Because He Qingxian advised frugality, no grand palace banquet was held on New Year's Eve this year. Emperor Yuanyou only invited Princess Anle, his two sisters and their families into the palace for a simple New Year's Eve dinner.
Nankang has been very proud in front of Empress Dowager Qi recently, and has gained a lot of prestige. As a result, Meng Yanqing did not dare to openly provoke Nankang at home. After entering the palace, Meng Yanqing became more honest. Even if the palace servants put wine in front of him, Meng Yanqing did not dare to drink it.
Emperor Yuanyou: "Why isn't your elder brother-in-law drinking? Do you still remember the time when the previous emperor hosted a banquet and you were punched by your second brother-in-law?"
Because it was a family dinner, the way Emperor Yuanyou was addressed was more casual.
His teasing words made Meng Yanqing blush.
Chen Jingzong, on the other hand, said with shame: "It's all my fault that I got drunk and acted rashly. I apologize to my brother-in-law again."
Brother-in-law Meng Yanqing: …
Huayang smiled faintly, while Nankang smiled much more obviously. She used to feel ashamed when Meng Yanqing made a fool of himself, but now, she just liked to see Meng Yanqing looking cowardly.
Empress Dowager Qi changed the subject and asked her daughter, "We are going to Tangshan on the third day of the first lunar month. Have you packed your things? Do you want to send a royal doctor to accompany us?"
Huayang was very good at saving face. In order to prevent people from thinking that she went to Tangshan purely for pleasure, she pretended to have leg pain in the twelfth lunar month and even alarmed the imperial physicians in the palace. The imperial physicians were all very shrewd. Before they felt her pulse, Huayang frowned slightly, wondering if she had fallen into the water that year and the cold evil had invaded her leg bones, so she had leg pain every winter. The imperial physicians heard it, but after feeling her pulse, they could not find anything. However, they had to find a cause for the princess' leg pain, so they followed the princess' words and prescribed a mild conditioning prescription.
With the imperial physician's words, Huayang went to the palace to complain to her mother and brother, saying that she wanted to go to the hot springs for recuperation. Empress Dowager Qi naturally agreed. Emperor Yuanyou no longer envied his sister for being able to leave the city freely, and even suggested that his sister live in the temporary palace.
Huayang again said that he had borrowed the villa from his aunt on the grounds that he did not want to mobilize a large force.
Emperor Yuanyou felt even more sorry for his sister. She even had to borrow a villa just to take a bath in the hot spring. When another villa of a guilty minister became vacant in Tangshan, he would definitely pick the best one and give it to his sister!
"Everyone is celebrating the New Year, so there's no need to trouble the imperial physician. I've prepared the medicine according to the prescription I wrote before, so just take it with you." Huayang said calmly.
Empress Dowager Qi nodded.
Princess Anle smiled imperceptibly. The emperor was still young and didn't understand. She didn't believe that Empress Dowager Qi really couldn't see through Panpan's little thoughts.
The next morning, Huayang and Chen Jingzong came to the palace early to pay New Year's greetings.
Chen Jingzong even prepared a red envelope for Emperor Yuanyou, which contained a thin silver note worth one hundred taels.
Emperor Yuanyou: …
Should he dislike his brother-in-law for being stingy, or be happy that he actually got some New Year's money
While Huayang'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: "My sister's legs are not feeling well. You must take good care of her when you get there."
Chen Jingzong: "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will stay with the princess every step of the way."
Emperor Yuanyou recalled the pitiful appearance of his sister wrapped in a quilt when she fell into the water. A faint cloud of worry covered his youthful face: "I heard that a woman catching a cold may affect her offspring. You have been married for so long and still have no children. Are you worried?"
Chen Jingzong smiled and said, "I am not in a hurry at all."
He smiled naturally and looked very sincere. Emperor Yuanyou asked curiously, "Why?"
Chen Jingzong explained seriously, "The princess still despises my vulgarity. If she really has children, she will definitely devote herself to them and not pay attention to me. I don't want to end up like Meng Yanqing. You saw that the princess didn't take Meng Yanqing seriously last night."
Emperor Yuanyou never imagined that Chen Jingzong would not want to have children for this reason.
