“Er di, san di, let’s walk together.” He Qi smiled as he walked in front of the two, “I heard that a new restaurant opened in Jing, why don’t us brothers make a visit together?”
He Yuan sneered: “Da ge is too polite but didi has other matter and so will leave first.” Finishing, he flung his sleeve and walked away with a cold face, not even leaving behind a hint of respect for He Qi.
This type of encounter had happened more than one. He Qi’s expression didn’t change as he eyed the back of the figure and said unconcernedly to He Heng, “He’s not going, you’re coming with ge.”
He Heng smiled and complied. His attitude was casual as he walked together with He Qi. There were no sparks of the struggle for succession between the two. He understood, He Qi might seem upright and honest but he was definitely one who “pretended to be a pig as he eats tigers”. The reputation spread that He Yuan had of being arrogant and brash, half of it could be put on his head.
It was just a pity that laodaos mother’s birth was too low. This was his greatest challenge in trying to compete for the throne. But the rumor was that the Emperor was planning on bestowing the hougong soon. Nobody know if he would raise lao da’s mother’s position. Based on the fact that she had laoda as an imperial son, she should have been promoted much earlier. It was laosan’s mufei who kept on getting in the way, so that the eldest Imperial Son’s birth mother still only had the title of cairen.
The two came together to the restaurant and left separately after a meal. He Heng didn’t manage to experience the taste of the wine and food before laodao had already hinted at his desire to ally with him against laosan.
Returning to the wang fu, He Heng found that every servant in the fu seemed to have cheer on their faces. He couldn’t resist asking Ming He who welcomed him back: “Did something good happen on this fu?”
“Wang ye, it’s just that it’s almost the winter holidays, wang fei had rewarded some silver to us as servants,” Ming He knelt and answered, “Nucai forgot ourselves in joy, wang ye have mercy.”
“Stand up. Wang fei has rewarded you all, it’s natural for people to be happy,” He Heng waved his hand, “what’s wang fei doing right now?”
“Just now nucai went to zhengyuan to kowtow and express thanks. Wang fei is probably still there, but nucai doesn’t know anything else,” Ming He bowed and retreated to one side to express that he had no intentions of inquiring of news about zhengyuan.
“En,” He Heng nodded, his steps changing direction, “Let’s go see zhengyuan.”
Stepping into zhengyuan, He Heng stopped the servants from announcing him and walked straight into the rooms. Just outside the door, he heard the conversation inside the room.
“Wang fei, this pouch is actually pretty good, why are you hiding it?”
“It’s fine, I know you are comforting me. This thing, I can’t present it as a gift.”
“But … …”
“What thing you can’t gift?” He Heng walked in and saw Qu Qing Ju try to hide something behind her. He smiled and walked behind her. Taking the object for a look, it was a dark blue pouch. Embroidered on one side was a simple design of clouds, on the other, there was a large character for good fortune. The skill of embroidery really couldn’t compare to what he usually used.
“Is this for me?” He Heng looked again and again at the pouch and wouldn’t return it to Qu Qing Ju. Seeing the other in a state of awkwardness, “I think it is very good.”
Qu Qing Ju coughed: “That is, it’s just for amusement, I didn’t say it was for you.”
“Then I am asking for it from you,” He Heng jerked the pouch he had on his body off and personally put on this one. He smiled and commented, “This color is pretty good.”
Qu Qing Ju glanced at the pouch before instantly moving his gaze: “Since wang ye likes it, then use it.” Finishing, she turned to ask, “Wang ye, are you using the night meal here?”
He Heng nodded his head, “The hotpot last time was good, let’s have the same tonight.”
Qu Qing Ju, who had desired to eat hotpot again, naturally agreed. She felt that it hadn’t been a loss to put the effort in. At least now, she could eat good, drink good and occasionally play at being arrogant. She peeked again at the deep blue pouch and curled her lips.
The end of the year was getting closer and closer. The result was that the people at court also became busier. The matter of the examinations had been finally. The Chief Examiner was the Great Scholar Lu Jing Hong, a member of the Hong Yuan Cabinet. This person was one of the two that He Heng had recommended, the Deputy Examiner was one of He Yuan’s people.
When the Imperial Decree came down, He Heng didn’t feel any surprise. Fuhuang might be wary of his sons but he still heavily favoured He Yuan over all. Otherwise, why would he keep the position of Deputy Examiner for him?
It was a pity his fuhuang didn’t know that spoiling was a type of harm. He Yuan’s appetite would become bigger and bigger under his care. He would definit