Chapter 55

"Your Majesty has arrived."

Before the time, as the great eunuch Tong Xian walked into the hall and sang with a sharp voice, the concubines, princes, and princesses who had already been in the Wende Hall saluted one after another under the guidance of the queen Wang to welcome the Son of Heaven.

"It's all flat."

Zhao Yuanxi, the Son of Heaven of Great Wei, waved his hand and smiled, and while walking towards the seat of the Son of Heaven, he motioned for everyone to get up and take their seats.

However, according to the rules, only after the Great Wei Emperor took a seat, the rest of the people could take their seats.

Finally, the Son of Heaven sat down in the position facing the princes and the front hall, and then the concubines, princes, and princesses took their seats one after another.

In all fairness, Zhao Hongrun doesn't like to participate in this so-called family banquet, in his mind, the members of the family banquet should be close relatives, such as Shen Shufei, Nine Emperor Prince Hongxuan, well, Miss Su can also be invited, and the sixth prince Zhao Hongzhao, as for the emperor of Great Wei, he likes to come or not.

And this kind of family banquet in front of him is full of too many strangers, and there is no so-called "home" atmosphere, Zhao Hongrun doesn't like it.

You see, Concubine Shen Shu and the Nine Emperor Prince Hongxuan, the two most important family members in Zhao Hongrun's mind, were placed far away from him. Concubine Shen Shu's seat was placed among the concubines after the Son of Heaven, and the Nine Emperor Prince Hongxuan was placed on the other side of the prince's seat, so that Zhao Hongrun didn't have a chance to say a few words to his younger brother.

On the contrary, Wei Jiao, Gao Kuo, and Zhou Pu in the escort seat behind Zhao Hongrun looked excited.

Can you not get excited? This is a family banquet set up by the emperor of the Great Wei Dynasty, and how many powerful people in Beijing dream of going to the banquet but have no chance.

Whenever at this time, they can't help but secretly congratulate themselves on the identity of the Zongwei, because with the relationship with the prince, the Zongwei can participate in this kind of occasion nine times out of ten, well, although there are not many places, ten Zongwei need to draw lots to decide.

After the Son of Heaven took his seat, he said a few words of emotion, to the effect that he wished for harmony in his family and other words of encouragement, and during this period, Zhao Hongrun finally woke up to the meaning of the phrase "time is short" in the mouth of King Yong.

It turned out that it was the crown princess of the East Palace, Li, who led a six- or seven-year-old child to greet the Son of Heaven, and the little guy also performed poetry in public, and the children's voice was crisp, which made the Son of Heaven laugh and be overjoyed.

"Brother Huang, how old is Yonglu?"

Zhao Hongrun asked Zhao Hongzhao, the sixth prince on his left hand side, in a low voice. The "Yonglu" in his mouth is the little boy who is by the side of the Son of Heaven at the moment, the son of Hongli, the prince of the East Palace, that is, the eldest grandson of the emperor, and the little nephew of Zhao Hongrun's generation of princes.

Because the Great Wei attached great importance to the issue of heirs in the lineage, the princes of the Eastern Palace in successive dynasties often had heirs before the weak crown to ensure the orthodox inheritance concept of the royal family, while the rest of the princes did not have this rigid requirement.

"Yonglu?" The sixth prince Hongzhao calculated and replied in a low voice: "Six or seven years old, right?" Seven-year-old...... Yes, seven years old. ”

"Seven...... In other words, after this year, I will be eight years old, and I can enter the palace to study......

Zhao Hongrun pondered silently.

In the court, the prince and grandson who have reached the age of eight can be regarded as a "little adult", and the possibility of early death has been reduced to a minimum, and second, they can also cultivate their talents and talents according to the requirements, and send young Zongwei to be trained.

Whether it is the rest of the princes or Zhao Hongrun, they all came over like this.

In other words, when the little nephew reaches the age of eight and officially enters the palace school, then the princes like Yongwang Hongyu who have ambitions to compete for the throne will have more pressure on them, because at that time, their opponent will not only be the crown prince Hongli, but also the eldest son of the prince Hongli, the emperor Sun Yonglu.

Because it is not certain whether the Son of Heaven will pass the throne to the crown prince of the East Palace because he loves and favors the eldest grandson Yonglu.

Thinking like this, the time of King Yong and the others is indeed running out, and as the eldest grandson of the emperor gradually receives the attention of the Son of Heaven, their lives will become more and more difficult.

No, seeing that the Son of Heaven smiled and took the emperor's eldest grandson Yonglu in his arms and asked him to sit at the same table, except for the smile on the face of the crown prince Hongli, the smiles on the faces of the other four princes who were interested in competing for the throne were a little reluctant.

At this time, under the signal of the great eunuch Tong Xian, the little eunuchs of the Shangshan Bureau had already come up with dishes, and it was undeniable that Zhao Hongrun was far more interested in those fragrant dishes than he was in observing the princes.

In his eyes, today's so-called family banquet should be a meal for nothing.

During the meal, the Son of Heaven began to communicate with his sons in a verbal manner. Although the ancients had a rule of "eating without speaking", the original meaning of this sentence refers to not being able to speak while eating, that is, talking while chewing, which is impolite. It's not that you can't talk while eating.

Conversely, it is a long-standing tradition for the whole family to talk and communicate during meals, especially for families that do not easily get together.

If there is nothing to say during the meal, I believe that the family will hardly have any opportunities to communicate at other times.

is like Zhao Hongrun at this moment, he is just eating meat, eating fish, and gnawing pig's trotters, except for chatting with Zhao Hongzhao, the sixth emperor brother on the left side, in a low voice, he has no heart to insert into the game of the Son of Heaven.

