Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 74 The Prince and the Princess

On the second day, at dawn, a carriage came out of the imperial city and drove slowly towards Xiangfu Bo's mansion.

There is a yellow flag on the carriage, and there are eight horses beside the carriage, and the knights sitting on the horses are very mighty.

As soon as the carriage stopped at the door, the two guards were startled, and one of them rushed to the backyard to call Ye Chen.

When Ye Chen came out of the mansion in a hurry, he saw the carriage stopped outside the gate and the sedan chair curtain was lifted, and a man in his 40s walked out with a bent waist, with a fair and thin face, dressed like a palace eunuch.

Ye Chen let the eunuch from the palace into the hall, but couldn't figure out his reason for coming.I thought to myself, could it be that he was recruited into the palace to be the prince's attendant.

Sure enough, the sixteen palace guards stepped into the hall and stood on both sides, with their hands on their waists and knives without looking sideways. The eunuch walked to the middle of the hall, turned around, coughed, and said loudly: "Xiang Fu Bo Ye Chen Accept the order!"

Ye Chen hurriedly knelt down on his knees and said, "Minister! Ye Chen listens to the announcement."

The eunuch slowly unfolded the yellow silk, and said loudly: "By heaven, the emperor said: The ancient sages have said: the journey of the great way, the world is for the public..."

The eunuch shook his head and cadenced while reading.Ye Chen listened to those classical Chinese, although he generally understood the meaning, but it was quite difficult to listen.After a long while, I heard the eunuch read the main topic: "He is the old man, the lord of the country. The emperor controls the world on behalf of the people. He is a king who preaches trust and harmony, and selects talents and abilities. Today's prince is smart and eager to learn. Ye Chen, a stranger, is both virtuous and capable, and very kind. In my opinion, Ye Chen will enter the palace and serve as the prince's attendant. He will enter the palace as soon as he hears the edict, without delay. This is the seventh month of the second year of Kaibao."

With Ye Chen's current title and official rank, being a prince's servant is actually considered a high-ranking student, but this prince's servant, to put it bluntly, is actually a classmate of the prince. Once the prince becomes a prince and finally becomes the emperor, these princes How can the closest and familiar people not be reused?This is also Zhao Kuangyin's method of cultivating a capable helper for his son.A real discerning person can see how much Zhao Kuangyin attaches importance to Ye Chen from this matter.At the same time, through this incident, Zhao Kuangyin almost completely cut off the possibility of Ye Chen being wooed by Zhao Guangyi.

As for Ye Chen just married a beautiful concubine, and the bridal chamber wedding has just ended, whether he should be allowed to spend a few days of honeymoon life, such trivial matters are not something the emperor considers.

While thinking about it, Ye Chen hurriedly shouted: "Minister Ye Chen, thank you for the decree!" He took the imperial decree from the eunuch's hand with both hands, and stood up.

"My lord, now that the imperial decree has been accepted, I think we should enter the palace immediately." The eunuch said.

"Angel, please have a sip of tea, wait a moment! Change your clothes, and then enter the palace with the angel." Ye Chen said politely.Ma Gangzi next to him handed the prepared money bag to the eunuch who delivered the edict without waiting for Ye Chen to remind him.

"Uncle Xiangfu, please go ahead, our family is waiting here." The eunuch received the money and was very polite.

"I want to be a prince's servant! But I don't know anything about the Four Books and Five Classics. I hope that I can be a servant, as the name is, and I just study with the prince." Ye Chen was worried, and went to the backyard. Change into a royal suit.

Ye Chen doesn't know much about the lives of Zhao Kuangyin's sons in history. What he knows is really limited. He only knows that according to the original history, after Zhao Kuangyin died, Zhao Guangyi succeeded to the throne. At that time, the process was full of various doubts, and Zhao Guangyi was pointed at.However, the second son, Zhao Defang, survived. He was the famous Eighth Prince of the Northern Song Dynasty who "beat the faint king at the top and beat the treacherous officials at the bottom".As for the person in the original history who survived and gained a high position, whether Zhao Guangyi did it for the world to see, that's not what Ye Chen knows.

Ye Chen followed the eunuch into the imperial city, passed Xuande Gate, and went straight to Zishan Hall where the prince used to study and listen to lectures.

After passing through many palaces, Ye Chen waited outside the gate of Zishan Hall, and sent an order to the eunuch to report inside.After a while, the palace gate opened, and a purple-robed civil servant who was about fifty years old and dressed in the air of a Confucian walked out, without even looking at Ye Chen, he flicked his sleeves and went out angrily.

Ye Chen looked at his back in a daze, and the eunuch who passed the decree also followed, and said to Ye Chen: "My lord! Just wait here, we're done with our housework, let's go back first."

Ye Chenchu ​​stood there for a while, his heels were sore, he saw that the palace was deserted, there were no maids, not even a eunuch, so he took the opportunity to bend down and move his sore body, his back suddenly sank, and then The shoulders tightened, as if something jumped onto the shoulders, Ye Chen jumped.

When he turned his head, he was facing a fluffy parrot face-to-face. On that parrot's face, a pair of small eyes were turning around and staring at him.

Ye Chen screamed in fright, and the parrot was also startled by his cry, clucked twice, and flew up to his head, when a girl's voice came from the door of the side hall: "Hee hee! Grand Master Longtu is gone! Ouch, who are you? Don't move around, you'll annoy my little parrot, be careful that it pecks your face."

