The Wife is First

Ch73 - News (2)

“Hanzhang, don’t resent your father; there’s a difference between legitimate sons and those of concubines. There are some things I have to do for the sake of peace in the household.” The North Marquis was so depressed that he couldn’t help drinking more. 

“Father, where are these words coming from? How can this son have resentment toward father?” Mu Hanzhang topped up his father’s winecup. Fathers were the guiding principles for their sons; even if his father wanted his life, he couldn’t hate him. What was more, his father was quite good to him despite his bastard status.

It had been a rule since ancient times that a bastard son couldn’t inherit the title in a noble family. When the first emperor was in power, the legitimate son of Count Shou’s family died. He didn’t have any close brothers, so he asked to make his bastard son the heir. Without saying a word, the emperor directly seized his family’s title. According to the laws of inheritance, the succession of nobility depended on the grace of heaven. If the emperor wasn’t happy, even if it was the son of the secondary wife, he might still seize one’s title. Therefore, even if the candidate was excellent, the North Marquis couldn’t take this risk.

(In ancient China, rulers were legitimized by a so-called “Mandate of Heaven” and basically the justification for no bastard sons being able to inherit titles is that they were not chosen by heaven to be born legitimately to receive the title. The emperor is somewhat hailed as a deity so based on his will, he can grant/take away noble titles with divine power.)

Mu Hanzhang knew that for his father, preserving the title left behind by his ancestors was of utmost importance. Only when the title was secure could the family survive. Therefore, his little bastard son seemed insignificant. 

But how could there be parents who didn’t love their children even a little? When his father taught him marksmanship, he had said, what capabilities did those who just waited to inherit a noble title have? Hanzhang should have ambition and earn himself a title when he grew up!

“Ai, you’re too benevolent.” The North Marquis was red-eyed as he looked at him and shook his head.

Mu Hanzhang frowned. It was rare to see his father so dejected. Could it be that Mu Lingbao was seriously ill? He probed tentatively, “Why didn’t father go to court today?”

“I always thought to protect myself first. In the end, I’m still stuck in a quagmire,” the North Marquis said to himself. “You go back and tell Wang Ye that I wasn’t able to do anything.”

When Mu Hanzhang heard this, he immediately couldn’t sit still. It turned out that his father had been talking endlessly without getting to the point about his son not resenting him because there had to be some trap for Jing Shao in court today!

Quickly giving his farewells and leaving in a hurry, he had just walked out of the flower-adorned gates when he ran into a man who was also striding over at a quick pace. Mu Hanzhang staggered a little from the collision, but instead of apologizing, the man put his arm around Mu Hanzhang’s waist and pinched him covertly. “Beauty, where are you going in such a hurry?”

Mu Hanzhang’s handsome face immediately turned red, and he raised his head and glared at Jing Shao’s seemingly cold and stern face. Looking at his appearance, it didn’t seem like he had suffered any grievances, so Mu Hanzhang was able to relax. At the same time, he couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

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.

“Benwang has come to the North Marquis’s residence before, but how come I have never seen such a beautiful person before this? No, no, I must snatch you away and bring you back to my palace today!” Just like that, Jing Shao swept the man up in his arms in a princess carry. He also pretended to sneer. “Beauty, don’t roll your eyes. Benwang is going to divorce the concubines today. I won’t leave you for a minute of the day; even during the day, let’s do bed exer…” 

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Mu Hanzhang struggled to be put down and straightened out his wrinkled clothes. “Why so happy?”

“Hehe, because I’m about to make a marquis my official wife!” Jing Shao said with a smile. 

Mu Hanzhang frowned and suddenly looked up at Jing Shao. A marquis as his official consort. What did that mean? Unless, Jing Shao knew that Mu Lingbao wouldn’t live for much longer? He suddenly recalled that back then, Jing Shao kept on saying that he wanted to hurry back before the end of the year to do something. Afterwards, he said that even if they weren’t able to make it back, someone else would take care of it. Could it be… without saying anything, Mu Hanzhang pulled him away.

Jing Shao didn’t understand the situation and thought that his Wang Fei just felt embarrassed and wanted to quickly lead him away. He let himself be pulled, but deliberately dragged his feet. It looked as if Mu Hanzhang was pulling along a cat that was reluctant to go out for a walk and which refused to move.

It was Yun Zhu who drove the carriage back first. The Wang Ye and the Wang Fei rode Xiao Hei back together.

“The heir fell into water on the 27th day after the Winter Solstice.” Mu Hanzhang turned his head and looked at Jing Shao. 

“Is that so?” Jing Shao asked confusedly, as if he wasn’t paying much attention, and then didn’t say more.

“Did you already know about this?” Mu Hanzhang narrowed his eyes.

“I’ve been with you all this time. How could I know?” Jing Shao said forcefully to project confidence, but it just sounded like he was covering something up, making it even more conspicuous.

Mu Hanzhang sighed, looked down and said, “Why do you take such risks for me when there’s no need?” 

