Chapter 1415: Chapter 1393: Video II (October Monthly Ticket Bonus 9)
Then it was the Minister of War, Minister Li, who started crying poor, asking for money, weapons, and clothing for the soldiers stationed at the border and the emperor:
The Ministry of Public Works also brought up that the Yellow River needed dredging. Last year, Shengzhou experienced a drought, and this year there’s a possibility of more rain. Unfortunately, Shengzhou is located at a sharp bend in the Yellow River.
This place is really unlucky. The Yellow River takes a ninety-degree turn here, and the current is particularly fierce, like a roaring tiger. When there’s not much rain, people worry, but when there’s too much rain, they worry even more.
So to reduce losses, Shengzhou should strengthen its embankments, and the downstream areas should be dredged. Otherwise, if too much silt accumulates, the increased rain upstream could spell disaster for the downstream areas.
Both of these projects require a lot of money, leading to an argument among everyone. The emperor asked the crown prince for his opinion.
The crown prince thought the expenses for the Ministry of War could be cut down a bit, prioritizing the funds for the Ministry of Public Works. The Astronomical Bureau also predicted more rain around the Yellow River this year.
After discussing this matter, it was now the issue of Lord Wang’s petition that Eunuch Wu had mentioned to her in the morning.
Lord Wang raised the issue of the crown princess not having an heir and suggested adding another consort to the Eastern Palace. Manbao saw how the crown prince’s expression in the video darkened at a visibly fast pace.
The video recorded by Keke was particularly clear, so clear that Manbao could see the crown prince’s pores. As such, when his face fell, Manbao saw his demeanor turn violent.
However, he restrained himself and didn’t lose his temper directly.
Although it eventually turned into a heated argument that ended in displeasure, thankfully, it didn’t escalate into a physical fight.
While watching the video, Manbao commented, "If I were the crown prince, I would just tell His Majesty to bring in Lord Wang’s legitimate daughter into the palace. Let him choose whichever daughter he loves most, and see if he dares to suggest it again."
Keke said nothing.
After the whole morning court session was over, there was a knock on the door from outside.
Manbao went to open the door, and Bai Shan said, "It’s time to eat dinner. What were you doing in the room that took so long to open the door?"
Manbao blinked, "So fast?"
She felt like she was just watching the video.
Manbao recalled that watching the crown prince’s video was much more entertaining than watching class videos in the learning room, and the time passed much faster.
After watching, Manbao wanted to discuss it with someone, but in the whole family, only Bai Shan could talk about such matters with her. So after dinner, they used watering the flowers as an excuse to head to the small garden and meddle with the plants.
Manbao vividly recounted the morning court scene she just watched. She had a good memory and could basically repeat what everyone said in the video.
When she got to Lord Wang, Manbao shared her idea with Bai Shan, saying, "In the end, the crown prince is just not shameless enough."
Bai Shan then turned his head and quietly looked at her.
Manbao saw him staring at her without moving, so she touched her face and asked, "What’s wrong?"
"Coincidentally, the crown prince indeed did this kind of thing two years ago. Back then, a Censor Liu impeached him in a similar way. The crown prince thought his words made sense, so the next day he had the crown princess take Ms.Liu’s daughter into the palace."
Bai Shan said, "Last year, Ms.Liu, who was pregnant but didn’t keep the child, is that same Liu Censor’s daughter."
Manbao: ...
She couldn’t help but become conspiratorial, "Could it be..."
"No," Bai Shan said, "actually, the crown prince wasn’t interested in Ms.Liu’s daughter. Although he was upset with Censor Liu for pointing out his faults, he soon forgot about it. The crown princess was magnanimous and didn’t make things difficult for Ms.Liu. Coincidentally, Ms.Liu was also virtuous. She followed her husband’s fate, or rather, she obediently followed the crown prince, being compliant and dutiful."
"She lost the child, and someone whispered to her that the crown princess harmed her. She knew it wasn’t true and thought that she hadn’t protected the crown prince and crown princess’s offspring well, so out of guilt, she hanged herself."
Manbao listened, wide-eyed, "There are actually people like that in the world? No, how do you know this?"
"Feng Zongping said it," Bai Shan explained, "Minister Feng investigated this case. When the case came out, the Third Prince was the prime suspect, followed by the crown princess and Ms.Liu herself. It turned out the Third Prince was behind it, but there was also involvement from the Prince of Yizhou."
"At first, Minister Feng couldn’t find out, but later when Prince of Yizhou’s case was resolved, this old case was brought to light. Feng Zongping told us privately."
Manbao didn’t expect the crown prince to actually have done such a shameless thing, coughed lightly, and asked, "Then..."
"Lord Wang only has two daughters, and coincidentally, they’ve both married, and even their children can go buy candy on the street," Bai Shan easily guessed what she wanted to ask.
Manbao was amazed, "How do you know this?"
Bai Shan thought for a moment then shook his head, "I don’t remember which classmates in the academy said it. They were cursing Lord Wang’s grandchildren for not being able to enter the Imperial Academy, and that’s how I knew."
Manbao felt a bit dizzy, not understanding how the talk of grandsons got involved with daughters.
Bai Shan asked, "Did Uncle Zhou say if there were any unusual actions by the crown prince yesterday?"
Manbao said, "I just finished listening to the morning court session he attended, and I haven’t had time to ask about anything else."
Bai Shan: "... You listened to it in such detail?"
Manbao whispered, "It would scare you to death to tell you; I was directly watching them in morning court."
Bai Shan then pondered, "Uncle Zhou can’t directly tell you the crown prince’s actions, so you have to see it yourself?"
Manbao paused and looked at him with her round eyes without speaking.
Bai Shan understood and lowered his voice to ask, "And you’re actually watching a replay? Isn’t this just like the mirage written in the books?"
Manbao nodded repeatedly, regretting she couldn’t say anything.
Keke couldn’t help but warn her, "Host, please watch your words."
Manbao just blinked, doing nothing more.
Bai Shan saw her bright eyes, and just as she was about to nod, she stopped halfway, causing him to fall into deep thought.
They silently stared at each other for a while, then said nothing and turned to leave.
Bai Erlang, feeling stifled from staying in the study, found an excuse to step out for some fresh air. Turning around, he saw the two of them returning side by side from the small garden in the dim evening light. He couldn’t help but look up at the sky, "Did you take so long just to water the flowers until it got dark?"
The third head, also using an excuse to go to the latrine, passed by and gave Bai Erlang a disdainful look, "This time of year, where are there flowers in the garden? You believe what they say?"
Bai Shan looked at him and said, "Third Head, if you have any questions about the homework assigned by the teacher, you can ask me."
Third Head shivered, "No questions here, I know it all!"
Bai Shan then raised his voice, "Then perfect, I’ll let the teacher assign you a more advanced assignment."
Third Head stumbled with a ’thud’, almost falling to the ground.
Only then was Bai Erlang happy.
Manbao ignored them, going straight back to her room to continue watching the videos.
Bai Shan did remind her though, that although watching the crown prince’s daily life was quite interesting, she could still take a book and multitask.
But this ultimately took too much time since it was the crown prince’s entire day. Watching it at real-time speed meant she’d have to spend a whole day viewing it.