My father is Jiajing

Chapter 218 The Princes’ Driving Instructor

It’s a warm and sunny day in March.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites and the eunuchs sent from the palace all came to Prince Yu's mansion in great joy.

Today they came to Prince Yu's Mansion in compliance with the order of Emperor Jiajing to present Prince Yu with a picture album of beautiful girls.

Of course, giving this album to Zhu Zaigui was just a formality.

Because the only person who could truly decide whether these beauties could enter Prince Yu's Palace was Emperor Jiajing.

Whoever he designated as the principal wife became the principal wife, and whoever he designated as the concubine became the concubine.

Therefore, this album was given to Zhu Zaigui so that he could feel the emperor's great grace in advance.

By the way, after Zhu Zaigui finished looking at these picture albums, I took him to a secret palace in the Forbidden City where the Laughing Buddha was enshrined to learn some driving tips that would make you blush and your heart beat faster, but you couldn't stop.

This way, when you really want to drive on the road, you won’t find yourself not knowing where to put the steering wheel or where to step on the accelerator.

Isn't this embarrassing?
Therefore, after Zhu Zaigui finished reading the album of beautiful women sent by the Ministry of Rites and the palace, he still had a long way to go.

And what do the portraits in these albums say?

It's more photoshopped than Photoshop, as almost all of them are painted using the same techniques as those used for paintings of court ladies. If you don't look carefully, you really can't tell the difference between the beauties in the album.

but!

Even if one carefully distinguishes the beauties in the album, there are still certain differences between their actual appearances and their portraits, and it is impossible to identify people by looking at the pictures.

Therefore, looking at these portraits was really better than nothing for Zhu Zaigui and did not cause any waves in his heart.

The only thing that shocked Zhu Zaigui was that he could take ten beautiful girls into his mansion at one time, and that wasn’t all of them!

Before this, the palace would select eight older palace maids, around 20 years old, with decent looks and beautiful appearance, to serve as coaches for Zhu Zaigui, teaching him various driving skills and helping him become a qualified driver.

When Zhu Zaigui learned the news, his first reaction, besides surprise, was shock. Besides being shocked, he seemed to feel a vague pain in his waist that existed in the void.

No wonder emperors and princes in ancient times generally had short lives. It turns out that in addition to the lack of advanced medical conditions, the biggest reason may be that this kind of high-load driving pressure was too much.

If you keep going on like this, even a body of iron will be reduced to ashes.

So, for a moment, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but want to show his fear with shining eyes.

"Your Majesty, please take a good look at these beauties. They are all ladies selected from good families. They are all gentle, well-educated and well-mannered. If you like any of them, please let me know."

Now the eunuchs around Zhu Zaigui have obviously been instructed by certain parties and want to present treasures to Zhu Zaigui.

Unfortunately, Zhu Zaigui was not very interested in this kind of portraits of ladies. The key point was that there were at least a hundred pictures of beautiful ladies in this album, and Zhu Zaigui was dazzled and didn't know which one was better.

So Zhu Zaigui just hummed and pointed to two at random to get the matter over with.

To be honest, if the two people that Zhu Zaigui pointed at really appeared in front of him and he was asked to look at them by comparing them with the pictures in the album, he might not be able to recognize who was who.

From this we can see how deceptive this kind of album of paintings of ladies is.

But even so, this is a right that countless people do not have, after all, this is a selection for the prince. And if these concubines are lucky and the prince they follow is also very lucky, then they will immediately rise in status and become the future emperor's harem, rather than the backyard of the prince's palace.

After Zhu Zaigui finished looking at the albums of beautiful women, the officials from the Ministry of Rites took the albums back and handed them over to the eunuchs in the palace, who checked and sealed them before handing them over to the harem as a model so that the empress or imperial concubines in the harem could also make their choice.

However, the current Emperor Jiajing did not have a living empress, and he did not go to the harem in the Forbidden City.

So this step was naturally omitted and it was directly handed over to the Imperial Household Department for screening, and then handed over to Emperor Jiajing for his approval.

After looking through the album of concubines, Zhu Zaigui finally reached the moment of greatest curiosity.

At this time, the officials from the Ministry of Rites withdrew, and the eunuchs in the palace began to diligently take Zhu Zaigui to a hidden palace in the Forbidden City.

The palace houses two statues of the Happy Buddha that have existed since the Yuan Dynasty.

According to the description in Wanli Yewailu, the statue of happy Buddha in this hall should be: "Two Buddhas, each decorated with garlands, hug each other, and the two Buddhas are put together and can move."

After reading it, one should also "touch and ponder the hidden points, and silently understand the method of communication."

It is like an ancient version of a large-scale naked-eye 3D educational film.

Just before Zhu Zaigui arrived at this mysterious palace, he finally met his younger brother who only existed in legends - Prince Jing Zhu Zaizhen!

Zhu Zaizhen was thin, with a fair face that had an unhealthy redness. He was not as tall as Zhu Zaiqi, and when he stood next to Zhu Zaiqi, he looked like a bean sprout.

Looking at Zhu Zaizhen's current appearance, Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but sigh in his heart. He was once like this.

The reason why I have transformed myself now is, firstly, because of my own persistent exercise, and secondly, I also have to thank Lan Daoxing's "Xiantian Gong".

Otherwise, he would probably not be much better than Zhu Zaizhen now.

When Zhu Zaizhen saw Zhu Zaigui, a hint of undisguised contempt appeared in his eyes, and he did not take his brother, who was a few days older than him, seriously at all.

Of course, Zhu Zaizhen had his reasons for being so disrespectful to his brother.

His mother, Concubine Lu Jing, seemed to be more favored than Zhu Zaigui's mother, Concubine Du Kang.

However, Zhu Zaigui also laughed in his heart at this so-called favor.

Everyone in the world knows that Emperor Jiajing lived alone in the Western Garden. Even if he felt like driving, he would visit the palace maids in the Western Garden nearby. Why would he go to the Forbidden City to look for expired concubines?

Moreover, Emperor Jiajing had not yet arranged for a scholar from the Hanlin Academy to serve as Zhu Zaizhen's tutor.

I don't know what he is so proud of?

However, Zhu Zaigui still had the manners of an elder brother. Since Zhu Zaizhen did not take the initiative to greet him, there was nothing wrong with him taking the initiative to greet Zhu Zaizhen.

So, when Zhu Zaihui saw Zhu Zaizhen being brought to the Joyful Buddha Hall, he smiled and said to Zhu Zaizhen, "How are you, brother Zhen? I am so excited and delighted to meet you. If we have the chance, we brothers must communicate well, visit each other more often, and pray for our father together."

Faced with such an enthusiastic brother, Zhu Zaizhen was obviously a little embarrassed and a little at a loss. He never expected that Zhu Zaigui would be so proactive.

In the end, Zhu Zaizhen could only blush and reply hesitantly, "Greetings, my brother."

(End of this chapter)