Chapter 9 Vinegar and Snow White Rabbit

  Wei Zifu was unaware of what happened later in the Changle Palace, thinking that the three princes were ignorant of their weight, offending Emperor Wu and suffering heavy punishment, and from then on they would lose favor. He was overjoyed in his heart, and drank with Wei Zifu until late at night, dispersing after reaching the height of excitement.

  The next morning, Wei Zijun and Wei Ziyuan were summoned to Longde Hall to attend the imperial court meeting. Wei Ziyuan couldn't help but smile when he saw his three younger brothers standing below him with pale faces. Wei Zijun also smiled silently. However, what happened next made these two people feel like they had fallen into an ice cellar.

  All the officials had just finished their ceremony, and the prime minister Shang Rong, the Grand Master Wen Zhong, the Supreme Minister Mei Bo, Zhao Qi and other senior officials jointly submitted a memorial to the emperor, requesting that the king's eldest son in the East Palace be established as the crown prince.

  After Emperor Yi publicly announced the establishment of Shou Wang as the crown prince, he issued a decree to hold a formal enthronement ceremony two months later, ordering all vassals to come and pay their respects. At the same time, he also issued a decree to grant a marriage, giving Huang Jun's youngest daughter as a concubine to be married to the crown prince, choosing an auspicious day for the wedding. As soon as this imperial edict was issued, Huang Jun, who had just expressed his dissenting opinion on the establishment of Shou Wang as the crown prince, suddenly became speechless, his face becoming extremely complicated, and ultimately could only sincerely thank the emperor's grace.

  Wei Zi Qi's face was ashen, staring at everything that had happened, as if he had gone through a hellish nightmare. Although he didn't understand what had happened in the Zhao Xuan Hall after he and Wei Zi Yan left last night, the cruel reality was already in front of him - whether it was the struggle for the throne or the fight for the beauty's favor, he had lost, and lost miserably.

  Weiziyu's mood had hit rock bottom, and he mechanically followed the ministers to kneel down and pay their respects, his expression dull and seemingly at a loss for what to do.

  After withdrawing from court, Zhang Zixing followed Emperor Yi to the ancestral temple for a dizzying and tedious ritual before being released back to his residence.

  "Welcome, Your Highness!" As soon as he entered the door, Zhang Zixing saw Jiang Shi and Yang Shi leading the crowd in paying their respects and congratulating him. The two women had already received news of his promotion to crown prince.

  "Two virtuous wives, hurry up." Zhang Zixing was in a great mood and went forward to help up the two smiling wives. Taking advantage of the servants' fear to get up, he sneakily pinched Jiang's elastic buttocks. Jiang Wencui didn't expect him to take advantage of her in such a public setting and almost cried out in surprise. Embarrassed by the many servants present, she didn't dare make a sound, so she just bit her lip and gave him a fierce stare, causing Yang to stifle a laugh beside them.

  Everyone came to the backyard garden, where a sumptuous feast had been prepared in advance. Many of the dishes were made by Jiang and Yang themselves.

  "I offer a toast to Your Highness, congratulations on the double happiness of the Crown Prince," Jiang Wencan raised her cup and walked in front of him, saying: "I heard that Miss Huang is beautiful, elegant, virtuous and talented, she must become Your Highness's virtuous wife."

  Although Jiang Wenyue's face wore a sweet smile, Zhang Zixing still detected a hint of sourness in her tone. Even in ancient times when polygamy was prevalent, even among women renowned for their "virtue and wisdom", it was impossible for them to genuinely wish for another woman to share their husband with them.

  Zhang Zixing felt embarrassed, and couldn't decline, so she had to take it and drink. Yang Jiu let out a soft sigh: "It's hard to hide the loss in my heart: 'In the future, Your Highness will probably have thousands of concubines, at that time, we sisters will probably find it difficult to even see you once.'"

  "Sister, do not speak nonsense! Jiang Shi knew that today was a grand and joyful day, and she feared that Zhang Zixing would be displeased. She hastily said: "This is the emperor's benevolent arrangement, a special decree to bestow marriage, with profound intentions, greatly beneficial and harmless to the prince. We should follow the example of Princess Yao, serving the prince together, and when Huang Jia's daughter arrives, we must get along well with her and not conflict. In the future, if the prince becomes emperor and takes more consorts to extend the imperial bloodline, it is a common occurrence, how can you not understand the bigger picture?"

  Jiang Wenchu is indeed the daughter of Duke Dongbo, she saw the benefits of marrying Huangmen at a glance, her temperament and breadth are not ordinary, no wonder she can become the queen in the future, holding the harem, deeply respected by all concubines.

  Yang Jiu was not a jealous person, and as a concubine herself, she was naturally accustomed to polygamy. Just now, she had spoken out of emotion. She nodded and said, "Sister is absolutely right, I know I was wrong, Your Highness, please don't be annoyed."

  Upon hearing Yang Jiu's apology, Zhang Zixing felt a mix of emotions: ancient women were indeed victims of polygamy, only knowing how to endure and obey, but what was her fault? The fate of Jiangshi and Yangshi was tragic. As the queen, Jiangshi was framed by Da Ji and Fei Zhong, assassinated King Zhou, and died from torture. Yangshi, grieving for her husband's ruthlessness, also took her own life by hanging. Zhang Zixing looked at the sisterly flowers with a hint of fear in their expressions and secretly vowed that she would never let this tragedy happen again.

  "Jiuer, you and Wenqiang are both my treasures, how can I bear to scold you?" Jiangshi and Yangshi heard such sweet words, their hearts were greatly calmed, and they couldn't help but blush. Then he said again: "My two beloved wives need not be jealous, what kind of person is your husband? How could he forget his roots and repay kindness?"

