50 Chapter 50
◎Two chapters in one◎
Although Li Cheng will not come back to celebrate the New Year this year, he has spent a lot of time with her this year. Just during the few months he went to Jizhou, they were together day and night. But Huiyin also knows that this is a time of war and there are dangers at any time and place. Li Cheng must pay close attention to the developments in Xuzhou.
"I thought you could spend the New Year at home. Jing'er can call him daddy now, but you, his father, can't accompany him." Huiyin complained.
Li Cheng smiled and said, "Can you please be reasonable? I just came back to pick you up. As for Jing'er, I also wish I could spend more time with him, but there is no other way. When he grows up, I will take him out every day, leaving you alone. How about you give me another daughter?"
Huiyin broke free from his hand: "You wish."
"Stop joking. A real man cannot eat from five pots when he is alive, but he should be cooked in five pots when he is dead. When I'm not around, you must take good care of yourself. Don't be afraid, I have left a team of people to protect you." Li Cheng stroked her face with his hand.
Huiyin patted his hands: "Let's go, don't dawdle."
Just now she was reluctant to leave, but now she was determined to leave. Li Cheng was reluctant to leave. He went to the ear room to take a look at Jing'er. Jing'er was walking on the Persian carpet in the room. The one-year-old child was not as timid as other children of the same age. When he saw Jing'er, he wanted to go forward again, but turned back to look at his wet nurse.
Li Cheng went up and picked up Jing'er. When he smelled the milk fragrance on the child, he became more motivated.
When Li Cheng left, the only impression Huiyin had was probably the scene where he danced with a sword. It had to be said that he was born a genius and could attract attention wherever he went. No wonder there were so many women who liked him.
Even the Huo family intended to send their daughter over as a concubine. This was because Concubine Xu failed to instigate this, so she sent someone to inform them.
"Are you saying that the King of Wei intends to marry the third daughter of the Huo family to our house?" Huiyin frowned.
The person sent by Concubine Xu said, "This is what our queen heard. The Huo family is the maiden family of Concubine Wei. They have been deeply rooted in the Jiangnan area for a long time, so they are different."
This is also a way to win people over. Women are just like tools to them.
"Fugui, look, tell Empress Xu about this and tell her that I thank her." Huiyin really admired the diligence of Concubine Xu.
After Concubine Xu's servants left, Nan's mother asked anxiously, "Princess, what should we do?"
"It's going to rain, and my mother is going to get married. Who can stop it? Unless the young prince himself doesn't want to get married, otherwise, if I stop this one and that one, what's the point?" Huiyin now has a son and status, and Li Cheng likes her very much, which is obvious to the naked eye, but she also wants to see to what extent he likes her.
As for the matter of competing for beauty, that can only be discussed after Huo can enter the palace.
Princess Wei was actually thinking about this as well. She was Li Cheng's elder, so it would not be right for her sister to be considered of the same generation as Li Cheng, but the royal family did not talk about these things.
She said to the King of Wei who had come here for the rare occasion, "Your Highness, do you really want to marry my third sister to the young prince?"
"Yes, didn't I tell you about this a long time ago? Your sister is a lady from the south of the Yangtze River, and my nephew is also a handsome man. Could it be that you still want to abandon him?" King Wei said with a smile.
Princess Wei said quickly, "It must be her blessing that she can marry the Prince of Huaiyin. However, I have seen that Zheng is not a tolerant person. I heard from Madam Xie that after she entered the palace, she drove away all the wet nurses and concubines who had served the Prince of Huaiyin. This shows what kind of person she is."
In fact, the Princess of Wei was eager for her sister to marry into the palace. In Jiangnan, besides the King of Wei, who else could be more noble than the King of Huaiyin? She was just afraid that Zheng would do something to get the support of the King of Wei.
The King of Wei frowned when he heard this. "I thought that in order to help Zheng Fang, I would let Yun Zhi marry Zheng, but I never thought that she would be a tigress. Now they have been married for almost three years. I thought that his wife and children were left in Jianye, and he would be alone in Xuzhou without anyone to take care of him, so I married him a beautiful lady from a famous family. I didn't expect Zheng to be such a fierce wife. It seems that I was still foresighted."
