Chapter 75 The Ninth Prince's misunderstanding is huge
Qi Jiu, no, now it should be Jiang Lin.
As Shen Yujiao watched the Ninth Prince of Great Xia approach with a smile, she forced herself to pull herself out of her shock and returned his smile: "What a coincidence, we meet here."
“Yes!” Jiang Lin was still the same as he was in Jiangnan. He took a few steps forward and patted Shen Yujiao’s shoulder, saying in a light tone, “It’s so good to see you here. Sixth Brother, you have no idea how worried I’ve been these past few days.”
"I originally came to deliver winter clothes and food to my elder brother on behalf of my father, but after all the trouble I went through with my men, I never imagined that my brother would disappear without a trace. I'm truly heartbroken..."
He Zhiju watched in disbelief as Shen Yujiao was embraced by Jiang Lin like a close friend. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Shen Yujiao forced a very strange smile at him. Jiang Lin was so enthusiastic that she couldn't find a suitable opportunity to interrupt him and explain.
"My lord," at that moment, another guard ran in from outside, his face beaming with joy, and said to everyone in the room, "I was on patrol just now and I discovered a small path leading up the mountain!"
"Really!" Jiang Lin, who was chatting away with Shen Yujiao just a moment ago, suddenly became serious. "Quick, everyone, follow him up the mountain to find my brother!"
Seeing that the situation was spiraling out of control, He Zhiju spoke up at the opportune moment: "Your Highness!"
Jiang Lin seemed to only then notice him. He stared intently at the person in front of him for a long while, then asked somewhat uncertainly, "You are... He Ziwang?"
"Your Highness, I pay my respects. Today, I have come down the mountain on the orders of the Crown Prince to ask the magistrate of Wuyun County to rescue you. The Crown Prince, his ministers, and the officials of the Ministry of Works are currently trapped on the small hill behind us. The path that this young man just discovered must be the one I cleared on my way down the mountain. Some parts of this path are not easy to walk on. If it is convenient for Your Highness, please come with me up the mountain to welcome the Crown Prince back."
"Hey!" Jiang Lin clapped his hands. "Why didn't you tell me about something so important sooner? Hurry! Let's go up the mountain now!"
He was very efficient and left without hesitation. The magistrate of Wuyun County followed him, completely bewildered, feeling that something was amiss, but he couldn't say anything.
Helpless, He Zhiju followed the escorting guards and whispered to Shen Yujiao beside him, "How did you meet His Highness the Ninth Prince?"
If He Zhiju remembered correctly, when Shen Yujiao first entered the palace, the Ninth Prince had only been born for a short time. Given their age difference, they rarely saw each other. Not to mention that the emperor later bestowed a marriage upon them, Shen Yujiao returned to Jiangnan, and Jiang Lin had also gone out to study before that. Logically speaking, the two should have had little interaction. But judging from the situation just now, that was clearly not the case.
Shen Yujiao glanced at Jiang Lin, who was still climbing the mountain, and sighed, "It's a long story. To put it simply, we met when we went to Jiangnan last time. He helped us once, and I helped him once, which is how we became acquainted. But at that time, I was traveling with the Crown Prince, not as the Sixth Young Master Jiang..."
At this point, He Zhiju still had questions. He looked up at Jiang Lin and asked with a headache, "So, when do you plan to make things clear with him?"
"I was just about to say that! Did he even give me a chance to say it?"
He Zhiju was speechless, because Jiang Lin hadn't given him a chance to speak earlier. This Ninth Prince was truly capricious.
The group had been on edge the whole time they came down the mountain, unsure when they would find the county government office, so they walked very cautiously. Now, as they went up the mountain again, they had lost the same energy they had on the way up. Not to mention, He Zhiju and Shen Yujiao were a little tired. They had tried their best to climb up, but they still couldn't keep up with Jiang Lin's pace.
As for the magistrate of Wuyun County who followed behind, he was even less likely to succeed. He wanted to show his face in front of the Crown Prince, but he had always been a weak scholar, and now he was climbing the mountain, and his physical strength was simply not up to par.
Jiang Chen was directing everyone to clear snow on the mountain when he saw a large group of people coming up from the foot of the mountain. He felt particularly relieved at that moment, thinking that as expected of Shen Yujiao, with her around, these people really didn't get lost.
"Fifth Brother! Fifth Brother! Where are you?"
The leader was a young man wearing a mink coat. Jiang Chen was a little curious when he saw him shouting all the way. He ordered the guards around him to go forward and greet him. After the guards went over, they brought the young man to Jiang Chen in a short while.
"We've finally found Fifth Brother!"
The boy looked relieved as soon as he saw him. Jiang Chen looked behind him, puzzled, trying to get an explanation from Shen Yujiao or He Zhiju. The boy in front of him looked familiar, but Jiang Chen did not remember having such a younger brother.
"Fifth Brother, what's wrong? I've only been studying abroad for a few years, and you've already forgotten about me?"
Jiang Lin's captivating eyes swept over Jiang Chen, and when he saw Chu Rou standing behind him, he found her both beautiful and somewhat familiar. He smiled and asked, "This must be my sister-in-law, right? I haven't yet presented my gifts to my sister-in-law since Fifth Brother's wedding!"
Having said that, without paying attention to the changed expressions on Jiang Chen and Chu Rou's faces, he cupped his hands and bowed to Chu Rou.
