Concubine, please respect yourself

Chapter 8 Mu Cangzhai

Five years later, the spring was welcomed in the middle of the capital, and all the officials in the Chaoyang Palace bowed their heads and held their breath.

"Pa" A memorial was thrown from the hands of the people sitting in the hall and landed on Han Yubai's stone ladder with dragon patterns.

In recent years, Emperor Zhao's body has become more and more weak, his face is thin and bony, and the memorial he threw out just now when he was angry took a lot of effort, and now he is bowing his head in front of the dragon case and panting heavily.

"Who can come. Tell me, now that the treasury is empty, and those who sell private salt are rampant, what should you do?" Emperor Zhao was anxious. In the past few years, he also knew that his health was not getting better every year, and his sons formed a clique for personal gain. They all waited eagerly for him to stand up, so as to premeditate usurpation.

But now the north is constantly fighting, and the south is colluding with officials and businessmen. Before the barbarians came, it was a mess. Today in the court, Emperor Zhao asked all the civil and military officials if they had a good plan, but no one was willing to commit himself to go south to find out the flow of private salt. How could this make him not anxious.

Emperor Zhao naturally understood that there is no crown prince and he is ill. It is the time for his good sons to seize the throne. Who would want to put down the throne and not eat this piece of fat?

After hearing Emperor Zhao's indignant words, the ministers of His Highness lowered their heads even harder, but still no one stepped forward. The leader, Prime Minister Zuo Li Que, squinted his eyes and glanced at the face of the sixth prince beside him. He pursed his lips and said nothing.

The general Wei Shengyu folded his hands and bowed his head, squinting at the direction of the fourth prince, seeing that the fourth prince didn't look at him, he pulled his beard pretendingly, but kept silent.

These small movements seemed to be unseen, but they all fell into the eyes of the man behind him.

No one spoke in the main hall, Emperor Zhao sighed softly, his face turned downcast, and a moment later he heard a voice from under the hall: "Father, please calm down, my son is willing to go south to find out the truth about the collusion between officials and merchants to sell private salt."

The officials hurriedly raised their heads and looked in the direction of the person who made the sound. They saw the man in a dark black robe, with his hair tied up and a crown, and the bottom of the robe was embellished with gold threads. You Guang is extremely handsome but also exudes a mysterious charm.

It was the Ninth Prince, Ying Su.

The Ninth Prince has always had a calm temperament, and he is very popular with Emperor Zhao on weekdays. The elder brother of the Ninth Prince's biological mother, Mu Guifei, is one of the three princes of the dynasty. The Ninth Prince is also an upright person, why is he going out of Beijing at this juncture?
Wen Wu in the hall saw that it was the Ninth Prince who was speaking, and he couldn't help thinking about what kind of medicine the Ninth Prince was selling in his gourd.

Ying Su stood in the court hall, raised his robe and bowed to the people in the hall before continuing to speak: "Father, now that there are continuous wars in the north, the collusion between officials and private parties in the south must be cut off as soon as possible."

Emperor Zhao fixed his eyes on Ying Su for a long while, and then suddenly laughed loudly: "Okay, you are worthy of being the good son of Zhen and Concubine Mu, Su'er father ordered you to set off south as soon as possible to investigate the case of smuggling salt, Li Xia will not delay you The birthday of the imperial grandmother."

Ying Su tapped his chin lightly, raised the corners of his lips slightly, and his eyes were so cold that it was hard to figure out what he was thinking.

"Thank you father for your accomplishment."

Emperor Zhao was in a good mood and waved his hand to retreat.

The suburbs of Beijing, the Ninth Prince's Mansion, and the parliament hall.

When Yingsu returned to the mansion, the butler came to report that the adults had been waiting in the meeting hall for a long time. This was what Yingsu expected. It seemed that the adults came to confirm with him. Is it the same.

"Greetings to the Ninth Prince." The head of the meeting hall, Grand Master Wang, saw the Ninth Prince's arrival and hurriedly got up to salute. A dozen other staff and ministers in the room also stepped forward to greet him.

Ying Su waved his sleeves and sat at the top of the hall, with a handsome face but not arrogant: "Masters, there is no need to be polite, please sit down and enjoy tea."

The adults took a few sips of tea and put down their cups.

"The Ninth Prince chose this time to go out of Beijing. I'm afraid he already has a plan in mind. Can you tell us all about it?" Wang Anfu, a cabinet scholar, stood up and cupped his hands, and asked the Ninth Prince.

"Now everyone has seen the situation in Beijing and China. The other princes have already torn their faces and seized the throne. Only my old nine's power has not been revealed. Although the father's body will not last long, he can still settle down in a year or two. Yes, now there is an errand that allows me to go out of Beijing to avoid suspicion, no matter how much they fight against each other during my absence, they will lose their troops, such a result is good for me, if you don't fight, you will fight." Ying Su With calm eyes and a cold expression, a few words put the situation of seizing the heir firmly under control. After speaking, he waved his sleeves and picked up the blue and white teacup on the wooden table at hand, and had a few sips. .

After listening to the Ninth Prince's words, several staff and ministers were even more admiring, and applauded secretly. Favorable situation.

"Since the Ninth Prince has a plan in mind, we will fully cooperate and calculate the forces of all parties, and we will make a careful decision when the prince returns to Beijing." University scholar Wang led a group of staff to express their position, and then got up and withdrew from the inner gate of the palace .

