Chapter 17
After the seventh day after Prince Xiang's death, Zhu Mingji came to Zhang's family school to attend classes as usual, but did not see Zhang Xihua, so he asked Xu Pingzhi and others.
Xu Pingzhi: "Yesterday, something happened to the eldest son of the Zhang family and he disappeared. Erlang has taken people to look for his foolish cousin."
Erlang never mentioned this matter to him.
Zhu Mingji suddenly realized that since he kissed the corner of Zhang Xihua's lips that day, Zhang Xihua never came to Prince Xiang's Mansion to find him again. He thought that she had a grudge against him.
"Do you know where Erlang went to look for his cousin?"
Xu Pingzhi and the other two all shook their heads.
Zhu Mingji asked them to ask for leave from the teachers who were teaching today, then he quickly left the school and rode to Zhang's house.
*
The female members of the Zhang family were all sitting in the main hall of Yangrongzhai.
Madam Li had already soaked several handkerchiefs with tears. "God damn Zhang Jianren, even a tiger won't eat its own cubs. My Xuan'er was thrown down by him and became stupid. It wasn't enough that he harmed my Xuan'er once, this time he used Xuan'er as a hostage to the bandits in Black Wind Village."
Old Mrs. Zhang was so angry that her chest ached. One was her grandson and the other was her son. She felt very sorry for them.
"The second brother is indeed very mean, but we can't report Xuan'er's case to the authorities. The second brother is also really confused. He owes the gambling house more than 16,000 taels of silver from gambling, and he happened to run into Xuan'er playing on the street. Why did he go to the trouble of pawning Xuan'er to those bandits in Black Wind Village as a hostage? Now they are asking for 30,000 taels of silver from our family. Although a family like us can come up with 100,000 or 200,000 taels, if this matter gets out, we will be laughed at to death by outsiders."
Madam Jiang read the letter from Black Wind Village again. "Before Erlang left home yesterday, he told us not to rush to pay the ransom, but he hasn't come back yet. I'm really worried."
Madam Li grabbed Madam Jiang's hand and said, "Sister-in-law, these thirty thousand taels will come from my dowry, not from the public treasury. Let's go and redeem Xuan Ge'er as soon as possible, so that Erlang won't get into any trouble."
The door curtain was lifted by the maid, and the first thing Zhu Mingji said when he came in was: "You can't pay the ransom."
The women in the Zhang family all looked at Zhu Mingji. Mrs. Li rushed forward and wanted to kneel before Zhu Mingji, but was helped up by Zhu Mingji with both hands.
Madam Li: "My Lord, for Erlang's sake, could you please lead your troops to Black Wind Stronghold and rescue my Xuan'er?"
Zhu Mingji also had this idea.
"Don't worry, everyone. I will lead my troops to Wushan. The bandits in Black Wind Village have always been rampant, and we can take this opportunity to capture them all in one fell swoop."
*
Zhu Mingji returned to Prince Xiang's mansion to get the military order, selected good generals from the military camp, and led 3,000 elite troops straight to Wushan.
A group of people carried bird guns and went up the mountain from the winding mountain road. When they reached the halfway point, they met Chen Fuzhou who was also coming up the mountain with a team of Jinyiwei.
Zhu Mingji glanced at the floating boat and said, "Wushan is within my father's fiefdom. Lord Shen doesn't need to meddle in this matter."
Seeing the well-equipped army led by Zhu Mingji, Chen Fuzhou was convinced that he was confident of victory in suppressing the bandits in Black Wind Village. He said coldly, "Under heaven, the whole land belongs to the emperor. The Jinyiwei of the Northern Pacification Division are all paid by the emperor. Going to Black Wind Village to suppress the bandits is not meddling in other people's affairs. We are obeying your majesty's love for the people and doing a good deed to eliminate harm to the people."
Chen Fuzhou also refused to give in. He shook the reins of his horse and led the team of Jinyiwei to rush in front of Zhu Mingji's troops.
Zhu Mingji wanted to compete with Shen Fuzhou.
Both teams rushed towards Black Wind Village.
When they were almost at Black Wind Village, they heard a few loud explosions and saw flames rising into the sky and thick smoke billowing above the Black Wind Village.
