The prince is more stable

Chapter 983 Tea Girl Celebrates Birthday
Zhao Xiaoqian's mother, Madam Feng, came from a respectable background.

Her grandfather was Feng Zheng, the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Yingzong. Only with such a distinguished background could her father, Zhao Hao, have arranged a marriage between his family and the Feng family.

Of course, as it turned out, a marriage without affection was not a happy one. The couple suffered greatly in the marriage, and it was painful for two people with incompatible personalities to be forcibly bound together.

So the two divorced, and Zhao Hao went on to live a life of his own, becoming a notorious playboy and womanizer in Bianjing. He slept with widows and wives... but let's not go into that, it would damage the reputation of the royal family.

However, Ms. Feng became the biggest victim in this marriage.

The world is so unfair; Zhao Hao could be a libertine, but Feng Shi couldn't.

The royal family valued their reputation, and they did not allow divorced women to remarry. She even lost her freedom and worked as a female Taoist priest for many years. In the end, Zhao Xiaoqian earned her freedom through his merits and allowed her to return to secular life.

Therefore, Lady Feng had firsthand experience of the darkness within the royal palace.

Previously, Lady Feng was merely an outsider on the fringes of the royal family. No matter how bad her impression of the palace was, she would simply choose to stay away from it and not concern herself with it.

But things are different now. Her son has ascended the throne, and this palace is now directly related to her. What she worries about most is discord within her son's harem.

In the future, when princes vie for the throne, it may be normal for the royal family to be in a bloody struggle, but for an individual family, it will undoubtedly be the greatest tragedy and sorrow.

As someone who has been through it all, every word Ms. Feng said was incisive and frank in front of everyone.

Zhao Xiaoqian looked at his mother and his wives and concubines with a smile.

This is what a real family is like. They speak frankly and directly, without any pretense or ambiguity.

For him, this was the most worry-free way. He had too many important things to do and really couldn't spare the energy to worry about the trivial matters of the women in the harem.

"Mother is wise!" Zhao Xiaoqian immediately raised his cup in a toast: "I will leave these women in the harem to Mother to manage. If anyone dares to play tricks or schemes, Mother will personally take action and hang her up and whip her."

puff!

Di Ying and the other women all laughed, then rolled their eyes at him in annoyance.

Madam Feng raised her hand and slapped him again: "I was talking about them, but not about you, right? You are the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. It is certainly tiring to manage the affairs of the state, but you cannot neglect your wives, concubines and children. Since ancient times, troubles have arisen in the harem. It is true that some concubines are wicked, but the emperor is also to blame."

"The emperor is good; he is fair and impartial, and he sets strict rules. Even the most audacious women in the harem would not dare to commit any offense."

"Ah, right, right..." Zhao Xiaoqian raised his cup to Zhao Hao: "Father, let's have a drink together."

Zhao Hao slowly covered the rim of the cup: "I won't drink with you. Listen to my reprimand, and we'll talk after that."

Zhao Xiaoqian was a little surprised. For the first time in his life, his living father was actually on his mother's side.
Could it be that the middle-aged divorced couple has developed feelings for each other again and is flirting with each other in front of their son?
Her persona as someone from a single-parent family with psychological issues is about to crumble.

"You two..." Zhao Xiaoqian couldn't help but hesitate before speaking.

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Hao and Madam Feng shouted in unison, "Get out!"

Zhao Xiaoqian sighed. Well, it was just his imagination.

How can people who have never gotten along in half their lives suddenly fall in love? That's just plain crazy.

Is it that Empress Dowager Xiang's still-charming body is not fragrant enough, or that the tea at Fanglin Garden is not refreshing enough?

Today's family dinner was rather simple, without any extravagance, and not much different from a regular meal. However, Zhao Xiaoqian was in a good mood and, unusually, drank a little tipsy with his father.

We celebrate birthdays like this every year, with the whole family together every year, which is more precious than any extravagant birthday banquet.

As the family banquet drew to a close, the whole family had eaten and drunk their fill. Zhao Hao leaned against his grandmother's chest and dozed off. His wives and concubines sat around chatting about palace affairs and the gossip of Bianjing. Zhao Hao and Madam Feng still couldn't stand each other and not only didn't exchange a single word, but they also refused to even look at each other.

Zheng Chunhe suddenly entered the hall and bowed to Zhao Xiaoqian's ear, saying, "Your Majesty, a concubine named Xue Meiyun from the inner palace is requesting an audience outside the Funing Hall, saying that she wants to bring Your Majesty a birthday gift."

Zhao Xiaoqian was taken aback: "Xue Meiyun?"

I remember that after ascending the throne, he repeatedly arranged chance encounters in the palace gardens. The woman was completely unaware that her little schemes, which were obvious at a glance, had been discovered, and she still played along. She had a bit of the cunning charm of Niao Niao when she was a courtesan.

Zhao Xiaoqian immediately looked at Di Ying: "Did you arrange for Xue Meiyun to come and deliver the birthday gift?"

Di Ying was clearly quite surprised and subconsciously shook her head: "I didn't make any arrangements. My husband said there was no need for extravagance, so I didn't have the harem prepare anything."

Zhao Xiaoqian pondered for a moment and said, "I don't quite remember what Xue Meiyun's family did?"

Empress Di Ying was quite competent, remembering the origins and backgrounds of the concubines in the harem very clearly. Without hesitation, she said, "Xue Meiyun's father was the Vice Prefect of Hangzhou, but I don't know about her ancestors." Zhao Xiaoqian thought for a moment and said to Zheng Chunhe, "Since she's here, let her in."

In any case, Xue Meiyun was nominally his woman, but he had never favored her.

