The villain prince is three and a half years old

"That makes sense." Queen Mother You nodded, agreeing with Kaidi's suggestion. "What do the black slaves mean?"

"Working slaves are called black slaves because they need to get tanned." Xia Jing explained casually.

"How could you say that about your brothers and sisters!" Empress Dowager You poked Xia Jing's head. "However, your third brother has gotten a bit tanned. He used to be so pale that he looked sick, but now he looks a bit like the children of those military generals. Healthy!"

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that the word "nigger" was quite interesting, but a little mean, and she just happened to love mean words.

The pavilion was quiet for a while. Yuhe taught the two princesses how to water the plants, then returned to Queen Mother You, asked about the arrangements for the Ninth Prince's dinner, and told the kitchen to prepare it.

Queen Mother You looked at the fields and suddenly laughed. Ning Yitao and Ning Peixiang were fighting for the right to water the fields, and finally decided to each take a bucket of water.

This means that they have to change the bucket and ladle every time they finish watering, which is very cumbersome.

What was originally an easy job became a tiring job that kept them busy and running around in their hands.

Xia Jing looked at the scene and it seemed more and more familiar.

He turned around and asked Empress Dowager You, "Grandma, do you want to make a bet?"

"Oh?" Empress Dowager You showed interest. "Go ahead."

Xia Jing leaned over and whispered the bet into the old lady's ear. Empress Dowager You agreed and stared at the Taoxiang sisters in the fields.

It was almost dark, and the two princesses had finished watering and were very tired.

After Ning Yitao finished pouring a bucket of water, she handed it to Ning Peixiang and reached out to take the bucket.

Ning Peixiang lifted the bucket, handed the handle to Ning Yitao, and reached out to grab the ladle.

It was hard to say who affected whom, but in any case, Ning Peixiang didn't hold the ladle tightly, and Ning Yitao didn't hold the bucket tightly, so the ladle and bucket fell to the ground together.

Gurgle, gurgle, half a bucket of water poured into the ground.

Spicy! Taoxiang and her sister lifted the bucket, their faces ashen. Yuhe had specifically reminded them not to overfill it! Each step was only one scoop, and now they'd already poured in five or six!

They instinctively wanted to escape, but this was the back garden of the Cining Palace, how could they escape?

The two sisters huddled together, looking anxiously at Empress Dowager You in the pavilion.

"Hahahahaha." Queen Mother You laughed heartily and turned to look at Xia Jing, "You really were right!"

Xia Jing smiled and said, "Because there is a precedent."

He told the story of how he was almost killed by the two sisters in Fuchenzhai, which made Empress Dowager You laugh again.

Ning Yitao and Ning Peixiang breathed a sigh of relief. Although they didn't know what Empress Dowager You was laughing at, it seemed that their lives were saved.

After they finished watering the remaining few steps, they carried buckets and ladles to the pavilion and stood aside feeling guilty.

Empress Dowager You slowly stopped smiling and looked at them: "Did you just meet Concubine Duan?"

"Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, it was Concubine Duan who came to find us." Ning Yitao and Ning Peixiang replied.

"Tell me in detail how Concubine Duan found you." Empress Dowager You also felt that there was something strange about Concubine Duan.

The two sisters told the whole story, and Xia Jing listened carefully. He was outside the wall of Fuchenzhai and only heard the second half.

"Yuhe," Empress Dowager You said, turning to call her personal maid, "Take the two princesses down to wash their hands and stay for dinner."

"Yes." Yuhe took Taoxiang and her sisters away.

In the pavilion, only Xia Jing and Queen Mother You were left.

"I heard that Zhang Zanyu and Prince Jing have begun teaching you politics and military tactics?" Empress Dowager You looked at Xia Jing. "Do you know what Concubine Duan is doing?"

"Is Xipin's family an official in the western border?" Xia Jing expressed his guess.

"That's right." Empress Dowager You pondered for a moment. "Tomorrow in class, tell Zhang Zanyu about this, or tell the King of Jing."

After all, this is a matter of the harem and should not be told to outsiders.

Xia Jing agreed. He knew he was right. Concubine Duan intended to take away the Taoxiang sisters in order to win over or control the forces in the western border through Concubine Xi and Concubine Niu.

Chapter 184 Playing the Piano to the Cat

Empress Dowager You asked Xia Jing to tell Prince Jing about the Fuchenzhai matter. Unfortunately, Zhang Zanyu's class was tomorrow, and coincidentally, Prince Jing was the dormitory manager of the Southern Study and was coming to urge Xia Jing to attend class.

