Chapter 40 Questions and Answers about Your Lord’s Dilemma.
The King of Jin woke up from his coma and retched for a long time while leaning on the couch.
Doctor Zhang, wondering what was wrong with him again, nervously stepped forward to take his pulse. Prince Jin calmed down, rubbed his head, and said, "It's nothing, I just drank too much."
Doctor Zhang looked at the medicine bowl in shock, picked it up and smelled it carefully, but there was clearly no smell of alcohol.
King Jin was too lazy to explain to him.
He felt a sense of empathy when Xie Xuanlan was inspecting the troops in the parade ground, and he and Xie Xuanlan got the Prince of Huai drunk in Yanxi Tower and tried to trick him into talking.
As the saying goes, a nephew is half a son, and a son-in-law is half a son. The Prince of Huai was both a nephew and a son-in-law to the Xie family, who had supported him wholeheartedly and viewed him as a future wise leader. Although Xie Xuanlan despised the Prince of Huai's character, he never betrayed the Xie family. He took no part in the specific dealings between his father and brother and the Prince of Huai, but he always sided with the Prince of Huai on major matters of state.
However, recently, Prince Huai's attitude towards Xie has become obviously ambiguous.
Last night, when Xie Xuanlan hosted the Prince of Huai for a banquet, he inquired about his relationship with the One-Eyed Dragon. Initially, the Prince of Huai stubbornly denied acquaintance, claiming he had obtained Lianjun in exchange for two hundred taels of silver and a threatening letter from the envoy. Then, Xie Xuanlan, feigning a sword, continued to insist on using wine to suppress the bandits. The Prince of Huai was unable to stop him, and after being forced to force two pots of wine, he finally relented, revealing that Prime Minister Xie had long known of the One-Eyed Dragon's existence.
Xie Xuanlan twirled his wine bowl, seemingly half-drunk, and asked, "Are you saying that my father and brother deliberately allowed the bandits to cause trouble?"
The Prince of Huai chuckled mysteriously and said, "The real One-Eyed Dragon died two years ago. The one on the mountain now is his younger brother. I don't know how he was released from the Ministry of Justice... Your cousin-in-law Di Feishuang, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, should know."
Xie Xuanlan scoffed, "My father and brother teamed up with my cousin's wife to let a bandit go up the mountain to cause chaos? I don't believe they have nothing better to do."
The Prince of Huai laughed heartily. "If there hadn't been any rebellion by bandits, how could the Xie family's prowess have been so well-deserved? General Wang Silang is about to enter the capital. If the Xie family doesn't take action soon, I'm afraid the world will only know the Wang family, not the Xie family."
After saying that, he drank all the wine in the bowl and fell on the table because he was too drunk.
These words were reasonable and true, mixed with lies. If the Prince of Jin had not been reborn and suffered a great loss at the hands of the Prince of Huai in his previous life, he would probably have really regarded him as a fool who could not hold two taels of wine and been fooled by him.
It should be noted that although Prince Huai is stupid, his father, King Ying, was able to survive the fight for the throne in the previous generation, and he is much smarter than ordinary people.
But Xie Xuanlan might not understand it now. He didn’t know whether he would take Ah Ying’s words to heart last night.
Thinking of this, the King of Jin put on his clothes and got out of bed: "Bathe and change clothes, I'm going out for a while."
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Lianjun was frightened in the bandit's lair, and Ah He stayed with her all night, patting Lianjun's back and humming a song to her, just like her sister treated her.
When Ying came early in the morning, Lianjun still had his eyes open alertly, but Ah He had already started snoring softly.
Cong Ying whispered to Lian Jun, "I'm afraid there are other girls in Xuandu Temple who have suffered the same fate as you. I'm going to go and warn them. Will you come with me?"
Lianjun kept silent with her face down, but Ah He rubbed her eyes and woke up: "Wei Yiner and I have an appointment to go to the Qing Festival today... I'll bring my sister Lianjun with me."
Wei Yiner is a friend that Ah He made at Congshan Academy. She is a smart and introverted girl, and Cong Ying has also seen her.
She nodded and said, "In that case, you must take good care of Sister Lianjun and bring Nanny Zhou with you when you go out."
Ah He: "I know."
