PFC Chapter 358 Drinking War
Chapter 358 Drinking War
Emperor Zhaoming received Tao Xingjian's whispered report, pondered for a moment, shook his head and said softly:
"That won't do. The Supreme Lord loves and respects him so much, he will probably summon him to the Taiji Palace someday.
"Tell him not to worry, and just stay in Beijing with Zhitong to quietly investigate the four kings and eight dukes, and then leave after the fifteenth day."
Tao Xingjian said softly, "The princess entrusted him with the task, but he didn't get to the bottom of it, and he's feeling resentful. Now that the clues are before him, I'm afraid he won't be able to sit still."
"You have to sit still even if you can't sit still! Does he think he is a god? Those people have been struggling for their whole lives, how can it be so easy for him to investigate them all?"
Emperor Zhaoming waved his hands impatiently.
The Supreme noticed that he was in a bad mood, so he called him and asked, "What's wrong?"
Emperor Zhaoming smiled bitterly and made up a story: "Kuang Ru dislikes his stepmother. I heard that she has been forcing him to see a bride every day these past two days, and even wants to stuff her niece into her room...
"Kuang Ru was very annoyed. He just told Tao Xingjian that he would return to Jiangning on the second day of the Chinese New Year.
"I'm stopping it right now."
The Supreme was startled, then he remembered that Cao Yu was the youngest son of the family. He frowned and muttered in a low voice: "I forgot his origin..."
Emperor Zhaoming raised his eyebrows: "Father, do you also want to show him your face?"
The Queen Mother moved closer to him and whispered, "I was planning to spend more time in your Queen Mother's palace these days and see more of the young girls that were brought into the palace to pay New Year's greetings!
"But if he has a troublesome aunt, it will be very troublesome to get along with her in the future. I'm afraid that good families will not want their daughters to go there."
"Kuang Ru is only in his early twenties, so there's no need to rush." Emperor Zhaoming became interested, leaned closer to the Supreme Lord, and asked softly, "In fact, I think Hong Chang has a good personality, what do you think?"
"Hongchang is indeed very good." The Supreme hesitated for a moment, gritted his teeth and shook his head, and whispered, "But the good child of the royal family must be kept to see if he needs to be married off..."
Emperor Zhaoming fell silent.
"I know that you scared Tongyi and the others the other day, saying that the children were going to be prepared for marriage.
"But those idiots, even if they really go, they will either be plotted against by others or cause trouble for us.
"Marriage is not just about sending a woman. This woman has to be able to do something.
"If you count it this way, apart from Hongchang, there are really only Yimin and Zhaoqing." Taishang stared at the emperor closely.
Emperor Zhaoming's face suddenly darkened: "Yimin and Zhaoqing are not good enough! The Queen Mother took them in because she saw that they were desperate and loved them.
"I can't hurt my mother's heart."
There was a flash of disappointment in Tai Shang's eyes, but he still sat up straight, sighed softly, and whispered, "We can discuss this later."
He cheered up again and said with a smile, "As for Kuang Ru's marriage, it's just as you said, he's still young, so we can wait a little longer.
"Tomorrow I will be in the Yanjia Palace, looking specifically at those twelve or thirteen-year-old girls.
"In another three years, Kuang Ru will surely be promoted to prefect. By then, his status as a bastard will no longer be important."
Emperor Zhaoming forced a smile and said yes.
This interaction was seen by the three men of Dong Wang.
King Dong lowered his head and thought.
Prince Xining quietly touched Prince Nan'an's arm and asked him in a low voice: "Do you have anyone of the right age? Thirteen or fourteen, someone outstanding?"
The Southern King frowned, very unhappy: "After all, Cao Yu is the son of a dancer, his foundation is too shallow. If a daughter of a family like ours were to marry him, we wouldn't even be able to eat with him."
As he said this, he took the opportunity to look back at the other people in the hall and sneered in the West King's ear, "You are so poor that you wouldn't even recognize a bowl of chicken marrow bamboo shoots! How are you going to live?!"
Prince Xining held back his laughter and hurriedly lowered his head to drink the wine, but he still sighed with regret: "It's a pity that none of our families have such brilliant children!"
