bookrandom Chapter 237 The Celebration Banquet Begins
Chapter 237 The Celebration Banquet Begins
Ever since he reached a deal with the Lu family and exchanged Wang Ganju for Zhu Yunhuan, Zhu Ming never went to the imperial prison to see Wang Ganju again.
The only care was to have the Embroidered Uniform Guards keep a close eye on Wang Ganju and prevent him from committing suicide.
After all, before releasing Zhu Yunhuan from the imperial prison, Wang Ganju needed to be alive to guard against the Lu family.
The celebration banquet for Zhu Ming and Zhu Di was grand.
It took a full half month just to set up the venue, and the money spent reached over ten thousand taels.
It is extremely luxurious with carved beams and painted buildings, and has pavilions, waterside towers and everything else you could expect.
"Zhu Ming, the banquet is about to begin, why are you still eating here?"
While waiting for the banquet to begin, Xu Miaojin was bored and wandered towards the side courtyard of Daming Palace.
As soon as I walked into the gate of the side courtyard, I smelled the aroma of meat coming out.
The protagonist of the banquet, Zhu Ming, was sitting at the table, wolfing down the delicacies in front of him.
"I've never eaten enough at a celebration banquet like this, so I might as well eat more now to avoid being hungry later."
Zhu Mingguang knew who was coming just by the voice. Without even raising his head, he swallowed what was in his mouth before answering.
After saying that, he pointed to the seat opposite him and asked Xu Miaojin to sit down.
He is one of the protagonists of the celebration banquet. He will have to flatter all the officials and stand up to persuade the old man to release Zhu Yunhuan.
At that time, there was no time to eat.
Although the dishes at the celebration banquet are delicious, they must be edible.
After listening to this, Xu Miaojin felt that what Zhu Ming said made some sense, so she quickly walked over and sat down opposite Zhu Ming.
Although she went to Shanxi following Zhu Ming, she was also credited with suppressing the Shanxi mutiny, and she would naturally be rewarded in due time.
In addition, her father was the Duke of Wei, a high-ranking official, so the flattery he received was not much less than that of Zhu Ming.
"Why did you come to me?"
The two of them buried their heads in eating. When they had almost finished, Zhu Ming looked up at Xu Miaojin and asked in confusion.
Logically speaking, Xu Miaojin should be waiting by Xu Yungong's side now. Why is she coming to her own side courtyard?
"Aren't you welcome?"
As Xu Miaojin spoke, she stuffed another piece of meat into her mouth.
Even though she has a pretty figure, she eats just as much as Zhu Ming.
"Uncle Zhu will marry me to you at this celebration banquet."
After Xu Miaojin finished eating, she didn't keep anyone in suspense and looked at Zhu Ming with a complicated expression.
Although they were engaged before, it was not made public. It was just an agreement between the two families.
If this is announced, their marriage will be settled.
"How did you know?"
Zhu Ming was even more confused after listening to Xu Miaojin's words.
The old man hasn't told him about this yet, so how did Xu Miaojin hear it from?
"I heard it myself from Uncle Zhu and my father when Uncle Zhu came to my place yesterday."
Xu Miaojin's tone also became heavy.
What she heard with her own ears couldn't be false.
"What, you regret it?"
Zhu Ming reached out and tapped Xu Miaojin on the head. He remembered what the old man and Duke of Wei Xu Da said when they were engaged.
If they feel that they can't get along with each other, they can also cancel the engagement.
"No."
Seeing this, Xu Miaojin shook her head repeatedly.
After being together for so long, she has already accepted her marriage with Zhu Ming.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have cared so much about Zhu Ming before.
After saying that, she stood up from her seat again and leaned over to kiss Zhu Ming on the forehead.
It was like putting his own stamp on Zhu Ming.
"From today on, you belong to me, Xu Miaojin."
After saying that, she turned around and ran away quickly.
As she walked out of the side courtyard of Daming Palace, she could still hear her own heartbeat.
"Your Highness, it's time to change."
Before Zhu Ming could recover from the kiss from Xu Miaojin, he heard Liu Jin reminding him by counting the time.
Only then did he stand up and take Liu Jin out of the Daming Palace.
When Zhu Ming arrived, all the ministers had already taken their seats and started greeting each other.
Seeing Zhu Ming coming, they all stood up again and bowed to him: "Congratulations, Your Highness, for your great achievement."
It doesn’t really matter how big the contribution is.
As long as the person who makes the contribution has a high status, the credit will naturally be great.
Zhu Ming put on a smiling face, mechanically returned their greetings, walked straight to Zhu Yuanzhang's side and sat down.
Before the banquet even started, these ministers were already eager to curry favor with him.
"Your Highness is so majestic."
When Lu saw that Zhu Ming's appearance overshadowed both Zhu Yunwen and herself, she frowned in dissatisfaction and uttered something sarcastic.
"It's just relying on Grandpa Huang's face."
Zhu Ming listened to Lu's sarcastic tone but didn't care.
Most of these people are just fence-sitters, leaning towards whoever is in power.
If they were defeated by Zhu Yunwen, they would go and congratulate Zhu Yunwen again.
"Princess, are you ready for today?"
Zhu Ming didn't want to waste too much time on these fence-sitters, so he looked at Lu and asked in a deep voice.
He did not forget that the most important thing today was to persuade the old man with Lu to release Zhu Yunhuan.
"I have nothing to prepare, but just a few words."
Mrs. Lu chuckled. She really didn't have anything to prepare.
It was precisely because Zhu Yunhuan was so insignificant to her that she was willing to use Zhu Yunhuan in exchange for Wang Ganju to shut up.
"How about your preparations, little prince?"
As she spoke, she looked up at Zhu Ming.
The most important thing is, if Zhu Yunhuan is willing to admit his mistake, then everything will be easy.
"Then there is no need to trouble you, Princess."
Zhu Ming said this and started laughing as well.
"Prince of Yan, Zhu Di, has arrived."
Zhu Ming and Lu were arguing when a loud shout suddenly interrupted them.
Zhu Di was wearing a golden dragon robe and came with his head held high and his chest puffed out.
As the most powerful prince at the moment and the protagonist of this celebration banquet, Zhu Di attracted the attention of everyone present as soon as he appeared on the stage.
"Fourth Uncle's pomp is much bigger than mine."
As Zhu Ming spoke, he also stood up and saluted towards Zhu Di.
No matter how favored he was, he was still a junior in front of Zhu Di.
"You'd better be careful."
Mrs. Lu was now beside Zhu Ming and she also spoke up to remind him.
Although she and Zhu Di are now temporary allies, she is not unaware of Zhu Di's ambitions.
After seeing Zhu Ming and Lu again, Zhu Di ignored all the ministers and walked straight towards Zhu Ming and the others.
"My little nephew, I haven't seen you for so long. You have made great progress."
As he spoke, he reached out and patted Zhu Ming on the shoulder.
If Zhu Ming had not come up with the idea of using national debt to raise military pay, he would not have been able to take over the Eighteen Tribes of the grassland.
Unfortunately, such a talent is blocking his own way.