Competing in the morning and evening

"Yuan Xizheng!" Yuan Da lowered his voice and said angrily, "What tricks are you going to play again?"

Yuan Xizheng spread his arms and said aggrievedly: "Uncle, I'm saving you!"

Yuan Da snorted coldly and said, "It's fine if you don't cause trouble for others!"

Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Uncle, you recommended Chu Yu to the prince before the banquet, which is already a showgirl for the royal family. If you say that Chu Yu has a widowed mother... Chu Yu's marriage will naturally fall through, But I'm afraid I will offend the prince who is already interested in Chu Yu, Wan Ru... don't think about it anymore."

Yuan Da weighed in his mind, and gradually understood Yuan Xizheng's meaning, he suppressed his breath and said, "Then what do you think?"

"Why don't you recognize Chu Yu as a concubine, and no matter who enters the palace, you will be the prince's father-in-law... Besides, Chu Yu's status as a concubine may not hinder Wan Ru's good deeds, you What do you mean, uncle?" Yuan Xi said with a confident smile.

Yuan Da thought about it carefully, and felt that this was indeed a good strategy. Not only was he the only daughter of the patriarch of a big family, but his mother also came from a scholarly family. not bad.No matter how he thought about it, he didn't think that Wanru could lose to Zeng Chuyu. If both sisters from the Yuan family could enter the palace, it would be a good thing to have another reliance in the future.

When Yuan Da thought of this, he was secretly happy, but he still elongated his face and said, "You just don't do your business and use your foolish brains. Chu Yu has been taken care of by me since she was a child, so I naturally regarded her as a child." Daughter, I still need you to be troublesome!"

Yuan Xizheng listened, and said with a smile: "Then I will thank Uncle on Chu Yu's behalf." Just as he was about to get up, Yuan Da said again: "Don't leave, I have something to find you. Concubine Ping named you Let you pass Chu Yu's birthday plaque into Beijing."

Yuan Xizheng was taken aback, Yuan Da let out a long breath and said: "This must be what King Liang meant. It seems that he still has the idea of ​​letting you work for him. I want to say, what a beautiful thing this is, Next year will be the year for you to be weak, and you will not be too young. Is it possible that you are not thinking about your own future? Besides, if the three of you all enter the palace and take care of each other... Hey, Yuan Xizheng, you are so courageous , I haven't finished my words yet..." Yuan Da hadn't waited for the third "Hello" word to exit, Yuan Xizheng had already disappeared without a trace.

After Yuan Xizheng ran out, he let out a long breath, and laughed secretly in his heart, thinking that no wonder others were not afraid of the patriarch's anger, but were afraid of the patriarch's words.

When Yuan Da gets angry, it usually means a roar.But if you want to speak, it is like a torrential river, endless.The villagers of Yuan Village prepared their trip to Beijing the next day. Yuan Xizheng looked at the load of belongings and laughed in his heart that Yuan Da was a little too impatient, but after receiving the gift list and looking at it, it was a long list of presents. name.Although the ancestors of the people in Yuan Village had fame and high officials, they have mainly been doing business in the past few decades. If they have a lot of money, they will inevitably want to make friends with powerful people.

Yuan Xizheng smiled wryly, secretly feeling a little helpless towards the philistines of these relatives.

Yuan Xizheng got into the carriage, Yuan Da was persuasive again, and explained many rules. Yuan Xizheng listened carefully with a smile on his face. Yuan Da sat on the novel for half an hour before letting Yuan Xizheng leave at ease.Yuan Village is actually not far from Jianye, and the carriage is fast, but after more than two hours, Yuan Xizheng waited outside the palace gate to meet Ping Guifei.

After a while, the eunuch said in a high voice, "Ziqing Yuan, Concubine Ping declares."

Yuan Xizheng followed the eunuch through the long alley, and arrived at a pavilion in the Imperial Garden. The eunuch said expressionlessly: "Wait here, don't run around, bump into the nobleman, that is a serious crime."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Thank you, Eunuch, for your suggestion."

