Chapter 49: Generosity
In the winter of the thirteenth year of Jiazheng, the first snow had not yet melted. After recovering from his injuries, the fourth prince Yuan Jian joined the Ministry of Justice and officially stepped into the vortex of court politics.
When he first entered the Ministry of Justice, most officials were on the sidelines.
Unlike other princes who walked around the six ministries, they were always arrogant and looked down on others even though they were called "studying". However, the Fourth Prince seemed to have no disrespect for any of the officials in the Ministry of Justice. He asked for advice with an open mind, learned more, listened more and spoke less, just like a new clerk in the Ministry of Justice. He quickly won the favor of many officials.
Rongpin saw her son in the palace and stroked the pink flesh that had grown from the scar on his forehead. She felt so distressed that she couldn't help but burst into tears: "Why would mother need you to fight with others? What if something happened to you? How would mother live?"
He was her only hope and expectation in the deep palace.
She was naturally quiet and peaceful, and if her ancestors had not been convicted, she would not have had to enter the palace as a laundry slave. She would have lived a peaceful life with her lover and had children.
Nothing works as planned.
After being promoted to the position of concubine, her palace was immediately changed, and even the number of servants suddenly increased several times. It is not known whether the Emperor of Southern Qi was moved by sympathy for Yuan Jian because he saw so pitiful a figure in the court, or because he remembered Rongpin's beauty when she was young, so he came to Rongpin's place to stay twice.
For the first time, he sat there for half an hour, drank a pot of scented tea brewed by Rongpin herself, and ate snacks made by her. His tongue, which had been so well pleased by the imperial kitchen, actually felt unsatisfied. The woman in front of him had pretty features. Although she was not as beautiful as a young lady, she was like a tranquil and elegant landscape painting, which made people stop unconsciously.
The latter time he stayed longer and tasted a table of dishes prepared by Concubine Rong herself. The Emperor of Southern Qi was too embarrassed to tell the eunuchs who were serving him that he accidentally... ate too much.
While eating , Rongpin neither helped him pick up food nor asked him whether the food was to his liking. Instead, she ate her rice in silence, giving the Southern Qi emperor the illusion that his concubine was his dinner companion. He neither bothered to think about state affairs nor sang, danced, or drank wine to accompany his meal. He just focused on eating. Even Wang Zhen, who was serving beside him, was stunned - this was far more than his majesty's usual appetite.
At night, when the emperor was reading memorials by lamplight, Wang Zhen saw that he was restless, so he silently brought him a cup of digestive tea. The master and servant looked at each other awkwardly, as if they had a tacit secret.
Emperor of Southern Qi: “…”
Wang Zhen: “…”
But after not seeing each other for a month, Yuan Jian seemed to have shed his childish skin and put on the shell of an immature adult. Even his words of comfort were mature and steady: "Don't cry, mother. Everything will be fine."
Rongpin cried even harder.
Whenever he suffered injustice since he was a child, Rongpin would teach him to be patient.
There is no other way but to endure it till death, with gnashing teeth and swallowing blood.
However, Zhang Erge taught him a different way of dealing with things, which was contrary to what Rongpin had taught him since he was a child. He was no longer a child of six or seven years old. After being beaten, he asked his mother with red eyes: "Why didn't you quarrel with them?"
At that time, Rongpin stroked his head and cried silently.
Things are different now. After her promotion, the mother had a lot of experience that she wanted to pass on to her son. However, because she moved to a new palace, she not only had to get familiar with the newly appointed palace maids, but also had to welcome the emperor twice in succession. She also had to deal with the new interpersonal relationships in the palace due to her change in status. Years of peaceful life were completely disrupted. Rongpin was so upset that she forgot about crying. She never taught him the life philosophy of "tolerance in everything" again, and easily let Yuan Jian leave the palace.
Yuan Jian had prepared himself to be scolded by his mother for an hour, but it was in vain. After leaving the palace, he still had a lot of time. He was at a loss. He didn't want to accept the invitation of the Third Prince to drink at his mansion, nor did he want to go back to the Ministry of Justice to read the files of the old case. After hesitating, he finally thought of a place: "Let's go to Yanyue Tower?"
Xiao Luzi asked carefully: "Your Highness has made an appointment with someone?" I always felt that His Highness was not in a good mood.
Yuan Jian: "Go see Brother Zhang."
Zhang Erge would sometimes climb over the wall to his house in the middle of the night. It had only been four or five times since he was recovering from his injuries and entered the Ministry of Justice. When asked what she was busy with on weekdays, she would always answer confidently, "Begging for food."
Yuan Jian always wanted to say: Second brother, don’t beg for food anymore, I will support you.
But every time I was frightened by her sacred look of regarding begging as her lifelong career, and I always felt that this proposal underestimated Brother Zhang.
The second brother Zhang gave him the impression that he was full of energy all the time and could thrive wherever he went.
The Fourth Prince's carriage arrived at the alley beside Yan Yue Tower, and as expected, he ran into a dozen people fighting around a man. It was already dark, and all the shops along the street had lit up lanterns. With the help of a little light from the alley entrance, he saw the cold light flashing from the sharp weapon, and he was so frightened that his hands and feet turned cold.
The people who were surrounded were extremely agile and their attacks were ruthless and quick. In a blink of an eye, half of them were lying on the ground. Some could still make noises, while others lay motionless, and it was unknown whether they were dead or alive.
