Chapter 136: Wandering
Now that the envoys were about to arrive, no one cared about him at all. Ye Shuo easily left the gate of the imperial city. By the time Emperor Jingwen received the news, it was too late. He could only quickly send two guards to follow him to prevent Xiao Jiu from causing any more trouble.
Jianjian woke up happily and went to look for her brother, but she found him in vain. She heard from the imperial concubine that her brother had gone out to play and had left long ago. Jianjian couldn’t help crying.
She didn’t even mind her brother being stupid, but he went out to play without her. What a bad brother!
Without her brother, Jianjian was like a bird without wings. Suddenly, she couldn’t feel happy anymore!
The imperial concubine’s scalp was numb when she saw this. After a lot of coaxing, she gradually diverted the little princess’ attention.
On the other hand, Ye Shuo felt no guilt at all for leaving his sister behind, and swaggered to the streets of Shangjing City.
Now the envoys are about to arrive, and the capital city is a mixed crowd. Jianjian is still too young. Ye Shuo cannot guarantee that he can keep an eye on her 100% for a little child. If she falls into the hands of bad people, she will have no place to cry. So it is better to just keep her in the palace.
Ye Shuo originally wanted to bring Ye Xun with him, but he heard that Ye Xun was helping the prince deal with the reception of envoys and was really busy, so he asked the eunuch who delivered the message to apologize to him.A child of only seven years old is now handling the diplomatic relations between the two countries. This is unimaginable.
Since Ye Xun had important things to do, Ye Shuo certainly couldn’t delay him, so Ye Shuo turned around and invited a few other nephews who were unemployed at home and had nothing to do to come and play with him.
Ye Yan and the others thought that their days of suffering were finally over, but it turned out that the Ninth Prince was not willing to let them go at all.
At that time, Ye Yan and his brothers were resting at home, enjoying the long-lost leisure time. The four brothers all burst into tears.
God knows how hard their days have been recently as they have to study while practising martial arts with their little aunt. The little aunt is young and delicate. If they don’t use enough strength and there is no effect, the Ninth Prince will be unhappy. If they use too much strength, they will hurt the little aunt and the Ninth Prince will still be angry. With this kind of dilemma, one day of practice is more tiring than three days of normal practice, not to mention how painful it is.
Now when Ye Yan and others see Ye Shuo, they want to stay as far away from him as possible.
However, the eldest prince, now Prince Ding, heard something different.
“You have been following the Ninth Prince for so long, haven’t you noticed anything different?”
“No.” Ye Yan and the other three shook their heads in unison. “Ninth Prince sleeps until noon every day, often skips school, and always makes Lord Cen very angry. It seems that the Grand Tutor can’t do anything about him. In the morning, he usually reads some miscellaneous books and then goes to the various palace ladies for lunch. In the afternoon, he just does some horse stance and a few sets of boxing, and then starts to bask in the sun, and doesn’t go back until almost dusk…”
Perhaps it was because Ye Shuo was too familiar with this process, and Lord Cen and the others seemed to be accustomed to it, it was difficult for Ye Yan and the others not to wonder whether the Ninth Prince had always done this.
“This…is impossible?” There is actually such an unmotivated person among his younger brothers?
The eldest prince had only seen such leisurely state in some old princes of the royal family, but the key point was that all of these old princes were old men with one foot in the coffin.
“Are you sure he’s not pretending?”
As soon as the eldest prince asked this question, news came from the gatehouse that the ninth prince had just left the palace, and asked several of the emperor’s grandsons to hurry over.
The eldest prince: “…”
Ye Yan and the other three: “…”
No way, again?
The eldest prince suddenly realized that he might not know that he had been promoted to prince.
The four little ones looked at their father eagerly.
Ye Yan and the others had originally planned to let the eldest prince make the decision for them, but who would have thought that after hesitating for a while, the eldest prince actually waved his hand at them.
“Forget it, since he asked you to go, then go.”
It seems that what the emperor said before was true. The ninth prince is indeed a fool.
The eldest prince felt that he was even more stupid for arguing with a fool.
The eldest prince suddenly became too lazy to argue with his younger brother.
Just like that, Ye Yan and his brothers failed to take charge and were instead kicked out of the house by their father.
The four little ones had no choice but to follow Xiao Luzi dejectedly to Ye Shuo’s side.
Then Ye Shuo learned that the eldest prince had just been conferred the title of prince. As for the title of his cheap elder brother, it was even more interesting——
King Ding.
The word “ding” has the meaning of stabilizing the country, but it also has the meaning of fixed or established.
I just don’t know whether my cheap dad is thinking the former, the latter, or both. If that’s really what he thinks…
It is a decision that should not be regretted. The stepfather must have already thought about the position of his son when he sent the eldest prince to the military camp.
The emperor’s heart is as deep as an abyss, and his will is the truth, which cannot be resisted in the slightest.
What is fate? What my cheap dad arranged is fate.
If this is true, the crown prince can be saved, but the eldest prince will be in danger.
What would he do with those who were beyond his control?
While Ye Shuo was stunned, Ye Yan and the others couldn’t help but straighten their chests.
So, is the Ninth Prince scared?
Now his father is a prince, and his status is much higher than his, the oligarch prince.
Their status also rose with the tide. Now they were the sons of a prince. Who had ever seen a prince’s son being a playmate?
However, the next moment, their fantasies were shattered.
“Your father is a prince, and my father is the emperor. Stop showing off and go to the front to lead the way.” Seeing their smug looks, Ye Shuo couldn’t help but patted each of them on the head.
