Chapter 59
◎Two chapters in one◎
"Speak clearly, what do you mean by you're sorry to me? It's as if you and I have some kind of relationship. I said it very clearly, I saved Li Jing because my mother asked me to marry you before she died, but you married the uncle of Wei. I felt that I caused you to become a concubine, so I saved your son to repay the favor, and from now on we owe each other nothing. But you, you still think I'm interested in you?" Li Cheng was so angry that he died.
Yin Lifang covered her chest in disbelief: "You mean you didn't save Jing'er for me?"
Li Cheng said as a matter of course: "Yes, I was feeling guilty, and I felt relieved after repaying you for this favor. Also, don't always say that I seem to have feelings for you, I only have my wife in my heart."
"Okay, since you're so determined to clear up the issue between us, I won't mention it. I'll just talk about Jing'er here—"
"Wait, what do you mean by eliminate? There is nothing between us. Are you crazy? Why are you so self-indulgent? The three of you sisters combined don't look as good as me. Do you really think you are some kind of beauty who would conquer a whole country?" Li Cheng felt like he was about to explode with anger and felt very wronged.
After hearing the gentle voice calling "husband", Li Cheng ran to Huiyin's side like an arrow shot from a bow. Huiyin knew that Yin Lifang was most concerned about the issue of offspring now. Looking at Concubine Xu who had already run away, she knew that she had deliberately lured her over.
So Huiyin stood in front of Li Cheng and said to Yin Lifang: "Just now, Concubine Xu brought me here. I know you are arguing over the so-called succession, but this matter is not something we can interfere with. Please don't make things difficult for us."
Seeing that Li Cheng was still trying to argue, she quickly pulled him aside and said, "You are here today to discuss the burial arrangements with Aunt Wang. What are you doing standing here?"
So the couple went out, and Yin Lifang heard Li Cheng still complaining: "They are the ones who replaced the prince with a cat, I just came to talk about the burial."
After hearing this, Yin Lifang had nothing to understand. It turned out that all of this was just her own wishful thinking. Li Chengzhi was such a despicable person, and he was so aggressive towards her, a woman.
After coming out of here, she went to see the Princess of Wei and shook her head: "Young Master will not participate."
Princess Wei stood up and looked at Yin Lifang: "I didn't expect the problem to be with him. He would actually turn against us."
Yin Lifang could sense that the way Princess Wei looked at her showed that she was useless. It turned out that propriety, righteousness, and integrity were useless, and profit was more important than anything else.
No matter how Princess Wei and Yin Lifang plotted, or how Concubine Xu and her brother planned, in the end, Huiyin and Li Cheng had no intention of fighting with them.
But Xie Jiuyi still brought Yin Liyi with him at night. Xie Jiuyi and his wife were both familiar with Li Cheng and had an average relationship with Huiyin. They originally thought that only Li Cheng came, but when they saw Huiyin here, they both felt a little uncomfortable.
Huiyin of course also noticed it. The two of them acted as if Li Cheng was one of their own and they could talk to him easily, and they felt uncomfortable with Li Cheng being here.
"Young Prince, I have some personal matters to discuss with you alone." Xie Jiuyi felt that it was inconvenient with too many people around.
Li Cheng cheerfully made a gesture of invitation, and the men left. Huiyin and Yin Liyi had never gotten along, and the two of them sat opposite each other, looking at each other in bewilderment.
However, Yin Liyi smiled bitterly and said, "I didn't expect that the young prince would not stand on our side."
Huiyin disagreed with this: "The King of Wei has three sons. Although your nephew is the eldest son, the King of Wei has written a letter saying that the second son will succeed him. The sons of the King of Wei are all cousins to the young prince, so any one of them can be the heir."
"Then Jianye will be in chaos..." Yin Liyi was so anxious that she was about to cry.
Huiyin really felt that she hadn't figured it out yet, and was still hoping that Li Cheng would be loyal to his master. It was simply too absurd. They were all descendants of the dragon and the phoenix. The King of Wei was not even the emperor, and the King of Wei's son was not even the prince crown. How could Li Cheng be loyal to him?
Moreover, even if he was the crown prince, many people were not convinced. Wasn't the King of Wei not convinced? So he occupied the south of the Yangtze River and became the king.
