Watching the sedan chair blowing and beating into the gate of Lin Mansion, the prince remained as motionless as a wood carving and clay sculpture. After a long time, he turned his horse's head and returned to his home.
Just as they arrived at the door, the prince stepped forward and said, "The princess is here." The prince was startled, turned around and saw that his mother's car was parked at the door, and he was immediately discouraged.
Princess Jin was talking to the Crown Princess in the house. When she saw her son coming back, she invited him to sit next to her and said with a smile: "Your wife and I are discussing how to add some beautiful and sensible women to serve you."
The Crown Prince's face darkened and he said, "No need. I don't need all these people in my backyard, and I'm preparing to send them all out."
Princess Jin was stunned: "How many women do you have in your house? They can't even compare to a fraction of your father's."
The prince said: "This kind of thing is not worthy of comparison with my father. The child will be sent away if he stays here."
The Crown Princess hurriedly said: "Your Highness, you can't do it! If such a small child is without its mother, it will be difficult for the wet nurse to take care of it."
The Crown Prince frowned and said, "Anyway, there's not a single one left, so hurry up and get rid of them all within three days." Then he stood up and left.
Princess Jin stretched out her hand to pull him, but he broke free; the Crown Princess also pretended to pull him, but only touched her sleeves, and said: "Your Majesty, wait a minute! How can you leave without saying a word?
?Wait a minute!" As soon as he finished speaking, Shi Zi quickly walked out of the door.
Princess Jin's face turned as bright as gold and she said coldly: "Stop."
Two eunuchs and nuns outside the door hurriedly greeted the prince: "Your Highness, please go back."
Princess Jin looked at the Crown Princess and said, "I know what you are thinking. It was he who said he wanted to send away the women in the backyard. Just do it and clean up all those Yingying Yanyan. You are the only one left in this mansion, but to
?”
The Crown Princess hurriedly lowered her head: "My daughter-in-law has never thought this way, it is indeed the Crown Prince's words."
Princess Jin laughed and said, "You are still dreaming. You don't want to think about it, why does he with white eyebrows and red eyes suddenly want to send away the woman in the backyard?" She looked at the prince and said, "Xinzhen is getting married today, and you have caused trouble again.
?”
The imperial concubine's body trembled, and the imperial concubine remained motionless at the door. A nanny came in and said, "I have just been looking for someone to inquire about. The imperial concubine led the troops to rob someone, but Taoist priest Xinzhen refused to go with him."
Princess Jin sat upright and glanced at her son: "Do you think that after you send the woman in the backyard away, she will be willing to follow you?"
The prince said: "As a prince, my son can't even get a woman he likes. What's the point of doing this?"
Princess Jin said: "Then if you don't become the Crown Prince, you can get that woman?" The Crown Prince turned away and said nothing. Princess Jin hummed, "The Crown Prince's Mansion where you live, the clothes you wear, and the people you bring out to snatch the bride, are all...
Because you are the crown prince. Otherwise, what else do you have?" She sighed, "If Xinzhen follows you, what will she gain? Do you still dare to let her become a concubine? She is a Taoist nun, and she doesn't even have her parents and brothers.
If you don't have any, what can you do, Crown Princess? You should think about your father-in-law first." Then he looked at the Crown Princess and said, "You also remember. You are the Crown Princess, not an ordinary young lady. You don't have to be liked by my son, just
Just make my son happy. When he succeeds to the throne in the future, he will naturally not treat your father and brother badly." After saying that, he stopped paying attention to the young couple, went straight out of the door, passed the prince and left without even looking at him.
The prince stood stunned for a long time and then walked away.
The Crown Princess burst into tears. The maids and women tried to persuade her softly, and she cried even more sadly.
About half an hour later, someone sent a letter from outside. The person who delivered the letter was a child. The envelope was written "Presented to the Crown Princess Hui Lan" without a signature. At this time, the Crown Princess had already collected her tears and opened the envelope. Inside.
It is a stack of newspaper clippings, neatly pasted on white paper and arranged in order. This newspaper clipping is a serialized article, I don’t know which newspaper it was serialized in, called "The Role of Northern Noble Women in the Family at the Current Stage."
The Crown Princess looked down from the beginning.
According to this article, the life of an aristocratic woman is divided into three stages: preparation for marriage, marriage, and marriage for children. The preparation for marriage stage is the unmarried period, when she learns how to please her husband and mother-in-law. The marriage stage is the most difficult period after she has officially married.
. You must have children, take care of the housework, please your husband's mother-in-law, and arrange for the husband's other women and children. When the children grow up, they start arranging the marriage of the next generation. Women are the token and symbol of the political alliance between her mother's family and her husband's family.
Ties. At the end of the newspaper clipping was a handwritten book list, listing more than a dozen book titles. About half were books published in Taiwan, the rest were from Guangzhou, Beijing and Ping'an Prefecture, and one was published by the Yue Kingdom Shanghai Book Company.
