Chapter 229 Where does the cat come from (5000 words chapter)
Chapter 229 Where the cat comes from (5000 words long chapter)
Author: Bachelor in White
There are two types of princes.
Princes and princes.
Princes are all blood relatives of the emperor. At present, all the named princes in the Daqian Dynasty are hung in the royal ancestral hall, respected by thousands of people, and held in fireworks for worship. As for the princes, they have not been granted titles since the founding of the Daqian Kingdom.
In terms of the way to be granted the title of king, there are two types: merit title and favor title. To put it simply, the first one is the one whose merit is so high that it almost shocks the lord, and the second one is the one who is after the emperor.
Prince Zheng seems to belong to the third type.
The emperor asked for help from him.
But Zheng Xiu was not short of money, and he was not interested in power. For the emperor, this kind of person was undoubtedly the best candidate to confer the title of county king - the better was safety.
In the main hall.
The moment Zheng Xiu put on the Little Tiger King hat, all the civil and military officials and the three princes looked at Zheng Xiu with complex looks including envy, doubt, jealousy, and love.
"Meet the Red King!"
The moment the king-conferring ceremony ended, all civil and military officials knelt down to pay homage to the newly promoted Red King!
Zheng Xiu looked back and looked at the civil and military officials, including the left and right prime ministers, kneeling on the ground. Even Zheng Xiu, who had never had any desire for power, couldn't help but feel a different kind of emotion.
Although the name of the Red King has no real power and cannot be involved in politics, his status and dignity can now be said to be equivalent to that of the royal family of Daqian. He is inferior to one person and superior to tens of thousands of people!
The Red King is now the only prince in the Daqian Dynasty - the Red King!
"Red King..."
A pure heart?
Zheng Xiu pondered this strange title, looked at the emperor's majestic and loving eyes, and asked in a low voice: "If my father could return home in glory and did not die in battle, he must be the one who deserves the title of Red King."
The emperor heard Zheng Xiu's mutterings, smiled and glared at Zheng Xiu, sat back on the dragon throne, and sighed softly: "It has been built up for hundreds of years, and every foundation is due to the contributions of your Zheng family's ancestors for generations."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
The form that needs to be taken still needs to be taken.
Now, in front of hundreds of civil and military officials, the civil officials presented a stack of land deeds.
This is the biggest benefit of becoming a king. All the places in Shuzhou that belong to him to collect taxes are listed on the land deed.
Once they become princes, as long as they survive, the descendants of the Zheng family will have no worries about food and clothing, and will have a noble status.
Zheng Xiu soon took on the airs of a prince and smiled lightly: "Send it to my house."
"Give me a seat!"
The emperor ordered someone to bring a luxurious small stool, which was similar to the one under the buttocks of the three princes. He sat on the second seat. Judging from the ranking, it seemed to be higher than the three princes.
Zheng Xiu ran away just as he thought about getting the prince's name, but he didn't expect that the emperor would leave him to observe political affairs.
Just listen.
Zheng Xiu sat down with dignity, and the three princes' eyes crossed with Zheng Xiu's from time to time. The eldest prince and the third prince both expressed "congratulations" on their faces, but the second prince's expression was complicated. This reminded Zheng Xiu again of those days before the flowers and under the moon. The child sneered and asked him if he knew how to write the word "death", which made people sigh that things are different and people change from one moment to another.
After Zheng Xiu was crowned the Red Queen, his mood during the morning court was like that of an office worker looking forward to ringing the bell on time.
Memorials from all over Daqian were presented and read out one by one. Occasionally, the emperor would consult hundreds of officials for their opinions.
In the morning Zheng Xiu heard several things that interested him.
Among them, it seems to be related to the mystery.
He silently kept it in mind.
Someone once again mentioned the drought and flood in the south. When the emperor calmly proposed how to provide disaster relief, he looked at the newly promoted Red King.
Zheng Xiu nonchalantly said that he would donate the tax collected in Shuzhou for a year, and all the officials applauded, calling the emperor a saint. Looking at the faces of people who wanted to praise themselves but were embarrassed to do so, Zheng Xiu had to sigh that this is the way to be an official.
ah.
Finally it was time to get off work.
All civil and military officials retired from the court in an orderly manner.
The emperor did not mention the matter of letting Zheng Xiu take over as the night master in the morning meeting. After all, Ye Weiyang's work has always been hidden behind the scenes. But the emperor looked at Zheng Xiu before leaving, as if to say: You understand.
Zheng Xiu nodded towards the emperor and walked out of the hall tacitly.
Many officials came to greet him one after another, sending their congratulations and calling him "Prince Zheng" cordially. Some enthusiastic officials even asked Zheng Xiu kindly if there was any concubine or side wife in his family. His family had a young daughter who had grown up with beautiful face and beautiful face, Qin Qin.
