Chapter 90: Apricot Tree Red

The Crown Prince and Bai Carp brought people to bring the force sticks. Only Chen Ji and Chen Wenzong were left standing side by side at the kiln factory gate. One was covered in dust and dirt, and a shake of his head would dislodge more dust, like a mongrel dog. The other wore white clothes like snow, just like the protagonist of every story.

Chen Wenzong frowned as he looked at the happily smiling Chen Ji, unsure what this concubine brother was so happy about. "Chen Ji, I see your arrangements are well-organized and your thoughts are clear. You are actually a very smart person. Why are you willing to be companions with this mud and dirt?"

While patting the dust off his body, Chen Ji replied with a careless laugh, "I am very happy today. You all look down on this old kiln factory, and you also look down on this dusty and dirty business, but the more I look at it, the more I like it."

Because this was the first time in this world that Chen Ji had something that belonged to him.

"Do you want to earn some money?"

Chen Wenzong misunderstood his meaning. "Although a son of a concubine cannot inherit the family business, when the family divides, as your elder brother, I will certainly give you some business. As long as you return from the wrong path and are willing to study properly and participate in the imperial examinations, how could I, as your elder brother, just watch you suffer from hunger and cold?"

Chen Ji happily patted Chen Wenzong's shoulder, leaving a black handprint on the other party's white robe, and joked, "Elder brother, you are actually a good person, but I am truly not material for reading classics. I am more suited to diligently work the land and burn kilns."

Chen Wenzong stepped back to the left, but still couldn't avoid the black handprint.

He frowned and said, "The Master says: If this were the case, then people from the four directions would carry their children and come, why would one need to farm?"

Chen Ji was slightly taken aback. "What does that mean?"

Chen Wenzong explained, "The supreme sage and immortal teacher says that if those in superior positions uphold rites and ceremonies and are sincere, the common people will naturally embrace their children and come to rely on them. Where is the need to farm oneself? Farming and working the land oneself is a lower strategy. We as scholars should become the world's example, and naturally followers will be like clouds."

Chen Ji looked silently at Chen Wenzong. He didn't have a deep understanding of Confucian culture, so he didn't know how to use classics to refute his elder brother's ideas.

At this moment, Bai Carp's voice came from afar, "Chen Ji, I found people who can modify the kiln. They said that all the kilns in the entire Liu Family Village were built by them, and they can help us."

Behind Bai Carp followed a hunchbacked old man, with a long pipe hanging from his waist and a tobacco pouch swinging like a purse. Behind the old man, seven strong men followed.

When they got closer, the hunchbacked old man stopped at the kiln factory gate. While pressing tobacco into his pipe, he looked at Chen Ji. "Are you the person in charge here?"

Chen Ji said calmly, "Yes, I am."

The hunchbacked old man said slowly, "All the kilns in the entire Liu Family Village were built by us Liu family people. There's no problem in building a kiln, but first, give two hundred taels of silver. During the kiln building, four jin of white flour, one jin of meat, and two jin of good wine every day."

"What?"

The Crown Prince's eyes widened.

The hunchbacked old man raised his head to look at him and said expressionlessly, "This is the rule for doing business in Liu Family Village. Besides us Liu family people, no one else has the skill to build a half-inverted flame kiln, and they wouldn't dare to build a kiln for you."

Chen Ji asked doubtfully, "People of Liu Ge Lao's Liu family?"

Behind the hunchbacked old man, a sturdy man laughed and said, "You know a little."

Chen Ji thought for a moment. "Please go back, sirs. We truly don't have that much money on us. Buying this kiln factory has already used up almost all our savings."

The hunchbacked old man turned around and left without a word. "Think it over. You can come find me again anytime."

Chen Ji looked at his departing back. "No wonder old Zhou was so eager to sell this kiln factory. No wonder his broken kiln factory only has a simple upward draft kiln inside. To do a little business these days, the local thugs peel off a layer of skin, and the officials peel off another layer."

Bai Carp said worriedly, "Then what do we do? I'm sorry. I didn't know they were local thugs who sit here and raise prices. I shouldn't have brought them over."

Chen Ji said calmly, "We'll do it ourselves. Without them, we can still build a kiln ourselves. If he can build a half-inverted flame kiln, then I will build a full-inverted flame kiln."

"Give them a little shock."

