Daiyu of the Red Chamber raised a cat

Hearing that Zhou Hang asked Li Xu to find a good bow, Li Zhao said, "What kind of bow, bring it here first."

Why does this sound like he worked so hard to find the bow, and in the end the credit is all due to Brother Huang?Li Xu was a little reluctant, Li Zhao glanced at him and said, "Why, do you think I've made things difficult for you?"

Li Xu shook his head hurriedly, "Don't dare, it's just that my brother...my brother came in a hurry and didn't bring it with me."

Li Zhao couldn't help laughing with a "sneer": "Little brother, I watched you grow up, but still don't understand you? You have been afraid of me since you were young, and you will stutter whenever you lie in front of me. You said you didn't bring it with you, Huh?" He stepped forward and walked in front of Li Xu, making Li Xu tremble in fright, and hurriedly said: "The bow is in the hands of my bodyguard, he is waiting outside the hall."

Satisfied, Li Zhao ordered someone to bring the bow, and the two brothers took Li Xuxu to talk.

It's nothing more than the matter of the assessment officials who have been on fire recently.

What Li Zhao meant was to ask Li Xu to replace Chu Hongliang as Minister of Rites and be in charge of the official assessment.Li Xu was so frightened that his tea bowl fell to the ground, "Brother Emperor! I don't want to be an official. You also know that I'm a wanderer, and I'm most impatient to stay in one place for a long time. No, I can't be an official. Shangshu! I still plan to wait for Xiao Yuer's birthday after the Huachao Festival, and then go to the foreign land for a visit."

"Little brother!" Li Zhao said in a deep voice, "You are a prince, not a prodigal son! A prince has a prince's responsibility, how can you act willfully in everything?"

Li Xu was stopped by his roar, and muttered: "I'm not the only prince."

He thought Li Zhao didn't hear this sentence, but he didn't know that Li Zhao not only heard it, but also heard it very clearly.

For this only younger brother, Li Zhao loves him since he was a child, and that's why he developed his willful and reckless temperament.Li Zhao couldn't bear to embarrass him too much at this moment, sighed, and said earnestly: "You are not the only prince, but you are my brother. I know that you are not interested in official career, but now I have no one available, and no one Believable. Hang'er is still young, and has been living among the people for more than ten years. Although I recognized him and made him the crown prince, there are many people in the court who question him, and there are also many people who doubt his blood. Are you just watching Seeing your nephew in a desperate situation, when your sister-in-law was around, she loved you the most."

"Brother Huang, stop talking..." Thinking of Zhou Hong back then, Li Xu's eyes turned red, "I'll do it!"

"Okay... Hang'er and Daiyu are childhood sweethearts, I think it's time to name them."

"Brother Huang, are you saying that the imperial edict refers to Yu'er as the Crown Princess?"

Li Zhao nodded, Li Xu thought about it, and said, "Yu'er is still young, should I wait for another two years?"

"I also want to postpone it for two years, but the courtiers can't wait. It's better to settle this matter early, so as to avoid other things happening."

Li Xu thought for a while and said, "That's fine..."

The two talked about dismissing officials again. Li Zhao said, "This is an offending job. If you do it well, you may be criticized. You have to be prepared."

Li Xudao: "Is my brother afraid of being reprimanded? At worst, I will be dismissed from office and rank. My brother just happens to be without an official or a title, and wanders around."

Li Zhao: "You have a good idea! You want to live a light life without an official or a noble. I will not be a foolish king who deposes my brothers!"

After speaking, the two smiled at each other.

On the second day, Li Xu took office and became the head of the official department.

In the past, when Chu Hongliang was Minister of the Ministry of Officials, there were many officials who were dissatisfied with being dismissed and often went to the Ministry of Officials to make trouble. Li Xu, as a prince, sat in the lobby of the Ministry of Officials. Retired many troublemakers.The remaining ones, although unwilling to let it go, did not dare to use force.

But this incident alarmed the Supreme Emperor.