He is proficient in chess, calligraphy, painting, playing, playing and singing, and anyone who understands the meaning behind his words will understand.
After Zheng Xiu declined many offers of girls and dinners, he caught up with Jiang Gaoyi on the stairs who was carefully descending the ladder to heaven.
"Master Jiang."
Zheng Xiu smiled.
"Hiss!" Jiang Gaoyi was flattered and handed over to Zheng Xiu: "I have seen the Red King."
Zheng Xiu took two quick steps and stood side by side with Jiang Gaoyi. After Jiang Gaoyi said, he calmly walked half a step slower, half on Zheng Xiu's shoulder. Zheng Xiu noticed this small detail of Jiang Gaoyi and secretly thought that you deserve to be promoted to the Criminal Department, Mr. Jiang.
The minister didn't say much, and chatted with Jiang Gaoyi.
The other officials were anxious to deal with the newly promoted prince, but when they saw Prince Zheng taking the initiative to approach Jiang Gaoyi, they all took a breath and secretly pondered the meaning.
In the imperial court, cliques formed small groups. This was an unspoken rule in the officialdom. The three princes all had officials they were friends with, and they also did a lot of work on weekdays. Otherwise, they would have worshiped their ancestors on March 3rd.
Before the ceremony, there were not many officials praising the third prince in the morning. It can be seen that the third prince did a very good job.
Nowadays, the newly promoted Red King obviously has a special regard for Jiang Gaoyi. This has caused many officials to associate it with the fact that Jiang Gaoyi was awarded a viscount not long ago, and for a while, they had wild thoughts.
Zheng Xiu and Jiang Gaoyi walked in front, and the other officials followed far behind, not daring to overtake.
"Being an official is so tiring."
Zheng Xiuyi pointed out something and said to Jiang Gaoyi with a smile.
"Everyone has his own ambitions." Jiang Gaoyi replied vaguely at first, and then said with a bit of regret: "King Chi is an expert outside the world, and he doesn't like such mundane things."
"Master Jiang, after all, you have become the person you hated back then."
Zheng Xiu blinked at Jiang Gaoyi.
There was no trace of embarrassment on Jiang Gaoyi's face. He stared at Zheng Xiu's face carefully and shook his head: "I will only realize later that the world is like a pool of five-color dyeing vat. Who can be alone?"
"What did you see on my face?" Zheng Xiu asked curiously when he saw Jiang Gaoyi staring at his face, remembering the magic trick of "observing words and colors" that Jiang Gaoyi had learned after peeking into the [official] door.
"I can't read the minds of the princes, but I can see their thoughts." Jiang Gaoyi said with a smile. After walking for a while, although he was still deliberately one step behind, his words lost the initial restraint, and he seemed to have gradually become accustomed to Zheng Xiuxin's attitude.
Identity - after all, Zheng Xiu did not use his identity as a prince to deliberately put on airs for Jiang Gaoyi. Of course Jiang Gaoyi understood that this was also intentional by Zheng Xiu, and he deliberately did it to show the civil and military officials. This was a great opportunity for him. Thinking of this
Here, Jiang Gaoyi's face turned red, suppressing the joy in his heart.
"Oh? What are they thinking now?"
"Their faces have 'fear' written all over them."
"fear me?"
"Of course." After Jiang Gaoyi thought about it, he lowered his voice and said: "The prince is already rich in the world, and now he has become the first prince with a different surname since the founding of the Daqian Kingdom. What the prince wants to do now, except for the Holy One, there is no one else. No one can stop them, they are naturally... extremely scared."
That's why I invited you to dinner and your daughter, but not your wife.
"Lord Jiang, I... ahem, I am very curious, how far can your 'observation of words' go?"
When the two were about to walk out of the palace, Zheng Xiu asked Jiang Gaoyi in a low voice.
Jiang Gaoyi secretly made an "eight" gesture toward Zheng Xiu: "I can now distinguish joy, anger, sorrow, and joy from people's faces." After a slight hesitation, Jiang Gaoyi added: "I can vaguely see good and evil, loyalty and traitor."
"Well," Zheng Xiu nodded: "In some time, I will have some private matters, and I will trouble Mr. Jiang for a while."
Jiang Gaoyi was stunned when he heard this, feeling curious, but he didn't ask any more questions and nodded: "Just let the Red King tell you."
"good."
Farewell to Jiang Gaoyi, a new official in the officialdom. As soon as Zheng Xiu stepped out of the palace, there was a luxurious carriage parked not far from the door.
Two strong and mighty horses were snorting in the hot air. The beaded curtains on the carriage were hanging down. The body was painted with gold paint. The axles and wheel hubs were engraved with exquisite flowers and leaf veins. There were small colorful flags placed around the carriage. The word "Zheng" was written on it. Yin Qingqing was waiting beside the car. When Zheng Xiu came forward, she bowed her head and saluted: "Your servant Qingqing has seen the Red King."
