After Mu Hanzhang was dismissed from court, he saw that Jing Shao was practicing his sword vigorously in the east courtyard by himself, and Xiao Huang was nowhere to be seen. In the end, Xiao Huang was a tiger. Even though it had no backbone in front of them, it was very fierce to outsiders. Therefore, Mu Hanzhang always forbade it from playing outside the east court, to avoid hurting other people.
When Jing Shao saw that his Wang Fei had come back, he sheathed his sword and tilted his face up, waiting for him to help wipe his face full of sweat.
"Where's Xiao Huang?" Mu Hanzhang took the cloth towel which Zhi Xi handed to him and resignedly wiped Jing Shao's sweat for him.
"I don't know." Jing Shao closed his eyes comfortably. "It didn't want to play with me. I guess it went to sleep somewhere."
Mu Hanzhang was a little worried, so he asked Yun Zhu to look for Xiao Huang.
They sat down on the divan under the veranda, and Miao Xi brought the sour plum tea that was meant for hot summer days.
"Why did you come back so late today?" Jing Shao drank a whole bowl of sour plum tea and sighed comfortably. His gaze wandered over the slender legs next to him. Drooling over them, he inched over bit by bit as he spoke. Taking advantage of when Mu Hanzhang wasn't paying attention, he quickly lay down.
Mu Hanzhang had just put down the small bowl, when he saw that he now had a big head on his lap. Maybe it was because he was bored at home these days, but Jing Shao had become more and more sticky with him. Whenever he was free, Jing Shao would come up to kiss or stroke him. He helplessly rubbed the top of his head, then sat back so that he was more comfortable. "Imperial father kept me behind to talk in the imperial study for a while.
Emperor Hong Zheng seemed to be very interested in overseas trade. A few days ago, Mu Hanzhang handed in a draft of regulations. After a long time, nothing happened. But today, he had been asked to go and discuss many of the details.
"In that case, imperial father must have read your regulations carefully." Jing Shao looked up at the contour of his graceful chin.
"En. Perhaps imperial father has had this plan since a long time ago." Mu Hanzhang carefully recalled Emperor Hong Zheng's expression today; he seemed very interested in this. There were ports in Jiangnan where foreign ships docked. After a period of time, if they went to Jiangnan, perhaps they would be able to try this business first.
"Wang Fei, there's a problem!" Yun Zhu ran over in a hurry.
"What's the matter?" Mu Hanzhang frowned. Yun Zhu had gone to look for the tiger earlier. Did Xiao Huang get in trouble?
"I asked around for a while, only to find out that Xiao Huang ran into the stables!" Yun Zhu said as he grasped for breath.
"What?" Jing Shao immediately sat up. Xiao Huang was no longer small. A roar might frighten the docile horses in the stable. All the horses in the palace were famous colts and he loved them dearly. Hopefully, they weren't stressed by this.
They quickly followed Yun Zhu to the stable. The stablemaster was standing outside the stable with a sorrowful face, trembling with fear.
"What's the matter? Where's the tiger?" Jing Shao asked him.
"It, it's in Xiao Hei's stall." The stablemaster was about to cry. When he saw the tiger, he had been too scared to move, and had watched with wide eyes as it went into Xiao Hei's personal stall.
Because Xiao Hei was the Wang Ye's favorite horse, he had always been stabled alone. His stall was much more spacious than what the other horses had. The stall also had two delicate low walls, and the rope he was tied on was very long, ensuring that he could move freely in the whole stall.
