The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 119 The Emperor is Flying

Yuanchun entered the palace at the age of thirteen, and many years passed in the blink of an eye. This was a gamble of a girl's most precious youth to fight for the long-term wealth of the Jia family.

No matter what their original intentions were, Lady Jia and Mrs. Wang felt somewhat guilty towards Yuanchun.

It seems that the reason why Grandmother Jia became more and more partial to the second wife might be because of Jia Zheng's two children, Jia Yuanchun, who was carrying a heavy burden, and Jia Baoyu, who was born with a jade in his mouth.

The dignified and quiet Yuanchun now had a pair of beautiful eyes filled with tears.

Sister Feng smiled and advised: "Today is such a happy day, you should be happy, don't let the old ancestor cry again."

Aunt Xue also advised: "After being separated from each other, we should be happy to be reunited today."

Sister Feng, Aunt Xue, Daiyu and Xiangyun were not granted imperial decrees and were not originally qualified to watch the ceremony on the city wall. However, in order to allow more people to witness his grand event, Emperor Yuanzhen specially ordered that the families of ministers and nobles be allowed to come as much as they wanted.

After listening to everyone's advice, Jia's mother wiped away her tears, put on a smile and said, "We should be happy today."

As she spoke, she glanced at Baochai, Daiyu and the others, and said with a smile, "Come here, meet your eldest sister."

Having not seen them for many years, Yuanchun could hardly recognize these girls. Even her little cousins ​​like Baochai, Daiyu and Xiangyun were probably meeting them for the first time.

Chai, Dai, Yun, Ying, Tan, Xi, six girls of different ages and styles, all came closer.

"big sister."

Yuanchun nodded her head, her heart was filled with joy. She looked at her six sisters in front of her with a smile, a thoughtful look on her face.

When Mrs. Wang saw that her daughter could not name several girls, she suddenly realized it and hurriedly said to Fengjie, "Feng girl, why don't you introduce them to your elder sister quickly?"

Before Wang Xifeng could speak, Yuanchun interrupted and said, "Don't bother, sister Feng. Let me guess."

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly became interested and looked at Yuanchun.

Yuanchun continued to look at her sisters, thinking in her heart.

Although she could not leave the palace, she was not cut off from communication with her family. On the contrary, in order to get a timely update of the situation, the Jia family would write to her every ten days or half a month.

Yuanchun knew that Chai, Dai and Yun had come to Beijing one after another, so it was not difficult for her to identify their sisters' identities.

First, Yuanchun looked at her three younger sisters, Ying, Tan and Xi. Although she hadn't seen them for many years and girls have changed a lot since they grew up, she could still see some of their childhood looks from their faces.

Moreover, the three girls are several years apart in age and can be identified at a glance.

"Second sister, third sister, fourth sister." Yuanchun greeted Ying Tanxi one by one with a smile.

"big sister."

After a few simple greetings, Yuanchun turned her gaze to Chai and Daiyun again. The first thing she saw was Baochai, who was wearing a young woman's bun. She stepped forward and took the beautiful woman's hand, saying with a smile: "This should be Sister Bao, right?"

"Meet big sister."

"Sister Bao has chosen a good husband." Yuanchun smiled, her pear-like face showing soft dimples, and said, "I should thank him. If it weren't for Brother Yuan's military review, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to see these family members today."

As Baochai listened, a sweet feeling welled up in her heart. Every time she talked about Shen Yuan, she felt happy.

Aunt Xue looked at the pair of cousins ​​who looked alike in both figure and spirit, and said with a smile, "I can tell at a glance that the eldest girl is also a blessed one. Who knows, she will become very rich one day."

Yuanchun has a voluptuous appearance. Due to her age, she has fully developed and is a size bigger than Baochai.

If we talk about resemblance to Yang Guifei, Yuanchun at this time may be more like Yang Guifei than Baochai. She has a mature beauty yet a hint of youthfulness, and exudes a charming aura.

After listening to Aunt Xue's words and taking a closer look at Yuanchun, Mrs. Wang was also relieved. She thought her daughter did have the appearance of a wealthy and noble woman, and she might be selected and promoted soon. By then, Baoyu would become the emperor's uncle, and what would a mere rootless Shen Yuan do to her?

Yuanchun was intelligent by nature and could understand what Aunt Xue meant, but her face showed no joy at all and she remained calm.

After being locked up in the deep palace for several years, she has become accustomed to all kinds of desolation and loneliness. Concubine Wu is a lesson for her.

Therefore, how could one still feel that being chosen as a concubine was such a great blessing?

In response to this, she just smiled faintly, then walked away from the matter, turned to look at Daiyu and Xiangyun, and greeted the two girls.

