Ch44 - Bare to the Waist

Jing Shao waited for a long while, but Jun Qing didn’t speak. He just lowered his gaze and remained quiet. This moment of silence unexpectedly calmed Jing Shao down, and he then realized that the words he had just said were very aggressive. 

“I didn’t say that you just have to swallow your anger,” Mu Hanzhang said quietly, his hands clasped tightly as they rested on his knees. The goose feather fan had also fallen to one side unnoticed. “It’s still necessary to wait on this matter… En?

Jing Shao looked at his appearance and his heart immediately began to hurt incessantly. He walked forward and held the hands that were so tightly clasped that the knuckles had turned white. Seeing Mu Hanzhang raise his head doubtfully,Jing Shao reached out to touch his face. “I’m not angry with you.” How could he have forgotten how sensitive his Jun Qing was? 

“Jun Qing…” Jing Shao crouched down and looked up at him.

Mu Hanzhang looked down at Jing Shao, whose eyes were full of heartache. His slightly bitter heart suddenly turned sweet and sour. His lips couldn’t help but curl up, and he slowly leaned forward to kiss those beautiful eyes. “You are my husband, and you should be angry with me, but since you don’t think you should, then if you do it again later, I’ll punish you.”

“Okay.” Jing Shao received a kiss of Mu Hanzhang’s own volition, and immediately he was over the moon. He agreed with whatever his Wang Fei said.

“What is a good punishment then?” Mu Hanzhang squinted his beautiful eyes. “Punish you to sleep in the study for three days, how about that?” 

“How can that be?” Jing Shao turned unwilling right away. He put his head on his Wang Fei’s lap, hugged his strong and narrow waist, and swayed him a little. “When other husbands and wives quarrel with each other, they quarrel from the top to the end of the bed. Do you know why?”

“Why?” Mu Hanzhang’s lips curved  and he let himself be hugged and swayed. 

“Because they roll from the top of the bed to the end, performing the matters of cloud and rain. If they enjoy themselves fully, they will reconcile,” Jing Shao said with a thick skin.

“Saying nonsense again!” Mu Hanzhang’s fair and handsome face turned red, and he pushed at Jing Shao. “Let’s talk about proper matters. You won’t be able to deal with the matter today yourself in a satisfactory manner. Besides, the military campaign is near at hand, and you won’t have enough energy to handle everything. So, it’s best to hand this over to Rui Wang.” The second prince had been conferred the title in a ceremony a few days ago, and should now be called Rui Wang. 

“Brother?” Jingshao picked himself up, his gaze hooded as he pondered deeply. He really didn’t have the patience to meddle with the twists and turns in court politics. This matter involved the Ministry of Revenue. If he went to find his Imperial Father, at most, only the people who had a direct hand in it would be dealt with. However, his brother had a wide network of contacts in court. If Jing Shao asked him to handle it, perhaps more would be uncovered.

“We’re just observing for now, but naturally we should take this opportunity to gain some benefits.” Mu Hanzhang’s lips curled up. He picked up the goose feather fan from the ground and fanned Jing Shao. The weather in the seventh month was still sizzling hot. Because Jing Shao had been tossing back and forth for a while, he had already begun to sweat all over. 

“You’re right. I’ll leave for my brother’s residence in a moment.” Jing Shao felt comfortable being fanned, so he leaned forward to rest his upper body on Mu Hanzhang’s lap again.

“Kjxf atfrf jmmbeca ybbxr jcv atf bcfr P mbqlfv klat sbe. Po atfgf jgf jcs batfg fsfrbgfr lc mbega, afii ygbatfg jr kfii.” Ze Ljchtjcu atbeuta jybea la, atfc olclrtfv klat jcbatfg rfcafcmf. “Efwfwyfg ab tlvf la ogbw tlr jvnlrbgr.” 

“Llr jvnlrbgr?” Alcu Vtjb ibbxfv eq. Lf xcfk jii atf nlrlabgr ab Eel Qjcu’r qjijmf. Ktfs kfgf jikjsr nfgs qbilaf ktfcfnfg atfs wfa. Zbgfbnfg, wjcs vlrtbcbgjyif ragjafulfr tjv yffc atf ygjlcmtliv bo atfrf jvnlrbgr; atfs tjv ageis tfiqfv atf akb ygbatfgr j iba. Qts tlvf la ogbw atfw?

