The Wife is First

Ch38 - Punishment by Kneeling

There were limestone slabs in front of the Empress’s Fengyi Palace, and it was an empty place completely free of any vegetation. The white marble stone steps gave off an imposing air; at this quiet time of day, just after noon, people walking up the steps would feel a deep sense of oppression. 

Mu Hanzhang followed the eunuch to the front of the main hall. Maybe it was because of the hot weather that the Empress had placed a phoenix couch on the veranda instead of staying in the hall. Two maids holding peacock fans with long handles slowly fanned the Empress from behind the couch. She was dressed in a magnificent robe with phoenixes outlined in gold. Sitting upright on the phoenix couch, she watched Mu Hanzhang come up the jade steps one by one.

“Weichen greets Mother Empress, and wishes Mother Empress a thousand years of life!” Mu Hanzhang calmly walked to below the veranda and knelt down to give his salutations. 

The Empress picked up her tea cup, took a sip, then gracefully picked up her handkerchief to dab the corners of her mouth. Then, neither too quickly nor slowly, she said, “Get up; quickly come and sit down. You are the treasure of Cheng Wang’s heart. If you’re injured from kneeling for too long, Bengong won’t be able to compensate for it.”

Mu Hanzhang’s gaze was restrained, as if he couldn’t hear the irony in the Empress’s words. He thanked her politely and sat on a square stool which the palace maid brought over.

The way the Cheng Wang Fei acted was completely unlike what the Empress had expected. He wasn’t anxious or flustered. When told to sit, he sat, his conduct and etiquette impeccable. The reprimand she had been prepared to unleash upon him was forcibly choked down.

When Jing Shao entered the southern imperial study room, the young princes had just woken up from their afternoon nap, but had yet to start their afternoon lessons. Currently, they were quietly reviewing their lessons and waiting for their teacher to arrive. Because the weather was getting hotter, Emperor Hong Zheng had excused the princes from their afternoon martial arts class and replaced it with a literature class. 

Standing outside the study, Jing Shao looked at these children, who weren’t even ten years old yet, reading the books in their hands with serious expressions. Jing Shao remembered when he had been in the southern study as a child. At that time, his Mother Empress had still been here, and every day at this time, she would send people in with fresh melons and fruits, not only for him and his elder brother, but also his eldest brother and Jing Yu. Jing Yu always thought that the fruit someone else had was better than his. Because he was young, he often wanted to switch with his brothers. If his brothers didn’t want to bicker with him, they would do the exchange, but Jing Shao himself hadn’t liked it. If Jing Yu went too far, he would beat him up with his fists.

Later, after the new Empress ascended, there were no longer any fruits or melons to eat in the afternoon. After that, no new princes were born in the palace for a long time. When the eldest prince left the palace to build his own residence, it was only the three of them left in the study. Every day, Jing Yu would be sent special pastries and fruits and melons, but there was only one portion… 

“Third brother!” Jing Shao’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a milky voice. He lowered his head and saw a little fatty, who only reached his thigh, pulling at his clothes. It was Jing Yi, the seventh prince.

Jing Shao reached down and rubbed his head. He called, “Jing Yi.” The little fatty immediately smiled until his eyes couldn’t be seen. “Third brother, you can still recognize me!” 

“It’s not like I haven’t seen you for years. How could I not recognize you?” Jing Shao didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and picked him up. “Brat, did you get fatter again?” Jing Shao remembered Jing Yi better because the boy was still rather chubby even after growing up a bit. He didn’t see his other younger brothers often, so if some other brother had pulled at him, he could only try to calculate their rank based on their age.

“Third brother…” Several of the others in the room turned their heads one after another when they heard the noise, and they all stood up. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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“Third brother, do all the Xiongnu have big beards?”

“Third brother, are there packs of wolves in the desert?” 

“Third brother…”

When Emperor Hong Zheng entered, he saw Jing Shao surrounded by several of his imperial younger brothers, a rare expression of helplessness on his face. The Emperor’s own face couldn’t help but relax slightly. 