So, she looked at Yin Liyi and said, "There is chaos everywhere in the world, and there is no place of peace. Don't you know this after returning from Yuzhou? The world is so big, and the capable should rule it."
If Li Cheng is not capable, he will just be a pawn for others in the future.
…
After leaving the Huaiyin Palace, Xie Jiuyi and Yin Liyi got on the carriage. Yin Liyi said, "I'm afraid the young prince has developed a desire to be independent."
"I've always worried that he would rebel, but fortunately he doesn't have that intention now." Xie Jiuyi was actually relieved.
Yin Liyi looked at her husband and said, "How is that possible? But this time he wanted Wu County, so why didn't the Guo brothers stop him? Wu County is a heavily taxed place."
Yin Liyi knew very well that recuperation was very expensive.
Xie Jiuyi said, "He just took Yuzhou and is neutral on the matter of King Wei. The Guo brothers are of course happy. Concubine Xu has only one brother. If it weren't for King Wei's promotion, I wouldn't let him take credit for it. If Concubine Li Xu's son inherits the title, they can control everything. But King Wei will never give them any message."
He died too hastily. If it wasn't so urgent, I could have asked him myself.
Yin Liyi felt relieved when she saw that her husband had come up with a solution, but she felt sorry for Cao again when she thought of her.
Sure enough, no matter how the Xu family jumped around, Xie Jiuyi had a countermeasure. He first found the person who helped the Xu brothers and sisters to forge the souvenirs, and then sought support from the civil and military officials in Wei. After the King of Wei was buried, he quickly asked the chief historian to send a letter to the capital to report the news. More than a month later, the capital sent back news that Yin Lifang's son was named King of Yuzhang.
Li Cheng recovered Wujun, Piling and Guangling this time, and from then on, the King of Huaiyin and the King of Wei had no connection. Concubine Wu also went to Xuzhou with Li Cheng and his wife. After Huiyin returned from here, she lived a peaceful life. No matter what the Yin sisters did, she had forgotten them all, and the so-called white moonlight came to an end.
In the past, Li Cheng had to report to King Wei on all matters related to the administration of Xuzhou, but now he has full authority and things are changing.
Without the support of Concubine Wei and the people in Prince Wei's Palace, Concubine Wu did not have the confidence to cause trouble.
Huiyin's side was calm. Although Yin Lifang got what she wished for and her son became Prince of Yuzhang, she did not have the happy ending she had imagined. The Huo family did not actually contribute much this time. The Princess of Wei always wanted to hold Prince of Yuzhang in her arms. Concubine Xu and her son did not get what they wished for, but they always made some small moves, not to mention that her sister Yin Lifang's family was also not peaceful.
These were secondary. The most unbearable thing in her heart was that Li Cheng completely ignored her. It turned out that he had no intention of her at all.
In the blink of an eye, it is spring again. Everything is reviving. The winter jasmine flowers are filled with butterflies and bees collecting nectar. Jing'er has started to go to school, and Zhan'er has learned to walk.
Linglu and Lingjiu came over with lychee drinks and said with a smile, "Princess, there's a letter from the prince. Steward Qiao brought it over."
After the death of King Wei, the word "young" was no longer added before Li Cheng's name of Prince. He visited Qingzhou and Yuzhou these days. Spring is the time to encourage agriculture and mulberry, so now he has the leisure to write to you.
Huiyin went to read the letter again. It contained a lot of news. He said that people in Yuzhou eat a lot of noodles, which are better than those in the south. He also said that when he was in Wu County, he ate the fresh meat mooncakes that he loved most when he was a child, so he asked someone to send a few boxes back. In addition, Wu County's candied fruits were unique, so he asked someone to bring them back, and if he couldn't finish them, he could share them with people around him.
She put the letter down and saw the maids carrying boxes and crates coming in. She couldn't help but scolded, "He is the same. Nowadays, you can't buy anything in the grocery stores, but he still sent it to us."
Fugui and the others all laughed and said, "This is because the prince has great affection for you."
Huiyin asked them to open the boxes one by one, and sent the flour to the small kitchen. She asked the kitchen staff to bake the rest of the fresh meat mooncakes and send them back. They tasted really good, so she took a box and asked Fugui to share it with the people around him. There were also preserved fruits and candied fruits, which were used to make various snacks.
