Huayang came back from celebrating her birthday outside. She went to the study the next day and asked Chaoyun and Chaoyue to take out all the pigments and grind them carefully because she wanted to paint.
The sun was shining brightly outside the window. Chao Yun was grinding the lapis lazuli in his hand while curiously asking, "Princess, where did your husband take you? Why did he bring up your interest in painting?"
Chao Yue was grinding the malachite with great concentration, watching the tiny green powder pile up bit by bit, and she chuckled softly, "Is there any need to ask? Lingzhou is a place of beautiful scenery, and the prince consort must have taken the princess to visit some famous place."
Huayang chatted with them, spread out the rice paper, and tried to outline the layout of the mountains and lakes.
The morning passed in preparation for painting. After a half-hour break at noon, Huayang came to the study again.
She painted very seriously and only spent an entire afternoon to finish a corner of Phoenix Mountain.
Chaoyun looked outside and reminded, "The prince consort will be back soon."
After hearing this, Huayang slowly put down her brush. At least until the painting was finished, she didn't want Chen Jingzong to see it, lest he say something indecent on purpose.
After returning to the main room to wash her hands, Huayang felt her shoulders a little sore, so she lay on the couch and asked Chaoyue to massage her shoulders.
Maybe it was because she had been cooking in the kitchen for a whole year last year, Chaoyue's hands have become stronger and she is better than Chaoyun at massaging shoulders and backs.
Chen Jingzong came to Qifeng Palace after bathing and changing clothes in Liuyun Palace.
The weather was hot, and after a busy day at the garrison, his official uniform was soaked and dried several times by sweat. When they first got married, Chen Jingzong would deliberately annoy Huayang, but now that the couple's life was as sweet as honey, Chen Jingzong was happy to clean himself up so that he could hug her directly when he saw her, instead of being rejected by her first.
He stepped into the main hall and saw Chaoyue coming out from the side room. Seeing him, Chaoyue whispered, "Prince Consort, the princess was practicing painting in the study today and was tired. I massaged her shoulders for a while, but she fell asleep."
Chen Jingzong nodded and went in.
On the couch, Huayang was still lying prone, with his arms crossed and used as a pillow.
She tilted her head towards him, half of her face was chubby, looking a little childish.
This sleeping position is neither elegant nor beautiful, and it is obvious that the person is asleep.
Of course, she is God's own daughter, with a beautiful appearance, and she looks good no matter how she sleeps.
Chen Jingzong took off his shoes, climbed onto the couch from the other end, and sat cross-legged on her side, continuing to massage her shoulders and legs.
Huayang was painting while standing, which was both mentally and physically exhausting. Chaoyue was so comfortable with the massage she just received that she fell asleep without realizing it. However, she knew it would be time for dinner soon, so after taking a short nap, Huayang woke up slowly.
The afterglow of the setting sun filtered in through the window, making the room half bright and half dark.
Feeling the perfect strength on his shoulders, Huayang thought it was still Chaoyue and asked lazily, "Has the Prince Consort not come back yet?"
"I'm back, unless you have a second prince consort."
Huayang: …
She turned her head away in surprise.
Chen Jingzong held her in his arms and ran his fingertips across the side of her face where slight marks were left.
Seeing her drooping long eyelashes, as if she was still feeling awkward about the indulgence on the boat yesterday, Chen Jingzong seemed to be back on the swaying boat that could capsize at any time. He could swim, so he wasn't really worried, since there was usually no one in that area anyway. But she was so panicked that the more panicked she was, the more she threatened to kill him.
Chen Jingzong leaned over and kissed her petal-like lips.
Huayang closed his eyes, unable to avoid him, but unwilling to just let him do what he wanted every time, so he pulled his ears or pinched the thinnest part of his earlobe with his fingernails.
"Zhao Yue said you were tired from practicing painting. Is that true, or have you not recovered from yesterday?"
Chen Jingzong rubbed her shoulders.
Huayang looked outside: "Let's go eat. I'm hungry."
Apart from that sunrise, she didn't want to mention anything else that happened yesterday.
