The Wife is First

Ch72 - News

“The heir was healthy before; why is he suddenly so seriously ill?” Mu Hanzhang tucked the quilt around his mother. 

Consort Qiu looked around before she whispered, “On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the heir went out to drink with Hua Feng and Yang Wen, but they somehow fell into the river.”

Mu Hanzhang frowned when he heard these words. That was 27 days after the Winter Solstice, and one of the coldest days of the year. If they fell into the river on such a day, they would definitely suffer more than just a chill. But why would these three men go to the river on such a cold day?

“The three madams cried until they fainted. Hua Feng’s feet have frozen beyond recovery, and Yang Wen is still bedridden. No one knows what the heir’s condition is. An imperial physician came to see him, but the First Wife is keeping silent.” While Consort Qiu put it like this, there was a hint of delight on her face. That year, it was these three boys who had pushed Hanzhang into the pond, harming his body. Now, they had met their retribution.

“How did they fall into the river so suddenly?” Mu Hanzhang felt this was very strange. 

Consort Qiu looked out the window again and said in a low voice, “I heard that they offended Jianghu masters and were beaten and thrown into the water. They flopped around in the water for a long time before they were fished out.”

As soon as he heard these words, Mu Hanzhang felt that something was wrong. The Jianghu people that he had heard Jing Shao talk about weren’t that unbridled, unless they didn’t know that it was the heir of the North Marquis. “Did they catch the culprits?”

“No.” Consort Qiu shook her head. “They said they were going out drinking, but in fact, they were going to low-grade brothels behind their families’ backs. They didn’t bring a single servant, and truly don’t know who beat them up.” The three of them were infamous for being hedonistic sons of rich parents, and had offended many people; they really had no way of knowing who did it.

When court was dismissed, Jing Shao ignored the courtiers’ congratulatory words. He said goodbye to his elder brother and went to Fengyi Palace. It happened that the fourth prince was also going in that direction. Jing Shao smirked and called out, “Is fourth younger brother also going to pay respects to imperial mother?”

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.

Jing Yu stopped and took a deep breath. He turned around with a smile and greeted, “Third imperial brother, your Wang Fei will be bestowed the title of marquis. Younger brother still hasn’t congratulated you.”

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“Hmph.” Jing Shao sneered cryptically.  That day, he had seen his own Wang Fei reading “Dachen Laws and Regulations.” Out of curiosity, he also went over for a look and saw that if a male wife had a title, then he himself couldn’t take in any more concubines. At that time, he had been thinking that he might as well kill Mu Lingbao and have the title of North Marquis passed on to his own Jun Qing so that he had a legitimate reason not to take in more concubines. The title conferral today had saved him a lot of trouble. 

The two men who gave the appearance of respectful brothers made their way to Fengyi Palace together. The Empress still put on the face of a loving mother, even saying that Jing Shao looked even more healthy and robust after his expedition, which gave Jing Shao goosebumps all over. He hadn’t brought any gifts for the Empress, and only said that the army camp was poor. Naturally, the Empress put on a doting face and even rewarded him with a lot of good things, which Jing Shao took without fear of being impolite.

“I had some misunderstandings with Cheng Wang Fei before you left. You have finally come back after so much hard work; let him come visit the palace when he has time. I kept a lot of good things for him for the new year,” the empress said, smiling from ear to ear.

“Erchen thanks imperial mother on behalf of the Wang Fei first.” Jing Shao gave a couple of insincere and half-hearted lines of salutations and then left with the rewards.

The Empress’s hands that were hidden inside her phoenix robes were clenched so tight they turned white. “He came empty-handed; how insolent!” 

“I don’t believe that he didn’t obtain any gains after searching the southeast and southwest palaces.” The fourth prince was extremely angry. He thought that if Jing Shao had something to offer to his mother, he could take advantage of the fact that he was withholding valuables as grounds for corruption. However, this man’s face was thicker than that of the city wall. He came empty-handed and walked out with many things.

“These are just small things.” The empress picked up her tea cup and took a sip. “What rewards did the emperor bestow on him today?”

