King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 512 Holy Birthday Festival

The size of Cunxin Hall is second only to Chengyun Hall. Choosing to summon Li Hui here also shows that he is valued.

Under the guidance of the eunuch, Li Hui passed through several major gates and finally arrived outside the Cunxin Hall.

Li Hui had different gains every time he came to the Ming Dynasty, but everything he saw gave him the idea that the Ming Dynasty was too powerful.

At this time, his strongest feeling was that Prince Xiang was too grand and extravagant, and in comparison, his mansion in North Korea seemed simple.

"Even if the palace is a little bigger, it is not as exquisite as this palace..."

"Brother Wang, Brother Wang, tomorrow will be so majestic, you are really a frog in the well, you have lost your mind..."

"Mencius said that if God doesn't take what he wants, he will suffer the consequences... You can't blame me!"

Standing in front of the hall and waiting quietly, Li Hui had a lot of inner drama, and the expression on his face kept changing.

After waiting there for a while, another eunuch finally came out of the palace, and it was Zhu Jinghong's eunuch Yu Hai.

"Mr. Mingchuan, please come into the palace!"

It was finally time to meet King Xiang. Li Hui was nervous and looking forward to it at the moment, and he quickly went through what he wanted to say in his mind.

Following Yu Hai into the palace, Li Hui couldn't help but feel envious when looking at the majestic main hall, secretly thinking that it would be great if he could regulate the palace like this.

"Mingchuan-kun, please!"

Yu Hai continued to lead the way, leading Li Hui from the main hall to the side hall, but unfortunately there was still no one inside.

"Mingchuan-kun, the prince will be here soon!"

After saying this, Yu Hai retreated outside the hall, while Li Hui waited quietly.

After about ten seconds, Li Hui heard footsteps again, so he boldly raised his head and looked towards where the sound came from.

The next moment, a man wearing a gray moire round-neck robe and a net scarf appeared in front of him.

You have to look closely to see the clues in Zhu Jinghong's attire, and understand how ingenious it is to turn extremely delicate fabrics into ordinary.

So at first glance, what he was wearing at the moment did seem ordinary.

Of course, no matter how gorgeous the clothes are, they can't cover up Zhu Jinghong's brilliance.

For example, at this moment, Li Hui was intimidated by Zhu Jinghong's momentum. He lowered his head unconsciously and then bowed his hands in salute: "Foreign Minister Li Hui, pay homage to Your Highness!"

They are both princes, and with such magnanimity, they are much stronger than their father and brother... Li Hui thought.

Speaking of Zhu Jinghong, he glanced at Li Hui, who looked respectful, and went straight to the main seat.

After sitting down, Zhu Jinghong said: "No need to be polite!"

"Thank you, Your Highness!"

With a wave of his hand, Zhu Jinghong motioned for Li Hui to take a seat. The latter came to the side very carefully and sat down.

"I've come a long way this time, I've had a hard time on the road!"

Li Hui, who had just sat down, stood up quickly and respectfully replied: "It is really an honor for a foreign minister to go to the heaven to congratulate the Supreme Emperor on his birthday. How dare you say it's hard!"

motioning Li Hui to sit down again, Zhu Jinghong said with a smile: "Compared to last time, your Mandarin speaking is getting better and better now!"

Li Hui was worried about how to stir up the topic, but after hearing these words, he immediately had an idea.

"Since the founding of the country by King Tai, everyone in our country has admired the Ming Dynasty's cultural governance and taught all the people with the teachings of the sages. No matter the royal family, the two classes, or even ordinary people, they have always practiced the Ming Dynasty's writing, law, and art..."

"The foreign minister is dull and has little knowledge. He must study harder in the future!"

"only……"

While Li Hui was chatting, a sudden turn of events made Zhu Jinghong realize that this guy had something up his sleeve.

So he was wary and said very flatteringly: "Just what?"

"Sigh... I'm not afraid of His Highness's ridicule. My brother Wang has other ideas about this!"

Bringing out Brother Wang at this time is obviously another mess of "seizing the legitimate son". It seems that this boy is also restless... Zhu Jinghong smiled when he thought of this.

