19 Chapter 19: The Clown

"Shut up!" Jing Shao walked in with a cold face.

Standing in the middle of the study room with one hand on his waist, Song Lingxin swallowed the breath that had risen to his chest.

Mu Hanzhang was sitting at the desk, frowning slightly. When he saw Jing Shao coming in, his expression eased a little, and he stood up and saluted him: "The prince is back."

Jing Shao walked to Mu Hanzhang and glanced at Song Lingxin and the two maids behind her: "Song Lingxin, what is your attitude towards the princess?"

"Prince~" Song Lingxin called out aggrievedly, took a deep breath and said, "I am for the peace of the palace, the princess..."

"Shut up!" Jing Shao felt a headache when he heard Song Lingxin's shrill voice. He turned his head to look at the people around him and asked in a slow tone, "Jun Qing, what's going on?"

Mu Hanzhang lowered his eyes, pursed his lips and said, "The nurse is in poor health and no one is taking care of her at the farm. I want to take her and her son to the servants' room of the palace to live for a while, and let them go back when Zhou Da's leg injury is healed." The warm and pleasant voice spoke slowly and was very comfortable to listen to.

"Your Highness, the palace has never allowed outsiders to enter. This is the rule. Once the princess opens this precedent, won't anyone be able to put people in here in the future?" Song Lingxin argued with reason. In her opinion, the most taboo thing for people in the royal family is that there are spies in the palace. As long as this point is grasped, I don't believe that the prince will stand on Mu Hanzhang's side.

Jing Shao frowned.

Song Lingxin saw that he had hit the point, and a little pride rose in his heart: "I am in charge of the affairs of the inner house, so I have to be responsible for this inner house. The servants' rooms are behind the West Garden. If someone of unknown origin enters, it will be hard to explain if something goes wrong."

The West Garden is inhabited by concubines and female relatives. The so-called trouble is naturally something unpleasant... Mu Hanzhang slowly clenched his fists. Song Lingxin's words were clearly insulting him.

"Pa!" Before Mu Hanzhang could speak, Jing Shao's slap had already hit Song Lingxin's face.

Song's eyes widened and looked at Jing Shao in disbelief.

"Since you can't manage the inner house well, hand over all the account books to the princess today." Jing Shao said coldly.

"Your Majesty!" Song Lingxin covered her face, not understanding why she was suddenly beaten when she was obviously in the right, and her right to be the mistress of the house was taken away on the spot. She couldn't help but raise her voice and screamed, "I am thinking about the palace, how can you treat me like this! The princess can't manage the palace at all! The flower book has set the rules. The nine days that I served the prince in bed, the prince didn't go for a single day! Who would listen to such a person who is in charge of the household!"

"Enough! From today on, the concubine will be confined to her house for a month!" Jing Shao rubbed his swollen forehead, looked at Song who was still struggling and screaming under the persuasion of the servants, and waved his hand and said, "Drag her out! Without the permission of this prince, you are not allowed to step out of the yard."

The guards outside the door came in, and the two maids persuaded Song Lingxin and pulled her out.

The room finally quieted down. Jing Shao sighed, picked up the half-drunk tea on the table and swallowed a big sip.

"I was a little anxious when I received the news this morning, and I didn't think it through for a while." Mu Hanzhang saw him drinking water from his cup, and he didn't have time to stop him, so he didn't say anything more. However, he was indeed not thoughtful enough about bringing the wet nurse to the palace.

"You are the princess of this palace, and no one can question what you say," Jing Shao smiled and gently hugged him, "I haven't been to the West Garden these days, Song Lingxin is just taking advantage of the topic."

Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips: "I can take the wet nurse to the manor where I came with my dowry..."

"No need," Jing Shao touched his soft and smooth long hair, "Just take them to the palace. If you want them to stay there all the time, you can go to Beiweihou Mansion to discuss and count them as your companions." The dowry includes not only property, but also some companions and servants. Jing Shao knows that Jun Qing has very few companions. Since his wet nurse and her family are trustworthy to him, it is a good thing to keep them in the palace for him to use.

Mu Hanzhang looked at him steadily, then slowly moved over and put his chin on Jing Shao's shoulder: "Xiao Shao, thank you." The support of the husband is very important for the status of the wife and the management of the inner house. Now Jing Shao is completely on his side, even obviously partial to him. No one knows better than him how rare such treatment is in the royal family.

Jing Shao was very excited about Mu Hanzhang's initiative to approach him. He felt numb and itchy on his shoulder where he touched him. He couldn't help but reach out and hug him tightly: "Silly, we are husband and wife, what are you thanking? If you really want to thank me, give me a kiss." The original sentimental words became frivolous later.

Mu Hanzhang gently pushed him away after hearing this: "The prince just said no need to thank me." After saying that, he turned around to get the account book, completely ignoring Jing Shao who was stunned on the spot.

His own princess is really getting worse and worse!

After having lunch at the prince's mansion at noon, Jing Shao wandered to the Ministry of War where he was on a temporary basis.

After resisting the Xiongnu, his brothers all served in the six ministries, so Emperor Hongzheng asked Jing Shao to come to the Ministry of War, which he liked. The eldest prince was in charge of various construction matters in the Ministry of Works, his brother was in charge of various major ceremonies and banquets in the Ministry of Rites, and the fourth prince was in charge of foreign tributes in the Honglu Temple. These were all positions that could produce results and stand out.

As for him, he was in the Ministry of War, but he didn't have any real power. He just hung there. The people in the Ministry of War didn't like a prince to give orders. He used to be very annoyed with these paperworks. He would come here every day to handle two things and leave.

