Although Huan Ji felt resentful towards his elder brother because of his strong jealousy, but now that he was living under someone else's roof, he had no choice but to bury that resentment in his heart.
"Brother!"
Huan Ji waved to Huan Xi from a distance and said with a smile, his gloominess on the carriage could not be seen at all.
And Huan Xi also acted like a brother:
"Ajike is finally here. Father sent a letter saying that he will send you to Chang'an. My brother is looking forward to you day and night."
Huan Ji smiled and said:
"I'm also looking forward to seeing my brother soon."
While the two brothers were pretending to be in love, Sima Daofu also came over, saluted Huan Xi and said:
"Daofu has met my brother-in-law."
When Huan Xi faced Sima Daofu, of course he had no other ideas. With his status, he couldn't get any kind of woman. If he really focused on wielding a hoe, the Empress Dowager Chu of Jiankang could pry her over, so how could he covet his younger brother's wife? , resulting in infamy.
There are differences between men and women. Huan Xi did not step forward to help Sima Daofu up. He said:
"My brother-in-law doesn't need to be polite."
With that said, Huan Xi blamed Huan Ji and said:
"Yu Li, my brother should be in the car with his wife, how can he be with those two women?"
Huan Ji felt miserable because his wife forbade him from touching him. She couldn't even enter the house at night, let alone share the car with him.
On the contrary, Sima Daofu came to his rescue:
"Brother, I must have mistakenly blamed my husband. It was Daofu who was unwell, so he asked his two sisters to serve him."
Huan Ji was overjoyed: Could it be that Sima Daofu changed his temper? Otherwise, how could he speak for himself today?
Huan Xi didn't know the true relationship between their husband and wife. Seeing that Sima Daofu didn't mind the matter himself, he didn't pursue it. He glanced at the two beautiful women and thought to himself: Huan Ji, this guy, has good taste.
It's just that in Huan Xi's eyes, this kind of woman has no beauty and no valuable status, so she still can't arouse his interest.
General Huanji and his wife entered the city and came to Weiyang Palace. Even though Sima Daofu often went in and out of Jiankangtai City, he was speechless at the Jingzhao Palace in front of him.
Huan Ji was even more shocked:
"Brother, does he live here?"
Huan Xi glanced at him, pointed to the plaque in front of the palace gate and said:
"Jingzhao Gongfu, could it be that my brother has neglected his studies at home and can't even recognize the words?"
Of course Huan Ji recognized these four characters, but he never expected that his brother would be so bold and dare to openly move into Weiyang Palace.
"Does father know about this?"
Huan Xi smiled and said:
"I told my father about this when I was in Gangneung, and he didn't stop me."
In fact, Huan Wen rarely concealed his ambitions when he acted, otherwise he would not tell others anything. If a man remains unknown, he will be laughed at by Sima Shi and Sima Zhao in the future.
Huan Ji heard this and was dissatisfied. He only felt that his father was really partial.
Sima Daofu was the eldest daughter of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. She should have been angry when she saw Huan Xi's act of violating etiquette.
But for some reason, what she was thinking about was how great it would be if she were the mistress of this palace.
Sima Daofu smiled and said:
"My brother-in-law behaves freely and informally, just like my uncle."
The so-called uncle refers to the father-in-law Huan Wen.
Huan Wen was also an informal person. Once he went to visit his brother-in-law Liu Xun, the man who had originally persuaded Sima Yu to become the governor of Jingzhou. When Huan Wen conquered Shu, he had the insight to believe that Huan Wen would succeed.
At that time, Huan Wen saw Liu Xun resting in bed, so he picked up a slingshot and attacked Liu Xun, which made Liu Xun furious:
'Huan Shijun! Is this how you win in battle! '
From the title of the envoy, we can know that Huan Wen was already a prince at that time.
Sima Daofu was right when he said that Huan Xi was informal and had the style of his father.
Huan Xi would occasionally tell some jokes to amuse his generals, but no one thought it strange. At least he was not like his father Huan Wen, who was still teasing people with a slingshot even when he was much older.
Huan Ji glanced at Sima Daofu and felt that his wife was particularly active today. She usually didn't speak much. Then he thought about it, wasn't he deliberately trying to please Huan Xi just because he wanted to see his face?
Sima Daofu behaved like this, perhaps for the same reason.
