Daming World.

In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, the sixteenth day of the first month.

The Shangyuan Festival has just passed.

Harbour City, high-end villa area, inside Villa 99.

Calculate the time.

It has been nearly two months since I arrived at the end of November last year.

It was the first time for Zhang Yan to stay in Harbour City for such a long time, and she had spent years here, which made her feel very irritable and helpless.

Although the smell of the New Year on this side of the harbour city is also very strong, the people carnival is very lively, and on the side of the seawall, there will also be a New Year's Eve fireworks show, setting off countless colorful fireworks, which is beautiful and shocking.

Yesterday's Shangyuan night, the lights in the harbor city were bright, all the lights were on, and the pillar of light on the top of the White Fort would also sweep around, which was even more beautiful, like a fairyland, so that many people celebrated until dawn.

Spirit.

After living in Harbour City for a long time, Zhang Yan can't help but feel that she is in a prosperous era, and it is a super prosperous era that has never been seen before or since.

Then came rejection and suffering.

Because such a prosperous era was not created and brought by the Ming royal family, but was created by a merchant force.

I also thought of the public opinion that supported Xujiazhuang here and did not want to the imperial court, and saw the hundreds of people who supported Xujiazhuang from the bottom of their hearts.

Zhang Yan only has a dazzling and heart-piercing feeling, as well as a deep powerlessness, because of the prosperity and development of Xujiazhuang, it is difficult for the royal family to catch up in a few decades.

And then I don't want to face this, I just want to nest in the villa every day, act as an ostrich, and be out of sight.

Then he found Empress Zhou and proposed to return to the capital as soon as possible, so as not to delay here.

But Queen Zhou not only disagreed, but became a qualified accompanying mother, sending Zhu Cihong and Zhu Yujiao to and from school every day, and was very concerned about the children's studies.

In addition, the royal palace covering an area of 100 acres that is still under intense construction in the south of the harbor city, Queen Zhou will go over to inspect it every once in a while, see the construction progress, put forward opinions, and pull the imperial sister-in-law Zhang Yan over many times, and ask Zhang Yan's opinion on the decoration style, interior layout, material selection, etc., and let her make a choice - it's just that Zhang Yan is not a mouthy woman, after all, the money has been spent, and for the sake of royal face, it is necessary to be luxurious, and she is just a former queen, in terms of the right to speak, Or Zhou Yufeng is more, so it is Queen Zhou who puts forward more decoration opinions, and she is extremely concerned about this matter.

At six o'clock in the afternoon.

Zhou Yufeng, who went to pick up the baby at school, picked up several children back.

In the evening, when we sit together for dinner.

Looking at Queen Zhou, who was sitting opposite, Zhang Yan said in an old tune: "Xiao Zhou, the two of us, we've been here for too long, we've been shopping in the mall dozens of times, we've eaten countless foods, and we've gone to more than a dozen fun places, eating, drinking, and having fun, all of which have been experienced, so ...... Go back, don't stay here any longer, you can go back to the capital."

"Go back? Sister-in-law, isn't this place good?" Zhou Yufeng stopped his chopsticks, raised his head and asked.

"It's good here, but this is not our home, there are no roots for us, this is someone else's territory, how can we live under someone else's roof for a long time?" Zhang Yan said.

"Imperial sister-in-law, if I say this kind of thing, there may be some truth, but you are usually mostly alone, there is nothing to rely on, the world is big, it is the same everywhere, I still have so many oil bottles around me, and it is quite hard to carry it every day, if I return to the capital and hand them over to the care of Gonggong Feng, or handle the school, I will be able to relax a lot, but I am reluctant to have children, I am afraid that they will suffer, and I want to accompany them for a while longer, but I can't go back, I have no way to go back, I have nothing to worry about, why do you want to go back?" Everyone in this Harbour City is free, and what are you doing in a hurry to go back, you just go back, and you don't lie alone in your room every day."

Zhou Yufeng complained.

"No matter how bad the palace is, it is also our own place, no matter how good the harbor city is, it is not as good as the capital, Xiao Zhou, don't be blinded by the prosperity here and mess up your mind." Zhang Yan made a straight face and criticized.

"Imperial sister-in-law, the times have long changed, outdated concepts should be abandoned, Harbour City is not anyone's territory, but a free city, every citizen is a free citizen, as long as you don't do anything illegal, you won't have any sense of being bound, Imperial Sister-in-law, I know you don't like that Fang Qingyan, but we've been in Harbour City for so long, does she have trouble coming to us? I also know that you are worried that Xu Yuan will be bad to you, but it's been almost two months, he hasn't come to see us once, and he is busy with his own business, so it can be seen that each has its own focus of life, you, you are too suspicious, always worried about this and afraid of that, but what Xu Jiazhuang is most concerned about is how to develop and make money, as long as the royal family does not hinder them from making money, why is it unfriendly to us?" Queen Chow Road.

