On March 21st of the 13th year of Hongzheng, King Cheng returned to the court.
Jing Shao stood in the splendid hall, looking at each and every familiar or unfamiliar face in front of him, only to feel that it was like a lifetime ago. That year, he was kneeling in the center of the hall, listening to everyone counting his sins.
The Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue accused him of selling salt quotas, the Secretary of the Ministry of Public Works accused him of building a large number of buildings, and even the royal historian accused him of killing prisoners and deceiving the people. But more than anything else, he is a traitor to the emperor and intends to plot against the emperor. The faces of those people have seen one by one, the Duke of Maoguo is the future father-in-law of the four emperors, Yongchang Bo is the successor's own brother, the Ministry of households and the Ministry of Public Works, two ministers are the emperor's people, and the rest of them are mostly followers.
After the relatives on the side of nature is to suppress, as for the two ministers, Jing Shao will aim at the household department standing behind the minister of the household department of the minister of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Ministry of the Interior, that year, he is willing to say a word of justice, in addition to his brother's people is the small minister. He is a clear stream of a faction, people are not rigid, is five years ago, the new scholarship, straight career all the way up to the minister, but until the Jing Shao accident have not been promoted again, perhaps this person can be pulled together, for the position of Shangshu.
Jing Shao was pondering when his elder brother standing beside him suddenly touched him with his elbow and jerked his head up, realizing that his father and all the ministers were looking at him, and that the Imperial Historian Fan Jie was standing in the center of the hall.
"Rumors of the Fourth Prince." Jing Chen clenched his teeth, his lips unmoving, and gave him the hint in a soft voice.
Jing Shao understood, stepped forward and said, "My son thought that the words of the foolish people are nothing more than idle talk after tea, not enough to worry about." The answer could be described as moderate, and Emperor Hongzheng turned his gaze back to Jing Chen.
Jing Chen stepped forward and said, "The ancient saying goes, 'Hoven phrases come to the nest, and there is no wind in the empty cave. If the one who is entrusted with it is true, then the wind is different.'' Since there are such rumors in the folklore, there must be a reason for it, it's better to clarify it as early as possible so as not to tarnish Fourth Imperial Brother's reputation."
The meaning of the brothers' answers contradicted each other, and it was obvious that they did not know beforehand, and even if they did, they had not discussed it, so Emperor Hongzheng nodded his head in satisfaction, "Jingyu, tell us yourself what is going on?"
Fourth Prince Jing Yu out of the line, kneeling at the bottom of the stairs, said: "I am afraid, only because a year ago the East Japan tribute some fresh sea fish, cut into thin slices of raw food is enough fresh, I think the children feel delicious and then more use some, do not want to be in the house of the underlings mistakenly rumor, which has caused a storm in the city. My son is guilty."
The fourth prince into the dynasty time is still short, responsible for tributes to all things, overseas rare things naturally got a lot.
"The royal family is the example of the world, your every move will naturally be noticed by the people, how can you be so obsessed with the things of the mouth and stomach?" Emperor Hongzheng was a bit annoyed, it was most taboo for people in the royal family to be too paranoid about anything.
"Fourth Imperial Brother is really blessed with a mouthful, this kind of rare thing is something that my son has never seen before." Eldest Prince Jing Rong said with a smirk, causing Emperor Hong Zheng's frown to tighten, the tributes from the foreign countries, except for the emperor, no one had the right to enjoy them at will. The meaning in the Grand Prince's words was quite profound.
"Father forgive me, that fish I only got two at mother's place, I really didn't crave it!" Jing Yu glared at the Grand Prince who didn't mind, and busily kowtowed to explain.
"Hmph!" Emperor Hongzheng snorted coldly, the fact that there would be such rumors in the capital was, in his opinion, entirely the result of the Fourth Prince's flaunting of good deeds, and as for the matter of the tribute, it really should be thoroughly investigated.
In the end, Emperor Hongzheng decreed that the fourth prince would be grounded for a month to face the wall. Although this punishment was not serious, in Emperor Hongzheng's mind, a bad impression had been formed, and that was enough.
Jing Shao spread this rumor, originally wanted to cover up the rumors about himself, by the way, disgusted the fourth prince and the stepmother, did not expect to develop into such an effect, really is a pleasant surprise. Quietly glanced at the side of the expressionless elder brother, suddenly thought, perhaps when they decided on this "topic", brother has already considered.
After the court, the two brothers did not say a word, looked at each other and went their own way. Jing Shao while sighing brother really more suitable for that position than their own, while thinking of going back to talk to their own Wangfei said today's things, by the way, kissing and touching ......
"Your Highness, going straight back to the royal residence?" The driver asked as he pulled back the curtain.
Jing Shao thought about it, he got up early in the morning, so he ate a bowl of porridge and a pancake, thought about it and said, "Go to Hui Wei House for breakfast."
"Your Highness, the House of Recollection is not open in the morning." Yun Song reminded.
"It's fine, just go." Jing Shao put down the car curtain, leaning on the soft pillow to rest his eyes. This soft pillow is mu hanzhang specially ordered people to put up, think jing shao get up early will be sleepy, so also can sleep in the car for a while.
It's true that Hui Mei Lou doesn't buy breakfast, but the owner of the place comes early to open the door and clean up the store, and prepares breakfast for her husband, who is returning from the court.
Ministry of household minister surnamed Xiao, name far, word Hengzhi. Speaking of which, he and the second prince consort mother's family - Dingnan Marquis Xiao family is the same clan, but has been five services outside the distant relatives, Xiao Yuan is noble, has been reluctant to climb this relative.
The House of Returning Flavors only had one door open, and a fellow was sweeping the floor in front of the door alone, as Jing Shao walked in with his hands behind his back.
