Chapter 105 (1/2)
Glossary
儿 | er |(lit. child) diminutive marker used as a form of endearment
Ruan Zhu thought about her encounter with Liu Fei Xu. As a matter of fact, she felt a little regretful. The ill will she currently held towards him wasn’t that strong, perhaps because every woman had a tendency of being fond of attractive men. When all was said and done, that man had previously been incomparably handsome and adored by countless women. She studied the smile on her husband’s face, not quite understanding: “Liu Fei Xu is done for and his life may soon follow. Seeing how you’re so pleased, does this have anything to do with you?”
It should be extremely difficult in this age to cure a sexually transmitted disease, right? During the final years of the Qing dynasty, there had been an emperor who kicked the bucket after he had visited a low-grade brothel and been infected with a lecherous disease.
“How could there not have anything to do with me? After all, this drama was completely directed by yours truly. That moronic man surnamed Liu would let his pants fall as soon as he sees a beautiful woman so it serves him right to be doomed.” Ruan Zhu had imperceptibly influenced all of the people at her side, and Min Zhi unconsciously imitated his wife’s manner of speaking.
“What did you direct?” Ruan Zhu didn’t understand and blankly stared at him: “You didn’t place an unclean woman by Liu Fei Xu’s side, did you?”
“My wife seems to not be stupid to need only a little hint. It’s very strange–why do they all say your brain seems to be missing something?”
“Hurry up and answer the question.” Ruan Zhu pushed her hand into his clothes to tickle his underarm, but it seemed Min Zhi was naturally not ticklish as he didn’t mind even after she had kept at it for a while. She gloomily gave up.
“I located a pretty woman who had the illness and gave her a sum of money to wreck Liu Fei Xu. I also promised to give her another payment if she was successful.”
“Did you really give it to her after she succeeded?” Ruan Zhu had her doubts.
“I truly gave it.” Min Zhi took in his wife’s disbelief and hurried to add: “I swear it. I am not one who goes back on my words and honoring promises is how I conduct myself as a person.”
“Lord Husband, I didn’t say that you aren’t trustworthy. I’m just afraid that even if the woman received the money, she would have no breath with which to spend it.” In the past, he had eliminated Zhao Hai and the jailer in Shun Tian Hall in order to protect a secret. It’d be a wonder if he had agreed to let the woman live this time.
“Wife, you’re so smart. I indeed gave her the money, but whether she’ll live to be able to spend it is something that doesn’t concern me. I merely believe that only the dead can guard a secret forever.” How could he have possibly left behind such a large trail? Having suffered so much before, how could he not have learned from his setbacks?
“You treacherous man.”
“I am only treacherous because of you and our family. There is no benefit to us if the Crown Prince lives. We can see that Father-Emperor is becoming older. If he transfers his position to the Crown Prince, our family can be considered completely done for.”
“But if by chance the Crown Prince was to be discarded, then who should take up the mantle?”
“Whoever wants to receive the mantle can go receive it. As long as it’s not ol’ Second, it’s fine.” The Crown Prince was the second oldest among the many brothers. Min Zhi didn’t have any respect towards him which is why he addressed him as such.
“Min Zhi, do you wish to sit in the Dragon Throne in the Gold Palace?”
“There’s a reason why I returned late from Hong Lu Office. You don’t want to ask the reason?” Min Zhi’s eyebrows twitched, not even replying to his wife’s question.
“You really do seem to have returned rather late tonight. Which country’s envoy came to our Tian Chu this time?” She remembered he hadn’t yet eaten. Picking up a bowl of floating fern cold noodles, she used chopsticks to feed him.
Floating fern cold noodles was an extremely aromatic dish. The juice from floating ferns was used to knead the dough and Chinese perch, bass, and shrimp were used as ‘toppings’ to create a beautiful and distinctive flavor. Du Fu previously had written a poem in praise: A cold palace hall a thousand miles away; open up a cold jade vial. The sovereign king revels in the cool evening; flavor demands pause til the set while.[a]
“Today, Nan Ling’s Prime Minister Sima came to our Tian Chu with a group of retainers to have an audience with the Emperor, and Father-Emperor instructed for me to receive them. I didn’t feel like paying attention to them and directly sent them to the post station with the intention of leaving but Prime Minister Sima loves to chatter away and prattled at me the entire time.”
