allonlinenovel Chapter 394 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Chapter 394 The Prince's Mystery: The Cannon Fodder Bride Forced into a Substitute Marquis'
Tang Ruijing's feelings for Tang Ruiqian were complicated. She initially rescued him in the suburbs because they shared the same bloodline.
Later, Tang Ruijing learned that he and Tang Ruiqian had been switched by Song Zhihua. While he was dying in the small courtyard of the Xuanping Marquis's mansion due to poisoning, the other was living happily under the care of Emperor Xinghe and Consort Xian.
One can tell from Tang Ruiqian's innocent and cheerful nature, his lack of awareness of the darker side of society, that he has been well taken care of by Consort Xian.
However, if it weren't for Song Zhihua's behind-the-scenes manipulation, everything Tang Ruiqian possesses now should belong to Tang Ruijing.
Although the sins should not be borne by the children, and Tang Ruiqian was completely unaware of these inside stories, Tang Ruijing still couldn't bring himself to like Tang Ruiqian.
Tang Ruijing can manage not to harm Tang Ruiqian, but she can't do anything more.
Hopefully, Tang Ruiqian will be able to bear the truth when he learns it.
While Tang Ruijing was preoccupied with his own thoughts, he politely replied to Tang Ruiqian, "Didn't Father Emperor send you to court to do your duties? How come you still have time to come over?"
Because I was thinking about important matters, I didn't dare disturb you.
Speaking of this, Tang Ruiqian was also a little depressed. His father had sent him and his two elder brothers to various ministries to learn how to do things, but it was just learning.
Tang Ruiqian entered the Ministry of Personnel. From the moment he entered the Ministry, the Minister of Personnel gave him many old records of officials' promotions and demotions to study, which was very tedious.
Moreover, everyone in the Ministry of Personnel treated him with extreme politeness, almost like a mascot, rather than the kind of attitude one would show to a colleague.
Although Tang Ruiqian was playful, he had grown up in the imperial harem and understood the intricacies of government affairs.
However, he really didn't want to deal with all this intrigue. Today, when he arrived at the Ministry of Personnel, he was still looking at the old archives of court officials. He was so tired of it that he simply ran away.
Tang Ruiqian and Tang Ruijing complained that the officials in the Ministry of Personnel did not take them, the princes, seriously at all.
After listening to Tang Ruiqian's complaints, Tang Ruijing understood what was going on.
Emperor Xinghe sent several princes to various departments to give them experience and to observe how the departments would react to them.
The current situation is unclear, and the officials in each department are all extremely shrewd. Apart from a few opportunists, the others are all observing and naturally dare not approach the princes easily.
The court officials are probably still observing and speculating about Emperor Xinghe's thoughts, and the three princes are in for a tough time.
After that, Tang Ruijing thought of himself. He was also a prince now, and he estimated that Emperor Xinghe might send him to the government office to study soon. He just didn't know which department he would be assigned to.
Tang Ruijing offered Tang Ruiqian a few words of advice, and then introduced Tang Ruiqian to Tang Ruihao and Feng Enchi.
They had all heard of each other before, but had never met. Now that Tang Ruijing had introduced them, the group of like-minded people immediately started hanging out together.
Tang Ruijing spent the whole day playing with them, and it wasn't until curfew was almost over that they reluctantly returned to their respective residences.
After the others left, Tang Ruijing also returned to the backyard. Su Jinyue had been organizing the storeroom and arranging the situation of the mansion these past few days.
There were only two masters in the mansion, her and Tang Ruijing, but the mansion was too big and required a lot of servants. Even if the number of servants was reduced to the minimum, there would still be at least a hundred servants in the mansion.
The government is responsible for the food, drink, and daily expenses of these people, as well as their monthly allowance, which is a huge expense every month.
Fortunately, Emperor Xinghe bestowed many rewards, and Qizhen Pavilion, which Su Jinyue and Tang Ruihao collaborated on, is making a considerable monthly profit, currently managing to break even.
But Su Jinyue thought she still needed to increase her income, in case her expenses increased in the future and she couldn't make ends meet.
After thinking about all this, Su Jinyue thought of the invitations that had been received by the mansion, including one from the Su family. The gatekeeper didn't know what to do with it, so he sent it directly to the backyard.
Su Jinyue looked at the post and sneered. Previously, Tang Ruijing was just an unimportant and dying illegitimate son of a marquis. Seeing that they could not gain any advantage, the Su family ignored him and even refused to let Su Jinyue return home for her wedding.
Now that Tang Ruijing has become a prince, seeing an opportunity to profit, the Su family has tried to curry favor with him. Su Fanglin is truly opportunistic.
Su Jinyue didn't want to pay attention to Su Fanglin, her nominal father, and she didn't want to give him any hope, making him think that he could climb up the social ladder by using Tang Ruijing as a stepping stone.
However, if they are too harsh on the Su family, wouldn't that be bad for Tang Ruijing's reputation...?
When Tang Ruijing returned to the backyard, he saw Su Jinyue staring blankly at a post. He went straight to the table, sat down, poured himself a cup of tea, and then took the post from Su Jinyue's hand.
"Whose post is this that you're reading so intently?"
After reading the post, Tang Ruijing understood. He closed the post, picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and then asked.
"What are you thinking? They want to come to the manor to pay their respects. Do you want to see them?"
Su Jinyue shook her head, and then told Tang Ruijing about her concerns.
"Although Su Fanglin gave birth to me, I was actually raised on the money offered by my maternal grandparents."
Su Fanglin is only interested in profit, and his stepmother is no better. They love Su Jinlan more, and I'm just a dispensable accomplice.
"If it weren't for the marriage agreement between the Su family and the Marquis of Xuanping's household, and Su Jinlan's unwillingness to marry into the family, they wouldn't have even remembered me."
Seeing that Su Jinyue looked unhappy, Tang Ruijing couldn't help but hold Su Jinyue's hand to comfort her.
Don't be sad, it's not worth it, you still have me.
"If you don't want to deal with them, then don't see them. I'll handle this properly and it won't cause any trouble."
Since Tang Ruijing had said so, Su Jinyue felt reassured and entrusted the matter to him.
After that, Su Jinyue chatted with Tang Ruijing about her future plans for the mansion.
Tang Ruijing had no complaints about the layout of the mansion, but he was still worried that it would be too tiring for Su Jinyue to manage the entire mansion alone. He suggested that there be a steward in the mansion, and that the specific matters be handed over to the steward, while Su Jinyue could just keep an eye on the general direction and not have to do everything herself.
Seeing that Su Jinyue obediently agreed, Tang Ruiqian was relieved. Then he suddenly remembered something and said to Su Jinyue.
"By the way, when the people from the palace came to pick up Tang Ruiqian, they mentioned something."
Three days later, it will be the fifteenth. Father Emperor plans to hold a family banquet so that we can get to know the people in the palace.
Prince Jing and Consort Hua will likely attend as well.
Consort Hua is Song Zhihua. Su Jinyue has already told Tang Ruijing about her plot to rebel with Prince Jing, but since there is no evidence, it is not appropriate to tell Emperor Xinghe about it so that he can be wary of Prince Jing.
Tang Ruijing instructed Su Jinyue: "Don't be too nervous. It's just a family dinner. My current identity poses no threat to others, and they won't harm me."