Xiao Shaotang was ready to be reprimanded by King Qin, and there was no possibility of concession.

King Qin was not as angry as he expected, but only stared at him for a long time before he spoke again:

"Zheng Yingniang, you hate her, Wang Huiniang, you don't want to, you don't want to listen to other women, so just say it, what are you going to do?"

Xiao Shaotang's eyes when he looked at King Qin became strange and cold.

"Father. He shouted in a low voice, and then said quietly, "If my mother were here, would she like you like this?"

The word "mother" is like a thorn in the heart for Xiao Shaotang, but for King Qin, it is the same.

"She......" King Qin seemed to try to suppress the sadness that surged in his heart before slowly continuing:

"If the changes of the year had not happened, if we were all in the capital and your mother was still there, then maybe when you married the main concubine, your side concubine would have entered the door together. ”

"No......"

If his mother is still there, she will naturally understand what he is thinking in her heart, and she will naturally understand a woman's difficulties, and she will not have to ask him to accept a concubine to block Cheng Huan......

King Qin ruthlessly interrupted his fantasy:

"Why not?"

"Your mother, like me, would never want to see that you have only one wife, and that your backyard is being watched by countless people all the time, and that you don't know when a fire will start!

Xiao Shaotang was silent for a moment before sneering:

"Speaking of which, my father's reasons are really above board, so if my mother is still here, she may have to worry not only about my backyard, but also about my father's backyard, right?"

Once, when he learned that his father had not married another wife or taken a concubine in the northwest for so many years, he was extremely moved, and he felt that this was his father's unchanging affection for his mother.

In this way, his tragic mother will not regret it under Jiuquan, and he will not feel that her death is not worth it.

Even because of this, King Qin, the father he had never met, suddenly became close in his heart.

But now?

"It turns out that my father hasn't married another for so many years, it's not that he has affection for his mother, it's just that he hasn't met a woman he likes, and you also think that a man should have three wives and four concubines, and ...... at will."

"No!"

King Qin categorically cut off his speculation:

"You don't understand what kind of feelings I have for your mother, and what I expect from you!"

King Qin's eyes were full of sorrow and pity when he looked at his son:

"Shaotang, have you ever heard a word?"

"What?"

"Huiji will be hurt, and the love will not live!"

King Qin's pair of eyes are almost exactly the same as Xiao Shaotang, but there are more endless vicissitudes of life, and there is helplessness about fate.

"For so many years, I've been thinking that if I hadn't been so complacent and had not been so bent on going my own way, maybe my mother and I wouldn't have ended up like this—after all, if it weren't for my refusal to accept the daughter of the Zhenguo Mansion as a side concubine, I wouldn't have been framed by them uniting together, and finally I was completely suspicious of my beloved brother!"

"Back then, it was because of this...... I thought it was really because of the observation deck......"

It's been so long, and Xiao Shaotang knows for the first time that there was such a reason back then.

King Qin smiled bitterly:

Who would have thought that I, Xiao Wushuang, would have the name of the god of war, but in the end I would be planted in the hands of a woman—no, it was planted in their endless ambitions!"

"When the first emperor chose his concubines, all the nobles were selected, the first emperor's concubine was from the Xu family of Weibei Marquis, and An Concubine was from the Anguo Mansion, you know. However, the Zhenguo Gonghua family, because of the lack of holy will, none of the daughters in the family were selected. ”

"The Zhenguo Mansion was unwilling, so he hit me with the idea, wanting to marry their Hua family daughter into the Qin Wangfu and join forces with me to fight against the first emperor, but I refused. ”

King Qin closed his eyes, remembered his wife who was depressed all day long, and wanted to smile at his son, but he couldn't:

"Although I know that your mother has never completely liked me from beginning to end, what is buried in her heart will always be her ambition to sail the sea, and her ambition not to lose to a man, I was born in the family of the emperor, but I am just an accomplice who broke her wings...... But I really like her. ”

"She is obviously a Jiangnan woman, and she should be a little more graceful and soft than the ladies in the capital, but she is just like her name, tough and beautiful, different from other women. ”

"She occasionally told me about her distant hometown, the big ship they built as tall as a tower, and the blue sea she had visited, and her eyes were shining brightly like I had never seen before, and her whole person was glowing with scorching brilliance. ”

The generation of war gods who were once praised by the people of the capital as "Wen Ke mentions the pen to settle the world, and Wu Ke immediately determines the world", faded away from the hard shell, revealed his soft heart for the first time, slightly closed his eyelids, and his face was glowing with a slight brilliance of happiness, covering up his fragility and exhaustion.