For him, helping Li Cheng to marry a concubine was actually a reward for him. There was no man of status in the world who did not have three wives and four concubines.
Therefore, he said to Princess Wei: "Don't worry, Princess. When your sister marries in Xuzhou and Zheng is in Jianye, the two will have nothing to do with each other."
In fact, the King of Wei also had his own plans. He had asked Li Cheng to marry Zheng in order to seize Qingzhou and kill Lu Wei. Now that the two things were done, he couldn't let the Zheng family have too much influence. After all, from now on, Jizhou became an obstacle for the King of Wei to go north.
The Princess of Wei was the Prince of Wei's bedfellow. She had not anticipated the Prince of Wei's far-sighted plans. She just thought that Li Cheng was far away in Xuzhou, so he wanted to use his sister to control him, fearing that Li Cheng would be out of control.
Of course, these were kept secret from Huiyin. Concubine Wei did send someone to invite Concubine Wu to come over, and it seemed that she had revealed something in her words. Concubine Wu saw the third daughter of the Huo family while she was talking. She was slender, with regular features, big and bright eyes, a high nose bridge, and plump lips. When she smiled, her eyebrows curved, and her movements were naturally elegant, which was incomparable to a poor girl like Zheng.
"I think this girl is very good." Concubine Wu smiled.
Concubine Wei nodded and let Miss Huo San go first, then she said, "As long as you are satisfied, the prince plans to deal with this matter when Yun Zhi comes back next time. You know my daughter-in-law, she has always been very respectful and her sister is also very virtuous."
For Concubine Wu, what was there to be satisfied or dissatisfied about? After she was defeated by Huiyin, she could only live in the Buddhist temple. Nanny Fan and others around her were almost all secretly having affairs with Zheng. Now it was the King of Wei's request, and she was more than happy to do so.
But she was afraid that it was still too late, and when Concubine Wei said that they still had to match the horoscopes, etc., she asked her not to publicize it yet. Naturally, Concubine Wu kept her mouth shut, hoping to catch Zheng off guard.
The more I think about it, the happier I am!
Before, Zheng drove away her own great-niece Xun Rou. She could do whatever she wanted to do for her own face, but how could she dare to do that for the King of Wei?
Huiyin remained motionless, and Nan's mother couldn't help but say, "The Concubine went to the Prince of Wei's mansion today, and she must have come to discuss this matter. You can't just sit there and do nothing, you have to come up with an idea, right?"
"Then I can't make decisions at will. How can I stop the people that Prince Wei's Mansion wants to send?" Huiyin said with a smile.
Now it was already the last month of her pregnancy, and she hadn't had her period for a month. She knew that she might be pregnant. But the Huo family was not like Xun Rou, who could live in their territory, and they had the support of the King of Wei. She had to see how Li Cheng treated her. Now she planned to let Li Cheng make the decision.
Mother Nan said anxiously: "But..."
"Mom, instead of worrying about whether my husband wants to marry or not, why don't you attack from the outside? Why do I have to be worried about him, but he can't be worried about me?" Huiyin shook her head.
Nan's mother didn't know what she meant, but she felt that the girl she raised was sincere and hoped that the other party would return her sincerity. If she couldn't return her sincerity, she would never forgive her. The young lady was obviously the same person as the wife, a person of great affection and nature.
Fu Gui brought over the bird's nest porridge and said, "Princess, according to what I heard, Concubine Xu has tried to please you many times, why don't you learn from her——"
"No, this woman is persistent. She puts in a lot of effort to stick to you, and if something happens in the future, she will also tirelessly drag you out. I don't like dealing with such people, not to mention that I have my own ways and don't need to rely on others." Huiyin said with a smile.
Fu Gui also breathed a sigh of relief: "Seeing how she treated the eldest son of the King of Wei, I feel that she is not a good person. I was afraid that you would cooperate with her."
