I'm not a fortune teller.

Chapter 71 Seventeenth Prince
Hidden in the palace?
Zhang Rui's expression became noticeably weird, which was a bit hard to explain.

The painted spirit is a very special evil spirit. If the scale is large enough, it can simulate not only a palace but also a city. It is very effective to design an ambush. If the vigilance is not very strong, when you see the familiar gate and courtyard on your way home, you can easily fall into the trap and walk into the world of the painting and be locked up.

The premise is that there are no protective measures where your mansion is located.

If you want to deceive others in a familiar place, at least the location should be roughly accurate, with an error of a few meters at most so that people won't realize it for a moment. But this is inside the palace, and there are those foreign men with magical powers stationed there. Don't they have any magical defenses?

As if seeing the doubt in Zhang Rui's eyes, the emperor sighed and whispered, "The four palace gates correspond to the four spirits that His Royal Highness Taizu subdued back then. They are the Yin gods that protect the country. Anyone who is not of royal blood and uses a spell in the palace will be suppressed immediately."

Zhang Rui was stunned. Does that mean that those with royal blood can perform magic?
"Why do you need such conditions? I heard that the royal family can't have sorcerers, right?"

Upon hearing this, the emperor looked at Zhang Rui in confusion: "Which dynasty did your family come from? How could you not even know such a thing?"

Zhang Rui's heart skipped a beat, knowing that he had spoken out of turn. He remained calm and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for making fun of you. It was too long ago, and my ancestors can no longer be considered a noble family."

Is it passed down secretly from generation to generation?
The emperor nodded slightly. He had encountered this situation before. The Yin gods of some secluded families were actually very powerful, but because their descendants could not continue to support them, they had ways to stabilize the Yin gods. The Yin gods would then lie dormant. In order to reduce external enemies' designs and large-scale consumption, they would choose to completely hide from the world during the Yin gods' hibernation period, so that their descendants would not know the glory of their ancestors.

The family has secret elders who are responsible for inheritance. They pass on the skills to a few elite warlocks at the cost of very few resources, secretly observe the descendants, and quietly start to pass on the skills to those who are qualified.

Zhang Rui should belong to this category, because his resume shows several generations of clean farmers, and the fact that the other party doesn’t even know the basic situation of the Jin Imperial Palace makes it very likely that he is from an ancient family spanning several dynasties.

"According to the rules, the royal family of Dajin cannot have their own ritual inheritance because the major families are afraid that the royal family will monopolize a large number of ritual resources. This has been the case for all dynasties, but Dajin is a little different. The four spirits that His Royal Highness Taizu has subdued are extremely special. As long as they are of the Li family bloodline and sit on the throne of the emperor, they can activate the four spirit rituals with the royal seal and royal blood."

“So that’s how it is. Thank you for your guidance, Your Majesty.” Zhang Rui immediately understood. In the palace, the royal family cannot have their own inherited magic rituals, but the emperor can use the Four Spirits Magic Rituals. At critical moments, the emperor is the most powerful sorcerer in the entire palace!
"No wonder the owner of the painting market tried every means to obtain the royal bloodline. It turns out he wanted to take advantage of a loophole."

If the so-called guardian spirit of the nation had no restrictions on the royal bloodline, then it would make sense that the owner of the painting could set up this situation.

"But this is not right," the emperor shook his head and said, "According to the rules of our Great Jin, the princes must leave the palace when they are ten years old. Except for the crown prince, there were no princes over ten years old in the palace three years ago. Could it be that the owner of the painting market is still a child of eight or nine years old? Why did he choose to touch the crown prince at this time?"

"This..." Zhang Rui was also confused when he heard it.

Or is it still the case?
What the emperor meant was correct. If the owner of the painting market was a child under the age of ten, he should not have taken action at this time. He should have waited at least a few more years. Because even if the prince died and the world was in chaos, if you wanted to use your royal status to win over a group of supporters and families, the age must at least be acceptable.

If you are a child, many times, even if the core members know that you are a thousand-year-old monster, will the majority of the lower levels obey you?

Just think about how ridiculous it is for a force to be headed by a child.

But if he had not been in the palace for a long time and was not of royal blood, it would be impossible for him to set up such a killing plan.

So how was this done?
"If the third brother had not been involved in this matter in the north before, I would have been more suspicious of him."

Zhang Rui remained silent upon hearing this. The Third Prince Li Yu was indeed a suspicious person. The Eldest Princess and the Crown Prince were born of the same mother. If she married into a powerful family, the Crown Prince's position would be more secure.

"Li Yu's mother has a good background. I owe her a lot of money and allow her to summon Li Yu to the palace at any time. After the group of top scholars got into trouble in the palace, I have always been suspicious of him, but now it seems that there should be another candidate."

Recruit princes into the palace at any time?
Zhang Rui's heart skipped a beat and he thought of a person.

Yes, it was Her Majesty the Queen. Cui Yan said that the Queen allowed people to enter and leave the palace freely to deliver letters. So had he ever been to the palace?

I have to go back and confirm this with Cui Yan. If I had entered the palace that year, it means that someone in the palace has the ability to let other people enter the palace, naturally including the prince!
The imperial concubine and the queen both have this ability.——
At the prince's banquet, female guests and male guests have to sit separately due to gender differences. However, the prince's banquet often develops into a best platform for families to show off their daughters. What's the point if there are no male guests to watch?

