Crossing the East Palace

When Concubine Xin brought the Ninth Princess to Baihua Garden, she didn't expect the Fifth Princess to be there.

When she saw the fifth princess, she was slightly taken aback.

In the past, she always felt that she owed this daughter and wanted to make up for it with all her strength. She even did not hesitate to treat the ninth princess by her side a little bit negligently. One of his nephews was ordered to be the fifth princess' consort.

However, the fifth princess ruthlessly rejected the marriage.Even in public, she said "I would rather not marry than marry the Shen family".

Concubine Xin was spoiled by her family since she was a child. Even after her mother gave birth to a pearl and a younger sister, the family got used to doting on her and protecting her.Concubine Xin is grateful, and she can only do better for her family.If the fifth princess said that she was a concubine or concubine, and that she was not worthy of being treated well, even though Concubine Xin felt sad, she would still treat the fifth princess kindly and considerately; Belittle the Shen family.

If the fifth princess is unwilling to marry, she can tell her about it tactfully. Although Concubine Xin will be disappointed, she is willing to continue to spend her time finding another consort for her.But why did the fifth princess want to belittle the Shen family like that?Why do you look down on your status as a concubine so much, and the Shen family who are always making progress?

Since then, Concubine Xin has really been heartbroken by the Fifth Princess.Although she is still paying attention to the affairs of the son-in-law for the fifth princess, but when it comes to caring, it is not as good as before.

She thought, maybe she was hurt too many times by the fifth princess, and there was something in her heart, just hurt it, and when the injury reached a certain point, she would no longer have to care about the fact that the fifth princess was her blood. The fifth princess became the princess of other ordinary concubines in the palace.

The fifth princess didn't know how sad Concubine Xin was, and was hesitating at the moment whether to go forward.

——In the past, Concubine Xin would take the initiative to talk to her at this time, but this time, for some reason, Concubine Xin didn't come to her.The fifth princess was anxious and apprehensive, but she couldn't do anything.

The fifth princess has long been used to Concubine Xin showing favor to her, and now the queen is unwilling to put her heart into the so-called "hexagram image" for her, and Concubine Xin does not come to show her favor, so the fifth princess got anxious and stood up, Walk towards Concubine Zhongxin and Princess Nine.

Concubine Xin froze for a moment, but still did not move.

Ninth Princess curled her lips slightly.She has always disliked this "sister", so the mother concubine does not urge her, and she has always been unwilling to get close to the fifth princess.This time I happened to meet the fifth princess, she wanted to pull the mother concubine away, but both parties met, the mother concubine saw the fifth princess, and the fifth princess also saw the mother concubine, so the ninth princess was not easy to pull people I left, so I had to stand here and wait.

"Concubine Xin." The fifth princess bowed slightly.

Concubine Xin felt as if someone had stabbed her heart one by one with a knife. It had been stabbed for a long time, and she knew it was painful, but in fact, because of the pain for too long, she couldn't feel too much pain.

"Fifth Princess." Concubine Xin nodded.

She is the first-rank concubine and the biological mother of the fifth princess.Even if the Fifth Princess refused to call her "Mother Concubine", but would only call her "Mother Concubine Xin" like other princes and daughters who were not born to her, but because of her identity, she naturally did not return the gift to the Fifth Princess reason.

But she still stretched out her hand and pressed on Princess Jiu's shoulder.

Princess Jiu is already nine years old, lively and lovely. Apart from going to school and accompanying Concubine Xin, she runs to Changle Palace and Shoukang Palace on weekdays. Her brother likes her, so she will always remember the few words that the prince's brother said to her alone.

In her heart, the prince's brother is so smart, what Tate told her must be done by her, and if it is done, it will be good to her, so she naturally wants to hear it and do it.

For example, the elder brother of the prince said that the empress dowager and the empress dowager are lonely, if someone can sincerely accompany them, their lives will be much happier in the future.Although Princess Datang also had to attend classes every day, her homework was obviously much easier than the prince's.Therefore, when the nine princesses are free, they will go to accompany the empress dowager and the empress dowager.Although she couldn't sit for too long, she found that just watching her kicking shuttlecock and playing Cuju with the maids in the courtyard, laughing happily in the courtyard, the expressions of the Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager would be much more relaxed.Because of this, Princess Jiu thought of a way to make the two elders happy. The empress dowager and the queen dowager also liked her, and would occasionally mention her.

There is no need to get too close to the Fifth Princess, the Empress Dowager told her suddenly.Although the ninth princess didn't understand the reason, her father said that her greatest advantage is that she can listen to what people who are good to her say. It doesn't matter if the ninth princess doesn't understand, but she will follow suit.

