"His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince. The old eunuch outside the Changming Hall folded his hands and sleeves, held the dust in his arms, and bowed to Qi Danshen. Rong Laochen has a lot of mouths...... Why did His Highness visit the Changming Palace at night?"

The old eunuch's name is Ji Sinian, who has entered the palace to serve the emperor when he was a child, and has now served two generations of kings for more than 50 years. Ji Sinian was loyal and honest, and quite capable, so he was appointed by the emperor as the chief manager of the eunuch department "Fengtianjian" and concurrently served as the eunuch of Sili Bingbi, and was deeply respected.

Qi Dan smiled softly: "As a son, come to visit his father, do you still need a reason?"

Ji Sinian nodded, he did just ask a routine question to report to the emperor, and he had no intention of obstructing it. After Ji Sinian entered the Changming Palace, Qi Dan suddenly thought of some questions - it stands to reason that Ji Sinian, as the closest eunuch to his father, should have been serving inside, why did he run out and stand guard?

After a short time, Ji Sinian came out of the Changming Palace and bowed respectfully to Qi Dan, "Five princes, please." ”

Changming Hall means that the candle is long-lasting, day and night. The first emperor of Shengguo in order to exhort himself, encourage his descendants to be diligent in the government and make great efforts to govern and give the name "Changming", which is the imperial study of the emperor of Shengguo, ranking the first of the last three palaces - the remaining two palaces of the last three palaces are "Changqing Palace" and "Changning Palace", and the word Qingning is taken from the classic book "Tao Te Ching" written by the ancient sage, "the sky is clear", "the earth is a Ning"; the emperor is the sky, the queen is the earth, the Changqing Palace and the Changning Palace are naturally the sleeping palaces of the emperor and the queen.

In addition to the last three palaces, there are the first two halls in the palace, namely the "Zenith Palace" and the "Hall of Eternal Life", the Zenith Hall is a place of sacrifice and ceremony, such as sacrificing saints, heaven and earth, the emperor ascends the throne, the big wedding, canonizes the queen, the soldiers go out and other major ceremonies, in fact, the number of uses is less; the Hall of Eternal Life is the main place for the emperor to meet the ministers in the court. The first two halls and the last three palaces are called "the city of five officials", and it is also the official title of the Shengguo Palace, which has a lot of meanings - one has the meaning of the eyebrows, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and facial features, the second has the meaning of the five humerus ministers, the third has the meaning of the five elements of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth, the fourth has the meaning of the five directions of the east, west, north, south, and middle, and the fifth has the meaning of commemorating the five emperors of the ancient ancestors.

At this moment, the lights in the Changming Hall are bright, the imperial study illuminated by dozens of palace lamps is like daylight, and the sandalwood incense from the incense burner is swirling in the whole hall, as if being in the heavenly fairyland.

Qi Dan followed Ji Sinian into the palace and found that in addition to his father in front of the bookcase, there was also a person standing aside holding a gold tray and silver soup bowl waiting for dinner. The young eunuch who was serving the emperor was similar in age to Qi Dan, but his behavior was very restrained and shy: "Little Xiao Bailu has seen His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince. After saying that, he lowered his head and didn't dare to look at Qi Dan.

"Single. The emperor of the current Dasheng Empire, the Ninth Five-Year Supreme Qi Changgeng put down the music in his hand and looked at his son: "Why did you think of going back to the palace today?"

As the fifth prince and the "King of Zhao", Qi Dan is usually very idle - it can even be said that he is more idle than more than ninety percent of the people in the heyday - neither the prince nor the important position, of course, he is clear. And Qi Dan's character is a person who can't stay in the palace, so he hangs out with Jiang Wenbing outside the palace all day long, "living" in the hussar general's mansion.

Speaking of the residence of the princes and princesses is also quite interesting, the eldest prince is the prince in the palace, and the rest of the princes and princesses also have their own residences, men in the east, women in the west, also known as the east and the west. And the east and west are built on both sides of the palace - Qi Dan once jokingly called it a "side place", and the side is a homophonic toilet, which is inevitably a little indecent, and he was punished by his father for this. Once the prince of Shengguo is an adult, he can go out of the palace to live in his own palace, Qi Dan has long been reluctant to live in the "side house", and as soon as he became an adult, he escaped from the "side house" like a famine, except for some ceremonies and other ceremonies and other ceremonies that must be carried out, rarely return to the palace, let alone visit the Changming Palace of the emperor.

"Father...... Erchen has something important to discuss with you......" Qi Dan hesitated for a long time, but still indicated his purpose, he glanced at the two eunuchs, one old and one young, each with a glance.

Qi Changgeng understood what his son meant, and he waved his hand to ask the little eunuch Xiao Bailu to put down the soup bowl, "You two go down first." ”

The two eunuchs nodded resignedly, "The minister retreats." He slowly withdrew from the Changming Palace.

"You seem to have been very close to the hussar general's son recently, and it seems that you are still making trouble in the city because of something?" It was Qi Dan who wanted to speak and stopped, but it was Qi Changgeng who asked first.

"Back to my father...... Shan Er and Jiang Wenbing have known each other since childhood, and recently he has a clan brother who is also the nephew of a hussar general who broke the law, and he wants me to help intercede......" Qi Shan reported the whole story of Jiang Chen's case to his father a few days ago, of course, he didn't tell him, for example, the open and secret battle between him and Li Mastiff was naturally impossible for his father to know.

"That's ......" Qi Changgeng originally wanted to say how dare a small Shanhe Mansion dare to punish the household member Wailang Jiangchen, but when he heard that this little guy was Li Mastiff's protégé, he didn't think it was surprising, after all, Li Mastiff was also upright. He picked up the lotus seed soup and blew it, and tasted it with a spoon, "Say, what do you want to report to me when you go back to the palace this time?"

