Chapter 75 The Emperor's New Joke
Yang Wenyuan pulled Hualan and ran away with his head down.

After passing that section of the street and the crowd's attention was diverted from me, I stopped.

"Captain Wei, what captain Wei?"

As soon as Yang Wenyuan stopped, he heard a calm inquiry in his ear. He turned his head to look at Hua Lan beside him. Although her face was calm, Yang Wenyuan seemed to be able to feel a kind of calm before the storm.

"He's Wei Xingtou of Guangyuntai."

Yang Wenyuan had done nothing wrong, and was not afraid of ghosts knocking on his door. He had a clear conscience, "When I was having fun with Gu Tingye and Rong Xian, they always liked to go to Guangyuntai to play, and after a few visits, they became familiar with Wei Xingtou over there."

"Oh." Hua Lan nodded slightly.

When Yang Wenyuan saw this, he felt something was wrong. It was obvious that the girl was angry and jealous and was ignoring others. How could this be acceptable?
Yang Wenyuan pondered for a moment, then held his forehead and sighed, "At first we agreed to just listen to the music, but Gu Tingye and Wei Xingtou fell in love, and then..."

"Ugh!"

Yang Wenyuan pretended to be helpless, then sighed, "Speaking of which, Wei Xingtou is also a pitiful man. Gu Tingye wrote to me last time and asked Rong Xian and me to help take care of him, but since I came back from Yangzhou, I have avoided these places as much as possible. I have been practicing martial arts and studying at home and have never been there. I didn't expect Rong Xian to remember it.

Rong Xian called me over just now, probably because he wanted me to meet her, so that I can have an explanation if Gu Tingye asks about it later."

Yang Wenyuan showed a look of relief on his face, "I'm sorry to embarrass Rongxian. He just reminded me like this regardless of the occasion."

It’s not in vain that we have brothers, they are always there to help each other when things go wrong!
In fact, when Hua Lan heard Yang Wenyuan say that Wei Xingshou was Gu Tingye's confidante, she had already believed it for the most part.

After all, if that Wei Xingtou was really involved with Yang Wenyuan, Rong Xian would not have called out to Yang Wenyuan in front of him just now - in fact, Rong Xian's positioning function was only effective for bad friends.

But when she thought about being the "head of the group", Hualan felt a little unhappy.

No woman wants to see her husband associated with a guild leader.

"Today, Rong Xian even invited Wei Xingshuo from Guangyuntai. I guess you guys also did the same thing during festivals like this in the past?"

Hua Lan blinked her eyes gently, her long eyelashes fluttering, and asked, "Is Wei Xing Shou proficient in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and also very beautiful?"

It’s a fatal question. An absolutely fatal question!
Hearing Hua Lan's jealous words, Yang Wenyuan felt a strong warning in his heart, and red exclamation marks and warning sounds echoed in his mind.

Suddenly, Yang Wenyuan laughed.

"Then was then, and the present is now."

Yang Wenyuan looked clear-minded, looked directly into Hua Lan's eyes with sincerity, and said softly: "I am a student now, and studying is my main job. Don't mention strolling around the building and listening to music anymore."

To my dear Ye and Xian:

Brother has achieved success, please don’t cue me unless necessary!

If you have anything to do, please go out and turn left. Guangyuntai is over there.

……

Xuande Building.

The emperor was playing mahjong with the empress and concubines, served by palace maids and eunuchs.

Also accompanying him were the Prince of Yong's family, the Prince of Yan's family, and Prime Minister Han Qi's family.

The table in the middle was for the emperor, Prince Yong, Prince Yan and Han Qi, and next to it was the table for the empress and the wives of the other three.

Ever since he played a game of mahjong with Yang Wenyuan in the palace last time, the emperor seemed to have become addicted to this kind of fun and often dragged civil and military officials to play mahjong together.

After each court session, he would bring along at least one official from the line of Prince Yong or Prince Yan, and he never got tired of doing this.

At such a good time tonight, the emperor was certainly not idle and called the roll again.