Cong Ying went to Xuandu Temple alone. Since the master of the Jiangxia Crown was out visiting the immortal mountain and had not returned yet, only Senior Sister Yiyu received her.
After hearing about Lianjun's story, Yiyun was furious. "These money-obsessed, conscienceless people are no different from beggars! No wonder when I visited the families who adopted girls earlier this month, several of them were hesitant and refused to see me! I'm going to kill these bastards!"
She was so heroic and chivalrous that she was about to rush down the mountain with her sword, but Cong Ying persuaded her: "The most important thing right now is how to find the person, and what to do next."
The incense offerings received by Xuandu Temple are not enough to support the increasing number of orphans, not to mention that not all girls are born to be nuns, to drink tea and drink green lights, and to practice seclusion from the world.
Therefore, in the past, whenever a family came to adopt a child, the girls in the temple would be as happy as if it were New Year. They would bathe and clean their clothes, and show their most diligent and well-behaved side in front of others, hoping to have a new home and live a stable life as secular women.
Cong Ying sighed, "Sister Cai Bing's business ventures have enabled her to take in a few diligent young ladies, but this isn't a long-term solution... It would be great if there were a place like Congshan Academy where they could study and live."
In reality, the wealthy young men who wanted to attend Congshan Academy were vying for admission, so how could these abandoned orphans have a chance? Cong Ying hoped to marry into the Xie family, leveraging her status as a young lady to gain access to resources, but distant water could not quench immediate thirst, and her marriage to Xie Xuanlan was not necessarily a sure thing.
With a chaste character like his, he probably wouldn't tolerate his wife's infidelity.
This unsolvable dilemma made the atmosphere heavy. Yiyun was not one to be sentimental. He pushed the table aside and stood up, saying, "The temple will support them as long as we can. At worst, I can teach them boxing and let them perform on the streets in the future. They originally came from the underworld, so returning to the underworld wouldn't be an injustice to anyone."
Cong Ying nodded and smiled: "Okay, I still have some savings."
Yiyun was about to sort out the names of the orphans he hadn't seen on his way down the mountain, so he let Congying walk around. Suddenly, he remembered something and said to Congying, "Go to the tallow tree in the back mountain and take a look. The monk Weiqiang left a puzzle there, and it seems he's waiting for you."
Cong Ying's heart moved slightly.
Since last winter, when Wei Qiang Jushi hung his first poem on a tallow tree, it triggered a trend among pilgrims to recite along. Now, in just one season, this trend has been replaced by the flower feasts that are taking place in Yunjing.
At this moment, the only thing left on the tallow tree was the sandalwood sign left by Wei Qiang Jushi. The crimson tassels were tangled in the spring breeze, like the unsolvable knot in the heart of the owner of the sign.
He tiptoed to take the wooden sign from the firefly. This time, the sign contained not a poem but a question:
"My mother died at the hands of Tiger A. I have harbored a grudge for a long time, but fearing its power, I have been unable to avenge her. Now, Tiger B has emerged, hoping to draw upon my strength to thrive. When it grows strong, it will battle Tiger A. Should I aid it? I hope the people of Luoxi Mountain can help me understand this."
Cong Ying understood the metaphor behind seeking the skin of a tiger: she was struggling with whether to help another evil person for revenge.
If it were someone else she had never met, Cong Ying would not dare to criticize him rashly, but in her heart, Wei Qiang Jushi was not completely a stranger.
She still remembered her old poems, "I regret that I haven't grown wings yet, so I can chase the autumn wild geese in the frost", "I also like my beauty, and want to sing to the sky"... She is a hermit living on a dangerous wall, and it is clear that she has the ambition to be as high as the mountains and as snowy as ice. Such a person should not sink with the wicked just to vent her momentary anger.
That would be a pity.
After a long moment of contemplation, Cong Ying walked to the Linshan Pavilion holding the wooden plaque, sharpened his charcoal pencil, and wrote word by word on the back of the sandalwood plaque:
"Tigers are naturally predatory, not just A. Once Tiger B grows strong, even if it can rival A for supremacy, it will turn against you, or even eat someone else's mother. A gentleman's revenge prioritizes eliminating evil over venting anger. If you aid B in his cruelty and bring yet another disaster upon the world, wouldn't that be betraying your original intention?"
