Chapter 195 Chapter 195 December
What would happen to the Fifth Prince in calligraphy and painting soon unfolded.
Everyone who heard about this found it unbelievable. Even though the Fifth Prince was as dumb as a pig, he couldn't be really that stupid, could he?
Stupid, but he actually fell like that, it's really...
Even the Third Prince, who had been very busy lately, heard this and couldn't help but sneer: "The Fifth Prince is just so-so, so stupid that I don't even bother to pay attention to him."
The Fifth Prince was never taken seriously by his brothers.
Compared to the Fifth Prince, the Third Prince was more concerned about the Prince of Yingguo, and asked, "What is Zhao Chang doing there? Did the Sixth Prince ask him to go there?"
The Sixth Prince’s mother, Concubine Zhao, is the younger sister of the Duke of England. The Sixth Prince and the Duke of England’s Heir Zhao Chang are cousins and have had a good relationship since childhood.
When the Prince of England suddenly went to the calligraphy and painting meeting this time, people could not help but wonder whether he was sent by the Sixth Prince.
If the Third Prince thought that someone was most likely to compete with him for the throne, it would be the Sixth Prince. He had the support of the Duke of Yingguo’s Mansion, and the Saint’s ambiguous attitude inevitably made him think too much.
The staff member said: "It's possible. I heard that the Sixth Prince is also worried about Prince Fu's return. I don't know what the Saint's attitude will be at that time."
This is said in a subtle way, but in fact, which prince is not worried?
Everyone saw the Saint's preference for the Prince of Zhenguo. Even after what happened later, the Saint never thought of killing the Prince of Zhenguo. He even acquiesced to the Fu family sending him away and only announced his death to the public.
Isn't this a kind of protection for Fu Xiao?
Sure enough, the Third Prince's face twisted and he cursed.
He wished that Fu Xiao would die, but because of the Saint's attitude, he dared not act openly and could only do it secretly.
Unfortunately, he still failed to kill Fu Xiao, and instead let him return to the capital again.
The staff pretended not to hear and continued, "Princess Fuhui may still be unwilling to give up on Prince Fu. What if she mentions him in front of the Saint..."
Although Princess Fuhui is not a prince, her status in the saint's heart is not low.
Princess Fuhui's mother was just an ordinary palace maid. The sage visited her when he was drunk, and Princess Fuhui was born.
For a long time, Princess Fuhui and her daughter were just unknown people in the palace. Until one day when the Sage was attacked, Princess Fuhui's mother stepped forward and died to save the Sage. The Sage was grateful and began to favor Princess Fuhui. Princess Fuhui became the most favored princess in the palace, even more favored than those princes.
If we were to say who has the most say in the eyes of the saint since the "death" of Master Fu, it would be Princess Fuhui.
Now that Prince Fu has returned to the capital, with the way he stirred up trouble in the capital in the past, it is really hard not to be wary of him. If Princess Fuhui speaks for him in front of the Saint, the Saint will be sentimental and restore his status...
The Third Prince's face turned extremely gloomy, and he said sternly: "This cannot be done!"
Seeing that he understood the seriousness of the situation, the aide continued, "So, Your Highness had better inform Princess Fuhui."
Now the Third Prince is the oldest prince and has the greatest hope of inheriting the throne, just waiting for the Saint to pass away... If Princess Fuhui is smart, she should know what to do.
The third prince was very annoyed and said with disgust: "Doesn't Fuhui like handsome men? Go find a few obedient and gentle ones and send them to the princess's mansion for her."
Although he disdained his sister's debauchery and lust, she was easy to control. She was better than the Empress Dowager and Princess Yuan'an who were in power at that time.
Those two women were the most terrifying. They were like hens crowing at dawn, fighting for power and profit with men. Even their father had to avoid them and plan every step of the way.
It is hard to say whether the death of Crown Prince Yi De was intentional by the old emperor. He wanted to sacrifice a crown prince in order to strike a blow to the power of Princess Yuan An, and he succeeded.
