The young general and the prince, who was to be married off, fell in love at first sight!

Chapter 26. Emperor Longyun's forehead veins were throbbing at that moment.

Just kidding, Lin Shiming has traveled all over the country and eaten everything, but he never suffers a loss!

Everyone present was stunned by him. They hadn't expected someone to reject someone so directly and bluntly.

Especially when Lu Yuyao was rejected to his face, his jaw almost dropped to the floor in shock.

Lu Yuyao's birth mother was a favored concubine, from a good family and of a relatively high rank. Moreover, he was the youngest son, so he was greatly favored by Emperor Longyun. Because of this, he often took advantage of his young age and straightforward personality to order others around, making him virtually invincible in the palace.

But today he finally met his match.

Lin Shiming wasn't buying it at all.

This was the first time Lu Yuyao had been directly rejected. Although he was young, he still cared about his reputation. So he immediately felt ashamed and embarrassed, and his lips trembled as he prepared to cry.

Unfortunately, Prince Ping spoke up just as she was about to suffer, so she didn't find a good opportunity to make a name for herself. "I say, Fifth Sister-in-law, he's still a child. Why don't you give in to him? What's wrong with giving it to him?"

“I said I’m not willing. Just to please him, I have to wrong myself? Do I owe him anything?” Lin Shiming kept eating, picking up another chicken leg in between. “If Your Highness is worried about the cost, go find him one yourself. Don’t be so generous with other people’s money here.”

"You! Aren't you afraid people will say you're not loving towards your husband's family and that you bully your younger brother?"

"Uh-huh."

"I must go and tell my father."

"Go ahead, go ahead. Your father should have known I was a scoundrel before he made me marry the Crown Prince. This is nothing compared to what's to come. You'll be bullied by me for a long time to come."

Do you think everyone is scheming to get Lu Yuxi's position as crown prince? Our interests have long been at odds, it's a life-or-death struggle. What can you do if I bully you?

The people at the table were so shocked by Lin Shiming's impervious and invulnerable demeanor that they dared not speak.

Lin Shiming put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and looked around. The eldest princess, though showing a hint of disapproval, was mostly worried. The eldest prince consort calmly continued eating, occasionally adding a little to her plate. The second princess, however, was uneasy and somewhat at a loss, frightened by the conflict between her brother and Lin Shiming. The second prince consort kept his head down, eating, but only managed to put one single piece of vegetable into his mouth after a couple of bites.

Prince An was enjoying the spectacle, and Princess An tried to tug at him several times, but to no avail. The Sixth Prince stared wide-eyed in disbelief; the Third and Fourth Princesses, though young, were quick to remain silent.

As for the root of all this, the Seventh Prince, he's so terrified he doesn't even dare to cry. Although he's arrogant, he's also a bully who preys on the weak. Now that he's seen Lin Shiming, he doesn't even give face to Prince Ping, so naturally he doesn't dare mention wolves again.

After a long silence in the main hall, Lu Yuxi was finally allowed to come out and clean up the mess for his Crown Princess after Lin Shiming let go of her hand.

Looking around, Lu Yuxi first signaled to the eunuch to serve the most frightened Second Princess a few bites of fish.

"Second Princess, I know you like to eat fish. This was specially arranged for someone to catch it in the river. Try it, and if you like it, take two back with you and have your husband arrange for someone to cook it for you."

The second princess relaxed and cooperatively tasted the fish, saying, "Thank you, Your Highness."

With this start, the atmosphere at the banquet became harmonious again.

With no one causing trouble anymore, Lin Shiming was happy to give them some face.

"I've prepared gifts for everyone, so don't forget to take them with you later."

The fourth princess, who was relatively bold, couldn't resist her curiosity and asked Lin Shiming, "Crown Princess... Sister-in-law, what is the gift?"

Lin Shiming treated women relatively well, especially when they weren't causing trouble. He gestured to the eunuch to bring the Fourth Princess's portion.

"Open it and take a look. If you don't like it, I'll replace it for you."

The fourth princess took the box and opened it. Inside was a set of pure and dazzling crystal headdresses, which were very rare even in the palace.

However, several large boxes were found in the storeroom of the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion. Judging from the seals, they must have come from the treasury of a tribe famous for its crystals. Before Lin Shiming's marriage, Ji Tiao had specially picked out some of the more novel designs for him, saying they were for gifting.

Knowing that Lin Shiming wasn't good at such social interactions, Ji Tiao specially selected and separated the boxes for him so he could give them away directly. Therefore, Lin Shiming himself didn't know what was in each box.

He had already taken the Empress's box this morning, and he planned to send out the rest today. After all, Ji Tiao had repeatedly reminded him, and no matter how impatient he was, he dared not forget.

"This must be very valuable!" the Fourth Princess exclaimed. She had only seen two pairs of crystal earrings at her foster mother Consort Dong's place, and those were the most treasured items, which Consort Dong cherished.

"As long as you like it."

"Thank you, Crown Princess!"

With this gift, even if Prince An and Prince Ping's family were suffocating, they couldn't say anything bad. The two of them finished their meal feeling resentful.

As soon as the banquet ended, they didn't want to stay a moment longer and left without looking back.

The eldest princess and her husband stayed until the very end.

"Your Highness, the Crown Princess."

"Eldest sister, just call me by my name."

The eldest princess shook her head, still ignoring him. "While it's nice to address each other more intimately, there's no need to set a precedent with me. What I wanted to say was, why are you so confrontational with Prince Ping today? Wouldn't it have been better if I or His Highness the Crown Prince had spoken up for you? Now that they've gone back, there might be some bad rumors about you spreading tomorrow."