——I don’t want to see her damage her morals and harm herself and others.
After a moment's thought, he wrote another line: "To tame Tiger A, you don't necessarily need Tiger B. Strengthen your body, sharpen your weapons, and with kindness gather righteous men from all over the world to tame it together. This will not only avenge your personal grudges, but also alleviate the suffering of many. This is your true intention, and I wish to encourage you."
——I hope she can find another bright path and get what she wants soon.
After finishing writing, he stopped writing, hung the sandalwood plaque back on the treetop, and stood on tiptoe to untangle the tangled tassels.
Whether it was the orphans in Xuandu Temple or the hermit Weiqiang whom she had never met, Cong Ying thought that there were many girls in this world who were in difficult situations and had a harder life than her.
"I wish I had thousands of mansions..."
She stroked the wooden sign with her bare hands, sighing softly, but the last sentence was hard to utter as an oath -
Because she was clearly unwilling, but she couldn't do it.
As soon as Ying left Xuandu Temple, the female official Gan Jiu came to take away the sandalwood plaque and rushed back to Dayi Palace.
She saw Princess Chun'an standing at the end of the flying trestle bridge, her shawl fluttering in the wind, her whole body bathed in the rosy glow, standing still like a statue of a god. Gan Jiu watched this scene and recalled the feeling she had when she first arrived at the princess's mansion.
It was your lord who brought her from Xuzhou to Yunjing, from the boudoir to the palace. Your lord is her benefactor and her master. No matter how others slander her, in Gan Jiu's heart, she is worthy of protecting with her life.
She watched and thought quietly, not intending to disturb the tranquility of the moment, until the eunuch came with a seal and asked to see her.
The eunuch came to announce, "Your Highness, the wife of the fourth young master of the Wang family sent someone to deliver this seal to the Dayi Palace, saying that she has prepared a generous gift. I hope Your Highness will be honored to see it."
Princess Chun'an raised her lips slightly and said, "The Wang family is truly powerful. Even though I have hidden in the palace, I still can't find peace."
The eunuch politely explained, "Perhaps the Fourth Young Master Wang's wife truly has something urgent to attend to, otherwise she wouldn't dare to overstep her bounds and disturb His Highness."
Princess Chun'an glanced at him sideways but did not get angry. Instead, she picked up the wooden plaque presented by Gan Jiu and read carefully the response written on the back, word for word.
Her expression did not change, but Gan Jiu could feel that her whole body became lighter, as if she had been enlightened, or as if she had made some decision.
Why? Was it just because of a few words from that Luoxi Mountain man...
She stepped forward and whispered to Princess Chun'an, "This Madam Wang, the Fourth Young Master, is the wife of the General of the Cavalry, who will soon be returning to the capital. Your Highness's attitude towards her is the same as your attitude towards the General and Madam Wang...Should we invite her in and hear what she has to say first?"
"It's nothing more than an invitation with generous gifts and threats of power. There's no need to meet."
Princess Chun'an raised her hand and threw the seal that the Fourth Young Master Wang's wife had passed on to her into the lake. She said to Gan Jiu, "Go and find out who in Dayi Palace has facilitated the use of this seal. Give them thirty strokes of the cane and expel them from Dayi Palace."
Gan Jiu was shocked. The princess's move was to completely declare that she would not form an alliance with the Wang family and cut off the Wang family's thoughts.
Gan Jiu advised: "With the help of Wang family, we can overthrow Xie family more quickly. Your Highness, please think twice."
Princess Chun'an: "I've thought it over. Someone agrees with me. Go ahead."
Gan Jiu didn't dare to persuade her anymore and had to obey the order. When she was about to leave, Princess Chun'an called her back.
"etc."
Gan Jiu thought she had changed her mind and hurried back to obey, but he saw Princess Chun'an smiling. It was a rare moment for her to be so genuinely happy. She raised the sandalwood plaque in her hand as if she had obtained some treasure and said to Gan Jiu:
"Last time I said that distant things are fragrant, but nearby things are smelly, and that it's best to communicate through words and spirits. Now I regret it. I want to get this Luoxi Mountain man."
Gan Jiu's heart sank slightly.
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