Chapter 74: So Fooled
The man was very good at flattering people. With just a few words, he flattered Huan Yanbo so much that he became dizzy and called him his brother.
Huan Yanbo had not been so happy for a long time since he was detained. In addition, he was supported by someone and lost all the money he had without realizing it. He was addicted to gambling and refused to leave no matter how the two maids tried to persuade him.
The man was surprised: "Brother, your two maids are so ignorant. How dare the servants give orders to the master when the master is not satisfied yet?" He said in a long tone: "If my maids were so ignorant, I would have kicked them a long time ago."
Huan Yanbo was already unhappy, and he was furious. He kicked the two maids and said, "Mother asked you two little bitches to take care of me, not to meddle in my affairs. Why don't you go back and get the money?"
The eldest princess loved her son very much, so she gave him a lot of silver and money before he left. After buying a house, there was still a full 5,000 taels left, for fear that her son would suffer outside. Unexpectedly, Huan Yanbo lost 800 taels in just two days.
The two maids were kicked out of the gambling house, looking worried.
The maid named Yuqing said, "If you continue to gamble, no matter how much money you have, it won't be enough to fill the hole in the gambling house. How are we going to explain this to the master?"
Another girl named Yu Rou suggested, "How about... we send a message to the master, saying that we can't stop the young master, and ask the master to send someone more capable?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Yu Qing was two years older than her and knew the eldest princess's temperament very well: "The master is good at other things, but she is easily confused when it comes to the young master's affairs. No matter whether the young master is right or wrong, it is everyone else's fault. We couldn't stop the young master from going to the gambling house. It was our fault, not the young master..." She could almost foresee the eldest princess's attitude: "The master can certainly send someone else to replace us, but we two will not have a good ending when we go back." She shuddered at the thought of what would happen if she fell into Xin Niang's hands.
"No, let's not alarm the master yet. If we can persuade him, then do so. If we can't persuade him, then we can wait and see for a few more days. Maybe after a few days, the young master will change his mind and not want to gamble anymore."
After the two of them talked, they had to go back to get the silver in great sorrow.
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In the hunting palace, the emperor arrived with his relatives, ministers and concubines, making all the palace servants very busy.
In the harem, in addition to the Empress and Noble Consort Wan, there were also many young concubines accompanying the emperor. The Fourth Prince's biological mother, Concubine Rong, had been in the palace for many years, and it was a rare occasion that she accompanied the emperor this year.
The Hunting Palace was not as big as the Imperial Palace. It had many halls and pavilions to house the emperor's concubines. She moved into Huifei's side hall with her palace maids, and then two women from the Forbidden Cavalry Department came.
"If Concubine Rong needs anything and can't find anyone, just send me a message. My name is Zhang Ying."
Rongpin was a very tolerant person. She had been sitting on the bench for many years and was content to be able to go out of the palace once. Even if there were things that the palace maids could not flatter her, she would not argue or fight: "Everything is fine here. You are busy with official duties, so I won't delay you." She also signaled the little palace maid to take the reward silver.
Unexpectedly, the woman named Zhang Ying refused to take it. The little palace maid chased after Rongpin at her signal. She also asked, "I noticed that the brazier in the queen's palace is not burning well. Is there a shortage of charcoal?"
The young maidservant had been with Rongpin for many years and knew her master's faults. But seeing the friendly and caring attitude of the people from the Imperial Cavalry Department, she whispered, "The charcoal allocated to Her Majesty was not much to begin with, and a basket was snatched away by the senior maidservant beside Concubine Hui, so Her Majesty asked us to use it sparingly."
"Oh, go back first and wait when it gets dark."
The little maid went back anxiously, not daring to tell Rongpin. She waited until it was completely dark and someone knocked on the palace door. Zhang Ying not only brought two baskets of charcoal, but also a small pot: "It's cold, the food sent from the kitchen might be cold, so a small pot can be used to heat it up."
Rongpin never expected that the people of the Imperial Cavalry Department would take such good care of her. When Yuanjian came to pay his respects the next day, she happily mentioned this matter: "I never thought that my son would be successful."
When Yuan Jian heard this, he was grateful for the care that Zhang Erge had given Rongpin. He also heard that she did not even take the reward money, so he explained to Rongpin: "She is my son's friend. She took care of my son when no one cared about him at the beginning." Just because she dared to give him advice to file a complaint with the emperor and testify for him in the Golden Palace, she was a grace of rebirth: "She is not like those people who curry favor with the powerful outside. Mother should not treat her as an ordinary flatterer."
Rongpin had never heard her son praise a woman so highly, so her eyes lit up: "My son likes this Zhang Ying? If you like her, why don't you ask your father for help?"
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The hunting ground was still under intense preparation. Fu Chen led Tang Ying and others to patrol the hills in the forest. At the same time, those powerful ministers had just woken up and were preparing to wash up and have breakfast.
When they went out for the winter hunting, everyone was temporarily free from their official duties. Even the emperor leisurely enjoyed breakfast with his favorite concubine and children.
Even though she was middle-aged, Concubine Wan still had her charm. She came out of the bedroom holding the emperor's arm. Seeing her two children who had come to pay their respects early, she couldn't help but feel very happy. She first asked about her daughter: "Did you sleep well last night? Did you feel cold?"