Before the eunuch left, Yuan Xizheng took a deep breath and browsed the imperial garden carefully.

There is a Ziwei Lake in the middle of the garden. The sun shines brightly at noon, and the breeze blows gently, stirring up the broken gold in the lake. A lot of green calyx plums are planted on the embankment. Looking from afar, the trees are full of jasper stars, growing The green buds that seem to emerge from the branches give people the illusion of quiet spring flowers in the chilling winter.

Yuan Xizheng took a deep breath, and was admiring the boundless winter sun, but heard a series of small footsteps behind him, and turned around quickly, only to see a middle-aged beautiful woman who still had a charm and was supported by the eunuchs.

The maids behind her were holding flower baskets, and there were a lot of green calyx plums in them, they must have just picked the flowers.

Yuan Xizheng stepped forward and knelt down to salute, Concubine Ping said gently: "Forget it, let's get flat." She looked Yuan Xizheng up and down for a while, and then said appreciatively: "I can't blame Yin'er for never forgetting you, you are indeed a good-looking talent, handsome and clear .”

Yuan Xizheng naturally gave another salute to thank, Ping Guifei said: "Sit down, it's hard work for you to drive the carriage to Beijing early in the morning to deliver the sign." Ping Guifei's voice was not very soft, even a little flat, But there is always a sense of meekness and softness in the words you speak.

Yuan Xizheng took out two birthday cards and put them on the plate brought by the eunuch. Concubine Ping stretched out her hand to watch carefully, and said with a smile: "The two girls are born from the earth, and the earth promotes the birth of the tree, and the horoscopes are very suitable. What?" She said, picking up her left hand, then her right hand, she seemed to be hesitant, sighed, and said, "Qi'er, bring the bottle here."

The court lady behind her responded, and put the flower basket, vase, small scissors and other things on the table. Concubine Ping picked up the scissors and said with a smile: "Don't blame Ziqing, I have only such a hobby in my life, I like flower arrangement."

Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Your Majesty is really elegant."

Concubine Ping smiled slightly, and said: "I arrange flowers only for practice."

Yuan Xi said with a smile: "One flower, one world, this is the highest realm of Buddhism. The implication of this empress is far better than eating fast and reciting Buddha."

Concubine Ping smiled and said: "Ordinary people, how can there be such a high realm." She sighed slightly, and said: "For example, the green calyx plum can't be planted well. If it is used as the main flower, it will hold up again." I'm sorry for the spectacle, if it is reduced to a companion flower, I'm afraid it will desecrate its elegant and independent elegance."

Yuan Xizheng glanced at Concubine Ping's green calyx plums that had already been pruned and inserted into the bottle, smiled slightly, and said, "I don't know if there are unglazed bottles in the palace."

Concubine Ping was taken aback, then turned her head and said, "Is there such a bottle?"

The eunuch said: "Mrs. Hui, those rough embryos are earthen jars, which are used by servants to hold water and things."

Concubine Ping glanced at Yuan Xizheng, and said with a smile, "Take a clean one."

Not long after, the eunuchs brought one over, and Concubine Ping pointed to the table and said, "Put it up." The eunuch hesitantly put the earth-colored earthen jar on it, and Concubine Ping put the green calyx plum branches into the earth-colored earthen jar. In the earthen pot, the greenness was refreshing for a moment, and one of the maids couldn't help but let out an ah.

Concubine Ping's eyes showed joy, Yuan Xi smiled and said: "Your Majesty, although the celadon vase is good, but it is too rich, how can it bring out the quiet and independent plum blossom?"

Concubine Ping let out a long sigh, and said, "I'm overthinking it. Not all good things in this world match each other." She looked at the green calyx plums that had been planted, and said with a smile, "Ziqing, look Is the green calyx plum planted well?"

Yuan Xizheng glanced at the flower arrangement, smiled and said, "Ziqing has overstepped." As he said that, Yuan Xizheng took out the longest branch of green calyx plum from the bottle.

