"I've gained three pounds of weight......"

"It's good to be fat, it's good to be fat, my younger brother was also fat when he was young, and now he is on the horse with a knife and chasing Mobei, he was fat when he was a child, and he can only be brave when he grows up."

It seemed like a homely voice sounded in the Kunning Palace, and in the main seat of the palace, Zhu Youzheng sat happily on the couch, and there were all kinds of snacks and ice drinks on the low table next to him.

In front of him, Zhang Yan was taking Zhu Ciran and the three of them to weigh themselves, they used the "Taiwan scale" developed by the Armaments Institute, and what they just discussed was Zhu Ciran's weight.

Zhu Ciran walked off the scale, and Zhang Yan looked at him, turned back to Zhu Youxiao with a worried face:

"Long live, when an ordinary child is as old as Ran'er, he is only forty pounds, but Ran'er is already fifty-one pounds."

"Normal, my brother was fifty-six pounds when he was so old." Zhu Youxiao replied happily, disapproving.

He grabbed an osmanthus cake and ate it, then used a spoon to dig a spoonful of "crispy mountain" and put it in his mouth.

Looking at his overeating, Zhang Yan glanced at it, then walked to Zhu Youxiao and sat down, and said with concern:

"Long live, the royal doctor said that you should avoid eating, you can't get fat anymore, if you get fat again, I'm afraid there will be ......"

Zhang Yan didn't continue to finish, but everyone knows that it is not good to be fat.

Speaking of which, Zhu Youxiao is twenty-six years old, although he still does carpenter work in his spare time, but on the whole, he lacks exercise.

As a result, after he entered the age of twenty-four, his weight began to grow uncontrollably.

At present, he is one hundred and fifty pounds, five feet five feet tall, and when folded into a later unit, he weighs one hundred and eighty pounds, and is one meter seventy-six tall.

With such a height and weight, no matter what era it is, it can be regarded as obese, and this is the result of Zhu Youzhen often taking Zhu Youxiao out for walking and hunting, otherwise he may be fatter.

"It's true, I just don't know why my brother isn't fat."

Zhu Youxiao touched his big belly while eating, and the three sentences were inseparable from Zhu Youzhen.

While speaking, he looked at Wang An, who was standing in the corner, and asked with a smile: "Wang An, what is the length of my brother's body now?" How much do you weigh? ”

"Long live the return...... Wang An often goes in and out of the Tai Hospital, and the imperial doctors of the Tai Hospital basically do examinations for Zhu Youjian and Zhu Youxiao every day, which is naturally clear.

"His Royal Highness King Qi was five feet eight inches long yesterday and weighed one hundred and thirty-seven pounds, and the imperial doctor of the Tai Hospital said that His Royal Highness had a strong pulse and was better than most people......

Five feet eight inches, one hundred and thirty-seven pounds, this is the state of Zhu Youzhen at the age of twenty, and when converted into a later unit, he is one meter eighty-six tall and weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds.

This height and weight will be considered a standard in the future, let alone now.

"My younger brother is three inches taller than me......" Zhu Youxiao sighed a little after listening.

"What is the difference between His Highness's usual diet and rest and Banzai?" Zhang Yan didn't care about that, he just felt that Zhu Youjian was properly maintained, and he wanted to know the difference between the two brothers.

When Wang An saw Zhang Yan asking, he also replied truthfully:

"Since the beginning of the New Year, Your Highness has gotten up at seven o'clock every morning, then changed his clothes and dined, and dealt with the music at four o'clock (eight o'clock) at the end of the morning."

"At noon (eleven o'clock), His Royal Highness will let the kitchen of the Qi Palace's kitchen prepare a meal, and then go to the horse farm of the palace to ride and shoot, and arrive at the corner with the soldiers on duty, and rest until six o'clock in the afternoon (half past twelve), and go to the Cunxin Palace to eat."

"After the meal, His Highness will take a lunch break for an hour in the Cunxin Palace, and Shen Shiquan (three o'clock in the afternoon) will get up and go to the Carrier Hall to continue to deal with the music."

"At seven o'clock in the afternoon (seven o'clock in the afternoon), I will return to the Changchun Palace for dinner, and then deal with the recital for another hour, and basically go to bed before four o'clock in the morning (twelve o'clock in the middle of the night) every day."

"Basically, I will spare one and a half hours a day to exercise, four and a half hours to deal with the slack, a lunch break for one hour, and a bed rest for about five hours."