As expected of the Secret Service, he is very well-informed.
Qing Shisan, wearing a bamboo hat and straw sandals, raised the brim of his hat and smoked a cigarette as always. When he saw Zheng Xiu, he quickly got out of the car to greet Zheng Xiu, winked at Zheng Xiu, and then said loudly: "Welcome the Red Prince back to his home." !”
The people around him were in an uproar when they heard this.
For a time, the news that the richest man, Mr. Zheng, the former Zhongliehou, was now Prince Zheng, was like an angel with little wings, and it didn't take long for the news to spread throughout the streets and alleys.
When Qing Shisan drove his carriage slowly and swaggering through the city and returned to Zheng's house, the news that the Red King was granted the title had already caused a sensation in the whole city.
The front door of Zheng's house was crowded with people watching the excitement, and most of them were people under Zheng's command. There were many Zheng's thaumatologists hidden among them. When Zheng Xiu appeared, they all showed happy smiles.
"master!"
"master!"
"Ah! Old Zheng Quan has a lot of knowledge, he will definitely laugh his eyes out! The young prince is going to have a future!"
"Bah! Xiao Zheng has been promising a long time ago! Now he is even more promising!"
"You can no longer call me master, you have to call me prince!"
"Hey, yes, yes, we have to call you Wangye!"
"Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty!"
A group of elderly uncles and aunts happily surrounded Zheng Xiu, calling him "Prince", but they didn't seem to take him seriously at all. Their words and deeds made it seem as if they were not seeing a prince, but as if they were seeing their own son marrying a wife. General.
In the crowd, tailor Xi'er's face turned red and she pointed at the prince's robe that Zheng Xiu was wearing: "Did you see that the one Prince Zheng is wearing was made by me myself?"
She didn't say a word, but she gained experience as she sat and opened new doors.
Zheng Xiu didn't know that he had been picked up by Xi'er unintentionally. After responding to the kindness of Zheng's fellow villagers one by one, he walked to the door of Zheng's house surrounded by people. When he looked up, he couldn't help but be startled.
I don't know when the plaque of Zheng's house was covered by a festive red cloth. When Zheng Xiu looked up at the plaque, Ji Hongou and Pei Gaoya, who had been waiting for a long time, laughed heartily and flew up, one side at a time, to remove the red cloth.
The cloth revealed a new plaque - "Red Prince's Mansion"!
Eee--
The door opened in response, and the fragrant breeze blew in. Zheng Erniang stood behind the door with tears streaming down her face, looking at Zheng Xiu quietly with a smile on her face.
Fengbei stood beside Er Niang.
The maids stood behind Er Niang.
"I'll just become a prince."
Zheng Xiu smiled lightly and took big steps into Prince Chi's Mansion.
…
January passed in the blink of an eye.
Late spring and early summer.
In the distance, on the edge of the canal, painted boats and boats were laughing and singing. From time to time, cicadas chirped to call for summer.
"I'll just become a prince."
"A mere prince."
In the study room.
Zheng Xiu looked at the dazzling collection of brocade boxes stacked on the study floor and rubbed his brows.
Yin Qingqing was making tea at the side, while Qing Shisan was holding a stack of paper and a cigarette stick hanging on his waist, smiling at Zheng Xiu who was rubbing his eyebrows.
"Where's me, Fengbei?"
"Miss Fengbei is catching cats outside." When Zheng Xiu asked, Qing Shisan answered truthfully: "Miss Fengbei has been quite interested in that orange cat these days."
Not long after he became the prince, the orange cat accidentally jumped into Feng Bei's arms and touched Feng Bei's hand. The tragic scene of a kitten being destroyed by Feng Bei into ashes did not happen. As expected, this cat
Weirdly, he was able to resist Fengbei's bad luck. From that day on, Fengbei seemed to be addicted to touching. He would rub the cat all day long. The cat found it interesting at first, but later he was rubbed so hard that he couldn't take care of himself.
After starting to hide from Feng Bei, Feng Bei gave full play to his talent of unusual hearing and intelligence, and played hide and seek with the cat in the Red Prince's Mansion. This game lasted for a month and even left Zheng Xiu in the cold.
She was actually using the cat to study her own ominous nature.
Feng Bei realized that after returning from the cannibal painting, he could touch cats, so he naturally wanted to study it.
Is it the cat's problem or hers, that's the question.
"Your Majesty," Qing Shisan changed his words smoothly and said with a smile: "The things sent from outside these days have been counted. Do you want to hear it?"
"Mr. Duan, with a tattoo of one thousand taels of silver..."
