Chapter 266 Announcement
"This..." Sheng Changsong hesitated and said, "Your Highness, if this gets out, it might damage your reputation. Besides, most of those Liao beauties are Han Chinese."
Even Sheng Changsong felt that it was inappropriate for a prince to open a brothel.
"Your Highness, what my son said makes sense. It's no secret that my father and I manage your business for you," Sheng Wei advised.
Zhao Xing rubbed his brows when he heard this: "I was a little inconsiderate."
He was not worried about his reputation, but he overlooked the fact that the Liao Kingdom did not represent the Khitans.
The largest population in the Liao Dynasty were Khitans and Han people, but there were other ethnic groups as well.
Yelu Chongyuan only said that he would give him a hundred beauties from the Liao Kingdom, but did not mention any beauties from the Khitan people.
However, this also made Zhao Xing suddenly realize that there were some people from other tribes among these women.
Although the Liao Kingdom had a dominant position in the grassland, not all tribes on the grassland surrendered to it.
For example, the Jurchen tribe, where Wanyan Aguda, the founder of the Jin Dynasty, lived, was one of the tribes that did not surrender to the Liao Dynasty.
These people might be of use.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing said, "Let's keep those people on the farm first, and I will send someone to take over later."
…………
After the banquet, Zhao Xing was a little tipsy. He saw Sheng Wei and his son off and came to Chunhe Palace.
After entering the palace, Zhang Guifen, who had received the news, was waiting to greet him at the door.
The weather is cold now and she was wearing thin clothes indoors. When Zhao Xing came over suddenly, she didn't have time to change clothes and naturally didn't go out to greet him.
"Your Highness!"
When Zhang Guifen saw Zhao Xing being supported by two palace maids, she bowed and went forward to help Zhao Xing sit down on the couch.
"My mother-in-law is here today..." Zhao Xing sniffed and asked in confusion, "Why do I smell medicine? Are you feeling unwell?"
Zhang Guifen blushed slightly and said, "I had a little cold last night, but I am fine this morning. Cui'e was worried and insisted on asking the imperial physician to prescribe a prescription for me."
Her mother came to visit her today, actually bringing Old Mrs. He to see her.
After taking her pulse, Mrs. He said she was in good health and there was nothing wrong with her.
As for the issue of having children, it depends on fate. After all, they have only been married for half a year.
It is normal to get pregnant within one or two years of marriage, so there is no need to worry.
Finally, at the request of the Duchess of England, Old Lady He left her a recipe for medicinal food and a recipe for aiding pregnancy.
After having lunch here at noon, the Lady of the Duke of England and Old Lady He left, and Zhang Guifen asked Cui'e to get the medicine and boil it herself.
Not long after she drank the medicine, Zhao Xing came over.
As it was cold this day, the doors and windows were closed tightly to prevent ventilation, and some smells still lingered in the room, which Zhao Xing could smell.
But Zhang Guifen was too shy to admit it.
"Cui'e did the right thing, and she deserves a generous reward. If you feel unwell, you should see the imperial physician and take medicine when necessary. Don't take it lightly." Zhao Xing said.
"Your Highness is right. I will take note of it." Zhang Guifen said, "I will help Your Highness wash up. Can you go to bed and have a rest?"
"Well, I do feel a little dizzy." Zhao Xing nodded.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Guifen asked Cui'e to warm the bed, and called the palace maid to fetch hot water. She personally helped Zhao Xing wash and took off his outer clothes.
At this time, Zhao Xing was drunk and a little unconscious. Zhang Guifen helped him to the bed.
Cui'e, who was warming the bed, quickly lifted the quilt and got out of bed in her underwear to help.
The two of them worked together to get Zhao Xing onto the bed. When Cui'e was about to pull the quilt to cover Zhao Xing, she was hugged by Zhao Xing.
"Crown Princess, please sleep with me for a while." Zhao Xing squinted his eyes, muttered, and closed his eyes.
"Crown Princess, this servant..."
Cui'e was held in Zhao Xing's arms. She turned her head with a flushed face and looked at Zhang Guifen.
When Zhao Xing and Zhang Guifen shared a room before, she was waiting inside to serve them. Although she couldn't see anything through the curtain, she could hear everything clearly.
After the two of them finished, she and several palace maids had to help him bathe. Although she did not serve Zhao Xing, she saw everything she should have seen.
But it was the first time that Zhao Xing hugged her.
Zhao Xing usually had a group of palace maids to serve him when he bathed and washed. For convenience, those palace maids took off their outer clothes and only wore underwear when serving him a bath.
However, Zhao Xing had so many concubines that he had no interest in attacking these palace maids.
"Keep your voice down, don't wake His Highness."
Zhang Guifen interrupted Cui'e quietly, stretched out her hand to pull Zhao Xing's hand, but found that she couldn't pull it apart at all, so she said helplessly: "Just stay with His Highness to sleep for a while."
"Crown Princess, I..."
"Don't talk." After saying that, Zhang Guifen pulled the quilt to cover the two of them, turned around and walked out.
…………
When Zhao Xing woke up, he felt a soft body in his arms and something soft in his hands, and he couldn't help but pinch it.
"Um…"
A moan was heard, and Zhao Xing suddenly opened his eyes. Seeing Cui'e looking at him with shame on her face, he instantly came to his senses and said with a cold expression, "You are so brave!"
Cui'e said anxiously: "Your Highness, this servant... this servant didn't... it wasn't..."
Cui'e was incoherent for a moment and tears were falling from her eyes in anxiety.
Just then, Zhang Guifen heard the noise and walked in.
"Your Highness, are you awake?" Zhang Guifen smiled and said, "Dinner is ready. I will help Your Highness get up and eat."
