Traveling through time and space

"I'm late, please forgive me, father." When the palace was bustling with joy, the Sixth Prince came trotting into the palace, his clothes a little disheveled. The palace was now completely quiet.

"How disgraceful!" The emperor was a little displeased and scolded, but when he looked at the child in his arms, he asked, "How could it become like this?" Someone in the hall was discussing in a low voice.

"Father, your Majesty, your daughter-in-law, Yuchen and Yuchun, come to see you," and then several other people, big and small, came in.

"This Sixth Prince's Mansion is really ridiculous," someone said.

"Your Majesty, my carriage had an accident on the way here, and I had to change carriages again, which is why I am late. Please forgive me." The Sixth Prince knelt down with his entire family.

"Your Majesty, today is New Year, everyone should be happy." Someone came forward.

"Yes, Your Majesty," someone echoed.

"Everyone, stand up and sit down." The emperor turned back with some displeasure, "Go and bring up the gifts I prepared for the children."

Eunuch Shen left, and soon a number of palace maids and servants arrived, carrying trays. As expected, Gu Yuanyuan received three, and the other imperial brothers, sisters, and younger brothers also received some. "Father, you are truly partial. My younger sister's family received three. If I had known this would happen, I would have brought all the children from the palace here so I could have received an extra reward." Gu Yuanyuan heard someone say this sourly, and when she looked up, she realized it was her fifth sister, Gu Zhiyan, who had a son and a daughter.

"Fifth sister, you only gave birth to these two. You cannot bring these illegitimate sons and daughters to our father." Someone said.

"That's not necessarily true, Eighth Sister. Didn't you see the concubine of the Sixth Prince's Mansion enter this hall?"

"Yes, this concubine is a concubine. Although she has won the title of Royal Jade Butterfly, she is just a noble concubine." The two of them sang in unison. Gu Yuanyuan realized belatedly that they were talking about Cai Ziqiao. Obviously, she had heard it too. She raised her head and lowered her sense of presence. Gu Yuanyuan was about to speak up when a voice came from above. Her father said a lot of things. Gu Yuanyuan didn't listen carefully. She was just thinking about what to do next. She would go to pay homage to Zhao Zimo first, and then go to see her grandmother and let her see the children. But she felt Dongmei pulling her arm from behind. Gu Yuanyuan heard her father praising her again, "In view of the great contributions made by the legitimate princess to our Qingyang, Yuanyuan, do you want anything? Your father will give it to you as a reward?" Gu Yuanyuan was a little confused by the words of her father on the stage.

"Your Majesty, Yuanyuan." Gu Yuanyuan wanted to say that Yuanyuan didn't want anything, as she had everything she needed. "Your Majesty, as you all know, the sixth brother's concubine is Yuanyuan's cousin. It was Yuanyuan who brought the mother and daughter here today. Yesterday, Yuanyuan suddenly remembered her cousin. Thinking that the sisters hadn't talked to each other for a long time, she went to the Sixth Prince's Mansion to pick up her cousin and little niece to talk." Gu Yuanyuan looked at the Sixth Prince and his wife, who lowered their heads. "Yuanyuan brought the mother and daughter to the mansion. Your Majesty also knows that Yuanyuan gave birth to three sons but no daughter. She likes this little niece very much. Your Majesty, can Yuanyuan give this reward to this little niece?" Gu Yuanyuan stood up to speak, walked to the middle, and saluted her father.

"Imperial sister, there is nothing missing in Sixth Brother's house."

"Your Majesty, today is New Year. Yuanyuan likes this little niece very much. Yuanyuan wants this little niece to be happy and healthy forever, so I ask Your Majesty to give her an honor. This is also a token of my gratitude as an aunt." Gu Yuanyuan bowed.

"Well, today is a special day, so I will grant your wish and confer the title of Princess on this child."

"Yuanyuan thanks the emperor on behalf of this little girl. Cousin, why don't you bring Princess Ru forward to express your gratitude?" Gu Yuanyuan turned sideways to look at the mother and daughter kneeling beside them.

"Your Majesty, this is unacceptable. My sixth brother is a prince. How can you make a concubine a princess?" The fourth princess, Gu Wenji, stepped forward and knelt. "Besides, there is no precedent for this."

"Yes, father," the princes came forward, and Gu Yuanyuan wrote down which three they were. At the same time, Gu Yuanyuan also remembered that none of these grandchildren had been given a title yet.

"This was invited by Yuanyuan with her merits, and has nothing to do with his Sixth Prince's Mansion." The emperor's face was cold.

