The Wife is First

In the afternoon of the next day, Jing Shao sent his princess to Huiwei Building and asked Zhou Jin to take him to attend the monthly gathering of men and wives in the capital. Zhou Jin did not wear any bright clothes today, and looked much more stable in a dark blue robe.

"Brother Zhou, I will ask you to take care of Jun Qing." Jing Shao bowed his hand to Boss Zhou.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Zhou Jin was already cheerful and older than them all. After getting to know each other, even Mu Hanzhang also called him Brother Zhou.

Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao, who was as verbose as if he was entrusting a child, and smiled helplessly: "Your Majesty, just don't worry and go back. Can I still lose it?"

Jing Shao scratched his head and got on his horse. Most of the men and women attending this party in the capital came from noble families, but with Jun Qing's wisdom, they shouldn't suffer much. So he left the carriage and Yunzhu behind with peace of mind, and rode Xiao Hei to meet his brother for tea.

The scenery in the south of the city is beautiful, and many princes and princes have gardens here. The gatherings held once a month were usually held in the Mo Garden of Maoguo Gong's residence.

The second son and concubine can marry a male wife. This is an unwritten rule and does not necessarily have to be followed. However, the Maoguo family has always made this a family rule. Even if the concubine does not like men, the concubine must marry a male wife. Therefore, among the princely houses in the capital, the Maoguo Duke's house has the most male wives.

Entering the Demo Garden, you hear the sound of silk and bamboo. Through the layers of ink bamboo, you see a wide waterside pavilion. There are tables, chairs and refreshments on the waterside pavilion. There is a woman playing music on the bank. The bamboo flute is so subtle that it is so beautiful that it reaches my ears.

"This is an elegant place." Mu Hanzhang looked at the people sitting quietly on the waterside pavilion listening to music. He was originally worried that the lively scene like a woman visiting the house did not appear, and he couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Brother Zhou is here." Seeing Zhou Jin, several people stood up and bowed politely.

"Who is this?" The man at the head of the water pavilion was wearing a light blue gown. He was about twenty-five or sixty-six years old. He was similar to Zhou Jin and had handsome features, but there were deep lines between his eyebrows, which must have been caused by frequent frowns. To.

"This is Princess Cheng and Master Mu." Zhou Jin introduced to everyone with a smile. Men and wives usually don't like to be called madam or mistress, so they call each other son.

"I have met the princess. After hearing this, several people looked at each other and came forward to salute.

"You don't need to be so polite on this occasion." Mu Hanzhang asked everyone to stand up in a humble and polite manner.

"I heard that Young Master Wenyuan has extraordinary bearing. When I saw him today, he certainly lived up to his reputation." The leading man smiled gently and let them inside.

"It's just a young and wild boy who got a false reputation at the poetry meeting." Hearing this person call him by his previous name, Mu Hanzhang felt as if he had returned to the past, when he participated in the poetry meeting of scholars. He couldn't help but feel happy, and looked at the scene in front of him. This person also felt somewhat close to him.

Zhou Jin introduced Mu Hanzhang one by one. The leader, whose surname was Lin, was the wife of the second young master of the Hou family in Dingnan. The others are basically the family members of court officials.

"Why don't you see Mr. Mao's mansion?" Zhou Jin asked Mr. Lin.

"They and the Young Master from the Yongchang Marquis Mansion went to fight cocks in the woods behind. We didn't want to join in the fun, so we just listened to music here." When Young Master Lin spoke, he would naturally frown and look quite sad.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Mr. Lin's frown, Zhou Jin couldn't help but ask.

"The second young master insists on marrying a concubine from an official family," Mr. Zhang, who was eating melon seeds at the side, said for him, "Brother Lin's life is already difficult, and marrying a concubine with a high family background... ugh..."

Mu Hanzhang sipped the tea slowly and listened quietly to the chats of several people. These men were all educated and their speech was relatively reserved. , he could still hear that most men and their wives were not doing well at home.