Mu Hanzhang pursed his lips, remembering the hostility he had seen from the people in the second prince’s mansion, who hadn’t been able to conceal it quickly enough. “If brother is the one to unify the country, these people must be removed, or they will be harmful to you.” 

Jing Shao frowned and understood his Wang Fei’s meaning. Those who thought hard would think of the worst possible outcome in everything; those individuals had long advised his elder brother to guard against him.

It was fortunate that he hadn’t impulsively rushed over to look for his father. Jing Shao stood up and hugged the man in the chair to his chest. In his last life, he had promised that if they survived, he would listen to whatever Mu Hanzhang said. Even if the Jun Qing now didn’t know about it, Jing Shao would still fulfill this promise. It was also for his own good. After all, he still wasn’t good at these political schemes and fights, even if he was reborn. 

Taking four people with him was too conspicuous, so Jing Shao rode out on Xiao Hei and rushed to the capital alone.

Mu Hanzhang looked at the figure vanishing into the dust and told himself that he should try to believe him more. Turning around, he went back to the prince’s tent and looked for the military order which had been signed that day. The matter today was not over yet! 

“Teacher Jun!” The left and right protectorate generals had just been discussing the matter with General Zhao, who had bathed and changed clothes. The right protectorate general was radiant with delight, planning to eat meat for every meal in the future. They turned around and saw Mu Hanzhang standing outside the tent. They stopped talking and respectfully called him Teacher.

Because of the blistering hot weather, the tent’s curtain entrance was open and these old men weren’t afraid of being seen. The people inside noticed Mu Hanzhang when he came to the entrance. 

When Zhao Meng saw Mu Hanzhang come in, he got up somewhat uneasily. “Military advisor, what’s the matter?”

Mu Hanzhang walked in slowly and took out the agreement from his sleeve. “Do you remember this, general?” 

When the three men saw the military order, their expressions suddenly changed. At that time, Zhao Meng had said that the loser would be guilty of the same crime and would suffer the same punishment as those people. Although those people weren’t killed, they suffered twenty strikes from the military rod because they had been negligent in their duties. The three men now realized that when the military advisor had specially stressed in the center tent that the people still had to be punished even though they were excused from the death penalty, this also extended to the military order.

“I, Old Zhao, always keep my promises; if you’re willing to gamble, you must be willing to admit defeat!” Zhao Meng spoke as he took off his armor, prepared to endure the military rod. 

The right protectorate general quickly tried to help him out of trouble and said, “Military advisor, General Zhao was only being impulsive. Don’t bother with him.” The army was about to march soon. If the general suffered the military rod, it would delay the journey. With Zhao Meng’s temperament, he would certainly stubbornly demand to hurry to the northwest on horseback, but then he wouldn’t be able to fight at all.

Mu Hanzhang looked at the right protectorate general and said with a cold smile, “Let me ask the protectorate general: if I had lost today, would this military order still just be an impulsive decision?” 

When the right protectorate general heard these words, he was immediately at a loss. Given Zhao Meng’s unforgiving nature, he definitely wouldn’t leave the matter at that if the military advisor had failed to uncover the real culprits, even if the latter had the Wang Ye’s protection. It truly was disgraceful for a group of generals to bully a weak scholar so much.

“You don’t have to say anymore. I,  Zhao Meng, am of indomitable spirit, and absolutely won’t go back on my word!” General Zhao pushed aside the right protectorate general and patted himself on the chest. 

“Good!” Mu Hanzhang handed the military order to Zhao Meng. “The general is really a hero. What does the military order say? The general will do whatever is written?”

“Naturally.” Zhao Meng tugged the paper over and looked down. “Even if it’s my Old Zhao’s head…” 

His voice stopped abruptly. Zhao Meng stared at the words on the paper. The right protectorate general was curious. He also drew closer for a look. The words were clearly written in black and white: If the military advisor failed to uncover the truth, he would be convicted of the same crime as the criminals. If he was successful, Zhao Meng would take off the top half of his clothes and run one round around the whole camp… 

“This…” The right protectorate general was stupefied. For Zhao Meng, who was always training vigorously, this didn’t count as much of a punishment, and was more like a joke. But the punishment for the military advisor wasn’t the least bit ambiguous. 