Min Zhi grabbed the chopsticks from her and sent a few bites of the noodles into his wife’s mouth……She opened her mouth to accept the food, but who would’ve thought he would then push his head forward and plant his lips on hers–all so she could feed him directly, mouth-to-mouth.
“Prime Minister Sima–he was so idle as to be a pain the ass?” She was never crude when together with refined men like Yun Shi Yi and Zong Zhi, but when with Min Zhi……haha, she seems to be more open.
“Ever since the Red Eyebrow Army suffered defeat after defeat, the road that connected Tian Chu with Nan Ling that had been blocked for several years had finally cleared so it’s not strange at all that the envoys of Nan Ling would ask to have an audience with the Emperor. But the odd part is that the Prime Minister himself came. Zhu’er, think about how important a Prime Minister is. That is one who has reached the highest official position and doesn’t rashly leave the country. Guess what important matter he came to Tian Chu for.”
“Could it be that Prime Minister Sima’s position in Nan Ling isn’t secure so he fled to our Tian Chu to seek asylum?”
Min Zhi lifted a crystal prawn dumpling from the table and placed it in his wife’s mouth. Waiting for her to take it, he then leaned his head forward again, demanding the food back. Eating the food that had been moistened with her saliva tasted particularly sweet. “Prime Minister Sima invited me to return to be the Duke.”
“Be the Duke?” Ruan Zhu slowly repeated the words before suddenly becoming alarmed. Grabbing his shoulder, amazement in her eyes: “They want to invite you back to Nan Ling. But why? I vaguely remember the heir of Nan Ling is called Wang Kun and he’s the bastard son of the Duchess of Nan Ling and one of her concubines.”
The Duke of Nan Ling was the same as the current emperor of Tian Chu in that they both did not have biological offspring; instead, all of the children at their knees were born from their respective wives and her various concubines. But where the Duke was even more pitiful was that none of his bastard sons were of the royal blood which meant none of them had the right to inherit his title. Thus, Min Zhi was adopted at a young age and became the orthodox heir. When the old Duke became seriously ill, the palace became chaotic and the Duchess collaborated with Wang Kun to launch a rebellion. Xuanyuan Min Zhi took advantage of the confusion to run and was able to flee to Tian Chu after a narrow escape.
“It’s precisely Wang Kun, that idiot without any prospects. But in his process of wresting away the position of heir, he was killed the year before last by the other brothers. A few other bastard sons died with him. As the mother of all of those useless siblings, the old Duchess had worried herself to sickness because her sons were massacring each other, with death not too far off.” Min Zhi’s face held a bitter smile while endless loathing filled his eyes: “The current Nan Ling is a country without a leader, and its court is in turmoil with the bastard sons brawling to no end over that position. Prime Minister Sima finally couldn’t stand it and traveled a long way to Tian Chu with the intention of bringing back someone who can lead and take charge of the whole situation.”
“Your meaning?” Ruan Zhu attentively watched her husband, a kind of expectation rippling in her eyes. She didn’t like the idea of him becoming a duke that lead a country. She wanted him to stay in Tian Chu, to stay by her side. Bo Zhao and Yu Ze needed their father. All five of her children were her heart and soul. If he truly wanted to leave, she wouldn’t allow him to take them with him.
Min Zhi hugged his wife and leaned his stubbly jaw against her tender cheek. The movement immediately caused comforting swells to undulate from his heart. “If it was the me that had yet to meet you, I would choose to follow them back to Nan Ling. But now I don’t value that position. There is nothing in this world that can cause me to separate from you. How could I, Xuanyuan Min Zhi, be the kind of person who goes when one is beckoned and is stepped under someone’s foot when not needed? Being Duke……hmph! Others seek but fail to get it, well I don’t desire it.”
“You really don’t desire it? And, you’re also unwilling to leave me and the children?”