Most of the husbands are bastards, and sometimes they are forced to marry a male wife. Besides, there are very few families whose sons are raised as male wives. Most of them don't know how to manage a house, and once the concubines have children, it will be even more difficult to manage. Therefore, if it is not for the husband's preference, even if he can treat each other as a guest, it will be difficult for a man who is trapped in the inner house and loses his will to live a satisfactory life.

"I heard that King Cheng requested an order last month to demote his wife to concubine. How did Mr. Mu do it?" The talkative Mr. Zhang suddenly turned the conversation to Mu Hanzhang.

"Everything is the prince's wish." Mu Hanzhang put down the tea cup and said calmly, not intending to say much about his own affairs.

"Why are you acting like a woman now, always trying to find out about these parents' personal affairs?" Zhou Jin slapped Mr. Zhang on the head to stop the topic.

Mu Hanzhang picked up the cup again and found that although Zhou Jin's husband-in-law was just a waiter and a restaurant owner himself, he had a high reputation among these aristocratic men and wives, and everyone respected him as "Zhou Jin". Big brother". In addition to being a cheerful and easy-going person, Xiao Yuan has been married for seven or eight years and has not had any concubines. This is the reason why everyone really admires him. A man's wife who cannot leave any children can learn from the Hedong Lion and control her husband from taking concubines. It really requires some extraordinary means.

"Hey~ Who do I think this young man in fine clothes is? It turns out to be Han Zhang!" A strange voice came from outside the water pavilion. Everyone looked up and saw five or six men coming out from behind the bamboo forest, leading With a few followers, they marched towards the waterside pavilion in a mighty manner.

Mu Hanzhang frowned and recognized the speaker as Du Yinghao, his classmate for five years. The head of the Mu family school is an uncle in the family who has won the third prize. Because of his reputation, other relatives in the family will also send their children to study. This Du Yinghao was Mrs. Beiweihou's nephew. Because he couldn't stand Mu Hanzhang always being praised by his husband, he always opposed him.

"We haven't seen you for two years, and I thought you were going to take the provincial examination. It turned out that you were married to the Duke of Mao." Mu Hanzhang sat still, glanced at the domineering Du Yinghao, and continued to drink tea calmly.

"Hmph, even if you were elected, weren't you married off by your aunt?" Du Yinghao snorted coldly. The Du family is not a noble family. Even though he is the second son, he was used to build connections to marry into the Maoguo family. Third young master.

"Don't be rude!" Du Yinghao was about to say anything, but his second sister-in-law stopped him.

There are three men and women of this generation in Maoguo Gong's family. After bowing, they all took their seats.

"Yesterday I went to the Marquis of Beiwei to celebrate his birthday, and I saw something quite interesting." Du Yinghao saw that even though Mu Hanzhang was married, he was still the object of admiration and respect from others. He felt unfair and couldn't help but want to stab him. Two sentences.

Everyone who was tired from playing was drinking tea and chatting. After hearing this, they asked him what was going on.

"King Cheng saved a very beautiful woman from the hooves of the fourth prince," Du Yinghao looked at the expressionless Mu Hanzhang with a smile, and said in a longer voice, "I heard that King Cheng liked her very much, so I directly He was raised in another courtyard to be used as an outhouse."

After hearing this, the originally lively atmosphere instantly cooled down, and everyone was awkwardly silent, not knowing how to answer the question. But in his heart, he thought that Princess Cheng was not very favored. She heard that King Cheng had demoted a concubine for him, but in the blink of an eye, she found another concubine.

Mu Hanzhang looked at Du Yinghao who was looking at the joke and thought it was funny. Even after so many years, this man was still so childish. He looked at the sky and said: "It's getting late. I'm staying in another courtyard these days and need to go back early." After that, he put down the tea cup and stood up to leave.

Chengwang's Villa is in the east of the city, and Mo Garden is in the south of the city. It is really far away and it is difficult to persuade them to stay. Everyone got up to see them off.

"Third brother Xu is ignorant, please don't take offense to the princess." After being sent outside Moyuan, the second son of Maoguo's family apologized to Mu Hanzhang.

Mu Hanzhang smiled but did not answer. Yunzhu drove the carriage over and was about to get on when the sound of horse hooves was heard not far away.