Thinking of Princess Yuan An, the Third Prince asked again: "What's the news from the Western Suburbs Palace?"
In recent years, because of Princess Yuan'an, the Western Suburbs Palace has become a restricted area. Few people dare to mention her, let alone get close to her.
Everyone gradually forgot about Princess Yuanan.
The staff said: "No news."
"No?" The Third Prince was surprised. "Fu Xiao has returned to the capital. Didn't he send anyone to the palace to inquire?"
The aide still shook his head, and he also sent people to Liuwen Lane to keep an eye on him, so that he knew everything that Prince Fu did in the capital.
"Prince Fu has seldom gone out since he came to Beijing. Apart from visiting a scholar named Wang from Nanjun Province, he also attended today's calligraphy and painting meeting. He has stayed at home the rest of the time. I heard that he is reviewing his studies to prepare for next year's imperial examination."
The Third Prince was puzzled. "He really wants to take part in the imperial examination?"
Although the saints had praised the prince of the Duke of Zhenguo as a talented and beautiful man with great literary talent in the past, given his status, he did not need to climb up step by step like those scholars.
Who would have thought that times had changed. One day, he actually went to Beijing to take the imperial examination as a scholar from the south.
The staff member said: "It should be."
The Third Prince sneered, but was somewhat relieved, and said: "It seems that Fu Xiao is not a concern. He is now just an ordinary scholar in the South, not the former son of the Duke of Zhenguo. He doesn't have many people now, so what can he do?"
If he was really capable, he would have let Princess Yuanan leave the palace long ago.
Seeing that he looked relaxed, the aide wanted to say something but paused.
He felt that things were not that simple. He never dared to underestimate the Prince Fu, especially after the Third Grandson of the Palace had just had his leg broken by a horse. It just so happened that the smuggling of salt happened to break out in Jiangnan, and it was also related to the Third Prince. The Third Prince was so busy with this matter recently that he didn't even have time to see the Third Grandson with a broken leg. He could only let the imperial physician try his best to treat him...
The smuggling of salt has been kept secret quite well. It would have exploded at any time, but at this time.
After much thought, the staff suspected that it was Fu Xiao who had someone do it. However, as the Third Prince said, Fu Xiao was only a Southern scholar and did not have many manpower available, so they could not suspect him.
The third prince felt that it was the brothers who had been keeping an eye on him who leaked the information.
Seeing that he didn't care about the Western Suburbs Palace, the staff stopped talking about it and said, "By the way, Your Highness, I heard that Marquis Weiyuan is going back to the capital."
"Fang Bihe is back in Beijing?" The Third Prince frowned. "Where is he going this time?"
"I guess he went to the northern border."
"What is he doing in the Northern Frontier?"
"I don't know."
“…”
The third prince wanted to get angry, but he held it back.
He paced around the room anxiously, feeling that nothing seemed to be going well in the past two years.
Ever since the incident with his maternal clan, the Kang family, last year, the Third Prince had to painfully sacrifice a lot of his own interests in order to exonerate himself and restore his image in the eyes of the Saint, which resulted in serious damage to his vitality.
Especially since the Kang family was gone, there was no one to help him make money in private, so the money he had on hand became less and less. He could hardly even take out the money to reward his subordinates, let alone win over those officials.
What annoyed him most was the attitude of Weiyuan Hou Fang Bihe.
In recent years, Fang Bihe has won the emperor's favor and directly replaced Fu Xiao as the commander of the Imperial City Division. He has enjoyed great glory and the emperor likes to entrust many things to him.
The Third Prince and Fang Bihe have a bad relationship. On the surface, Fang Bihe doesn't seem to be close to any of the princes, but he knows that the Sixth Prince has been trying to win over Fang Bihe, and Fang Bihe also wants to make friends with him.
How can this be possible?
Thinking of this, the Third Prince gritted his teeth. Each of those brothers had evil intentions and wanted to snatch the throne from him.
He suppressed his irritation and said, "When Fang Bihe returns to Beijing, let me know."
The staff agreed.
