The new Prince Yan's Mansion was located on the bank of the Qinhuai Inner River, in a very prosperous area. During the day, the pleasure boats were filled with spring water, and the clouds and mists carried the sticky little tunes towards the mansion.
His Highness seemed quite satisfied with this place. He was a dissolute person by nature and loved the life of sensual pleasures and decadence, so he quickly became friends with the dandy young men of similar age here.
The young masters had just heard that he was a prince, and the regent in Kyoto who was rumored to be able to make things happen with his power, so they only dared to worship him like an ancestor.
But later they discovered that Xie Shiguan was not only generous, but also did not have the superior airs of the powerful and wealthy.
So after a few interactions, the fun started to grow.
However, this prince was good in every way, but when it was late at night, he would always go back home on time and would not stay for a moment longer. Therefore, they all spread the rumor that this prince, Prince Yan, had a jealous woman, Yaksha, at home. If the prince came home late, the woman would punish him by making him kneel on pebbles and not allowing him to eat for three days.
That night.
After a loud thunder, there was a sudden rain in the city. The rain was so fast and fierce that it lashed on the floor tiles, making the tiles on the eaves shake with a noisy sound.
"It's great now," a young man at the table suddenly laughed, staring at the heavy rain outside the window, he was very excited, "Grandpa Long is showing his power, the rain is so heavy, why don't we all go home tonight."
"Why don't you come back? Why don't you send a slave to the mansion to tell him the news and have the servants bring a carriage to pick him up?" said another young man. "If your father knew that you didn't come back all night again, wouldn't you be punished by the family law?"
The young man just now half mocked and half laughed: "Come on, stop using my grandfather to pressure me. You are a newlywed and you haven't gotten tired of eating at home yet, so of course you want to go back. When you get to my age, you will know how boring home is. Even the concubines are trained by her to be obedient. They have to follow the rules wherever they go. It's really boring."
At this moment, a young singer in blue was standing on the left side of the banquet. He fluttered his sleeves lightly, holding the folding fan he had asked for from Xie Shiguan, and sang a tune in a low voice. He was singing authentic Southern-style Kunqu opera, with soft and melodious voices that almost made people's ears numb.
It's a pity that His Highness doesn't like listening to opera, so he was invited here just to listen to the music.
"Shi Guan, are you going back tonight?" someone suddenly asked at the table.
Before His Highness could respond, another person interrupted him with a smile: "Don't ask me any more questions. When did Your Highness dare not go home? If there was a list of people who were afraid of their wives in Jinling City, this would be the top one!"
Xie Shiguan was not annoyed and let them joke: "Well, it turns out that my bad reputation is spread by you. I will tie you all up and send you to the execution ground tomorrow."
"Please spare my life, Your Highness," the young man was not afraid and pretended to beg for mercy, "Beheading is so painful, if you really hate me, why not give me some Changgui Xingyang Soup, let me die in that gentle tent, at the feet of the beauty..."
"You'll be so happy then." Someone else laughed, "Can this be called a punishment? This is a reward, right?"
As they were talking, there was a sudden sound of horses stopping outside, and the table fell silent for a moment.
"Hey, whose wife is here to catch someone?" A bystander grabbed a handful of peanuts and ate them with his wine. "Hurry up and go out and identify the person. Hide where you should hide. Otherwise, everyone will see you being pulled by your own wife by the collar and twisted by the ears. It's embarrassing."
Everyone started laughing.
Not long after, a eunuch ran in and went straight to the head: "Your Highness Prince Yan, the carriage outside looks like the prince's palace. A young man got off the carriage, holding a one-year-old baby. I asked him who he was looking for, but he didn't say anything..."
As soon as Xie Shiguan heard who was coming, he stood up, took the fan back from the singer, and toasted to the table in a good mood: "Excuse me for now, we will meet again another day."
Just as His Highness turned around to leave, these young masters all crowded towards the small window, and saw a person parked next to the carriage, holding a thick black silk umbrella. Half of his body was covered by the silk, and only his slender figure and very narrow waist could be vaguely seen.
"Why is it a man?" someone muttered, "Is he a servant or a male prostitute?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the man holding the umbrella took a few steps forward and took Xie Shiguan under the umbrella.
"It's raining so hard, why did you come to deliver an umbrella in person?" His Highness put his arm around his waist and asked in a low voice, "Just send one of your personal guards over."
Although he said so, Xie Shiguan looked as if he really wanted him to come. After gathering everyone into the carriage, he turned around and met the young men above him who were trying to squeeze half of their bodies out of the window to look.
"What are you looking at?"
The group of unruly people above immediately responded: "Look at the rain. It's raining heavily, don't you think?"
Everyone agreed and said they were watching the rain.
Xie Shiguan smiled as he got into the car and put away his umbrella: "Why did you bring this kid with you?"
"It was very noisy," Shen Que gestured, "I just coaxed her to sleep, and was woken up by the thunder outside."
His Highness walked over, squeezed in and sat down next to Shen Que, then pinched the boy's face out of impatience, making him tear up, and he felt relieved.
Not only that, he also scolded the wicked man like a scoundrel: "You keep crying. I'll send you to the academy to see the teacher tomorrow. A child as crybaby as you will definitely be punished by the teacher."
He spoke in a serious manner, which made the kid in Shen Que's arms even more scared. Shen Que was afraid that he was not old enough to go to school, and would be deceived by this unreliable grandfather and become tired of studying.
So he gestured to him: "Grandpa lied to you, the master doesn't hit people."
