My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 5: Visiting to apologize
As early as the tribal civilization period, one word that runs through human civilization is gambling.

Just like when the young men of a tribe picked up spears and stone sticks and surrounded the huge mammoth, what everyone was thinking was nothing more than the word 'gamble'.

——I bet it’s not me who dies.

——As long as I survive until the moment the mammoth falls to the ground, I will have endless meat.

In the era Liu Rong lives in, it is still the same.

In the feudal era's gambling game, the biggest bet and the highest return rate were nothing more than betting on the prince and crown prince.

——As long as I can hold on until the day when the candidate I bet on succeeds to the throne, I will enjoy endless glory and wealth!

With such a successful precedent as Lu Buwei, the aristocratic class knew that this was extremely taboo, but they still couldn't bear to be attracted by the huge rewards and were willing to risk their lives for it.

Since it is a gamble, especially if it is a gamble with one's fortune, one's life, and one's family inheritance, one must naturally put stability first and choose the option with the highest probability.

In the past, the most promising stock worth betting on was undoubtedly Liu Rong, the eldest son of the imperial concubine, and with no direct brothers standing in the way, he was almost certain to become the crown prince.

But after the news that "Princess Guantao came to propose marriage, but was sternly rejected by Li Ji" came out, the "odds" of this gambling game began to show some extremely subtle changes...

"Li Ji is already old and wan, and she is unruly and domineering. She has fallen out of favor with His Majesty;"

"Now, because of Princess Guantao, I have offended the Queen Mother of the East Palace..."

"——It's difficult for the eldest son of the emperor~"

"Even if the eldest son of the emperor has the appearance of a wise king, Li Ji is definitely not the choice of a wise queen."

"Having lost the support of the East Palace again, the eldest son of the emperor..."

Almost on the day when public opinion began to ferment, people inside and outside the government quickly reached an agreement: it is better to wait and see when betting on the crown prince.

As a result, those courtiers and nobles who had originally planned to surrender to Liu Rong as soon as the national mourning was over, all ceased their activities with a tacit understanding.

At the same time, countless eyes were cast from all corners of Chang'an to Liu Rong, the eldest son of the emperor, in the Phoenix Hall of Weiyang Palace.

For a moment, Liu Rong seemed to be thrust into the spotlight, and his words and deeds were carefully observed with a magnifying glass by the entire Chang'an City.

It was in the midst of everyone's attention that Liu Rong's figure appeared outside the east wall of Weiyang Palace, in the aristocratic area just across the wall from the imperial palace: Shang Guanli.

The moment Liu Rong stepped into the Tangyi Hou Mansion under the guidance of his aunt Liu Piao, the entire Chang'an City's attention was attracted by this not-so-extravagant Hou Mansion...

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"Come on, come on, do you have anything else to bring~"

"It happens every time. It makes me, my aunt, embarrassed to accept her anymore..."

Although he said this, Liu Prostitute's face was beaming with joy, and his eyes did not move away from the sparkling sterling silver hairpin crown in front of him for a moment.

Liu Rong had obviously expected his aunt's greed and inconsistency. He smiled and catered to his aunt, but his heart was bleeding with pain...

In the stereotype of later generations, gold is more expensive than silver, and silver is more expensive than copper;

But in the Han Dynasty where Liu Rong lives - the Age of Discovery has not yet begun, and European pirates have not yet dumped large amounts of silver plundered from the Americas into China, silver is more valuable than pearls and jade. They are all much more valuable and rare items.

Thanks to the late Emperor Taizong Xiaowen who worked hard to govern and loved the people like his own children: Today in the Han family, the price of one stone of corn is only sixty qian;

In Chang'an, the exchange ratio between gold and copper coins is roughly that one pound (about 250 grams) of gold can be exchanged for 27 four-baht coins (about kilograms).

As for pearls and jade, although there are no very accurate pricing standards, we can eventually get a rough value range based on quality.

Only silver;
Especially the value of beautifully crafted silver jewelry is almost as much as the seller wants, so you have to give it.

Not to mention bargaining over the price - if you don’t want to be cut off by someone raising the price, you may not be able to get it if you don’t bite the bullet and increase the price by 30 to 50%!
Such a priceless treasure, even a rare treasure in the world, was given away by Liu Rong in vain to apologize. How could he not feel distressed?
It's just that I gave it away, no matter how distressed it was, it wouldn't help, so I didn't think about it anymore, and I didn't even look at the silver crown anymore.

"Speaking of this, I can't blame Li Ji entirely."

"After all, it's just after the national mourning, and His Majesty's imperial couch has not yet warmed up, so I am busy making plans for the Crown Princess. It is really inappropriate."