Zhu Mingji and Shen Fuzhou were both stunned by this sudden change, and each ordered their troops to speed up to Black Wind Village.
When Zhu Mingji was still about a hundred steps away from Black Wind Village, he saw a crowd of people at the gate of Black Wind Village.
Chen Fuzhou immediately spotted Zhang Xihua in the crowd, spurred his horse towards him, and when he got close, he dismounted and dropped the reins.
Zhang Xihua, who was holding a splendid swaddling cloth, also discovered the sinking boat. Zhu Minghe, who was beside her, held Zhang Xuanhua's hand to prevent her from running around.
Zhu Minghe noticed that his cousin was also coming towards them and lowered his head guiltily.
Zhang Xuanhua laughed foolishly and told Zhang Xihua that he was hungry.
Zhang Xihua then asked if there was anything to eat on the boat.
Chen Fuzhou ordered his men to bring some dry food to Zhang Xuanhua to fill his stomach, and asked if Zhang Xihua was injured.
Zhang Xihua shook his head.
Zhu Minghe said, "Lord Zhang Er is quite formidable. Last night, he knocked on the door of Black Wind Stronghold and challenged the fort's chief commander in swordsmanship, the second-in-command in archery, and the third-in-command in drinking, winning all three games in a row. But those bandits are scoundrels. Not only did they not keep their promise to release Lord Zhang Da, they even detained Lord Zhang Er. Fortunately, Lord Zhang Er had a trick up his sleeve. Together with the Zhang family guards lurking in the mountains, they bombed Black Wind Stronghold. The bandits were imprisoned in the dungeon, and if they weren't blown to ashes, they would have been choked to death by the thick smoke."
Zhu Minghe spoke with great joy.
Zhu Mingji's eyes fell on Zhang Xihua who was coaxing a baby.
"Erlang, where did this child in your arms come from?"
Zhang Xihua: "The bandits have come down from the mountains and taken many wealthy families as hostages in hopes of earning ransom. Since you've brought troops here, you should do a good deed and send these people back to their homes. The child I'm holding lives in Hulufang, Taiping Prefecture. Her father is the imperial merchant Wan Youjin. It's a good opportunity for us to bring her back to the city and send her home."
Chen Fuzhou took the lead to hold the swaddled baby for Zhang Xihua, causing Zhu Mingji's hand, which had been raised to hold the child, to fall back down.
Zhu Minghe handed Zhang Xuanhua's hand to Zhu Mingji. He had long been fed up with this fool Zhang Xuanhua.
Zhu Mingji glanced at Zhu Minghe resentfully, but because Zhang Xihua was present, he was gentle and patient with Zhang Xuanhua, who was dirty and had food crumbs all over his face.
"Minghe, why are you also in Black Wind Village?" Zhu Mingji asked.
Zhu Minghe hesitated, and Zhang Xihua spoke for him, "He came to Taiping Prefecture to see my fourth sister. On the way, he stopped at a bandit-run inn. After eating the food there, he became unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself in the dungeon of Black Wind Village."
Zhu Mingji looked at Zhu Minghe with contempt and discovered something extraordinary.
"Ming He, you came to Taiping Mansion to see Madam Zhang Si? Do Uncle Fu and your mother know about this?"
Zhu Minghe: "My father is so engrossed in training his army that he has no time for me. My mother asked me to ask Fourth Lady Zhang for her opinion. If she agrees, I will write a letter home and my mother will come to Taiping Mansion in person to propose marriage to her."
Zhang Xihua reminded: "My cousin is my fourth sister's biological brother."
Zhu Minghe quickly grabbed Zhang Xuanhua's hand and took care of Zhang Xuanhua personally. He called Zhang Xuanhua "brother-in-law" and taught Zhang Xuanhua to say good things about himself.
Zhang Xuanhua had the intelligence of a three-year-old child. He could only say some reduplicated words and could not even articulate a complete sentence. He had a runny nose and pulled Zhu Minghe's sleeve to blow his nose.
Zhu Minghe happily followed Zhang Xuanhua in torturing himself.
Zhu Mingji was even more contemptuous of Zhu Minghe's servile behavior.
Zhu Minghe stuck out his tongue at Zhu Mingji and said, "I'm going to have a wife soon, and I won't bother with a poor person like you who has been alone for more than ten years."
