Chapter 231: Double Prince Consort
Zhao Xiaofei said goodbye to his family, including his wife and children. He also took time to cook a meal with his mother, Liu Aiping, and the whole family happily enjoyed a home-cooked meal.
Zhao Xiaofei returned to Nanjing with the supplies. Zhao Xiaofei was in the parade ground outside Nanjing City. Emperor Zhu Cijiong personally named Zhao Xiaofei as Prince Renheli.
He was also given a golden seal, a dragon robe, and a jade belt, and the title of prince was hereditary for three generations.
Hearing the emperor's words, Zhao Xiaofei was furious! Who the hell gave me the title of Prince Li of Renhe? Did you travel through time to mock me? Did you work for Renhe Pharmaceutical before you traveled through time? Are you taking this opportunity to advertise Renhe Pharmaceutical in the Ming Dynasty? Prince Li? Damn it! That was the title of a nobleman from the Jianlu Daishan clan. Do you want me to be like him?
Despite his inner complaints, Zhao Xiaofei could only endure it, knowing full well that someone had given him this title out of pure disgust. "When I return to the capital, I'll ask the emperor to give me a new title. For example, the King of Qin, which sounds impressive, just like Li Shimin. Or maybe I could make myself the Regent King or the Grand General King, the kind that only gets paid and doesn't work. I'd go out and say I'm the current Regent King or the Grand General King, how impressive!"
Unfortunately, Zhao Xiaofei didn't have much of a history background. If his history teacher was around, he would definitely say to him with a smile, "Look at history. Which of these two kings had a good ending?"
Zhao Xiaofei complained in his heart, but the ceremony continued. This set of etiquette made Zhao Xiaofei exhausted.
According to etiquette, women are not allowed to attend such occasions. Princess Kunxing, Princess Zhaoren, Li Sihong and Kou Baimen could only watch with binoculars from the distant hillside.
Princess Kunxing and Princess Zhaoren were both thrilled. Their husbands had become the most powerful men in the world besides the emperor. How could they not be thrilled? However, Princess Kunxing Zhu Mianzhu was more preoccupied. She began to worry. The greater the power, the greater the danger. The danger from within was also approaching.
Li Sihong, holding her son Li Guangzong, pointed to Zhao Xiaofei in the distance and said, "Son! Look, your father is being conferred a title! You have to be as capable as your father, okay?"
Li Guangzong didn't say anything because he was busy fiddling with the telescope his mother handed him! Seeing that her son ignored her, Li Sihong could only lean over and touch his head.
Kou Baimen put down the telescope, feeling somewhat disappointed. He glanced at the two princesses. He had finally become a concubine, and now the court had given him another princess. How could he live comfortably? This was like giving him and Li Sihong another mother-in-law.
She lowered her head and touched her belly. Why was she so disappointed? The prince had come many times, but she just couldn't get pregnant. It seemed she had to ask Mr. Zhang to take a good look at her to see if there was anything wrong with her.
Fortunately, it was just a grand ceremony to crown a king, lasting only a day. At the end, the eunuch Wang Erxi produced an imperial edict and read: "By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor summons: Princess Zhaoren is gentle and virtuous, with excellent talent, beauty, and moral character. Now that she has reached marriageable age, I hereby betroth Princess Zhaoren Zhu Mianlin to Prince Renheli Zhao Xiaofei as his co-wife. This is my decree!"
Zhao Xiaofei knelt hurriedly, saying, "Your Majesty, I have no way of repaying your kindness. I will serve the Ming Dynasty with all my heart and soul until my death! Long live the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! The sun, moon, mountains and rivers will live forever! The Ming Dynasty will endure forever!"
After Zhao Xiaofei finished saying this, the soldiers of the Kenan Army below knelt down one after another and shouted at the same time: "The sun, moon, mountains and rivers will last forever, and the Ming Dynasty will last forever! The sun, moon, mountains and rivers will last forever, and the Ming Dynasty will last forever! Long live our emperor, long live his!" The people in the audience were so excited that their blood boiled.
