Changsheng: Peak at the Beginning

Chapter 1201 Zhen Huan Enlarged to 125

After moving out of the palace, he and the Prince's wife made a special trip to Qingying to discuss the dinner party.

The wife of Prince He did not want to make a big scene, especially now that the situation was clear. She and Prince He had the same idea and did not want to appear too close to the royal family and court officials. After all, everyone had seen how petty Prince Bao was over the years, especially Prince He and Concubine Yu, who were witnesses of Prince Bao's miserable childhood.

"… Third sister-in-law, you also know the situation of my mother's family. When I was at home, my family didn't teach me how to host a big event. Moving to a new house always requires a dinner, so my grandfather thought that why don't we find another place and do it together."

Half of the Prince's intention was to show the outside world that he had calmed down, and the other half was because he didn't like the hassle of socializing.

Qingying was also thinking about Wen Ju's matter. When the Prince's wife mentioned it to her, she was happy at first, but then she felt that this matter might not be possible.

"It's normal for Fifth Brother's wife to want to save trouble, but our two families always have some relatives. Although it's easy this time, how will we go about returning the gifts in the future?"

Also, if the two families hold a banquet together, do they need to ask the guests to prepare two gifts?

However, the prince and his wife had already considered these issues, and said directly to the prince's wife: "Our prince has also said that we should just let everyone know that there is no need to prepare any gifts. Just give silver. Our family will accept fifty taels, which doesn't seem like much."

Qingying didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. Seeing the eager look on Prince and Lady's face, she still didn't dare to let go. "I think your fifth brother and his wife's idea is a good one, but I'm afraid your third brother has other ideas. I can only help ask them."

The Prince's wife didn't care what her uncle, Prince Duan, thought. At most, she could ask her grandfather to persuade him with words of brotherly love and respect. Prince Duan would surely not refuse outright.

The Hejunwang couple really saw through the Duanjunwang. When Qingying told Duanjunwang about this, Duanjunwang still thought that the Hejunwang couple was a bit absurd, "This couple is really getting more and more out of tune. They just left the palace and started to make trouble."

Qingying smiled and silently looked away, not looking at Prince Duan. She really had nothing to say to Prince Duan, so she continued to explain her thoughts: "According to me, this can be done."

"Our two homes are close, separated only by a common wall. Why not open a door in the wall to facilitate communication? The garden can also be opened, which will be convenient for entertaining guests."

"And my fifth brother's wife said that my fifth brother had intentionally spread the word that he would not accept any gifts, and would only accept a gift of fifty taels from each family."

Prince Duan snorted coldly, "Old Fifth has always been out of tune, and he can even come up with such a bad idea. You are a lady from a wealthy family, why do you follow others and act foolishly?"

In the end, Qingying couldn't help but give Prince Duan a cold look. Even the Prince of Lian knew to keep a low profile, but the man in front of her still couldn't see the situation clearly and insisted on competing with others.

It is true that she is a noble lady who was carefully nurtured by the Ulanara family, so she certainly understands how ridiculous the proposal of the Prince is.

But compared with going against the crown prince and the Yangxin Palace, what does this absurd move matter?

But Qingying could only continue to persuade: "Even if we don't host a banquet with Fifth Brother's family, it's not easy to accept gifts freely, so I agree with Fifth Brother's suggestion of only accepting fifty taels of gift money."

Prince Duan's attention was on the fifty taels of silver gift money. "What can I do with this fifty taels of silver? I can buy some ordinary cakes and local specialties, but in a place like the capital, the door lintel of my Prince's Mansion is only worth fifty taels of silver gift money?"

Qingying's breathing stagnated as she stared at Prince Duan's expression in disbelief. She wanted to confirm whether Prince Duan was just making up an excuse to reject her proposal because of the grudge between them, or whether Prince Duan did not understand the current situation at all.

But unfortunately, Prince Duan himself really felt that the fifty taels of gift money was not worthy of his Prince's Mansion. He did not consider the current situation at all. He wanted to hold a grand banquet as the Prince's first banquet and use it to win over court officials to work for him.

Big Fat Orange only lets him take charge of government affairs but doesn't let him do any work. He can't just sit there and wait for Big Fat Orange to assign him tasks, he has to work hard for them himself.

Qingying has run out of ideas. Since being tactful doesn't work, she can only be direct.

Qingying looked at Prince Duan seriously and said, "Fifth brother suggested that our two families hold a warm-house banquet and that the guests only give fifty taels of gift money. Perhaps it was because he really thought it was troublesome, but more importantly, he wanted to take this opportunity to show the world that he had no intention of competing for the throne."

"I agree with Fifth Brother's words again and again, and I also want the Prince to take this opportunity to show the royal family, court officials, and even the Emperor that you have no intention of usurping the throne."

Prince Duan's face immediately darkened, but now he was experienced enough to know that even in his own mansion, he knew not to speak loudly, otherwise it would be difficult to keep him quiet.

So Prince Duan looked at the speechless Qingying with a stern gaze, and said in a low voice: "But I am the eldest son of the Emperor, how can I voluntarily give up the throne?!"

Qingying cursed Concubine Qi in her heart, which was rare. She took a few deep breaths and tried to calm herself down. "You are not the emperor's eldest son. The emperor's eldest son is named Honghui. Even if he died young, he is still the eldest prince. He is your legitimate elder brother."

"The emperor's second prince is named Hongyan. He is the legitimate son born to Empress Chunyuan in the Qiandi Residence. Even though he died at birth, he is still the emperor's second prince in the imperial book."

"No matter what, you can only be the Third Prince. Even if you are crowned as a Prince, you must leave the palace with your Fifth Brother and build a residence. Your Fourth Brother can continue to stay in the palace, which means that the Emperor has determined that Prince Bao will definitely be the Crown Prince and will inherit the throne in the future!"

"I've already said it before. You were already abandoned before you married me. You've lost your chance to be the emperor in this life."

Prince Duan rarely lost his guard, perhaps because it was not the first time he heard these words, or maybe he had already seen the situation clearly in his subconscious.

When Prince He and his wife came again, Qingying agreed to hold a warm-house banquet for the two families. Prince Duan did not strongly object at first. Prince He knew that his third brother was very concerned about his reputation and was experienced in dealing with people, so he gave him enough face, and Prince Duan agreed accordingly.

But when the Prince was happy, he couldn't hold back his words, "Third brother, you too, what's so good about being an emperor?"

"Outsiders always only see the arrogant people in power. You also know the emperor. When the late emperor was alive, even though we were young, we were sensible. The daily routines of the two emperors are there. Can you bear it?"

"Also, Third Brother, you want to be an emperor, but have you ever thought about what kind of emperor you want to be?"

"Do you really only see power and have no ambition at all?"

The words spoken by the Prince were truly thought-provoking, and Prince Duan also fell into deep thought, which was rare.