Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 54 Unstoppable
That night.

Emperor Chenghua Zhu Jianshen visited the sick Concubine Wan and stayed overnight in Anxi Palace.

After the couple had dinner and washed up, they went to the couch. Concubine Wan was eager to find her husband to complain.

"I heard that Your Majesty had previously discussed with someone the matter of selecting a concubine for the Crown Prince... Didn't Your Majesty have already made up his mind to select a concubine after the replacement of the crown prince is completed, and then send him to his fiefdom after he has established a family and a career?"

Concubine Wan saw the opportunity and launched an attack.

Zhu Jianshen was indeed a little overwhelmed. He hugged Concubine Wan into his arms and comforted her carefully: "It is not my wish, but the Queen Mother's instruction. I have to follow the routine and ask. After all, the prince is not young anymore, and some people in the court have begun to talk about it."

"Humph……"

Concubine Wan snorted coldly and frowned, "I'll see who dares to talk nonsense. I won't be able to beat his mouth to pieces."

Zhu Jianshen shook his head slightly: "People's words are scary."

Concubine Wan rolled her eyes at her husband and asked, "Then why hasn't Your Majesty changed the heir until now? If it weren't for someone else mentioning it these past two days, I wouldn't have known that Your Majesty had already forgotten about it."

"My dear, how can you say that?"

Zhu Jianshen was like a henpecked husband. He hurriedly explained, "I was ready to issue an imperial decree, but I just asked someone as a routine matter and found out that a disaster may have occurred somewhere in the Ming Dynasty yesterday... In view of the warning from heaven, I have no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being."

"That……"

Concubine Wan asked: "Did the disaster happen?"

"This……"

Zhu Jianshen was a little embarrassed and said, "The place where the earthquake was predicted yesterday is the Ningxia border in the northwest of the Ming Dynasty, which is thousands of miles away from the capital... It will take some time to verify it. I have sent people to investigate, and I believe there will be an answer soon."

Concubine Wan asked, "If there is a disaster, will the planned event be cancelled?"

"I still say the same thing, people's words are scary!"

Zhu Jianshen smiled bitterly and said, "If an earthquake really happens in Ningxia and I issue an order to change the crown prince, the censors will surely make crazy petitions to stop it, and I will be overwhelmed. In the end, not only will the government and the people be in turmoil, but the matter will probably end in nothing. After all, no one dares to openly defy the will of God, including me.

"Of course, I am not going to put the plan of changing the crown prince on hold... I think that regardless of whether the disaster in Ningxia happens or not, the country may be peaceful for a long time afterwards. As long as nothing happens and the situation is calm, there will be no obstacle for me to propose changing the crown prince.

"I did this with the idea of ​​​​"better safe than sorry" "After all, if it was really a warning from heaven, openly going against the will of heaven might be very detrimental to the health of me and my beloved concubine. I am not even forty years old, I am in my prime, and I can afford to waste more time..."

When Concubine Wan heard this, her expression immediately became much better, but she still hurriedly asked, "Your Majesty, whether there is a disaster in Ningxia or not, the matter of changing the crown prince will not change, right?"

"Correct."

Zhu Jianshen nodded affirmatively, "The prince is too weak and sickly, I'm afraid it will be difficult for him to take charge of state affairs. I do all this for the sake of our ancestors and the country, it can be said that I have good intentions!"

Concubine Wan laughed secretly in her heart.

How come the emperor's words are no different from what the eunuch Liang Fang said?
It was obvious that the reason for changing the crown prince was selfish, but they had to make it sound so noble.

Concubine Wan Guifei said: "Then I will wait, don't let anything delay you."

"No, no."

Zhu Youtang smiled and said, "How can there be so many disasters in the world? Once this incident is over, everything will be over. Maybe it can be done before the end of the year."

"Okay, Your Majesty, we have a deal."

Concubine Wan would not indulge Zhu Jianshen's bad habits. She would always speak with finality. As the emperor, your words must be kept and never changed. ...

……

After the Bingzi day, the capital was peaceful as usual.

This was mainly because it would take several days for what happened in Ningxia to be reported to the capital. Zhang Yanling was not nervous at all because since it had already happened in history, even if a butterfly effect was caused by him, it would not be possible to eliminate an already-established earthquake.

Otherwise he would not be a human being, but the Jade Emperor.

It was the middle of the twelfth lunar month, and every family was buying New Year's goods, including the Zhang family. Zhang Luan was ordered to go to the clinic built by the Imperial Hospital on the main street of the capital to grow medicine for people. He also had to attend to his studies at the Imperial College, so he had little time to take care of his family. Therefore, the purchase of New Year's goods was handled by Zhang Yanling and Jin.

Although Zhang Heling would occasionally show up, he could only do hard work. Once he got some money from his mother, he would buy delicious and fun things, and then wait for an opportunity to run out and have fun. You would not see him all day.

On this day, Zhang Yanling had just escorted a horse-drawn carriage carrying a batch of New Year's goods, which were several bags of rice, flour, cloth and other items. The driver didn't care about unloading the goods and just waited with his hands in his pockets. Zhang Yanling had to unload everything by himself. After he moved all the things to the yard and the carriage left, he wiped the sweat off his forehead and went to the water tank in the kitchen to fetch water to wash his face.

"Why not use well water?"

Zhang Yu, who heard the noise, went into the kitchen and asked.

Zhang Yanling held a dry cloth in his hand, wiping his face while smiling and saying, "The well in the yard is uncovered and froze last night... Sister, don't you know? It's been really cold these past two days."

Zhang Yu nodded and asked, "How is my matter... going? I'm asking about the marriage."

Zhang Yanling looked over curiously, which made Zhang Yu feel a little shy. After all, as a grown-up girl, asking about marriage in front of her younger brother seemed a bit anxious to get married, which made her feel shy.

"Didn't we agree that Sister only needs to wait for the selection of the Crown Princess?" Zhang Yanling said, "We are in the capital. If the court selects a concubine for the Crown Prince, we will know it first."

"Then...Didn't Dad try to find out in the Imperial College?"

Zhang Yu obviously didn't want to put all her eggs in the basket of becoming the Crown Princess.

If a girl's marriage has to rely on some rare event like gold falling from the sky, then such a life would be too bizarre and ridiculous.

At least Zhang Yu will not be deceived by a few words from his old father and younger brother, and he still has to focus on reality.

But the reality is that it is better to find a good family and arrange the marriage as soon as possible than to wait for the prince to choose a concubine.

Zhang Yanling said, "Father has just entered the Imperial College and doesn't know many people. After the New Year, there will be a group of new people coming to the college. Many of them are children of officials. They will definitely want to form alliances and marriages with others when they first arrive. Then your sister will have a chance...

"Sister, let me ask you something. If you meet someone you like and they are compatible with you, and you also choose the Crown Princess... who would you choose?"

Zhang Yu frowned: "Listen, are you speaking human language?"

After saying that, Zhang Yu ignored his brother and turned away angrily.

Zhang Yanling looked at Zhang Yu's graceful back and was worried. This sister... was really a little different! Would she choose to marry for love or for reality?

Just as Zhang Yanling was wondering whether he should do something, Shen Lu's voice came from the door: "My dear nephew, is your father home?"

Zhang Yanling hurried out to greet him: "Uncle, why are you here? My father is out planting medicine for someone, and my mother is out buying New Year's goods, so there's no one at home."

Shen Lu said, "Quick, take me to find your father. I just received a message from a flying horse saying that a disaster has occurred in Ningxia. As we have not received the official document from the government, we are still uncertain about the specific situation.

"Minister Li asked your father to discuss this matter."

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(End of this chapter)