I am a prince in Zhutian Films
Chapter 8: The King's Banquet
Chapter 8: The King's Banquet
The next morning, Eunuch Hou brought two imperial edicts and a gold medal.
One was an imperial edict conferring the title of king to Li Chengzong.
The other one was an imperial edict and a token to leave the palace given to Qin Yu.
After reading the imperial edict, Eunuch Hou bowed and said, "This old servant congratulates the Third Prince and the Queen."
Qin Yu also understood and waved his hand behind him. Chao Lu immediately took out a few silver bills and handed them to Eunuch Hou.
"Your Majesty, this... I really want to congratulate you." Eunuch Hou didn't dare to accept it.
"I know you really want to congratulate me, but I can't let you make this trip in vain."
"The old slave refused disrespectfully."
After Eunuch Hou received the reward, Li Chengzong said, "Eunuch Hou, this imperial edict is not right, where is my money?"
"Third Prince, His Majesty said that now Qing Kingdom needs money everywhere, and since you are not short of money, I will not pay for the repairs."
According to the rules, when a prince was granted a title and established his own palace, the court would give him a house and a sum of 50,000 taels of silver as a settlement fee.
The royal palace covers an area of 40 to 50 acres, and it would cost a huge sum of money just to repair it.
Fifty thousand taels of silver is not a small amount. Ordinary people in Kyoto spend at most twenty or thirty taels of silver a year. If you live in a village outside Kyoto, five taels of silver a year is enough for a family.
However, the renovation of the palace covering an area of 40 to 50 acres would cost a lot of money, and these 50,000 taels of silver might not be enough. When Li Chengze left the palace, Concubine Shu and her natal family subsidized a lot of it.
And without money, how can your subordinates do things for you?
Li Chengzong looked unhappy. "What do you mean I have money? Even if I have money, I still have to pay. Eunuch Hou, please go and ask the old man to bring my money to me."
"You, don't make it difficult for Eunuch Hou. The house your father gave you has been renovated by the Ministry of Works, so you don't need to spend money." Qin Yu waved at Eunuch Hou and pulled his son over and said, "Come and see how this arrangement works today."
"What arrangement?"
"Today you are crowned as a prince and you have to leave the palace, so you must hold a pot-warming banquet. Invite someone to come today, and when you go to the palace, you can hold another pot-warming banquet, which will cost you two sums of money."
Li Chengzong was stunned. When did his mother become so calculating?
"What are you standing there for? Come and take a look."
"Mom, please make the arrangements. I'll go tell the old lady."
"Well, you go and do your business."
Qin Yu didn't like the Queen Mother, but she didn't object to her son being filial. After all, the Queen Mother was really good to her son.
What's more, today is the auspicious day when my son is crowned king, and it would be inappropriate not to tell the Queen Mother.
The Queen Mother's palace.
Before Li Chengzong entered the door, he heard laughter coming from inside.
The only person in the entire palace who could make the stern old lady laugh continuously, besides Li Chengzong, was Lin Wan'er who was recuperating in the royal villa.
"I heard your laughter outside the door, and I thought it must be Wan'er who came. I didn't expect it was really Wan'er who came." Li Chengzong said with a smile as he followed Eunuch Hong into the room.
"Wan'er has met my third cousin."
As expected of a child brought up as a royal princess, her etiquette is impeccable.
"In the blink of an eye, Wan'er has grown up and become more beautiful. I don't know which boy will marry her in the future." Li Chengzong joked, then bowed to the old lady and said, "Grandson greets the Royal Grandmother."
The old lady had a stern face, but she couldn't hide the smile between her eyebrows. "Wan'er knew to come and see me, but you don't know what made you, a busy person, come to my place today?"
"Grandma, we have to be honest when we talk. I'm not as diligent as Wan'er."
Li Chengzong walked forward and sat down next to the old lady. He picked up a piece of cake and put it in his mouth to taste it. When he found it was not too sweet, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Wan'er is not in good health, how dare you compare yourself with her."
Noticing Li Chengzong's actions, the old lady said unhappily, "I only have this little hobby, and you have to control me."
"Grandson, this is also for your own good. Eating less sweets is good for your health. If you are healthy, I won't have to worry about no one taking care of my children in the future."
Although she knew that Li Chengzong was just trying to please her, the old lady was still very happy: "Okay, okay, grandma will take care of your son for you in the future."
In fact, if possible, he still prefers his daughter.
But you can't tell this to the old lady, otherwise you will definitely get a scolding.
Li Chengzong felt a flash of disdain for the idea of favoring boys over girls, and said with a smile, "By the way, I came here today to tell you and Old Hong that I will be leaving the palace soon."
"Leaving the palace?"
Li Chengzong nodded and said, "My father has issued an edict to make me a king today. I will move out of the palace. By the way, my mother is holding a banquet in Yuxiu Palace. Do you want to go and have a look?"
It was just a casual remark, but I didn't expect the old lady to actually nod and say, "Then I'll go and take a look later." I waited for the whole morning.
When the old lady arrived at Yuxiu Palace with her ceremonial procession, the guests who came to the banquet stunned Li Chengzong.
Good guy!
In addition to the concubines in the harem, there was also a large group of beautiful, unfamiliar women, wearing gold and jade, and they were obviously the wives of nobles in the court. Even the empress who had been confined to the palace had come.
