Old Madam Cui held Song Chuyi’s hand, momentarily at a loss for words. Her daughter-in-law was planning to strengthen family ties through marriage, yet hadn’t she noticed how closely the Crown Prince and Song Chuyi were associating? He had even entrusted his people for her to use. Combined with all those previous matters in the capital involving Song Chuyi—each one bearing the Crown Prince’s shadow—Old Madam Cui had actually felt uneasy for quite some time.
Hearing Song Chuyi speak this way now, she looked at her and asked carefully, “Grandmother heard that two more maids arrived for you this afternoon?”
When adding people to one’s household, one should always inform the host family to avoid them thinking the Song family was being arrogant. Nanny Xu and Ziyun had already reported to Madam Xie that afternoon. Presumably, Madam Xie had found the addition of these people somewhat strange and told Old Madam Cui about it.
Song Chuyi vaguely understood what Old Madam Cui wanted to ask. She looked frankly into Old Madam Cui’s eyes. “They were also sent by His Highness. He said they’re skilled in martial arts and came down from Longhu Mountain. Incidents do keep occurring around me, so having them will bring much peace of mind.”
Seeing her speak so openly, Old Madam Cui actually felt much more relieved. She held Song Chuyi’s hand and told her in a low voice, “We received news today that the Crown Prince is passing through this area and is being hosted by the Prefect of Jinzhong.”
Jinzhong wasn’t far from Yangquan and was garrisoned by defense troops. It was indeed the most suitable place to establish a base—one could advance to attack or retreat to defend.
Though Old Madam Cui understood this logic, she still worried that Zhou Weizhao’s choice of Jinzhong as his headquarters, of all places, was because of Song Chuyi. She couldn’t help but smile, feeling she was probably overthinking things. “I’m just a bit worried. You’re a clever child—you must understand the Empress’s current intentions without me having to say it. If you become too close to the Crown Prince, and the Empress directly requests an imperial marriage decree from His Majesty…”
Old Madam Cui also didn’t wish for Song Chuyi to marry into the imperial family. Her own daughter had married into a count’s estate and still lost her life—how much worse would it be to marry into the imperial family? The Eastern Palace was turbulent with rising winds and surging clouds, with conflicts between the two sides no less fierce than factional struggles in court. It truly wasn’t a good destination.
Even if the Song and Cui families really had to send a girl there, Old Madam Cui privately hoped it wouldn’t be Song Chuyi. As for her eldest daughter-in-law’s schemes, since she couldn’t stop them, she wouldn’t try. Now that Cui Yingshu and Cui Shaoting had both established stable positions, they would indeed need to eventually choose a side to support. Whether they won or lost, they had to take the gamble.
The moonlight was hazy, yet the sky rarely displayed a few bright stars. Ye Jingkuan stood in the corridor, comfortably stretching with a lazy yawn as he looked toward Ye Jingchuan. “See that? Tomorrow is definitely going to be a clear day.”
Ye Jingchuan had come to Jinzhong with serious business to attend to. He had now been promoted to Thousand Households Commander in the Prefecture Guard—precisely the time he should be accumulating military achievements. If he made contributions during this rebellion suppression, he might even advance another level. This was why Ye Jingkuan had brought him to Jinzhong. He sat in a rocking chair looking at his brother, though his thoughts weren’t on that matter. Frowning, he asked, “Even though our forces are small and can’t match Yangquan County’s forty thousand troops, we can’t just stay put in Jinzhong doing nothing, can we? We’ve been in Jinzhong for several days now. Why aren’t we doing anything?”
Only those advisors from the Crown Prince’s Chancellery kept going outside the city doing who knows what, then returning to shut themselves in a room with the Crown Prince and Ye Jingkuan. No one knew what they were actually discussing.
Ye Jingkuan glanced at him with a half-smile and strolled to his side. “What, staying in Jinzhong doesn’t satisfy you? In a few days it will be Old Madam Cui’s birthday celebration. Even the Prefect has to attend. You can take advantage of this opportunity to join the festivities at the Cui Estate and see your dream girl, Sixth Miss Song.”
Ye Jingchuan didn’t like others making jokes about Song Chuyi, even if that person was his brother. Hearing this, he maintained a stern expression and reminded him, “The Count Changning Estate said they would discuss this matter after Sixth Miss Song returns to the capital. Elder brother, please don’t keep bringing this up.”
Quite protective, wasn’t he? Ye Jingkuan kicked his rocking chair with his foot and asked with a smile, “Fine, fine, fine—I won’t mention that. Let me ask you something else instead, to see if you’ve made any progress. Tell me, why did His Highness and I decide to stay in Jinzhong?”
During his time in Fujian, Ye Jingchuan had learned quite a bit from the military advisor beside Guo Huaiying. His instincts in such matters were quite sharp. Hearing this, he thought carefully for a moment before answering without hesitation, “It’s not far from Yangquan County and has defense troops stationed here. We can advance to attack or retreat to defend. Though the Yangquan rebellion has been going on for a long time, it only came to light around New Year’s last year. Moreover, they grew powerful under the cold, watchful eyes of several nearby counties, which suggests those counties may have profit-sharing arrangements with them—or at the very least, are afraid of taking responsibility. If we rashly intrude into their territory now, it would be very dangerous.”
Not too stupid after all. Ye Jingkuan nodded. “That’s the reasoning. Moreover, His Highness has been dispatched by imperial decree to quell the rebellion. Who knows how many people out there have designs on His Highness? If someone takes advantage of the chaos to fish in troubled waters or use some underhanded means, we won’t find it so easy to defend against. After all, Jinzhong has the Cui clan here, and the defense troops are led by Commander Kong. We’ll first establish our base in Jinzhong, thoroughly investigate Yangquan’s situation, and then make our move.”
This time, Emperor Jianzhang had sent the Crown Prince to quell the Yangquan rebellion, clearly intending to train him for future important use. Fan Liangdi and Zhou Weiqi in the Eastern Palace must be jumping with rage. They had already regarded Zhou Weizhao as a thorn in their flesh they desperately wanted to remove. Now that Zhou Weizhao had come out to suppress the rebellion, if they played some tricks in the middle, took the opportunity to set traps for Zhou Weizhao, or even directly attempted assassination—that would truly be unbearable.
Ye Jingchuan’s brows also couldn’t help but furrow tightly. Logically speaking, after Fan Liangdi and Zhou Weiqi had driven the Marquis Jinxiang Estate to such a state, the Crown Prince shouldn’t have let the matter drop so lightly. Yet he had adopted an attitude of not pursuing it—such biased affection was definitely not a good thing. At the very least, the Eastern Palace faction couldn’t unite now. Some relied on the Crown Prince, while others, because of the Crown Prince’s favor toward Fan Liangdi and her son, had defected to Prince Dongping.
The Crown Prince’s excessive favoritism toward Fan Liangdi had already affected the Eastern Palace’s influence. If this continued, the Eastern Palace’s factional divisions would only grow more severe. He truly didn’t understand what the Crown Prince was thinking.
Deep down, he felt the Crown Prince was somewhat strange, yet he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was strange about him. After pondering for a while without reaching any conclusion, he let it go. Seeing Qing Zhuo coming down from the corridor, he quickly called out to him and rushed over, asking, “How was Sixth Miss on the journey?”