Concubine Ping looked at the flower arrangement in the earthen pot again, and it seemed natural and wonderful. She took a closer look at Yuan Xizheng and said, "I understand, you can go back."

Yuan Xizheng took the branch of green calyx plum and took leave with a smile. Concubine Ping watched Yuan Xizheng's back disappear before letting the maid help him back up.

"Your Majesty, Yuan Xizheng is indeed a romantic person." The palace maid called Zhi'er whispered in Concubine Ping's ear.

Concubine Ping sighed, and said: "Maybe he won't work for Yin'er."

The Zhi'er said: "Your Majesty, which of these two young ladies do you think is better?"

This seemed to speak to Concubine Ping's mind, she let out a long sigh, and said indifferently: "Rewarding the original is like a box of jasper ointment, a peony jade pendant with a ribbon, two sandalwood incense fans, four pieces of new palace satin... and another reward Give her some gadgets from the Western Regions in the palace."

After hearing this, Zhi'er wrote it down repeatedly, and after a while asked in a low voice: "Then... where is Ms. Zeng Chuyu?"

Concubine Ping thought for a while, and said lightly: "I will give her two copies of Xiangwenluo's hand-copied scriptures, and the hand-copied copy of the palace will go, no need to say it."

Zhi'er responded, and then smiled again: "Ma'am, do you have a crush on Ms. Zeng Chuyu?"

Concubine Ping sighed, remembering that when the young man pulled out the slender green calyx plum just now, a subtle sharpness flashed in his eyes, and he said leisurely: "The original family is a big salt merchant, and Yuan Wanru is the only daughter of the patriarch. She, I'm afraid that she will cause a lot of troubles, but it will be disadvantageous to the emperor, since she wants to keep a low profile, then don't worry about it."

When Concubine Ping made her choice, Yuan Xizheng had just left the imperial garden, and the eunuch led the way forward. As soon as she went out, she saw a group of people coming from the other side of the path.After such a glance, the eunuch hurriedly dodged to the side of the path, bowed and waited for the group of people to pass by.

Yuan Xizheng glanced at it, and knew that the person who came was one of the candidates for the crown prince, the third prince Chu Hao, and the sixth prince Chu Min who was always known for his dedication to the public was following him.

The third prince, Chu Hao, has already passed the age of thirties, and his appearance is quite handsome. In addition, he has been in charge of government affairs for many years, so he has the aura of a dragon and a tiger, and quite the majesty of an emperor when he walks.And Chu Min behind him was plain-looking, but because of his reputation of being clean and honest, he was deeply trusted by the current emperor, and Chu Min supervised many tasks of investigating and handling important officials.So Chu Min has another nickname, called Liu Yan Wang.

Many people think that the Six Kings of Hades following the third prince Chu Hao means that the emperor hints that the third prince Chu Hao is his favorite prince, and that Chu Hao has many followers.

Chu Hao's mood at the moment is far from the smooth sailing that his situation seems to be. In this north-south war, the Southern Dynasty was defeated. Chu Hao asked three times to serve in the frontier, to share the emperor's worries, but was refuted by Nanchang Emperor Chu Wei.

Although no one knew about this matter except the few people in front of him, it made Chu Hao feel a lot of uneasiness.

It stands to reason that although Chu Wei is not yet fifty, his health has not been very good. He should have established a reserve position long ago, but Emperor Chang has not made up his mind.Everyone thinks that the third prince Chu Hao's position as the crown prince is very secure, but he alone knows that this matter is like a moon in the water, elusive and elusive.If Emperor Chang really wanted him, he should have made a decision a long time ago. He may have other candidates in his heart for delaying so much, and Emperor Chang has been preventing Chu Hao from having real power, such as the military power in front of him.

Along the way, Chu Hao thought of all his adult brothers and elder brothers one by one, and unknowingly approached Yuan Xizheng.

At this time, Yuan Xizheng didn't want to meet the future prince directly, so he lowered his head very low, but he couldn't prevent Chu Min from asking: "Eunuch Huang, who is this?"

