The waiter who served the food shouted loudly, finally breaking the silence in the room.
Su Huaijing coughed lightly, pulled Rong Tang to sit down, and called the three people standing blankly at the door: "Take a seat first."
Lu Jiaxi was a little panicked now, and he was at a loss as to what to do. Hearing this, he quickly pulled out a chair near the door and sat down.
Ke Hongxue and Rong Tang looked at each other and sat opposite him.
As a result, before he could even sit down, he saw Rong Tang straighten up, staring at him, and pulling his collar with joy on his face: "Did you see it?"
Ke Hongxue had just picked up the teapot to pour tea for Mu Jingxu, and was a little stunned when she heard this: "What?"
Rong Tang: "My Huai Jing just made me new clothes!"
"… "
He was so happy that he was full of thoughts of showing off. Sheng Chengming sent him a room full of precious medicinal herbs, but he felt tired just looking at them. Su Huaijing made him four sets of clothes, and Rong Tang wanted to shout with a loudspeaker so that everyone in Shuiling Street would know.
Ke Hongxue's hand shook and the tea spilled onto the table.
Su Huaijing felt a little embarrassed, which was rare for him, but he was mostly filled with happiness that he couldn't hide.
He looked at the clothes Rong Tang was wearing and began to seriously wonder whether the embroiderers in the several garment shops run by Xingfeng for him had the time to make a set of clothes for Tang Tang every day and use different clothes to make Tang Tang happy.
But Ke Hongxue's resentful gaze on the opposite side was too sharp for him to ignore. He ordered the servant to wipe the table, looked at Rong Tang, and gave him a look.
Rong Tang pursed his lips and whispered, "I just want to show off."
Su Huaijing: "If you keep showing off, they will run away." He leaned over and whispered: "I'll buy you a few more sets when we pass by the clothing store later."
Rong Tang's eyes lit up and he nodded slightly.
Ke Hongxue was sitting opposite them, not knowing what to say. She turned to Mu Jingxu pitifully: "Senior..."
Mu Jingxu calmly pushed back the tea he had poured for him.
Ke Hongxue stared at the cup of tea for a long time with his eyes downcast. The tea surface was still swaying on the rim of the cup. He was silent for two seconds, then happily picked up the tea and took a sip, pretending that it was poured for him by his senior fellow student.
Rong Tang watched the whole process: “…” What a loser.
The sunset glow is scattered across the sky, with large patches of brilliant purple and red colors. The bottom of the pot is boiling, and it is still the same as the tangyuan pot.
On one side is the bright red spicy pot, and on the other side is the thick, white and delicate coconut chicken.
Rong Tang's appetite was whetted by the smell. It tasted many times better than the last time when he just rinsed it with water.
What's more, after he woke up, in order to nourish his body, he still didn't touch any oily or spicy food. Rong Tang even felt that Su Huaijing brought him out today just to give him a meat starter.
His eyes narrowed as he ate. Su Huaijing looked very satisfied watching from the side and fed him from time to time.
Coconut chicken is rare in Yujing. Ke Hongxue took a bite and thought it tasted very good, so he served a bowl to his senior before the hot pot.
There were five people at the table, and only Lu Jiaxi was busy eating. He didn't dare to raise his eyes, and his toes were tightly gripping the ground. He was extremely afraid that if he looked up, he would see something that would make him doubt whether he should not be there at all.
But Rongtang was half full, and during the intermission he suddenly asked casually, "Did Master Lu enter the Imperial Academy?"
He had just seen from the window that Lu Jiaxi was wearing a blue-gray scholar's robe, which was exactly the standard for a Hanlin Academy scholar.
Rong Tang was in such a hurry at the flower-picking party that he didn't have time to watch the party end or wait for it to end. Although he didn't care about anything, he was still curious.
He really wanted to know what the outcome of Su Huaijing's plans would be.
Lu Jiaxi was suddenly mentioned and his whole body tensed up. He swallowed a mouthful of beef tripe, and the spicy food choked his throat. He turned his head and coughed for a long time.
Rong Tang panicked for a moment and quickly reached out to pour him some water.
Mu Jingxu stood up, stood behind Lu Jiaxi and patted him on the back. After just a few pats, his coughing went away. Apart from a slight spicy feeling in his throat, he felt no other discomfort.
Rong Tang felt relieved and sat firmly in the chair. He sighed with lingering fear, then suddenly remembered something and chatted with Su Huaijing: "If you cough, how should you pat your back? I coughed before and you patted my back and it stopped quickly."
Su Huaijing never had anyone else in his eyes, but he was slightly startled when he heard this. He raised his eyes to look at Mu Jingxu, who had already sat back in his original seat, and Ke Hongxue was picking up a meatball for him.