But he still asked very "considerately": "Brother Wang Wang, what do you think?"

“I don’t know who inspired me, but Brother Wang actually complained a lot about the Ming Dynasty writing, and even said that he wanted to build a Korean dictionary!”

"Not only that, I also heard Brother Wang himself say that after all, North Korea is different from the Ming Dynasty, and the laws of the Ming Dynasty may not be fully applicable. We should formulate laws and regulations that are consistent with our national conditions in North Korea!"

"Are these true, or are they rumors you heard?" Zhu Jinghong asked calmly.

"Your Highness, these Hancheng two squads all know it, how dare the foreign ministers arrange it randomly!" Li Hui replied very solemnly.

North Korea, a small country, obviously has a tendency to be restless, but Nanzhen Fusi did not report it.

But thinking about the cases that broke out in the first half of the year, people from Nansi were involved in the arms reselling case, and it seemed normal that the situation was not reported.

It has been more than three hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and the Northern and Southern Divisions of Jinyiwei have also existed for almost that long, and the problems that have developed are also very alarming.

Not only them, Dongchang is also like this.

Although each generation of emperors would rectify their domestic slaves, the so-called "hard to return" means that they would fall back on their old ways in a few years.

Zhu Jinghong continued to listen to Li Hui's story, which made him very interested in Li Xuan, the crown prince of Joseon. A person with such an ambition is definitely an ordinary person.

After chatting about North Korea and saying everything he wanted to say, Li Hui wisely mentioned gold.

"Your Highness, I came to Beijing this time and brought the remaining two thousand taels with me. It is now in the accompanying carriage. What do you think we should do with it?"

Hearing Li Hui's words, Yu Hai, who was serving at the side, was very contemptuous, secretly saying that this Korean didn't understand the rules.

How could we talk about money matters so directly? Wouldn't it be okay to say that we had prepared some specialties as a small gift?

Zhu Jinghong laughed, and then replied: "I don't care about these things, just leave them to them!"

"Yes!"

Next, Zhu Jinghong and Li Hui chatted about trivial matters again, and the two got along more and more harmoniously.

It was only at this time that Zhu Jinghong learned that Li Hui had been engaged to the Cui family and was going to get married after the new year. The bride was Cui Xiuqing, who had run for Prince Xiang's Palace.

Objectively speaking, although the Cui family is a wealthy local family in North Korea, and although the Cui family once saved Li Hui's life, it is not unusual for them to want to marry their daughter into the royal family.

Being valued by the royal family was entirely because Li Hui valued Cui Xiuqing and believed that this outstanding woman would be his virtuous wife.

The crown prince of Joseon, Li Xuan, had some ideas, but he didn’t know who gave him the courage...

Was he bewitched by the Japanese Okamoto family? Or did he get the promise of the Rakshasa Kingdom? Or is it simply that Li Xuan doesn't know how high the sky is? Or is it a combination of both?

Now that the imperial court is piloting the construction of a navy in Liaodong, it may come in handy in the possible turmoil caused by this matter...

After sending Li Hui away, Zhu Jinghong thought of many things.

The Holy Birthday Festival is approaching in two days, which is not the time to discuss these matters, so Zhu Jinghong will not report it to the emperor for the time being.

He just stayed in the house like this, either going to talk to Zhen Qin Yinglian or Ke Qing and the others to talk about life.

Time flies so fast, and soon it’s October 18th, which is the day of the Holy Shou Festival.

As every year before, the Holy Shou Festival was held with great grandeur. The Emperor, who was already suffering from illness, still appeared on the stage to accept the congratulations from officials and envoys, and once again performed the drama of fatherly kindness and filial piety with Zhu Xianming.

In fact, during this Holy Shou Festival, the focus is on performing fatherly filial piety, whether it is between the emperor and the Supreme Emperor, or between the Prince Rui and the Emperor.

Zhu Jinghong was not involved in any of this. Now that he is the center of attention wherever he goes, he naturally does not want to get involved in these things anymore.

So after the greetings, Zhu Jinghong led Baochai to the Queen's Kunning Palace.

