Three Years After Falling Off the Cliff

Although the pipa's music is out of tune, the sound of the zither is gentle and melodious. The two sounds are intertwined together, but there is a strange harmony.

Xia Yu and Qiu Shuang even felt that their young lady's pipa playing was actually quite pleasant to the ears.

After playing several songs, Fu Yi's enthusiasm for playing music gradually subsided. She held the pipa and looked at Sui Tingheng who was sitting next to her and playing the instrument: "Your Highness the Crown Prince."

The sound of the piano stopped. Sui Tingheng placed his palm on the strings, turned to look at her, and waited for her next words.

"I am very happy tonight, thank you Your Highness." Fu Yi was drunk, but still somewhat sober. She handed the pipa to the palace servant behind her and said, "It is getting late, I should leave now."

The moon was already high in the sky. Sui Tingheng stroked the strings of his zither, then stood up and said, "I'll take the girl back."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Fu Yi did not refuse. She walked to Sui Tingheng and said, "Your Highness is of noble status. When you leave the palace in the future, bring more guards with you."

"Okay." Sui Tingheng held the lantern and illuminated the road ahead.

When going down the stairs, Fu Yi staggered and subconsciously put her hand on Sui Tingheng's arm.

"Miss Yun, be careful!"

"I'm sorry for the offense." Fu Yi let go of his hand and apologized to him.

"No problem." Sui Tingheng handed the lamp to Mo Wen behind him and extended his arm: "It's hard to walk at night, girl, help me walk."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Fu Yi bowed and thanked him, but did not really extend her hand.
The prince extending his arm was a sign of good manners and etiquette, but if she really put her hand on it, it would be tactless and brainless.

Sitting on the prince's carriage again, she brushed her clothes and said, "I haven't congratulated your highness on your promotion to the crown prince yet."

Sui Tingheng glanced at her face and quickly regained his composure: "Today is the girl's birthday, the birthday girl is the most important."

Amused by this, Fu Yi propped up her sleepy head with her hands and said, "Today, countless people are celebrating their birthdays, but you are the only prince in our Dalong Dynasty."

"Are you sleepy?" Sui Tingheng took out a cloak and bent down to cover Fu Yi with it: "Lean back and sleep for a while. I'll call you when we get to your house."

"Your Highness." Fu Yi looked at the cloak on her body and said, "This morning, I discovered that someone of unknown identity had entered the Ning Wang Mansion. Your Highness is the new crown prince, so please be more careful."

If Prince Ning dared to harm the crown prince, he would be torn into pieces by five horses. But she couldn't fail to warn the crown prince because of her personal vengeance, especially since he was a gentleman who had experienced hardships in his childhood and still retained a kind heart.

"Desire can make people lose all reason. I am not afraid to use my smallest mind to speculate about others." Fu Yi covered her mouth and yawned: "Your Highness is a gentleman, but a gentleman does not build a dangerous wall. Please strengthen your precautions."

The carriage became quiet and Fuyi fell asleep.

Sui Ting looked at her restless sleeping face, blew out the candle in the carriage, lifted the curtain and called Xia Yu and Qiu Shuang to come in to accompany Fu Yi, and then he got on the horse.

The night was foggy and a drunk man stumbled out of the alley.

"Who is coming?!" The Jinwu guards drew their swords and were on guard.

"Hiss." Sui Xun rubbed his aching head. He had only drunk a few glasses of wine today, how could he be drunk in the alley? He stood up and walked a few steps, and saw the bright sword under the moonlight, which frightened him soberly: "Jinwu Guard?"

The Jinwu Guards not only maintain the security of the capital, but also have an important responsibility to protect the safety of the emperor. The only people who can be accompanied by so many Jinwu Guards with swords are the emperor and the princes.

"Your humble servant Sui Xun pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." Sui Xun knelt down and kowtowed without even thinking.

"Cousin, there is no need to be polite. Please stand up." Sui Tingheng looked at Sui Xun expressionlessly, "It's so late, why are you here? Where are the people serving you?"

"Servant..." Sui Xun shook his dizzy head. He ran out of Caiyinfang in a hurry a few hours ago, and it seemed that he lost his servant at that time.
He couldn't quite remember what happened afterwards.

Sui Tingheng raised his hand slightly, and a Jinwu Guard walked into the alley and quickly picked up a jade pendant in the alley.

Sui Tingheng recognized this jade pendant. It was a rare warm jade that Sui Xun had once shown off to him.
When Sui Xun saw the jade pendant, he remembered what he had done in the past and a cold sweat broke out on his back.
Why did he wear this jade pendant today?
Sui Tingheng looked back at the carriage behind him and signaled the Jinwu Guards to return the jade pendant to Sui Xun: "Send the Marquis Gongping back to his mansion."

Sui Xun didn't dare to say anything, he just felt that the jade pendant in his hand was more prickly than a needle.

The carriage stopped outside the Yun residence, and Xia Yu and Qiu Shuang helped Fu Yi get off the carriage. Seeing Xia Yu trying to take off Fu Yi's cloak, Sui Tingheng said, "Wear it properly. You should avoid getting cold when you are drunk."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Qiu Shuang bowed deeply to express his gratitude.

