Chapter 63

In the blink of an eye, it was June, and the Great Wei remained peaceful, with no major events occurring in the court.

Prince Hongli of the Eastern Palace, for reasons unknown, had not come to trouble Zhao Hongrun for a whole month after what had happened.

Zhao Hongrun found this somewhat surprising. After all, he had disrupted the Eastern Palace's "establishment of a statement" in the Wende Hall on the Duanwu Festival, not only failing to secure the position of the crown prince for the Eastern Palace but also saddling him with the charge of "plagiarism and deceit."

Moreover, Zhao Hongrun had dismantled the Eastern Palace's think tank, making it hard to imagine that the Eastern Palace would remain silent.

Therefore, Zhao Hongrun sent the palace guards to investigate. It was then that he learned that after the imperial examination, the Eastern Palace had recruited several new companions from the successful candidates, forming a new think tank. Among them, a scholar named Luo Cheng had persuaded the Eastern Palace.

"Luo Cheng? The second-place winner of this year's palace examination?"

When he heard this news, Zhao Hongrun was indeed somewhat surprised. After all, he had been one of the accompanying princes for this year's imperial examination and had a general idea of the candidates' abilities. Excluding the candidate who had cheated to advance his career, the overall level of this year's candidates was quite high, such as the candidate Wen Qi, whom he had once highly regarded.

However, he never expected that Wen Qi, whom Zhao Hongrun had looked forward to, would not even make the list. Instead, the candidates who did make the list were those whom Zhao Hongrun had barely noticed.

What did this mean?

It meant that the candidates who made the list this year were generally of high caliber.

The fact that the newly appointed second-place winner had been recruited by the Eastern Palace Prince was something that Zhao Hongrun could not help but pay attention to, especially since he was currently leaning towards Prince Hongyu of Yong.

Speaking of Prince Hongyu of Yong, there was a matter that needed to be mentioned. Not long ago, Zhao Hongrun had sent the palace guard Shen Yu to investigate the background of his second elder brother.

As expected, Prince Hongyu of Yong was very cooperative and did not hide anything.

The results of the investigation were very satisfying to Zhao Hongrun: this second elder brother indeed acted with integrity and transparency. While he was actively recruiting officials from the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue, he also made significant contributions with his outstanding insights and suggestions, earning the respect of many officials in the court. It was no wonder that his reputation and popularity in the court were quite high.

In contrast, the actions of Zhao Hongrun's third elder brother, Prince Hongjing of Xiang, were somewhat puzzling. This Prince of Xiang widely accepted guests in his mansion, regardless of their noble or humble origins, and welcomed all who sought refuge with him as guests.

It seemed that Prince Xiang had no small ambitions...

Zhao Hongrun did not pass judgment on this, as he believed that anyone could be useful at the right time, regardless of their background. His third elder brother, Prince Hongjing of Xiang, was undoubtedly "raising troops" for the future.

As for his fourth elder brother, Prince Hongjiang of Yan, and his fifth elder brother, Prince Hongxin of Qing, Zhao Hongrun had also made some inquiries. He learned that Prince Yan was extremely fond of martial arts, spending his days practicing with weapons in his mansion or sparring with generals in the military camps outside the capital. He seemed to have no interest in literature and did not recruit any of the successful candidates from the imperial examination, displaying a typical warrior's demeanor.

On the other hand, Prince Qing, his fifth elder brother, had contact with both scholars and warriors, but his reputation and influence among scholars were far inferior to those of the Eastern Palace, Prince Yong, and Prince Xiang. His martial skills were also not as good as Prince Yan's, resulting in few people seeking him out.

As for his sixth elder brother, Prince Hongzhao, there was no need to mention him. In Zhao Hongrun's eyes, this elder brother only cared about his poetry gatherings. He was enthusiastic about recruiting those who excelled in poetry and verse, but since he had not yet left the palace and had no intention of vying for the throne, he could not attract ambitious scholars. It was likely that only those with similar temperaments could get along with this prince.

Speaking of Zhao Hongrun himself, he had been quite idle these days. Every day, he would visit Miss Su outside the palace, buy a small gift from the market, and return to the palace to give it to Princess Yulong, telling her about the interesting things he had seen outside the palace. It seemed as if his world was limited to the Wenzhao Pavilion, Nixiang Palace, Cuixiao Pavilion, and Yujing Pavilion. He rarely visited the Chui Gong Hall, let alone his younger brother Hongxuan's Tingfeng Pavilion.

Perhaps because of Zhao Hongrun's frequent visits, Princess Yulong was more cheerful than on the Duanwu Festival. Although she had no chance to sneak out of the palace, she found her days much more fulfilling and laughed more often than before, listening to her younger brother's stories about the outside world.

Especially when Zhao Hongrun told her about the kite-flying incident in the Yujing Pavilion, where the emperor's sudden cough almost caused the palace guard Mu Qing to fall from the sky, Princess Yulong laughed so hard that she lost her composure.

"You... hehe... didn't any of you see Father?"