Some brothers and relatives of the emperor's concubines were abolished, and those people went to the emperor to cry.The beautiful pear blossoms were raining, and she was crying bitterly, which inevitably aroused the compassion of the Supreme Emperor.

Last time, Li Zhao raised the titles of Li Chengtian and his brothers in exchange for the Supreme Emperor not interfering in the selection of the Crown Princess. This time, he had no choice but to raise his bargaining chips. The two brothers, King Rui and King Yue, could stay in the capital for a long time to serve the Supreme Emperor. The price, in exchange for the Supreme Emperor not bothering about this matter.

Although the Supreme Emperor was not intervening, the matter did not go smoothly, and almost led to a treason accident.

The reason is that Zhang Yifeng, the chief assistant of the cabinet, was dissatisfied with the disintegration of the power he had cultivated for many years. He spread reactionary ballads in the streets and alleys, saying that the current emperor is not the Lord, so last year there were droughts, floods, and earthquakes, which caused many people to be displaced. It's all a warning from God.Unexpectedly, the Holy Majesty not only refused to listen, but also acted against him, wantonly abolishing officials, saying that his life was exhausted and so on.Not only that, but he also gathered many officials to try to force the palace, support the eight-year-old fourth prince, the emperor, and try to control the government.

They also appointed a careful plan, and the secrecy measures were well done. Only three or four core figures were known. If it wasn't for Zhou Hang's ability to control cats, they might not have been able to detect it.Among the three or four core figures, there is the Ma Ye who kidnapped Lin Daiyu back then.It turned out that Zhang Yifeng had no intention of rebellion, and was instigated by this master.

Of course, in the end the rebel party headed by Zhang Yifeng was taken down.

As for the fourth prince, he was young and didn't know about it, but his mother Concubine Wan was involved.Afterwards, Concubine Wan was thrown into the cold palace.

But Master Ma didn't catch him and let him run away. Zhou Hang was very annoyed by this.

Daiyu advised Zhou Hang: "It's okay, next time he comes out to do evil, we must take him down."

Zhou Hang said: "I'm afraid that he will be a coward in the future and won't come out again."

Daiyu said: "No."

"Why not?"

"Brother Hang, think about it carefully, what is the ultimate goal of this Lord Ma who has done so many bad things?"

Zhou Hang frowned and said, "Seeking to usurp the throne?"

Daiyu said: "I don't know if he is planning to usurp the throne, but judging from his actions these few times, it is certain that he wants to rebel, and he will never give up until he achieves his goal. Some paranoid, as long as he is alive, he will always come out to make trouble, unless he is dead. You are the prince now, the future emperor, and he must really want to kill you now. So, Brother Hang, you have to be more careful in the future , don't be harmed by him."

Zhou Hang said: "Don't worry, it's not so easy for him to harm me."

Don't forget, Zhou Hang is not a middle school student who has no power to restrain a chicken. Anyway, he is also a monk in the foundation period now, but he can't fly through the clouds, ride the fog and fly with the sword. He is still much better than ordinary martial arts practitioners .What's more, he has been accompanied by several hidden guards with high martial arts all year round, and it is impossible for ordinary people to get close to him, let alone murder him.

Because it was just in time for the official assessment, there was a lot of commotion in the court, Zhou Hang, Li Xu, including Lin Ruhai were very busy, and Daiyu's birthday was a bit deserted.On that day, she only invited Yingchun and a few sisters from Jia's house, and they cut some floral papers and pasted them on the branches, and then gave up after having a meal.

There were quite a lot of presents, Jia's mansion sent people to bring clothes for the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, four sets for each season, a total of sixteen sets for male and female.What Li Xu sent was much richer, and it contained two big boxes.

There is also Zhou Hang's, which is more abundant, with countless things to eat, play, and various utensils.

Although Lin Ruhai was busy, he also asked a skilled noodle chef to make a bowl of longevity noodles for Daiyu himself. Daiyu ate the noodles with tears in her eyes, she was so touched that she didn't know what to do.Thinking of the birthday two years ago, when she got angry with Jia Baoyu because of a trivial incident, Mrs. Wang was afraid that her precious son would be wronged, so she hurriedly pulled Jia Baoyu away, and the maid beside her showed her face. , a good birthday was aggrieved and deserted, which is a world of difference from now.

