Volume 2: Residence in the Capital Chapter 159: Whose daughter admires the virtuous man?
In full view of the crowd, Zhu Ying actually splashed wine all over Princess Yongping's skirt, and countless ladies were stunned. Even Princess Qingning, who had just deliberately made room for the two to talk, couldn't help but feel a little surprised.
However, what is even more difficult for most people to accept is that Princess Yongping stood up but did not slap Zhu Ying directly or yell at her. Instead, she just glared at her fiercely and then knelt down to Princess Qingning.
"Third aunt, I suddenly feel a little dizzy. I'll take my leave now. I'll come back to apologize to you another day!"
Seeing Princess Yongping leave without even arguing with Zhu Ying, and looking angry and ashamed, the young ladies who had just wanted to compete with Zhu Ying looked at each other in dismay, and couldn't help but feel lucky that they didn't let their temper run wild . Even the daughter of the emperor, the top princess, couldn't stand up to Zhu Ying, let alone them?
Under the angry gaze of Princess Qingning, Zhu Ying went straight to the main seat and sat down, hugging the princess's arm and acting like a spoiled child. The drums had not stopped yet, so she lowered her voice and said, "Third aunt, calm down. I didn't mean to disrupt your birthday banquet. This happened for a reason..."
Without any hesitation, Zhu Ying whispered to Zhang Shou how she and herself were surrounded by rebels in the Qingfeng Xulai Hall of Cuiyun Room and how they were attacked by an assassin. Then she said angrily, "The assassin was later thrown into the outer court of the Silijian by the emperor. Ah Liu, a close servant of Ah Shou, was Uncle Hua's apprentice, and he sneaked in and beat up the guy."
Princess Qingning was a little surprised and angry at first, but when she heard that Hua Qi's apprentice also had such a rebellious character, she couldn't help but feel angry and amused. But when she heard the following words, she couldn't laugh anymore.
"Ah Liu recognized that guy's kung fu and he turned out to be a royal attendant, so he resorted to some trickery. He later confessed that Princess Yongping had ordered him to do so." Zhu Ying paused for a moment, then changed the subject, "But I didn't believe it at all! Although she and I have a bad relationship, I don't think she's that boring. So I told her a few days ago, and she was naturally furious and went back to investigate immediately."
Princess Qingning didn't even need to listen to the sequel. The fact that Princess Yongping could temporarily swallow her anger when Zhu Ying attacked her just now was enough to show who these two little girls were trying to deal with behind the scenes. Sure enough, Zhu Ying said the name she expected next.
She frowned and said unhappily, "You two are using my birthday party to do this kind of trick. It's simply lawless! Never mind. I don't have a good impression of the Queen anyway. You can do whatever you want!"
Her sister-in-law had impressed the empress dowager with her family background and so-called reputation, and was made empress at the wedding. She had become arrogant and even looked down on her, the emperor's own sister, and was always cold and hostile to the concubines.
Although Concubine Yu has always been favored, that is because she only has one daughter, Princess Yongping, and no sons. In addition, the Queen cannot handle her own two sons. Otherwise, even if the Queen Mother and the Emperor were around, they might use all kinds of means to deal with her. How could they tolerate Concubine Yu?
Zhu Ying knew that Princess Qingning would give such an answer, and she immediately hugged the other person's arm happily, saying countless times that Third Aunt was the best. As for her little tricks, Princess Qingning didn't take them seriously, and poked her forehead twice with her fingers: "You have always been the laziest to use your brain, but now you have suddenly become cunning. I have to be on guard against you in the future. Go, I won't talk to you anymore!"
Knowing that it was just a joke, Zhu Ying stood up and returned to her seat with a smile. When she watched a large group of people presenting poems to Princess Qingning, she thought of the eldest prince and the second prince, one was eighteen and the other was seventeen. Because of the ancestral precepts of Emperor Taizu, it is better to get married late rather than early, and now they have not taken concubines. She knew what they were thinking and couldn't help but sneer.
When the next play was over and lunch was over, Princess Qingning casually told everyone to tour the garden freely. She was left at the end, but halfway through she saw Liu Qing, the youngest daughter of Minister Liu of the Ministry of Works, waiting for her, so she went to greet her with a smile.
Liu Qing also hurried forward and called out with a smile, "Sister Zhu!"
Zhu Ying, the youngest in the family, was naturally very happy to hear this name. Liu Shilang had some friendship with her father Zhu Jing. He was neither aloof nor pedantic, and was highly regarded by her grandmother. She also liked Liu Qing's straightforward and lovely personality. After chatting and laughing for a while, she suddenly felt that if such a good girl was paired with Lu Sanlang, it would be like a flower stuck in cow dung.
So, she whispered, "Although Lu Sanlang does have some talent for mathematics, you must not force it."
"I'm very curious about how Fatty Lu suddenly became a genius. Seeing is believing, but there are other reasons."
Liu Qing stuck out her tongue, then lowered her voice and said, "I have overheard my father and mother saying behind my back several times that someone has proposed marriage to my family. I am just making preparations to prevent them from secretly selling my daughter! I don't expect to have a fiancé like Dr. Zhang, who is like a banished immortal, like you, Sister Zhu. I don't care about appearance, but people must be motivated, and most importantly, have a good character!"
