Such rural land disputes would normally be trivial matters, hardly worthy of the emperor’s attention. However, the memorial was written by Zhang Panguang, a senior official who had served three emperors. Zhang Guolao had lost face before the Prince of Huaiyang.
Just as he came aggressively seeking faults with the Prince of Huaiyang, news arrived from the northern desert labor camp. Liu Zhanpeng had been found there, having barely left the area. He had been abducted and had escaped his captors to turn himself in.
Realizing he had made a fool of himself by prejudging the Prince of Huaiyang and ending up with an egg on his face, Zhang Panguang came to his senses. He understood he had become a tool in the Sui Prince’s private feud with the Prince of Huaiyang.
His attempt to catch the Prince of Huaiyang out was merely following the flow of events. After all, the letter exposing the prince’s wrongdoings had been officially presented to him; he couldn’t ignore it. But if the investigation proved stable, it wouldn’t harm his reputation as an upright official.
Although Zhang Guolao prided himself on being straightforward and unyielding, a capable official who had served three emperors couldn’t have only loyalty and righteousness rattling around in his head.
When he decided to side with neither party, effectively offending both sides, he continued his role as an upright and capable official. He simply forwarded a memorial to the throne about the Sui Prince allowing his relatives to run wild. As for the punishment, that would be up to the emperor. He would continue his tour of Jiangnan, not getting involved in the messy affair of the two princes’ feud.
Suddenly, the atmosphere surrounding the Sui Prince’s arrival in the capital was not as welcoming as he had anticipated.
Of course, this wasn’t a major issue. The Sui Prince immediately wrote a letter of self-reproach, expressing deep regret for his lack of oversight over his relatives and sincerely requesting the emperor to punish him.
With the imperial uncle showing such humility, Liu Yu naturally couldn’t make a big deal out of it. He merely issued an imperial edict to deal with the Sui Prince’s relatives according to the law.
However, because of this incident, the matter of the Sui Prince entering the cabinet to govern was temporarily delayed.
Liu Yu, resisting pressure from the Empress Dowager, could only grant titles to both princes after the Prince of Huaiyang arrived in the capital.
So after the second marriage in the Prince of Huaiyang’s household, the prince was to escort his princess consort to the capital.
The wedding of the Cui family’s fifth young master was rather subdued.
The Prince of Huaiyang had agreed with his fifth brother that after marriage, they should live in separate residences for mutual comfort.
The residence he allocated to his fifth brother was quite far from the Zhenzhou government office. His intention was clear: he didn’t want frequent visits in the future. It also prevented Aunt Lian from using her daughter as an excuse to frequently visit the prince’s residence.
Lian Chu Shi, having lost to Cui Fu in several confrontations, was so angry she fell ill twice. When she saw the cold atmosphere at her daughter’s wedding, she could no longer resist going to complain to Duchess Chu.
Duchess Chu had been constantly reminded by her daughter these past few days, and with Mian Tang’s timely complaints of poverty, she rarely had a moment when her ears weren’t ringing. Moreover, Lian Chu Shi’s words were full of complaints about Cui Fu’s thoughtlessness, which was even more unpleasant to hear! After listening to Lian Chu Shi’s nagging with slight impatience, she replied rather unkindly: “The Qin family only provided so much, and we’ve already tripled it from the public funds. Even this was supplemented by Mian Tang from her own shop’s profits. Go ask around other families if there’s ever been a case of a sister-in-law adding to her brother-in-law’s betrothal gifts. You only know how to ask for more. Have you thought about how embarrassing it is for me as a mother-in-law in front of my daughter-in-law!”
Lian Chu Shi had never heard her sister speak so unkindly before. For a moment, she was speechless, only managing to argue weakly, “Our Silan was already compromising by agreeing to marry Cui Xingdi. Isn’t it right for the prince’s household to compensate more?”
Duchess Chu disliked this even more: “If your son-in-law hears you say this, what will he think? We didn’t force the Lian family to marry their daughter! If it weren’t for that child Wu’er always having feelings for Silan, do you think he’d be willing to marry a girl whose reputation has been damaged? Besides, didn’t your Lian family also provide a meager dowry? At least we haven’t let them go hungry or cold, and we’ve given them a decent new residence. In what way has our Cui family wronged your Lian family? If this is how you feel, our Cui family can issue another divorce letter to the Lian family. You can see which family offers more betrothal gifts and marry your daughter to them!”
Duchess Chu was truly angry when she said this. She hadn’t known that Mian Tang had been tightening her belt recently. The newly arrived bird’s nest tonic in the storehouse was all reserved for her, the old woman, while Mian Tang, who was pregnant, was only drinking soup made from broken bird’s nest pieces…
She had scolded Mian Tang for being too frugal, but Mian Tang had only smiled and said, “We have many expenses recently. We should save where we can to make Wu’er’s wedding more presentable. What does it matter if I eat one less bowl of bird’s nest?”
Duchess Chu felt sorry for Mian Tang and even more for the grandchild in her belly. She had never heard of a household where a concubine’s son’s marriage caused such upheaval in the main family, leaving them unable to eat and drink properly!
So no matter how pitiful and miserable Lian Chu Shi made herself sound, all Duchess Chu could think of was the bowl of broken bird’s nest her pregnant daughter-in-law was eating.
Lian Chu Shi hadn’t expected Duchess Chu to speak so harshly. Her face flushed with anger, but she didn’t dare to truly agree. She could only reluctantly apologize and ask her sister to calm down before leaving in embarrassment.
