"Your Highness, the Fourth Prince will not be going."
Yin Quan drove back as he went.
"Over the years, the Fourth Prince has been avoiding any appearance of impropriety with Princess Nan'an. Whenever they meet in public, they always clash. Since Princess Nan'an didn't invite him this time, he probably won't go."
"But don't worry, the old lady is against the cousin entering the family. You have already had your subordinates spread the word that you want the cousin to make a name for herself at the banquet in order to get the old lady's approval. When the Fourth Prince finds out, he will definitely think that you are deeply in love with the cousin and are crazy in love."
As he said this, Yin Quan paused for a moment.
“Your Highness, it’s strange, Princess Nan’an is not the kind of person who would hold a plum blossom appreciation banquet. Moreover, she invited the young mistress. The princess has been very persistent with you before. I’m afraid that the princess will target the young mistress at the banquet. Should I remind the young mistress?”
"No need, she's much smarter than you."
Yin Quan: "..."
I know, but what you said really hurts my self-esteem.
Yin Quan's lips twitched as he recalled the changes in Pei Yanzhi over the past few days.
Especially after the wedding, he couldn't help but ask.
“Your Highness, why are you so wary of the Fourth Prince after your marriage? Previously, the Gu family of Pingzhou was secretly murdered by the Fourth Prince, who turned them into bandits. From what you said, I greatly admired the Fourth Prince, and even felt that the First Prince and the Crown Prince were not as good as him. Why are you becoming more and more wary of him now…”
Having said that, Yin Quan pricked up his ears.
He had always been curious about these things.
Especially the Duchess of Chen, who was imprisoned for usury, and how her heir foresaw the enemy's plans and knew that the Fourth Prince would use the heir to poison the Duchess of Chen, thereby completely dismantling the Chen clan.
Moreover, the fourth prince is also very strange.
Why would they want to ambush and kill the two powerful families of Pingzhou, the Gu family and the Duke of Chen's mansion?
If someone is seeking the throne, shouldn't they be courted?
Thinking about these strange things, Yin Quan felt that this world was too complicated. Not only his young master, but even the fourth prince did not play by the rules.
The people inside didn't answer his questions either.
In the dead of winter, snowflakes danced in the air.
Yin Quan drove the carriage slowly through the snow and ice, the horses' hooves crunching on the snow.
The carriage curtains swayed gently in the wind, and glimpses of Pei Yanzhi's clothes could occasionally be seen through the gaps.
Perhaps it was because of the cold weather, but most of the shops on both sides of the street were not open, with their wooden doors tightly shut and signs swaying slightly in the wind and snow.
The snow on the roof was thick and heavy, and chunks of snow would occasionally slide off, hitting the ground and splashing up in a flurry of snowflakes.
A cold wind howled past, blowing up the snow on the ground and a few withered yellow leaves, forming white vortexes.
As the carriage moved forward, the street scene receded into the distance, and there were hardly any pedestrians in sight. The few ordinary people who did venture out were huddled up, shivering from the cold.
On the distant stone bridge, the river beneath it had long since frozen over, and a thin layer of snowflakes covered the ice. Several children were having a fun snowball fight by the river, their silvery laughter ringing out crisply in the quiet snowy weather.
"I guess only children aren't afraid of the cold this season."
Yin Quan, in a good mood, drove the carriage toward the stone bridge.
After crossing the stone bridge, you will reach the royal villa.
He was focused on driving the carriage, thinking that the people inside wouldn't answer him, but unexpectedly he heard a clear and indifferent voice behind him.
"There was a rotten tree. I thought he was cutting off branches to save the tree, but I didn't expect him to pour a basin of mercury on it, killing the tree roots and all the creatures living in the soil beneath it."
“He’s crazy, I won’t choose him.”
Pei Yanzhi's voice was faint and accompanied by the cold wind blowing through the street. If Yin Quan hadn't had sharp ears, he wouldn't have been able to hear it at all.
After he finished speaking, he stopped reading the book beside him, put it aside, closed his eyes, and pondered, seemingly lost in thought.
Upon hearing these words, Yin Quan, who was outside the carriage, was stunned for a long time.
Who's gone mad?
The fourth prince?
The Fourth Prince first killed the Gu family of Pingzhou, and then targeted the Duke of Chen's mansion. He was indeed crazy, but wasn't this the same path as his heir's advocacy of weakening the power of aristocratic families?
He thought that the emperor and his ministers were of one mind and complemented each other perfectly, but he never expected that his heir would not choose the fourth prince.
So who should we choose?
The eldest prince, or the crown prince?
But I've never seen him show the eldest prince or the crown prince a kind look...
As he thought about it, Yin Quan's mind became increasingly confused.
As he walked, he couldn't help but look back. The cold wind lifted a corner of the carriage curtain, revealing a book that Pei Yanzhi had casually tossed on a small table.
It was a miscellaneous book from the previous dynasty, its cover already yellowed.
Originally written by a historian of the previous dynasty, it tells the story of how the previous imperial family was incompetent and tyrannical, with various powerful families controlling 90% of the wealth in the country, leaving only 10% for the common people who could not even afford basic necessities.
Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste; on the roads, the bones of those frozen to death lie.
This book was originally called "History of the Fall of a Dynasty." Because the court and powerful families at the time disliked it, the historian's entire family was killed, and the book was burned.
The book that his heir is holding now was also copied from memory by the historian's page after he luckily escaped.
This book was very popular when the late emperor established the Great Jing Dynasty.
Not long after, the powerful families of the previous dynasty regained their foothold in the Great Jing Dynasty and banned the book, burning all the printed copies.
The book in his son's hand is probably the only one of its kind in the world.
Thinking of this, Yin Quan sneered.
"It's ridiculous. The Fourth Prince always thought that his son's library was a forbidden place, a place where secrets were hidden. Only those who could enter the library were people the son valued. Little did he know that the thing the son valued most was always kept in the carriage. He did it casually and openly, yet he fooled everyone."
"The Crown Prince's trick of deceiving everyone was truly excellent."
As Yin Quan pondered this, the carriage arrived at the bridgehead, when suddenly a snowball hit Yin Quan in the face.
Yin Quan quickly stopped the carriage and looked up, only to see that the group of children who had just been having a snowball fight had surrounded him.
He waved for the guards to leave and looked at the children.
A group of children, not even as tall as his legs, glared at him angrily.
"You've crushed our snowman!"
"You bastard, you owe us our snowman!"
"It took us a lot of effort to build this up."
The children, their eyes red and tearful, wiped away their tears of grievance. Yin Quan looked down and, sure enough, saw several snowmen trapped under the carriage wheels.
The poor thing is that the originally round and cute snowmen were crushed by the wheels and shattered. Some were missing arms and legs, and they were all in a terrible state.
Seeing the child's face red from the cold, Yin Quan felt a pang of guilt and quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, it was my oversight."
After saying this, he took out a handful of copper coins from his pocket and handed them to the children.
"Here's the money for you. Use it to buy some sweet soup. Consider it my apology."
Wow, you're rich!
"Buy sweet soup, buy sweet soup."
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