Ch78 - Fighting Fire with Fire

The North Marquis made everything clear, then left and went to his secondary wife, Consort Qiu. Today, he heard that Consort Qiu was pregnant, but he still hadn’t gone to see her. This was a child that had come in his older age; if the child could be born safely, he could show off in front of the Marquis of Dingnan and that group of people. Thinking this, Mu Jin’s originally heavy mood suddenly became better. 

The North Marchioness sat in her room all night, thinking everything through.

First, Mu Hanzhang was extremely favored by Cheng Wang, and he had also made military contributions. The emperor promised to confer the title of marquis on him.

Secondly, if Mu Hanzhang had a marquis title, he wouldn’t inherit the family title even if Mu Lingbao died.

However, with the Countess of Yongchang making such a ruckus, if the emperor didn’t confer on Mu Hanzhang a separate title, and in addition heard about the North Marquis’s heir being crippled, he might give the title of North Marquis directly to Mu Hanzhang; everything of hers would then be gone. 

Thus, the most urgent task was to make sure that Mu Hanzhang had a title so that he wouldn’t come to take her grandson’s place. That little bastard, he was really cheap!

After making up her mind, the North Marchioness lay down and rested for a few hours. The next morning, she got up and dressed properly, then took her palace pass to enter the palace.

The morning court session was very long today, because the emperor wanted to call the eldest prince back so that he wouldn’t disgrace himself in front of the southern barbarians. The officials in Jing Yu’s faction all agreed. The Cheng Wang was back, but the eldest prince was still toiling away in the Yunnan-Tibet region; all the efforts he put in had not yet yielded any fruit, nor had he demonstrated any military leadership. If he hurried back, the fourth prince would also have a helping hand.

“The Yunnan-Tibet terrain is complex. The eldest prince has never led an army before. It’s normal to need to take more time.” Minister of War Sun came forth, and with these words, implied that the eldest prince, who had never fought a war, wouldn’t be able to win in half a year. There was probably no one in a hundred years who could defeat two vassals in four months like Cheng Wang. This sounded like an excuse for the eldest prince, but was in fact a compliment to Jing Shao.

“Yes, Your Highness, temporary success will not end the chaos. Giving the prince more time may be effective,” another official echoed.

Jing Shao knew that these were all his brother’s people. Their purpose was to prevent the eldest prince from coming back to court. Jing Rong and Jing Yu, these two, would obviously choose to do things with more benefits. If they couldn’t accomplish anything, they would just give up and leave it. This wasn’t good. If the eldest prince came back to court, the hard work of pacifying the southern barbarians would fall on Jing Shao.

“Jing Shao, what do you think?” Emperor Hong Zheng looked down at the silent Jing Shao and asked him about the war; it had now already become customary for him to ask Jing Shao for his opinion.

“One cannot win a war overnight. The southern barbarians are cunning, and the strategic layout of the Yunnan-Tibet terrain makes it easy to defend. It will take a long time to figure out the correct actions to take,” Jing Shao said, bowing. “Erchen feels that Eldest Imperial Brother is doing his best. It currently is too short a period of time to see any effects. It’s better to give him some more time.” 

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Jing Shao pondered his words and said, “Erchen was really lucky when fighting the two vassals this time. Elder Imperial Brother has General Dong on the campaign with him; even if Erchen goes, I still wouldn’t be able to do better.”

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As a result, the eldest prince’s return was delayed once again. The fourth prince’s expression wasn’t good. Jing Chen was still as calm and reserved as a mountain. After exchanging looks with Jing Shao, he went to the imperial study with several marquis titles proposed by the Ministry of Rites. 

Jing Shao left morning court, and when he reached the side gate, he just happened to run into the imperial bodyguard commander Xiao Qian.

“Wang Ye, there’s news.” Xiao Qian pulled Jing Shao to hide in a small passageway.

Jing Shao gave him a little gold tortoise. “What is it?”

