Yun Qing's memorial, appealing for funds for the children at the Charity Home, soon reached the Crown Prince. This memorial was written by Mr Xia and Mr Chen together and was unusually emotional.
After reading it, the Crown Prince put it aside and asked, "Grand Chancellor Yu, how do you think we should handle this?" His reasoning was that it would be pointless for him to decide if Grand Chancellor Yu determined to go against him. Grand Chancellor Yu could find several reasons to contradict his decision.
Grand Chancellor Yu replied: "Your Highness, the taxes in Jiangnan this year are 20% lower than last year. It is not even enough to cover the expenses of the Imperial Court." The subtext of this statement was that if there was not even enough money for everyday expenses, how could there be money for a minor charity home? Moreover, if one charity home started asking for funds from the Imperial Court, and others followed suit in the future, how could they give them so much money?
The Crown Prince didn't object and instructed, "You can handle this matter, Grand Chancellor Yu!"
After Grand Chancellor Yu left, the Crown Prince called Chen Yu and asked, "Why do you think Grand Chancellor Yu objected to allocating money to the Charity Home?" Grand Chancellor Yu and Yun Qing were allies, so it stood to reason that he should take special care of Yun Qing. Grand Chancellor Yu's current behaviour made him suspect that Grand Chancellor Yu had a conflict with Yun Qing.
After a moment of contemplation, Chen Yu answered, "Yun Qing and Grand Chancellor Yu must be in some kind of conflict." After saying this, he turned to another matter, "Your Highness, no one has said anything about not allocating funds to the Charity Home, but the families of those soldiers who died in the war in the early spring have yet to receive their pensions. If we delay any longer, I'm afraid these soldiers will have a cold heart towards the Imperial Court." This situation was not a good thing.
The Crown Prince smiled bitterly. "The treasury has no money. What can be done?" It wasn't that he wasn't aware of the great danger behind this matter; he just couldn't do anything about it. All these years, he had to tear down the East Wall to repair the West Wall[1]. Not to mention that he suddenly had to set aside four or five million taels for the soldiers' pension, even just for one million taels, he had to scrape from everywhere.
Chen Yu said: "As far as I know, Jiangnan is enjoying light winds and timely rains[2]. Its summer harvest is 20% more than last year, but the reported tax revenue is 20% less than last year." The difference in revenue went to corrupt officials and into some people's pockets.
The Marquis of Taining Residence had a strong foundation, and since they also had people in Jiangnan, they were very well informed about the situation there. It could be said that the Marquis of Taining Residence was currently the Crown Prince's most important eyes and ears.
The Crown Prince was not so easily offended this time. He had been angry many times before, but now he was numb. "Grand Chancellor Yu has been running the Imperial Court for more than 20 years, and most of the officials in the Imperial Court only act according to his complexion." And he, the Regent Crown Prince, had simply become a puppet.
Chen Yu said, "Your Highness, the only one who can compete with Grand Chancellor Yu is Guojiu Daren[3]." He didn't know why, but over the past two years, His Highness had become somewhat estranged from Guojiu Daren[3].
The Crown Prince said nothing. Nothing was wrong with what Chen Yu had just said. Still, no one knew that relying on the Song family was like asking a tiger for its skin[4].
A junior palace eunuch hurried over and whispered to the gonggong[5] who was waiting outside, "Grand Steward, Qin Liang Di[6] is having difficulty giving birth."
Knowing that Qin Yue was in labour, the Crown Prince returned to the Eastern Palace. Initially, the Crown Prince had three sons and two daughters, but after the death of his eldest di[7] son, followed by the passing of his second son from illness, he was left with his sickly youngest son. Therefore, the Crown Prince attached great importance to Qin Yue's foetus.
After two days and two nights of labour with no sign of a successful delivery, the midwife came out of the delivery room with dread and spoke with her head lowered, "Your Highness, the child is stuck and can't come out. Qin Liang Di[6] is in danger now. Your Highness, we can only save the mother or the child now." It was up to the Crown Prince to decide which one to save.
The Crown Princess stood by the side with her big belly without saying a word.
The Crown Prince said after a while, "Keep the child."
Half a shichen[8] later, the child came out smoothly. The midwife carried the baby out and said joyfully, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, it's a little prince...."
