Concubine Rou was stunned, "Your Majesty, have you met Shen Qingqiu?"
The emperor looked at his beloved concubine, "Not just once..." The two times he met this girl, nothing good happened, "Why did the beloved concubine choose her to be Lingling's study companion?"
Concubine Rou observed the emperor's expression and knew that he was not in a good mood. She said softly, "Originally, this young lady from the Gu family was not within my consideration, but Your Majesty, you should know that our Lingling is not in good health. She has only had Princess Changhe as her playmate since she was a child. Jiao is inseparable from Meng and Meng is inseparable from Jiao. Princess Changhe has taken a fancy to this girl. I originally thought it was a bit inappropriate, so I came to see her today. But now it seems that she is not bad."
"Oh, what's going on?"
Concubine Rou then told her how Changhe was bullied that day for hiding his identity, and how Shen Qingqiu saved her. Soon her eyes were red again, "Lingling is not in good health and has not been out of the house for many years. Life is simple. I am afraid that after a hundred years, no one will take care of her, so I want to find a stronger companion for her, hoping that someone can protect her in the future."
The emperor sighed at Concubine Rou's motherly love. The Ninth Princess was in poor health, and as a father, he certainly hoped that she would not be bullied.
"I've met Shen Qingqiu a few times, and she's really smart."
Concubine Rou also smiled and said, "Yes, I was afraid that this girl was too clever and that Lingling would suffer, but today I see that they get along well." As she was saying this, the Ninth Princess came over with her two companions, holding one in each hand and calling "Father" sweetly.
She was the emperor's most beloved daughter, so she naturally picked him up and asked him a few questions, "Father hasn't been here for a while. How are you? Have you been having fun recently?"
The Ninth Princess nodded hurriedly, "Mother said that the Imperial Kitchen has prepared delicious food for us. We are going to eat it soon. Father, can you join us?" Seeing his daughter's smile, the Emperor couldn't help but agree. Concubine Rou tried to stop him, "That's unruly. Your father will be testing the prince's homework soon. How can he have time to accompany you?"
Seeing his daughter's cute little face fall in an instant, the emperor couldn't bear it, "My beloved concubine, why do you have to be so harsh? Lingling is still young."
Concubine Rou said, "I am afraid that Your Majesty will spoil her. Look at which princess is like her. She eats and plays all the time, and now she is even more ignorant of the world."
The emperor smiled and said, "No problem." He then said, "She is my princess, and I will let her go without knowing her own limitations. Lingling, I am going to go see your two brothers. Do you want to go with me?"
The Ninth Princess nodded immediately and did not forget her two little friends even now, "Furong Qiuer, come on, let's go see my two brothers. My Ninth Brother is a very nice person. After they finish their homework, we will go to play in his yard. He has a grape vine planted in his yard. The grapes are growing now, let's go pick them!" She was almost drooling as she spoke.
There was naturally no shortage of grapes in the palace, but the grapes in her brother's yard were grown from grape seedlings as she had seen them, so she was naturally drooling.
Princess Changhe also showed anticipation on her face and was obviously very fond of the grape seedlings.
The emperor waved his hand and took the three maids with him. Concubine Rou could only shake her head and follow behind.
——
"Greetings, Father!"
In the Imperial Garden, the two princes saluted the emperor. The Seventh Prince Gu Cheng was always cheerful. As soon as the emperor called him to stand up, he raised his head and saw Concubine Rou and the Ninth Princess following behind the emperor. He didn't say anything. He had also seen Princess Changhe. He just fixed his eyes on Shen Qingqiu and was stunned for a moment.
This girl is so cute, but he has never seen such a cute girl before.
Shen Qingqiu noticed someone was looking at him, so he looked up and met the gaze of the Seventh Prince Gu Cheng. Gu Cheng had a good impression of Shen Qingqiu when he first met her, and he smiled when he saw her looking at him. Shen Qingqiu passed him by and saw Gu Yanwei behind Gu Cheng.
He was being supported by his servants as he walked to the side. He seemed to have become much weaker since the last time they met.
"Cultivate yourself, manage your family, and bring peace to the world. Today, your father will not test you on how to recite those words. Your father will test your real ability." The emperor clapped his hands, and the eunuchs behind him brought bows and arrows, swords and guns onto the sand table. Then fifty guards stood up, and they protected a tray with a golden pen on it.
Gu Cheng immediately understood the trick and clenched his fists, "Father asked us to get the golden pen, how difficult is that?" As he said that, he was about to draw his sword and enter the venue.
The emperor shook his head to stop him, "How can it be so easy? You are princes, and these guards are afraid of hurting you, so they naturally dare not do anything. I told you not to hurt these guards, and then find a way to get the pen." As he spoke, the guards formed a formation, and Gu Yanwei also went up to touch the knife, only to find that the blade was made of silver wax, so it naturally could not hurt people.
"Father, how is this possible? There are fifty guards and I am alone. How can I get it if I can't fly?"
The emperor only said: "I will give you five guards. If you are familiar with the art of war, you will know how to let the five guards break through the guards' defense and get the gold pen safely." The seventh prince gritted his teeth and went to experiment immediately. He usually did well in his studies, but he was always superficial in the art of war.