What’s more coincidental is that Xia Jing was worrying about how to avoid King Jing.

The lessons taught by Prince Jing and Zhang Zanyu were good, but learning by oneself was never as fast as learning from others. In the study of Shuiyun Palace, Ning Wanjun left a large number of books and notes for Xia Jing.

It is not suitable to go to the Southern Study Room often. It is only suitable to go there once every few days to ask Zhang Zanyu and King Jing about any doubts you have during your self-study.

In the early morning, the sunlight evaporated the dew on the leaves. Rendong and Xiao Tianzi were practicing martial arts in the west side hall, Yi Qiu was combing Xiao Yue's hair, and the other palace maids and eunuchs also had their own work to do.

Although they are busy, everyone is lazy and their hands and feet are not as diligent as during the day. It’s not their fault. The sunlight in the sky is lazy, so how can people be energetic?

Prince Jing came in from outside the courtyard gate. The eunuch who was sweeping the floor in the yard was yawning and was startled when he saw him.

Except for the imperial physicians from the Imperial Medical Bureau, all those with beards in the palace are big shots!

The eunuch asked the eunuch behind King Jing for his identity and announced it loudly. The sound shook the leaves and shook off the laziness in Jingyixuan, and everyone became alert.

Xiao Yue met King Jing in the yard and smiled when she heard his purpose.

Jing'er, who skipped classes all day, finally met his end.

She told King Jing that Xia Jing was sleeping in the east side hall.

Yi Qiu led King Jing, opened the door of the east side hall and invited him in.

"Your Highness, the Ninth Prince is inside. Please go by yourself. I really don't dare." Yi Qiu stopped at the bedroom door and whispered to King Jing.

"Oh? He's in a bad mood when he wakes up?" King Jing was surprised.

"The young master is not in a bad mood when he wakes up. It is me who offended him yesterday." Yi Qiu said guiltily.

Yesterday, she took advantage of the Ninth Prince's confusion when he woke up and braided a fairy bun for Xia Jing and inserted an emerald hairpin. She was discovered when she was applying rouge at the end and was punched by Xia Jing.

The King of Jing was speechless. He opened the curtain and walked into the bedroom.

Two eunuchs from the Imperial Household Department followed King Jing in, one on each side, standing guard at the door, looking down at their toes.

Prince Jing walked to the bedside, parted the curtains, and said to the bulging quilt, "Ninth Prince, it's time to get up and go to class."

There was no movement in the bed. King Jing laughed and said, "I'm here now. You have to get up or not. Why bother yourself?"

There was still no movement in the bed.

The King of Jing thought about his childhood, in which he could not be called back no matter what, and even said to his mother, "It would have been better if I had been born in a merchant family."

He immediately softened his heart and said gently, "The Queen has just released a few koi in the Imperial Garden. How about we catch some and send them to the Imperial Kitchen when we pass by?"

The two eunuchs guarding the door trembled their hands.

The quilt moved, then calmed down again.

King Jing thought that this was a little touching, but not enough.

Prince Jing stroked his beard and resorted to his ultimate trick: "Have you ever been up to the corner towers at the four corners of the palace?"

He didn't say he would take me there, he just asked if I had been there before, which showed that he was very confident about the temptation of the corner tower.

There are four corner towers in the four corners of the palace. They are very tall and conspicuous. Standing on them, you can see the scenery outside the palace. However, the princes are not allowed to climb these corner towers. However, throughout the dynasties, there is no prince who is not curious about the corner towers.

But he lay motionless in bed, even more like he was catching fish.

King Jing's face changed drastically. No prince could refuse the corner tower, so there must be something fishy about the indifferent bed!

King Jing grabbed the quilt and pulled it up with force.

The royal blue quilt was thrown to the end of the bed, revealing the bulge.

There was no Ninth Prince on the bed, only two piles of books, and a black raccoon lying in the middle of the books.

The one that just moved was the raccoon!

It turns out he was playing the piano to the cat! No wonder it moved when he mentioned the koi, but didn't move when he mentioned the corner tower!

Prince Jing recognized this cat. It was the cat of the third prince Ning Shouxu, named General Coal.

General Coal walked to the bedside and used his claws to move the hem of King Jing's clothes.

"Meow meow meow." Let's go catch koi.

The Prince of Jing, not understanding the cat language, turned away, anxious to find the Ninth Prince elsewhere. This was his first day as the dormitory supervisor. If he failed on the first day, how would he proceed? A new official has three things to do!

"Meow!"

General Coal picked up a piece of paper, jumped in front of King Jing, put the paper down, and pointed with his paw.

