49 Chapter 49
◎Two chapters in one◎
After the expansion of the territory, Li Cheng had already sent Yuwen Dang to guard Qingzhou, and Zheng Fang sent his adopted son Pei Shuo to occupy the north of Jiahu Pass. The two families were in-laws, so they lived in peace. But they got the land without spending a single soldier. Huiyin was happy for both her natal family and Li Cheng.
Although in the future when everyone has different opinions, there may be disagreements or even conflicts, this does not affect my current good mood.
Just like if Li Cheng cheated on her one day in the future, it didn't mean that they were not in love with each other now. If people only think about the future and lose their momentary happiness, it would be too pessimistic.
Li Cheng was also afraid that his wife and children would be left in Jianye and taken hostage, so he discussed with Huiyin: "Why don't I take you back to Xuzhou? Although Xuzhou is not as wealthy as Jianye, it is still within my sphere of influence."
"My husband, I really want to go back to Xuzhou with you, but I'm also afraid of making a fuss. Now that you have taken over Qing and Xu, the King of Wei may be jealous of you. Even if Jing'er and I go with you, what about your grandmother?" Huiyin certainly wanted to go, but was afraid that it would be too much. After all, Li Cheng was not at odds with the King of Wei, and on the surface, the King of Wei even supported him.
Li Cheng was also startled when he heard this: "It would have been better if you and your son hadn't come to Jianye back then."
Huiyin smiled and said, "There were considerations back then, and there are considerations now. It's a different time now. I know you do everything for our family, but if something happens to you, how will we survive?"
"My virtuous wife is truly understanding. Well, okay, I'll often travel between the two places in the future, but it will be hard for you." Li Cheng said, holding Huiyin's hand.
Huiyin shook her head: "Why do you and I need to talk so much? The King of Wei is hosting a dinner party today and we have to attend. Don't be late."
Li Cheng wondered if this banquet was a good one. He had kept these things to himself before, and dared not reveal them to his subordinates, but now he told Huiyin the truth.
Huiyin comforted him, "You want to go back to the uncle-nephew relationship you once had, unless you keep working like a slave without any desire. But then again, if you are like this, who among your people will listen to you? Who is truly loyal to you?"
When you reach a certain position, if you are unwilling to work and the people under you work hard for you but get no benefits, it is easy for you to become rebellious.
Even if Huiyin disciplined the evil and mean slaves in the palace, she still had to pay the others extra monthly wages to appease them.
"I thought so too. Last time when Qingzhou was attacked, normally I should have been the one to go, but Uncle Wei skipped me and let Xie Jiuyi go. As expected, Xie Jiuyi lost the battle. Now I have taken it down without any soldiers, so naturally my troops will be stationed there. If it was someone else, the Jizhou army might have taken it all away." Li Cheng didn't think that his father-in-law was a man who kept his promises.
However, Lu Wei and He Guojiu are now powerless, the emperor's life will not last long, and the prince is just a commander without troops. It is hard to predict what his future will be like.
Zheng Fang had ambitions but lacked ability and strategy. The Jizhou Army of the Zheng family seemed to be able to carry out tasks with ease, but in fact, it had long been corrupt and defeated and had no fighting spirit.
But if these words were spoken, it would hurt his wife's reputation.
Huiyin actually knew this in her heart, and this was also the reason why Lu Wei did not intend to kill Zheng Fang. Zheng Fang's personal force was unstoppable, but he did not discipline the army strictly, and the morale of the army was low. Zheng Fang was also fickle.
Without mentioning this matter for the moment, Huiyin said to Li Cheng: "Oh, I have one more thing to tell you. Concubine Xu gave me a generous gift. Even when I went to pay my respects to Concubine Wei the other day, she seemed to meet me by chance, but in fact, she seemed to be waiting for me. What do you think this means?"
Li Cheng smiled and said, "Don't worry about it. It's just for the position of the crown prince. The last time Li Jing accidentally fell into the well, it was probably his doing. Now, someone has given birth to a son for the uncle of the King of Wei. Concubine Xu will eventually lose her beauty and love, and the status of her son cannot be determined early. She has also offended the Queen of Wei and Concubine Yin. She is probably the most anxious person to be crowned the crown prince."
