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Chapter 253 Other Plans

The King of Chu was overjoyed upon hearing this and immediately said, "If what you say is true, then I can escape this predicament."

“Your Highness, there’s no need to be too happy yet. Getting out of this predicament is only a temporary relief,” Hua Ying said. “It’s ultimately not good to not make long-term plans.”

"What you say is absolutely right, sir. I was short-sighted before," the King of Chu said humbly. "I hope you will not shy away from my words because of my ignorance."

"Your Highness, please rest assured. Since the Master has sent me here, I will do my best," said Mr. Hua Ying. "There is one more thing Your Highness should know: the Prince of Fenye has come to the capital to choose a husband for his daughter from among the two heirs."

"Oh? Is that so!" The King of Chu was greatly surprised. "No wonder they were so aggressive!"

Then the King of Chu expressed a great deal of heartfelt gratitude and ordered his servants to prepare dinner so that he could share it with Mr. Hua Ying.

When Princess Chu heard that it was Mr. Hua Ying from the Sanjing Academy who had come to visit, she was naturally delighted. Her previous worries vanished, and she quickly led people to clean Mr. Hua Ying's house and arrange his accommodations.

Leaving aside the King of Chu's side, the Liu family was in complete chaos.

Prince Liu was not in the capital at the time; his son, Liu Yuchun, was in charge of the household affairs.

He was impeached in court today. Although there was no final verdict, he had indeed done the deed, so he inevitably felt guilty.

When he got home, his wife, Wei, found out and burst into tears: "I told you to be more careful in your actions, so that no one could find fault with you. Why couldn't you be more careful?"

"What are you saying? They're deliberately trying to cause trouble. Did I give them something to use against me?" Liu Yuchun was already annoyed, and his wife's outburst only made him more frustrated.

"What did the King of Chu say? We got into trouble because we were doing things for them. Are they just trying to absolve themselves of all responsibility?" Madam Wei said, wiping away her tears. "In my opinion, they are the ones who offended people, and now you're the one taking the blame."

"Nothing's been decided yet! The Prince will definitely find a way, so don't make such a fuss," Liu Yuchun said. "No wonder even the sages said that only women and petty men are difficult to deal with."

Just then, Liu Yuchun's mother, Jiang, and his sister, Liu Huanchun, arrived.

Liu Yuchun was even more exasperated. He thought to himself that the old fox was still the wisest. His father had gone out to find some peace and quiet, leaving these three troublesome women to him.

“I knew it, we should have gone to the Tianwang Temple to burn incense a long time ago,” Liu Huanchun said as soon as he entered the door. “But my sister-in-law isn’t a devout Buddhist. Last month, my nephew broke his hand, and now my brother has had this kind of accident. Aren’t you worried?”

“My dear sister, you have really wronged me. Even though I haven’t gone to every temple to burn incense, I have never slandered any monks or Taoists. You have sincerely believed, so why haven’t you married a suitable husband yet? Which temple have you not visited?” Madam Wei was no pushover either. Her sister-in-law was already in her late twenties and still unmarried, which had become the laughing stock of the entire capital.

But she's oblivious to her own faults, causing trouble both at home and outside, and constantly stirring up trouble in front of her mother-in-law.

In the first few years after she entered the family, she was a young wife, delicate and not easy to quarrel with. In addition, she lacked confidence because her first child was a daughter. But after giving birth to Liu Chuanbin, she stopped indulging her sister-in-law. After a few quarrels, the two were evenly matched, but neither was willing to give in to the other.

"Shut up, both of you! Don't you know when to stop?" Jiang scolded angrily. "People say that harmony in the family brings prosperity. How can things be peaceful when you two are constantly bickering like chickens and geese?" Only then did the two of them shut up.

Fearing that his mother would worry, Liu Yuchun said, "The prince did tell me after court that he would find a way to resolve this matter. It's just a matter of spending money to avoid disaster; at worst, we can return the 20,000 taels of silver to them."

"This matter may not be unsolvable, but I'm worried about whether someone will come after us." Jiang was older and thought things through more deeply. "Since the people who impeached you know so much about the matter, how could they not know that the person behind you is the King of Chu?"

Looking around the entire court, how many officials dared to impeach the King of Chu? Haven't you thought about that?

"What Mother means is..." Liu Yuchun became even more frightened upon realizing this, "...was it the King of Zhao who did it?"

Upon hearing this, Lady Wei couldn't hold back any longer: "We haven't offended the King of Zhao, have we? We've been flattering him all year round, so why are they targeting us?"

“You must have gone crazy from giving birth,” Liu Yuchun glared at her. “You flatter people, but they may not take you seriously. In the end, it’s because the King of Zhao and the King of Chu had a falling out that they took action against us.”

"Then...what should we do? Let's go and beg the King of Zhao and his wife now! Let them make an exception for us." Of course, Madam Wei knew how powerful the King of Zhao was, not to mention the Dong family as well.

"Fool, how could you say such a thing?" Madam Jiang actually looked down on this daughter-in-law. She had originally chosen her eldest sister, but unfortunately, Miss Wei died young, right after her birth date was changed. That's why she was chosen to replace her.

"What...what's wrong with this?" Madam Wei asked, her eyes wide. "They have our weakness in their hands. What are we supposed to do if we don't plead with them?"

"Shut up! Don't give me any more bad advice." Liu Yuchun glared at her again. "Going to beg the King of Zhao at this time is tantamount to betraying the King of Chu, isn't it? Even if this matter is over, we'll have offended the King of Chu. Do you think the King of Zhao will look up to us because of this? Don't dream!"

"Then...then let's go find the King of Chu!" Wei Shi refused to give up. "He's the one who made us do it."

“We can’t go to the King of Chu about this,” Jiang said. “They didn’t use us for nothing; they got paid. If it weren’t for what happened today, can you say we didn’t benefit?”

“Mother is right,” Liu Yuchun said. “I’ve figured it out now. Since things have already happened, we should try to make a big deal out of it. We should take out some money to find someone to take the blame. As long as they stick to their guns, it shouldn’t be too serious.”

“My son, you’re right to think that way.” Madam Jiang nodded. “If we do this, the King of Chu will definitely think more highly of us. If we can get through this storm, they will trust us more in the future. As for the King of Zhao, we can pretend we don’t know anything from beginning to end, and that will keep things on the surface. If things really escalate, we can sacrifice the pawns to save the king, so it won’t damage the foundation.”

Princess Zhao had naturally heard about what happened at court. When King Zhao returned home that day, she said, "You said the other day that you wanted to give King Chu a warning. Has he been alarmed?"

“Of course I can’t help but be alarmed,” King Zhao laughed. “Actually, I didn’t intend to do anything to him, I just wanted him to be more restrained.”

“This matter will inevitably drag on for several more days,” said Princess Zhao. “Even if we can’t do anything to the King of Chu in the end, we must get a result. Otherwise, they won’t be truly afraid.”

“I know that, don’t worry,” King Zhao said. “I’m thinking of the best way to get Ying Bai out of the palace, so that even if they don’t give up, they won’t have any hope.”