26 Chapter 26 Party

The next afternoon, Jing Shao sent his princess to Huiweilou and asked Zhou Jin to take him to the monthly gathering of male wives in Beijing. Zhou Jin did not wear overly bright clothes today. He looked much more stable in a dark blue robe.

"Brother Zhou, I'll leave Jun Qing in your care." Jing Shao bowed to Boss Zhou.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty." Zhou Jin was a cheerful person and older than them. After getting familiar with him, even Mu Hanzhang followed and called him Brother Zhou.

Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao, who was nagging like a child, and smiled helplessly: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, go back. Can I get lost?"

Jing Shao scratched his head and got on the horse. Most of the male wives who attended this gathering in Beijing were from high-ranking families, but with Jun Qing's wisdom, he should not suffer any loss. So he left the carriage and Yunzhu behind and rode Xiaohei to have tea with his brother.

The scenery in the south of the city is beautiful, and many princes have built gardens here. The monthly gatherings are mostly held in the Mo Garden of the Duke of Mao.

It is an unwritten rule that the second son and the concubine's son can marry a male wife. It is not necessary to follow it, but the Duke of Mao has always made this a family rule. Even if they don't like men, the concubine's son must marry a male wife. Therefore, among the princes and nobles in the capital, the Duke of Mao has the most male wives.

Entering the Mo Garden, you can hear the sound of stringed bamboo. Through the layers of black bamboo, a wide water pavilion appears in front of you. There are tables, chairs, and snacks on the water pavilion. There are women playing music on the shore. A stringed zither and two bamboo flutes are faintly pleasant to the ears and beautiful.

"This is an elegant place." Mu Hanzhang looked at the few people sitting quietly on the water pavilion listening to the music. He was worried that the lively scene like the women visiting did not appear, and he couldn't help but secretly relieved.

"Brother Zhou is here." Seeing Zhou Jin, several people stood up and bowed politely.

"Who is this?" The leading man in the pavilion was wearing a light blue gown. He was about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, similar to Zhou Jin, with handsome features, but deep wrinkles between his eyebrows, probably due to frequent frowning.

"This is Princess Cheng, Master Mu." Zhou Jin smiled and introduced to everyone. Male wives usually don't like others to call them Madam or Young Mistress, so they call each other Master.

"Hello, Princess." After hearing this, several people looked at each other and came forward to pay their respects.

"You don't have to be so polite on this occasion." Mu Hanzhang humbly and politely asked everyone to stand up.

"I heard that Master Wenyuan has an extraordinary demeanor. Today, I see that his reputation is indeed well-deserved." The leading man smiled gently and let them in.

"It's just a false reputation gained by a young man at a poetry meeting. "Hearing this person calling his former name, Mu Hanzhang felt as if he had returned to the past, when he participated in the poetry gathering of scholars. He couldn't help but feel happy, and he also felt a little close to the person in front of him.

Zhou Jin introduced Mu Hanzhang one by one. The one in the lead was surnamed Lin, and she was the male wife of the second young master of the Dingnan Marquis family. The others were basically the families of court officials.

"Why don't we see people from the Maoguo Mansion?" Zhou Jin asked Master Lin.

"They went to the forest behind to fight cocks with the young master of the Yongchang Marquis Mansion. We didn't want to join in the fun, so we listened to the music here." When Master Lin spoke, he naturally frowned and looked quite sad.

"What's wrong? "Zhou Jin saw Master Lin frowning, and couldn't help asking.

"The second young master insisted on marrying a daughter of an official family as a concubine," Master Zhang, who was eating melon seeds on the side, spoke for him, "Brother Lin's life was already difficult, and marrying a concubine of high birth... Oh..."

Mu Hanzhang sipped his tea slowly, and listened quietly to the conversations of several people. These men were all educated, and their words were more reserved, and they all stopped at the right time, but he could still hear from these few words that many people were very interested in him. Most of the male wives in the family don't live well at home.