The Southern King snorted, "How can a Jinshi who ranked last in the second class be considered a brilliant talent?!"
"You don't know?" King Xi was surprised and hurriedly whispered to him, "It was originally the top-ranked essay, but the word "edict" in his essay violated King Yu's taboo, so it was rejected!
"Both the Emperor and the Grand Master dote on him! I forgot whether the Ministry of Personnel originally gave him the position of Chief Clerk or Lieutenant of a middle-level county.
“But once he arrived in Jiangnan, his talent was fully displayed, and he happened to meet the emperor incognito, so he was directly promoted to county magistrate.
"It's been less than two months now, and I heard that the old case of the Zhen family's daughter from more than 20 years ago has been investigated!
"Using this as an excuse, the Supreme Lord awarded him the title of Tongzhi, a fifth rank!
"Have you ever heard of a Jinshi who was promoted from a commoner to a fifth-rank official in just six months? This guy is one of them!
"Aren't you jealous? I told you that if I had an unmarried daughter, I would take this son-in-law home!"
The Southern King was moved by what he said, and after pondering for a long time, he whispered: "I only have one daughter, and she is engaged. She will be married after the New Year.
"However, my brother's family has a little girl who just turned 15 in September. Her family had previously proposed a marriage, but they backed out."
"That's a good idea!" King Xi quickly put his arm around his shoulders and whispered to him, "After the New Year, ask your brothers and their families to go back to their ancestral home to visit the graves..."
The King of the East glanced at the two of them, drank another glass of wine and filled his own.
The faction of Prince Yu and Cao Feng and others had already been fighting each other. Princes Duncheng and Kejin came out to mediate, but Prince Yu was not willing to listen.
There was no other choice, so the two of them simply came together to toast the Supreme Lord and Emperor Zhaoming.
Since neither of them pretends to see anything, why should they care?
Unexpectedly, Prince Zhongshun also stood up and toasted the court officials, but he picked the Duke of Zhenguo and others to drink with.
This resulted in a melee.
Tai Shang looked at it, feeling somewhat dejected, and sighed softly.
Immediately after he sighed, the Prince of Dongping stood up and said: "I have been in Donghai for several years, and I haven't celebrated the New Year in Beijing for twenty years.
"Now I don't recognize any of them. Come on, Xining, Nan'an, introduce them to me!"
He picked up a pot of wine, picked up a cup, and left the scene.
Behind him were two fat kings of different surnames, each holding a glass of wine.
Soon, all the ladies in the neighboring hall heard about it.
The Queen Mother covered her mouth with a handkerchief and laughed: "The King of the East is known for drinking a thousand cups without getting drunk. Who is this person and what did he do to stir up a hornet's nest?"
He immediately ordered Cheng Qian to find out, and would not rest until he heard the exact story.
Daiyu and Tanchun tried to persuade her gently.
Empress Wan smiled and stopped them: "Since the Queen Mother wants to know, it won't hurt to ask.
"Perhaps, after the Queen Mother asks this, they will come to their senses and won't go too far."
"Your Majesty is right." The two had no choice but to give up.
Cheng Qian came back and told the whole story. When she heard that it was Prince Yu's followers who forced Cao Yu to drink, the empress dowager's face suddenly turned ugly.
With a cold snort, he forced himself to find an excuse: "Oh! Is it so disrespectful in front of the king?"
The Queen Mother immediately pointed at the wine on her table and ordered Cheng Qian: "Take it and say that it is a reward from me to the King of the East, and let him drink as much as he wants!
"I'll provide him with wine today!"
It actually started a fire!
Daiyu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and hurriedly pulled Cheng Qian aside: "Aunt Cheng, please speak slowly."
"Don't worry, Princess!" Cheng Qian smiled, "Do you still remember that the other day, the Princess and the County Master were greedy and asked for Liaodong's Shaodaozi to try, and then they said that the wine was not tasty?
"I'll get that bad wine from the kitchen and let those rough guys waste it!"
This time, even Tanchun covered her face.
As the saying goes, "watching the fun is no big deal", this is indeed the style of Yanjia Palace!