"Don't worry, Eldest Sister. I'm not a woman, why should I care about those rumors? Besides, I'm just a straightforward person by nature. I can't stand being wronged, and I won't swallow my anger."

The eldest princess sighed, "Even so, rumors are always hurtful. But if you really don't want to, then so be it. I'll take care of the women, and Xiao Feng will help in the court. We won't let those things become a pretext for them to attack you."

Lin Shiming naturally understood that the eldest princess was doing this for his own good, so he nodded respectfully and said, "Then I thank you very much, eldest princess."

The eldest princess didn't say anything more. After nodding to Lu Yuxi, she left with Xiao Feng.

The Eastern Palace suddenly became much quieter.

Lu Yuxi walked up to Lin Shiming and asked, "Did you do this on purpose today?"

"My marriage to you will inevitably involve me in palace intrigues and power struggles within the inner court. But that shouldn't be my main battleground. I need to step out of those circles and those trivial, endless little things. After today's incident, both the court and the harem will know that I am not someone to be trifled with."

"They don't dare to mess with me easily. They know that using so-called politeness and rhetoric to deal with me is useless, so they will carefully consider their options before taking action, which saves me a lot of trouble. Moreover, everyone knows my personality. If they ever do something to me in the future, they will just get used to me doing some tough and excessive things."

In modern terms, it's about cultivating a persona. A kind person is easily bullied, and a good horse is easily ridden. If you establish yourself as someone who is fearless and does whatever they want, everything will be easier for you in the future.

Besides, he really is a very straightforward person who doesn't like to suffer losses.

Having dealt with all sorts of shrewd people for many years, Lu Yuxi naturally understood Lin Shiming's meaning very quickly.

"But the eldest princess is right about one thing: if rumors persist, they will always have a negative impact on you."

"That's even simpler. You know I've heard a lot of gossip from the governess my mother gave me, right?"

Lu Yuxi actually knew about this. When the old women ran out of gossip to tell Lin Shiming, they even sent a message to the Empress asking her to help collect more. And this task was assigned to Lu Yuxi by the Empress, who had a wicked sense of humor, under the guise of "relieving your wife's worries."

"I know."

Lin Shiming smiled with a hint of smugness, "I didn't listen to those gossips for nothing. I heard that in my ancestor's harem there was a famously kind concubine and a famously vicious one. It turned out that the kind one, while kind, had also harmed people for her own benefit; the vicious one was truly vicious, but she had also once been soft-hearted and saved a maid."

"Then, the one who only made one mistake became synonymous with hypocrisy after it was discovered, while the one who only did one good deed became seen as genuine. You see, people always live in the present, and so do their views."

Lu Yuxi pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "I understand."

*

Afternoon, Shen Shi (3-5 PM).

Lin Shiming stared blankly at the pile of account books, rosters, and regulations in front of him.

"...That's all. Her Majesty means you can take a look first, and if there are any problems, please go to her at any time."

Lin Shiming remained motionless, staring blankly. Helpless, Lu Yuxi dismissed the group of stewards from the Imperial Household Department who were standing before her.

After everyone had bowed and left, Lin Shiming couldn't wait to ask Aunt Lianqiu, who was standing next to him.

"Didn't Mother say this morning that she would send these palace documents over after I return to my parents' home tomorrow? Why are they here now?"

Aunt Lianqiu seemed to recall something and almost lost the skills she had developed as a head palace maid over the years and burst out laughing.

Lin Shiming was even more confused. "What's wrong?"

Things did indeed become somewhat interesting.

After the family reunion banquet at noon, Lin Shiming and Lu Yuxi felt that the incident at the banquet would not cause any major trouble for the time being, and it was also Lin Shiming's prediction. So after seeing everyone off, the two of them went to play with the wolf to digest their food, and then happily went to take a nap together.

Meanwhile, the Seventh Prince, Lu Yuyao, ran back to his temporary rest room in the Imperial Study where he had been studying, and opened the gift given to him by Lin Shiming with a face full of anticipation.

Inside the small box was a rare, unique book.

Unfortunately, Ji Tiao only helped him prepare gifts for the women; he had to prepare gifts for the princes himself. Lin Shiming was too lazy to put in the effort to prepare gifts for those "ambitious" princes, so he simply rummaged through the corner of the storeroom and found a few rare books of poetry, one for each of them.

It wouldn't have been a big problem, since a rare book is already a great gift, but Lu Yuyao wouldn't accept it.

He felt this was an insult to his lack of education.

So, the seventh prince, who had been frightened, was restless again. He ran all the way back to the side hall of Consort Qin's Ganlu Palace, embellished the events of noon, and told Consort Qin a whole story, clamoring for her to help him find Emperor Longyun to make a decision.

He wanted Lin Shiming to compensate him for both wolves and apologize to him.

Qin Jieyu felt sorry for her son, and also felt that she had a good family background, a high position, and was favored, so she was not afraid of that damned male crown princess at all. So she went to Huangji Palace crying without saying a word.

When Emperor Longyun heard from the eunuch that Consort Qin had come to see him in tears, he assumed she had suffered some great injustice and let her in. Consort Qin then launched into a dramatic performance, demanding that Emperor Longyun severely punish the Crown Princess and mentioning Lu Yuyao's requests.

Emperor Longyun's forehead veins were throbbing at that moment.

For the first time, he realized that the decision to select brainless concubines in order to secure the Empress's position was truly a mistake.

However, the matter could have been easily resolved at this point. Just scold Qin Jieyu and send her back to make your stance clear. But to everyone's surprise, Qin Jieyu started wailing and howling, which was overheard by the Empress, who happened to be looking for her outside the door.

Wow, my temper flared up instantly.

Well, I'm not dead yet, and you're already bullying my daughter-in-law!