As soon as the midwife spoke these words, a scream came from the delivery room, and her hand trembled, almost dropping the child to the ground. A moment later, an old woman servant came out from inside, kneeling on the floor with a terrified face and said: ''Your Highness, Niangniang[9], Qin Liang Di[6], Qin Liang Di[6] is losing a lot of blood...." The most feared thing when a woman gave birth was postpartum haemorrhage. Once this condition occurred, the mother's life was basically beyond hope.
In less than half a shichen[8], Qin Yue finally closed her eyes.
The Crown Prince's response to Qin Yue's death was: "Bury Qin Liangdi with dignity." As for the child, he intended to leave him in the care of the Crown Princess.
However, the Crown Princess was reluctant to accept the arrangement. She was more than seven months pregnant and did not have the energy to care for a newborn. The Crown Princess said: "I am not very well now, so it would be better to leave the child to Heshou." Heshou had not been pregnant again since her last miscarriage. Moreover, the Crown Prince rarely stayed at her place.[🤔]
The Crown Prince shook his head. "No." He had always been wary of Heshou! Heshou's pregnancy had been an accident, and he didn't even want to have a child with her.
Seeing that the Crown Prince disagreed, the Crown Princess thought momentarily and suggested, "Then let Xiao Liangyuan take care of the child!" Xiao Liangyuan's father was also one of Grand Chancellor Yu's people.
The Crown Prince nodded. "It's fine for you to handle this."
After the Crown Prince left, the Crown Princess's trusted Momo[11] thought that the Crown Princess's move was unwise. "Niangniang[9], if the child stays with you, he will give you an extra layer of protection." The Momo[11] brought this up because there were rumours the Crown Princess was carrying a daughter. Therefore, the Momo[11] felt it would be better for the Crown Princess to have a son by her side.
With a sneer, the Crown Princess stated, "I will not raise other people's children." Not to mention that she could still get pregnant; even if she couldn't, she wouldn't raise other people's children. It would take a lot of her energy, and she would end up raising a bad wolf. She wouldn't do such a thing.
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
Not only did the Crown Princess despise raising other people's children, but so did Heshou. So when she found out that the Crown Prince didn't want to hand over Qin Yue's child to her, she didn't feel much.
In the afternoon of that very day, Qingyang Gongzhu[12]'s personal momo[11] said that the Gongzhu[12] was ill and longed to see Heshou. Thus, the female officer who worked closely with Qingyang Gongzhu[12] informed the Crown Princess: "Gongzhu[12] misses Xianzhu[13] terribly. So I would like to ask the Crown Princess to be merciful and allow Xianzhu[13] to visit her." Although Heshou was only a concubine, she had the blood of the royal family, and this status gave her a great advantage.
The Crown Princess knew something was going on here, but she didn't say anything. She nodded and agreed to let Heshou go back to Gongzhu[12]'s mansion. The Crown Princess didn't send anyone to follow Heshou because she knew very well that even if she did, she wouldn't be able to get any information.
When Heshou returned to the Gongzhu[12] residence, she went straight into the inner courtyard and saw Qingyang Gongzhu[12] lying on the bed, not looking very well. She asked worriedly, "Mother, are you really sick?" She thought her mother was just looking for an excuse to take her home!
Qingyang Gongzhu[12] replied, "I had a bit of wind yesterday, but I feel much better after taking some medicine." It was true that she had been ill, but it was also true that she had taken the opportunity to bring Heshou back to talk to her.
Heshou breathed a sigh of relief and softly said, "That's good. Mother, you must take care of yourself!" She knew very well that if anything happened to her mother, she and her gege[14] would have no support. At that time, there was no telling how they would be bullied.
Qingyang Gongzhu[12] stroked Heshou's head, nodded, and said, ''I asked you to come back this time because I have something important to tell you. Eighth Young Miss Cai, who fell into the water three months ago, woke up as if she were a different person. Not only has her temperament changed drastically, but she also behaves very strangely." Two years ago, after hearing Heshou's words, she had her people pay close attention to the Eighth Young Miss Cai.
Heshou was excited when she heard this, as she grabbed Qingyang Gongzhu[12]'s hand. "Mother, this is the Eighth Young Miss Cai. She was the one who came up with all the ways I used to make money, including making ice. Mother, this Eighth Young Miss Cai is very capable. We must keep her under our control."