After Wang An finished speaking, he deliberately glanced at Zhang Yan, and when Zhang Yan saw this, he looked at Zhu Youxiao as if complaining, with a little unhappiness in his eyes: "Long live ......"

"I also spare two hours a day to repair the furniture in the palace and the Qi Palace, I can only say that my brother is not easy to gain weight, Baozhu, you are too worried."

Zhang Yan's complaint was nothing to Zhu Youxiao, he was very calm to defend himself, in order to prevent Zhang Yan from continuing, he deliberately looked at Wang An and asked:

"How is the meal in the Qi Palace?"

Seeing the emperor's inquiry, Wang An said one by one:

"Your Highness is frugal, in three meals a day, a bowl of noodles, or a bowl of rice noodles and rice noodles for breakfast, plus a few eggs, and a cup of tea is enough."

"I didn't eat much for lunch, basically six dishes, two meats, three vegetables, one soup and one tea."

"I will eat a little more light for dinner, basically one meat, two vegetables and one soup, and occasionally I will eat some pastries in the evening, but not too much."

"That's all?" Zhu Youxiao was a little stunned, he didn't expect his younger brother's meals to become simpler and simpler.

When he was in the Qingong Palace, Zhu Youzhen basically had about three dishes for breakfast, eight dishes for lunch, and six dishes for dinner.

I never thought that after moving out, his dietary standards would drop.

Compared with him, Zhu Youxiao, who has six dishes for breakfast, twelve dishes for lunch, and nine dishes for dinner, can be said to be overeating, and it is inevitable to gain weight.

"From today onwards, the harem will also follow this standard."

After listening to Wang An's words, Zhang Yan made up her mind and spoke to the female official in charge of the inner court, and the female official glanced at Zhu Youxiao vaguely.

Seeing this, Zhu Youxiao hurriedly said: "My brother eats alone, and we are a family, which is different." ”

After that, he looked at the female official: "Five dishes for breakfast, nine dishes for lunch, and six dishes for dinner. ”

"The slave and maid take the order......" The female official responded when she heard this, and Zhang Yan heard that Zhu Youxiao had reduced six dishes, and she was also more satisfied, and did not refute.

"By the way, how are the preparations for choosing a concubine?"

Zhu Youxiao remembered Zhu Youzhen's marriage.

"The local government is still choosing concubines, and there are three hundred mansions in the imperial court, and each government selects three people, a total of nine hundred show girls, plus show girls from various countries, and there are 1,527 contracts."

"The internal government allocated 30,000 taels to the provinces, which was counted as the travel expenses of the show girls."

Zhang Yan explained to Zhu Youxiao, but as she spoke, she also said:

"His Royal Highness has made some requests, that is, to raise the age of the show girl to sixteen to twenty years old."

"But after hearing this, the concubine felt that it was inappropriate, so it was reduced to fifteen to nineteen."

"The concubine feels that fifteen to nineteen is also a little too big, and wants to drop to fourteen to nineteen......"

The age of the prince of the Ming Dynasty was basically limited to between the ages of thirteen and sixteen.

For a person like Zhu Youzhen with memories of later generations, this age range is no different from a crime, so he naturally made people ask for it.

However, the problem is that if the age of the show girl is raised to sixteen to twenty-two, it will be more difficult to choose a concubine.

Normally, when a woman in the Ming Dynasty reached the age of fourteen, her parents began to choose a husband for her.

This time will not exceed three years, that is to say, women over the age of seventeen are already considered "leftover women" in Daming, and those over twenty years old are even more "older leftover women".

If Zhu Youzhen's request is followed, then the people may think that she, the queen, and Concubine Liu deliberately embarrassed King Qi.

Zhang Yan still had to think about the face of the Zhu family, so she chose the less embarrassing age group of fourteen to nineteen in the middle.

"It's really a bit big, so let's choose from fourteen to nineteen."

Zhu Youzhen's request was rarely rejected by Zhu Youxiao, and even while rejecting it, Zhu Youxiao was a little suspicious that his younger brother's orientation was somewhat abnormal.

Most of the women over the age of 18 are already wives, and their younger brother deliberately set the standard at 20 years old, is it difficult to ......

"......" Zhu Youxiao didn't dare to think about it anymore, so he turned to Wang An and said:

"I don't need to tell my brother about this, fourteen to nineteen is very appropriate."

"Slave and maid take orders...... Wang An readily responded, because in his opinion, there was nothing wrong with this standard.

Zhang Yan glanced at Wang An, and then remembered Zhu Youzhen's second request:

"Your Highness doesn't seem to like women with feet very much......"

