Prince Jiang Huaiqian entered the palace to pay his respects. As soon as he entered Qingyuan Palace with his chamberlain, he saw his father, Emperor Chengyuan, teasing the thrush and chirping in the corridor.
Seeing him approaching, Emperor Chengyuan nodded lightly, took the handkerchief from Yang Xun, wiped it and called his son to the small garden behind to talk.
At this time, there was still some time before lunch, so Emperor Chengyuan planned to take his son to the pavilion to talk.
Prince Jiang Huaiqian's chess skills are ordinary, and he doesn't have to worry about giving up chess, so his moves are very casual.
Emperor Chengyuan, on the other hand, pondered from time to time, and finally ate up a few pieces of his son. Then he saw Yang Xun taking the book from a young chamberlain, and then he threw the white jade chess piece into the chess jar and said to his son with a smile: "I remember that Miss An's nephew in your house also went to the garden party?"
The An girl he was talking about was the concubine of Prince Jiang Huaiqian and the legitimate second daughter of Duke An.
Jiang Huaiqian also put down his chess piece: "The only child of the age group attending the garden party of An Guo Gongfu and Anhou Mansion is An Yu. Although he has just turned four years old, he is the eldest grandson of An Guo Gongfu after all. An Guo Gong and An Guo Gong's wife sent their nanny for several days in a row. When grandma picks him up, even though An is reluctant to let him go, it’s hard to refute."
Emperor Chengyuan remained calm and sighed after hearing the last word: "I made a mistake in marrying An Yatou to the Chen family. I didn't want Chen to commit crimes and be deposed by me. I miss my childhood friendship with Duke An and can't bear to marry her." Because of the trouble, I promised her to you as a concubine, and in the blink of an eye, here we are now...when the prince of Anguo died for his country, this child was born, right?"
Jiang Huaiqian lowered his head and said, "When the Arong invaded the grassland, Prince An led his troops to retreat from the enemy and was injured and died for his country. At that time, Yu'er was in a position to capture Zhou. His wife was so sad that she followed her away. Concubine An was worried about Yu'er, so she asked me to leave. Take him to the mansion and raise him."
When Emperor Chengyuan heard what he said, he couldn't help but think of the battle that involved the three battlefields of Arong, Chu and Qi: "Prince An, he is the pillar of the country! That battle forced Arong to retreat thousands of miles away. If not for this, we would have fought together." Things are not easy, and I have to worry about the mantis stalking the cicada and the oriole behind me!"
Jiang Huaiqian responded and said: "Although Arong's ambition is still there, if he wants to raise his troops to attack, it will not take several years. Instead, it will give me the opportunity to unite all the people in Da Chu and cultivate and recuperate."
Emperor Chengyuan said nothing and tapped his fingers on the table.
Ta, ta, ta...ta ta ta.
The tapping sounds were particularly clear in the pavilion where a pindrop could be heard.
Jiang Huaiqian lowered his eyes and waited.
After about half a cup of tea, Emperor Chengyuan woke up from his thoughts and looked at the prince: "I have decided to give Duke An Guo the position of eldest son to his second son."
"Father, Holy Ming!" Jiang Huaiqian's expression remained as usual when he heard this, as if he already understood.
Emperor Chengyuan couldn't help but raise his eyebrows: "You are so calm, did you already guess it?"
Jiang Huaiqian sighed: "At the beginning, I promised my concubine An to use the power of the royal family to take Yu'er into the palace. It was also because An An cried out that this was the only way to protect Anyu. My father was kind-hearted and far-sighted. We must not let him walk through the market like a child holding gold in his arms. This arrangement is the way to preserve it."
"It's good that you can figure it out." Emperor Chengyuan smiled happily, "After educating Zhongliang well, when he becomes a talent, can you, the uncle who raised him, treat him badly?"
Jiang Huaiqian didn't dare to answer, and just replied that his father, Huang Shengming, was his father.
Emperor Chengyuan waved his hand and said: "I heard that Mrs. An Guo intends to raise Anyu. I think that if the throne of the Crown Prince is determined, she can live in peace... But if she still has this intention, you and Mrs. An should treat it carefully. , even if you don’t send it back, don’t make the city full of trouble.”
Jiang Huaiqian quickly said, "Ms. An once talked with her mother, and the Duke's wife also said that she wanted to see Yu'er's wishes."