The shouts were so loud that they shook the heavens and resounded through the sky. Empress Dowager Zhou in the palace could hear them all clearly and nodded in satisfaction. She then picked up Zhao Wenxian and said, "My dear grandson, you will be the crown prince from now on. You must be a good boy and help your uncle protect the Ming Dynasty. We are one family!" Then she gently pinched Zhao Wenxian's little face.
After Zhao Xiaofei finished his work on the crowning of the king, he started to get busy with his wedding with Princess Zhaoren.
When he married Princess Kunxing, he had no status. He had to be cautious and prudent. Now that he was the Prince of Ming Li, he naturally had fewer concerns. He listened to Princess Kunxing and decided to hold a grand wedding. The wedding budget exceeded one million taels of silver, and Zhao Xiaofei paid for it all out of his own pocket.
The entire city of Nanjing was under no curfew for three days and nights, and the streets and alleys were decorated with lights at night, comparable to the Lantern Festival. This is because the Ming Dynasty did not celebrate New Year's Eve, but the Lantern Festival.
During the early Ming Dynasty, Spring Festival holidays were once incredibly stingy. During the reign of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, there were only five days of holiday. It wasn't until the seventh year of the Yongle reign, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, that he generously extended the Lantern Festival holiday by ten days. But even more generous was another major Ming Dynasty benefit: the Aoshan Lantern Festival.
The Aoshan Lantern Festival, a giant lantern and fireworks spectacle erected by the Ming imperial family within the imperial palace during the annual Lantern Festival, was named "Aoshan Lantern Festival" because of its resemblance to a turtle. Starting during the Lantern Festival of the seventh year of the Yongle reign, this grand lantern festival was even more highly publicized—"subjects were allowed to go to the Meridian Gate to view Aoshan for three days." The shared joy of the emperor and his subjects was of great significance, making it a Ming Dynasty version of the "Spring Festival Gala."
With such great significance, the scale of the Aoshan Lantern Festival was unprecedented. In the early Ming Dynasty, the cost of each Lantern Festival was tens of thousands of taels of silver. During the Longqing and Wanli periods, the cost of a single Lantern Festival soared to hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
This time, Zhao Xiaofei bought over 800,000 yuan worth of fireworks from modern society and brought them to the Ming Dynasty, just like celebrating a proper festival. He also brought a lot of cameras, so that people there could see how the Ming Dynasty people celebrated. Zhao Xiaofei didn't dwell too much on Qin Baobao's situation; there was no point in dwelling on it. After all, she was Miracle's mother. Would he sue her or report her to the police? And now that he had opened a film and television company, Zhao Xiaofei was also trying to film more of the real Ming Dynasty, to make his company's films and TV series more appealing to the audience.
Marrying Princess Zhaoren was a long process. The various preliminary rituals took seven days, and it took another three days to finally bring Princess Zhaoren home.
The entire city of Nanjing was bustling with activity, with even foreign envoys arriving to offer their congratulations. There were envoys from North Korea, Vietnam, and the Soviet Union, as well as a host of foreigners. The blond, blue-eyed men and women added to the lively atmosphere.
With the eunuch's call for a ceremony, the ceremony was basically over. Zhao Xiaofei came out and invited everyone to drink and have fun. He also invited the Nanjing Music Bureau to come and provide music for his wedding. There was also a Western band. Although most of the members were a professional team of sailors, they still looked quite presentable.
Compared to the bustling front yard, the backyard seemed much quieter. Princess Zhaoren said to her sister, "Sister! I'm so nervous! Do you think my brother-in-law will be so drunk that he can't even find the door?"
Princess Kunxing said to Zhaoren, "You must call me husband instead of brother-in-law!"
"Oh! I forgot! After calling him brother-in-law for so many years, it feels awkward to change to calling him husband today!" Zhaoren said.
"Sister! You are so lucky! When my husband and I got married, we didn't have the glory we have today! Cherish me well and tie my husband's heart firmly, do you understand?" Princess Kunxing said.
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