The eunuch hurriedly said: "If you go back to the sixth prince, this is the Yuan Xizheng from the Yuan family. According to the order of the imperial concubine, I will enter the palace to present the birthday plaques of the two young ladies of their family."

Chu Hao stopped, and said, "Yuan's family." He stopped his gaze on Yuan Xizheng, and said, "Are you picking a concubine for the tenth brother?"

Yuan Xizheng replied: "As for the third prince, Concubine Ping only asked my family to hand over the birthday plaques of the two ladies to Beijing, but did not explain why."

Chu Hao lowered his eyes slightly, turned around and said with a smile: "It seems that the tenth emperor is a smart man after all. How can the family of officials be as good as this kind of merchant and rich family? The family is well-off, and can attack and retreat as well as defend."

Chu Min smiled and said, "The tenth brother is not young anymore, it's time to get married."

Chu Hao nodded and said: "The happiness of the tenth brother is also very important to me as an older brother. It so happens that I have a magician with me. You copy the two birthday cards, and I will let the magician see if they are compatible. "His tone was slightly joking, and even hinted at a hint of sarcasm.

Hearing that his words were teasing, with the intention of insulting Chu Yu Wanru, Yuan Xizheng suddenly became arrogant, and his original temper came back, so he just smiled and said: "Although my two younger sisters are not golden branches and jade leaves, they are also ladies. , Their birthday signs are not allowed to be seen by others."

"Bold!" The eunuch's complexion changed, and he said, "Do you know who you are talking to?"

Chu Hao sneered, and said, "How dare the daughter of a businessman call everyone a lady?"

Yuan Xizheng said indifferently: "Compared to the civet cat prince, the ladies of my two younger sisters are much more genuine."

Chu Hao was furious. When Northern Qi conquered Jianye, Nanchang Emperor Chu Wei fled south in a hurry. On the way, he was separated from Chen Guifei, who was pregnant. When Northern Qi withdrew and Emperor Chang returned to Jianye, Chen Guifei had already given birth to the third emperor son.

However, there have been rumors in private that Concubine Chen Guifei gave birth to a baby girl instead of a boy. Not to mention whether this ulterior rumor is true or not, but it has undoubtedly become a big taboo for Chu Hao.Yuan Xizheng said it lightly, but it hit his heart. Chu Hao had a violent temper, and he attacked when he was agitated.

Yuan Xizheng didn't even move his body, but turned his head slightly. Chu Hao's palm stirred up Yuan Xizheng's long hair, but failed to hurt him at all. Yuan Xizheng's straight eyebrows were in front of his eyes, plump The forehead and the straight bridge of the nose are not like the femininity of a woman, nor the masculinity of a man. They are just like ink and wash paintings with dark strokes and light dyes. They are drawn in one color, but they have a long charm.

Chu Hao couldn't help being taken aback for a moment, Yuan Xizheng smiled and raised the green calyx plum in his hand, calmly defusing his attack.

Yuan Xizheng smiled and said: "This is the green calyx plum given by Concubine Ping. I didn't expect that Prince Rong would like it too, so Ziqing borrowed flowers to offer Buddha."

Chu Hao just realized that there was an extra branch of green calyx plum in his hand. He was originally full of anger and menacing, but now he was holding a flower in his hand, and he suddenly had a feeling of irony.

Yuan Xizheng made a long bow and said: "Ziqing has to go back and report the meaning of the imperial concubine, so I will leave first." After speaking, Yuan Xizheng missed them and walked away, neither fast nor fast. Slow, revealing a kind of confidence and calmness.

The eunuch promised, and hurriedly chased Yuan Xi away.

Chu Hao looked at his back, and said, "Ziqing, Yuan Xizheng, where did I hear it?"

Chu Min smiled and said, "This must be the 'Ziqing' in Rui'an who would rather marry Ziqing than Fan Wangli."

Chu Hao suddenly realized, he looked thoughtfully at the Lv'e plum in his hand, and said, "Ruian has a good vision this time."

