NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12: The Northern Huan Envoy Arrives
Chapter 12: The Northern Huan Envoy Arrives
The wedding banquet without any guests had left Yun Zheng with a huge profit.
Although Emperor Wen was busy with state affairs and couldn’t attend in person, he still sent gifts.
Since Emperor Wen had sent gifts, the princes and princesses naturally couldn’t not send any either.
Many others who hadn’t received invitations also sent gifts.
Roughly estimated, the value of these gifts was around 100,000 silver taels.
The problem now was how to convert these gifts into cash.
Receiving gifts one day and selling them the next would spread rumors, which wouldn’t be good!
Yun Zheng thought about it until midnight but couldn’t come up with a reasonable excuse to convert the gifts into cash. In the end, he got tired of thinking about it.
Anyway, there would be another wave of gifts coming during the wedding ceremony.
He would think of a way to convert them into cash then!
In the deep of night, in the imperial palace…
“What’s the situation with the Sixth Prince?” Emperor Wen asked, dismissing his attendants and calling the shadow guard to inquire.
The shadow guard replied, “All the officials and nobles have sent gifts, but except for the Sixth Prince’s consort, no one attended the banquet to congratulate him.”
“How did the Sixth Prince react?” Emperor Wen asked again.
The shadow guard said, “According to the people in the mansion, the Sixth Prince seemed to be in a bad mood, didn’t even eat lunch, and sat alone in the backyard for a long time.”
Emperor Wen sighed upon hearing this. “Alas… What’s the point of this?”
He knew no one would attend the banquet, yet he still sent out so many invitations.
He had done his part in terms of etiquette.
In the end, wasn’t he the one who would suffer?
The shadow guard paused for a moment before speaking again, “Your Majesty, there’s another matter.”
“Speak!”
“The Sixth Prince visited the Shen Family the other day and coincidentally met Left Guard Cavalry Commander Yuan Kui, intending to learn horse-riding skills from him. However, Yuan Kui pushed him off the horse, and even laughed out loud on the spot…”
“Yuan Kui? The son of Yuan Chen?”
“Yes!”
In an instant, Emperor Wen’s eyes flashed with a cold light.
After a moment of silence, Emperor Wen asked again, “What did Yuan Chen say?”
The shadow guard immediately replied, “Yuan Chen brought Yuan Kui to the Sixth Prince’s mansion to apologize…”
The shadow guard then detailed the entire process of Yuan Kui and his father apologizing.
After listening to the shadow guard’s words, Emperor Wen couldn’t help but freeze in shock.
“He let Yuan Chen write the invitations?”
“And he even exchanged the thousand-tael precious horse with Yuan Chen’s family, making them eat a loss?”
“Is this something the Sixth Prince would do?”
Emperor Wen asked again, “Was the Sixth Prince’s action intentional or unintentional?”
“It should be unintentional,” the shadow guard replied.
“The Sixth Prince asked Yuan Chen to write the invitations because his own handwriting is not good-looking, and he exchanged the horse with Yuan Chen’s family because he had just moved into the mansion and didn’t recognize the horse as belonging to Yuan Kui’s family…”
Listening to the shadow guard’s words, Emperor Wen’s face twitched slightly.
He felt that the whole thing was ridiculous, and his son was really useless.
Emperor Wen thought for a moment, then ordered the shadow guard, “Find an opportunity to give Yuan Kui a good beating! Just don’t reveal your identity!”
“Ah?”
The shadow guard was taken aback, looking at Emperor Wen in surprise.
Sneakily give Yuan Kui a beating?
This…this wasn’t something Emperor Wen would normally do.
“What’s with the ‘ah’?” Emperor Wen glared at the shadow guard.
The shadow guard nodded, “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Yuan Kui had pushed his son off the horse, and according to his temper, he should have given Yuan Kui a few dozen slaps.
But Yun Zheng had already taken the gifts brought by Yuan Chen and his son, so it wouldn’t be suitable to punish Yuan Kui again.
However, he couldn’t swallow this anger, so he could only secretly send someone to give Yuan Kui a beating.
The shadow guard received the order and retreated.
