As soon as Huayang asked his aunt about staying at Tangquan Villa, Princess Anle agreed and asked directly, "When are you going?"
Huayang: "Let's leave on the third day of the first lunar month, stay for ten days or so, and come back before the Lantern Festival."
Princess Anle: "Why are you so late? I'll ask someone to pack up right away. You can stay there for the whole twelfth lunar month."
Huayang was thinking about how to explain, and Princess Anle smiled and understood, "It's boring to soak in the hot springs by yourself. You want to wait for Chen Silang to accompany you, right? Let me calculate. He is working in the guard post, and he will have a holiday during the Little New Year. The New Year will come a few days after the Little New Year. You have to go to the palace and the Chen Mansion. You really can't leave before the New Year. You can only go out after the New Year."
Huayang: …
She lowered her eyes and said nothing, but a blush appeared on her creamy cheeks, adding a touch of fascinating charm to the graceful and noble princess.
Princess Anle said: "Alright, alright, I won't tease you anymore. I just envy Chen Silang's good fortune. No man in the world is as lucky as him."
Hua Yang was still annoyed, and couldn't help but tease back: "How can he be so lucky? Being able to serve you is the real blessing of three lifetimes."
Princess Anle: "I don't have your long-lasting love, so Chen Silang is still the most popular."
Huayang: "Who has feelings for him? It's just that my father has granted us a marriage, and I have the favor of Elder Chen. Otherwise, I would not bother to take him out."
Princess Anle: "Yes, whatever Panpan says is fine."
Chen Jingzong knew that Huayang would go to visit the Grand Princess today, and when he came back in the evening he would first inquire about the result of borrowing the villa.
Huayang was teased by his aunt, so he naturally wanted to vent his anger on him. He deliberately said, "My aunt also wants me to go with her. I have already agreed, but it is not convenient to bring you. When I am not around, you can move over there and spend more time with mother and the others."
Chen Jingzong: “…”
Huayang picked up the chopsticks and started eating without much care.
Chen Jingzong watched her every move, and after drinking the pitiful amount of warm wine poured out from the thin-necked wine pot, Chen Jingzong thought of a plan: "It is indeed inconvenient for a grown man like me to follow you aunt and nephew to soak in the hot springs, but I can sneak over, climb over the wall at night to find your yard, and then hide in it. Anyway, I have never soaked in a hot spring, and you aroused my interest, so you must satisfy me this time."
Huayang: "My aunt also has 300 guards. Do you think they are just sitting there doing nothing?"
Chen Jingzong: "Bring all three hundred guards? Then I must go even more, lest you envy her for having so many lovers and secretly keep a few behind my back."
Huayang glared over.
Chen Jingzong: "Or I can prepare some gifts and go to ask her in person to let her stay in the capital this year and make us a couple. You are just too shameless and you definitely didn't ask to take me with you, otherwise she would have agreed long ago."
Huayang: "I'm definitely not as thick-skinned as you."
Chen Jingzong: "I know what she likes. Why don't I tie up Zhou Ji and send him over?"
Huayang: "You dare!"
Some men would love to be his aunt's lover, but Zhou Ji is not that kind of person. Huayang also does not allow his guard commander to spread anything between him and his aunt, which would make him a laughing stock.
Chen Jingzong picked up some food for her: "I was just teasing you. I know you like Zhou Lang the most. Eat, eat."
Huayang glared at him while watching him talking to himself, thinking about what gift to prepare for his aunt.
Lying down in bed, Chen Jingzong was still thinking.
Huayang found it funny and said, "Forget it. Auntie won't leave Beijing this year."
She thought Chen Jingzong would complain or take the opportunity to take advantage of her, but she didn't expect Chen Jingzong to just pounce on her, press her down, and kiss her several times.
Huayang: "Isn't it just a hot spring bath? Why are you so happy?"
Chen Jingzong: "You don't understand."
Huayang really didn't understand. After all, she had been in the palace so many times since she was a child that she no longer found it new. However, seeing that her husband was so expectant, and thinking that she could broaden his horizons and enjoy himself, Huayang was in a good mood.
.
Plans are plans, and there is still the whole twelfth lunar month to go.
On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, Huayang went to the palace to pay his respects to his mother as usual.
