The Fengyi Palace.
The queen was checking the items in the storage room, planning to prepare some things for the Fourth Prince. Suddenly, she seemed to remember something and asked Zhuoyue beside her, "Has that brush been sent over?"
When she saw the Princess Jingning and Shen Baozhu, she was a bit surprised. "You've come to the palace so early today?"
The Princess Jingning was about to make up an excuse casually, but Shen Baozhu was honest. "Uncle Emperor asked Baozhu to help him with something and treated Baozhu to a lot of delicious food... Mother, Brother Yan Mingli likes roast goose. Can I take some back for him?"
Shen Baozhu thought for a while and named more than a dozen dishes in a row, all of which were Yan Mingli's favorites.
At first, the Princess Jingning still wore a smile, but as more and more dishes were named, she was shocked. "These are all Mingli's favorites?"
Lin Yu: [Mingli and Baozhu are just two gluttons, one big and one small. They both love to eat. There's nothing Mingli doesn't like to eat.]
The Dragon King: [Who says there isn't? He doesn't eat mice!]
Lin Yu: [It's my lack of rigor. Mingli doesn't dislike any delicious food.]
Shen Baozhu nodded and even spoke well of Yan Mingli. "Of course. Brother Mingli eats everything. The roast goose just now was really delicious. Brother Mingli hasn't tasted it before. Baozhu wants to take some for him."
This was the palace. The Princess Jingning looked at the queen, and the queen nodded slightly. It was just a serving of roast goose, a simple reward. Now that the Fourth Prince was in the princess's mansion, not to mention one serving of roast goose, even ten servings would be fine.
Zhuoyue received the order and quietly withdrew.
The queen took Shen Baozhu's hand and led her into the palace hall. She asked nervously, "Baozhu, can I ask you something about the Fourth Prince?"
Sensing the queen's nervousness and uneasiness, Shen Baozhu silently straightened her back and said firmly, "Of course!"
Shen Baozhu told the queen that the Fourth Prince was very happy in the princess's mansion. Every morning, he would touch the small bag around his neck to make sure the snacks in it were still there.
Afraid that the snacks would go bad, every two days, she and Qiuqiu would help him finish them and replace them with fresh ones. Sometimes when they couldn't finish them all, they would give them to Yan Mingli.
Qiuqiu was the smartest. She told Yan Mingli that these pastries and pancakes were all left by the Fourth Prince because he was reluctant to eat them and specially saved them for him.
Yan Mingli was very touched and would eat all the food up.
The Fourth Prince was very hard - working. He practiced speaking and writing every day. Yesterday, he could already say a sentence intermittently.
Hearing about the Fourth Prince's recent situation, the queen felt a pang in her heart. She was happy about his growth but also a bit sad.
The Fourth Prince should have been the most precious child in the world, but due to her negligence, he had suffered so much. Even though he was making rapid progress, he couldn't be like a normal child who could cry and make a fuss.
The queen then thought of the Third Prince, and her heart ached as if being cut by a knife.
"Don't cry, don't cry. Is Aunt Queen missing the Fourth Prince? You can go home with Baozhu." Shen Baozhu reached out her hand and wiped away the queen's tears.
The queen held Shen Baozhu's little hand tightly, wiped away her tears with a handkerchief, and forced a smile in a flurry. "It's okay. Aunt is just too sleepy."
...
In the capital city of the Xiangyun Kingdom.
When General Mu led his men into the palace of the Xiangyun Kingdom and captured the king of the Xiangyun Kingdom, he was still a bit dazed. He had really captured the Xiangyun Kingdom!
The military advisor looked at his friend who was grinning like a fool and shook his head helplessly. Then he discussed with Shen Danqing about how to settle the royal family of the Xiangyun Kingdom.
"He Qing will take the imperial examination with you next year. I want Shen Yunfeng to arrange the affairs regarding the royal family of the Xiangyun Kingdom. This way, we can also give him some military merits, which will be helpful for the futures of you two brothers." The military advisor had thought for a long time before coming up with this idea.
Shen Danqing disliked Shen Yunfeng and naturally didn't want this, but he couldn't figure out Shen Heqing's thoughts, so he could only perfunctorily agree for the time being.
Then he brought up another matter. "There's not much food and forage left. We need to find the granary of the Xiangyun Kingdom as soon as possible."
The military advisor had already thought of this. He smiled and said, "I've already sent He Qing to look for it. Now we just need to wait."
"We owe this great victory to the weapons you brought!"
"When we get back to the capital, I'll ask the emperor for a reward for you."
Those weapons were all made according to Shen Baozhu's blueprints, and it was the Princess Jingning who supervised the workers to rush the production. Shen Danqing was only responsible for delivering the things, so he didn't take the credit. Instead, he explained it to the military advisor.
The military advisor highly appreciated Shen Danqing and praised him. "Then you also have merits. The reward is what you deserve..."
"Come here quickly!"
General Mu suddenly shouted, which startled the military advisor. The military advisor turned around and rushed over, and Shen Danqing followed behind him.
The military advisor thought that General Mu had had an accident, but unexpectedly, he was fiddling with a spear in a side hall of the palace. The military advisor was so angry that he couldn't speak and punched General Mu on the shoulder.
General Mu winced in pain and let out a wail. "Ouch, you're really hitting hard. Do you want to kill me?"
"Who told you to shout like that!" The military advisor wished he could punch General Mu again. At such an old age, he was not as steady as He Qing and Danqing.
Shen Danqing quickly supported General Mu and advised, "Grandfather, the military advisor was just discussing something with grandson. When he heard your shout, he rushed over anxiously. He was just too worried about you."
General Mu knew this in his heart, but he wailed subconsciously. In front of Shen Danqing, a junior, he suddenly felt a bit embarrassed. He handed the spear in his hand to the military advisor and changed the subject. "Old fellow, take a look at this. Does it look familiar?"
It was an excellent long - spear. The spearhead was sharp and even glistened with white light, indicating that it had been well - maintained.
The military advisor looked at it from all angles but could only tell that it was a good spear and couldn't find anything else.
Seeing that the military advisor didn't notice the secret, General Mu was extremely anxious. He simply pointed directly at the joint between the spearhead and the spear shaft. "Look, isn't there a line of small characters here?"
Guided by General Mu, the military advisor finally saw the small characters. He squinted his eyes and looked for a long time before barely making out the words. "Mu Bujiali is the most powerful. What does this sentence mean?"
When it came to this sentence, General Mu looked very proud. "Many years ago, Old Man Wu had a martial arts competition with me. He was defeated by me. As a punishment, he had to praise me and engrave the words on his weapon."
"This spear belongs to Old Man Wu!"
"I also asked the servants in the palace. They all said that this spear had been here for many years. Look, all these weapons here were collected by the king of the Xiangyun Kingdom."
Thinking of this, General Mu felt a bit melancholy. "I didn't expect Old Man Wu's life to be so difficult that he even sold his beloved spear. He could have just asked me for a loan. If he was willing to let me scold him for a while, I wouldn't even ask him to pay it back."
At the same time, the military advisor's voice sounded. "Who is Old Man Wu? He's a traitor who colluded with the enemy!"
"Hey, you can't talk nonsense like this. If Old Man Wu hears this, he'll fight you to the death." General Mu was so scared that he took a few steps back to keep a distance from the military advisor. "You two have a good relationship, so you can say this. But my relationship with him is not good, so I can't listen to this casually."
The military advisor frowned. He thought for a while in his mind. The only person with the surname Wu who had a good relationship with him was the military commander in the capital city.