32 Chapter 32: Testing

Chapter 32 Test

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

"Is the second brother injured?" Jing Shao asked in shock. Seeing the calm look of Emperor Hongzheng, he realized that his brother's life should not be in danger, and then 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 paper, skimmed over the polite words, and hurriedly searched for the word "safe".

"... Fortunately, the guards given by the third brother fought to the death to protect me. I am fine and will return to Beijing soon..." Seeing this line of words, Jing Shao breathed a sigh of relief, then read it from the beginning and returned the letter to his father.

The meaning of the letter was that things had already been figured out. There were only a few words about the assassination, but with Jing Chen's temperament, if he said so, it must have been extremely dangerous at the time. Jing Shao slowly clenched his fist. If it was someone sent by the King of the Southwest, he would definitely try another plan if he failed to hit him. The southwest is three thousand miles away from Beijing, and there is no telling what will happen along the way. Thinking of this, he felt confused.

"Father, the mountains are high and the roads are long. I dare to ask you to allow me to lead a team of soldiers to meet the second brother." Jing Shao knelt on the ground and said earnestly.

"Jing Chen has said that there is nothing wrong, you get up. "Emperor Hongzheng sat back on the dragon chair, picked up the memorial on the table and began to review it.

"Father!" Jing Shao refused to get up. Not to mention that the King of Southwest was always a man who would not stop until he had done something. Once this happened, someone might take the opportunity to do something dirty. Anyway, the King of Southwest would take the blame.

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

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

Jing Shao came out of the imperial study and met An Xian, the personal eunuch of Emperor Hongzheng, who was accompanied by a little eunuch serving tea. It seemed that he had just come from the tea room. When he saw Jing Shao, he bowed and saluted.

"Eunuch An," Jing Shao smiled politely, "After so many years, you still do it yourself."

"The emperor's daily life and diet cannot be sloppy at all. I am always worried about these clumsy children, so I have to watch over them everywhere. I am sorry to make the prince laugh. "Perhaps because An Xian is always worried, he is not as fat as the usual old eunuchs, and he walks with vigor.

There are many people outside the imperial study, and it is not easy to ask anything. Jing Shao said a few words and left.

"You are almost twenty years old. Apart from leading troops to fight, you don't use your brain to think about other things." Emperor Hongzheng took a sip of the tea brewed by An Xian.

An Xian carefully glanced at the emperor's expression and said with a smile: "Doesn't the emperor like the prince's straightforward temperament?"

Emperor Hongzheng put down the teacup and curled his lips slightly: "He is a man who values ​​friendship. "He did not tell Jing Shao that the assassins all committed suicide after failing to kill him, and no clues could be found. If Jing Shao had asked who was the assassin today, he would not be able to escape the suspicion. Fortunately, this son did not let him down. Although he often threw tantrums like a child, he never had the intention to harm his brothers and sisters.

Jing Shao went out of the palace gate and saw two carriages heading towards the side door. He thought that there were female relatives entering the palace, so he did not care and rode Xiao Hei back to the palace.

The two carriages were the carriages of Beiwei Marquis Mansion and Maoguogong Mansion.

"My son was ignorant. He hurt the prince the day before yesterday. I wonder if he is better now?" The wife of Maoguogong chuckled, but there was no apology on her face.

"It happened a few days ago. Didn't Madam know about it the day before yesterday? "The wife of Beiwei Marquis looked at her coldly. The prince of Maoguogong injured Mu Lingbao, but he just apologized verbally. For so many days, they didn't even send a servant to visit him. It was obvious that they were bullying.

The two of them started to confront each other as soon as they met. The two young ladies standing behind them also looked at each other secretly. The palace maids sent by the queen to greet them just lowered their eyes and kept silent.

Jing Shao returned to the palace. Before noon, he entered the East Garden. Duofu greeted him with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, the princess has not woken up yet, and I didn't dare to ask anyone to disturb her."

Jing Shao saw his white and plump face wrinkled together, and couldn't help laughing at him: "Didn't you manage all the affairs of the inner house before? Who are you showing this face to?"

"Your Majesty doesn't know that this inner house is now managed by the princess. There are more than twice as many things every day as before. I have a headache looking at the account book. "Duofu really admires the princess. She can sort out all the accounts and affairs every day. She can see the problematic accounts at a glance. The managers now dare not fool around. They are also very detailed. He has been dealing with it for the whole morning and feels overwhelmed.