But now that everyone is in front of her, the ninth princess can only curtsey: "Sister Wuhuang is well."

The fifth princess stretched out her hand and rubbed the head of the ninth princess.

Princess Jiu wanted to avoid it, but for the sake of her mother and concubine, she stood still.

"I..." Fifth Princess opened her mouth, but she didn't know where to start.

She came over just now, but she was impulsive, and now that the impulsiveness has passed, she doesn't know how to speak.

The ninth princess continued to lower her head and did not speak, but squeezed Concubine Xin's hand hard with one hand.

Concubine Xin knew that the ninth princess was reminding her not to trust the fifth princess, but the ninth princess was her daughter, and so was the fifth princess!Even if the Fifth Princess refuses to recognize her, refuses to get close to her like the Ninth Princess, and even refuses to call her "mother concubine", she still recognizes the queen who caused her premature birth as her mother and serves her every day, Concubine Xin You can't completely forget about the fifth princess, and don't care about anything.

"Xiao Jiu is going to help Concubine Mother choose a good scene. Concubine Mother will draw it later and take it back for Aunt Ziyan to bring someone to embroider a small screen for you." Concubine Xin bent down and coaxed Princess Jiu Said, "Mother and concubine will pass in a while. Xiaojiu will go first, huh?"

Ninth Princess puffed her cheeks, what else could she say?She had no choice but to snort softly, saluted the two of them, and left with her little maids.

The fifth princess heaved a sigh of relief.There are nine princesses here, and she really doesn't know how to say some words.

Concubine Xin didn't make things difficult for her at all, and said directly: "Did the fifth princess come to me because of the previous hexagram? If so, then the fifth princess can feel at ease for the time being. The hexagram matter, unless the master takes action, Otherwise, it's good or bad, it's hard to say.

Although the hexagram of the fifth princess seems to be that someone is going to embarrass the fifth princess, we also know this, but most people in the world would rather believe it than believe it. On the contrary, people will believe in the hexagram more.If you don't wait another two or three years, the fifth princess will only be fourteen or five years old by then, and then tell the world that the hexagrams have been deciphered, and you can say that they are relatives. This is the best policy. "

The fifth princess is young, has little experience, and was specially raised by caring people when she was young. Many things that she couldn't figure out before, she heard Concubine Xin said this, so she felt relieved, blushed, and bowed seriously , said: "So, thank you very much."

Concubine Xin's eyes turned red, she turned her head to wipe the corners of her eyes, turned her face, and then helped the fifth princess up, and sighed: "You grew up in a nunnery and refused to get close to me. I never blamed you. It's just...you have to understand some things. In the seventh year of Tianyuan, the Ning family was framed, and the empress was imprisoned in the Qingning Palace while pregnant. I thought about my cousin's sisterhood, so I also asked to be imprisoned in Qingning Palace, to accompany the queen.

I thought that my cousin treated me for the truth, but unexpectedly, on the night of March 26, I and the queen had seizures one after another. The queen gave birth in July, and I gave birth in August... Although I am confused, I live in the palace After a long time and thinking about it for a long time, I also understood the queen's original plan. "

Concubine Xin looked at the shocked fifth princess, and sighed: "You were born into the royal family, you are smarter than me, and you can understand the strangeness after thinking about it. If the queen really gave birth to a son that day, if it wasn't you who gave birth to me, then , what will the queen do that day?"

The fifth princess thought that the queen treated her well on weekdays, and it didn't look like a fake at all.She also heard from many palace people that the queen raised her as a princess.At that time, the twelve princesses had not yet been born, and the most honorable princess in the entire harem belonged to her.The queen also said at that time that she was truly the apple of her eye, and she was willing to do everything she could to pamper her.

It wasn't until the birth of the twelve princesses that the queen's love for her suddenly decreased, and the palace people in the palace seemed to realize at that time, ah, how could the most honorable princess in this palace be the fifth princess born from a concubine?It is clearly the twelve princesses who are the descendants of the queen and the younger sister of the prince!

Although the queen was very kind to her at that time, compared to what the fifth princess had expected, it was a little less.

It was precisely because of this gap, and being teased a few times, that the fifth princess heard the older palace servants say that when the prince was a few months old, someone tricked him into developing a high fever, and the fever passed in a few days. , burned into half a fool, so she thought about it, and wanted to do the same thing, turning the twelve princesses into fools-of course, compared to the prince who was born prematurely and only a few months old, she wanted the twelve princesses. Being sick, of course, I put in more effort.

It's just that she didn't expect that the twelve princesses were burned to death instead of being fools.