Huiyin laughed and said, "Girl, are you trying to test me on purpose? Don't worry, I definitely won't."
Fugui always felt that if she got involved in the dispute over the prince of Wei's palace, she would easily become cannon fodder. Now she heard Huiyin say that she would not be like that, and she was happy. Following a wise master is better than anything else.
She drank the bird's nest porridge very cleanly today. Huiyin usually doesn't like to drink porridge, but today she drank it so cleanly. Fugui said happily: "Tomorrow I will ask them to stew bird's nest with rock sugar."
"But I want to drink pig tripe soup tomorrow. Let them stew it with lotus seeds. It will be lighter this way and nothing else needs to be added." Huiyin touched her stomach.
Fu Gui raised his eyebrows and said in a hoarse voice: "Princess, are you pregnant?"
"I feel like I'm pregnant, but it's better to be cautious now. Wait until next month before my period comes, and then ask the doctor to come over." Huiyin said.
Mother Nan and Fugui were both happy. Mother Nan thought that no wonder the princess was so calm, it turned out that she was pregnant. After having the prince, if she had another child, then nothing would be able to shake her position.
Seeing how happy they were, Huiyin couldn't help shaking her head. They were too naive. If the Zheng family lost power one day, she and her two children would be at a disadvantage. I'm afraid the two children would hate their mother for being a stain on them. Although she was optimistic, she believed that human nature was evil and everyone could betray you.
If Li Cheng were blind, lame, or dead today, she might not be able to hold on forever.
Concubine Xu was dumbfounded by Huiyin's calmness. She couldn't help but say, "I worked so hard to pass on this news, but I didn't expect that she turned out to be different from the rumors. Last time, Concubine Wu said that she squeezed out Miss Xun, but I thought she was a manipulative person."