Su Huaijing retracted his gaze, cupped his fingers, and placed them behind Rong Tang's back to answer his question: "Cup your fingers into a cup shape, and follow the direction of the trachea, from bottom to top, from the edge to the center, and tap slowly."
He demonstrated as he spoke. Rong Tang stopped coughing, but he was inexplicably fidgeting. When his hand was about to fall to the position of his heart, Rong Tang raised his arm and held him back: "That's enough."
The voice was soft and light, with a request that seemed unbearable. Su Huaijing was stunned for a moment, then smiled gently and withdrew his hand.
Lu Jiaxi finally came back to his senses, but his face was still red, and his voice was hoarse. He nodded and said, "I benefited from the help of Lord Mu and Master Su. Lord Mu's poetry won first place, and Master Su gave this place to me. That's how I was able to enter the Imperial Academy with a shameless face."
Rong Tang raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you used to it?"
Lu Jiaxi was a little embarrassed. "I'm not used to it when I first entered the Imperial Academy. I was always worried about bothering my seniors, but Brother Ke would come and give me some pointers from time to time, and the Second Prince also condescended to take me to make friends with some colleagues. Now I can barely cope with it."
Rong Tang glanced at Ke Hongxue, wondering whether he was doing charity by taking care of his younger brother, or was using this to send some signal to Su Huaijing.
But he didn't know how to ask, so he asked casually, "Anything interesting happened recently?"
After he finished speaking, Su Huaijing looked up at him. The expressions of the people in the private room varied, but none of them seemed to be on guard.
Ke Hongxue even smiled, snatched another piece of coconut chicken from Su Huaijing's chopsticks for his schoolmate, and said happily: "I wonder what interesting story the prince wants to hear? I know one in the court, and one in the harem. What do you want to exchange for it?"
Rong Tang thought to himself that you might be retaliating, and wanted to say that I have my son, so you can hear the gossip even if I don't want you to. However, he frowned and looked at Mu Jingxu's white clothes that never changed all year round, and said, "Can I give Lord Mu two sets of clothes?"
Mu Jingxu was stunned. He had never expected that the topic would suddenly turn to him. But before he could refuse, Ke Hongxue clapped his hands and responded loudly: "Okay!"
Su Huaijing glanced at him warningly. Ke Hongxue raised an eyebrow, not looking at him, and said to Rong Tang: "Then I will tell the prince about the interesting things in the former dynasty and the harem, just to relieve his boredom."
Ke Hongxue said: "My Lord, I think you know that the current emperor values civil affairs over military affairs?"
Rong Tang nodded.
This is a piece of information written in the original novel. When Emperor Renshou rebelled and gained power, he was particularly wary of ministers who held military power. However, there are only a few ministers in the court who hold military power, and most of them are too few in number to form a force.
This shows that the Grand Marshal of the Army Xia Jingyi holds a very high position in the court.
Because he holds the military power of the southwestern border, he has the three Bodhisattvas in the harem, Concubine Hui, the third prince and the sixth prince, to help him save his life.
The Xia family, starting from Xia Jingyi, had close ties with the former dynasty and the harem. Even under the suspicious nature of Emperor Renshou, they were able to gain more and more favors year by year, which was truly enviable.
The emphasis on civil officials over military officials and the suppression of military officers could never reach Marshal Xia.
Ke Hongxue said: "Sheng Chengxing's flower-picking party was very beautiful, and the emperor was very pleased, and specially appointed Xiao Lu to the Imperial Academy."
Lu Jiaxi smiled awkwardly. Ke Hongxue said, "The civil servants on vacation returned to the court at a good time. There were no floods or droughts. It should have been a peaceful day, but the cabinet submitted a memorial."
He smiled with his eyes bent, and spoke slowly but forcefully: "Mr. Yang Xingye, a student of Mr. Zhang and a scholar of the Cabinet, sued the son-in-law of Marshal Xia for raising troops in the southwest and embezzling 300,000 taels of military pay to privately manufacture gunpowder."
Rong Tang paused while drinking tea and looked up at Ke Hongxue in disbelief.
So early
Seeing the surprise in his eyes, Ke Hongxue's smile deepened. She glanced at Su Huaijing lightly and said, "At the same time, the eunuch in charge of the harem secretly told your majesty that during the flower-picking party, the only nanny beside the fifth prince accidentally fell into the water and was buried outside the palace. He specifically mentioned that this was the nanny who had requested treatment from the Imperial Hospital when the fifth prince was ill a few days ago. Guess what your majesty asked when he heard this?"
