Forced to Ascend the Throne after Transmigrating

Chapter 16: Zhou-Zhua ceremony

In recent months, Emperor Jingwen has been very busy with government affairs and has had almost no time to rest. It is said that he is busy dealing with the spring floods in the south. He has not set foot in the harem for half a year, let alone come to see the imperial concubine.

Last spring, when the little prince was born, was an excellent year. The winter was not too cold, which led to officials from all over the country being lax in taking precautions.

Unexpectedly, this year would turn out to be a cold winter with significantly more snowfall. At the beginning of spring this year, the ice and snow melted, the river water level rose sharply, and floods occurred in two places.

The Queen received news that during the morning court session this morning, the ministers blamed each other for the poor flood control, which angered Emperor Jingwen.

The Queen thought that Emperor Jingwen would not come today, but unexpectedly he came in the end.

Not to mention the Queen, even Concubine Rong was a little surprised.

During this year, the imperial concubine’s daily schedule was fully scheduled as she had another child. In addition, the Sixth Prince was about to enter the study room, so the imperial concubine was busy looking for someone to teach him.

He went to the study room to study, but how could the prince who went in really not know a single word?

If the Sixth Prince were allowed to go like this, he would definitely be laughed at.

So Concubine Rong insisted on keeping the Sixth Prince by her side, and it dragged on for so long.

At the same time, the Sixth Prince also worked hard and learned most of the commonly used characters in just two or three months. As for writing, once he entered the upper study, there would naturally be a tutor who would correct him bit by bit.

Also, my son learned to lift his head today, and learned to roll over tomorrow. After a few days, he learned to call “Mother” vaguely.

Under such circumstances, how could Concubine Rong spare any extra time to miss the emperor?

Just now when the young eunuch delivered the message, Concubine Rong suddenly remembered that she had not seen Emperor Jingwen for nearly a year.

She realized belatedly that the days without him were not as hard to bear as she had imagined.

Ye Shuo was just about to look up, but before he could move, the head palace maid Su Yue immediately picked him up and saluted to the emperor on his behalf.

“The little prince greets His Majesty. May His Majesty be blessed with good health and happiness.”

Since she rashly rushed to the prince to ask for help, Su Yue was fortunately rescued by Concubine Rong in the end, and she did not suffer any sequelae. Now, a year has passed, her injuries have long since healed, and she is still the smartest one among all the palace maids.

Relying on his young age and the fact that he was not forbidden to look the emperor in the face, Ye Shuo looked at his adoptive father carefully.

To be fair, Emperor Jingwen is much more handsome than Mr. Gu, and most importantly, he has an aura that makes him worthy of being an emperor. Even though he doesn’t say anything, just standing there makes people feel pressured.

Mr. Gu, who was in his thirties, had become a greasy uncle with the style of a local boss. Especially with his increasingly thinning hair and big beer belly, Ye Shuo at that time was very worried that his hairline would become like his in a few years.

Emperor Jingwen, who was in his thirties, was well-maintained, with a strong body, not a trace of fat on his belly, deep facial features, and a majestic aura without even anger.

Looking like this, it’s no wonder that my appearance has improved to a higher level in this life.

However, Ye Shuo still missed his fat, rich father more. Only that father would treat him well unconditionally. Now this father who was absent during his infancy made Ye Shuo doubt whether he was reproduced asexually.

Although my mother is no longer the same mother, she is still so familiar.

Dad is no longer the same dad as before, and has become extremely unfamiliar.

Before this, he even fantasized that the family of three could renew their past relationship, but he forgot about fate. Being able to meet each other once was already a blessing from God.

The inexplicable hope in his heart was shattered, and a trace of disappointment flashed across Ye Shuo’s eyes.

While Ye Shuo was looking at Emperor Jingwen, Emperor Jingwen was also looking at him.

Although Emperor Jingwen seldom entered the harem, he had heard a lot of news about his youngest son, but this was the first time he had seen him in person.

The baby’s facial features have gradually become clear. Although he still has a face full of baby fat, he can already vaguely distinguish eyebrows that are similar to those of the imperial concubine and more handsome, a straight nose bridge, lips that are exactly the same as those of the imperial concubine and are naturally red, and good skin that is carved out of the same mold as the imperial concubine…etc.

How come this child doesn’t look like me at all? ? ?

Emperor Jingwen hurriedly read it again.

He discovered that the only thing about this child that didn’t look like the imperial concubine was his eyes. The child also didn’t look like him either. It was more like he had a pair of eyes like that.

The emperor paused as he fiddled with the beads.

As for children, their facial features haven’t fully developed yet, so it’s hard to see. Maybe it will get better when they grow up.

Emperor Jingwen thought so, and under the gaze of the concubines, he calmly asked, “How far has the little prince’s Zhou-Zhua ceremony progressed?”

[T/L = Zhou-Zhua ceremony is a Chinese ritual held at a child’s first birthday party, when the child is 1 year, i.e. typically twelve months since birth.]

Regardless of her usual relationship with the Imperial Concubine, the Queen still smiled and said, “Your Majesty, we are still waiting. It hasn’t officially started yet.”

According to the old custom in the palace, when the prince and princess turn one year old, the other concubines have to symbolically present one or two items to the little prince and princess.

