Page 53

Page 53

As a maid, you need to have life in your eyes.

Xiangling came back to her senses after hearing this, and hurriedly moved to put the teacups on the table below on the tray and began to clean up.

Shui Rong asked casually, "Has Ying Luo scolded you recently?"

Hearing Shui Rong's question, Xiang Ling replied while packing up: "Sister Yingluo only taught me verbally, it's nothing. In the past, if I did not do well, I would not only not have food to eat, but also be beaten."

Shui Rong looked up at Xiang Ling when he heard this. This girl could speak her mind now, which showed that she had integrated into the palace. But when he heard that Xiang Ling had no food to eat and would be beaten, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. How could he really bear to beat such a delicate and lovely beauty?

But if you think about it carefully, Xiangling was previously in the hands of human traffickers, so her life was naturally not easy. She was just kidnapped by Xue Dabo and came to the palace not long after. It is normal for her to have trauma in her heart.

Thinking of this, Shui Rong said gently: "From now on, you should stay in the palace and do your work well. No one will treat you harshly."

Xiangling's body trembled when she heard this, and she responded in a low voice: "I will do my job well, Your Majesty, don't worry."

Shui Rong said nothing more after hearing this. He placed the teacup on the table and said, "Xiang Ling, go and have a rest after you finish cleaning up."

After saying that, Shui Rong stood up and left.

Shui Rong walked through the halls and alleys and arrived at Ning'an Hall. After passing through the main hall, he came to the warm room of the suite. He lifted the curtain and went in. He saw a beautiful woman half-leaning in the mandarin duck tent. Her black hair spread out like clouds, and there was a cloud-like sorrow between her brows.

"Ke'er." Shui Rong called softly.

Hearing that intoxicating voice, Keqing's expression lit up, she looked up at the young man who walked in, and asked with a tone of surprise: "My Lord, why are you here?"

Shui Rong looked at the joyful beauty with warm eyes, smiled and stretched out his hand to stop her, saying: "Ke'er, you don't have to get up, just rest."

As he spoke, Shui Rong stepped forward and sat down next to Ke Qing.

Keqing was not shy about this, let alone being next to him, they had served each other several times in the mandarin duck tent.

Shui Rong took Keqing's tender white hand and said softly, "Keqing, are you worried about something? Why don't you tell me about it?"

When he entered the room earlier, Shui Rong saw the melancholy on Keqing's beautiful face. It was obvious that she was worried about something. As her man, Shui Rong naturally had to show concern for her.

Keqing looked at the jade-like boy with her beautiful eyes, blinked, and said softly, "No, Your Majesty, you are overthinking it."

Shui Rong chuckled upon seeing this. Keqing had always been a person who kept her thoughts to herself and probably wouldn't say them out loud. Moreover, as a girl, Keqing also enjoyed Shui Rong's care, so she naturally hesitated. However, in her heart, she was expecting Shui Rong to explore the mystery.

Girls always say one thing and mean another.

He held Keqing in his arms, smelled her rich fragrance, looked at Keqing's exquisite jade earrings, leaned over and took them in his mouth, feeling the coolness of the jade.

Keqing's delicate body nestled in Shui Rong's arms. She hummed sweetly through her nose, and she couldn't help but tremble slightly, and her beautiful eyes gradually closed.

After rubbing his ears against hers for several times, Shui Rong knew what was going on with Ke Qing. Seeing her blushing face, he could not help but reach into her clothes, enjoying the softness of his fingertips, and asked softly, "Ke Qing, are you missing home?"

For Keqing, it was probably just a few things at home, which is human nature.

Keqing raised her beautiful face to make it easier for Shui Rong to do what he wanted. Her red lips trembled as she said, "I just saw my father the other day. I didn't want to. Actually, I haven't thanked the prince for this yet."

A few days ago, Qin Ye came to the palace, and they talked about the father-daughter relationship. The prince bought some things for Qin Ye to take back, which was considered a token of his thoughtfulness.

Shui Rong chuckled, took a few more sips, and whispered, "How would you like to thank Ke'er?"

Empty words of thanks are indeed bland.

Keqing understood what he said, her face flushed red, she clenched Shui Rong's hand as it came down the pole, and said in a whisper, "I will serve the prince wholeheartedly."