"Why did you let Cui'e sleep with me?" Zhao Xing frowned. At first he thought Cui'e had climbed onto the bed by herself, but now seeing Zhang Guifen looking normal, it was obvious that she knew.
Zhang Guifen said angrily, "It was not arranged by me at all. It was clearly Your Highness who held Cui'e tightly and refused to let go."
“Uh…” Zhao Xing looked a little embarrassed when he heard that.
He drank too much and was so drunk that he couldn't remember anything at all.
But he also knew that Zhang Guifen would never lie about such a thing.
Zhang Guifen rolled her eyes at Zhao Xing and said to Cui'e, "Why don't you help His Highness get up?"
"Yes!"
Cui'e didn't have time to cry anymore. She wiped her tears, got out of bed, tidied up her underwear that was messed up by Zhao Xing, got out of bed, picked up her own clothes and put them on.
Zhao Xing touched his nose. He didn't expect that this little girl Cui'e was quite attractive.
"Your Highness seems to be interested in Cui'e. How about letting Cui'e accompany Your Highness tonight?" Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
Zhao Xing saw Cui'e, who was getting dressed, unable to put on her clothes because of Zhang Guifen's words, and said, "Stop teasing me."
Zhang Guifen didn't say anything else after hearing this. Although her words just now were somewhat joking, they were not entirely so.
Generally, the wife would choose a maid from her side to be her concubine, and let the maid take over when she was not feeling well.
This can also be considered a means to stabilize her own position. She can't push the throne to the concubine when the official comes, as that would give the concubine an opportunity.
Cui'e was her personal maid. If she didn't marry into the palace, she could still be sent out to get married.
The personal maids of the concubines in the Eastern Palace can only stay in the palace until they grow old and cannot be released from the palace to marry.
Therefore, she was willing to let Cui'e serve Zhao Xing.
But since Zhao Xing didn't respond, we can only wait.
Cui'e put on her clothes, and then she and Zhang Guifen helped Zhao Xing get dressed and wash.
After cleaning up, we went outside to eat.
"Your Highness, this is the medicinal diet that I just learned. I cooked it myself. Please try it."
Zhang Guifen scooped a bowl from the casserole and placed it in front of Zhao Xing.
"Is this stewed with turtle?" Zhao Xing fiddled with it. It was stewed soft-shelled turtle, and there were some other medicinal ingredients, but he didn't recognize them.
"Well, a lot of medicinal herbs were added. The imperial physician said that we should eat more tonic food in winter, so I learned how to make a medicinal diet. Your Highness, please try it." Zhang Guifen blushed slightly and looked at Zhao Xing expectantly.
Zhao Xing didn't think much about it. Even though Zhang Guifen was the Crown Princess, there was still someone supervising her when she cooked.
When making medicinal food, the entire process must be supervised by an imperial physician.
Zhao Xing tasted it. Although the soup had a faint smell of Chinese medicine, the smell was very light and did not affect the taste. It tasted very good.
"How is it?" asked Zhang Guifen.
"It's pretty good." Zhao Xing took two more sips.
"Then Your Highness, please drink more." Zhang Guifen said with a smile.
As a result, Zhao Xing drank half a casserole of turtle soup and ate some meat for dinner.
I don’t know if it’s a psychological effect, but after eating it, I felt warm all over.
That night, Zhang Guifen reaped the fruits of her own action and was tortured severely. In the end, she had no choice but to let Cui'e serve Zhao Xing.
After being questioned by Zhao Xing, he told the truth.
It turns out that this medicinal diet recipe was actually prescribed by the old lady of the He family. In addition to the effect of replenishing qi and improving essence, it also has some aphrodisiac effects.
In ancient times, all the medicinal herbs were wild, and the ones in the East Palace were the best, so the effects were much better.
However, this medicinal food is not like some harsh medicines that would harm the body. Instead, it is very beneficial to the body.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to pass the test of the Eastern Palace’s imperial physician.
Zhao Xing had a deep understanding of this. He could toss and turn until midnight, but when he woke up the next day he would still be full of energy and not feel tired at all.
Although Mrs. He’s medical skills are excellent, her greatest expertise is in gynecology.
For example, a woman’s pregnancy is also a type of gynecology, and Mrs. He is very knowledgeable in this area.
In order to prevent women from getting pregnant alone, she also studied how to provide health care for men.
After listening to this, Zhao Xing felt that he had underestimated Old Lady He.
No wonder in the original drama, Old Lady Sheng said that the He family was wealthy.
Old Mrs. He has this skill, making money is not so easy.
Zhao Xing simply asked Zhang Guifen to invite Old Lady He to work in the Eastern Palace and promised to let He Hongwen enter the Imperial Medical Service.
The He family's ancestors were imperial physicians, but He Hongwen's grandfather died early and his father was in poor health, so it was only Old Lady He who learned about 70% of the ancestral medical skills.
Unfortunately, Mrs. He was a woman, and no matter how good her medical skills were, she could not become an imperial physician. She could only find another way and study gynecological medicine, specializing in treating noble ladies and daughters of wealthy families.
However, for the He family, they definitely want to join the Imperial Medical Bureau. Although the imperial physician has no real power, he is still an official after all.
Zhao Xing believed that if he promised her such benefits, Mrs. He would not refuse.
After having breakfast in Chunhe Palace, Zhao Xing ordered someone to prepare a carriage and drove to the palace.
"Why are you here?" The official said unhappily when he saw Zhao Xing.
"Father, what you said is true. Is it wrong for me to come and visit you? And this time I am here to tell you the good news," said Zhao Xing.
(End of this chapter)