Chapter 153

 

Because He Qingxian advised frugality, there was no grand palace banquet on New Year’s Eve this year. Emperor Yuanyou only invited Eldest Princess Anle, his two sisters and their families into the palace for a simple New Year’s Eve dinner.

Recently, Nan Kang had been quite favored by Empress Dowager Qi, gaining a lot of prestige. With this shift in momentum, Meng Yanqing did not dare to openly provoke Nankang at home. When he entered the palace, Meng Yanqing became even more cautious; even when the palace servants put wine in front of him, he didn’t dare to drink it.”

Emperor Yuanyou: “Why doesn’t Eldest Brother-in-law drink? Do you still remember the punch you received from Second Brother-in-law when the late emperor held a banquet that year?”

Because it was a family banquet, Emperor Yuanyou’s address was more casual.

And his teasing words directly made Meng Yanqing blush.

Chen Jingzong, on the other hand, felt very ashamed and said: “It’s all this minister’s fault for drinking too much and acted recklessly. This minister has to apologize to Eldest Brother-in-law here.”

Eldest brother-in-law Meng Yanqing: …

Hua Yang smiled lightly, but Nan Kang smiled much more obviously. She used to feel embarrassed when Meng Yanqing made a fool of himself, but now, she just liked seeing Meng Yanqing look so useless.

Empress Dowager Qi changed the subject and asked her daughter: “Aren’t you going to Tangshan on third day of the New Year, have everything been packed? Do you want to have an imperial doctor to follow?”

Hua Yang was a person who loves face. In order to prevent others from thinking that she went to Tangshan purely for pleasure, she deliberately pretended to have leg pain on the Twelfth Month and even alerted the imperial doctor in the palace. The imperial doctors were all very perceptive people. Before taking a pulse, Hua Yang frowned slightly and wondered whether the cold evil invaded her leg bones due her falling into the water before, causing her leg to hurt every winter. The imperial doctors, hearing this, couldn’t find anything wrong when they took her pulse, but still had to find a cause for the princess’s leg pain. So, they went along with her words and prescribed a mild tonic for her condition.

With the words of the imperial doctor, Hua Yang went to the palace to complain to her mother empress and brother, saying that she wanted to go to a hot spring to recuperate. Empress Dowager Qi naturally agreed. For once, Emperor Yuanyou didn’t envy his sister that she could go out of the city freely, and also suggested that his sister stay in the Temporary Palace.

Hua Yang said that she did not want to stir up trouble, so she had borrowed a villa from her aunt.

Emperor Yuanyou felt even more sorry for his sister, she even had to borrow another villa to soak in the hot springs. When a villa of the guilty official’s family became available again in Tangshan, he would definitely choose the best one for his sister!

“Everyone is celebrating the New Year, so I won’t bother the imperial doctor. I’ll just prepare the medicine according to the prescription before and take it with me.” Hua Yang said with her usual expression.

Empress Dowager Qi nodded.

Princess Anle smiled imperceptibly. The emperor was still young and didn’t understand, but she didn’t believe that Empress Dowager Qi really couldn’t see through Panpan’s little thoughts.

The next morning, Hua Yang and Chen Jingzong came to the palace early to pay New Year’s greetings.

Chen Jingzong actually prepared a red envelope for Emperor Yuanyou, which contained a thin silver note of one hundred taels.

Emperor Yuanyou: …

Should he despise his brother-in-law for being stingy, or should he be happy that he still received New Year’s money?

When Hua Yang’s mother and daughter were sitting together chatting, Emperor Yuanyou took Chen Jingzong out. Standing in front of the white marble railing in front of the main hall, Emperor Yuanyou told Chen Jingzong: “Sister is not feeling well in her legs. You should take good care of her when you get there.”

Chen Jingzong: “Your Majesty can rest assured. This minister will guard Grand Princess every step of the way.”

Emperor Yuanyou recalled the pitiful appearance of his sister when she fell into the water and was wrapped in a quilt. His face, which still looked a bit youthful, was covered with a layer of sadness: “Zhen heard that when a woman caught a cold, it can affect her ability to conceive. You two have been married for so long and still have no children, aren’t you anxious?”

Chen Jingzong smiled and said: “This minister is not in a hurry at all.”

His smiled seemed natural and looked very sincere. Emperor Yuanyou asked curiously: “Why?”

Chen Jingzong explained seriously: “Grand Princess still dislikes the rudeness of this minister. If she really has children, Grand Princess will definitely focus on the children, and she will not have eyes for this minister. This minister doesn’t want to be like Meng Yanqing. As you can see, Princess Nan Kang didn’t take Meng Yanqing seriously last night.”

