Long Dan, seeing that his master’s beloved had been dragged in by Erniu, quickly slipped away with nimble feet.
This was something he needed to inform his master about immediately. Otherwise, when the master returned and learned he had missed the opportunity to meet with Miss Jiang, he would certainly punish Long Dan.
As for leaving Miss Jiang without anyone to attend to her—heh, with Erniu there, it was better than having anyone else.
Yu Jin accompanied the Fourth Prince to the residence of Prince Qi. The banquet was set up in the prince’s garden.
Emperor Jingming had a total of eight living princes. Yu Jin silently counted the number of people present and realized that, except for the Crown Prince, everyone had arrived.
Seeing Yu Jin’s arrival, the princes had various expressions, with most of their eyes flashing with disdain.
Although they had come to celebrate Yu Jin’s birthday, they weren’t there to flatter Yu Jin or even the Fourth Prince.
There was only one brother who had grown up outside the palace and gone south to fight barbarians. Since he came to the capital, he hadn’t interacted with them. How could they not take this opportunity to join in the excitement?
“Seventh Brother, it’s not easy to have a drink with you,” the First Prince said with a gentle smile as he greeted Yu Jin.
The First Prince was enfeoffed as Prince Qin, and his situation was somewhat awkward.
When Emperor Jingming was still an ordinary prince, he had been married for many years without a child. To seek good fortune, he adopted a young son from his cousin’s family. Unexpectedly, it truly worked like a charm, and Emperor Jingming began to have many children one after another. When Emperor Jingming unexpectedly ascended to the throne, the First Prince, who occupied the position of the eldest son, could only keep a low profile to avoid offending the Empress and the Crown Prince.
Over the years, the First Prince had developed a good-natured personality.
Yu Jin carefully observed the First Prince, noting that he looked the oldest, and silently confirmed his identity before responding, “Eldest Brother.”
Indeed, since returning to the capital, Yu Jin had rarely encountered these brothers and couldn’t even match their faces to their titles. His strongest impressions were of his elder brother and the Crown Prince.
However, although Yu Jin was generally carefree, once he set his mind to something, it was a different story.
The oldest was Eldest Brother, the one with a constipated look was Third Brother, the one who seemed a bit slow was Fifth Brother, the one with shifty eyes who thought himself clever was Sixth Brother, and the one who hadn’t even grown a beard was Eighth Brother.
Hmm, they were quite easy to recognize after all.
“Seventh Brother, I’ve been wanting to drink with you for a long time, but you don’t even have a prince’s mansion yet, so there’s nowhere to drink,” the Eighth Prince said with a smile, holding a wine cup and looking innocent.
Yu Jin raised an eyebrow.
At sixteen, he had already beheaded an enemy leader amidst thousands of troops and sat drinking large bowls of wine and eating meat with his soldiers, with the severed headset aside. What right did this little brat have to act all innocent in front of him? How nauseating!
“Drinking is not about the place, but the company,” Yu Jin said coolly.
The Eighth Prince was taken aback, not expecting such a pointed response from a prince their father had long forgotten.
Where did this guy get his confidence from?
Even he had been enfeoffed as Prince Xiang, so who did Seventh Brother think he was?
Only after being enfeoffed as a prince did one have their residence and personal guards. Although they wouldn’t go to their fiefs to rule, the income from the fiefs belonged entirely to them. Compared to this, the annual salary of a prince was just a drop in the bucket.
It could be said that only after being enfeoffed could a prince build and manage his power base. The reason was simple: maintaining a following required money, and a lot of it.
Being enfeoffed was every prince’s dream and a key factor for court officials to measure a prince’s influence. This clearly showed the difference between an ordinary prince and an enfeoffed prince.
It could be described as a world of difference.
The Eighth Prince’s mother was merely a dancer, of lowly status. As the youngest, he had always been suppressed by his elder brothers. Now that he finally had a chance to show off in front of Yu Jin, he was unexpectedly rebuffed, and it was hard for him to swallow this.
