Women Wearing Men: The Growth Path of the Bastards of the Aristocratic Family

Chapter 236 The First Prince

The weather in the capital is getting colder, and the end of the year is approaching. Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan, who were looking forward to meeting Su Qi again every day, finally waited for the news that Emperor Jingfeng rejected Su Qi's return to Beijing to report on his duties.

After reading Su Qi's letter, Gu Yunji forced a smile on Cheng Yan, not knowing if he was comforting him or himself: "...It doesn't matter, after all, we are working in the capital now, and Su Qi will come back sooner or later. The future will be long."

Cheng Yan narrowed the disappointment in his eyes, and joked: "Yes, the future will be long. Don't dare to say anything else, at least there will be a lot of time waiting for us to get together after retiring. At that time, none of us three little old men will leave. Just stay in the capital to eat, drink and play every day."

After speaking, the two looked at each other dryly and laughed, but after a short laugh, the corners of their mouths slowly drooped, and they could only fall into silence.

In the past, Gu Yunji and Cheng Yan were scholars who devoted themselves to imperial examinations and did not understand the balance of the game in the court, but now that they have been in office for several months, they can more or less see what kind of attitude Emperor Jingfeng has towards the Su family .

The Su family made their fortunes with martial arts, and they were the titles earned by the meritorious officials of Emperor Taizong when he raised his troops to the side of the Qing emperor.Dingguo Gong Su Yuan has been in the army for decades and has a high prestige in the army. More than half of the senior generals in the four realms of the Great Xia Dynasty are under his command. Su Qi can convince the arrogant generals at a young age , and precisely because of the paving of his Father's glory.

Since he was poisoned by an arrow in front of the battle against the Tatars last year, Duke Ding's health has been deteriorating, and he has resigned from the military and returned to Beijing to recuperate.At the same time, Su Qi served as the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, the head of the nine border towns, which is equivalent to taking over the military power and guarding the border on behalf of his father.

One of the father and son has prestige and the other has military power. It is good to be separated from each other for a long time. If they are both in the capital, if they have any strange thoughts, it will be like a knife hanging around Emperor Jingfeng's neck. will cut it down.

Since ancient times, emperors have been suspicious. Even though the Su family has been loyal for generations, they are still inevitably tabooed by the superiors.

In short, unless something unexpected happened, Emperor Jingfeng would not let Su Qi return to Beijing easily.

It was cold and windy, and the winter snow covered the entire capital densely. On the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, Emperor Jingfeng hosted a banquet in the palace to entertain his officials. All officials with a rank of seven and above were welcome to attend.

Gu Yunji is an official seventh-rank Hanlin editor, and he happened to be qualified for this qualification, so he went to the banquet with Cheng Yan.

The palace banquet was hosted by Guanglu Temple, and it was unpalatable as always, but the taste of the banquet given by the emperor was second, the most important thing was this honor and grace.Gu Yunji really couldn't eat, but in order not to be charged with contempt for Shengwei, he had no choice but to drink and eat fruits non-stop. In the end, his stomach was not full, but his bladder couldn't bear it.

Halfway through the palace banquet, Emperor Jingfeng withdrew from the banquet in order to allow the officials to relax and eat and drink. Gu Yunji just took this opportunity to give a briefing.

Emperor Jingfeng had already left, Gu Yunji was not in a hurry to go back to the banquet, and was going to blow the cold wind outside to sober up before going back.When he walked around to the side door of the main hall, he found a child not far away, who looked young, squatting on the ground with a branch to write and draw.

Gu Yunji approached, and heard the child still muttering words: "Human nature is good at the beginning, and the nature is similar and the habit is far away...Jade is not polished, it is not perfect...not good...what's next?"

"The latter is people who don't learn and don't know righteousness."

The child was concentrating on reciting the Three-Character Classic, completely unaware that someone was approaching behind him, and was startled by Gu Yunji's sudden sound.

He took a step back subconsciously, looked at Gu Yunji vigilantly, and tried to maintain his composure: "You, who are you?"

Gu Yunji bowed to him and saluted him: "Gu Yunji, editor of Weichen Hanlin, has met His Royal Highness the First Prince."

Li Jinze widened his eyes in surprise: "How do you know my identity?"

Gu Yunji smiled slightly: "Weichen guessed randomly, but I didn't expect to guess right."

None of the courtiers who participated in the palace banquet tonight brought their family members, and the children who can appear in the palace will not be from outside the palace, and nine out of ten are the princes of Emperor Jingfeng.Among the three existing princes, the second son Li Jinche and the third son Li Jinzhan were both born to concubines, and it is unlikely that their biological mother would allow them to run around at night.

Only the eldest prince, Li Jinze, has no biological mother to support him, and because he is not loved by Emperor Jingfeng, the palace servants around him don't pay much attention to him, so he may be lazy and playful right now, neglecting to take care of the eldest prince.Coupled with the fact that the age is also suitable, the child in front of him is undoubtedly the eldest prince.

However, Gu Yunji's inner speculation was not suitable for telling a seven-year-old child, so he made up a white lie.

Li Jinze is not very old, so he easily believed his words, and let go of his guard: "Then you are also very good, you can guess it casually! You just said... who are you?"

Gu Yunji nodded: "Hanlin editor Gu Yunji."

Li Jinze tilted his head in doubt: "Hanlin editor... what is Hanlin editor?"

"Hanlin editing is..."

Gu Yunji was about to explain his daily business affairs, but also thought that Li Jinze had been in the deep palace for a long time, so he probably had no idea about it, so he changed the phrase: "Well... let's put it this way, the No. You will get the official post of editor of Hanlin."

Li Jinze doesn't know what Hanlin editors are, but he has heard about the imperial examinations where scholars from all over the world compete for their talents. Hearing this, his eyes lit up: "You are No.3 in the imperial examinations? So many people took the imperial examinations at the same time, you passed the exams third?"

Seeing Li Jinze's expression of shock and admiration, Gu Yunji smiled: "Yes."

"Since you are No.3 in the imperial examination, then your knowledge must be very good?" Li Jinze swallowed his saliva, his eyes showing a little anxiety, "Can you, can you teach me to read and write?"

Gu Yunji was taken aback for a moment, and then quickly understood the reason.

Both the eldest prince and the second prince have reached the age to leave the pavilion to study, but they have been dragged along by Emperor Jingfeng.The second prince, Li Jinche, has a concubine's biological mother. Although she doesn't have very deep knowledge, it is absolutely no problem to teach him to read and write. He is only six years old now, and he has already learned the general enlightenment books, which attracted Emperor Jingfeng many times. Praise him for being smart.

But Li Jinze was not raised by his biological mother, and most of the eunuchs and maids around him could not read, and several people could not make up a "Three Character Classic", so they could only barely teach the eldest prince so that he would not be illiterate.

Under such circumstances, at such a young age, Li Jinze not only did not give up on himself, but became more eager for knowledge and love of learning, and seized every opportunity to read and write.Today, after finally catching such a well-educated person as Gu Yunji, he couldn't wait to ask him to be his teacher.

Looking at Li Jinze's expectant eyes, Gu Yunji sighed silently in his heart.

He could suddenly understand why Jia Daoheng was able to make such radical advice to Emperor Jingfeng on the matter of the eldest prince leaving the pavilion to study.

(End of this chapter)