It was a deserted winter day with few people on the road, but the Shudao Pavilion was bustling and lively.
Ke Hongxue was led into the private room by the servant. He looked up and saw Rong Tang drinking a bowl of steaming mutton soup. He was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "It's finally over."
Rong Tang raised his eyes and glanced at him lightly without saying anything. Mu Jingxu brought Yuanyuan to sit next to him.
Children change every day, but Yuanyuan's identity is special after all. In order to prevent him from being caught, he must be wrapped tightly every time he goes out. Bi Xin even made a few human skin masks for him.
Fortunately, it is winter now and it is easy to camouflage by wearing thicker clothes, so it doesn’t need to be so complicated.
Yuanyuan took off her hat and scarf, her eyes sparkling, and when she saw Rongtang, she called out sweetly, "Brother Tangtang! Is Brother Tangtang feeling better?"
Su Huaijing was putting mutton into the pot. Hearing this, he raised his eyebrows and paused holding the chopsticks. He really wanted to beat the kid.
Ke Hongxue smiled and said, "You should call me uncle."
"I won't." Yuanyuan was quite stubborn, pointing and calling out: "Brother Tangtang, Brother Mumu, good uncle, bad uncle..."
When he called Su Huaijing, his tone was quick and soft. After he finished speaking, he didn't even look at anyone and just went into the arms of his two brothers.
Ke Hongxue was amused by him. She glanced at Su Huaijing's expression and asked Yuanyuan, "If you are so scared, why did you recruit him?"
Yuanyuan muttered softly: "He didn't hit me."
Rong Tang asked: "Why is he still a bad uncle if I don't beat you?"
Yuanyuan: "Because he's so fierce."
The child's eyes rolled around, and an idea flashed. He pulled Rong Tang's sleeve and urged him, "Brother Tang Tang, do you want to come with us? He is really fierce. You don't want to be with him."
"No way." Rong Tang refused gently.
"Why?" Yuanyuan asked.
Rong Tang smiled. Su Huaijing was quietly eating hotpot from beginning to end. Yuanyuan kept complaining about him, but Su Xiaoqi didn't even look at the little kid.
Rong Tang said: "Because my uncle and I have been married and are husband and wife."
Yuanyuan opened her mouth and let out an "Ah--" sound. She was obviously not understanding why anyone would marry Su Huaijing, such a fierce man.
He wrinkled his face and looked at Rong Tang and then at Su Huaijing, who made a face at him in a particularly naughty way.
Yuanyuan made a face in return, and Rong Tang looked at Su Huaijing helplessly.
Yuanyuan was melancholy for a long time after making a face. After swallowing a few pieces of beef and drinking half a bowl of hot goat milk, she suddenly had an idea and suggested to Rong Tang: "Tangtang, divorce him! Then when I'm fifteen, we'll get married!"
“Cough cough cough!”
Rong Tang choked directly. Even a little bit of chili that entered his throat was enough to make him cough for a long time.
Su Huaijing suppressed his temper and patted him on the back for a long time. He also poured a cup of tea and placed it in front of Rong Tang. After Rong Tang had calmed down from his coughing fit, he looked up at Ke Hongxue and asked, "Is this how you brought up your child?"
Master Ke was not panicked at all, and asked lazily, "She has no missing limbs, and I didn't force her to marry me or take her away from me. Am I not taking good care of her?"
Su Huaijing's words "misleading young people" were stuck in his throat. Rong Tang patted his hand to comfort him, bent down and asked Yuanyuan in a gentle voice: "Why do you want to marry me?"
"Because I like you, I want to be your wife." The child replied as a matter of course, purely and sincerely.
Like Su Huaijing, he is completely different from the big villain in some ways.
—At least ten-year-old Su Huaijing would never be so naive.
Rong Tang frowned slightly, revealing a distressed and embarrassed look: "But what should I do, I like Su Su."
“Ah…?” Yuanyuan opened her mouth wide, becoming more and more confused.
Rong Tang lowered his head and looked at him seriously, not as if he was talking to a ten-year-old child, but as if he was putting him in the position of a peer and talking to him in an equal manner: "I like Su Huaijing, and he likes me too, so it is a very happy and satisfying thing for us to become husband and wife. I am very happy that Yuanyuan said she likes me, but we can't get married."
