Ink Burns

Chapter 298 The Passerby (Part 1)

The news of Jing'an's death, along with the imperial guards sent by the capital to escort his coffin into the city, finally caused a great uproar.

According to the laws of the Great Wei Dynasty, whenever a princess dies, the emperor suspends court for one day. From the beginning of the mourning period to the end, the emperor holds twelve sacrificial rites. The Hanlin Academy writes the eulogy and epitaph, the Imperial Observatory selects the site and date, and the students of the Imperial Academy report the death.

Her obituary and epitaph must specify the princess's posthumous title, funeral arrangements, birth date, and achievements and reasons for her passing.

All the funeral documents for Princess Jing'an were drafted by Yuan Wenying, a member of the Grand Secretariat appointed by Emperor Yongping.

After the document was properly drafted, the Ministry of Revenue provided provisions, and the Ministry of Works made the memorial banner, ancestral tablet, silk scroll, coffin, tombstone, funerary objects, and ceremonial regalia. At this point, the Ministry of Works and the eunuchs set up a shrine at the tomb to worship the Earth God and inscribe the spirit tablet. Afterwards, they all sent ministers to perform the rites.

Emperor Yongping was by no means a petty person when it came to matters of great propriety, righteousness, and virtue. Xu Quyan would not, nor need to, use a "bad posthumous title" to definitively judge Jing'an's life. Regardless of merits or demerits, in the historical records, Emperor Zhaode, on his deathbed, ensured that among the three people in his will, Jing'an's Xu Liangnu would be included.

If Xu Quyan even wants to hinder Jing'an's reputation after his death, then how is he any different from Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, who erased the identity and achievements of his aunt, Princess Taiping, during the late Tang Dynasty?
He did not want to be like Li Longji, who was "wise for half his life".

He should strive to be like Li Shimin or Emperor Taizu of Wei, excelling in both civil administration and military affairs, accepting advice and employing people—the most outstanding emperor of all.

Therefore, Jing'an's epitaph and obituary were written in an extremely ornate and grand style, from "the dignity of an imperial daughter" to "learned the ways of a young girl", from "beautiful appearance" to "good deeds following her husband". Later, Emperor Yongping wrote a grand stroke of his pen and gave his aunt the beautiful posthumous title of "Grand Princess Zhenguo Minshun Gongqian", and even allowed her to have her spirit tablet set up in the imperial mausoleum. After 49 days of mourning, she was moved south to Zhenjiang Prefecture, where she returned to her roots and was buried with her husband, Fu, who died young.

On the surface, inside and out, Emperor Yongping considered everything properly;

Behind the scenes, Xu Quyan, as a nephew, seemed to have forgotten many things.

In Dongshier Hutong, the Cui family mansion was decorated in white. From the covered walkway to the inner courtyard, the bright red lanterns were taken down and replaced with large, misty white paper lanterns. The servants put away their crimson robes and changed into coarse linen clothes.

"Since ancient times, if the mother is a princess, after her death, at least one of her three fiefdoms will be granted to her sons or daughters, and at most all of them will be divided among them. The sons will be granted the title of lord or marquis, down one rank. Moreover, the mother will be posthumously granted the title of 'Guardian of the State'!"

On the rosewood Maitreya couch with dragon and phoenix patterns, Fu Mingjiang's cheeks were flushed. She leaned against the couch, her blood hot due to pregnancy. In the dead of winter, she was only covered by a gauze shirt. Her belly was swollen high, like a melon that had been bloated. Perhaps a gentle tap would make the skin of the melon crack open and the melon fall off when it was ripe.

She looked quite well, perhaps because her appetite had increased during her pregnancy, or perhaps because her beloved was pampering, coaxing, praising, and taking care of her—for example, right now, Cui Yulang was bending down, carefully massaging her slightly swollen calves and insteps.

Although he was full of energy, he was inevitably tinged with sadness due to his mother's passing.

Fu Mingjiang's eyes were red from crying, her eyebrows were downturned, and her round eyes were squeezed into narrow slits by her bulging cheekbones: "Fu Mingbo is a useless cripple. All the honors left by my mother should be passed on to me! What use are so many honors?! Even the posthumous title is so beautiful that it is seventeen or eighteen characters long, but it has no real benefits at all—the emperor is just a useless piece of trash!"

Cui Yulang lowered his head, his hair tied up with a milky white satin ribbon that draped over his shoulder. His clear and elegant features, amidst the mourning clothes and the halo of light, made him look like a jade gentleman chosen by a fairy.

Wasteful snacks?

Three sneers flashed through Cui Yulang's mind.

After receiving the will to pass the throne, Xu Quyan no longer pretended. He allowed his henchman Xue Xiao to lure his dying mother-in-law to the seaside and force her to commit suicide. He then distorted the truth in the epitaph and obituary, claiming that the long-ailing Grand Princess sought medical help everywhere, only to encounter bandits at Haijiao Ridge, Ma Liu Mountain, Qi County, Jizhou. She was chased by the bandits and fell into the sea. Furthermore, he claimed that the bandits were survivors of the ambush against Xue Xiao a month earlier, and that all of Jing'an's personal guards were wiped out.
The once illustrious Grand Princess Jing'an died by being chased into the sea by a petty thief—if this were written in a storybook, it would inevitably be criticized as "a promising start but a disappointing ending" or "a high beginning but a low end."

Even in that seemingly magnificent eulogy, the entire text only talked about the illustrious birth of Princess Jing'an, her outstanding appearance, and her deep affection for her husband. It made no mention of Princess Jing'an's achievements as regent, nor of the laws and regulations she promulgated, the major cases she judged, the stability she maintained after Emperor Zhaode's death, or the protégés she promoted.