—

“Replying to Mother Empress, whether or not Wang Ye accepts concubines is his decision to make. Chen has no say in this.” Mu Hanzhang bowed his head politely. He only answered the Empress’s increasingly cutting words with a mild tone, not saying a single unnecessary thing. 

“You are older than Wang Ye, are you not able to advise him? You can see for yourself that he’s about to go to war, and he still doesn’t have a son or even a daughter. Doesn’t this mean that such a high-ranking prince has no successor to inherit his title? In any case, are you not a successful candidate in the provincial imperial examination? How come you don’t understand this kind of thing?” The Empress swirled the tea leaves in her cup. For Jing Shao to say that he only liked men – did that mean that all of the concubines in Cheng Wang’s residence before were just decoration? The Emperor had said in the imperial study today that he would have Jing Shao accept her niece as a second wife, but Jing Shao claimed that he didn’t like women – this was clearly a blatant slap to her face!

What was this “just in case” attitude? What was this about having no heir? Don’t say this on the eve of departure! This was the most taboo topic before going to war! Mu Hanzhang had been holding himself back until now, but his hands slowly balled into fists in his sleeves when he heard this. “The prince is not exempt from the rules of succession. Even if he has a son from a second wife, he can only inherit the title of a general…” 

The Empress slammed her cup down on the small table. “What are you trying to say? Are you blaming Bengong, blaming his Majesty?” Hearing this, all the maids around them knelt one after another.

“Chen does not dare.” Mu Hanzhang quickly got up and knelt on the ground. 

“You’re still saying that you ‘don’t dare’? As a Wang Fei of the imperial family, you push away concubines and selfishly covet the prince’s favor for yourself; now, you won’t even let the prince have heirs. You truly are presumptuous!” The Empress’s words were aggressive, each of them a stab to the heart. Mu Hanzhang remained silent; in this situation, the Empress’s rage clearly stemmed from humiliation. The more he said, the more fault she would try to find with him.

After that, the Empress took a handkerchief from a palace maid and wiped away the tea that had splashed on her hands. She shot the kneeling Mu Hanzhang a glance and sighed softly. “Bengong doesn’t want to make things difficult for you, but since you’ve married into the imperial family, you must consider the good of the imperial family. Here, go and kneel on the Jade Terrace. When you’ve pondered and understood, then you may get up.” 

Hearing these words, Mu Hanzhang couldn’t help but laugh bitterly to himself. Ponder until he understood? The Empress hadn’t even told him what to reflect on. Why did she want him to “ponder until he understood”?

The Jade Terrace was the flat ground above the jade steps in front of the palace. The white marble had been exposed to the scorching sun for several hours, and had long become as hot as burning coals. Mu Hanzhang gracefully and easily lifted the hem of his robe and knelt in the center of a stone slab. It was an afternoon in the middle of summer, when the sun was at its strongest. The heat beating down on bare flesh would start to hurt very quickly. 

The Empress had all the palace servants get up. She then picked up another cup of newly steeped tea and drank it leisurely, leaving the Wang Fei alone to kneel and receive his punishment. She wanted to see this “love stronger than gold” which the Cheng Wang and Cheng Wang Fei shared.

Miao Xi stood behind a row of palace maids, worried but unable to find an opportunity to leave. 

Sweat trickled down the contours of Mu Hanzhang’s handsome face to his elegant chin and dripped onto his purple court clothes. He lowered his eyes and inconspicuously drew his hands back into his sleeves. The sun was in the south and only his back was exposed to it, so he was unlikely to go as far as to get a sunburn; how cruel, though, that the court uniforms had more than one layer, and they were already soaked through with sweat. The heat radiating off the scalding stone slabs seeped into his body little by little.

Mu Hanzhang pondered the purpose of the Empress’s little ploy today so as to distract himself and reduce his body’s sense of pain. Today, Jing Shao had directly refused to get a second wife. The Emperor hadn’t forced him into anything, and the Empress felt that she had lost face. With this act, she wanted to make it clear to others that, in the imperial harem and inner court, she had the final say. It was also a way of lashing back at Jing Shao for speaking nonsense. 

