Just as Hongyan and Hutuli's group were walking away, Naritai came to find Hongzhao in a huff, hands on her hips, and demanded, "Didn't you say you'd send me here this morning? Or that your brother would definitely take me flying today? You lied! You not only bragged, you're a big liar! You little liar!"
Hearing Naritai call him a puppy again, Hongzhao quickly pulled her aside: "What nonsense are you talking about now? When have I ever lied to you?"
Naritai was furious: "Yesterday I stole the wolf pelt and gave it to you, and you promised your brother would take me flying today! Now he's gone, who's going to take me flying? You're going to take me flying?"
Hongzhao replied mysteriously, "Who said it was this older brother? This older brother can't fly. I said the one who can fly is another older brother."
"Another brother?" Naritai was skeptical. She knew that Hongzhao was the fourth prince, and there was a third prince before him, who was born to the same mother and had just passed away.
The second prince is said to have died young, and there is also an eldest prince.
Could he be referring to the eldest prince?
But……
Naritai glanced to the side and saw that Honghui's thin body looked even more frail in the wind. This weakling? He didn't even look like he could withstand a kick from a lamb. Could he manage?
Then Hongzhao mysteriously took a book out of his pocket and handed it to Naritai.
Naritai took it suspiciously; it was titled "Newly Engraved Official Print of Journey to the West in Large Characters".
"What's this?"
“My brother who can fly is inside. His name is Monkey King,” Hongzhao introduced in a serious tone.
Naritai was on the verge of losing her temper. She felt like she had been tricked, but Hongzhao took her hand and they found a small hill where they could enjoy the breeze of the grassland and find peace and quiet to read together.
Hongzhao was afraid she wouldn't understand Chinese characters, so he had to tell her stories himself.
"Since the beginning of time, every stone that has received the essence of the sun and moon has become spiritually intelligent and nurtured a celestial embryo within it. One day, it burst open and transformed into a stone monkey. This is Brother Monkey."
...
In this small space, with the azure sky above them and vast grasslands all around, and Hongzhao's still slightly childish voice in their ears, Naritai suddenly felt that not being able to fly was quite nice.
Hongzhao finished telling the story after several chapters. Finally, the four members of Tang Sanzang's group gathered together. He felt a little thirsty, his mouth was dry, but when he saw Naritai's bright eyes, he was clearly engrossed in listening to the story. He felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
"How about that? Isn't Monkey King amazing?"
Naritai nodded: "It is very impressive. Who wrote this book? Was it written by a Han Chinese? Are all Han Chinese this impressive? And this Tang Dynasty monk is so annoying. He is definitely not as good as the lamas here."
“My mother said it was written by a man named Wu Cheng’en, and he was indeed very talented. There are also learned people among the Han people.”
Naritai turned to look at him, her voice clear and crisp: "And what about you? You're a prince, don't you have a lot of homework to do every day?"
At this point, Hongzhao had even more to complain about: "Of course, you have no idea how demanding our daily studies are. We not only have to learn Manchu, Mongolian, and Chinese languages, but also counting rods, astronomy, history, geography, and so on. And if it weren't for the fact that we're coming out with Father Emperor this time, we would only have three days off a year."
Naritai's mouth dropped open, her eyes filled with disbelief: "My God! This is terrible! My Abu hardly ever cares about me. Hongzhao, you're so pitiful."
Hongzhao scratched his head, somewhat embarrassed: "Oh, it's alright, I'm used to it. Besides, as a prince of the Qing Dynasty, it's only right that I learn more, otherwise how will I benefit the people in the future?"
“That’s right. Our Duerbote tribe must also flourish and grow stronger, and I need to study hard too!” Naritai clenched her fist, then asked, “So, are you going back to the capital in a few more days?”
Hongzhao nodded: "That should be true."
"Then we're good friends, right?" Naritai asked.
Seeing that Hongzhao did not answer, Naritai became a little anxious: "You even accepted my wolf pelt!"
"Yes, yes, yes! It must be!" Hongzhao quickly replied.
"When you return to the capital, can I write to you? I've never been to the capital before, and I don't know what the palace is like. Could you write it down and send it to me?"
Hongzhao agreed to Naritai's request without hesitation: "Of course you can. Or you can come back to the capital with us! I'll invite you to be my guest! Actually, the palace isn't as vast as the grasslands, and it's rather dull and doesn't offer as much fun. But the Yuanmingyuan is very interesting. We go there every summer to escape the heat. There are ponds and bamboo groves where you can catch birds and crickets. It's so much fun!"
Naritai's interest was piqued by his few words: "Really? I can go too?"
Hongzhao nodded firmly: "Of course! There are so many houses in the palace, they're not even enough to fill them all. I'll talk to Mother about it, and you're definitely welcome to come visit."
Naritai's eyes were full of longing: "Then it's settled? I'll go back and tell Abu right now!"
"Okay! It's a deal!"
When Hongzhao entered the yurt in Changning again, he saw his two little sisters picking out clothes from each other. There were clothes of various materials and colors, which were extremely exquisite and beautiful.
Hongzhao's first thought was that this sky-blue dress would definitely look good on Naritai.
I feel a little guilty for cheating her out of a wolf pelt, so I might as well give her a dress as an apology.
When Changning saw Hongzhao staring at the clothes as soon as he entered, she was a little surprised and asked, "What's wrong, Hongzhao? Do you want to have clothes made too?"
Yartan liked the light green one and wouldn't let go of it. Then he thought that the other one, the same style but a different color, could be given to his younger sister. So he grabbed the light red one and tossed it to Unaxi: "Sister! Wear this!"
Changning laughed as soon as she saw it: "Great! Red and green, you two have chosen a good matching outfit."
Yartan and Unashi especially liked picking out some pretty clothes. They were still too young to wear jewelry, otherwise they would have chosen them together.
Upon seeing her brother enter, Yartan flashed a sweet and adorable smile, and Unashi sweetly called out, "Brother!"
"Mother, sister."
Hongzhao touched his two younger sisters' soft, smooth faces, feeling incredibly content.
Changning asked again, "Hongzhao, are you short of clothes?"
Hongzhao was a little embarrassed and asked in a low voice, "Mother, could you ask Sister Yuxia to make one of those sky-blue dresses a little bigger?"
Changning?
Son, have you been hiding this so well?
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