Most of the husbands are illegitimate sons, and sometimes they are forced to marry male wives. Moreover, few sons are raised as male wives since childhood. Most of them don't know how to manage the household, and once the concubines have children, it will be even more difficult to manage. So if the husband doesn't have a preference, even if they can be respectful to each other, it is difficult for men who are trapped in the inner house and have lost their will to live a happy life.

"I heard that King Cheng asked for an order to demote the side wife to a concubine last month. How did Mr. Mu do it?" The talkative Mr. Zhang suddenly turned the topic to Mu Hanzhang.

"Everything is the prince's intention." Mu Hanzhang put down the teacup and said lightly, not intending to say much about his own affairs.

"Why are you like a woman now, always asking about these family matters. "Zhou Jin slapped Master Zhang on the head and stopped the topic.

Mu Hanzhang picked up the cup again. He found that although Zhou Jin's husband was only a small minister and he himself was just a restaurant owner, he had a high reputation among these noble wives. Everyone respected him as "Brother Zhou". In addition to his cheerful and easy-going personality, Xiao Yuan had been married for seven or eight years without taking a concubine, which was the real reason why everyone admired him. A male wife who could not leave offspring could learn from the Hedong Lion and control her husband from taking concubines. It really took some extraordinary means.

"Oh~ I thought who this young man in gorgeous clothes was, it turned out to be Hanzhang!" A weird voice came from outside the water pavilion. Everyone looked up and saw five or six men coming out from behind the bamboo forest, with a few followers, and marching towards the water pavilion.

Mu Hanzhang frowned and recognized the person who was speaking. It was Du Yinghao, his classmate for five years. The headmaster of the Mu family school was an uncle who had won the third place in the imperial examination. Because of his great reputation, other relatives in the family would send their children to study there. This Du Yinghao was the nephew of the wife of Beiwei Marquis. He was against him everywhere because he couldn't stand Mu Hanzhang being praised by the teacher.

"I haven't seen you for two years. I thought you were going to take the provincial examination. It turns out that you married into the mansion of Duke Mao." Mu Hanzhang sat still, glanced at the domineering Du Yinghao, and continued to drink tea calmly.

"Humph, even if you passed the imperial examination, weren't you married off by your aunt?" Du Yinghao snorted coldly. The Du family was not a noble family. Even if he was the second son, he was used to marry the third young master of the Duke Mao family.

"Don't be rude!" Du Yinghao was about to say something else, but was stopped by his second sister-in-law.

There are three male wives in the family of Duke Maoguo alone. After the ceremony, they all sat down.

"Yesterday I went to Beiweihou Mansion to celebrate his birthday and saw something quite interesting." Du Yinghao saw that Mu Hanzhang was still the object of admiration and respect even after being married off. He felt unfair and couldn't help but want to stab him.

The tired people were drinking tea and chatting. When they heard this, they asked him what happened.

"Prince Cheng saved a very beautiful woman from the hoof of the fourth prince," Du Yinghao smiled and looked at Mu Hanzhang, who had no expression on his face, and deliberately stretched out his voice, "I heard that Prince Cheng liked her so much that he raised her directly to the other courtyard as a concubine."

After hearing this, the originally lively atmosphere cooled down instantly, and everyone was awkwardly silent and didn't know how to respond. In their hearts, they thought that Princess Cheng was not very favored. They heard that Prince Cheng demoted his concubine for him, but now he found another concubine.

Mu Hanzhang looked at Du Yinghao, who looked like he was laughing at a joke, and just felt funny. Even after so many years, this man was still so childish. He looked at the sky and said, "It's getting late. I'm staying in the other courtyard these days, so I need to go back early." After that, he put down the teacup and stood up to say goodbye.

The Chengwang Courtyard is in the east of the city, and the Mo Garden is in the south of the city. It's really far away, and it's not easy to keep him. Everyone got up to see him off.

"My third brother Xu is ignorant, please don't be offended, Princess." When he was sent outside the Mo Garden, the second son of the Maoguo family apologized to Mu Hanzhang.

Mu Hanzhang smiled, but didn't say anything. Yunzhu drove the carriage over. Just as he was about to get on the carriage, he heard the sound of horse hooves not far away.