Zhao Meng was stunned for a long moment. Suddenly, he knelt down and cupped his fists. “Teacher Jun is a truly noble person. Please accept Zhao Meng’s respects!”

“General, you must not!” Mu Hanzhang hurriedly stopped him. “Jun Qing is just a military advisor, and not worthy of the general paying your respects. Everyone is working to serve Wang Ye; I just hope that we will get along well with each other. “ 

“With Teacher’s talent, you can become an advisor general!” Zhao Meng said,still kneeling in salute. He then got up and took off his outer clothes. Baring his upper body was nothing to him. He then voluntarily took off his pants, leaving only his underwear on, then ran out barefoot.

On this day, all the soldiers in the army saw the general in indecent clothing – no, in extremely indecent clothing – as he ran one round around the camp. The people in charge of the fire stopped adding firewood, those carrying food dropped the basket of steamed buns, those training with their blades cut themselves, and those fighting with their fists forgot their moves. One by one, they were dumbstruck to see the general in a pair of underpants solemnly hurtling by. 

—

Jing Chen listened to Jing Shao’s story from beginning to end and muttered to himself for a long time. “Do you know who is going to check the accounts this time?” 

“Who?” Jing Shao didn’t understand the factions inside the Ministry of Revenue.

“Xiao Yuan!” Jing Chen flipped open the list of staff in the Ministry of Revenue and pointed to the name of the Assistant Minister of Revenue. 

Xiao Yuan was friends with Jing Shao. Most people in court knew this, and now that he was being sent to the camp, it naturally made those people panic.

“So, it’s a good thing.” Jing Shao thought of the Minister of Revenue who had accused him in his previous life, and then brought up his thoughts. “We might as well take the opportunity to pull down the Minister of Revenue.” 

“The Minister of Revenue has followed Imperial Father since his early years. It will not be easy to remove him.” Jing Chen frowned. “But since this matter has happened, he can’t shed the responsibility. Let me think about it.”

Jing Shao nodded. Xiao Yuan was a reliable person and a kindred spirit. In his last life, Xiao Yuan had never been promoted, not only because he was content where he was, but also because of the fact that his boss had remained in office. Now, before anything happened, Jing Shao would pull out all the venomous fangs of all those who had ever harmed him! 

Before leaving, Jing Shao suddenly turned around, hesitated for a moment, and finally said, “Brother, it seems that your advisors don’t like to see me.”

“They’re people who always think of the worst possible outcome; naturally, they think of everyone as bad.” Jing Chen was stunned. When had his younger brother become so astute that he could see through those deeply scheming minds? Actually, perhaps it was something that Jing Shao had learned on the battlefield. He was more sensitive to malice than ordinary people. Jing Chen reached out, rubbed Jing Shao’s head, and said softly, “Don’t pay attention to them. Once the change in rule is successful, none of these people will be kept.” 

These advisors and visiting courtiers were only good at shameful strategies. They were essential before ascending the throne, but after that, one couldn’t use these people full of schemes to govern the lands. Thus, these aides and advisors could only be “mu liao ” for their entire lives. They couldn’t be big officials, since they only knew so much. In any case, Jing Chen wouldn’t be keeping them.

Jing Shao heard these words and nodded; he could explain it to his Wang Fei when he got back. 

When Jing Shao returned to the camp, the moon had already risen in the East. The mountains around him were desolate and lonely, and only the torches in the camp were blazing brightly. He ran first to the prince’s tent to see his Wang Fei, but found it all dark and no one inside.

“And the military advisor?” Jing Shao asked the guard outside the entrance of the camp. 

“Responding to Wang Ye, the military advisor is drinking with the generals in the center tent,” the guard replied honestly.

“Drinking!” Jing Shao’s eyes widened. It was hard to imagine Jun Qing and those people playing the finger-guessing game, bare to the waist and arms around each other’s shoulders. He threw away the guard and turned to run to the center tent.