Chapter 28
◎Two chapters in one◎
Pei Shuo and Zheng Wuheng were also talking to Li Heng. Pei Shuo was now a brave and brave general under Zheng Fang. He was young and was talking about the difficulties in Jizhou: "We, the Zheng family army, have to listen to the prime minister and share half of our troops to defend the capital, and we also have to resist the troops of the King of Wei. The Marquis has not been in good health recently. Alas, it is really raining cats and dogs."
In this kind of occasion, Zheng Wuheng was still young and just played an accompanying role. He had actually met the King of Wei, who was about the same age as the Crown Prince, but was as mature as an adult and was also very polite to him.
Unlike the prince who always thinks he is calm and composed.
Furthermore, according to Zheng Wuheng's own judgment, his sister married a vassal king, and even the love between the King of Huaiyin and his sister was not as loving as that between the Crown Prince and his eldest sister. But judging from her clothes, his sister was just the princess of a county, with pearls and jades surrounding her head, wearing a brocade fur robe, and golden silk shoes on her feet.
However, the gift was secondary. The most important thing was that she was his biological sister. His elder sister had treated him badly in the past and even wanted to bring her mother, Xu, back home. If his family helped her, wouldn't that be aiding and abetting the evil? Besides, the prince himself depended on the He family, so he had nothing to give to the Zheng family.
The prince's brother-in-law personally taught him kung fu and archery. He even said that Xuzhou was prosperous and the people were thriving, and the area south of the Yangtze River was even more prosperous. His sister also secretly told him that Xuzhou was able to be conquered smoothly because many of the lands were once the fiefdom of King Wu, and many of the prince's brother-in-law's troops were his former troops, and later he even recruited some soldiers and horses.
It is definitely powerful.
Pei Shuo also thought so, and his thoughts were deeper than Zheng Wuheng's. Don't listen to Li Heng's words about the loss of lips and teeth. Now even Lu Wei didn't make a move, and he had lost so many people for nothing. It was simply that he had made enemies with the King of Wei for no reason. Now that neither of them helped each other, wasn't that good enough?
Li Heng said again: "The Prince of Wei has evil ambitions. Although he is my father's younger brother and has been touring the south of the Yangtze River on behalf of the imperial court, he is now stretching his hands further and further. He has already taken Qingzhou, and I am afraid that Jizhou will also become his possession in the future."
"Yes, although the King of Wei is also married to my family, the hearts of us in Jizhou are with the court." Pei Shuo said, and after he finished speaking, he glanced at his younger brother Zheng Wuheng.
Zheng Wuheng also quickly came out to express his position.
Li Heng found out that he was wrong. He originally thought that marrying the eldest daughter of the Zheng family would have many advantages. After all, the status of the eldest daughter in every family is different, but Zheng Deyin seemed to have no status in the family.
As the East Palace, they have already hinted at this, but they are still unmoved. Aren't they afraid of revenge after he ascends to the throne? Or has the Zheng family already defected to another family?
Originally, he chose the daughter of Zheng family because he saw that Zheng Fang was brave and valiant, and only he could kill Lu Wei. Lu Wei's power made it difficult for the royal family to breathe, and it seemed that the Zheng family was doomed.
It is said that Pei Shuo is Zheng Fang's adopted son. Zheng Fang values him the most. To some extent, he can also represent Zheng Fang. I am afraid that Zheng Liangdi will not be able to do that.
As expected, Zheng Fangzheng and Zheng Deyin said, "What are you doing, Liang Di? You are a woman from the royal family, how can you kneel before me?"
Zheng Deyin looked at Zheng Fang and said, "Father, please help me this time. The prince is destined to be the crown prince, and helping the crown prince is the right thing to do. When the crown prince ascends the throne in the future, won't you be a royal relative?"
Zheng Fang was able to stand firm only because of his bravery. Seeing her crying like this, he just said, "Why are you forcing my father?"
After saying that, he actually threw his sleeves and walked out. Zheng Deyin was a weak woman after all, how could she possibly stop Zheng Fang? She could only watch Zheng Fang walk out and she fell to the ground. She didn't understand why her father didn't listen to her and didn't care about her at all?
Since Li Heng did not get the support of the Zheng family, he knew that Zheng Deyin was useless and that his pampering of Zheng Deyin all those days was ineffective.