As they walked towards the kiln mouth, he suddenly turned his head to look at Chen Wenzong. "Elder brother, we are short of manpower. Will you lend a hand?"

Chen Wenzong stood in place for a long time, silent. He looked at the group of dusty and dirty people in front of him, and then at the earth kiln behind them. Immediately, he took out a silver ingot from his sleeve and handed it to Chen Ji. "Sorry, the autumn examinations are the day after tomorrow. I cannot delay here for too long. I left in a hurry and didn't bring much money. I can only give this to you to meet the emergency for now. If it's not enough, I will send people to bring some more tomorrow."

Chen Ji stuffed the silver ingot back into Chen Wenzong's hand, stepped back, cupped his hands, and said, "Then I wish elder brother success in one fell swoop and passing the provincial examination as the top scholar."

After speaking, he led the Crown Prince and the Princess without looking back to dismantle the kiln.

Chen Wenzong lowered his head to look at the silver ingot in his hand, wanting to say something for a moment, but not knowing what to say. After a long silence, he put the silver ingot back into his sleeve, turned around, left the courtyard, and mounted his horse. He wanted to say an apology, but didn't say it. Amidst the sound of the dismantling of the kiln, the white horse returned.

Liang Cat exerted great strength. He swung the hammer effortlessly and destroyed the old kiln. While clearing the building debris, Chen Ji praised, "Brother Cat didn't grow such a big appetite for nothing."

Liang Cat said somewhat shyly, "Raising soldiers for a thousand days, using soldiers for a moment. Finally, I can exert some strength."

Chen Ji looked at the Crown Prince and the Princess. "I am somewhat curious, why are the Crown Prince and the Princess willing to do this dirty and tiring work? You see, my elder brother is just not willing to touch these things."

The Crown Prince laughed happily. "Doing it occasionally is still okay. If you truly make me do this every day, I would have to run away."

Chen Ji sighed. "I always feel that Prince Jing is very different from other officials and nobles. He seems..."

Bai Carp Princess thought for a moment and said, "Mother says that father suffered hardships since he was young, so he is naturally not too different from other vassal kings."

"Oh?"

"I heard mother mention that not long after father was born, he was sent to Moon Mercy Nunnery in the capital suburbs with his birth mother."

Chen Ji was stunned. "Generally in the inner palace, even if a mother commits a wrong and is driven out of the palace gate, only the mother leaves and the child is left behind. It is not the case that both mother and child are driven out of the palace."

Bai Carp explained, "The former emperor had seventy-nine sons, and the struggle for the throne was extremely fierce. I am not clear about what exactly happened. I only know that many imperial sons and their birth mothers were driven out of the inner palace and successively died outside the palace. Father's birth mother also strangely died in Moon Mercy Nunnery in the second year after being driven there. At that time, father was only a little over one year old. It is said that thanks to a high-ranking eunuch in the inner court who secretly took care of him, he barely survived."

"Later, father grew up in the Directorate of Ceremonial in the capital suburbs, laboring with little eunuchs every day. Chopping wood, burning charcoal, washing clothes. Until he was eight years old, he was brought back to the palace by the current Empress Dowager and lived with the current His Majesty. Father is three years older than His Majesty. The two of them lived in the palace together for six years, and their relationship was like that of comrades and brothers."

"Then later, His Majesty ascended the throne at the age of eleven. Father was sent out to be enfeoffed at the age of fourteen. The young vassal king formed an alliance with the northern families Chen clan, Hu clan, and Qi clan. He used six years to secretly cooperate with supervising censors and other pure stream civil officials to purge the relatives by marriage. He assisted His Majesty in taking personal control... Of course, I heard these from mother. It is not necessarily accurate."

"Father has always required us to do many things ourselves since we were young. I heard that the Fortunate Prince was fed by people since he was young and dressed by people. We do not have this. Occasionally, when father is free, we still have to go to the countryside estate with him to chop wood and burn charcoal."

Chen Ji listened silently for a moment, only feeling that within this short story, many important pieces of information seemed to be hidden. The Liu clan was the relatives by marriage that the Princess mentioned. But Prince Jing, as a youth, purged the relatives by marriage, why did he later marry a woman from the relatives by marriage Liu clan and make her the Quiet Consort? Was it political compromise, or another intention?

Night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Originally, Chen Ji planned to live in the kiln factory. But the kiln factory didn't even have a place to sleep, so they had to return home. The ox cart swayed on the way back to the city. Everyone on the cart looked tired, and were so sleepy they could barely open their eyes. After working all day, everyone's waist was sore and their back ached, and they had blisters on their hands.