"At that time, we were all watching Mu Qing in the sky. Who would have thought Father would suddenly appear behind us?" Zhao Hongrun said with a pout.

"What happened next?"

"Next... well..." Zhao Hongrun shrugged, "Father changed my Xiaoyao Pavilion back to its original name."

He intentionally left out the debate with the three chancellors in the Chui Gong Hall, as he felt it was unnecessary.

"What Xiaoyao Pavilion? Isn't your sleeping pavilion called Wenzhao Pavilion?"

"Because the name was too ugly, I had the Ministry of Works carve a new sign for the Xiaoyao Pavilion... Later, Father ordered the palace guards to change it back. Sister, you didn't know, but Father even sent five hundred palace guards to make sure I wouldn't fight them."

Princess Yulong, curious, asked, "If there had been only a few palace guards, would you have allowed them to remove the sign?"

"Of course not!... I would have had Shen Yu and the others teach them a lesson."

"So Father's decision was correct," Princess Yulong said, covering her mouth with a smile.

Zhao Hongrun, feeling helpless, said, "Sister, which side are you on? Can't you say a word for me?"

Princess Yulong winked and smiled, "Palaces and pavilions in the palace are not allowed to be changed without permission. ... Okay, okay, what happened next?"

"Next, it was a war!"

"I've heard about that," Princess Yulong's eyes lit up, and she eagerly added, "You turned Father's imperial garden and fish pond into a mess... It's a pity about those precious bamboo and goldfish..." She looked at Zhao Hongrun with a regretful expression.

Zhao Hongrun smiled awkwardly, "I thought I could counter it, but it gave Father a chance to cut my monthly allowance... Looking back, it was indeed a poor decision..."

Seeing Zhao Hongrun reflect on his past strategy, Princess Yulong felt both amused and exasperated.

After a while, she sighed, "Since Mother passed away, I haven't laughed so freely."

Zhao Hongrun was taken aback, as if he had also remembered something, and said awkwardly, "Sister, I once destroyed the front hall of Youzhi Palace. Are you not angry?"

He asked this because Princess Yulong's mother, Xiao Shuain, had originally lived in Youzhi Palace. After her death, the emperor had moved Chen Shuain into the palace.

Princess Yulong shook her head slightly and said softly, "A few years ago, I visited Youzhi Palace, and it had changed a lot. All the items Mother used were thrown away by Chen Shuain, so there was nothing to miss... Besides, I have always heard about Chen Shuain's character... I don't blame you."

"Good," Zhao Hongrun breathed a sigh of relief.

At this moment, the sky was gradually darkening, and he prepared to leave.

"Leaving so soon?" Princess Yulong seemed reluctant to let him go and said, "Why not stay for dinner? I still want to hear about your role as an accompanying prince in the imperial examination..."

"Probably not today," Zhao Hongrun explained with difficulty, "Mother has asked us brothers to have dinner at Nixiang Palace today."

"Shen Shufei?" Princess Yulong was taken aback, and her expression turned somewhat sad, "I envy you brothers, who can see your mother and talk to her whenever you want..."

Seeing her melancholy, Zhao Hongrun silently blamed himself for revealing the truth and quickly tried to make amends, "Sister, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can always come to me. I'm always here for you."

Princess Yulong felt a warm feeling in her heart and smiled sweetly, "Hongrun, you're so kind."

"..." Zhao Hongrun was taken aback, and his heart beat a little faster at her sweet smile. He quickly said, "Then... I'll go first."

"Wait," as if she had thought of something, Princess Yulong called out to Zhao Hongrun, "Hongrun, will you come tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow... Is it the sixth day of the sixth month?"

"Yes," Princess Yulong nodded, puzzled.

"That's a problem..." Zhao Hongrun smacked his lips and said with some difficulty, "Tomorrow is the day of the sixth elder brother's monthly poetry gathering. I missed it last time on the Duanwu Festival, so I can't miss it again..."

At this point, Princess Yulong already knew that Zhao Hongrun had missed the sixth prince's poetry gathering on the Duanwu Festival to secretly take her out of the palace, and she felt a surge of gratitude.

Moved, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Poetry gathering?"

Zhao Hongrun shrugged, "Yes, it's a bunch of people who have nothing better to do, talking about things that don't matter, or writing some nonsense they think is important."

"That's not as bad as you make it sound... I've heard that the young talents of our capital, Chen Du, are invited to the Yafeng Pavilion by the sixth prince."

Zhao Hongrun teased, "So, Sister, are you interested?"

Princess Yulong rolled her eyes at Zhao Hongrun and then sighed, "Sometimes, I really envy you boys. Even if you're trapped in the palace, you can still invite friends to your pavilion... It's not easy for me to gather with the other girls in the palace."

Seeing the envy on her face, Zhao Hongrun hesitated for a moment and made a decision that would later cause both of them great regret.

"Would you like to come with me?"

"Can I?" Princess Yulong asked hesitantly, "Would that be appropriate?"

"It's fine... I'll come for you tomorrow."

"Then... okay."

PS: I went out for a bit and couldn't post it in time. Sorry.