Chu Min said: "The tenth brother's action is repeated and beaten. It seems that he just married a merchant woman. This merchant woman has a lot of connections with the official family. If Yuan Xizheng is allowed to become the prince's son-in-law again, With Ryan's support, I'm afraid that the tenth brother's strength will suddenly rise to an objective level."

Chu Hao pinched the green calyx plum in his hand, annoyed, sneered, and said, "Could it be that Ah Dou also wants to win the Central Plains?"

When Yuan Xizheng walked out of the palace gate, the eunuch breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Yuan Xizheng, you'd better go home quickly!"

Yuan Xi was really frightened to see him, she couldn't help smiling, got into her carriage, and ordered: "Go back... and go around!"

The groom got the order, the whip was lightly raised, and the wheels began to roll. Yuan Xizheng gently lifted the curtains. Seeing the prosperity of the capital, the sensuality and beauty were even more lively. He sighed softly and said: "The dream of prosperity through the ages."

He took a look like this, and just as he put down the curtain, the carriage was suddenly strangled by someone, only to hear the groom's "wow", the horse raised its front hooves, Yuan Xizheng was caught off guard, and his head could not help but hit the carriage door hard for a moment.

"What's going on?" Yuan Xizheng rubbed her head and said.

The groom turned his head and stammered: "Young master, young master..."

Yuan Xi struggled to lift the curtain, but saw a row of royal guards of honor with purple covers and yellow flags in front of him, but the person sitting on the golden chair (Note 8) was not any prince, but the second prince Li Yan who came from the Northern Dynasty to discuss peace.I saw that he was completely different from what he saw two days ago, he was wearing a five-claw mang robe with black and silver patterns from the North Dynasty, he rested one hand on the side of the couch, and supported his head with the other hand, still smiling slightly It is not surprising, but it can be seen at a glance that this is a nobleman, handsome and exuding a kind of nobility.

The golden scorpion is one foot and two feet high, much higher than Yuan Xizheng's carriage.That's why Li Yan looked at Yuan Xizheng from top to bottom.

The groom whispered: "They rushed out suddenly..."

Yuan Xi lifted the curtain with a raised hand, and said with a smile: "I wonder if the Second Highness can move? You are blocking my way!" Li Yan leaned forward and said with a smile in his eyes: "Ziqing, I heard that When you were nine years old, you were able to make the world’s number one emperor, Gongsun Yan, walk around, but it’s a pity that you have to walk around my path today.”

Yuan Xizheng was not annoyed, and only smiled slightly: "Why does Second Highness do such a useless thing, I'm afraid that even if I let you, you may not dare to walk on the path I let!"

Li Yan laughed loudly, and said: "Okay, I like Ziqing's madness, and I want to see the way you let out!"

"Okay, then if you don't dare to walk my way, in order to avoid entanglement, please ask the Second Highness to get out of your way and let me pass."

Li Yan said straightforwardly: "It's a deal!"

Yuan Xizheng signaled her carriage to back up, then stood there, picked up a small stone at random, wrote two big words Li Xu on the ground, then threw the stone in her hand with a smile, and said: "Please, Your Highness." Let the horse come here!"

Those Northern Qi guards glanced at them, they were all horrified, they all knelt down and kowtowed three times at the two words, then got up and said angrily: "Bold and unreasonable, the name of the emperor is not yours!" You can write whatever you want!"

Yuan Xizheng just raised his chin slightly and looked at Li Yan. After a long time, Li Yan raised his hand and said calmly: "Back the carriage, let him pass!"

Yuan Xizheng got into the carriage, turned around and said leisurely: "Old Matou, you have to be careful when you go there, the one on the ground is the current emperor of Beiqi."

The old horse was frightened a long time ago. He listened to his young master's order and answered yes repeatedly. When driving the carriage past, he really had to walk slowly, carefully bypassing the two words.

When Yuan Xizheng passed by Li Yan, he raised the curtain and said with a smile, "Goodbye, Your Highness."

Li Yan saw that the carriage quickly disappeared from sight, as if he couldn't see enough, he sighed softly and said, "Chai Ping!" A honest young guard immediately stepped forward and said, "Your Highness!"

