Chapter 214 An unexpected surprise
Several princes were in a state of panic, but inside the Zichen Palace, Xiao Yuancheng stroked his beard and smiled. Looking at the silver his sons had sent him over the past two days, he felt very relieved.
Even if there are more or less, it is enough to have a grand birthday party.
That’s right, although King Wu and King Wen cursed, King Ning was the first to speak out, so they had no choice but to follow suit. In the end, they each sent silver. Of course, they didn’t try to be pretentious, and only sent 30,000 taels each.
Xiao Yuancheng looked at them and asked casually, "Fourth Brother, where's Sixth Brother's?"
Bai De'an bowed and replied, "Your Majesty, I believe it's still on the way. Your Highnesses are both filial children..."
Before he finished speaking, a eunuch came in and announced, "Your Majesty, Princess Zhao requests an audience."
Bai De'an immediately narrowed his eyes, "Your Majesty, look, isn't this coming?"
Xiao Yuancheng stroked his beard again, smiled and nodded, "Announce." Although he was a little puzzled as to why the princess was asked to come, it was not a big problem. It was only natural for her to come and pay her respects to him.
After a while, they saw a figure slowly approaching, led by a eunuch. Qingwu was wearing a lavender silk dress, a silver ornament in her hair, and two tasseled silver hairpins on her temples. She looked exceptionally pure and otherworldly. Behind her followed four maids holding boxes.
"Your son pays homage to His Majesty, Father." Qingwu bowed gracefully, her voice as clear as pearls falling on a jade plate.
Xiao Yuancheng smiled and nodded, not noticing anything unusual. "Stand up. What brings my daughter-in-law here today?"
Qing Wu stood up and replied with a humble look, "I heard that my brothers are all working hard for Father's birthday. Your Highness and I dare not neglect them." She turned sideways, her eyes, which had never raised, revealing a hint of shame. "It's just that Your Highness is young and doesn't have the experience of your brothers. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Xiao Yuancheng had anticipated this. Before this, Xiao Ji was the crown prince and had never set up a government office. All his actions were under his nose. Apart from the property given by the queen, he did not have much income. Later, he was demoted to a commoner, and his former property was now sealed in the East Palace. It would be good if he could scrape together 10,000 or 20,000 silver coins with the rewards he gave in the past three months.
"It's okay. I know Xue Nu's situation. Bring her here and let me take a look." Xiao Yuancheng waved his hand, but saw that his daughter-in-law was hesitant to speak. He couldn't help but feel more curious.
As soon as these words were spoken, Baozhu, Yuzhu, and the others had no choice but to step forward, carrying the red sandalwood box. The box was finely crafted, with intricate auspicious cloud patterns carved on its surface. It was obvious at first glance that it was no ordinary box.
Bai De'an personally descended the stairs to receive the box, feeling its heaviness as he touched it. He took two steps, placed it on the imperial table, and carefully opened the box. His pupils narrowed slightly as he saw neatly stacked gold bars inside!
"this……"
Qing Wu spoke at the right moment, his head still bowed, his eyes only occasionally glancing upwards. "My brothers have presented silver, and Your Highness does not wish to be left behind. These four boxes contain a total of two thousand taels of gold. I hope Your Majesty will accept them."
Two thousand taels of gold is equivalent to twenty thousand taels of silver, which is exactly what Xiao Yuancheng estimated. He nodded and said, "You are so thoughtful. Xue Nu has just opened the palace, so you should show your filial piety. Why give so much..."
The emperor smiled and declined while picking up a gold bar. Even an emperor could not refuse to touch the gold bar, but as soon as he picked up the gold bar, he keenly felt that there were words engraved on it.
Xiao Yuancheng immediately turned the gold bar over and saw the words "Imperial Order·Joy" clearly printed on it.
"Huh?" Bai De'an couldn't help but exclaim, "Isn't this the gift money for the royal heir's wedding?"
The princes of Dayu had a set of etiquette for marrying their wives: the Crown Prince would receive 1,600 taels for marrying the Crown Princess, the Prince would receive 1,200 taels for marrying his principal wife, and the other concubines would receive between 600 and 800 taels. These betrothal gifts were all minted uniformly by the Imperial Household, with fixed shapes and specifications.
Xiao Yuancheng naturally knew the secret. He hurriedly checked a few more gold bars and found that they were all imperial gifts without exception. He looked up in surprise and was speechless for a moment.
The royal heir's wedding gift money was never used lightly. Even if it was melted down and recast, no one would hold him accountable. But when it was presented to him so openly, should he accept it or not?
Xiao Yuancheng finally understood why his daughter-in-law hesitated to speak just now. It was indeed inconvenient for him to see it in person.
But the daughter-in-law, who had been keeping her head down all the time, finally raised her eyes. Her beautiful eyes contained a hint of shame and were faintly watery, but she suppressed her emotions and tried to speak in a decent manner.