"Eh~" With a clear neigh, the black horse stopped hastily in front of everyone. The man on the horse was tall and handsome, and he was the ruthless King Jingshao that people just mentioned.

When everyone saw who was coming, they all knelt down and saluted: "I have met His Highness King Cheng."

Waving his hands for everyone to stand up, Jing Shao saw that his princess was already standing in front of the carriage, and said with a chuckle: "I was afraid that you would be too late to leave, so I came to pick you up."

"I'm watching the time." Mu Hanzhang curled his lips, watching the man slowly approaching on horseback and stretching out a hand to him. I didn't want to be too affectionate in front of outsiders, but out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of Du Yinghao's jealous expression, and accidentally put his hand into his palm, and with the help of the horseman's strength, he turned over and sat in front of Jing Shao.

"Yun Zhu, please send Brother Zhou back and then go back to the other courtyard." Mu Hanzhang told the boy beside the carriage, said goodbye to everyone, and followed Jing Shao away in a dashing way.

Du Yinghao blushed with anger, Young Master Lin and others also looked enviously. Only Zhou Jin was overjoyed to ride in the free canopy carriage.

From this day on, the news that King Cheng doted on the princess quickly spread among the upper class circles.

Since the "Book of War" was so thick that it would take a month at the fastest for one person to copy it, in order to be able to play and appear to admit mistakes, Jing Shao and Mu Hanzhang began to copy it together. Every morning, one would practice martial arts, and the other would deal with internal affairs. In the afternoon, they would set up a table in the garden to enjoy flowers and copy books. In the evening, they would soak in hot springs together. The days were very pleasant.

Regarding Ge Ruoyi's matter, Jing Shao wrote a note and handed it over. After waiting for three days, there was no news. Just after lunch that day, while he was lying in a rocking chair and basking in the sun with his wife in his arms, Jing Shao was admitted to the palace by a decree.

"What do you think about the affairs in the southeast?" Emperor Hongzheng asked Jing Shao who was kneeling behind him while looking at the mountain and river map in the imperial study with his hands behind his back.

Jing Shao carefully worded his words: "The Ge family is not a big family. This matter may not have spread in the southeast area. It's just that the woman came to Beijing to file a complaint. The sons and ministers didn't know how to deal with it, so they had to report everything to their father."

Emperor Hongzheng nodded and did not let Jing Shao get up. He still looked at the mountain and river map that occupied the entire wall in front of him: "Do you know why Taizu wanted to make him a vassal king?"

"The previous dynasty was unkind. Taizu and the three rebel kings jointly conquered the world. The one who breaks the capital first will be the emperor." Jing Shao raised his head and looked at the map he had read countless times in his previous life. The three areas of Southwest, Southeast and Huainan were counted. He fought for ten years to quell the rebellion of the Southern Barbarians. "After Taizu Rende conquered the world, he granted the title of three hereditary vassal kings of Southwest, Southeast and Huainan."

"I don't want to interfere with the fiefdom." Emperor Hongzheng turned his back to Jingshao and saw no expression on his face, but Jingshao knew what his father was thinking and said loudly: "Although the southeast is a fiefdom, it is also my Dachen's. In this country, the people in the southeast only recognize my father as the emperor."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Hongzheng turned around suddenly and stared closely at Jing Shao who was kneeling on the ground. Jing Shao lowered his head slightly and let him stare.

After a long time, Emperor Hongzheng suddenly laughed loudly: "You are indeed my son! Hahaha!" He walked to Jingshao, patted his shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "Sanfan is my worry, but it's just , now is not the time.”

Jing Shao's pupils suddenly tightened, but his face didn't show it. He kowtowed and said, "I understand." What his father meant was that now was not a good time to put down San Francisco, and this matter needed to be suppressed first. No wonder Jing Yu in the previous life dared to blatantly detain her as the royal concubine, and finally forced her to take revenge with her own hands. No wonder Jing Yu dared to be the first to stand up and propose the withdrawal of the vassal clan. But it turned out that at this time, he had already received a positive answer from his father.