“Haha, the North Marchioness entered the palace early in the morning,” Xiao Qian said in a low voice, putting the golden turtle into his clothes. “That madam is really powerful. I asked the little eunuch of Yongning Palace to inquire into it. The Countess of Yongchang was almost infuriated to death.” 

It turned out that after breakfast, the Countess of Yongchang cried and complained tearfully in Yongning Palace again. She repeatedly said that the Count of Yongchang  had been loyal and good for generations, but now he had been bullied and humiliated by others. He had followed the great ancestor to conquer the empire, risking limb and life, but now a little boy who had just gotten married wanted to be a marquis. How could the nobles allow this!

But then the North Marchioness went, and without saying a word, also began to cry and lament. She cried even more sorrowfully than the Countess of Yongchang, saying that the son of Duke Mao had pushed the heir of the North Marquis into the water on the coldest day of the year. Even now he was still ill. One of her two nephews was bedridden and the other’s feet had frozen useless. The North Marquis’s household had been loyal and good for generations, but his title was a little lower, so he was bullied by the others. In those days, he followed the great ancestor to conquer the empire, through flame and flood, but now his family line might almost be killed off.

The Countess of Yongchang was stupefied by what the North Marchioness said. She somehow felt that what she said sounded so familiar. However, Duke Mao sided with her family now. Naturally, she had to say something on their behalf, and asked her why she thought it was the doing of Duke Mao’s household.

The North Marchioness ignored her and just continued to cry and lament. She said that the empress had promised her daughter a good marriage. She was about to become an old woman, and the marriage had not yet been settled. Then she talked about how the grandson of the Count of Yongchang had stolen and ruined her herbal medicine plants last time, when it had taken her three years to personally cultivate it in order to cure her mother-in-law. Now, the herbal medicine was destroyed and her mother-in-law’s body was getting worse day by day, but the Count of Yongchang’s household didn’t even issue an apology. 

After hearing this, the Countess of Yongchang almost began to hyperventilate. Her grandson cut off a few honeysuckle flower branches at the North Marquis’s manor last time. Could it be possible that the North Marquis’s household even lacked the few coins that inflammation medicine cost?

Jing Shao listened, and couldn’t help laughing with a hand over his mouth.

Xiao Qian couldn’t help but enjoy himself as he narrated what happened. “Yongning Palace is very busy today. Several ladies who went to ask for help also saw this scene and all left in a hurry with smiles.”

“What did the empress dowager say?” Jing Shao thought that the North Marchioness was truly powerful. All kinds of past grievances were pinned on those two families. Duke Mao’s son and Mu Lingbao did have bad encounters previously. In the summer, he even saw them fight in Hui Wei Restaurant, but Mu Lingbao falling into the water had nothing to do with Duke Mao’s family. 

“The empress dowager was so annoyed by the quarrel that she drove the two ladies out of the palace in a fury. She said she wasn’t going to deal with these things anymore,” Xiao Qian said with a smile. After this ruckus, the two ladies were infamous in the capital gossip now.

Jing Shao laughed and thanked Xiao Qian for his help. He galloped home on Xiao Hei. He wanted to hurry and tell his Wang Fei about it.

“Wang Ye!” Minister Sun, sitting in a sedan chair, saw Jing Shao riding away from the window and quickly called out.

“Neigh~” Xiao Hei immediately reared up and stopped, moving two to three steps back. 

“What’s the matter?” Jing Shao frowned. He was anxious to go back and have breakfast with his Wang Fei. Jun Qing said that he would make fried vegetable balls for him today!

“There are some things in the Ministry of War that must be decided by Wang Ye today. You must go there,” Minister Sun had no choice but to say. In the past, if he wanted to skip work every few days, then whatever, but now that he had returned from the expedition, he had not been to the Ministry of War even once.

“All right.” Jing Shao waved his hand. Today, his brother had already told him that he was going to find a reason to pull that bastard, Song An, down. He guessed that Minister Sun was going to discuss this matter with him.

