There were seven princes raised in the Dali Dynasty, not to mention the princesses.

　　The eldest, the second prince, who is now in the Ministry of Industry and has taken over the fertilizer method, was born to Concubine Duan, one of the four concubines. After that, there are the fifth and sixth princes, two brothers from the same mother, who were born to Concubine Xian.

　　The eighth prince was the legitimate son and was born to the queen.

　　The biological mothers of the eleventh and twelfth princes were of low status, a concubine and a noble lady, and were inconspicuous in the harem.

　　The youngest, the Fourteenth Prince, is fourteen years old this year and has not yet left the palace to build a residence. His biological mother is a barbarian, a princess presented by a foreign country. She was favored by the emperor for a period of time and was given the title of Concubine Yi.

　　No matter whether in the former dynasty or the harem, everyone with a discerning eye knew that no matter how much the emperor favored him, he would not have the chance to take a position in the grand ceremony. It was impossible for a prince with half foreign blood in his body to inherit the throne of the Dali Dynasty.

　　The princes missing from the order and those who died young are not mentioned. The eldest prince who grew up to adulthood died, so it is necessary to mention him. The eldest prince was born to Empress Yuan, and he was the eldest and the most favored by Emperor Kang Jing, but unfortunately he had a bad fate.

　　In the 28th year of Emperor Kangjing’s reign, the Northern Rong invaded. The 34-year-old Emperor Kangjing led the army in person, along with his 18-year-old eldest prince and his 14-year-old second prince. Soon, the surrounding small countries surrendered one after another.

　　On the way back to Beijing in triumph, Emperor Kang Jing said that the eldest prince had painted his portrait.

　　After hearing this, the officials present guessed the emperor’s intention, thinking that Emperor Kang Jing wanted to make the eldest prince the crown prince, so they thought of submitting a memorial to the eldest prince to ask for merit when they arrived in the capital.

　　It is true. The eldest prince is the eldest and the legitimate heir, and he is a man of both civil and military talents, so he should be the heir.

　　Unfortunately, the eldest prince died on the way back to the capital before the main army arrived. The cause of death was strange, because he had been shot by an arrow in the previous battle, but it was not a vital part and there was no poison. He was almost healed, but he died of the sword wound, and it was very fast, he was gone in just a few days.

　　Emperor Kang Jing was furious at the time and ordered a thorough investigation. A number of people died, but the cause was never found.

　　When Empress Yuan heard the news, she fell ill and died a few years later. During the years when the throne was vacant, no baby cried in the palace. Concubines did get pregnant, but they couldn’t give birth. All of them died in the womb, and their children didn’t even qualify for the rank.

　　Once the baby is born, even if it dies in infancy, the baby can be included in the Jade Butterfly of the Royal Clan.

　　Later, Emperor Kang Jing established the current queen. Within two years of entering the harem, the fifth prince was born. This was a new life that had not been seen for many years. Emperor Kang Jing was so happy that he named his mother the virtuous concubine. Later, the virtuous concubine gave birth to the sixth prince, and all of them were raised safely.

　　The seventh prince died young, and the eighth prince was born after him.

　　Now that Emperor Kang Jing is old, the former dynasty seems peaceful, but in fact, there are constant factional disputes under the peace, and there are already positions. The second prince is the first prince, the eighth prince is the heir, and there are also the fifth and sixth princes.

　　Among them, five or six princes had small voices and were lurking in the court.

　　The competition between the Second Prince and the Eighth Prince was the most intense. Fan Min belonged to the Second Prince’s faction. He had been trying to curry favor with him before, but after sending the message, there was no news at all. But that time when the emperor summoned him to the palace, the eunuch who delivered the decree handed him one word.

　　fertilizer.

　　Later, when he met the emperor, it turned out to be the case. Fortunately, Fan Min was well prepared and answered questions fluently. He came out of the palace with a cold sweat on his head. He couldn’t help but think of the eunuch who delivered the message to him. He was able to get the news from the palace, which showed that he was someone serving Emperor Kang Jing. There were not many people who could interfere in the palace.

　　Fan Min guessed that it was the Second Prince, who was trying to win him over by taking advantage of this incident. Later, it was confirmed that Fan Min was completely a member of the Second Prince’s faction, but he was very low-key and didn’t seem to be close to any faction.

　　After all, he had only been working in the Ministry of Revenue in Beijing for less than two years.

　　Duanzhengyuan.

　　The servant reported and led the Third Young Master and Lord Zheng into the courtyard.

　　Fan En greeted him obediently and called him father. Fan Min first scolded his son, a bastard, and then saw Zheng Hui bowing, and said with a gentle face: “No need to be polite, you and this bastard are brothers-in-law, and you are related to the Fan family. I was the prefect of Wannan Prefecture before, and you are a scholar from Wannan Prefecture, it’s also fate…”

　　Zheng Hui was naturally humble. Afterwards, Lord Fan asked him a few questions about his work and said in a friendly way that if he had any difficulties in the future, he could come to him and there was no need to be restrained or nervous.

　　He acted like an elder and was very friendly.