“I was just giving them a taste of their…” Jing Shao spoke triumphantly before he realized halfway through that he had let the cat out of the bag. Suddenly, the other half of his sentence got stuck in his throat and he didn’t dare say it. Looking down, he saw his Wang Fei raising his eyebrows and smiling gently. Shame turned into passion and he redirected his horse to gallop into a back street alley. He then pulled the man tightly into his arms and kissed him fiercely.

After such a long kiss, Mu Hanzhang was left gasping a little and the corners of his eyes were slightly red. Jing Shao stroked his face tenderly and said in a soft voice, “All the people who have hurt you, I will pay them back ten times, a hundred times more!” His voice was gentle and deep, but it resonated even more than someone shouting at the top of their lungs.

Mu Hanzhang stared at him fixedly for a while, slowly stroking his handsome face. “I have stopped harboring resentment a long time ago.”

Jing Shao turned his head and kissed his palm, afraid that Mu Hanzhang thought he had gone overboard. “Don’t worry, Mu Lingbao won’t die; I have a sense of propriety.” 

“Then why did you say you’re going to take a marquis as your official consort?” Mu Hanzhang raised his eyebrows.

“This…” Jing Shao drew close and bit his ear. “I’ll tell you at night.”

The two bickered as they returned to the palace. Steward Yun said that Imperial Physician Jiang had come to visit.

Imperial Physician Jiang was Jiang Lang’s father. When Jing Shao just got married, he had the physician come to examine the Wang Fei. This man had always been reluctant to associate too closely with the royals and nobles, so why had he taken the initiative to visit today? 

The two people looked at each other. Mu Hanzhang said a few words in Jing Shao’s ear and Jing Shao nodded knowingly before they went to the main hall together.

“Imperial Physician Jiang, I trust you have been well since we last met?” Without waiting for Imperial Physician Jiang’s salutations, Jing Shao politely invited him to sit down.

“Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival. This humble servant came to deliver gifts for the New Year.” Imperial Physician Jiang obviously wasn’t very good at playing politics, and his words were somewhat blunt.

Mu Hanzhang laughed lightly and accepted what Imperial Physician Jiang was offering. “You’re too polite; there’s no need for such formalities between the Jiang and Cheng Wang’s households, is there?” 

Imperial Physician Jiang laughed a little uneasily. Last year, Wang Ye said he would help Jiang Lang find a position. In the end, he was sent directly to Cheng Wang’s personal army. From that moment on, their Jiang family was inevitably bound to Cheng Wang’s family. When he realized what had happened, it was too late. “Today, I want to request Wang Ye for something.”

Mu Hanzhang handed the gift from Imperial Physician Jiang to Yun Zhu and whispered a few words.

Imperial Physician Jiang said that Jiang Lang’s mother hadn’t been well in recent days. He wanted to ask the Wang Ye to transfer Jiang Lang back to the capital so that he could take care of his mother.

“I thought it was some big matter. Not a problem, not a problem,” Jing Shao said with a smile. “After the Lantern Festival, I’ll arrange it. But it’s better to wait for him to be bestowed his reward first so that a higher position can be prepared for him.” 

“Then, thank you Wang Ye very much!” Imperial Physician Jiang sighed in relief.

“Jiang Lang is like Wang Ye’s right arm. Even if he is transferred back to the capital, we will make sure that he will not be taken advantage of. You can rest assured,” Mu Hanzhang said casually.

Imperial Physician Jiang heard these words and his expression which had just relaxed couldn’t help but tense up again. The battle for the position of crown prince was almost in full swing. He didn’t want to have any part in it, but the words of the Cheng Wang Fei weren’t false. No matter where Jiang Lang went, everyone else would know that he hailed from Cheng Wang’s army. Once he was branded as such, it would be difficult to get rid of that connotation. Thinking this, he couldn’t help feeling dejected.

In the meantime, Yun Zhu came in with a box. 

“These are some rare herbs that we got in the southwest. We don’t use them, so they’re just sitting here in the palace. Take them to your wife to strengthen her body.” Mu Hanzhang motioned for Yun Zhu to hand the box over.

“This…” Imperial Physician Jiang wanted to refuse, but the Wang Fei had already ended the conversation. He couldn’t say no, so he had to accept it.

When Imperial Physician Jiang took the box, Mu Hanzhang sat down beside his Wang Ye and said lightly, “There’s a small thing I want to ask you about.”

“Wang Fei, please go ahead.” Imperial Physician Jiang didn’t want to cause trouble and the other party had said that it was just a small matter, so he couldn’t refuse. 

“It’s about the North Marquis’s heir; they requested an imperial physician to visit him some days ago. Can you tell me exactly what is afflicting him?” Mu Hanzhang rubbed the tea cup in his hand and said slowly, “I heard it’s very serious. I’m afraid it’s…” His last word was drawn out along with a faint sigh.

“Wang Fei should not overthink it.” Imperial Physician Jiang sighed. “The condition in that place is the most delicate. I’m afraid it’ll be hard for him to recover from that freezing damage. Even the imperial physicians are at a loss over what to do.”