Empress Dowager Qi: "I used to think you came to the palace too often, but now I realize that your visits are relatively infrequent."
Huayang laughed: "I heard that Nankang has been coming to the palace to talk to you recently?"
Empress Dowager Qi: "Yes, she is much more stable now, and Hejing and Dun Ge'er are becoming more and more likable. They call me the Imperial Grandmother all the time. It's strange. They are obviously with me, but I always think of you."
Hua Yang asked cautiously, "You are not going to urge me to give you a grandson or granddaughter again, are you?"
Empress Dowager Qi: "You clearly said you don't like it, and I don't bother to offend you. It's just that I'm old and often think of you and your brother when you were little."
Huayang: "My brother isn't that old yet."
Empress Dowager Qi: "He is much taller than you and me, and he is not considered too big. There are already palace maids who want to climb into his bed."
Huayang: "...did you manage to climb?"
Empress Dowager Qi: "No, your brother probably didn't like it and asked someone to take her away and deal with her."
Huayang was silent.
As the eldest princess, she had a good temper and would not kill the palace maids at every turn. But her younger brother was different. Apart from his father, the emperor, his mother, and his father-in-law, he was rarely bullied, and therefore would not tolerate others bullying him. For a lustful man, it might be a pleasure for a woman to take the initiative to climb into bed, but her younger brother would regard this as a contempt and offense to him as the emperor.
Huayang knew that in many wealthy families, a concubine would be prepared for their young children and grandchildren when they were thirteen or fourteen years old.
Empress Dowager Qi said calmly, "You are still growing up, so you should keep it plain until you take power."
Huayang recalled that in his previous life, his mother had the same attitude. Perhaps she had seen too much of his father's indulgence in women, so she hoped that his younger brother would keep himself clean and not let women affect his health. As for his younger brother, he had to attend classes and study politics every day, and he was busy all the time. The maids around him were all of ordinary appearance, and he had never heard of him having an affair with any of the maids.
At noon, Emperor Yuanyou came to have lunch with his mother and sister.
After the meal, Empress Dowager Qi tactfully went to rest, leaving the siblings to chat.
The palace maids around him also withdrew. Emperor Yuanyou looked at his sister opposite him, whose complexion was rosy and more beautiful than a flower, and first sighed.
Huayang laughed: "Are you tired recently?" Emperor Yuanyou: "I'm not tired, I'm annoyed. That He Qingxian is more strict and controlling than Chen Ge Lao."
He Qingxian had never been to Beijing in his previous life, so Huayang naturally didn't know how He Qingxian could have offended his brother, and asked curiously, "How does he manage it?"
Emperor Yuanyou: "He himself was poor, so he wanted us to be frugal with him. He was in charge of paper, charcoal, and lamp oil in various government offices. I saw that the Cining Palace and Ciqing Palace were broken, so I wanted to ask people to repair them. He said that no one lived there now, so there was no rush to repair them. Guanglu Temple was in charge of the palace meals, and it owed several months of salary. I wanted to transfer 100,000 taels of silver from the Ministry of Revenue, but he came to me and said that the silver from the Ministry of Revenue had to be used for important matters, and asked me to reduce the dishes on weekdays. In addition, the concubines left by my father should be dismissed. With fewer concubines, there would be fewer palace maids and eunuchs to serve, and the meals needed would be reduced, so the Guanglu Temple could also dismiss a group of people. Even this year's New Year, he calculated for the palace, and there would be no lantern festival, which would save a lot of money."
Huayang: "Did you hear everything?"
Emperor Yuanyou looked a little aggrieved: "He wants the whole country to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, so naturally I, as the emperor, must set an example."
I listened and was willing to cooperate in action, but I just didn't feel comfortable about it.
Huayang could only coax his brother: "The treasury has been tight these past two years, so we should save as much as possible. When the new policy is implemented and the treasury has more money, they will have nothing to say if the palace is a little extravagant. Even Lord He, I don't believe that he will continue to eat only coarse grains for every meal when the country is peaceful and the people are safe."
Emperor Yuanyou: "Sometimes I find him annoying, but sometimes I feel sorry for him. Sister, do you know why he didn't bring his family with him when he came to Beijing this time?"