Shui Rong knew what serving meant, so he waved away Ke Qing's clenched hands and whispered, "Ke Qing seems to be in a bad mood, is it because of my upcoming marriage?"

Since Keqing was not homesick, the thing that made Keqing melancholy was probably the fact that he was about to get married. After all, once married, the future mistress would move into the palace, so it was normal for Keqing, a concubine, to worry.

As the wedding day approached, everyone around Shui Rong felt a little uneasy. Not to mention others, Ying Luo, the personal maid, was the most obvious. The harder she served, the more worried she was that the mistress would dislike her and Shui Rong would not want her anymore.

Apart from Yingluo, Concubine Beijing also seemed to be a little abnormal. Perhaps she was unhappy thinking that her son was going to be taken away by her daughter-in-law!

Keqing has beautiful feet, and the prince not only has an eloquent voice, but also has dexterous and charming hands.

With a grumble, Keqing felt Shui Rong's gentleness, her heart opened wide, and she couldn't help but speak from the bottom of her heart: "My lord, I'm afraid that the future princess will not like me when she enters the palace."

As a concubine, she would certainly worry about her mistress's attitude, especially since she knew that the prince was obsessed with her body and was afraid that it would arouse her mistress's jealousy.

Shui Rong gently comforted him and said in a warm voice: "I have seen the future princess. She is a virtuous and filial person. If you do your duty well, she will not make things difficult for you. What's more, I am here and will never let anyone bully you. We are going to be together for the rest of our lives."

Judging from the situation when he met Yuanchun before, she was indeed gentle and generous. He showed great affection to Tanchun in public, but Yuanchun did not behave abnormally. It can be seen that he was a virtuous and filial person as described in the original novel, and was not overly jealous. That is to say, Yuanchun would not care too much about Keqing, the concubine.

Perhaps this is the benefit of having been in the palace. With a broad vision, one will naturally not be narrow-minded.

Keqing felt a little relieved when she heard Shui Rong's affectionate confession. Her heart couldn't help but feel sweet, as if she wanted to exude fragrance from her mouth, and her face couldn't help but blush.

But seeing Shui Rong pause, Ke Qing couldn't help but open her squinting eyes and asked in a low voice: "My Lord, what's wrong?"

How should I put it? Shui Rong suddenly remembered that he and Yuanchun were about to get married, but now he was hanging out with Keqing, which seemed a bit too bad.

Hearing Keqing's question, Shui Rong came back to his senses and couldn't help but curse himself. What was he distracted by at this time? He should focus on one thing and not be fickle.

Thinking of this, Shui Rong realized his mistake. Since Shui Rong was wrong, he naturally had to apologize to Keqing. However, it was not good to say it directly, so he had to show his feelings through actions.

So he laid Keqing down on the embroidered couch, unbuttoned her clothes, revealing her small dress embroidered with pink hibiscus, and then he moved closer and started to taste her.

After a while, Shui Rong looked at Ke Qing's rosy face, stretched out his hand to her beautiful eyes, and said jokingly: "Ke Qing, let me serve you first!"

Upon hearing this, Keqing blushed greatly, her face flushed from her cheeks to her neck. She glared at Shui Rong angrily, asking him to please smell the sweet words, but why did he have to show it to her?

The prince really loves to mistreat people.

But for some reason, Keqing didn't feel annoyed at all, but became more and more excited. She couldn't help but stir the spoon with her bare hands, bit her red lips, and said in a soft voice: "My lord, let's serve each other!"

The smile on Shui Rong's face never ceases. Keqing's charm is even more outstanding than what is described in the book. She is truly better than her teacher.

Chapter 86: Mrs. Wang: Dedicated Mother-in-Law

In the western suburbs of the capital, the capital camp.

This place is only a few dozen miles away from the capital, and the troops from the Beijing camp can reach the capital in less than half an hour.

In the central army tent, Wang Ziteng was wearing armor and sitting high on a tiger-skin chair. On the table were red military orders, pens, ink, paper, and inkstone.

Sitting on the two rows of yellow flowered chairs below were the commanders of the twelve battalions, and behind them stood the chief officers and commanders of each battalion.

The generals currently in the tent are all high-ranking officers of the Beijing Camp. If they are all wiped out at once, the Beijing Camp will be basically destroyed.

