Prequel to the Red Chamber: I Am the Second Wife

Zili asked Xiao Ai and Bo He to go outside and send a message asking Jia Zheng to come back quickly. Xiao Ai and Bo He looked at Zili with a worried expression and saw that she didn't want to leave.Zili calmed down and said to the girls: "This is my cousin. I used to be taken care of by my cousin in the capital. Now that my cousin is here, I have to treat him well. You go and tell the second master to ask him to come back quickly, call him The kitchen has prepared excellent dishes." Xiaoai and Mint hadn't been to the capital much, and they didn't know much about Wang's relatives.They felt relieved after hearing what Zili said.

Waiting for the maids to go out, Zili hurriedly adjusted his clothes, and was about to kneel down to salute the emperor.On the contrary, the emperor waved his hand easily, and Dai Quan came up to help Zili up. "It's not that you don't need to talk about those empty etiquettes in the palace. I went out for a walk and took a look at the people's sentiments. Once I entered the land under Jia Zheng's jurisdiction, it was refreshing. Along the way, the villages and towns were prosperous, and there were many merchants on the road. I didn't expect Jia Zheng to come from a family. But it's a little tricky."

The emperor picked up a chair at random and sat down. Zili stood at the bottom with his head down, but his mind was filled with countless thoughts. Why did the emperor come at this time?It's not surprising that the emperor went to other places or went on a tour or had a love affair with that folk beauty.It's just that the emperor suddenly ran to the ground in Qingzhou.This is the home court of King Wei.If you rebel against King Wei with real swords and guns, you may not have a chance of winning.But kill a lot of people on his territory.Zili's heart skipped a beat.

She peeked at the few people brought by the emperor, except for the beards and foreheads, they were all men in hardcover. From their standing posture and vigilant expressions, it could be seen that these were the legendary masters.But who is this little bun?Behind Dai Quan stood a curious little bun.He and Jia Zhu are about the same age, with a round pink face, and a pair of slender and upturned eyes, shining with innocence.Zili could see the shadow of the empress from the face of the little bun.The emperor was so unreliable that he even brought the prince out.If he has three ups and two downs, wouldn't the country be in chaos?

"Your Majesty's praise is due to the help of his colleagues, and these states are rich lands. The husbands of the concubines dare not be slack and dare not claim credit." Zili stood at the bottom with his hands down, thinking of Jia. Why didn't Zheng come here? The emperor came to Qingzhou quietly.If the king of Wei found out, it would be chaos again.When she was in a panic, the emperor said leisurely: "You have also learned to speak on the scene. I see that your appearance has not changed in recent years, but your mouth looks more and more like those wives and wives. It's all useless nonsense."

Speaking of the emperor beckoning to his son, His Highness the Crown Prince ran up to Lao Tzu, "Do you like this place?" The emperor nodded his son's nose and put him on his lap.

His Highness Gulu looked around the surrounding environment with his eyeballs, his eyes were suddenly attracted by the big kite hanging on the wall: "I like this place. Can I go out to play with that kite?" Zili was busy listening to the prince's words. Go forward and take off the kite on the wall.Jia Zheng personally made this for his son. Jia Zhu and Yuan Chun hung it on the wall of the flower hall when they got tired of playing, but forgot to take it back. "His Royal Highness, if you don't dislike it, just play with it." Zili handed the kite to the prince.

"You don't need to call me that way outside. Since I am your cousin, Dalang will naturally call you aunt." The emperor put the child on the ground, touched the little braid on the back of the prince's head: "You seem to have a son and a daughter too. It's gone. Why didn't I see your pair of babies?"

"Pearl is going to school, my daughter is still young, and she is following the nanny." While speaking, Xiao Ai had brought the girl in with tea and fruit, Zili hurriedly told Xiao Ai to take Da Lang outside to play, just be careful not to call the child Bumping and bumping, call a few more people to watch. "Zi Li told Xiao Ai not to make mistakes. Seeing Zi Li's attentive attitude, Xiao Ai didn't dare to neglect her, so she bent down and coaxed the prince to go out to play.

Waiting for the child to go out, Zili suddenly knelt down: "Your Majesty will not sit in the hall when something happens. Please return to the capital to worry about the empress dowager. All officials are at a loss. Although the ground in Qingzhou is stable, it is inevitable that it will not There are villains who take the opportunity to make trouble. What if the villain knows the news of His Majesty's travel in micro-clothes and takes the opportunity to make trouble?"

The emperor stared at Zili for a while, then he suddenly smiled and stretched out his hand to Zili: "Get up, it's as if you are risking your life to remonstrate, you don't know who I am, so naturally you don't want to take risks easily .” Zili got up before waiting for the emperor’s hand to touch him.The emperor withdrew his hand and pointed to the chair next to him without any trace: "Sit down and talk, my whereabouts are secret, and I won't disturb others. You see, the road is calm and smooth. I know something. Since I asked your relatives to act like a play, you have to act a little bit more. Just now your girl came in to see you standing on the ground. Although she didn’t know the truth, how could she not be silent. I have never seen that guest again. The principle of sitting on the top and asking the master to stand on the bottom. You just have to show your normal heart and be my cousin. You don’t need to be so restrained when you go to relatives. Don’t worry, I’m surrounded by capable people, and I’ve arranged for it long ago. It's safe." The emperor looked at Zili with a smile and looked at Zili shaking his fan unhurriedly, and asked Zili what interesting places to go in Qingzhou and how the customs are.

