Zhou Shuren stroked his beard as he listened to the retired emperor's story. Changyi's method was really mean. The corners of his mouth twitched when he heard about the amount of silver compensation. Not to mention the grassland tribes, they would also feel the pain.
The emperor looked at Zhou Shuren with a smile, "That's right."
Zhou Shuren became alert. When he heard these two words, he knew it was not a good thing!
The Emperor continued playing chess. "Although Linxi is not a princess, she is a princess in my heart, so Your Majesty rejected her offer at the time and left no room for argument."
Zhou Shuren thought, should I thank you for your clear mind? If you are crowned a princess, you have to take responsibility, but there are many good things.
The Emperor continued, "But some people are shameless. Seeing that they cannot marry a daughter of the royal family, they set their sights on the daughters of important officials. I think they want to form an alliance."
Zhou Shuren looked deep in the eyes as he met the smiling eyes of the retired emperor. "They want to use the marriage to paralyze the court? To make the court feel more at ease with them?"
The emperor smiled and said, "Cousin, do you need me to remind you?"
Zhou Shuren gritted his teeth and said, "You have already reminded me."
Oh my god, he is related to the royal family. The Rong family also has twin daughters, but the children are too young, and Rong Enqing is an idle marquis, so the grassland tribes really won't target him. As for the Ning family, haha, Marquis Ning's youngest daughter got engaged after the eldest daughter got married.
The emperor smiled happily, "Shu Ren is just smart."
Zhou Shuren was so angry that his liver ached. "Did anyone mention it to you?"
The emperor put down the chess piece, "You lose."
Zhou Shuren, "..."
If he is angry, he shouldn't have entered the palace. The emperor is going to become a pervert because of being looked at by his own wife!
The emperor was in a good mood, and the depression of this winter finally dissipated. "No one mentioned it to me, but the princesses mentioned it to the queen in a subtle way a few days ago."
Zhou Shuren's mind raced. The Emperor told him in advance that the Emperor would obviously not reject it so easily. The Emperor must want to delay these people. He rolled his eyes in his heart, "The Emperor is wise and powerful, he will never do anything that will damage his dignity!"
The emperor was stunned for a moment, then stood up with a smile, stretched out his hand and patted Zhou Shuren on the shoulder, "My son will surpass me."
After saying this, the emperor left in a good mood. Zhou Shuren felt relieved, as long as he didn't take advantage of his granddaughter.
Zhou Shuren frowned. The relationship between the Zhou family and the royal family is also a double-edged sword. While protecting the Zhou family, they also gain more attention.
Zhou Shuren left the palace and saw the boxes in the carriage. Well, there was only one box left, and he counted them to find that there were five boxes.
At Zhou's house, Zhou Shuren's luggage came back first. Zhulan had already packed it herself, took down the things that needed to be washed, and then calculated the time to wait for Zhou Shuren to come back.
Changzhong was so tired from waiting, "Mom, why hasn't Dad come back yet?"
"It should be soon."
Just now, someone from the palace came to pick up some things, saying that he wanted to play a few games of chess with the retired emperor. According to the time, it was time for him to leave the palace.
Changzhong missed his father and lay on the table looking at the door. Zhulan looked at her son who was nodding his head and smiled without paying any attention. The child really missed Shuren.
When Zhou Shuren entered the room, he saw his son banging his head on the table. It was quite loud. "Oh, you know I'm back, so you kowtow to me!"
Changzhong was distracted for a while, then he turned around and jumped up in surprise, "Dad, Dad, you're back."
Zhou Shuren was hugged by his son. The boy was so strong that he almost fell down. "You really miss me, your father."
Changzhong hugged his father and sniffed. Well, he missed his father. "Dad, you have lost weight."
Zhou Shuren had indeed lost weight. He followed the prince everywhere, and was exhausted from traveling. He was lucky that he didn't get sick. "I made up for it during the Chinese New Year."
Changzhong pulled his father to sit down and was very attentive. He poured him tea and rubbed his shoulders.
Zhulan had carefully observed her husband while he was interacting with his son. He had indeed lost a lot of weight, and his clothes were a little loose. Naturally, she also noticed that something was wrong with his arm. "What's wrong with your arm?"
"It was stretched. I've been resting for a few days. Now I don't dare to use too much force."
Zhulan frowned, feeling extremely distressed, "I've suffered a lot on this trip."
Zhou Shuren: "It's worth it."
If the prince can succeed to the throne smoothly in the future, he will definitely be a wise ruler who will be good to the people, the country and the Zhou family.
Zhulan naturally knew, "The food is all your favorite. You can rest after eating."
Zhou Shuren nodded, "Yeah."
He was indeed very tired.
Because his son was there, Zhou Shuren only talked about some of his experiences and did not mention anything else. When his son was reluctant to leave, Zhou Shuren lay down to rest and then told him the news he had heard from the emperor.
Zhulan was surprised, "I really don't know, it seems the news hasn't spread."
Zhou Shuren, "It's probably because the New Year is coming, and the tribes that came to Beijing didn't want to go too far, so the news didn't spread."
"Xue Han didn't come back to tell me, so she probably doesn't know either."
Zhou Shuren was still not sleepy, so he turned over and lay down, "It seems that neither of us is ready to fight now."
Zhulan: "But it will be soon."
Zhou Shuren sighed. War means death, and it is impossible not to fight.
Zhou Shuren was so tired that he fell asleep quickly. Zhulan tucked in the quilt carefully. She did nothing but watch her husband.
She felt relieved that her husband was home and could finally sleep soundly. She must not have had a good sleep since she accompanied the prince out. Zhulan didn't know how long she sat there. She waited until the light in the room dimmed before she asked the maid to light the candles.
The bad thing about winter is that the days are short.
Zhulan rubbed her waist. Her waist was very uncomfortable after sitting for so long.
At night, Changli and the others all knew that their father had returned. At least Changli saw his father, but Changyi and the other two didn't see him because their father hadn't woken up yet.
The next day, Zhou Shuren did not attend the morning court. He had already asked for leave and went directly to the Ministry of Revenue.
Chang Yi and his father were in the same carriage. "Dad, I didn't dare to make too many moves."
There are so many envoys from various countries in the embassy that it is really difficult to take action. There would have been follow-up, but since they paid compensation in silver, these tribes have rarely gone out.
Zhou Shuren smiled and said, "That's great. The tribes on the grassland are in need of silver right now."
If they were not short of silver, they would not ask for such a high price. It also shows that the grassland tribe has prepared a lot, and the silver they brought should be used for secret transactions.
Zhou Shuren was a little distracted. He didn't know who was secretly selling food and other supplies to the tribes on the grassland. He thought about it and had a lot of suspicions.