Xiao Luzi was so scared that he pulled at the car window and tried to drag Yuan Jian in: "Your Highness, let's go quickly. Or find the patrol officers?"
Yuan Jian stopped him: "Take another look."
A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Erge came out of the alley, leaning on her dog-beating stick and holding a broken bowl for begging, with people lying on the ground behind her.
She had just walked out of the alley, with a lot of blood on her body, when she was stopped by a car: "Get in."
Yuan Jian lifted the curtain to reveal half of his face. Tang Ying grinned, climbed onto the shaft of the carriage and the carriage sped away quickly. After the person who had struggled to get up in the alley came out with difficulty, not even her shadow was left, only the surprised eyes of passers-by.
"Are you hurt?" Yuan Jian handed over his handkerchief. "Those people don't look like beggars to me. Did my second brother offend anyone?"
Tang Ying stared at him with a look that said, "Is this kid stupid?" Yuan Jian finally figured it out and asked in shock, "...Is it the Grand Princess?"
There are many guards in the Grand Princess's mansion, so it is easy to track down a beggar. She asked Yao Niang for help, not expecting Yao Niang to punish the little beggar, but wanting to contact Gan Jun through Yao Niang to find out the emperor's true intentions in the palace.
She had enough manpower to deal with a little beggar.
Since Tang Ying joined the Shadow Department, she first went to several secret bases for Shadow Department training, which were located in large houses in four directions of the capital. On the surface, those four houses were ordinary wealthy merchants, with a lot of goods and employees coming in and out on weekdays, but in fact they were the property of the Shadow Department. Each house had an underground palace, and there were also people who specialized in teaching Shadow Department members to learn various skills of spies.
New employee Tang Ying took half a day out every day to train, and in the second half of the day she continued to work as a beggar leader outside in the name of social practice.
Yao Niang was very dissatisfied with this: "Can't you just stay still?"
Tang Ying: " I have angered the Grand Princess, she will definitely have a trick up her sleeve to deal with me. I have to be the middleman and give her a chance to vent her anger. Otherwise, what if an old woman gets sick from anger?"
Yao Niang laughed and fell on her shoulder: "You little heartless girl, are you still worried about the health of the eldest princess?"
"Of course." Tang Ying sincerely wished: "I hope that all members of the royal family will be healthy and live long." So that she could slowly find out the mastermind behind the incident in White City.
The two of them had been together for a long time, and Tang Ying was just testing Yao Niang's attitude towards her old master. She found that Yao Niang was lazy on weekdays, and didn't care much about anyone mentioned. She didn't even say anything about her disrespect towards the Grand Princess. She even speculated whether there was a rift between the master and servant.
"Stop trying to guess what I'm thinking." Yao Niang kicked her and said, "Go beg for food, little beggar." Unexpectedly, Tang Ying was so agile that she dodged the kick and went to change her clothes with a smile.
At the moment, she was riding in the same carriage with Yuan Jian. She smiled and said, "Does Your Highness think that the Grand Princess has been in charge of the Phoenix Department for many years and is still a good woman? She was scolded to the point of vomiting blood, and her only son was thrown into prison. Yet, she can still sit in front of the Buddha and recite a sutra, and she is so magnanimous that she forgives a beggar like me who offended her?"
The eldest princess is not only not a lenient person, but also extremely vindictive. Ever since Huan Yanbo was imprisoned, this is the fourth wave of people Tang Ying has encountered who want to kill her. As a result, she dares not even go back to the Fu Mansion. Every night she climbs over the wall to see Fu Yingjun and Tengyun. Both of them seem to be particularly dissatisfied with her, and they always spray her with their noses, and they even compete with each other to spray.
Tang Ying was also helpless.
"But...but no matter how much she hates you, she shouldn't kill you." He saw that the besiegers were carrying weapons. If it weren't for his second brother's excellent skills, they would have been killed long ago.
Tang Ying laughed so hard that she fell backwards: "Fourth Prince, sometimes I feel that you don't look like a member of the royal family. How did you grow up to be so kind-hearted?" She was going to rub Yuan Jian's head, but when she saw that he was wearing a golden crown today and his clothes were decorated with intricate patterns, she looked luxurious and elegant. She stretched out her dirty, black hand and stopped it above his forehead, and she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Yuan Jian stared with his eyes, which were clean and innocent, reminding people of the eyes of small animals.
Tang Ying bent her fingers and tapped his forehead twice: "Young man, be more careful." She lifted the curtain and found that they were already far away from Yanyue Tower. She jumped off the speeding carriage with a dog-beating stick in hand, and scared Yuan Jian so much that he shouted to stop the carriage.
He then leaned over to take a look, but saw Tang Ying rolling on the ground, smiling and waving at him, "Take care of yourself and be careful when going out!" and then quickly disappeared into the night.
Xiao Luzi smacked his lips and said, "Master Zhang is really amazing."
Yuan Jian originally wanted to take her back to check on her injuries, but he found blood oozing from her legs.
Because she defended herself, she offended the Grand Princess and was hunted down by her. However, she had no complaints against him and was instead worried about his safety.
"Go to the Ministry of Justice." Yuan Jian was originally planning to return home, but then he changed his mind.
Xiao Luzi advised him with a bitter face: "Your Highness, you have been in the Ministry of Justice for a long time. Can we not treat the Ministry of Justice as our home?"