Emperor Yuanyou never expected that Chen Jingzong would not expect children for this reason.

But this was indeed true, and mother empress was also like this. Her thoughts were always on him and his sister, and she didn’t care at all which concubine father emperor favored.

Chen Jingzong in turn comforted Emperor Yuanyou: “Don’t be anxious to become an uncle. When fate comes, the children will naturally come. If you mention it too many times, afraid Grand Princess will not be happy.”

Emperor Yuanyou nodded subconsciously.

At this time, the figures of Princess Nan Kang’s family of four appeared in the distance.

He Jing was still fine, but Emperor Yuanyou couldn’t hide the disgust in his eyes when he thought of the drool that came from the corner of Brother Dun’s mouth from time to time.

Perhaps it was because he was not a child from his biological sister, but Emperor Yuanyou couldn’t like Brother Dun no matter how he looked at him.

.

After leaving the palace, Hua Yang and Chen Jingzong went directly to the Chen Mansion.

Brand new red couplets were posted outside the gate of the Chen Mansion, and there were a few red paper scraps left on the ground after the firecrackers were set off.

Chen Tingjian, the Chief Minister who had been busy for a whole year, finally got a few days of rest. Today he wore a set of purple brocade robes. His long hair with faint silver threads was simply tied up with a jade hairpin, and his beautiful beard hanging down his chest, looking like an immortal.

Hua Yang smiled and wished her father-in-law a happy new year.

Chen Jingzong was in a good mood, so he didn’t call Father, but called him Chief Minister, and followed Hua Yang and said a few auspicious words.

Chen Tingjian was used to it and just entertained his daughter-in-law.

Not long after arriving at Chunhe Hall, Chen Jingzong was taken away by his nieces and nephews. Later, Hua Yang and her two sisters-in-law went to the garden and saw Chen Jingzong playing Cuju with the children.

A military attache looked good when he moves. With broad shoulders and a narrow waist, especially those long legs that made him look dashing when he kicked the ball.

Luo Yuyan said enviously: “Men like Prince Consort are indeed better. Take our Third Master for example. He can’t carry anything on his shoulders or lift anything with his hands. Every day when he comes back, he just leans on the couch and groans, complaining about a sore neck one moment and shoulder pain the next. Sister-in-law, is Eldest Brother the same?”

Yu Xiu smiled and said, “He never said anything, but he would also beat his own shoulders. When I saw it, I naturally went to help him.”

Luo Yuyan looked at Hua Yang again: “Both of us has to always serve our husbands, but Grand Princess is different. Usually it’s Prince Consort who serves you, right?”

Hua Yang: …

She began to reflect on whether she was too close to her sisters-in-law, which made Luo Yuyan more and more bold and dared to tease her.

Hua Yang also mentioned the trip to Tangshan to her mother-in-law, that way when she and Chen Jingzong were not in the capital for the next half month, the Chen family would not think that something bad happened.

After all, bathing in hot springs was somewhat ambiguous. Chen Jingzong did not reveal it to his two brothers personally, but he inadvertently said it to his nephews.

In Guanhe Hall, Wan Yi asked her mother quietly: “Mom, have you and Father ever bathed in a hot spring?”

Yu Xiu thought for a while and smiled: “I haven’t done it in the capital, but when I was a kid in Lingzhou, I did it several times.”

Wan Yi asked in surprise: “Is there a hot spring in Lingzhou?”

Yu Xiu: “Yes, some wealthy families build villa to enjoy themselves, and some people deliberately build more pools so that people can go and bathe in them if they are willing to spend money. At that time, the old lady liked to bathe in the pools, and my grandmother would accompany her every winter. When she goes, grandma will specially take me with her. It’s a pity that the last time we went back was to mourn the old lady, otherwise grandma would definitely take you there too.”

Wan Yi didn’t feel any regret. She was more curious about her mother’s childhood: “How old were you then?”

Yu Xiu: “I must be five or six years old. It’s very refreshing to bathe in the pool, so I remember it clearly.”

Wan Yi’s eyes lit up when she heard this: “It turns out that mother and father are childhood sweethearts.”

She knew that her parents were engaged since they were babies, but she always thought that her parents had never met when they were children and got married directly when they grew up. Only now did she know that the two of them might have bathed in hot springs together when they were children.

Yu Xiu blushed at her daughter’s words and hurriedly explained: “We don’t meet often, but during New Years and holidays, he would go to our house to give gifts. I didn’t understand it at that time, so I called him Brother.”

Wan Yi: “Father is four years older than you. You don’t understand, but he must know that you are his little wife.”

