Back and forth: I brought supplies to help the impoverished prince

After leaving the palace, Wen Jiu became more lively than before. He used the silver given to him by Qiao Shinian to buy a lot of rice and flour from outside.

With Lan Sheng around, the guards would hardly check what he had bought. After all, he was very generous and many people had made a lot of money from him.

Wen Jiu seemed to be planning to ignore Qiao Shinian's abnormality. He did not ask why Qiao Shinian woke up from his dream.

He didn't ask Qiao Shinian where she had been when he was away. He just rubbed his sleepy eyes after Qiao Shinian woke up, got up and gently comforted her. He just said "Sister, be careful and don't run around" when he left.

Hunting in April was a traditional activity in the Zhou State and also an opportunity for others. Both men and women would attend on this day.

The men who participated in the hunt would bring their prey back to the camp, and there would be a bonfire dinner in the evening. The women would come forward to perform their talents, and the men would hold feather arrows and give them to the women they liked.

The woman who harvests more feather arrows means that she is the most favored by the young masters of noble families.

During the day, we migrated by horse-drawn carriage and started walking before dawn.

Qiao Shinian got up with difficulty and followed Wen Jiu, making sure that he would not make mistakes due to lack of sleep.

Wen Jiu's treatment suddenly became very bad. Normally, as a prince, he should ride a horse, but he insisted on riding in a carriage. This resulted in him having to share a carriage with Lan Sheng. Fortunately, Lan Sheng was rich, so the carriage was relatively spacious.

Qiao Shinian sat in the carriage, lowering his presence while eating breakfast, and did not forget to supervise Wen Jiu eating eggs.

Lan Sheng looked at Qiao Shinian and said speechlessly, "Are you so reluctant to let your sister walk? All your maids can walk."

"Why walk when you can ride in a carriage?" Wen Jiu raised his head and said it as a matter of course, which made Lan Sheng not know what to say. He was stuck for a long time before changing the subject, "Are you really not going to show off?"

"I'm afraid of being killed by mistake in the forest. Wouldn't it be safer to sit there, eat and drink, and wait to see the outcome?" Wen Jiu said as a matter of course.

Sometimes Lan Sheng really felt that he had misjudged Wen Jiu, but on second thought, he still felt that Wen Jiu was not as childish as he looked.

How could a prince of Chuwen Kingdom act like a commoner and act like a rogue? This must be a disguise!

April morning, slightly cold

The huge convoy passed through the woods in an orderly manner. Most of the things were usually moved to the hunting ground yesterday.

Because of the horse-drawn carriage, Wen Jiu and others arrived almost together with the female relatives.

Since ancient times, women have been synonymous with slowness and pampering in the minds of men. When some young masters from aristocratic families saw Wen Jiu and others arriving late, they laughed.

It was not a very hot day, but the people in the hunting ground looked at Wen Jiu with contempt.

"Oh, I guess I have been through thick and thin with you. Look, I am also being laughed at along with you. How can ordinary people do this?" Lan Sheng was dressed very conspicuously today. His flashy red cloud-scape robe was enough to attract a lot of attention.

Fortunately, his appearance was above average, which was enough to match the color. The auspicious clouds and the sun, moon and stars made of gold thread were dotted with many gemstones and agates, which sparkled brightly in the sun. For the first time, Qiao Shinian understood the generosity of a local tycoon.

Just by looking at the jeweled belt and jade pendant around his waist, one could tell that this person must be extremely wealthy.

The phrase "jingling of jewelry" should originally be used to describe women, but Qiao Shinian felt that it was also very appropriate to describe Lan Sheng.

"What are you looking at? You have no manners at all." Lan Sheng glanced at Qiao Shinian indifferently, and it was unclear whether his tone was blame or ridicule.

Qiao Shinian bowed and said with a smile, "I was thinking that since there are so many gems on your body, would you notice if one or two of them fell off?"

"Oh, how could my prince care about such a small thing? He has never seen the world." The maid behind Lan Sheng said with a little contempt, "Miss, you are really rude and out of line by looking at my prince like this. If my prince and your prince were not on good terms, you would have been beaten."

Wen Jiu pulled Qiao Shinian over and looked at the maid who was talking with a smile, "Thank you for your advice, young lady. I will teach my subordinates a lesson when I go back."

The girl felt something was wrong when Wen Jiu was staring at her. "Your Highness, what are you talking about? I am the one who didn't follow the rules."

Lan Sheng imitated Wen Jiu's actions and pulled his maid over, saying with a smile: "We are still friends, aren't we? Why scare my Qingzhu? This girl has accompanied me to many places, and our relationship is very deep, no worse than you and your sister."

"But our friend is almost at the end of his rope, isn't he?" Wen Jiu's expression remained unchanged as he just said this.

"At least we were friends before Zhou Guo turned against you." Lan Sheng also imitated Wen Jiu and put on a smiling expression, looking down at him.

Wen Jiu made a "tsk" sound and walked towards his tent with Qiao Shinian.

Wu Han and his companions arrived at the hunting ground earlier, so he knew the surrounding situation better than Wen Jiu and his companions. At this moment, he was wearing loose clothes that did not fit him well, and a belt made of animal skin around his waist, looking extremely shabby.

Behind him followed the two servants he brought from Qinglang. They looked even thinner than him, especially the little girl, who kept her head down.

"You go hunting, I'll go with you." He looked at Wen Jiu with indifference in his eyes, "I'll be laughed at if I don't go."

"Thank you for your concern. I'd better not go with Wen Jiu. He is such an annoying person. There is no point for you to be with him." Qiao Shinian responded with a smile.

Wu Han looked at Wen Jiu for a long time, and finally nodded, pointing to the hunting ground in the distance: "We are about to go in. The Emperor of Zhou has already been there, and many princes have also gone there."

After saying that, she felt like she had missed something and added, "There are still princesses and concubines, but the queen is not here."

"Yeah." Wen Jiu strode forward.

Qiao Shinian followed behind him, thinking of the queen who had no expression at the banquet, and seemed numb.

Many concubines in the palace had children, but the queen did not.

The queen looked very young, perhaps thirty years old, but her expression was like that of an old woman in her eighties or nineties, empty, confused, and calm as someone who had seen all the vicissitudes of life.

It has been nearly half a year since he came to Zhou State. Although he seldom leaves the small palace, Qiao Shinian has some understanding of the general situation of Zhou State. The Emperor of Zhou has never appointed a crown prince during his twelve years in power, which makes many people extremely active.

Whether those princes liked Princess Yu'an or not, they had to act to please her, because Concubine Liu fell ill when she gave birth to Princess Yu'an, and it would be difficult for her to have children again. Otherwise, the position of crown prince would sooner or later be in the hands of the child in Concubine Liu's belly.

Therefore, many princes felt that they had a chance and wanted to rely on the strength of their mother's family. If they could get the support of Concubine Liu and Princess Yu'an, they would most likely become the crown prince.

Therefore, the princes consciously or unconsciously respected Princess Yu'an, which led to Princess Yu'an becoming more and more domineering.

Life became difficult for those princesses. They either had to lower their posture to please Princess Yu'an, or live with dignity. If they provoked Princess Yu'an, they would be punished.

So except for the little princesses who tried to please Princess Yu'an, the other princesses subconsciously stayed away from her.

However, few of the princesses who catered to Princess Yu'an had a good ending. They were either forced to marry a foreign prince or married off to win over court officials. Many princesses did not live past the age of thirty.

There are only three people of the same age as Princess Yu'an in the Zhou Palace.