Huayang: "Why?"
Emperor Yuanyou: "He said that he easily offends people, and he doesn't know how long he can stay in the cabinet this time. He thinks he may have to leave in one or two years, so why should he let his family run around with him?"
Hua Yang: "It sounds like he's trying to play pity on you, implying that you're protecting him."
Emperor Yuanyou: "That's right. But he looks so dark and skinny. When I think of how he got all his skin from helping the people farm, I really can't bear it."
Huayang naturally flattered his brother: "It shows that you are a good emperor who cares about his subjects."
Emperor Yuanyou sighed again.
After his brother left, Huayang walked back to Qifeng Palace with a smile on his face.
When He Qingxian went to Beijing this time, he actually took on many things that were originally the responsibility of his father-in-law.
For example, the harem dismissed the low-ranking concubines left by my father, the palace reduced redundant maids and eunuchs, and I persuaded my younger brother to suspend the renovation of several palaces and not hold lantern festivals, etc. These were all things that my father-in-law did in my previous life.
It is true that the younger brother respects his father-in-law, but he also holds some resentment towards his father-in-law for his previous strictness. The more his father-in-law controls him, the more resentful the younger brother becomes.
It was different if it was He Qingxian. He Qingxian was recognized by the people as a good and honest official, including his younger brother. When He Qingxian asked his younger brother to be frugal, he just felt aggrieved and could not resent He Qingxian.
Just as Huayang had said when he felt sorry for his father-in-law, letting He Qingxian go to Beijing to assist his father-in-law in implementing the new reform policies could at least help his father-in-law share some of the slander and resentment, including those from the officials and common people, as well as from his younger brother.
Huayang also respected He Qingxian, but she didn't have to worry about He Qingxian, because when He Qingxian wrote a letter to the emperor to curse him, the emperor didn't chop off He Qingxian's head. Now, let alone He Qingxian just advising his brother to be frugal, even if He Qingxian pointed at his brother and cursed him in person, his brother would be furious, but he couldn't execute He Qingxian. He didn't dare to bear the stigma of killing the world's most honest official. At most, he would demote He Qingxian to a remote place to be a minor official.
The father-in-law is an old fox, and he might have intentionally left the task of "saving money" to He Qingxian.
However, Huayang will not reduce her respect for her father-in-law because of this. For the sake of the Chen family and the people of the world, she hopes that her father-in-law can be more tactful.
The next day, after leaving the palace, Huayang stayed at Chen's house for two days as usual.
Mother-in-law Sun also mentioned He Qingxian to her: "Ever since Lord He came to Beijing, he has helped the old man share a lot of things. Now the old man goes home much earlier. But I guess he mainly doesn't want to stay in the same duty room with Lord He. Every time he comes back, he complains to me."
Huayang: "I also heard from the Prince Consort that the two elders often quarreled during the morning court."
Sun smiled and said, "It's better to quarrel."
If no one in the court dares to offend the old man, that would definitely not be a good thing. If everyone listens to the old man, where does that put the emperor
All this is thanks to the eldest princess' daughter-in-law!
"Do you want to play chess with the old man again tonight?" Sun asked expectantly. Among their family members, the fourth brother dared to talk back to the old man, but it was very difficult to convince him with reason, not to mention the eldest and third brothers, who listened to the old man in everything. Sun especially hoped that the eldest princess's daughter-in-law would say a few words to the old man so that she could also watch the show.
Huayang: …
When night fell, when Chen Tingjian returned from the palace, Huayang had already returned to Siyi Hall and was having dinner alone with Chen Jingzong.
Chen Jingzong: "Have you told mother about our trip to Tangshan?"
Huayang: "It's only the beginning of the month, it won't be too late to talk about it during the New Year holidays."
Chen Jingzong: "I am probably the first person in the Chen family to have the opportunity to bathe in the hot springs."
Huayang: "I remember one winter was particularly cold, and my father went to live in the temporary palace for the whole winter. Not only did we go, but many ministers also went to the temporary palace to serve. My father was a cabinet minister, so he could bring his family with him, and maybe he also brought my mother with him."
Chen Jingzong: "... Then I am the first young man in the Chen family who has the opportunity to bathe in the hot springs."
(End of this chapter)