Chen Jingzong smiled and asked her to sit on the edge of the couch. He jumped down and helped her put on her shoes.
Huayang looked at his squatting figure on the ground, then looked at the edge of the couch which was almost as high as the bed in the boat tent, and his face began to furiously burn.
Last year, she was stuck in the inner house mourning. When Chen Jingzong went into the mountains to hunt, he often brought her some crude and shoddy scripts. They were not worthy of being read in formal occasions, but they were just right for killing time. Anyway, no one else knew what she was reading.
Most of the storybooks were serious, such as a scholar encountering a female fox demon, mainly telling bizarre stories such as repaying a favor. Although it would also write about the scholar and the fox demon sleeping together at night, it was basically just a sentence or two without any exaggeration. If Chen Jingzong really brought that kind of pornographic book to her on purpose, Huayang would definitely have a tantrum with him and throw the book into the stove in front of him.
However, one time, Huayang actually saw a story about a single bully who raped a beautiful ship girl in a storybook. It was only three pages long and even came with an illustration!
In the picture, the little girl is half lying on the couch, and the bully is standing behind her.
Huayang knew something was wrong when he saw the picture. He knew he should throw it away, but for some reason he was curious about it.
After reading it, she threw the notebook into Chen Jingzong's arms and scolded him righteously.
Chen Jingzong finished reading the story in front of her, and said calmly, "I really don't know. After I picked out three books, the bookstore owner said this one was good and gave it to me for free. I flipped through the front and thought it was okay, so I brought it back."
Huayang asked him to burn it, and Chen Jingzong actually burned it.
Who would have thought that he remembered it so clearly and used it on her yesterday!
Huayang has made up her mind that she will no longer indulge Chen Jingzong in those extremely obscene tricks. As husband and wife, they should lie in bed properly.
Chen Jingzong glanced at her almost red earlobes, smiled faintly and said nothing.
As a punishment, Chen Jingzong was not allowed to stay in Qifeng Palace for three nights, and he left on his own accord after dinner.
After Huayang rested, Chaoyun and Chaoyue gathered together and whispered.
"The princess and her husband are angry again?"
"It doesn't look like that. When the Prince Consort left, the corners of his mouth seemed to be upturned. When I was really angry before, the Prince Consort's face was even more fierce than when the Minister was scolding people."
"I understand. The prince consort has taken advantage of our princess again and is willing to accept the punishment."
.
On the afternoon of April 23, Huayang finally finished the painting "Watching the Sunrise on Phoenix Mountain" after spending five whole days.
As the sky brightened, the trees on the mountain, the fields on both sides of the lake, and the houses all seemed to be shrouded in a layer of mist. Only the red sun in the sky was as red as fire, and only the lake illuminated by the sunset glow was colorful.
Chao Yun and Chao Yue stood on the left and right of their master, looking at him in a daze.
"The birthday gift that the prince consort gave to the princess was this sunrise, right? It's so beautiful in the painting, it must be even more spectacular in person."
"I didn't expect that the prince consort, who looks like a rough man, could come up with such an elegant and refined gift."
Huayang's gaze fell on the seemingly inconspicuous top of Phoenix Mountain in the painting. It must be said that Chen Jingzong's behavior in the boat was as reckless as his words "give her a Huayang" on the mountain, which made her like him so much.
If he was a Confucian general like Zhou Yu, who was both heroic and strong as well as elegant and graceful, he would have truly become the perfect son-in-law in Huayang's mind.
Knowing that Chen Jingzong could not learn from Zhou Lang, Huayang painted this rare moment of his elegance, so that when Chen Jingzong made her angry in the future, she could use this painting to remember some good things about him.
"Give it to Wu Run and ask him to have it framed properly."
"yes."
Chaoyun carefully rolled up the painting and went to the front yard to find Wu Run.
When Wu Run saw this painting, he also guessed where the princess's husband took her on her birthday.
While appreciating the painting, Wu Run nodded secretly. It turned out that one could not judge a person's inner character based on just a few encounters. The fact that the prince consort could think of such a gift showed that he was not an ordinary person at heart.
In the evening, Chen Jingzong returned and Wu Run saluted him with a smile.
