NOVEL NEXT Chapter 9: What's the Big Deal?
Chapter 9: What’s the Big Deal?
Yuan Manor.
“What?”
Yuan Chen suddenly stood up, kicked Yuan Kui to the ground, and roared, “You beast, how dare you push the Sixth Prince off his horse? Do you want to die?”
“Dad, I really didn’t push him down!”
Yuan Kui fell to the ground and cried, “It was obvious that he fell down by himself!”
“Bullshit!”
Yuan Chen was furious, “You didn’t push him down, then what were you laughing at?”
“I…I…”
Yuan Kui’s voice trembled, his heart crying out in injustice.
“Father, don’t get angry!”
Lady Yuan stepped forward, smiling, “It’s just that useless Sixth Prince, what’s the big deal? Even if Kui did push him off, what’s the worst that could happen? The Emperor probably doesn’t even remember that son of his, and it’s not like he’d bother with that useless prince…”
Slap!
Lady Yuan hadn’t finished speaking when Yuan Chen slapped her.
Yuan Chen glared at his wife, furious, “The Sixth Prince is now determined to go to the border to seek death, and the Emperor is currently heartbroken over this forgotten son of his. You’re telling me it’s no big deal?”
Lady Yuan’s face changed dramatically, even forgetting the pain on her face, “Then…then what do we do now? If the Emperor finds out, will he execute Kui?”
Lady Yuan was in a state of panic and no longer as calm as before.
“What can we do? What else can we do?”
Yuan Chen looked at his son with hatred, “Get up quickly, come with me, and prepare generous gifts to apologize to His Majesty the Sixth Prince!”
“Okay…okay…”
Yuan Kui quickly scrambled to his feet.
Soon, the father-son duo set off towards the Sixth Prince’s manor, carrying a thick gift.
To save time, they didn’t even take a carriage, instead riding horses directly.
They had to apologize to Yun Zheng before Emperor Wen found out about the incident!
As long as Yun Zheng accepted the gift, it would mean he had forgiven Yuan Kui!
Even if the Emperor investigated later, it wouldn’t be too severe!
The two of them rushed anxiously, finally arriving at Yun Zheng’s manor.
Looking at the box in the father-son duo’s hands, Yun Zheng couldn’t help but feel some anticipation.
He didn’t know what kind of gift they had brought.
If it wasn’t valuable, this matter wouldn’t be so easily resolved.
“Yuan Chen didn’t teach his son well, causing him to offend the Sixth Prince. I specially brought my son and prepared a small gift to apologize to Your Highness. Please be magnanimous and forgive my son.”
Yuan Chen bowed respectfully.
This was the first time he had ever bowed so respectfully to Yun Zheng.
As Yuan Chen spoke, he hurriedly told Yuan Kui, who was still kneeling on the ground, to open the wooden box.
Inside the box lay a set of exquisitely crafted wine utensils, including a wine jug and wine cups. They were all made of the finest white jade, intricately carved and polished.
Hmm, not bad!
It should be worth a few thousand taels of silver.
“I know that Commander Yuan didn’t do it on purpose.”
Yun Zheng smiled warmly, then suddenly asked, “By the way, General Yuan, how’s your calligraphy?”
“Uh…”
Yuan Chen didn’t understand what Yun Zheng was getting at, and laughed awkwardly, “I’m just a military man, my handwriting is really not that good.”
What does this have to do with apologizing?
Why is he suddenly asking about his handwriting?
Is he trying to get them to write a letter of apology?
“No worries, as long as it’s better than mine.”
Yun Zheng smiled carelessly, then said with a hint of embarrassment, “I’m planning to host a banquet at my new residence in two days, but I don’t know many officials in the court, so I was wondering if General Yuan could help me write some invitations?”
Write invitations?
Yuan Chen’s face twitched, and he hesitated for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.
Yun Zheng hadn’t even accepted the gift yet, nor had he said whether he would forgive Yuan Kui or not!
Now Yun Zheng was asking for his help, and he couldn’t refuse!
Soon, Yun Zheng had someone bring over paper, ink, and invitations, and had Yuan Kui help grind the ink.
