Ch92 - Trouble Brewing

After Mu Hanzhang was dismissed from court, he saw that Jing Shao was practising his sword vigorously in the east courtyard by himself, and Xiao Huang was nowhere to be seen. In the end, Xiao Huang was a tiger. Even though it had no backbone in front of them, it was very fierce to outsiders. Therefore, Mu Hanzhang always forbade it from playing outside the east court, to avoid hurting other people.

When Jing Shao saw that his Wang Fei had come back, he sheathed his sword and tilted his face up, waiting for him to help wipe his face full of sweat.

“Where’s Xiao Huang?” Mu Hanzhang took the cloth towel which Zhi Xi handed to him and resignedly wiped Jing Shao’s sweat for him.

“I don’t know.” Jing Shao closed his eyes comfortably. “It didn’t want to play with me. I guess it went to sleep somewhere.” 

Mu Hanzhang was a little worried, so he asked Yun Zhu to look for Xiao Huang.

They sat down on the divan under the veranda, and Miao Xi brought the sour plum tea that was meant for hot summer days.

“Why did you come back so late today?” Jing Shao drank a whole bowl of sour plum tea and sighed comfortably. His gaze wandered over the slender legs next to him. Drooling over them, he inched over bit by bit as he spoken. Taking advantage of when Mu Hanzhang wasn’t paying attention, he quickly lay down.

Mu Hanzhang had just put down the small bowl, when he saw that he now had a big head on his lap. Maybe it was because he was bored at home these days, but Jing Shao had become more and more sticky with him. Whenever he was free, Jing Shao would come up to kiss or stroke him. He helplessly rubbed the top of his head, then sat back so that he was more comfortable. “Imperial father kept me behind to talk in the imperial study for a while.”

Emperor Hong Zheng seemed to be very interested in overseas trade. A few days ago, Mu Hanzhang handed in a draft of regulations. After a long time, nothing happened. But today, he had been asked to go and discuss many of the details.

“In that case, imperial father must have read your regulations carefully.” Jing Shao looked up at the contour of his graceful chin.

“En. Perhaps imperial father has had this plan since a long time ago.” Mu Hanzhang carefully recalled Emperor Hong Zheng’s expression today; he seemed very interested in this. There were ports in Jiangnan where foreign ships docked. After a period of time, if they went to Jiangnan, perhaps they would be able to try this business first.

“Wang Fei, there’s a problem!” Yun Zhu ran over in a hurry. 

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They quickly followed Yun Zhu to the stable. The stablemaster was standing outside the stable with a sorrowful face, trembling with fear. 

“What’s the matter? Where’s the tiger?” Jing Shao asked him.

“It, it’s in Xiao Hei’s stall.” The stablemaster was about to cry. When he saw the tiger, he had been too scared to move, and had watched with wide eyes as it went into Xiao Hei’s personal stall.

Because Xiao Hei was the Wang Ye’s favorite horse, he had always been stabled alone. His stall was much more spacious than what the other horses had. The stall also had two delicate low walls, and the rope he was tied on was very long, ensuring that he could move freely in the whole stall.

Mu Hanzhang raised his feet to go to Xiao Hei’s stable, but Jing Shao was relieved when he heard the stablemaster’s words, and went in with his Wang Fei. 

The stable was very clean and the ground was covered with soft hay. There was fresh fodder in the trough, and a small bamboo pole had been set up in the water dispenser. A thin stream of water flowed in continuously, and the extra water was caught by a dip that was the outer layer, and the water was directly discharged outside the stable. The whole stable was very clean. It had to be cleaned several times a day, and there was no smell of horse dung at all.

Xiao Hei nestled on a haystack, overcome with boredom and swinging his tail. A half-grown fluffy tiger nestled next to Xiao Hei as it slept sprawled out on its back and hugged a horse hoof in its paws.

For a moment, everyone was silent.

Xiao Hei was very happy to see that his master had come, so he stood up, thinking that Jing Shao was going to take him out to play. 

Jing Shao was also somewhat speechless when he saw this scene. He had known that Xiao Hei was unusual. Not only did he avoid projectiles on his own, he also had no fear of ferocious beasts. No matter what happened on the battlefield, Jing Shao had never seen Xiao Hei frightened. After every meal where Xiao Huang was able to eat its fill, it naturally wouldn’t want to fight Xiao Hei, so Jing Shao didn’t worry at all. However, it was beyond his imagination that a horse and tiger could settle down to fall asleep together.

Xiao Huang’s pillow suddenly disappeared, and it got up in a daze. It unhappily shook his head, and then saw Mu Hanzhang, so it ran to him, running in circles and rubbing against him.

It happened to strike noon at that moment. Because it wasn’t easy to serve Xiao Hei’s stable, the horse caretakers took half-day shifts. The servants on duty in the afternoon came for the shift change. They discovered that there were many people at the stables today. They thought that something had happened to Xiao Hei, and rushed to take a look. When they understood what was going on, one man bravely said, “Don’t worry, Wang Ye. This tiger cub often comes to play with Xiao Hei in the stable. We’ve long become used to it.”

It actually turned out that Xiao Huang couldn’t find a suitable playmate in the palace, so it had once snuck out to the horse stables and jumped into the manger to play with Xiao Hei’s mane. However, Xiao Hei sprayed hot air on its face, and it was so scared it nearly fell off. Later, it discovered that Xiao Hei was the only living creature in the palace that wasn’t afraid of it, so in the afternoon, it often came to play with Xiao Hei. 

“Wawu!” When Xiao Huang saw that its master was ignoring it, it ran back to Xiao Hei to catch his tail that was waving back and forth. Xiao Hei was anxious to go out to play. He stomped his hooves and turned back to spray the little tiger’s face with a blast of warm air, blowing little bits of fur up on the top of its fluffy head.