After the Empress drank her second cup of tea, she couldn’t help but get up to go to the bathroom.

Sweat clung to Mu Hanzhang’s long and delicate eyelashes, and the scene in front of him suddenly distorted in colorful waves. Despite his suffering, he happily realized that perhaps the Empress just wanted to take revenge, and didn’t know how to wrap up this situation herself. What a pity he was a man; he wasn’t like those imperial concubines who were weak and short of vitality. He reckoned that even if he knelt under the sun until it went down, the Empress would still be dissatisfied with the outcome. Perhaps he should pretend to faint, and help her find a way out of this situation? 

Miao Xi seized the opportunity to leave with the maid who went to change out the tea in the water room and retreated. Turning to the corridor, Miao Xi quickly ducked to one side. She waited until no one was paying attention before running out quickly. She had walked the halls of the palace since she was a child and knew it like the back of her hand. However, the path to the southern study room seemed endless today. Miao Xi was so anxious and her brow beaded with sweat, but she didn’t dare run too fast, for fear of looking suspicious to the guards. A man always so modest and gentle as jade, whom Wang Ye couldn’t bear to say even a single harsh word to – now that man was being forced to kneel on a stone slab under the scorching sun; when Wang Ye found out, wouldn’t his heart hurt to death?

“Er Chen has always wholeheartedly wanted to help Imperial Father maintain peace in the whole country. As for giving you heirs and grandsons, I have my two imperial brothers, not to mention fourth imperial brother who is going to be officially married next month.” Jing Shao saw that his Imperial Father was in a good mood today. Recalling that Jun Qing was still at Fengyi Palace, he put on an honest and sincere face. “Er Chen and Wang Fei haven’t even been married for four months, but now Er Chen truly loves him very much. Er Chen honestly does not want to accept any new wives.” 

“Hahaha…” A third son, who only knew how to wholeheartedly lead soldiers into battle, had now unexpectedly tasted passionate love. Emperor Hong Zheng could not help laughing freely when he heard this.

“Wang Ye! Wang Ye!” Miao Xi stumbled in and was stopped by the guard in front of the study door. 

Jing Shao and Emperor Hong Zheng both turned to look.

“Miao Xi!” When Jing Shao saw her expression, he knew something had happened to Jun Qing, and his face suddenly changed. 

“What happened?” Emperor Hong Zheng frowned and motioned for the imperial guard to let her in.

“This maidservant kowtows to the Emperor!” When Miao Xi saw Emperor Hong Zheng, she plopped down on her knees and kowtowed, then cried, “Begging Emperor to help Wang Fei! Wang Fei has been punished to kneel in front of Fengyi Palace. He has already knelt under the hot sun for two hours!” 

“Empress, that maid from Cheng Wang’s residence is gone,” Duo Lu whispered in the Empress’s ear after looking around. “This servant also just heard that Cheng Wang has entered the palace, and is in the southern study.”

The Empress sneered. “Let her go – Bengong wants to see just how capable this Cheng Wang is!” 

Mu Hanzhang was kneeling not far away, and naturally could clearly hear her words. He couldn’t help but worry: if Jing Shao recklessly intruded into Fengyi Palace, that would be a great crime!

“These servants greet the Emperor and wish the Emperor ten thousand years of life!” All of a sudden, the imperial guards and maids under the jade steps all knelt down and shouted, “Long live the Emperor.” 

When the Empress heard this, her hand shook and the green jade tea cup suddenly fell to the ground with a sharp and clear sound.

“Jun Qing!” Jing Shao excused himself to his father and rushed up the jade steps in a few strides. 

Face lowered all this time, Mu Hanzhang’s lips gently curled up in a cold smile when he heard the noise. Since the Emperor had come, as the saying went: Either don’t start anything, or see it all the way through – he might as well blow up the situation. Thus, he lifted his head weakly and glanced at Jing Shao who was approaching him. He called out softly in a hoarse voice, “Wang Ye…” Then, he closed both eyes and began to fall backwards!