The banquet at the Qingshui River Shangsi Festival was the day when the monarchs and ministers of the Jing Dynasty were closest to each other. It was also the time when the civil servants of the Hanlin Academy showed their talents, and it was also the time when all the princes showed their talents.
Emperor Yuanhe's seven sons and five daughters, except for the eldest Situ Li, who was imprisoned for rebelling last year, are all here today.
"Second brother!"
Situ Ce was talking to his sister, Princess Zhaoning, when suddenly an eleven or twelve-year-old child hugged him from behind and nuzzled him with a smile.
Situ Ce smiled and pulled him over, and scolded him with a smile: "When Aye sees you later, I won't scold you for being reckless."
"He is discussing the past and the present with the Hanlin officials. How can he care about me?" He smiled and turned to greet Princess Zhaoning, "Good morning, eldest sister."
Princess Zhaoning smiled and touched her brother's head, "I heard that my aunt made me stand for an hour because I didn't write well yesterday?"
Situ Xun: "..."
Can you please stop talking about this when it’s a big holiday?
"Really? Not only have you grown taller recently, but you have also gained courage?" Situ Ce said with a smile, "Why don't you come to Chongwen Hall tomorrow and study with me, so that your aunt doesn't have to worry about it."
Situ Xun said again: "..."
"How courageous am I? Why is the third brother pretending to be sick and not coming to study?" Situ Xun looked unconcerned, "How about the second brother also let him go to Chongwen Hall to study?"
"Lao Qi, what a good boy, you actually arranged something behind my back!"
Hearing this, everyone looked behind them and saw a man with the color of a lake coming towards them, intent on arresting the person who said bad things about him.
Situ Xun laughed and hid behind Situ Ce, "Third brother, I was wrong. I was wrong."
Situ Ce was sandwiched between the two of them, and he smiled and shouted: "Okay, okay, Aye will see you later, and I won't protect you two."
After hearing this, the two of them stopped and secretly glanced in the direction of their father. They were relieved when they saw that his father didn't notice.
"This is the King of Jin, and this is the King of Wu." Situ Ce introduced the person to Fu Qingchu who was standing aside.
Situ Jian, King of Jin, and Situ Xun, King of Wu.
Fu Qingchu hurriedly saluted the two princes. Situ Jian glanced at Fu Qingchu and joked: "I just heard that the second brother is a hero who is sad about beauty. I didn't believe it, but now I do." After saying that, he looked at Su Junruo and said, "Su Si Girl, be careful that your status is unstable."
Hearing this, Fu Qingchu couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.
To be honest, she was really curious about Su Junruo's identity around Situ Ce. Now that King Jin said this, there was a bit of ambiguity in it. No wonder he is so sinister and can't see himself.
Hearing this, Situ Ce couldn't help but smile, "If you want it, you'll probably have ten of them, so why bother to arrange it for me?"
"That's right, I heard from grandma that Aunt Wang is planning to marry you, but you don't like this one and you don't like that one either." Situ Xun agreed, hiding behind Situ Ce.
Situ Jian pretended to glare at his brother fiercely, "You are the only one who talks too much."
Hearing this, Princess Zhaoning was happy, "You are about to have the crowning ceremony. Your second brother has decided, so you should too."
When Fu Qingchu heard this, he couldn't help but look at Situ Ce. Is he engaged? Which girl? Why didn't she hear about it? Thinking about this, she hurriedly looked at Su Junruo and saw that she looked calm and could not see any clues.
Then I thought about it, the prince had already performed the coronation ceremony, and it was normal for him to get engaged. And she was under house arrest at that time, how could she know any news? As for Su Junruo, the prince can only have one wife, but there is no definite number of concubines. Besides, she has known it for a long time. How can she react?
Hearing his sister talk about this, Situ Jian couldn't help but sigh, "How can I be so lucky as my second brother? I can marry my childhood sweetheart, my junior sister. I don't even know those girls, so how can I like them?"
"We're engaged, don't we already know each other?" Princess Zhaoning said with a smile, "How about you see which girl is suitable among the gentlemen who teach you, and you tell Aye and let Aye propose marriage to you."
Hearing this, everyone laughed. Situ Jian looked at Fu Qingchu and also smiled: "I think Miss Fu is good, but it's a pity."
It's a pity that she is the daughter of the guilty minister. It's a pity that his second brother got there first.
Fu Qingchu stopped laughing immediately and said hurriedly: "The King of Jin is joking. I am honored to serve you because of the prince's promotion. Please don't make fun of me, the King of Jin."
"The female members of the Fu family probably haven't left Yumen Pass yet. You can ask Aye for a favor and ask him to allow you to keep one or two." Situ Ce smiled faintly, but there was already a slight chill in his eyes.
"You are really, the more you talk, the more boundless you are." Princess Zhaoning interrupted with a smile, "If you don't get ready individually, you won't be able to write a poem later, and Aye will be angry."
"Ouch, yes, yes, I have to think of two songs quickly, ah~" Speaking of this, Situ Xun couldn't help but wailed, "I'm going to leave first, big sister, you guys can talk slowly."
"I do, I'm afraid Aye will be so angry that he wants to beat me to death." Situ Jian smiled meaningfully, "I'd better think of something serious."
Situ Ce nodded, "Go ahead."
After Situ Jian left, Princess Zhaoning breathed a sigh of relief. She thought for a while before speaking carefully, "The third child is outspoken and has no control over his words. I don't know how much trouble he will get into in the future."
Situ Ce looked at Situ Jian's back with deep eyes and said with a smile: "The seventh child doesn't want to go to Chongwen Hall to study, but the third child can't say that."
Hearing this, Princess Zhaoning also looked at the back of her third brother and couldn't help but sigh, "I heard that the boss is worse than dead all day long, Aye, he just..."