Puzzled, the King of Jing picked up the paper and unfolded it. On it, a brief sentence described what had happened in Fuchenzhai yesterday.

The King of Jing's political level was not as high as Zhang Zanyu's, but it was above average. He immediately realized that this matter was unusual and there were many aspects that needed to be considered.

He didn't bother to look for the Ninth Prince, and hurried out to the Yangxin Palace to discuss with Emperor Kangning.

The two agreed that this incident could at least prove one thing: Ge Hongsheng's little tricks were not small! This was all exerted in the harem!

They walked into the imperial study, took out all the memorials from the Rixi Territory, studied them carefully, and tried to guess what Ge Hongsheng was going to do, but they could not find any clues for a while.

"He wants to join the tribes in the western border?" Emperor Kangning suspected that Ge Hongsheng was preparing to surrender and sell the court's power in the western border to the tribes in the western border.

"His family is all in the capital, how dare he do this? The emperor only took away his military power before, and he is still a marquis, enjoying a life of glory and prosperity." King Jing was puzzled. "Or does he think that my Daning is so cowardly that I will send his family to him intact if the Western Territory threatens me?"

Emperor Kangning pondered for a moment: "The Western Territory can give him very little, and he is destined to be unable to integrate into other countries. I am afraid it will be difficult for him to integrate into other countries."

"The new emperor of Qi has just ascended the throne and is busy eliminating dissidents. He probably has no time to interfere in the Western Territory. It would be useless for Lu to take over the Western Territory. The remaining countries are too far away."

"This is strange." Emperor Kangning sat on the Arhat bed. "Send a message to Xiao Jida and the others, and have them investigate carefully. There must be something in the Western Territory that we don't know about!"

Neither Emperor Kangning nor King Jing could have imagined that Ge Hongsheng would be so bold as to want to swallow up the western border and become a local emperor.

"Don't worry. Even if war breaks out, I am not afraid." Emperor Kangning comforted King Jing, picked up the teapot and poured tea for him.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Prince Jing bowed respectfully before picking up the tea bowl.

He was in the Yangxin Palace, drinking tea and chatting, completely forgetting about another thing.

In the southern study, Zhang Zanyu frequently looked out the window, feeling worried. The class time had passed, the Ninth Prince had not come, and there was no news from the King of Jing. What had happened?

Xia Jing didn't expect that his strategy would be so effective and completely divert the attention of King Jing.

At this moment, the Ninth Prince was in Yonghua Palace, sleeping soundly on Ning Xuenian's bed.

At daybreak, the Ninth Prince left General Coal behind to explain things, and then he climbed over the wall and left Jingyixuan, going to Yonghua Palace to take a nap.

Yonghua Palace was the most suitable. Prince Jing would never have thought that the Ninth Prince did not go to his grandmother's or his brothers' places, but slept with his sister instead.

By the time he came all the way from Cining Palace, Guanlanzhai, and Yanghexuan, it was almost time for Xia Jing to wake up.

At this point, even if you get caught, it won't be a loss.

At noon, Xia Jing got up from the bed. Lu Hua helped him wash up, and Ning Xuenian watched the fun and lent a hand.

After lunch, Xia Jing waited for a while, but King Jing still didn't show up. He took Ning Xuenian to Shuiyun Palace, practiced martial arts, took a medicinal bath, and read in the study.

Until the sun set in the west, Xia Jing still hadn't seen King Jing.

This made the boy a little uneasy.

Where did this Uncle Wang go? Why hasn't he found me yet?

He didn't hide on the way to Shuiyun Palace. With just a little inquiry, you can find out his whereabouts.

Guessing that it was almost time for get out of class to end, Xia Jing left Shuiyun Hall and came to the South Study.

Zhang Zanyu had just walked out of the room when he met the Ninth Prince.

"Your Highness has finally found the Ninth Prince." Zhang Zanyu said with a smile, "Where has the Ninth Prince been hiding?"

Xia Jing scratched his head and said, "I didn't see Uncle Wang. I came to see where he went."

Zhang Zanyu was silent, his heart was shaken violently.

I asked Prince Jing to look for the Ninth Prince, but after a day, the Ninth Prince looked for Prince Jing instead?

Was it the right plan to choose the alliance with the King of Jing? For the first time, Zhang Zanyu began to waver in his decision.

Outside the imperial palace, in Prince Jing’s mansion.

King Jing was writing a letter to his old subordinates in the western border, asking for information, when he suddenly sneezed.

He looked up and saw the dusk outside the window, and suddenly remembered that he had forgotten about the South Study!

Outside the South Study, in the tea room.