Huayang didn't expect that Chen Jingzong would suddenly say such serious and heavy words after he had just washed that thing.
It was so unexpected that she didn't know how to respond for a moment.
Chen Jingzong helped her put on her clothes, put on his own robe, and went outside to row the boat.
The cruise ship was drifting slowly. Huayang was lying on the pillow, gazing at the moon in the sky through a layer of gauze.
In fact, Chen Jingzong just likes to speak without restraint. When it comes to doing serious things, he is more serious than anyone else.
He would run back and forth on the mountain where heavy rain was pouring, working tirelessly to help the people escape disaster, and he would not envy his two civil servant brothers who had an easier job than him.
He would insist on rectifying the garrison under the support of a group of corrupt officials in Lingzhou, and fight for military pay and land for the soldiers, instead of colluding with the corrupt officials to make money.
Relying on his status as the son of a cabinet minister and the emperor's son-in-law, he easily obtained the official position of a third-rank commander, but he also relied on his own abilities to lead the Daxing Left Guard to win the championship in the martial arts competition, and later made many military achievements in the war to suppress the rebellion of Prince Yu.
Is it surprising that such an upright and intelligent person could see the numerous crises lurking beneath the Chen family's current splendor
Perhaps, if Huayang was just an ordinary lady, Chen Jingzong would have talked to her about his concerns about his family long ago. However, because she was the eldest princess and was from the court, he did not mention these things, for fear that she would misunderstand something and let it slip to the emperor or the empress dowager, turning the casual chat between husband and wife into a major event involving state affairs.
He knew that it was not easy for his father-in-law to implement reforms, but he never thought of dissuading his father-in-law. He just silently prepared for the possible fate of the Chen family.
This preparation included the fact that he didn't want to tie her down with the child.
What's the point of talking about tying her up or not? If Huayang doesn't like Chen Jingzong, even if she gives birth to a child, she will not accommodate him for the sake of the child.
It was Chen Jingzong himself. He didn't believe that even if there was no child, she would never divorce him in this life. He was even more afraid that she was trying to keep him, the son-in-law whose family had fallen into the quagmire, just because of the child.
Chen Jingzong asked her if she understood what husband and wife were.
Huayang understood because she had seen it.
A true couple will share the joys and sorrows, like Luo Yuyan and Chen Xiaozong. Such a pampered young lady from a marquis's mansion could have severed ties with the Chen family with a letter of divorce after something happened to the Chen family, but Luo Yuyan did not. She would rather brave the wind and snow with shackles on her feet than accompany Chen Xiaozong to the frontier to suffer.
Chen Jingzong didn't want Huayang to be that kind of wife. He chose to be a husband who was willing to let go, because he was a man of strong character. If something really happened to the Chen family, he would stand by the Chen family. But he didn't want Huayang to worry about him because of the child, so he was not in a hurry to have a child. He wanted to cherish the time when they could still be happy as husband and wife.
"We're about to dock."
Following Chen Jingzong's brief reminder, the boat shook slightly and then stopped again.
Huayang sat up.
The curtain at the entrance of the boat awning was lifted, and Chen Jingzong walked in, looked at her, and said jokingly: "Can the ancestor walk by herself?"
Huayang glared over.
Chen Jingzong came to the bed.
Huayang lay on his back.
Just as Chen Jingzong was about to leave, Huayang put his arm around his neck and whispered in his ear, "Our marriage was indeed made possible because of my father, but no matter if my father becomes a minister or a commoner in the future, no matter if the Chen family is a big family in the capital or a poor family, I will not divorce you because of these. If I divorce you, it will only be because you have done something wrong to me."
Chen Jingzong was silent for a moment, then smiled and said, "Even if I have a hundred guts, I wouldn't dare to let you down."
He was not serious, Huayang snorted: "Don't say such unlucky words again in the future."
Chen Jingzong started to walk out: "You were the one who asked me about my child first, so why don't I tell you the truth?"
Huayang twisted his neck.
Chen Jingzong stopped at the door of the cabin and waited for Huayang to stop twisting his head. He tilted his head and asked, "You asked me if I am in a hurry to be a father. If I am in a hurry, are you willing to give birth to a child?"
Huayang was unwilling to do so. Her father-in-law still had three crimes to be resolved, and pregnancy would consume nearly a year's worth of her energy. How could she concentrate on waiting for the birth of the child
She asked Chen Jingzong in return: "Do you really want to be a father now?"
Chen Jingzong: "If you are anxious to become a mother, I can give it to you tonight. If you are not anxious, let's wait a little longer. When the situation outside stabilizes, I can also concentrate on taking care of you two ancestors."
Huayang: "What does it mean that the situation is stable?"
Chen Jingzong lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty, please take charge of the government. Right now, the Empress Dowager and the cabinet make the decisions on major issues. Your Majesty is young, and we cannot tell his attitude. Once he takes charge of the government, everything will become clear."
Huayang was silent.
Chen Jingzong: "You won't tell this to the emperor, will you?"
Huayang: "I'm not stupid."
Chen Jingzong: "You are not stupid, but you are close to the emperor. I am really afraid that you will sell me out. The emperor will dislike me and the old man will blame me for talking too much, making me a nobody."
Huayang: "If you were really scared, you wouldn't tell me."
Having been husband and wife for more than four years, even though they did not completely understand each other, they knew each other's character. Just as she could see the righteousness beneath Chen Jingzong's shamelessness, Chen Jingzong also knew that she would never confuse their affairs with state affairs.
Chen Jingzong stepped onto the shore, looked around, and made sure that no one was around. He smiled again, looked at her and said, "I thought you would say that in your heart, I am as close to you as the emperor, or even closer to him."
.
The next morning, Chen Jingzong rode his eight-year-old mount to the garrison again.