The Eighth Prince wasn’t an impulsive person. With his mother’s status, he wouldn’t have grown up safely if he had a rash temperament.
But people often behave differently when facing those they consider inferior in status and position as if they can act more recklessly.
The Eighth Prince didn’t show his anger. He put down his wine cup on the table and picked up a wine jug to fill it: “Since Seventh Brother says so, let’s have a good drink together today, brothers.”
He winked at the other princes: “Brothers, Seventh Brother said that drinking is not about the place but the people. If we don’t entertain Seventh Brother well today, it means we’re not the right company, don’t you think?”
The Fifth Prince, who had developed an impulsive personality due to his mother’s favor, laughed and said, “Eighth Brother is right. Today we should have a good drinking session with Seventh Brother.”
With the two of them stirring things up, the others naturally joined in, raising their cups to add to the excitement. Even the Fourth Prince didn’t say much.
He had arranged this celebration for his Seventh Brother and had already gained a good reputation. It wasn’t worth offending the other brothers for Seventh Brother’s sake.
Yu Jin placed his wine cup on the long table, making a light sound.
“Why isn’t Seventh Brother drinking?” the Eighth Prince asked with a smile on his lips. “If Seventh Brother can’t hold his liquor, we can drink less. It’s no big deal—”
Yu Jin grabbed the wine jug, placed it in front of him, and patted the dark container: “What’s the difference between drinking from cups and being like women? If we’re going to drink, let’s use this!”
The smile froze on the Eighth Prince’s lips.
Was he being challenged?
After a brief silence, the Eighth Prince clapped his hands and said, “Seventh Brother is indeed straightforward! Come, remove the cups, and bring out the jugs!”
With so many of them, surely they weren’t afraid of just one person?
After finishing one jug of wine, Yu Jin’s expression remained unchanged, while the Eighth Prince’s cheeks were burning red. The others weren’t faring much better.
The Fifth Prince, who had always been frank and unrestrained, became even more talkative after drinking. Hugging a wine jug, he slurred, “Let… let me tell you, I’ve got my eye on a girl.”
“Who is it?” the other princes casually asked.
Yu Jin absentmindedly tapped on his empty wine jug.
To be in such a state after just one jug of wine, and they dared to challenge him to a drinking contest? He would rather have spent this time at home waiting for A Si.
What if she had shown up? That would have been a win.
Thinking of this, Yu Jin was already eager to leave and prepared to say his goodbyes.
However, the Fifth Prince’s next words made him freeze.
“The Fourth Miss of the Earl of Dongping’s family!”
“The Fourth Miss of the Earl of Dongping? Oh, I’ve heard of her. Isn’t she the one whose engagement was broken off because Ji San of the Duke of Anguo’s family fell for a commoner? Fifth Brother, how did you come to fancy her?” the Eighth Prince asked curiously.
The Fifth Prince hiccupped: “The day the Marquis of Changxing’s heir was arrested, I went to see the commotion. I caught a glimpse of her by chance, and only after asking around did I learn that the beauty was the Fourth Miss of the Earl of Dongping’s family. Tsk tsk, I never thought Ji San of the Duke of Anguo’s family was such a fool, giving up such beauty to marry a commoner. But it’s good this way, otherwise I wouldn’t have a chance.”
“Fifth Brother, you already have a princess consort.”
The Fifth Prince chuckled: “Eighth Brother, that’s such a childish thing to say. So what if I have a princess consort? I’m not planning to make her the primary consort. If I offer her the position of a secondary consort, her family would be more than happy to send her over—”
Yu Jin suddenly stood up.
Everyone was startled.
“Seventh Brother, what’s wrong?” the Fourth Prince sensed trouble.
“I’ve had too much to drink.”
Everyone blinked: So what?
Yu Jin smiled, picked up the wine jug, and smashed it directly on the Fifth Prince’s head.