When people are in a hurry, they are bound to be cautious.
Huiyin snorted coldly, "The King of Wei is still so young, why is she so anxious? The future is still unknown. Instead of doing this, it is better to urge her son to study hard and practice martial arts. In this way, even if power falls into someone else's hands in the future, it will be easy to take it back. Even if he is a peddler, he can have food and clothing without worrying if he has a skill."
What's the big deal about harming children? If you have the guts, go after the adults.
Either the King of Wei makes up his mind to make his own son the heir, or she becomes the queen.
This statement was quite different, and Li Cheng was amused: "Since you already know it, I won't say more."
He thought that things would not be peaceful in the Prince of Wei's mansion. Concubine Xu was getting restless, the Princess of Wei and Yin Lifang were not pushovers either, and there was also the Prince of Wei's new lover...
Compared with the turmoil in Prince Wei's Mansion, the Eastern Palace was even more of a reshuffle. Lu Xiao was even put under house arrest by Empress He. Zheng Fang was also unwilling to let his daughter be just a concubine. In the past, when Lu Wei was there, he would have given up. Now that Lu Wei is gone, how could he let Lu dominate the Zheng family again?
The prince really hated Lu Wei, hated him for treating him like a puppet for so many years, hated him for repeatedly overstepping his authority, being arrogant and domineering, and not taking his dignity seriously. But at the same time, he also hated the Zheng family. During the Bingchen Rebellion, Zheng Fang was the General of the Tiger Guards and was originally guarding Concubine Xi, but when the Rourans attacked, he fled with his men, causing Concubine Xi to be humiliated by the Rourans and commit suicide.
Somehow, he came to Lu Xiao's palace. He usually came secretly late at night. He was not favored when he was a child, but Lu Xiao was Lu Wei's daughter. She smiled brightly and was the first person to share cakes with him.
Lu Xiao's father passed away, but she was unable to observe mourning. Even her entire family was liquidated, and she could do nothing.
After Grape reminded her, she realized that Li Heng had come over. She ignited hope: "Prince, I beg you, please let them let my family go. They are all innocent."
Lu Xiao's biggest worry was probably that being a Crown Princess had too many rules and regulations, and that she had no friends. But she had a good allowance in the East Palace, and if she didn't have enough money, her father and brother would give it to her. But now...
Li Heng helped her up and said, "Don't kneel. Your father committed a capital crime. He secretly kept the dragon robe. His crime is unforgivable."
"I dare not plead for my father, but my brother is innocent." Lu Xiao kowtowed and begged.
It would have been fine if she hadn't mentioned her brother. As soon as she did, Li Heng was furious, but he still held it back because he still liked Lu Xiao very much in his heart, so he forced a smile: "Okay, I promise you."
Seeing Lu Xiao's happy look, Li Heng winked at Grape and helped her up: "There are some things that even I can't do anything about."
Lu Xiao didn't know that her backer had fallen and her position was shaky. She was just happy that Li Heng had saved her family. Li Heng tried to comfort her for a long time, and after leaving, he arranged for his people to protect Lu Xiao. There was no other way. Lu Xiao didn't have any scheming. Now that Lu Wei had fallen, there was no telling how many people would sharpen their knives against her.
After leaving Lu Xiao, he went to Zheng Deyin's place. In fact, he didn't like to come to Zheng's place at all. But there was no other way. Zheng Fang had now gathered Lu and He's troops and was even stronger. He had to pull the Zheng family together.
Deyin was in a good mood. Madam Xu had come and said that the Zheng family was now more powerful and Zheng's father planned to let the prince depose Lu Xiao and make her the crown princess.
But she couldn't show it too much, so she just said something else: "My father brought in some fresh dried fruits, Prince, please try them."
It would have been fine if Zheng Fang was not mentioned, but after mentioning Zheng Fang, Li Heng simply hated this greedy, cowardly, and backstabbing villain.
