If not abolished

Chapter 143 King of Han (1)

Today is the first day of the new year. Early in the morning, the Crown Princess and Hu Shanxiang went to pay their respects to the Imperial Concubine.

On the way, I happened to meet the Princess of Han and the Crown Prince's Consort.

"Crown Princess, Crown Grand Princess."

"Princess Han, Princess of the Crown Prince."

Several people greeted each other and arrived at the Yiku Palace one after another.

"See the Imperial Concubine."

"No need to be so polite, just get up quickly." Concubine Wang said.

"Thank you, empress."

"The weather is getting cold. It's hard for you to come and pay your respects to me so early." Concubine Wang said, holding the heater in her hands.

"The journey here has been fine." The Crown Princess said with a smile.

"That's right. I also feel warm." The Princess of Han also said.

"Look at me, I almost forgot something important. Yesterday I received a message from His Majesty saying that he would prepare his schedule in the next few days and would return to Beijing by the end of the month at the latest. I am finally back before the New Year."

"Your Majesty, are you serious? His Majesty and Zhanji will all come, right?" asked the Crown Princess.

"They will all come. Agui and He'er are both back." It's no wonder that the Crown Princess asked, as it was not the first time that Zhu Di returned to the capital and left Zhu Zhanji behind in Beijing.

"That's good, that's good." The Crown Princess and Princess Han breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

"Shanxiang and Shu Ning can rest assured now. The two young couples have been separated for so long."

"Your Majesty is right." The Crown Princess and Princess Han echoed, while the other two lowered their heads and said nothing.

"I heard from His Majesty that this time was also dangerous. When they arrived, they found that Princess Yong'an was ill. If Zhanji and Zhanhe hadn't discovered it in time, who knows what would have happened."

"Did Zhanji and the others discover it?" asked the Crown Princess.

"Yes, that's what His Majesty said in his letter. Fortunately, everything is fine now. God bless you."

"I'm glad that Your Highness is okay." said the Princess of Han.

"Speaking of which, there have been a lot of good things happening in the palace recently. My granddaughter's hundred-day banquet is coming soon, right? It's a good opportunity for you to come over today and take back the things I have prepared." Concubine Wang said to Princess Han.

"Your Majesty has a very good memory. In a few days it will be the hundredth day. I would like to thank Your Majesty for the reward on their behalf." The Princess of Han stood up and kowtowed.

"Time flies. I remember when Your Majesty passed away, the child was just born, and now it's almost a hundred days old." Concubine Wang sighed.

The Crown Princess took over the conversation: "The baby will be born soon."

"Yes, I still vaguely remember Jiaxing Zhanzhai when they were little. Now they don't bother us to play anymore." Concubine Wang said with a smile.

"That's right. Jiaxing is a crazy girl now." The Crown Princess looked doting as she spoke of her daughter.

"When Your Majesty comes back, there will be happy events in the Princess of Han's family." Concubine Wang continued.

"Now that Zhanqi's principal wife has been decided, I can finally put my heart at ease." Princess Han said, touching her chest.

"The series of happy events will really be tiring at that time." said Concubine Wang.

After the greetings, everyone went back.

Han Palace

After the Han princess returned, she asked the maid, "Is the prince back?"

"Princess, the prince is in the study discussing matters," the maid replied.

"Go prepare some food. It's freezing cold, and the prince must have forgotten to eat while he was in the study discussing matters."

"Yes." After saying that, the maid went to prepare.

"Where is the little prince?"

"The young prince is at the concubine's place."

Princess Han sighed, "Go, call him over and tell him you want to see him."

"Slave, go now."

"Your Majesty, the food is ready. Shall we deliver it directly to you?" the servant asked.

Princess Han didn't have time to go there in person today, so she ordered, "I won't go there. Send someone more stable. The roads are slippery in this heavy snow."

"The servant understands."

The Princess of Han had just returned from outside and also drank a few sips of hot tea to warm her body.

After a while, Zhu Zhanqi arrived. As soon as the door opened, the wind and snow blew in.

Princess Han looked at the snow on his shoulder and asked, "Why are you covered in snow? Don't you have an umbrella?"

"I held an umbrella. It was snowing heavily and windy, so all the snow fell on my body." Zhu Zhanqi used something to brush off the snow on his body.

The Princess of Han quickly handed him the hot water bottle.

"No, there's snow on my body, but I'm not cold." Zhu Zhanqi didn't want it, and sat down and said, "I wonder what's the matter that my mother called me here in such a hurry?"

"Today I went to the palace to pay my respects, and heard from the Imperial Concubine that His Majesty was coming back, and then she talked about your marriage, and the date will be set by the beginning of next spring at the latest."

"Everything will be arranged by my mother." Zhu Zhanqi had no opinion on this matter now.

"It can't be arranged by us alone. You have to take a look at it yourself. Have you tried to meet the girl these days?" asked the Princess of Han.

"We are a single man and a single woman, it's not appropriate for us to meet." Zhu Zhanqi frowned.

"You are already engaged, and you are just waiting for a wedding date. What are you worried about? Okay, if you feel embarrassed, mother will bring the person to the mansion in a few days. To be honest, I haven't seen him carefully, so this is a good opportunity for me to get to know him. Remember to come and see him when the time comes." The Princess of Han immediately made arrangements.

