Clan House

In the fourth year of Xuanqing, the crown prince and King Jin got married at the same time.

Song Jingxin has been in charge of the East Palace for two years, and has reached the age of sixteen. According to the law, she recruits a beautiful girl of the right age to be the concubine of the crown prince.At this time, the candidate has been determined, and the emperor ordered the clan's mansion and the Ministry of Rites to jointly organize the prince's wedding.On this day, the emperor issued a marriage edict, and the Ministry of Rites sent someone to deliver the edict.

When the messenger came, Song Jingxin was trying out his new crossbow in the courtyard of the East Palace with an arrogant eagle on his head.Eunuch Huang Xi knelt on the ground, holding the huge tray above his head with both hands, on which nine apples were placed side by side.The courtyard is very small, Song Jingxin has practiced martial arts since he was a child, such a distance is not difficult for him.It's just that I got this new crossbow today, and Song Jingxin likes it so much, I can't wait to go to the school grounds, so I want to try the crossbow here.

That Huang Xi was Song Jingxin's personal eunuch, worried that the prince's behavior was inappropriate, he only gave a few words of advice, and then was sent to kneel on the ground as a living target.Rao had seen the prince's superb archery skills, Huang Xi was still terrified, and it took him a long time to kneel down.Seeing his appearance, Song Jingxin thought that the eunuch underestimated him, which made him more determined to win.At first, the eight crossbows fired in succession, hitting all of them.When Song Jingxin shot the ninth apple, he suddenly heard someone from the Ministry of Rites coming from outside, but the prince didn't react much, but the little eunuch sat on the ground in fright.Song Jingxin's last arrow missed and went into the tree trunk.

"It's nothing to grow! I've shot all my arrows, why are you hiding!" Song Jingxin was so angry that he ignored the official who delivered the decree, and gave Huang Xi a kick first.

A lot of people came from this line of business, crowding the entire courtyard.When everyone entered the East Palace, they saw an eagle standing on the crown prince's shoulders, holding a crossbow, and a shivering little eunuch kneeling beside him, and a few apples that had been shot by arrows were scattered on the ground.

Song Jingxin also felt embarrassed, he coughed and gestured to Huang Xi with his eyes.The stupid eunuch looked back blankly, completely ignorant. "Clean up." Song Jingxin whispered.

Only then did Huang Xi get up tremblingly, picking up apples with his buttocks pouted.

Song Jingxin was speechless, and kicked him staggeringly again: "Put away the crossbow!"

The little eunuch held the crossbow that Song Jingxin handed over with one hand, and it fell so heavily that he blushed and ran into the room.

The messengers in this room had been waiting for a long while, Song Jingxin let the eagle land on his arm, stroked his hair, thought about what to say to ease the atmosphere, and saw a ten-year-old boy surrounded by the courtiers.The boy was pink and jade-carved, with his small mouth slightly pursed, and he looked mature and serious.Song Jingxin looked interesting, and was about to say something hard to the courtesy officer, but unexpectedly said: "This child is really good-looking, your son?"

The ceremonial officer was terrified, if he hadn't held the imperial decree in his arms, he would have knelt down.The boy frowned slightly, looked up at Song Jingxin and said, "Prince, don't be rude."

Song Jingxin had lived for more than ten years, and it was the first time she was reprimanded by a child, and it felt fresh right now.This time he took a closer look at the child's clothing, although it was a few sizes smaller, it was still the prince's python robe he was used to.In the old Luo tradition, the prince's wedding was presided over by the elders of the clan. Could this be the one in front of him?

Sure enough, Song Jingxin heard the child say: "This king is the King of Chu who was proclaimed by Emperor Yingzong. He currently holds the post of clan order and is the prince's uncle."

The officer of ceremonies was about to proclaim the decree routinely, the prince let the eagle fall back on his shoulders again, with an inseparable posture.The king of Chu stopped the ceremony officer and asked Song Jingxin, "The prince also plans to bring this beast with him on his wedding day?"

Young, yin and yang, who is a beast!Song Jingxin couldn't bear to preach, so he waved his hand lazily, and the eagle flew back to the cage obediently. "Xiaokong is not a beast, he is the eldest son of this palace." Song Jingxin winked his eyes as if teasing a child, "This son of this palace has a bad temper, next time the emperor remembers bad things, don't say bad things in front of him."

The king of Chu ignored his provocation and signaled to the officials to announce the decree.

Song Jingxin took the imperial edict and wanted to say something polite to everyone, but no one spoke.

"Prince." The King of Chu still looked up at Song Jingxin with his head upright.