Wang Ziteng, who was sitting on the tiger-skin chair, felt a sense of heroism when he saw this. It should be noted that among the twelve people leading his account, there were many super-ranking marquises and earls. In the past, when Wang Ziteng wanted to invite them, they mostly declined and they basically never gathered together. This was also the helplessness of Wang Ziteng as the governor of the Beijing Camp.

However, Wang Ziteng knew in his heart that the reason these people gathered together was simply because he held the token of Prince Beijing's Palace.

Originally, they only needed to respect the Prince of Beijing's Mansion, but the current Prince of Beijing is the son-in-law of the Jia family, so naturally the same thing can't be said for sure.

In the capital, it is difficult to survive alone, the right way is to stick together and keep each other warm.

The Jia family has already declined and cannot shoulder the heavy responsibility, and the more powerful Prince Beijing's Mansion is the best place to go. The reason they gathered here is not to give face to Wang Ziteng, but to find out the attitude of Prince Beijing's Mansion.

After a pause, Wang Ziteng said frankly, "I asked you all to come here because the military discipline in the Beijing camp has been lax, so I want to rectify it. I hope you will cooperate with me as much as possible."

The Jiedushi of the Beijing Camp was a second-rank official, and he was in charge of 120,000 soldiers and horses of the Beijing Camp, so he could be called a general.

Under normal circumstances, reorganizing the Beijing camp or something like that would just be a show of effort, but would actually have no effect. However, under the current circumstances, Wang Ziteng proposed reorganizing the Beijing camp, which might be the intention of the Prince of Beijing's Palace.

After a moment of silence, a middle-aged man with a thick beard asked, "How do you want to reorganize the Beijing camp? Just tell me!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ziteng looked at the middle-aged man, who was from the Xuanping Marquis Mansion and was the current commander-in-chief of the Wufen Camp, Luo Qian.

Facing Luo Qian's question, Wang Ziteng smiled and said, "Commander-in-Chief Luo is a straightforward person, so I won't hide anything. The main problem in the Beijing camp right now is that there are empty quotas in each camp, so I have to check the rosters of each camp and check for empty quotas. This is also the first thing I have to rectify."

As Wang Ziteng finished speaking, everyone's faces changed. You know, this empty quota is their source of income. If Wang Ziteng were to rectify it, it would undoubtedly cut off their source of income. As the saying goes, cutting off someone's source of income is like killing their parents.

Moreover, if we take an inventory of the rosters of each camp, the missing items in each camp cannot be concealed, and the fault of dereliction of duty cannot be escaped. This is a crime that must be convicted!

For a moment, the atmosphere in the tent became cold and quiet.

Seeing this, Wang Ziteng understood in his heart that people under him would respect him just because he was the governor of Beijing Camp. Many of them had stronger background than his Wang family and would not care too much about him as the governor. Since he took over as the governor of Beijing Camp, he had only won over two of the camps to rely on as his arms, and the other camps were mostly there to show their skills. Therefore, Wang Ziteng just turned a blind eye to them and was fine as long as they could get by.

But the situation is different now. Firstly, the emperor has the intention to reorganize the Beijing camp, and secondly, with the Beijing Prince's Mansion as his backer, Wang Ziteng is not afraid. He has long wanted to deal with these unruly guys.

So Wang Ziteng didn't care about the indifference of the crowd, and said in a deep voice: "Everyone, the prince already knows about the matter of the Beijing camp eating up the quota, but considering that you have all made contributions to the court, as long as you turn in the income from the eating up quota truthfully, I will forgive you."

Everyone's heart sank when they heard this. They all knew that the prince Wang Ziteng mentioned was Prince Beijing, which meant that this matter was Prince Beijing's idea. This made it difficult for them to make a decision.

Not to mention offending the Beijing Prince's Mansion, they all understood the meaning of it. As a hidden force, this meant submitting their surrender and handing over the money they had taken, and they would be forgiven for the past. But if they turned a deaf ear to it, the matter would be difficult to conclude. This was no different from when the Beijing Prince's Mansion handed over the silver owed to the Ministry of Revenue.

Since they were not being held accountable for dereliction of duty, everyone began to weigh the pros and cons, and the tent became increasingly quiet.

"Emperor Wang, each family has its own difficulties. It is difficult to raise funds at the moment. I wonder if the silver to be handed in can be reduced by half."