Oh, the so-called game of the Son of Heaven is actually that the three ministers of Zhongshu Province called the Son of Heaven to think of some riddles, and at this time asked Tong Xian to read them out at the family banquet, so that the princes and princesses could guess, if they guessed correctly, there would be some exquisite gadgets as a reward.

The rewards for the princes are jade hooks (hanging jade pendants), jade pendants, etc., while the rewards for princesses are jade bracelets, hostas and the like.

It's just a little game to liven up the atmosphere of the feast.

But it is undeniable that the princes and princesses are quite interested in this. Of course, maybe those princesses care about those exquisitely made jade, but for some princes who are ambitious to win the throne of the Ninety-Five Emperor, they are more concerned about whether they can frequently show their faces in front of their father and emperor and win the favor of the Son of Heaven.

Counting around, I'm afraid that only Zhao Hongrun eats and drinks fruit wine by himself, as if he is out of place with everyone else in the hall.

Because it is purely a riddle to enliven the atmosphere of the feast, and it also has to take care of the princesses who are relatively weak in writing, therefore, the riddles that the three ministers of Zhongshu Province came up with are relatively simple, and occasionally there are one or two that are more difficult.

For example, "1,000 on the left is less, and 10,000 on the right is more."

Almost as soon as Tong Xian finished reading, Zhao Hongrun guessed the answer to the riddle in his heart.

"Imitation." The sixth prince, Hiroaki, guessed the first riddle correctly.

guessed the first riddle correctly, received a small reward of jade pendant from the hand of a little eunuch, and this unicorn drank by himself and no longer participated in the subsequent riddle.

The rain and dew are the same, he can't guess all the riddles alone, right?

And Zhao Hongrun didn't even bother to guess a riddle, after all, those reward gadgets knew at a glance that they were from the palace, and he couldn't take them out and sell them for silver, so what did he want those things to do?

"Say goodbye and then abandon the old suspicions."

"Humility."

"The work is unique."

"Lu."

"The dealer is in arrears."

"Seconds."

"Refers to the east and west."

"Yes."

"Race to be the first to enter the river"

"Color."

In the case of Zhao Hongrun and Zhao Hongzhao, the two princes took the initiative to give in, and the rest of the princes and princesses had a lot of gains, both won small rewards and were praised by the Son of Heaven, and many people's faces couldn't help but show joy.

Only Zhao Hongrun is out of place, he is not like the sixth prince Zhao Hongzhao who just drinks slowly with a smile on his face, and at a glance he knows that he is letting the royal brothers and sisters, he just eats by himself, as if he is not even interested in listening to those riddles.

Seeing this, the Son of Heaven was angry and funny, although he knew that these simple riddles were difficult for the Eighth Emperor, whose intelligence was comparable to that of Zhao Hongzhao, but Zhao Hongrun's faceless behavior made the Son of Heaven a little unhappy.

"Hongrun, why don't you guess?"

The Son of Heaven raised his hand to signal Tong Xian to stop asking questions for the time being, and asked Zhao Hongrun.

As soon as these words came out, many concubines, princes, and princesses in the palace subconsciously looked at Zhao Hongrun.

You must know that in previous years, Zhao Hongrun was also out of place with everyone like this, but the Son of Heaven never asked, but today, the Son of Heaven took the initiative to ask, what does this mean?

This means that the Son of Heaven is different from the past, and he has gradually valued this prince.

"Hongrun, why don't you try it too...... Don't spoil the fun. ”

The sixth prince, Zhao Hongzhao, gestured to the eighth brother in the right hand seat with his eyes, although he understood that since these riddles could not affect him, he naturally could not help the eighth brother beside him, but the problem was that his eighth brother had always been obedient, and it was difficult to guarantee that he would not do anything out of the ordinary.

Maybe it's because of the dumbfounded relationship in the hands of the Son of Heaven last time, Zhao Hongrun has some respect for his father, but he didn't say anything, but just raised his hand and made a "please" gesture to the great eunuch Tong Xian.

Tong Xian understood, smiled and said, "Please don't say anything when you stand aside." ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhao Hongrun had already given the answer: "Jing." ”

"That's a quick answer......

Everyone in the hall was a little surprised in their hearts, and even the sixth prince Zhao Hongzhao showed a little surprise in his eyes, after all, Zhao Hongrun's speed in coming up with the answer was no less than him, which was enough to be called a quick thinker.

"Congratulations to His Highness Eight."

Tong Xian still said the same thing, and at the same time motioned to the little eunuch behind him to send a delicate jade hook to Zhao Hongrun.

Zhao Hongrun picked up the jade hook and looked at it, and saw that the color was excellent, so he grabbed the little eunuch and said in a low voice: "Go, change a bracelet for me." ”

The little eunuch glanced at the Eighth Highness suspiciously, but he didn't dare to say anything, so he hurriedly took the jade hook and exchanged it for a bracelet and sent it to Zhao Hongrun.

"Are you going to give it to Concubine Shen Shu?" The Sixth Prince, Hongzhao, asked in a low voice curiously.

"Ah...... Uh, yes. Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, and his expression couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, because what he was thinking about was the girl Su who had a skin-to-skin relationship with him, and he really didn't expect his mother.

Zhao Hongzhao looked at the expression on Zhao Hongrun's face in surprise, and was a little puzzled in his heart, but he didn't think about it.

And the Son of Heaven was also happy to see that his son was so knowledgeable, and he didn't pick any more thorns, but it is undeniable that the Son of Heaven took the initiative to ask about Zhao Hongrun, and some people have looked at it in their eyes.

For example, Hongli, the prince of the East Palace, was not very happy in his heart.

After all, in his opinion, his eighth brother seems to have signs of getting very close to Yongwang Hongyu, and he ruined his good deeds in the scientific examination last time.

This breath was not swallowed by the prince of the East Palace.