Chapter 192 Getting Back on Track
Emperor Jingwen was also worried that the Hu people would take advantage of the chaos to stir up disputes, so he sent Prince Xuan to guard the north and Zong Si only dispatched a small number of troops to the outside of the Great Wall.
The day before his departure, Zong Si was summoned by Emperor Jingwen.
Emperor Jingwen had been ill and had not attended court for several days due to his anxiety over the war. When he saw Zong Si again, he was not as calm as usual and looked a little tired.
"Uncle." Zong Si changed his address and called him lightly.
Emperor Jingwen felt complicated as he looked at the man in front of him who was becoming more mature and less conspicuous. Zong Si naturally satisfied him. He was capable and ambitious. If he was willing to assist the Sixth Prince, he would be the best minister.
Unfortunately, Lao Liu couldn't control him.
Unfortunately, he is not a prince.
The first time Emperor Jingwen felt complicated emotions towards Zong Si was when he was twelve years old. Although he was still a teenager, when talking about war, he was calm and far-sighted, far more so than Meng Ze.
At that time, although Emperor Jingwen had mixed feelings, he was also pleased with his talent. Dayan needed brave and resourceful generals, and he was the nephew of the imperial concubine's maternal family, and a good backer for the Sixth Brother.
When he made military achievements at the age of eighteen, Emperor Jingwen had to start to be wary of Prince Xuan's Mansion. Zong Si was not only talented, but also had obvious ambitions. When he faced Meng Ze, he looked down on him in his heart. It was a taboo for a minister to be disloyal.
It's a pity that he is already very old. If he were given another five years, he would be able to deal with him, but now there is no such possibility.
If Dayan is to remain in peace, it must rely on Prince Xuan's palace.
How could he destroy the country left by his ancestors in his hands? Emperor Jingwen did not want his life to be recorded in history books, leaving behind the crime of losing territory for future generations to regret.
Emperor Jingwen sighed and said, "I still regret that your aunt was unable to give birth to a son like you for me."
"Uncle, you are too kind. Since the prince is the son of the dragon, how can he be inferior to me?" Zong Si thought of Meng Yuan and said in an orderly manner. It's just that someone is hiding his shortcomings.
Emperor Jingwen said: "If you are dissatisfied with Lao Liu, you might as well speak out."
"How could I be dissatisfied with the Sixth Prince?" He retreated to the relationship between the monarch and his subject, and it was clear that he was indeed dissatisfied.
"If not for this, why would the matter of establishing a crown prince be so difficult to advance? It's because you harbored a grudge and did not help. The Sixth Brother will go to your house and apologize to you." Emperor Jingwen said straight to the point.
As a man, Emperor Jingwen could naturally understand that men have possessiveness. The only thing was that Lao Liu kidnapped Ning Fu. Now that he had married Ning Fu, he was naturally unhappy. If he had a rift with Lao Liu for a woman, it would not be worth it.
Zong Si was obviously aware of this, so he had never made the matter public. However, if he didn't make himself feel at ease, it would become a thorn between the two sides.
Zong Si didn't say much.
On that day, Meng Ze came to the palace to ask for forgiveness.
"Third cousin, I didn't expect that the fourth girl was your crush, otherwise how could I have developed feelings for her." Meng Ze said anxiously, "I was afraid that you and I would have a rift because of this, so I didn't dare to mention it."
Zong Si didn't even glance at him, and said calmly: "I'm not the person involved, so it's useless for you to apologize to me."
Naturally, Meng Ze was unwilling to admit his mistake to Ning Fu. How could she, a mere woman, be worthy of a prince like him and go up to her and apologize humbly?
Even if I want her, it would be her honor.
If it had been any earlier, Meng Ze would not have done so. However, now that the matter of establishing a crown prince had been delayed again, he couldn't help but have a sense of crisis. Even if his father wanted to establish him, without the full support of Prince Xuan's Palace behind him, he would probably not be able to sit firmly on the position of crown prince.
Meng Ze knew clearly in his mind that Zong Si had calculated the timing by deliberately letting his father notice his dissatisfaction at this moment. What he meant was that he had to come to Ning Fu and admit his mistake in person no matter what.
"I'll go apologize to my third cousin's wife." Meng Ze said.