They are not allowed to leave the palace yet. He may be able to refuse the state banquet in the afternoon, but he cannot refuse the royal family banquet tonight.

In Kunning Palace, Zhu Jinghong was sitting at the foot of the queen's throne, holding a tea cup and looking at it carefully.

The tea cup is naturally a high-quality tribute, but there is no point in staring at it all the time. The reason is that Zhu Jinghong is too boring. Because at this time, Baochai was chatting with the queen about the gossip in the city. Which noble family raised a child was discovered, which official mansion was exposed and was investigated by the Jin Yiwei...

Baochai was so excited when he talked about these meaningless contents that Zhu Jinghong almost dozed off.

At this moment, Daiyu quietly walked into the hall, saluted the queen and came behind Zhu Jinghong.

"Master Thirteen, princess, please come over!"

"She asked me to come over? She should come to see me!"

Although he expressed his dissatisfaction, Zhu Jinghong still got up from the chair. He felt uncomfortable staying here for one more second.

"Mom, Sheng'er asked me to go there!"

"Go ahead!" Yang Qingyin responded, and then looked at Baochai.

After walking out of the main hall of Kunning Palace, Zhu Jinghong slowed down, causing Daiyu, who was following behind, to almost bump into him.

Turning around and looking at the slightly embarrassed Daiyu, Zhu Jinghong said with a smile: "Girl Lin, I haven't seen you for half a year, and you have grown a lot!"

It was now "alone" time with Zhu Jinghong, and Daiyu was particularly happy. She had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

"But it's just the Thirteenth Master. It only took half a year for his reputation to spread all over the world!"

The person in front of her has the ability to stabilize the country, so Daiyu respects him very much, and her expression shows admiration unconsciously.

This was noticed by Zhu Jinghong, so he took two steps closer and asked in a low voice: "As the saying goes, a beauty matches a hero. Since I am such a hero, girl, are you willing to accompany me?"

Hearing this, Daiyu suddenly straightened her face and said in a bad tone: "Thirteenth Master, please respect yourself. Such frivolous words should not be uttered in your mouth!"

The reserve that a girl should have made Daiyu have to respond like this, but in fact she was very happy in her heart.

Even Zicuckoo could tell that Zhu Jinghong was interested in her, how could she not be aware of it.

"There is a saying in the Book of Songs that gentle ladies and gentlemen are fond of being frivolous. I only imitate the gentlemen of the pre-Qin Dynasty. How can you say that my words are frivolous?"

"As you put it, playing the piano, playing the harp, and playing the bells and drums has become a dirty trick?"

Although Zhu Jinghong's words were unreasonable, there was some truth in them, which gave him a reason to continue talking today.

Just listen to Daiyu say: "The Thirteenth Master prides himself on not reading, but he found these arguments from the Book of Songs. It is true that he has become a blockbuster without making a sound!"

"However, times have changed, and the gentleman of the past may not be the gentleman of the present, just as the current etiquette is different from the ancient etiquette!"

"The Thirteenth Master's words are frivolous, but he insists that it is a gentleman's behavior. How is it different from deceiving one's ears and stealing the bell?"

"What the little girl said just now, that the Thirteenth Master is a hero known to the world, now seems to be an exaggeration!"

Hearing this little girl talk a lot, Zhu Jinghong had to admire her quick wit, and then asked: "How to exaggerate?"

Looking away from the corridor, Daiyu raised her eyebrows and said, "At least Thirteenth Master just acted frivolously and is not a hero!"

"Hahaha...you girl is really sharp-tongued!"

Hearing Zhu Jinghong's words, Daiyu glanced at Zhu Jinghong very arrogantly like a victorious general.

However, at the next moment, Zhu Jinghong suddenly took a step forward, leaned in front of Daiyu's eyes, and asked softly: "Girl, you are so rude, if you commit the following offense...are you not afraid that I will punish you?"

"By attacking a weak woman like me, the Thirteenth Master will only ruin his reputation and make the world laugh at him... Isn't this a small gain at the expense of a big gain?"

