I stood up and bowed to Li Wei, to which Li Wei did not react, and looked past me to the princess. The princess's smile had long since faded, and she frowned slightly and looked at him indifferently, clearly suggesting that his presence was unwelcome.

"Is there something wrong?" The princess asked him, in a cold tone.

Li Wei lowered his eyes, and I noticed that his hand holding the scroll was tightening slightly, but he finally didn't say anything related to it, and finally answered the princess's question like this: "No...... I'm just, passing through here......"

The princess didn't even bother to say the perfunctory kind words on her face, and directly issued an eviction order, "If it's okay, go back and rest early." ”

Li Wei did not leave immediately, stood frozen in place for a moment, and then silently said goodbye to the princess before turning to leave.

Seeing his figure disappear, the princess sighed, and when she looked at me again, she smiled again: "Come, come, let's continue to play chess!" ”

Li Wei should have made a special trip to find the princess, I think.

In the past year, he has studied calligraphy and painting and has achieved a little success, and I have introduced him to Cui Bai, who will go to Cui Bai from time to time to ask about painting, and occasionally he will go to the Jingzhong Painter Ya Gathering, he will also go to sit in the audience—according to Cui Bai, Li Wei rarely speaks in these gatherings, and often just sits in a corner, silently listening to the people's high talk—now, he may have bought a good painting and calligraphy, or he may have painted a painting himself, and intends to ask the princess for advice, but the princess's attitude of refusing to be thousands of miles away made him lose this original intention.

It made me feel sorry for him, especially when he saw me holding the princess's hand.

The next day I went to look for him, and he was alone in his study, and I knocked on the door and entered, and saw him sitting by the bookcase, glanced at me, and then looked away, but still said nothing.

I wanted to explain a little about the game with the princess yesterday, but when the words came to my lips, I hesitated. After much deliberation, I still didn't mention it, and only asked him: "Last night I saw a scroll in the hand of the captain, but is it a newly acquired masterpiece of calligraphy and painting?" I wonder if I can send it to the princess to enjoy it? ”

He replied lightly: "No." Then there was silence again.

I looked around, and saw that the scroll he had been carrying the night before was resting on his bookcase, so I walked over and gently took it to unfold it.

He has always respected me, often asking me questions about calligraphy and painting, and even occasionally showing me his works and asking me to give me some advice, so I took his scrolls and did this more naturally, and I didn't feel that there was anything wrong with it.

But as soon as he unfolded it, he snatched it away. He tore the painting several times violently, completely destroying the painting, and then throwing it into the paper basket with the spool.

Judging from the fragmentary pictures that can be glimpsed in this process, this is originally a painting of ink and bamboo. Ink bamboo is the subject of princess paintings, and the ink that Li Wei tore up is still new, which should be his own recent work.

Li Wei's face was flushed, panting slightly, revealing his rare anger to me, but he still did not vent his dissatisfaction directly to me, and even always turned his gaze away, never looking at me.

I was not a man of speech, and it was difficult to find words to calm his anger for a while, so I had to stand quietly, but I accidentally found that in addition to the painting he had just destroyed, there were also a lot of waste papers in the paper basket, and the paintings on them were also ink bamboos of different shapes.

He must have painted it repeatedly for a long time before he picked out a slightly more satisfactory one, and sent it to the princess last night, wanting to invite the princess to pass the purpose.

I became more and more frustrated, only to feel that the development of the situation was beyond my expectation and control, and it was a real dilemma in the middle of it.

After that, the brief moment seemed very long, and Li Wei and I did not say anything more, and everywhere, maintaining a static posture, watching the light and shadow on the window lattice alternate brightly and obscurively as the sun faded into the clouds.

In the end, the embarrassment was resolved by the attendants of the Imperial Medicine Hospital who came to report the news in the forbidden middle school. Led by the waiter in the house, he hurried in all the way and said to us, "Early this morning, Wenxi County Jun gave birth to a princess. ”

Everyone knew that Imajo was bound to be disappointed, but he tried not to let this disappointment come to light. When the princess and I entered the palace to see him, he was personally holding the ninth princess, looking at it with a smile and infinite love in his eyes.

