NABC Chapter 108 Choice
Chapter 108 Choice
Chapter 108 Choice
"If Madam Wu were to come to visit, I would certainly welcome her with open arms!" Madam Feng said with a smile.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Madam Feng, Madam Wu looked at Wang Zhuo and Wang You and smiled, saying, "These must be Madam Feng's two sons, right? They are both very handsome."
"You flatter me, Madam Wu."
Madam Feng turned her head and said, "Quickly come and pay your respects to Madam Wu."
"Greetings, Madam Wu!" The two brothers stepped forward and bowed.
"Um."
Madam Wu nodded with a smile, looked Wang Zhuo up and down, and continued chatting with Madam Feng.
Although the polo match is considered a large-scale matchmaking event, she will not act as a matchmaker for anyone.
This kind of thing is best kept quiet; there's not much benefit to it, and if problems arise in the future, it will offend people.
However, she would also keep an eye on the young men and women of marriageable age, and would mention them and praise them when chatting with them, in order to gain favor.
After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Madam Feng saw another carriage approaching and said, "Madam Wu is busy. This is my first time participating in a polo match. Let me go in and have a look around."
"Madam Feng, please go now. I will come back to talk to you later."
Madam Wu summoned a maid and asked her to lead the way for Madam Feng.
Led by the maid, the mother and her two children arrived at a tent.
The location isn't great; it's on the right side of the polo field, near the very end.
The best spot is naturally one facing the polo field, so you can have a clear view of the polo match.
From their position, it's not very clear what's on the other side.
However, given the Wang family's situation, it's already quite good that they received an invitation; naturally, they wouldn't get a good spot.
The maid who led the way took her leave, and the accompanying maids began to busy themselves.
The inside of the tent was very tidy, and there were several plates of snacks on the table.
In addition, there was a small stove and a teapot. The maids lit the stove and began to boil water to make tea.
"Please sit down."
Madam Feng sat down in the main seat and spoke to the two brothers who were looking around.
"This polo match is quite lively," Wang Zhuo said with a smile.
"Bianjing was a hub for wealthy and powerful families, so it was naturally bustling with activity."
Wang You said regretfully, "I can't ride a horse yet, otherwise I really want to go out and play a game of polo."
"Why play polo?"
Madam Feng frowned and said, "Riding a horse is dangerous. You better behave yourself."
"Mother, one of the Six Arts of a Gentleman is horsemanship. As a scholar, what's wrong with me emulating the sages and learning to ride a horse?"
Wang You looked helpless. The saying "scholars are useless" has been around since the Song Dynasty.
Before the Song Dynasty, scholars aspired to become generals or prime ministers.
While it's not to say that every scholar could fight on the battlefield, they were all familiar with military strategy and tactics.
Both charioteering and archery are among the six arts of a gentleman.
Unfortunately, by the time of the Song Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was too chaotic, and too many scholars died.
After the founding of the Song Dynasty, scholars were all focused on studying for the imperial examinations and had no time to learn these things.
In the eyes of scholars, both charioteering and archery had become synonymous with vulgarity.
The main character is someone who is completely powerless.
"I don't care about the six arts or eight skills of a gentleman, you're not allowed to go," Madam Feng said, glaring at him.
"I understand." Wang You nodded sullenly.
At the entrance of the polo field, the carriages from the Prince of Yong's Mansion and the Prince of Yan's Mansion arrived almost one after the other.
Upon seeing this, Madam Wu quickly went to greet her.
She hesitated for a long time about whether or not to send invitations to the Prince of Yong's residence and the Prince of Chong's residence.
If we don't give in to either, we'll be fair, but we'll offend both Prince Yong and Prince Chong.
But if we invite them, the two families are currently at odds, and there will be a lot of trouble.
After hesitating for a long time, she still sent invitations to both families.
When the carriage stopped and she saw the people getting off, Madam Wu felt even more troubled.
"Greetings, Your Highness and Princess!"
Madam Wu first bowed to Zhao Sheng and Princess Jiacheng, then bowed to Zhao Lin, the heir apparent of the Prince of Yan, who was alighting from the carriage behind her, and said, "Greetings, Your Highness."
-
"Madam Wu, you are too polite."
Zhao Lin smiled and stepped forward, glancing at Zhao Sheng and the Princess of Jiacheng before speaking first.
"Brother Lin is here too," Zhao Sheng greeted him with a smile.
"Hehe, I've met Third Brother."
Zhao Lin bowed respectfully and looked at Princess Jiacheng, saying, "Greetings, Princess Jiacheng."
Prince Yong was not the eldest among the emperor's nephews; the eldest had simply passed away.
Therefore, Zhao Sheng was the third oldest among his peers.
Zhao Lin is two years younger than him and is the fifth child.
"snort!"
Princess Jiacheng snorted coldly, ignored Zhao Lin, and pulled Zhao Sheng by the arm to walk inside.
