Chapter 99: Named Again Early in the morning on the 16th day of the first lunar month. Mei Cheng'an changed into court robes and entered the palace to attend the first morning court session of the year. When he arrived at the Qianbu Gallery and walked into the palace, there was a constant stream of officials who came to congratulate him. Although he was not familiar with most of them, that didn't matter. He just politely thanked them and that was it. These people knew their limits well. They would say a few words and then leave immediately to make room for others, without saying a single extra word. So Mei Chengan handled it in an orderly manner. When he was halfway through, no one came up to disturb him, and they had already expressed their congratulations. Mei Cheng'an was also happy to be free, looking forward for the figure of Mei Zhili. He had a great time chatting with Mei Zhili last night and got drunk. He was a little worried about his father's current condition. Although the father and son served in the same court, Mei Zhili seldom traveled with him. The two always went their separate ways. When Mei Cheng'an set out this morning, Mei Zhili had already left. After looking around and not seeing his father's figure, Mei Cheng'an was not in a hurry. He would be able to see him once he entered the hall anyway, and the two of them were standing not far from each other. When he was almost at the palace gate, an arm was suddenly placed on his shoulders.
"Hey, Cheng'an, good morning." Mei Cheng'an glanced at the second prince. "Morning, Second Prince." The second prince was a little unhappy. "Why call me Second Prince? Call me cousin. We are a family from now on." Mei Cheng'an was sweating. "Roujia and I haven't gotten married yet. Even if we did, I wouldn't dare call you that." The second prince no longer dwelled on the question of address and turned his attention elsewhere. "Oh my, you've started calling me Roujia. It seems like you and my cousin are getting along pretty well." "..." Damn it, I'm used to calling her Roujia, so I just say it out loud. I should have called her Princess, but I was careless. Mei Cheng'an slapped himself in his heart, reminding himself to pay attention to these details in the future. There are smart people around him, and they can hear a lot of information from a single omission. As for the Second Prince, just let it go. There is nothing to hide. If he really wants to know, can Li Hongcheng keep it a secret for him? Mei Chengan smiled. "It's OK, hehe." The second prince was happy. "You actually admitted it just like that. You're not shy about it." Mei Chengan spread his hands. "Who made me let the cat out of the bag earlier? It's hard to explain it back, so I might as well just admit it. Your Highness, please don't spread it outside. I won't admit it even if you do."
The second prince burst out laughing and patted Mei Chengan on the shoulder. "Hahahaha, don't worry, I promise not a single word will get out." Mei Cheng'an bowed in the direction of the Second Prince. "Then I would like to thank Your Highness first." The second prince waved his hand. "There's no need to be so polite between us, you..." The second prince noticed that Mei Cheng'an suddenly looked up and headed straight ahead, then smiled and waved his hand, obviously greeting someone in front of him. The second prince followed his line of sight and saw the crown prince standing not far in front of them and facing them. It was obvious that he was waiting for them. When the prince saw that the second brother was also looking at him, his smile deepened, and he quickly waved and greeted him enthusiastically while shouting. "Second brother!" The second prince curled his lips and uttered a silent, light and short sound, then forced a fake smile and waved in response. After saying hello, the second prince immediately put away his smile and turned to look at Mei Chengan. "You just said whether the prince was fake or not, and if you don't know, you would think that we have a very good relationship. Oh, he was not happy when he saw that we were chatting happily, and he had to butt in. How bad is his heart?" "..." There was no way to answer this, so Mei Cheng'an simply ignored it and pretended not to hear it. Fortunately, the Second Prince had no intention of making things difficult for him and continued to complain on his own. "And you too, can't we just have a good chat? Why take the initiative to greet him? Just pretend you didn't see it, and that's it. Now you know he's blocking us." "..." I don’t want to take the blame for this. Mei Cheng'an looked at the Second Prince with an unchanged smile on his face, but his words were full of silence. "Hey, Your Highness, don't say that. What does this have to do with me? It was obviously the Crown Prince who took the initiative to greet me. I was forced to respond, okay?" There was a big contrast between Mei Cheng'an's expression and what he said. The Second Prince couldn't help laughing and patted him on the shoulder. "Okay, okay, I was wrong about you. I'm not in a good mood after meeting my opponent so early in the morning. Please be more understanding." I see you are smiling very happily, Mei Chengan rolled his eyes in his heart. As they talked, the two men came closer to the prince. Mei Cheng'an and the second prince bowed at the same time. "Meet His Highness the Crown Prince." The prince quickly held the two men's arms and spoke to the second one first. "Second brother, what are you doing? There is no need for these false formalities between us brothers."