The fifth princess felt uneasy for a few days, and found that the queen began to love her as before, and the child in the queen's womb was also called the prince by many people. Only then did she feel at ease and enjoy the queen's kindness to her wholeheartedly.

She has never thought about it before. It stands to reason that the queen is only her aunt, and her relationship with her biological mother, Concubine Xin, is not that good. Why should she treat her so well? Except when there are twelve princesses, the queen has always kept her promise , Treat her like a pearl like a treasure, just like your own life.However, listening to Concubine Xin's words today, the fifth princess only felt her heart beating violently.

Since she was born on the same day as the crown prince, is it possible that she is the empress's own son, and the crown prince was born by Concubine Xin?Only in this way can the fifth princess understand why the queen always refuses to get close to the prince, but treats her like a jewel in her palm.

So she is the real princess?

It's a pity that the idea of ​​being infinitely closer to the truth in the heart of the fifth princess did not last for a long time, and Concubine Xin said again: "Although I also suspected that you and the crown prince were swapped back then, but just looking at the looks of the two of you and the crown prince's appearance, Seven points are like the emperor, and the other three points are like the queen, and none of them are like me. And you," Concubine Xin couldn't help but reached out and touched the face of the fifth princess, "and you, although you are more like the emperor , but in some places, you can still see that it looks like me."

The heart of the fifth princess was beating like a "plop plop plop", but it suddenly became quiet.

Yes, she was confused.

Concubine Xin can figure out things, how could the Empress Dowager, Queen Mother and Father not understand?Under such circumstances, the queen mother can still sit firmly on the queen's position and give birth one after another. It is obvious that the queen mother set up a situation at the beginning, but in the end, the queen mother really gave birth to a son, and Concubine Xin gave birth to herself, which is useless daughter, so that there is no need to exchange sons.As for the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor Father, probably for the sake of the Prince, they spared the Empress Mother and never pursued this matter.

The fifth princess barely wanted to understand this matter, and wanted to raise her head to smile at Concubine Xin, but she still couldn't.

Concubine Xin said pitifully: "That's all for the rest, but you have to remember that although you are the queen's concubine, you are also the emperor's daughter, the princess of Datang, why do you need to be so low-key and imitate the court people to please you?" The master usually pleases her? If it wasn't for her, if it wasn't for her, how could we, mother and daughter, end up like this..."

Concubine Xin wanted to say more, but the fifth princess had already restrained her expression.

"Thank you, Concubine Xin, for your teaching." The fifth princess bowed her knees, lowered her eyes and said, "It's just that after a while, it will be time for the queen mother to eat, and I will go to serve the queen mother now."

Then he left directly.

Concubine Xin was heartbroken, but she couldn't stop anything.

Not far away, Fugui personally came to pick up the fifth princess.

Tang Luojin didn't know much about the harem.

He was standing in the study of the head of the Jiangnan Academy at this time, and with a group of talented and indignant disciples, he pleaded with the second prince's grandfather, Jiang Shanchang, hoping to copy a part of the lonely copy of the Jiangnan Academy and release it. In the Jiangnan library, it is available for the majority of Jiangnan students to read.

"Jiang Shanchang has always been benevolent and righteous. If he wants to benefit the country and the people and leave his name through the ages, Jiang Shanchang will definitely not refuse."

"Yes, yes, I have heard since I was a child that the students of Jiangnan Academy have a competition every year. Those who get the top ten in the competition will all be exempted from their training. It can be seen that Jiang Shanchang Benevolence! If you want to reduce Shuxiu, Jiang Shanzhang is willing to do it, and to add books to the library, Jiang Shanzhang will definitely do it!"

"Exactly. If Jiang Shanchang is worried about our clumsy hands and feet, why not ask Jiang Jiaerlang to copy and check all the orphan books before giving them to us. In this way, we can not only preserve the orphan books of Jiangnan Academy, but also make Jiangnan The collection of books in the library has increased a lot, isn't this the best of both worlds?"

"It's exactly..."

……

Jiang Shanchang almost fainted out of breath.

Jiangnan Academy has been able to maintain its good reputation for hundreds of years, except that the atmosphere of the academy is relatively decent, and it is relatively fair to students. It often invites real great scholars to sit in the academy. This is the collection of books that Jiangnan Academy is most proud of for hundreds of years. and a rare orphan.

The heads of Jiangnan Academy of all dynasties have worked so hard for these collections of books and unique copies, so that Jiangnan Academy can stand firm in all dynasties.But just a few days after the prince came to the south of the Yangtze River, did these students who were motivating him start to use the name of "righteousness" to force him to "contribute" all the books and lonely books?