Helpless, Zhao Sheng could only turn his head and say, "Madam Wu, let's go in first. See you later, Brother Lin."
Zhao Lin still had a smile on his face, but it was even stronger than before.
Now that their fathers have both been chosen as candidates for heir apparent, the next step is for them to compete against each other.
Whether someone is virtuous or not depends not only on their abilities but also on the comparison they receive.
Prince Chong doesn't need to be as virtuous as a saint; he only needs to be better than Prince Yong.
It won't be easy for either of them to make any significant contributions in a short period of time.
So as long as you make the other party do some foolish things, you can naturally show your own virtue.
The two have only been candidates for a short time, and the court officials are still observing.
However, the two also won over some scholars and gained their own advisors.
After careful analysis, the advisors concluded that the Prince of Yong's weakness lay with the Princess of Jiacheng.
Prince Yong had many sons, but only this one daughter, so he doted on her very much.
Previously, when Prince Yong was just an ordinary prince, he was still relatively restrained.
Now that she has become a candidate for crown prince, Princess Jiacheng will only become more arrogant.
We can use this incident to damage the reputation of the Prince of Yong.
While it may not be possible to make a definitive decision, gaining the upper hand is sufficient.
One step at a time, one step at a time.
People have a herd mentality. Originally, the two were evenly matched, but the scales tipped in favor of Chongwang. In the eyes of the court officials, Chongwang had a greater chance of winning, and more people supported him.
It would be even better if the Princess of Jiacheng could cause a great disaster.
Therefore, he was not angry at the Princess of Jiacheng's coldness towards him; on the contrary, he was even happier.
Seeing that the two sides were at odds from the moment they met, Madam Wu felt very awkward being caught in the middle.
If the Princess Consort of Yong and the Princess Consort of Yan were to come, even if they wished the other dead, they would still appear to be on good terms.
But the younger generation doesn't care about such things, which is why she felt a headache when she saw that it was a younger person coming.
"My sister Jiacheng is still young, please forgive her for her rudeness, Madam Wu," Zhao Lin said, bowing.
Madam Wu quickly returned the greeting, saying, "Your Highness is right, please come in!"
Although she knew that Zhao Lin's words might seem like a show, it did make people feel very comfortable.
Comparing the two, a judgment is made.
Only the Liang family, with its noble title, is still relatively prosperous and doesn't need to choose sides to seek benefits for the family.
It's not that it's unnecessary, but there's no need to take that risk.
Even if the Liang family takes sides and the supporters win, the only improvement will be in their official positions, not in their titles.
But even the highest position is only temporary. The Liang family is still a military family, and any promotion will only be within the military.
For a military officer, a higher rank is not necessarily a good thing.
If the effort and reward are disproportionate, one will naturally not participate in such matters.
Unaware of Madam Wu's thoughts, Zhao Lin nodded slightly, a warm smile on his face, and entered the polo field with his entourage.
"younger sister!"
Zhao Sheng said helplessly, "You can disrespect Brother Lin, but Madam Wu is also here. What you just did was too impolite."
"Okay, okay."
Princess Jiacheng looked around and said somewhat impatiently upon hearing this.
"What are you looking for?" Zhao Sheng asked, puzzled.
Although Princess Jiacheng had some close female friends, they were all members of the imperial clan.
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.
The daughters of officials would not get too close to members of the imperial family.
Such gatherings would not invite members of the royal family, as they had never attended before.
Only now, having been selected as a candidate for crown prince, and with the permission to participate in court affairs, have they received this invitation.
Logically, there shouldn't be anyone here familiar to the County Magistrate of Jiacheng.
"I'm looking for Sister Mu," said Princess Jiacheng.
"Didn't you tell me not to mention anything related to the succession in front of Ziqian?"
Zhao Sheng frowned and said, "Going to him in this kind of situation would only put him in a difficult position."
Princess Jiacheng looked at Zhao Sheng with a look of disdain and said, "My dear brother, why can't you understand?"
"Um?"
Zhao Sheng looked at his sister with a puzzled expression.
Princess Jiacheng explained, "When you met him before, you didn't hide from anyone, so you thought no one really knew?"
The reason we don't let you bring it up is because we don't want to put them in a difficult position.
It's not a secret at all. Pretending you don't know anything about it just makes you look like you're trying to hide something obvious.
"Forehead--"
After thinking about it carefully, Zhao Sheng realized that it was indeed true.
"Have you figured it out?"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng snapped out of his daze and looked at his sister with a strange expression.
"When did you become so smart?"
Princess Jiacheng rolled her eyes at him and said irritably, "Do you think my father and mother dote on me just because I'm their only daughter?"
'
"Isn't that right?"
Zhao Sheng thought about it carefully and realized that his parents had always doted on his younger sister since she was born.
If it's because of Princess Jiacheng's intelligence, surely it couldn't be seen that she was intelligent from birth?
I can't be bothered with you.