The war was about to break out. Li Cheng received a report from the frontline at home, saying that the Crown Prince Li Heng was leading the He family's army. He felt relieved. In other words, the Lu family and the Zheng family did not help. It would be difficult for the He family to conquer Qingzhou.
Because of this, Li Cheng was in a very happy mood, and his behavior became much more cheerful when he came to Huiyin's place.
"Huiyin, why didn't you go out for a walk today?" He noticed that his wife would go out for a walk at about this time every day, but he didn't expect that she was still at home at this time.
Huiyin laughed and said, "You are such a forgetful person. Today is the day when the wet nurses come to the mansion. I have just talked to them and asked the doctor to check their pulses. They said they are all in good health and have no infectious diseases. So I dare to use them."
Li Cheng slapped his head and said, "I really forgot."
"It just so happens that all the work has been done. I thought we should have dinner under the flower shed today. There is a breeze there and the weather is fresh and pleasant, which is better than staying in the house." Huiyin stood up and put her arm around him, fearing that he would disagree.
Of course Li Cheng let her do what she wanted. He was very willing to indulge his woman in such small matters.
Since she laid off those parasites, she had saved two or three thousand taels in more than half a year. Huiyin simply took one thousand taels to make jewelry for herself and had someone make clothes for her. She would not really live frugally. If she did not use the money herself, it would eventually be used by other women, which would be the stupidest thing to do.
Some men love it when you don't want his money. They appear generous on the surface, but they are actually scheming.
Fortunately, Li Cheng is not that kind of person. He didn't even blink when he saw Huiyin making jewelry, clothes and even spending money on ornaments, which made Huiyin's liking for him even higher.
She went out today wearing new clothes, just in time for spring. The light green top was matched with a turquoise pleated long skirt in a gradient color. She wore a scallion yellow pearl satin belt around her waist, and a phoenix-patterned jade pendant hung around her waist. jingled when she moved.
Originally, she loved to wear a scarf, but she gave it up because she was afraid it would make her trip. It wasn't because she loved beauty, but because she felt that it was a way to show off her status.
"What delicious food do you have today?" Li Cheng helped her sit down, very curious.
Because every day when he comes back, he eats different dishes, and there is always a dish that he finds interesting.
Huiyin thought for a moment, "Today is a full lotus feast, with lotus leaf chicken and lotus crisps, lotus leaf glutinous rice ribs, lotus leaf steamed pork, and lotus root soup and lotus leaf rice. After we finish eating, there will also be a lotus seed soup to calm your inner heat, which is so strong."
She couldn't help but giggle at the end.
Li Cheng naturally knew what she was talking about. He had asked her for help in the morning, and he felt a little shy and itchy.
Huiyin was usually afraid of itching and ghosts. Seeing him pretending to itch, she shrank back. Li Cheng hugged her again and said, "I won't tease you anymore. Don't trip yourself."
The two of them laughed, and Yun Hui's eyes dimmed not far away.
The maid started serving the dishes. As long as there were no customers, Huiyin would eat the dishes according to her own preferences and would not make a big fuss.
However, when the couple was enjoying their meal, they heard that someone outside had handed a visiting card to Li Cheng. Li Cheng took it and turned it upside down on the table, asking Yun Hui to invite the person in first.
"Whose post is this?" Huiyin and Li Cheng are more familiar with each other now, so she can ask casually.
Li Cheng hesitated for a moment, then said, "It was a post from a woman."
In fact, Li Cheng never looked down on any woman. He even thought that women were just as capable as men and deserved more respect.
Huiyin looked at him: "Is she in any trouble?"
Li Cheng said, "This girl's surname is Jiang. She is the only daughter of a salt merchant in Taizhou. Her parents died one after another, and the family business was almost lost. When I was fighting in the war and there was a shortage of military supplies, I helped her so that she could inherit the family business smoothly. She also agreed and prepared military supplies for me."
"It's good that both the silver and the goods are returned." Huiyin would not think of anything bad at first.
Li Cheng shook his head: "You don't know that she is being targeted by someone, the one targeting her is the brother-in-law of the King of Wei, and she wants to seek my protection."
