kvmb Chapter 190 Longevity
Chapter 190 Longevity
After the crown prince finished speaking, he reached out and turned his wheelchair to leave, but the emperor hurriedly stopped him.
"Ah Que," the emperor called out, looking at the crown prince's cold face, he sighed helplessly and compromised: "It's right, it's right, I didn't say it shouldn't be done, don't be in such a hurry, what's the rush? Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival, the banquet will start soon, it only happens once a year, let's have a couple of drinks, shall we?"
The crown prince turned and looked calmly at the emperor, whose expression suddenly froze. The emperor awkwardly added, "I meant it's just the two of us, no one else."
Time seemed to stand still. After a moment, the Crown Prince took out several sheets of paper from his sleeve and handed them to the Emperor: "This is the list of those involved in the purchase of Qinglian Temple's Nourishing Heart Pills. The only concession I can make is to keep this list."
"Let the Empress Dowager continue to cause trouble if she wants to. The Heart-Nourishing Pill from Qinglian Temple works because of a flower called Datura, which is poisonous. Over time, it will affect one's mind and there is no cure."
The emperor's expression changed drastically: "What?"
The prince scoffed, "If eating other people can lead to longevity, then we're just another pack of wolves and tigers."
After the Crown Prince finished speaking, he called out to the door, "Eunuch Feng."
Feng Kang hurriedly and cautiously entered, glancing at the expressions of the father and son, and heard the Crown Prince say, "Send me out."
The emperor tried to persuade her to stay: "Ah Que, otherwise..."
The crown prince did not move.
The emperor glanced helplessly at Feng Kang. Feng Kang stepped forward and carefully pushed the crown prince out the door. Cao Cheng was already waiting outside. Seeing the prince come out, he hurriedly stepped forward to take Feng Kang's place.
After watching the Crown Prince leave, Feng Kang turned around and returned to the Imperial Study.
The emperor remained seated on the prayer mat, sighing like an ordinary middle-aged father: "Ah Que still refuses to forgive me. When he was young, he grew up with me in this imperial study. I would carry him to the morning court in my arms and have him sit on my lap to review memorials in the evening. Back then, he wasn't even as tall as this imperial desk."
“Feng Kang, he won’t even call me ‘father’ anymore.”
Feng Kang quickly knelt down beside him to comfort him: "Your Majesty, the bond between you and His Highness the Crown Prince is the closest in the world, and His Highness cherishes it in his heart."
The emperor sighed, and after a long while, handed the papers the crown prince had given him to Feng Kang: "How could I not know that this case should be handled? It's just that it's easy to falter if things don't go smoothly. Ah Que's intolerant nature is truly, truly..."
The emperor didn't continue, and Feng Kang didn't dare to take the answer, nor did he even dare to glance at the stack of papers in his hand.
……
The family banquet at the Duke of Sheng's mansion was quiet and deserted. It was supposed to be a day for family reunion, but for the first time, half of the masters did not come.
Finally, it was Master Sheng and his wife who spent the holiday eating and drinking with a group of children.
On the contrary, it was easy.
Lu Yangyang and Sheng Yunjiao even secretly drank some fruit wine and played cards with a few of the young ladies from the opposite concubine's quarters. The Second Madam generously gave each of them a handful of silver melon seeds. It was Lu Yangyang's first time playing cards, and apart from losing a few hands at the beginning, she won almost every hand afterward. She won so much that none of the young ladies dared to play with her anymore, and even Sheng Yunjiao raised her hands in surrender.
Finally, Lu Yangyang happily collected a purse full of silver melon seeds and returned to her courtyard.
She generously gave a small handful of silver melon seeds to both Granny Shen and Lüyao, and the three of them even ate mooncakes together.
After finishing the mooncakes, Lu Yangyang sat alone in the courtyard, looking at the moon in the sky. She couldn't help but think of her aunt, wondering what her aunt was doing at that moment.
She either hid in the cellar or huddled in a corner of the room, crying quietly.
Before leaving, she entrusted her aunt to the care of Madam Chen next door. Madam Chen was kind and hardworking and would certainly not neglect her aunt. However, even on such days, Lu Yangyang would still miss her aunt very much, even though they had never been able to properly celebrate a festival together.
As she pondered, Lu Yangyang found it hard to fall asleep. So she climbed a tree and looked out at the neighboring yard, where she could vaguely see lights on.
Strange, didn't His Highness the Crown Prince return to the palace today? Why are the lights still on?
Curious, Lu Yangyang jumped down from the tree, climbed over the wall, and quietly slipped away to the next house.
Upon reaching the outside of the Crown Prince's courtyard, one could immediately see him sitting there burning paper money.
Lu Yangyang paused for a moment before remembering what Yan Yue had said that day: the anniversary of the late empress's death was actually the Mid-Autumn Festival.
I heard that there will be a palace banquet today, inviting members of the imperial family. Everyone is celebrating and having fun, but the Crown Prince is all alone, paying respects to his deceased mother.
Hearing the commotion, the Crown Prince looked towards the door and saw Lu Yangyang standing there in a daze. He then waved to Lu Yangyang.
Lu Yangyang walked in, squatted down beside him, and threw some paper money into the brazier.
Neither of them spoke for a long time. After the Crown Prince finished placing the paper money on his lap, he slowly spoke: "My mother doesn't really like these things. She says that when a person dies, it's like a lamp going out. Whether we offer sacrifices or not, she won't come back to life. If one day she leaves, I can think of her occasionally. Thinking of her will make her always be by my side."
"But I am still a mortal after all. I wonder if there really is a netherworld, whether she is doing well, whether she receives the paper money I send her, and whether she is carefree and not good at worldly affairs, and whether she is lacking in food and necessities in the other world."
Lu Yangyang had no relatives and had never experienced the death of a loved one, so she couldn't understand the Crown Prince's feelings. However, she felt that what the late Empress said made a lot of sense: "If I die in the future, I hope that someone will remember me, so that at least I won't have lived in vain. When I was helping out at the clinic, the old doctor who taught me to recognize herbs said that he had been a doctor all his life. People never know whether illness or an accident will come first. If you get sick, you don't even know if you can get a cure, let alone an accident. It's not easy to live, so who knows what will happen after death? So I think that if I can be remembered, that's another form of living."
Lu Yangyang looked up at the Crown Prince with great seriousness: "Many people will remember the things Your Highness has done, and even more people will remember them in the future. So Your Highness, you will live a long and healthy life, and you will be able to remember the people you want to remember for a very long time."
The firelight illuminated Lu Yangyang's eyes, making them appear exceptionally bright, like a blazing flame that warmed the heart.
He couldn't help but chuckle: "Alright, then I'll try my best to live to be a hundred years old, so I can remember the people I want to remember, and live to be a hundred years old together."
Lu Yangyang tilted her head and gave him a big smile.
Then he slapped his forehead and said, "Your Highness, I forgot there's something else I need to tell you. I heard today that the younger brother of that Fairy Shangshan, Ah Liang, goes to a house in the south of the city every month, in South Seventh Alley. The owner is very mysterious. Do you know whose house it is?"
"South Seventh Lane is the residence of the eldest prince."