But what he said does make sense. The queen mother is the same. She usually focuses on him and his sister. She doesn't care which concubine his father favors.
Chen Jingzong, in turn, comforted Emperor Yuanyou: "Don't be in a hurry to become an uncle. When the time comes, the child will come naturally. If you mention it too much, I'm afraid the princess will not like it."
Emperor Yuanyou nodded subconsciously.
At this time, the figures of Princess Nankang and her family of four appeared in the distance.
He Jing was fine, but when Emperor Yuanyou thought of the saliva that flowed from Dun Ge'er's mouth from time to time, he couldn't hide the disgust in his eyes.
Perhaps because he was not his biological sister's child, Emperor Yuanyou just couldn't like Dun Ge'er no matter how hard he looked at him.
.
After leaving the palace, Huayang and Chen Jingzong went directly to Chen Mansion.
A brand new red couplet was posted outside the door of Chen's house, and there were a few pieces of red paper scraps left on the ground from the firecrackers.
Prime Minister Chen Tingjian, who had been busy for a whole year, finally had a few days of rest. Today he wore a crimson purple brocade robe, and his long hair, with silver threads faintly visible, was simply tied up with a jade hairpin. His beautiful beard fell to his chest, and he looked like an immortal.
Huayang greeted his father-in-law with a smile.
Chen Jingzong was in a good mood. He did not call his father, but called him "Prime Minister" and said a few auspicious words to Huayang.
Chen Tingjian was used to it and just entertained his daughter-in-law.
Not long after sitting in Chunhe Hall, Chen Jingzong was pulled away by his nieces and nephews. Later, Huayang and her two sisters-in-law went to the garden and saw Chen Jingzong playing Cuju with the children.
Military officers look good only when they are in motion, with broad shoulders and narrow waist, especially those long legs. They look so dashing when they play football.
Luo Yuyan said enviously, "It's better to have a prince consort like this. Our Third Master can't carry anything on his shoulders or hands. He comes home every day and leans on the couch, complaining about his sore neck and shoulder pain. Sister-in-law, is Big Brother like this too?"
Yu Xiu smiled and said, "He didn't cry out, but he rubbed his shoulders. When I saw that, I naturally wanted to help him."
Luo Yuyan looked at Huayang again: "We both have the fate of serving the master, but the eldest princess is different. Usually, it is the prince consort who serves you, right?"
Huayang: …
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.
Huayang also mentioned the trip to Tangshan to her mother-in-law, to avoid the Chen family thinking something had happened when she and Chen Jingzong were away from the capital for the next half month.
After all, bathing in a hot spring is somewhat ambiguous. Chen Jingzong did not show off to his two brothers in person, but he unintentionally told his nephews about it.
In Guanhe Hall, Wanyi quietly asked her mother, "Mom, have you ever bathed in a hot spring with Dad?"
Yu Xiu thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I haven't been there since I came to the capital, but I went there a few times in Lingzhou when I was a kid."
Wanyi was surprised and asked, "There is a hot spring in Lingzhou?"
Yu Xiu: "Yes, some wealthy families built gardens for their own enjoyment, and some people specially built a few more pools so that ordinary people could go and bathe there if they were willing to spend money. At that time, the old lady liked to bathe in the pool, and my grandmother would accompany her every winter, and she would also take me with her. It's a pity that we went back last time to mourn for the old lady, otherwise my grandmother would definitely take you to bathe there as well."
Yu Xiu: "I was about five or six years old. I remember it clearly because it was new to me."
Wanyi's eyes sparkled when she heard this: "It turns out that mother and father were childhood sweethearts."
She knew that her parents were engaged as children, but she had always thought that they had never met each other when they were children and got married directly when they grew up. Only now did she know that they might have even bathed in hot springs together when they were children.
Yu Xiu blushed at her daughter's words and quickly explained, "We didn't meet very often. He would come to our house to give us gifts during festivals. I didn't understand at that time and always called him brother."
Wanyi: "Father is four years older than you. You don't understand. He must know that you are his little wife."
Yu Xiu pretended to pinch her daughter's face, Wanyi ran away with a smile, and almost bumped into her father who had just returned from outside.