Rong Tang frowned and stared at him: "How dare I presume to guess the emperor's will?"
He was so serious about what he said, so serious that Ke Hongxue blinked and couldn't help laughing. After a while, he recovered and said, "Yes, the prince is right. How dare we, the common people, speculate on the emperor's will?"
When Lu Jiaxi heard them, one the prince of Ningxuan King and the other the grandson of Grand Tutor Ke, saying that they were common people, he was totally at a loss as to what to do.
Ke Hongxue had laughed enough, and then he concentrated his expression, looked into Rong Tang's eyes, and said, "Your Majesty asked in person: 'How did the third brother do it?'"
Rong Tang's heart skipped a beat, and he realized that this internal and external collaboration had been successful.
Although he was puzzled as to why the issue of military pay in the southwest had been brought to the table in the early summer of the ninth year of Qingzheng, and he was unwilling to accept that Sheng Chengli had benefited after all the twists and turns, he had no choice because Heaven was doting on his male protagonist.
Very unreasonable.
Rong Tang frowned, an unhappy expression written all over his face.
Ke Hongxue then asked, "My Lord, do you want to know the final outcome of these two events?"
Rong Tang was very upset and squinted at him: "Just tell me what you mean."
Ke Hongxue made a "three" gesture and said, "Let's buy three more summer clothes, using the material you have."
Rong Tang: “?”
He was dumbfounded, and his annoyance was shocked away by Master Ke's banditry: "This is Shu brocade material. I only have two pieces at home, which is barely enough for Huai Jing and I to make two sets of clothes each. How dare you think so?"
Ke Hongxue shrugged nonchalantly: "It's just the material. My family has plenty. All you have to do is agree to make it for my fellow apprentice."
Rong Tang was even more confused. He looked at Ke Hongxue and then at Mu Jingxu: "Since you have it, why don't you just give it to him?"
Ke Hongxue was filled with resentment and glanced at Rong Tang: "If my fellow student was willing to take mine, I wouldn't have to beg you for it."
Rong Tang couldn't help but raise his hand: "But... Master Mu is here."
Ke Hongxue shook his head calmly: "It doesn't matter. After all, it was you who gave it to me. I didn't have time to refuse the two gifts you gave me just now, so I don't mind these three more." He smiled and raised his glass across the air: "Then I'll have to trouble you, my lord."
Rong Tang was speechless for a while, and did not take the cup. After seeing him take a sip of the wine, Mu Jingxu did not refute him. So he was not too worried and urged him, "Hurry up and say it."
"Why are you in such a hurry?" Ke Hongxue smiled, glanced at Su Huaijing again, and suddenly asked, "Master Su, don't you know these two things?"
Su Huaijing shook his head gently: "I have been accompanying Tangtang to recuperate these days and have not paid attention to the rumors outside, not to mention—"
He paused, and cast a sharp gaze at Ke Hongxue, with a smile on his face: "How can I know what's going on in the palace?"
Ke Hongxue: “…”
He felt that it was lucky that he did not eat the chili pepper, otherwise he would have ended up like Lu Jiaxi. He shook his head, thinking that he had no idea what this person was acting. Was he acting just for his little master to see
Ke Hongxue glanced at Rong Tang in confusion and thought to herself, I think your husband has hidden as many things as you do.
But he was too lazy to worry about that. He picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks for Mu Jingxu, and then said seriously: "First, Yang Xingye forged false accounts and falsely accused his colleagues, and was sentenced to dismissal and investigation; second, Sheng Chengxing was not on good terms with his brothers, and was sent by His Majesty to the palace's Great Buddha Hall for half a month to chant scriptures and reflect on his mistakes."
Rong Tang pursed his lips unconsciously after listening to this, not knowing whether he should be happy or not.
But Ke Hongxue slowly said the following sentence: "But there is a sequel."
He said, "Third, His Majesty rewarded the Fifth Prince with countless treasures in order to comfort him. On his way back from the Qinzheng Palace to express his gratitude, the Fifth Prince passed by the Imperial Garden and accidentally stepped on empty space and fell into the pond. He was rescued and saved his life, but his leg was broken. The palace physician said that even if he is cured, he may still be lame and unable to walk in the future."
Ke Hongxue smiled, implying something: "These things have been a fuss for half a month. The ministers in the court scolded each other, and everyone wanted to gain some benefits for their faction. The noise was so loud that it was unbearable to listen to. But I am stupid. After thinking and looking, I have no idea which of the three princes got the good result."
He asked Rong Tang, but his eyes were fixed on Su Huaijing: "What do you think, my Lord?"
(End of this chapter)