This kid is precocious. He started talking before he was one year old, and now he can understand some simple sign language.
Xie Shiguan insisted on continuing to scare him: "Since the teacher doesn't hit anyone, why does he have a ruler? You will know whether my grandfather lied to you when you go to school."
Si Lai naturally believed what he said, and she burst into tears, pulling at Chen Que's robe, and said in a baby voice: "I don't want to go to school, I don't want a teacher..."
Shen Que had no choice but to hold him on his lap and pat his back to comfort him.
The baby was tired of crying, and after a little shaking in the carriage, he fell asleep in a daze. Seeing that the mute seemed to have something to say to him, His Highness took the baby from his arms and said, "Let me hold it."
When the kid turned one year old, His Highness casually wrote a dozen names on them, crumpled them up, and asked him to crawl out and choose one by himself. But for some reason, the kid couldn't grab a piece of paper that day, so His Highness, who was getting a little impatient, helped him cheat by picking up a nearby piece of paper and stuffing it into his hand, as if he had chosen it himself.
So the boy's full name was decided to be "Xie Zhangtai", and his nickname was still Silai.
"You've spoiled this kid too much," Xie Shiguan lowered his head and looked at Si Lai's snow-white face, "Why does a boy always cling to you and act like a spoiled child? He's so old, but he can't sleep well by himself and still needs someone to coax him. Aren't you ashamed?"
However, Shen believed that he did not spoil Si Lai. If the kid did something wrong, he would correct him strictly and would not be soft-hearted just because he cried.
In comparison, His Highness was too harsh on Si Lai.
"Send him to Shen Xiangzhi tomorrow and ask him to take the kid to the training ground for some practice. He keeps crying like this, how can he be like a boy?"
However, Shen was too embarrassed to say anything. His master looked stern, but if he really wanted him to bring Si here, he would hold her in his hands for fear of dropping her, or hold her in his mouth for fear of her melting. He had sent her to him to look after her for a day, and he helped her make a swing and buy candy figures for her. Even if she played tricks and broke the vase ornaments in his room, Shen Xiangzhi didn't seem to get angry.
Instead, he touched the kid's head with a smile and praised him for walking so steadily.
If he really sent him to "train" for a few days, he was afraid that the kid would become even more spoiled.
"Yi Ru also moved to Jinling a few days ago," Chen Que suddenly raised his hand and gestured, "She is very good at making rouge. When I went to congratulate her yesterday, she asked me if I wanted to open a rouge shop together."
Xie Shiguan pretended not to understand: "Who?"
Shen Que just wrote on his palm: Tao Yiru.
"Oh, it's that young widow." The prince didn't want him to get too close to that woman. "Why do you have to close them? I bought so many shops, didn't I ask you to take them all? If you can't stay idle, just take a few to play with."
Shen, however, gave him a sad look.
"Okay, fine," Xie Shiguan sighed deliberately, "It's up to you. Just pick a shop you like and take it."
Before the business even started, His Highness had already made three rules for him: "Choose a place close to home, and don't make yourself too busy, understand?"
Shen nodded.
Unexpectedly, after returning home, the mute carefully wrote him a promissory note, even calculating the monthly rent of the shop clearly.
When His Highness received the receipt, he was almost angry to the point of laughing. But if he refused to accept it, this stupid mute would probably have to think about renting a shop outside.
Therefore, Xie Shiguan gritted his teeth and let him go.
He originally thought that the mute just wanted to find something to do, but he didn't expect that this cosmetics shop could actually make money. Before long, the singers and prostitutes in the brothels and brothels all changed their makeup to the powder and rouge from their Tao Ji cosmetics shop.
Not only the people in the Qinlou and Chuguan love to use it, but the ladies of high rank also flock to the various colors of rouge in this shop.
Half a year later, the mute came with a bag of silver to pay the rent. Seeing this solid bag of silver, His Highness was a little surprised at first, but more than this amount slipped through his fingers every day. If he refused to accept it, the mute would probably be sad again.
So His Highness said to him, "Your husband doesn't lack money, so keep it with you first, and then exchange it for a gift to me."
He just said it casually, but the mute took it to heart. In the early summer of the following year, Shen Que suddenly stuffed a rectangular wooden box into his arms.
Xie Shiguan was slightly stunned.
"Open it and take a look." The mute gestured slowly, looking at him expectantly.
So he carefully pushed open the wooden box, and saw a folding fan lying inside. The fan frame was made of rosewood, there were tens of thousands of holes on the fan surface, and the handle was inlaid with gold carvings. It was a very fine workmanship.
Whether this gift is exquisite or expensive is another matter. However, given the workmanship, the mute must have spent all his earnings on this fan, not leaving a single cent for himself.
"You really are..." Xie Shiguan carefully put the folding fan back into the long box.
Hearing that, the mute's mood suddenly dropped, and he said in a disappointed tone, "Isn't it ugly?"
He didn't understand the patterns on the folding fan, so he asked around and found a craftsman who had been making fans for decades. The craftsman didn't know how to say anything else, and only asked him to make an expensive, delicate and beautiful one for him for money.
"It looks good," His Highness suddenly hugged him in his arms, "I like it very much."
"How can you be so picky?" He kissed the tip of his nose gently, laughing softly, "I'll show it off to them tomorrow. Such a beautiful fan is really unique."
Shen was so coaxed by him that he was confused and immediately felt that the money he had saved for nearly a year was well spent. He would save more next time and buy a better one for His Highness.
The author has something to say:
There are some during pregnancy, I will write about them in the next chapter.
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