"Hengzhi, you're back." The tall boss dressed in a greenish-blue cloth came out from the back kitchen with a cage of steaming buns in his hand, and froze for a moment when he saw Jing Shao, then laughed, "Sorry customer, Hui Taste House hasn't opened yet."
"Good day ma'am," Jing Shao greeted with a smile, "I'm Xiao Yuan's fellow officer, and I've come to discuss a matter with him."
Mrs. Squire frowned slightly, letting Jing Shao sit down, giving him the xiao long bao in her hand to eat, and serving a bowl of boiled sticky rice porridge out.
"Madam is really good at craftsmanship, I also married a male wife, but not as handy as Madam." Jing Shao ate a bun, the thin as white paper crust melted in his mouth, the fresh and fragrant meat filling with soup, when he bit into it, his lips and teeth were suddenly fragrant.
"I can't read much, I only know how to cook, Your Ladyship is a person with great wisdom, never compare with a vulgar person like me." The boss smiled and said.
Jing Shao froze, this person actually knows his identity, and then smiled: "Mrs. really intelligent, I do not know how to call?" Male wives and female wives are different, in the end, it is still a man, others can be completely direct to ask his name is not an offense.
"Your Highness is too polite, my surname is Zhou, with a single name, the word Jing." Zhou Zhuan's rather bright personality was very much in Jing Shao's favor, and he couldn't help but chat with him a few more times.
Thus, when Xiao Yuan swung back in his sedan chair, he saw a certain prince with whom he had little interaction, eating his own dunked dumplings, drinking rice congee from his own tavern, and chatting happily with his own wife, and only felt the veins on his forehead jutting out, "My humble servant has met His Highness, the King of Cheng!"
"Haha, Lord Xiao is back. I was passing by, so I came to your house to dine. These buns are so delicious, Lord Xiao is truly blessed." Jing Shao said as he stuffed the last dunking bun into his mouth, and Ula said, "Brother Zhou, is there any more?"
"There." Zhou Zhuan smiled and turned around to get the buns from the back kitchen.
"What's the matter with His Majesty?" The fair-faced young retainer's face was now darker than the bottom of a pot. Does this person know any etiquette at all, in front of him as his husband, he still dares to call his wife "Big Brother Zhou"! The two of them shouldn't have known each other before, right?
"It's nothing really, it's just that I heard that Lord Xiao and your wife are very affectionate," Jing Shao paused for a moment, raised his eyes to look around, and came to Xiao Yuan's ear, lowering his voice, "This king just wants to ask you for some advice on how to make a male wife no longer fear the matter of bed brother. "
Xiao Yuan froze, looked at Jing Shao quite sincere face, pull down the corners of the mouth slowly raised up: "So it is so, then the king is looking for the right person ......" So, the usually reticent Lord Servant, suddenly turned into the Ministry of Rites, the minister of ceremonies, talking to Jing Shao about the topic of "how to conquer a man's wife". Jing Shao talked about the topic of "how to conquer a man's wife".
When Zhou Zhuan came out with two drawers of buns, he saw the two of them coming together to mutter, occasionally snickering a few times, helplessly shook his head, dotingly glanced at Xiao Yuan, who was red with excitement, and turned around to the back kitchen to direct the small workers to pack today's ingredients.
Sometimes friendships between men are built in an instant, such as Xiao Yuan and Jing Shao, and by the time they left after breakfast, their conversation had turned:
"Heng Zhi, you should ask Big Brother Zhou to take my Junqing out for a walk sometime in the future, I'm afraid he'll be bored alone."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, it's on me, have you memorized those methods I told you?"
"Well, I'll buy you a drink if it works out."
Jing Shao left contentedly, and Xiao Yuan prettily wandered to the back kitchen to see his own wife.
"What did you talk to King Cheng about? Your face is all red." Zhou Zhuan pinched his own prime minister's chin and took a closer look.
"Humph!" Xiao Yuan shook off his hand and said angrily, "I still want to ask you, what did you say to him before I came back? Why did he call you Big Brother Zhou on his way out?"
"Let me give you a kiss and I'll tell you." Zhou Zhuan hugged him in a gesture to kiss.
Xiao Yuan was busy pushing away the lady who was a head taller than him, and grumbled under his breath, "If you don't tell the truth, you'll be punished for wearing water-pink clothes tomorrow!" After saying this, he flung his sleeves and walked out.
"I don't have buff colored clothes." Zhou Zhuan said helplessly, every time he overdid it, this person would ask himself to wear all sorts of colorful clothes, causing everyone in the entire capital to know that the owner of the Tasteful House had a strange nature.
"I'll buy it for you when I get off duty!" Xiao Yuan waved his hand and headed for the Ministry of Household in a rather good mood.
"I didn't do anything ...... last night," Zhou Zhuan muttered, and then he hooked a bad smile, since he was going to wear the color of water pink, he had to make a good profit tonight.
Jing Shao returned to the royal residence, thinking about the various methods Xiao Yuan had introduced to him towards the East Court, and just before he reached the door of the small study, he heard the shrill voice of the side lady Song: "The rules of the royal residence are such that even the king consort can't break this precedent, or else this royal residence will be in disarray in the future."
"But it's just an underling's side yard for temporary residence, and their expenses will just come out of my allowance." Mu Hanzhang's voice was still gentle, but it could be heard that there was already some hidden anger.
"Wangfei said it really lightly, forgive me for speaking frankly, Wangfei married over on the eighth day of March, this month there is simply no points, let concubine from where to deduct?" Song Lingxin's voice that didn't budge an inch sounded a bit shrill, and made Jing Shao, who was originally in a good mood, instantly burst into flames.