For a moment, the prince's mansion was filled with tranquility again.

Suzhou, Duke Lu's Mansion.

It was spring in a blink of an eye, although it wasn't cold, but the wind was still cool, and there was a layer of frost and fog on the welcoming pine in Lu's mansion. Before the sun rose, there were maids in the courtyard to clean the courtyard and trim the flower branches.

"Oh, auntie, please be careful." A maid in Lanyue Pavilion was holding a broom in her hand, she almost knocked over the stewed papaya with milk in Luo Ning's hand when she was sleepy.

"Sister Luo Ning, you don't know. Last night, Miss held the lamp and drew until midnight. Sister Lianyi and I didn't rest until the middle of the night." Xiao Zui complained to Luo Ning.

When Luo Ning heard this, she quickly stepped forward and covered her mouth: "Shhh, Ah Tang, you can quickly shut your mouth tightly. It's not like you don't know Miss's temper."

Upon hearing Luo Ning's reminder, the little maid named A Tang cautiously swallowed her mouthful of foam, lowered her head, and vigorously swept the remaining flowers in the courtyard with a broom.

Luo Ning sighed lightly, shook his head, and realized that the most dangerous person in the Duke's mansion is now, and his young lady is definitely the leader.

Three years ago, because the third son refused to go to the school, the elder and the master quarreled at home. Although the master was kind, he still refused to beat the third son. Even though the words were fierce, the third son refused to go to the school for a day. , but gathered a crowd to gamble with the servants in the mansion. My young lady found out about this and went to the yard with a stick to arrest people.

Seeing the third son slapping him viciously without saying a word, he cursed at the same time: "You bastard, you didn't learn etiquette, but you learned all kinds of things. If you want to play, then get out of the house and play. My Lu family’s hundred-year-old Zhongding family, I don’t have you as a coward, and all the young men who gather to gamble will sell them all to me, and if someone shows me such inferior things in the future, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

After finishing talking with the third young master, the fourth young lady turned her head and left the yard, leaving the third young master sitting on the ground crying loudly, waiting for the master and wife to return to the mansion, and then listened to the report from the housekeeper, telling how the third young master lied about being sick and gathered to gamble , Fourth Miss talked about how to beat and scold the discipline, and finally said: "The third son is injured all over, the doctor who was called didn't look at it, he just stayed in the room and said nothing."

Who would have thought that the third young master got up early the next morning and went to the study hall, and in the afternoon he went to the shop at home to ask the manager how to manage the shop. Praise Fourth Miss for her good beating, if she had known that this Pohou son would be cured by a beating, it would be better to deal with it earlier.

After this incident, the prestige of the fourth lady in the mansion has risen again and again. The master and wife dote on the three elder brothers and dare not provoke them. All the servants in the mansion bow and kneel when they meet each other. Hearing the maid Atang's complaint, Luo Ning's heart was really shaking. Others didn't know her lady's methods, but he didn't know so well. He would rather offend Hades than touch her.

After thinking for a while, Luo Ning knocked on the door with the exquisite porcelain flower glaze bowl in his hand: "Miss, can you get up?"

There was a rustling sound in the room, and after a while there was a soft voice: "Get up, come in."

Luo Ning pushed open the door, only to see a beautiful scene.

The woman on the bed has a delicate figure leaning half against the head of the bed, black hair hanging behind her ears, revealing her hibiscus jade neck, her face is still tired because she just woke up, her phoenix eyes are slightly squinted with dew, and her eyes are tinged with cinnabar red. With a charming look, the woman raised the ribbon behind her neck and tied it with both hands, and her body shrank as if she was startled by the cool wind outside the house and then lay down on the bed again.

In the past few years, Luo Ning has seen the young lady grow up and open up, and her appearance has become better and better. Although she has gotten used to it after seeing her for a long time, she just forgot to close the door. The young lady is delicate and afraid of cold and heat. It's over, but there is still a lot of charcoal in Lanyue Pavilion. Thinking of this, Luo Ning hurriedly closed the door, put the food in his hand on the table, and then went to the bed to wait for the young lady to get up.

Lu Ziyu knew that his body had been suffering from insomnia for the past two years, and he had unbearable chest tightness last night, so he ordered the maid to hold the lamp, and drew out the blueprints of the new accessories and clothing styles in Twilight Cangzhai in spring. Then I went to give it to Bai Liyao, after all, all the women in Suzhou City were counting on Mu Cangzhai to produce some new jewelry and clothes, so that they could buy them and go outing with their lovers.

This Mucangzhai has become the fashion icon of Suzhou City in recent years. From the small flower street and Liuxiang to the noble ladies in Suzhou, there is no one who does not admire the things produced by Mucangzhai, whether it is rouge, gouache, or hairpin hairpin. Crowns, as long as new products are on the market, they will be sold out within three days, but these things are not the top items in Mu Cangzhai
I heard that there is a kind of ornament in Mu Cangzhai called "Liuli". The makeup mirror made of this crystal clear thing can clearly see the face of the dressed woman. It can refract rainbow light on the ground, walk with a halo, it is extremely exquisite, and no one knows how it is made, but this Suzhou girl not only loves gold, silver and jade, but also loves Mu Cangzhai. Now the noble ladies in Beijing are also asking for things from Mucangzhai in Suzhou. If anyone can have one, they must take it out to show off.

(End of this chapter)