"You are just lazy. Look at Anxian. He doesn't have this much fat." Jing Shao said that he had already reached the door of the bedroom. He waved his hand to stop Duofu who wanted to continue complaining, and pushed the door in quietly.

The windows in the room were closed, and the light was much darker than outside. The light blue curtains were closed, and the beautiful scenery inside the bed could not be seen.

Jing Shao changed out of his court clothes and slowly opened the curtains. The person on the bed was sleeping peacefully, with one arm draped over the brocade quilt, revealing half of his shoulder. There were red marks on his fair skin, which was very tempting. He climbed onto the bed, stuffed the arm that was a little cold back into the quilt, lay beside him, hugged him and the quilt in his arms, and kissed the handsome face who was sleeping soundly.

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

Jing Shao stole a kiss on the lips that had not yet subsided, and hugged him again: "Are you still feeling uncomfortable?"

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

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

The powerful big hands kneaded through the quilt with just the right strength, relieving the soreness from time to time, and it was very comfortable. Mu Hanzhang couldn't help but squint his eyes and secretly hooked his lips at an angle that Jing Shao couldn't see.

"My brother was assassinated," Jing Shao told him what happened today while rubbing his neck. "Do you think it was the King of Southwest?"

Mu Hanzhang frowned, and after a moment of silence, he 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 he had not heard of any assassination of the imperial envoy.

"The robbery of tribute is strange in itself. The King of Southwest would openly bring up this reason just because he has long known the situation in Yunnan and Tibet." Mu Hanzhang lowered his eyes and said, "He just wants to reduce the tribute, not to start a war."

Jing Shao paused when rubbing his neck, and put all the recent events together, and suddenly realized. Because the southwest is close to Yunnan and Tibet, the King of Southwest knows the situation of the Southern Barbarians best. He knows that the court may ask him to send troops to attack the Southern Barbarians, and the King of Southwest, who does not want to suffer losses, will first find a reason to reduce the tribute. If the court asks him to send troops, it will be a condition. If it does not allow him to send troops, the tribute will be made up.

If it wasn't the King of Southwest who killed him, but his two brothers who wanted to fish in troubled waters, this matter would be easy to handle. As long as they left Southwest and couldn't put the blame on others, they wouldn't dare to take risks again. But...

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

Mu Hanzhang saw him smile bitterly and felt a little distressed: "The father will definitely not be suspicious of what you said today."

Jing Shao lowered his head and saw that the man in his arms was looking at him with worried eyes. He leaned over and kissed the beautiful eyes: "I'm fine." The so-called father should actually be called the emperor father. No matter when, he is the emperor first, then the father! He suffered a loss in this life, and he should have woken up in this life.

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

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

"I heard from the servant who sent the melons that my mother came back from the palace yesterday, and she never stopped smiling." Mu Hanzhang handed him a bamboo stick, and when he talked about the stepmother who didn't know how to restrain herself, he couldn't help but sneer.

The queen rewarded Miss Mu with a pair of jade bracelets, but only rewarded Miss Maoguo with a purse. Mrs. Du felt that the position of the fourth prince's consort would most likely belong to her daughter. It happened that the melons from the northwest were delivered, so she was in a good mood and sent them some.

"How do you know this?" Jing Shao was looked at by his own princess with wet fingertips, so he had to wipe his hands and eat with a bamboo stick.

"With that fast-talking Third Aunt, I'm afraid everyone in the Beiwei Marquis's Mansion knows about it now." Mu Hanzhang sighed. The servant who delivered the melons was familiar with Lanting. When he saw her, he talked about this matter non-stop. If this continues, within three days, I'm afraid everyone in the capital will know that Miss Mu will be the Fourth Prince's Consort.

"Your Third Aunt is really a character. Next time you want to spread rumors about Jingyu, let her do it!" Jing Shao couldn't help laughing. This Third Lady must have a grudge against the Beiwei Marquis's wife.

"Nonsense again." Mu Hanzhang shook his head helplessly, but thinking about it, Third Aunt might really be saying this on purpose. If Mu Zhisu can marry the Fourth Prince, it's fine. At most, people will say that the Beiwei Marquis's wife is ostentatious; if she can't marry, the Beiwei Marquis's Mansion will be embarrassed this time!