"Hui Rou," he warmly beckoned the princess over to see his little daughter, "your ninth sister is really similar to you when you were a child." ”

The ceremonial procedures prepared for the birth of a prince have not changed because of the princess. The Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty had a child born, and would give the minister a gift of silver money, called "Baozi" money, and the birth of the nine princesses, today announced the third day of the princess's birthday, and the richness of the Baozi money given to the ministers is far more than in the past, it is made of gold and silver, rhino horn, ivory, jade, amber, tortoiseshell, sandalwood and other precious materials, and also cast gold and silver for flowers and fruits, and the prime minister, the minister, and the Taiwan admonition are all given by this.

Today's grace to Qiu He is even more undiminished, I have to see her several times a day, and frequently express my love for the Nine Princesses, but Qiu He is even more sad, often crying behind people's backs, so that every time I see her, her eyes are red and swollen.

Her mood can also be felt today, and she even said to the princess in private: "You often come to the palace to talk to Qiuhe and tell her that Daddy and you like this sister very much." ”

In order to further prove the importance he attaches to this newborn daughter, he even decided to give amnesty to the world, as he did when he gave birth to the prince, to relieve the prisoners in Beijing, and to demote him to one level below the capital crime, and to release him in vain, so as to pray for the blessing of the ninth princess.

Moreover, after learning that Qiuhe was pregnant last year, Imajo had already ordered the prisoner's sentence to be commuted, which was another favor. Although Liu Chang, the intellectual, is not an official, he still can't help but say something about it: "Although the prisoners in Beijing are dismissed, although they are out for a while, the outside world is all because of the birth of the princess, so they are used to celebrate this...... Amnesty twice a year, the prisoners are graced, the good people are dumb, the previous life of the Ming monarch and the virtuous minister, has discussed the disadvantages of this move in detail, and the court is willing to quit it. I also heard that many precious buns were given to his subordinates, and the ministers said that they were useless expenses, and nameless rewards, and there was nothing more than this, boasting of luxury, which violated the way of discipline and frugality. Your Majesty should clearly review the decrees, be deeply respectful and frugal, answer the heavens' edicts, and build a foundation without borders. It is not advisable to exercise the grace of appeasement, to the detriment of the political system, to pay for redundancy, and to degenerate frugality. ”

Liu Chang's advice did not change Jinshang's decision, but a month later, when Anding Junjun gave birth to the tenth princess, Jinshang did not give the same favor.

Of course, for Qiu He himself, he did not forget to reward him. In recent years, he wanted to expand the emperor's heirs, and selected ten young women to enrich the harem, called the "Ten Pavilions", among which Qiuhe, Anding Junjun and Qinghe Junjun were among them. The ten pavilions have palace personnel, chamberlains, and promotion officials, and they are very well-supplied, but their titles are only county monarchs and county monarchs, and they have not been promoted for many years.

One day Miao Xianfei and the princess went to visit Qiuhe, at that time several ladies in the Ten Pavilion were also there, and when they came in today, Miao Niangzi asked him what he wanted to do with Qiuhe, he smiled and said: "Shicai has ordered to go down, let the ministers write an edict, and move Qiuhe as a beauty." ”

When Qiu He heard this, he struggled to get up and bowed, and said: "The concubine is out of a slight cold, and it is a great fortune to be favored by His Majesty and give birth to a princess." In addition, His Majesty cherishes the Nine Princesses, not only gives them generously, but also prays for her to be blessed, and the concubines and daughters have been favored too much, if Your Majesty moves the position of the concubine again, so that the concubine is more and more beautiful, for the concubine, I am afraid it is a blessing. His Majesty's good intentions, the concubine was grateful, but she never dared to accept it, hoping that His Majesty would take back her life. ”