As Song Yan descended the building, Changrong led his horse over. He mounted, waved to Ye Jingchuan upstairs, and vanished in a flash. Ye Jingchuan sat by the window watching him until he could no longer be seen, then withdrew his gaze and let out an extremely soft sigh.
Ye Jingkuan was just pushing the door open to enter. Seeing this, he raised his eyebrows: “You really are…”
Back when Ye Jingchuan had said he was fond of Song Chuyi, he and Father had felt the Song family was a suitable match—Sixth Miss Song was intelligent and extremely capable, a worthy partner. Ye Jingchuan’s own feelings hadn’t really been the focus of consideration. They had assumed it was just a young man’s hot-blooded impulse. So later, when Song Chuyi honestly told him in Jinzhong that she didn’t like him, he had just smiled and let it pass, not making much effort to pursue the matter.
Who knew that when Ye Jingchuan said he was fond of her, he truly meant it? Even after being mercilessly rejected by Song Chuyi at that time, he still had to travel the same route as her and nearly lost his life directly in Tianshui Town.
A few days ago, he had gotten angry with Father for the first time over the family’s plan to send Yunxiu to the Grand Prince as a side consort. Originally they hadn’t thought much of it—after all, three palaces and six courts were extremely common. What was wrong with making the bond even closer? But Ye Jingchuan absolutely refused to consent, saying Zhou Weizhao had promised to marry only Song Chuyi—listen to that, what childish words! Even if she were marrying this foolish younger brother of his, the family would still need to provide him with one or two bed servants or properly take a good concubine.
Yet he was this naive. Ye Jingkuan sighed: “There are other good women in this world. Mother Consort’s hair is turning white from worrying about you. Stop frightening her.”
Ye Jingchuan frowned and stood by the window, shaking his head with unwavering determination: “A great man should establish merit and build his career. Right now I have nothing—what business do I have discussing marriage?”
Oh ho! Back then he also had nothing, yet he still begged the family to seek Song Chuyi’s hand. Oh, but now that Little Sixth of the Song family won’t do, suddenly he needs to establish merit and build his career first? Ye Jingkuan opened his mouth to advise him, then held back—recently, over his insistence on going early to serve under Regional Commander Wang, even Father had been anxious and distressed. Magistrate Wang was famously harsh—going to him, shedding a layer of skin was unavoidable, and he was going to the very front lines. Even Father and Mother couldn’t persuade him. To bring up marriage or not marriage now would probably only agitate him further.
That evening upon returning to the Prince’s residence, Prince Zhennan had long been waiting for them. Hearing his eldest son say that his younger son had gone to see Song Yan, he couldn’t help but frown first—his younger son didn’t have any of the other dandies’ faults. He conducted himself properly and was a good person, but his mind just wouldn’t turn. Whatever he decided on was final—even if he crashed into a wall, he wouldn’t look back.
He swallowed the sigh that had almost escaped and called his eldest son to sit: “Recently the Japanese pirate troubles along the Jiangzhe coast and Min region are becoming increasingly severe. I think sooner or later there will be a great battle.”
Guo Huaiying had submitted several memorials saying the same thing—the Japanese pirate troubles were becoming increasingly serious. Previously it was just disturbances of a few hundred or thousand, but now the scale was growing larger and larger. He said the Japanese pirates were also in chaos internally—the daimyo to whom the Ninth Princess had been married could no longer control the other lords. Combined with pirates like Wang Lun from the Great Zhou who had grown powerful and were stirring up trouble in between, the situation had become increasingly grave.
“Jingchuan going at this time is also a good thing.” Ye Jingkuan lowered his voice and nodded to his father: “For it to thoroughly erupt will take another two or three years. By that time, he’ll have more or less climbed up the ranks. At least he’ll be scouting the path ahead for His Highness.”
Zhou Weizhao naturally should cultivate himself properly these next few years, keeping as low a profile as possible. But after a few years, when Emperor Jianzhang grew even older, he should gradually consolidate his position again. At that time, what would best consolidate his position would be merit from something like driving out the Japanese pirates.
The Japanese pirate troubles spreading to Jiangzhe and even the Min region wouldn’t be easy to deal with. Now having Ye Jingchuan help scout the path was also good for Ye Jingchuan’s own future prospects.
Prince Zhennan nodded. His younger son was just more worrying. He rubbed the space between his brows and asked his eldest son: “How is the matter Empress instructed us to handle regarding the Fan family progressing?”
Since the Crown Prince’s incident, Empress Lu actually hadn’t much cared about the Fan family’s fate—after all, now that the Crown Prince’s matter of keeping death warriors had been exposed, adding one more crime wouldn’t make a difference. She was overwhelmed now and couldn’t spare the attention.
Ye Jingkuan couldn’t help but feel a headache when the Fan family was mentioned: “If it’s exposed, I’m afraid it will be another bloodbath…”
That’s why even Lai Chenglong had voluntarily stopped investigating when he reached this point—the officials colluding with the Fan family weren’t just one or two. The various regions of Xibei had a tacit understanding about this smuggling network. Over these years, they had formed a shared interest group. That’s why Cui Shaoting had been in Xibei for several years now but still hadn’t exposed this chain of interests.
Now Yang Xuan, whom Cui Shaoting had originally left as bait, had also died—and it was something done by the Fan family. Once this was exposed, Xibei would probably be in turmoil. Once their interests in Xibei were threatened, they would naturally blame the Cui family and the Grand Prince—with the Crown Prince finished, the Grand Prince was jumping out to deal with these people who had once helped gather wealth for the Crown Prince alongside the Fan family. Who could stand for that?
At that time, Zhou Weizhao would probably be despised on both sides.
Now the Fan family couldn’t easily be dealt with. Prince Zhennan couldn’t help but frown again. It was all the fault of the Crown Prince and Prince Gong—these two were truly too impatient, making their move before the Xibei matter erupted. Now the Xibei matter hung overhead—acting wasn’t good, but not acting might let it become a great disaster. It was truly alarming.
“We must remind His Highness to find an opportunity to deal with this matter first.” Prince Zhennan said: “Previously, before the Crown Prince’s matter was exposed, when Empress instructed you, it was still manageable. At worst, it would just be like now—the Crown Prince would completely lose his power and that would be that. But now the situation is vastly different. Empress is no longer inquiring about this matter—she probably feels that when there are too many lice, one stops feeling itchy. But she doesn’t consider that everything can be forgiven once but not twice—His Majesty has already been thoroughly disappointed in Empress and has become completely disheartened with the Crown Prince and Prince Gong. Otherwise, he wouldn’t favor His Highness the Grand Prince, who hasn’t yet fully matured. But once the Eastern Palace has another incident, regardless of who actually caused it, in His Majesty’s eyes, it will first be the fault of Empress’s children. No matter how much His Majesty cares for his children, he doesn’t have such tolerance. Moreover, after the affair with Elder Chen and others, the Crown Prince has already completely lost his reputation at court. If the Xibei matter comes out as well… the one who will suffer calamity will be His Highness the Grand Prince.”