Ch28 - Foreshadowing

The fourth prince received this congratulatory gift, yet wasn’t even able to get even a little bit happy about it. He was fully aware that this concubine was the one that the Eldest Prince had sent Jing Shao that year. Now that Jing Shao had sent her to him untouched, he wouldn’t even be able to throw this trouble out. Elder brothers could send their younger brothers beauties, yet there wasn’t a basis for younger brothers to send their elder brothers a concubine. Below him, there were no other younger brothers that had come of age. 

Actually, Jing Shao had already finished copying the books for a while, it was just that after living so leisurely for such a long time, he did not want to go back to morning court.

Mu Hanzhang urged him to return to court at the earliest possible time: “The situation in court changes in a blink of an eye, now that the fourth prince has returned to court, it is still best for you to be careful.”

Thus, he set Ge Ruoyi aside with Ghost of Nine Blades to learn the art of concealed weaponry, and also assigned Ren Feng with secretly tidying up the desolate forest in the eastern suburbs, then Jing Shao unwillingly packed up their luggage and returned to his palace with his Wang Fei.

The fourth prince returned to court on the third day, the Cheng Wang had also finished copying “The Art of War” ten times. Emperor Hongzheng flipped through all of it in front of the whole court, asking a few questions about the content, as he was able to reply all the questions quickly and fluently, his imperial heart was very pleased, bestowing upon the Cheng Wang gifts: ten bolts of satin from tributes as well as a bucket of pearls. 

All the court councilors said, although the Cheng Wang wouldn’t be able to inherit the throne, the Emperor’s doting never ceased. Only Jing Shao knew that his Imperial Father rewarding him was because of his standpoint on the three vassal states, nothing more than just encouraging him with some flattery, that’s all.

This satin from the tributes was good stuff, Jing Shao intended to have a few new sets of clothing made for him and Jun Qing. As for this bucket of pearls, actually it didn’t have much use. Nowadays the womenfolk in his palace only had Song Linxin left, and everytime he saw her, it made him annoyed. He let Mu Hanzhang take this bucket of first-rate pearls to return to the North Marquis’ residence, to split between his father-in-law’s sisters and wives.

Mu Hanzhang knew he wanted to help him make a good reputation and naturally did not brush away his good intentions. He had Duofu go into the storeroom to pick a few other gifts to bring along, then taking Yunzhu, he went back to the North Marquis’ residence for a trip.

A bucket of pearls, two handfuls for each of his aunts, one handful for each of his sisters, for each of his father’s concubines, twenty pearls, and for the rest, half went to his paternal grandmother in showing filial respect, and the other half was for the North Marchioness.

“Oh~ Aren’t these the pearls from the tributes, each of them are so smooth and round and so plump, I also saw a few of these over at my Mother’s place.” The big mouthed third aunt held the pearls in her hands and fondled them admiringly, talking endlessly.

As for the rest of the aunts and sisters, they also wore smiles, each of them called Wang Fei very affectionately.

Qiu Yiniang’s body had already recovered, standing behind the North Marchioness, she wore a body of splendid clothing, seeing her son with such an imposing aura, finally she was relieved a little.

The North Marchioness was cold-faced from beginning to end. Without even saying a few words, she began to criticize Mu Hanzhang: “You are a man. You can’t leave behind children. As a wife, you should be more virtuous and kind! Now, Wang Ye doesn’t have a single heir, yet you’ve practically caused all the concubines to be sent away. I don’t even have the face to go out. I know that you are young and ignorant, the people who don’t understand these things will think that I didn’t teach my son well.” 

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Mu Hanzhang slowly put down his teacup, somewhat looking at Lady Du with ridicule. She would say these words only because Jing Shao sent the Fourth Prince a concubine, afraid that if she married her daughter over, then she would suffer grievances. Really already acting as if the Fourth Prince had become her daughter’s husband!

“Mother has overthought this. This son had only learned from the Analects of Confucius and Five Classics of Confucianism from a young age. The one who taught this son was a scholar from our family, even if this son is unable to perform the Confucian moral injunctions for wives, the Madams in the capital will not mock you.” Mu Hanzhang slowly rubbed his cup with his fingers, with a somewhat pointed meaning he said, “The matters of Cheng Wang’s palace, Wang Ye has always decided them, Mother getting angry at this son is of no use.”

