imperial psychologist

Chapter 123 Prince Gong Can't Sleep
The fireworks in the Great Zhou Palace that night not only illuminated the entire palace, but also illuminated half of Pingjing.

From the wealthy young man in unclothed coat and sleeves on Chaotian Street to the barefoot old woman in the slums, everyone raised their eyes towards the palace when the fireworks rose.

The fireworks bloomed in the sky like blue velvet, and also bloomed in the eyes of everyone who stopped and watched.

However, tonight, some people are destined to raise their heads unintentionally.

Not far from the palace, about a mile away, Prince Gong's mansion was brightly lit all night.

Prince Gong, who had just turned [-], was pacing back and forth in the hall, and the ring around his waist was jingling, but he didn't even notice it.

The young Concubine Gong Zhen was doing embroidery at the side, and when the candle flickered from time to time, she picked the wick with a needle.

"My lord, sit down for a while." Zhen said in a low voice.

Prince Gong glanced at Zhen Shi, "What time is this, you still have the mood to be a female celebrity!"

Zhen Shi smiled lightly, "No matter what time it is, the concubine has to rush to embroider this longevity robe, so that the prince can present it to the emperor when he sees the Anhu Flower Appreciation Party at the end of the month."

Prince Gong let out a long breath, and finally sat down beside Zhen Shi.

Mrs. Zhen said calmly again, "Let's not mention Mr. Sun Ge, who is already 70 or [-] years old. He will go to court early tomorrow morning. Even the other two adults must be resting right now. They accepted the urgent letter from the prince. , even if we rush over immediately, we will have to wait for a while."

"But it's been half an hour!" Prince Gong looked at the deep night sky, "Masters won't come again—"

"My lord," a eunuch hurried in, "Mr. Sun Ge and the others are here."

A gleam of light flashed in Prince Gong's eyes, "Quick pass!"

Zhen Shi smiled, then got up and gave a light blessing to Prince Gong, turned around and went to the inner room with the needle, thread and clothing materials in her hand.

……

It was almost midnight, but the living room of Prince Kung's Mansion was full of guests—Sun Beiji, Minister of the Cabinet and Secretary of the Household Department, Zhang Shouzhong, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Hu Yishu, Minister of the Household Department...

There are only seven people in Da Zhou's cabinet, and an urgent letter from Prince Gong summoned nearly half of the cabinet members to the mansion tonight.

And it was still in the middle of the night.

The three of them didn't dare to delay, they immediately changed their clothes and went out as soon as they received the letter.

The night breeze blew on the road, and the sleepiness of the few people was mostly reduced, but their eyes were still a little red - obviously, as Princess Zhen said, they were indeed in their sleep and were pulled up from the bed by their servants.

"Master Sun, Master Zhang, and Master Hu." Prince Gong didn't care about saying polite and caring words, and stretched out his hand to push a letter in front of the three of them, "Let's read this letter first."

The eyes of several people became serious, Sun Beiji took the letter from Prince Gong with both hands, and Zhang and Hu also moved closer to read it carefully.

It doesn't matter if you don't read it, after reading the full text, the expressions of the three of them changed slightly.

"If it weren't for the change in the war in the northern border, this king would never disturb the rest of the masters at this time." The eagerness in the voice of King Gong was suppressed, "The war is far from over, just last month, The Jin people also organized five fierce attacks in succession, looting our border villages and towns without counting..."

"It was expected." Zhang Shouzhong, Minister of the Ministry of War, said calmly, "Last month, I mentioned to the prince, Mr. Ge, and Mr. Hu that the military expenditure in the northern border has increased unabated in the past two years. It's not a sign of the end of the war."

Hu Yishu coughed lightly, "But if the front is tight, why would Old General Shen return to Beijing at this time?"

The four of them fell silent for a while.

Zhang Shouzhong suddenly looked at Prince Gong, "General Shen has been back to Beijing for more than half a month, has he visited the prince before?"

"No." Prince Gong shook his head in a daze, "but this king has also inquired about it. He has not seen anyone since he came back, and he has even declined all invitations...except for those who were called into the palace. Several times, he never stepped out of the general's mansion at all."

Zhang Shouzhong frowned, "So you didn't send anyone to send a message to the prince?"

Prince Gong shook his head again, "No...no news at all."

"This is strange." Zhang Shouzhong looked at the other two, "This is not General Shen's usual style of doing things."

Prince Gong sat on the chair, supported the handle with one hand, and supported his knee with the other, and said with a sad face, "...There is one more thing."

All three looked at the prince.

"At the garden party in the palace tonight, Concubine Qu Gui appeared." He said slowly, "Father took her for a walk all night."

The topic suddenly turned to the harem, and the three of them were silent for a moment.

Hu Yishu shook his head first, and said in a cold voice, "When the majesty beat people, he said that the noble concubine was dying of illness, and when she was admiring the flowers, she didn't leave behind, so I don't know—"

Sun Beiji, who hadn't spoken much, suddenly interrupted, "A book."

"Ge Lao is right, I should be cautious." Hu Yishu's eyes were slightly sharp, "But the imperial concubine does this, is it too ugly to eat? Does Sun Ge know what happened on Chaotian Street a few days ago?"

Sun Beiji's eyes were somewhat gloomy, "What's wrong with Chaotian Street?"

"Old Xiaoge's carriage ran amok on Chaotian Street, directly overturning the shops of several ordinary people. Afterwards, Jin Yiwei even picked quarrels and troubled some honest people." Hu Yishu said coldly, "If it wasn't for the concubine giving birth Prince, within a year, he, Song Na, can be as arrogant as he is today?"

"There are some things we shouldn't say." Sun Beiji said calmly.

"But the prince called us here today, apparently he didn't just want to talk about military affairs." Hu Yishu looked at Prince Gong, "I know that the prince is inconvenient to say something, so let me say it."

Prince Gong just looked at him with slight hesitation, but didn't stop him.

Hu Yishu stood up and walked among the group of people. He was the youngest among them, about the same age as King Gong, so King Gong often felt that Mr. Sun Ge was unpredictable, and Zhang Shouzhong was a little bit far away from him. and Hu Yishu, although a little anxious, is indeed the person who understands his own mind best.

"The world has been suffering for a long time, the Song family and his son!" Hu Yishu said in a trembling voice, "They have controlled the court for 16 years, and put all the state money of my great Zhou into their own mansion. These people are gangsters, from top to bottom. There may be some sense of propriety in the matter, after all, the prince is the only choice for the crown prince, and they still have some scruples.

"But now that the noble concubine has given birth to a new heir, and the emperor has not established a crown prince for a long time, and still cares for the noble concubine in every possible way-this is so obvious, should we see it and pretend not to know?"

This impassioned speech made Prince Gong jealous for a moment.

Hearing this, Zhang Shouzhong couldn't sit still anymore, but from the corner of his eyes, he saw Sun Gelao who was still looking at Hu Yishu with a serious face, so he resisted his urge to speak.

"Sit down with a book first." Sun Beiji still had that meek look, "Now that we've reached this point, let's talk about the prince's worries about the crown prince."

(End of this chapter)