Xia Houshu breathed a sigh of relief and happily turned around to go to his residence. Before leaving, he did not forget to wink at Xia Houyi and whisper, "I hope you will be blessed!"
Xia Houyi glanced at Xia Houshu with disdain and motioned for her to change clothes quickly while following in his father's footsteps.
After this incident, Xia Houshu completely gave up the idea of relying on her brother to reach the top of her life. When she changed her perspective and set her sights on Prince Ling's house in Beijing, she was soon assigned to Zhuangzi from someone who had done something wrong.
I got the answer from my old servant.
The results were very similar to the clues she had found before.
Yi Wu suddenly appeared in Prince Ling's Mansion before Wang Chonghou went on his mission to Lingdu. Before that, Lingdu had never heard of such a beautiful dancer.
At the reception banquet at Prince Ling's Mansion, Yi Wu was ordered to perform a dance, which won Wang Chonghou's favor. Later, when Wang Chonghou returned to Beijing, Yi Wu accompanied him all the way, not before and after he went to Beijing. However, before Yi Wu officially entered the Prime Minister's Mansion, he kept silent
He stayed at the palace of King Ling in Jingzhong for three days.
It was also during those days that Yuwen Ke avoided his servants and went to see Yi Wu, and the two had a dispute. The old servant accidentally bumped into this incident and saw the two of them hugging each other. The woman
She even cried so hard that her heart was broken. Later, the old servant was kicked out because he was serving his master without mercy, and the whole family was punished to go to the village to plant rice and farm with the tenants.
The old servant was very upset about this, and was still chattering about his kindness to the old prince and his "great achievements" back then, openly and secretly showing his openness and complaints against Yu Wenke.
Xia Houshu, however, had no other thoughts and was only concentrating on Yi Wu's affairs.
If Yi Wu was just a dancer with outstanding looks and dancing skills, before the future was clear, even with the support of Prince Ling and Wang Chonghou, she would not dare to casually offend Yu Wenke, the eldest son of Prince Ling, let alone get into trouble with him.
Pull, pull, pull. No matter how brave Yu Wenke is, no matter how extravagant he is, he will not flirt with Yi Wu, who has become Wang Chonghou's pillow. It can be seen that Yi Wu is not only related to the palace of Prince Ling, but also has a close relationship with Yu Wen Ke.
Then there is only one possibility for this matter, and that is that Yi Wu is indeed a workman placed by Prince Ling's Mansion in the Prime Minister's Mansion. From the time she performed the dance at Prince Ling's Mansion, it was all arranged by Prince Ling. As for Prince Ling placing her next to Wang Chonghou
, whether it is for solicitation or surveillance, or both purposes, is currently unknown.
After tracing this point, Xia Houshu thought of Xia Houyi's intention to get close to Yu Wenke.
With Xia Houyi's attitude that doing more is worse than doing less, but now he is rushing to make friends with Yu Wenke's party, which he despises, she has to guess that if Yi Wu dies, Prince Ling will make big moves. But now he can find someone There is no conclusive evidence to prove that King Ling has different intentions, but he has to be on guard.
Xia Houshu was sorting out the evidence he had collected, when Xia Houyi suddenly arrived wearing the sunset.
After turning away the people who were serving him, Xia Houyi threw a greeting card to her.
Xia Houshu opened the greeting card suspiciously and saw that it was from Yu Wenke, saying that he was inviting them to go shooting in the countryside together in three days.
The Beiyuan people are mainly nomadic, good at riding and archery, and rule the world on horseback. The Xiyue people are good at defense but not good at attacking. The Nanqi people advocate Confucianism and Taoism. They did not pay attention to riding and archery originally, but in recent decades, Beiyuan people often
In order to resist foreign enemies, Nanqi also began to teach horseback riding and archery. If a young man from an aristocratic family did not know how to ride and archery, he would be laughed at. But Xiahou Shu was a girl and grew up in Boyunguan when he was young.
I didn't have the conditions to learn these things. Later, when I returned home, I only learned horse riding from my sisters at home, and was not proficient in archery.
Therefore, Xia Houshu couldn't figure out for a while what Xia Houyi's intentions were and why he was so active. She carefully looked at Xia Houyi from top to bottom several times, and when she saw that he had no intention of joking at all, she asked in confusion:
"When did I learn to shoot an arrow?"
"Of course I know you don't know how. But isn't the matter you are investigating related to Prince Ling?" Xia Houyi said with a cunning look on his face, "Yu Wenke is the son of Prince Ling, don't you think this is an opportunity?
?”
"Oh -" Xia Houshu suddenly realized. She didn't expect this. Sure enough, an old fox is an old fox. She patted Xia Houyi's shoulder, showing an expression of admiration and flattery, and said: "Second brother, I didn't expect you to be scheming.
It’s quite heavy, my little sister admires it!”
"Are you praising me?" Xia Houyi asked with a dark face.
"Of course I'm complimenting you." Xia Houshu said with a smile. She has never been stingy with words of appreciation. Then she changed the subject and added, "Fortunately we are siblings, otherwise I would have to guard against you."
As soon as she finished speaking, Xia Houyi frowned and hit her head.
Looking at the entire Nanqi, in addition to the royal family, each vassal king also has his own paddock. Every spring and autumn, the paddocks of vassal kings are extremely lively. The nobles go hunting and feasting here, enjoying life. At other times, they are mostly used to practice riding and shooting.
training ground.
Yu Wenke's paddock is located in the red maple forest on the outskirts of the city. However, this season is when the vegetation is in full bloom, so the red maple forest does not live up to its name and is completely green.
