Chapter 320: Love at First Sight
Frost, ice.
Suitable: Funerals, dismantling, groundbreaking, burial.
Unsuitable: Gatherings, raising beams.
Woke up early.
No snow, but there was ice.
The water outside had frozen into blocks of ice.
Jiang Changtian was not in a hurry to go to the yamen.
Yesterday, after reporting his work, the Emperor did not give him any new tasks.
With Prime Minister Lu eliminated, a batch of people was eliminated along with him, and a new batch of people took the stage.
But it was not yet Jiang Changtian’s turn; after all, as far as the official circles in the capital were concerned, he was a pure newcomer.
Everyone was busy with the transfer of power and could not spare any attention for Jiang Changtian for the time being. It was useless for him to go to the yamen and just stand there early in the morning.
Last night, he had very seriously lectured his little cub.
He felt that perhaps he had spoken a bit too harshly.
In the middle of the night, Jiang Changtian took a gourd, filled it with water, and placed it outside.
When he woke up in the morning, sure enough, the gourd had also frozen.
He tapped the outside of the gourd, and a complete ice gourd was revealed inside.
Jiang Changtian discovered that his Mianmian was particularly fond of ice and snow.
It was as if she had never seen snow in her past life.
So, he thought about making an ice gourd to give Mianmian a surprise.
Sure enough, Mianmian got up for breakfast, dressed warmly, and was holding a handful of ice, which she had broken off from the eaves and picked up from the grass by the roadside.
When she saw the ice gourd that Father brought out, she was simply pleasantly surprised.
“Father is too amazing.”
There was a red ribbon tied to the ice gourd.
It was beautiful.
Although it was something very easy to make, it felt very happy.
After all, this was something her own Father made to coax her.
Mianmian felt that she was really good at being reborn.
Cong Geer also got up very early today.
Seeing Uncle Jiang showing off the ice gourd,
He silently had Heita bring out a huge, simplified version of a star chart.
If it were before, he might have hidden it, waited for the sunlight to melt it, and felt that he had gone to great lengths to make something only for it to be as if he hadn’t, and he would have told himself that he just wanted to make it, and that was enough.
But after listening to Uncle Jiang’s words yesterday,
Zi Congheng also reflected on himself a little.
He felt that sometimes he also seemed to fall into a strange emotion of self-sacrifice, whether it was towards Father or Mianmian.
This was not good; if you do something, you must tell the other person.
If he had been able to tell Father more in the past, perhaps he would not have had so many regrets when Father suddenly left.
So, he unreservedly took out the star chart he had spent the early morning finding the thickest ice to carve, and had carefully sculpted.
Mianmian was indeed attracted by the starry sky chart he carved.
The two of them squatted there watching, and he earnestly explained what each star was, and then watched the stars slowly melt in the sunlight.
In the end, it turned into a pool of water, but it had existed, it had been beautiful, and it had been made with heart.
Jiang Changtian looked at his gourd, which had shrunk by a circle, and felt a bit speechless; Cong Geer seemed to have suddenly become a bit strange…
He accompanied his daughter to play with the ice, and watched his daughter and Cong Geer being picked up by Princess Huiyun.
Today, Qin Luoxia had an appointment to go to the Meng Family to see her two grandsons.
Jiang Changtian was also preparing to go to the yamen.
Going to the yamen to check in at this time, he could then go directly into the palace. At this hour, the Emperor would just be getting up to see people.
And today happened to be the seventh day after Old Madam Jiang’s death.
Jiang Wan would come over here today.
After Jiang Wan moved to the Seventh Prince’s place, the security was tight, and it was not very easy to approach.
Princess Huiyun was very happy.
She used to hate her, thinking she was a very annoying, very pretentious little girl.
Now she wished she could keep her by her side every day; no amount of making up for it would be too much.
But she felt that her son seemed to dislike her a little bit.
It seemed he was unwilling to let Mianmian follow her.
Although Princess Huiyun did not care about other people’s thoughts most of the time,
She was cautiously guilty towards her own son; she would carefully think about even a single look from Changtian.
She did not expect that he would actually agree to let her take Mianmian to play today.
She promised that she would take good care of her and would never take her to dangerous places.
Qin Luoxia had an appointment with her in-laws today to visit and, by the way, see her daughter and her two grandsons.
Jiang Changtian went into the palace.
The Emperor watched a big show yesterday, was quite tired in the evening, and slept okay.
He got up in the morning, the weather was cold, and he even did a round of health-strengthening exercises, combined with taking pills, which made him feel energetic.
Today, the Emperor asked Wen Xin to visit Princess Caiyi.
It was mainly because it was the end of the year, showing royal favor.
After all, apart from Meng Qingshe, the men of the Meng Family were all away fighting, so this face had to be given.