"Sister..." Situ Ce couldn't help but interrupt her, "He committed a capital crime. It's good to be alive. Be careful what you say."
Hearing this, Princess Zhaoning lowered her eyes, took a deep breath, and choked with sobs: "I know."
Fu Qingchu glanced at Princess Zhaoning and saw her quietly wiping away her tears, feeling extremely sad in his heart.
Princess Zhaoning and King Zhao Situ Li are siblings from the same mother. King Zhao rebelled and their mother was demoted to common people and imprisoned. Now she is the only one who can be freed.
She took the handkerchief to Princess Zhaoning. Princess Zhaoning looked up at her, held her hand, and told her with tears in her eyes: "You must be well."
Fu Qingchu also nodded with tears in his eyes, "Sister, too."
Princess Zhaoning's biological mother is Fu Qingchu's aunt, and the two are cousins.
This is why Fu Zhonghua is already the prime minister and still wants to usurp the throne. It is better to have one emperor and one courtier, and it is better for one's own grandson to be the emperor than for an outsider without blood relations.
Princess Zhaoning wiped her tears, forced a smile and said to Situ Ce, "I won't disturb your writing."
Situ Ce sighed, "The matter has come to an end. Sister, don't be too sad. Only by protecting yourself can Aunt Fu feel at ease."
Princess Zhaoning nodded, "I know."
After bidding farewell to Princess Zhaoning and seeing Fu Qingchu in a low mood, Situ Ce smiled and asked, "Has Fu Si's daughter-in-law harmed her own kind?"
Hearing his cynical tone, Fu Qingchu felt it was extremely harsh, and she suddenly felt a little unhappy in her heart. It was the first time she had such emotions towards Situ Ce.
She couldn't help but stop, looked at Situ Ce, and said with tears in her eyes: "They deserved their own punishment. I am still alive and able to stand here and serve His Highness. It is Your Highness's kindness that saved me from fire and water. However, my family is ruined, Your Highness." Aren’t you allowed to feel sad for me?”
Fu Qingchu said this without hesitation, which frightened the people around him and looked at Situ Ce cautiously.
Situ Ce obviously didn't expect that Fu Qingchu would dare to say such disrespectful words, and he couldn't help but frown, and said coldly: "How presumptuous!"
Fu Qingchu hurriedly knelt down and could not raise his head.
Situ Ce looked at her coldly, "It seems that I am too tolerant of you, which is why you are so rebellious and wanton!"
"My father is dead and my mother is separated. My family is broken up and everyone is dead. I am just mourning my parents. How could I dare to disobey Your Highness?" Fu Qingchu asked with a tearful voice as he bowed his head to the ground.
Situ Ce took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and said coldly: "If you really want to fulfill your children's filial piety, I will send you away right now!"
Fu Qingchu felt aggrieved and suddenly felt ridiculous.
I am still a bit naive.
The person in front of her was the crown prince, and she was the daughter of a rebellious minister. They were naturally incompatible, and her life and death was just a matter of his thoughts. Because of his kindness, he actually forgot that he was the one who could control the lives of his whole family. Isn’t that extremely naive?
She once thought she had grasped a glimmer of hope, but now it seems that this hope is a mirage in the horizon. It seems to be there, but in fact it is all an illusion.
He gave her hope, but he didn't even give her the freedom to grieve for her family. She was just a puppet in his hands, and she couldn't have any extra emotions or thoughts.
Despair, she had never been so desperate and helpless when her whole family was sentenced to prison.
Hearing this, she took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "The guilty minister has only one life, and I will leave it to His Highness."
When Situ Ce heard this, he became even more angry, "Come here! Give me Fu Qingchu...ahem..."
He was so angry that he felt chest tightness and shortness of breath, and couldn't help coughing. Fu Qingchu's face was full of worry, and he was about to say something when Su Junruo gave him some relief and said, "Your Highness, if Fu Sigui should be beaten or killed, someone will deal with her. Don't get so angry."
"Your Highness, calm down!" Lu Man hurriedly knelt down and begged Fu Qingchu, "Fu Sigui will inevitably be reckless when she first enters the palace. You must not get angry because of her unintentional mistakes." As he said this, he hurriedly bowed his head. Goodbye.
Situ Ce coughed and his face turned red. After a while, he looked at Lv Man kneeling on the ground and said solemnly: "She is not reckless, but she has a complaint against me. In this case, I will help her!"
Fu Qingchu looked at him with tears in her eyes. She was filled with concern and didn't know how to express her words. She took a deep breath, bowed her head and said with a choked voice: "I hope that your highness will put your jade body first in the future, and the guilty minister will be gone."
Situ Ce panted heavily, and when he saw that she refused to repent, he snorted coldly and walked away.
After he went away, Lu Man helped Fu Qingchu up, with worry on his face, "Sister, why is this necessary?"
Fu Qingchu patted Lu Man's hand and shook his head, "Don't I even have the right to cry for my parents and relatives?"
Lu Man sighed, "It's not that there's nothing, it's just that 'when Hou Men plunges into the depths of the sea, Xiao Lang will be a passerby from now on.' Since my sister is His Highness, she can't have her own joys, sorrows, and joys."
Fu Qingchu usually thought that Lu Man was just an innocent little girl, but today it seemed that she was the only one who was innocent. Her mother had told her not to disobey the prince. She had thought that it was impossible for her to do such a reckless thing, but it turned out that her mother understood her.
Li Ping looked at Fu Qingchu and couldn't help but feel a little regretful, and sighed: "Miss, please go back first. When His Highness calms down, he will forgive you."
forgive? Easier said than done?
"Thank you, father-in-law." She said solemnly.
Li Ping sighed again and asked someone to send her back.