Li Yan said thoughtfully: "A man is so handsome, it would be great if it was a woman..."

Chai Ping was taken aback, and said with a strange expression: "Your Highness... This Yuan Xizheng is a man of great fame. He has received the title of the emperor and is a tribute student. If he is a woman, it is a serious crime of deceiving the emperor and he will be beheaded." .”

Yuan Xizheng's blushing expression at that moment appeared in Li Yan's mind, his heart skipped a few times involuntarily, he forced himself to calm down, and smiled: "Okay, we don't have to keep Chu Wei waiting too long."

Yuan Xizheng just ran into Li Yan, and then ran into Chu Yin by chance. Chu Yin showed a look of surprise, and said: "Just now I thought I would not be able to catch up with Brother Yuan, but I did not expect to catch up."

Yuan Xi got out of the carriage, saluted and said, "I've seen the prince, but I don't know what the prince wants to do with Ziqing?" Chu Yin suddenly bowed and said, "I also ask Ziqing to forgive me."

Yuan Xizheng hurriedly supported him and said, "Why did your lord make such a statement?"

"It's my king's fault. Brother Yuan and I hit it off right away, so I couldn't help but say a few more words to my concubine mother, who knows... Concubine mother told my father, and my father issued an order for you to have an audience."

Yuan Xizheng was secretly unhappy, but when he looked up and saw Chu Yin's embarrassed face, he couldn't help comforting him: "My lord, don't worry too much, it's the expectation of many ordinary courtiers to see Tianyan, and Cao Min would like to thank you, my lord, for fulfilling my long-cherished wish." .”

Chu Yin was overjoyed and said, "Please."

Yuan Xizheng had no choice but to get into Chu Yin's carriage, but when he looked up, he saw that the carriage was decorated simply and was not used by a prince at all. He only heard Chu Yin laughing and said: "The imperial dynasty has spent a lot of money on wars over the years. I put the gold ornaments on the carriage They were all pried off and given to the Ministry of War, so please don’t be offended by the shabby carriage.”

Yuan Xizheng couldn't help but looked at him twice, and sighed softly: "It's very precious for the prince to have such a heart!"

Yuan Xi got out of the car and followed Chu Yin to walk along the palace alley again.Today's imperial palace has been expanded over the years, so it has become this kind of alley after alley, rich gates set rich gates, with layers of thick doors opening, it really makes people feel like a sea of ​​noble houses in an instant.

Chu Yin led him into a side hall, and saw that dozens of seats had been placed in the hall, and the doctors were sitting cross-legged behind the seats, while Li Yan, who had just bid farewell to Emperor Nanchang, was sitting on the side beside Emperor Nanchang. This made Yuan Xizheng frown involuntarily.

Yuan Xizheng frowned slightly, Li Yanquan saw it, and suddenly smiled: "It turns out that the emperor invited Yuan Jiaziqing as a guest."

In the past few months, Emperor Nanchang has heard Yuan Xizheng like thunder. First, his daughter said that he would rather marry Ziqing, then Xu Lin was ashamed to lie in bed and said that he was absurd, and then his tenth son was full of praise for him.

In fact, he didn't care too much, he just regarded it as another young arrogant scholar, someone who was always amazing and talented in the dynasty appeared. He watched them rise and fall with his own eyes, but he didn't expect that even the Northern Dynasty The prince will also pay attention to this dispute.

"Oh, the second prince also knows Yuan Xizheng?"

Li Yan looked at Yuan Xizheng, smiled slightly, and said, "That's really impressive."

Emperor Nanchang smiled and said, "I wonder what Yuan Xizheng did to impress the Second Prince?"

Li Yan raised his hand and poured himself a glass of wine, then glanced at Yuan Xizheng, and said, "Because...he said I was a dog."

Note 8: Golden 辂 is a kind of travel vehicle, which is mostly used for traveling by emperors or princes. It is a flatbed car with a beautiful decoration, chairs, sun umbrellas and a high base.