In the afternoon, Jing'er came back from studying. Seeing the snacks were delicious, she ate a few more.
"This is the preserved fruit your father brought back. It looks very fresh to me, not the greasy taste of those salted with sugar, so I specially asked someone to use it as a treat." Huiyin smiled.
Jing'er was smart, able to sit still for a child of his age, and learned quickly. Li Cheng said that when he grew up a little, he would teach him how to ride a horse himself and would also hire a master to teach him martial arts, so she hardly needed to worry about her son.
Compared to her previous life when she was very cautious during pregnancy and was afraid her son would be poisoned, and lived in fear every day, her life now is so comfortable.
Jing'er asked Huiyin again: "Mother, when will father come back? I miss him so much."
"It will take about one or two months. After sowing in the spring, we will have food for the whole year." Only with food can we provide for the soldiers. Huiyin did not say the rest of this sentence.
After the mother and son finished their meal, Huiyin went back to her room and fell asleep. She slept soundly that night, but when she woke up in the morning, she had a dream. When she woke up, she felt uncomfortable for a long time, but she could not remember what she dreamed about.
Originally, she didn't believe in ghosts or gods at all, but since she was reborn, she should still have some respect for some things.
She decided to go to the temple to burn incense. Concubine Wu never talked to her much before, but this time when she heard that she was going to the temple and said that she wanted to go too, Huiyin had no choice but to let someone make arrangements.
Huiyin never went out casually for fear of unnecessary trouble. This time she chose a nearby temple. However, because the temple was not grand enough, Concubine Wu did not say much outside, but started to dislike it in the meditation room.
"This is such a shabby temple. Look at the state of the meditation room. Yet you arranged for us to come here. You really don't have to think about what you are doing." Concubine Wu shook her head.
Huiyin could only admit her mistake: "My grandson's wife doesn't come out often, but I chose this place because the prince told me not to go far."
Concubine Wu disagreed: "If Xuzhou has to be so cautious, wouldn't that be a slap in the face of your prince?"
Huiyin knew she was confused, so she lowered her head and didn't say much. Because she knew that Concubine Wu came from Jianye and often complained that Xuzhou was not as prosperous as Jianye, but now she was a toothless tiger, and Huiyin was too lazy to argue with her for just a few idle words.
Sure enough, Concubine Wu said a few words, but was afraid that Huiyin was really angry, so she let her go.
After leaving the Concubine's place, she donated one hundred taels of incense money and worshipped all the Bodhisattvas. Concubine Wu was very tired and wanted to stay here for one night. Huiyin saw that it was getting late and it was not easy to hurry, so she also rested here.
I originally wanted to spend money to help with disaster relief, but I didn't expect to encounter a strange thing. At night, the sisters Lingjiu and Linglu were sleeping on the floor in the room, while Fugui and Dongshun were resting outside. Dongshun had been frozen when she was a child, and she survived the winter on her own, so she always had a fever. I don't know if she had an upset stomach today, so she asked the maid outside to accompany her to the toilet, and she was very careful along the way.
But Huiyin always chose her own bed when she was outside, so she planned to wait until Dongshun closed the door before going to bed. However, she fell asleep while thinking, and when she woke up the next day, she heard someone crying in the room.
"What's wrong?" Huiyin rubbed her temples.
Fugui was folding clothes at the foot of the bed. When Huiyin asked, she couldn't help but say, "Princess, Dongshun went out to relieve herself last night. She came back at night and said she saw a ghost. I was afraid she would disturb you. She looked like she was scared silly."
"I heard that this temple is an ancient one, but Xuzhou has been at war for years, and the common people would avoid the temple whenever a war broke out. As a result, a lot of this place has been ruined, and many people must have died here." Although Huiyin is usually very afraid of ghosts, she still dares to take responsibility when something really happens.
After that, she asked Nan's mother to make a bowl of calming soup for Dongshun, and she went to Concubine Wu in person and said that she would leave today.
As they were talking, Nan's mother came in and said, "Princess, the people who did evil yesterday have been arrested. They said they were refugees from the north, hiding in this temple, and that the current abbot would not allow strangers to enter. They hid here secretly and did not want to be discovered. They were afraid that Dong Shun would know and spread rumors yesterday, so they pretended to be ghosts to scare them."
