If not abolished

It was September, the third month of autumn. The muddy water had dried up and the cold pond was clear, the mist was thick and the evening mountains were purple.

Zhu Zhanji happened to read the Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng by Wang Bo of the Tang Dynasty today. Of course he could not go to the Pavilion of Prince Teng, but it was still possible for him to find a place with such scenery in the capital.

In the afternoon, Zhu Zhanji went to tell Zhu Di that he wanted to go to Huiji Temple outside the city to burn incense and would probably stay there for a few days.

Recently, Zhu Di was preparing to lead the expedition himself because of the failure of Qi Guogong Qiu Fu's expedition to Mongolia. When he heard his grandson say that he was going to pray for the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di thought it was okay and asked him to take more people with him.

Huiji Temple is located in Tangquan Town, Nanjing. It was first built in the Southern Dynasties. Most of the existing famous temples were built in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. There are really 480 temples in the Southern Dynasties, and many towers are in the mist and rain. The name Huiji Temple was given by Zhu Zhanji's great grandfather, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

Early the next morning, Zhu Zhanji got on a carriage and set out from the palace to Huiji Temple outside the city. After a day's journey, he arrived before sunset and stayed there.

The next day, Zhu Zhanji burned incense in front of the Buddha, listened to the abbot's morning lesson, ate the temple's vegetarian meal, and then went to the temple alone.

"Master, there must be someone following you." Wu Cheng said worriedly.

"In the temple. Does anyone know my identity? What can happen? I'll just take a walk and be back soon. Don't follow me."

"Can……"

"You go make the arrangements. I'll come back later and go to the hot springs in town."

"Yes."

Behind Huiji Temple there are three ginkgo trees that are more than a thousand years old. It is said that they were planted by Xiao Tong himself when he was studying here. They were named Thunder Struck Revival, Thousand-Year-Old Drooping Breasts and Supporting the Sky and the Earth. They are still growing vigorously and bearing fruits every year. It is also said that the ginkgo nuts are not bitter.

Zhu Zhanji was just about to go and see the three trees. As soon as he arrived under the trees, he saw several monks picking something from the trees, so he walked over to take a look out of curiosity.

When I got closer, I realized that they were picking ginkgo nuts from the tree. I didn't expect to be so lucky that it was the season for ginkgo nuts. So I stood under the tree to see if I could have a chance to pick some.

When the monk finished picking the berries, he saw Zhu Zhanji and wondered why someone had come to the courtyard so early in the morning. He looked again and found that Zhu Zhanji was the only one there. He breathed a sigh of relief. An older monk took a ginkgo nut, walked up to Zhu Zhanji, and put the ginkgo nut in his hand.

"These newly harvested ginkgo nuts are given to the donor. I hope you can get what you wish for." After saying this, several monks left together.

Zhu Zhanji stood under the tree, looking at the ginkgo in his hand, and the corners of his mouth rose inadvertently.

"Did you get what you wanted? That's good."

In the evening, Zhu Zhanji left the temple and went to the hot spring.

Tangquan Town is famous for its hot spring water. There are about seven or eight hot springs in the town. One of the springs is named Taizi Tang. When Taizu came here, he thought the name was too inappropriate, so he ordered the spring to be abolished.

Zhu Zhanji chose a hot spring called Wuliu Spring. Looking at the willow trees around the spring, he thought of Tao Yuanming's Biography of Mr. Wuliu. Zhu Zhanji fell asleep while soaking in the spring and woke up slowly after half an hour. Fortunately, the spring water was warm, otherwise he would have caught a cold.

Zhu Zhanji felt like he had a dream of his past life, but he couldn't remember anything after waking up. He was stunned for a while and asked someone to come in and go back.

Wu Cheng felt more and more that the Crown Prince was acting a little strange recently, often alone, but fortunately nothing happened.

On the way back, Zhu Zhanji was still thinking about the dream he had just had. He looked as if his soul was hooked by something. Wu Cheng called out to him several times but there was no response. He was so scared that he was about to call the host to see if he had encountered anything bad.

"Your Highness, Your Highness."

"Well, what's wrong?" Zhu Zhanji finally came back to his senses and looked at Wu Cheng with a questioning look.

"Your Highness almost scared me to death. I called you several times but there was no response. I almost asked the abbot to come and take a look." Wu Cheng was relieved after the false alarm.

"I was just thinking about something. You go and keep watch outside."

"Yes." Wu Cheng turned around and walked out in three steps.

Zhu Zhanji intuitively felt that the dream just now was related to the queen, but he couldn't remember it no matter how hard he tried. It was as if he had forgotten something important. Thinking about it, this year was about to pass. In the seventh year of Yongle, the mourning period for his grandmother was over. There shouldn't be anything related to the queen. According to the previous life, there were still eight years before the queen was summoned to the palace. It was useless to think too much. Zhu Zhanji had an important thing to do right now.

In the next two days, Zhu Zhanji continued to wander around the temple. He had people prepare brushes and ink for him, and then he painted the ginkgo tree behind the temple. He spent most of the day painting and did not allow anyone to follow him. However, he often saw the monk who gave him ginkgo nuts sitting cross-legged under the tree.

When Zhu Zhanji got up early on the third day, the wind started to blow. Wu Cheng originally told him not to go, but Zhu Zhanji said that he had finished painting the ginkgo tree today and should return to the palace tomorrow, so he had to go today no matter what. Wu Cheng had to ask him to put on more clothes.

