A Precious Pearl in the Imperial City

T/N: Hi guys! Thank you for waiting patiently all this time >.

 

“Father Emperor.” Chen Wang walked into the inner hall, cupped his hands to greet Emperor Longfeng, and then greeted Ming Jinghai humbly: “Lord Ming.”

 

“Greetings, Your Highness.” Ming Jinghai cupped his hands and greeted in return.

 

“There are no outsiders here. Come, join us for a meal.” Emperor Longfeng beckoned Chen Wang to sit down, “Your Uncle Ming has traveled all over through Da Cheng’s rivers and mountains. As a scholar, he is capable of placating the masses while as a person of the army, he can manage troops well. You should learn from him.”

 

Ming Jinghai glanced at Emperor Longfeng silently after hearing the latter’s words. From the way the Emperor referred to the matter, it seemed as if he had suddenly gained an Imperial nephew despite not consenting. Even if His Majesty dared to mention it, he himself did not dare to acknowledge him ah.

 

Chen Wang nodded, his chopsticks already reaching for the food on the table.

 

“Father Emperor, how was this pigeon soup prepared? It seems to taste particularly fresh and fragrant.” Chen Wang tasted two more mouthfuls: “You have the imperial chef write down the recipe so that erchen can let the cook of his residence learn how to make it.”

 

“Zhen remembers that you did not like soups before.” Emperor Longfeng raised his eyebrows: “Has your taste changed recently?”

 

“Pigeon soup nourishes the mind.” Chen Wang declared in a righteous tone: “Your son has been working hard on reading and writing recently and wishes to have it as a supplement to nurture his mind.”

 

And conveniently also supplement Ming Xiaozhu with it. He was also a dignified prince; he felt so embarrassed to eat the meal prepared by his fiancée’s family every day ah. 

 

“Your Highness is so wise and intelligent. You don’t need these additional things.” Ming Jinghai saw that the imperial father-son pair did not care about the rule of not speaking during mealtime and put down his chopsticks. He continued: “There are a few books on the art of war in weichen’s residence which he blindly jotted down without purpose. If Your Highness does not detest it, you can come to take them during your spare time and read for fun.”

 

Not long ago, Ming Jingzhou had also told him the same thing.

 

Chen Wang tried his utmost to squeeze out a smile: “Thank you, My Lord. This junior will visit you tomorrow to borrow a book for reading.” 

 

“It is merely an unworthy manuscript. Your Highness does not need to take it too seriously.” 

 

“This junior is honored to have the privilege of getting to borrow My Lord’s precious writing.” Chen Wang continued his attempts of trying to smile: “With My Lord’s talent, every word of the books is the most meaningful. How can it be an unworthy manuscript?”

 

They are both the elders of Ming Xiaozhu, the elders of Ming Xiaozhu. Be more polite, be more polite.

 

“It is weichen’s good fortune to be valued by Your Highness. Tomorrow morning, weichen will wait for Your Highness in his humble abode.” Ming Jinghai smiled slightly, and said to Emperor Longfeng: “Your Majesty, when weichen looks at His Highness’s facial features, weichen sees an imposing, elegant and extraordinary man somewhat similar to Your Majesty’s youthful self.” 

 

Emperor Longfeng laughed loudly after hearing this comment. 

 

“With your Ming family looking out for this troublesome boy, zhen feels more at ease.” Emperor Longfeng patted Ming Jinghai on the shoulder: “Beloved Official, he will be your Ming family’s son-in-law in the future, so you have to take a lot of trouble over him.”

 

Ming Jinghai got up and cupped his hand: “Weichen understands Your Majesty’s intention.”

 

After standing up, he looked at Chen Wang with an affectionate smile like that of an elder. 

 

Just, his thick brows, big eyes and the way he smiled, forced Chen Wang’s heartbeat to slow down a little. The last time he felt this way was when Ming Jingzhou discovered him in the midst of giving money to Ming Xiaozhu. 

 

Early the next morning, after Ming Jinghai returned home and changed his clothes, he went out in the yard to practice Five Animals Qigong1Five Animals Qigong [五禽戏] – This, aka Wǔ Qín Xì, is a set of qigong exercises developed during the Han dynasty. It involves full-body movements in which one imitates the movements and expressions of a tiger, a deer, a bear, a monkey, and a bird (or specifically, a crane).. Ming Cunfu, who dazedly walked into the main courtyard while yawning, was startled to see Ming Jinghai: “Father, why did you come back so early in the morning?”

 

“Early morning is the golden time of the day.” Ming Jinghai noticed his son’s fine attire: “Where are you going?” “

 

“S-son is going to deliver a collection of poetry to Miss Zhou.” Ming Cunfu’s ears reddened as he lowered his head.

 

“En, you know how to please your future wife like a man.” Ming Jinghai fished out a banknote and gave it to him: “Go now, don’t be stingy in front of that little guniang.”

 

Ming Cunfu looked at the value, forty taels!

 

Father is so generous!

 

“Uncle, sixth Brother Fu.” Jiuzhu poked her head in through the yard’s entrance, “Mother asked me to deliver some freshly-prepared refreshments for Uncle.”