Yuanyuan's little head digested the thought for a while, her face wrinkled, and she asked again: "But isn't Brother Tangtang the prince? Doesn't Dayu allow three wives and four concubines? I can be your little husband, and I will definitely treat you better than he does."
When these words came out, Rong Tang's eyes widened. Master Ke, who had just claimed that he did not teach the child bad things, was stunned for a moment, turned his head and started coughing violently.
Su Huaijing snorted and glanced at him, then turned his gaze to Mu Jingxu and said in a cold voice: "If a child is not taught, he will never become a useful person."
The implication is: Can I really not hit him
Mu Jingxu looked away awkwardly and began to reflect on whether he had been spoiling his child too much during this period.
After Rong Tang recovered, he was slightly confused for a moment, then continued to smile and shook his head, saying firmly: "No."
"Having three wives and four concubines is a bad custom. It has been passed down for thousands of years, so everyone is used to it. In fact, it is not good at all. It is neither equal nor responsible. After a long time, someone will definitely become dissatisfied. Even if they like each other when they are young, they will become resentful couples in the future."
In the feudal context, there were indeed "virtuous wives and good mothers" like Queen Wang Xiuyu, who was the legal wife but was "generous", "decent", and tolerant of all her husband's infidelities. But in the final analysis, this was just due to outdated concepts and long-lasting oppression. Therefore, under the marriage system, the marrying party could not resist.
In the current environment, the possibility of changing the status quo is almost zero. Rong Tang has the vision of a modern person, but he cannot use the modern code of conduct to demand the ancients, but he can at least demand it of himself.
He smiled and said, "I like Huai Jing. I will only marry him in this life and be married to him alone. No matter how good other people are, it has nothing to do with me."
Yuanyuan frowned, as if thinking about something. She didn't say anything for a long time, and seemed very puzzled.
Su Huaijing was stunned when he heard this. He reached under the table, grabbed Rong Tang's hand and squeezed it gently.
Rong Tang turned his head and gave him a smile.
Halfway through the banquet, Yuanyuan finally reacted, feeling a little frustrated and unwilling. She hooked her finger on Rongtang's sleeve and whispered, "Well, then when you don't like him anymore, you must kick him out and marry me. I'm younger, cuter, and more obedient than him."
"… "
Rong Tang was silent for two seconds, thinking that this child didn't look innocent either, he was quite cunning.
And when it comes to being obedient... probably no one can compare to Su Huaijing, right
He remained silent and did not respond, but the villain finally couldn't bear it anymore and clapped his hands to call Xingfeng in.
Xingfeng understood what he meant and immediately said that a magic troupe was coming downstairs and asked the young master if he wanted to go and see it.
Children love to play and cannot sit still. When they heard this, their eyes lit up and they no longer thought about becoming someone's husband. They jumped off the chair, skipped around, and walked out holding Xingfeng's hand.
The room suddenly became much quieter. Ke Hongxue looked at the door, smacked his lips, and turned his head to ask Mu Jingxu: "Senior brother, was our eldest brother like this when he was a child?"
He simply couldn't find an appropriate word to describe Yuanyuan.
The former crown prince was the most gentle person in the world, respectful, steady, gentle, and resolute...
Every word in the world used to describe the character of a gentleman can be used to describe the former crown prince, who is definitely not similar to Yuanyuan today.
But Mu Jingxu glanced at Su Huaijing and said, "Maybe he is different from what we see in front of his sister-in-law."
Rong Tang suddenly remembered the scene he saw in his nightmare that day and nodded silently in his heart.
Speaking of his brother, he gave out the five amulets that Bai Ri Huimian had given him one by one. He gave the one for Yuanyuan to Mu Jingxu, who passed it on on his behalf.
Ke Hongxue was obviously very surprised. He said, "Me too?" as he opened the talisman package and took out the note inside. Coincidentally, it was really his birth date.
Master Ke was immediately amused: "Tomorrow I have to go to Tuolan Temple to donate 20,000 taels of incense money. This master is too irritating to me."
They have a family of four, and adding him into the family shows their deep affection and loyalty.
Su Huaijing glanced at him, his brows slightly furrowed.