Princess Jiacheng turned to her maid and said, "Go and find out for me whether the family of Wang, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, has arrived, and in which tent they are staying in."
"yes!"
Upon hearing this, the maidservant hurried away and returned shortly afterward.
"Princess, the family of Physician Wang is in the tent over there."
Following the maid's direction, Princess Jiacheng did not see anyone.
"Big brother is gone!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Sheng quickly followed, and soon the brother and sister arrived outside the tent where the Wang family was located.
Feng saw it but didn't pay any attention. It was normal for people passing by to glance at it.
"Mother, I saw a friend and I'm going to say hello," Wang You said.
Madam Feng glanced at Zhao Sheng and his sister outside, not recognizing them, and asked curiously, "Whose family are they?"
"It's hard to explain in a short time. I'll tell Mother when I get back," Wang You said.
"Go."
Madam Feng didn't think much of it and nodded.
"Thank you, Mother!"
As soon as Wang You stepped out of the tent, Princess Jiacheng anxiously asked, "Where's Mu'er? Why didn't you bring her?"
"She can't get up in the morning; she's still sleeping when she leaves the house," Wang You said.
Madam Feng didn't care whether or not she brought Mu Jie'er along, since Mu Jie'er was still young and far from being old enough to be introduced to others.
When a legal wife attends such gatherings or visits other people's homes, she usually brings her son and daughter with her.
But it's too small to wear.
Taking them out to meet people is also a way to show them off, so that others will mention their sons and daughters when they chat with each other.
So, the age of the older siblings, their appearance, and their character naturally spread over time.
This is not only for the convenience of future marriage arrangements, but also to spread our reputation.
Mu Jie'er is only four years old, so naturally she doesn't need to do that.
"Is Mu-jie so sleepy?"
Princess Jiacheng pictured Mu Jie'er being woken up, still sleepy, mumbling that she wanted to go back to sleep.
She's usually like this; if she hadn't never attended a polo match before and was curious, she wouldn't have gotten up so early.
Thinking of this, Princess Jiacheng chuckled.
Wang You was completely bewildered, not knowing why the Princess of Jiacheng was laughing, and looked at Zhao Sheng.
Zhao Sheng sighed, "My sister usually doesn't get up until the sun is high in the sky."
"Um?"
Princess Jiacheng looked at Zhao Sheng with an unfriendly expression.
"When I was a child, that was when I was little."
Zhao Sheng quickly corrected himself, saying, "It's normal for someone so young to be sleepy."
"Too."
Wang You naturally realized that the Princess of Jiacheng was in the same boat, but he didn't expose her.
"Ziqian, would you like to take a walk together?"
Zhao Sheng suggested, "This is my first time at this polo field. I heard there are also games like Chuiwan and Touhu over there, and there's also a Cuju field next door."
Wang You was somewhat tempted by the words, but hesitated.
Normal contact with Zhao Sheng is fine, but getting too close is not good.
He hasn't decided whether to help Prince Yong yet. If he's mistakenly thought that the royal family supports Prince Yong, it would be bad if it attracted retaliation from Prince Yan's side.
If Wang Min were just an ordinary official in the Ministry of Justice, let alone a misunderstanding, even if he really sided with Prince Yong, Prince Chong wouldn't have done anything.
After all, he's just a minor official, so he doesn't have much influence.
But the Wang family was no ordinary family. Even though Grand Tutor Wang had passed away many years ago and his legacy was no longer significant, the honor of being enshrined in the Imperial Ancestral Temple still made the Wang family stand out from the crowd.
The Prince of Yan might not care about an ordinary fifth-rank official, but the influence of his father's enshrinement in the Imperial Ancestral Temple made it impossible for him to ignore.
Its actual influence may not be much, but it does have influence within the Shihlin community.
Zhao Sheng felt somewhat uncomfortable seeing Wang You's predicament.
He could actually understand Wang You, but he didn't have any ulterior motives in inviting Wang You.
Just as he was about to speak, a laugh rang out.
"Third Brother, who is this?"
Wang You's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden sound. He glanced at Zhao Lin, then looked at Zhao Sheng.
"This is my friend. You don't need to worry about his identity, Brother Lin," Zhao Sheng said coldly.
"Since Third Brother is unwilling to talk about it, then forget it."
Zhao Lin glanced at Wang You, then left with his men.
Wang You frowned slightly. Although Zhao Lin's smile was warm and gave people a sunny feeling, the other party's gaze made him feel very uncomfortable.
"Ziqian, that was Prince Chong's heir."
Zhao Sheng comforted him, "But you don't need to worry. Since you've become Scholar Hai's disciple, he won't dare to do anything to you."
The Hanlin Academy scholars were the emperor's advisors; when the emperor couldn't make a decision, he would consult with them first.
They would only summon ministers to discuss the matter if they were still undecided.
"oh."
Wang You nodded slightly and smiled, "Brother Zhao, didn't you say you wanted to go somewhere else? Let's go."