Noble Lady

"Tsk." Situ Zhen curled his lips in disgust, stopped and did not move forward.

The princess secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

But then Situ Zhen said, "If the princess can't teach the children well, then let others do it."

"Don't let your precious Shan'er go out in the future, and people outside will say that there is not a single person in Prince Cheng's mansion who understands etiquette."

Princess An Ning stood by and curled her lips, showing no intention of supporting Princess Cheng and Situ Shan.

"..." Princess Cheng's face turned redder than pig liver, and then her eyes reddened, tears about to fall. She turned to Prince Cheng and said, "Your Highness, this concubine..."

"Okay, it's getting late, let's prepare to enter the palace."

Princess Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, while Situ Shan looked unwilling, but neither dared to resist Prince Cheng's wishes.

Situ Zhen: "Oh, Prince Cheng is right." His voice was as lazy as ever.

Prince Cheng was very annoyed by his careless attitude, but he could do nothing about it.

To be precise, there is no way to deal with Situ Zhen now.

When Situ Zhen was a child, before he was asked to be named the crown prince, he lived worse than a servant in the mansion.

Once you enter the palace, it's Situ Zhen's home turf.

He went to pay New Year's greetings to the Empress Dowager. At that time, His Majesty and the Queen were also in the Empress Dowager's Ci'an Palace.

Then he wished everyone a happy new year, and His Majesty called his name and asked him to follow him later.

As for the other people in Prince Cheng's Mansion, they can just sit here with the Queen Mother. If the Queen Mother is not happy to see them, she will naturally ask them to go back to the mansion.

Of course, this does not include Princess An Ning.

Princess An Ning came to the palace this time to play with the Sixth Princess and the Eighth Princess.

His Majesty sat for a while and then left.

Situ Zhen naturally had to leave as well.

Before leaving, he gave the second son of Prince Cheng some kind advice:

"Situ Shan, do you think you can go to heaven if I'm not in Shengjing for a few months?"

"The little tricks you do behind my back can't fool even a three-year-old. If you don't want the princess to suffer because of your stupid actions, you'd better stop it, otherwise you will suffer the consequences."

"Just pretending." Situ Shancai didn't believe that he really knew what he was doing.

Situ Zhen chuckled, "If you don't believe me, just try it."

After saying this, he slowly followed His Majesty and left.

Situ Shan could only grit his teeth and kneel down like everyone else, "Farewell, Your Majesty."

His Majesty left first, and Princess An Ning left right after him.

"Grandmother, Queen Mother, I'm going to go play with Taotao and the others."

"Go ahead, they just left." The Queen Mother waved her hand, her eyes full of love.

The little girl has a fair face and rosy cheeks, which makes her very lovable. Her pretty smile can make the elders love her very much.

……

At that time, the imperial study room.

Situ Zhen followed him casually into the imperial study. His Majesty sat on the dragon throne and turned around to see his nonchalant look.

"Look at you, you're already past the age of twenty, and you have a good figure and appearance, but why can't you find a good wife? Don't you ever reflect on yourself?"

Situ Zhen shook his head without even thinking, "Your Majesty, you've already said that I have a good figure and good looks, and my family background is even better. How could I not be able to find a wife?"

His Majesty:"……"

You little bastard, you only know how to use my words to shut me up.

"Then tell me, why can't you get married?" His Majesty asked angrily.

But before Situ Zhen could say anything, His Majesty continued, "I want to arrange for you to meet those noble ladies, but you are not happy about it."

"I don't like this one, I don't like that one, I think this one is too cowardly, and that one says they have a bad temper. What do you like?"

"Your Majesty, to be honest, I don't know either." Situ Zhen was no longer as high-spirited as before, his eyes were filled with sorrow and his heart was filled with melancholy.

"But this time, I was ordered to go to the south and saw the devastation. Upon returning to the capital, I heard about the snowstorm in the north. I deeply felt the limitations of human power."

"If there really were a Bodhisattva in this world who could send down rain and dispel disasters with a wave of his hand, perhaps so many people wouldn't have died."

His Majesty's temples were throbbing. "Dafu, don't play such a joke on me."

Dafu was Situ Zhen's nickname. The Book of Rites, Zhongyong, states: "...there will surely be auspicious signs."

Zilin says: "...Zhen means blessing."

The nickname Dafu was given to him by His Majesty himself.

Situ Zhen sighed, "Your Majesty, I dare not deceive you. However, I feel that my heart is willing but my strength is insufficient."

"During my trip to Lingnan, I was already there and knew the bandits were rampant. In the end, I could only rely on my martial arts master, Marquis Xue, to lead the troops to suppress the bandits. Before the imperial court's disaster relief grain arrived, it was Marquis Xue's eldest daughter who mobilized the local chamber of commerce to stabilize the victims and wait for the imperial court's assistance."

"I used to think I could do anything, but now I realize I have accomplished nothing."

His Majesty was speechless: Yes, yes, yes, he just wants to ask for a reward for Marquis Xue and the girl from the Xue family, can't I just give it to him?

"Da Fu, you will be assisting the Crown Prince in the future. You must learn how to identify and assign people to the right positions. This is your first lesson. How can you back down just like that?"

Situ Zhen looked at His Majesty for a long time without saying a word.

Your Majesty suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

……

It was already noon when Situ Zhen came out of the imperial study.

His Majesty wants to keep him for lunch.

He said he was restless and afraid of disturbing Your Majesty's leisure time.

Your Majesty: “…” If it wasn’t the first day of the Lunar New Year, I would really want to beat the child.

Out of the palace.

Situ Zhen did not return to the palace, but went to the Wu'an Marquis Mansion.

But he did not go in. He just stood at the door for a while, not allowing Uncle Fu to go and report, and then left.

When Xue Chenyu learned that Situ Zhen had been there, he had already disappeared.

"Why didn't you tell me that the prince was coming?" Xue Chenyu was puzzled.

Uncle Fu said helplessly, "The prince stopped me from reporting, and even said something about how sorry I was, young lady. Then he left with a look of loss on his face."

Memories of the latter part of last night suddenly flooded back.

Xue Chenyu: “…”

after that.

Situ Zhen left the city and went to Qinglong Temple.

Many people burn incense on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

He only brought Fang Rui with him and entered the abbot's meditation room with ease.

"Abbot, I understand."

Abbot: "..."

The last person who said he had realized it just went back and got married a few days ago.

However, monks are compassionate.

He couldn't refuse a young man with a lot on his mind.

"What worries you, my lord?" the abbot asked sincerely.

Situ Zhen then repeated to the abbot the same words he had said to His Majesty in the palace.

The abbot looked at him for a long time without saying a word.

After a long time, he put his hands together and chanted a Buddhist name.

"Amitabha. Benefactor, life is full of confusion. Just keep going forward and see. Who knows, the answer may be just ahead."

Situ Zhen nodded, but then asked, "Abbot, you are a Buddhist. You said there are droughts in the south and snowstorms in the north, and countless people are starving and freezing to death. Why doesn't the Bodhisattva you worship intervene to save the world?"

The abbot was stunned by the question: "..."

then.

Later, Prince Cheng knelt in the main hall of Qinglong Temple for a long time and refused to get up, and no one could persuade him to leave.

His Majesty put down his pen until the eighth day of the first lunar month, and he knelt until the eighth day of the first lunar month.

His Majesty was almost killed by anger in the palace.

Of course, from the first to the eighth day of the first lunar month, Prince Cheng and Princess Cheng were the most talked about people among the people.