"Will you stay by my side forever?" Yinzhen asked again.
Yi Hua smiled and said, "Of course."
"After returning to my parents' home in three days, I will keep the eldest princess in the palace for a while." Yinzhen was satisfied with Yihua's positive response and turned his attention back to the eldest princess.
“I’m afraid that won’t do. The newlyweds are deeply in love, and we can’t break them up.” Yi Hua shook her head. “Besides, if the eldest princess is very satisfied, Your Majesty, you might cause her to resent you if you do this.”
"The young man is still the best," Yinzhen remarked.
"With the eldest princess finding a good home, the next person to be busy with is Honghui."
“That child is very thoughtful. I was thinking of finding someone simple and happy, and most importantly, someone the child likes.”
A flicker of interest crossed Yinzhen's eyes: "That boy came to you for help? Which family's daughter is she?"
“No, His Majesty doesn’t know Honghui yet. He’s very shy, and every time we talk to him about these things, he says we should make the decision. But I’ve noticed that he’s treated one girl differently all these years, and I don’t want him to miss out.” Yihua leaned closer to Yinzhen and said a name.
Yinzhen understood, and then he suddenly thought of something: "Tangtang, is there anyone in Honghui's room?"
Yi Hua was stunned for a moment before realizing what it meant that there was someone in the room. She subconsciously shook her head: "No, he was too young before, and I was afraid that he would change his temperament. Later... I forgot."
Or perhaps Yihua deliberately ignored this matter. A prince's first woman always has some special significance. We didn't see Song Shi being able to peacefully chant sutras in the palace's Buddhist hall, while Niohuru Shi didn't even receive a posthumous title.
Yihua always felt sorry for that girl because she felt that such a woman could not be Honghui's future wife.
“That won’t do, Tangtang. He can’t be completely clueless on Honghui’s wedding night; that would be a joke.” Yinzhen took a sip of wine. “Tomorrow I will send him a few beautiful women.”
"How many?" Yi Hua couldn't help but raise her voice.
"It's necessary to broaden Honghui's horizons so that he won't be blinded by beauty in the future," Yinzhen said seriously.
"Is that so?" Yi Hua was a little unsure. She always believed what Yinzhen said, but something just felt off.
"Think about it, people like the Ninth and Tenth Princes, who frequent brothels, would never be so desperate for a woman, right? And look at the Eighth Prince, he was dragged into the abyss by that woman, Lady Guoluo. As for our Honghui, I would rather he be the Ninth or Tenth Prince than the Eighth Prince." Yinzhen continued to deceive him.
Yi Hua first nodded, then shook her head. What did the Eighth Prince's temperament and methods have to do with Lady Guo Luoluo? It was clear that Yinzhen had a lot of opinions about Lady Guo Luoluo.
"There's some truth to that." Yi Hua convinced herself to accept Yinzhen's idea; perhaps this was the wisdom of the ancients.
Seeing how easily Yihua was fooled, Yinzhen couldn't help but laugh so hard he almost fell over. The sound was so loud that the guards and servants around him all looked up to see what the emperor was laughing about.
Yi Hua realized at this point that she had been tricked, and quickly gathered her strength.
"If this weren't for the Emperor, I really wouldn't serve him," Yi Hua thought to herself.
******
Time flies, and before we could find a wife for Honghui, his birthday arrived.
Honghui is now the eldest son of the emperor, who is highly valued by the emperor. It is impossible for him to celebrate his birthday quietly.
Both the imperial court and the harem held grand banquets, second only in scale to the emperor and empress's birthday celebrations, and everyone in the court and the public who could attend was present.
All sorts of gifts filled Honghui's room. Little Wolf was completely buried in the pile of gifts, unpacking them one by one and even sorting them out.
"This is what Father Emperor likes, this is for Mother. Hmm, this sword looks pretty, but it's not sharpened yet, all show and no substance. It's for Little Wolf." He muttered to himself, casually tucking the dagger into his belt.
Honghui and Hongyun watched from nearby, smiling without saying a word.
Hongyun took out a seal carved from yellow jade: "I am not very talented, but I carved this seal myself. My skills are rough. Please take it and play with it, Your Majesty."
"It's a fine piece of jade, perfectly natural without any carving. I really like it." Honghui wasn't lying; he looked at it for a while, admiring it, and then put it into his purse.
"Take a look and see if there's anything you like. Take it yourself. Look, Little Wolf has almost emptied his dagger stash." Honghui gestured with his head held high.
Hongyun laughed and said, "In my opinion, none of these combined are as good as the one hanging on the wall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation. It's just for kids to play with."
"Third Brother! Hongyan isn't a child anymore!" Little Wolf, who was at the age where he had to act like an adult for everything, ran out covered in weapons.
"What kind of look is this? Aren't you worried about how heavy it is?" Honghui chuckled. "Take it all back with you and take it off quickly, or you'll embarrass yourself if others see it."
On their way to the palace banquet, the three brothers encountered many classmates, most of whom gave them small trinkets that were not necessarily expensive but were certainly novel. Among them, Honghui gave a kaleidoscope directly to Liuliu.
Hongqing came closer: "Honghui, come here, look what good things I brought you."
After saying that, Hongqing took out a paper package from her bosom: "Braised pig's trotters from Zuixiangju. Their newly hired chef is especially good at making pig's trotters. I ordered this a month in advance. It's still hot. Eat it quickly."
Honghui: ...
It's hard to say. Hong Hui looked at Hong Qing, who hadn't changed much since childhood, and laughed. He reached out and broke the pig's trotter in half: "Come on, let's each have half. Be quiet, don't let the little wolf see, or we won't get a single bite."
The two hid behind a pillar and secretly shared a piece of pig's trotter, as if the days of their childhood playful fights had returned.
Seeing that Honghui had really finished the pig's trotters, Hongqing smiled and patted Honghui on the shoulder: "Good brother!"
“I took this from my father’s room, thinking you would like it.”
"The Landscape Painting?" Honghui asked, somewhat surprised.
"You don't actually think I'd give you a pig's trotter as a birthday gift, do you?" Honghui raised an eyebrow with a hint of smugness. "Everyone says that Prince Honghui is almost supernaturally intelligent, but it seems he's not so hard to fool after all."
Honghui couldn't help but bend over, mainly because you, with your goofy persona, could actually do something like this.
"Does Uncle Wang know?"
"Hehe, he's not going home anyway, let's wait until he remembers."
"That's right. Let's go back; it's almost time for the banquet to begin."
The two wiped their mouths and returned to their seats. The little wolf leaned over and suddenly sniffed, "Big brother, did you just eat meat?"
"Of course not, hurry up and get ready, Father and Mother will be here soon." Honghui sat up straight, ignoring the little wolf's sharp nose.
The little wolf nimbly reached into Honghui's arms and said, "You said you didn't have any? Look what this is. It's oil paper for wrapping meat."
Little brat, you know quite a lot.
"Sit down quickly, and I'll take you to eat whatever you want after the banquet."
Only after receiving this assurance did the little wolf return to its place, satisfied.
Those watching couldn't help but sigh, "No wonder they're half-brothers, they have such a good relationship."
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