　　Fan En was muttering to himself, why did his father speak so kindly to a minor official, but scold him as an evildoer when he was in front of him? It was just a matter of drinking a glass of wine and playing dice…

　　Fan Min had a brief chat with him, and after showing his care as an elder, he asked his evil son Fan En to take good care of Zheng Hui and not to lose his sense of propriety.

　　Fan En naturally agreed according to the rules. When the two of them left Duanzhengyuan, Fan En’s eyebrows drooped and he felt bored. Since his father said so, it was impossible for him to go out for a drink with Zheng. So he scolded the servant in front of Zheng Hui and asked the cook in the back when the table would be served. He would punish him for ignoring the guests.

　　Zheng Hui could tell that Fan En was speaking in a veiled way and could only endure it.

　　After lunch, they stayed for about two quarters of an hour. Then a maid came from the backyard and reported that the mistress had finished her private talk and it was getting late, so it was not convenient to keep Madam Zheng and the young lady. Fan En knew that today’s reception was finally over and glanced at the servant.

　　The servant then arranged for the Zheng family’s carriage to wait at the door.

　　All in all, I stayed in Fan’s house for two hours and I don’t know if it was successful.

　　In the carriage.

　　Yingniang leaned against A Niang and said to Daddy, “Dad, Ajie’s yard is so big, and there are beautiful flowers. Ajie also treated me to some cakes, which were delicious.”

　　”You, you look so greedy.” Tang Rou touched her daughter’s cheek and said with a smile. But the smile did not fade away in her eyes.

　　The “Ajie” mentioned by Yingniang is the eldest daughter of her elder sister, who is now thirteen years old. Tang Rou and her elder sister Tang Xian haven’t seen each other for more than ten years when she was a guest at Fan’s house today. When they met for the first time, they were naturally very friendly. Tang Rou wanted to flatter her elder sister, praising her for not changing her appearance and being even more luxurious and elegant.

　　At that time, both the guests and the hosts were having a great time and the atmosphere was harmonious and harmonious.

　　Sit down and drink tea and chat, asking each other about their situations.

　　Tang Xian was wearing a gorgeous outfit of gold and silver, but this concubine sister was still wearing fabrics with outdated patterns from two years ago, and she had a few silver hairpins on her head. She didn’t look dignified at all. She sat in the main seat with a look of pity on her concubine sister, saying that you had a hard time these years, and I was still worried about you. I heard that you were not pregnant before…

　　Those were all the sufferings from the past. Tang Rou had forgotten them now. When her elder sister mentioned them, she said, “…but then things got better. Yingniang was born.”

　　”Just Yingniang? No one else?”

　　Nothing else.

　　Tang Xian asked a few more questions. She was originally concerned about her concubine’s sister. She meant that your husband was not good enough. He was old, so he should see what he should see. Of course, she had to be more polite.

　　Tang Rou explained that she and her husband had been living apart for most of the time before, and her husband had been traveling a lot since he passed the imperial examination, which had delayed their marriage until now. She said thank you for your concern, sister, and that he was fine and planned to have another child later.

　　Then Tang Xian was surprised.

　　”Doesn’t my brother-in-law have any concubines?”

　　Zheng Hui not only has no concubines, he doesn’t even have a maid. After Tang Rou finished speaking, she found that her elder sister’s face was much colder, and then she said that she had a small belly and couldn’t tolerate others. How could she still act like a concubine even though she was the legal wife?

　　Tang Rou was furious in the backyard, but she couldn’t vent it. Because of her status as the eldest sister and the principles she said were all right, she endured and listened to the lecture.

　　Later, Yingniang was playing with her eldest sister. She didn’t know if Tang Rou was overly suspicious, but she always felt that when her eldest sister used cakes to coax Yingniang, she pinched Yingniang’s cheek a little too hard. When she let go, Yingniang’s cheeks turned red and had finger marks.

　　”Is the cake delicious?” Tang Rou lifted her daughter’s cheek and looked at it carefully. There were still some red marks on it.

　　Yingniang nodded and said, “It’s delicious.” But she didn’t ask to eat it every day.

　　We returned to Zheng’s house in the afternoon. Mother Zhang fed Yingniang the stewed egg custard. Yingniang ate slowly. She was not like this before. Was she not hungry today?

　　”Mom Zhang, Yingniang, eat later. My face will hurt if I eat too fast.” Yingniang said while swallowing the egg custard in her mouth.

　　Mother Zhang responded and said take your time and don’t be in a hurry, then turned around and replied to Rou Niang, asking why Ying Niang couldn’t eat properly after going out and complained that her face hurt.

　　Tang Rou felt unhappy and told Zhang’s mother what had happened.

　　At the other end, in the large courtyard of the third room of the Fan Mansion.

　　”Madam, I have to say that if you hadn’t called her sister today, I wouldn’t have dared to recognize her. After all, she is the wife of an official, but her manners and demeanor are not even as good as the maidservants around the old lady.” said the old woman beside Tang Xian.

　　Tang Xian felt more relieved and said, “She is a bastard, and she behaves in a petty and mean way.”