Emperor's Grace

Before dawn, Zhu Yunjing sat in front of the mirror with dazed eyes, and began to dress up.A servant girl combed his hair, and a servant girl put on makeup for him, both of them were recruited by He Huailing's men.

He Huailing bent down behind him, looked at Zhu Yunjing's dazed eyes in the mirror, and smiled softly: "Que'er, if you really don't want to, forget it."

Zhu Yunjing ignored him, regained her senses and carefully looked at her rouge-painted face in the mirror, and sighed: "I'm almost heartbroken just looking at it."

"It looks good." He Huailing said pertinently.

Zhu Yunjing was born well, with exquisite eyebrows and a face like a jade crown. The maid did not put heavy makeup on him, but only a little powder, which made his facial features more beautiful and full, and the heroic eyebrows were slightly modified. Pasted with bright red flower tinsel, the raised phoenix eyes are even more charming, just like a beautiful lady like peaches and plums.

His long hair was braided into the thin braids most commonly braided by Yi women, decorated with small gold jade pearls, and the long clip earrings made his exposed neck more slender and slender. The woman was wearing a very gorgeous red dress with pinched gold threads, not to mention He Huailing, even the two maids looked straight at her.

Zhu Yunjing rolled her eyes uncomfortably: "Can this work?"

He Huailing smiled lowly: "Very good."

When it was time to go out, Zhu Yunjing still felt that everything was wrong. Putting on the exquisite embroidered shoes worn by women, he almost forgot how to walk, and his whole body was awkward. He pulled his skirt and glared at He Huailing: "It's all your bad idea."

He Huailing was very helpless: "I said earlier that I went alone."

"...Let's go."

Just after the hour, the Zeng family's house opened wide, and the guests came like a cloud. The round table for the guests was almost set up at the gate, and countless maids and servants shuttled around, busy all the time.Zeng Jinnan, the president of the Huyang Chamber of Commerce, led several half-grown sons, and was standing by the door beamingly to greet the guests in person.

He Huailing helped Zhu Yunjing get out of the car. He changed his appearance and put on a big beard. He looked exactly like the businessman who was stunned by them. Zhu Yunjing held his arm and covered his face with a red gauze. Only a pair of rippling beautiful eyes were revealed, but people passing by couldn't help but take a second look.

He Huailing accompanied Zhu Yunjing to greet Zeng Jinnan and present him with a birthday present. Zeng Jinnan smiled and said, "Master Li, please come inside."

The tea merchant surnamed Li that He Huailing pretended to be in Huyang City had no foundation when he first arrived in Huyang City. , but looked at Zhu Yunjing one by one, lost his soul, his eyes were so eager that he almost swallowed it, and he didn't know how to hide it at all.

Zhu Yunjing lowered her eyes, if it was the past, he would definitely poach the eyeballs of these brats.He Huailing used her body to block the sight of those people indiscriminately, and took Zhu Yunjing into the room. Zhu Yunjing raised her hand and squeezed his waist hard.

As soon as he entered the door, a maid came over and led Zhu Yunjing to the female guest table in the backyard. He Huailing patted his hand: "Be careful."

Zhu Yunjing scoffed at him: "Go eat your wine."

After parting with He Huailing, Zhu Yunjing walked to the backyard with the little maid who led the way, and looked around carefully all the way. This Zeng family is indeed the home of the richest man in Huyang City. It is a place beyond the rules, but no one cares about it in this border area, no wonder they choose to take root here.

There was also a banquet in the backyard, which was full of women wearing gold, silver and jewelry. Zhu Yunjing glanced at it casually, and all of these people looked very wealthy, but if you want to talk about demeanor and demeanor, they are not the same as those in Beijing. Those aristocratic ladies are far behind, merchants are just merchants after all.

When Zhu Yunjing appeared, a lot of inquiring eyes had already landed on him, nothing else, just because his appearance was too stunning, women always have a desire to compare in appearance, let alone he pretends to be The only one is a barbaric woman who most people despise.

Zhu Yunjing is not afraid of being looked at by others, he sits down generously, and when others look at him, he calmly looks back, and it is definitely not him who looks away first.

The more he behaved like this, the more unpleasant it became. Someone deliberately mentioned that the master of the family had taken a male concubine from Beiyi, who was more beautiful than the women in their tribe, and could dance belly dance. Concealing contempt, someone deliberately brought the topic to Zhu Yunjing, asking him: "I heard that barbarian people can dance that belly dance, is it true? Can sister-in-law Li also dance?"

Zhu Yunjing was a little slow to realize that the phrase "Sister-in-law Li" was calling him, he: "..."

But the person who spoke didn't have any good intentions, and seven or eight pairs of eyes fell on him, waiting to see the show. Who doesn't know that the belly dance in Dayan is only danced by brothels, Zhu Yunjing It was funny in my heart, and I looked at them innocently, but didn't speak.