A moment later, a graceful figure walked in and knelt down on both knees before Zhao Xiaoqian.

"Your Majesty, I, Xue Meiyun, offer my congratulations on Your Majesty's birthday. May Your Majesty live to be a hundred years old and may the nation's prosperity last for ten thousand generations."

Zhao Xiaoqian narrowed his eyes. This woman's beauty was undeniable; she was truly a peerless beauty. In terms of temperament, she was somewhat similar to Yelü Nanxian, both possessing a pitiful and captivating first-love face.

In terms of character, she should be similar to Niao Niao. Zhao Xiaoqian still remembers the experience when he first met Niao Niao. This woman pretended to sprain her ankle and fell into his arms, thus creating a happy marriage.

But the fragrant green tea was just a disguise for her; she was ultimately a person with a story. Later, their good relationship almost ended, but he met her again outside the Zhen Ding Prefecture, and their good relationship was finally rekindled.

The process by which Xue Meiyun met him was when she was singing a song alone in the pavilion in the back garden, and the song was written by Zhao Xiaoqian.

The two women's manipulative tactics are equally matched, making it difficult to determine who is better.

However, some methods might be enough to deal with inexperienced young men, but Zhao Xiaoqian has seen it all in his life. He's been with so many women that he can see through their tricks at a glance.

Xue Meiyun's visit today to deliver a birthday gift is a different tactic altogether.

In short, there is only one goal: to obtain the most noble man in the world.

Xue Meiyun was very respectful at this moment, in a completely submissive and submissive manner. Men without life experience would probably feel a sense of accomplishment upon seeing her, and then inexplicably develop feelings for her.

One should not hit a smiling face, let alone a person who gives gifts; this is Zhao Xiaoqian's principle in life.

Turning his head to gaze at Xue Meiyun's pure, innocent face, Zhao Xiaoqian smiled and said, "I heard you've come to deliver a birthday gift to me?"

Xue Meiyun lowered her head and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, please forgive me. Her Majesty the Empress did say that Your Majesty's birthday should not be celebrated with extravagance, but I still want to express my respect for Your Majesty."

"Seven days before Your Majesty's birthday today, I have been bathing, burning incense, and eating vegetarian food day and night in the palace to pray for Your Majesty's well-being. Today, I muster up my courage to ask for an audience. I ask for nothing more than Your Majesty accepting my small token of appreciation. If I can win Your Majesty's attention, my wish will be fulfilled."

As she spoke, Xue Meiyun turned her head. Two palace maids outside the hall carried something covered with red silk, carefully stepped over the threshold, and walked to Zhao Xiaoqian.

Under Xue Meiyun's pleading gaze, Zhao Xiaoqian raised his hand and unveiled the red silk, only to find a statue of the God of Longevity carved from milky white, translucent mutton fat jade.

The God of Longevity wore a kind smile, his forehead protruded forward, he held a cane in one hand and a peach in the other, and had an elegant and otherworldly appearance.

Even though Zhao Xiaoqian was a man of great experience, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration when he saw this statue of the God of Longevity made of mutton-fat jade.

He was certainly a discerning person. Putting aside the exquisite and lifelike carving, this large piece of mutton fat jade, which was completely intact and showed no signs of cutting or piecing together, was a rare and precious item in the world, worth at least hundreds of thousands of strings of cash.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoqian's exclamation of praise, Xue Meiyun felt reassured and whispered, "This statue of the God of Longevity was commissioned by my father half a year ago and sent to Bianjing."

"After receiving it, I personally delivered it to the Yuqing Palace outside the city, requesting the old immortal Qingyang to enshrine it before the Daoist Lord, with lamps and incense burning day and night, and Daoist prayer scriptures being recited for blessings. After forty-nine days of this blessing, I brought it back to the palace, ready to present it to Your Majesty on His Majesty's birthday as a birthday gift..."

Zhao Xiaoqian had been listening with a smile, but when she mentioned "Old Immortal Qingyang," his smile froze, and he subconsciously looked at his living father.

"Qingyang? That old charlatan swindled my father out of most of his fortune, this is a deep grudge..."

Before he could finish speaking, Zhao Hao stopped him with a speechless expression.

"Alright, alright, you're the emperor now, let bygones be bygones. Besides, Qingyang is quite effective. After he performed the ritual for you, you completely changed and inexplicably gained a lot of abilities. You've become the emperor so successfully, all thanks to Daojun. It was well worth sacrificing most of your fortune."

After speaking, Zhao Hao devoutly bowed towards the palace gate, muttering something under his breath, exuding the air of a feudal and superstitious patriarch.

Zhao Xiaoqian snorted coldly. "Fine, now that I'm the emperor, I should broaden my horizons. I won't pursue the old charlatan's swindling of money."

Besides, his own time travel was indeed quite fantastical. Even Zhao Xiaoqian himself wasn't sure whether his possession of this body was due to the magic of the old charlatan Qingyang. Perhaps, the old charlatan did have some skill.

Xue Meiyun overheard the father and son's conversation, especially when they mentioned the old immortal Qingyang, and the official looked displeased. She suddenly panicked. She had been so sure that she had given the right birthday gift, but now her heart was in her throat.

Zhao Xiaoqian is not concerned about the birthday gift Xue Meiyun sent; he is concerned about something else.

Leaning close to Zhao Hao's ear, Zhao Xiaoqian asked in a low voice with a worried expression, "Father, have you stopped giving money to that old charlatan Qingyang these past two years?"

Zhao Hao was silent for a moment, then suddenly picked up his cup and laughed bitterly, "Drink, drink, we won't go home until we're drunk!"

(End of this chapter)