Chapter 188 Kindness
Chapter 188 Kindness
"Tia, do you know what's going on?" Qin Mian asked Lei Tia with a voice transmission.
Lei Tia laughed as he looked at his wife. He held his hands under the table and muttered to himself for a moment, "Stealing from others to replace my wife."
His calm expression and calm aura gave off a soothing charm. Qin Mian wanted to pounce over and kiss him, but there were too many people who were eyesore to his eyes. He picked up a piece of cake and took a bite, purposely frowning, pretended not to like it as he placed it in front of Lei Tia.
Lei Tia took the dessert and looked at him as he ate it in two bites.
Qin Mian looked away with a smile.
Emperor Xiao Hui found it fu
y and secretly shook his head. The National Duke and his husband were truly a perfect match.
Some of them had already given up on eating and drinking while others were still unwilling to give up and continued to fight against the strange question.
After a while, the first stick of incense finished burning. The attendant silently went over to put on the second stick.
Chen Mufeng laughed lightly and put down the brush, "So that's how it is."
Emperor Xiao Hui's eyes flashed, and he laughed: "Oh? Does Mufeng understand what's going on? "
Everyone from Turow Country had gloomy expressions as they looked at Chen Mufeng.
Chen Mufeng got up and explained, "Reporting to the emperor, it's like this. The shopkeeper returned five taels of silver. In other words, the three guests had only paid a total of twenty-five taels of silver, so on average, each person had to pay eight and a third of the total. Adding the returned one tael of silver, the total should be nine and a third of the total. However, the next sentence said, "The three guests each spent nine taels of silver." This sentence cleverly confused the thinking of the person answering the question, which resulted in the question of losing one tael of silver appearing.
At the same time that everyone realized what was happening, they couldn't help but admire the person who made the question.
"So that's how it is ??"
Ye Yunwen and Sheng Xu Hao looked at each other, then suddenly understood why their emperors were so afraid of Grand Xia Country. It might seem like a disadvantage for Grand Xia Country to be heavy and gentle, but on the battlefield, a nimble and dexterous advisor was comparable to an army of tens of thousands of soldiers.
The Emperor Xiao Hui was overjoyed. "Alright, Duke Mu will be rewarded heavily."
"Thank you, your majesty."
The reason why they came all the way to Grand Xia Country was not to embarrass themselves, but to lose in the written competition. Li Manqing and the others all forced themselves to smile, and they could only place their hopes on the martial competition.
Sheng Xu Hao looked at Yu Manqing meaningfully.
"Your Majesty, congratulations to you on your great victory in the literary competition. I wonder how the martial competition will proceed? "
Emperor Xiao Hui thought for a moment, then said: "Like this, my country will give three people each, and Turow Country will give you two victories in three rounds. "How about it?"
"That's good." Li Manqing looked at Sheng Xinhao and asked, "General Sheng, in your opinion, who should we send out to compete?"
Sheng Xu Hao looked around at those who were following him and called out three generals.
Lei Tia explained to Qin Mian via sound transmission, "Li Yuanming and Huyan Lie are both famous generals of Turow Country, and Ah Bu Formation has never heard of them."
The Emperor Xiao Hui wanted to hide his Grand Xia Country strength, but he couldn't do it too obviously. He chose a left general, a city gate general and a Du Si.
Turow Country had won the first round, lost the second round, and won the third round. In the competition, Turow Country was the victor. Although he had lost in the Wen Bi competition, he won in the martial competition. At least, he wouldn't look too ugly.
At this moment, the feast came to an end.
The two parties still did not mention the issue of the candidate for the marriage alliance, but they had already come to a conclusion in their hearts.
After the banquet, compared to before, the civil and military ministers and Imperial Orders's wives were much more passionate towards Qin Mian and his group.
Qin Mian and Lei Tia were able to handle it as they wished, but they were still calm and composed.
When Emperor Xiao Hui returned to the imperial harem, his expression darkened.