"Stop." When Zheng Xiu heard this, he waved his hand and said, "Don't think about the gift of money. Go back the way you came."
"Sure." Qing Shisan nodded without surprise, threw away 90% of the list in his hand, and thought of something else.
"A pair of century-old snow ginseng from Tianyin Mountain."
"A luminous pearl in the South China Sea."
"One hundred taels of dried blood clams from the East China Sea."
"The Purple Deer of Southern Guizhou is greatly supplemented by a piece of Chen whip."
Qing Shisan read all the way down, except for the silver, there were only a few pages left. When he read to the end, Qing Shisan was stunned, and said with a strange expression: "A pair of young and white-skinned maids from the blond bed-warming compatriots in the Western Regions."
Zheng Xiu first had the courage to let people go back. Then he remembered the word "Western Regions" and couldn't help but ask: "Wait a minute, who sent it?"
When Qing Shisan saw clearly what the gift-giver was saying, the amusement on his face disappeared without a trace. After a moment of silence, he suddenly grinned and said four words: "Blind Chen Wei."
…
When Zheng Xiu found Feng Bei in the yard, she was standing on the roof, listening with her eyes closed.
"Can you hear the sounds of all things again?"
Zheng Xiu asked from below.
Feng Bei opened his eyes, a little discouraged, and shook his head: "This cat is getting better and better at hiding."
Zheng Xiu was quite surprised. He knew about Feng Bei and the kitten catching and hiding, but what he didn't expect was that Feng Bei actually lost to a kitten in catching and hiding.
During this time, by teasing the cat, they had been trying to get the little female cat to take the initiative to show her cat's feet. However, apart from being cold, cursing, and being able to hide and seek, this cat showed no other abnormalities, as if it was just a cat that could curse.
An ordinary orange cat.
"Look at me!"
Zheng Xiu ran back to the study and took out a treasured puppet from a hidden compartment in the corner. The puppet was sewn by Xiniang, who was skilled in craftsmanship. It looked like a small fish, fat and white.
Zheng Xiu took out the fish puppet, ran back to the yard, and whistled: "Look at the fish!"
Then he threw the fish puppet into the sky.
Feng Bei and Zheng Xiu looked up at the puppet.
call out!
A small figure flashed out of thin air, grabbed the stuffed fish doll in its mouth, and landed in the center of the courtyard. It tore it with its teeth and claws, and rolled around on the ground while it was being pulled. It was a great time to play with the new toy.
Feng Bei fell from the roof, looked at the cat, and learned the lesson.
"I am in the world in the painting. Whenever I almost can't tell who I am, when I see Xiao Fengmiao, I suddenly remember who I am." Feng Bei looked at it, his expression became a little softer, and he whispered in a low voice.
Said, she inadvertently thought of those ten years again, showing a nostalgic look.
Zheng Xiu was slightly startled: "Why?"
Feng Bei: "Isn't it because the real Xie couple never raised cats in the valley. They only had those two camels. So every time I see the little Feng Meow, I think of my true self and the pretending I have always been."
Become her."
Zheng Xiu was surprised, but his attention fell on another detail: "How can you be sure that they have never had a cat?"
Feng Bei was silent and turned to look at Zheng Xiu: "Did you not see Gongsun Mo's experience at the end when the world in the painting was broken? Xie Luohe's experience, at that moment, absolutely entered my heart. Every bit of it, it made me feel...
I was there.”
Zheng Xiu stared and shook his head: "I only saw some fragments... Wait, I remembered that Gongsun Mo and Xie Luohe had never touched or raised a cat in their lives. Moreover, two hundred years ago,
The trend of keeping domestic cats in captivity has not arisen in Daqian. Cats originate from various countries in the Western Regions. The Green River Road is blocked, and communication between the Western Regions and Daqian is blocked. Gongsun Mo has never even seen a cat..."
"It's impossible to draw something you've never seen before..." Zheng Xiu lowered his head and murmured to himself: "I always mistakenly thought that this cat was brought out of the painting after we left in some way.
, something is attached to the original little orange cat.”
"No, this thing doesn't come from a painting at all. Gongsun Mo may have never painted a cat."
"The 'thing' that possessed the original little orange cat came from somewhere else!"
"From where?"
A drop of cold sweat appeared on Prince Zheng's forehead.
He quickly ran to the orange cat rolling on the ground and squatted down.
"Xiao Feng, meow..." Zheng Xiu said to the cat in a deep voice: "You said that we have raised you for many years, and you have good food and housing. I ask myself, I have treated you well these years, both inside and outside the painting.
"
"Tell me honestly. If it's true, just blink."
The cat stopped scratching and biting, raised its head in confusion, and looked at Zheng Xiu.
Zheng Xiu looked at the pair of emotionless vertical pupils.