Although they had encountered the troublesome Zheng Family, shopping for clothes and jewelry was still a delightful experience. The only downside was when Ming Cunfu, her sixth brother, paid the bill, his hand trembled slightly.
"Little sister," Ming Cunfu said, touching his now half-empty purse, "why don’t you wait for me in the carriage? I’ll go to the bookstore across the street to pick up a few books."
"Sure," Jiuzhu replied, happily touching the new hairpin she had just bought.
Seeing the smile on his sister’s face, Ming Cunfu began to reflect on whether he was being too stingy. As long as his sister was happy, why should he care about the money?
"I’ll be back soon," Ming Cunfu instructed Chunfen, "take good care of her."
"Don’t worry, brother, I’ll wait obediently in the carriage," Jiuzhu waved her hand. "Take your time choosing books."
"Then I’ll be back shortly."
The carriage was parked right outside the clothing store. As Jiuzhu approached the carriage, she heard a woman screaming.
"A bug! A bug!"
"It jumped onto my clothes! Get it off me!"
Seeing the woman in a state of panic, frantically shaking her sleeves, Jiuzhu quickly stepped forward and caught the bug on the woman’s sleeve.
"Don’t be afraid, miss. It’s just a cricket," Jiuzhu said, hiding the cricket behind her back to prevent the woman from seeing it and getting scared again.
"Thank you," the woman said, her fear gradually subsiding. After thanking Jiuzhu, she hurriedly climbed into her own carriage.
"Little girl, that’s my prized champion."
Jiuzhu turned around and saw the Purple-Robed Young Master standing at the entrance of the clothing store, holding a cricket cage and smiling at her.
"Yours?"
"Of course," the Purple-Robed Young Master opened his palm. "Well, this little traitor escaped from its master. It’s better to hand it over to me, its rightful owner."
"Alright," Jiuzhu jogged over to him and placed the cricket into his slightly pale palm.
The so-called "champion" struggled weakly in the Purple-Robed Young Master’s hand for a moment before completely stopping.
"Um…" Jiuzhu quietly took a step back, glancing at the Purple-Robed Young Master’s expression before taking another small step back. "I might have accidentally used a bit too much force just now."
To emphasize her point, she gestured with her thumb and forefinger, showing a tiny distance. "Really, just a little bit."
The Purple-Robed Young Master raised an eyebrow, tossed the "champion’s" remains into the cricket cage, and one of his attendants quickly took the cage while another handed him a clean handkerchief.
As the young master leisurely wiped his hands, Jiuzhu rummaged through her purse and pulled out a small piece of silver. After a moment’s thought, she decided it was too large and put it back, continuing to search until she found a smaller silver piece. She quickly stepped forward, placed it in the Purple-Robed Young Master’s palm, and then retreated several steps.
"Such a generous amount of silver," the Purple-Robed Young Master remarked, holding up the tiny silver piece between his fingers. "You’re quite generous, miss."
Jiuzhu was reluctant to part with the silver, but she hadn’t brought any copper coins with her.
"It’s nothing," she said, forcing herself not to look at the silver in his hand. "Consider it a funeral expense for the cricket."
The attendant holding the cricket cage trembled slightly, but as a professional servant of the prince’s household, he didn’t dare show any emotion before his master spoke.
"Very well," the Purple-Robed Young Master casually tucked the silver piece into his belt. "As you wish, I’ll make sure the champion gets a proper burial."
"Um…" Jiuzhu bowed slightly in apology. "I’m sorry."
Although it wasn’t intentional, she had indeed accidentally killed the cricket.
She blamed her lack of experience, not knowing that people in the capital kept crickets as pets.
"Forget it," the Purple-Robed Young Master mounted his horse and took the whip from his attendant. "It was bound to die anyway."
He raised the whip to leave but suddenly turned back to look at the gold and flower hairpin on Jiuzhu’s temple. "Which family are you from? I don’t think I’ve seen you before."
Jiuzhu’s dark eyes looked at the Purple-Robed Young Master as she shuffled her feet and retreated to her carriage.
What was it with the boys in the capital? Why did they always ask for a girl’s name and family as soon as they met her?
Noticing the girl’s reaction, the Purple-Robed Young Master clicked his tongue. Whose family had raised such a naive girl? If she married into a family like this, wouldn’t she be bullied into submission by her in-laws?
After the Purple-Robed Young Master gave her a look that seemed to say "this rabbit is about to be roasted," he finally whipped his horse and left. Jiuzhu was now certain of one thing:
The problem wasn’t her; it was the entire capital.
"Little sister," Ming Cunfu returned with a few books in his arms. "Let’s go home."
"Okay."
Once in the carriage, Jiuzhu clutched her purse, feeling a pang of regret. "Sixth brother, I accidentally killed someone’s cricket and had to pay for its funeral."
"What cricket?" Ming Cunfu knew that some of the young nobles in the capital enjoyed keeping crickets and betting on cricket fights.
"Its owner called it the champion."
"What?" Ming Cunfu, who had been lounging lazily, suddenly sat up straight. "The champion?"