Led by the Queen, a large group of noble ladies bowed and said, "Greetings, Her Majesty the Queen Mother."
The old lady asked Li Chengzong to support her, walked through the imperial concubines who bowed on both sides, walked to the pavilion at the top of the courtyard and sat down, then waved her hand and said: "No need to be polite, today is the Third Prince's opening banquet, everyone please be more casual."
Everyone stood up without greeting, and Qin Yu walked up: "Queen Dowager, I will take Zong'er to identify the person."
"Well, let's go."
Today is the auspicious day when Li Chengzong is crowned king, and the old lady rarely gave Qin Yu a good look.
Following Qin Yu to the courtyard below, Li Chengzong lowered his voice and asked, "Mother, were these people called by the old lady?"
"Otherwise, I, your mother, don't have the ability to call the queen."
Qin Yu lowered her voice and replied, bringing Li Chengzong to the Queen: "Zong'er, why don't you pay your respects to the Queen?"
"Meet the Queen."
Looking at Li Chengzong, who looked like Emperor Qing when he was young, the Queen frowned and then smiled, "He's a good child. I heard that he asked for an imperial decree for you. His filial piety is commendable."
To be honest, the Queen was quite envious of Qin Yu.
Although neither of them is liked by Emperor Qing and they have confined themselves to the harem, Qin Yu has her son to accompany her every day.
Although there were rumors in Kyoto that this son was uneducated, he was filial. Unlike his own son, he would never visit his mother unless summoned.
Moreover, if the third prince was really as unlearned and unskillful as the outside world rumored, the empress dowager would not be so gracious to him. She would only confer him a title of king and set up a government office, and even specially called the noble ladies of Kyoto to celebrate.
"This child is neither good at literature nor martial arts, and all he has left is filial piety, unlike His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who is both good at literature and martial arts."
Qin Yu was just like an ordinary mother to Xuan'er. She said disdainfully but couldn't hide the smile on her face. She cupped her hands and said, "Queen, please sit down for a moment. I will take this kid to meet the others first."
There were not many concubines in the harem, just a few. Except for the empress, whom Li Chengzong had never met, they were all familiar with him. And except for the quiet and book-loving Concubine Shu, they all liked Li Chengzong very much.
Of course, Concubine Shu didn't hate Li Chengzong, she just had little contact with him and couldn't say that she liked him.
Next is the eldest princess Li Yunrui.
The relationship between Qin Yu and Li Yunrui...it's hard to even maintain superficial harmony. She brought Li Chengzong here without even any intention of speaking.
Helpless, Li Chengzong had to greet him and say, "Nephew greets aunt."
"Everyone says that the Third Prince is uneducated and unskilled, but they don't know that Zong'er is good at doing business. If you have time, you can often come to my aunt's Guangxin Palace to sit down. I will also ask you for your advice on doing business."
Just listen to this, it's just a polite remark. Anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.
"My nephew doesn't know how to run a business. It's just that my subordinates are capable. Of course, if my nephew has time, he will definitely go to Guangxin Palace to bother his aunt."
Li Yunrui nodded and said with a smile: "Then your aunt will be waiting for you in Guangxin Palace, go and get busy."
The rest were all noble ladies in Kyoto, either the mistresses of the Duke's or Marquis's mansions. The only lady of the Earl's mansion was the mistress of the Fan family, the legitimate daughter of the Duke's mansion, Liu Ruyu.
It can be seen that the threshold of this banquet is very high.
Because the Liu family and the Qin family were both military families, Qin Yu and Liu Ruyu had known each other since childhood and had a good relationship, so they chatted for a while before taking Li Chengzong back to the pavilion.
Li Chengzong rubbed his cheeks that were about to freeze from laughing, and said with some depression: "Grandmother, you have always liked peace and quiet. There is actually no need to arrange this for your grandson."
This is why the old lady likes Li Chengzong. She always considers the feelings of her elders and relatives first when doing anything.
"It's different outside the palace than inside. It doesn't hurt to get to know more people so that you won't be bullied after leaving the palace."
"My grandson is a prince, who dares to bully me? What's more, my grandson is skilled in martial arts, and it's unknown who will bully whom."
The old lady smiled meaningfully and said, "In this city of Kyoto, relying on force alone is not enough."
Indeed, everyone who has watched Joy of Life knows that there are too many old coins in this world. As the capital of Qing Kingdom, Kyoto is home to a complex network of forces. The Supervisory Council can be said to be omnipresent, and other forces also have their own secret agents. Various insidious methods emerge in an endless stream, making it difficult to guard against and the level of danger is extremely high.
Although he is a time traveler, Li Chengzong thinks that in terms of conspiracies and tricks... he is far inferior to the second brother Li Chengze, not to mention people like Emperor Qing and Chen Pingping. He is not even worthy of carrying their shoes. All he can rely on is his martial arts, but now he is only an eighth-rank warrior and cannot ignore the rules like a grandmaster.
After all, one has to become a grandmaster.
Li Chengzong sighed silently, but smiled on the surface: "Although I am not strong enough, I have my father to back me up. If it doesn't work, I still have you to back me up. If anyone dares to bully me, I will go to the palace to ask you to make the decision."
"Okay, okay, if you get bullied, come find grandma and she will take care of it for you."
For a moment, the grandparents and grandchildren laughed together.
(End of this chapter)
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