"Your Majesty... The prince said that these gold bars carry the blessings of Your Majesty and the royal family. Using them for Your Majesty's birthday is the perfect way to put them to good use."
You could hear a pin drop in the hall. Xiao Yuancheng felt a mixture of emotions. He slowly stroked the inscribed characters on the gold bar and silently opened the remaining three brocade boxes one by one. The first two boxes contained imperial gold bars. While the last two boxes were not imperial gold bars, they also had the prominent "Xi" character engraved on them.
"This is..." He picked up a gold bar, "the dowry from the Xi family when you got married?"
Finally, at this sentence, the corners of Qingwu's lips curled up slightly, and then his body trembled slightly, as if he felt embarrassed and sad. After a while, he whispered: "Your Majesty, this is the dowry that my father prepared for me..."
As soon as she finished speaking, she seemed to realize what she had said. She looked up immediately, tears welling up in her incredibly beautiful eyes.
"Father, please don't mind me. This isn't the prince's intention... It's just, it's just... Without these, it would be difficult to quickly raise 20,000 taels of silver, and the prince isn't willing to ask grandfather for help..."
Hearing this, Xiao Yuancheng raised his hand to stop her from talking.
It’s okay to give him some money, but if he asks his father-in-law for money, how can that be disgraceful?
Looking at his daughter-in-law who was so young that she could be considered a teenager, Xiao Yuancheng once again thought of his sixth son who had few assets. Then he thought of the assets that the queen had given to his sixth son but that he had sealed up. Suddenly, he felt the gold bars in his palms become heavy.
Xiao Yuancheng lowered his head and coughed lightly a few times, "Take it back."
He gently placed the gold bars back into the box, his voice carrying a rare gentleness. "I appreciate it. This gold carries the joy of marriage between two families. How could I keep it for myself?"
Done!
Qingwu's drooping eyelashes trembled slightly, and her fingers clenched quietly in her sleeves. She suppressed her excitement, and when she looked up again, she was extremely moved. "Father..." The voice was soft and gentle. "My brothers have done their best to be filial. If I and Aji don't give a penny, won't we be laughed at?"
These words were said with great care. "Father" was also Xiao Ji's nickname, which should have been able to evoke the little fatherly love he had left, but Qingwu was wrong.
Unexpectedly, after she finished speaking, the emperor at the top actually agreed, "My daughter-in-law is right. Then I will take your last box of gold."
Only the gold in the last box had no inscriptions on it, so it must be ordinary gold.
Qingwu: ???
Shouldn't you just say it's okay? Shouldn't you just not ask for a cent?
Qing Wu almost couldn't contain her expression. The last box also contained 500 taels of gold, which was 5,000 taels of silver! She felt a little sad, but compared to Prince Ning's 50,000 taels, it was already much less. She still knew the principle of quitting while she was ahead!
She took a deep breath and quickly adjusted her expression, putting on a look of surprise. She wanted to refuse again, but then she heard the emperor say, "No need to refuse anymore. If you do, I will really accept it. Xue Nu's foot is still injured. It's not easy for you two..."
"Badean," the emperor suddenly said, "go and get the key to the East Palace storehouse."
Qingwu suddenly looked up, a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, and her heart suddenly started beating.
Xiao Yuancheng stroked his beard and smiled, "Since you two are willing to give all the wedding gifts to me, then I cannot treat you unfairly. Those items in the East Palace originally belonged to him, so now they should be returned to their original owners."
Bai De'an quickly agreed, thinking that this move would surely make some people jealous again.
Qing Wu also laughed sincerely at this moment. She had never expected that this act would bring such an unexpected surprise.
She remembered how luxurious the East Palace was where she had only lived there for one night. Even though Xiao Ji had taken away many common items under her influence, there was no doubt that there must be many things in the East Palace that he could not take away, as that was where he had lived for more than ten years.
"On behalf of the prince, your son thanks you for your grace!"
Thinking of how happy he would be, Qingwu's tone became cheerful, and she revealed a lively temperament different from that of an ordinary noble lady.
Xiao Yuancheng couldn't help but take a few more glances, and only then realized the meaning of her dress. Compared with the four boxes of gold, her "silver" was too simple.
He realized belatedly that he seemed to have been tricked, but he had no evidence.
However, looking at the bright smile on the girl's face, Xiao Yuancheng felt that the study was brighter. It was just tens of thousands of taels of silver, so what... he got a lot anyway.
"Haha, go back and tell Xue Nu the good news." The emperor waved his hand, with a rare sense of ease in his tone.
Qing Wu bowed with great joy, her eyes and eyebrows showing unconcealed happiness. When she took the key from Bai De'an, her fingertips trembled slightly.
After leaving the imperial study, Qingwu took her maid out of the palace and unexpectedly ran into a group of people on the way out of the palace.
"Hey, isn't this my sixth brother's wife?"
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