Grasping the strange look in the emperor's eyes, Zili understood it all at once.The emperor was using himself as a bait to dig out the insider of the king of Wei beside him. By the way, the emperor was very curious about the uncle of the king of Wei, and wanted to see what the person who had opposed him for half his life was like. "The emperor's holy candle shines, he has already grasped the overall situation, but the concubines are worrying. It's getting late, why don't you call the kitchen to prepare the banquet." Before Zili finished speaking, Yuanchun's cry suddenly sounded outside.

Zili's heart ached immediately, it must be that little bastard who bullied his daughter!But who told someone's father to be so powerful, Zili could only endure the pain in his heart and run out to see the situation.Yuan Chun was sobbing and crying behind the prince, but His Royal Highness seemed to be a little adult protecting Yuan Chun and comforting her: "Don't cry, that bug is dead." Things are pinched out.Xiao Ai wiped Yuan Chun's tears with a handkerchief, and when she saw Zili and the emperor approaching, she said, "Young lady cried when she saw a bug. Da Lang has been coaxing the young lady."

It's not that the daughter was bullied.Zili heaved a sigh of relief, knelt down and stretched out his arms towards Yuanchun, the little girl walked up to Zili and threw herself into her arms, saying pitifully, "A bug almost bit me." She frowned as she spoke. Make a scared face.Zili gently hugged her daughter tightly, and comforted her in a soft voice: "Congzi has been killed, you want to thank brother Dalang, do you know?"

Yuan Chun gradually stopped crying and turned to look at His Highness the Crown Prince, and said in a childlike voice, "Thank you brother." Although the Crown Prince has quite a few younger brothers and sisters, due to his status and the twists and turns of the harem, the Prince is usually Also a lonely child.Suddenly a cute and beautiful little girl spoke softly to him, and the prince's face turned red unbelievably, and he said a little sworn: "Well, you're welcome." As he spoke, he put his hands behind his back, a little shy He took a step back, and then he suddenly plucked up the courage to say: "It's nothing to worry about, I've never been afraid of those bugs."

Yuan Chun didn't notice the nervousness and shyness of the boy in front of her at all, she blinked her eyes at the prince and said with infinite admiration: "Brother, you are so amazing!"

Now that the game is over, His Royal Highness's face is as red as a piece of red cloth.The little girls at the side held back their laughter, watching the prince froze in embarrassment.Zili hurriedly pushed Yuan Chun down: "You and brother can play for a while." Then he told the maids to watch carefully and not make the children quarrel.

Zili stood up and turned around abruptly, only to find that the emperor was standing on the steps thoughtfully, looking into the distance and wondering what he was thinking.

"Are there any guests, Aunt?" Zili didn't wait to speak, but Jia Zhu ran in panting with her schoolbag on her back.He suddenly saw the emperor and the group of entourages stop immediately, and came over with square steps in a decent manner, bowing their hands to the emperor, while greeting with words in their mouths: "Hello, guest."

The emperor was amused by Jia Zhu's grown-up appearance. He laughed and introduced himself without waiting for Zili to speak: "I am your mother's cousin, so you can call me uncle. What's your name? How old are you?" Alright, are you in school yet?"

Jia Zhu turned to look at Zili's face, seeing Zili nodding slightly, he immediately called uncle with a smile, walked up to the emperor and answered questions in an orderly manner.Hearing Jia Zhu's unruffled words, the emperor couldn't help but praised: "It's no wonder you can speak so clearly at such a young age. You have been in school for three years, what books have you read, and can you write articles?"

"I've finished reading the Four Books, and I'm reading the Book of Songs. The writing is not good, because I don't know how to write many words." Jia Zhu sighed helplessly as she spoke, as if regretting that she couldn't display her full literary talent.

"You're showing off in front of people again. You can only say that you don't study hard. Learn the words you don't know. Where did you come up with all this nonsense?" Of course Zili knew her son's character, and she didn't want Jia Zhu and Yuan Chun to get too close to the court.Looking at the emperor's expression and questioning just now, Zili worried that the emperor had the idea of ​​choosing a companion for the prince.

Jia Zhu stuck out her tongue and stopped talking, but the emperor really liked Jia Zhu and pulled him to ask a lot of questions.The more Zili listened to the side, the more she felt that her guess was correct, but unfortunately she couldn't say anything when the emperor was present. The crown prince was running and flying kites all over the courtyard with Yuan Chun, when a gust of wind blew a big butterfly kite and was hung on the ground. up the treetops.

The crown prince tugged hard on the kite string and it was broken, and the butterfly's wings were also rotten. Jia Zhu looked at the broken kite brought by the girl, and her face turned dark: "My kite! Daddy made it for me!"

"Stingy ghost, I'll give you a big basket when I go back to the capital." The prince ran with a red face, and didn't care about Jia Zhu's caressing.

"A house full of kites is useless. My father made them for me. I don't want them, no matter how good they are!" Jia Zhu stomped her feet angrily and gave His Royal Highness a white look.

The prince, who had never been contradicted like this before, couldn't hold back his face: "You look down on people, I don't want anything, I just pay you."

"Do you have the kite my father made!" Jia Zhu rolled her eyes at the prince with her hips akimbo.

..., the prince suddenly fell silent.Not to mention the kite made by Laozi himself, it is usually a luxury to have an extra word with the emperor.It seemed that he was really inferior to this kid.Thinking of this, the prince's expression darkened, and he couldn't say a word.