Ch33 - Position

It wasn’t until two days later that the North Marchioness realized, from the veiled congratulations of the many Duchesses and Marchionesses who dropped by to visit the North Marquis’s residence, that the entire capital knew about it! She was extremely angry, but powerless to do anything. She could only call the third wife to come before her and scold her fiercely.

“Elder sister, this cannot be blamed on me alone!” The third wife sobbed and wailed in a slightly sharp voice, “Was it not because I was happy for Suzhi? I only talked about it with the few maidservants by my side; not to mention, there were several people present on that day, not just me! Why am I the one being blamed?” 

“You still dare to say that! I made it clear so many times that day not to disclose anything publicly for the time being; even if one is confident in one’s success, there are still “what ifs”! You’re really good: once you went out, you just started talking, as if you were afraid other people wouldn’t know about it!” The North Marchioness trembled with anger. Whether they succeeded in this matter or not, she would certainly lose face. The North Marchioness was afraid that if the Empress caught wind of this, she would feel that the North Marquis’s household was superficial, and thus dislike Suzhi, which might actually cause this matter to fall through.

The third wife (wife of the third brother of the North Marquis) stopped crying when she heard this and her face immediately became cold. “Sister-in-law, even if I wasn’t right in this matter, you still shouldn’t use such a tone to lecture me!” There was no distinction (in rank) between the wives of brothers. She just could not bear to see how pleased Lady Du looked. Her own husband was also a son of the old Marquis; how come Suzhi could marry a prince, but her daughter couldn’t?

Besides the squabbling within the North Marquis household, when the young lady of the Mao Dukedom entered the imperial palace again after a few days, the Marquis’s household really became chaotic. It turned out that the embroidered purse which the Empress had given her was filled with jade tablets for entering the palace.

“The North Marquis’s bastard is already married to Cheng Wang – now they also want to marry their daughter to the fourth prince. How can there be such good fortune in the world?” Duchess Mao said to the Countess of Yongchang. 

“Isn’t it because she’s afraid the bastard is too smart and will threaten the heir, that she’s rushing to marry her daughter off ? Now it’s good; she’s lifted up a rock and dropped it on her own foot!” The Countess of Yongchang said with a smile, “Our two families will become even closer in the future.”

“That’s just the way it is; in the future there will be even more reasons to go to your place and play mahjong!” Duchess Mao also laughed along. The Count of Yongchang was the Empress’s younger brother from the same mother. If Duchess Mao’s young lady married the fourth prince, the two families would be tied closely together. 

Today, the Marchioness of Dingnan had invited the wives of the officials to come and appreciate her peonies, which had bloomed.

“Qts vlvc’a Vlrafg Ge mbwf?” Ktf Zjgmtlbcfrr bo Glcucjc erfv ab yf j rfmbcv klof, jcv kjr sbecufg atjc wbra bo atf ijvlfr. 

“Vtf, jt, P’w jogjlv rtf kbc’a yf mbwlcu bea obg atf cfza ofk vjsr,” atf Jbecafrr bo Tbcumtjcu rjlv, mbnfglcu tfg rwlif klat j tjcvxfgmtlfo. “Glv atf Vfmbcv Uglcmf’r Jbcrbga nlrla tfg wbatfg’r tberf gfmfcais?”

The Marchioness of Dingnan smiled and said, “She has many things to do in her household, so I didn’t call her over today.” Knowing that they were curious for any information on the Second Prince, the Marchioness of Dingnan didn’t intend to say too much about her family’s affairs and changed the subject after a few sentences. 

After discovering that Duo Fu could handle the matters of the household on his own, Mu Hanzhang gradually began to relax. Jing Shao, who had tasted sweetness, became even more excessive. He wrapped himself around his Wang Fei every night, propositioning him for pleasure, all the way until Mu Hanzhang couldn’t bear it anymore; only then would Jing Shao calm down for a few days. And so, Duofu could only wrinkle his steamed bun face every day and confront the pile of things ruthlessly left for him to manage.

“Brother definitely won’t travel at night. Perhaps he’ll arrive in the capital tonight.” Mu Hanzhang helped Jing Shao fasten his wrist guard. Seeing Jing Shao’s anxious face, he sighed and said, “In any case, eat breakfast before you go.” 

Jing Shao’s brother was to return today, he had just finished bathing and didn’t need to go to court. On this way back from the southwest, Jing Chen would certainly pass by the southern walls of the city. Jing Shao wanted to meet him there, and on the way, he wanted to go to the east of the city and have a look at that barren forest. Since Jing Chen had still been in the neighboring province yesterday, he wouldn’t be returning too early today. Jing Shao reached out to help his Wang Fei straighten the tassels on his crown. He smiled and said, “Okay, I’ll go after eating.”

“Then I’ll be going back to the North Marquis’s residence today; Father wants to talk to me, and wants me to return when I’m free.” Jing Shao had taken an afternoon nap yesterday without care for the time, which also caused Mu Hanzhang himself to sleep for the entire afternoon, so he hadn’t been able to go back. Thinking this, he couldn’t help but glare at Jing Shao again. 

