Cameron's Royal Binding Chapter 7

Before Elliot Xiao could react, there was a warm body in his arms, flexible and slender, with a faint scent of grass and wood. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince froze instantly.

The prince's formal dress was made of the finest silk and was very soft. Cameron Lou put his face on his shoulder and put his arms around the narrow waist of the prince. He yawned and said, "We are married and share honor and disgrace. It doesn't matter if I suffer some losses. Your Highness can compensate me from time to time."

Compensation, is this the kind of compensation...? Elliot Xiao lowered his head and looked at the beautiful person in his arms. If it was such compensation, he would naturally be willing to give it. He gently said "OK", and the prince slowly raised his frozen arms and hugged the person hanging on him.

Cameron Lou smiled and buried his face in Elliot Xiao's shoulder, closing his eyes with peace of mind. The Crown Prince had to enjoy the cushion that was so valuable that he could not even afford a fortune.

For a moment, the only sounds in the chariot were the hooves and wheels crushing the sand. Elliot Xiao slowly relaxed, carefully avoiding the wound on Cameron Lou's back, and pulled him into his arms to make him feel more comfortable. This man has married him, not just a subject. As a husband, he should respect and love him. It is wrong to involve him in suffering grievances and complain about him. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince reflected on himself in his heart and decided to be better to the Crown Princess in the future.

After traveling for half an hour, the chariot stopped, and Anshun whispered outside the curtain: "Your Highness, we have arrived at the Imperial Ancestral Temple."

"Yes," Elliot Xiao responded, and did not ask anyone to open the curtain, but gently shook the sleeping guy in his arms, "Zhuoyu, wake up."

Cameron Lou was having a sweet dream. He dreamed that his mother steamed a rabbit bun that was half a person's height for him and said, "Jing'er, let this be your pillow." He felt very comfortable holding the bun, but the bed was shaking constantly and he couldn't sleep well. He could only hold the big bun tightly in his arms to reduce the shaking.

"Wake up." His Royal Highness looked helplessly at the person who was holding him tighter and swaying in his arms. He had no choice but to free his hand and squeeze his face. Unexpectedly, the plush head actually rubbed against his shoulder, softly. Soft and itchy...

"Hmm..." Cameron Lou rubbed his big bun reluctantly. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his big bun had turned into Elliot Xiao.

The two of them looked at each other, both stunned for a moment.

"Your Highness, the Yulin Army has already lined up." Anshun urged again.

They immediately separated and sat down. Elliot Xiao coughed lightly and asked Anshun to open the curtain.

The Taimiao is located in the eastern suburbs and covers a large area.

Entering the main entrance, there is a quite vast flat land, with a carved dragon royal road in the middle leading directly to the main hall. On both sides, there are Yulin troops standing solemnly holding bronze halberds. The bells and drums are ringing together, and Shao music is melodious. On both sides of the Yulin Army are hundreds of dancers, dancing to a special rhythm, full of solemnity and sacredness.

The emperor and empress walked in front. Cameron Lou and Elliot Xiao stood on both sides of the emperor and empress, each half a step back. The nobles and officials were listed behind the ceremonial guard. As they marched in front of the main hall, there was a man in complicated ceremonial clothes standing at the foot of the jade steps. When the emperor stopped and knelt down to salute, he was today's celebrant.

Cameron Lou took a look at the man and was shocked. It was the eunuch supervisor Shen Lian again! The civil officials immediately let out a few uneven gasps, and the nobles even snorted inaudibly.

Ancestor worship in the Taimiao is an extremely solemn matter for the royal family. Since ancient times, the master of ceremonies must be a civil servant with both good moral character and integrity. There was even a special official position for this purpose in ancient times, but I have never heard of a eunuch being allowed to be the master of ceremonies in the Taimiao. This is too much of a joke.

Cameron Lou couldn't help but look at Elliot Xiao. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince seemed to sense something, and turned his head slightly to give him a calming look, then lowered his eyes again, as if he saw nothing.

Emperor Chunde naturally knew this a long time ago and let Shen Lian get up nonchalantly.

"Your Majesty!" Before Shen Lian could speak, Yu Shi Geng Zhuo had already strode forward and knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Ancestral Temple is the place where emperors of the Yu Dynasty worship. The royal ancestral temple cannot allow eunuchs to serve as ceremony officials!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the drums and music stopped, and the scene became quiet, so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Shen Lian remained calm, and no one except the censor spoke, and the nobles turned a deaf ear to him.

"The Ministry of Internal Affairs also serves as the Imperial Ceremony Officer, so why not?" Emperor Chunde frowned. Shen Lian had told him a few days ago that he wanted to be the Ceremony Officer for the Imperial Ancestral Temple. It was not a big deal, so why did the Censor make it seem as if he had done something extremely stupid?

"Your Majesty! The emperor is the son of heaven. How can an eunuch be allowed to shout at the place where the ancestors of the Xiao family are enshrined?" Geng Zhuo straightened his neck and shouted at the top of his lungs.

When Shen Lian heard the word "eunuch", his face darkened rapidly. Emperor Chunde was also a little embarrassed. At this moment, was he really going to ask Shen Lian to take off his formal dress?

"Your Majesty, the auspicious time is approaching. Today the prince is getting married. It's best not to waste the time." Chen Shichang, the right minister, came out and said solemnly.

The left prime minister Zhao Duan glanced at Chen Shichang, lowered his head and said nothing.

The words of the right prime minister were very important. Upon hearing this, Emperor Chunde nodded and was about to step onto the jade steps.