The wife of Prince Wei was surnamed Huo, and was also from a famous family in Jiangnan. Although Prince Wei seemed to be very good to Li Cheng, in fact, the important places occupied by Prince Wei were almost all given to his cousins or uncles. The only place, Xuzhou, was conquered by Li Cheng himself.
Huiyin looked at Li Cheng and said, "This young woman is the head of the household. She is like a child showing off with gold ingots. No wonder she is being targeted."
Li Cheng nodded: "Yes."
He was mainly afraid that Huiyin would feel uncomfortable. At that time, Guo Changshi and other confidants naturally advised him to marry Jiang. This would not only provide Jiang with protection, but also guarantee his military supplies. This was killing birds two with one stone. After all, it was common for a man to have three wives and four concubines.
But Li Cheng didn't like selling himself for these things. Yes, he could kill two birds with one stone by taking a concubine, but a real man still has to rely on himself.
But Jiang's situation was precarious, and she said she only wanted a position of protection, not actual entry.
Outside the palace
A young woman in a dark green shirt sat in the black-covered carriage. She sighed softly, "I am the only daughter of my parents, and they are both gone. Now General Huo wants me to be his concubine, so I can only ask the young prince for help."
The woman was young and beautiful, with golden bracelets on her hands. After half-lifting the curtain, she looked like a career official.
The old maid sitting next to her said, "Miss, this is like entering a deep sea. Although the young prince is a very good person, young and handsome, I heard that he has married Zheng, the daughter of Zhaojie Marquis Zheng Fang. If you really become his wife, I'm afraid there will be a tiger's den in front of you and a wolf's den behind you."
"Of course I know. I used to be disdainful of it, but think about it, the young prince has stood up for me once, and now he will be troubled by Huo Qi again in the future. What should I do? Nanny Lin, why is a woman's life so difficult?" Jiang Bibo was also at her wit's end.
The clan members coveted her family's huge wealth, and the King of Wei's brother-in-law also coveted it outside. She had no choice.
Nanny Lin thought that the young lady was originally going to marry off, but no one dared to help her with the marriage. The clan members wished she was dead, and forced her to marry only the relatives of the clan elders, otherwise the money would be taken away by outsiders.
How willful she was when her parents were around. She even dressed up as a man and went to Lin'an Prefecture with her father, and even went to the capital.
As she was hesitating, she saw a housekeeper from the Huaiyin Palace coming over. She smiled and said, "Miss Jiang, our prince invites you to go into the small hall and rest for a while."
Jiang Bibo followed Yun Hui in with a nervous mood. Yun Hui thought that she had spent a lot of effort to drive Xun Rou away by using Zheng Shi, but she had no idea that Jiang Bibo would come again.
This was also Jiang Bibo's first time to visit the Huaiyin Palace in Xuzhou. She had only been there once before when the Prince of Jianye sent a gift to Concubine Wu.
"Thank you." She handed a purse to Yunhui.
Yun Hui smiled and said, "How can I ask for your purse? It's really not necessary."
Jiang Bibo said: "I am the one who needs to trouble the aunt in charge, please accept it." This is also part of the human relations and worldly wisdom. As a merchant girl, Jiang Bibo understands this very well.
So Yun Hui accepted it.
After she accepted it, Jiang Bibo asked, "Does the little prince have anything else to do at this time?"
Yun Hui said: "The young prince is having dinner with the princess."
"It's my fault." Jiang Bibo said immediately.
Coincidentally, Yin Liyi also came at this time. Yin Liyi wanted to ask Li Cheng about the battle situation at the front, but she didn't expect to meet Jiang Bibo here.
The two met once at the birthday party of Concubine Wu in Jianye. Yin Liyi knew that Jiang Bibo was a female billionaire, and she admired her very much. After all, she was not very good at business.
"Hey, how come I meet you here?" She was actually a close friend of the family. If it had been in the past, she would have gone in directly. But now Yin Liyi and Zheng Shi were not very familiar with each other, so she also sat in the flower hall waiting and started talking to Jiang Bibo.
When Jiang Bibo saw that it was Yin Liyi, she quickly stood up and saluted: "I pay my respects to Madam Xie."
Yin Liyi hurriedly said, "Hurry up, hurry up. I'm here to ask the little prince about something. Are you here to ask the little prince too?"
