Fire Captain

Bai Ziyang had buried such a big sugar-coated bomb for Sheng Hong, so naturally he couldn't wait for it to explode, so he took Minglan away long ago. He had a hot spring villa outside the city. Hot springs are naturally the most refreshing when the snow is floating in the winter. Now the weather is getting warmer, but it's still cold in the past few days, so he just caught up with the tail end of the hot spring bath, so Bai Ziyang hurriedly took Minglan to the villa, making it impossible for Sheng Hong and Sheng Changbai to find her.

Minglan just thought that Bai Ziyang was playful, so she followed him without thinking too much. After arriving at the hot spring village, she found that it was really enjoyable and was very happy. Away from the capital, in a world of two, Bai Ziyang felt that their relationship seemed to be closer.

One day, Minglan was looking at the account book, and Bai Ziyang insisted on staying with her. Minglan was annoyed with him because he could look at an account for several days. As long as Bai Ziyang was around, she could not concentrate on her work. Just as Minglan was trying to shoo Bai Ziyang away like swatting a fly, someone suddenly came in and rescued Minglan.

Danju came in and said, "Your Majesty, General Gu is here!"

Bai Ziyang said: "Gu Tingye is here?"

Danju said: "Yes!"

Bai Ziyang said, "Then ask him to wait for me in the main hall and tell him I'll be there soon."

Danju said: "Yes!"

When Bai Ziyang stood up, put on his shoes and was about to leave, he suddenly leaned over and kissed Minglan on the cheek and said jokingly, "My lady, I'll come and look at the account books with you later!"

Minglan pushed him away and said with disgust: "Your Highness, you should go and see General Gu. I don't want to trouble you to look at the account books..." She wanted to tell him to go wherever it's cool.

Bai Ziyang laughed and stood up and left. When he arrived at the main hall, he saw Gu Tingye walking around in the hall, looking anxious, and said, "Zhong Huai, you are too amazing! I came here quietly without anyone knowing, but you still found me!"

Gu Tingye said: "If I still can't find you, what am I doing as the commander of the imperial guards?"

Bai Ziyang asked, "My wife and I are on our honeymoon, why are you looking for me in such a hurry?"

Gu Tingye was furious when he heard Bai Ziyang's words. He took out the imperial edict from his arms and asked Bai Ziyang, "Tell me what's going on here?"

Bai Ziyang was puzzled and asked, "What's going on?" He took the imperial edict, unfolded it, and read it before smiling, "Hey, you're talking about this, isn't this good!"

When Gu Tingye saw Bai Ziyang's smile, he angrily said, "I knew you were behind this!"

Bai Ziyang said quickly: "Hey, don't wrongly accuse me! This time it really has nothing to do with me!"

It turned out that the imperial edict was a marriage decree, granting marriage to Zhang, the only daughter of Duke Yingguo, and Gu Tingye. When Gu Tingye heard that it was a marriage decree, he didn't know whether to accept it or not. Finally, he had no choice but to accept it. After sending the eunuch away, Gu Tingye jumped on his horse and went straight to Bai Ziyang.

Bai Ziyang found a chair to sit down, and asked Gu Tingye to sit down and calm down, then he said: "She is the only daughter of the Duke of Ying. It is said that she is also a remarkable woman who can ride a horse and draw a bow. She is so heroic and valiant. Is it unfair for you to be paired with her?"

Gu Tingye said: "You know that's not what I meant!"

Bai Ziyang said: "What do you mean?"

Gu Tingye said: "I just know that she is from a good family. I don't want to implicate her because of the mess in my family."

Bai Ziyang looked at Gu Tingye differently and said, "Okay, Gu Tingye, you also know what it means to be a burden. Didn't you want to be a burden to the eldest daughter of the Yu family?"

Gu Tingye almost blushed with shame when he thought of his previous childish thoughts. He couldn't help but said hurriedly: "That's all in the past. Now the eldest daughter of the Yu family is married well. Don't ruin her reputation!"

Bai Ziyang didn't care about Gu Tingye's accusation, and just said: "It's time for you to get married. Even if you don't need someone to take care of you, your daughter still needs a female elder to teach her, otherwise her future marriage will be affected..." Seeing that Gu Tingye wanted to say something, Bai Ziyang waved his hand and continued: "Besides, the daughter of the Duke of Ying is of noble status and has a strong personality. I think she is just suitable to fight in your family. Otherwise, if she is a weak woman, she will be eaten alive by your stepmother, right?"

In the end, Gu Tingye left without saying anything. After all, the imperial edict had already been received, and it was too late to say anything. Bai Ziyang knew about the trouble in Gu Tingye's family, so he specially sent people from the Ministry of Rites to help arrange the wedding.