Jiang Shanchang only felt dizzy, wishing to faint immediately, so as not to continue listening to these people's "righteous words".

Tang Luojin sat on the side, just quietly watching the situation of those students "persecuting" Jiang Shanzhang.

Although the development of culture requires inheritance and the disclosure of those "orphan copies", but if the second prince hadn't coveted the position of crown prince, and even attacked him several times, Tang Luojin would not have used such means to force Jiang Shanzhang now.

It's a pity that although Jiang Shanzhang could see through Tang Luojin's plan, he still cared about the reputation and inheritance of Jiangnan Academy, and the second prince. As a result, even if he knew it was a trick, he had no choice but to jump down.

"Everyone probably doesn't know, whether those lonely copies or the collection of books, they are all collected bit by bit by the descendants of the Jiang family in the south of the Yangtze River. If you want to give it away for no reason..." Jiang Shan said Could it be, "How can Jiang be worthy of his ancestors like this! How can he be worthy of the students who study in Jiangnan Academy? Those books are specially designed for outstanding students who study in Jiangnan Academy. The only ones in history are Jiangnan Academy. Only students who are exceptionally good at the academy can study. This is the rule of Jiangnan Academy, and it is also the way to encourage the students of Jiangnan Academy to make progress. Jiang is not talented, but he dare not break the rules of the academy."

A group of students who were specially selected by Tang Luojin to lead them were not stupid. Hearing this, he immediately said: "Mr. Jiang Shan's words are different. The purpose of writing books is to leave a name in history for future generations to learn and appreciate. The Jiang family in the south of the Yangtze River loves books, and they should respect the people who wrote the books. What they want most is to let more people see and read their books. These books should be given to ordinary scholars."

"That's right. As far as the students know, there are only ten 'excellent' students in Jiangnan Academy every year, and these ten students only have the opportunity to study for a month in the Jiang Family Library. And during this month, no Copy it out. The academy has such strict requirements, how can most of the students really benefit? Even the best students only have the opportunity to study for one month a year, and they are not even allowed to copy. Those students, so can really Did you learn anything?"

"Second Prince Suwen is gentle and elegant, respectful and virtuous, and cherishes scholars the most. Presumably Jiang Shanzhang is the same, he cherishes and respects scholars, so he is willing to provide the collection of books and single copies to most of the students for viewing and inheritance. I wonder if this is the case?"

……

Tang Luojin deliberately picked a good time. There was only one adult man, Jiang Shanzhang, in the Jiang family, but he brought over a dozen students with extremely sharp tongues. It was hard to beat everyone, and finally had to agree to select three orphan books and ten collections of books every year, and send their transcripts to the Jiangnan Lending Library.Of course, if it is an isolated copy of calligraphy, the isolated copy itself must be exhibited in a library for seven days before it can be retrieved.

As the first year of this year, Jiangnan Academy will take out ten unique books and twenty collections and send them to the Jiangnan Lending Library.

Jiang Shanchang quarreled with a group of young people who were not afraid of tigers when they were newborns, and they got such a result.

He originally thought that those students should be very grateful to him after compromising to this point, and the reputation of Jiangnan Academy would go even further, but it was a pity that before he could drink his saliva and take a rest, he was nearly pissed off by the youngest person in the room fainted.

"Since Mr. Jiang Shan is willing to support my Jiangnan Library so much," Tang Luojin said with a stern face, sitting upright in the teacher's chair, "Each year, the East Palace will also pick out five orphan books and fifteen rare books. After copying, It was sent to the Jiangnan Library for appreciation by many students. And after returning to Chang’an, the solitary meeting wrote to the father, and asked the father to select books from the palace collection every three years, copy them and send them to Jiangnan. What do you think? ?”

The dozen or so young students were overjoyed at the moment.They were originally grateful for Tang Luojin's generosity in building the Jiangnan Library, but now they heard that the crown prince not only gave away more lonely books than Jiang Shanchang, but also invited the emperor to come forward. How could everyone not like such a good deed? ?

"The prince is so kind, I am so grateful." Everyone bowed and bowed, "May the prince live a thousand years!"

Tang Luojin: "...um." With an expressionless face.

Jiang Shanchang: "..." What about Jiangnan Academy?What about the Jiang family?Could it be that Tang Luojin could only let Tang Luojin step on it and climb up?

Tang Luojin really planned to step on the Jiangnan Academy to climb up.

There is no way, Jiangnan Academy is the mother family of the second prince, and the second prince has coveted the position of crown prince for a long time, so for Tang Luojin, the second prince is his enemy, so Jiangnan Academy is naturally also.