Just after lunch, the servant girl suddenly reported that a Chinese adult came to the mansion to pass the decree.

The so-called beating person was an inner eunuch in the palace. Since the emperor gave him something for his birthday last year, Daiyu was not very surprised.Zheng Lihua also learned from the past, so she didn't show a big difference.The sisters in Jia's house didn't know what happened to Daiyu's birthday last year, and when they heard the edict from the eunuch, they all turned pale with fright.

Daiyu comforted them not to panic, fearing that the emperor gave some things, nothing happened.

But Daiyu was wrong, this time something really happened, and it was a big deal.

It's not just the Lin family, this imperial decree will set off a wave of turmoil in the entire imperial court.

It was Li Zhao's chief eunuch Wei Xing'an who delivered the decree. He walked over with a smile, saluted Daiyu first, and said, "Congratulations, Miss Lin." He was serving the emperor, so he was a bit unruly, even if he met a first- and second-rank court official, he had never been like this.

Daiyu hurriedly said, "Eunuch Wei is too courteous, but Daiyu dare not be." She turned her body and refused to accept his courtesy.

Then he knelt down and listened to the decree.

The imperial decree was not long, and the content was very simple. It was nothing more than hiring Lin Daiyu as the crown princess, sending four nuns, four female officials, and eight court ladies to the Lin Mansion to teach and serve, and to get married after the time was up.

Lin Daiyu was so shocked by this sudden edict that she couldn't recover for a long time.Although she is not ignorant of Zhou Hang's friendship with her, and she also has some meaning in her heart.But such a sudden imperial decree referring to marriage, which tied her and Zhou Hang together, was too abrupt after all, and it shocked her even more than Zhou Hang's sudden appointment as the prince at that time!

Daiyu's head went blank, until Hui'er pushed her aside and reminded her in a low voice, "Young lady, it's time to accept the order to thank you."

Daiyufang woke up like a dream, and hurriedly received the order to thank her for her kindness.

Wei Xing'an just came to proclaim the decree, and then officials from the Ministry of Rites will come to hire him.

After announcing the decree, she went back, but Daiyu was still in the fog, all she knew was that a bunch of people were pulling her to say congratulations, and they couldn't tell who said what.For a while, the four nuns, four female officials and eight maids came forward to pay their respects, and Daiyu took a deep breath before she could see everyone's appearance clearly.

She cleared her throat and said loudly: "Everyone has worked hard, let's go down and rest first."

Then he ordered Zicuckoo to take them down to rest, and called the two original nuns in the mansion to entertain them.Once the arrangements were made, Daiyu looked around and saw that Yingchun sisters and Tangtang were standing with their heads bowed, a little restrained.

Daiyu smiled and said, "Don't stand there, sit down quickly."

Then he turned his head and told Zicuckoo: "Go quickly and serve tea to the girls!"

Zijuan agreed, and then asked the little maid to bring a tea tray to make tea.After hearing Daiyu's words, Yingchun and the others still refused to sit down, and just said, "You are a member of the imperial family now, and you will be the crown prince and concubine in the future. There is a difference in status and inferiority. I dare not sit in front of nobles."

Daiyu laughed and said, "Since I'm a nobleman, I'll let you sit down. It's not rude for you to sit down."

Yingchun and the others still hesitated, so Daiyu got up and pressed them one by one on their seats, saying: "Dear sisters, since we are not in the palace now, there is no need to talk about those rules. We are all good sisters, what should we do in private? , if I sit and you stand every time we meet, what's the fun? It's better not to see each other!"

The crowd sat down.

Zheng Lihua was sitting on the armchair, and she couldn't help but secretly glanced at Lin Daiyu.

Lin Daiyu couldn't help laughing and said: "Why, I have grown a head today?"

"No...not..." Zheng Lihua looked up in astonishment, "I just didn't expect..."

"You didn't expect me to suddenly become a princess, did you?"