Following the voice, a young girl came out of the hall, only about fourteen or fifteen years old, with thick eyebrows and beautiful eyes, a round face like an apple, with a sweet smile, she looked playful and cute.She was wearing an emerald green skirt, and a blouse decorated with peacock feathers was draped over her shoulders, and a bow was tied at both ends on her budding chest. Peacock feathers are adorned on it, dancing lightly, the peacock feathers are constantly changing colors, and the seven colors are shining, dazzling the eyes.

As soon as the girl saw his appearance, she stood there dumbfounded, thought for a while, and then yelled out excitedly: "It's you? Xiangfu Bo Yechen! My brother and my brother's attendant!"

On the way into the palace just now, Ye Chen had already handed out money to the eunuch who delivered the decree, and inquired about the situation of the emperor's children from him.Knowing that the woman in front of him should be the emperor's favorite daughter, Princess Yongqing.He also heard that Princess Yongqing had a stubborn and aggressive personality, and even dared to argue with Zhao Kuangyin. She liked to raise birds, and the parrot who couldn't learn tongues was obviously raised by her.The two princes, Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang, are now 20 years old and 12 years old. They are both respectful and docile on the surface, but in fact they are mischievous and rebellious teenagers.

Ye Chen pointed to the top of his head with a wry smile, and said, "Your Highness, this minister is Ye Chen, forgive me for not being able to greet the princess, this..."

Princess Yongqing giggled, looking at Ye Chen's appearance, she was very amused, and she could see that she was full of infinite interest in Ye Chen.Said: "No need to salute, no need to salute, I heard that you are a disciple of the immortal, is it true?"

"Yongqing! Don't be rude to Uncle Xiang Fu!" Before Ye Chen could say anything, two men, one young and one young, walked out of the hall. They were the two princes Zhao Dezhao and Zhao Defang.The person who just spoke was Zhao Dezhao who looked similar in age to Ye Chen.

"Brother! Is this official really the Ye Chen who turned poisonous salt into good salt, smashed Jinyang City, and drew blood to save his life?" Zhao Defang stared at him with big black eyes in surprise. With Ye Chen.

Zhao Dezhao hurriedly said again: "Second brother, don't be rude! This is Xiang Fu Bo Ye Chen!"

While talking, he was going to catch the parrot on Ye Chen's head.As a result, the latter clucked twice and flew back to Princess Yongqing's shoulder.

Only then did Ye Chen heave a sigh of relief, greeted the two princes and the princess, and said, "Ye Chen has met the first prince, the second prince, and Princess Yongqing!"

At this moment, Zhao Defang thought of another matter, turned around and said to Yongqing: "Sister! Your bird drove away the Grand Master Longtu in anger!"

Thinking of this, Zhao Dezhao pulled his face and said to Yongqing: "Yongqing! Don't bring your bird with you in class."

Seeing the seriousness of what the eldest brother said, Yongqing nodded reluctantly and agreed: "If you don't take it, you don't take it. What happened to my bird? Didn't it help you two a lot, I already saw that you two didn't want to attend the class. That's why I let you The parrot helped."

Zhao Dezhao thought that there was an outsider like Ye Chen present, so he didn't want to argue with Yongqing. After glaring at the latter, he said politely to Ye Chen: "Xiang Fu Bo, let's go in."

Ye Chen sighed inwardly, and followed Zhao Dezhao with a bitter face. The study room where the prince and princess read was said to be Zishan Hall, but it was a large hall, empty, with only two eunuchs standing at the gate of the hall to serve.

Zhao Dezhao sat down casually behind the brightly painted short table, looked at Ye Chen with interest, and said with a smile, "Come on, Mr. Xiangfu, please sit down!"

Ye Chen was not too polite, just sat down after a few tables, Princess Yongqing reached out and took some fruits from the plate and threw them on the ground, the parrot swooped out and squatted on the ground to eat. stand up.

Zhao Dezhao said to the eunuch at the door: "Go and get a table of food and wine, I want to entertain Uncle Xiang Fu."

A little eunuch by the gate of the hall respectfully said yes, and then ran away like flying.

Only eunuchs were allowed to attend the place where the prince and princess were studying. After a while, ten little eunuchs came in with trays.

The imperial decree came suddenly this morning, Ye Chen was in a hurry to go out, he didn't eat breakfast, he was already hungry, now smelling the aroma of food, his stomach couldn't help rumbling.

Princess Yongqing's ears were sharp, and she heard it. While smiling coquettishly, she pointed at Ye Chen and said, "Brother, Uncle Xiangfu is starving here. If word spreads, people will die of laughter."

"Hey! Uncle Xiangfu wants to eat too! I heard that Uncle Xiangfu once floated in the water for several months, and he didn't starve to death without eating. Is this true?" Zhao Defang, who had been looking at Ye Chen curiously asked seriously.

Zhao Dezhao ignored his brother and sister, stood up with a laugh, walked to Ye Chen and sat down casually, first handed him a pair of silver chopsticks, and said, "Eat, how about you try the food in the palace?"

Seeing that the two princes and princesses had no airs at all, Ye Chen felt imprisoned.He ate it without hesitation.During the period, we have to keep answering the weird and weird questions of the two curious babies, Princess Yongqing and Zhao Defang.

(End of this chapter)