After breakfast, Huayang called Wu Run and asked him to go to the horse market to see if there were any good horses.
The good horses that could be brought to the capital to be sold were basically Mongolian horses, and Mongolian horses were also divided into good and bad ones. For example, those good horses that were rarely seen in a few years were informed by horse dealers to the wealthy families in the capital early on, and then they were bought early. Even if the remaining ones were still considered famous horses, they could not meet Huayang's requirements for gifts.
Wu Run was the one who understood the princess's vision the best. He ran around outside and came back to report: "Princess, there are no famous horses in the horse market that will catch people's eyes for the time being, but I have informed those horse dealers and asked them to send a message to our mansion if they have new horses."
Even though there are officials everywhere in the capital, outside the palace, no family's prestige can surpass that of the Princess's Mansion in Huayang.
Huayang: "How long will it take?"
Wu Run: "There may be a batch of new horses delivered before the Mid-Autumn Festival."
Counting the days, we only have about a month to wait.
Huayang asked Wu Run to pay attention, and she put the matter of buying a horse aside for the time being.
On the first day of August, Huayang went to the palace to pay his respects to his mother as usual.
When Empress Dowager Qi saw that her daughter had a rosy complexion, she knew that she was living a freer and more comfortable life outside the palace than inside. But after all, they had been married for almost five years. Empress Dowager Qi was really afraid that her daughter would be too free and easy and cause the prince consort to misunderstand that her daughter did not have him in her heart, thus alienating the relationship between husband and wife in vain.
"You're already 22, it's time to have a child," Empress Dowager Qi advised softly.
Empress Dowager Qi was a strict mother. In her previous life, Huayang did not dare to disobey her mother. But in this life, she was not so respectful. She pouted and said, "If you urge me again, I will not enter the palace anymore."
Empress Dowager Qi: …
"Mom is doing this for your own good."
"I said that for your own good, so that you won't get angry if I don't obey you next time."
Empress Dowager Qi felt that her daughter was having more and more crooked ideas. However, when her daughter was young, she could ask the nanny to watch her and make sure she learned etiquette seriously. But now she had no way to interfere in her daughter's bedroom affairs with her husband.
When the mother and daughter were in a stalemate, Emperor Yuanyou arrived.
After the younger brother finished his ceremony, Huayang found an excuse to take his younger brother away, and the two siblings went to talk somewhere else.
"Did my sister make mother unhappy?" Emperor Yuanyou was very good at observing people's expressions, especially his mother's.
Huayang sat down in the pavilion and asked Cao Li, Chao Yun and others to go outside. Then she said to her brother, "My mother is urging me to have a baby. I am not happy."
Emperor Yuanyou's eyes quickly swept over his sister's belly, and his earlobes turned slightly red.
Huayang didn't say this to her brother on purpose. She was praising Chen Jingzong and the Chen family in a roundabout way: "In other families, it's the parents-in-law or the husband who's anxious about having children. But in my case, my husband's family isn't anxious, but my own mother is the most anxious."
Emperor Yuanyou was indoctrinated with various etiquette and doctrines by his mother and ministers every day, but he understood what his mother meant: "My mother is worried that my sister will not be able to get pregnant and will be criticized by the people."
Huayang: "Why, you are also on the side of the Queen Mother?"
She raised her slender eyebrows, looking as if she would get angry if Emperor Yuanyou dared to nod.
Emperor Yuanyou did not dare to offend his sister. It would be fine if his sister was just angry, but if she thought that no one in the family would help her, she would be sad.
Emperor Yuanyou said hurriedly, "Of course I support my sister. You can give birth whenever you want. If anyone dares to talk about you behind your back, I will ask the Imperial Guards to arrest him."
Huayang smiled: "I am satisfied that you have this intention, but there is no need to alarm the Jinyiwei."
After revealing this matter, the brother and sister began to share some new things that happened in and outside the palace in the past month.
Huayang mentioned her trip to Hongfu Temple with Chen Jingzong: "He was lucky that he actually went there, otherwise I would have punished him by making him ordain ordination at Hongfu Temple."
Emperor Yuanyou was deeply worried about Chen Jingzong. In such heavy rain, he probably would not go out. Fortunately, Chen Jingzong was honest and kind, and he valued his sister, so his hair was saved.
After Huayang finished speaking, it was Emperor Yuanyou's turn. Reading and observing government affairs were both very boring, and he thought his sister would not be happy to listen to those things, so he only talked about interesting memorials, such as a local official who was severely reported by his father-in-law, who was also an official, for allowing his concubine to bully his wife.
"By the way, the envoys from the Tatars who are offering tribute horses to the imperial court have already passed Jizhou and will arrive in the capital in a few days. The prince consort is very brave and extraordinary. I plan to pick one of the tribute horses as a reward to him."
Huayang's idea moved. Tatars were rich in famous horses, but horses were military supplies. If horse dealers wanted to transport horses from the grasslands to the Central Plains for sale, they had to be selected by Tatar officials first. There were restrictions on the number and grade of horses. It could be said that the "thousand-mile horses" praised by horse dealers so much might just be above-average goods on the grasslands.
The tribute that the Tatars paid to the imperial court was different. Among the five hundred horses, there had to be at least a few of the best horses, so as not to damage the face of the Tatar Khan.
"Why should we reward him for no reason?" Huayang asked indifferently.
Emperor Yuanyou: "He is my brother-in-law, he treats my sister well, so it's nothing for me to reward him with a horse."
Huayang: "Okay, I will tell my mother later that this is the reward I asked you for for my son-in-law, so that she won't always suspect that I am bullying him. Also, when you reward my son-in-law, you must also disclose my contribution so that he will appreciate my kindness."
Emperor Yuanyou: …
My sister treats her husband so well!
(End of this chapter)