Xiao Huang usually came to the stables in the afternoon. Today, it came in the morning, which agitated a lot of people. Mu Hanzhang looked at Jing Shao. It must be this guy who had bullied the tiger so much that he forced the little rascal to escape to the stables.

Jing Shao had a somewhat guilty conscience and looked away. “This isn’t my fault; I just got bored and teased him a bit.”

Mu Hanzhang sighed. He had been raised in the inner courts as a child. He could endure being stuck in the palace for ten days or even half a month. He could pass the time writing and reading, but Jing Shao was different. Making him stay in the palace all by himself likely made him feel wronged. “I’ve already told imperial father that this list of regulations needs to be outlined in thorough detail. Imperial father has already exempted me from other duties, so I’ll come home directly after court.” 

“Really?” When Jing Shao heard this, he was immediately happy. Because he wasn’t attending court at this time, Emperor Hong Zheng had Mu Hanzhang take over the affairs of the Ministry of War. The Wang Fei was a conscientious worker, so he often came back from the imperial court to have lunch and then went out again to the Ministry of War for the whole afternoon. Now, when Jing Shao slept in during the morning when Jun Qing went to court, Jing Shao would be able to see him as soon as he opened his eyes.

When Mu Hanzhang saw that he was happy, he also smiled. There was another reason why he didn’t want to meddle too much in court affairs. After the emperor discovered that the Huainan King had come to the capital without permission, there had been no reply to the decree reprimanding the Huainan King. The king wasn’t afraid of boiling water (being in a tough spot), which made Emperor Hong Zheng angry. The tone of the imperial letters became more and more severe, and it could be seen that he wasn’t far from ordering the withdrawal of the vassal territory.

As for Gu Huaiqing’s contact with Jing Shao in the capital before, Emperor Hong Zheng was still unable to let go of it. He discussed the matter with Jing Chen, and to avoid the limelight, sensitive places like the Ministry of War should be avoided as much as possible.

Of course, for Jing Shao, this was a wonderful thing. 

In the blink of an eye, it was the seventh month. The weather became hotter and hotter, and the situation in court became more and more tense. Jiangnan was extremely important to Jing Shao, and the fourth prince had been eyeing this “opportunity for meritorious service” for a long time. The decree for the withdrawal of the vassal territory had not yet been issued, and both sides had already fought over it a lot. As Jing Shao had not yet been released from house confinement, the situation seemed very favorable for the fourth prince.

At the same time, Consort Qiu was about to give birth.

“It’s said that the little Wang Ye of Rui Wang’s mansion is ill again. Have you visited?” Consort Qiu took the fresh fruit offered by her son and asked the question with some worry.

Mu Hanzhang was a man, and there were many etiquette rules in the imperial household. Consort Qiu had been worried that her son wouldn’t be able to handle it properly, and would offend his sister-in-law. 

“How does mother know this?” Mu Hanzhang frowned. It was taboo to gossip about a sick child who was not yet one full year in age. Given Rui Wang Fei’s temperament, she naturally wouldn’t want others to know about it. How could mother know these things when she had not set foot outside all this time?

“The third furen went to Jade Cloud Nunnery to offer incense, but great sage Mo Bei wasn’t there. She heard a little nun say that she had gone to Rui Wang’s palace again.” Consort Qiu sighed. It wasn’t easy to raise a child. It would be better if the child was in good health; it was always heartbreaking to have them constantly fall sick. But now, Rui Wang Fei was putting too much faith in the nun Mo Bei, which wasn’t a good thing.

That Mo Bei persuaded Rui Wang Fei to light 49 constantly burning altar lamps in Jade Cloud Nunnery. The cost for just the grass wicks of the altar lamps was 49 taels of silver a month. Every time the third furen returned from offering incense, she always clicked her tongue and sighed for a long time.

“The child is still young. I’m afraid I will get in the way if I go,” Mu Hanzhang pressed his lips together. “Besides, there are so many affairs in the imperial court, and Wang Ye has been forbidden to go out; it’s not good for me to visit Rui Wang’s palace.” 

A few days ago, that old nun determined that the one who was restraining Xiao Si was the bastard son who had been born a few days before him. Rui Wang Fei said that she would send the bastard to their villa to be raised. Jing Chen had been very angry when he found out about this, saying that she had become obsessed, but the concubine thought about it and then personally knelt in front of Rui Wang and said that she wished to take the child to the villa to be raised. They had now been at the villa for more than a month.

Consort Qiu listened and frowned. “Then perhaps you shouldn’t visit for the time being.” Now that the bastard son was gone and the fourth son had gotten a fever again, they didn’t know who would be blamed this time, so it was better not to go, in case it caused trouble.

Mu Hanzhang urged her not to worry about these things. He was very careful with his mother’s health. After all, since she was older, it was more dangerous for her to give birth. Thus, he paid a lot of money to hire a famous midwife to live in the North Marquis’s residence. Imperial Physician Jiang’s pulse examinations were changed from every seven days to every three days, to prevent any unexpected mishaps.

The women of the North Marquis’s residence were all speechless, and lamented that having a son who was a Marquis was different. Even when the official wife of the North Marquis had been pregnant, she had never been taken care of so carefully. 

In the middle of July, the imperial court and the Huainan King finally shed all pretense of cordiality, and Emperor Hong Zheng put forth an imperial decree to withdraw the vassal territory. Gu Huaiqing directly blocked the emissary who held the imperial edict outside the city gate. When the emissary finished reading the imperial edict outside the city gate, the Huainan King immediately announced his defiance of the imperial edict. He scared the emissary so much that the latter immediately turned his horse around and ran away.

Emperor Hong Zheng was furious and decided to send troops to attack Huainan.