. It will be inconvenient to go in and out later. If you have any questions, please go to the Zhou Mansion and ask Feicui to pass on the message.'"
Feicui was originally a maid in Zhou Congshan's room. Because she was older, she got married before Zhou Congshan got married, but she still worked in the inner court of Zhou's mansion.
Seeing his wife nod, Lichun continued, "The Crown Princess also said that the emperor will probably go to Xijing for a long stay next year, and our husband must accompany him. She asked the lady to make preparations early, as he might also go to Xijing."
Fang Ying was surprised: "He's been gone for five months this year, and will stay longer next year..." Is he never coming back? Are they moving the capital so soon?
She was uneasy, and when Ji Yanlang came back, she repeated the words to him, but he sighed and said, "I heard it in the camp too."
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