**
After the calligraphy and painting meeting, Fu Wenxiao no longer went out.
Even those scholars who were going to Beijing became silent because of this incident and stopped holding any gatherings, for fear that a few more nobles would come and cause trouble.
This incident can be regarded as a warning to those scholars. There are too many nobles in the capital, and each of them is reckless and can easily bring disaster upon themselves.
Yu Li still went to the palace every other day and stayed there for a day or two.
Sometimes he would bring Fu Wenxiao over so that the mother and son could exchange information or discuss things.
Yu Li would sometimes listen, but most of the time he didn't really listen. He was either eating and drinking in the palace or petting cats. No matter where he was, his life was very leisurely.
In the blink of an eye, it is already the twelfth lunar month.
Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao spent the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month in the palace.
The Laba porridge in the palace was delicious and used a lot of ingredients. Yu Li ate half of the pot in one breath.
Seeing that she had a good appetite, Princess Yuan'an couldn't help but drink a large bowl of it. After drinking it, she sat on the pillow and rubbed her stomach secretly.
She looked at her son who was also eating a lot and asked, "Xiao'er, are you feeling uncomfortable in your stomach?"
"It's not uncomfortable." Fu Wenxiao said calmly, "I've been practicing physical skills recently, which consumes a lot of energy."
Princess Yuan'an already knew what the physical technique was and had even asked Yu Li about it. She knew that if this physical technique could be mastered, the benefits it would bring would be enormous.
Unfortunately, it is not realistic to expect all people to practice physical skills.
Even though we know that as long as people practice it well, they won't get sick easily, won't have to spend so much money on medical treatment, and their life span will be extended...but people don't have the conditions to practice. The saying that the poor are good at literature and the rich are good at martial arts is very true. If they can't even get enough to eat, how can they have the mind to strengthen their bodies? Not to mention that their appetite will increase after practicing martial arts, and ordinary people can rarely afford it.
These things cannot be rushed, it is too early to talk about them.
Princess Yuan'an never aims too high; she prefers to be down-to-earth and steady in doing things, as only a stable environment facilitates change.
"I heard that Marquis Weiyuan is going back to the capital." Princess Yuan'an said slowly, "Marquis Weiyuan has done a good job in the past few years. The Saint has entrusted him with many things."
Fu Wenxiao hummed calmly.
Princess Yuanan looked at him, then smiled and said nothing more.
At this time, Yu Li came in holding a cat.
She handed the cat, which was lying stiffly on the ground, to Fu Wenxiao, and reached out to pull Princess Yuan An's hand, transferring some supernatural powers to her.
They were the only ones in the hall, with no servants to serve them, so there was no need to hide anything.
After she had lost her supernatural powers, Princess Yuan'an handed her a box of snacks and asked her to eat some to fill her stomach.
Yu Li sat next to Fu Wenxiao and said, "Mother, the New Year is coming soon. I will bring mother, Yan Hui and Yan Sheng to spend the New Year with you."
Princess Yuan An was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "No need. I have many people serving me here, so it's not lonely. You and Xiao'er can spend the New Year in the city."
Yu Li said "oh" when he heard it, but didn't force it.
After staying in the palace for two days, Yu Li and Fu Wenxiao returned to Beijing at night.
The two of them went back in the dark, slept until dawn, then went out shopping and bought some pens, ink, paper, and inkstone.
There are still many people following them, and Yu Li has gotten used to it.
She was walking on the street when she suddenly heard someone calling her.
"Leave mother."
Yu Li turned his head and saw a carriage passing by not far away. The curtain opened, revealing a beautiful face.
Soon the carriage stopped, and the girl in the carriage jumped out with her skirt lifted up, saying happily: "Mother Li, long time no see!"
Yu Li also smiled and said, "Yuchan, long time no see. When did you come to Beijing?"
Mo Yuchan said: "It arrived a few days ago."
Fu Wenxiao came over and said, "Li Niang, the weather is cold, why don't you go to the restaurant over there and have something to eat first."
