Chapter 89 Kunning Palace

Chapter 89 Kunning Palace
The girl seemed to be a chatterbox. In just half an hour's journey, she had told all her past stories while riding on her horse.

Ye Xuan estimated that if he used the interrogation techniques of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, this palace maid named Dong Yue might even tell him her own size.

Enduring the attack of the devilish sound, Ye Xuan finally entered the palace smoothly.

With the token awarded by Zhu Yuanzhang last time, Ye Xuan can come and go freely as long as it is not curfew.

This surprised Dong Yu, and she kept pestering Ye Xuan to ask him where he got the token.

But after entering the palace, this chatterbox suddenly became quiet.

Even his little face became solemn, as if he had become a different person.

However, Ye Xuan was too lazy to find out the reason. As long as the little girl was willing to calm down, he would be more than happy.

Soon, Ye Xuan and the others arrived at Queen Ma's Kunning Palace.

Princess Anqing was still young, and Empress Ma doted on her, so she always lived with the Empress.

Thinking of this, Ye Xuan asked casually: "Is the Queen here?"

Ye Xuan felt a little excited when thinking that he would soon meet this extraordinary woman from the Ming Dynasty who was "like a good minister".

What was this woman like, who was regarded by later generations as kind and wise, and who was able to share hardships with Zhu Yuanzhang in conquering the empire?
Ye Xuan didn't know much about Empress Ma, but he happened to see an story about her that left a deep impression on him.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the royal family had no special and unique customs for marriage. For example, the empress wore a phoenix coronet and a bridal robe on her wedding day, which was a privilege only for the royal family.

However, Empress Ma persuaded Zhu Yuanzhang to make peace with the world. All women, regardless of their wealth and status, could wear the phoenix coronet and bridal robe that only the empress could enjoy on their wedding day!
She can be regarded as the first person to fight for women's equal rights in ancient times. She also broke the rule that marriage is decided by parents and matchmakers, allowing Princess Anqing to freely choose her favorite husband.

In a sense, Empress Ma's historical contributions are no less than those of Empress Zhangsun and Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty. She is even more praised by the people because she is more down-to-earth.

Ye Xuan could be fearless when standing in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, but he could not be disrespectful in front of Empress Ma.

Dong Yu heard this and immediately replied, "Her Majesty the Queen went to the East Palace to visit the Crown Prince as soon as she arrived. She heard that the Crown Prince was not feeling well."

Ye Xuan felt relieved when he heard this, but also a little disappointed.

It’s relaxing because you don’t have to feel the restraint you would feel when meeting an elder you haven’t seen for a long time.

I felt lost because I never got to meet this kind and wise "Mother of a Nation".

But Ye Xuan didn't care too much. It didn't matter whether he was there or not.

He followed Dong Yu into Kunning Palace. What he saw was different from the luxurious and magnificent thing Ye Xuan had imagined. Instead, it seemed simple and elegant.

All I saw was a small lake and a few rockery.

The plants planted in the garden are not even one-tenth as valuable as those in Cui Wu's garden.

However, the small garden was bustling with activity. Princess Anqing was standing by the lake, clamoring to go boating, while a group of palace maids and eunuchs carefully tried to stop her and dissuade her.

"It's rare that my mother is not in the palace, but you lowly maids are trying to stop me!" Anqing, who was only seven years old, was so anxious that he slapped a eunuch beside him. Because the eunuch was half squatting, he lost his balance and fell to the ground with his legs spread out.

Seeing this, Ye Xuan couldn't help but shake his head slightly.

He is indeed a spoiled child. Ye Xuan had some feeling about this when he went to Qixia Temple last time, but he did not expect that Anqing would be so naughty when he got angry.

Seeing that An Qing was about to lose his temper, Dong Yu hurriedly shouted to An Qing: "Your Highness, look who's here."

As soon as these words were spoken, Anqing put down his hand that had been raised again and looked towards the palace gate.

Seeing this, his anger immediately turned into joy and he ran towards Ye Xuan excitedly.

But when he was two or three steps away from Ye Xuan, An Qing stopped again, pouted his lips, turned his head away and didn't look at Ye Xuan, looking angry.

"Ye Xuan, you still remember to come?"

Ye Xuan smiled bitterly and thought, isn't this the person you sent to find me?

But he still showed a smile, bowed respectfully and said: "I am guilty, I am late to the fight."

In the past, whenever she got angry and showed this attitude, even if it was Zhu Yuanzhang, who frightened all the corrupt officials in the world, or Empress Ma, who was the mother of the country but kind-hearted, or her brothers who were either brave warriors or resourceful, who would not humble themselves and appease them?

But Ye Xuan was just a small Jinyiwei, and he just said some polite words?
An Qing was slightly annoyed and said coquettishly, "I clearly asked my father to give you the token to enter the palace, why didn't you come to me?"

Although Zhu Yuanzhang did give Ye Xuan the token, he also hinted that Ye Xuan should coax his little princess well.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was too embarrassed to say it directly, so Ye Xuan didn't take it seriously.

As long as Zhu Yuanzhang didn't give a clear order, Ye Xuan would be happy to pretend he didn't hear it.

Ye Xuan has the spirit of a worker and never interferes in the boss's family affairs outside of work. These are the qualities that he must have to be an excellent employee.

What's more, it goes without saying that this is just a job of being a nanny for Anqing for free. It is thankless and there is no overtime pay. Only a fool would do that.

Ye Xuan curled his lips slightly, and the slight good impression that the Qixia Temple group had towards Anqing was completely gone.

I was secretly complaining in my heart, I'm just working for your father, I'm not related to you, why should I look for you, do you think you are Nian Wei?
He said indifferently, "I'm really too busy with things at the government office and can't spare the time."

However, Ye Xuan soon regretted it, because An Qing pouted and complained after hearing it: "It's all my father's fault. Next time, I must ask my father to agree to transfer you to my guard team so that you can play with me every day."

Although Ye Xuan had some confidence in Zhu Yuanzhang and believed that Zhu Yuanzhang would not confuse public and private matters and transfer himself from the Jinyiwei just to give his daughter more playmates, nothing is certain in the world.

In order to preserve his happy life of slacking off in the Jinyiwei, Ye Xuan had to bow to life.

"Your Highness, you must not do that," Ye Xuan said seriously, "It's true that people's words are scary. There are differences between men and women. If someone spreads the rumor that Your Highness begged Your Majesty several times in order to get a man to play with her, I don't know how many unpleasant things they will say."

"Although the princess is still young and may not understand how evil people are, as a subject, I have no choice but to speak out. If the emperor hears these rumors, he will have to kill me to prove his innocence. Will Your Highness let me die?"

(End of this chapter)