Xie Ruyi, Rongmin and Ning Ran, who were guests at the palace, smiled and temporarily avoided Meng Ze's voice when they heard it.
When Ning Fu saw Meng Ze, a look of contempt appeared on her face. She looked down on him from the bottom of her heart.
Zong Si, who was standing behind Meng Ze, curled the corner of his mouth. He was not afraid that she would offend Meng Ze. As long as he was around, she would be fine even if she offended him.
Meng Ze suddenly felt angry, but he endured it and said politely with a smile: "Today, I am here to apologize to my third cousin's wife."
Ning Fu looked at Zong Si and understood what he meant. No wonder he had invited Rong Min and others to be her guests a few days ago. It was originally to spread the word about this matter.
Firstly, it was to pave the way for the future, and secondly, it was to let the queen in the capital know his true face. I think Zong Si didn't want his marriage to be too smooth, and I'm afraid Emperor Jingwen already had plans.
"Your Highness the Sixth Prince, what do you need to apologize to me for?" Ning Fu pretended to be confused.
Meng Ze gritted his teeth and said, "It was me who kidnapped my third cousin's wife. I was rude to her. I hope she can forgive me for this."
Rong Min, Xie Ruyi and others in the inner room looked at each other with an expression of disbelief on their faces.
Ning Fu looked at him and said coldly: "Your Highness the Sixth Prince has done such a shameless thing, how can he still have the face to ask for my forgiveness? He is just acting by force, which is not the behavior of a gentleman. If my husband had not arrived, my life would have been ruined."
The word "husband" made Zong Si change his posture.
Before getting married, it was naturally difficult to bring up this matter. For the young lady, this would be a huge blow to her reputation. But now that she is married, and her husband Zong Si is willing to seek justice for her, it is no longer a problem.
Meng Ze was a little impatient. He looked at Zong Si, who was indifferent and had no intention of persuading her. But now he could only pretend to be sincere. He took off the sword in his hand and handed it to her: "No matter how my third cousin wants to vent her anger, I have nothing to say."
Ning Fu couldn't help but curse in her heart, what a good move of retreating to advance, Meng Ze is the prince, of course she can't do anything to him.
She looked up at Zong Si, but the latter gestured for her to take the sword, meaning that he would bear the consequences.
Ning Fu lowered her eyelids and said calmly: "I will not forgive you, Sixth Prince, please go back."
Besides, she knew clearly that Meng Ze was not here to ask for her forgiveness. Her attitude was not important. What he wanted was Zong Si's attitude.
What Ningfu wanted was definitely not just this apology that was not given, she wanted him to taste the pain in her heart at that time in the future.
Meng Ze looked at Zong Si again, but the latter was looking at Ning Fu with all his heart and eyes. Seeing her expression, he said: "Sixth Prince, are you willing to have a competition with me?"
Meng Ze couldn't help but freeze. He knew in his heart that Zong Si would not let him go.
Of course he had experienced Zong Si's kung fu. If he really wanted to kill him, ten of them would not be his match.
But he must get it back today.
"Since my cousin has mentioned it, I naturally won't refuse." Meng Ze forced a smile.
Zong Si solemnly ordered Dong Zhu, "Go get the sword."
Then he said to Nymph: "We have nothing to do, let's go and have a look together."
"Okay." Ning Fu nodded. This was a good opportunity for Rong Min and his group to leave. With Rong Min's mouth, Meng Ze's behavior would naturally spread privately. Meng Ze kidnapped the female monarch, and the girl he had been engaged to before was disabled. It was hard not to arouse suspicion.
Zong Si helped her put on the cloak, and they held hands all the way.
Meng Ze was so jealous that his teeth were itching.
But afterwards, it wasn't just the itching of my teeth, but a severe pain in my body.
Zong Si was even more ruthless than he had imagined, and he showed no fear at all because of his status as a prince.
Meng Ze felt like his whole body was falling apart and was about to beg for mercy, but Zong Si didn't give him the chance to speak out.
Finally, he was kicked in the ankle and had no choice but to kneel down, vomiting blood.
He looked up and was kneeling in front of the nymph.
Meng Ze felt extremely humiliated for a moment, and he knew that Zong Si did it on purpose.