Wang Ziteng looked at the man who was sitting in the first seat on the left and spoke. He was Feng Qing, the governor of the Liwei Camp. Because he was older and his title was a super-class earl, he was generally the leader among all the governors of the Beijing Camp.

Since Feng Qing spoke at this time, it was obvious that he was representing everyone.

After a pause, Wang Ziteng said with a smile, "Since Lord Feng has spoken, how can I not show some sympathy? However, I cannot make the decision on this matter."

Feng Qing remained silent upon hearing this. Wang Ziteng's words simply meant that he had no say in the matter. It also indirectly reflected the attitude of Prince Beijing's Mansion. Otherwise, Wang Ziteng would not have been so straightforward.

For a moment, the atmosphere became cold and quiet again.

Wang Ziteng understood what was happening. If it were in the past, they would have already taken a step back, which would have made him overjoyed. However, that was not the case now. What Beijing Palace needed was their firm attitude, not a perfunctory attitude.

Now it is up to them to consider it themselves, so Wang Ziteng continued: "In addition, there are many old and weak soldiers in the Beijing camp. I want to inspect the soldiers. Anyone who is unqualified, no matter whether they are officers or soldiers, will be dismissed without any leniency."

Facing Wang Ziteng's repeated coercion, Luo Qian, who had a slightly bad temper, sneered, "It's easy for Wang Jiedushi to say that we should lay off officers and soldiers. Your Majesty doesn't know the situation of the Beijing Camp, and Wang Jiedushi doesn't know it either. They are all people who have made contributions to the court. Once they are laid off, how can they survive in the capital? Even if we reorganize the Beijing Camp, we can't ignore the old friendship. You are so cold-hearted, aren't you afraid that the people below will be disappointed?"

Wang Ziteng's face darkened when he heard this. It seemed like what Luo Qian said was that on the surface he was talking about the layoffs of officers, but in fact he was hinting at the prince's coldness.

After a pause, Wang Ziteng said calmly: "I am not a heartless person. When I lay off old soldiers, I will give them some money to help them settle down, so that they will not be left without a livelihood."

Everyone was silent when they heard this. From eating up the vacancies to cutting off old soldiers, and letting bygones be bygones to cutting off old soldiers to settle down, everything was well prepared, which showed his determination to rectify the Beijing camp.

In Rongguogong Mansion, Rongqing Hall,

Inside the hall, Jia's mother, Wang Fu-ren, Xing Fu-ren, Feng Jieer, as well as the chaste and indifferent pretty widows Li Wan and Yuanchun were all there.

At this time, Mrs. Wang was enthusiastically drafting Yuanchun's dowry list with Lady Jia and others.

Mrs. Xing, who was standing by, frowned as she listened. It seemed that Yuanchun's dowry included five houses, three with three entrances, two with two entrances, two farms, and ten hectares of land. The real estate alone was valuable. Add to that the precious wooden furniture, gold and silver jewelry, and the like. Most of the property in the Rongguo Mansion would have to be moved away.

However, Mrs. Xing was only a second wife. Not only was her family background humble, but she was also not liked by Lady Jia. Therefore, she did not dare to be too presumptuous in front of Lady Jia.

After a moment's silence, Madam Xing reminded him timidly, "The royal family doesn't give much in terms of betrothal gifts. If we spend so lavishly, I'm afraid people will gossip about us."

When the wedding ceremony was first decided, the palace sent some gifts, which was considered as a "bride price", also called "nacai gift".

Since it was a marriage arranged by the emperor, it was all handled by the Imperial Household Department and there were fixed rules to follow. The "bride price" was much simpler than Yuanchun's dowry.

Mrs. Wang raised her eyebrows when she heard this, and the Buddhist beads in her hand also paused. The amount of a daughter's dowry directly determines her future status in her husband's family. For example, Yuanchun's marriage is to the Prince of Beijing's Mansion. If she doesn't give a "rich dowry", how can Yuanchun hold her head up in the palace? Therefore, when planning the dowry, she would come to Lady Jia, because she knew in her heart that the real good things in the Duke of Rong's Mansion were in Lady Jia's hands.

Obviously, Grandmother Jia also attached great importance to Yuanchun's marriage, so she was much more generous and allowed Mrs. Wang to speak freely.