So although there is separation, it is not as strict as in the previous dynasty. It is said that this was designed by His Majesty Taizu, and the name is also very special: it is called a large blind date venue.

Therefore, men and women sit at different seats, but they have many opportunities to spend time together, such as the unique lantern festival at the end, and the talent show organized by the Queen herself, which allow the ladies from each family to show their beauty.

At this time, when the banquet was still being prepared, the women of the Zhang family already seemed out of place. First of all, only the families of officials above the fourth rank could attend this banquet. They usually interacted with each other and had their own familiar circles. They gathered in groups of three or five to chat, which seemed much more casual and relaxed. In contrast, no one in their family knew anyone, and no one would take the initiative to talk to them. In addition, it was their first time in the palace, so they seemed timid and hesitant, forming a very obvious contrast with the people around them.

It's a bit unbearable to be ignored but still attract attention.

"Mom, why does it feel like so many people are looking at us?" Zhang Meng said in a low voice.

The old lady also felt a little guilty, so she lowered her head and said, "Don't worry about them, let's just wait for dinner."

Mrs. Luo, who was standing by, laughed a little when she heard this, but she was relieved in her heart. Her mother-in-law had many shortcomings, but fortunately she was a face-loving person and did not kowtow to others. Otherwise, she would be even more embarrassed if she was thrown cold water on. She usually looked like she wanted her son to marry into a wealthy family, but she still had some backbone here, which was a good thing.

"Mom, the women around here are all so pretty." Zhang Meng lowered his head and felt a little inferior for the first time.

The joy in her heart before entering the palace is now gone. Yesterday she had dreamed of running into a nobleman, and because of her unique temperament, he would be obsessed with her. But when she got here, she no longer had such thoughts at all.

I had thought the clothes my sister-in-law chose for me were pretty enough, but now compared with these real ladies of the boudoir, I was like a duck walking among a flock of swans.

Luo touched Zhang Meng's hair and comforted her softly, "Our Mengmeng is no worse than them in appearance, it's just that the decoration is at a disadvantage. When your brother gets his feet on the ground, everything will be fine."

Having said that, Luo knew in his heart that it was just consolation.

These ladies from wealthy families have servants who are all from their families for generations. They have been trained in the popular fabric color matching, headwear craftsmanship, and makeup techniques in the capital. Girls are also trained in various arts such as music, chess, calligraphy and painting from childhood. How can those of us who have just arrived in Beijing compare to them?

If you want to become like them, it will take at least three generations of accumulation. This is why my father has no confidence in me. Compared with those young ladies in the capital, let alone Zhang Meng, even I look like a country girl. Any man would be dazzled by her. How could he look down on a yellow-faced woman like me?

The little girl lowered her head in grievance, and rarely did she argue with her sister-in-law. When she was thinking about whether to pull her mother to a more secluded corner to hide, suddenly a black shadow bumped into her head-on and almost knocked her to the ground.

"Hey who is that?"

Zhang Meng was in a very bad mood at the moment. He was immediately furious when he was offended, but when he saw the black shadow clearly, he was stunned for a moment, and his anger was instantly extinguished.

What a cute doll!

It was a little doll wearing a thick cotton coat, with a chubby face that looked like a small dumpling, and the facial features were delicate and exaggerated. It instantly made Zhang Meng fall in love with it, and she couldn't help but reach out to pinch the other's face. "Where did the dumpling come from?"

"Oh, my dear, you can't come in here!"

An old woman dressed as a nanny walked over quickly and tried to slap Zhang Meng's hand away that was pinching the child.

But as soon as my hand reached a high point, I felt a chill.

The nanny was startled and looked over, and saw a girl in white next to Zhang Meng, looking at her coldly.

The girl was not stunning in appearance, but her temperament was extraordinary. The nanny had seen many kinds of noble ladies but had never seen one like this, like a proud plum blossom in the snow. If she grew up, she would be a beauty she had never seen before.

But what surprised her even more was the other party's coldness. As the prince's personal nanny, she had naturally learned martial arts, and her level was not low. The sharp sense of a warrior told her that if she dared to slap him, breaking her hand would be the least of her worries.

How could the palace allow such a person to come in?
The nanny was suddenly horrified and stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do for a moment.

Zhang Meng was frightened by the madam's gesture of hitting her and stumbled back. Then she said angrily, "What's wrong with you, old woman? I didn't do anything to the child, why are you hitting him?"

This voice immediately attracted a lot of attention from the surroundings. When they saw the identity of the person who came, they were all surprised. Then, when they saw that the girl dressed like a country girl dared to scold others, they immediately showed an expression of gloating.

"This is His Royal Highness the Seventeenth Prince!" The nanny protected the child behind her and stared at Murong Yunji, trying to use her status to suppress the other party from doing anything rash.

If she had known that there was such a person here, she would never have offended him so easily.

"Ah? The prince?" Zhang Meng was also shocked. He actually pinched the prince's face just now! !
"Is this the prince?"

The old lady at the side asked blankly. In fact, she had been stunned since the child rushed out just now.

This child looks so familiar. Have I seen him somewhere before?

　Sanjiang PK failed, which brought shame to the viewers who supported Rubik's Cube, hahaha.

　　It will be on the shelves tomorrow at noon, and the first VIP chapter is expected to be updated before 1:00. I hope all readers can support it by placing a first order. Thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)