In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the sixteenth day of the first lunar month.
The Lantern Festival has just passed.
Harbor City, high-end villa area, inside villa building No. 99.
Calculate the time.
Nearly two months have passed since I arrived at the end of November last year.
This was the first time for Zhang Yan to stay in Harbor City for such a long time. She had been living here for years, which made her feel very irritable and helpless.
Although the New Year's spirit is also very strong here in Harbor City, with thousands of people reveling and being very lively. On the other side of the seawall, there will also be a New Year's Eve fireworks party, setting off countless colorful fireworks, which is so beautiful that it is shocking.
Yesterday's Lantern Festival night, the lights in Harbor City were brightly lit, all the lights were on, and the light beams on the top of the White Castle would sweep around. It was even more beautiful, like a fairyland, and many people celebrated until dawn.
prosperous times.
After living in Harbor City for a long time, Zhang Yan couldn't help but have the feeling that she was in a prosperous era, and it was a super prosperous era that had never been seen before or since.
Then came rejection and pain.
Because such a prosperous age was not created and brought about by the Ming royal family, but by a business force.
I also thought about the public opinion here that supported Xujiazhuang and had no intention of caring about the imperial court, and saw the countless people who supported Xujiazhuang from the bottom of their hearts.
Zhang Yan only had a dazzling and heartbreaking feeling, as well as a deep sense of powerlessness, because Xujiazhuang was so prosperous and developed that it would be difficult for the royal family to catch up in just a few decades.
Then I no longer want to face this, I just want to stay in the villa every day, act like an ostrich, and be invisible.
Then he found Queen Zhou and proposed to return to the capital as soon as possible and not to delay here any longer.
But Queen Zhou not only disagreed, but became a qualified accompanying mother, taking Zhu Cihong, Zhu Ainao and others to and from school every day, and was very concerned about their children's studies.
In addition, the royal palace covering an area of 100 acres in the south of Harbor City is still under intense construction. Queen Zhou will go there to inspect it every now and then to see the progress of the construction and put forward opinions. She also pulled the emperor's sister-in-law Zhang Yan along many times.
We went together and asked Zhang Yan for her opinion on the decoration style, interior layout, material selection, etc., and let her make a choice - but Zhang Yan is not a talkative woman. After all, the money has been spent. For the sake of the royal family's face, something more luxurious is better.
It was necessary, and besides, she was only the former empress. In terms of speaking rights, Zhou Yufeng had more say, so it was Empress Zhou who put forward more suggestions for decoration, and she was extremely concerned about this matter.
At six o'clock in the afternoon.
Zhou Yufeng, who went to pick up her children from school, picked up all the children.
In the evening, when we sat together to have dinner.
Looking at Queen Zhou who was sitting opposite, Zhang Yan repeated the old tune and said: "Xiao Zhou, the two of us have stayed here for too long. We went shopping in the mall dozens of times and ate countless delicious foods. It was fun.
I went to more than a dozen places, ate, drank, had fun, and had enough experiences, so... go back, don’t stay here any longer, you can return to the capital."
"Go back? Sister-in-law, isn't this place good?" Zhou Yufeng stopped using her chopsticks, raised her head and asked.
"It's nice here, but it's not our home. We don't have our roots. This is someone else's territory. How can we live under someone else's roof for a long time?" Zhang Yan said.
"Sister-in-law, if I were to say this, there might be some truth to it, but you are usually alone with nothing to rely on. The world is so big, it's the same wherever you go. There are so many dragsters around me, every day
It is quite hard for me to carry them. If I return to the capital and leave Cixi and the others under the care of Eunuch Feng, or arrange to live in school, I can feel much more relaxed. But I can't bear to leave my children, for fear that they will suffer hardship, and I want to spend more time with them.
There is nothing you can do if you want to go back. Sister-in-law, you have nothing to worry about, so why are you making a fuss about going back? Everyone in Harbor City lives freely, why are you so anxious to go back? Even if you go back, you are not just lying in the room alone every day.
"
Zhou Yufeng complained.
"No matter how bad the palace is, it is still our own place. No matter how good the Harbor City is, it is still not as good as the capital city. Xiao Zhou, don't let the prosperity here blind you or confuse your mind." Zhang Yan criticized with a straight face.
"Sister-in-law, times have changed a long time ago, and outdated concepts should be abandoned. Harbor City is not the territory of anyone, but a free city. Every citizen is a free citizen. As long as he does not do anything illegal, there will be no
Do you have any feeling of being constrained, Sister-in-law, I know you don’t like that Fang Qingyan, but we have been in Harbor City for so long, has she ever come to trouble us? I also know that you are worried that Xu Yuan is not good to you.
