Capital city.
Atop the Golden Throne Hall, a man dressed in a bright-yellow dragon robe sat on the upper dragon throne. The bead curtain on his head obscuring most of his face, yet a vague impression could still be seen of his imposing demeanor.
Below the great hall was devoid of people, leaving only a man in a nifty black outfit kneeling on the ground: "Your Majesty, Mu Xiang has sent a secret letter."
The man spoke deeply: "Present it."
"Yes!"
The secret letter was handed to him, and the emperor quickly unfolded it and began to read it, his brows gradually frowning. After a long while, he sneered: "Originally thought there was only one third prince left out, afraid he couldn’t make any significant movement, who would have thought that in such a far-far-away place, even a little iron mine could connect so many mixed crowds, some of them even hold high official positions, do they really think I’m non-existent?"
The new emperor ascended to the throne less than a few months ago, the foundation is not yet stable. The initial struggle for the throne among the princes was extremely fierce. He sits in this position today thanks to stepping on countless bones. Though the general situation was said to have been settled, the other princes competing for the position either died or imprisoned, except for a third prince who is on the run.
He expected things won’t go smoothly after his ascension to the throne, but he didn’t anticipate that there were still so many remnants of the opposition force. A single iron mine incident was enough to involve countless officials of all sizes. How many courtiers in the entire nation still disobey him and are secretly planning a rebellion?, he thought.
The man in black made a fist and saluted: "Whoever dares to despise Your Majesty, just eliminate them. Your Majesty need not worry."
The emperor sneered: "Yes, a day son a day courtier. Now that I have this country, those disobedient things, indeed need to be dealt with. Mu Houchu has already explained in the secret letter, the rebels will soon be furious about the water-out trouble at the iron mine and show their corners. At that time, you only need to follow Mu Xiang’s orders and capture all these rebellious courtiers and thieves at once!"
"Yes, sir!"
As soon as the voice fell, there was a noisy sound outside.
The Emperor’s face sank and he sternly said, "Who is making noise outside?"
Immediately, a little eunuch came in trembling and said repeatedly, "It, it, it’s Princess Chaoyang crying and asking to see Your Majesty, I’m afraid it’s about Mu Xiang’s matter······"
Emperor knitted his brows: "Ridiculous! Tell her to get out."
"But the princess, she is not willing to. I fear she won’t leave." The little eunuch had a helpless expression on his face.
The man in black kneeling beneath the hall made a fist: "The subordinate will retreat first."
"Hmm." The emperor waved his hand sternly to let him withdraw. He then turned to the little eunuch: "Let the princess in."
"Yes."
The relationship of siblings after all.
"Am I dead, Mu Houchu? I do not believe it, if he is really dead, why has the body still not been found? You tell me, he is not dead, is he?" Princess Chaoyang burst into crying as she dashed in without any care of its consequences.
The emperor looked serious: "Look at yourself. What kind of appearance are you in? He is dead, and the funeral has already been done, why are you now still creating such a fuss?"
Princess Chaoyang sobbed and cried: "But why, why is there no body?"
"Lost his life in the wilderness, where can you find a body? If you want him to rest in peace, you should stop making fuss." The emperor said coldly: "I have already planned to decree a marriage for you and Prince Jin’an, you should curb your thoughts and stop being whimsical."
With that, the emperor flicked his sleeve and turned to leave the great hall.
Leaving Princess Chaoyang alone in the hall, seemingly unable to accept the reality.
When the emperor left the hall, the little eunuch waiting outside quickly came up and said, "Does Your Majesty really plan to arrange a marriage for the princess? But the princess has the heart for Mu Xiang······"
"What is there to remember about a dead man? Immediately issue an edict to grant marriage between Princess Chaoyang and Prince Jin’an, and choose a good day next year to send the princess to get married." The emperor said decisively.
Marquis Mu Houchu had no interest in her, or rather this man had no interest in any woman. Chaoyang’s unrequited love and her deeply misplaced affection, and the truly desperate pursuit of marriage, is bound to be a lifetime of misfortune. It’s better to take this chance when Houchu’s ’death’ has disillusioned her and quickly fix her to a reliable marriage, and that would also settle this matter.
The little eunuch had grown up with the emperor since he was a child, so naturally he understood the emperor’s mind very well, so he immediately replied: "Yes."
——
"How come I’ve never heard of this canned orange that your shop sells before? Can oranges be eaten this way? Does it taste strange?"
Ji Xinhe laughed: "Where would it be strange? It’s even sweeter and more delicious than the oranges from the past. The shop has been opened for quite some time, the quality of the stuff we sell has been witnessed by everyone. Every time a new product is introduced, everyone likes it so much, we will certainly never bring out something that would ruin our reputation."
"So, how long can this canned orange be stored?"
"You can rest assured for this, it can be stored longer than the oranges, especially now in winter, the weather is cold, sealed preservation, a month should not be a problem. In summer, store it in the ice cellar, take it out and eat it whenever you want to, it’s also very refreshing when it’s cold!"
His speech was tantalizing, and indeed a few more customers came over to buy some and try.
Ji Xinhe looked at today’s canned oranges and estimated that she had sold about twenty pounds, which is a lot more than in the past few days.
Seeing business getting hotter day by day, she was joyfully amused all day, and she had almost completely forgotten about Marquis Mu being "wanted".
Ji Xinhe quickly calculated today’s accounts with her abacus, only once everything was sorted out did she clap her hands excitedly: "Alright, let’s go home early today, brother said he’s going to make meatloaf and meatballs today."
These meatloafs and meatballs were to be made in advance for the Chinese New Year, and looking at it now, the New Year was just a few days away, naturally they had to be prepared.
"Xiao Bei loves meatloaf and meatballs the most!" Xiao Bei jumped with joy.
Ji Xinhe laughed and pinched his little face: "What don’t you love to eat?"
They closed the shop early and then headed back to their village.
On the way back, they could still see officials patrolling the streets from time to time, anyone who looked suspicious was stopped and questioned. Xiao Bei was a little scared and shrank towards Ji Xinhe.
Ji Xinhe looked at Mu Huchu who seemed to be indifferent, eliminating any anxiety from her heart. If he wasn’t afraid, what was there to be afraid of?
But this suspicion in her heart deepened a bit, during her time with him she had come to understand him quite well - he wasn’t someone to recklessly cause trouble. So why did he have the guts to set a fire at the iron mine and bring so much trouble, what was his real intention?
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