The guard could not get past the guards' defense line, and finally the Seventh Prince was quick-witted and deliberately used his body to hit the guards' knives when he broke in. The guards did not dare to hurt him, so they asked him to take the tray. Even so, it took him more than half an hour, and the emperor did not look very good.
"Is the teacher's teaching to you about the development of the imperial prince to teach you how to act like a common woman?"
The Seventh Prince quickly knelt down and admitted his fault, "I acknowledge my guilt."
Concubine Rou laughed at the side, "I think the Seventh Prince is quite resourceful. He was able to write in such a situation. Although it is not the right way, it shows that he is smart." After all, he was his son, so the emperor praised him, "He is not very good at military strategy, but just a little clever. All right, get up."
The Seventh Prince then stood up. The Emperor turned his head and said to his other son in a different manner, "You are not in good health. You need to run and jump in this competition. Father has granted you permission not to participate."
"Yes, the emperor's younger brother is not in good health. The imperial chef would be very grateful if he eats two more bowls of rice on weekdays. It is inevitable that there will be bumps in today's competition, so as to avoid hurting the emperor." Gu Cheng said. He was not saying anything good for Gu Yanwei out of their brotherhood. He was being sarcastic this time just because he felt that he had lost face in front of the emperor and wanted to drag Gu Yanwei into it.
If it was in the past, it would be better to do less than more, and Gu Yanwei would just agree. But now... He glanced at Shen Qingqiu standing next to the Ninth Princess. If he didn't compare, would she also feel that he was unbearable? He coughed twice, "Father just wants to take out the golden pen, and there is no need for this son to do it himself. This son is willing to give it a try."
The Seventh Prince frowned, "But one person and five guards make up a group. Ninth Prince, if you don't play there will be five of us. How can we win?" This sickly guy is very calculating. With five of us, he can lose without looking embarrassed.
The emperor also frowned, but his idea was different from that of the seventh prince. His youngest son was in poor health and he did not want to let him down in this regard. "If you want to compete, I will find someone to replace you." The guards on the left and right did not hurt anyone, they were just taking something.
Gu Yanwei frowned and was about to look for someone when Princess Changhe and the Ninth Princess both shouted, "Ninth brother/Ninth cousin, choose me!" They had just watched how the Seventh Prince shuttled through the crowd to get the golden pen. Although the way he rolled around was ridiculous, the older children only found it interesting.
Shen Qingqiu saw how excited the two were, and it would seem discordant if he didn't raise his hand.
The emperor frowned and was about to say it was ridiculous, but he saw his son had already pointed at someone. He said gently: "Then please ask Miss Shen from the Marquis Gu's Mansion to take this prince's place."
Choosing Shen Qingqiu... that's fine. It's ugly for a daughter to roll around on the stage. Changhe is still a member of the royal family after all, so he still has to save face. Shen Qingqiu was born in the Guhou Mansion, and the military family didn't care about these things. It made sense for him to replace the prince in terms of status.
The emperor nodded, and Shen Qingqiu could only step forward and look at the smiling Gu Yanwei.
Never mind. He has helped me a few times, so I’ll just pay him back.
"Please speak, Ninth Prince. I am listening." Gu Yanwei asked her to lean in. After a while, Shen Qingqiu's eyes lit up slightly, and she looked at this sickly man in disbelief. Asking him to stay in this palace and be restrained really made the world lose a good general.
Soon the guards formed their troops again, and only one of the golden pens was put back.
The five guards followed Gu Yanwei's instructions and broke through from five different directions, which made the guards stunned. They were guarding people, and one guard required at least two people to guard, and five guards used up nearly fifteen people. Shen Qingqiu got in at this moment, and she remembered the landing point that Gu Yanwei had arranged for her.
Every time at the edge of the pentagon where the five guards met, the guards had to deal with the guards while guarding against him. After a while, the fifty people were actually a little entangled. Shen Qingqiu used his agile body to quickly get the golden pen. It took less than a cup of tea.
The Seventh Prince's face was extremely ugly, and he wanted to point at them and say they were cheating! But at this moment, the emperor suddenly clapped his hands vigorously, "Good, good, good!" He even said several good words, which showed how satisfied he was. The Seventh Prince pulled back his sleeves in anger, and looked at Gu Yanwei, who was smiling gently, and Shen Qingqiu, who took the golden pen, with sinister eyes.
In the past, I was only concerned with dealing with the crown prince and the sixth brother, but I didn't pay attention to the ninth brother. He was silent, but he was a dog biting people behind their backs.
"I didn't expect that the ninth brother made Miss Shen's nonsense, but he took out the golden pen effortlessly. Calculating the time, it is much shorter than that of my brother." Gu Cheng's words were deliberately pointing out that Gu Yanwei was taking advantage of the situation. Both of them were taking advantage of the situation. Father couldn't favor him just because he had less time, right?
Gu Yanwei smiled, still very gentle, "My brother, I'm letting you do that."
The emperor snorted coldly, "You are so short-sighted that you can't recognize the art of war at all after taking it from the book."
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