It seems that the fragments of the past that he can recall can support him through all the ups and downs of this life.

"I am willing to be wholeheartedly devoted to her, and I am willing to guard her alone for the rest of my life, hold her in the palm of my hand, and not let her suffer any grievances - so, I rejected the Zhenguo Mansion, rejected all the women who wanted to enter my backyard, and I thought I could protect her. ”

"But, Shaotang, what is the result?"

King Huo Ran opened his eyes, and the soft colors brought by those memories immediately turned into a cold reality:

"Your mother was pushed down the Golden River and died tragically in an unknown corner, you lived among the people, grew up ignorant, and I was relegated to the northwest - I didn't even see her last face before she died!"

King Qin tried his best to hold back his almost choked throat, and threw out his final question in Xiao Shaotang's stunned eyes:

"And you, if you only guard the Bai clan wholeheartedly, have you ever thought about the future?"

Xiao Shaotang was silent, but King Qin insisted on spreading out this most cruel thing step by step:

"We are about to enter the capital, you will become the lord of the world, your backyard, but there is no female dependant of the meritorious old department - those who follow you, can you rest assured?"

"They want more and more stable glory and wealth, they will do everything they can to keep an eye on your side by any means, and your most beloved person will become the most conspicuous target!

Xiao Shaotang raised his head and saw the pain in his father's eyes, and finally completely understood King Qin's painstaking efforts.

But......

He raised his head, still holding on to his thoughts:

"Even if what you said is right, and all your concerns sound logical, I still want to live this life according to my own heart. ”

Without waiting for King Qin to refute, Xiao Shaotang continued:

"I have made up my mind, although the road ahead may face countless storms and rains, but if I compromise with those storms and finally become unrecognizable, then what happiness can I live for?"

"Instead of being swayed by the ambitions of those people in the future, being annoyed by the women around him, making Cheng Huan's heart painful, and detaching from me, it is better to cut off the thoughts of those people from the beginning - Father, why can't I follow my heart like Emperor Taizu?"

"But in this world, how many emperors can be like Taizu?!"

King Qin finally understood that he couldn't convince his son no matter what, and he felt pain in his heart, but he was inexplicably relieved.

"Shaotang, when I see you now, it's like seeing me back then...... You are my son, and I want you to be like me, but I want you to be very different from me. ”

"I want you to live your life in peace, and that's what I expect from you. ”

King Qin's temples were already a little pale, and when he said this sentence with a full expression, Xiao Shaotang's eyes had a sour feeling.

However, even his father still has no way to compromise.

He knelt on the ground and seriously kowtowed to King Qin:

He also asked his father to forgive his sins, and his son's expectation for himself was to live this life according to his heart. ”

King Qin got up and helped him up, already knowing that it was useless to talk too much.

"In this case, Shaotang, you should also learn to make judgments, otherwise, you will suffer from it. ”

"I will take care of Zheng Yingniang's affairs. ”

Xiao Shaotang understood what King Qin meant, but there was one more thing he didn't understand:

"Then Wang Huiniang, what's going on?"

He didn't think that King Qin would unprovoked a woman he had never been in contact with with him at all.

King Qin smiled, meaningful:

"Wang Dashun is a loyal man, but he has a niece who is too clever - if you always see things on the surface, it will only benefit the people in the dark. ”

King Qin rarely sold Guanzi once:

"If you want to learn from Emperor Taizu, then you have to have the wisdom of Emperor Taizu, otherwise what big words do you have? You are only eighteen years old, and I don't force you to become a scheming person in one day, but you should also have some city government, you can see this matter for yourself!"

"If you can understand it, you will deal with it, if you can't understand it, you will bear the consequences, I can't help you!"

