Chapter 25 He never liked Yunzhu
Xiao Mingzhang remained silent. He stood in the camp on the western outskirts of the Prince Huan's residence. He knew before he came that his father would ask him this question, but he still hesitated for a moment before saying, "No."
"Not at all?" Xiao Shao sneered. "You think I'll believe you just because you say 'not at all'? If you never liked her, why won't you even take a concubine? Xiao Mingzhang, you've disappointed me greatly!"
"Disappointed?" Xiao Mingzhang immediately retorted, "Does that mean that by accepting this dancer today, I won't disappoint Father? When has Father's disappointment become so cheap?"
"Father." He presented his prepared petition, each word precious, "Since my birth, everything I have learned has been taught by you. Master Cui taught me benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, while Father taught me how to love the people as my own children. I have promised Father that I would observe the situation calmly. Why does Father refuse to believe me and insist on forcing me?"
"Believe you?" Xiao Shao slammed his hand on the table and stood up. "Believe you, so that you'll make that Western Region woman give birth to her child and make it so that none of us can touch her again!"
"Xiao Mingzhang, do you think we're completely unaware of your scheme?"
Xiao Shao was clearly enraged, his voice growing louder with each word, and his face quickly turning ferocious.
Xiao Mingzhang remained unmoved. Yes, he had long known that his tricks were completely exposed in front of his father.
"Xiao Mingzhang, you feel sorry for her, you like her."
However, when his father once again easily pointed out his thoughts, Xiao Mingzhang still hesitated.
Really? Has he really fallen for Yunzhu?
Yunzhu was innocent and carefree. Ever since she married into the Western Regions, Xiao Mingzhang had often been infected by her self-consistency. She loved archery, horseback riding, and frolicking freely in the boundless wilderness. Xiao Mingzhang had seen many free-spirited girls like her in Yunzhou before, but he had never seen one as unrestrained as her. She was also considerate of the people. Even though the suffering of the people of Qingzhou and Yunzhou City had almost nothing to do with her, she would still read many books that she could not understand at all for the sake of the people. Even though she could be lazy in many small things, she was still a very lovely and lovable girl.
Moreover, she was exceptionally beautiful; her face alone could be said to be the most stunning in Yunzhou.
But...did he really fall in love with her?
The promise he made to Yunzhu today is still vivid in his mind. Xiao Mingzhang is not one to make promises lightly. His promise to Yunzhu was because he thought she was a good wife and had no complaints about her. Therefore, he could be with her for a long, long time.
But when it comes to friendship...
“No,” Xiao Mingzhang said firmly.
Xiao Shao was surprised for a moment.
Xiao Mingzhang remained calm and composed, seemingly unaffected by his questioning.
He even had boundless energy to question Xiao Shao: "Father, if you still wish to test me in the future, feel free to make your move. But I have only one thing to say: nothing is a reason for Father to easily kill a living person. This also contradicts the knowledge I have learned before. Father, I have looked up to you since I was a child. I feel that I am disappointing you now, but if you take an innocent life without distinguishing right from wrong, aren't you also disappointing me?"
Xiao Shao's face was contorted with rage, veins bulging. Since he became the Prince of Huan, who had ever dared to speak to him like this? Even his father, the Emperor, had never said such a thing to him because he was often stationed in the northern border.
He was so angry that his beard trembled, and his eyes were bloodshot with rage.
"roll!!!"
This time, however, he did not hit Xiao Mingzhang. Instead, he let out a roar like a shrew, his voice as gloomy as the storm of the previous night.
—
Xiao Mingzhang didn't know if his father had overheard their conversation that day, but since then, he had arranged for several more guards to protect Yunzhu.
Having learned from their previous experience, the guards did not make any mistakes in looking after the Crown Princess this time. No matter where Yunzhu went or who she met each day, they kept a close watch on her, and there were no errors when Xiao Mingzhang questioned her.
