Harem Daily Life

Chapter 1071 Fear

The capital city experiences continuous spring rains, which, though not heavy, linger for several days, causing river levels to rise. There is a fear that this will flood farmland, affecting spring planting and the year's harvest.

He Jin'an led his men to inspect and visit many waterways in the surrounding area for several days. If they found that the water level was difficult to control, they organized manpower to carry out flood prevention and reinforcement to prevent floods.

Fortunately, the weather finally cleared up that day, and the sun came out, warming the earth by a degree.

He Jin'an stayed for another half day, and seeing that everything had returned to normal, he hurried back to the capital to see his family as soon as possible.

"Second brother, second brother, it's second brother!" As soon as He Xiaoliu and He Xiaobao saw the gates of Chang Le Palace open and He Jin'an walking quickly towards them, they rushed up and each grabbed one of his legs.

"Second brother, I miss you so much! I went out and brought you a gift!"

"Second brother, hug me quickly, and see if I've grown taller."

The two were very enthusiastic. He Jin'an first picked up He Xiaoliu and bounced him around: "Hmm, he's definitely gotten stronger. It seems like every bite of food he ate wasn't for nothing."

Then he picked up He Xiaobao, who had grown much taller, and it became difficult to hold him for more than a few seconds.

"Alright, you all go play first. I'm going to see Mother first, and I'll come back to find you later to test your studies."

He Xiaobao: “…”

He Xiaoliu: “…”

Oh no, I only cared about having fun during my trip and missed some classes.

Tao Yanyan was inside the hall and had already heard the voices outside the door. A moment later, He Jinan came in, a smile spreading across his face.

"Why did you come here as soon as you returned to the palace? You didn't even go to see Yue Rong first."

Tao Yanyan picked up a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, barely able to reach it by standing on tiptoe.

"You've been traveling long and tiring these past few days, braving wind and rain." He Jin'an is a man of action; he always takes the lead when something happens, and his subordinates trust him greatly.

He Jin'an smiled, asked a few questions about his experiences on his mission to Xia, and then changed the subject, saying, "Now that Mother, my younger brother, and my younger sister have returned to the capital, I should also pack up and prepare to go to my fiefdom in Qianzhou."

Tao Yanyan was taken aback, feeling somewhat reluctant.

However, He Jin'an should indeed go to his fiefdom to take up his new post after getting married. She smiled and said, "Then you can leave after Min'er gets married. You should at least have a drink of your sister's wedding wine."

He Jin'an nodded. According to He Min's wedding date, it would be in a month. He needed to hand over his current affairs as soon as possible and also persuade the Hua family elders to leave with them so that they could be taken care of.

After having dinner at Chang Le Palace, He Jin'an led Hua Yurong back to Qingyun Palace. When the topic of leaving the capital came up, Hua Yurong sighed, "You'll have to leave before you've had a long time to spend with your family. Won't you be reluctant to leave?"

He Jin'an squeezed her hand: "This matter was decided a long time ago. I also wanted to stay, but staying would be comfortable in the short term, but it's not a long-term solution. Some people always want to stir up trouble. If I stay in the capital, it will give others an excuse to sow discord between me and Yu Cheng, which would be troublesome. Leaving is the best choice."

Hua Yurong pouted: "You clearly don't fight for anything, why are they still trying to sow discord?"

He Jin'an said helplessly, "It's not that if I said I wouldn't fight for it, the court officials wouldn't have urged me. You know, some people even impeached the Empress Dowager, saying that her family is very powerful and that the Emperor should think twice. If they are wary of the Empress Dowager, let alone me, a prince who seems to have some ability."

Hua Yurong tensed up upon hearing this. She had previously only interacted with ordinary people, but after getting married, she spent her days with high-ranking officials and concubines in the imperial harem. Only then did she realize that these people were very cunning, and a single wrong word could bring trouble.

"Okay, then I'll get ready and tell my parents too."

He Jin'an hugged her and said, "Don't worry, our lives will be better when we go to the fiefdom. Your parents will live with us and enjoy their old age."

In the Imperial Study, several memorials were laid out on He Linzhang's desk. Some were petitions for the title of Prince Jin, while others were impeachments against the Ningyuan Marquis's Mansion and the Tao Mansion.

Zhang Gonggong kept his eyes down, silently serving He Linzhang.

“Prince Jin is already a first-rank prince with the fief of Qianzhou. What else can he ask for? Can’t these people use their brains for political affairs instead of playing tricks all day long?”

Eunuch Zhang glanced at the memorial thrown in front of him, which requested His Majesty to appoint Prince Jin as Regent, in charge of the affairs of the Six Ministries. This was a blatant attempt to elevate Prince Jin to the position of the most powerful prince in the Great Zhou Dynasty, placing him on par with the Crown Prince in the future.

"Hey, before they were all saying that Prince Jin's status wasn't noble enough, but now they're asking for a title for the Prince. They must be getting senile and talking nonsense. Your Majesty, just pretend you didn't see it and don't let your relationship with the Prince fall apart."

He Linzhang snorted coldly and opened another memorial: "On one hand, they are requesting an official title for Jin'an, and on the other hand, they are impeaching the Empress's family. They want to use Jin'an to suppress the Crown Prince. They are watching the princes fight. These old fools have only been in court for a few years, and they think things are too easy."

Eunuch Zhang quickly poured a cup of fresh tea to calm His Majesty down.

"The more they impeach the Empress, the more I will reward her. Go, open my storeroom, and send several boxes of things to Chang Le Palace to make the Empress happy. Then send a box to Prince Jin as a reward for his meritorious service during his recent inspection."

Seeing that it was getting late, Eunuch Zhang responded and went downstairs. He ordered people to light candles and open the storeroom to select gifts, choosing whichever was the most luxurious. They filled three boxes, and sent two boxes to Chang Le Palace and one box to Qing Yun Hall with great fanfare.

The following day, rumors circulated throughout the palace that His Majesty was showing great favor to the Empress and Prince Jin. Upon hearing this, the ladies-in-waiting were filled with uncertainty.

After pondering for a long time, Consort Wang wrote a letter home, asking her father to reconsider. He said that his niece should probably be sent to Prince Jin's mansion as a concubine and should no longer think about becoming the Crown Princess.

Consort Zhao immediately sent a message outside the palace, urging her family to focus their efforts on Prince Jin and secure a powerful prince, as this was far more practical than waiting for the crown prince, who might never be able to take over the throne.

The other families were in similar situations. Those who had originally been focused on sending their daughters to the Crown Prince's palace had all changed their minds to some extent and started eyeing Prince Jin.

Some families, however, were still unwilling to give up and continued to pin their hopes on the position of Crown Princess, trying every means to help their daughters rise to that position.

In order to gain fame, banquets in the capital became a battleground for all families. The more upscale the banquet, the more people would fight tooth and nail for an invitation, sending their beautiful daughters there in style.

Exquisite clothes were a must, and the most beautiful gold, silver, pearls and jade had to be chosen. In no time, the door of Zhenbaozhai was almost worn out by ladies from all walks of life, and business was so good that Manager Zhou was all smiles.

"Quickly, hurry up and urge the craftsmen to finish making the new designs as soon as possible. Business is good now, let's take advantage of this and sell more!"

Hua Yuerong accompanied Tao Yanyan on a tour of the shops, but the two couldn't squeeze into Zhenbaozhai and looked at each other in bewilderment.