"Whew~" With a clear neigh, the black horse stopped in front of everyone. The man on the horse was tall and handsome. He was the heartless Chengwang Jingshao that people just talked about.

Everyone saw who was coming and knelt down to pay their respects: "Greetings, His Royal Highness, King Cheng."

Waving his hand to let everyone stand up, Jing Shao saw that his princess was already standing in front of the carriage, and chuckled: "I was afraid that you would be late and it would be difficult to walk, so I came to pick you up."

"I'm watching the time." Mu Hanzhang curled his lips, watching the man slowly drive the horse over and stretch out a hand to him. He didn't want to be too intimate in front of outsiders, but he caught a glimpse of Du Yinghao's jealous expression, and he put his hand into his palm for some reason, and with the help of the man on the horse, he turned over and sat in front of Jing Shao.

"Yunzhu, send Brother Zhou back and then go back to the other courtyard." Mu Hanzhang told the servant next to the carriage, said goodbye to everyone, and then followed Jing Shao away in a chic manner.

Du Yinghao's face turned red with anger, and Mr. Lin and others also showed envious eyes. Only Zhou Jin was very happy to have a free carriage with a canopy.

From that day on, the news that King Cheng doted on his princess quickly spread among the upper class.

Given that the set of "Military Books" was too thick, it would take at least a month for one person to copy it. In order to have fun and appear to have a good attitude of admitting mistakes, Jing Shao and Mu Hanzhang began to copy it together. Every morning, one practiced martial arts, and the other handled the affairs of the inner house. In the afternoon, they set up a table in the garden to appreciate flowers and copy books. In the evening, they took a hot spring bath together. Life was very comfortable.

Regarding Ge Ruoyi's matter, Jing Shao wrote a memorial and submitted it. After waiting for three days, there was no news. Just after lunch that day, Jing Shao was lying in a rocking chair with his princess in his arms to bask in the sun, and he was summoned into the palace by an imperial decree.

"What do you think about the southeast?" Emperor Hongzheng asked Jing Shao, who was kneeling behind him, with his hands behind his back, looking at the mountains and rivers in the imperial study.

Jing Shao said carefully: "The Ge family is not a big family, and this matter may not have spread in the southeast. It's just that the woman came to Beijing to file a complaint, and I don't know how to deal with it, so I can only report everything to my father."

Emperor Hongzheng nodded, but did not let Jing Shao stand up. He still looked at the mountain and river map that took up the entire wall in front of him: "Do you know why Taizu wanted to confer vassal kings?"

"The previous dynasty was unkind in governance. Taizu and the three rebel kings fought for the world. The one who broke the capital first became the emperor," Jing Shao looked up at the map he had seen countless times in his previous life. Southwest, southeast, Huainan He fought for ten years to conquer these three places, including the suppression of the Nanman Rebellion. "Taizu was kind and benevolent. After gaining the world, he granted three hereditary vassal kings in the southwest, southeast, and Huainan."

"I don't want to interfere with matters concerning fiefdoms." Emperor Hongzheng turned his back to Jing Shao and showed no expression, but Jing Shao knew what his father was thinking and said loudly, "Although the southeast is a fiefdom, it is also the territory of Dachen. The people in the southeast only recognize your father as the emperor."

After hearing this, Emperor Hongzheng turned around abruptly and stared closely at Jing Shao, who was kneeling on the ground. Jing Shao lowered his head slightly and let him stare at him.

After a long time, Emperor Hongzheng suddenly laughed loudly, "You are worthy of being my son! Hahaha!" He walked to Jing Shao, patted his shoulder, and said in a deep voice, "The three regions are my concern, but now is not the time."

Jing Shao's pupils suddenly contracted, but he didn't show it on his face. He kowtowed and said, "Your son understands." His father meant that now is not a good time to pacify the Three Feudatories, and this matter needs to be suppressed first. No wonder Jing Yu dared to blatantly detain her as a princess in the previous life, and finally forced her to take revenge with her own hands. No wonder Jing Yu dared to be the first to stand up and propose to withdraw the feudal system. But it turned out that at this time, he had already received a positive answer from his father.