"There is no obstacle now, but there will definitely be contradictions in the future, Your Majesty, he is a promising king, will he tolerate Xu Jiazhuang to continue to swell like this?"

"What if you can't tolerate it? With the power of the royal family and the imperial court, can you stop Xujiazhuang and stop the changes in the general trend of the world? Shunchang is against the fall, and now it is the royal family, and it can only conform to the development of Xujiazhuang, and then take a free ride on the development to bring benefits to the royal family, and the more confrontation, the faster the royal family will decline, can't the imperial sister-in-law see this?"

"This ......," Zhang Yan couldn't refute.

"Cooperation, we can only increase cooperation with Xujiazhuang, but also to establish the royal palace, leaving one or more core members of the royal family, living in the royal palace for a long time, like a proton, in order to win the trust of Xujiazhuang, the imperial sister-in-law, for the interests of the royal family, this hostage, I and my children are willing to do it, I don't know if the imperial sister-in-law is willing to pay a certain sacrifice for the future of the royal family like me?" Empress Zhou asked.

"I, I......"

Zhang Yan wanted to say that of course she was willing, but she felt that something was wrong, and after thinking about it, she still couldn't say it.

"Imperial sister-in-law, don't you want to shout every day that you want to go back? The construction of the royal palace is almost done, and it will be completed in another month, and when it is completed, we can prepare to go back to the capital, anyway, in a month, the weather will be warmer, can we go back later?" Zhou Yufeng said.

"Okay, then wait another month."

Zhang Yan had no choice but to say.

However, on the twentieth day of the first month.

A piece of news came from the White Castle: Xu Yuan had returned.

And Xu Yuan's return this time was not a short return that came and left immediately, but dealt with quite a lot of affairs.

For example, it is necessary to recruit about 30,000 infrastructure workers, take them to work in the "fairy world", and start the fifth phase of labor dispatch.

In addition, a large number of materials and machinery and equipment were brought over to make up for last year's shortcomings.

Then a batch of Gumao wine, tea, porcelain and other materials were poured into the "fairy world".

I was busy until the 25th, when I basically finished dealing with the affairs at hand, and I had more personal time.

But he took the initiative to visit, quite sneaky, came to Villa No. 99, and specially met Zhang Yan and Queen Zhou, but it was on the afternoon of the 28th.

And maybe it wasn't empty-handed.

He gave a cartload of gifts, which contained—

The latest styles of clothing, bags, shoes.

There is a whole range of high-end cosmetics.

There is a drug that has the effect of maintaining youthful vitality.

There is a TV.

There is a classic peak game console and a hundred game cards.

There is a Huayao smartphone with the latest women's style, 2TB of storage space, which downloads countless music, film and television dramas, and game software, and the storage space is occupied by 1.5TB, which is enough for one person to watch for more than ten years.

and jewelry, among others.

So many gifts, even in modern society, are worth more than one million yuan, and on the side of the Ming Dynasty, the value can be increased tenfold or hundredfold, which is a treasure that can make countless powerful people fall into madness, and may even cause a war.

Therefore, after Zhou Yufeng, the queen of Zhou, saw so many valuable gifts, her eyes were bright and scary, and she couldn't wait to take them all away, but Xu Yuan planned to give them all

For Zhang Yan, after Zhang Yan resisted and said "don't" hundreds of times, Xu Yuan signaled with a look, Queen Zhou came over and took away most of the clothes, bags, shoes and cosmetics, only the most valuable ones were not taken away.

Fortunately, Zhou Yufeng didn't just take things and didn't work, before she left with her things, she took the door with her hand and said, "You two have a good chat, I won't bother."

So inside this bedroom.

Only Xu Yuan and Zhang Yan are left, a pair of lonely men and widows.

And looking at the woman in front of him wearing a conservative silk cardigan + horse-faced skirt, but with a round and jade figure, all of her gestures reveal a dignified, mature and seductive temperament, smelling the faint fragrance, Xu Yuan felt that his breathing became a lot shorter, and his eyes became straight, and all his attention was on this woman.

Even involuntarily, I took two steps towards her, and some kind of primal impulse that was difficult to contain began to arise in my brain.

"Don't come here!"

Feeling the man's fiery gaze, Zhang Yan was scared, so she had to take two steps back, and said with high vigilance: "You stay away from me, leave my room, if you want to talk, go to the living room downstairs to talk, this is my boudoir, I can't keep you."

