Chapter 59 Chapter 59 When Ji Yanlang heard about this, he was a little...
The emperor and Zhou Guojiu had already reached a tacit understanding about this marriage. Proposing the marriage in public at the palace banquet was just the emperor's intention to lower his posture and give the Zhou family enough respect as a token of honor and favor.
When Li saw Fang Ying, she smiled and said, "Are you relieved now?"
Fang Ying smiled and nodded: "I'll send someone to congratulate Zhou's sister in a while."
"Don't you want to go there yourself?" Ji Yanlang asked from the side.
"I'll ask someone to ask what she's doing and whether she's free, and then we'll see..."
Mrs. Li interrupted, "As long as she's free, you can go. There's no rush at home. Today is only the third day of the Lunar New Year."
Fang Ying agreed and thanked her mother-in-law.
Li waved her hand and said, "It's easier to meet now, so let's meet more often. Once she marries into the palace or a prince's mansion, I'm afraid it won't be so easy to meet her again."
After the King of Qin was crowned last year, he has not yet left the palace to set up his own government office, so Li said this.
"His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin was originally planning to move into Kaifeng Prefecture." Ji Yanlang continued.
The dynasty was just established and there were not many precedents to follow. Although the former crown prince had also served as the prefect of Kaifeng, he was in poor health. Kaifeng Prefecture governed 17 counties with a population of about 200,000, and the affairs were extremely heavy. The former crown prince was really unable to cope with it and rarely went to Kaifeng Prefecture in person to handle affairs. He usually lived in the Eastern Palace.
The King of Qin wanted to move into the Kaifeng government office and obviously did not want to hold an empty position like the previous crown prince. Instead, he wanted to settle down and make a career.
"If we live in Kaifeng Mansion after marriage, it will be harder for us to see each other than in the palace." Li said that because she didn't want Fang Ying to think about her family's outing. If Zhou Congshan gets busy later, the two sisters will have difficulty seeing each other. After hearing her son's words, she quickly reminded Fang Ying, "I remember that Kaifeng Mansion has quite a few rules, and there are also regulations on visiting forbidden places, right, Ying'er?"
"Yes, during the Zhang Xiong case last year, Prefect Xue specifically reiterated the prohibition on visiting relatives."
The so-called "ban on visiting guests" refers to the fact that in Kaifeng Prefecture, officials of all ranks are prohibited from receiving guests when the office is open.
If Zhou Congshan really lived with the King of Qin in Kaifeng Prefecture after marriage, even if both parties had female relatives, Fang Ying would always have to avoid suspicion for the sake of the Ji family and would not easily visit him.
So when Ji Yanlang went out to the cavalry camp, Fang Ying sent Lichun to Zhou's house.
Lichun was gone for about an hour and returned with the following report: "Mrs. Zhou said that the imperial edict hasn't been issued yet, and she's been very idle. She wanted to invite you out for an outing, but she's worried that your husband just returned home and might not be able to accommodate you. I told you that your mistress is planning a family outing to Fantai on her day off, but Mrs. Zhou said it's a pity she can't go with them. Please come to the Zhou residence when you have time to talk."
The Zhou and Ji families were neither close relatives nor old friends. It was indeed inconvenient to bring Zhou Congshan, an unmarried young lady, to such an occasion as a family outing, especially since her marriage to the King of Qin had been decided at this critical juncture...
"It's not convenient to go with you on my day off, but I was going to go sightseeing first anyway."
Fang Ying's eyes turned and she had an idea. After the stewards came back from Fantai and reported back, she informed Li and made an appointment with Zhou Congshan to go to Fantai together on the fifth day of the first lunar month.
When Ji Yanlang heard this, he felt a little sour: "I wanted to go with you."
"...Didn't we agree to take a boat trip on the Bian River on the eighth day of the first lunar month? Besides, it's not like you can't go on your day off."
"I just want to go with you alone and give you some advice."
Fang Ying met his eyes and saw that he was serious, not joking at all, so she said, "How about we get off the boat on the eighth day of the lunar year and go again..."