Refugees from the North?
Huiyin had never lacked food or clothing, but now she was probably in a wealthy place like Xuzhou and Jianye, so she didn't know the surrounding environment very well. She didn't blame them for pretending to be ghosts, but just wanted to inquire about what was happening in the north. After listening, she had them brought in and asked through the screen.
"You said he was from the north. Where did he come from?" Huiyin asked.
There were both men and women among them. Mother Nan specially selected a eloquent girl of about twelve or thirteen to come in and answer the question. The girl had yellow skin, thin and soft hair, and large white spots on her face. It was obvious that she was extremely hungry.
The girl quickly finished her snack and replied, "I am from Jizhou. Last year, there was heavy rain and drought in Jizhou. We originally had more than 20 acres of land, but they were all flooded. Later, we managed to survive until autumn with the remaining grain, but drought came again and we had no harvest. Jizhou also wanted to recruit soldiers, so we had to flee south. We didn't expect..."
Her father was recruiting soldiers again, and Jizhou was hit by heavy rain and drought. There were countless families like theirs. Huiyin asked Nan Mama to reward her with clothes and food, and also gave her 20 taels of silver. The group of people thanked her profusely, but Huiyin could only sigh.
The people of Jizhou had a hard life, and her father was not as diligent as Li Cheng. During the spring ploughing season, he had to go to various places to check on the work. After the ploughing, he had to train the soldiers, so he had very little time to spend with her. No wonder Li Cheng's territory was not large, but he always had strong soldiers and horses in every battle. This was not something he got for nothing, but the result of his own management.
Jizhou was indeed not at peace. Ji and Madam Xu used to eat porridge made from polished round-grained japonica rice grown on the farm. Although the rice they ate now was top-quality, it was much worse than in previous years.
Zheng Fang came back from the capital and sighed again. Ji couldn't help but ask him a few more questions: "What happened to you? You finally came to the capital, but you ended up like this."
"The Crown Prince is increasingly favoring the man named Shi. The Emperor appointed Shi Chong as the commander of the Yulin Army. Today, he competed with me and actually beat me."
Ji was shocked: "Why would Lord Hou compete with him?"
Zheng Fangfu said: "I underestimated that young man and wanted to show off my skills, but I didn't expect to be taught a lesson."
Ji knew her husband's character very well. He looked down upon the world with his martial arts skills. She was afraid that his quarrel with Shi Chong was instigated by someone, so she asked him about the reason.
Zheng Fang really said that someone provoked him to step forward, and now he has lost and is very embarrassed.
The couple was just thinking of a solution when someone said that Zheng Fang's favorite concubine was ill. Ji said impatiently, "Don't you see what time it is? You are still thinking about fighting for favor. Let her go."
Ji did not take the concubines' fight for favor to heart. She was already old enough, and when she needed something, she would just call Zheng Fang over. Zheng Fang was quite considerate to her. When she was not feeling well, she just wanted to rest. The concubines' fights were just for jewelry and clothes, which was not a big deal.
If you continue to get involved at this point, it would be immature.
Zheng Fang pretended not to hear anything and just said to Ji: "It doesn't matter if I lose face, I am just afraid that Shi Chong will take a fancy to my territory. He is from the Xizhou Army, and I was defeated in Xizhou last time. Although his troops are small, they are all strong and powerful."
Although Zheng appears to be tall and has scary eyes, to the Ji family, he is actually a weak person with many fears in his heart.
Ji said, "You don't have to be afraid. We still have Shuo'er and Heng'er. Anyway, you are older, so let them, the younger ones, take the stage."
"If they were like my son-in-law, I would naturally not worry. Now my son-in-law has taken Yuzhou, it's a pity why he doesn't just take over the King of Wei's fiefdom. If he takes it all, I will just join my son-in-law." Zheng Fang gave up on himself again.
Ji just laughed and said, "What you said is funny. Their territory is so big, why should they give it to you? Do you think Xie is a vegetarian? It was so easy for General Xie to capture Qingzhou last time. If Lu Wei and He Guojiu hadn't joined forces to attack him, I'm afraid he would have fought all the way back. How can a son-in-law turn against him?"