While answering, Daiyu hurriedly took two steps back, fearing that Zhu Jinghong would act excessively.

Zhu Jinghong put his hands behind his back and said: "You are the only one who said you are a great hero. I have never said that I am a hero!"

"So...I'm not afraid of the ridicule of the world!"

Not to mention, Zhu Jinghong is now so famous that he really wants to cause something to divert the attention of Beijing officials.

Being treated as a hero by officials from both top and bottom every day is definitely not a good thing for him right now.

Therefore, at this moment, he really had the motive to do something to Daiyu.

However, looking at the clear eyes of the girl in front of him, Zhu Jinghong still held back and did not take action.

Just because he understands that Daiyu and Zhen Qin are very different, and using the method used to treat Zhen Qin against Daiyu is likely to turn into a tragedy in the end.

"Okay... I asked you why you haven't come back for so long. It turns out you are whispering here!"

"Catch it by me!"

Xiangyun suddenly came out from the corner, looking excited that he had discovered a big secret, but it made the originally calm Daiyu feel particularly guilty, and she wanted to run away for a moment.

"Girl Yun, we just discussed knowledge, how can we say it was a whisper!" Zhu Jinghong said righteously.

"Discussing knowledge?" Xiangyun looked unbelieving.

Walking to Daiyu, Xiangyunhu asked: "Sister Lin, what knowledge are you and Thirteenth Master discussing?"

"I will have a gentleman's debate with him about the content of the Book of Songs!"

Being caught is just "going on", but now she has to lie in front of Xiangyun, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge for Daiyu. The education she received simply does not allow her to do this.

But she still said this with a calm expression, so she hid it from Xiang Yun.

"Don't delay any longer, the princess is impatient!"

"Is she still anxious? Then let her come to see me!" Zhu Jinghong said with an indifferent attitude.

In fact, he could guess Zhu Yunsheng's purpose. To put it bluntly, he wanted to go out of the palace to have fun, but Zhu Jinghong didn't really want to help.

But thinking that this was the only way to get Daiyu Xiangyun by his side, he had to wade through this muddy water.

"Forget it, I don't know her the same way, let's go...see her!"

After saying this, Zhu Jinghong immediately walked forward, and then Xiangyun pulled Daiyu to follow.

Besides, in the main hall of Kunning Palace, after chatting with the queen, Baochai finally found an opportunity to ask: "Queen mother, I wonder how sister Ting is recovering from her illness now?"

She had not seen Yang Jingting in the past two days when she came into the palace. She sent people to inquire privately but there was no news. Now she finally couldn't help but ask.

Putting down the tea cup, Yang Qingyin said calmly: "Although her illness has improved a little, her mind is now a mystery. She still needs to practice meditation. I have sent her to the Jade Emperor's Palace!"

The Jade Emperor's Hall mentioned by the Queen is the Royal Taoist Temple located in the northwest corner of the Forbidden City, where female nuns prayed for the past emperors.

Being sent here to recuperate is tantamount to declaring Yang Jingting's social death, and she will never come out again unless the queen orders her to.

"Mother, you can rest in the palace, why not..."

Baochai said this now, partly out of performance needs, but also with some sincerity.

It was this half-truth and half-false attitude that convinced the queen that she was out of soft-heartedness, and she developed a desire to protect her.

Then I heard the queen say: "Her illness cannot be cured in your palace. She has to be taken care of by the gods. You don't have to worry about it!"

"But……"

"Okay, I have already made my opinion on this matter, you don't need to say any more!"

Yang Qingyin took on the posture of a queen, and Baochai naturally stopped talking. She felt that she had done her utmost to be benevolent and righteous.

So Baochai changed the topic and talked about Zhu Yunsheng.

Zhu Yunsheng will be fourteen years old next year. Even if a girl gets married at fifteen, the choice of a consort should also be put on the agenda, so Baochai talked about it.

Generally speaking, the choices for a prince-in-law are nobles in the capital, and they are the legitimate second sons who do not inherit the title.

Of course, after marrying the princess, the second son who married the princess became the second-grade prince consort, equivalent to a first-class viscount.

(End of this chapter)