Mu Jingxu noticed his expression, looked at Rong Tang, and was relieved when he confirmed that his face was rosy and not as pale as before.
Rong Tang didn't distribute them deliberately, and he didn't know their birthdays, but the amulets just happened to correspond to each of their names, which made it hard not to be suspicious.
Besides, his illness came strangely and ended even strangely, so it was normal for Su Huaijing to have doubts.
Mu Jingxu suppressed his doubts and did not disrupt the harmonious atmosphere.
Until Ke Hongxue suddenly asked: "Has the case of the Southwest Military Pay been handed over to you?"
Su Huaijing: “Yes.”
Rong Tang was slightly startled, and subconsciously asked: "Zhang Baoshan's case?"
Several people have long been accustomed to the fact that the young master clearly does not interfere in the affairs of the court, but is aware of all the important matters. Seeing this, they agreed: "That's right."
Rong Tang frowned.
In the original novel, the Southwest Governor Zhang Baoshan's embezzlement of military pay was an important opportunity to weaken the third prince.
Wu Kangbo corresponds to Zhang Gelao and the second prince, and Zhang Baoshan corresponds to Marshal Xia and the third prince.
During the flood last year, some of Zhang Ge Lao's followers impeached Zhang Baoshan in advance, but were convicted of falsely accusing their colleagues and were exiled to the frontier. However, this winter, the southwestern border was repeatedly harassed, and the court sent an imperial envoy to the south, who uncovered this case.
The butterfly finally flapped its wings.
Rong Tang asked, "Are you going south?"
Su Huaijing shook his head: "The imperial envoy is someone else, I asked for permission to stay in the capital."
Rong Tang was slightly stunned. He knew why he wanted to stay in Yujing, so he asked, "Who is it?"
Su Huaijing: "Shen Feiyi."
Mu Jingxu was stunned and looked at him and Rong Tang in surprise.
Rong Tang was obviously shocked by Su Huaijing's frankness. After all, everyone knew that Shen Feiyi used the alias Chen Fei and was promoted to General of the Right Guard of the Jinwu Guard this spring. But Su Huaijing just told him his real name directly, and everyone present understood it tacitly.
Rong Tang paused and didn't say anything.
Ke Hongxue smiled and asked, "Did you arrange this?"
Su Huaijing said: "He also needs a political achievement to get promoted."
"Very good." Master Ke nodded, but asked, "Do you know who the imperial envoy is?"
Su Huaijing raised his eyes to look at him, and Ke Hongxue chuckled: "Sheng Chengli."
He said: "It is too obvious that our emperor wants to support His Highness the Fifth Prince."
Zhang Baoshan is Xia Jingyi's son-in-law. Last year, Zhang Ge Lao's disciples were demoted for impeaching him.
Sheng Chengli's appointment as the imperial envoy not only challenges the third prince directly, but may also absorb the remaining forces of the second prince's party.
"Others fight for the throne at the risk of their lives. But in Dayu, every one of them is promoted by His Majesty himself. Who dares to say that he will not become emperor?" Ke Hongxue commented with a sneer.
If the second prince made achievements in government, he would give the third prince a chance to win a prize at the Flower Picking Club;
Since the Third Prince was very powerful, he asked the Fifth Prince to personally overthrow his power.
In the end, power will still be concentrated in the hands of the emperor, weakening the ministers and wasting the princes.
Rong Tang frowned slightly, Su Huaijing held his hand and asked, "What are you thinking about, Tangtang?"
The system was still missing. Rong Tang hesitated for a few seconds, and finally asked, "Can you do me a favor?"
Su Huaijing: "Tangtang, just speak frankly."
Rong Tang: "To trip up Sheng Chengli a little, not to endanger his life, but to really frustrate him."
He needed to verify his guess.
If you succeed, you may find a glimmer of hope. If you fail...
Rong Tang glanced at Su Huaijing and lowered his eyes awkwardly.
At least you won't die.
Even if he is really bound to Sheng Chengli, he can at least follow his inner thoughts and stay with Su Huaijing until the end of the story.
His palm was held in someone's palm and gently squeezed. Su Huaijing nodded, as if to comfort or coax: "I will listen to Tangtang."
He is indeed the most obedient child in the world, Rong Tang thought so before coming out of Shudao Pavilion.
(End of this chapter)