The palace banquet of Xirong Kingdom was extremely lively with singing and dancing.
Cheng Wanwan sat in a high position, very close to the powerful ministers and concubines. She lowered her head to eat the food, but she listened in all directions and heard many things about the palace.
Twenty years ago, Princess Taiping married to Xirong and became the queen of Xirong. She became pregnant that year and gave birth to a son the next year. She became pregnant again the following year and gave birth to a daughter.
Princess Taiping's son is the eldest son and has a distinguished status. He was named the crown prince on the first day he was born.
Perhaps because of his high status, the crown prince has been in poor health since he was a child. He has been recuperating in the palace and rarely sees people.
The accident happened ten years ago. The young crown prince fell into the water and died. After the accidental death of the crown prince, the relationship between Princess Taiping and King Xirong collapsed.
In the second year after the death of the crown prince, Princess Taiping's youngest daughter fell from the attic and smashed her head. Although she was not dead, she was almost like a dead person - lying in bed all year round, neither dead nor alive, unable to open her eyes. , unable to speak, if it weren't for the fact that his chest was still heaving, it would be like a corpse...
In Cheng Wanwan's words, he is a vegetable.
She looked at Princess Taiping, who was sitting on the highest seat, and her eyes couldn't help but feel pity.
Children are everything a mother has, but as a mother, Princess Taiping is equivalent to losing two of her own children...
A weak woman, married to Xirong, deep in the harem, her children had accidents one after another, and her confidants died one after another. How did the princess survive so many years?
As if sensing her gaze, Princess Taiping looked over.
Cheng Wanwan immediately put away the pity in his eyes and curved his lips and smiled.
Princess Taiping looked pale, picked up the wine glass and took a sip.
"The queen hasn't drank for so many years. It's strange today." A woman with gorgeous makeup sitting under the throne said, "Although this is fruit wine, it has a lot of stamina. The queen should be careful on the way back to the palace. .”
Princess Taiping glanced at her sideways and said coldly: "Mrs. Li doesn't need to worry about my affairs."
"King, I just want to care about the queen..." Mrs. Li looked at King Xirong who was sitting in the seat with aggrieved look, "The queen is always like this, cold and cold..."
King Xirong looked in the direction of Princess Taiping and said dissatisfiedly: "No one forced you to come to the banquet. Whose interest are you trying to spoil by keeping a cold face all day long?"
Princess Taiping's face remained calm. After she drank all the fruit wine in the cup, she stood up calmly and left, dragging her long skirt.
"The queen is too ignorant of etiquette." Madam Li curled her lips, "Shouldn't I tell the king before leaving?"
Several ladies from the harem of Xirong nearby agreed, and King Xirong's expression became worse and worse.
Cheng Wanwan glanced at Mrs. Li.
She had just heard someone mention this person. When Princess Taiping became pregnant with the crown prince, Mrs. Li was sent to King Xirong. After Princess Taiping gave birth to her son, Mrs. Li also gave birth to the second prince of Xirong. In the following years, Mrs. Li gave birth to a total of three sons and two daughters. She was the concubine with the most children in the palace, and her status was second only to the queen.
She had every reason to suspect that the accidents to Princess Taiping's son and daughter one after another had a lot to do with Mrs. Li.
The party lasted until late at night.
Cheng Wanwan returned to the yard exhausted. She had received too much information tonight and she needed to sort it out.
As a result, she almost stayed up all night.
When I woke up the next day, my eyes were completely black and blue, and the thick rouge couldn't stop them.
She stood in front of the mirror for a while, then stood up and walked out.
When she walked into the courtyard, she saw many familiar faces. Except for He Xiao, King Qin and the more than a hundred guards, everyone else was there.
"Our king is tolerant and generous, and he will try his best to satisfy Madam Sui's request." The Prime Minister cupped his hands and said, "If these people are not enough, Madam Sui can speak again."
Cheng Wanwan responded with a common courtesy: "Thank you so much, King of Xirong, thank you so much, Prime Minister. I will definitely cultivate rice seeds suitable for the land of Xirong as soon as possible and live up to the cultivation and trust of King of Xirong."
The Prime Minister nodded with great satisfaction, immediately arranged the carriages and horses, and took Cheng Wanwan to take a look at the experimental field prepared by Xirong.
The experimental field is at the foot of the hill behind the palace. It is said to be good farmland, but in fact the fertility of the land is not as good as the middle and lower-level land in Dahe Town.
She shook her head and said: "This land needs to be cultivated for a while before experiments can begin. Sanniu, you lead the craftsmen from Xirong to re-forge the tools for farming. Cheng Yi and Cheng Ding, you two divide all the guards into four groups and bring them here." , Mrs. Qi, could you and all the maids please collect the soil from each acre of land, put it in different containers and record it, Mr. Shen, Mr. Bi, please..."
She stood on the edge of the field and gave instructions in an orderly manner.
The four Xirong officials next to the Prime Minister held small notebooks and wrote vigorously to record.
Seeing that Cheng Wanwan was fully engaged in business, the Prime Minister stroked his beard with great satisfaction, then turned and left.
Cheng Wanwan was busy at the experimental field until evening, and then took a carriage back to the palace.
Master Shen Dongming, Bi, and others stayed in Zhuangzi near the experimental field. Also living together were King Qin who was recovering from his injuries, and He Xiao, who was under close surveillance.
Zhao Sanniu is Cheng Wanwan's son, Cheng A, Cheng Yi and Ruan Mingzhu are her guards, and Qi's mother-in-law Gu Leng and Gu Bing are her maids. Naturally, she brings them all back to the palace to live together.
The courtyard she was in was a bit small, with only one main hall and four side rooms. It was a bit small, but it was still manageable if you squeezed in.
There are four guards in charge of guarding the courtyard, two at the entrance and two at the entrance of the main hall. Because the courtyard is small, four guards can monitor everyone.
Cheng Wanwan gave Mrs. Qi a look. Mrs. Qi went to the box in the inner room and rummaged through it. She found two jars of fine wine sent by the Assab Kingdom and sent them to the guards: "We, Mrs. Sui, have stayed here for a few days. Thank you very much." A few brothers are taking care of it. This is a fine wine that is only available in the Assab Palace. Please don’t accept it if you don’t mind.”
She spoke in broken Xirong, which was barely understandable.
After saying that, she opened the lid of the wine jar, and the fragrance suddenly filled her nose.
The four guards stayed here for six or seven days, but they didn't see anything wrong with Cheng Wanwan, so they relaxed their vigilance and took a sip.
After this taste, I couldn't hold it in anymore.
If you drink a few more sips, your head will start to feel dizzy.
Cheng A, Cheng Yi, Gu Leng and Gu Bing came out of the darkness and hid one in the grass. The four of them changed into guards' clothes and stood guard at the door.
Cheng Wanwan closed the door, and she, Zhao Sanniu, and Ruan Mingzhu were the only three people left in the room.
"Mother..." Zhao Sanniu couldn't help but say, "Are we really going to stay in Xirong and farm for them?"
Ruan Mingzhu glanced at him: "I say you are stupid, but you are really stupid. Can't you see that Aunt Wanwan is trying to delay the attack? How could the King of Xirong let us meet without this trick? Auntie Wanwan?"
Cheng Wanwan sat down at the table: "How is King Qin's injury, and what's the situation with He Xiao?"