A few hours later, Zhu Zhanji came back injured, scaring the attendants half to death. It was said that Zhu Zhanji was painting, and suddenly a man with a sharp weapon and strong martial arts came out and injured Zhu Zhanji. Fortunately, a monk was there and saved the grandson. Seeing that the situation was not good, the man climbed over the wall and escaped. Later, when he was chased out, he had disappeared.

Fortunately, the prince was not seriously injured, with only a cut on his arm.

After bandaging Zhu Zhanji, Wu Cheng ordered to return to the palace overnight. He didn't know how His Majesty would lose his temper after returning to the palace. Would the people serving them still be alive by then? His Majesty's temper had been bad in the past two years.

In the carriage, Zhu Zhanji looked at his injured hand and thought that his grandfather would lose his temper. But there was nothing he could do. This was the only way he could think of to advance the time for the selection of young soldiers next year.

If Grandfather investigates, he probably won't find anything...

When Zhu Di heard about this incident, he was furious and punished everyone around Zhu Zhanji. The close guard was beaten so hard that he couldn't get out of bed for three months. Afterwards, he thought that Zhu Zhanji didn't have anyone to protect him, so he put the matter of selecting young soldiers for the crown prince, which was originally scheduled for next year, on the agenda.

After hearing the news, Hu Shanwei in the palace couldn't help but think too much, but he had no idea what to do. He just felt that his two younger brothers must be allowed to run for the election.

Hu Shanxiang, who was far away in Jining, fell seriously ill again in October. Some time ago, she learned from her father that her eldest sister had written to her saying that His Majesty was going to select young soldiers for the grandson, and that her eldest sister wanted her two brothers to participate in the selection. Her father was very happy when he heard about it. Hu Shanxiang frowned when she heard about it. If possible, she probably didn't want to have anything to do with the grandson, but... she couldn't help but think too much, and it was the cold autumn season. The illness came on fiercely, and it took more than half a month to recover.

After she recovered from her illness, her father said that her eldest sister also had a letter for her and asked her mother to give it to her. Hu Shanxiang opened it and read it. In the letter, her eldest sister asked her if she wanted to go to the capital to recuperate.

After reading the letter, Hu Shanxiang said to her mother, "My elder sister asked me if I wanted to go to the capital to recuperate."

"What do you think? Do you want to go? If you want to go, that's fine. If you don't want to go, I'll let your father and big sister tell them. You're still too young, and we're worried."

"I can't bear to leave my parents." In her heart, Hu Shanxiang wanted to go, but she had to pretend to go, after all, she was just a seven or eight-year-old girl.

"It is said that the mountains and rivers in the south are good for health. Perhaps your health will be better if you go to the capital. When you were born, we had just come out of the capital, and you had that dream the night before. After you were born, everyone said that you were a very blessed person. Perhaps you belonged there." Mother Hu recalled.

"Mother, do you want your daughter to be rich and powerful?"

"Remember, your mother only hopes that you are all safe and happy." Mother Hu looked into her eyes and said seriously.

"My daughter takes her elder sister as her role model and aspires to become a female official like her." Hu Shanxiang bowed deeply in front of her mother.

After leaving Hu's mother's yard, Hu Shanxiang went to her grandmother's yard. Her grandmother had been very kind to her since she was a child. She didn't know if she would be sad after making such a decision.

After hearing her decision, the old lady looked at her for a long time before saying, "Grandma probably won't be able to return to the capital in this lifetime. You go back and take a look for me."

Hu Shanxiang said sadly, "There will be a chance. Wait until the elder and second brothers settle down. If you want to go back to the capital, how can you not have a chance? I will come to pick you up in person when the time comes."

"Okay, I'll wait for you to come pick up grandma. Go ahead, don't worry about me. People go to higher places, and water flows to lower places."

"Grandma, you..."

"If your elder sister just wanted you to go and recuperate, you could have written directly to your father. But she wrote you a separate letter, so I'm afraid she wanted you to go to the capital to recuperate. But your grandmother didn't ask, but only reminded you of one thing, to put yourself first in everything, even if she is your sister." The old lady said these words while holding her hand.

"understood."

After Hu Shanxiang left, the old lady looked at her departing figure and said, "My children and grandchildren will have their own blessings. I am old too, and I can't care so much anymore."

The mother next to her said, "The third girl is only seven or eight years old, why did the eldest girl let her go to the capital at such a young age?"

"Although the third girl is only seven or eight years old, she is calm and composed like most people."

"That's right. No other girl can compare to us in this respect. The legitimate daughters of our family are all amazing."

"Yes, Shanwei was also favored by Emperor Hongwu at a young age. Perhaps, Er also has her destiny."

"Have you forgotten, old lady, that people say the third girl is very lucky?"

"I hope so."

The next day, Hu Shanxiang told her father that she was going to the capital to recuperate.

Half a month later, Hu Shanxiang left Jining, where she had lived since childhood, bid farewell to her parents and family, and boarded a carriage to the capital.

Hu Shanxiang sat in the carriage, thinking about another thing her elder sister said in the letter. Her elder sister wanted her to go to the palace to prepare for taking over her job in the future. This made Hu Shanxiang think that if she became a female official, she would no longer be the Crown Prince's Consort. Moreover, in history, Hu Shanxiang was found in Jining and then made the Crown Prince's Consort. If she came to the capital, the saying "The Queen's Star is in Lu" would not hold true. This was also one of the reasons why Hu Shanxiang was willing to come to the capital.