In the blink of an eye, Chu Rou quickly exchanged a glance with the Crown Prince, and then curtsied before Jiang Lin could do so: "Your Highness, Ninth Prince—this humble servant, Chu Rou, greets Your Highness."
Chu Shi... Jiang Lin finally recognized who the person in front of him was. He took a few steps forward and helped her up: "So it's Cousin A-Rou! I was just laughing at Fifth Brother for not recognizing me. Look at me, I didn't even recognize you, Cousin, at this moment."
While the two were recognizing their relatives, Jiang Chen finally met the panting Shen Yujiao. He supported Shen Yujiao's almost exhausted shoulders and listened as she said, "You... your ninth brother, Jiang Lin, is here to escort... grain."
Although Shen Yujiao was so tired that she could barely speak a complete sentence, she still added before she left: "Jiangnan... that kid who spoke up for you."
Her words did catch Jiang Chen's attention, but the most urgent matter was not recognizing relatives. He couldn't care less about Jiang Lin and walked quickly to the magistrate of Wuyun County, who had struggled to climb the mountain. Before the magistrate could even finish bowing to him, he ordered, "Send a team down to make some arrangements. I and the other officials have been trapped on the mountain for many days and need a place to rest. We can talk about anything else when we come down the mountain."
The magistrate of Wuyun County turned his head and looked at the long road he had painstakingly climbed. He almost fell backward down the mountain. With the help of his yamen runners, he managed to finish his greetings and then rushed down the mountain to make arrangements.
Seeing that General He had indeed brought reinforcements, the Ministry of Works officials and the Crown Prince's subordinates on the mountain were overjoyed. They slowly descended the mountain along the road cleared by the county government officials. After being trapped for several days, they were finally able to leave the abandoned inn.
When they reached the foot of the mountain, an official from the Ministry of Works saw Xu Zhiyuan standing motionless and poked him with some puzzlement: "What are you doing? Don't tell me you want to go back?"
Xu Zhiyuan squinted and slowly shook his head: "I just thought about the days we were trapped. Thanks to the princes of the Eastern Palace, who remained calm in the face of danger and led us down the mountain. Old Liu, look, doesn't that look like the future of the Great Xia?"
The official standing next to Xu Zhiyuan looked in the direction he was pointing. The road they had come down from now resembled a long dragon stretching across the vast white expanse. It was noon, and the dazzling sunlight gilded the snow with a faint golden edge. Putting Xu Zhiyuan's words into perspective, the snow-covered mountain road seemed like a lifeline for the Great Xia Dynasty to break free from its predicament.
The Great Xia Dynasty will usher in a bright future, like the rising sun, thanks to the Crown Prince.
The small county government office couldn't accommodate such a large group of people. After the magistrate came down the mountain, he hurriedly notified the wealthy locals to vacate their houses for the officials to rest in, while he gave his own courtyard to the crown prince.
The local people are all simple and honest. When they heard that the prince and a group of nobles who were building the river for them had come, they took out the few good wines and dishes they had at home to entertain them without the magistrate having to give any further instructions. These people had been trapped on the mountain and had only had plain water and dumpling soup all day long. When they finally got to eat hot soup and rice, some of them were moved to tears.
The magistrate of Wuyun County, however, paid no heed to their words of gratitude. He sat in his own reception room, his heart filled with trepidation. He awaited the Crown Prince's audience, and at the same time, awaited the judgment of his own fate.
He knew nothing of the Crown Prince's thoughts. Based on his impression of his teachers' descriptions of officialdom and those in power, all he could think about was how he had failed to rescue the Crown Prince in time. Before the Crown Prince could punish him, he was already terrified. By the time the Crown Prince sent someone to call him in, he had already decided on the location of his burial site.
"Your subject, Wang Jinxiang, pays his respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince. May Your Highness be well."
"Magistrate Wang, please rise. I have something to ask you."
"Your humble servant... Your humble servant may answer while kneeling."
Seeing this, Jiang Chen frowned slightly. Seeing this, Shen Yujiao quickly smoothed things over: "Magistrate Wang, you should get up. The Crown Prince has a lot to ask. Your knees can't take it if you keep kneeling. His Highness the Crown Prince is usually very respectful to scholars. Magistrate Wang, please don't make things difficult for him."
The girl's voice was melodious and pleasant. Magistrate Wang quickly stood up in response, but he was shocked when he inadvertently glanced at the person next to the Crown Prince: Isn't this the young master from just now?
Jiang Chen could never have imagined that because of his ninth brother's previous behavior, he had been mistaken by the county magistrate in front of him as having homosexual tendencies. He first asked about the news from the outside world in the past few days and learned that only the area near the northern border of Beiding Prefecture had experienced heavy snowfall, which made him feel a little relieved.
"Does this kind of weather often occur in northern Xinjiang this year?"
“Yes,” Magistrate Wang replied cautiously, “I came to take office here in early spring this year, but I encountered such a celestial phenomenon after I arrived. However, according to the local people, this situation has never happened in previous years.”
Shen Yujiao listened attentively, guessing that this might be the La Niña phenomenon. However, she wondered how much trouble and panic such a natural phenomenon would cause when it appeared in people's lives.
The magistrate's expected scolding and punishment did not occur. The crown prince only asked him about the recent situation in the northern frontier and about the imperial grain distribution. After he answered all the questions, the crown prince dismissed him. He stood outside the door in a daze, and only when he heard an eunuch remind him did he feel as if he had survived a disaster.
The way the Crown Prince treated him... was quite different from the way those seasoned officials talked about the relationship between ruler and subject.
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