Zheng Lihua nodded.

Daiyu sighed inwardly.To be honest, she really didn't want to be a princess.The two titles of prince and concubine sounded like they had a bright future, but they were also full of dangers.The higher the status, the greater the responsibility to bear.

But if Zhou Hang is the emperor, she is willing to work hard to become a qualified mother queen.

However, how can it be so easy for the mother in the world?

After today, the nuns and female officials sent by the palace will start to perform their duties, teaching her how to become a qualified princess, or even a queen.

Alas, Lin Daiyu's good days are coming to an end.

-

in the palace.

Zhou Hang sat in a small pavilion in front of a koi pond, stroking the railings made of white marble.Li Xu walked slowly along a winding path, Zhou Hang smiled and threw a small stone in his hand into the pond, causing ripples.

He jumped up suddenly, walked a few steps quickly, and stood in front of Li Xu.

"Uncle Huang!" He said with a smile, "Why are you walking a bit wrong today?"

"Why not?" After saying this, Li Xu pretended to be nonchalant and pushed Zhou Hang aside, "Tell me something, I'm in a hurry to go home!"

If Zhou Hang looked carefully, he would see that when Li Xu pushed him, his face was a little embarrassingly blushing.

It's a pity that Zhou Hang didn't take a closer look, he smiled and grabbed Li Xu's shoulder.

"Uncle Huang seems to be walking a lot slower than usual, and, how should I put it, he's a little shy."

"What nonsense are you talking about!" Li Xu became a little annoyed and walked forward angrily.

Zhou Hang spread his hands and chased after him, "Don't be angry, uncle, is the uncle going out of the palace? Take me with you!"

Li Xu walked forward angrily, and Zhou Hang followed behind. Hearing that Li Xu suddenly stopped, Zhou Hang might as well, and almost bumped into his back.Complaining, "Uncle Huang, why did you stop suddenly and didn't say a word." Zhou Hang touched his nose, secretly thinking that fortunately he reacted quickly enough, otherwise his nose would have suffered.

Li Xu turned his head suddenly, and said: "Brother Huang doesn't allow me to take you out of the palace. If you want to go out, you can find the badge that Brother Huang wants to leave the palace."

Zhou Hang thought, if I can ask for it, do I still ask you?

After speaking, Li Xu turned his head and left again.Zhou Hang caught up and slapped Li Xu on the buttocks. Just as he was about to say "Uncle Emperor, help me", Li Xu screamed in surprise before the words came out of his throat, and stopped quickly.

Zhou Hang was shocked: "Uncle, you are injured. Could it be that the father is so inhumane and so big that he spanked your ass?"

Li Xu hurriedly covered Zhou Hang's mouth: "Don't talk nonsense! It wasn't your father who beat you."

It was not the father who beat him, that is to say, he admitted that he was injured and someone beat him, but the perpetrator was not His Majesty the Emperor.Zhou Hang's mouth was covered and he couldn't speak, so he blinked and blinked to show that you let go, I don't say anything.As long as Li Xu let go of his hand, Zhou Hang started to gossip and asked, "Since Father didn't hit you, who is it?"

Li Xu snorted: "No one hit me!"

"That's not right, Uncle Emperor, just now you clearly meant that someone beat you, but it wasn't just your father. If you say it, your nephew will avenge you, and his ass will definitely be beaten. Hey, don't blush, I mean it." It's true, tell me quickly. Don't go, you are so afraid of this person, could it be that the Supreme Emperor beat him?"

While talking, Li Xu was about to walk out of the palace gate, Zhou Hang hurriedly held Li Xu back to prevent him from going any further.

Zhou Hang's eyesight was good, and he saw a tall and burly person standing far outside the palace gate.At the beginning, the man turned his back to the palace gate. After a while, the man turned around, and Zhou Hang realized that it was Sang Sheng.

Seeing Li Xu frowning, Sang Sheng's face flashed with distress, annoyance, pity, and concern...

Thinking of the past, Zhou Hang suddenly realized, "Uncle Emperor, you, you and Uncle Sang...you..."