Someone's stomach rumbled first, and immediately, everyone's stomachs gurgled. Everyone looked at each other, then laughed heartily. "I wonder if there are still noodle stalls open in the city?"

"Definitely not." Liang Cat said. "Back to the medical hall, I'll roll noodles for everyone to eat. Garlic juice noodles okay?"

"Anything is okay."

"I'm so hungry now I could eat a cow."

"I could eat two cows."

Liang Cat said shyly, "I could eat three cows."

"I feel like Brother Cat is not joking."

"Hahaha..."

Back at the front door of Taiping Medical Hall. With a creak, the Crown Prince quietly pushed open the big door, and led the crowd to sneak into the backyard, bending their backs. "Speak softly, don't alarm Imperial Physician Yao. If we wake him up at this moment, I'm afraid his poisoned mouth will scold us until we cry!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Everyone was startled and looked up into the darkness of the main hall of the medical hall. They saw old man Yao holding a small black cat and lying on a bamboo chair. He slowly rose and slowly asked, "Crown Prince, come and explain to me, this old man, how is my mouth poisoned?"

The Crown Prince's laugh was uglier than crying. "You must have heard wrong. Just now, it was Liu Quxing who said it."

Old man Yao ignored him, just turned around and walked towards the backyard. "There are rolled noodles on the cutting board in the kitchen stove. If you want to eat, cook it yourself."

The Crown Prince swallowed a mouthful of saliva. "Imperial Physician Yao, you are like a living Buddha."

A moment later, a group of mongrel dogs squatted in a row in the backyard, each holding a big sea bowl and slurping up noodles, shoveling them into their mouths with chopsticks. The Crown Prince looked up and saw Imperial Physician Yao standing beside the bare apricot tree, looking at them with a face of disdain. The cat in Imperial Physician Yao's arms also looked at them with a face of disdain.

The Crown Prince said hesitantly, "Imperial Physician Yao, it seems a bit disdainful of us?"

Imperial Physician Yao laughed coldly. "With the way you are eating, I allow it to disdain you."

The Crown Prince: ... Chen Ji: ...

Imperial Physician Yao looked at them with pity. "Eight people went out in the morning, eight mongrel dogs came back in the evening. Those who know will know you went to make something new and strange. Those who don't know will think you were shone by a demon mirror and revealed your true forms."

He hugged Black Cloud and turned back to his room. "I'm going to sleep. After you finish eating, remember to clean up the kitchen."

The Crown Prince finished eating the noodles, slumped on the ground, and sighed. "Chen Ji, can we rest for a day?"

Bai Carp quickly said, "No. He made a military order with father. If he doesn't complete it, father will really send him to Lingnan."

The Crown Prince was speechless. Finally, he softly muttered, "You are more proactive than him."

At this time, Bai Carp stood in front of the apricot tree in the courtyard, lost in thought. Chen Ji sat on the ground with a bowl and plate, looked up, and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

Bai Carp suddenly said, "The leaves of the apricot tree have all fallen off, it doesn't look good. Wait for me a bit."

After saying that, she actually hurriedly climbed a ladder and flipped over the wall into the prince's mansion. Not long after, she pulled a piece of red cloth and flipped back. Bai Carp Princess cut the red cloth into thin strips, writing peace, joy, smoothness, and no worries on them. She tied them on the tree branches. She then separately wrote a strip of red cloth, moved the ladder, and wanted to hang it on the highest part of the apricot tree.

Chen Ji saw her clumsy appearance moving the ladder and kindly said, "Princess, should I help you hang it?"

Bai Carp urgently said, "No, I'll hang it myself." Not only that, she also wrapped the cloth strip around the branch several more times, so it was impossible to see what was written from under the tree.

Bai Carp slowly descended the ladder and greeted everyone with a smile. "You all come and write some too."

Everyone looked at each other. "Write what?"

Bai Carp laughed, her eyes curved up. "Just write your respective wishes."

Liu Quxing said, "I know what to write." Then he dipped his pen in ink and wrote "Master healthy and long life" on the red cloth.

She Dengke scolded him as a flatterer, then wrote "Master ten thousand years without boundary."

Liang Dog wrote "Have wine to drink every day." Liang Cat wrote "Buy several mu of good land."