Jiang Bibo nodded.
While tea was being served, Yun Hui whispered the story to Yin Liyi. Yin Liyi was furious when she heard it, "It's Huo Qi again? Although he has the title of a general, he is actually a greedy person. I heard that there was a herbal medicine shop on Jianye North Street. Because the business was too good, he robbed the shop."
Yin Liyi's elder sister, Concubine Yin Ci, often told her a lot of things, saying how Concubine Huo was rich and how she always treated the Prince of Wei with expensive food whenever he visited her. She said that the Prince of Wei enjoyed it very much, but almost all of this money came from the people's hard-earned money.
Jiang Bibo's heart had already sunk for a moment, and now his face turned even paler after hearing what Yin Liyi said.
"Mrs. Xie, what should we do?"
Yin Liyi smiled and said, "Haven't you already asked for help from the Huaiyin Palace? Since you have already asked for help from the palace, what are you afraid of? Now the only one who can curb the Huo family is the Huaiyin Prince. He is the nephew of the King of Wei and his status is not ordinary."
Yun Hui felt something was wrong after hearing this. Wasn't Yin Liyi helping the young prince? In any case, the King of Wei respected his wife very much. The young prince had his own place. If he offended the Huo family, it would be fine now, but what if he was targeted in the future? Even for such a big event as marrying a wife, the King of Wei made the decision directly for the young prince.
Although she also wanted to see Zheng have a new rival in love, she wanted to make sure that the young prince was not harmed.
But when Huiyin was listening to what Li Cheng was going to say next, Li Cheng just shut up.
"I always feel that you have something to say, so why don't you just say it out loud? I can still give you some advice." Huiyin said with a smile.
Li Cheng took a look at Huiyin's belly, but still didn't dare to say anything.
Huiyin deliberately went around to sit next to him, shaking his arm back and forth: "Speak now, don't be shy, we are husband and wife, I have told you all my secrets, but you hide them from me. So I will not be with you anymore?"
Seeing that he didn't say anything, Huiyin pretended to be angry.
Li Cheng said directly: "Miss Jiang wants me to give her a status. Please don't misunderstand, it's just a status. She is just a merchant's daughter, and her status is not high. The chief historian suggested that I give her a status to protect her and prevent her, a weak woman, from being harmed by Huo Qi. But I will definitely not agree, so I don't want to mention it."
"Why would the Chief Clerk allow you to take a merchant girl as your concubine?" Huiyin actually understood, but teased him on purpose.
Li Cheng is a seven-foot-tall man who always speaks loudly. It is mainly because of his age that he is actually thin-skinned. When Huiyin asked him about it, he stammered, "It is also for military needs."
Sometimes victory in a battle depends on having fat soldiers and strong horses, but these all require money to maintain.
The King of Wei married many women from prominent families and won support from many parties.
After he finished speaking, he hurriedly said to Huiyin: "But don't worry, I will never sell myself just for women. I'm not that kind of person. I have to fight for my own territory."
Seeing that he was anxious, Huiyin quickly handed him a handkerchief: "Wipe your sweat, I know what you mean."
"Aren't you jealous?" Li Cheng saw that Huiyin looked very calm.
Huiyin wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and said, "If I get jealous, I won't be at peace during my entire pregnancy. I can't eat all your concubines and cousins. I want to ask you, which woman in the world is willing to share her husband with others? Are you willing to share me with others? Even if others covet me, will you be happy?"
Li Cheng blurted out: "Of course not."
Li Cheng even thought that if there was a man who was only nominally related to Huiyin, he would want to peel off his skin and break his bones.
But……
"But you're not angry at all." Li Cheng was like a child, always feeling insecure.
Huiyin touched her belly and said, "You have to do something to make me stay loyal to you till death. Now I am your peach blossom, all kinds of peach blossoms. You have to make me have confidence in you."
Li Cheng saw her lowering her head, and for some reason he felt a little nervous: "It's my fault."
In his mind, although the marriage was arranged by the King of Wei, he did not reject the person he married. Instead, he made her suffer all the time, either leaving her alone at home, or having her cousin and all kinds of people, but she was the one who treated him wholeheartedly.