Although Yu Li didn't feel cold, he was worried that Mo Yuchan would be frozen, so he agreed after hearing what he said.
The two girls went to the restaurant together, but Fu Wenxiao considerately did not follow them and continued to stroll on the street where pens, ink, paper and inkstones were sold.
In a private room in the restaurant, Mo Yuchan and Yu Li sat opposite each other.
Mo Yuchan ordered a lot of food and talked to Yu Li while eating.
She went out shopping with her cousins today and didn't expect to meet Yu Li on the street. She just felt that it was really fate.
After the two of them finished reminiscing about the past, Mo Yuchan said, "Actually, after arriving in Beijing, I wanted to ask someone to find out where you lived and send you a message, but my mother said that Mr. Fu will be taking part in the imperial examination next year and will probably be busy studying, so we can't disturb him."
Yu Li said: "It's okay, you can come to visit after the test."
Then he asked her when her wedding would be.
"At the end of April next year." Mo Yuchan said shyly.
Yu Li said, "Oh, the imperial examination will be held in early February, so there will still be time after it is over."
The two chatted in the restaurant for more than an hour until Fu Wenxiao came over.
Seeing Fu Wenxiao, Mo Yuchan was a little reserved. She bowed and greeted him awkwardly.
Fu Wenxiao also returned the greeting.
When they parted, Yu Li told Mo Yuchan where he lived now, and said that she could come over when she was free in the future. Then she said that she had finished reading the books and would have someone return them to her some other day.
Mo Yuchan smiled and said, "Okay, I'll have someone send you a new script someday."
The two talked and made plans to go out together another day, and finally parted ways.
On the way back, Yu Li asked, "I heard that Yuchan's grandfather was the Minister of Personnel, and she is engaged to the eldest son of the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion. Does my friendship with her have any impact on you?"
She didn't care about these things before, so she didn't know that the Mo family was so powerful.
Fu Wenxiao said: "It's okay, you can do whatever you want."
"real?"
Yu Li looked at him, and after confirming his attitude, he decided to go out and play with Mo Yuchan another day.
**
After entering the twelfth lunar month, the weather becomes colder and colder.
However, the capital city is becoming more and more lively, and the New Year atmosphere is getting stronger and stronger. Yu Li now likes to go shopping, buy things that interest him, and just stroll around.
If she sees someone in trouble, she will help.
Seeing this, the people who were following them murmured in private: "Although Master Fu's wife is a country girl, she is not crude, and she has a good heart. She will help anyone who is in trouble."
"Yeah, she's really strong."
"Except for her poor family background, there seems to be nothing wrong with her."
"Actually, there's one bad thing. They eat too much, and ordinary families can't afford to feed them."
"……really."
Even so, the people who were following her still watched her very intently, especially when they saw her eating, which always made them swallow their saliva in envy.
After she left, I couldn't wait to buy some to try.
After being watched for such a long time, everything was calm, and the people who were watching gradually relaxed and no longer paid attention to Liu Wenxiang all the time.
This makes it convenient for Yu Li to act secretly.
The days passed leisurely until the New Year, when they received quite a few New Year gifts.
Some were sent by the Wang family, some were sent by Mo Yuchan, and some were sent by the scholars from Nanjun Province. The last one was anonymous.
Fu Wenxiao looked through the anonymous New Year gift and understood what was going on. He said, "It was sent by Fang Bihe."
"Eh?" Yu Li was a little surprised, "He's also in the capital?"
It was probably during the summer when she met Fang Bihe again in Jiangnan. She felt that Fang Bihe seemed to like running around everywhere. After coming to the capital, she didn't think of this person anymore.
Fu Wenxiao said: "He returned to Beijing in the middle of December."
Upon hearing this, Yu Li did not ask him why he didn't come over since he had returned to Beijing.
After the calligraphy and painting meeting, she knew that Fu Wenxiao had many enemies in the capital, and each of them was full of malice towards him. It was a good thing that Fang Bihe did not take the initiative to come forward, so as to avoid causing trouble for each other.
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