So as soon as he came to Jiangnan, he would appease Jiangnan students and thoroughly investigate the case of imperial examination fraud. He built the Jiangnan Library, firstly to increase his own reputation, and secondly, to reduce Jiangnan Academy The influence on the Jiangnan students made the second prince's power to win the reserves smaller.

Rao Jiang Shanzhang guessed what Tang Luojin did, but he could only let Tang Luojin do it.

And Ning Junchi was relieved to see Tang Luojin doing things well, but he was more supportive.

He was the first to donate a large sum of money for the construction of the Difficult Library, and then mobilized other wealthy households in Jiangnan to slowly donate money, and the Jiangnan Library began to be built bit by bit.

"Let's go." Seeing that the matter was finished, Tang Luojin also made the second prince's grandfather so angry that his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys and five internal organs ached. Ning Junchi stood up and stretched out his hand towards Tang Luojin, "It's time to go .”

Tang Luojin naturally held Ning Junchi's hand, and the two left together.

When the two of them and those students left, Jiang Shanzhang and his two grandsons who hurried over stood at the door, looking at the backs of everyone.

Jiang Shanzhang's little grandson has never been shy about men and women. When he first saw the prince's appearance, his mind was fluttering. Although the prince is young, he doesn't like to smile, and his face is as expressionless as ice. However, the prince expressed No matter how indifferent she is, she can't hold back that good-looking face!Don't you hear, this kind of cold-faced beauty, in the eyes of many people, is what they like.

"It's a pity." Jiang Shanchang's little grandson accidentally "tsk tsk" twice.

Jiang Shan gave him a long look: "What's the pity?"

Jiang Shanchang's little grandson didn't dare to reply at all, saying that the "pity" he said just now was a pity that Tang Luojin's status was too valuable, not to mention ordinary people, even him, he was full of evil intentions and could only watch He had a good time watching people's backs, and when Tang Luojin looked at him face to face, he didn't even dare to look at Tang Luojin.

Jiang Shanchang saw that the little grandson was silent, so he turned his face away, his eyes fell on the hands held by the two, he frowned, and then relaxed after a while—he must have thought too much.

These days, the behavior of these two people is both bright and aboveboard. Needless to say, the prince is not very old, his eyes are clear, and he does not know men and women or the relationship between men and women at first glance. Although Duke Xin is in his twenties She is still not married, but early on in Chang'an City, it was spread that Lord Xin only wanted one person in his life. It can be seen that Lord Xin is sincere and doesn't like sex between men and women, and only seeks people who are like-minded.Although Xin Guogong cares about the prince, the two of them are uncles and nephews. What's wrong with the uncle caring about the prince's nephew, especially the prince's nephew?

Jiang Shanchang squinted his eyes for a while, and could only say "it's a pity" from the bottom of his heart.

In July of the 19th year of Tianyuan, Empress Ning was pregnant for six and a half months, and Tang Luojin had finished all the work in the south of the Yangtze River.

Ning Junchi intends to invite Tang Luojin to go further and have a good time, but Tang Luojin refuses. He can only walk slower on the road, so that he can have fun along the way, and then go south... that's all .

Ning Junchi did not doubt that he was there, so he agreed not to mention it.

In mid-July, amidst the tears of Jiangnan students, Tang Luojin left Jiangnan and rushed to Chang'an City.

At the same time, the Shen family in Chang'an City.

The second girl of the Shen family is Concubine Xin's younger sister, a delicate daughter born of Mrs. Shen's old clam. She is now twenty-nine years old and will be married soon.

Second Miss Shen was originally lively, but after experiencing the Jiang family incident, she gradually calmed down.

It's just that Second Miss Shen calmed down, but Mrs. Shen couldn't bear it anymore, and drove Second Miss Shen to play with her two little nephews.

The two little dolls were twins, three or four years old, and they were playing with water in the tub naked in the yard surrounded by their mother, wet nurse, and maids.

Miss Shen Er stepped into the yard with the incense burner and was stunned.

The two little children didn't know the difference between men and women. When they saw their aunt coming, they immediately stood up from the wooden basin and called out loudly: "Auntie! Auntie is also here to play in the water!"

Everyone laughed immediately.

Miss Shen Er pursed her lips and walked towards the two little babies, both of them opened their arms for her to hug, and the smaller one knocked the other one out of the way, and said loudly and proudly: "Hug, aunt! "

Miss Shen Er burst into laughter, and was about to say something, when she saw that the baby who was knocked crooked had a birthmark on her bare leg.

A quincunx-shaped birthmark.