The North Marchioness placed the cup in her hand on the table heavily, glared at him for a while, and then slowed down her manner of speaking: “It’s not that I’m telling you off. Since you have already married, you have to think about your husband’s family. Wang Ye is young, you must advise him often. Since it is already no longer possible for him to obtain the throne, then we must make another path for ourselves. If Suzhi can be married to the fourth prince, then Wang Ye and the fourth prince will become connected. In the future, if there is ever some what if, then there will still be a way out for us. 

Mu Hanzhang listened to this remark, but only felt that it was incomparably ludicrous. Did Madam Du think he was a three-year-old? Did being husbands of siblings make people closer than actually being brothers? In the Imperial family, even some blood brothers plotted to destroy each other, a connective relationship through marriage was worthless. He could not help but sneer: “The matter of younger sister’s marriage, how could the elder brother I was married off to make the decision? Besides, only Empress Mother has the final say, even if Wang Ye is willing, it is of no use.”

“You…” The North Marchioness was so angry that she couldn’t even speak, but everything Mu Hanzhang had said was very reasonable. Her daughter’s marriage was not yet determined, saying too much would affect her reputation as a lady. She could only glare at him for a long time, then having no choice but to drop the subject.

Mu Hanzhang is a man, even if this is his parents’ home, he still could not sit in the inner residence for too long. Guessing at the time, it should be around the time when the North Marquis should have left court and returned, thus he stood up and took his leave to see his Father.

Meanwhile, a big thing happened in court today. 

The King of the Southwest sent a request, the tribute that the southwest fiefdom had sent was plundered. As this borderland was poor, they requested that this year’s expected tribute be decreased.

“Officials, how does everyone view this matter?” Emperor Hongzheng held the Southwest King’s pale yellow envelope with the request and asked with a low voice.

“The Southwest is close to Yunnan-Tibet, that place nowadays is in upheaval, if the tribute has been plundered away, then there’s truly no helping it. In Chen’s point of view, this tribute can be decreased.” The Minister of Revenue said elegantly

“Daring to pilfer the tribute, this flock of petty thieves are truly savage, in Chen’s point of view, we should send soldiers to go encircle and suppress them, to reseize the tribute.” The Minister of War said resentfully. 

“The renovations of the summer villa this year urgently requires the use of marble from the southwest. If the tribute is reduced, we must still have marble from the southwest sent to us.” The Minister of Works said, flustered. Originally he thought that the marble could be delivered by the sixth lunar month, so he didn’t buy any other stone materials. Now, even if it was sent again, he estimated that it would still take until the seventh month to arrive in the capital. No matter how they hurried to get it done, he feared that it would still delay the Emperor’s stay at the summer villa.

All the officials, one would say something and another would say something else, arguing endlessly. Emperor Hongzheng’s brows knitted together tighter and tighter, his gaze swept towards the three princes: “What do the three of you think?”

The Fourth Prince had just returned to court, and was impatient to prove himself, seeing his imperial father was annoyed, he stepped forward and said: “Er Chen heard news that the Southwest has encountered a spring drought, the common people are miserable, now that the tribute has been robbed, it’s made things worse. For lack of a better option, we should lower the tribute, to show towards the common people of the Southwest the manifestation of our benevolent integrity.”

Emperor Hongzheng’s eyes deepened, one couldn’t tell whether he was happy or angry. Regarding the fourth prince stepping forth and speaking before his elder brothers, there wasn’t any deeper meaning. Turning to look at the second prince who had his eyes lowered, not speaking: “Jing Chen, what do you think?” 

Jing Chen stepped forward, bowed in etiquette and said, “The tribute that the imperial court collects is not to covet those riches, but to keep the three vassal states in check, and show the power of the heavens. Tribute, suddenly robbed in transit, the blame is on the southwest, not the imperial court. Therefore, Er Chen thinks, that the tribute should not be reduced!” His voice was steady and powerful, not too hurried or too slow, with a pause after each sentence, making his words resonate. The noisy court hall suddenly became absolutely silent.