"Shut up!" Li Xu tugged at Zhou Hang's sleeve, signaling him not to say any more.Zhou Hang understood, and hurriedly swallowed what he was going to say next.After a while, he leaned into Li Xu's ear and said, "Uncle Huang, it was Uncle Sang who beat you. He is too bold. Would you like my nephew to help you teach him a lesson?"

"You are not allowed to touch him!" Li Xu whispered.

Zhou Hang rubbed his nose, well, he was disgusted.

No wonder, no wonder the emperor's uncle has only one concubine, not even a concubine.It would be fine if he and the concubine fell in love after death. In order not to wrong the concubine, he would rather not have a concubine room.However, the husband and wife did not have a deep relationship, and the emperor's uncle was a little disgusted with the princess.Now the truth is revealed. It turns out that the emperor has a sincere person who is willing to be bullied by someone, and he is very protective.

It's just that the two men are really unreasonable. I really don't know how the father accepts that his only younger brother is in love with a man.

He is an idea of ​​the 21st century, and there is no obstacle to accepting it. You must know that the father is a real ancient.

But after thinking about it, my mother was there at the time, and it probably played a big role.

Zhou Hang wanted to go out of the palace to celebrate Daiyu's birthday right now, but he couldn't accompany her openly, at least he would turn into a cat and stay by her side.But in the palace during the day, there were often a bunch of people around him, and he couldn't find a chance to sneak out, so he could only pester Li Xu to take him out.

After leaving the palace, find a way to get rid of the people who follow, everything will be easy to handle.

Li Xu didn't intend to take Zhou Hang out of the palace at first, but the last time he took him out, he was severely reprimanded by the emperor when he came back.But at this moment, Zhou Hang had the little pigtails in his hands, so he had to make some compromises.

So Zhou Hang pretended to be Li Xu's entourage and sneaked out of the palace.

Although there were several hidden guards around Zhou Hang, the hidden guards were different from ordinary guards. Unless Zhou Hang's life was threatened, they generally would not take action, nor would they report to the emperor.The two of them plus Sang Sheng, a total of three returned to Prince Jing's mansion, and Zhou Hang found a chance to escape.Turned into a cat body, and went straight to the Lin Mansion.

Now his cat body has grown very tall and mighty, and it still has brown hair, but it is very different from when he was fat. It is expected that all cats in the world look similar, at least it is not easy to distinguish with human eyes, Zhou Hang So he no longer hides his whereabouts, but appears in Daiyu's yard swaggeringly.

At that time, Wei Xing'an had left for a while after preaching the decree, and Zheng Lihua and the girls from Jia's residence had also left.At this moment, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites is personally bringing many deacons to perform the gift of accepting the lottery, that is, sending the dowry gift.The prince's dowry was very rich, including five thousand catties of gold, 1 taels of silver, one gold tea set, two silver tea sets, two silver basins, a thousand pieces of satin of various colors, twenty horses with saddles and bridles, and many other things. Beads, amber, beeswax, etc.

Because men and women have different rules, the Minister of Rites did not visit Daiyu's courtyard, but just read the gift list outside the courtyard.Every time one is read, the deacons will carry the things outside the gate of the courtyard, and then the woman at the gate of the courtyard will carry them in for Daiyu to have a look at.

Zhou Hang jumped off the courtyard wall and threw himself on Daiyu.The maids on the side screamed in fright, fearing that Daiyu would be hurt.The maids didn't recognize it, but Daiyu recognized Zhou Hang's cat body. Fearing that the maids would rush to hurt Zhou Hang, she hurriedly hugged the big brown cat into her arms and said, "It's okay, it didn't mean to hurt me, don't scare him."

The maids just gave up.

Zijuan said: "I don't know where this wild cat came from. It is covered with dust. The girl should let it go, so as not to dirty the clothes."

Zhou Hang raised his eyes and glared at Zijuan, the little girl can only talk nonsense, my lord, how dirty am I?

Daiyu didn't look at the betrothal gift, hugged Zhou Hang, wiped the dirt on his cat with a handkerchief, and said with a smile, "It's okay, it's just some dust, just wipe it off."