, but it’s been almost two months, and he hasn’t even come to see us once. He is busy with his own affairs, which shows that everyone has their own priorities in life. You, you are just too suspicious, always worried about this and that, but
What everyone in Xujiazhuang is most concerned about is how to develop and make money. As long as the royal family does not hinder them from making money, why would they be unfriendly to us?" Queen Zhou said.
"There are no obstacles now, but there will definitely be conflicts in the future. Your Majesty is a promising king. Will he tolerate the expansion of Xujiazhuang?"
"So what if we can't tolerate it? With the power of the royal family and the court, can we stop Xujiazhuang and prevent the changes in the general trend of the world? Shunchang has perished, and now even the royal family can only comply with the development of Xujiazhuang and get a free ride on development.
, brings benefits to the royal family, and the more confrontation there is, the faster the royal family will decline. Can’t the emperor’s sister-in-law see this?”
"This..." Zhang Yan could not refute.
"To cooperate, we can only increase our cooperation with Xujiazhuang, build a royal palace, and leave one or more core members of the royal family to live in the royal palace for a long time, like protons, in order to win the trust of Xujiazhuang and the emperor's wife, for the sake of the royal family
I am willing to serve as a hostage for the benefit of my child. I wonder if you, Princess Sister-in-law, are willing to make certain sacrifices for the future of the royal family like me?" Queen Zhou asked.
"I, I..."
Zhang Yan wanted to say that of course she was willing, but she felt something was wrong. After thinking about it, she still couldn't say it.
"Royal sister-in-law, why don't you stop shouting about going back every day? The construction of the royal palace is almost done. It will be completed in another month. After it is completed, we can prepare to return to the capital. Anyway, we are here alone.
In the next month, the weather will be warmer, can you go back later?" Zhou Yufeng said.
"Okay, let's wait another month."
Zhang Yan could only say.
However, on the twentieth day of the first lunar month.
A news came from White Castle: Xu Yuan is back.
And when Xu Yuan came back this time, he didn't just come back and leave immediately, but he had to deal with a lot of things.
For example, we need to recruit about 30,000 infrastructure workers and take them to work in the "Fairy World" to start the fifth phase of labor dispatch.
In addition, large quantities of materials and machinery and equipment were brought over to make up for last year's shortcomings.
Then a batch of ancient Mao wine, tea, porcelain and other supplies were dumped to the 'fairy world'.
I was busy until the 25th, when I basically finished handling the matters at hand, and had more personal time.
But he took the initiative to visit, quite sneakily, and came to Villa No. 99, where he met Zhang Yan and Queen Zhou specifically on the afternoon of the 28th.
And Xu Yuan did not come empty-handed.
He sent a car full of gifts, including——
The latest styles of clothing, bags, and shoes.
There is a complete range of high-end cosmetics.
There is a drug that has the effect of maintaining youthful vitality.
There is a TV set.
There is a Classic Peak game console and 100 game cards.
I have the latest female-style Huayao smartphone with 2TB of storage space, in which countless music, movies, TV series, novels, and game software have been downloaded. The storage space is occupied by 1.5TB, which is enough for one person to watch for more than ten years.
And jewelry, etc.
The value of so many gifts, even in modern society, is more than one million yuan. If placed in the Ming Dynasty, the value can be doubled ten times or a hundred times. It is a treasure that can drive countless powerful people crazy, and may even cause
A war.
So when Queen Zhou Yufeng saw so many valuable gifts, her eyes were so bright that she wanted to take them all away. However, Xu Yuan planned to give all these gifts to Zhang Yan, but Zhang Yan resisted and said it hundreds of times.
After "No", Xu Yuan gave a look and Queen Zhou came over and took away most of the clothes, bags, shoes and cosmetics, except for the most valuable items.
Fortunately, Zhou Yufeng didn't just take things and do no work. Before she left with her things, she closed the door and said, "You two have a nice chat, and I won't disturb you."
So in this bedroom.
Only Xu Yuan and Zhang Yan were left alone, a man and a woman.
Looking at the woman in front of him who was wearing a conservative silk double-breasted robe and horse-faced skirt, but with a round figure and every move and gesture that exuded a dignified, mature and seductive temperament, Xu Yuan felt that his breathing had become much faster when smelling the faint fragrance.
He also became straight-faced, and all his attention was focused on this woman.
He even took two steps toward her involuntarily, and some uncontrollable primitive impulse began to arise in his mind.
"Don't come over here!"