Sui Tingheng glanced at Fu Yi and rode away on his horse.

"Your Highness, it's getting late, you should rest." Mo Wen saw that the prince was still writing in the study after returning to the palace, and couldn't help but persuade him: "Tomorrow is a big court meeting, you have to get up early."

"I know what's going on. You can leave." Sui Tingheng took a sip of the bitter tea and picked up his pen to continue writing the memorial that he had not finished that day.

[The border is bitterly cold, the soldiers have not let down the people, and we must not let them down either...]

The court officials did not expect that the prince would propose to increase the salaries of frontier soldiers in his first grand court meeting. After hearing that he would only increase the salary by one or two taels of silver per year, several high-ranking court officials breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, thinking that this was much more reliable than His Majesty.

A few days ago, His Majesty asked to increase the salary of the soldiers by 5 taels of silver. How much is this expenditure? Who can agree?

The Minister of Revenue was so angry that he retired and returned to his hometown. Your Majesty would rather recall Yun Wanggui from Chongzhou to be the Minister of Revenue than give up this idea.
Now, after hearing His Royal Highness the Crown Prince explain in a well-reasoned manner the reasons for increasing the military pay and a figure that they could accept with a gritted teeth, not many people in the court strongly opposed it.

The prince himself proposed one tael of silver. Your Majesty cannot refuse him and insist on giving five taels, right?

"What do you think, my friends?" The emperor winked at several trusted ministers, as if he wanted them to stand up and oppose the figure proposed by the prince.

"Lord Chen." The emperor stretched out his hand from his sleeve and showed five fingers.
Lord Chen turned his head silently, pretending not to see His Majesty's open dragon claws: "I agree with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's proposal."

"Lord Zhao?" The emperor waved his sleeves and was just about to step in front of Lord Zhao.
"I, this old minister, agree as well." Lord Zhao stared at the imperial sceptre in his hand, lowered his head and did not look at the emperor.

"open……"

"I second the proposal!"
"I second the proposal!"

“You…you…” The emperor clenched his fists and looked at the courtiers who did not look at him in disappointment: “Forget it, since the prince has the heart to care for the soldiers, then let’s do as he wishes.”

The officials were completely relieved. They were afraid that the emperor would suddenly roll up his sleeves and cry and make a fuss to increase the fee. Then they would have no choice but to oppose it to the death. They looked at the prince standing in the front with gratitude. Fortunately, His Royal Highness was there.

Yun Wanggui looked up at the emperor on the throne, then looked at the tall and graceful Crown Prince, and lowered his head to hide the smile on his face.

If he guessed correctly, His Majesty's original plan was to increase the military pay by one tael of silver, not five taels.

Your Majesty knows exactly how much money is available in the national treasury. How could you really ask the Ministry of Revenue to pay out so much money?
This plan was a brilliant one. It not only raised the Crown Prince's status in the hearts of the generals, but also achieved the goal.
Sometimes when you take ten steps forward and then take eight steps back, it’s easy to forget that even though you’ve taken eight steps back, you’ve still taken two steps forward.

"Yun Qing family, do you have any objections?"

"Your Majesty is wise, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is benevolent. We admire you." Yun Wanggui bowed and said, "Your Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince care about the soldiers at the border. This is a blessing for the soldiers. The soldiers guard the border with all their heart, which is also a blessing for all the people in the world."

The ministers reacted and followed Yun Wanggui in praising him. They praised him a little more to prevent His Majesty from regretting it on the spot and asking for three or five taels of silver.

After the court session, the emperor took Sui Tingheng back to the imperial study and laughed, saying, "My son, this is a brilliant plan. As expected, they agreed to it!"

"First, Censor Zhang's words and deeds were inconsistent, and then your memorial touched people's hearts." The emperor patted Sui Tingheng on the shoulder and said, "My son is very smart!"

"It's because my father trusts me." Sui Tingheng knew in his heart that this calculation was not clever. It all depended on his father's willingness to save face and the fact that he never feared him.

"If I don't trust you, who can you trust?" In private, the emperor rarely called himself "I" in front of his wife and children. He sat down at the imperial desk, looking at the memorials on the table with worry: "If you are willing to be the emperor, I will give you the throne after the three-year mourning period is over. When the time comes, I will lead the soldiers to the battle, and you will handle the government affairs in the capital."

These memorials were a headache to read, and the civil officials loved to nitpick. In just two years, his hair had become much thinner.

"Father." Sui Tingheng sighed, "Please don't say such things."

Realizing that this was inappropriate, the emperor coughed dryly, opened the memorial and asked, "I heard that you came back very late last night?"

"Something delayed me on the way." Sui Tingheng put the important memorial to the left, "Please rest assured, father. I will not leave the palace again before the enthronement ceremony."

"That's good. Have a good rest in the palace these few days." The emperor glanced at the blue marks under Sui Tingheng's eyes and teased, "You will become ugly if you don't sleep well. Be careful that your future crown princess will dislike your appearance."

Sui Tingheng paused slightly while sorting out the memorials, but soon returned to normal: "Father, you are joking."

