There is no parent who does not want their children to live in harmony.
It just so happened that although the Fifth Prince and the Eleventh Princess had a good relationship, they were both not the type to be accommodating. Concubine Pang sighed when she thought of her son and daughter, and asked Aunt Cui as if she had just woken up from a dream, "Where is the Eleventh Princess?"
"Classes have been suspended these days, and His Highness is painting in the palace." Speaking of the Eleventh Princess, Aunt Cui talked to Concubine Pang, and then said, "His Highness is too quiet."
Concubine Pang smiled and was about to speak when she suddenly heard a commotion outside the palace. She frowned and glanced at Aunt Cui.
Aunt Cui had already gone out to greet them. After a while, she hurried back in and reported to Concubine Pang anxiously, "My Lady Concubine, His Highness has left the palace."
What
Concubine Pang was surprised, but then she reacted and immediately scolded: "Nonsense! How can she, a princess, leave the palace without permission?"
The princesses of the Great Zhou were probably the princesses with the most restrictions in the past few hundred years. Before they got married, they had basically no chance to leave the palace.
It was because Emperor Yuanfeng doted on his daughter and was not the kind of person who would restrict her that he allowed the Eleventh Princess to visit the Pang family a few times, but that was limited.
Now the Eleventh Princess has even left the palace secretly. Concubine Pang was furious and anxious. She asked Lv'e, who was serving the Eleventh Princess, in a cold voice: "How did you serve the princess? When the princess left the palace secretly, who did the guards take with her? Who did the maidservant take with her? How dare you let the princess slip away from under your noses?!"
Even for a prince, there are corresponding regulations for leaving the palace. How can you just leave whenever you want? The eleventh princess is too outrageous.
Lu'e was so frightened that she couldn't even speak clearly. Her face was pale and she explained in shock and fear: "His Highness said that he wanted to go to the Cining Palace for a walk. We wanted to follow him, but His Highness strictly ordered us not to follow him. So we had no choice but to wait in the palace. Who knew that we didn't see His Highness in the end? We went to the Cining Palace to ask, and found out that His Highness had already left the Cining Palace..."
Aunt Cui has already gone out and asked people to look for it.
Concubine Pang turned to look at Aunt Cui and asked Lu'e, "Then how do you know that His Highness has left the palace?"
"We heard about it too. We heard that the Eleventh Prince met... His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the Cining Palace, and then followed the Crown Prince. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has left the palace, so the prince probably also..." Lu'e was so anxious that she was about to cry out loud. She held back her sobs in anxiety and kowtowed repeatedly on the ground.
Concubine Pang frowned, held her breath and shook her head to let her get up. When she heard that she was with Xiao Heng, the shock in her heart was lessened a little.
If you stay with Xiao Heng, you don't have to worry about your safety.
However, the relationship between Xiao Heng and the Eleventh Princess has always been just a faint one. I don’t know what the Eleventh Princess was thinking this time. Why did she leave with Xiao Heng
Concubine Pang couldn't figure it out no matter how hard she tried. She sent someone to inform Emperor Yuanfeng and at the same time sent someone to look for the fifth prince.
Who would have thought that the palace servant who went to the Fifth Prince's palace to inquire about the news came back and said that the Fifth Prince was not in the palace either, but had left.
This time, Concubine Pang's doubts were completely resolved - no wonder, she was wondering why the Eleventh Princess followed Xiao Heng out of the palace, it turned out that the Fifth Prince also went with them.
"This Xiaowu! He is really getting more and more unruly!" When Emperor Yuanfeng came over, Concubine Pang, who had already asked Empress Dowager Tian, complained to Emperor Yuanfeng about her children in a low voice: "Eleventh has always been quick to do whatever he wants. It goes without saying. Who knew that Xiaowu would be so unstable? I am scared to death."
Seeing that she was indeed frightened, Emperor Yuanfeng smiled and said, "Xiaowu and Ah Heng have been on good terms recently. It must be because Eleven was bored in the palace, so she wanted Xiaowu to take her out of the palace. These people got together."
Concubine Pang was still annoyed: "He is becoming more and more unruly. In my opinion, I don't know where his studies have led him. He is even more naughty than before he started studying."
"You can't say that." Emperor Yuanfeng was much more understanding than Concubine Pang: "Could it be that our princess is really going to be like the princesses of the deposed emperor, unable to leave the palace until death, and what kind of virtue is this? What a joke!"
Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. In the opinion of Emperor Yuanfeng, it is better to travel everywhere like Su Yao. The more she sees, the more truths she will understand without the need for others to preach to her.
Since Emperor Yuanfeng said so, Concubine Pang had nothing to say. She just told someone to watch at the palace gate and report immediately if they came back.
The Eleventh Princess was sitting in Xiao Heng's carriage with the Fifth Prince at this time. It was the first time for her to leave the palace alone, leaving behind countless guards and palace maids. Everything she saw seemed strange to her. The Fifth Prince looked sideways at her and didn't know what to say.
"Mother will peel off my skin when she goes back." The fifth prince looked at his sister angrily: "We came out to do serious business, why did you have to follow us?"
The Eleventh Princess snorted, not afraid of the Fifth Prince's complaints at all. She raised her eyebrows and said confidently, "Since you are going to the Su family to watch the ceremony, I will naturally go to the Su family as well."
The Fifth Prince glanced at her suspiciously, and remembered the grievances between her and Su Yao these days. He couldn't help but remind her emphatically: "Don't go looking for trouble with others. Today is a big happy event in their family."
The Su family was in high spirits. Early in the morning, a large number of beggars heard the news and gathered in front of the door waiting for the Su family to open the door.
This is also a custom in the capital. When there is a happy event in a wealthy family, beggars will not be driven away.
The Su family was naturally no exception. When the door opened, Li Rui, who was also wearing new clothes, came out with more than twenty servants and stood in the corridor. He said, "Everyone, have a meal," and clapped his hands.
Immediately, a strong servant came out carrying a bamboo basket and began to scatter handfuls of copper coins outside.
The beggars immediately rushed forward and the place became noisy.
Li Rui didn't keep them waiting. He ordered the servant to pour out all the copper coins and asked the servants to keep a close eye on them. He didn't breathe a sigh of relief until the beggars had picked up all the copper coins peacefully. He smiled and bowed to the beggars: "Thank you all for coming to congratulate me. Thank you very much."
Although other families also have the tradition of giving out money at happy events, the Su family was the first to be so generous and polite. The beggars were very happy and said many auspicious words before they left satisfied.
Li Rui ordered people to clean up the area in front of the door again, as a close guest had already arrived.
The first person to arrive was Mrs. He from the He family.