Capítulo 1621: Chapter 1596: Good-Looking Ones

At this moment, everyone quieted down. Manbao stood quietly, waited for a while, and seeing no one was arguing, felt slightly disappointed.

Mingda, on the other hand, was relieved and stood next to the emperor, comforting him.

Everyone’s emotions gradually calmed down. In front of the two young girls, they felt embarrassed to continue the quarrel. The emperor gave everyone fifty lashes each and scolded the lords and officials, symbolically deducting several months of their salary, and that was the end of it.

Neither the lords nor the officials from noble backgrounds relied on their salaries to support their families, so they did not take it to heart and agreed obediently.

Manbao, standing aside, thought the punishment was quite severe and realized that fighting in court was not something to be taken lightly.

Not only could one accidentally hurt oneself, but it could also lead to a salary deduction.

Manbao reminded herself of the lesson learnt from others and happily returned to the Chongwen Pavilion, only to receive a document from the Ministry of Personnel.

She opened it, was stunned for a moment, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Why is my salary being deducted, and for two months!”

Director Xiao, about to leave, stepped forward to take a look and, seeing the comments above, gave her a look as if she didn’t recognize the good intentions, “It’s just a two-month salary deduction, not a demotion, why are you yelling?”

“I was just late once, and they want to demote me? Who hasn’t been late or left early? Director Xiao, haven’t you?”

Director Xiao coughed lightly and said, “This, this, Imperial Doctor Zhou, don’t speak nonsense, when have I ever been late or left early?”

After saying that, he turned and walked away.

Manbao was very sad, she had planned to take a leave at the beginning of next month to collect her salary and bring her father…

It was so embarrassing, would her father come to the capital for the first time to collect her salary, only to find there was no money?

Manbao was very sad, and during dinner, even the braised pork on her plate didn’t taste good anymore.

Bai Shan said, “Don’t worry, this is a minor warning and a major lesson.”

“What about my father?”

Bai Shan thought for a moment and said, “Caring too much about face is not good, it’s a flaw, you need to change it.”

Manbao was still reluctant to let her family know she was being punished.

Bai Shan then placed the two best pieces of meat from his plate into her bowl and said, “It’s just like our teacher punishing us to copy books, what’s there to be ashamed of? I asked other classmates, when their fathers and brothers were officials, not to mention salary deductions, demotions were common. This officialdom is full of ups and downs, when it’s up, you might even become Prime Minister, when it’s down, you could lose your life.”

Manbao raised her eyebrows at him.

Bai Shan smiled at her and said, “So, in the future, being punished might become the norm. If you worry about hiding it from your family each time, how many worries will it bring you?”

Manbao tilted her head and asked, “Is it really a norm?”

Bai Shan nodded affirmatively, “Look at Lord Wei, he’s been up and down several times. He’s been punished so often that he’s used to it.”

“Alright.” Manbao reluctantly accepted this reasoning.

She had no choice but to accept it. Right now, she’s in the palace, and there are six days till her leave. She couldn’t possibly worry for six whole days, could she?

Since the mood isn’t great, why not do something happy?

The next day, Manbao went climbing to a small mountain peak on Dragon Head Plain with Mingda and Changyu and insisted that Prince Gong climb to the top too.

Prince Gong naturally didn’t want to. He had lost a lot of weight recently and his body wasn’t as heavy, but climbing such a high mountain was still a bit challenging, so halfway up he stopped.

However, Sister Shang accompanied them, so before Manbao could speak, she instructed people to half-drag and half-lift Prince Gong to the top.

Prince Gong was out of breath, leaning on a rock, sitting, and kept saying, “I can’t walk anymore, I can’t walk anymore, you want to kill me…”

By now, the three girls had caught their breath, feeling refreshed. Manbao pulled Mingda to the edge, pointed to the panoramic view of the palace and the imperial city, and even further beyond that, saying, “Look, isn’t it beautiful?”

Mingda was very happy, nodding forcefully, “Beautiful!”

Manbao said, “If you stand here and look out during the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lantern Festival, it will surely be another experience.”

Changyu said, “Standing on the palace tower to watch the lantern festival is also quite good, there are too many insects here at night, I don’t want to come.”

Mingda sighed, “It won’t be long before we might have to move back to the Taiji Palace. The next time we come here might be next year.”

Manbao said, “It’s not even the end of the summer heat yet.”

“It’s almost August, the Astronomical Bureau replied saying, after the ninth day, the weather won’t be as hot and will gradually cool down.” Mingda said, “Mother said we’ve stayed in Daming Palace for over three months now, and it is inconvenient for Father to handle state affairs, it would be better to return to Taiji Palace.”

Manbao was still reluctant to leave the endless mountains of Dragon Head Plain and persuaded her, “I think the construction of Daming Palace is still quite messy, with wild grass growing in the gardens, which has a rustic charm. Why not come here to relax? Anyway, Taiji Palace isn’t far from Daming Palace, you can take a boat from the West Inner Court and be here in no time.”

Changyu said, “It’s easy for you to say, we still have to study with our teacher.”

She sighed, “Not getting married has this major downside, you always have to attend classes.”

Mingda laughed, “Then why don’t you get married, sister?”

“I’d rather attend classes,” Changyu said, “Father picked those people for me, either they’re not good enough in literature, or they’re not good enough in martial arts, and those who have both, tend to not look good.”

Manbao and Mingda had both seen the portraits of her suitors and couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Changyu sighed, “It’s too hard to find someone as good as Yang Changbo in everything.”

Manbao thought for a moment and asked, “Do you want to visit the Chongwen Pavilion? There’re quite a few people there who are not engaged.”

“Forget it, you think I haven’t seen them?” Changyu said, “The only good-looking ones are Yin Huo and your Bai Shan, but Yin Huo is a sickly one, if he walks too fast, he starts panting. I don’t want him.”

Manbao sighed, “It’s all about appearance.”

Mingda curiously asked, “Isn’t appearance important?”

Manbao then tilted her head and thought carefully before nodding, “It’s important, right. I prefer Scholarly Senior Brother Yang over Senior Brother Tang.”

Though both of them have similar character and learning.

Changyu gave Mingda a look as if to say, “You see?”

Sitting behind them, Prince Gong, forced to listen to a bunch of little girls’ troubles, couldn’t help but say to Changyu after looking at Zhou Man, “Besides Yin Huo, isn’t there another one you think looks good?”

The three little girls all turned to look at him.

Prince Gong maliciously smiled at Manbao and said, “That Bai Shan, if you fancy him, ask your father for marriage. I’m sure your father cherishes you and will bestow marriage upon you, and if he dares not comply, that’s defying the imperial decree.”