“Imperial father didn’t reward him with very much, but he conferred a title on the Cheng Wang Fei and had the Ministry of Rites choose a title and date to officially conduct the ceremony.” As the fourth prince said this, he couldn’t help how his expression turned gloomy. The way imperial father had responded today showed that he was protecting Jing Shao.

“What did you say?” The empress suddenly raised her voice. The emperor was already dissatisfied with Jing Yu regarding the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue last time. Today, she had asked her younger brother, the Count of Yongchang, to speak up to show that the fourth prince was filial to his father. Unexpectedly, the emperor didn’t appreciate it. Now, even a fool would know that this was the work of the fourth prince, and Jing Yu’s prestige in court would be greatly affected. After two days, rumors may come out that the fourth prince had lost the emperor’s favor! 

The fourth prince was also very angry. He had clearly seen the reproachful gaze of the Count of Yongchang during the imperial court. Afterwards, the man had pulled him aside and said, “Your Highness, I am your uncle. How could you do me so much harm like this?” Jing Yu couldn’t help sneering coldly. If he told the count that his imperial father had allowed the Cheng Wang Fei to go with the army, how could this cowardly uncle be willing to step forward with such accusations?

“No, we can’t let him become a marquis. Once this is settled, you will be charged with libel. By that point, we won’t know what the rumors will have spiraled into.” The empress kneaded her temples with one hand and frowned deeply. The emperor had clearly been concerned about the Cheng Wang’s great victories before; why had his feelings suddenly changed, unless she had guessed the emperor’s intentions wrongly?

Jing Shao left the palace and had the palace maids hand the rewards from the empress over to Yun Song. He then rode Xiao Hei leisurely to Rui Wang’s palace.

“Where is sister-in-law?” Jing Shao took a look around. When he came to the residence on weekdays, Rui Wang Fei would always come with tea and snacks. 

“I had a son just before the new year; she still hasn’t completed her month of confinement after childbirth,” Jing Chen said indifferently.

“Well, congratulations to brother,” Jing Shao said with a smile. Now, Jing Chen had three sons and two daughters. Among all the princes, he was the most prosperous when it came to heirs. Emperor Hong Zheng should be very satisfied with this.

“The conferral ceremony shouldn’t be too grand. Go back and tell your subordinates that.” Jing Chen was in charge of the Ministry of Rites. Naturally, he had to handle the ceremony to confer the marquis title. Regarding the way things were developing around Jing Shao, they still looked like they were in the middle of a war, and attracting too many eyes would be detrimental.

Jing Shao nodded. Although he wanted to hold a ceremony to let his Wang Fei shine, Jun Qing certainly wouldn’t like it, and would actually be more satisfied with a simple one. 

“The current Huainan King hasn’t ascended the throne for very long,” Jing Chen said after listening to his younger brother. He muttered to himself for a short period of time. “This is a matter of great importance. It’s better to be cautious. Later in the year, I will ask for an assignment from imperial father, and go to Jiangnan myself to meet him.”

Jing Shao nodded and agreed that it was best for his brother to meet the Huainan King sometime. Gu Huaiqing may not believe everything just based on what Jing Shao said. However, if Jing Chen went to negotiate, his status as the future emperor was more of a guarantee and more reliable.

The two brothers chatted until lunch time, and only then did Jing Shao realize that his elder brother hadn’t gone to the Ministry of Rites today.

“With so many officials at the Ministry of Rites, I don’t have to do everything.” Jing Chen slowly took a sip of tea. He had guessed that Jing Shao would come find him today, so he had sorted out all his matters the day before. 

Right up until they were sitting down at the dining table, Jing Shao felt shocked that his cautious and conscientious brother would slack off and skip work.

He couldn’t stop thinking about telling his Wang Fei the good news of being conferred the title of marquis, so after lunch, Jing Shao said goodbye and rode Xiao Hei straight to the North Marquis’s residence.

Mu Hanzhang looked at his father drinking cup after cup of wine, and couldn’t help frowning. “What is troubling father?”

Mu Jin swallowed the wine in the cup, looked at his second son next him, sighed, and continued to drink one cup after the other.