The empress dowager and empress sat at the side, looking at Princess Yan Qing indifferently.
Emperor Xiao Hui was furious, he slammed the table and bellowed, "Scoundrel, kneel down!"
Princess Yan Qing obediently kneeled down, her beautiful eyes overflowing with clear tears. She pouted and said, "Royal father, Yan Qing knows her wrongs."
The Emperor Xiao Hui asked calmly: "Oh? Tell me, what did you do wrong? "
Princess Yan Qing said without hesitation: "This son should not have targeted Madam National Duke."
Her Majesty's gaze swept lightly over her before retracting and taking a sip of her fragrant tea without a word.
The empress pretended to wipe the tea on her lips with a silk handkerchief as a mocking smile appeared on her lips.
"royal father, royal grandmother, mother, Yan Qing truly knows her wrongs ?? "Sob, sob ??" Yan Qing knelt on the ground and cried her heart out.
Unfortunately, Emperor Xiao Hui didn't plan to forgive her this time. What the Emperor Xiao Hui cared about was not that the Princess Yan Qing involved the National Duke in involving the National Duke in the matter of the competition, but that the Princess Yan Qing did not know the seriousness of the situation and would drag her own people into it. He was keenly aware that his daughter was hopeless.
He and the Empress Dowager looked at each other, and the Empress Dowager nodded slightly.
It was time to settle on the candidate for the marriage alliance.
Emperor Xiao Hui was unwilling to part with Ning Yuan from him, and Princess Yan Qing was his own daughter after all. The reason the Emperor Xiao Hui had the officials and nobles bring their daughter, who had yet to leave the pavilion, was indeed because they wanted to choose a suitable princess among them. But now, he had changed his mind. Princess Yan Qing gave up his chance.
However, he clearly understood her daughter's personality, so he didn't plan to tell her right away. Just like many times before, when Princess Yan Qing made mistakes and admitted them, his expression softened and she said lovingly, "Alright, get up. "Next time, don't be so willful."
Princess Yan Qing kowtowed honestly, and agreed. The smile on her face was filled with satisfaction and understanding.
Emperor Xiao Hui saw her expression clearly, and her expression became even colder. He stood up and said lightly: "Mother, son is a little tired, so he should go rest first."
The empress dowager stood up and nodded. "Today's political affairs are complicated, so the emperor has to take care of his body. The empress must be more concerned. "
"Yes, mother. Wife will follow your teachings."
Not long after Emperor Xiao Hui left, the empress brought Princess Ning away as well.
Just as she was about to exit the palace gates, Princess Duan Ning turned around and saw Princess Yan Qing in the empress dowager's arms as usual, acting like a spoiled child. She didn't notice the empress dowager's cold expression at all and felt great sympathy for her, but she wouldn't do anything.
Three days of cold was not a day of cold.
"Duan Ning?" The Queen urged.
Princess Duan Ning hurriedly lifted her skirt to keep up with her, taking the empress by the arm. "Muhou, wait for me here."
"You. You are not allowed to interfere in the matter of your royal sister. " The empress pointed lovingly at her forehead as she warned.
"Mother, don't worry. This son understands."
The empress patted her arm, smiled, and said softly, "If mother's predictions are correct, your royal father will grant you your marriage today."
Princess Duan Ning's face turned red. "Imperial Mother ??"
Flowers two apiece.
Not long after Qin Mian's family returned to the National Duke's Mansion, the emperor, empress dowager, and empress's rewards arrived in a flash. There was no need to explain the reason for the reward.
Qin Mian's family was not lacking in money, and did not care about the value of these gold, silver and jewelry, they only gathered together to admire the exquisite designs of these rare items.
In less than an hour, a decree from the Emperor Xiao Hui was sent out. It was that Princess Ning would be betrothed to the Emperor, and she would be married to the Divine Martial Marquis' successor for the next four years.
Once this imperial edict was given, all the astute ones would understand that the majority of the people who were going to be pointed out to the Sixth Prince of the Turow Country were the Princess Yan Qing s.