"Mother, there's no need to be like this..." Zhu Zhanqi shut up instantly after seeing the look in the eyes of the Princess of Han. He had no objection to the wedding. It was just about marrying a woman and giving her the title of principal wife. Could his mother force him to do anything else? What was the point of meeting her now?

"Why, you've already agreed to marry her, so you're afraid of just meeting her and talking to her?"

"No, okay, isn't it enough that my son agrees?" Zhu Zhanqi couldn't do anything about his mother.

"That's more like it. How is my granddaughter doing with Sun? Is she used to staying with her? Can Sun take good care of the child?" Although the Princess of Han did not like Sun Ruoji, she was her granddaughter and loved the child very much.

"She's fine. Yaoyao doesn't cry or make a fuss when she's with Ruoji. Mother and daughter are connected by heart, so don't worry, mother." Zhu Zhanqi was happy when he thought of his daughter.

"That's good. You are so happy when talking about them. You can't be so partial to Jun Dai anymore. After all, she is your wife. You have to give her a good deal for the sake of face."

"My son knows."

"Okay, go ahead." Princess Han sent her son out.

"It's cold outside, mother, please come in quickly." The two were talking at the door.

"Well, be careful on the road and go slowly."

"Ah."

Princess Han watched him walk out of the yard. Just as she was about to turn back, she heard someone talking nearby. She walked over to listen:

"How could you be so careless that this stuff is scattered all over the floor? What if the princess finds out?"

"Sister, I really didn't mean it." The person said crying.

"Okay, stop crying. I know you didn't mean it, but..."

"What's going on?" Princess Han came over and asked.

When the two saw Princess Han coming suddenly, they knelt down in fear: "Princess!"

"Get up and answer. What happened?" Princess Han asked again.

The maids looked at each other and said, "Princess, I went to the study to deliver food to the prince as you ordered. As soon as I reached the door of the study, I was blocked and couldn't go in. I was also pushed and accidentally knocked over the food. Please forgive me, Princess."

"Who held you back?"

"Yes... She was Concubine Guo's maid. At that time, Concubine Guo was playing the piano in the study."

"Concubine Guo is in the study. The rules of the mansion say that people from the backyard are not allowed to stay in the study. What does she want to do?"

"This servant doesn't know?"

"Are you not hurt?" Princess Han asked with concern.

"My slave is fine."

"Go and ask the concubine to come to the main courtyard."

"Yes."

"Princess, the Concubine is here."

"Greetings, Princess. I wonder why you suddenly called me over here?" Concubine Guo was invited over as soon as she returned to her courtyard.

"Ms. Guo, do you still take the rules of this mansion seriously?" asked the Princess of Han.

"I don't understand what your princess is saying. I didn't do anything. Please explain clearly." Concubine Guo looked at her.

"I don't know. Then let me ask you, were you playing the piano in the prince's study today? Is this true?" Princess Han asked pointedly.

Concubine Guo thought, so this is what happened, and she replied, "I went to the prince's study to play the piano today, but the prince asked me to go. Is there any problem?"

"According to the rules of the palace, people from the backyard cannot stay in the prince's study for too long. Don't you know that?"

"Princess, don't you understand what I said? It's Your Majesty..."

"If the prince asked you to treat him well, wouldn't you tell him that it was against the rules? Besides, when I asked someone to bring food to the prince, why did the people around you push down my maid?" Princess Han interrupted her explanation.

"I really had no idea about this matter, Princess. I didn't know who was the maid who didn't know the difference between respect and inferiority and pushed down the person next to Princess." Concubine Guo cried out in injustice.

"What a joke. Didn't you instruct your maid to do this?" Princess Han didn't believe it at all.

"I know that things have already happened. No matter what you say, the princess won't believe it. I have nothing to say." Seeing that she was determined to accuse her, Concubine Guo said nothing more.

"In that case, come here, hit the Concubine's palm twenty times, and let others know the rules of the mansion."

"Yes."

"Princess, you are just jealous. You are jealous that the prince dotes on me." When Concubine Guo heard that she was going to be slapped on the palm of her hand, she immediately said angrily.

"I need to be jealous of you, it's just business."

clap clap clap...

After twenty hits, Concubine Guo's hands were already red and swollen.

Concubine Guo looked at her unwillingly with tears in her eyes.

"I heard that you had people beat Guo today?" The King of Han came over and asked at night.

"Why, Your Majesty, are you feeling distressed?"

"What are you angry about?"

"Your Majesty, since you have something to say, then I will also explain it to you. If you want to listen to Guo playing the piano, you can go to her courtyard to listen. Why do you have to listen in the study? This is against the rules. Don't do this again next time."

"Just for such a small matter?"

"It's a small matter, Your Majesty. You can let her go to the study to play the piano today. Once this is done, can others go and sing songs next time?"

"I have my reasons for doing this, and you..." The King of Han didn't know what to say.

"Why?" asked the Princess of Han.

"Even if I tell you... Well, don't worry about it. I know about this." After saying that, the King of Han walked out.