Huan Ji didn't take it seriously, and Huan Xi didn't care either. He led the couple into Weiyang Palace, which was more majestic than Jiankang's Taicheng.
After all, only five years ago, Shi Hu recruited 100,000 people to repair Weiyang Palace.
There was no shortage of vacant palaces in Weiyang Palace. Huanxi allocated two palaces to Huanji, one to accommodate his wife Sima Daofu, and one to accommodate two side rooms. If Huanji took in another concubine in the future, he would naturally follow her. The two of them lived in the same palace, but Li Yuan did not have the exclusive treatment of Yutang Palace.
Huan Xi was about to leave when Huan Ji asked:
"Brother, I wonder where my sister-in-law is, so I might as well go and pay her respects."
Mentioning Xie Daoyun, Huan Xi couldn't help but smile:
"She is currently raising a baby in Jiaofang Hall."
Hearing that Xie Daoyun was pregnant, Huan Ji's heart skipped a beat, but he still forced a smile and congratulated Huan Xi.
And Sima Daofu no longer had the previous joyful mood.
Huan Xi finally took the two of them to Jiaofang Palace to visit Xie Daoyun.
After Huanji and his wife left, Huanxi stopped seeing each other and simply stayed in Jiaofang Hall to accompany his pregnant wife.
The next day, Huan Ji came to Zhengdong General's Mansion and specifically found Huan Xi:
"Brother, my father asked me to go north to assist my brother. May I ask what missions my brother has arranged for me?"
Huan Xi smiled and said:
"My brother is new here. He is tired of traveling and traveling. He is not familiar with the affairs in the north. Why not rest at home for a while. There will be many opportunities to contribute to me in the future."
Huan Xi sent Huan Ji away with a few words. In fact, he was not prepared to reuse his second brother. He asked Huan Wen to come to the north just to cut off the connection between Huan Ji and Sima Yu.
However, the suspicion of brothers should not be too explicit. In front of outsiders, it is still necessary to show the unity within the Huan family as much as possible, although this approach is quite suspected of being deceptive.
Therefore, it is not easy to find a suitable position for Huan Ji.
A few days later, Huan Xi finally called Huan Ji over and talked with him about the importance of the law. Finally, he changed the subject and said:
"There are many clauses in the "Jin Code" that I don't like. I wanted to ask someone to preside over the revision of the law, but I couldn't find a suitable candidate. Now that I've come to Guanzhong, it just happened to solve my urgent need."
In fact, when Huan Xi was serving as the governor of Liangzhou, Wang Meng had mentioned to him that he wanted to rewrite the law. However, Huan Xi was not strong at that time and had not yet got rid of his dependence on Huan Wen, so he had to give up.
Now that he occupies the three states of Yong, Liang, and Qin, and has become a force of his own, past thoughts have come to mind again.
Huan Ji was greatly surprised and declined:
"Brother, I don't understand criminal law, but An can shoulder this important task."
Huan Xi smiled and said:
"There is no need for my brother to contribute. You only need to take charge of this matter in name for me. As for adding or deleting laws and regulations, there will be legal officials to help. After the matter is completed, my brother should have a share of the credit."
Huan Ji was still reluctant. After all, adding or deleting laws and regulations was an extremely troublesome matter.
Everyone has their own opinions on which item should be retained and which item should be deleted. Time is basically wasted in arguing, and it is difficult to achieve results in a short time.
But his brother made it clear that he wanted to give himself the credit, so Huan Ji finally agreed and accepted the job from Huan Xi.
But if you want to get this credit, you have to wait for several years.
A few years are enough for many things to change.
After all, Huan Wen served as the governor of Jingzhou and his rise to power has only lasted five or six years.
Of course, whether the new laws are good or bad has to be decided by Huan Xi. When the time comes, the finished product must be in line with Huan Xi's wishes.
Huan Ji left the military mansion and went back to prepare for the revision of laws. The five thousand soldiers who had escorted the people of Jingzhou northward were now on their way home.
Huan Xi naturally wanted to keep these five thousand soldiers, but the families of the soldiers were all in Jingzhou. Forcing them to stay would probably cause a mutiny. Besides, he had already made a deal with Huan Wen, so it would be hard to go back on it.