Yu Xiu pretended to pinch her daughter’s face, and Wan Yi ran away with a smile. When she went out, she almost bumped into her father who had just come back from outside.

Like Chen Tingjian, Chen Bozong was serious with his son but gentle with his daughter. He held the person and asked, “Why are you running?”

Wan Yi complained: “Mom wants to beat me.”

After saying that, she left his father and ran away.

Chen Bozong couldn’t associate his gentle wife with beating children, so he naturally asked when he entered the house.

Yu Xiu’s face was already red, but it turned redder when he asked.

It was not until nighttime, after being interrogated in a special way by the vice minister of Dali Temple, that Yu Xiu embarrassedly explained the conversation between the mother and daughter.

Chen Bozong:……

It’s all because the Old Four want to show off!

The Old Four himself had lived in Lingzhou for several years, and definitely had bathed there many times. Now he just followed the grand princess to Tangshan for a few days, was it worth going a roundabout way to show off to the children!

.

Chen Jingzong didn’t know what his parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, and nephews were thinking. On the third day of the New Year, while it was still dark, he woke Hua Yang up.

Hua Yang was very sleepy and wanted to sleep a little longer, but when she saw Chen Jingzong’s cheerful eyebrows and thought that he, an ignorant prince-in-law, had never seen a hot spring, Hua Yang got up early.

Tangshan was eighty miles away from the capital. If they start early and the carriage goes faster, they could arrive at her aunt’s villa in Tangshan in the evening.

“The capital is truly an outstanding place, even having wonderful things like hot springs.”

The carriage moved along the official road, bumping occasionally. Chen Jingzong leaned against the window, looked at Hua Yang and praised.

Hua Yang showed disgusted on her face: “Don’t say it out loud, it will only make you look ignorant, and don’t show off to your colleagues when you come back. They may have been gone bathing many times.”

Chen Jingzong: “Am I the kind of person who has no sense of proportion? Apart from showing my true temperament in front of you, outside, people who have met me will only think that I am as unattainable as the rich and noble children born and raised in the capital.”

Hua Yang: “Then don’t show your true temperament in front of me. I admire the noble children of the capital more.”

Chen Jingzong stopped talking, raised his chin slightly, and his eyes became cold.

Hua Yang: “No son of noble person would dare to be so arrogant and rude in front of me.”

Chen Jingzong: “But they are all like this outside, including you. They always look at people through their nostrils.”

Hua Yang:……

She tilted her head and looked out the window.

Neither of them spoke, and the carriage became quiet. Outside the window was a bleak winter scene. The cold wind was biting, and Hua Yang lowered the curtain after getting blown for a while.

Glancing at prince consort who was still pretending to be a noble son, Hua Yang took out a book. But she had to use hand to flip the book, and Hua Yang wanted to keep holding the warm hand stove.

She handed the book to Chen Jingzong: “Read it for me.”

Chen Jingzong: “I’m thinking seriously, don’t disturb me with such trivial things.”

After speaking, he closed his eyes with a solemn expression.

Hua Yang smiled instead of being angry. She wanted to see how long Chen Jingzong could keep pretending.

The grand princess’s carriage was very spacious. Hua Yang asked Chen Jingzong to move to the side seat, while she took off her shoes and lay on the main couch, covering herself with a quilt. There was a warm hand stove under her feet and another one in her hand.

The carriage bumped gently, and Hua Yang, who had not slept enough in the morning, quickly became sleepy.

Just when she was about to fall asleep, someone took away the warm hand stove from her feet, and a pair of big hands pinched her ankles dishonestly.

Hua Yang continued to sleep and kicked him.

It was fine if she didn’t kick him, but with this kick, Chen Jingzong was getting more and more bold. Directly took off his robe, lifted the quilt and got in.

Hua Yang didn’t dare to make any big moves for fear that the coachman would notice.

She glared at Chen Jingzong, who was propped himself under the quilt: “A noble son will not be rude on a carriage.”

Chen Jingzong sneered: “That’s where you’re wrong. As a man, there is no one who doesn’t like this. If they’re not yet married, a true gentleman will still pretend. But once they’re married, they’re all the same.”

Hua Yang didn’t believe it.

Chen Jingzong didn’t care. He took away the hand stove that got in the way and then grabbed the grand princess’s wrists.

Hua Yang frowned.

Chen Jingzong: “I didn’t move.”

He didn’t move, but the carriage was jolting, and as soon as the carriage jolted, the two of them swayed with it.

After a few moments, the prince consort laughed from the swaying, and the grand princess was blushing.

The author has something to say:

The carriage: It’s all my fault that I’m not stable enough.

The official road: It’s all my fault that I’m not flat enough.

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