Zheng Fang originally wanted to conquer the world, but unfortunately he was severely frustrated by reality. Hearing Ji's words about the poor harvest, he became even more annoyed. Ji said, "Since you are afraid that Shi Chong will attack us, we must manage Jizhou well. I can see now that the prince is a man of means."
Look, after Wei Duo's daughter married into the family, I heard that she fell in love with the prince, and she was also pregnant. I'm afraid the position of the crown princess will go to the daughter of the Wei family.
It was also because the daughter of the Wei family was pregnant that the prince went to Donghua Temple to burn incense. It was said that he was almost stabbed by thieves. Because he was saved by Shi Chong, he was allowed to join the Yulin Army. However, Ji always felt that all this was a show.
The prince is a versatile person. When the Lu family failed, He Guojiu went there. Zheng Fang thought he was going to win over their old subordinates, but he consumed his own troops and did not get what he deserved. The prince secretly won over troops.
However, Jizhou is too close to the capital, and I am afraid that my husband will be discovered. If Jizhou is taken, the prince will have more territories, and he will have a base for future conquests.
When Zheng Fang saw that Ji also agreed with her idea, he felt more and more that after Lu Wei's death, the prince had shown his true colors and was not as kind to him as before.
"No wonder Huiyin said before that it would be better for me not to get involved in these things."
Seeing how depressed he was, Ji didn't say anything more.
But the couple did not mention the poor harvest in Jizhou. From the perspective of people of their age, such things were only temporary and not a long-term solution.
However, Shi Chong was discussing with Crown Prince Li Heng: "There is a bandit named Guan Qing in Jizhou. Recently, the refugees in Jizhou have been displaced. They saw that those who are strong and healthy have gone to the mountains. In my opinion, Zheng Fang is rude and has refused your call for troops several times. He neither went to ask for Qingzhou back nor helped Zhang Song to drive Li Cheng away. Now, the Prince of Huaiyin has become more powerful. When the Prince of Wei leaves, the Prince of Yuzhang's territory may be in the hands of the Prince of Huaiyin. If we don't get rid of him in advance, he will occupy half of the country in the future. Therefore, Zheng Fang must not take it lightly here and let these bandits make trouble and consume Jizhou's troops. We will then follow your orders to suppress the bandits and take Jizhou."
Li Heng clapped his hands and said: "You are indeed like Kong Ming. I feel like I have divine help when I have your help."
The two of them discussed it in secret again.
However, she didn't know that Huiyin had told Li Cheng about the affairs of Jizhou. She was mainly thinking about the displaced people. Would they all sneak to Xuzhou from Jiahu Pass? With too many people, it would be easy for them to get entangled and cause chaos.
Even the local aristocratic families in Xuzhou often had armed fights, but Li Cheng made great efforts to prohibit armed fights, often sent soldiers to patrol the streets, and killed chickens to scare monkeys. Only in this way did Xuzhou become much quieter. However, when there were too many refugees, it was easy for trouble to occur.
After receiving the letter, Li Cheng also admired Huiyin's ability to see the big picture from the details. Even he did not expect that Li Heng would want Jizhou at this time, because he had just taken over Yuzhou and Wujun, and he had to manage the garrison and recruit soldiers, so he did not pay attention to other things.
For him, after the death of the King of Wei, even if there was Xie Jiuyi's assistance, Xie Jiuyi was just a subordinate. The Huo family, the Guo family, and even the Xu family would not see Xie Jiuyi becoming powerful. It was heard that Xie Jiuyi even returned the Cao family's daughter that he had taken in before. According to Li Cheng's guess, Xie Jiuyi was probably doing this for Yin Liyi, but this time it was really a slap in the face of the Cao family.
Although the Cao family is a merchant family, they are not ordinary merchants and may retaliate in the future.
Li Cheng would have thought it would be better not to accept the bribe. Accepting the bribe and then sending the person back would be a slap in the face.
If it were before, Li Cheng would definitely write a letter to remind Xie Jiuyi, but he certainly wouldn't do that now, just like he is not interested in the affairs of Jizhou now, and only focuses on rebuilding the territory of Poyang, because some of the territories are within his reach, and he is eager to stir up some water.
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