After the shadow guard left, Emperor Wen couldn’t help but curse, “This good-for-nothing! He didn’t even dare to get angry when someone pushed him off the horse! How did I give birth to such a thing?”
Emperor Wen scolded Yun Zheng for a while, then started rubbing his temples again.
The Northern Huan delegation would arrive in the capital in two days at the latest.
(Beihuan => Northern Huan)
The war was still undecided, and they didn’t dare to fight, nor did they have the strength to fight again!
What could they use to fight?
But giving in to Northern Huan’s demands was also unbearable!
Headache, unbearable headache!
Emperor Wen thought about it until almost dawn, and finally made up his mind.
Give in!
If they didn’t give in now, when Northern Huan’s iron cavalry came to plunder, they wouldn’t be able to protect their food supplies, let alone the territory of the Great Qian Dynasty!
It would even shake the foundation of the Great Qian Dynasty!
First, they had to stabilize the internal affairs of the Great Qian Dynasty, and then they could find a way to take revenge on Northern Huan in a few years!
…
Two days later, in the afternoon.
Yun Zheng had just bought a servant girl who was almost sold to a brothel by her gambler father, when a palace eunuch arrived.
“His Majesty is hosting a banquet at the Wanshou Palace tonight to welcome the Northern Huan delegation, and requests the Sixth Prince and his consort to attend on time.”
“Very well, thank you, eunuch!”
Yun Zheng replied and gave the eunuch a reward.
The eunuch thanked him and left happily.
“From today on, you’ll be called Xin Sheng, with ‘xin’ meaning new and ‘sheng’ meaning pine!”
“Thank you, Your Highness, for the name!”
“Alright, take her away to clean up!”
Yun Zheng ordered, and the servant girl was taken away by the palace maid.
Soon, Gao Guang arrived at the Shen mansion in a horse-drawn carriage.
This time, Madam Shen didn’t pretend to be ill and avoid him.
When they entered the house, Yun Zheng intentionally glanced at Ye Zi, who was also looking at him, and smiled meaningfully.
Yun Zheng winked at her secretly, and she responded with a knowing smile.
It seemed that Ye Zi had understood the signal he had sent through Shen Luoyan.
She was indeed a clever woman!
He had high hopes of recruiting her!
After some small talk, Yun Zheng explained his purpose.
Shen Luoyan was reluctant, but this was Emperor Wen’s special request, and she couldn’t refuse, so she agreed with a sulky face.
“I’m going to lose face tonight!”
In the carriage, Shen Luoyan kept her distance from Yun Zheng, looking unhappy.
Tonight, all the princes, princesses, and high-ranking officials would be there.
She would only be ridiculed if she went with Yun Zheng!
She didn’t believe that Yun Zheng was hiding his talents and waiting for the right moment to strike.
He was just a useless, powerless prince, and even if he was hiding his talents, what use would it be?
Could he even reach the sky?
The second sister-in-law is just saying good things for Yun Zheng so that she can accept him earlier!
“Let’s just eat more food and talk less.”
Yun Zheng smiled casually, “Let’s eat our fill and then leave.”
He didn’t want to participate in this at all!
It was too tiring to deal with people’s scheming and backstabbing.
But Emperor Wen had already sent someone to deliver the message, so he couldn’t not go!
“Eat your fill?”
Shen Luoyan curled her lip, snorting coldly, “I think you’re still far from being full!”
“Then just relax.”
Yun Zheng still had a carefree expression, “If someone mocks you, just think they’re farting and ignore it!”
“I don’t have your talent for enduring humiliation!” Shen Luoyan retorted sarcastically.
“Then just do as you please.”
Yun Zheng shrugged, “If you die, Father Emperor can just arrange another marriage for me. Anyway, I’m going to die on the battlefield, so no matter how you cause trouble, it won’t affect me!”
“Y-you…”
Shen Luoyan was taken aback, momentarily speechless with anger.
She suddenly realized that this good-for-nothing was actually quite skilled at talking, and could make people so angry they’d spit blood.
Yun Zheng closed his eyes, smiling silently.
He was eager for people to mock him!
If no one was mocking him today, he’d even take the initiative to provoke them.
He could count on his brothers to help him out!