But he felt even more chilled in his heart. Zong Si dared to do this. Did he know that this was not the seat for him?
Zong Si no longer looked at her. Instead, he put away his sword, walked towards Ning Fu and extended his hand to her.
"Are you hurt?" Ning Fu asked with concern, and Meng Ze also punched him.
Meng Ze couldn't help but frown. Was that done on purpose by Zong Si? Otherwise, he could have punched him.
Zong Si said: "Your Highness the Sixth Prince is highly skilled in martial arts, so it does hurt a little."
Ningfu then took him to apply medicine.
You are so pretentious.
Meng Ze, kneeling on the ground, had no idea how much blood he had vomited.
He was the one who was seriously injured.
After a while, someone lifted him up.
Meng Ze rested for half a day before forcing himself to enter the palace.
"Father." Meng Ze said with some resentment in his heart.
"If you need to rely on others, you can only bear it. If you don't let Sanlang vent his anger, there will always be a gap between you and him. Although Sanlang is not the kind of person who would neglect his work because of a woman, Afu is his Crown Prince's Consort and represents his face." Emperor Jingwen said indifferently.
No matter how reluctant Meng Ze was, he had no choice but to bow his head and agree.
"And now, if the war outside the Great Wall cannot be stabilized, you can forget about being the crown prince." Emperor Jingwen snorted coldly, "There are quite a few people who oppose you now, and even I have to think twice."
The outbreak of war was a warning to him.
How could Meng Ze dare to refute? He was also very clear in his mind. Now he only hoped that Emperor Jingwen could hold on: "Father, why don't you deal with my fourth brother? Anyway, he had previously been with the Hu people..."
"As for the affairs of the Hu people, have you forgotten that you were also involved because of your close contacts with Sun Zheng?" Emperor Jingwen snorted coldly.
"Father." Meng Ze said uneasily.
"It is of course useful to keep him for now, otherwise the Duke's Mansion and the Prince's Mansion will get too close, and Dayan will become Dayan of the Prince's Mansion." Emperor Jingwen said again.
"Your son understands. For now, I hope your Majesty will take care of yourself," said Meng Ze.
After Meng Yuan left, Emperor Jingwen sighed and said to Eunuch Sheng: "If you think about it, among these children, it is the third one who cares about me the most."
Unfortunately...
Emperor Jingwen did not say anything else.
"After what the Crown Prince has done, I'm afraid the Sixth Prince's marriage will be difficult to accomplish." Eunuch Sheng said.
Emperor Jingwen said, "Sanlang is afraid of this marriage, so he will snatch the person from him. Now, of course, we have to let Sanlang feel at ease. There is no problem."
He was not in a hurry for the sixth brother's marriage.
But on the second day, Ning Fu and Zong Si went outside the Great Wall.
Princess Xuan was extremely reluctant to let him go, as she was still waiting to hold her grandson.
Ningfu couldn't bear to leave her, so she held her hand and chatted with her for a long time.
"Sanlang, you have to take good care of Afu for me. If she becomes thinner when you come back, and if you tell me that you bullied her, I will hold you accountable." Princess Xuan said.
Zong Si said “hmm”.
The group set off in a mighty procession.
After several days of trekking, they finally reached the outside of the pass, but Nymph was placed in a house inside the pass.
That afternoon, Zong Si had to go outside the pass to see the battle situation.
"When I'm not around, Qu Yang will follow you." Zong Si said worriedly.
Nymph said: "Be careful."
"The war is imminent, and I have a favor to ask of you." Zong Si said in a deep voice.
"What is it?"
"I want to hear Afu call me husband again." Zong Si looked at her and said.
Nymph paused, and seeing the desire in his eyes, she fulfilled his wish and said softly, "Husband, I will wait for you to come back."
Zong Si couldn't help laughing, but he didn't want to delay any longer, so he got on his horse and left. Before leaving, he looked back several times.
She watched him leave before returning to the inner house.
Ningfu arranged for someone to clean up the house.
I thought of my brother again.
Ning Zheng is now on the front line and cannot come to see her.
It won't be long before my brother writes to me, asking me to take good care of my mother.
By then, my brother must have sensed the danger, and must have known something he shouldn't have known.
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