Feeling the man's fiery gaze, Zhang Yan was frightened and had to take two steps back. She said on high alert: "Stay away from me. Leave my room. If you want to talk, go to the living room downstairs to talk. This is
I can't keep you in my boudoir."
"Beauty, I didn't do anything."
Xu Yuan spread his hands helplessly, his desire to get closer to her became stronger, but seeing how defensive she was, he had to say: "Look at this TV, you can watch video programs in the future, and this Classic Peak game console,
It was developed and produced not long ago. It is the crystallization of the wisdom of tens of thousands of senior talents. Come over here and I will teach you how to play this game. It is guaranteed to be very fun."
"No, I won't go. Get out of here you bastard!"
However, Zhang Yan had retreated to the far corner of the room. She was extremely defensive. She even pulled out the hosta on her head, pointed it at the man, and said extremely nervously: "Get out, or I won't be polite."
"Beauty, why are you like this? I didn't even touch it with my finger. Are you serious about being so vigilant?"
Xu Yuan felt a little sad. Is this woman so difficult to impress? He had to pick up the new mobile phone on the bed, shook it at her and said: "This is the latest Huayao p500 mobile phone. It is equipped with a 3-nanometer chip. It has benchmark scores."
Close to 2 million, the camera effect is better, and it has also made a revolutionary breakthrough in terms of battery life. It is equipped with a large 12,000 mAh battery, which can be used continuously for a day and a night. It is much better than the phone I gave you before.
, I have also downloaded a lot of novels, movies, and songs. Zhang Yan, this is my heart, don’t refuse it, okay?”
"No, I don't want it."
Zhang Yan shook her head repeatedly: "Let's go. Don't stay in my room. Don't do anything wrong to me. Even if I commit suicide, I won't obey you."
After saying that, she pointed the jade hairpin at her jade neck, as if she would prick it out immediately if something went wrong.
"No, no, please put it down, put the hairpin down, I'll go out right away, okay?"
Xu Yuan said helplessly, as if a basin of cold water had been poured on him.
He turned around and walked to the door, intending to open it, but found that the door was locked from the outside. He could not get out for a while, so he had to shout Queen Zhou's name several times to ask her to come and open the door.
Zhou Yufeng did not go far, so she had to open the door. Her face was full of disappointment, and she glanced at the emperor's sister-in-law Zhang Yan with a very complaining look, as if it was all her fault for not cooperating.
Zhang Yan was so angry that she chased after Zhou Yufeng and beat her several times, scolding her for being shameless and selling her sister-in-law for glory.
The royal family's contribution made the Ming Dynasty more and more dangerous. He ignored the overall situation for his own sake. He was a selfish and hypocritical person.
The two fought fiercely, almost beating each other, and even felt a bit like tearing each other up.
"Okay, stop arguing. You are all right. It is me, an outsider, who is wrong. I will go back first. You don't have to be like this. Apologize to each other and reconcile."
After watching the lively Xu Yuan, he had to interrupt and left the villa.
And after Xu Yuan left.
Zhou Yufeng and Zhang Yan not only failed to reconcile, but instead the quarrel became even more intense.
"Emperor's sister-in-law, please stop pretending to be noble. You are not a young lady, and you have never experienced human affairs. Why are you so traditional and strong? Your husband, Xizong, is not as tall and handsome as Xu Yuan, nor as powerful as Xu Yuan. He can only
Relying on eunuchs to take care of the government is not just to favor you alone. Even the wet nurse Hakka has a much more important position than you. Your son Ciran died young, and it was the Hakka who got in the way, but Xizong did nothing to deal with it. This is a
You are a ruthless and unjust man, yet Xu Yuan treats you so well, gives you so many valuable gifts, and deepens your relationship with the royal family, yet you still resist like this, you are confused, you are really confused." Zhou Yufeng said.
"I don't want anything from Xu Yuan. I won't like him. Even if I die, I won't obey him. If you want something from him, please go and please him yourself. Don't force me." Zhang Yan said.
"If I were you, the emperor's sister-in-law, I would give myself to you without hesitation and be willing to sacrifice myself for the royal family, instead of being coy and pretending to be noble and welcoming even if you want to refuse." Zhou Yufeng laughed sarcastically.
"I don't want to refuse in return. I always refuse. I'm different from you. You and the emperor don't force me anymore."
"Sister-in-law, you are forcing us!"
Zhou Yufeng gritted her teeth and made an immediate decision. She did not need to wait for the royal palace to be completed. She would return to the capital in two days, but she would not take Zhang Yan with her. She would let Xu Yuan tame this martyrdom and tame her. She could no longer be tolerated.
, continue to waste the royal family’s precious time.