Ji Yanlang couldn't help but burst out laughing. Fang Ying then realized that he was still teasing her. She glared at him angrily and changed the subject, "If you want to go, go by yourself. I'm very busy and don't have time to tease you."
"You're busy, but I am." Ji Yanlang leaned over and coaxed, "My dear, don't be angry. I've recently found a good restaurant. I'll take you there on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year to try it out. I guarantee you'll be satisfied."
He would use delicious food to coax people, but Fang Ying couldn't resist and fell for it. In the end, she had no choice but to let him go, and the couple went to bed early.
Unexpectedly, the first thing Lichun reported the next morning was: "Lian Peng in the Second Lady's Courtyard gave birth to a little girl at 3:30 pm."
Fang Ying was stunned for a moment. Before she could speak, she heard Ji Yanlang say, "So soon?"
"..." She turned to look at this ignorant man, "The baby was already full-term."
"Don't they say that giving birth takes several hours?"
“Some are born quickly.”
When Fang Ying heard the news, her first thought was actually whether her second sister-in-law was happy or sad - since Lianpeng became pregnant, Yue Qing'e had finally put down the burden of bearing a child. She was much more cheerful than before, and she no longer always went to the doctor to ask for secret recipes for having a child and took medicine all day long. But who would have thought that Lianpeng had only given birth to a little girl...
"That's great. Hey, have you prepared the full-moon gift for my niece? Do I need to prepare a gift for her third birthday?" Ji Yanlang asked again.
He kept interrupting her, and Fang Ying's thoughts were interrupted. She stopped thinking and replied, "The full moon ceremony has already been prepared. There's no need for a third day bath. A few gold and silver ingots will be enough."
The two chatted as they dressed and washed up, then went to Li's room first. Ji Yanlang entered and congratulated his mother: "Congratulations, mother, on having another little granddaughter to take care of you."
Mrs. Li smiled and nodded: "Our family has been experiencing a series of happy events lately."
Fang Ying listened to the mother and son talking with a smile on her face. Seeing that Li's smile was not forced and her words did not reveal any regret or loss for not having a grandson, she finally felt at ease.
After breakfast, Ji Yanshou and Wulang Ji Yanhui came over to greet them. Fang Ying and Ji Yanlang congratulated their brothers in person. Then the three brothers took their leave and the women from each family arrived one after another.
The second wife had given birth to another daughter, and An and Cheng were secretly delighted. When they arrived and saw that Yue Qing'e was not there, An couldn't help but ask, "Has the second sister-in-law not come yet?"
"She has been here. Lianpeng was about to give birth in the second half of the night. My second sister-in-law woke up and stayed by her side. Mother asked her to go back and rest first." Fang Ying replied.
"Yeah, why do you have to give birth in the middle of the night? It's so tiring." An said, glancing at Cheng intentionally or unintentionally.
Cheng was quite fed up. The servant girl in her room had given birth prematurely and the child had died. Although she had nothing to do with it and had a clear conscience, she didn't want to bring it up in front of her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law. So she said, "Third sister-in-law is such a joke. If anyone could choose the time of birth, who would want to give birth in the middle of the night?"
She had already spoken, but Fang Ying didn't respond. She felt sorry for her two sisters-in-law. "Yeah, we can't hold the child back until daybreak, right?"
She spoke so humorously that everyone couldn't help but laugh out loud. Li saw that An was a little annoyed, so she smiled and nodded at Fang Ying, saying, "Naughty."
Fang Ying immediately admitted her mistake: "I was just joking with Third Sister-in-law." Then she turned to An and said, "Don't take it to heart, Third Sister-in-law. Let's go see my niece together later, shall we?"
An gave a forced smile and snorted.
The next day, Fang Ying met Zhou Congshan and told this story to her friend as a joke. She laughed so hard that tears came out. "She needs someone like you to quell her."
"What do you mean by that?" Fang Ying refused to agree. "That doesn't sound like a good thing."
Zhou Congshan wiped his tears and smiled, "Why isn't it a compliment? I'm praising you."
Seeing that she was genuinely laughing, Fang Ying brought up the topic they had just discussed: "You just said you almost couldn't get out, but because of the imperial decree, what are your concerns, father?"
