Hearing that the prince actually wants to put people in his house, Huang Qiong dares to ask for it. The guards outside were his, and the twenty servants inside were still his. If you assign a housekeeper to yourself, then besides being an empty prince, you probably won't be able to make any decisions in this mansion.
Huang Qiong, who understood the prince's intention, quickly said: "Thank you for your kindness, prince. However, when I lived in the palace earlier, there was an eldest palace maid who took care of me for many years. Now let her take care of these things in my brother's house." That’s it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll trouble His Royal Highness again.”
After hearing Huang Qiong's rejection, he may have felt that he had done enough, but the prince didn't say anything. He just glanced at Huang Qiong with a meaningful look and said with a smile: "In that case, I won't force the ninth brother. The ninth brother is now considered to have established a family. From now on, I, as the elder brother, will ask the ninth brother to do more. It’s about taking care of yourself.”
"His Royal Highness is joking. As the crown prince of a country, His Royal Highness still needs my younger brother to take care of him. Although my younger brother's teeth are getting longer, this is his first time out of the palace and has no experience in life outside the palace. I would like to ask His Royal Highness for anything. Please take care of me. Prince, please rest assured that I will abide by my duty as a minister."
After Huang Qiong said this, he also knew that the prince would not believe even half of his words. But for Huang Qiong, it doesn't matter whether he believes it or not. He doesn't take the initiative to cause trouble, but he is definitely not the kind of person who is afraid of trouble. Let him be strong and let him be strong, it's just the breeze blowing on the hills. He lets him do whatever he wants, and the bright moon shines on the river.
Seeing that Huang Qiong was at least acquainted with her so far, the prince didn't have much interest. After pretending to be in love with his ninth brother, he simply said: "If the ninth brother thinks so, then it's Very good. Okay, brother, I won’t disturb the ninth brother to enjoy the new mansion now. When the ninth brother settles in, I will come to disturb the ninth brother for a drink. "
Huang Qiong breathed a sigh of relief at the prince's farewell. After spending a long time with the prince, Huang Qiong was really tired. Looking at the eunuchs, maids, and servants kneeling in front of him, Huang Qiong raised his hands and said: "You all, please get up. I'm still not used to this. You are all people close to the father and the prince, so there is nothing to do in the future." Kneel down."
"Thank you, Lord Hejian, for your kindness." After hearing the words of the new master in front of them, asking themselves to get up, the eunuchs, maids, and servants stood up one after another. After looking at each other, they felt that the newly-promoted Hejian County Prince was quite kind, and he was not as quick to make a show of force as other princes.
Seeing these people getting up, Huang Qiong glanced at the eunuchs and maids among them and said: "Would any of you lead me to see this palace? To be honest, this is the first time for me, the king of Hejian County, to come here. Now. Just know that the door of my Hejian County Prince's Mansion opens in that direction. If no one takes it with me when I go out on the street, I probably won't be able to come back."
As soon as Huang Qiong finished speaking, those below who were still a little nervous seemed to relax a little. Huang Qiong even heard the sound of some people covering their mouths and snickering in a low voice. Although it was a bit rude, Huang Qiong didn't take it seriously. What he wants is this kind of atmosphere. From now on, everyone will have to hang out in the same house, and what's the point of all keeping a straight face?
Moreover, among these people, except for those who were servants to the prince, the remaining eunuchs and maids were all selected by the emperor. Huang Qiong can bet that the identities of these eunuchs are not all that simple. There must be spies planted by the emperor himself. In the future, when facing these people, just like the guards and servants, we must not take them lightly.
Although he thought so in his heart, Huang Qiong's face remained calm. After listening to what he said, one of the eunuchs stood out. He was wearing clothes that were different from the other eunuchs, indicating that he was from the seventh rank. He said: "Master, my name is Li Hai. I have been ordered to serve here." Hejian Palace is in charge of affairs. Now I will show you our Hejian Palace."
Looking at this eunuch, Huang Qiong looked familiar. It wasn't until the eunuch bowed that he remembered that this wasn't the first time he went to the Wende Palace to meet his emperor, the eunuch who sent him back to Xuexuan? He was still wearing eighth-grade clothes that day, but today it seems that this kid has been promoted to a higher level.
Under the guidance of Eunuch Li, Huang Qiong took a rough look at the new home where she would live for the next three years. Looking at the surrounding jade railings and new furniture in the style of the late Tang Dynasty, Huang Qiong shook his head and said nothing. After Li Hai's explanation, Huang Qiong learned that when King Teng took over the vassal state earlier, he moved almost everything out of the palace.
Prince Teng was rude and extremely greedy. Knowing that he was the vassal queen, Prince Teng's palace would definitely give it to his younger brothers. Because at the moment, we don’t count the six princes who have already entered the vassal state, and the five princes who have already left the palace and entered the palace. In the prince's courtyard in the palace, there are still six princes who have not yet left the palace.
According to the ancestral system of Da Qi, the number of palaces in Beijing is customized. It doesn't mean that you have to build a prince's palace just by saying a prince. Generally, after a prince becomes a vassal, the vacated palace is given to the prince who has just left the palace and is under the age of becoming a vassal. Since he became a vassal, it was inevitable that the palace would be freed up for his younger brother to live in.