  In the Shang Dynasty, there was already a dish called "food vinegar", also known as "suan". Yang's wife said: "The taste of suan is strangely sour, my sister and I never liked to eat it, why did you bring this up?"

  Zhang Zixing suddenly remembered that the phrase "eating vinegar" originated in the Tang Dynasty of later generations, and naturally the two women did not know, so he told them this story.

  During the Tang Dynasty, the famous Prime Minister Fang Xuanling was highly trusted by Emperor Taizong Li Shimin, but he was notorious for being henpecked. One day, Emperor Taizong invited the founding heroes to a banquet in the palace, and after getting drunk, Fang Xuanling boasted about not being afraid of his wife under the instigation of his colleagues. Emperor Taizong, taking advantage of the wine, bestowed two beautiful women upon Fang Xuanling.

  Unexpectedly, Fang Xuanling's wife didn't care about that and flew into a rage when she saw Fang Xuanling bring back two beautiful young concubines. She scolded loudly and even hit them with a feather duster. Fang Xuanling thought it was not good and had to send the beauties out of the house. After learning about this, Li Shimin wanted to suppress the arrogance of the prime minister's wife, so he immediately summoned Prime Minister Fang Xuanling and his wife to question them.

  After the couple arrived, Emperor Taizong of Tang pointed to the two beauties and a jar of "poisonous wine" and said, let Madame Fang choose: one was to take back the two beauties together for life, or to drink the poisonous wine and die for disobeying the imperial edict. Fang Xuanling knew that his wife had a strong temper and feared she would drink the poisonous wine, so he hastily knelt down to plead for mercy. Li Shimin angrily said: "You are the current prime minister, yet you dare to defy orders and speak out of turn!"

  Madam Fang saw that things had come to this, looked at the two women's faces, and knew that she was old and faded. Once these two women entered the palace, she would eventually have to take the path of disobedience and rebellion. Rather than suffer and die, it was better to drink this tank of poisonous wine and be done with it. Before Tang Taizong could urge her again, Madam Fang picked up the tank of poisonous wine and drank it all in one gulp. Fang Xuanling was so anxious that his old tears flowed freely, hugging his wife and sobbing. However, the other officials burst out laughing together, because what was in the tank was not poisonous wine but rather vinegar from Jin Yang Qing Yuan, which was completely non-toxic. Tang Taizong felt a wave of emotion and withdrew his order. From then on, the phrase "to drink vinegar" became a synonym for jealousy between women.

  Zhang Zixing moved the story's time forward to the previous dynasty, and slightly modified the names. Jiang Wenchu and Yang Jiu listened with rapt attention, and the final result was even more astonishing to the two women.

  "My lord, please be at ease. Although I am not talented, I am not a jealous wife either. In the future, I will definitely take care of the household matters with all my heart and not let you worry." Jiang Wencui said firmly, and in the days to come, this promise was indeed reflected in her actions.

  Zhang Zixing was moved, seeing the two white rabbits crouching in the corner of the Hundred Flowers Garden. He felt a sense of melancholy and recited in a low voice: "Alas, the white rabbits, running east and west, their fur not as new, people not as before. Please, my two virtuous wives, be at ease, no matter how many women I have in the future, Zixing will never betray the love of husband and wife."

  "The White Rabbit" is a four-sentence poem from the Later Han Dynasty's "Ancient Lament", also known as "Ancient Sorrowful Song". Although it only has a few words, it is full of sorrow and resentment, easily evoking resonance. Zhang Zixing doesn't care about plagiarism or copyright, he just casually came up with it. The two women had never heard such moving phrases before, Jiang Hou carefully savored the meaning behind them, momentarily stunned, while Yang's eyes welled up with tears.

  The two women suddenly cried out in surprise, and it turned out that the prince had disregarded etiquette, embracing his two sisters in front of the maidservants and walking towards the imperial palace in broad daylight - the legendary "daytime **"!

  Before long, the soft murmurs of tender voices filled the bedroom, fortunately all the servants had already withdrawn.

  A few days later, General Wu Cheng Huang Feihu suddenly came to visit and invited the Crown Prince to go hunting in the eastern suburbs. Zhang Zixing had long been looking forward to meeting this future younger brother-in-law and Wu Cheng Wang, so he readily agreed.

  Two men led a group of families, riding horses all the way to the eastern suburbs Yunye.

  "Your Highness's bravery is astonishing, the Flying Cloud Pavilion's beam-changing pillar, the Xianqing Hall's nine-cow-dragging, can be said to be unparalleled in the world." Huang Feihu slowed down his horse and bowed to Zhang Zixing: "What made Feihu unexpected was that Your Highness's riding skills are also so impressive, controlling the horse to gallop as if on flat ground, making this general feel ashamed to the extreme."

  At that time, cavalry had been used relatively extensively in warfare, with some differences from the historical chariots, especially the western Xiang dog's riding skills were the most powerful, known as "the nation on horseback", similar to the Han Dynasty's Xiongnu. (After all, Pig Foot was reborn in a parallel space rather than strict history)

  "Haha! General, you're overpraising me. I'm just a bit physically strong, how can I compare to your exceptional martial arts skills?" Zhang Zixing was naturally delighted to receive Huang Feihu's compliment. "Just now, I used all my strength to sprint, but General, you were always following closely behind me at a steady pace. I reckon that if it weren't for this prince's empty title, I would have been left far behind by you long ago."

  "Your Highness, there's no need to be humble. I'm just taking advantage of this mount," Huang Feihu patted the Five-Colored Divine Ox under him, "This ox is an ancient rare breed, quite spirited and can travel a thousand miles without getting tired. Compared to Your Highness being able to ride ordinary horses with it, that's the real skill!"

  Zhang Zixing shook his head and pointed at the object under him, saying: "Actually, this is not my ability, but the clever use of this object."

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