Song Jingxin laughed, and directly squatted down, so that the king of Chu could look at him at the same level.

The king of Chu didn't think it was disobedient, and said solemnly with a sullen face: "Congratulations to the prince on his great marriage. I hope that the prince and the concubine will be compatible as husband and wife, and they will raise their eyebrows as soon as possible. After the prince gets married, he will be an adult, and his words and deeds should be dignified and stable in the future." , to set an example for the world.”

Song Jingxin laughed "puchi", resisting the urge to reach out and rub his second grandfather's head: "Uncle Huang is right, Xin has been taught."

After the ancestor of the king of Chu finished speaking, the rest of the people seemed relieved and congratulated the prince one after another.Song Jingxin was also in a good mood, and ordered Huang Xi to invite everyone into the house for tea, and each had a tip.However, because of his ancestor's status, King Chu was invited into the inner hall alone by the prince to entertain him.

Song Jingxin led the king of Chu and took a few steps first, but then realized that the king's steps were too small, so he slowed down and followed him.The King of Chu was like a villain made of ice and snow, with an expressionless face all the way. It should be the first time he came to the East Palace, but he saw nothing new.

Song Jingxin invited the King of Chu to sit down, but the other party did not refuse.The crown prince is the crown prince, and in truth, his status is higher than that of the prince.But the King of Chu's status is very special. Emperor Yingzong granted him many privileges, and even His Majesty today needs to give him three points of comity.Song Jingxin saw that the king of Chu couldn't reach the chair, and wanted to give it a hand. The child skillfully grabbed the armrest and slid up, his face still as solemn as ever.Song Jingxin sat down with him, wondering if the child might have some hidden facial illness.

The two sat down as guest and host, and before Song Jingxin asked, the palace people had already brought tea and snacks.The king of Chu took a sip of tea politely, then stopped moving, sitting upright without looking sideways, as if the prince lived in a thatched hut and it was not worth his second glance.Song Jingxin stared at his uncle, in his impression that this boy should be just over ten years old, with immature features in his brows and eyes, but he couldn't find any childishness.

The king of Chu had a fair face, thick eyebrows and broad forehead, big and round earlobes, and he was born with a blessed and wealthy appearance.The small hands are as white and tender as the skin, but calluses can be seen protruding from the knuckles.After Fang drank the tea, King Chu's arm was still placed on the small table beside him, and his little hand drooped slightly with the movement of his arm.The milky white pastry was waved upright, and I don't know who was on duty in the kitchen that day, but actually served a plate of mellow and cute rabbit cake to King Chu.Song Jingxin looked at the little rabbit's pair of red eyes, and then at the solemn expression on King Chu's face, so he couldn't die and laughed out loud again.

Song Jingxin hurriedly covered his face and corrected his expression, when he put down his hands again, the plate of rabbits ran in front of his eyes.

"Do you want this?" Chu Wang asked seriously in a childish voice.

Song Jingxin took the plate and went to see the King of Chu without knowing why.Seeing that he was not moving, the other party frowned and urged: "You don't want to, eat!"

Song Jingxin couldn't laugh or cry immediately, pinched the rabbit's head embarrassingly and bit off half of the ass.But the king of Chu said again: "It's fine to be in front of this king today. The crown prince is the heir of a country after all. You can't let the courtiers find out that you have such childish preferences when you have banquets in the future."

The emperor made a decree, and Qin Tianjian chose a date and set the wedding date in two months.After that, the king of Jin was fine, but because the crown prince was the heir apparent, the whole wedding process was much more complicated.The advance officer told the Taimiao, and performed the ceremony of accepting the lottery and asking about the name, and then reported to the temple, performing the ceremony of accepting the notice period. 【1】Although it is not necessary to do everything in person, the etiquette along the way is already too much trouble, and Linxuan almost fell asleep in front of the emperor and courtiers that day.Since he was 14 years old and learned about human affairs under the guidance of the palace people, he has not had much interest in the affairs of the man and woman, and occasionally sneaked in and out of the romantic place because he was invited by a friend.The candidate for the princess was selected, and Jin Wang was still independent, but his crown princess was appointed by the emperor.Song Jingxin didn't think it was a pity, he thought it was troublesome, so he simply handed over the selection of the side concubine to the internal officials.He didn't pay much attention to this big wedding at first, but now, in order to deal with etiquette, he can't ride a horse or train an eagle, which made the little prince feel restless, thinking that when the big wedding is over, he must go out of the city to have a good time. him for a few days.