On the day of the wedding, the prince and his wife represented the palace to attend the wedding. After all, in addition to Gu Tingye, the Duke of England could not be underestimated. Bai Ziyang and Minglan, as old friends of Gu Tingye, naturally came to attend the wedding. Minglan sat with the crown princess and chatted with some female relatives. During the chat, Minglan found that some of the female relatives' words were a little wrong. They were promoting the girls in their families, mostly concubines from the families of second- and third-rank officials, and of course some legitimate daughters from the families of fourth- and fifth-rank officials. After listening to a few more words, Minglan understood that this was the idea of ​​entering the palace to be Bai Ziyang's concubine, but Minglan's status was not high, and some legitimate daughters of wealthy families were unwilling to make a living under her.

The first-rank officials would look down upon the position of a small prince's concubine, and most of them would hang around the Crown Princess, aiming at the Crown Prince's backyard. The Crown Princess was a kind-hearted woman and naturally knew that such a thing would happen from early on. The two sisters-in-law smiled at each other out of sympathy for each other.

As Gu Tingye's brother, Bai Ziyang helped him block a lot of alcohol. When he returned to the palace, he seemed drunk. Xiaotao and Danju helped Minglan to help Bai Ziyang to the couch. Minglan held a cup of honey water and said to Bai Ziyang: "Your Majesty, drink a bowl of honey water to sober up, so as not to have a headache later."

Bai Ziyang half-opened his eyes and drank two sips from Minglan's hand before lying down. Later, perhaps because he felt uncomfortable, he moved to Minglan's side, rested his head on Minglan's legs, and even asked Minglan to massage his head. In fact, this little bit of wine was nothing to Bai Ziyang. Not to mention that the wine was tasteless and the alcohol content was not high, with his internal strength, it would evaporate after two turns. Now he just wanted to "use drunkenness to commit crimes".

When Bai Ziyang was about to ask everyone in the room to leave, Minglan suddenly called out softly, "Prince!"

Bai Ziyang hummed, "Hmm?"

Minglan asked, "Your Highness, do you know the Imperial College Master Qin?"

Bai Ziyang thought for a moment and said, "I know. What's the matter?"

Minglan said: "I heard that his little daughter is beautiful and gentle!"

Bai Ziyang half-opened one eye and looked up at Minglan. This little woman had bad intentions... He couldn't help but say, "Oh!"

Minglan said, "Then I will hold a flower viewing banquet some other day and invite her here. How about meeting her, Your Majesty?"

Bai Ziyang sat up immediately after hearing this, which surprised Minglan. For the first time, Bai Ziyang said to Minglan with a fierce look on his face, "Why should I see her? What does her beauty or personality have to do with me?"

Minglan was stunned by Bai Ziyang's question, and after a moment she replied: "If the prince doesn't like her, the daughter of Lord Wang from the Ministry of War is also a good one..."

Bai Ziyang pinched Minglan's cheek and said, "You are so virtuous. You are busy looking for a concubine for your husband right after you got married?"

Minglan said hastily, "If the prince doesn't like it, forget it!"

Bai Ziyang said, "I think you should participate in more polo clubs and less tea parties with the ladies in the backyard in the future. You just talk about useless things..." As he said that, he suddenly pulled open Minglan's collar and bit her collarbone.

Minglan felt a slight sting and cried out. Bai Ziyang looked up and said, "You can go if you want. Let them see how loving we are, so they won't have any doubts!" ​​Then he got off the couch, put on his shoes and said, "I'll go talk to that Imperial College Master. Their daughter had better be married off within three months, otherwise I won't forgive him!... Madam, ask the kitchen to make a dish of pork elbow with rock sugar tonight, you like it!" Then he ran away.

Minglan was left alone, holding her collarbone in shock. She said to Xiaotao and Danju angrily, "Is he angry or not?"

Xiaotao and Danju shook their heads together, remaining silent.

Minglan looked in the mirror at the marks on her chest left by Bai Ziyang and said angrily, "How can I go out and meet people like this... He is such a scoundrel. One moment he is happy, and the next moment he is unhappy for some reason. I am looking for a concubine for him, but he is not happy about it? Even the Bodhisattva is not that difficult to please! Xiaotao, come and get some powder to cover it up for me!"

"Hey, here comes the girl!"

Ever since her marriage, Minglan had fallen for Bai Ziyang's sweet words, but today these officials' wives poured a bucket of cold water on her and woke her up. She saw that the Crown Princess was bound to take a concubine for the Crown Prince, so could she, a concubine's daughter of a small official, avoid that?

Rather than having a bad reputation in the future and bringing trouble to the Sheng family and her grandmother, it would be better to leave this problem to Bai Ziyang to solve today. Even if she "offended" Bai Ziyang, he would not bear a grudge against her... Don't ask her how she knew it, she could just feel that no matter what she did, Bai Ziyang would not blame her!