Early the next morning, a dozen guards and several carriages stood outside the Prince's mansion.
Hongshi left the mansion with Linlang. The servants carried the luggage to the carriage one piece at a time. Linlang smiled and tucked Hongshi's collar into his clothes. The two looked at each other with affection, which made everyone around them feel superfluous.
This scene was witnessed by Ulanara Shuzhen, who had rushed out to see them off. She was so angry that her anger flared up, and she stood inside the door with trembling hands.
Shuzhen took a deep breath, forced a smile, and agreed. Linlang was taken aback, casually straightened herself, and whispered, "Greetings to the Princess Consort..."
Shuzhen glared at him fiercely, then smiled at Hongshi, passing Linlang, and said, "Your Highness, please be careful on your journey. I will be waiting for your return at the manor..."
Hongshi took Linlang's hand, lifted her up, and placed her on the carriage. Then he leaped onto the carriage himself and turned to Shuzhen, saying, "You'd better watch yourself!"
Ulanara Shuzhen's face turned pale and then red as she watched the carriage drive away, her anger flaring on the spot. All the maids and servants present were punished, and she ran back to the mansion crying.
The Eighth Prince's Mansion.
Eighth Master seemed to be in a good mood, sitting in the hall drinking tea.
"Your Highness, what makes you so happy? I'd like to hear it too..." The Eighth Prince smiled as he saw his wife arrive and said, "Have you heard about Hongshi's trip to Kaifeng?"
The Eighth Prince's wife personally brewed him another cup of tea, handed it to him, and said with a dismissive smile, "A prince has been given such a thankless task, I really don't know what there is to be happy about..."
Eighth Prince took a sip of tea, shook his head slightly and smiled, "You're just a woman, you don't understand anything... We're in the same boat with Hongshi now, and Hongshi has the Empress as his backer. Do you think his willingness to go to Kaifeng Prefecture is just a spur-of-the-moment decision?"
The Eighth Prince's wife was slightly taken aback. After thinking for a moment, she suddenly realized and said, "Could it be that everything was arranged in advance?"
Eighth Master let out a long sigh of relief, but didn't continue speaking. He said to himself with satisfaction, "Linlang is quite a girl. She quickly bewitched Hongshi..."
The Eighth Prince's wife, with an expression of complete understanding, smiled and said, "I really don't know why the Prince would take a fancy to Hongshi. A prince who can be seduced by women and has no self-control, neither favored by the Emperor nor very capable, I wonder how much he will amount to in the future. It would be better if the Eighth Prince focused more on our own son..."
Eighth Prince put down his teacup and said with dissatisfaction, "Everything I'm doing now is for the sake of our son..."
The Eighth Prince's wife was naturally puzzled and pouted, "The disaster in Kaifeng Prefecture is so severe, what use would an unfavored prince like him be? Even if Her Majesty the Empress paved all the roads, I'm afraid he still wouldn't be able to finish them properly!"
The Eighth Prince immediately became alert, rose, went to his desk, hastily wrote a letter, and handed it to his wife: "Go quickly and send this letter to Kaifeng Prefecture, where an old friend of mine resides. You've reminded me; I will now have this old friend fully cooperate with Hongshi in the disaster relief efforts in Kaifeng Prefecture, ensuring that Hongshi achieves a great merit before the Emperor this time..."
The Eighth Prince's wife reluctantly accepted the letter and questioned, "Your Highness, have you thought this through? Do we really want to focus our efforts on the Prince?"
Eighth Master stared at the wisps of steam rising from the teacup and chuckled, "It's precisely because Hongshi lacks resolve that he'll be easier to control if we support him in the future..."
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