Therefore, the money-grubbing King Teng made a big move to the palace where he lived in Beijing when he became a feudal lord. Before the emperor awarded this palace to Huang Qiong, it was almost empty. Not to mention the tables, chairs and benches, even the kitchen water tanks and water buckets were moved away.
All the utensils in the palace now were purchased successively by the Royal Affairs Department and the Ministry of Works in the palace last year after King Teng became a vassal. Because before Huang Qiong entered this mansion, this mansion was originally given to Prince Tong'an who was supposed to leave the palace in the spring this year. However, Prince Tong'an has been ill since last year.
After all, it was his own son. Seeing the condition of the Prince of Tong'an, the emperor was worried that he would die faster after leaving the palace, so he delayed the Prince's departure from the palace with a stroke of a pen. As a result, Huang Qiong took advantage of the palace, which was almost fully equipped.
Otherwise, even if the prince is in charge, it will be impossible to refill an empty palace within three days. Because some things are available at the Ministry of Industry, Zongzhengji Temple, and the Imperial Affairs Department, but some things still have to be made on the spot. For example, the stables that now house several horses awarded by the emperor were demolished and sold when King Teng left the vassal.
After hearing the eunuch's somewhat chatty introduction, Huang Qiong always had a faint smile on his face, but he was not in a good mood. Fortunately, the prince was still boasting about his merits, and after a long time, it turned out that he had picked up on others' mistakes, and he had also taken advantage of others. If the Prince of Tong'an County had left the palace on time, he would probably have nothing to worry about in this palace.
Maybe, I will be sent to that corner that no one knows about to fend for myself. However, Huang Qiong's unhappiness didn't show on his face. After walking around for a while, Huang Qiong, who was supposed to be in the mansion and was not seen by Chen Yao, turned around and asked, "Excuse me, Mr. Li, where is the person who delivered my luggage before I came?"
"My lord, are you talking about Aunt Chen? After she brought your luggage into the palace early in the morning, she found that except for us eunuchs and maids, all the servants were selected by the prince. So she went out of the palace alone. I'm looking for someone to say that I'm selecting a group of girls and servants." Huang Qiong asked Chen Yao, and Li Hai, who got into the mood quite quickly, answered happily.
"Oh, then do you know where the trafficker, no, the place where he buys slaves is? Can you take me there?" Although Huang Qiong knew that human trafficking was legal in this era, and there were also specialized agencies for human trafficking. OK, but I don’t know where such a place is.
Although he sneered at the legality of human trafficking in this era, Huang Qiong also knew that this was a characteristic of ancient China. To put it bluntly, the government itself in this era is one of the biggest human traffickers. When officials or certain people committed serious crimes, their families, especially female relatives, and slaves were directly sold into slavery by the government when their homes were ransacked. This was also a form of punishment.
"As for the prince, I still know this place. It's just that this kind of place is very filthy. I'm afraid I have the discernment to dirty the prince." Li Hai looked at Huang Qiong and answered cautiously. To him, although this master seemed very kind, he had no airs. But these masters in the palace would fall out of favor as quickly as turning the pages of a book, so it was better for me to be careful.
Seeing the submissive look on the head eunuch's face, Huang Qiong waved his hands boredly and said, "What is dirty or not? Others can see it, but why can't I? Go and change your clothes while you choose two guards. , let’s go over and have a look together. Also, we are all a family from now on. I am a very casual person, so you don’t need to be so restrained in front of me. I am not a prince. "
Huang Qiong knew that the eunuchs in his mansion were all lower-ranking eunuchs, but they were the only ones in his mansion who were not princes. As long as he is kind to them and gives enough small favors, it will be easy to ensure that these eunuchs do not do evil or fall to the prince's side.
"Master, you are the master, and we are all your slaves. A slave should be respectful to his master. Please don't say that. It would be too much to kill the slave. If you really want to go, the slave will change his body right now. The clothes will go with you." After years of living in the palace, how could this eunuch dare to take Huang Qiong's words seriously? If anyone really takes it seriously, death is not far away.
From concubine to prince, he had served more than one master in the palace. Those masters also said the same thing when they first arrived there. As a result, when that person was angry, he and other slaves became their biggest punching bags. When he was serving King Song in Concubine De's palace, Concubine De once said the same thing.
But when the King of Song himself was just delivering meals, his movements were a little bigger. A bowl of boiling chicken soup poured directly on the body? Afterwards, Concubine De not only did not lecture the young King of Song who was arrogant and domineering, but she also slapped herself twenty times and even made her kneel for most of the day in the dog days of summer.
I lay in bed for more than a month before I could barely get to the ground. Not to mention that being punished by kneeling in the Imperial Concubine's Palace was a common occurrence, and it was already the lightest punishment. Even if they were slightly dissatisfied to their mother and son, they would either throw whatever they had in their hands at them or give them a slap on the face.
One of the maids in the Imperial Concubine's palace had no idea of brushing the King of Song's eyes with a lock of hair when she was waiting for the King of Song to wash up. All the hair on his head was pulled off by King Song on the spot. As for the Concubine De, she was drinking tea and watching the fun with a smile.
