Chapter 366 Sorrow
For the next few days, Lin Changning stayed in his mother's courtyard. A few days later, while Lin Changning was working at the military headquarters, Wen Zhi suddenly walked in from outside. He saw Wan Jin standing to the side fanning Lin Changning, while Lin Changning sat at his desk processing official documents.
Looking at him, I felt a little teary-eyed: "Little Six, you're living a pretty comfortable life. Have you finished the official documents? You need to get up early tomorrow morning to go to the Prince's Mansion to pay your respects."
Lin Changning looked up, somewhat bewildered: "Mourning? Has anyone passed away? I haven't heard anything about it recently."
Hearing this, he casually grabbed an official document from the table, fanned himself, took a few steps back, and plopped down on a chair next to the ice bucket.
He couldn't help but complain in his heart that his young master was biased. Of all his subordinates, he had never seen his commander send so much ice to anyone. Only Xiao Liu would give half of the ice in the manor to Xiao Liu.
His eyes stung just looking at it.
He fanned himself, enjoying the rare coolness of summer, then leaned back in his chair and let out a comfortable sigh.
After calming down from the heat, he said, "You went to pick up Prince Sheng's son with your men, and you've been busy processing official documents these past few days since you got back, so it's normal that you didn't know."
The imperial court has issued a proclamation that Prince Sheng, along with his entire household, committed suicide by setting himself on fire in his palace. His relatives have also been sentenced to be executed in the autumn. Speaking of which, the person in charge is truly ruthless; the Third Prince, despite being his uncle, was not even allowed to have his body collected.
The prince has already spoken; he and the heir of Prince Sheng will preside over the funeral of the Third Prince, and it will be held in a grand ceremony at the Prince's residence. Many people from Taiyuan will likely come to pay their respects tomorrow.
Lin Changning casually tossed the official document aside, took a fan from Wan Jin and fanned himself, somewhat puzzled: "Isn't the prince openly going against the imperial court? Will these wealthy and powerful families in Taiyuan dare to come?"
He scoffed softly, "That depends on which side they choose."
Lin Changning looked somewhat uncertain, then smiled slightly and hummed softly, "They won't not come. I'm sure all the wealthy and powerful families in Taiyuan will come to the Prince's Mansion to pay their respects tomorrow."
Wen Zhi crossed his legs, grabbed a cup of cold tea from the table, gulped it down, and wiped his mouth. "Xiao Liu? How can you be so sure they'll all come?"
Lin Changning looked at Wen Zhi and curled his lips: "The current situation doesn't allow for opportunists and wavering people. If you side with the Prince's Mansion today, you can survive for a while longer. The Prince dares to challenge the court now, so he must have made preparations. When I was allocating grain and supplies recently, I also found that we are still relatively well-supplied. If we don't side with the Prince today and waver, we probably won't survive this summer and will be removed from the list of powerful clans in Taiyuan."
He nodded in agreement: "That's true. Now is a tense time, and I doubt anyone would waver at this moment."
Lin Changning hummed in agreement, silently muttering to himself, "Except for idiots."
The situation is now crystal clear. A number of people have already been purged from Taiyuan. Anyone who still can't see the situation clearly at this point is truly foolish.
The next morning, Lin Changning, Lao Ma, and others, along with Lao Zhou and several other generals, got up early and took their families in carriages to the Prince's Mansion.
Today we are going to pay our respects, and in a few days we will hold a roadside memorial service. Lin Changning only learned about the roadside memorial service after being reminded by Lao Zhou.
This also serves as a public statement to those who are wavering, showing them that they firmly stand with the King of Chu.
As expected, when Lin Changning and his group arrived at the gate of the Prince's Mansion, a long line of carriages had already formed in front of the gate.
Lin Changning's family consists only of his mother and two sisters-in-law. Lin Changning is currently the head of the household, so he simply brought his mother to the Prince's Mansion.
Li Mingxiu, dressed in mourning clothes, stood at the gate to welcome people into the palace.
Qi Rong wasn't wearing mourning clothes, but dressed simply, he stood at the door with Li Mingxiu to greet the guests.
Lin Changning, with a polite smile on his face, led his mother to the door and bowed to Li Mingxiu and Qi Rong.
Li Mingxiu didn't seem particularly grief-stricken; a faint smile remained on his face.
He nodded slightly to Lin's mother, then said to Lin Changning, "The mourning hall is in the main hall. Go ahead, Changning. Speaking of which, you were the one who brought Mingde back from Xincheng. He hasn't been eating or drinking these past few days. You can say a few words of comfort to him."
Qi Rong nodded to Lin Changning: "Go ahead, I'll come find you later."
After exchanging a few polite words with the two men, Lin Changning led his mother to the mourning hall to pay her respects.
Upon arriving at the mourning hall, Lin Changning saw Li Mingde, dressed in mourning clothes, looking pale and haggard. A few days ago, when the two fought side by side, Li Mingde, though haggard, did not look as dejected as he did today.
After offering incense and paying respects to the deceased with her mother, several maids prepared to lead Lin's mother to the women's banquet.
Lin's mother was somewhat alarmed and turned to look at Changning. Lin Changning nodded gently to his mother: "Go ahead, Mother. Men and women will eat separately. I'll wait for you in the carriage after we've finished eating in the front yard."
Madam Lin nodded and followed the maids to the backyard to take her seat.
Thinking that the two had once shared a common destiny, Lin Changning stood behind Li Mingde and looked at the huge coffin in the mourning hall, saying, "Please accept my condolences."
Li Mingde seemed to have just realized who had come. He turned around in a daze, and after seeing Lin Changning, he turned back to look at the coffin and said in a hoarse voice, "It's you, Lin Qianshi. Thank you for coming to pay your respects."
Lin Changning sighed: "It's only right, respect for the dead is paramount."
Li Mingde slumped on the prayer mat, his hair disheveled, as if he had been kneeling there for a long time, his posture swaying slightly.
"Yes, the dead should be respected, but the emperor wouldn't even let my father's body be collected. My father was his third uncle!"
Lin Changning remained silent, unsure how to offer any comfort.
He could only gently pat Li Mingde on the shoulder.
Li Mingde seemed to have found someone to confide in, and stared blankly at the coffin as he spoke: "My father was the most unambitious of all the princes. He had no ambition and just enjoyed collecting antiques and paintings, indulging in refined pursuits. When the emperor was young, he was strictly disciplined by his uncle, but it was my father who brought him fun toys and bought him snacks. How could he? How could he treat him like this? My Ninth Uncle's men said they have found the bodies of my father and mother in the wilderness, and that they have been completely devoured by wild dogs. Now they want to make a cenotaph, but even the clothes are not complete..."
Lin Changning remained silent.
But Li Mingde, standing before him, shakily supported himself on his knees and slowly stood up.
"Inspector Lin, I want revenge!"
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