But in his spare time, he had to grit his teeth and swallow: "No need, I just finished using it and came here, I just came to say hello. I'm busy these days, I'm going to the study to take a nap."
Deyin was stunned for a moment, then immediately said gently, "Yes."
Grandmother is right. The more you have to bear the position of Crown Princess, the more you have to hold on. Look at my sister Huiyin, a princess of a county, she looks so high-spirited because she is the principal wife and the mistress of the house. Even if I, a concubine, am favored, I still have to be Crown Princess.
Li Heng had already seen the determination in Deyin's eyes, and his face darkened. He would never let the Zheng family succeed, otherwise he would be another Lu Wei. No, Zheng Fang might be even more arrogant if he succeeded.
At this time, Huiyin also saw that Concubine Xu was determined to win. She was sitting at the King of Wei's family banquet, where there was toasting and elegant people in fine clothes. Li Cheng was dancing with a sword while drunk, and people on all sides were applauding.
Concubine Xu Ci did not watch like everyone else, but personally took the jug and poured a cup of wine for Huiyin, saying with a smile: "This is Gaochang wine. I always like to warm it up before drinking. Little Princess, try it too."
She had never thought that she would pour wine for herself. Huiyin hurriedly said, "Why do I need you to pour wine for me? Just let the maids do it."
The more she was afraid to accept it, the more attentive Concubine Xu became. She even said, "I wanted to make friends with the little princess before, but I was afraid that you would dislike my status, so I didn't dare to do so."
If you do this and humble yourself, I'm afraid you are asking for too much.
"You are too polite, Madam Xu. You are my elder, how dare I dislike you?" She was not stupid. How could she let Concubine Xu get along well with her? If then Concubine Xu said outside that they had a good relationship, outsiders would find it difficult to tell whether it was true or not.