Only then did Zhou Hang realize that he had just rolled on the ground in order to avoid the hidden guards, and he forgot to use spells to remove the dust from his body when he came in just now, no wonder Zijuan said he was covered in dirt.Thinking about it, Zhou Hang silently cast spells and gave himself a big cleansing.

Zicuckoo just thought it was Daiyu who wiped him clean, afraid that Daiyu would get her hands dirty, so she hurriedly brought her a basin of water to wash her.

Xueyan stared at Zhou Hang unceasingly, and finally said with a smile: "Girl, this cat looks really fat."

In the minds of the maids, Pangpang died unexpectedly, so they usually never mention anything about Pangpang, and even chased away the brown cat from a distance, lest Daiyu see it and bring up bad memories, in vain. Makes me sad.Xueyan is also always careful, but today he saw this brown kitten by chance, and for some reason, he suddenly thought of Pangpang, and blurted out this sentence.After speaking, I suddenly felt that I had violated the girl's taboo, so I hurried to see Daiyu's face.

Zijuan also subconsciously glanced at Daiyu, seeing that she didn't look sad, she felt relieved, looked at La Xueyan and said, "Be careful next time, don't talk about being fat again."

Xueyan nodded, with a look of shame in her eyes.

Daiyu felt that it was not a solution to misunderstand the girls like this. In the future, Zhou Hang might appear like a cat suddenly, and it was not good to be so nervous every time.So Daiyu smiled, and said in a cheerful tone: "Zijuan, don't pull her, Xueyan is right, this cat looks like a fat cat."

"Girl, you..." Zijuan was a little surprised.

Daiyu said with a smile: "Pangpang died. I am sad, but I have no taboos to the point where body fluids cannot be removed. Besides, I have asked the master to pray for Pangpang, and bless it to have a good birth in the next life, without any disasters or accidents." It's hard to live a lifetime. For it, it may not be a bad thing. So, in the future, you don't have to keep secrets about Pang Pang, I have passed that hurdle long ago."

Zijuan was stunned for a while, then smiled and said: "It's really a good thing that the girl can pass..."

The rest of the maids also said it was a good thing.

With no scruples about being afraid of Daiyu's sadness, everyone began to discuss around Zhou Hang, saying that Zhou Hang looked too fat, almost exactly the same, and if fat grew up, he should look like this.

Daiyu laughed and said, "He's even fatter than Pangpang."

Xueyan said: "If Pang Pang is fed with good food and drink until now, he will be able to eat a lot of fat."

Zhou Hang was a little impatient to listen to the nonsense of these maids, and twisted his body in Daiyu's arms.Daiyu understood, so she patted Zhou Hang on the back lightly, indicating that she would go back after the Minister of Rites finished reading the dowry list.

Zhou Hang knew that this was courtesy, so he had to endure it for the time being, but seeing the ferocious eyes of the maidservants, they seemed to be captured by His Royal Highness's majesty, so they didn't talk much.

After the Minister of Rites waited for the group to leave, Daiyu carried Zhou Hang into the inner room.

Everything was tidied up, only Daiyu and Zhou Hang were left in the inner room.Zhou Hang jumped onto Daiyu's carved red sandalwood bed, rolled on the quilt embroidered with red peonies, and said, "After accepting my family's dowry, Yu'er, you will be my man from now on."

Hearing these words in Daiyu's ears, she felt a little embarrassed, and her whole face burned.

She hummed intentionally, and said, "If I don't get married for a day, I won't be considered yours."

Zhou Hang knew what she meant, but he said "oh" on purpose, as if he had suddenly realized: "Could it be that Yu'er, you can't wait and want me to marry you as soon as possible?"

Daiyu was ashamed and angry, she stamped her feet and said, "You know exactly what I mean...you are bullying!"

As he spoke, he turned his head and ignored Zhou Hang.

Her ignorance is really ignorance, no matter how much Zhou Hang begs for mercy and admits his mistakes, it will not work, and she will not show her face.