The Crown Prince hesitated for a moment, then actually also learned from Bai Carp to secretly write a strip and wrap it on the highest part of the apricot tree, not letting anyone see. He climbed down from the ladder and looked at the bald head on one side. "Little monk, what is your wish?"

The little monk was a little embarrassed. "I can't casually make wishes. Making great vows needs to be fulfilled. This matter is closely related to cultivation."

"Then okay, you don't need to write."

Red cloth strips hung from all the branches of the apricot tree, like blooming red flowers. The courtyard where a group of big men lived suddenly gained a bit of gentle and elegant air. Bai Carp stood in front of the apricot tree with her hands behind her back, looked up, and admired her own work with a smile. She turned her head to look at Chen Ji. "Chen Ji, what are you planning to write? You haven't written anything yet."

Chen Ji thought for a moment and dipped his pen. Bai Carp leaned her head over to peek, and saw that the youth only wrote four simple words: "Round and round."

Bai Carp softly muttered, "I thought you would write words like 'ten thousand taels of gold'. You are very much looking forward to being with your family? But those family of yours..."

Chen Ji smiled without explaining. The "round and round" he wrote did not refer to family.

Bai Carp looked at the red cloth prayer strips on the tree branches, her expression peaceful. "Sometimes I also envy the lives of ordinary people. I know this is a bit like not knowing one's blessings while in them. But I still hope home can be warmer. More days of being together."

Hearing this sentence, Chen Ji suddenly asked tentatively, "I see that Lady Cloud Consort gives the Princess a lot of monthly silver every month. The Crown Prince does not live as well as the Princess. Why do you say this?"

Bai Carp smiled. "A girl. In the eyes of parents, as long as she grows up properly, she doesn't need to read books that well, as long as she can marry according to their ideas. Parents are not that strict with me, so they will naturally be more tolerant and indulging. Mother always wants to give birth to a younger brother. You see, as soon as my father finally returned to the mansion, she immediately sent people to clean the entire Anxi Street and even sent Yanmen dates to all the neighbors."

Chen Ji was startled. So sending Yanmen dates had a meaning. It's just that they couldn't be too obvious, so they didn't send peanuts, longan, lotus seeds to the neighbors...

He suddenly asked, "Princess, that persimmon tree in Flying Cloud Garden."

Bai Carp answered with a smile, "Mother originally wanted to chop it down and change it to a pomegranate tree, but I stopped it. I feel that persimmon is more beautiful than pomegranate."

"Then why are the persimmons hanging on the branches not picked?"

"I want to leave some for the winter magpies to eat."

"So it was the Princess's kindness..."

Chen Ji only felt a chill spread from his spine to his neck. Yanmen dates symbolize giving birth to noble sons early, and pomegranate trees symbolize many sons and many blessings. Cloud Consort's desire to give birth to a son was almost on the surface. But could giving birth to a son inherit Prince Jing's title? No. There is still the legitimate elder brother the Crown Prince in front of them. Unless the Crown Prince dies in the inner prison.

Up to this moment, Chen Ji's speculation had a reasonable logical chain. Cloud Consort hoped that the Crown Prince would die in the inner prison. As for whether Bai Carp would be implicated, she basically didn't care... Or perhaps. Cloud Consort's original intention was to also send Bai Carp into the inner prison. This way, everyone would no longer suspect her.

Chen Ji looked at Bai Carp with a complex expression. He wanted to remind her, but didn't know where to start. In front of him was Liu Mingxian, who personally killed her grandfather, and behind him was the vicious child-eating Cloud Consort. Compared to these two, Chen Ji suddenly felt that his father in the Chen manor who only sent him to Taiping Medical Hall as an apprentice seemed a little benevolent.

This world.

Chen Ji said softly, "Princess."

"Um?"

"Your good heart will have a good reward."

"Right? I think so too. Let's go back. We still need to wash off the dust. See you tomorrow morning."

"See you tomorrow morning. Tomorrow, we will call some helpers from the city to modify the kiln together."

Chen Ji looked up at Bai Carp as she flipped over the courtyard wall and disappeared into the night. He turned back to look at the gentle and elegant red apricot tree and was silent for a long time. For a moment, he had the mind to untie the red cloth strip at the highest point to see what wishes the Crown Prince and Bai Carp wrote, but then he felt that prying into others' privacy like this was not good. He could only smile and give up.

.