Seeing that Huiyin didn't drink and just stared at the sword dance on the stage, looking quite distant, Concubine Xu left in a huff. After she left, Huiyin picked up the lychee meat beside her and put it in her mouth. Although it was no longer in season, it was still delicious.
But Li Cheng at the table had already started to move with great speed, as graceful as a flying dragon. It was the first time Huiyin saw him so high-spirited and energetic, and she couldn't help but smile at him. Li Cheng at the table seemed to have noticed Huiyin's gaze, and turned around, picked up a glass of wine with his sword and handed it to her.
衆人都在起哄，連魏王都興味十足，徽音也用手接下，一飲而盡，李珩挽了個劍花，跪在魏王跟前道：“侄兒今年過年又不能在建業，望叔父替我多照顧妻小。”
魏王舉杯道好。
李珩落座，又有胡姬開始跳起了胡旋舞，他與徽音耳語道：“我不在家中，你害不害怕？”
他其實想把妻小随時都帶着，她們在他能看的到的範圍，他才放心，可妻子說的對，即便妻小都去，太妃也還在建業。若太妃跟着去，又太明顯了，太妃被威脅，他還是受制于人，還不如營造假象。
徽音蹙眉：“你知道我白天不怕，晚上一個人睡覺害怕。”
“這世上沒鬼的，別害怕。”李澄很心疼的安慰。
徽音撒嬌：“鬼有時候不害怕，我怕人啊，你不在家裏，夜裏總覺得陰風陣陣。偌大的府邸只有我一個人，我害怕。”
李澄無語：“那還是跟我去吧……”
“不行。”這點徽音态度堅決。
夫妻二人說話間，外人雖然不知道她們在說什麽，但是看那情态，分明是李澄在哄着徽音。殷麗儀坐在殷麗芳的身邊，忍不住咬着耳朵：“冀州鄭放現在占據嘉浒關以北，西北京師也派人駐守，勢頭大的很，也難怪小王爺都要對她禮讓三分。”
殷麗芳見妹妹如此，不免道：“你這是怎麽了？怎麽這麽在意鄭氏？她好還是歹和我們無關。你如今是謝夫人了，雖說現在家中有你婆母操持，旁的不用你管，但是總不能一輩子當甩手掌櫃啊。”
在殷麗芳看來魏王也未必喜歡魏王妃，但在某些場合還得表現得鹣鲽情深呢！這不就是上層人士的婚姻，夫妻之間不是夫妻感情，都是利益。
魏王能輕而易舉的收服江南，也有霍家之功勞。
殷麗儀見姐姐提醒，她也猛然驚醒：“咳，這事兒和我的确無關，姐姐提醒的是。”
殷麗儀這個人息怒都擺在臉上，殷麗芳覺得妹妹這樣就如透明人似的，為何謝九儀喜歡她，可能也是覺得她就如白紙一般。但年輕的時候這樣會覺得可愛，等年紀漸長，還是這般，那就是真的被人看成糊塗人了。
“沒事兒，以後你有什麽事情千萬別沖動。”殷麗芳溫柔的看着妹妹。
殷麗儀點頭：“姐姐放心吧。”
她說完，又欲言又止，但還是提醒姐姐：“我看許次妃很讨好那鄭氏，恐怕是沖着世子之位來的，姐姐，我們怎麽辦？”
上次雖然沒有證據，但大家都知道肯定是許次妃幹的，沒有為外甥報仇就算了，還看着仇人到處蹦跶，實在是讓人惱火。
殷麗芳看了妹妹一眼：“放心，小王爺不會聽她的。”
“為什麽？”殷麗儀只覺得男人變心很容易的，鄭氏生的嬌媚可人，即便對姐姐有幾分真情，恐怕也動心了。
殷麗芳笑道：“你相信我就是了。”
胡旋舞欣賞罷了，又是江南的采蓮舞，徽音看的有些累了，也覺得身上有些燥熱，想出去透透氣，便和李澄說了一聲。
李澄看了她一眼：“快些回來。”
“好。”她額頭都沁出汗來，出來之後，一股冷風吹來，才覺得神清氣爽。
不知為何只有她今日這麽燥熱，是不是她衣裳穿多了，徽音見外面有石凳，索性就坐在這裏歇息一下。一來，這裏離門口近，沒什麽危險，二來這裏也不算風急。
沒想到她剛坐定，就見一圓臉侍婢上前：“小王妃，您可要奴婢給您上些瓜果酒水來？”
“不必，我等會兒就進去的。”徽音笑道。
這圓臉侍婢似乎很熱情，徽音見狀不免道：“是你們王妃讓你過來伺候我的？”
她搖頭：“并非如此，當年是小王爺管魏王府的時候，奴婢的爹欠了債，奴婢的娘又得了病，是小王爺給了奴婢二十兩銀子，才讓奴婢家中好了起來。現下奴婢爹娘好好地，奴婢也成了這裏的大丫鬟，奴婢全家都對小王爺感激不盡。”