After a busy day of official duties, Huan Xi returned home, and Xie Daoyun told him a strange thing:
"I heard some servants in the mansion talking about it, saying that Xiaolang (Huan Ji) has never had sex with the princess since they were married. I don't know if this is true. Could it be that Xiaolang favored his concubine and neglected the princess?"
Huan Xi didn't want to take care of Huan Ji's housework. Huan Ji was also an adult. He should have a sense of whether he should favor his wife or his concubine.
However, after being married to his wife for several months, he was not close to her. This was really unreasonable. Huan Xi thought about it and remembered that Sima Daofu had said before that it was because she was unwell and could not serve Huan Ji. Could it be that she had a hidden illness.
Huan Xi muttered:
"I asked Ayuan to go see the princess, ask her about the situation, and then make a fuss."
Xie Daoyun nodded after hearing this. It's not that she had to meddle in other people's business. As the saying goes, the eldest brother is the father and the eldest sister-in-law is the mother. You can't just ignore the discord between Huanji and his wife.
Huan Xi stayed with Xie Daoyun for a long time. When she fell asleep, she gently opened the door and went to Yutang Hall. Li Yuan had been waiting for a long time.
After the two were romantically involved, Huan Xi hugged Li Yuan and talked to her about the rumors between Huan Ji and Sima Daofu, saying:
"Ayuan, you go visit the princess tomorrow and ask her what's going on."
Li Yuan nodded obediently and said:
"I will leave early tomorrow morning."
The two talked again until they felt sleepy, and then they fell asleep hugging each other.
Early the next morning, Li Yuan woke up from her sleep and found that the person next to her pillow had long disappeared. She knew that Huan Xi must have gone to Jiaofang Hall to accompany his wife to have dinner after washing up.
Xie Daoyun is now pregnant. In fact, Li Yuan is also happy for Huan Xi.
After all, he was good enough to her, and Li Yuan naturally hoped that Huan Xi could get his wish.
Li Yuan just complained that her stomach was not in the best condition. After several years, there was still no movement.
She sat in front of the bronze mirror, recalling last night's romance. Li Yuan dressed herself up happily, preparing to visit Sima Daofu later.
Suddenly, Li Yuan felt a strong sense of nausea in her chest and abdomen. She wanted to vomit and couldn't even wait for the maid to bring a spittoon.
"Mrs. Side, could it be that she is pregnant?"
The maid looked at this scene and said in surprise.
Hearing this, Li Yuan suppressed the joy in her heart and warned:
"Don't alert the general, lest he rejoice in vain, lie to the steward that I am unwell and go find a medical officer."
...
That night, Huan Xi came to Yutang Hall again and asked whether Li Yuan had visited Sima Daofu. After Li Yuan saw the medical officer, she actually went there. She explained:
"The princess said that the second young master was not to blame for this matter. She married into the Huan family just because she was forced to disobey her father's orders. She did not really love the second young master."
Huan Xi was quite dissatisfied with this:
"Not all marriages in this world will develop feelings after they have been together for a long time. There are also a few people who can fall in love with each other before marriage."
But he also knew that Sima Daofu was stubborn, otherwise he would not have ignored others and forced Wang Xianzhi to divorce his wife and remarry.
"That's all, let's not worry about their husband and wife's affairs."
With that said, Huan Xi reached out to untie Li Yuan's clothes, but Li Yuan reached out to stop him.
Huan Xi said puzzledly:
"Could it be that Ayuan met the princess once and was influenced by her, and now she doesn't allow me to touch her?"
Li Yuan said softly with a smile that couldn't be hidden:
"I love the general, how could the general not know that the reason why I can't serve the general is because I am pregnant now."
Huan Xi was overjoyed when he heard this:
"This is true!"
Li Yuan nodded and said:
"The medical officer who was just summoned this morning is undoubtedly pregnant."
Huan Xi was very happy, but then he thought about it and became sad again:
"Now that you are all pregnant, how will I survive in the future!"
Li Yuan covered her mouth and smiled:
"General, please be patient for a while. Once the pregnancy is stable, I will come back to serve your husband."
I don’t know what Huan said to Li Yuan’s ear. Li Yuan instantly blushed and said coyly:
"How can this be done?"
How could Huan Xi allow her to refuse? He smiled and said:
"I just need to rinse my mouth afterward, so there's nothing I can't do."
While Huan Xi opened a new world for Li Yuan, the Fu family mission to Dai State also made significant progress.
