The Wife is First

Chapter 32 Testing

"Jingchen was attacked on the southwest border. Emperor Hongzheng took a secret letter from the table and looked at him deeply.

"Brother Second Emperor, is he injured?" Jing Shao asked in shock. Seeing Emperor Hongzheng's calm look, he realized that his brother should not be in danger, so he calmed down a little.

Emperor Hongzheng lowered his eyes and handed him the letter in his hand: "Read it yourself."

Jing Shao quickly opened the thin piece of paper, glanced at the polite words, and looked for the word "peace" urgently.

"...Fortunately, the bodyguards given by the Third Emperor's brother fought to protect me. My son is fine and will return to the capital soon..." Seeing this line of text, Jing Shao took a breath and then read the letter again. Return it to your father.

The meaning of the letter was that the matter had already taken shape, and only a few words were mentioned about the assassination. However, given Jingchen's temperament, it must have been extremely dangerous at the time. Jing Shao slowly clenched his fist. If he were from the Southwest King Sect, he would definitely try another trick if his attack failed. Southwest is three thousand miles away from Beijing, and there are no surprises along the way. Thinking about this, I just feel confused.

"Father, the mountains are three thousand miles high and the roads are far away. I am brave, please allow me to lead a team of soldiers and horses to meet the second emperor brother." Jing Shao knelt on the ground and spoke sincerely.

"Jingchen has said it's okay, you should get up." Emperor Hongzheng sat back on the throne, picked up the memorial on the table and began to review it.

"Father!" Jing Shao refused to get up, not to mention the Southwest King, who never stopped doing anything. Once this incident came out, someone might take the opportunity to do something dirty. Anyway, it was the Southwest King who took the blame.

After waiting for a long time, Emperor Hongzheng glanced at Jing Shao who was still kneeling, sighed helplessly and said: "I have already sent someone!"

Hearing this, Jing Shao felt relieved. The fifty soldiers he sent to protect his brother will definitely still be following him, and they will definitely show up after this incident. In addition, the people sent by his father, unless they are blatantly sent to chase him, there should be no danger anymore.

Jing Shao came out of the imperial study room and met An Xian, the eunuch of Emperor Hongzheng. He was accompanied by a young eunuch serving tea. He seemed to have just come from the tea room. When he saw Jing Shao, he hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Mr. An," Jing Shao smiled politely, "After all these years, you are still so hands-on."

"The emperor's daily life and food are not careless at all. The servants are always worried about these careless children, so they have to watch them everywhere to make the prince laugh." An Xian may not be as fat as the usual old eunuchs because he is always worried. , and he also walks like a tiger.

There were many people outside the royal study, so it was difficult to inquire about anything. Jing Shao said a few words and left.

"A man who is almost twenty can't think about anything except leading troops to fight." Emperor Hongzheng took a sip of the tea brewed by An Xian.

An Xian took a careful look at the emperor's expression and said with a smile: "Don't you just like the prince's straightforward temper?"

Emperor Hongzheng put down the tea cup and curled his lips slightly: "He is a man of friendship." He did not tell Jing Shao that the assassins would all commit suicide if they failed to kill him, and no clues could be found. If Jing Shao asked who committed the assassination first today, then he would not be able to escape the suspicion. Fortunately, this son did not let himself down. Although he often loses his temper like a child, he never has any intention of harming his brothers and sisters.

When Jing Shao came out of the palace gate, he saw two carriages heading towards the side gate. He expected that there were female relatives entering the palace, so he didn't care and rode on Xiao Hei back to the palace.

Those two carriages were the carriages of the Marquis of Beiwei and the Duke of Mao.

"Quinzi is ignorant. He hurt the prince the day before yesterday. I wonder if he is feeling better now?" Mrs. Mao Guoguo said with a chuckle, but the expression on her face was not apologetic at all.

"It happened a few days ago. Didn't Madam only find out about it the day before yesterday?" Madam Beiweihou looked at her coldly. Prince Mao Guo injured Mu Lingbao, but he only paid lip service to it. For so many days, their house Not even a single person from the superior was sent to visit, so it was clear that he was bullying others.

As soon as the two met, they started to confront each other. The two young ladies standing behind them also looked at each other quietly. The maid sent by the queen to greet them just closed her eyes and said nothing.

Jing Shao returned to the palace, and before noon, when he entered the East Garden, Duofu came up to her with a sad face: "Your Majesty, the princess has not gotten up, and the servants did not dare to ask anyone to disturb her."

Jing Shao saw his fair and fat face wrinkled together and couldn't help but laugh at him and said, "Didn't you take care of the affairs of the inner house in the past? Who are you showing this face to?"

"Your Majesty, you don't know. The princess is now running the inner house in such a tight manner. There are more than twice as many things to do every day as before. The servants have a headache just looking at the account books." Duofu really admires the princess. She has so many accounts every day. He was able to sort out all the affairs clearly, and he could tell the accounts with problems at a glance. Now the stewards didn’t dare to fool them anymore, and when they looked back on things, they were all detailed. He had dealt with them all morning, and he only felt that one was the first and the other two. big.

"You're just too lazy. Look at An Xian, he's not this fat." Jing Shao said as he arrived at the bedroom door. He waved his hand to stop Duofu who wanted to continue complaining, and softly pushed the door open and went in.