By obscuring this woman's proudest political achievements and bestowing upon her posthumous title gentle words such as "obedient," "respectful," and "humble," her surging, prematurely ended political ideals are simplified into a single line of submissive annotation.

Cui Yulang's lips curled into a mocking smile: "The upper class does vulgar things with remarkable dignity. If people could truly know this after death, Jing'an would probably be in a frenzy right now."

Mother-in-law, don't panic. Only now has your daughter truly fallen into his hands.

"Linniang, change your feet." Cui Yulang's voice was as clear and relaxed as satin, like a piece of fine jade falling into water, splashing up translucent white water droplets and making a tinkling sound.

Fu Mingjiang could not hide his anger and crossed his legs heavily: "When my mother was sick, although she was confused, she would beat me, scold me and say that I was useless. She also tried to persuade me to be wary of you and the Cui family, which made me sad for a long time. Even so, I still have to acknowledge her."

As Fu Mingjiang spoke, tears welled up in her eyes, but the little one inside her belly moved at just the right moment.

Fu Mingjiang quickly turned her head to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes: She was about to give birth, so she couldn't cry. Doctor Liu said that her fetus was a bit large, and now that she was close to delivery, she couldn't have any accidents, and the baby couldn't have any accidents either.

If only Mother could hold on a little longer, and die after the New Year, her child would be born and the New Year would be over. Perhaps Xu Quyan would still grant the child a title out of respect for Mother.

At this critical juncture, with the Lunar New Year approaching, funerals taking place, and births occurring, it's a situation that's neither joyful nor sorrowful, making it difficult to cope.

It's just a pity that her unborn child, who has just come into this world, cannot celebrate or sing, and even his maternal grandmother, who was his protector, has passed away. For the past year, her mother's health has been poor, she has been sickly and confused, and after two or three sessions of uterine ligation, she has become too lazy to seek out any more unpleasantness.

She had thought that after giving birth, she wouldn't need to take the initiative to make peace; for the sake of the child, the mother would surely back down.

Unexpectedly, what they received instead was news of their mother's death.

"It's all He Qingshu's fault!"

Fu Mingjiang said fiercely, "These days, Mother was already weak. He Qingshu accidentally fell into the water and drowned, which became the final blow that took Mother's life!"

Cui Yulang's sarcasm was barely concealed.

Even now, Fu Mingjiang still believes that her mother and He Qingshu were truly in love.
Ah.

Ha ha.

Hahahahahaha.

How could a lioness give birth to such a stupid hyena?

Could it be that he, like him, was originally an imposter?

Oh. Oh!

Fu Mingjiang's supposedly noble lineage was indeed a lie. Her biological father, "Fu Qingquan," was just a handsome young scholar selected by his father from a rural village. Because of his cleverness and intelligence, he was chosen by Cui Bainian to be placed into the Fu family, which had fallen on hard times and whose genealogy had been lost, as an heir.

As for why Fu Qingquan died?
Then we have to mention the old saying that "once a person has power and vision, he will not listen to orders" - after "Fu Qingquan" made a marriage alliance with Jing'an, he really got into the act, and relying on Jing'an's favor and love, he no longer listened to Cui Bainian's orders. In a fit of anger, Cui Bainian sent "Fu Qingquan" to meet the King of Hell.

Fu Qingquan died when Jing'an loved him most.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Cui Bainian then selected Zhou Xingyun, who bore a striking resemblance to "Fu Qingquan," from Zhenjiang Prefecture and sent him to Jing'an's side.

Unfortunately, Zhou Xingyun, who came from a lowly background as an actor, was truly foolish. Apart from his good looks, he couldn't get along with Jing'an and couldn't understand Jing'an's heart, so he naturally couldn't influence Jing'an's words and actions.

Then, by chance, he met He Qingshu again.

In terms of appearance, He Qingshu and "Fu Qingquan" are not similar, but they both have a gentle and timid temperament that makes people mistake one for the other at first glance.

He then went to great lengths to deliver He Qingshu to Jing'an's side.

By then, Jing'an was already quite old. Having spent decades in the power-hungry world dominated by men, she had long understood that power was more desirable than love and that authority was more reliable than men. At the height of her power, she had tasted many men, and He Qingshu's appearance could only arouse her brief interest, which she could not sustain.

Fortunately.

He Qingshu seems to have a real talent for this kind of work.

He effortlessly charmed Madam Chen, a trusted female official by Jing'an's side, thus opening a shortcut to getting close to Jing'an and gradually becoming the man closest to Jing'an in the past ten years. Of course, besides He Qingshu, there were many other men in Jing'an, such as the actor who sang "Crane Boy," the poor scholar he met only once, the minor officials who offered themselves to him, and even the handsome eunuch in the palace.

These are all just passing through; only He Qingshu remains evergreen.

As mentioned earlier, He Qingshu truly has a natural talent for this: he can influence Jing'an's decisions, and he often represents Cui Bainian's ideas. In other words, Cui Bainian manipulates Jing'an by controlling He Qingshu.

Having learned from Fu Qingquan's experience, Cui Bainian not only kept He Qingshu hanging on, but also imposed many restrictions on him.

Of course, this constraint is not "Qianji Yin": "Qianji Yin" refers to the poison that Jing'an found when Zhao De was deeply involved in alchemy and medicine making in his later years. The antidote formula has always been in Jing'an's hands, and it is her last card.

Cui Bainian had his own methods.

For example, a written IOU for gambling debts;
For example, He Qingshu's true identity.