Qi Dan walked to his father and knelt on the other side of the bookcase, swallowed his saliva, and his Adam's apple squirmed, "Father...... I would like to ask you to ...... Marriage. ”

Qi Changgeng raised his eyebrows, "Oh? I remember that your mother and concubine said several times in the past that you were of the age of marriage and wanted to marry you earlier, but you refused...... Why did you remember to ask me for marriage today?"

"Of course, Erchen now has someone in his heart who he loves. Qi Danyan said with a smile, "In the past, I still felt that I was living freely alone, but now that several royal brothers have been married, it should be my turn to calculate the day, otherwise when the sixth brother has a family and I, the fifth brother, is still a cocoon, it will inevitably be a little embarrassing." ”

These words are reasonable, Qi Changgeng thought to himself. "Single...... You must know that you are a prince, and if you marry a wife, you must marry a girl with a matching status. You don't just want to find a dusty woman from the Qinglou Red Square and marry her back in a daze, that's not a proper ......"

"Your name is really famous in the capital, Bai Gongzi. Qi Changgeng's words were serious, but he suddenly changed his words, not without ridicule.

"How can it be......" As he spoke, the cold sweat of the five princes flowed down. How can all these deeds of his own reach the ears of his father? Or do you ...... My father has been paying attention to himself?

"What the son wants to marry is of course not just a concubine, but his wife, Princess Zhao of Dasheng. And this girl's family background, appearance, and talent are very compatible with her sons. Qi Dan said respectfully.

"Oh...... is it that girl from any family deserves so much attention from my son?" Qi Changgeng asked, but his expression didn't seem to be very curious.

Qi Dan took a deep breath, "The girl I like is the granddaughter of Zhu Gong, the head of the household, and Zhu Zhao'er, my friend since childhood. ”

Zhu Zhao'er, the granddaughter of the Hubu Shangshu family, Qi Changgeng searched in her mind and found that she didn't have many impressions of this girl, but since she was born in the Hubu Shangshu family, she didn't lose her son's identity. "It is a good thing to marry and have children according to the royal law, and if you really want to, your father will do as you wish. ”

That's okay - although Zhu Gong is one of the six Shangshu and is in an important position, but after all, he is old and his heirs are not very good - the Zhu family is not part of his future plan, and sooner or later he will fade out of the court, since his son is interested, it doesn't hurt to follow his wishes.

Qi Changgeng's promise was so lightly promised, but in exchange for Qi Dan's joy but anger-he, is he really the one who has been perfunctory and abandoned by his father all along?

Twenty years ago, before Qi Dan was born, before winter began, the sky was already snowing abnormally. This kind of heavy snow lasted until the day when Qi Dan's mother, Concubine Dugui, gave birth to a dragon son - that day ended the heavy snow that had lasted for more than three months, and the blue sky was like a wash, and the sky was clear.

Qi Changgeng specially ordered the famous metaphysical masters, Guan Yuan Dao and Mr. Fortune Telling, to enter the palace to tell fortunes for Qi Dan, and after seeing Qi Dan in swaddling clothes, the Bu Operator actually fainted on the spot with black eyes, and the Guanyuan Daoist didn't know what he saw, his face was very trance-like, and finally he only said with a god, "Gold plus body, jade cover top." This son is extraordinarily gifted, and he must not be a thing in the pool. ”

There is a way that when things go wrong, there must be demons, so many visions and strange things naturally make Qi Changgeng have some prejudices about Qi Dan - although Qi Dan is the smartest one among the princes under his knees, and he is also the one with the most similar personality to himself, but Qi Changgeng can't like him at all, and even has some disgust and alienation.

Because of the words of the Guanyuan Daoist, he wanted to strangle Qi Dan more than once while he was in infancy, but after all, the tiger poison did not eat his son - how could he bear to harm his own son? So Qi Changgeng found another way, his education method for Qi Dan has always been "raising waste", and he is obedient to him but never deliberately trains him.

At this moment, Qi Dan once again felt his father's attitude towards him—that seemingly spoiled but actually perfunctory attitude, and his expression became a little distorted for a moment—and it was only for a moment.

And when Qi Dan raised his head again and looked at his father, his face was full of joy, "So your father, have you agreed to my marriage?"

Qi Changgeng nodded, "Since she is the granddaughter of Hubu Shangshu, it is naturally the best, and the marriage is all up to you - but you still have to make your mother and concubine clear first, and discuss it with the queen mother and concubine." He symbolically reminded Qi Dan. In fact, in his heart, even if Qi Dan marries the daughter of a common people's family, it doesn't matter if he even marries the singer of the Qinglou, it's just that the royal nobles don't listen to it when they act like this - as long as Qi Dan abides by the etiquette of his ancestors and doesn't do anything transgressive, he can do whatever he likes.

Qi Changgeng has always been very perfunctory about Qi Dan, and he doesn't even seem to care about the marriage - since it is not a political marriage, there is nothing to care about.

"Okay, Father Xie cherishes it. Qi Dan bowed his head and bowed to his father, "The son of the minister knew. ”

Qi Dan's back when he left was trembling all the time, was he crying? Or was it anger? Qi Changgeng looked at his son's back, and sighed infinitely in his heart - Qi Dan was obviously his own son, but the love he got was not as good as the son of a moth.

As a father, why don't you want to favor smart children? It's just that Qi Dan's birth violated Qi Changgeng's biggest taboo -- he didn't want any of his sons to repeat his mistakes.