In the entire capital, apart from the eccentric Prince Chen, who else would dare give a cricket such a name?
"How much… did you pay?" he asked, his throat dry.
"I paid this much silver," Jiuzhu held up her pinky finger, showing about half the size of a fingernail.
Ming Cunfu immediately relaxed. At such a low price, it couldn’t possibly be Prince Chen’s champion.
Rumor had it that Prince Chen had spent nearly a hundred gold coins to buy a cricket and named it the champion. If it had really been His Highness’s cricket, the little silver Jiuzhu had paid wouldn’t even cover the cost of burying a few of its legs.
A few days later, while Jiuzhu was having tea with her mother at home, her father, Ming Jingzhou, walked in with a grave expression.
"What’s the matter?" Lady Shen asked casually.
"Just some minor court matters," Ming Jingzhou forced a smile and took a sip of the leftover tea from Lady Shen’s cup. "Today, someone proposed in court that the Emperor should name an heir. Princes Huai and Qi have the highest support."
"And the Emperor?" Lady Shen handed him a piece of pastry.
"The Emperor was furious," Ming Jingzhou sat down at the table, eating the pastry with the leftover tea, and glanced at his daughter.
Jiuzhu looked at him, puzzled.
"Ah," Ming Jingzhou sighed.
All the other princes had supporters, but his daughter’s fiancé, Prince Chen, was disliked by both civil and military officials. No one had recommended him.
"What’s wrong?" Jiuzhu gently patted her father’s back. "Did the Emperor also dislike the prince you recommended?"
Ming Jingzhou silently shook his head. If that were the case, he wouldn’t be sighing.
"You said the Emperor is only fifty-one, right?" Jiuzhu didn’t understand why the court officials were in such a hurry to have the Emperor name an heir. It was like pointing at a vigorous elder and saying, "I think you’re going to die soon, so let’s divide the family property in advance."
Ming Jingzhou nodded.
"The Emperor is full of energy, rules the land, and has the hearts of the people. He even holds the power to command the army," Jiuzhu looked at her father in confusion. "What good does it do him to name an heir so early?"
"But all the princes are adults now, and the Emperor favors Consort Su. I’m afraid the empire might fall into the hands of her and her son."
"They’re all the Emperor’s sons. Why can’t Prince Chen…"
Lady Shen stuffed a piece of candy into Jiuzhu’s mouth and whispered, "Jiuzhu, dear, let’s not talk about court matters."
Jiuzhu crunched on the candy. They could talk about Princes Huai and Qi, but why not Prince Chen?
Thinking about how even children dared to call Consort Su a "witch," Jiuzhu felt uneasy. How could such a kind-hearted woman and her son, Prince Chen, withstand the hostility of the capital?
"Prince Chen’s actions are quite outrageous," Ming Jingzhou said, his forehead wrinkling as he spoke of his future son-in-law. "I heard that a few days ago, the Heir of Pingyuan Marquis offended him, so Prince Chen made him copy books in a school."
"What’s wrong with copying books?" Lady Shen was surprised. Compared to his usual methods, Prince Chen’s punishment this time was relatively mild.
"He sent Zheng Wangnan to the beginner’s class for young children."
Whether this punishment was severe or not was debatable, but it was certainly humiliating.
"Zheng Wangnan must have done something very wrong for Prince Chen to punish him like that," Jiuzhu said firmly. "Prince Chen is gentle and kind. He wouldn’t punish someone without a good reason."
Lady Shen and Ming Jingzhou exchanged a look.
Daughter, what kind of twisted misunderstanding do you have about Prince Chen’s character?
"That Zheng Wangnan, my daughter met him when she went out with Sixth Brother last time," Jiuzhu recounted the incident. "Not only did he mock the style of the hairpin I chose as tacky, but he also tried to ask which family I belonged to."
"I suspect," she touched her chin, her expression profound, her eyes filled with wisdom, "he wanted to find out which family I was from so he could mock my entire family."
"Nonsense, what do men know about jewelry and accessories?" Lady Shen absolutely could not tolerate anyone speaking ill of her daughter, who had been so hard to find and bring back. "Such an ignorant man should be sent to the beginner's class for toddlers."
"My lady, it's the Class A," the servant reminded.
Which was the class for the youngest children.
"But... wouldn't the other children be influenced by him?" She remembered a distant relative's child was in Class A of the beginner's class.
Every family's child is precious; they shouldn't be corrupted by Zheng Wangnan.
"Well, perhaps it's not necessary to go that far..." Ming Jingzhou coughed lightly, steering the conversation away, and turned to ask Jiuzhu, "Jiuzhu, where did you hear that Prince Chen is... gentle and kind?"
How could such an outrageous rumor spread in the capital?
"Isn't that the truth?"
Ming Jingzhou: "..."
The rumor was about as far from the truth as one could get.
At least it wasn't as distant as the ends of the earth.
In fact, half of the statement "Prince Chen is gentle and kind" was true.
For example, the part about "Prince Chen."