On the receiving end of his Wang Fei’s glare, Jing Shao lowered his head and bit one ear for no clear reason.

“Ngh…” Mu Hanzhang hurriedly pushed him aside and looked left and right before exhaling in relief. Fortunately, to enjoy helping his Wang Fei get dressed, Jing Shao had driven all the maids out in order to revel in his delight. 

Jing Shao rode Xiao Hei to the eastern suburbs first, easily circumventing the piles of rubble and various trees as he entered the depths of the barren forest. A group of soldiers was leveling the land with hoes and hammers. There were only twenty or thirty people in total, so progress was very slow.

“Wang Ye.” Ren Feng saw that Jing Shao had come and put down the hammer in his hand to welcome him. “There are too few hands; if we need to level out the demarcated land, I’m afraid we won’t be able to finish it even by the end of the year.” 

“Don’t worry.” Jing Shao dismounted and climbed onto a tall stone. He surveyed the surroundings, and the barren forest filled his vision. “Don’t disturb these trees.” After saying that, he jumped off the stone and mounted his horse again.

“Yes.” Ren Feng’s hand reached out to support him, but Jing Shao dodged it. 

Looking around at the circle of new soldiers whose heads were bowed as they worked, Jing Shao said quietly, “If anyone leaks even half a word about this matter, there will be no forgiveness- kill them!”

Mu Hanzhang sent Jing Shao off and went to the North Marquis’s household. Once he entered the residence, he noticed that the atmosphere inside the mansion wasn’t right; all the servants in the mansion were abnormally quiet, their heads lowered and their gazes contained. The housekeeper took him directly to the North Marquis’s study. His father, Mu Jin, was writing a large character. The powerful writing seemed to penetrate the paper. Mu Hanzhang looked down and saw that it was a big “坚 (strong)” character. 

“What difficulty has Father encountered?” Mu Hanzhang carefully looked at the angles in the writing of the word and saw the struggle and confusion in the heart of the writer.

“What were you able to see?” Mu Jin saw him read the word he had written and looked up at him. 

Mu Hanzhang withdrew his gaze. “Father has always been decisive; this hesitation seems to be concern over a matter of great importance.”

Mu Jin put the brush into a container to wash it and sighed. “You’ve always been smart since childhood; you can see everything clearly. This time, it’s because Father was greedy.” 

“This son thought that when Father decided to marry his son to Cheng Wang, he had already made a decision.” Mu Hanzhang raised his hand and rolled up the writing before spreading out another blank sheet of paper. “The dispute over the crown prince’s position is a matter people will fight to their last breath over. How can one appease both sides?” Taking a brush from the brush holder, he dipped it in ink and gave it to his father with both hands.

Mu Jin looked at it for a while and took the brush in front of him. After a long time, he laughed and said, “Appease both sides? Well said!” He raised his brush, and this time wielded it without any hesitation: the “坚” character was written incomparably smoothly, all in one go. 

Animosity had developed between the households of the North Marquis and Duke Mao over the selection of the fourth prince’s Wang Fei. The Empress had used this matter to slap the North Marquis’s household hard in the face in order to satisfy Duke Mao’s household. Only then did Mu Jin understand why the Empress had named his second son when selecting the Cheng Wang Fei: she had already planned to abandon the North Marquis’s household, and he didn’t know how to deal with this.

“I intend to officially promote Qiu Yiniang to second rank concubine next month.” Mu Jin put away his brush and looked up at his second son. “Cheng Wang’s concubine is the first daughter of the Assistant Minister of War; you are the Wang Fei, you should have a higher birth status.” 

Mu Hanzhang was stunned; he hadn’t expected Mu Jin to actually take him into consideration this way. Even though he knew that the North Marquis was clearly expressing his standpoint with this method, he still couldn’t help but feel slightly moved. He bowed in respect, “Thanking Father for his empathy; this son will thank you in advance on Yiniang’s behalf.”

Xiao Hei ran too fast, and soon arrived at a pavilion thirty li south of the city. Jing Shao sat in the pavilion, extremely bored as he pulled up grass to feed Xiao Hei. It wasn’t until dusk that he saw a blue carriage approaching slowly from afar. 

Jing Shao immediately rode Xiao Hei out at a gallop and rushed in front of the carriage, frightening the driver. The guard in front of the carriage pulled out his sword with a “shua la” sound from his waist. “Who is… Wang Ye!”

Jing Shao waved his hand. “How come you only got here now?” 

“His Highness is injured, we dared not travel too quickly,” the imperial guard explained.

Jing Shao frowned; he jumped onto the carriage and quickly entered. When he saw the situation inside, he was immediately  full of anger. “Brother!” 

Jing Chen leaned against the wall of the carriage; his upper body was wrapped with white cloth. Seeing Jing Shao, he couldn’t help but frown. “I already said not to come and pick me up; why don’t you ever listen?!” Jing Chen said.