Chen Bozong, like Chen Tingjian, was serious with his son but relatively gentle with his daughter. He held the man and asked, "Why are you running?"
Wanyi complained: "My mother wants to beat me."
After saying that, he left his father and ran away.
Chen Bozong couldn't associate his gentle wife with beating children, so he naturally asked about it when he entered the house.
Yu Xiu's face was already red, and it got even redder when he asked her this question.
It was not until that night, after being interrogated in a special way by the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple, that Yu Xiucai awkwardly confessed the conversation between his mother and daughter.
Chen Bozong: …
It was all because of the fourth brother’s showing off!
The fourth brother had spent several years in Lingzhou and had been there countless times. Now he was just going to follow the eldest princess to Tangshan to soak there for a few more days. It was worth it for him to show off through the children!
Chen Jingzong had no idea what his parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews were thinking. He woke Huayang up while it was still dark on the third day of the New Year.
Huayang was very sleepy and wanted to sleep a little longer, but when he saw Chen Jingzong's energetic eyes and thought that he, a country boy consort, had never seen a hot spring, Huayang got up early.
Tangshan is eighty miles away from the capital. If we set out early and the carriage goes faster, we can arrive at my aunt's villa in Tangshan in the evening.
"The capital city is really blessed with outstanding people and good things like hot springs."
The carriage moved along the official road, occasionally bumping. Chen Jingzong leaned against the window, looked at Huayang and praised him.
Hua Yang looked disgusted: "Don't say it, it makes you look unsophisticated. Don't show off to your colleagues when you come back, they may have slept with you many times."
Chen Jingzong: "Am I the kind of person who has no sense of propriety? Apart from showing my true nature in front of you, outside, people who have seen me will only think that I am as unattainable as the rich and powerful children born and raised in Beijing."
Hua Yang: "Then don't show your true nature in front of me. I appreciate the children of the rich and powerful in the capital more."
Chen Jingzong stopped talking, raised his chin slightly, and his eyes turned cold.
Huayang: "No rich and powerful young man would dare to be so arrogant and rude in front of me."
Chen Jingzong: "But they are all like this outside, including you, always looking down on others."
Huayang: …
She turned her head and looked out the window.
Neither of them spoke, and the carriage became quiet. Outside the window was a bleak winter scene with a cold wind. Huayang blew for a while and then lowered the curtain.
Glancing at the prince consort who was still pretending to be the son of a rich and powerful family, Huayang took out a book, but when he was about to turn the pages, he wanted to hold the warm hand warmer.
She handed the book to Chen Jingzong: "Read it to me."
Chen Jingzong: "I'm thinking about something important, don't bother me with such trivial matters."
After saying this, he closed his eyes with a serious expression.
Huayang didn't get angry but laughed instead. She wanted to see how long Chen Jingzong could pretend.
The eldest princess' carriage was very spacious. Huayang asked Chen Jingzong to move to the side seat. She took off her shoes and lay down on the main couch, covered with a quilt, with a hot water bottle under her feet and another in her hands.
The car body was shaking slightly, and Huayang, who had not gotten enough sleep in the morning, soon felt sleepy.
Just when she was about to fall asleep, the hot water bottle at her feet was taken away, and a pair of large hands dishonestly pinched her ankles.
Huayang continued to pretend to sleep and just kicked him.
It would have been better if she didn't kick him. After she kicked him, Chen Jingzong became even more aggressive. He took off his outer robe, lifted the quilt and got in.
Huayang didn't dare to make any big movements, for fear that the coachman would notice.
She glared at Chen Jingzong who was leaning over with the quilt arched up, "The son of a rich and powerful man would not be disrespectful in a carriage."
Chen Jingzong sneered: "You are wrong to say that. As a man, there is no man who doesn't like this. If you are not married, a true gentleman will still pretend. After marriage, it's the same."
Huayang didn't believe it.
Chen Jingzong didn't care. He took away the troublesome hot water bottle and held the eldest princess's wrists.
Huayang frowned.
Chen Jingzong: "I didn't move."
He didn't move, but the carriage was shaking, and when the carriage shook, the two men swayed along with it.
After a few seconds, the prince consort laughed and the eldest princess blushed.
(End of this chapter)