"Yes, this princess uses one of her own rewards to exchange for a reward for my little niece, what's wrong with that?" Gu Yuanyuan stepped forward and asked, "Fourth sister, eighth sister, twelfth brother, you can do it too, this is called equal exchange, what's wrong with that?" Gu Yuanyuan ignored others and returned to her seat to sit down, but everyone failed to persuade the emperor. The emperor issued an imperial decree to confer the title of Princess Ru on Gu Ru of the Sixth Prince's Mansion. Because it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, the New Year's greetings soon dispersed. Gu Yuanyuan and the children asked Eunuch Shen to call them again, saying that the emperor wanted to keep several princes and princesses for a family banquet. Gu Yuanyuan suppressed her thoughts and followed to the Couple Fragrance Pavilion. When she met every servant who came to pay her respects, Gu Yuanyuan would stop and respond. So when Gu When Yuanyuan brought the children into the Ouxiang Pavilion, almost everyone had arrived. The concubines and the princes and princesses exchanged greetings again. Gu Yuanyuan noticed that her father's face was a little gloomy, and he must have something to say. He ordered the servants to take the children to Yuanfu Palace to rest first. They sat aside. The atmosphere of the whole family dinner was not happy or festive. Gu Yuanyuan did not say anything, just watched and listened. The concubines competed for favor with each other and tried their best to stick to their father, which made his father very unhappy. Fortunately, the children interrupted and no major confusion occurred. But when it was almost over, something big happened. Someone came to report that the prince's coffin had arrived outside the city. It had been almost half a month if you counted carefully.

The hall was completely silent. The emperor was very happy. "Father, please accept my condolences," Gu Yuanyuan stood up and saluted. "Please don't be too sad. My brother's spirit in heaven must also hope that father is well. Take care of yourself."

"Yes, father, my sister is right. Please take care of yourself. I am willing to share your worries and take care of the funeral arrangements for my brother, the Crown Prince." All the princes and princesses stood up and knelt. The third prince, Gu Ruoxu, took the initiative to volunteer. "Father, the Crown Prince died at the hands of Feng Yan. We can't just let it go like this. I will avenge my brother." The third prince spoke passionately and confidently.

"What can you do? Go to the battlefield and kill the enemy, or what else? The prince passed away more than ten days ago. Although today is New Year's Day, look at all of you, your clothes are like rainbows in the sky. The prince passed away, but you don't seem to feel sad at all..." The emperor's father had a very bad temper. No one dared to speak, including the children. Gu Yuanyuan turned her head and saw that someone was covering the child's mouth with his hand to prevent the child from crying.

"Father, ever since Yuanyuan came back, the prince has always been very good to Yuanyuan. Yuanyuan wants to go out of the city to welcome the prince's coffin back to the city." Everyone was kneeling, and Gu Yuanyuan kowtowed and lay down.

"Yes, father, the most urgent task right now is to welcome the prince back to the city." Gu Yuanyuan recognized that it was the voice of the Tenth Princess.

"Issue an order, the Crown Prince has passed away, the whole nation is in mourning..." The Emperor said with deep sorrow, "Bring back the Crown Prince... in seven days..." The Emperor stood up, "You all take the children back, and follow me to welcome the Crown Prince back to the East Palace. You are all his brothers and sisters, and going to welcome him will not be in vain."

"Father, you haven't recovered yet. We are the Crown Prince's brothers and sisters. We will go to welcome the Crown Prince. Please don't be sad. Please take care of yourself. You are the backbone of Qingyang. You must not be sad or stressed. I believe that the Crown Prince's spirit in heaven would not want to see you hurt, but would like to see you healthy." Gu Yuanyuan pleaded earnestly, with a firm and sincere attitude.

"Yes, father, your Majesty, your sister is right. I will take the other brothers and sisters to bring back the crown prince. Your son also asks your Majesty to take care of your health." The third prince and others also echoed.

"Yes, father, I know you are sad, but the prince is gone, and we will definitely avenge him..." Gu Yuanyuan listened to these royal brothers, sisters, and younger sisters expressing their loyalty to their father one by one.

"Yes, Your Majesty, what the princes said is correct. I know you are sad about the death of the Crown Prince, but you haven't recovered in the past few days. Let the princess and the princes do it for you," Eunuch Shen beside the emperor suddenly said, "I also want to go with you. The Crown Prince has taken good care of me over the years."

