With Xu Yixing's luggage and dress, the atmosphere of being alone was less.
"This room is well decorated. Thank you for your hard work."
Xu Yixing was originally thinking about what kind of pattern to put up on the window, but he turned around and said to him, "Your house is too plain. I've never seen a prince live in such a plain house. It will look much better if you spruce it up."
"Yeah..." Lu Anyuan neither objected nor agreed. He just hurriedly ate the dinner that he had missed, and carefully instructed Xu Yixing about tomorrow's itinerary.
"Tomorrow we must first go to Father's place. The Empress should be with him. After listening to the Empress' instructions, we will go to the Empress Dowager's palace. Also, Concubine Ying has given me a concubine, so I will also go to her palace to pay my respects. It will probably take only one morning to finish."
When Xu Yixing heard that he was going to Concubine Ying's palace, his mind started to spin a bit: "What if Concubine Ying asks you why you didn't take the person she gave you into your room? How should I answer?"
"This is easy. Just say you are jealous and don't allow it!" Lu Anyuan held Xu Yixing's face in his hands, pinched it to make it round and plump, and it was very easy to play with.
"Bah!" Xu Yixing struggled out, a little unhappy. "Since you have to go to the palace tomorrow morning, go to bed early so you don't get up too late tomorrow."
"How could that be? I will call you on time."
Lu Anyuan stepped forward, picked up Xu Yixing from the chair, and walked to the bed in two or three steps: "I will pay attention tonight, don't worry."
I have to say that Lu Anyuan is indeed a man of his word. The next morning, when Xu Yixing was sleeping soundly, he woke him up and asked him to dress up.
Even though he was extremely unhappy, Xu Yixing had no way to vent his feelings.
Fortunately, it was a younger generation visiting an elder, and they had to wait until the emperor left the court before entering the palace to meet him. Otherwise, they would have to get up very early and would have been exhausted.
Today, he did not use a carriage to enter the palace, but instead used a sedan chair, which was carried all the way from the Seventh Prince's Mansion to the gate of the palace, which was some distance away from the Linding Hall where the emperor was.
The two of them walked on the not-so-comfortable corridor of the palace. The morning sun stretched their shadows long, like a group of little people performing a puppet show.
Xu Yixing had never had the chance to observe the emperor up close before, but now that he saw him, he was... just two eyes, a mouth, a nose, and two ears. He didn't resemble the image the people of Daxia had imagined, of a man shimmering in golden light and stepping on auspicious clouds.
The emperor was quite satisfied with Xu Yixing. He gave him a few words of encouragement and some bland instructions to Lu Anyuan. The meeting ended quickly.
When the two came out of Linde Hall, Xu Yixing felt like he was dreaming.
"Is this the end of the meeting?"
"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Lu Anyuan straightened his robe, which had wrinkled from sitting down. "Royal family relationships are definitely different from yours. You can't expect the Queen to pull you and me in one hand and say some sentimental words, right?"
Xu Yixing pouted. She didn't think so. She just felt that the way the emperor and his son got along was really strange. They only saw each other during court sessions every day. When they finally had time to see each other again, he was so cold.
She was really curious. She didn't know that the second prince lived in the palace and met the emperor every day. What an embarrassing scene it would be.
Yian Hall is exactly the same as the last time I came here. The only difference is that the leaves have turned dark green and are no longer as tender as they were in spring.
The Empress Dowager was still benign and gentle, but this time she didn't recognize Xu Yiyan's face as Xu Yixing's. Perhaps she also knew that Xu Yixing was dead.
Before leaving, the empress dowager even gave the young couple a hundred-year-old purple ginseng. Her expression was exactly the same as that of an old lady in the countryside looking at her eldest grandson.
This time after Xu Yixing came out, he didn't bother to say anything. Anyway, the process was just like this. After going to Yingfei's palace, today's mission would be completed.
But unexpectedly, Lu Anyuan walked directly to the palace gate and was about to take her to the sedan chair. Xu Yixing reacted belatedly and said, "Aren't we still going to Concubine Ying's palace?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you that Concubine Ying is not available today, so you don't have to go." Lu Anyuan smiled faintly, stretched out his hand to pull Xu Yixing onto the sedan chair, and the two sat side by side and returned to the mansion.
It was not until they left the palace that Lu Anyuan spoke softly, "Madam, something happened in Concubine Ying's family."
Huh? Xu Yixing was originally drowsy, but upon hearing this exciting news, he immediately sat up straight: "What what?"
"You know that Concubine Ying has a brother who is currently serving as the prefect of Suzhou, right?"
"I've heard of it, but I've also heard from many people that the emperor gave him the title of Suzhou prefect because of Concubine Ying's favor. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been his turn."
Xu Yixing opened his twinkling eyes full of curiosity and looked at Lu Anyuan with anticipation.
"Indeed. Concubine Ying was of humble origins. Her late father was originally a minor county magistrate in the Suzhou and Hangzhou area. He was later promoted gradually when Concubine Ying gained favor. However, he died within a few years, leaving only one brother in the family."
Xu Yixing nodded. It seemed that Concubine Ying and her brother must have a deep brotherly love. Wouldn’t all the wealth and honor fall on her brother?
"So it's her brother who's in trouble this time?"
"Yes. In fact, her brother had been serving as the governor of Jizhou, which is close to Kyoto. He was promoted to an external post in Suzhou in the summer."
Huh? Xu Yixing's mind raced, and he realized something was wrong.
Although Jizhou was not as wealthy as Suzhou, it was a first-rate province in terms of population and grain production, and it was also a major military province, right on the edge of the capital. Being the governor of Jizhou and the prefect of Suzhou was a half-level promotion, but it was completely unnecessary.
"Is there any explanation for her brother's strange behavior?"
"Hehe." Lu Anyuan reached out and rubbed Xu Yixing's head, but her hair was so cluttered with jewels that he had no idea where to start. "You forgot, the reason is what you said before, it was after the Qingdi case."
Xu Yixing rolled his eyes, and suddenly he understood: "I remember you said that the Second Prince cleaned up his land and let him out early. Is it because of this incident?"
"How clever! After the Qingdi case was completely concluded, the emperor rewarded his uncle for his merits and promoted him to the prefect of Suzhou."
"It turns out it's a promotion in name only, a demotion in reality."
"Yeah, that's what they call being too clever."
"So what happened?"
"Her brother had only been in Suzhou for three months when the Suzhou governor secretly reported him to the capital, accusing him of withholding water conservancy funds and extorting merchants. The emperor was furious and sent people to Suzhou to conduct a thorough investigation. His official position has now been temporarily suspended, and the Hangzhou prefecture has taken over his position."
"Wow! There is actually such a thing!" Xu Yixing was secretly happy. This really held the Second Prince back. No wonder Concubine Ying lost her composure like that.
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