novelhk Chapter 246: Mediocre people bother themselves
Chapter 246: Mediocre people bother themselves
The days during the New Year holidays were the most lively, and the Duke Liguo's Mansion quietly held a funeral in his hometown.
The old lady of the Duke of Li's mansion fell off a cliff on her way back to her hometown and died, with no trace of her body left.
Duke Li Guo went back to his hometown to pay his respects in person, and broke both of his legs on the way home.
When this news spread to the capital, people sighed a few times and then let it go.
After all, the two most promising children of the Duke of Li’s Mansion had no intention of standing up for their father.
Meng Yangjiang is still in Miaojiang, and Meng Yanzhen is in the palace to take care of her pregnancy.
The emperor attached great importance to this pregnancy. He originally thought that Ni'er was his last child, but he did not expect that Meng Yanzhen was pregnant again. The emperor was in high spirits throughout the New Year, and even looked at Zhou Qinghe with a better expression.
Especially after hearing that the eldest daughter of the Zhao family was also pregnant, she was more convinced that it was Zhao Fangyu who came to see Meng Yanzhen after seeing her eldest sister, and brought the pregnancy in.
Zhou Qinghe put on a smile, grumbled and cursed a few times in his heart, then turned around and pulled the Fourth Prince out to play.
The fourth prince is going to choose a concubine this year.
Others were happy when choosing their concubines, but he was the only one who was even a little depressed.
"It's not a monster, what's there to be afraid of?"
Zhou Qinghe held a plum blossom in his mouth and scanned the crowd with his eyes. Unfortunately, this was a male guest, so Zhao Fangyu couldn't see his beauty at this moment!
The Fourth Prince held a dry branch in his hand and whipped the railing in annoyance.
"I'm afraid I'll delay others."
As a prince born with a crippled leg, he was destined to be neither good at literature nor martial arts in this life, and it was even difficult for him to be a normal couple...
"No matter who it is, marrying me will not end well."
Zhou Qinghe lowered his head and met the Fourth Prince's somewhat gloomy eyes. Seeing the kid looking as if he wished there was dark air coming out of his back, his palms itched.
He always spoiled himself, so he went up and slapped the fourth prince on the back of his head: "What do you think is a good result?"
The Fourth Prince was stunned, not knowing whether he was stunned by the beating or stumped by the question.
Zhou Qinghe snatched the poor dry branch from his hand and slapped him a few times: "It's New Year's Day and the water in your brain hasn't frozen yet. What kind of unlucky things are you thinking about all day long?"
"You are a prince, what else do you want?"
To put it bluntly, even if the Fourth Prince was born lame, he is already better off than countless people in this world.
"Nine out of ten people are unhappy in life. The only unhappiness in your life is a lame leg. We were born into a royal family, which is a blessing that others cannot even ask for in ten lifetimes."
"In Daliang, soldiers at the border were starving and cold, and civilians were dying on the road. Some women were even drowned in the descendants' barrel before they could even grow up."
"When you grow up, your heart must grow with you."
Zhou Qinghe once resented many people and things, but he eventually discovered that resentment was the most useless thing in the world.
"You are a man. Whether you are lame or not, only by taking on responsibilities can you walk upright in this world."
"As a son, you must serve your parents. As a husband, you must support the home and make the women feel at ease. As a father, you must teach your children to be good and progressive."
"Your fear now may seem like resentment for your own inadequacies, but in reality it is nothing more than fear of the responsibilities you should shoulder."
Zhou Qinghe's eyes were as indifferent as a layer of thin ice that seemed to be easily broken by a poke. They seemed frivolous, but in fact they kept people at a distance.
“Sometimes, what you think is good may not be good in the eyes of others, and what you think is bad may not be bad in the eyes of others.”
"You are born lame and do not participate in party disputes. If you like the soldiers on the border, you can openly do good for them and seek their welfare."
"If you were a rich and idle person, no one would make things difficult for you. You could do whatever you wanted and live in harmony with your wife. This is a blessing that countless people seek but cannot obtain."
In Zhou Qinghe's opinion, if being lame can bring so many benefits, he might as well be lame.
It’s a pity that he doesn’t have a mother who loves him as much as the fourth brother, nor does he have a father who treats him well. Even if he was lame, he would not have been treated like the fourth brother.
There was a flash of confusion in the Fourth Prince's eyes, but he didn't know how to express his helplessness.
"Brother, my feet...are ugly."
The Fourth Prince's feet were born deformed, so he never showed them to outsiders, and even he himself felt extremely disgusted when he saw them.
He hated his own shortcomings and also hated all the privileges he received because of these shortcomings.
Zhou Qinghe suddenly smiled, took the red plum from his mouth, and threw it into the snow: "Don't bother yourself. If you really don't want to get married, go find your father."
Instead of struggling here, it would be better to go to the emperor and talk things out.
The fourth prince is the most special one among all the princes. He is not very popular with the emperor, but when the emperor looks at him, he always feels some pity for him.
Cui Zimin, who was standing outside the pavilion, heard everything Zhou Qinghe and the Fourth Prince said. Today, he was wearing a lake blue round-necked robe, with a piece of white jade tied with a red plum blossom cord around his waist.
Zhou Qinghe looked at the white jade for a while, and snorted softly: "Master Cui, is something going to happen soon?"
Zhou Qinghe just waited for Cui Zimin's affirmative answer before going home to inform Zhao Fangyu.
Cui Zimin smiled and shook his head, looking like a gentleman: "No, my younger sister at home was just doing it for fun."
Zhou Qinghe snorted again, picked a beautiful plum blossom, and openly went to the rockery near the female guests to call out Zhao Fangyu.
Zhao Fangyu was wearing a gown with thick fur-edged sleeves today, embroidered with scenes of the sea, sky and four seasons. Because he was going outdoors, he also put on a snow-white crane cloak.
Zhao Fangyu came walking on the snow. When Zhou Qinghe saw her coming over, he hurriedly called her to stop, went over to her, and slowly put the red plum blossom in her hair.
"This one is the best looking. Those cowards kept complimenting me. I got annoyed and left."
For today's annual banquet, the third prince was also called out from his mansion by the emperor as an exception. Yang Xiaofei is still at home, but even so, with the Yang family as his in-laws, the third prince is still very popular. However, those powerful officials who had made friends with him in the past have all distanced themselves from him.
Most of those who come forward nowadays are minor officials.
Zhao Fangyu couldn't see his own appearance, he could only look up and see Zhou Qinghe's lips raised, he seemed very happy.
Zhao Fangyu tugged at the jade pendant around his waist, asking him to be more restrained.
"After all, this is the palace, be careful."
Zhou Qinghe has always been reckless. If he is caught doing something wrong by the censors during the New Year holidays, he will be punished.
Zhou Qinghe was smiling, with the bright golden sunlight behind him. The person in front of him suddenly smiled, and the spring ice broke, and snow suddenly appeared.
A snowflake fell on Zhao Fangyu's eyelashes, and Zhou Qinghe quickly and lightly placed a kiss on it.
Even though it was just a dragonfly skimming the water, the boy's hot body temperature could still melt the snowflakes in an instant.
"You care about me."
Zhou Qinghe said this with great certainty. He knew that the relationship between him and Zhao Fangyu was actually very strange, but he didn't want to force her.
Now, little by little, we can accept him and treat him as our own, which is good enough.
This is the best gift he has received this year.
Zhao Fangyu was stunned for a moment. He was a little angry at first, but when he saw the relaxation in Zhou Qinghe's eyes, those sudden emotions disappeared completely.
Forget it, let him... be unruly for a day.