The windows inside the house were closed, and the light was much darker than outside. The light blue curtains were closed tightly, and the beautiful scenery inside the bed was visible.

Jing Shao changed out of his court clothes and slowly opened the curtain. The person on the bed was sleeping peacefully, with one arm hanging outside the brocade quilt, half of his shoulder exposed, and the fair skin was marked with red marks, which was very tempting. Climbing onto the bed, she tucked her cold arm back into the bed, lay beside him, hugged him and the quilt, and kissed the sleeping handsome face.

Mu Hanzhang frowned and slowly opened a pair of hazy beautiful eyes: "You are back..." The slow tone, with the nasal sound of just waking up, was very cute.

Taking a breath of fragrance on the still swollen lips, Jing Shao hugged the person again: "Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

Mu Hanzhang woke up slowly. His physical fatigue had improved, but there was still some pain in his waist and thighs. He raised his head and glanced at the person holding him, moved his head to his shoulder and found a comfortable position: "Waist A little sore."

Jing Shao was stunned. Is Jun Qing...acting like a baby? Jing Shao, who finally digested this fact, immediately sat up and let his princess lie on his chest, kneading his waist through the quilt.

Strong hands pinched her through the quilt with just the right amount of force, relieving the soreness and feeling very comfortable. Mu Hanzhang couldn't help but squint his eyes, and quietly curled his lips at an angle that Jing Shao couldn't see.

"Brother has been assassinated," Jing Shao told him today's events while rubbing his hands, "Do you think he is the King of Southwest?"

Mu Hanzhang frowned, remained silent for a moment and said, "No."

"Why?" On the way back, Jing Shao carefully sorted out what happened at this time in his previous life. At that time, he was fighting the Southern Barbarians in Yunnan and Tibet, but he still knew about the major events in the court and had not heard about the assassination of the imperial envoy. thing.

"There is something fishy about the tributes being robbed. The reason why the Southwestern King brought this up openly is just because he has long been aware of the situation in Yunnan and Tibet." Mu Hanzhang narrowed his eyes and said, "He just wanted to reduce the tribute and I don’t want to start a war.”

Jing Shao's kneading hands paused for a moment, and he suddenly understood what happened recently. Because the southwest is close to Yunnan and Tibet, the Southwest King knows the situation of the Southern Barbarians best. He knows that the imperial court will probably ask him to send troops to attack the Southern Barbarians, and the Southwest King, who does not want to suffer a loss, will first find a reason to reduce tribute. If the imperial court asks him to send troops, he will use this to As a condition, if he is not allowed to send troops, he will make up for the tribute.

If it wasn't the king of Southwest who was the killer, but his two brothers who wanted to fish in troubled waters, this matter would be easier to handle. As long as they were away from Southwest and it was difficult to frame the blame, they would not dare to take risks again. but……

Since Jun Qing could see it, his father must have seen it clearly and summoned him to the imperial study today... Thinking of this, Jing Shao couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. His father was testing him!

Seeing his wry smile, Mu Hanzhang couldn't help feeling a little distressed: "Father will not be suspicious of what you said today."

Jing Shao lowered his head and saw the worried eyes in his arms looking at him. He leaned over and kissed those beautiful eyes: "I'm fine." The so-called father, in fact, should be called the emperor's father. No matter when, he is the emperor first. , become a father again! After suffering a lifetime of losses, I should have woken up long ago in this life.

The next day, the Beiwei Hou Mansion sent someone to deliver the melons shipped from the northwest.

"It's really strange that Mrs. Marquis of Beiwei would give us melons." Jing Shao pinched a piece of cut melon. The melons grown in the northwest ripen early, are larger than those in the Central Plains, and taste very sweet. The military power of Bei Weihou was in the northwest, where he bought a lot of land to grow fruits.

"I heard from the servant who delivered melons that my mother came back from the palace yesterday and the smile on her face never stopped." Mu Hanzhang handed him a bamboo stick and couldn't help but sneer when he talked about his aunt who didn't know how to restrain himself.

The Queen rewarded Miss Mu with a pair of jade bracelets, but only gave Miss Mao a purse. Mrs. Du felt that the position of the fourth prince concubine most likely belonged to her daughter. It happened that the melons from the northwest were shipped, and she was in a good mood. gave them some.

"How do you know this?" Jing Shao had to wipe his hands and eat with a bamboo stick after his princess glanced at his wet fingertips.

"There is that quick-talking third aunt. I'm afraid everyone in the Beiweihou Mansion knows about it now." Mu Hanzhang sighed. The servant who sent the melons was familiar with Lanting, and he kept talking about this when he saw her. If things continue like this, within three days, everyone in the capital will know that Miss Mu is going to be the fourth prince's concubine.

"Your third aunt is really a person. Next time there are rumors about Jing Yu, let her do it!" Jing Shao couldn't help but laugh out loud. These three ladies must have a grudge against Mrs. Beiwei Hou.

"Another nonsense." Mu Hanzhang shook his head helplessly, but thinking about it, the third aunt couldn't say that it was really intentional. If Mu Susu can marry the fourth prince, it will be fine, but at most people will say that Mrs. Beiweihou is showing off; if she cannot marry, Beiweihou Mansion will be in great disgrace this time!