The person who sent the clippings was obviously Sima Zhao's intention, and he pinched it a little better. The imperial concubine still fell firmly. After thinking about it for a long time with the book list, the imperial concubine called her roommate to come in and ordered her to come back immediately.
Go to her parents' house. "See if the second master of the third bedroom is back. If he is back, let him come." Her cousin is currently studying at Yenching University. The roommate agreed and left.
Immediately, the roommate came back and said: "The second master just came back from summer vacation the day before yesterday, and now he is going to General Lin's house for a wedding banquet. I have told the boys in his house to come over as soon as the second master returns home."
In the afternoon, the prince's cousin came. The prince had already copied a copy of the book list and handed it to him. When the cousin looked at it, he was surprised and said: "Sister actually reads these books? Could it be that the consciousness of women in our Jin country has begun to awaken?"
?”
The Crown Princess said: "This list... was recommended to me."
The cousin said repeatedly: "Thank him, thank him!" He looked at his cousin with longing eyes, "Sister, do you want to see it? Don't worry, I will keep it with you, brother! I will buy it for you now! Hurry up!
"
The Crown Princess hurriedly said: "Don't worry! Just take your time and look for it."
The cousin smiled and said: "Why bother looking for it? There are a few books for sale in Taiyuan. I will find them for my sister first, and then go to... Well, Ping'an Prefecture is still far away, let's go to Handan. Handan is the closest, so I'll take care of it.
My sister bought the second one before reading the first one."
The imperial concubine said angrily: "Nonsense! It's so easy to come back. If you don't fulfill your filial piety to your mother and make some friends, what's the point of running to Handan? Since you know it's for sale, just send someone away."
The cousin thought for a while and said, "Sister is right." Nai sighed, "I can't talk to me. The generation gap is as deep as the Mariana Trench. Sister, when I graduate, I will probably stay in the capital and stay in Jin.
Can’t live.”
The Crown Princess frowned slightly: "You are not going back to Jin? What will your mother do?"
"If she is willing, I will take her to the capital in the future." My cousin smiled and said, "She is eager for me to come back and snatch the property from my elder brother. Isn't it easy to get money? Just borrow some capital from me to open a factory. Or
It would be easier to jump on a big ship and go to North America to pan for gold. I read in the newspaper that several gold mines in Japan are about to start mining. Do you really want to compete with your elder brother for such an idea and industry? It’s really not much. Besides, I’m a journalism student.
The Jin State doesn’t even have a newspaper!”
The Crown Princess thought: "The newspaper office... was not allowed to be opened by the late prince."
The cousin shrugged: "Then why should I come back? Even if there is a newspaper, our social system in Jin will be a hell for our journalists. By the way, sister, I heard at the Lin family today..."
The Crown Princess sneered and said, "The Crown Prince is obsessed with that Taoist nun."
The cousin pursed his lips and said, "Sister, it's the prince who wants to rob a common girl."
The imperial concubine said calmly: "The entire Jin Kingdom belongs to the prince, and will belong to the prince in the future. The common women are the slaves of the prince, and there is nothing that cannot be snatched away."
After hearing this, the cousin stared at the Crown Princess for a long time and said slowly: "If sister has such thoughts, reading these books will be useless."
The Crown Princess lowered her eyes and took a sip of tea: "This is the case all over the world."
"No," said the cousin, "the first official divorce case in the Yan Kingdom was the divorce of the concubine of the fourth son of King Yan from her husband. Yan, Zhao, and Ping'an Prefectures are all neighbors of the Jin Kingdom. My sister is just unable to escape and deceiving herself. He leaned forward and said, "Sister, there are thousands of cliffs blocking the road in front of you, but you don't know that the sea and the sky are vast when you turn around. I will go find a book for my sister first." After saying this, he raised the tea cup and drank it all in one gulp, then stood up and left.
In just an hour, the cousin brought four books to the Crown Princess with a smile. Before he had time to read them, the Crown Prince sent a message asking the Crown Princess to send away the barren concubine in the palace first. The Crown Princess took the After receiving the order, he first went to the concubines' houses to comfort them, and discussed with the lady in charge how to settle them until the second watch. After taking off the hairpin rings and changing the clothes outside, the imperial concubine Fang read the candle at night.
The next day, someone from her mother's family discussed the prince's mischief in the Lin Mansion with the imperial concubine. The imperial concubine was so sleepy that it took her a full quarter of an hour to get up. When she spoke to her sister-in-law, she was confused and didn't hear a word she said.
A few days later, Gan Kexi, the Secretary of the Imperial City, received another post from the Hexiang girl in Kuaihuo Building, and went there like the last time. When he arrived at the Hexiang House, he followed the ladder to the downstairs like the last time, and Jia Cong was waiting with a smile. .
Jia Congnai asked: "Is that Commander Qiao in your library a woman?"
Gan Kexi was stunned for a moment: "Yes."
"She should be about fifty years old."
"good."
"Can you still see her?"
Gan Kexi thought for a while: "When I go to Jin Prince's Mansion to do business, I can stop by to see her."
Jia Cong said: "Do me a favor and treat her to a casual meal tomorrow."