"It's good that you know what's on your mind. I'm getting older and I really don't want my childhood playmates to come and cry to me." Emperor Chengyuan waved his hands and didn't want to continue talking about it. He turned to tell Yang Xun, "Say something easy, my mate. Something to help me relax."
Yang Xun glanced at Prince Jiang Huaiqian. The first page of the booklet in his hand recorded the deeds of Mr. An from Anyu.
When Jiang Huaiqian saw him like this, he knew that Anyu was causing trouble. He thought that An really had the foresight to let Anyu attend the meeting, so he said many good things to him overtly and secretly.
Emperor Chengyuan smiled and asked Yang Xun to read it directly.
Yang Xun smiled apologetically at Jiang Huaiqian, and read out the record word for word in a cadence.
Jiang Huaiqian was still angry when he first heard it, but the more he listened, the less he thought it was, and he soon became relaxed.
If you ask him, Lai Anyu can't cause trouble here. He's just that big and can't take the initiative to provoke others.
He listened to his aunt An's words and went to the garden party this time to make friends. However, who would have thought that he would overhear others laughing at his round figure and his awkward status!
Not to mention a child, even an adult cannot calm down after seeing with his own eyes what it means to be respectful and arrogant.
Probably stimulated by the behavior of those people who were talking to each other in front of others, this child took the guards arranged by An family to beat up several young people from the aristocratic family who were arrogant.
After that, he felt alienated when he came into contact with others, and his behavior was no longer as sweet and gentle as before.
Whoever came to talk to him to please him, he would raise his chin and look at the other person. His words and actions showed arrogance, and he seemed very unapproachable.
The child also drove away the few friends he had made before, and took the guards to wander around alone.
When they reached the colorful lake, they had another conflict with the young lady from Duke Sheng's house.
"The daughter-in-law of the second room in Duke Sheng's mansion saw that Mr. An had no one to accompany her, so she wanted to invite Mr. An to take a boat with her, but Mr. An choked him back."
After Yang Xun finished speaking, Jiang Huaiqian waited for a while, but when he saw that he didn't say anything anymore, he couldn't help asking: "Is it gone now?"
Yang Xun quickly looked at the records on the page of the booklet and said hurriedly: "After that, Mr. An went to Taoyuan Flower Sea to watch the excitement, but Mr. An did not participate."
"That's it." Jiang Huaiqian breathed a sigh of relief, complaining in his heart that Yang Xun's previous performance was too exaggerated, making him think that the child was causing trouble!
It was just a matter of beating up a few children from aristocratic families who did not understand the manners of a gentleman, so it was not a big deal.
The guard next to Anyu was the concubine An who wanted to go over from him. Although he was twelve or thirteen years old, he was very skilled and understood the importance of things. His attack was just to vent his anger on Anyu, and at most it was a flesh wound.
As for Anyu's arrogant attitude later on, and his refusal of the young lady's invitation not very tactfully... does this count?
Jiang Huaiqian chuckled secretly.
Of course, Jiang Huaiqian was not the only one who thought this in the pavilion. Even Emperor Chengyuan didn't think what An Yu did was too outrageous.
At this moment, he was very interested in the bustle of the Peach Garden and Flower Sea mentioned by Yang Xun.
Seeing this, Yang Xun quickly continued to read vividly.
"Is it the daughter of the Sheng family again?" After hearing Yang Xun tell the names of both parties in the farce in the sea of flowers, Emperor Chengyuan was surprised, and then asked his son, "The Sheng Erniang mentioned in the record is the daughter of the third son of the Sheng family?"
Jiang Huaiqian thought for a while, then nodded and said yes: "I remember, my cousin Shuquan's eldest daughter...is indeed the second in rank."
"Oh, that's right! I remember that his little daughter is the youngest in the Duke's mansion. He even complained to me about this child last time!"
Emperor Chengyuan became interested, smiled and asked Yang Xun to continue reading.
As Yang Xun recited the words, the expressions of Emperor Chengyuan and Prince Jiang Huaiqian gradually became richer.
After Yang Xun finished reciting, Emperor Chengyuan couldn't help but look at his son curiously and asked: "How fat is the little Jiuniang of the third son of the Sheng family...how fat is she?"