Qingyang Gongzhu[12] had considered much more things than Heshou. "People with great abilities also have great temperaments, and we need to figure out how to do this properly." She thought using force would be a bad idea, and if the person you forced still wouldn't tell you everything they knew, then there was nothing you could do about it.
Heshou hesitated and asked, "Mother, what do you suggest?"
Qingyang Gongzhu[12] said, "First, use a suitable reason to bring the person to the capital. For the rest, wait until she arrives here."
Qingyang Gongzhu[12] thought that no one knew what she was doing in secret. Little did she know that a pair of eyes had watched the mother and daughter for a long time.
This person was Yuchen. Since she always had people watching Heshou and Qingyang Gongzhu[12]'s residence beforehand, she was able to know about anything unusual, and this time was no exception.
The messenger informed Yuchen: "Niangniang[9], this Eighth Young Miss Cai is the shu[15] daughter of the Cai family's Second House. She used to be a pushover and would let the servants walk all over her. However, after waking up from her fall into the water, Eighth Young Miss Cai not only became bold and dared to discipline the disrespectful servants but also won Old Madam Cai's heart. She even devised an idea to help the Cai family make a lot of money. The people of the Cai family think that the Eighth Young Miss Cai has been blessed after suffering a great misfortune." If the messenger had anything to say about it, this person clearly had problems.
After listening to the messenger's words, Yuchen's expression became unpleasant as she once again asked, "Are you saying that the Eighth Young Miss Cai was like a different person after she woke up from falling into the water? Did her temperament change drastically after that incident?" Yuchen always found such things as taboo.
The messenger nodded. "Yes."
Yuchen couldn't help laughing. "She looks so much like Heshou back then!" Heshou had fallen ill before, and her temper had changed drastically after that. Therefore, the Eighth Young Miss Cai was most likely possessed by an evil spirit like Heshou. Having one Heshou around was enough for her. She didn't want another person like Heshou to appear.
Thinking about this, Yuchen said, "Settle this Eighth Young Miss Cai for me." The so-called settlement naturally meant extermination.
Momo[11] Gui had a different idea. "Niangniang[9], we can control this person and make her work for us."
Yuchen responded coldly, "No need."
Momo[11] Gui knew that her Niangniang[9] was still resentful of what had happened before. But she wasn't going to give up. "Niangniang[9], what happened back then has already passed. The fact that Heshou Xianzhu[13] is so anxious to get this person proves that this person must be very valuable." Thinking about the money that Heshou raked in back then, it was at least millions of taels, an amount that no one else could earn in a lifetime!
Yuchen replied, "No matter how valuable she is, she can't be used. These people are mad, unbelievably mad. I don't want to be tainted with them." She didn't want to be tainted by any of those demons. Who knew what evil trick those tainted people would come up with?
Seeing that Momo[11] Gui was still trying to persuade her, Yuchen waved her hand and said, "No need to say anything more. I've already made up my mind and won't change it." Sooner or later, she would also have to deal with that demon Heshou thoroughly. That was to prevent her from harming other people again. The reason Yuchen hated Heshou so much was because the incident that year left a deep shadow on her. She still remembered the feeling of helplessness in the face of death. It could be said that night was the only setback in Yuchen's life.
Footnotes Full List
- Chinese proverb: resort to a makeshift solution
- Chinese idiom: good weather for the crops; favourable weather
- guojiu=Emperor's maternal uncle or brother-in-law, daren=title of respect towards superiors
- Chinese idiom: expecting sb. (usu. an evil person) to act against his own interests; attempting the impossible
- 公公 (gōnggong) is a form of address for a court eunuch. For the palace eunuch, the term is 太监 (tàijiàn).
- Second highest concubine rank in a Crown Prince's harem in ancient China. It means Lady of Excellence. And Qin Liang Di is Qin Zhou's younger sister, just in case everyone forgot.
- born of or by the formal/official wife
- 2 hours
- addressing or referring to an empress or an imperial concubine
- Erm… I thought royal children were usually looked after by nannies.
- a form of address for an elderly woman
- Princess
- Princess of the Fourth Rank/usually granted to the daughter of a Junwang
- older brother
- born from a concubine
きつね's Musing
From here onward, we will see just how vicious Yuchen can be.
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The Rebirth of Han Yuxi