"Your Majesty!" Geng Zhuo knelt in front of the jade steps without giving in, "If Your Majesty doesn't change the ceremonial officer, I will never be able to kneel down!"

"Lord Geng didn't say it earlier or later, but only said it at this critical moment. Isn't this making things difficult for the emperor?" Shen Lian sneered.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Chunde immediately felt that he was not wrong, and snorted coldly, "If you want to kneel, then kneel down." After that, he walked around Geng Zhuo and went straight up the jade steps. The people behind him followed one after another, treating the censor as a stone and bypassing him like water flowing over a stone.

Shen Lian smiled and followed the emperor up the jade steps. Standing on the high platform where the eunuch was standing, he began to sing along loudly in his shrill voice.

The winner and loser will be decided immediately.

Cameron Lou glanced at the censor who seemed to be struck by lightning, then lowered his head and followed the queen up the jade steps. Although the censor was right, no one argued for him.

All the emperors of the Yu Dynasty since its founding are enshrined in the Taimiao. Every time a sacrifice is made to heaven, the ancestral tablets are taken out and placed in the front hall for people to kneel down and worship.

After the complicated heaven-sacrifice ceremony, the emperor and the empress would take the newly married prince and princess into the inner hall to kneel and worship the portraits of the emperors and empresses of the past generations.

After Taizu and Taizong, starting from Shizong, all the empresses were men. Cameron Lou knelt down in front of each portrait and found that the portraits of the emperors and empresses were all similar, with majestic wrinkles on their faces. He glanced at Elliot Xiao beside him. The Xiao family members were obviously handsome. I don’t know what those painters were thinking. Do they have to paint people old and ugly to make them look like emperors?

He didn't dare to say anything else. The late Emperor Ruizong, whom Cameron Lou had met when he was a child, was still as elegant as he was in his sixtieth year. He was not as old as in the portrait.

He kowtowed three times to each ancestor. If he hadn't taken the anesthetic, he would have collapsed again after kowtowed to the last one -- Emperor Ruizong. Cameron Lou stood up and felt a little dizzy. He muttered to himself that if the Xiao family survived for another hundred years, the emperor would have to be carried out of the Imperial Ancestral Temple every year to offer sacrifices to the heavens.

When he left, Geng Zhuo was still kneeling on the spot. The sun had already risen to the center, shining on that upright face, making it look more angular.

"Your Majesty, the ceremony is over, why don't you ask the censor to get up?" The queen stood on the jade steps and persuaded in a low voice.

Not to embarrass censors is a rule established by Emperor Taizu. Seeing Geng Zhuo kneeling like this, Emperor Chunde felt a little embarrassed. He nodded after hearing this and waved his hand to let the chief eunuch Huaizhong beside him to pull up the censor.

Huaizhong smiled and tried to pull Geng Zhuo, but Geng Zhuo refused to listen. He shook off Huaizhong's hand, crawled a few steps on his knees to the front of Emperor Chunde, and said in a hoarse voice: "Your Majesty, the Imperial Ancestral Temple is not a joke! If you allow eunuchs to enter the Imperial Ancestral Temple today, the government will be in chaos tomorrow, Your Majesty!"

"Then how are you doing?" Emperor Chunde was really annoyed now. The sacrifice to heaven was over, but this man was still holding on to him. What was going to happen?

"I ask the emperor to punish Shen Lian for entering the Ancestral Temple without permission!" Geng Zhuo put his head on the ground, looking like he would rather die than surrender.

"You..." Emperor Chunde was trembling with anger.

Shen Lian walked down from the high platform and said slowly: "Master Geng, have you made a mistake? The emperor is the king of a country. What is your intention in forcing the emperor like this?"

"Hmph, come here, drag Geng Zhuo away for me!" Emperor Chunde flicked his sleeves, and immediately the Yulin Army picked up the censor and dragged him away.

"Your Majesty! Your Majesty!" Geng Zhuo struggled and shouted.

Emperor Chunde turned a deaf ear and walked forward. Since ancient times, there was nothing he could do without killing Yan Guan, but he could just move out of the way.

All the officials watched in silence as Geng Zhuo was dragged away. The queen lowered her eyes and followed Emperor Chunde into the chariot without saying a word.

On the way back, Cameron Lou and Elliot Xiao were both silent. Emperor Chunde was getting more and more stubborn, only listening to good words and not listening to advice. Sooner or later, something bad would happen in such a court.

It was already noon when they returned to the East Palace. Elliot Xiao ordered the meal to be served in the Eight Phoenix Hall, and he ate with Cameron Lou.

"There will be royal relatives coming to visit you in the afternoon. You can take a nap after lunch." Elliot Xiao looked at Cameron Lou who looked listless and said in a gentle voice.

Cameron Lou nodded. He was mainly hungry. In the morning, he ate three crystal buns, drank a small bowl of porridge, and went to the Ancestral Temple to kowtow. He was so hungry that he was dizzy and too lazy to say anything. .

After the meal was set, Le Xian and Anshun stood behind them serving the dishes. Cameron Lou picked up the chopsticks and started to eat. Unexpectedly, as soon as he picked up a piece of fish, it fell back into the bowl with a "snap".

Le Xian was startled and quickly took a towel to wipe him.

Cameron Lou was also stunned, and then she remembered that her hands were still numb. How could such a delicate object as chopsticks be used?

Elliot Xiao frowned, waved his hand to let the servants retreat, and put a spoon in his bowl, "Use this."

Cameron Lou looked at the sweet white porcelain spoon that His Royal Highness put in his bowl, and the corners of his mouth twitched. He had not eaten with a spoon since he was three years old.