"We can't rely on the young princess anymore. What are you going to do? I heard that the Wei family of Xuzhou will make an appointment next month. Although the princess is reluctant to marry the princess to Wei Xiao, if she really marries, she will get help, which will be a great help to Concubine Yin in the future." The servant analyzed.
許次妃站了起來：“我就是知曉這些，才四處運作，大王想立我的執兒做世子，那幫老臣反對，我家執兒本來就處境岌岌可危。原本寄希望于小王爺夫婦身上，可小王妃不接招，怎麽都不接招，別人要送女人了，她還能坐得住啊。”
其實許次妃也只能用這些法子了，如今已經是黔驢技窮了。
這個年李澄不在，徽音和吳太妃是相看兩厭，她的确被确診有孕，正好名正言順的養胎，連吳太妃的譏諷她也并不放在眼裏。年後，老樹發新芽，湖水破冰之後，衛家親自來下聘。
徽音現下有孕三個月，也親自代替李澄去參加家宴，魏王妃反而顯得很是體恤：“你就不必過來了，你是有身子的人呢。”
“看嬸娘說的，如今都有孕三個月了，胎都坐穩了，蒹葭的喜事我怎麽能不來呢。”徽音神情平淡，笑的很從容。
魏王妃有些心虛，畢竟她的親妹子馬上就要嫁給李澄了，天下哪個女人說賢惠是真賢惠啊，恐怕二人關系就不如現在了。所以，她愈發體貼：“不過是來下定罷了，你也知道的，我原本還不願意蒹葭嫁過去呢。”
徽音口風不露分毫，只是誇耀道：“王嬸，你是建業名門出身，魏王叔更是天潢貴胄，你二人生的女兒必定能一輩子順遂安康的。”
“但願如此吧。”魏王妃微微嘆了一口氣。
另一邊的李澄收到徽音的來信，信上說她已經有了身孕了，一切安好，讓他勿要挂念。随信而來的有兩件棉衣、一匣子福橘，一盞琉璃燈盞，一根發簪。
這些福橘都是妻子親自挑的，一個個橙黃油亮，他剝開一顆放嘴裏，真的好甜。
這次不知道妻子會生一個什麽胖娃娃，是男還是女，他得提前問好産期，如此到時候才能回去陪她生産。
想起上次生産，他想起來都觸目驚心。
只是現在她還不能随意離開，上次他幫忙跟岳父出了主意，但顯然鄭放現在很飄了，并不是李澄能看控制的，他得先把自己的地盤守好，日後才有未來，局勢每日都在變化中，自己須警惕才行。
他又寫信回去給徽音，叮囑她好好照顧自己，還畫了一幅自己的小像夾在其中。
這封信再次送回來的時候，徽音正在換新的衣衫，她許久未曾打扮，今日要赴宴，卻打扮的十分隆重。
南媽媽都震驚了：“王妃何必如此，總歸您現在有身孕，露個臉回來就是了。”
“話不能這麽說，我聽聞衛家前來下聘，那位衛家二公子才高八鬥，身邊跟着來的有位大才叫楊渙，此人擅長作賦。若是能為我作此一賦，那我豈不是揚名于大邺？”徽音含笑。
她這是出于對自身考慮，這輩子鄭放借用李澄之計，居然拿下京師西北，正所謂才不配位，必有災殃。
如此，她得增加自己的名聲和名氣，将來李澄畏懼名聲，也不敢對她如何？自然，這也能讓李澄更加在意她。
南媽媽她們不解這些，總覺得女子的名聲傳出去，恐怕并非好事。女人應該賢良淑德，不讓人盯上才好。
徽音也不知道自己這麽做對不對，她只知道即便這次做錯了，但總歸落子無悔。
魏王又是在德雲殿招待衛霄等人，他面上看起來對衛霄很欣賞，衛霄身邊跟着的幾位謀臣都身兼所長，其中有一位公子，身着白衣，氣度高華，魏王是惜才之人，連忙詢問。
衛霄笑道：“這是楊渙，字子嘉，擅長寫詩賦。”
“原來這位就是楊子嘉，本王在建業就已經聽過你的名聲，你的《晴川賦》《登黃鶴樓》都是佳作，本王很是喜歡。”魏王其實最愛《虞美人賦》，但是當着衆人的面，倒也不好意思說出來。
楊渙拱手：“多謝王爺誇獎。”
魏王心想此人倒是有幾分傲氣，不過讀書人清高是很正常的，更何況楊渙出自弘農楊氏，身份可不一般。他又和衆人寒暄了一會兒，不禁笑道：“今日我就在此設宴，都不是外人，等會兒太妃和王妃還有淮陰王妃都要過來。”
這種程度算是家宴了，但即便是家宴，男女也都是分開的，女子都在屏風裏面，男子在屏風外，這也是讓魏王妃能夠看到自家女婿的最佳位置。
不一會兒門口出現數位女眷，她們紛紛落座，男人才落座。
魏王妃看着身邊的位置對魏太妃道：“原本我說小王妃有身子不必來，她非要來，方才又說不舒服，遲一些到，我都怕她出事。”
殷麗芳倒是幫徽音說話：“小王妃是代替小王爺來的，小王爺現在不在建業，她定然不願意辜負。”