And he suddenly remembered, so he summoned all his sons into the palace.
And he also asked Second Young Master Jiang to come.
Although the Emperor did not give extra rewards to Second Young Master Jiang, because he did not know how to legitimize Second Young Master Jiang and make him the Heir—Princess Huiyun was unwilling for him to take the surname Han and was still making a fuss about divorce, and he himself was unwilling to change his surname, and the matter of Master Jingjue, if spoken out, would damage the royal dignity—so it dragged on in this strange way.
It was just a sudden whim today to let his own sons come to have a meal together and, by the way, see Second Young Master Jiang, which could also be considered confirming the identity of Jiang the Second.
The Emperor was old now and often had sudden whims, thinking of one thing after another.
Especially when it came to tormenting the princes, he was truly more annoying than someone in love; he would suddenly want a peacock in the middle of the night and make his sons go catch one.
So several princes rushed to the palace in an emergency.
The First Prince was grounded, so he didn’t even have the chance to be tormented.
He was not included.
Next was the Fifth Prince, the son of Consort Zhang, a lay disciple of Buddhism, who often gave others gifts of Buddhist scriptures, but when giving gifts to brothers, the Emperor, and elders, he would give hand-copied Buddhist scriptures; he was stingy as could be.
The Sixth Prince was talented in both literature and martial arts, had a handsome appearance, and was very magnanimous.
The Seventh Prince had been mocked since he was a child, his mother’s status was unclear, and his presence was very low.
The 9th Prince was a good friend of Meng Qingshe and spent his days thinking about eating, drinking, and having fun.
The Tenth Prince was weak, and when the Emperor summoned him, he happened to have a cold, so he didn’t come.
The Seventeenth Prince was in the palace, was mentally challenged, and also did not attend.
So those who came were the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and 9th Princes.
The Fifth Prince was dressed simply and cleanly, with a round face and a very gentle appearance.
The Sixth Prince looked very noble and was dressed in a way that was aggressively noble.
The Seventh Prince was dressed very low-key, in a light white robe, which was not even new.
The 9th Prince was wearing the newest clothes, with colorful sleeves, collars, and hems.
The four princes each had their own characteristics.
This was the first time Jiang Changtian had seen them since arriving in the capital.
In reality, the princes were all very cautious and would not easily show their faces and deal with officials.
The 9th Prince was the exception; the 9th Prince often met various officials in various entertainment venues.
The four princes were also very curious to see the legendary biological son of Princess Huiyun, Second Young Master Jiang.
Hearing of his reputation was not as good as meeting him in person.
Sure enough, the appearance and demeanor of this Second Young Master Jiang were just as the legends said, extremely handsome, making people fall in love at first sight.
It was said that a new list of handsome men had recently appeared in the capital.
The one ranked first was actually the Father of several children, Second Young Master Jiang.
On the latest list of beauties, the one ranked first was still Princess Huiyun, the second was Princess Caiyi, and the third was Fairy Liu…
Princess Huiyun was a legend, Princess Caiyi was the center of gossip, and Fairy Liu was a witness that everyone who had seen her said she was beautiful.
The several princes could not figure out why their Father had suddenly asked them to enter the palace.
The Seventh Prince looked very nervous; after all, at the last family banquet, his Father had directly left him out.
The Fifth Prince appeared to have no desires and was rubbing a string of Buddhist prayer beads in his hand, which were already polished smooth and were a deep, oily red.
The Fifth Prince’s hands were also fair, tender, and chubby, very suitable for holding prayer beads, and very beautiful.
The Sixth Prince was still holding a paper fan in the middle of winter, very pretentious; this paper fan had the Emperor’s inscription, so no one could say anything.
Among the several princes, the Seventh Prince had a very quiet and cowering appearance, as usual, with no presence.
The 9th Prince was very lively, and his voice was relatively loud.
The several princes met Second Young Master Jiang first.
The Fifth Prince very naturally gave a meeting gift.
He gave his cousin a book of scriptures.
“I copied it myself. Cousin, you have suffered all these years. Buddha is merciful; everything has cause and effect, and in the future, you will definitely be smooth and safe.” The Fifth Prince said solemnly.
Jiang Changtian accepted the Buddhist scriptures very gratefully, shook Fifth Brother’s hand vigorously, and said emotionally: “Fifth Brother, I like Buddhist scriptures the most. You have a heart. When I was in Jingzhou, the abbot of Guizhen Temple in Jingzhou always wanted to take me as a lay disciple, saying that I had an affinity with Buddha. I didn’t understand what it meant before, but now that I see Fifth Brother, it is like love at first sight; so that was it.”
The Fifth Prince’s face twitched slightly… He didn’t know why, but he felt that he had met someone even thicker-skinned than himself, and suddenly he felt like he had met his match, and he couldn’t even compare.
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