Yunzhu was completely unaware that there had been an additional group of guards following her. After the incident with the dancer, she thought she would have a tough battle to fight with the Ying family. She woke up feeling proud and confident, but nothing happened.
The Prince's mansion was very quiet, as if none of those things had ever happened. Ying Shi no longer mocked her or did anything to upset her. She spent a long time in the mansion peacefully afterward.
During this period, she met with Ying Shi very few times. However, Xiao Ming'an, because he had nothing to do and because of some past events, became closer to her.
Soon, several months passed in the blink of an eye, and Yunzhou City was bustling with activity in the twelfth lunar month.
This is Yunzhu's third New Year celebration in the Central Plains.
She was completely at ease with the winter. In winter, there were many fun things to do with Yu Jingsi and Cui Ranzhi, such as curing bacon, eating winter bamboo shoots, fishing in the cold river, and searching for plum blossoms in the snow. There was also Xiao Ming'an. As long as she wanted, she could spend the whole winter very contentedly.
However, she didn't keep these thoughts to herself all the time, because Xiao Mingzhang was still keeping an eye on her studies.
Now that Xiao Mingzhang goes out to play, he doesn't interfere with her anymore, but when it comes to her studies, he never takes it lightly. Even in winter, he still makes Yunzhu get up at dawn every day and write three calligraphy sheets before he allows her to do her own thing.
Yunzhu expressed her dissatisfaction, only wanting to postpone the time of waking up by one or half an hour, but Xiao Mingzhang refused.
But it was under his demanding requirements that Yunzhu's handwriting finally improved significantly.
Her handwriting gradually began to transform, shedding its crooked and messy strokes, and becoming more and more standard and beautiful.
Although she was still a long way from learning Xiao Mingzhang's calligraphy style, she was finally on the right track.
On the day she received Xiao Mingzhang's praise, Yunzhu sealed away her calligraphy copybook and took it to show each of her friends.
Yu Jingsi's praise for her was particularly exaggerated: "In just a few months, you have made such progress in learning other people's calligraphy. When you learn the prince's calligraphy in the future, won't you be able to do it in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn?"
"In the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, I still haven't figured out how to hold a pen!" Yunzhu nodded at Yu Jingsi, knowing full well that she was teasing her.
But after lecturing Yu Jingsi, she actually started to fantasize that if one day she could really learn Xiao Mingzhang's calligraphy, she would be extremely excited and would frame all those characters.
"Alright, enough of this nonsense. If you ask me, if you can master these characters before your birthday celebration next year, the young master will be extremely pleased!" Compared to Yu Jingsi's wild imagination, Cui Ranzhi is much more reliable.
Yunzhu listened to her words and nodded repeatedly.
Yes, instead of those unrealistic ideas, it's better to think about things that are actually achievable.
"If I could learn more characters, wouldn't he be even more pleased?" Yunzhu humbly asked Cui Ranzhi for advice.
Cui Ran nodded straight, giving her a very clear answer.
Yunzhu instantly perked up, and a blush gradually crept onto her fair and beautiful face.
She patted Cui Ranzhi on the shoulder: "If I can continue to make great progress before my birthday next year, I will definitely show it to you!"
“Okay!” Cui Ran replied.
The two then made a vow by high-fiving.
Yunzhu's birthday is in April every year, which is exactly four months away from now. In April, Yunzhou City is in the midst of spring warmth and blooming flowers, and everyone's face is radiant.
The three of them had a very pleasant chat that day. After returning home, Yunzhu happened to run into Xiao Mingzhang, who had also just returned home.
He returned today from the riverbank embankment.
Although they both came from outside, Yunzhu felt a chill emanating from Xiao Mingzhang as soon as she saw him, and the thick cloak he wore seemed to be dripping with moisture.
She took off her own cloak and casually wrung it out for Xiao Mingzhang, as if to see if she could actually wring out some water.
"Do you think you're working on the docks?" Xiao Mingzhang mocked her.