People with Turow Country may already know that Princess Yan Qing is an old lady, but the attitude of Grand Xia Country is very obvious: If you don't want Princess Yan Qing, then you can just seal a princess's marriage in the family of ministers or marquis.
After weighing the pros and cons with the Turow Country, it was naturally to choose a Princess Yan Qing. Even if she was conferred the title of a high-ranked princess, she would not be related to the Emperor Xiao Hui by blood.
The marriage between Li Manqing and the Princess Yan Qing had become a foregone conclusion. Emperor Xiao Hui personally gave the order to keep quiet, and strictly forbade anyone from informing Princess Yan Qing about this matter, otherwise, they would be punished according to the crime of treason.
In such a huge palace, only Princess Yan Qing was kept in the dark.
Six days later, the Turow Country envoy set out on their journey back to Turow Country.
Emperor Xiao Hui had long understood his eldest daughter's personality, and on the day of their departure, he had someone drugged Princess Yan Qing with aphrodisiac. Princess Yan Qing was carried to the exquisite red carriage while she was sleeping.
In order to show our respect for Princess Yan Qing, Emperor Xiao Hui prepared one hundred and sixty dowries, which included one for the head of the hat, ten for the east pearl, five for the golden phoenix, twenty-five for the east pearl, seven for the light of day, one hundred and twenty for the small pearl, two for the main pearl of Nera, and one for the golden bird of prey. If it's like this, then it's really 10 li of red makeup.
On this day, almost all the commoners gathered on both sides of the street to watch the Princess travel. The capital was like a boiling pool of water.
The empress was thoughtful and considerate. She even arranged for a palace maid to sit on the princess' carriage, wearing a veil. From time to time, she would open the curtains and smile as she nodded or beckoned to the commoners. The commoners became even more excited.
Because there were too many dowries, and also to express the importance Grand Xia Country placed on marriage with Turow Country, Emperor Xiao Hui sent five thousand elite soldiers to escort the princess and protect the envoy.
It just so happened that Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were having a holiday today, so they sat on Golden Fur's body together with Zhangsun Hee's son, Zhangsun Hong, to watch the show.
Qin Mian, Lei Tia, Chen Mufeng and the four masters stood behind them.
"When I get married in the future, I can't be small either." Lei Ruilin said in all seriousness.
"Cough, cough, cough ??" The mouthful of water that Qin Mian just drank made his face flush red. How old is this brat to want to get married already!
Lei Tia immediately patted his back.
Zhangsun Hong mocked Lei Ruilin, "How old are you now?"
Qin Ruiqi, on the other hand, directly smacked Lei Ruilin in the head with an expressionless face.
"Brother!" Lei Ruilin held his forehead.
"Nonsense." Qin Ruiqi said indifferently.
Lei Ruilin wanted to say something, but when he saw his father staring at him coldly while comforting his father, he shuddered and stuck out his tongue, quickly turning his head to continue watching the show.
Chen Mufeng and Zhangsun Hee laughed loudly.
Lei Tia glanced at Zhangsun Hee, "I'll leave this to you."
Zhangsun Hee understood, "Don't worry."
Lei Tia held Qin Mian's hand and walked towards the sparsely populated street. If nothing unexpected happened with the Emperor Xiao Hui's arrangements, Lei Tia would bring his army to the west gate in at most half a month. Their time was ru
ing out.
"Tia, I think we need to go to the East Sun Academy to see how our sons spend their days there secretly. Look at what that brat Ruilin is saying! " Qin Mian didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Lei Tia said: "Tomorrow is the day after tomorrow. Today, you only need to listen to me. "
Qin Mian leaned on his shoulder and matched it well, "No problem. I'll go wherever you want me to go. The singer is up to it. "Hahaha ??"
"The husband follows you"? Lei Tia seemed to have thought of something, grabbed the back of his head, and kissed his forehead as he pulled him forward.