Huiyin thought, how could this fool be so easy to deceive? She fooled him to change the subject, but he actually hung his head, looking hurt. Thinking of this, she hugged his arm and said, "Don't worry, I won't let you be the Bull Demon King and let that Miss Jiang be the Jade-faced Fox."
"What do you mean?" Li Cheng didn't react immediately.
Huiyin scratched his nose and said, "Silly boy, haven't you read Journey to the West? The father of Jade-faced Fox is Wansui Fox King. The Fox King died and left behind a daughter named Jade-faced Princess. The princess had millions of property but no one to take care of it, so she visited Bull Demon King, who had great magical powers, and was willing to give up her property and marry him. Later, Sun Wukong pretended to be Princess Iron Fan and asked Bull Demon King to take her back from Jade-faced Princess. Bull Demon King then scolded her for giving Princess Iron Fan pearls, jade, gold and silver, silk and satin, annual firewood and monthly rice. Think about it, how can you do such a thing? In the future, not to mention you, I'm afraid I will have to look at other people's faces."
Li Cheng thought about the story of the Bull Demon King, and it seemed to be true. It turned out that his wife was quite well-read.
But how to solve this problem?
"In fact, I can help him once in my name, but I can't protect him every time. After all, you also know that Huo Qi is a wolf in sheep's clothing, but he is the brother-in-law of the uncle of the Prince of Wei, and he is still my elder." Li Cheng was unwilling to make trouble for the Jiang family and the Princess of Wei. He did not have the capital to do so now.
It would be better if the Jiang family stayed in Xuzhou, but as for Jianye, they are inevitably out of reach.
Huiyin patted his hands: "The hermit has a good idea."
"Oh? Princess, do you have any good ideas?" Li Cheng had seen Huiyin seek his opinions on everything before, and he respected him very much. Now that she has her own way, Li Cheng also looks at her with new eyes.
"Then let's ask her to come over first. It happens that we have just finished our meal, so we can go to the main room to digest the food." Huiyin said.
…
Jiang Bibo entered the main room of Princess Zheng of Huaiyin with a nervous mood. The maid of the palace led her to walk. Everyone held their breath and spoke in silence along the way, looking extremely solemn.
After entering the main hall, I saw two people sitting in the hall. On the left was the young prince Li Cheng, who was wearing casual clothes and looking straight ahead, concentrating on drinking tea. On the right was a young woman, but she looked as imposing as the young prince. She just smiled at me.
Jiang Bibo saluted with trepidation in her heart: "I, Jiang Bibo, pay my respects to the young prince and princess."
I only heard the woman's sweet voice beside me saying, "Blue waves? It comes from Li Bai's 'I want to shake the golden strategy of the five-story building and float the blue waves of the three rivers.'"
Jiang Bibo nodded quickly: "Yes, this is because my father named my daughter this when he visited Hengyue Mountain. My daughter was born at the right time, so he named her this way."
"What a good name! I will use Wang Wei's 'The boat sails on the blue waves, and people swim in the painting.' I wish you a leisurely and peaceful life in the future, and a clear mind and happy spirit from now on. How about it?" Huiyin looked at her and said.
Jiang Bibo could tell that it was a good thing to say, but he was not sure what it meant.
It was Nan's mother who came out and said, "Miss Jiang, our little princess liked you very much when she saw you, and she wants to take you as her godparent. Are you willing?"
Jiang Bibo had never thought that the little princess was willing to acknowledge her as her sisters. It was such an unexpected turn of events that she was filled with all kinds of shame and complicated emotions.
Huiyin smiled and said, "You know, the young prince is the nephew of the King of Wei after all, and Huo Qi is the brother-in-law of the King of Wei. You are such a good girl, you should have a bright life, how can you be someone else's concubine? Although I am not talented, my father is the Marquis of Zhaojie after all. You can rest assured to use our Zheng family's post. I will also assign ten personal soldiers to protect you. They are all useful people in the army of my Zheng family. I don't think Huo Qi would be so bold."
Now Zheng Fang remains neutral and is to some extent an ally of the King of Wei. If Huo Qi offends the Zheng family because of a trivial matter, the King of Wei will certainly not tolerate it.
Jiang Bibo bowed with gratitude and said, "Thank you, little princess. I will repay you for your kindness in the future." She still wanted to have a bright life, do business, and find someone she loves.
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