It turned out that the barbarian whom Boss Li had been married to was a dumb man, no matter how beautiful he was, he couldn't speak!As a result, the people around looked down on Zhu Yunjing even more, and they lost interest in ridiculing him, and they all turned their attention away from him, and stopped talking to him.

Zhu Yunjing was happy and at ease, sitting on the side quietly peeling peanuts and drinking tea, quietly paying attention to listening to people chatting.

Women's topics are either parents' short stories or new styles of clothes and new jewelry patterns. The more Zhu Yunjing listens, the more bored she becomes, when she sees the woman who deliberately squeezed him out just now raises her hand, and shows others the clothes on her wrist. He was wearing a gold bracelet set with precious stones that was as thick as the mouth of the bowl. He smiled disapprovingly and said: "My master brought it to me when he came back from outside the customs a few days ago. It's so tiring to wear, and he still insists on me. Dai, if you say good-looking, he knows what good-looking is." After finishing speaking, he was greeted with envious praise.

Another person was not to be outdone and compared: "My master also likes to bring me those flashy things every time he goes back to the outside of the customs. How many times have I told him that there is everything at home, but he just doesn't listen. Go, what is Fei Naluo doing so hard."

Zhu Yunjing raised her eyes and glanced at them. These two women are the wives of the top ten businessmen in Huyang Chamber of Commerce. Vulgarity is a bit vulgar, but what he cares about is other things in their words. People here dare to stay at the border to do business because there is a solid barrier like Qiongguan, so they are fearless. Would they still personally deliver goods to trade outside the border?

Later, the women chattered about what they had heard from their men outside the customs, and when Zhu Yunjing's thoughts gradually drifted away, someone suddenly changed the subject: "Don't always talk about those boring things. Stuff, have you heard of this new young general? It's the commander of the expeditionary army who beat the Beiyi people so hard that he didn't dare to show his head again. He was said to be very handsome. When he was in Beijing, the old emperor wanted to marry the princess to him, but he didn’t even want it. It’s only been a few months since he’s been here that he’s going to marry a man. The master said that he would give a gift in the name of the chamber of commerce, although I don't think they might like it."

Zhu Yunjing: "..." When did He Huailing marry the princess?

"Isn't it? It's a pity that such a handsome general wants to marry a man. Why can't he think about it so much." Someone sighed regretfully.

Although the founding queen of the Dayan Dynasty was a man, and the status of a man's wife is no different from that of an ordinary wife, there are always people who are prejudiced. The more noble the family, the less likely they are to marry a man's wife. Just one or two male concubines.The women started discussing enthusiastically, the women here don't have the reserve of those noble ladies, they don't feel the slightest blush when they talk about these things, and they all seem to be full of interest in He Huailing, Zhu Yunjing suddenly remembered that He Huailing had just returned to Beijing That day, when the flowers and sachets kept coming all the way, there was an inexplicable subtle emotion in my heart.

The women talked for a while, He Huailing then talked about the deputy general beside him, and someone curled his lips and said: "I heard that Vice President Chen is a flirtatious person, and he hired a woman from a brothel as his outer room, and he hid there In the alleys of Xinghua Street, I don’t know what to think.”

Immediately someone answered: "I've heard that too, and I also heard my master mention that the singer was sent by the prefect to please that Vice President Chen. Vice President Chen likes it very much, man Well, it’s like that, when you see a beautiful woman, you can’t walk.”

Raising a concubine is despised by others, not to mention raising a prostitute, so the women who said that because He Huailing still yearned for generals changed their words one after another, saying that those who are soldiers are vulgar, and they may not be treated if they are married. What crime, it seems that if they are still in their boudoirs, they will have a chance to marry.

In the middle of the banquet, Zhu Yunjing excused herself to go to the toilet and was led to the back room by the maid. On the way, she saw many servants wearing the clothes of Zeng's parents busy packing boxes and moving goods, so she stopped involuntarily and squinted. The eyes looked for a while.

Seeing that Zhu Yunjing seemed curious, the little maid on the side smiled and explained: "These are the goods that will be sent outside the customs when the market opens in the past two days. Madam, please go this way."

Zhu Yunjing's gaze sank, and she looked away.

It was noon when we left Zeng Zhai. After getting in the car and closing the door, Zhu Yunjing immediately tore off his veil, kicked off his shoes and collapsed without a trace. He Huailing patted his hand: "How?"

"Not so good, a group of vulgar fans with shallow eyelids."

He Huailing suppressed a smile: "Just nothing?"

"That's not the case," Zhu Yunjing said irritably, pushing aside the drooping braids, "from their tone, those people in the chamber of commerce seem to often go out of the pass in person, and they seem to have the same relationship with the princes and nobles outside the pass. exchanges, not afraid of being affected by the flames of war."