"..." Yunzhu then returned the cloak, which was impossible to wring out, to him and asked, "Have the group of people from Qingzhou started work today?"
“Hmm,” Xiao Mingzhang said.
Yunzhu nodded and praised him earnestly, "To be able to turn burdens into work energy, it is indeed the Crown Prince Huan who is capable!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Mingzhang chuckled and pinched Yunzhu's upturned cheek, giving it a quick squeeze.
His hands were cold and hard, as if they had been frozen outside for a long time. When he touched Yunzhu's face, they stung her so much that her teeth chattered.
"Hiss—" She slapped Xiao Mingzhang's hand away and moved away from him. "I was praising you, and you repay kindness with enmity?"
"Is that so?" Xiao Mingzhang smiled faintly.
He knew Yunzhu was praising him, but Xiao Mingzhang just felt that Yunzhu was deliberately trying to seduce him.
This story begins a few months ago. With the assistance of Yunzhou, the locust plague situation in Qingzhou improved considerably. In addition, as winter approached, Qingzhou finally received a snowfall and some rain, and the situation began to improve.
However, some of the people who had originally fled to Yunzhou did not want to go back for the time being. What was the use of rain? Their food was gone. Going back to Qingzhou would mean receiving aid from the government, and staying in Yunzhou would not mean being abandoned by the Huanwang Mansion. So they simply stayed and decided to wait until next spring.
If the rainfall in Qingzhou is normal next spring and the land is in good condition, they will go home.
Therefore, after winter set in, the government office in Yunzhou City had an important task: to settle the Qingzhou people who continued to stay in Yunzhou, providing them with lodging, food, and drink.
It was originally a good thing to take in disaster victims, but gradually, Xiao Mingzhang discovered that many of the disaster victims were able-bodied young men who did nothing but receive the government's rations for three meals a day. This was a bit unreasonable.
Instead of directly ordering people to continue sending money and food to these disaster victims, he required each family to send someone to the government office to work before they could receive certain supplies.
Just in time, in order to prepare for the possible drought next year, Yunzhou is currently building new dikes to store water, and these people have found work to do.
This move was undeniably brilliant; as Yunzhu said, it immediately turned a burden into an asset. However, this was already recorded in historical texts, and Xiao Mingzhang really didn't think it was worth praising for so many days.
This was the third time Yunzhu had praised him.
Seeing that Xiao Mingzhang was about to continue rubbing her with his big hands, Yunzhu hurriedly ran around the room.
As she fled, she told Xiao Mingzhang about her fun with Yu Jingsi and Cui Ranzhi that day, trying to distract him.
However, Xiao Mingzhang ignored her and just kept chasing her around the house.
"Xiao Mingzhang!" Finally, Yunzhu was exhausted and could no longer run, so she called out to Xiao Mingzhang from a distance, saying, "I have an even bigger surprise for you on my birthday next year!"
Xiao Mingzhang raised an eyebrow.
Yunzhu then said seriously, "I won't tell you the specifics for now, but it's my birthday next year, and I'd like a flower crown that you made yourself. Would you agree?"
She looked at him with great anticipation.
This is a custom in the Western Regions. If a man finds himself in love with a woman, he will give her a flower crown that he made himself and take her to ride horses on the grassland.
The crown is covered with bright and romantic flowers from the grassland, symbolizing the man's most sincere and passionate love.
Yunzhu didn't know if Xiao Mingzhang was aware of this custom.
But she wanted a floral crown, a floral crown woven by Xiao Mingzhang himself.
Xiao Mingzhang finally stopped approaching Yunzhu. Dressed in a dark blue cross-collar casual suit, he stood before Yunzhu, pondered for a long time, and then readily agreed:
"good."
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Author's Note: It's here! I'm so sorry, there was supposed to be a second update, but something came up today, so there won't be one for now. I'll definitely make it up in a couple of days! [Let me see] There's still a red envelope for this chapter~
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