"Beauty, I didn't do anything."

Xu Yuan helplessly spread his hands, but the idea of getting close to her was stronger, but seeing that she was so guarded, he had to say: "You watch this TV, you can watch video programs in the future, and this classic peak game console, which was developed and produced not long ago, is the crystallization of the wisdom of tens of thousands of senior talents, come here, I will teach you how to play this game by hand, it is guaranteed to be very fun."

"No, I'm not going over, you disciple let me out!"

Zhang Yan had already retreated to the far corner of the room, her defensive posture was extreme, and she pulled out the hosta on her head, aimed at the man, and said extremely nervously: "Go out, otherwise I, I will not be polite."

"Beauty, why do you do this? I haven't even touched my fingers, are you serious when you're so vigilant?"

Xu Yuan felt a little sad, this woman, is it so difficult to impress, so she had to pick up the new mobile phone on the bed, shook it at her and said: "This is the latest Huayao P500 mobile phone, equipped with a 3nm chip, with a running score of nearly 2 million, and the photo effect is better, in addition, in terms of battery life, it has also made a revolutionary breakthrough, equipped with a large battery of 12000 mAh, it is no problem to use it continuously for a day and a night, it is much better than the mobile phone that was sent to you before, and I have downloaded a lot of movies and songs, Zhang Yan, This is a piece of my heart, don't refuse, okay?"

"No, I don't."

Zhang Yan shook her head again and again: "Go, you go for me, don't stay in my room, don't do anything wrong to me, I will kill myself, and I will not obey you."

After speaking, she aimed the hosta at her jade neck again, and it seemed that as long as the situation was not right, she would immediately stab it.

"Don't, you put it down, put down the hairpin, I'll go out right away, okay?"

As if he had been poured a basin of cold water, Xu Yuan said helplessly.

He turned around and walked to the door, intending to open the door, but found that the door was locked from the outside, and he couldn't get out for a while, so he had to shout Queen Zhou's name a few times and ask her to come and open the door.

Zhou Yufeng didn't go far, so she had to open the door, her face was full of loss, and she glanced at her sister-in-law Zhang Yan with great complaint, as if it was all her fault for not cooperating.

Zhang Yan was angry, chased after her directly, and beat Zhou Yufeng a few times, scolding her for being shameless, selling her sister-in-law for glory, and hateful, while Zhou Yufeng said that she didn't know the times and was unwilling to pay for the royal family, making Daming Sheji more and more dangerous, and she was a selfish and hypocritical person who didn't care about the overall situation for the sake of herself.

The two tore each other hard, almost beating each other, and even felt like they were tearing their faces.

"Okay, don't argue, you're all right, it's me as an outsider who is wrong, I'll go back first, you don't have to be like this, quickly apologize to each other and reconcile."

Xu Yuan, who saw the excitement, had to interject and leave the villa.

And after Xu Yuan left.

Zhou Yufeng and Zhang Yan not only did not ease and reconcile, but quarreled even more

Finish.

"Imperial sister-in-law, don't you pretend to be tall anymore, you are not a yellow flower girl, you haven't experienced personnel, why are you so traditional and strong? Your husband Xizong, people are not as tall and handsome as Xu Yuan, and they are not as rich and powerful as Xu Yuan, so they can only rely on eunuchs to take care of the government, and they are not dedicated to spoiling you alone, even the nursing mother Hakka, whose status is much more important than yours, your son Ci Ran died young, that is, the Hakka family made a stumbling block from it, but Xizong did not have any disposition, this is a ruthless and unrighteous man, and Xu Yuan is so good to you, giving you so many valuable gifts, and deepening the relationship with the royal family, but you still have to resist so much, confused, you are really confused." Zhou Yufeng said.

"I don't want anything far away, I won't like him, even if I die, I won't obey him, if you want his things, you can go and curry favor yourself, don't force me." Zhang Yan said.

"If I were the imperial sister-in-law, I would definitely give myself away without hesitation, willing to sacrifice myself for the royal family, instead of twisting and pinching, pretending to be high, and wanting to refuse to welcome back." Zhou Yufeng sneered.

"I didn't want to refuse and welcome, I have always refused, I am different from you, you and Uncle Huang should not force me anymore."

"Imperial sister-in-law, you're forcing us!"

Zhou Yufeng gritted her teeth and immediately made a decision, she didn't have to wait for the completion of the royal palace, she would return to the capital in two days, but she would not take Zhang Yan with her, so let Xu Yuan concoct and tame this martyr, she could no longer tolerate her, and continue to waste the precious time of the royal family.