Ink Burns

Chapter 231 Bats (Part 1)

The Grand Princess Jing'an's residence was filled with purple calyx flowers because the lady of the house loved them. Purple calyx flowers were planted everywhere, from the garden and the pillars to the eaves. The clusters of flowers, like purple agate, hung in the wind, swaying gently. The wind blew silently but carried a fragrance.

The fragrance of the purple calyx flower cannot mask the bitterness of the medicinal herbs.

Fu Mingjiang used her finger to scrape the medicine soup hanging at the bottom of the spoon along the rim of the bowl and fed it to Princess Jing'an. Seeing her mother frown because of the astringent taste after swallowing, she smiled and used a gold skewer to pick up a salted plum and send it to her.

Fu Mingjiang's robe was wide and embroidered with an intricate and complex pattern of bats. When he moved, his sleeve brushed against the teacup, almost knocking the lid off to the ground.

Princess Jing'an leaned against the chaise longue, her face bare of heavy makeup, dressed only in casual attire, wearing a light and comfortable linen shirt and a turquoise headband. She looked less sharp and more haggard and kind than usual.

Princess Jing'an chuckled softly and waved her hand at her eldest daughter: "You're not usually good at serving people. You sit and eat your tea and fruit, and make room for your younger brother to serve you—spare my Ru kiln cup."

Fu Mingbo, standing behind Fu Mingjiang, was very fat and tall. The fat on his cheeks squeezed his eyes into slits. His right arm, hidden in his sleeve, looked weak and empty, as if something was missing inside.

Fu Mingbo's appearance is quite different from his sister's.

Obesity makes people ugly, but at the same time, it makes them kind and honest.

Fu Mingbo smiled and lowered his head, took the medicine bowl from his sister's hand, and sat down with a thud.

Fu Mingjiang, supporting her back, moved to sit closer to her mother on the couch and chatted idly with a smile: "My younger brother is already twenty-one, and we still haven't arranged a marriage for him?"

“A few days ago, your aunt came from Zhenjiang and said that Fei Niang has come of age and asked me if I had any plans.”

The "aunt" that Jing'an mentioned was not the opera singer from the Zhou family.

It is the Fu family of Zhenjiang.

Although she was called an aunt, she was not Fu Qingquan's biological sister, but a distant cousin. The Fu family had dwindled in number and had almost all died out when the founding emperor of the dynasty suppressed powerful clans.

Fu Mingjiang didn't really value the Fu family clan—the family had fallen on hard times and had no successors. Even with her mother's support, the most respectable position she could get now was a third-rank provincial governor.

“Why not look further up the social ladder? There are also unmarried girls in the Noble Consort’s clan, and the youngest daughter of the Prince Qin is also of marriageable age this year.”

Princess Jing'an swallowed the medicine and said calmly, "If you hadn't been so naughty, and if your brother's arm were still intact, I would have given him whoever he wanted, whether it was a princess of the Great Wei, a princess of a foreign land, or a flower girl."

It's about something that happened seven or eight years ago.

They were caught off guard and ended up getting into a real mess. They were just watching a good show, but the younger brother insisted on getting involved and making it seem real. Who knew that a tree branch would fall and hit his arm?

They were supposed to be enjoying a show, but it made them uncomfortable for a long time! After that night, they returned to the capital for several days. Chang Yusu, who made the suggestion, had her face swollen for several days after being whipped with a rattan cane by her father; she was also confined to her home for ten days by her mother for messing around with her younger brother; Xue Chen was not heard to have been punished, but his mother always valued her reputation, so he probably didn't get away with it either.
The one who fared the best was her son, Yulang, who didn't seem to have been punished at all. His father-in-law was the most understanding person. It was clearly the fault of those lowly villagers. It was that vile woman who set fire to the mountain, and her brother's arm was broken. How could they be blamed?

Fu Mingjiang lowered his head, pursed his lips, and gave a dry laugh.

After Jing'an finished taking her medicine, she told Fu Mingbo to go take a nap, leaving the mother and daughter alone.

While wiping her mother's mouth, Fu Mingjiang casually said, seemingly unconcerned, "In five or six days, the confinement of the Marquis of Guanbei will be lifted. I heard that the Censorate has sent five people to Suzhou Prefecture to interrogate Han Chengrang. I think it's only a matter of time before the Duzhou dike breach case is confirmed and arrives at Guan'anzhai."

Jing'an liked Fu Mingjiang using his brain. Otherwise, his mind would be filled with nothing but that Cui Yulang.