"Ah." The emperor sighed deeply, "Ruoxu, you assist Lu Baogang, the Grand Tutor, to take care of the prince's funeral and let him rest in peace as soon as possible. As for revenge for the prince, we have to think about it later. You should take care of this matter first. All officials above the fourth rank in Beijing must participate in the worship..." The emperor gave a lot of instructions, just to let the world see how important the prince is to him and Qingyang, and how much he loves him. The whole country mourned for the prince's funeral, and they were busy for ten days. On the first day of the new year, they welcomed the prince back, set up a mourning hall in the East Palace, and everyone paid their respects and worshipped him. The emperor did not... It was a rigid rule, so people who came to pay their respects would leave after they had paid their respects. Gu Yuanyuan would come once a day, light a stick of incense in front of his spirit, and then go out to do his own things, visit the prince, and then visit his grandmother. The master woke up three days later, but Gu Yuanyuan never heard what had happened in his family. Five days later, envoys from various countries arrived one after another to pay their respects to the prince. The palace also had a new decree: on the eighth day, the prince would be sent away, and on the ninth day, the emperor would receive the envoys. Gu Yuanyuan was also quietly doing his own things. This time when he went to the fiefdom, his father would not give him too much silver. He had also made a promise, so naturally he had to find a way to make more money. Although Although he had money, he couldn't just live off his savings, or he would end up eating up all his savings. Gu Yuanyuan asked Kang Xi to find some reliable and trustworthy people, all of whom were veterans who had retired from the battlefield, and formed ten caravans, each with forty people. They would bring some medicinal herbs, silk, tea and the like from the capital and sell them in various countries. Gu Yuanyuan wanted to have people collect some of them, and then buy some from the space to mix them together. It would be best to establish long-term and stable cooperation and earn more money from other countries. With a steady stream of income, he could better govern his fiefdom. On the sixth day, after Gu Yuanyuan had offered sacrifices in the East Palace, he wanted to go out of the palace to visit the farm. , but the emperor had someone summon her to the palace, so Gu Yuanyuan asked her cousin to take the children back home first. These days, Gu Yuanyuan didn't let her cousin and her daughter go back home, and her sixth brother came to take over, but Gu Yuanyuan said she wanted her cousin to accompany her for a few days, so the mother and daughter also went to the palace to worship every day. These days, Gu Yuanyuan goes out every day, but in fact, she is also avoiding going to the princess's mansion to pay a visit to some people. Although she is busy with her own affairs, she has also heard a lot of news. These envoys cannot be said to have ulterior motives, but they do have their own concerns. It is said that Feng Yan actually brought four princes, and also brought the emperor's handwritten letters and many gifts. After meeting the emperor, Gu Yuanyuan knew the purpose of these delegations. "I heard that the princess's mansion is very lively recently?"

"Yes, people send me invitations every day, but Yuanyuan's busy all day, so I haven't seen any of them." His father asked bluntly, and Gu Yuanyuan answered frankly. "What do you think of Feng Yan? The Crown Prince's funeral is so complicated, what price should Feng Yan pay? Father, Feng Yan and Qingyang are too close. If we have to resolve this, we should resolve it once and for all. We can't keep doing this. How can the people living on the border live in peace? We can't live in constant fear. That's Yuanyuan's fiefdom, and Yuanyuan wants the people to live in peace."

"Do you want to resolve this matter once and for all?"

"Yes, the border residents are also our people of Qingyang. We have the responsibility to let them live a good life. I heard that Feng Yan's army often crosses the border to harass them. This matter must be resolved once and for all."

"Okay, would you like to attend the meeting on the ninth day of the lunar month?"

"Okay, Yuanyuan will participate, and I will also prepare some gifts for them." Gu Yuanyuan had a plan in mind. "Father, please don't worry about what Yuanyuan does, and don't stop him, okay?"

"Okay, father believes in your ability." Gu Yuanyuan took this opportunity to tell his father about some things he wanted to do, such as sending a caravan to other countries to sell things, and some people he wanted to bring with him to his fiefdom in a few days. Gu Yuanyuan also chose some things that could be said and told his father, such as that he had used the people left by Prince De. His father nodded in agreement frequently, but it was already Youshi when Gu Yuanyuan left the palace and returned to the mansion. There were people waiting in the mansion again, including the two brothers of the Cai family and many other people from the Cai family.

"Greetings, Princess." Everyone in Chun'an Hall bowed. Gu Yuanyuan looked at the group, not wanting to get too close to them.

"Everyone, please stand up. Dongmei, go call Madam Hao and Madam Shang over." Gu Yuanyuan sat down. "What do you want?"