有時候許次妃覺得殷麗芳也是虛僞的很，幾邊都吊着，若真的和鄭氏好，怎麽不提醒她呢？
幾人正思緒萬千之時，卻見門口刮來一陣香風，衆人望了過去。只見一位佳人款款而來，雲鬓花顏，烏發似雲，雪膚如瓷，身上着正紅色的衣裙，随意搭在侍婢胳膊上的手欺霜賽雪，好似紅白相間的桃花一般豔麗，衆人腦海中竟然一片空白。
這是常見徽音的人的第一反應，只不過她的性格有時候頗為強勢，故而別人在震驚她的美貌之後，多半人都更忌憚她，可是她和楊渙相處不多，現在先驚豔亮相，看他會不會寫一篇賦，若是不寫，再送金投其所好，請他作一篇賦，如此聞名也不是不行？反正所有的事情總得試試才行。
美豔、高貴、風華絕代……
楊渙瞬間就有了靈感，這樣的女子他能夠發現和腦海裏重合的，只有一人，便是和桃花有關的息夫人。他也不傻，當然不會指名道姓說的是誰，只是美是給人沖擊力的，他欣賞美，也欣賞每一位美人。
徽音在這樣的宴會，不似以往那般只重端莊，今日卻尤其注重美。魏王妃見她神采奕奕，一點兒也沒有方才那虛弱的樣子，還覺得奇怪。
“你有身子的人，許多都不能用，略嘗嘗就好，我在外邊準備了專門的席面給你。”魏王妃顯得很體貼。
“不必了，其實我也是用過了才過來的，您放心吧。诶，誰是咱們衛姑爺？”徽音笑道。
魏王妃身邊的嬷嬷指了指着紫色圓領袍的男子，徽音瞥過一眼，又對魏王妃道：“嬸子看如何？”
顯然見了真人了，魏王妃的抵觸少了很多，因為衛霄實在是儒雅英俊，風度翩翩，渾然不似
她想象中的年紀大的男子。
“此事是王爺定下，我還能說什麽，倒是勞你費心了。”魏王妃笑道。
徽音抿唇：“這算什麽費心呢，婚姻大事可不是開玩笑的，俗話說男怕入錯行，女怕嫁錯郎，我還祝您喜得佳婿呢。”
其實這樣的話徽音說有些冒犯了，殷麗芳暗自想着平日見鄭氏也不是這樣的人，挺拎得清的，也不會問這麽多，現在倒好，問起蒹葭的事情來了。
但這樣的席面上沒有她們這些次妃說話的份兒，她也默默不做聲只吃菜。
倒是許次妃看到徽音，主動遞了一枚橘子，正所謂沒有關系也要攀上關系，她想你不接茬我也不怕，只要我斷了你的後路，讓魏王妃和殷次妃都以為你和我關系匪淺，你就是跳進黃河也洗不清了，只能投靠我了。
徽音卻似乎看出她的意圖了，忍不住開腔：“快別給橘子我吃了，也不知道為何，有了身子之後總想吃辣的。”
“你若愛吃，我那裏有芥菜的小菜，辣的有味道，卻又不死辣。”許次妃連忙道，還加碼道：“上次我送你的燕窩用完了沒有？那可是上等的血燕，品相很好。”
魏王妃真沒想到這姓許的竟然私下也拉攏鄭氏，可拉攏鄭氏有什麽用，淮陰王府還是淮陰王說了算，等将來她妹子嫁過去就好了。
徽音倒是笑道：“那東西雖然好，可我當時身子不舒服就放着，沒想到想吃的時候拿出來的時候壞了，便吃的王嬸那裏送來的，這裏多謝次妃這般關心我，我都誠惶誠恐，并不敢受啊。日後，您還是不要送了，免得浪費了，倒是生出許多事情來。”
許次妃聽出這個意思來了，這是說她心中想幫忙，但是若真的和她來往，反而被人對付。
那誰對付她呢？顯而易見，魏王妃呗！
見自己挑撥成功，徽音也就不多說什麽了。
這頓家宴用的很好，聽聞酒宴之後，楊渙在屋裏潑墨揮毫寫下著名的《建業賦》，小字寫的是遙祝鄭夫人。
徽音讓茶樓說書人宣講，還有張老三拉面店這樣底層的店宣傳，很快徽音水漲船高，甚至她出去禮佛，為了來看她的人把西街都擠滿了。
這所謂的《建業賦》傳到徐州時，李澄先看到的辭賦，寫的實在是華麗極了，朗朗上口，這楊渙的确有大才，沒想到小字寫的是遙祝鄭夫人。
"Mrs. Zheng? Who is Mrs. Zheng?" Li Cheng had a bad feeling.
The people who sent the gift looked at each other in bewilderment. No one dared to speak. Li Cheng continued to scold: "Who is it? Tell me."
"Young Prince, we heard that Yang Xun met the Young Princess at Prince Wei's Palace and then went back to write." After the soldier who delivered the letter said this, he knelt on the ground and did not dare to get up.
Li Cheng slammed the table and said, "Yang Xun, pack up your things and go back to Jianye."