The Fifth Prince's Mansion should be the first place in Kyoto to feel the arrival of autumn.
At this time, withered grass was everywhere, dead leaves were rustling, and the red ribbon from the wedding ceremony had not been completely torn off, which looked particularly dazzling in the bleakness of the courtyard.
The attendants who were locked inside were all listless. The fifth prince was imprisoned, and they also suffered.
Daily food and supplies are brought in from outside, and they can only go out once every ten days.
The culprit who caused all this is undoubtedly the fifth prince. Knowing that there is no possibility of his comeback, the attendants are naturally shaken.
Some servants with connections in the palace had prepared money and were waiting for someone to fish them out.
It didn't matter that the attendants sighed and sighed every day, and several people gathered around to complain.
After all, they were former members of the royal family and they did not dare to blatantly embarrass the fifth prince.
However, in daily interactions, the displeasure and disdain on the face always show up inadvertently.
It often happened that the fifth prince was deprived of his food.
After all, even though the Holy Emperor demoted him to a commoner, his status in the palace was still distributed according to the standards of a prince, with the intervention of King Xiaoyao and the eldest princess.
The food of the fifth prince is no different from before.
But the fifth prince would not touch the food unless he was extremely hungry.
Sometimes I eat one meal a day, sometimes I eat one meal every two days, but luckily I am still alive.
The uneatable food fell into the bellies of the attendants.
The current fifth prince will not care about them.
The fifth prince who used to be violent and fierce seemed to have changed into a different person. He didn't even look at others, as if he had lost his soul.
He probably also knew that he was in dire straits and was no longer the kind of master who could yell at his attendants.
The strange thing is that the fifth prince is holding a boot and talking to himself about it all the time.
The attendants were lazing around in the corner and began to complain again.
"I think the fifth prince is quite crazy."
"How can the proud man of heaven not go crazy when he falls into this situation? How pitiful."
"The fifth prince's concubine is the most pitiable, right? A famous noblewoman in Kyoto, her husband was demoted to a commoner on their wedding night because a eunuch wanted to kill the king, and she was imprisoned. Now the fifth prince is also crazy. It's really a blessing and a curse.
material."
"Looking at the fifth prince's current behavior, is it possible that the fifth prince's concubine will be a widow in the future? Tsk tsk."
As the attendant said this, he saw the two attendants in front of him winking at him.
At this time, a female voice came from behind, startling him.
"What a shame! Master's matters are something you can discuss."
The attendant turned around and saw that the fifth princess was standing there. He didn't know how much of their conversation had been heard.
The maid next to her had an angry look on her face, and it was the maid who made the sound just now.
Unlike the frustrated and decadent fifth prince, the fifth prince's concubine is still noble, elegant and dazzling. Except for the fact that her hair is combed into a woman's bun, she is no different from her boudoir.
The attendants quickly apologized and said, "This slave deserves to die!"
The fifth prince and his concubine said: "I will be punished with twenty boards for speaking ill of my master. But since this is your first offense, let's forget it this time. In the future, you must be careful in your words and deeds. What should be said and what should not be said should be kept in mind."
Countless."
Those servants quickly kowtowed to the fifth prince and concubine.
The fifth princess didn't care too much about them, waved her hand and let them go.
The maid next to the fifth prince said unconvinced: "They speak so unpleasantly, why did the lady let them go?"
The fifth prince's concubine said: "I won't be able to hear you anymore anyway, so why bother getting angry with them? It's not worth it."
The maid pursed her lips and secretly defended the fifth prince's concubine.
The fifth prince's concubine came all the way to the fifth prince's courtyard and said to the closed door: "Husband, I have come to pay you my respects."
Not surprisingly, there was no sound inside.
The fifth prince's concubine was not disappointed either.
Getting married was supposed to be a major event in a woman's life, but she sat on her new bed for half the night without waiting for her husband to lift her hijab.
Until grandma ran in crying and said: "It's over, it's over, the fifth prince is going to regicide."
She did not wait for the bridal chamber to be filled with flowers and candles, and for the husband and wife to play the piano and harp in harmony, but she waited for the bad news.
The hijab can only be lifted by herself.
After lifting the hijab, she immediately took on the responsibility of the princess, pretending to be calm and busy taking care of the comatose fifth prince.
Zhang Rong has been raised according to the standards of a virtuous queen since she was a child. Every word and deed seems to be measured by a ruler, and she is the object of learning and imitation by the noble ladies of Kyoto.
Zhang Rong has always known that she is not the kind of person who is willing to be ordinary.
Master Zhang was strict in his demands, and she was even stricter in her demands.
Marrying the fifth prince has been her goal all along.
It's not because the fifth prince is a good person, but because the fifth prince is the one most likely to be crowned the great treasure.
On the night of the fifth prince's accident, she had been frightened and heartbroken.
The next day, the Holy Emperor decreed that the fifth prince be demoted to common people and imprisoned in the fifth prince's mansion.
Master Zhang ordered someone to contact her quietly and ask her what she thought.
She may still have a glimmer of hope, after all, the fifth prince is the person she expected and always wanted to marry.
Once a dream is shattered, there will always be a little bit of unwillingness.
Just like Junze's self-deception, she also thought that the fact that the fifth prince was imprisoned in the fifth prince's mansion instead of Yong'an Lane meant that everything could turn around.
But after getting along with him day by day, Zhang Rong had given up on this idea.
There is no other reason than that the fifth prince's ambition has been ruined.
He is willing to be a puddle of mud, and no one can save him.
Zhang Rong knelt in front of the fifth prince's door and said, "On the wedding night, you didn't lift my hijab. Now you still don't want to see me?"
As Zhang Rong expected, there was still no sound inside.
Zhang Rong sighed quietly, unable to tell whether it was disappointment or relief.
Zhang Rong bowed Yingying to the main door and said, neither humble nor arrogant: "Fifth prince, my father has asked the Holy One for mercy and allowed Zhang Rong to return home to meditate. I hope you don't blame me. It is true that Zhang Rong and you have a shallow relationship. We should be apart from each other and be safe."
"
Master Zhang went to the gate of the eldest princess's mansion and persuaded the eldest princess and King Xiaoyao.
These two nobles are both sensible people, and since it was their actions that were unethical, they naturally would not hold Zhang Rong captive.
Grand Master Zhang had a prominent reputation in the court. He signed many disciples' petitions and knelt outside Qinzheng Hall for a long time.
Finally, the Holy Emperor relaxed and let Zhang Rong go home.
But after this experience, no one would dare to marry this former "prince's concubine".
After getting up, she faced the closed door and couldn't tell what she felt.
The dream of the empress was shattered, and Zhang Rong, who had always been smart and independent-minded, fell into deep confusion.
Grand Master Zhang doted on her, and she could definitely be the eldest daughter of the Zhang family, but that kind of life was not what she wanted.
Zhang Rong quickly packed up her things and left with her maid.
The door of the Fifth Prince's Mansion opened, and the Zhang Mansion's carriage was already waiting in front of the door.
Zhang Rong got into the carriage with the help of the maid, and when she lowered the curtain, she saw King Xiaoyao getting off another carriage.
The always arrogant and domineering King Xiaoyao walked into the Fifth Prince's Mansion with a solemn look on his face.
Zhang Rong sighed again.
Grand Master Zhang once told her that King Xiaoyao was by no means a creature in the pond, and with his help, the fifth prince would definitely become a great treasure.
But Zhang Rong now knows that no matter how powerful King Xiaoyao is, he can't put a puddle of mud on the wall.