"Okay, then let's stick to the original date." Zhu Ying smiled and poked the little girl's cheek, which still had a bit of baby fat, just touching the small dimple. Then she said excitedly, "If you think that Fatty Lu is not good, and the marriage your parents have chosen is not reliable, I will ask my grandmother to come forward and talk to them! Why are you in such a hurry? There are many good men in the world!"
"Then it's settled!"
After sending Liu Qing away, Zhu Ying suddenly frowned and asked, "Have you heard enough?"
As soon as she said this, there was a rustling sound behind her. As she turned around, she saw a young girl behind a tree. She lowered her head in embarrassment and stammered, "Ying... Yingying, I didn't mean it."
Zhu Ying was stunned. She was halfway through her speech when she noticed someone, and thought it was some sneaky daughter who was going to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys after sending Liu Qing away, but she didn't expect it to be Princess Deyang - most people called her the Second Princess and ignored the title of Princess Deyang.
She couldn't say that she was extremely close to the Second Princess, but their relationship was pretty good. She immediately put away the fierce expression on her face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you, Sister Deyang, I thought someone with ulterior motives was eavesdropping. You must not tell anyone about what happened just now, after all, Aqing is still young, and the matter is still unclear..."
"I won't tell you. I will never tell you!" Princess Deyang shook her head like a rattle. After hesitating for a moment, she suddenly stepped forward quickly and said to Zhu Ying as if she had mustered up her courage, "Yingying, can you...can you help me too? I don't want others to choose a prince consort for me. Can you help me choose one?"
I?
Zhu Ying was stunned for a moment. But the words Princess Deyang said next made her raise her eyebrows.
"Because... because you chose Doctor Zhang yourself. When my father talked about him privately, he often nodded in approval and said that you have a good eye. Now, you are helping Miss Liu to choose someone... I rarely go out of the palace, and I don't know anyone. My mother is always timid. I am afraid that the queen will listen to someone and marry me off casually!"
"I don't ask him to be rich, I just hope he can be a down-to-earth person with good character!"
Although she was already 80% convinced in her heart, Zhu Ying still couldn't help but ask, "You don't trust the Queen, but you trust me?"
"Of course I can trust you!" Princess Deyang said without hesitation, "I have always been bad at speaking, and my brothers and sisters in the palace are all indifferent to me. Only you have always treated me the same as others. I don't know who else I can trust except you!"
"Well, I'll give it a try." Zhu Ying was naturally satisfied after hearing this, but she still said something ugly in advance, "But I can tell you that there are not many decent people among the people I know. They are almost all playboys. Now most of them are in Banshan Hall. As for the ambition, only Lu Sanlang has a bright future. The rest of them have a bad future, and I have to wait and see about their character."
"It doesn't matter." Princess Deyang smiled faintly . "At the very least, I am a princess. As long as I behave myself, I can always ensure that my future husband will live a life of wealth and prosperity without worries."
As she spoke, she took off a jade pendant that was still warm from her neck and stuffed it into the stunned Zhu Ying's hand: "This is a gift from my father. It's not convenient for you to come to the palace to see me on weekdays, and I can't say when I can meet you. If there is a result one day, you can say that you found this and want to return it to me, so that it will be convenient for you to come and talk to me!"
Seeing Princess Deyang say this, Zhu Ying immediately smiled: "That's a good idea. Okay, let's do it!"
Originally, she had been attending all these gatherings that she had hated the most in the past just to find a suitable marriage for Lu Sanlang, and of course to help those playboys to find out if there were any suitable ones. Now Princess Deyang came to find her in person. Could it be that she, who had never acted as a matchmaker, had such a good reputation?
Although Zhu Ying was arrogant, she naturally had a few good friends, whether because of family background or personality, but they were all from top families. Just now, because of the seating arrangement, she had trouble finding someone to talk to at the table. Taking advantage of the free time to visit the garden, she relied on these close friends to introduce her to several girls with good personalities. Without exception, their fathers and grandfathers were newly promoted to Beijing officials.
When the social activities were over and she left Princess Qingning's residence and got on her horse, she felt more tired than riding a horse for hunting or practicing martial arts for the whole morning. But after turning her head and pounding her shoulders, she still asked unhappily, "Which house should we go to today?"
Thinking of the trend of the eldest lady inspecting the Zhu family's businesses in the past few days, Zhu Hong couldn't help but secretly mourn for those shopkeepers who were in a state of panic. Then he said seriously, "It's the Wufu Money House on Chongwenmen Inner Street."
"Very good, the hard part will be saved for last." Zhu Ying smiled and rubbed her wrist, then swung the whip in the air and said loudly, "Let's go to Shuntian Prefecture Government Office, call Deng Xiaodai over to join us, and then go check the accounts!"
Although Deng Xiaodai is actually just a newbie in the household registration office and her ability in checking accounts is not particularly outstanding, she has the halo of being Zhang Shou's student and Ge Yong's disciple, and the merit of presenting the data chart to Shuntian Prefecture Governor Wang Datou. When she leads her men out, her intention is full of intimidation.
This is exactly the bluffing effect she wants!