When Xia Houshu and Xia Houyi arrived, there were already many people in the paddock. In addition to the host Yu Wenke, there were also Yao Jihui, Liang Zhongping and the two Shen brothers who had the banquet at Shuyu Pavilion last time, as well as several others in Beijing.
The children of the official family were admiring Yu Wenke's new bow, and they praised it one by one.
Their arrival attracted everyone's attention. After dismounting, Xia Houyi exchanged a few polite compliments with everyone in a familiar manner.
Yu Wenke saw them from a distance, so he put down the bow and arrow in his hand and said with a smile: "Brother Xiahou, brother Mo Xian, you are late, you will have to punish yourself with three cups of wine later!"
Xia Houyi nodded slightly and explained calmly: "I'm really sorry, I was delayed on the way."
When Xia Houshu heard this, he couldn't help but look at his brother in confusion, but immediately looked away.
In fact, despite Xia Houyi's previous deliberate reminder, Xia Houshu was very concerned about this invitation. Before going out, he sent Yunxi to Chunxi Residence to urge him several times, and then he went there himself. At that time, Xia Houyi was sitting on the porch leisurely.
He was drinking tea on the floor, teasing Xiao Mei Xiao Hua from time to time, and telling her not to be in a hurry, waiting until the time was almost up before going out slowly.
Although Xia Houshu didn't know what kind of medicine his brother was selling in his gourd, he still obeyed his orders conscientiously, so that he arrived here too late.
Yu Wenke smiled and nodded, not getting entangled in this matter. After saying a few more words, he led everyone towards the tent, talking and laughing.
Xia Houshu followed behind silently, secretly sizing up the size of the paddock.
According to Nanqi regulations, non-royal clan members are not eligible to set up paddocks, otherwise it would be disrespectful. However, Yu Wenke was the son of Prince Ling and took advantage of it.
In fact, there are not many princes in the Nanqi clan, and there are even fewer who have meritorious service. They are either old and infirm, such as the old Wei king who is also the minister of Zongzheng Temple and the clan clan; or they do not seek merit but seek no faults, relying on
Mengyin lived a life of nobility, such as King Zhao, who had nothing to do and was light-hearted; and there were also younger generation princes who were feared by the emperor and had no real power, such as King Pu and King Ji. On the contrary, several vassal princes with different surnames were more powerful.
When the ten vassal kings with different surnames were granted the title, they thought of the emperor's great favor and devoted themselves to serving the imperial court. They carefully managed the affairs of the fiefdom and paid tribute taxes on time. However, after several generations, some families were not prosperous and gradually declined, while others became increasingly powerful.
, gradually breeds ambition. When Emperor Qi Cheng was in power, in order to strengthen his control over the princes of various places and consolidate the status of the clan, he ordered the princes of various places to send their legitimate sons to the capital to study and practice martial arts with the princes, which was called training.
, in fact, they were used as hostages to contain the family power behind them. Since then, successive kings have followed this approach.
Over the years, the royal family and the vassal princes have tacitly understood the relationship of checks and balances with each other, abided by each other's contracts, and the royal family treated them leniently, so the protons were at ease in the capital and lived in peace.
However, kings with different surnames like Prince Gong, who have lived in the capital for generations, have no military power, have weak and withered heirs, and specialize in secret duties, actually make the clan feel more at ease than those kings with different surnames who have lived in the fiefdom for many years.
While sighing at the history, Xia Houshu looked around and said casually: "The prince's paddock is comparable to the royal style!"
In fact, Xia Houshu had never participated in the royal hunt, but only heard his father and brother mention the grand occasion at that time. However, the young masters from the aristocratic families present were all people who had witnessed the grand occasion. When Xia Hou Shu said this, they all seemed to have made a decision in their hearts.
Compare and immediately agree.
Yu Wenke then said: "Brother Mo Xian is joking. There is a difference between king and minister. Xiao Wang's paddock is just to provide convenience for everyone to ride and shoot. How can it be compared with the royal family."
Yu Wenke smiled modestly, but there was no awe of the royal family in his behavior. Seeing that everyone was talking a lot, he said again: "Why don't we go to the side to have a rest first?" Then he turned to Xia Houyi and said, "Brother Xiahou, last time
Xiao Wang found the twenty-year-old Hantanxiang you mentioned, but it took a lot of effort!"
“Oh?”
"Brother Xiahou, don't be polite if you give good wine to a confidant." After Yu Wenke finished speaking, he ordered the attendants to serve wine and food, and invited everyone to come in and taste.
Hearing this, everyone moved to the tent one after another.
The interior of the white main tent was very elegantly decorated. After Yu Wen Ke took his seat at the head table, the children of the aristocratic families also took their seats along the dining tables arranged on both sides. Everyone was in a good mood, whispering to each other from time to time, looking forward to the surprise Yu Wen Ke had prepared.
Xia Houshu also followed Xia Houyi glumly and sat at the lower left corner.
After a while, a woman in a goose-yellow blouse led several maids out and set out wine, food and dishes for the guests. The girls were beautiful in appearance and graceful in figure, just like fairy goddesses.
Xia Houshu's eyes were immediately attracted.
The woman in the goose-yellow shirt has curved eyebrows, red lips and pink face, and a pair of peach-blossom eyes with hints of autumn, which accentuate her delicate face with melon seeds to the extreme. Every frown and every smile is charming and moving.
There is no shortage of beauties in the capital. If you can stand out among thousands of flowers, you must have your own characteristics. For example, the beauty in front of you is soft, beautiful, and charming, but she does not make people feel gaudy.
On the contrary, people can't help but be attracted to her.
Isn't this person the same as Yi Wu in the portrait?
But the prime minister's beloved concubine who had been dead for a month and was even cremated suddenly appeared next to Yu Wenke?
Xia Houshu was surprised, surprised, and even a little shocked by his discovery.