*
On the sixth day of the fifth month of the sixteenth year of Hongde, Zhang Yining got married. Her husband was Zhu Minghe, who had just been granted the title of Prince of Cheng'an. Because Emperor Hongde was critically ill, their wedding ceremony was kept simple.
When Zhu Minghe came to the Zhang residence to pick up the bride, after the newlyweds offered tea to Zhang Yining's biological mother, Madam Li, Zhu Minghe then invited Zhang Yining's biological mother, Concubine Liu, to take the seat and offer her tea.
Concubine Liu was at a loss, and she smiled with tears in her eyes as she said, "How can a lowly person like me be worthy of drinking the tea offered by the Prince and Princess?"
Zhang Yining called out "Auntie" in a delicate voice and tugged at Zhu Minghe's sleeve.
Madam Jiang and Madam Li together pushed Concubine Liu to sit down.
Zhu Minghe and Zhang Yining knelt down together and offered tea to Aunt Liu.
Aunt Liu's hands were shaking as she held the teacup, but she couldn't hide the smile on her face.
Zhang Xihua, who was watching the ceremony, was so moved that tears filled her eyes that she saw Zhang Yining had found her true love.
Zhu Mingji, who was standing beside Zhang Xihua, stared at Zhang Xihua's profile intently. When Zhang Xihua noticed it and looked at him, he turned his head away.
Zhang Xihua deliberately said, "Marrying a good wife and having children in the future is a blessing that everyone envies."
Zhu Mingji suddenly felt lost, "Erlang, do you also want to get married and have children?"
Zhang Xihua nodded, "If I can pass the imperial examination, it will be my wedding night. Don't you want to get married and have children?"
Why do I feel sad when I hear Erlang say this?
Zhu Mingji snorted coldly, "You are just a vulgar person."
That day, Zhu Mingji drank a lot of wine at the wedding banquet at Prince Fu's Mansion. After getting drunk, he rested in the guest house of Prince Fu's Mansion.
Blood rhinoceros incense was lit in the bedroom.
Zhu Mingji had a second dream.
He saw a woman with a face exactly like Zhang Xihua, wearing a phoenix robe and a phoenix crown, standing side by side with him in the corridor in front of the Golden Palace, accepting congratulations from civil and military officials.
That was the second queen he appointed, her maiden name was Zhang Wanning, and she was also his childhood sweetheart when he was the Crown Prince in Prince Xiang's Mansion.
He has called her "Ningning" since he was a child.
Ningning's parents died early, and she was adopted by the eldest lady of the Zhang family in the Yongjia Marquisate.
Although Ningning was born with deficiencies, suffered from heart disease and asthma, and was weak and sickly, she never complained about herself and lived like a little sun.
When Ningning was studying at Zhang's home, the girls around her bullied her. She rolled up her sleeves and started fighting. At first, she was too thin to beat the girls who bullied her. Later, after fighting many times, she got the hang of it. By the age of ten, she was invincible in Taiping Prefecture.
He liked her bold and straightforward personality.
Ningning looks like a sickly girl, but in fact she is a hot-tempered girl that no one can mess with. He is often fascinated by her heroic appearance and loves to listen to her interesting jokes. So when she comes of age, he asks her to be his wife.
The newlyweds are as sweet as honey and inseparable.
In their spare time, he plays the piano and she dances with the sword.
There is probably no other young couple in the world who is as compatible as he and Ningning.
He thought he and his Ningning could live happily like this forever, but an unexpected change occurred due to the death of Emperor Hongde.
On the day he ascended the throne, Emperor Hongde's biological mother, Empress Dowager Zhang, and the old gentlemen in the cabinet forced him to enthrone Cheng, the eldest daughter of Empress Dowager Zhang's sister, as empress.
His first wife, Ningning, was detained in the Cining Palace.
Hearing Ningning's maid Qingque crying to him that Ningning had a heart attack in Cining Palace but was unable to seek medical treatment, he finally compromised and stamped his seal on the edict that appointed Cheng as the queen.
Saving Ningning's life is the most important thing.
His struggle with Empress Dowager Zhang and the cabinet controlled by her officially began from then on.
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