The second prince just wanted to show his respect, and when the crown prince helped him, he stood up straight and replied. "Etiquette cannot be abolished." "Look at you, second brother." The Crown Prince scolded the Second Prince and then looked at Mei Cheng'an with a smile. "You should get up soon too. We're all family from now on. There's no need to be so polite." "Thank you, Your Highness." Mei Cheng'an didn't insist anymore. The prince asked the two of them with a smile. "What were you talking about just now? You seemed so happy." Without waiting for Mei Cheng'an to answer, the second prince spoke first. "Nothing much, just chatting casually." There's no way I would trust you. How could you laugh like that while chatting? Don't say anything bad about me. The prince looked at Mei Chengan with some inquiry in his eyes. "..." No, what do you mean by looking at me like that? I didn’t say anything bad about you. Mei Cheng'an looked at the prince calmly and nodded, indicating that the second prince was right. "We did chat for a while, just saying hello and talking about Princess Roujia, and then I ran into His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." What Mei Cheng'an said was the truth. The prince saw that his eyes were sincere and frank, so he suppressed the doubts in his heart and chose to believe him. "I see." The prince looked at the two of them and smiled. "I think we should talk while walking, so as not to miss the court meeting." Mei Chengan bowed slightly. "That's what His Highness said." The second prince snorted in his heart, but smiled and agreed. "Listen to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." The three of them walked side by side towards the hall. Mei Cheng'an was sandwiched in the middle. On his left was the crown prince, and on his right was the second prince. He thought he should slow down a bit, but the two of them didn't give him a chance. The prince looked at Mei Chengan and asked. "Have you seen Roujia these days?" Mei Cheng'an sighed when he heard this.
"No, it's not suitable during the Chinese New Year. I finally waited until the Lantern Festival and thought about inviting the princess to watch the lantern festival, but Prince Jing rejected it again." The second prince laughed when he heard it. It sounded quite tragic. The prince couldn't help laughing and patted Mei Cheng'an on the shoulder. "Don't worry too much. The uncle probably isn't targeting you. He loves cousin Roujia very much. He might be worried about her safety and afraid that something might happen to her. It's okay. There's still a long time to go. There are plenty of opportunities. Take your time. There's no need to rush." Mei Cheng'an praised the prince calmly. "Your Highness, what you said makes sense. I'll keep it in mind." The prince nodded with satisfaction, feeling quite pleased. He smiled and patted Mei Cheng'an's shoulder again before putting down his arm. The Second Prince curled his lips and revealed a hint of mockery in his eyes. He really couldn't stand the Crown Prince's hypocritical behavior and he wanted to yue. …… The three of them separated after entering the hall. Mei Cheng'an fell one step behind. The Crown Prince and the Second Prince went to their positions at the front, while Mei Cheng'an walked slowly to the team of civil servants. Xin Qiwu was bowing to the prince from afar when Mei Chengan walked up to him quietly and patted him on the shoulder. "Lord Xin, don't salute. With so many people between us, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince can't see you." Xin Qiwu was startled, turned around and saw that it was Mei Chengan. He was relieved at first, and then his expression turned into surprise. "Cheng'an? Long time no see." Mei Chengan nodded with a smile. "It's been a long time, about a year." Xin Qiwu said angrily. "It's been exactly one year today, and you didn't even come back to the Honglu Temple to see me. You even scared me just now." "Haha, blame me, blame me. Oh, that's not right. Didn't you and Wang Sicheng go home to work?" Xin Qiwu sighed when he heard this. "I went home at first, but I couldn't stand it after a month. I felt uncomfortable all over, so I went back to the Honglu Temple. Guess what, I sat down in my seat in the Honglu Temple and immediately felt comfortable. I found that just sitting in the Honglu Temple was better than being at home." Mei Chengan gave Xin Qiwu a thumbs up. "Lord Xin is dedicated to the public good. It really touches my heart and makes me want to cry." Xin Qiwu rolled his eyes at him. "Don't make trouble." Then Xin Qiwu thought of something and suddenly started winking at him and bumped him with his arm. "Congratulations, I heard about the emperor's marriage proposal. How is it going? Are you happy?" Mei Chengan smiled.
"Of course I am happy." Xin Qiwu wanted to say something when he heard the sound of a bell. The smile on his face immediately disappeared. He pulled Mei Chengan's sleeve and quickly adjusted his position to stand straight. "Stand still, His Majesty is coming." While waiting for His Majesty to enter the hall, Mei Cheng'an looked forward and saw his father's profile two rows away. Seeing that his father was fine, Mei Cheng'an felt relieved. After another bell rang, Emperor Qing walked in from outside the hall, and all the officials stepped aside to greet him respectfully. Emperor Qing glanced casually to both sides, and when he saw Mei Chengan, his gaze paused. He walked quickly past, went up to the high platform from the side, and sat down calmly. "Everyone, get up." Only then did all the officials stand up straight. Then he followed the process of previous years. After the active reports were completed, Emperor Qing began to call on people and question them, with both praise and dissatisfaction. He rewarded those who deserved rewards and punished those who deserved punishments, and he called on Mei Cheng'an. He originally thought that this link had nothing to do with him because he felt that he had done nothing wrong. Mei Cheng'an walked out of the team in confusion. "The minister is here." "I heard that you haven't been to the Honglu Temple once since I announced that I would not check attendance, right?" "..." I’m stuck in a writer’s block, so the second chapter may be late, or even not available at all. Please forgive me, guys. (End of this chapter)