"In the past, I had some disagreements with Li Ji;"

"Even if we want to get married, we should first resolve the knot in Li Ji's heart so that we can clear up the past grudges?"

The words were nice, but Liu Piao didn't delay at all;

——With just a few words, the silver crown was put back into the gift box by Liu Prostitute and handed over to his servants to take away. Liu Rong's reaction to Liu's prostitution was already anticipated, and Liu Rong didn't doubt him. He only said a few polite words, "It's all my mother's fault," and "Aunt, don't take it personally."

I thought that there would be no other exchanges with Liu Piao today, and I was just thinking about whether to say goodbye, when I saw Liu Piao mysteriously dismissed his servants, and then leaned his upper body towards Liu Rong, making a " Come over here, I have the attitude of whispering to you.

Seeing this, Liu Rong had no choice but to obediently come forward, but he heard Liu Piao whisper softly: "I heard that Your Majesty stayed in the Jiao Room last night!"

"——I can count on my fingers how many times Your Majesty has spent the night at the Queen's place over the past few years."

"In the opinion of the eldest son of the emperor, Your Majesty, this is..."

Upon hearing Liu Piao's words, Liu Rong understood what Liu Piao wanted to express.

——Big nephew~
——Daddy, do you want your legitimate son?
——Just asking are you panic?
--Are you scared? !

But Liu Rong's attention was attracted by the amazing methods revealed in Liu Piao's words.

"What happened last night? As soon as the palace door opened in the morning, I received news..."

"My aunt, even in my father's palace, her hands and eyes can reach the sky?"

After secretly writing this down, Liu Rong seemed to have finally finished his 'thinking' and shook his head with a faint smile.

"My aunt knows best whether my father will have a legitimate son."

"——Since then, something happened to Bo Zhao, Marquis of Zhe, so my great-grandmother took refuge in Changle and never asked about government affairs again."

"It was also from that time on that my father never slept on the same bed as my mother."

"Even if I visit occasionally, it's mostly out of concern for my great-grandmother's face..."

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"After the death of the late emperor, my father became emperor immediately. My great-grandmother was honored as the empress dowager. She immediately gave up the Changxin Palace to the imperial grandmother and hid in the deep palace."

"During the late Emperor's reign, my mother had been the Crown Princess for so many years, with the support of the Queen Mother of the East Palace, but she was still unable to give birth to a son or a half."

"Now, my father is about to be crowned emperor, and the East Palace has changed its owner..."

Regarding Liu Rong's theoretical mother: Empress Bo, and the Empress Dowager Bo who had taken refuge in the palace, Liu Rong tried to contain it, but did not make his words too clear.

But as smart as Liu Guo, it is obviously impossible not to understand: Queen Bo has no chance of giving birth to sons and grandsons.

Ever since the time when Bo Zhao, the Marquis of Zhen, was mourned by all the courtiers and officials, he became disheartened and committed suicide in front of the mourning hall set up by the late emperor himself. This woman, who was also from the Bo family, has There is no longer the possibility of giving birth to an heir for the royal family.

At present, Empress Dowager Bo is hiding in the palace, so she can still protect her niece and granddaughter from the throne;

After the death of the Empress Dowager, Empress Bo's ability to continue living in Jiaofang Hall, let alone having children, would be a big question mark.

As for Liu's intentions in prostitution, it was impossible to escape the eyes of the emperor's eldest son.

——Liu Prostitute has clearly given up on Liu Rong as his son-in-law and has the idea of ​​​​supporting someone else as Chu, but he still wants to use the carrot of the Crown Prince to dangle Liu Rong's 'dumb donkey' and let Liu Rong Give yourself two more rounds of grinding.

After thinking about this and knowing that he had become a source of resentment in Liu's house, Liu Rong did not stay any longer and immediately stood up to leave.

I came here today just to apologize and clean up the mess for my stupid mother.

There was no hope that he could reconcile with Liu Piao and maintain the friendship on the surface, but Liu Rong had already achieved his goal.

On the other hand, Liu Rong, the prostitute, saw that Liu Rong was not fooled, so he refused to give up and said: "Prince Liang is almost at the age of marriage."

"We can't let Gillian be the Crown Princess, so being the Crown Princess isn't too bad, right?"

Unexpectedly, as soon as Liu Piao said this, Liu Rong's expression changed drastically!

Fortunately, he was already walking towards the door of the mansion, with his back to Liu Piao, so that Liu Piao could not see him losing his composure;
"Aunt, stay..."

After adjusting his facial expression, turning around and saying goodbye again, Liu Rong quickly walked out of the house without stopping.

Looking at Liu Rong's back as he left, Liu Piao stamped his feet unwillingly and secretly thought about the feasibility of doing so.

"Prince Liang..."

"The Crown Princess..."

(End of this chapter)