It is easy to distinguish between the weak and graceful Lin Daiyu and the innocent and lively Yun Daiyu.

Afterwards, Yuanchun had a long chat with everyone to ease her homesickness. There is no need to elaborate on this.

In the middle of the tower, the retired emperor looked around but did not see Emperor Yuanzhen. He asked in an old voice, "Where is your father?" He had not intended to come over. It had been seventeen years since he passed on the throne. Now that he was old, he no longer wanted to take care of military and political affairs and only wanted to enjoy his old age.

Moreover, he had held this kind of military parade several times in the past, but it was just a group of soldiers marching in formation. Although there were many armored soldiers and many flags, it was nothing surprising.

But he could not avoid Emperor Yuanzhen's repeated invitations, which aroused the interest of the retired emperor. He wondered what kind of new army this strong-willed prince was going to show him?
Unexpectedly, he came, but Emperor Yuanzhen himself was late, and the emperor was naturally a little unhappy.

Upon hearing this, several princes looked at each other, not knowing what their father was talking about.
"Grandpa Emperor, we don't know either." The eldest prince, the second prince, and the third prince all shook their heads.

At this time, the Emperor looked at the Fourth Prince Gao Yue and asked, "Yue'er, tell me."

He knew that Emperor Yuanzhen was usually closer to this youngest grandson.

Gao Yue was embarrassed when he heard this. He smiled and bowed, saying, "Grandpa Emperor, my father will be here soon. Please wait a moment."

"Pretending to be mysterious." The emperor frowned slightly. Although his tone was dissatisfied, he was more curious in his heart.

The other princes glanced at the fourth prince Gao Yue with jealousy in their eyes, wondering why their father was so close to the fourth prince.

On the left side of the tower, where the officials are.

Most of the important civil and military officials here already know that those participating in today's military parade are Shen Yuan's new military guards.

Except for Jiang Zhongnian, Shi Ding, Feng Tang and others who had personally been to the New Army Guard camp, most other officials did not care much about the military review. They just thought it was a way for Shen Yuan, a lucky minister, to curry favor with the emperor and celebrate his birthday.

Compared with those civil servants, Prince Nan'an Zheng Chong was even more disdainful of Shen Yuan.

"It's just a procession. The Beijing Camp can just send out any regiment. Why should we let Shen Yuan's new army, which was formed only a few months ago, take advantage of this?"

When he learned that Shen Yuan's new army guards would participate in the military parade, he thought of asking Prince Beijing Shui Rong to go with him to make a suggestion to the emperor, hoping that the Beijing camp could also participate in the military parade. However, Shui Rong disagreed and suggested that he should not go.

The emperor deliberately inspected the new army. Wasn't this attitude obvious enough? It was nothing more than his dissatisfaction with the Beijing army.

No matter how stupid the Prince of Nan'an was, he could not fail to see that it was just a momentary jealousy, and in the end he naturally did not offend the emperor.

Wang Ziteng, the governor of the Beijing Camp, responded, "Indeed, in the past military parades were mostly dominated by the Beijing Camp."

He said this simply to agree with the Prince of Nan'an.

Wang Ziteng will then start to reorganize the Beijing camp, which naturally requires military merit. As long as he can establish good relations with the Prince of Beijing and the Prince of Nangan and reach some deals, his path to reorganizing the army will be much easier.

At this time, Prince Beijing said: "The establishment of a new military guard shows that your majesty is seeking change. Why should we stick to the old ways?"

Wang Ziteng's eyes moved slightly when he heard this. Prince Beijing might be the key to his reorganization of the Beijing camp. At least this chief of military honors had the desire to reform.

"Prince Beijing is right. As subjects, we should obey His Majesty's will."

Shui Rong glanced at Wang Ziteng and said nothing else. He had no intention of responding to such flattering words.

Cabinet ministers such as Yang Yanzhi and Sun Xingchang listened to the conversation and were dismissive of what these military officers said.

Reform and change are so difficult.

What kind of reform can bypass the entanglement of factions and interests? Is it as simple as just talking?
At this moment, bursts of noisy sounds were heard outside Chaoyang Gate.

"Look, what is that?"

"The five-clawed golden dragon is the emperor!"

"What a huge sky lantern! It actually flew up!"

"Is this a magic or a Taoist technique? It's amazing!"

"The Emperor is flying!"

"."

Soon, a hot air balloon painted with a five-clawed golden dragon slowly rose up, carrying Emperor Yuan Zhen over the city wall and flying higher.
The hundreds of thousands of civilians outside the city walls, the civil and military officials on the city walls and their families, were all stunned and horrified at the shocking scene before them.

"This"

The retired emperor looked at Emperor Yuanzhen rising into the air with a look of astonishment on his face, unable to believe his eyes.

(End of this chapter)