“Jun Qing, I’m back!” As soon as Jing Shao entered the east court, he began to shout excitedly. 

Mu Hanzhang quickly spread the medicine on his hand and turned to welcome him.

“Where are the fried vegetable balls?” Jing Shao joyfully embraced his Wang Fei, whose body smelled faintly of fragrant, delicious food. He couldn’t help sniffing his fair neck.

Mu Hanzhang was tickled and gently pushed him away. He pointed to the plate on the table.

A few exquisite dishes were all served on white porcelain plates. In the center, there was only a wooden plate that was full of golden yellow fried vegetable balls. Beside it was a small celadon bowl with a garlic sauce mixture. 

Jing Shao hadn’t even sat down before he rushed to pick one up with his chopsticks, dip it in the sauce and eat it in one bite. It was so crispy and delicious that he couldn’t help but want to eat more, so he ate another one and said with a full mouth, “Jun Qing, you’re too powerful; you’ve never cooked before, yet you’re still able to make something so delicious!”

Mu Hanzhang helplessly pulled him to sit down and ladled a bowl of porridge for him. In the morning, Jing Shao had refused to get up and wanted to instead skip work to be intimate with him. Helpless, Mu Hanzhang had only been able to coax him out the door in the end by saying that he would make fried vegetable balls for him.

“This doesn’t count as something I made. The cook did everything else; I just squeezed them into balls and fried them.” Mu Hanzhang put his left hand on his leg and ate with just his right hand.

“That’s already amazing!” Jing Shao picked up a vegetable ball to feed the person next to him. 

Mu Hanzhang couldn’t refuse, so he opened his mouth and bit off half of it. Before he could eat the other half, the chopsticks had turned and the rest went into Jing Shao’s mouth. Seeing that he ate like this so naturally, Mu Hanzhang couldn’t say anything, and just pressed his lips together to drink the porridge slowly.

Jing Shao put some dishes into his Wang Fei’s bowl, somehow feeling that something was wrong. It was only after eating the last vegetable ball that he realized that Jun Qing’s left hand had been under the table this whole time! Because his etiquette had always been impeccable, his motions were still as elegant and smooth even without his other hand, until Jing Shao realized the discrepancy. Not waiting to say something first, he grabbed the hand under the table.

“Ssss…” Mu Hanzhang sucked in a breath of cold air. It was too late to break free. On his elegant little finger, two uncovered, translucent blisters appeared in front of Jing Shao.

“Jun Qing…” Jing Shao frowned and felt very distressed. The joy from eating the vegetable balls Jun Qing made immediately disappeared. 

“It’s all right, it’ll be fine in two days.” Mu Hanzhang sighed. A nobleman stayed clear of the kitchen; he had never been in the kitchen since he was a child. It seemed very simple, watching the cook do it, but when he did it himself, he was very clumsy.

“You’re not allowed to go into the kitchen again.” Jing Shao had the servants get some crushed ice, which he wrapped in a silk cloth and carefully applied to the blister.

The cold touch eased the scorching pain. Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao carefully applying the medicine and then gently blowing on the wound. Such a serious expression perhaps only appeared when he was studying army formation diagrams. He slowly smiled and only felt warmth in his heart; this was worth scalding his finger and getting two blisters for.

“Don’t go out these two days. If your finger is frozen, it’ll leave scars.” Jing Shao held the jade-like hand and was deeply distressed. 

“An imperial edict has arrived!” The two were just talking, when there was a notice outside the door, and they looked at each other. Mu Hanzhang had Duofu receive the eunuch, and he pulled Jing Shao to their room to quickly change clothes before they went to the front courtyard to listen to the imperial edict.

“Cheng Wang Fei Mu Hanzhang to receive the edict!” The eunuch issuing the decree glanced at the Cheng Wang husband and husband pair kneeling on the ground before he unfolded the bright yellow scroll embroidered with multicolored dragons.