The emperor had wanted to invite Han Qi to play mahjong with him before, but Han Qi had always declined on the pretext of being busy with official duties.

But tonight, high-ranking officials and nobles were watching the lanterns together, and the emperor finally seized the opportunity and dragged Han Qi and his wife to the card table.

What lanterns are you looking at? I have seen them for so many years and I am not tired of them. Serve!

Although the group was upstairs, there were floor heating in various places in the building, and palace maids were surrounding the empty spaces with felt blankets to block the cold wind. So even though the cold wind was howling outside, it was still as warm as spring inside the Xuande Building.

"Speaking of which, this game called 'mahjong' made by the kid from the Yang family is really good. It's a good way to kill time. Prime Minister, what do you think?" The emperor asked Han Qi while slowly drawing the cards.

Han Qi glanced at the cards in the emperor's hand, pondered for a moment, and replied: "Your Majesty, this mahjong is indeed a good way to kill time in your spare time."

"Well, the young Marquis of Pingyang has made so many jokes in Bianjing, so he has also made some achievements."

The emperor nodded and then asked, "If that's the case, then why did you repeatedly decline the invitation after the court meeting when I repeatedly invited you to play mahjong in my study?"

Hearing the emperor's question, Han Qi immediately stood up and bowed, "Your Majesty, this kind of thing is suitable for killing boredom, but I have state affairs to attend to and I really don't have time to spare."

"Hey, Prime Minister, you don't have to be so polite. I was just joking. How could I not know that you, Prime Minister, work hard for state affairs and are a loyal minister of the Great Zhou?"

The emperor then smiled at Prince Yong and Prince Yan and said, "It seems that I am indeed old. Not only am I slow at playing mahjong, but I almost missed state affairs just to kill time. This is really wrong."

"The Prime Minister is right. We shouldn't miss the important matter."

"Your Majesty, I have absolutely no such intention!" Faced with the emperor's sudden attack, Han Qi hurriedly explained.

Prince Yong and Prince Yan, who were standing by, saw that something was wrong and spoke up to help Han Qi explain.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Han definitely does not mean this..."

The emperor nodded in agreement.

"You don't have to be like this. It's just a joke. Don't take it seriously. Do you think I can't even take a joke now?"

Although the emperor was still smiling, the scene suddenly became quiet. Han Qi, Prince Yong, and Prince Yan all lowered their heads and remained silent for a long time.

As long as the emperor wanted to find excuses, the more he said, the more wrong he would be. So the three of them simply bowed their heads and admitted their mistakes.

Seeing the atmosphere suddenly turned cold, the emperor nodded slightly but still pretended to be impatient and said, "Alright, I just said it was just a joke, you didn't listen to it at all.

In that case, let’s continue playing mahjong.”

People were playing mahjong upstairs in the Xuande Building, and the families of high-ranking officials and nobles in the surrounding stands were also chatting with each other.

At this time, Madam Chen specially found Madam Wu, and the two of them chatted and discussed, and decided to ask someone to set a date for going to the Sheng family to propose matchmaking.

Yang Yuqing has already sent someone to talk to his hometown.

In order to prevent the clan elders from disagreeing, Yang Yuqing included a lot of persuasive words in the letter, explaining the pros and cons, and also printed Yang Wenyuan's seal to express his determination.

The speed of the personal soldiers who delivered the letter was as fast as 800 miles express, and they returned to Bian Jing a few days ago.

The reply was very simple, just one word: "Yun".

After making sure that their hometown had no objections, the Yang family officially began the marriage negotiation process.

As mentioned before, Mrs. Wu will be the matchmaker.

An auspicious date has already been chosen, the 19th day of the first lunar month.

Just as the Lantern Festival was over, Mrs. Wu went to the Sheng family to propose marriage.

Mrs. Chen had already prepared the draft note, which stated Yang Wenyuan's date of birth and other detailed information.

After finalizing the general process, the two ladies turned their attention back to the lantern show offstage.

Madam Wu: I have another good marriage on my hands!

Madam Chen: I am destined to be busy for the Yang family!
(End of this chapter)