"It's okay to stay up late occasionally. My son is a man of both literary and martial arts, and as handsome as Pan An. He will definitely not be disliked by the Crown Princess." The emperor did not notice Sui Tingheng's abnormality: "If you like a girl, just tell your father and he will grant you a marriage."

Sui Tingheng flipped open a memorial and said calmly, "Father, I am not in the mood to love for the time being."
He didn't dare to force anything on her.

"You're already 18 years old, and you still drink like this. Do you feel a headache now?" Liu Qiongzhi rubbed the temple of Fu Yi who was lying on her knees. "Someone from the Liu family came to visit this morning. Are you familiar with Liu Zihe?"

"Liu Zihe?" Fu Yi hugged Liu Qiongzhi's waist and acted coquettishly: "I don't have any contact with him."

"From what I heard from the Liu family, it seems that they want to marry into our family."

"Which girl from the Liu family?" Fu Yi became a little more excited.

"What girl? It's the Liu family who wants to marry you." Liu Qiongzhi stroked Fu Yi's hair and said, "If you have no interest in Liu Zihe, I will directly reject the Liu family's suggestion."

"I don't even remember what he looks like, what's the point." Fu Yi smelled the fragrance of her mother: "What's the point of getting married? I want to be with my mother for the rest of my life."

"I think you want me to worry about you for the rest of my life." Liu Qiongzhi snorted with a half-smile, her expression gentle: "If you don't want to get married, then it won't work."
Ever since she witnessed her daughter being shot by an arrow and falling off a cliff, she realized that when it comes to life and death, nothing else matters.
It doesn’t matter whether they get married or not, it doesn’t matter whether she has a promising future or not, as long as she lives well, it can withstand anything in the world.

"Your Highness, the prince has been in the palace for the past few days and has not come out. The plan to assassinate him should be stopped." The counselor sat by the window in the teahouse box. The enthronement ceremony was approaching, and red silk began to be hung on the streets. Many shops also put up banners to celebrate the enthronement of the prince, attracting customers from outside the city.

The emperor originally scheduled the ceremony for the crown prince within half a month, but later changed it to the prince's birthday. The court officials were all guessing the emperor's intention to postpone the ceremony, and now seeing the envoys from the surrounding countries rushing in, the counselors finally understood the reason.

It turned out that the emperor thought the enthronement ceremony was not grand enough and insisted on waiting for envoys from the surrounding areas to come and show their support for the prince. It is said that the previous emperor favored Prince Ning, but this favor was far less than the importance that the current emperor attached to the prince.

"The emperor values ​​the prince very much, and has a deep love for the queen." The counselor glanced at the envoys wearing foreign costumes on the street, "But there are few men in the world who don't love novelty and beauty. People's hearts are always fickle."

Prince Ning raised his eyebrows slightly: "You mean the beauty trap?"

"Who doesn't love a beauty? The emperor and the prince are both men." The counselor put down his teacup and said, "Why don't you give it a try, Your Majesty?"

"I understand. You can arrange it yourself." King Ning raised his teacup, and the counselor tactfully withdrew.

A hero is always tempted by beauty. Whether it is the emperor or the prince, it is extremely beneficial to them. When the counselor thought of the benefits brought by the plan, he couldn't help but smile in an unfathomable way.

"How dare you! Who are you?!" He accidentally bumped into a woman while he was distracted. Before he could see who she was, someone twisted his arm. During his struggle, a purse fell out of his sleeve.

"Okay, I was wondering why you were sneaking around and bumping into people, turns out you're a thief!"

The counselor looked at the ground and saw that it was an embroidered purse. Because the purse was too full of silver, two pieces of silver had fallen out of the purse.

"Miss, your purse!" Xia Yu picked up the purse on the ground and handed it to Fu Yi: "Fortunately, I found it in time and didn't let the villain succeed."

The strategist was held by Qiu Shuang and could not move. He looked up and saw the person who took the purse. He could not help but asked in surprise, "Yun Fuyi?"

"You really do know me." Fu Yi smiled in an ambiguous way, looked up at the teahouse, and suddenly asked loudly: "Did you know that I had money on me a long time ago, so you followed me on purpose?"

When something like this happened on a busy street, all the people nearby gathered around.

"There is so much silver. Fortunately, the girl found it in time, otherwise it would have been taken away by the thief."
"He looked like a decent person, but I didn't expect him to be a thief who was following a pretty girl."
"Girl, I'm strong, I'll help you beat him up."

"Thank you all for your kindness, thank you all." Fu Yi bowed to everyone and said, "Many foreign envoys have arrived in the capital in recent days. We can't make a scene and let outsiders laugh at us."

"What the lady said makes sense." A strong man retracted his foot that was about to kick the counselor and said, "Then shall we accompany the lady to send this man to the government?"
"Thank you all, heroes." Fu Yi was touched: "If it weren't for the help of you, the three of us weak women would not know what to do."

The counselor's eyes widened in disbelief, unable to imagine how things had turned out like this.
he?
Thief?

The people watching the fun said: Such a pretty girl actually called them knights, then they must not let this thief go!
(End of this chapter)