Yesterday, the emperor officially issued an imperial decree, appointing Zhou Congshan as the Prince of Qin's concubine. So when Fang Ying first met her at Zhou's residence, she joked, "I thought the decree had been issued, so you couldn't go today."
Unexpectedly, Zhou Congshan's smile disappeared instantly, "It's true that I almost couldn't get out."
At that time, Fang Ying was still at the Zhou Mansion, and she didn't dare to ask any further questions - they had agreed in advance that Fang Ying would go to the Zhou Mansion to pick up Zhou Congshan - according to etiquette, after Fang Ying arrived, she should go to see Mrs. Zhou first and take Zhou Congshan from her. But when Fang Ying arrived at the Zhou Mansion and just got off the warm sedan chair, the housekeeper of the Zhou Mansion came up to her and said that their aunt would come out soon, and asked Mrs. Fang to wait in the sedan chair hall.
"Heh..." Zhou Congshan sneered, "Concerns, yes, he does have concerns, but they are probably different from what you guessed."
It wasn't the concern she had guessed. Could it be, "Have you informed your father about the matter of the imperial physician and the apprentice?"
Zhou Congshan nodded: "Talking to you is really easy."
The two of them were currently sitting in the Zhou Mansion carriage on their way to the outer city. Since they were the only two in the carriage, they spoke without hesitation. Fang Ying asked directly, "What did your father say?"
Zhou Congshan's expression was icy. "He didn't believe it. He said the palace maid's arrival was suspicious and there must be someone behind it who snatched her away from me. He forbade me to interfere."
"..."So what Uncle Zhou was worried about was that Zhou Congshan would continue to investigate the death of the late crown prince under the pretext of going out with her.
"If I hadn't been so anxious and said that I wouldn't be allowed to go out with you today, I would never leave the Zhou Mansion again in my life, he would have really sent someone to your house yesterday."
Fang Ying held her hand and gently persuaded her, "Don't be anxious or angry. In fact, in my opinion, it would be better to let your father investigate this matter..."
"What's good about that? Didn't you hear me? He didn't believe my cousin was murdered. He said that the medicine taken by the crown prince had been tried by several people, so how could it be poisonous? He also said that even if they found out, it couldn't be confirmed. The coffin had already been buried in the mausoleum. He asked me if I could bear to disturb my cousin's peaceful death. I..."
Zhou Congshan was choking up halfway through his words, and at this point he could no longer hold back his tears.
Fang Ying quickly put her arms around her friend's shoulders and hugged her tightly. She couldn't find any words to comfort her and could only wipe her tears silently.
Fang Ying had actually thought about the latter part of what Zhou Guojiu said. Prince Zhaoyi had passed away for more than two years and had been buried long ago. It was absolutely impossible to dig up the tomb and open the coffin for an autopsy. Therefore, to find out whether he was murdered, they could only investigate from the murderer's side.
As for the previous section, that was purely an understatement, considering Zhou Congshan was just a young lady. Poisons can be potent, with just a tiny amount instantly killing the throat, or they can be fatal only with a large dose. If it was the latter, adding it to the medicinal food and letting the late Crown Prince consume it regularly, the tester would only take a sip or two. What could they possibly learn?
Fang Ying understood what was going on, but her friend was so emotionally agitated that further comments would only backfire. So, she waited for her friend to stop crying, poured her a glass of water, and then asked, "Have you found anything in the past few months?"
Zhou Congshan slowly sipped two sips of warm water before looking up and asking with a smile, "Why are you asking this? Do you want to help me get revenge?"
She had just cried, so her smile was a bit forced, but she couldn't see it herself. She still tried to smile and said, "Okay, I was just feeling suffocated. I feel much better after talking to you."
Fang Ying knew that she still didn't want to get involved in this big thing, and she also knew that she couldn't really help much, but a gentleman will die for his friend. Zhou Congshan treated her like this, if she only thought about herself and watched coldly, then what kind of person would she be?
"Have you ever thought that this matter can actually be entrusted to someone to investigate?" Fang Ying said thoughtfully.
"who?"
"Kaifeng Prefecture Governor, King Qin."
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