There are also considerations for the gifts given. Anyway, no one would come to cause trouble on such a happy day, so what is placed in front of Ye Shuo now are some relatively elegant things such as ink stones, ink sticks, ancient books, etc. At a glance, they all have very good meanings.

As for those who are not up to par, they were all kept far away from Ye Shuo, not giving him any chance to contact them at all.

Isn’t that what the Zhou-Zhua ceremony is all about? Everyone knows it and has long been accustomed to it.

Ye Shuo was as clear as a mirror, knowing that he was just going through the motions today. As early as a month ago, everyone in Qiuwu Palace had made full preparations for his one-year-old birthday banquet.

Nanny Jing, Nanny Yu, Su Yue and Su Xin help with the training almost every day to prevent the little prince from messing up. Today, they even smeared the imperial concubine’s favorite ointment on things like the ink stone, which was as appropriate as it could be.

Ye Shuo understood their painstaking efforts and naturally cooperated with them.

The Queen continued, “I wonder what good things the Emperor has prepared for the little prince today?”

Even the concubines had sent gifts, so naturally Emperor Jingwen, as the father, could not be left out.

Swear to God, this time the Queen really just asked casually and had no other intention.

Emperor Jingwen pondered for a long time. When he raised his eyes, he happened to meet Ye Shuo’s clear black and white eyes. His mind moved, and he didn’t know what he thought of. He actually took off the jade seal hanging on his waist!

In an instant, the entire main hall was filled with shock.

The concubines who were originally chatting and laughing could not make a sound at this moment. Concubines who had children, such as Concubine Shu, Concubine Xian, and Concubine De, exerted force with their hands and the handkerchiefs in their hands were twisted into a ball.

Even the queen couldn’t come back to her senses for a long time.

Who in the world doesn’t know what the emperor’s private seal means?

If Su Yue had not held her down in time, Concubine Rong would have been so shocked that she almost stood up from the embroidered cushion on the spot.

What is the emperor going to do?

What does he mean by this?

As luck would have it, Emperor Jingwen acted as if he didn’t see it. After taking off the private seal, he casually placed it on the tray that Eunuch Wang Ziquan found in time.

“I came here in a hurry today and did not prepare anything in advance. I will give this to the little prince as a gift.”

He said it lightly, but the concubines were horrified when they heard it.

Ye Shuo watched helplessly as Wang Ziquan carefully placed the small jade seal in front of him.

Ye Shuo: “…”

He is really something.

My cheap dad is really awesome.

It was at this moment that Ye Shuo suddenly remembered that he had not heard any news from his stepfather and grandfather for a long time. His mother did not seem to be very worried, so Ye Shuo deduced that his stepfather and grandfather must have reached a delicate balance.

After all, the Duke of Zhen has been a soldier all his life, so it is unrealistic to eradicate him in one day.

Let’s cut the weeds at their roots. My stepfather probably won’t be willing to do that, but the prosperity of the Zhen Mansion does make him worried.

Therefore, this is to test the attitude of the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion under the pretext of the one-year-old ceremony.

Let the Duke of Zhen mistakenly believe that the little prince has a hope of becoming the crown prince and see how the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion will react. Based on the reaction of the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion, the emperor can decide whether to kill him or keep him.

Ye Shuo understood the truth, but it did not prevent him from feeling disgusted.

Ye Shuo hates being used the most.

This habit of his cheap dad is not good and needs to be corrected.

Noticing that the little prince’s eyes were blinking, for some reason, Emperor Jingwen’s eyelids twitched suddenly, as if something bad was about to happen.

Unaware of this, Concubine Rong was both nervous and conflicted.

To be fair, she wanted her son to get the jade seal, but her sixth sense reminded her that something seemed wrong.

But soon, Concubine Rong no longer had time to worry about whether the jade seal was there or not.

Under the slightly tense gaze of the crowd, the little prince below moved.

I had wanted to be honest and cooperate quietly in attending the one-year-old banquet, but now it seems that it is no longer necessary.

When Ye Shuo accurately avoided all the good things and went straight to the abacus on the outermost edge, Emperor Jingwen’s movement of turning the beads in his hand sped up uncontrollably.

Abacus represents merchants, among which scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans are the lowest, so the royal family naturally despises them.

When Ye Shuo put the gold ingot next to the abacus into his pocket, Emperor Jingwen moved accordingly.

He had already discovered that something seemed to be wrong.

Oh, you can’t take it anymore? There’s more to come.

Noticing the subtle noise not far away, Ye Shuo sneered in his heart.

Finally, when his little hands touched the rouge and belly band, the beads on Emperor Jingwen’s bracelet “crackled” and almost left an afterimage.

There were Buddhist scriptures engraved on the bracelet, which was originally used for meditation, but now it made him more and more anxious the more he turned it.

When Emperor Jingwen used the jade seal to test the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion, he obviously forgot one thing –

The little prince is also his son. His son took all these messy things in front of so many people. How can he, as a father, have any face left?

If the royal family knew about this, especially the princes, what would we do then?

When Emperor Jingwen thought of that scene, his face turned slightly pale.

This… before the one-year-old ceremony, didn’t Concubine Rong ask the palace maids to rehearse in advance? ? ?