"Your Highness!" The Minister of Military Affairs saw this big Buddha coming and smiled to greet him.

"Go and do your work, Lord Sun. I'm just here to check in." Jing Shao waved his hand and walked to his seat and casually picked up a few documents to read.

Shangshu Sun was used to him, so he said a few polite words and went to do his own thing.

Jing Shao hadn't been here for a long time, so there weren't many documents piled up on his desk. Shangshu Sun dealt with the urgent news from below, and only some of the less urgent ones were given to Jing Shao, who had just joined the Ministry of War. Since he hadn't been here for so many days, Shangshu Sun would approve most of them for him.

He picked up a booklet on the table. This was the military pay for this year being drafted by the Ministry of War. The specific amount of food and pay for the garrisons in various places had been counted on it. There were also two memorials, one requesting the reduction of troops, believing that the Huns had been defeated and that too many troops were not needed in recent years; the other reported that there was an invasion by barbarians near the Miao border in the southwest, and asked the court to send troops to suppress it.

The first one was okay, but the second one looked quite urgent and was also on his desk, indicating that someone wanted him to make a decision as soon as possible.

"Your Highness, this memorial was only received today, and the situation seems to be more serious than at the beginning of the month." Song An, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, came over and said.

Jing Shao nodded slightly and began to look through the military pay account book.

"As far as I know, these barbarians are just bandits. They are defeated step by step only because the governor of Yunnan and Tibet is incompetent." Song An came closer and whispered, "Your Highness can request to lead troops to kill the bandits. This is a good opportunity to easily gain merit."

Jing Shao looked up and frowned at him. Song An is Song Lingxin's father, and he has the closest relationship with Jing Shao in the Ministry of War. It was the same in the previous life. When he received the first memorial a month ago, this man advised him to lead the troops. At that time, he was in a bad mood. He led the troops to the war on the fourth day of his marriage, leaving Mu Hanzhang, who had just married and was still sick, alone in the palace. Now it seems that Song An persuaded him to go to war not only for him to make merit, but also to make him ignore the princess, so as to preserve her daughter's position as the mistress of the house.

"The governor of Yunnan and Tibet is not just a job, how can there be military merit easily in this world?" Jing Shao laughed, not only to continue to discuss this issue with him.

This expedition to Yunnan and Tibet seems to be an easy task, but it is not. The environment in the southwest is complicated, and it is difficult for these soldiers who have been in the Central Plains for many years to adapt. When he led the troops there, he suffered a great loss as soon as he went there. Miasma and poisonous insects were deadly enemies, and he himself almost died there. That so-called small group of bandits made him fight for three years, and he could not help but be reprimanded by his father, and missed the best time to fight three times. It was really a thankless job.

Song An smiled awkwardly: "I heard that Ling Xin made the prince angry today. This daughter has been spoiled by me. The prince should not be angry with her."

"Hmph!" Jing Shao threw the account book in his hand on the table with a bang, which attracted the attention of people around him, and then quickly avoided his eyes, "It's just a trivial matter in the inner house. Why does Lord Song have to talk about it here?" This Song Lingxin is really quick-talking. What happened in the morning was spread to her mother's house after noon. Thinking of this, I felt a little annoyed.

Seeing that Jing Shao was impatient, Song An smiled and said a few words, then walked away in shame.

After sending away the nagging Song An, Jing Shao picked up the memorial again and read it. He would definitely not take this hard job this time. It would be better to stay at home with his wife with this time. Such a good opportunity should be given to the eldest brother or the fourth brother.

After hanging out in the military department for an afternoon, Jing Shao still left early according to his habit in his previous life to avoid attracting attention. I walked to the south of the city to buy some braised snacks, and then went to the alley to pick up a bottle of green plum wine. When I returned to the palace, it was just in time for dinner.

"Where is the princess?" When I returned to the bedroom in the East Garden, the food was already served, but there was no sign of Mu Hanzhang.

"My lord, the princess is still in the small study, and Meng Xi has already gone to invite her." Zhixi answered while helping Jing Shao change clothes.

"My lord, you have been waiting for a long time. I am late." Mu Hanzhang said apologetically.

Jing Shao frowned, pinched his chin and kissed him: "Let's eat."

Mu Hanzhang was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that it was "a polite punishment", but now there were servants in the house, and this man didn't care at all! His handsome face quickly turned red, and he waved his hand to let the maids go away.

"What are you busy with?" Jing Shao pushed the braised food he bought in front of Mu Hanzhang for him to taste, and he poured a glass of green plum wine for each of them.

"Suddenly taking over the affairs of the inner house, it is inevitable that there will be some confusion." Mu Hanzhang picked up a piece of braised chicken wing and took a bite. Although he said so, his tone was very confident. Jing Shao heard that he could handle it himself, so he did not intend to ask.

After dinner, Mu Hanzhang pushed Jing Shao who climbed onto the bed again: "It's time to go to the West Garden tonight. You also heard what the concubine said today. If you stay in the East Garden all the time, I'm afraid this inner house will be unstable."

Jing Shao reluctantly sat up, dragged his own princess who was nagging and trying to push him to someone else to the bed, and pressed her neatly under him: "I drank too much tonight and I don't have the strength to move." After saying that, she lay on his chest and didn't move.

Mu Hanzhang rolled his eyes. How could someone who can drink two kilograms of Shaodaozi get drunk by a small bottle of green plum wine that is as light as white water? Find a reason that makes sense!