There were braziers lit in the four corners of her bedroom, which stayed lit for twelve hours and were as warm as spring. If the emperor had not stayed overnight, she would have called her daughter to sleep with her.
The Ninth Princess Yuan Shu said with a smile: "The people who serve my daughter are very attentive, so she is not cold. On the contrary, my brother has no one to take care of him, I wonder if he is cold?"
When Concubine Wan heard this, she was like any other middle-aged woman who longs for a grandchild. No matter what the topic was, she could turn it to her son's affairs within three sentences: "It's all your father's fault. If he hadn't let you marry a princess who had to observe mourning, maybe I would have been able to hold my grandchildren by this time next year." She also glared at the emperor.
The Southern Qi Emperor had always been casual with her: "This is not my intention, but your son asked me for the marriage, saying that he had taken care of Miss Tang along the way and had developed feelings for her over time. How can I, as a father, not help her?"
Upon hearing this, the Second Prince immediately knelt before him and said in great annoyance, "I have been holding something in my heart for several days, and I have not dared to report it to you, father. However, after thinking about it, I feel that hiding it is not a solution. I only ask you to forgive me, father. I have also been kept in the dark."
Concubine Wanhuang was the first to get anxious: "What did you do, kid, to hide it from your father?"
Emperor of Southern Qi: "Tell me about it."
Yuan Lang then told how he had saved Marshal Tang's daughter in Baicheng, and how he had discovered this woman a few days ago and thought that Marshal Tang's daughter had died in Baicheng, so she teamed up with Miss Tang's personal maid to pretend to be Tang's daughter. Before he asked for permission, he had also thought of inviting members of the Tang clan in Bingzhou to comfort her. Who would have thought that it was such a coincidence that the real Miss Tang came to his door and exposed his identity as the fake Miss.
"...I never thought that after taking good care of her all the way, I would be fooled to such an extent. What's more, my father has issued an edict to grant her a marriage, and it's in the name of Miss Tang. The real Miss Tang is now working in the Imperial Cavalry Department under the pseudonym Zhang Ying. The fake Miss Tang was locked up by me. She even beat and killed the maid and became insane. I really don't know what to do."
He knelt at the feet of the Southern Qi Emperor and sounded extremely annoyed: "I admire the Tang family and really want to marry Miss Tang, but now it is not my wish due to some strange mistake ."
Emperor Yuan Yu had been in office for a long time, so he showed no expression when he heard such an incredible thing. Instead, the Imperial Concubine Wan and Yuan Shu exploded one after another like lit firecrackers.
"What? There is actually someone who dares to deceive the emperor? Is she tired of living?"
Yuan Shu had also seen the sickly "future sister-in-law". To be honest, she had always felt that she was not worthy of her own brother. But the real Miss Tang turned out to be Zhang Ying, the one who beat up the servants around her, stayed with Fu Chen all the time, and was regarded as a thorn in her side!
"How could she, she, she be Tang Ying?" Yuan Shu thought: If she became her sister-in-law, she would be worse than the sick fake lady. At least the fake lady didn't have much killing power.
"No, no, she can't be my sister-in-law!" Yuan Shu was the first to object: "With her rude appearance, is she worthy?"
Emperor Nanqi became interested: "Does Xiaojiu know her?"
Princess Yuan Shu was so angry that she felt like she was being played around. "That girl is so unruly that she even dared to beat up the servants around me. Father, please don't let my brother marry her. Otherwise, if she gets excited one day and beats up my brother, that would be terrible!"
Concubine Wan was dumbfounded: "Is it so powerful?"
The Second Prince did not expect to be sabotaged by his own sister, and hurriedly stopped her: "Father, it's not what Xiaojiu said, it's just that the people around her are too incompetent."
The Emperor of Southern Qi had never expected that his son's marriage would involve such a bizarre incident: "In this case, send someone to call Zhang Ying from the Imperial Cavalry Division." He didn't even need to have breakfast, just waiting to meet the young lady from the Tang family.
The eunuch went to the Imperial Cavalry Department to look for someone, and soon he came back with a reply: "The person on duty at the Imperial Cavalry Department said that Zhang Ying followed Master Fu into the hunting grounds, and he may not be back for a while."
The Southern Qi Emperor asked Yuan Lang to stand up and said, "This matter is not your fault. Wait until you meet Miss Tang before making a decision."
Yuan Shu: "Father, please don't do that. If my brother marries her, he will be bullied to death!"
Yuan Lang: "I will obey my father in everything!" But he was obviously interested in this girl from the Tang family: "My son has met Miss Tang a few times. She is a very nice person, much better than the fake lady in every way."
Concubine Wan: "Your Majesty, I will also like to meet Miss Tang when the time comes." This was the first time the mother did not keep a close eye on her son and let him do whatever he wanted. It almost ended up becoming a joke. This time, she could not let her child do whatever he wanted no matter what.
The Southern Qi Emperor smiled slightly and said, "I'm hungry."
Yuan Lang recalled the way Tang Ying refused the marriage proposal and felt that she was justified in being a cheating woman. He wondered if she could still be a cheating ?
He is looking forward to it.