Yuan Chen gritted his teeth and wrote, one sheet after another.
Although Yuan Chen was a military man, he was also used to writing memorials, so his handwriting was decent, if not excellent.
Yuan Chen wrote until afternoon, finishing over a hundred invitations.
During that time, Yun Zheng had someone serve tea and snacks.
During that time, Yun Zheng also selected some invitations and had his servants hurry to send them out.
“General Yuan is too modest, your handwriting is much better than mine.”
Yun Zheng praised Yuan Chen with a smile, “I’ll personally deliver some invitations to some high-ranking officials in the court, so you don’t need to stay for dinner.”
“Good, good.”
Yuan Chen nodded repeatedly and asked, “So, Your Highness has forgiven my son?”
“What forgiveness?”
Yun Zheng waved his hand, “I didn’t take it to heart, I know Commander Yuan didn’t mean it.”
“Yes, yes!”
Yuan Chen let out a sigh of relief and glared at Yuan Kui, “Why don’t you thank Your Highness quickly?”
Yuan Kui’s face turned red with anger, but he forced himself to say, “Thank you, Your Highness, for your magnanimity.”
“Alright, I’ll send you off!”
Yun Zheng said with a smile.
“No need to trouble Your Highness,” Yuan Chen said, still feeling uneasy.
“No problem!” Yun Zheng waved his hand, “You’ve helped me so much, it’s only right that I send you off.”
The father and son couldn’t refuse, and could only smile and walk out.
When they got outside, the family servants had already led their horses over.
“This horse…”
Yuan Chen’s face twitched when he saw the horse in front of him.
This wasn’t their horse at all!
“What’s wrong with the horse?” Yun Zheng asked, feigning ignorance.
“This isn’t our horse, Your Highness,” Yuan Chen said, forcing himself to speak.
“Oh? Not your horse?” Yun Zheng asked, still pretending to be clueless, scratching his head, “Did I have the servants from the mansion ride out the wrong horses earlier?”
Ridden away?
The father and son’s faces twitched in anger.
“General Yuan, I’m really sorry about this!”
Yun Zheng said with a “remorseful” expression, “I just moved in today, and the horses were prepared by my father beforehand, I didn’t know…”
“It’s… it’s okay!”
Yuan Chen’s heart was bleeding, but he forced himself to say, “Any horse is fine, we can just consider it an exchange of horses with Your Highness.”
“That’s true.”
Yun Zheng nodded in agreement, “Horses are just horses, as long as they can be ridden, it’s all the same.”
Can be ridden… it’s all the same?
Yuan Chen’s heart was bleeding even more, and he almost cursed out Yun Zheng’s entire family.
Bullshit, just being able to ride is all that matters!
The horses he and his son have were carefully selected top-grade war horses, worth hundreds of gold!
What kind of broken horse did he give them?
This was a pack horse, worth only a few hundred silver coins at most!
He exchanged their high-quality warhorses for this inferior horse!
And he said it was all the same as long as it could be ridden?
If it weren’t for the fact that Yun Zheng was a useless good-for-nothing who couldn’t even ride a horse, he would have suspected that Yun Zheng did it on purpose!
Yun Zheng had already said his piece, and the father and son couldn’t say anything more, so they could only grit their teeth and ride the horses back home.
As they watched the two of them leave, a sly smile flashed across Yun Zheng’s face.
“Dad, why didn’t you ask for our horses back? Our two horses are worth hundreds of gold coins!”
Yuan Kui asked discontentedly on the way back.
“What’s the point of asking for them back when someone else has already ridden them away?” Yuan Chen glared at his son, “Would we have all these troubles if you hadn’t caused trouble?”
Their horses had been ridden away, and they could only swallow their anger and resentment.
His son was upset, and he was even more upset!
Those two war horses, even in Beihuan, where there is no shortage of cavalry, are considered top-quality war horses!
In the Great Qian Dynasty, where warhorses were scarce, such high-quality warhorses weren’t something you could just buy whenever you wanted!
Compared to those two horses, the gifts they had brought as an apology were nothing!
Thinking about those two horses worth hundreds of gold coins, Yuan Chen felt like vomiting blood…