Gan Kexi said: "She is extremely skilled in martial arts."
"I know." Jia Cong said, "It's the maid of honor. My daughter-in-law is also the maid of the lord. Their maid of honor is very promising and has produced a king, an eldest princess, a queen, and a regent. In fact, it's Zhou Damei, the eldest princess of Java, who wants to ask her to meet, but she doesn't want to enter the Jin Palace. You just invite her to dinner and don't care about anything else. The Ouchi guards have their own way of contacting each other, and I don't know about it either."
Gan Kexi nodded. Suddenly he remembered something and said: "The prince's father publicly disapproved of the prince's next important official at the court meeting yesterday, but what did the prince do?"
Jia Cong said: "Not entirely. But there is no doubt that the Crown Prince's mother-in-law's support for him will become less and less."
Gan Kexi pondered: "Does the prince really just want the prince to instigate Lin Dongyang to rebel after he succeeds to the throne? Isn't that too slow? I heard that the prince is very impatient."
Jia Cong blinked and said, "What do you think?"
Gan Kexi also blinked and said, "I guess not. I'm just waiting to see the excitement."
"That's right." Jia Cong clapped his hands and said, "Anyway, you will be more lively. You see, as long as the heart is open, the whole person will feel relaxed."
"That's true." The two smiled at each other.
The next day, Gan Kexi went back to the library to treat Commander Qiao to dinner. Commander Qiao thought that the child was now successful and was very happy. The master and apprentice went to the most expensive restaurant in Taiyuan City for a feast. After the meal, Gan Kexi returned to the Yamen.
, Commander Qiao led himself back to Prince Jin's Mansion.
When Commander Qiao walked only half a street away from Prince Jin's Mansion, he suddenly heard a whistle and was shaken all over. He held his breath and stared for a long time before continuing to move forward.
That night, Commander Qiao changed into his night clothes and quietly left the Jin Palace. As soon as he jumped out of the wall, he saw a dark figure waving from the roof of a government office in front. Commander Qiao hurried over, and under the moon was his former colleague, a woman.
Wei Jiangwan. Jiang Wan saluted and said, "Uncle Hao, my master is here."
Commander Qiao was stunned for a moment and sighed. After a while, he said, "Where is Commander Zhou?"
"Uncle Hao has a house in Taiyuan, and Master lives there." Jiang Wandao said, "Uncle Hao, please come with me." He then led the way, and the two of them flew high and low under the moonlight.
Not long after they arrived at a house, they both stepped on the tiles and entered. Jiang Wandao: "Uncle, I'll go back and report later." Then he lifted the curtain and walked into the house. The door closed with a "bang".
Commander Qiao was shocked. Just as he was about to jump away, he heard someone shouting, "Guard Hao, don't move!" Three men walked out of the darkness, each holding a musket. One of them laughed and said, "Guard Hao, each is his own master.
, I'm sorry. Don't compete with us. The three of us are also from Ouchi."
Commander Qiao was indeed Hao Qiao. He looked around and said, "You are not Zhou Xiaolan's people."
"no."
"It was you and Jiang Wan who broke into Prince Jin's Mansion last time."
"Yes." The man said, "Except for Jiang Wan, we are all from the Liu family. But we have made an agreement with Commander Zhou Damei to let her take you in."
Hao Qiao frowned: "Take it in?"
"General Zhou is reluctant to kill you." The man said, "She is quite lonely in Java. Why don't Hao Weiwei go see her? It would be nice to go to Nanyang for a year and a half and then come back."
Hao Qiao sneered: "What if I don't go?"
The man smiled and said: "Hao Weibei, this is not an invitation, it is a kidnapping."
It was too late and then it was too late. The word "jia" had just been spoken when two shots were fired. However, neither shot hit Hao Qiao herself, but both hit her hair crown. A hidden weapon was shot from the house and towards Hao Qiao.
The ground above Qiao's head and under Hao Qiao's feet suddenly opened up. If Hao Qiaoruo jumped up, his gun and concealed weapons were all set off, but he couldn't move. Then he fell firmly into the trap.
The trap was not deep, but an iron net. Hao Qiao pulled out the dagger from his waist and split open one layer of the iron net. Unexpectedly, the second layer of iron net fell down again. In the blink of an eye, seven layers of iron net had been wrapped around him, and Hao Qiao was trapped tightly.
It was tightly wrapped and unable to move.
Hao Qiao was captured. Not long after, Wu Huada was kidnapped and sent to the ground floor room. The three Liu family children and Jiang Wan were all there, and Jia Cong, the regent of the Yan Kingdom, was sitting on the desk. Jia Cong smiled and said: "Hao Guards, Nanyang is very fun.
Just go and have fun and come back. Don't worry, we won't touch the Hao family."
Hao Qiao sighed: "I had guessed that the prince's visit to Taiyuan would not be as simple as building a railway. You are responsible for all the affairs of the Imperial City Department."
"No." Jia Cong said without changing his expression, "It was your Japanese second uncle who did it. I just helped him so that you wouldn't find him."