"Isn't it good to bind your feet?" Zhu Youxiao was a little surprised, after all, in his opinion, the shape of his feet after wrapping his feet was still relatively good-looking.

Of course, this is because the foot binding of the Ming and Qing dynasties is completely different things, the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty women wrapped their feet, most of them used footcloths to bind the soles of their feet, but in general, the foot shape is relatively normal, and women can also travel and walk normally.

As for the Qing Dynasty women's foot binding, it was basically the appearance recognized by later generations, not only deformed, but also extremely difficult to walk.

Even if you put your foot later, it makes too much sense, because the foot is crippled after the foot binding.

Most of the queens and princesses of the Ming Dynasty were bound to their feet, and the more famous one was Sister Wang Xi, the queen of the Wanli Emperor, but even if she was bound to her feet, the soles of her feet were eighteen centimeters, which belonged to the normal category.

Zhang Yan's foot wrapping is also very normal, Zhu Youxiao doesn't feel ugly, but thinks that this kind of foot wrapping makes the soles of the feet slender and very good-looking.

"Pick some small feet, since my brother asks for it."

Zhu Youxiao didn't understand why his younger brother's aesthetics were so "strange", but he couldn't reject two in a row, so he could only choose a compromise method, that is, to choose some show girls with small feet.

"In that case, the concubine will send the news to the prefectures after that."

Zhang Yan breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this, what she was most worried about recently was Zhu Youzhen's marriage, and now that the criteria are finalized, it will be much easier to choose a concubine.

"Mother! We're all right! ”

Just when she was relieved, Zhu Ciran shouted, Zhang Yan and Zhu Youxiao took advantage of the situation, and then saw Zhu Ciran, who had finished the physical examination, and the three of them were looking at them with blank eyes.

Seeing their appearance, Zhu Youxiao beckoned and motioned for them to come over.

Seeing this, Zhu Ciran and the three hurriedly trotted over, and Zhu Youxiao hugged Zhu Ciran and Zhu Ciyan who came over, and asked with a smile:

"Have you been to the government school lately?"

"Go! I went to the school for 10 days last month, and I felt that the official study was more interesting. ”

As soon as he mentioned official learning, Zhu Ciran chatted with bright eyes, and Zhu Youxiao was curious:

"Interesting? What's the point? ”

"It's just that there are a lot of people, and there are a lot of people who are as big as children, and it's quite fun to be with them!" Zhu Ciran's happy explanation made Zhu Youxiao's hands stiffen.

He thought that Zhu Ciran would talk about some things in class, but he didn't want Zhu Ciran to patronize and play.

"You can't just know how to play, you have to study hard." Zhu Youxiao pretended to remind Zhu Ciran sternly, not thinking about his own problem at all.

"But dad, don't you also play with wood every day?" Zhu Ciran's childish words were unscrupulous, which made Zhang Yan and the others a little stunned all of a sudden.

"Dad is to save money in the palace, and it costs money to hire a craftsman."

In the area of sophistry, many times Zhu Youzhen can't say that Zhu Youxiao, let alone Zhu Ciran at a young age.

In Zhu Youxiao's mouth, he has almost become a model of thrift and thrift, Zhu Ciran wrinkled his facial features after hearing this, and he didn't know how to refute it for a while.

"Alright, let's play."

slapped Zhu Ciran's buttocks, and Zhu Youxiao asked the female officer to take them out.

It's just that not long after they left, Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan didn't talk a few words, and a eunuch walked up to Wang An and whispered.

After Wang An heard this, he said to Zhu Youxiao:

"Long live, Your Highness asks the internal government to allocate five hundred taels of gold, ten pairs of shark fins, and ten bear's paws to Sun Chuanting's residence in Zhenwu County, and then send someone from Tai Hospital to Zhenwu County to organize a free clinic."

"Huh?" Zhu Youxiao paused for a moment, then waved his hand and said, "You arrange it......"

"The slave and maid are ......" Wang An responded respectfully, and then arranged for someone to do this in front of Zhu Youxiao.

As for Zhu Youxiao and Zhang Yan, they started chatting about family life again, and when they were chatting about family life, the whole capital was also lively.

This kind of bustle does not belong to the people, but to the nobles and ministers, as well as some ordinary families with young girls at home.

However, before these families could prepare, the next day they heard that the imperial court had changed the criteria for the draft.

The original selection criteria for the age of 13 to 16 have suddenly changed to 14 to 19 years old, and the foot binding has also become small feet, which has dashed the hopes of many families who want to take a step to the sky.

