"Husband, are you still planning to go to Nanjing? I thought you didn't want to go these days!" Li Sihong said.
"We must go! Even if we become the prince consort, we have to go too. The capital can't be protected. By then, people will suffer, and I, your husband, must keep you safe. Nanjing is the only place to go. Besides, Hu Xian sent a letter and helped us buy several houses in Nanjing. He also bought a large manor outside the city, which is bigger than the current prince consort's mansion." Zhao Xiaofei said.
After having lunch with Li Sihong, Xiao Si came in and said, "Master! This is the list of gifts sent from other mansions for your wedding."
Zhao Xiaofei took the gift list and examined it carefully. Every duke's and marquis' mansion had sent gifts. However, they didn't dare send anything too expensive. To prevent the monopoly of power by relatives of the emperor's wife, the emperor's father-in-law, and the emperor's uncle were all very cautious. You can make money if you want, but don't visit each other's relatives or marry each other. Zhao Xiaofei had originally expected the day to be filled with distinguished guests, with people coming and going. However, yesterday was very quiet, with few people coming. He did see the head of the Jinyiwei, Luo Yangxing, and the emperor's son-in-law Qi Zanyuan and Gong Yonggu. Qi Zanyuan and Gong Yonggu were both Chongzhen's brothers-in-law. So Zhao Xiaofei would call them uncles.
When Zhao Xiaofei saw them, he really called them uncles, especially Qi Zanyuan, who accepted it without hesitation. He also said that he should learn more about the rules of the Ming Dynasty in the future. Zhao Xiaofei thought to himself, who do you think you are? Li Zicheng is here, and you run away and love whoever you want. You don’t want to be a princess and run to Nanjing to talk to me about the rules.
He looked down again and saw a man named Zhao Fanqi delivering a hundred-year-old ginseng. Zhao Xiaofei pointed at the man named Zhao Fanqi and asked Xiao Si, "Is this the son of Zhao Xinhui, the deputy commander of Tianjin Garrison, whom I mentioned to you?"
Xiao Si replied, "Yes, young master! I have already sent people to Tianjin and delivered the gifts. They said they also want to study the family tree to see if you are a branch of the previous family."
When Zhao Xiaofei got the family tree, he planned to ask his ancestors to help him prepare for his escape to Nanjing. So he had already instructed Xiao Si to send someone with gifts to Tianjin Wei to find Zhao Xinhui. Zhao Xinhui was very puzzled when he received the invitation and gifts. He wondered where he had such a relative. He had returned from overseas and was now a prince consort. He was weighing whether it would be beneficial to recognize this relative, because the earliest record in the family tree was the end of the Yuan Dynasty. The people sent by Zhao Xiaofei said that they left the mainland during the Southern Song Dynasty, so where could he find the information? He could only make excuses for the time being and go back to discuss with his family members whether he could recognize this relative.
Seeing this gift list today shows that the Zhao family in Tianjin is hesitant. They only sent gifts, not letters, which means they are not yet ready to acknowledge the relationship.
"Young Master! They are afraid that if you become a royal consort, it will affect Commander Zhao's future." Xiao Si reminded.
"Let's put aside the question of whether they recognize it or not for now. Give them some silver and ask them to prepare a big ship and sailors for me so that we can prepare for our trip to Nanjing in the future." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Young Master! I think it's better for me to go there myself to find out the truth. We can't let the court know about this." Xiao Si said.
"Okay! Let them find me a large ship with a capacity of more than 1,000 tons. If there is no such ship, we will build one. If we build it, it must be completed before the end of the 15th year of Chongzhen. Money is not a problem." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"I understand, young master! I'll handle this matter myself!" Xiao Si said.
"But in order to cover up the truth, I'll just say that I want to sell glass to Korea and Japan. Even if the emperor finds out, he will just think that I'm greedy for money and at most call me in to scold me and that's it." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"Yes! Young master is wise!" Xiao Si said.
"Let's stop flattering each other!" Zhao Xiaofei said with a smile.
Xiao Si smiled awkwardly and said, "Then I'll do it right away!"
"That's right! Move the young lady's things out of the Prince Consort's Mansion and move her here." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"I understand!" Xiao Si said and went downstairs.
When Li Sihong saw Xiao Si leave, she anxiously asked, "Husband! Why did you ask me to move out?"
"I don't want you to be ordered around by that Liu Gongzheng, and I don't want to see you dressed up like a maid. You are my woman, and I hope you dress beautifully every day. I hope you can wear whatever you want, eat whatever you want, sleep whenever you want, wake up whenever you want, and do whatever you want. This is the life my woman should live." Zhao Xiaofei said.
"But if I can't see you every day, what's the use of me dressing well or eating well? Women dress up to please themselves. I want to stay in the prince's mansion!" Li Sihong said firmly.
"You can't beat Liu Gongzheng. Even though I told her to let her take care of those people, she'll never give up. Maybe one day she'll find some excuse to ask you to do some work. Do you think I'd feel good about that? You're a servant in the mansion. What if I'm not home? Today I ask you to pour water for the princess to wash her face, and tomorrow she'll ask you to empty the toilet." Zhao Xiaofei said. Would Liu Gongzheng do that? Was Zhao Xiaofei, in modern society, overthinking things after watching too many palace dramas? No! He was right! Because Liu Gongzheng was writing a report!
Liu Gongzheng finished writing the letter and gave it to Xiao Anzi, the young eunuch who had come with him to the palace, and asked him to go into the palace and give it to someone. After watching Xiao Anzi leave, Liu Gongzheng looked at the Prince Consort's mansion and smiled in his heart: Rules are rules! No prince consort can escape this ancestral rule.
Haha! How could Liu Gongzheng have forgotten the consort of Princess Baoqing during the Hongwu reign? This consort also had the surname Zhao, and was actually from the same family as Zhao Xiaofei! Not only did he take the princess everywhere, letting her live wherever she wanted, he also had over 100 concubines. He lived to be 94, not dying until the Chenghua reign. Back then, no palace maid or eunuch dared to embarrass him!
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