Chen Jingzong looked at him a few more times. Wu Run usually loved to laugh and looked like a gentle gentleman, but today his smile seemed particularly friendly.
When he arrived at the Qifeng Palace, he found that Chaoyun and Chaoyue also had similar smiles on their faces, and the looks they cast at him were full of obvious approval.
Chen Jingzong felt strange and asked Huayang, "What happened? The people around you seemed to be more enthusiastic towards me today."
Hua Yang glanced at him and said perfunctorily: "Maybe you have been busy with the garrison duties recently, and they admire you for your diligence and dedication."
Chen Jingzong stayed in Liuyun Palace for three consecutive nights and spent last night in the guard post, so this explanation seems to make some sense.
"If you keep up the good work, your prestige in their hearts will be even higher." Huayang encouraged insincerely.
Chen Jingzong just sneered, hugged her and said: "I don't care what they think. Instead of fighting for those empty things, I would rather be with you every night..."
Huayang rushed to stuff a handkerchief into his mouth.
How come a good prince consort has an extra mouth
.
The next morning, Huayang got up late and when he woke up he found that the precious mattress had two holes rubbed by Chen Jingzong's knees.
She gnashed her teeth in hatred, but somehow she felt that standing was not so unbearable.
Of course, as soon as this thought came up, Huayang cut it off and threw it out of the window.
Chaoyun and Chaoyue came in to serve her. When Chaoyue was making the bed, she inevitably noticed the two holes. Although she wondered how the two holes were made, she vaguely guessed that it was related to the princess and her husband, so she tactfully did not ask.
After Huayang had breakfast, Wu Run came and reported: "Princess, the emperor's decree has arrived. The Prince of Xiang has done countless harm to the people. His entire family will be demoted to commoners and exiled to the frontier. The private property of the prince's palace, except for the fields and houses seized from the people, will be returned to the people, and the rest will be confiscated into the national treasury. The imperial envoy and the Jinyiwei are now raiding the prince's house and arresting people. It is said that the three streets in front and behind the Prince of Xiang's palace are crowded with onlookers."
Huayang: "What about other officials?"
Wu Run had obviously found out everything, and said, "All the previous officials of Lingzhou who colluded with the King of Xiang were punished. Among the current officials, Xiang Baoshan and Wang Feihu were both sentenced to death. Because Lin Yan embezzled a small amount of money and occupied a small amount of land, he only had his hereditary official position taken away and demoted to a small soldier. The emperor also promoted Lu Da to the new commander of Lingzhou Guards, and the official position of the son-in-law remained unchanged. The other vacancies will be decided later."
Huayang nodded. She had heard Chen Jingzong talk about these people in the garrison. Xiang Baoshan looked righteous, but he was actually greedy and cruel. Many soldiers in the garrison died because they were enslaved by them. It was Xiang Baoshan who concealed it for the King of Xiang and then coerced and bribed the families of those soldiers. Wang Feihu was greedy and lustful. He had no merits at all and deserved to die. Lin Yan had real skills and had made contributions to suppressing bandits. The reason why he listened to Xiang Baoshan was because he particularly loved Xiang Baoshan's sister. He remained indifferent to the evil of the King of Xiang and others, and he himself had never done anything bad.
As for Chen Jingzong, as a royal consort, he will be transferred back to the capital next year and there is no need for him to be promoted in the local garrison.
The search and ransacking of the Prince of Xiang's mansion lasted a whole day. After watching the excitement, a group of people actually ran to the outside of Ning Garden and knelt down, thanking the princess for getting rid of the local bully for them, and shouted "Long Live the Princess".
When Chen Jingzong came back on horseback, he was blocked by the people outside and had to take a detour to the side door.
Fugui listened to those cheers and felt proud: "Prince consort, to the people of Lingzhou, our princess is really a bodhisattva descended to earth!"
Chen Jingzong glanced at him and said, "A fairy is a fairy, why bother talking about Bodhisattva?"
Bodhisattvas are monks, so he will not blaspheme them. But it is different for fairies, who can be his wives.
(End of this chapter)