"What's so good about small feet, feet that wrap their feet are beautiful!"

"Nineteen? Is it possible that King Qi likes? ”

"Probably not, I heard that in addition to raising two female scrolls in the Qi Palace, there are no palace maids and who are too old."

"It's hard to choose ...... now"

Zhu Youzhen's standards were changed and released by Zhang Yan, but even so, it still caused a lot of criticism, especially the age.

Many people looked at the standard, and they all defaulted to the fact that King Qi liked women, and some people also felt that they were afraid that they would not be favored at a young age, so they chose to quit one after another.

In this way, the scope of concubine selection has narrowed a lot.

However, some people are sad and some people are happy, and the happiest of them are some families who were originally unable to participate in the draft because their children were too old.

For example, in the crowd at the root of the inner city wall, a middle-aged county citizen who was over thirty years old could not hide the excitement in his eyes after seeing the notice, and hurriedly ran home.

Judging from the silk he wears, his family is not bad, and his mansion is in Huanghuafang, which can be regarded as a small rich family.

With excitement, the people of this county walked through the streets and alleys, and finally came to their own door through the streets and alleys.

He knocked on the door, stood in the doorway and looked around, and could see that he was overwhelmed with excitement.

After a while, when the courtyard door opened, a woman of eighteen or nineteen appeared, the woman was beautiful, especially her skin, as white as mutton fat jade, and her facial features were not excellent when taken out alone, but they looked very national when combined.

"Daddy, ......"

"Sujie, happy event! What a happy event! ”

The woman wanted to say something, but the county citizen pushed the door open, then entered the courtyard and closed the door, turned around and said excitedly:

"King Qi's criteria for choosing a concubine have changed, fourteen to nineteen can be, you haven't passed your birthday yet, you can just get stuck at this age, don't talk about it, Dad will go to the draft officials now."

"No, I have to go to Master Chen!"

Zhou Kui said to himself, walking towards the courtyard as he spoke, and by the way, he was also glad:

"It's good that you and my father and daughter stayed for one more day and didn't return to Suzhou with the next person yesterday, otherwise I would have missed it."

The courtyard of Zhoufu is not large, that is, the ordinary courtyard of small and medium-sized landlords, the scale of three in and five out.

Passing by some of the tooth rooms, it can be seen that there used to be at least five or six servants and maids in this courtyard, but now they are all dismissed, and only one old lady who cooks is busy.

"Daddy? What do you say? Are we not going back to Suzhou? ”

Zhou Sujie followed Zhou Kui, her brows furrowed, she didn't understand what was going on, Zhou Kui was too excited just now, and she spoke too fast, she didn't hear clearly.

"No return! No return! Pure your appearance is here, you will definitely be able to choose! ”

Zhou Kui danced excitedly, and walked into his bedroom, pulling out a small box from under the bed in the bedroom.

The box was opened, and it was filled with gold, silver, and copper coins, although most of them were copper, but they were also worth thousands of taels.

Zhou Kui hurriedly took out ten gold ingots from it, and said with some reluctance:

"Ten, one hundred taels, that's almost enough...... Forget it, take a few more. ”

"What are you doing, Dad?" Zhou Sujie looked at Zhou Kui puzzled, and Zhou Kui picked out ten more gold ingots, and then after returning the box, he put the gold ingots in a money bag, and then said with a sigh of relief:

"Give a gift to Master Chen, so that you can participate in the draft."

"But my daughter is over ...... age" Zhou Sujie was puzzled, and Zhou Kui happily explained again:

"The rules have changed......"

Zhou Kui danced and explained, and after a while, Zhou Sujie understood what happened, and then frowned and said:

"But my daughter is going to double ten in three days......"

"That's why I need to give a gift to Master Chen, and add your name today."

Zhou Kui was proud, and by the way, he didn't forget to complain:

"I heard that the rules for the selection of concubines by the king of Naqi were sixteen to twenty years old at the beginning, but now the notice says fourteen to nineteen years old."

"In my opinion, King Qi probably likes, and when the time comes, I don't know how happy I am to know that you are twenty years old."

"I can't say more, I have to go and give a gift to Master Chen, as long as you add your name before your birthday, the palace can't say anything."

After that, Zhou Kui hurriedly walked out of the bedroom with the twenty taels of gold, leaving Zhou Sujie alone in place, with a tangled expression.

She didn't care who she married, but his father cared.

Ever since she was seen by the scribe Chen Renxi when she was young, and Chen Renxi said to her father the phrase "gentlemen and daughters are nobles in the world", Zhou Kui has been buried in the selection of concubines.