 

The two brothers’ courtyards were almost adjacent to each other, separated by only a wall. Ming Cunfu glanced at the courtyards of the two families: “Meimei, did you climb over the wall again?”

 

No wonder he didn’t hear the servants reporting her arrival.

 

“There is no need to be so particular about hollow etiquette between us family.” Jiuzhu smiled embarrassedly. The wall standing in between the yards was so low, wasn’t it just easier to climb over?

 

“Come in quickly, Zhuzhu.” Ming Jinghai called out to Jiuzhu and went to wash his hands. After washing, he picked up a pastry for tasting: “You also like to climb walls?”

 

Ming Cunfu: “……”

 

Wasn’t using the word ‘also’ in his, an elder’s question, a bit inappropriate?

 

The two walked to the stone table and sat down. Ming Jinghai invited Jiuzhu to eat the pastries with him: “When your father is at home, I don’t like to take a detour to the main entrance.”

 

“No wonder there were traces of someone climbing over the wall. They turned out to be left by Uncle.” Jiuzhu had just eaten her breakfast before coming over, so she managed to finish two pieces of pastry with great difficulty: “It saves a lot of time.”

 

“If it wasn’t for the fear of outsiders gossipping, I would have directly built a door.” Ming Jinghai shook his head: “Unfortunately, the power of gossip is scary. We are ordinary people, even if we are not afraid of rumors, we have to consider a thing or two about others.”

 

“It doesn’t matter if there is a door or not. The wall is low, so it isn’t difficult to climb over.” Jiuzhu took two sips of the tea: “Mother said that eldest Uncle has been to many interesting places. Is it true?”

 

“That is certainly true.” The older one gets, they fail to restrain themselves from bragging about their past experiences in front of their beloved juniors. So hearing Jiuzhu’s question, Uncle Ming suddenly regained his spirits.

 

Ming Cunfu sighed silently as he noticed that the two people, one talking animatedly and the other listening intently, completely forgot his existence.

 

“Master, His Highness Chen Wang has come to pay a visit.”

 

“His Highness?” Jiuzhu’s concentration broke as soon as she heard the four words ‘His Highness Chen Wang‘. After a moment’s daze, she stood up and ran to the courtyard door holding her skirt up in her hand: “Where is His Highness?”

 

Witnessing his little niece’s actions, Ming Jinghai stretched his hand to beckon his son to his side, and asked in a low voice: “Zhuzhu likes Chen Wang very much?”

 

Ming Cunfu nodded: “Not only does she like him, but she also hates it when others speak ill of Chen Wang.”

 

Ming Jinghai thought for a moment and nodded: “With Chen Wang’s good looks, he has the ability to enchant women.”

 

No way, how can he say this aloud? 

 

When stepping inside Ming Jinghai’s residence, Chen Wang’s heart was heavy, but when he saw Jiuzhu above the flight steps of the courtyard’s entrance, he quickly walked up to her.

 

“Ming Xiaozhu, why are you here?”

 

“I was listening to my eldest Uncle’s recounting of the local conditions and customs of the places he had visited. I never expected to meet Your Highness, what a coincidence ah!” Jiuzhu asked with a smile: “Are you looking for eldest Uncle?”

 

Chen Wang nodded silently.

 

“I’ll lead you in. Eldest Uncle’s way of narration is really pleasant.” Jiuzhu pulled Chen Wang by his sleeves and walked inside. They had barely taken two steps when Ming Jinghai and Ming Cunfu came to greet him.

 

“Xiaguan failed to give Your Highness a proper welcome for your arrival. Please forgive xiaguan, Your Highness.”

 

“Lord Ming need not be so polite.” Chen Wang extended his other hand to help Ming Jinghai up: “Ben Wang is the one who is troubling you.”

 

Ming Jinghai stood up. Seeing his niece grabbing Chen Wang’s sleeve and the former making it easier to let her hold onto it, Ming Jinghai inwardly disdained his son who reddened with shame at the mere mention of the Zhou family’s guniang.

 

This is precisely the difference ah.

 

Ming Cunfu was taken aback. What did his Father mean by that inexplicable glance?

 

“Your Highness, please take a seat.” After Ming Jinghai called Chen Wang to sit down at the stone table, he saw the latter sweep the stone bench twice with his wide-sleeved robe and then let his niece sit.

 

And then his niece took a plate, filled it with pastries from the food box and put it in front of Chen Wang.

 

Everything was great except that he himself seemed a little redundant at the table.

 

“Eldest Uncle.” Jiuzhu cupped her face with her hands and looked at him with a scorching gaze: “Please repeat the story you told me just now.”

 

Somewhat awkward, Ming Jinghai and Chen Wang’s gazes collided midway in the air.

 

When men told stories about themselves, they would occasionally mix in a little bit of fiction and exaggeration into the tale. In case he was exposed by Chen Wang, wouldn’t his lofty image in his niece’s mind be impacted?

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1Five Animals Qigong [五禽戏] – This, aka Wǔ Qín Xì, is a set of qigong exercises developed during the Han dynasty. It involves full-body movements in which one imitates the movements and expressions of a tiger, a deer, a bear, a monkey, and a bird (or specifically, a crane).