Xiao Shaotang knew that King Qin was testing him, so he didn't say more, and arched his hand:

"Obey the teachings of my father. ”

Coming out of King Qin's tent, Xiao Shaotang directly called Sanxi.

"You like to mess with women the most on weekdays, you go and inquire in person, Wang Dashun's nephew Queen Huiniang, what has she done in the past few days - no, what she has done in the northwest before, let me know clearly!"

"Why, how can I like to mess with women the most......"

Halfway through Sanxi's shouting, he suddenly felt that something was wrong:

"Your Highness, what are you asking Wang Huiniang for? Could it be that you, you have taken a fancy to Wang Huiniang?"

Xiao Shaotang punched Sanxi in the shoulder, beating Sanxi to grin:

"What nonsense are you talking about! Let me hear this again, watch your tongue!"

Sanxi saw that His Royal Highness the Prince of the World's threat this time was not as light as before, so he didn't dare to be sloppy anymore, and went tremblingly.

Bai Chenghuan didn't know anything about the secret contest between King Qin and Xiao Shaotang's father and son, and was still arranging the first banquet he hosted with great interest.

"The princess, in the largest tent, the slave maid has already led someone to arrange it there, the case is complete, the charcoal stove has been burned, and the felt outside has been paved with several thick layers, it will be warm and warm no matter what, you can rest assured, but this menu, you have to look at it again!"

Shao Hui replied neatly, and presented the proposed menu to Bai Chenghuan:

"There are a lot of ingredients on the stove in the army, and there is also a shortage of soldiers everywhere in the capital during this time, can you see if you can change it?"

Bai Chenghuan took the menu and glanced at it a few times, knowing that what Shao Hui said was also the truth, but she looked at it and pointed to one place:

"The lotus root used to make glutinous rice lotus root is not available anywhere else, and the Wang Ji shop on Yanling East Street must have it, let people ask. ”

When Shao Hui heard it, she wrote them down one by one.

The few maids sent by He Congmei didn't have much to do, they just listened to Bai Chenghuan and ordered Shaohui, and Shaohui assigned them again, very diligent and capable.

The master and servant were talking, but suddenly they saw the curtain lifted, and a woman in a pink cloak walked in from outside.

Bai Chenghuan raised his head, and the two grandmothers sent by Mrs. Wei Beihou, one surnamed Zhong and the other surnamed Zhang, had already stopped in front of the woman.

"Miss Wang San is polite, please wait a minute, let the old slave go to the princess first. ”

The smile on Wang Huiniang's face was slightly embarrassed, but it quickly dissipated, and she was still smiling, and said with a smile:

"It's because I'm thinking about the princess for a while, forgetting the rules, and having two grandmothers. ”

After speaking, a pair of eyes looked at Bai Chenghuan behind the first curtain, and after looking at Bai Chenghuan lightly, he humbly lowered his head and bowed.

Mama Zhong walked quickly to Bai Chenghuan's side, said, "Miss Wang San is here", and waited for Bai Chenghuan to show her.

This scene, in the eyes of others, inevitably felt that these two grandmothers came to this set a bit redundant, but Bai Chenghuan knew in his heart that these two grandmothers were the people who came out of the hands of Mrs. Wei Beihou, and everything was towards her, this was to make her set up all the rules she should have, so as not to be despised in the future.

So she didn't look at Wang Huiniang, but only bowed slightly to Mama Zhong:

"Miss Wang, please come in and talk. ”

Mama Zhong also walked back and said to Wang Huiniang seriously:

"The princess invited Miss Wang in. ”

Wang Huiniang's bent knees straightened, and she walked in with an unchanged expression.

Because although Bai Chenghuan has not officially invited the female dependents in the past few days, the female relatives have also taken the initiative to come to pay homage to Bai Chenghuan early, because everyone knows each other, and Bai Chenghuan can't say that he likes or dislikes Wang Huiniang.

I just think that she is just like the ladies she knew in the capital before, her demeanor is very beneficial, impeccable, but it is difficult to guess what she thinks in her heart.

Bai Chenghuan didn't like to deal with such a lady very much, so he wasn't very enthusiastic about Wang Huiniang, but just nodded politely:

"Miss Wang San is here. ”