If it weren't for Zhou Sujie's young age and non-compliance with the rules when Zhu Youxiao chose a concubine, I'm afraid he would have sent Zhou Sujie to choose a concubine.

After that, even if Zhu Youxiao did not choose a concubine for a second time, Zhou Kui has been staying in the capital, even if the fields in his hometown have been almost sold, he gritted his teeth and insisted, hoping to wait for the high-powered Zhu Youzhen to choose a concubine.

Zhou Kui is waiting, Zhou Sujie is also waiting, one is waiting with a purpose, and the other is waiting without knowing why.

From thirteen to nineteen, and now to the age of twenty, Zhou Sujie has long been numb, and she has no hope of entering the palace.

A few days ago, when the announcement of the selection of concubines came out, she found that she was not in the rules, and she was somehow a little lucky.

A few days later, Zhou Kui was groggy, first dismissed the servants, and then posted the news of the sale of the house.

Originally, according to the time, they needed to move out of the courtyard in three days, and then return to their hometown in Suzhou with the money obtained from the sale of the yard.

She waited for six years, watched many of the daughters of the family get married, and saw that she was getting older and older, and she was naturally anxious.

Originally, Zhou Kuidu had already thought about choosing a local official for Zhou Sujie as her husband after returning home, but the result was ......

Who would have known that the rules have changed, and Zhou Kui has hope again, so naturally he will not be willing to hand over the "national color" that he has raised for 19 years to ordinary people.

In the face of such a father, in this era when filial piety is greater than heaven, Zhou Sujie can only accept it.

She didn't have any excitement or joy, she just went back to her bedroom and continued to sew some of her father's worn-out clothes stitch by stitch, even though she knew that the other party couldn't wear it if she loved face......

"Fourteen to nineteen?"

"Yes, fourteen to nineteen, but even so, the folk still ......"

When Zhou Sujie was obedient and Zhou Kui was ecstatic and ran around, Zhu Youzhen in the palace of the King of Qi also got the standard rules for choosing a new concubine.

He was a little uncomfortable, perhaps because of his helplessness that his future princess might be a teenager.

However, Cui Yingyuan, who replied to the news, did not notice it, but talked about the people's criticism of Zhu Youzhen's "hobby".

Needless to say, he likes or something, and some people even spread rumors that he likes wives.

"The people can say whatever they like, but some scholars who spread rumors should be caught and beaten."

Zhu Youzhen got up and walked to the window, turned his back to Cui Yingyuan and ordered.

He didn't care what the people said, but he couldn't bear a word about the slander of some literati.

"Yes, the lowly position has already led to their arrest." When Cui Yingyuan heard Zhu Youzhen's words, he breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that he had made the right bet, His Royal Highness really didn't like these literati who chewed the root of their tongues.

"Has Sun Chuanting returned home?"

Hearing Cui Yingyuan's disposition, Zhu Youzhen did not praise or be dissatisfied, but turned his back to the inquiry with a flat expression.

"Not yet, there should be two more days."

Cui Yingyuan answered honestly, but after answering the question, he said something that Zhu Youzhen didn't like to hear:

"But...... Although Governor Sun did not return home, some gentry and powerful people had already come to the door to send prayers and door salutes. ”

Because he was afraid that Zhu Youzhen would misunderstand himself and slander Sun Chuanting, Cui Yingyuan hurriedly explained:

"But the Sun Mansion did not accept these things, but purchased a lot of rice and wheat from the imperial store in Zhenwu County, apparently preparing to wait for Governor Sun to return home and close the door."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Zhu Youzhen's back vaguely, but Zhu Youzhen didn't say a word.

After a while, Zhu Youzhen turned his back to Cui Yingyuan and said slowly:

"Continue to monitor ......"

"Humble command!" Cui Yingyuan responded, and after seeing that Zhu Youzhen did not react, he got up and slowly withdrew from the palace.

But after he withdrew from the palace, Wang Chengen, who had been standing in the corner, said:

"Your Highness, Wang Bingbi has done the matter over there, and everything has been sent to the Sun Mansion."

"Hmm......" Zhu Youzhen replied, but did not respond, and after a long time, he turned around and walked back to his place and sat down, picked up the music and spoke:

"Tell Sun Chuanting, rest for two years first, he has been tired in the past few years, and he should spend time with his family......"

"Yes......"

Obediently returning the salute, Wang Chengen withdrew from the palace, and the news of the palace also spread to Zhenwu County before the sun set.