“原來是這樣，王爺以前是什麽樣子？我還不知道呢。”徽音感嘆。
圓臉侍婢笑道：“小王爺那時候年紀還輕，起初府上的人并不服氣他，但他能夠把我們大王交給他的任何一件事情都辦的漂漂亮亮的，堵住那些人的嘴。我們都說男人裏小王爺最拔尖，女人中殷女官最拔尖了。”
“殷女官就是現在的殷次妃嗎？”徽音警覺到。
圓臉侍婢點頭：“對啊，就是她。”
似乎覺得這個問題回答的不太好，她又說起別的話題了。
大廳內，許次妃正溫了一壺酒進來，此時歌舞已散去，魏王正和李澄謝九儀等人正和魏王在談今博古。
魏王在書畫上頗有造詣，讓人拿了一幅畫作出來欣賞，還對衆人道：“這畫中聽聞從不同的角度能看到不一樣的東西？你們都來替我看看。”
以李澄的目光，觸眼可及的是一匹馬，他笑道：“我看這匹馬不輸我的大宛駒啊……”
謝九儀卻道：“怎麽從我這裏看出來像是一輛馬車？”
魏王哈哈大笑：“你們一東一西看的是這，我從中間看，看到的卻是一位美人。”
“王叔，您別是想美人了吧？”李澄故意開着玩笑。
魏王指了指李澄：“你還真是什麽話都敢說。”
魏王妃也是假意拈酸吃醋：“大王要什麽美人，還藏着掖着。”
“我不過是随口說了一句畫作，倒惹得你們猜忌我來了？”魏王笑着搖頭，看起來雲淡風輕。
實際上魏王要什麽女人沒有，魏王妃怎麽可能會拈酸吃醋，她現在最在意的是自己到底還能不能懷孕？坐胎藥她還吃着，就盼着魏王能夠多來幾回。
“我只不過是想說我們每個人站着的角度不同，看的東西也不同，這幅畫本身沒錯。”
魏王此話大有深意，李澄聽懂了，魏王的意思是站在你李澄的角度，徐州是你打下來的，青州以南是你套來的，你不願意分給別人我能理解，但是我也有我的立場，有些事情我不想做，但不得不做。
這也是當年李澄投奔魏王的目的，這位叔叔冷靜、深謀遠慮，且雄心勃勃。若是旁人知曉自己有了這等心思，恐怕急于弄死自己，魏王卻還願意維持這樣面上的和平，因為現在魏王需要他，同時，他暫時也不能完全獨立出來。
但他不能立馬說話，這就是對號入座了。
謝九儀也聽懂了，他心中訝異，沒想到魏王還是很看重李澄，果然魏王是值得大家擁戴的，若此時逼反李澄得不償失。
這李澄已經提前說把妻兒留在建業，就是表明自己的心跡，且他也是魏王麾下唯一文武兼備之人。
就在此時，徽音走了進來，她見場中氣氛微妙，不知道發生了什麽，只是笑道：“真沒想到今日如此寒夜，竟有明月高升。”
大家借着月亮又開始吟詩作賦，許次妃還甚至讓人送了月亮餅上來，月亮餅裏面包的是青菜和肉，竟然很好吃。尤其是魏王，吃了兩個月亮餅，徽音想他肯定愛鹹口，看他面前擺着的甜點心一點兒都沒用過。
再想起她平日去魏王妃那裏，魏王妃愛吃甜食，很少做這樣的平民美食，這許次妃能夠受寵，還真的不是一般人。
李澄見徽音吃了一個月亮餅，又吃了一顆橘子，忍不住道：“你今兒胃口這麽好？”
“晚上特地吃少了一點，想着可以瘦一點，但是坐了這麽久就餓了，這月亮餅的香味讓我垂涎三尺了。”徽音皺了皺鼻子。
李澄忍不住狂笑，還好在大場合上忍住了。
許次妃一直穿梭其中，聽到徽音這話，心下放心了，也不枉她安排人故意在鄭氏面前說李澄曾經和殷次妃的事情，上次李澄可是救李敬的，若是沒有他，李敬早就死了，她兒子早就是世子了。
這鄭氏到底年紀輕，稍微挑撥一下，即便李澄相幫殷麗芳，鄭氏也不會同意。
卻沒想到一上車，徽音便問李澄：“你是不是曾經救過一個圓臉叫阿果的侍婢？給她父親錢還債，還給他母親錢醫病？”
李澄記性很好：“好像有這件事兒，怎麽？”
“還怎麽呢，這人以親為仇啊？”徽音冷哼一聲。
李澄看向她：“這是從何說起啊？”
“方才我出去透氣，遇到一個大丫頭，又是說你怎麽幫助她們家，又是不經意提起你和殷麗芳之間的事情，淺嘗辄止似乎想勾起我的憤怒。還好我呢，沉得住氣，如今又和你沒什麽秘密了，才不會信這些亂七八糟的話。”徽音對這種小兒科的手段不屑。
李澄摟着徽音，也知道是誰搗鬼了：“你說她們的手段并不高明，為何喜歡這樣做呢？”
徽音搖頭：“你錯了，這樣粗淺的手段，若是我和你不和，或者我沉不住氣開始鬧，咱們倆不就是有隔閡了嗎？”
The key is that the couple now have no secrets from each other and are very frank with each other, so they won't be provoked by anyone's words. If they were a couple who were suspicious of each other, it would be a different story.
Li Cheng now feels that it is a great blessing for him to marry Huiyin.