The icy and severe look in Emperor Hongzheng’s eyes gradually warmed, revealing a gratified appearance, but he did not say anything. He proceeded to look at Jing Shao at the side who had a face of impatience: “Jing Shao, what do you want to say?”

“Humph, the journey to transport the tribute from the southwest to the capital doesn’t even pass through the Yunnan-Tibet region! Moreover, half of the tribute is made of marble weighing up to a thousand catties. What kind of mountain burglar would want to rob this kind of tribute?” Jing Shao stood in his original place and also did not make any salute. He opened his mouth and just spoke, with an appearance as if he had been annoyed by all the court officials.

Emperor Hongzheng hearing this in such a frank and boorish manner of speaking, not only did not get angry, but on the contrary actually hooked up the corner of his mouth: “Like this, do you all understand?” 

The final result was that Emperor Hongzheng sent people to investigate the matter of the robbery of the tribute. As for the choice of candidate, it was actually someone who had not yet spoken up about the matter in court. The Southwest King first sent the marble material to come in advance of the rest, and the matter of reducing tribute was not mentioned, but pushed down for the time being.

After withdrawing from court, Emperor Hongzheng called on Jing Chen, the second prince, to come to the imperial study alone.

Jing Shao patted the dejected fourth prince on the shoulder, then turned to grab ahold of the North Marquis who was about to go home.

“Does Wang Ye have any advice?” Mu Jin politely walked out with Jing Shao. 

“Father-in-law is exaggerating. Today, Jun Qing returned to the Hou Fu. I’ll pick him up with you on the way.” Jing Shao smiled lightly.

“Hanzhang went to the Hou Fu?” Mu Jin hearing this, couldn’t help but show a somewhat smiling expression. “That’s great. Wang Ye can stop by for lunch and then go back.”

“Then I won’t be polite, just the right time to have a couple of drinks with Father Marquis. I keep thinking about the hard liquor from the northwest we had last time. Jing Shao laughed and let the North Marquis walk ahead, flipping himself onto his horse.

Mu Jin looked at Jing Shao, who was respectful and cordial, and then glanced at the fourth prince who was still walking with his head lowered not too far away. He could not help but frown slightly, turning away to get on the carriage. 

The old Marchioness’ health had become poor a few years ago. She was bedridden all year round and hardly received any visitors.

Mu Hanzhang went to visit his grandmother and offered up the rare medicinal herbs he had brought. The gray-haired old lady grabbed his hand to chat for a moment.

“Grandmother is old now and doesn’t manage much now, but you’ve married into the royal family, you must be careful in speaking and doing things. You should also take care of your husband. Since you are married, be together in happiness and sorrows, and must not harbor resentment. It’s not easy for Cheng Wang to be of the imperial family. When Empress Yuan was still alive, what circumstances was he in, how does he live nowadays? People’s hearts are made of flesh, if you treat him well, he also won’t treat you badly.” The old Marchioness spent her whole life in the Marquis’ household and she was able to see things extremely clearly.

“This grandson understands, grandmother need not worry, Wang Ye treats grandson very well.” Mu Hanzhang grasped his grandmother’s hand with both his hands and warmth bubbled forth from his heart. Since he was young, his grandmother loved him dearly, although perhaps not as much as the legitimate grandson of the first wife, but she has never once been excessively biased. If there were people who tried to make things difficult for him, his grandmother would still try to protect him, so that he suffered a lot less grievances. 

The old Marchioness was getting late in her years now and she became weak after a few words. Mu Hanzhang helped his grandmother to lie down and rest, then he withdrew. Once he walked into the front courtyard, he ran into his flock of cousins who had just come back from their studies.

“Oh, if it isn’t the Wang Fei. What happened, did you suffer some grievance at the prince’s palace and came back to your mother’s house to cry about it?” Mu Yangwen, seeing Mu Hanzhang, habitually tried to jab at him with a couple sentences. His younger brothers behind him hearing this could not help but roar with laughter.