How could he not be afraid!
Ye Yan turned his head with an expression of disbelief. Ye Shuo glanced over and the chests of Ye Yan and the others rose and fell violently. Thinking of their father’s instructions before returning to the capital, the four brothers of Ye Yan finally gritted their teeth and went to the front to clear the way.
The kids were as strong as calves and had great strength. Soon, a large open space appeared around Ye Shuo.
Ye Shuo had brought enough money with him on this trip. When he passed by the candied haws stand, he casually asked, “Do you want to eat candied haws?”
As an uncle, it’s normal to buy snacks for your children.
But Ye Yan and the others were the grandchildren of the emperor, so how could they not look down upon the food of ordinary people? So they all shook their heads.
“What about pea yellow? Lotus crisps? Donkey meat hotpot?”
Ye Shuo mentioned several snacks in a row, but Ye Yan and others still refused.
“Okay then, if you don’t want to eat it, I’ll eat it myself.” Ye Shuo didn’t force him.
Soon the small path beside him and the hands of the two guards were occupied, while Ye Shuo took a bite of the donkey meat hotpot and drank a sip of the ancient handmade lotus root powder.
Ye Yan and his brothers were children after all. They get hungry quickly if they exercise a lot. It didn’t take long for them to digest their breakfast. Then, surrounded by the aroma of meat and the sweet smell of snacks, they suddenly felt tormented.
Seeing how happily the Ninth Prince was eating, the youngest one couldn’t help but looked back again and again.
Ye Shuo pretended not to see it and took another big bite of the fire in his hand.
As the saying goes, there is dragon meat in the sky and donkey meat on the ground. Donkey meat itself is particularly fresh and fragrant. Coupled with the good skills of the stall owner, the braised donkey meat is even more tender and juicy.
The emperor’s grandson watched helplessly as a trickle of oil slid down from the fire and seeped into the oil paper bag.
“Gudong,” the child swallowed hard.
“Ninth Uncle…”
“Why, you want to eat?”
The child hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded vigorously.
Ye Shuo raised his eyebrows, then motioned Xiao Luzi to come over and opened the oil paper bag in Xiao Luzi’s hand. Ye Shuo deliberately picked out a piece of fattier donkey meat and stuffed it into his little nephew’s mouth.
The little grandson of the emperor suddenly discovered that folk snacks seemed to be quite good, and had a different flavor than those cooked by the imperial chefs.
Once there was one, there were two. Soon the remaining few also fell. Ye Yan, the eldest brother, tried to struggle, but he couldn’t resist the temptation of food at all.
Just when the group was enjoying their meal, the envoy from Beiting finally arrived and revealed his true appearance.
That was an extremely powerful team. Beiting was located in the north of Da Zhou. The subjects of Beiting had been eating cattle and sheep all year round, and they were all fat and strong. Ye Shuo estimated that one of them was almost as powerful as two people in Beijing.
If all the soldiers in Beiting were like this, it’s no wonder that my cheap father would regard them as a thorn in his side and treat them so cautiously.
Not to mention the people, even the horses they ride are larger than those of the Great Zhou. The horses have strong limbs, so they should have better endurance.
The dozens of people walking in front should be guards. As for the real envoy, he should be the one sitting in the carriage at the back.
Ye Shuo noticed that these people all looked extremely arrogant. No matter if it was real arrogance or fake arrogance, just by looking at the disdain and arrogance flashing in their eyes when they looked at the people of the Great Zhou, Ye Shuo knew that this group of people probably had bad intentions.
That’s right. After all, there had just been a flood in the Great Zhou. Even if the Great Zhou had won the previous battle, it could just start over now.
When the Minister of Rites also came on horseback to greet them, he passed by the surrounding shops. Originally, his attention was all on the envoys’ team, but he accidentally saw a few very familiar figures.
Who else could it be but the Ninth Prince and his nephews?
And now the Ninth Prince and the emperor’s grandchildren were squatting under the eaves of the shop, each holding an oil-paper bag, eating food like donkey meat and hot bread without any image.
Seeing that the other party seemed to have recognized his identity, Ye Shuo not only had no sense of shame, but waved to the other party happily.
Minister of Rites: “…”
Oh my God, we must not let the people of Beiting know that these are their prince and grandson!
Otherwise, Da Zhou would lose all face.
The Minister of Rites had prepared a lot of things to say, but now he couldn’t say them.
He turned his eyes away silently, pretending nothing had happened, and the Minister of Rites said succinctly: “Everyone is tired from the journey, please follow me.”
When the previous emperor of the Great Zhou was in power, he was extremely polite to the Beiting people. Even amidst his politeness, there was a hint of fear. But the officials under the current emperor are quite arrogant.
The Beiting envoy in the carriage frowned, and after a moment, he signaled everyone to follow the Minister of Rites.
At the same time, in the Qinzheng Hall, upon learning of the arrival of the envoy, Emperor Jingwen remained calm and continued to handle the memorials at hand as usual.
Even though the Great Zhou had just experienced a flood, Beiting was defeated and since it was defeated, it should be treated as a defeated country.
Emperor Jingwen didn’t even let the crown prince go to receive him, he only sent the Minister of Rites.
“Your servant pays respects to His Majesty.”
Just when there was silence in the Qinzheng Hall, a figure suddenly appeared.
Familiar voice, familiar actions, who else could the person coming be but Wu Yi?