Chapter 182

Son is watching, why hasn't Prince Yu jumped up and cursed the Wusun as shameless?! Father Emperor's princesses are of noble lineage—why must they marry into the deep desert?

Prince Yu definitely doesn't like hearing that—'Prince You, this is the court, don't talk nonsense.'

Oh, but the unmarried princess who ranks first is none other than the elder brother's maternal sister; the elder brother stays so calm, and the younger brother admires him, and will definitely learn from the elder brother in the future.

After being pointed at the nose and called an unfriendly sister, Prince Yu flew into a rage, immediately went to complain to the emperor, and Emperor Ningde got a headache from their quarrel.

Quiet! Prince You, say just two sentences—if you disagree, say you disagree, where does all this nonsense come from!" Take a look at this biased heart.

Fine, then let the son say it once: I disagree with marrying off the princess!" Da Wang shouted loudly.

Prince You stopped jumping about, and several officials also voiced their opinions.

For the sake of face, many people, like Da Wang, disagreed—Celestial Empire, why marry off a princess?

Although Da Wang didn't quite agree with them, they were still lying in their old dreams, unwilling to wake up; but he agreed with not marrying off the princess, and whenever someone opposed it, he supported them. And when someone came out to smooth things over, Da Wang would note them down in his little book—wallgrass, stance unclear! Bad people!

The emperor didn't state his position then and the court adjourned; nowadays Great Jin's court is just like that—any somewhat major issue definitely gets dragged back and forth a few times—but the King, who is unusually impatient about this, is furious; he should just veto it outright!

What's the difference between your attitude and agreement?

Wei Shen and Ling Yin, who had come to pick up the King after work, were met with a sulking King.

Wei Shen couldn't believe it: "Those old-timers agreed? How shameless! …Then… when we left, should we have snatched Xiao Wu?"

The King almost laughed at him: "She's in the inner palace—how could it be that easy? …Without a outright refusal, I've thought it over carefully; I suspect there's some reason behind this that hasn't been spoken of, and it's likely to succeed." Having grown up in the inner palace, the King knows all too well what such signals mean.

Another sister is trapped in the inner palace, and Wei Shen is getting a bit anxious: "What could be the reason? Making your dad lose face? …Would they really skip over the Third Princess and go straight to the Fourth? Isn't that a bit shameless, even skipping her?" He didn't want to consider the possibility of other princesses being substituted; the feudal lords' daughters aren't in Chang'an—they're in their own fiefdoms, and besides, an ordinary father couldn't pull that off.

"Never mind the Queen's domineering attitude; take this eldest son—the Queen's only beloved daughter must either marry the son of a general or marquis who holds military power, or marry into a powerful aristocratic clan; sending her to the desert to eat sand—what good would that do for the brother? The eldest wouldn't do that. No matter how they think about this, they'll push it off, poor Fourth Princess—she's usually even more invisible in the palace than my sister, and the father occasionally still remembers my sister."

Seeing Wei Shen relax a bit, the King changed the subject: "You guess why my dad can still remember my sister? One, she looks like my mom; when she was little, my mom was still around, so father and daughter had some emotional basis; and another…"

Wei Shen held up a hand: "I know, I know—my dad still has to struggle!"

The King: …Annoying, they'll jump in to answer.

The carriage still had some distance to go; bored Wei Shen interviewed his brother: "Let's think of the worst-case scenario—if we set this precedent, someday the Fifth Princess may also have to marry into a vassal state; what would you do?"

The King didn't even think: "Then forget vassal states—I hope that country is the Xianbei. The entourage Long'an sends to escort my sister's dowry had better be able to fly, otherwise don't even think about crossing the border. When they set out, I'll attack the Xianbei royal city—let them see who she marries! We're already mortal enemies; adding this makes no difference."

Wei Shen: …

Since he still wouldn't agree, the King began muttering softly: "When I get back, I'll write a letter to Zhang Tu—even if I'm not there, I want the troops to keep training well, so they'll be ready whenever needed!"

"My sister is only ten; even with a sense of shame, we can't let a princess marry before fourteen—there's still time, there's still time! When I get back, I have to keep recruiting troops and buying horses!"

Wei Shen threatened him: "It's almost November—you've got at most three years left."

The King immediately felt a stronger sense of urgency.

The King no longer bothered to hide things in front of Zhao Bao; at night, in his presence, he packed up the household ornaments, which sell well in the Phoenix Market.

Save money, save money!

Zhao Bao winced when he saw him toss the candlestick and pen holder onto the spread-out cloth: "Your Highness, this batch was just replaced; I told the Honglu Temple that you smashed them because you were feeling unwell, and they were only replaced a day ago… and you're picking them up again?" What should we say this time?

The King didn't care at all about being fickle: "Tell them I smashed them again, say the quality's bad and I'm angry, then ask if they're just going through the motions—what junk are they sending now?" Not even good enough for an auction!

Zhao Bao: "……Yes."

As usual at night, Bai Ze and Zhe Tian helped him guard the gate; the King, with his belongings in tow, went back to setting up his stall.

Qiao Yi glanced at his stall, now piled with even more stuff, and said, "…You've been working hard lately, huh?"

The King struck a melancholy pose: "Poverty makes me diligent~"

Qiao Yi didn't believe it: "You've got a mine, digging silver every day, and a big ship out there hauling fish for you year‑round—how can you still not have enough to eat? Poor?"

The King told him a new loophole had appeared.

He glanced at the honest Flame Leopard leaning against Qiao Ge, a pang of longing for his Winnie striking him—he had no idea whether it was currently causing trouble back home.

"Qiao Ge, let's say, if your little Flame suddenly came to you with an excessive demand—something it never dared to ask before, now it's bold and quite confident you'll agree—what would you say is the reason?"

"It never dared to ask before? Now it suddenly feels capable! Or maybe it's found a new backer? Surely it's not just an itch?" Qiao Yi knew this kid definitely had something up his sleeve, and seriously helped him analyze.

The King: "What about suddenly becoming overly friendly?"

Qiao Yi: "If it's the little Flame, the only reason would be that it messed up and hopes to get off with a lighter punishment after the incident."

Who would have thought that frequently mentioning its name would make the Flame Leopard seem to understand. It rose up, stepped on its owner's foot, then bared its teeth at the King, and provocatively stretched out a claw to knock over the pen holder the King had placed outside, shattering the ceramic pen holder with a crash…

The King remained calm: "300 yuanbao."

Qiao Yi heard that, grabbed the Flame Leopard's paw and slapped it twice: "Rebellious! A swipe is worth 300 yuanbao in damage—chop it off!"

The King echoed, "Chop it off!"

Eh?