"Let him do it." Jing An said calmly, "The Su family, more than a hundred people, are all dead. Even if they find out about my Guan'anzhai, what can the emperor do? Kill me?"

Jing'an smiled, his lips pale, but his eyes were resolute: "I was the one who placed him on the throne. Do you expect me to be buried with the Su family? He might want to, but would the officials, civil and military leaders allow it? If I went to the imperial mausoleum to mourn, and my words revealed anything suspicious about the late emperor's edict, what would the historians say about him? Would they record a note saying he 'obeyed the throne'?"

Jing An smiled and said, "Then the historical records and later generations' comments will be quite interesting. Xu Quyan would never dare to gamble on this."

Jing'an was like a meticulous teacher, instructing his precious eldest daughter little by little on the ways of officialdom, the ways of strategy, and the ways of flexibility: "--As long as 'Qingfeng' is not touched, I can say a few soft words to the emperor to keep him in check without losing face."

In the past few days, she has thought things through.

Once the little emperor has grown wings and wants to fly, she can't stop him.

Is this aggressive move aimed at the Duzhou dike breach case? It's just using the Duzhou dike breach case as a pretext; the young emperor is using the blood feud with Xue Xiao of the Censorate to eliminate dissidents.

In recent years, the "Qingfeng" clan has grown in power. The Jiangnan gentry, which had been suppressed by Emperor Taizu, have gradually recovered their strength and have been entrenched in Jiangnan, gradually eroding the imperial power.

Xu Quyan was cowardly, not stupid.

From his attempt to increase taxes in Jiangnan three years ago, which was rejected by the cabinet, to the competition between the two examinations in the north and south the year before last, with 231 scholars from Jiangnan and the capital passing the examinations, and the remaining 27 new scholars coming from the northwest, southeast, northeast and southwest, Xu Quyan had already sensed that something was wrong.

But he had no legitimate reason to act!

He needed a pretext to reform the officialdom and consolidate imperial power!

“Now that he has opened up the Jiangnan region, Suzhou Prefecture will surely fall, and we will definitely lose a few more ‘Qingfeng’ prefects and vice-prefects—these are the compensation I owe him, and I accept it.”

Jing'an's aura was somewhat unstable, yet he still carefully instructed Fu Mingjiang: "But the people of the capital must never be touched by the emperor—last year, Bai Yusi replaced the Liu family as the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture, which was forced by the emperor against all odds. Yuan Wenying came to advise me that Liu Hezhou's son, Liu Huan, was a good-for-nothing who couldn't be put on the table. Rather than helping the Liu family guard their position, it would be better to abandon the Liu family, let the emperor have his way, and then use the prefect of Songjiang Prefecture as leverage to negotiate with the emperor, so that a capable person could be given a better position."

Jing'an said in a low voice, "I initially disagreed, but I couldn't resist Yuan Wenying's persistent pleading. I traded the position of Prefect of Songjiang Prefecture for his son's chance to enter the Hanlin Academy—and look at it now! It was a terrible move!"

Jing An forced himself to sit up, wiped the remaining tea from the bottom of the cup with his finger, drew a circle on the side table, and then rubbed a broken edge with his palm: "If we had guarded Songjiang Prefecture tightly and prevented the emperor from planting Bai Yusi in there, Jiangnan would still be a complete circle. Now that there is a gap, Jiangnan will be thrown into chaos from within! The recent breach of the dike in Duzhou is the best proof of this!"

If the young emperor hadn't had Bai Yusi's help, he wouldn't have been able to use Songjiang Prefecture as a base to allow the Censorate to do whatever it wanted in Jiangnan and investigate things slowly and thoroughly!
Jing'an slammed his fist on the side table, narrowed his eyes, and hissed, "The capital must not be retreated! Even if I have to go and take over, we cannot let the fire spread! — I will protect the Chang family to the very end!"

Despite his ailing and frail body, Jing'an's fiery spirit remained undiminished.

Unfortunately, this spirit did not affect the eldest daughter, Fu Mingjiang, in the slightest.

Fu Mingjiang sat beside her mother, head bowed, left hand clutching her wide robe, her gaze fixed blankly on the endless bat pattern.

Fu Mingjiang's thoughts had already drifted far away: Bats? Bats are bad luck; it's said they can only give birth to one child at a time. Her belly was so big, and although the imperial physician was certain it was only one, she still hoped for a miracle, that she could give birth to twins, a boy and a girl, for her beloved.

(End of this chapter)