Another day, the prince really held back for a long time.When he saw that Jin Wang Song Jing was also free, he invited him out of the city for a horse race.The two grew up together since they were young, and they both don't like reading and fall in love with trees. They usually get together to do some sneaky things.The two of them have been used to this matter for a long time. First they pretended to be bodyguards and sneaked out of the palace, and then they sneaked into the military camp to play by relying on the relationship with the son of Yongding Houfu.Song Jingshi is also a fun-loving person on weekdays, but today he uncharacteristically rejected his brother's invitation.It turned out that the king of Jin would leave the palace to open the mansion after his wedding. The emperor had given the mansion to him, but the rightful lord was too busy to visit it.The prince heard that his younger brother was going back to the mansion to look at the house, and he was also a little interested, so he changed his clothes and climbed on the carriage frame of the palace to go with him.

The city of Luodu was built on the site of the former dynasty, with five gates in three dynasties. It was raised step by step along the mountain, until the Forbidden Palace was the highest point. Standing on the palace wall, you can overlook the entire capital.The Forbidden Palace is backed by the North Sea, and it is the place where the emperor, queen mother and other royal elders cultivated.Adjacent to Taiye Pool on the east side, it is the Imperial Palace and Royal Garden.On the west side, there are many private gardens of the royal family, most of which were bestowed by the emperor.

In such a huge capital city, the palace ban occupies half of the north side.To the south of the Forbidden Palace, there is the Qianbu Corridor of the Royal Street, with the offices of various ministries on both sides.In this way, to the west, it is the residence of the royal family, and to the east, it is all over the official residence.At the beginning of the capital planning, there was a strict hierarchy, from north to south, from expensive to cheap.Over the past hundred years, the price of land near the Forbidden Palace has been increasing, and many poor officials cannot afford it, so they moved to the southern civilian area to live in rented houses.

Prince Jin's Mansion faces the famous Prince Lane, connects with Yuanyuan to the north, and is the closest to the inner dynasty to the east. Only a distinguished super-grade prince cannot live here.The mansion here has been idle for a long time, so Song Jingxin had never been here before, so he immediately opened the curtain to look at the scene outside.

Before arriving at the Prince's Lane, I saw a separate palace, which occupies several times the area of ​​the Prince's mansion. The palace inside is majestic, and the towering pavilions can be seen.Song Jingxin knew that this place was Yanqing Palace, which was the hidden residence of Emperor Yingzong when he was the prince. After Emperor Yingzong's funeral, Yanqing Palace had been closed for several years.At this time, I saw lanterns hanging high outside the palace wall, and the guards of the palace stood a few steps away, and there were people living here.Song Jingxin was shocked, pointed to the palace and asked King Jin: "Isn't this Yanqing Palace, who is it now?"

"Emperor Patriarch Beng gave it to the King of Chu before his death, and the mansion has long been changed back to the rule of the prince," Song Jingshi said in surprise, "Brother, don't you know?"

It was that little ancestor, Song Jingxin's rigid face appeared in his mind, and he immediately put down the curtain and rolled his eyes. "It's actually the mansion of the King of Chu. We passed by his door today, so we need to come and say hello." Song Jingxin said, "Otherwise our Second Grandfather will find out in the future, and it will be another lecture."

King Jin had met King Chu many times these days, and he also knew the strange character of this elder.Hearing what the prince said, he took it very seriously, and was about to be ordered to go to Chu Palace first with others, but he slapped his thigh angrily. "I haven't prepared anything, so it's impolite to come to the door empty-handed!"

"It's okay," Song Jingxin said, "Uncle Huang doesn't like to be extravagant, so let's just prepare something casually."

Although Song Jingshi felt something was wrong, he had no choice but to send the guards to buy some exquisite pastries. "I know that the pastry shop is not far from here, and the taste is not the same as in the palace. Nowadays, all the official ladies in Beijing like this, and I think children will like it too."

"It's not right," Song Jingxin said, "The ancestor's mouth is very light, but I can't see what cakes he likes."

"Then what do you say?" Song Jingshi asked.

"It's easy to say!" Song Jingxin lifted the curtain of the car and saw peach blossoms blooming on both sides of the road.He lifted the hem of his clothes and jumped out of the car, picked the best growing ones and folded them down. "I don't have anything in this body, let me give you a sprig of spring." Song Jingxin flicked his temples, held up a bouquet of peach blossoms, and smiled brightly.

Song Jingshi: ...

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[1] The prince's wedding process refers to Li Dongyang's edition of "Da Ming Hui Dian"