After Lian Chu Shi left, Duchess Chu relayed the conversation to her daughter Cui Fu. Cui Fu smiled and said, “Mother, you should have done this earlier. It’s a waste to raise such an ungrateful wolf. If Aunt Lian can’t recognize that her daughter married a concubine’s son, won’t she come to the prince’s residence to throw her weight around as a mother-in-law in the future? When Xingzhou enters the capital, the prince’s household will be emptied by a concubine’s daughter-in-law.”
Duchess Chu was now too lazy to care about her sister’s family’s troubles. Thinking about her son’s imminent departure, she felt heartbroken and said, “Both of you siblings are going to the capital. You can look after each other, so I can set my mind at ease. But I don’t know when I’ll see your siblings again. When I die in this residence, I don’t know if I’ll be able to see you one last time…”
When these words reached Cui Xingzhou’s ears, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. During a family dinner, he said to Duchess Chu, “Mother, you’re in good health and look young. Why are you thinking about such things? Besides, my sister and I aren’t leaving forever. Once I’ve settled matters in the capital and the political situation is stable, I’ll still bring you to the capital.”
Mian Tang added from the side, “That’s right. By then, the baby in my belly will need his grandmother to teach and nurture him!”
Duchess Chu’s brow relaxed upon hearing this, somewhat easing her sadness at the impending separation.
As for Aunt Lian, after returning home in a huff, she relayed Duchess Chu’s words to her daughter, hoping her daughter would help her vent her anger.
But when Lian Silan heard this, she smashed the fruit platter on the table with a loud crash.
“Mother, if you keep disgracing me like this, I might as well not get married. I could just hang myself in the courtyard with a rope and save you the embarrassment of not having a grand wedding for your daughter!” Since her last bout of hysteria, Lian Silan’s temper had grown much worse, especially towards Lian Chu Shi, showing no courtesy at all.
Lian Chu Shi hadn’t expected her daughter not only to fail to support her and help her vent but to speak to her like this. She was so angry she wanted to chase and beat Silan.
Lian Silan stood straight, glaring at Lian Chu Shi with hatred: “If you were even a tiny bit less shallow, I wouldn’t have ended up in this situation! I haven’t even married into the Cui family yet, and you’ve already offended everyone up and down for the sake of some silver! My father was truly blind to marry a woman like you!”
Lian Chu Shi hadn’t expected her usually gentle and soft-spoken daughter to curse her so harshly! She was so angry that she pushed Lian Hanshan, who was sitting nearby, demanding that he discipline their unfilial, rebellious daughter.
Lian Hanshan frowned, tapping his water pipe loudly: “I think Silan is right. You have the vision of a country bumpkin. You’ve ruined our perfectly good daughter!”
Lian Chu Shi, seeing her usually soft-spoken husband dare to speak to her like this, exploded in anger and began arguing endlessly with Lian Hanshan.
Lian Silan left the front hall expressionlessly with her maid – she didn’t want to stay in this house for another moment. Even if she had to marry a cripple, she was willing!
On the day Cui Xingzhou and Liu Mian Tang left Zhenzhou, the newly married fifth young master also brought his wife Lian Silan to see them off.
Although Lian Silan had become Cui Xingzhou’s sister-in-law, as the wife of a concubine’s son, she didn’t have much face and still had to bow and greet the Prince of Huaiyang respectfully.
Perhaps because of the joy of his recent marriage, the fifth young master looked much better than before. However, Lian Silan no longer had the graceful and charming appearance she had as a young lady. Her face looked gloomy and depressed.
She stood hidden in the crowd, staring straight at the prince who was carefully helping Liu Mian Tang board the ship.
This man, now so attentive to his beloved wife, no longer resembled her once cold cousin. His eyes were full of tender affection… Lian Silan’s eyes ached at the sight, and her heart grew cold.
But at that moment, the man sitting in the wooden wheelchair beside her suddenly grasped her hand and smiled gently at her. The tears that were about to well up in Lian Silan’s eyes stopped, and she managed a forced smile in return…
When she looked up again, the large ship had already weighed anchor and set sail, moving along the blue waters of the Yangtze River.
Cui Fu’s husband’s family had already arrived in the capital, so she was traveling to the Capital with her brother Cui Xingzhou this time. Because they were traveling by boat, except for docking at night, the journey was filled with beautiful views of blue waters and distant mountains, which was quite pleasant.
Mian Tang had originally worried that her pregnancy would cause seasickness on the large ship. However, her recent pregnancy symptoms had changed from being able to eat to being able to sleep.
After boarding the ship, Mian Tang would fall asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow, which saved her the trouble of getting seasick during big waves.
However, Cui Fu wasn’t so lucky. After a big storm, she was completely seasick, her whole person looking unwell.
Mian Tang had Mama Li brew some tonic soup for Cui Fu, but Cui Fu couldn’t drink it. Seeing her condition, Mian Tang discussed with Cui Xingzhou whether they should let his sister travel to the capital by carriage instead.
But Cui Xingzhou shook his head and said, “I’ve set another trap for the Sui Prince this time. Given his petty nature, he’s surely plotting something nasty. If my sister leaves the ship to travel by land, I’m afraid something might happen to her.”
Mian Tang felt this couldn’t continue and thought about finding a doctor when they next docked.
However, before that, the barefoot doctor of the rivers and lakes once again took action. Mian Tang herself felt Cui Fu’s pulse. After feeling it, Mian Tang said with some uncertainty, “Sister, why does this feel like a pregnancy pulse? When was your last monthly period?”
Cui Fu was stunned by the question. After returning to her maiden home, she had been so busy that she couldn’t remember her cycles. She hurriedly asked the old woman by her side.
Upon inquiry, they realized that indeed, she hadn’t had her monthly period for a month!