“Father ……”
The fourth prince was alarmed, “My son is still young, my son ……”
“You are ten years old, when I was as old as you, I was already handling political affairs with the emperor.”
“But my son, my son ……”
The smile on the emperor’s face receded, “Since you are the royal heir, you should take up the responsibility of the people of the Great Qing Kingdom. I used to allow you to be spontaneous because you had three brothers above you, but now that they have died and been deported, you are the only one left. If something happens to me one day, you won’t be embarrassed by the old ministers.”
The fourth prince was terrified.
Master Jingfan lowered his brows.
“Master, choose an auspicious day for me.”
The selection of an auspicious day was a matter for the Qintian Supervisor, but since the Emperor had asked him to do the calculations, Master Jingfan could not fail to do so, and after carefully calculating, he said, “The 16th day of the first month is an auspicious day, and it can be chosen on that day.”
“Huang De, remember it well.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Stand down.”
The crowd retreated, leaving the Emperor and Master Jingfan alone in the meditation room.
“O Master ……”
The Emperor twisted the Buddhist beads in his hand a little faster, his sharp gaze fixed on Master Jingfan, not letting go of any subtle expression on his face, “I would like to ask, how has Xiao Qian been living on this mountain all these years?”
“Although Master Xiao lives alone in the courtyard at the back, he has been meditating with the monks in the temple every day for more than ten years, without fail, as long as he is in the temple. If it weren’t for the fact that he is the only grandson of the Duke of Ding’s family, the old cassock would be tempted to take him as a disciple.”
“What about his health?”
“It’s mostly healed, but it’s just not advisable to get too emotional or to marry a wife.”
The emperor was relieved to see nothing, “Not fit to take a wife? That’s not good, if he doesn’t take a wife, the Xiao family will be extinct.”
“It’s just that it’s not appropriate to marry now, maybe it’ll be fine after you’re over thirty.”
The emperor smiled meaningfully.
Master Jingfan looked at him and beat a Buddhist hymn in his heart.
It was not until the end of the day that the Emperor and his party returned to the palace.
Master Jing Fan led the people to the entrance of the temple, looked at the backs of their party and recited a few more Buddha’s trumpets.
The carriage went as fast as it had come, not too fast and not too slow.
The Emperor still asked the Fourth Prince to accompany him to play chess. The Fourth Prince was a little distracted and lost after a dozen moves.
The Emperor threw the chess pieces back into the chess box, “Still thinking about me making you the Crown Prince?”
“Father, forgive me.”
The emperor let out a long sigh, “I am really a failure, four sons, one died, two were deported, only one left still unwilling to be the crown prince, I ……”
The fourth prince changed from sitting to kneeling, “It is my son’s fault, my son ……”
“It is my fault, I did not teach you well, usually even neglected you, I will definitely make up for it in the future. You also do not need to be afraid, back when I was the crown prince the emperor taught me by hand, I will do the same.”
“My son thanks you, Father, my son will definitely do his best to learn.”
“That’s right, get up and play a good game with me.”
This time, the fourth prince gave his all, and the emperor won only one piece, smiling broadly with delight, “Xu Yan, the teacher, has indeed lived up to my expectations.”
“Huang De, what time is it?”
“In reply to Your Majesty, it is the beginning of the tenth hour.”
“Go to the Xu Mansion, I want to thank Xu Yan personally.”
The carriage turned a corner and before it reached the entrance to the Xu Mansion, two fast horses darted past the carriage.
Eunuch Huang was sharp-eyed and recognised the two as Song Wan Yue and Song Yin, hesitating for a moment, he reported, “Your Majesty, those who passed just now were Miss Song and her fiancé, looking at the direction they were heading, they should also be going to the Xu Mansion.”
The fourth prince resisted the urge to lift the carriage curtain to look, “I heard the horses’ hooves were quite rapid, they were in such a hurry to go to the Xu Mansion, could it be that something has happened to someone in the Mansion.”
“Hurry up a bit.”
The carriage driver dared not disobey the emperor’s order, raising his whip and smacking it on the horse, which spread its hooves and ran forward.
But in a moment, they arrived at the entrance of the Xu residence.
Eunuch Huang jumped out of the carriage and just moved his dismounted stool, the gatekeeper quickly stepped forward, “Sorry, there is something going on in the palace, we are waiting for a guest, please go back.”
“What’s wrong?”
The fourth prince lifted the curtain of the carriage.
The watchman recognized him and immediately bowed back, “Back to the Fourth Prince, the young master went out to pay his respects today, and on the way back the carriage overturned and the young master’s leg was smashed.”
The only person who let the watchman call out for young master was Xu Yan.
The Fourth Prince’s brain buzzed and he turned around and was about to jump off the carriage, when he saw Eunuch Huang carrying the horse stool, he then remembered that his father was still inside the carriage, suppressing the eagerness in his heart and signalling to Eunuch Huang to put down the lower horse stool, he would go down first and then help the Emperor down with Eunuch Huang.
The watchman had never seen the emperor before, but looking at the attitude of the fourth prince and the majesty of the emperor’s body, he guessed his identity and was so frightened that his legs went weak, not knowing whether he should kneel down and salute or not.
The emperor was already striding towards the palace.
The Fourth Prince followed closely behind, with Eunuch Huang following behind the two.
Sun Qi led the guards outside.
The Xu residence was in a mess.
No one came to greet them.
The fourth prince led the way to Xu Yan’s courtyard.
The courtyard was full of people standing around. The old gentleman, Meng, the second gentleman and his wife, and their children.
All of them looked worriedly inside the house, and when they heard footsteps entering the courtyard, no one paid any attention.
A painful cry came from inside the house.
“Uncle bear with me, you have hurt your bones, I have to take care of them, otherwise you will have after-effects.”
Meng covered her mouth.
Song Yin came out with the prescription and handed it to the subordinate guarding the door, who took it and turned and darted outside.
“Go and prepare two …… pairs.”
Before he finished his words, he paused and looked behind the crowd.
The crowd turned back with his line of sight, only then did they see the emperor standing at the end, the old gentleman hurriedly tried to kneel down and salute, the emperor stepped forward to hold him, “Old gentleman, please excuse me.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“I went to the Thousand Hills Temple today, and on the way back, I played with Feng’er and felt that his chess skills had improved a lot, so I changed my mind and came to thank Xu Yan.”
He briefly and concisely explained the reason for his visit to the Xu residence and asked, “How is Xu Yan’s injury? Do you want me to call two imperial doctors to come over?”
“Yes.”
Before the old gentleman could reply, Song Wangyue inside the house heard it and immediately took over, “Uncle’s condition is very serious, so please trouble Your Majesty.”
“Huang De, tell Sun Qi to get the imperial doctor here as fast as he can.”
Huang De trotted all the way out and told Sun Qi, who and another forbidden guard flew onto their horses and galloped off.
An incense stick later, the two imperial doctors trotted into the courtyard carrying their medicine chests and wanted to salute the emperor, who waved his hand, “Go inside and take a look at Xu Yan.”
The two imperial doctors entered the house.
Song Wangyue moved aside, “I am not good at surgery, I only helped my uncle a little, so I am sorry to trouble the two imperial doctors.”