"Well," He Huailing nodded, "They hold the important supplies that the barbarians need, and the barbarians have no time to please them. Even if they rob them, they won't grab them. It's just the poor people in this border area who suffer."

Zhu Yunjing said coldly: "Those things can be transported out of the pass smoothly, it is necessary for someone in the frontier army to help them. After so many years, the imperial court has not known it at all. They are really brave."

"If there is no solid evidence for this kind of thing, no one will get into trouble easily if the stolen goods are not obtained on the spot. After all, there are too many entanglements. You have also seen the end of Qian Zongbing."

"Trash," Zhu Yunjing cursed in a low voice, "Then what are you going to do?"

He Huailing said honestly: "At the moment, we can only increase the inspection of personnel and goods when entering and exiting the customs. When we first came here, even if I was the general soldier, I didn't have the ability to see the sky. Vice President Chen has been operating here for several years. He There are ways to help those businessmen get their things out of the customs right under my nose, and I will ask people to keep an eye on him, but it is best not to act rashly so as not to startle the enemy, not to mention that even if someone steals the goods and he gets them, he can still find an excuse to shirk his ignorance , Our main purpose is to find out the Lin family behind the Chamber of Commerce, not to deal with Vice President Chen."

"I see that the Zeng family is still busy shipping goods. Will there be those shady things inside?"

"Of course not what you can see."

Zhu Yunjing frowned: "...the north has been leveled, and the Beiyi people will still buy ironware from them?"

He Huailing said: "The small countries in Beiyi have always had friction with each other. As long as there is no trouble, the court will always turn a blind eye and ignore it. Iron wares will never worry about being sold, not to mention the wolfish ambition of the Beiyi people. It’s not going to be defeated, it’s not the Cangrong Kingdom, it’s the other.”

Zhu Yunjing was very surprised: "You think so?"

"It's always been." Before he came out, he said in the imperial study that there would be no more wars in 20 years was just to comfort the emperor. In fact, He Huailing always felt that the court's soft policy towards the northern barbarians could not keep the frontier peaceful for so long. Taking advantage of the victory, the Cangrong Kingdom was destroyed in one fell swoop to intimidate all directions, but Emperor Zhaoyang wanted to show the aura of a great country, and the expeditionary army had already reached the capital of Cangrong. The emperor ordered them to come back and accepted the other party's submission Gong, left a good name, but also left troubles.

Seeing Zhu Yunjing's worried face, He Huailing comforted him: "Don't worry too much, we have prepared early, with Dayan's current strength, there is no one who cannot win."

"I'm afraid that someone will take the opportunity to stir up trouble," Zhu Yunjing said, and then squinted at He Huailing, "Then Vice President Chen hid a singing girl in the alley of Xinghua Street. Didn't your people hear the news before?"

"Yes, but she's just a singing girl, nothing special."

"Then do you know that the singing girl was given to him by the magistrate of Huyang City?"

He Huailing shook his head, but he was not surprised: "The magistrate here colludes with the chamber of commerce, officials and businessmen, and they are like dogs of a feather."

Zhu Yunjing reminded He Huailing with a dry smile: "Don't look down on a little singing girl, why don't you send people to work harder on that woman, maybe there will be unexpected gains."

He Huailing raised his eyebrows: "Your Highness is so experienced?"

"You think that everyone is like you, and the sachet given by the girl's family is sent back in public to make people feel ashamed. It's no wonder that you don't understand women's thoughts if you don't understand the style."

"You understand?" He Huailing said with a smile, "Who is more puzzled by style?"

Zhu Yunjing glared at him. After putting on makeup, her peachy face looked extraordinarily coquettish even when she was staring at others. He Huailing raised her hand and gently pinched his chin.

Zhu Yunjing said impatiently: "What about you? You won't gain much? You won't really go to cheat for food and drink, right?"

He Huailing's thumb pads slowly stroked the arc of his chin, and narrowed his eyes slightly: "One thing, there are people in the chamber of commerce who make a lot of money like Zeng Jinnan, and there are also people who can only drink soup. There are always people who are not convinced. I have been optimistic about a few of them, and maybe they will be our breakthrough in the future.”

Zhu Yunjing clapped his hands: "Speak well, touch whatever you want."

He Huailing smiled lightly, but instead of letting go, his fingers had to rub his lips that were painted with red lipstick, rubbing the soft spot, Zhu Yunjing turned his head, He Huailing's hand smeared, and the gorgeous red was smeared on the lips. Touching the corner of Zhu Yunjing's mouth, she looked extraordinarily enchanting.

"You in the end..."

Warm lips that didn't belong to her came up, and Zhu Yunjing's eyes suddenly widened.