Chapter 38 The Seventh Day After Death and the Burial
The funeral held by the Prince Huan's Mansion for Yunzhu was very grand.
After Xiao Mingzhang confirmed Yunzhu's body, the Huanwang Mansion hung up white banners and began to announce the news of the Crown Princess's death.
As for how she died, Yunzhu was, after all, a princess of the Western Regions, representing peace between the Western Regions and the Central Plains. The Huanwang Palace naturally had to give a sufficiently suitable reason so that the emperor would not suspect anything and the Western Regions would not cause trouble after hearing it.
This reason was personally devised by Prince Huan, Xiao Shao. Since Yunzhu died in a fire in Jizhou, Xiao Shao claimed that Yunzhu had the world on her mind and wanted to personally check on the situation with her personal maid because she was worried about the disaster victims in Qingzhou and Jizhou. Unexpectedly, she encountered a fire on this trip and lost her life.
To appease the Western Regions, Xiao Shao specially ordered people to send many gifts there, and he personally drafted the gift list.
After Xiao Shao finished these tasks, on the third day after announcing Yunzhu's death, he returned to the Prince's Mansion, only to find Xiao Mingzhang kneeling in front of the mourning hall.
He used to be a man of impeccable character, always doing things with discipline and decorum. Now, clinging tightly to his wife's coffin, he has lost all the air of a prince.
Madam Ying, looking worried, stepped forward and said, "He's been sitting here like this for three days now, neither eating nor drinking. If this continues, I'm afraid..."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Shao did not hesitate for a moment and stepped into the mourning hall.
"Alright, three days have passed now. I'm telling you, if you're going to throw a tantrum, you should stop now. There's still a lot of work to do at the Prince's Palace and the government offices. You should pull yourself together. Our chances are running out. Mingzhang, you should know what's best for us."
Xiao Shao launched into such a long and abrupt speech that Xiao Mingzhang completely ignored him, not even glancing up at him.
Xiao Shao waited for a moment in front of the mourning hall. Seeing that Xiao Mingzhang truly had no intention of speaking to him, he couldn't help but say again, "Alright, even if I admit now that I was wrong, that I shouldn't have sent people to chase after her, do you think she'll come back alive? Do you still remember that you are the heir of the royal family? Do you remember your responsibilities? Are you going to continue like this? Her coffin has been here for seven days. What about after seven days? Are you going to follow her to the underworld?"
Prince Huan, Xiao Shao, was by no means a man without temper. After saying a few words, seeing that Xiao Mingzhang still refused to pay attention to him, his anger began to rise, and his tone became increasingly stern.
Xiao Mingzhang, dressed in white, finally looked up and glanced at him.
He remained silent, his eyes fixed coldly on Xiao Shao, as if he were looking at an enemy.
Xiao Shao's expression grew increasingly grim.
"Xiao Mingzhang!" Just as he was about to lash out, Ying, who was hiding in the shadows, saw this and quickly stepped forward with Xiao Ming'an, one on each side, to block the father and son.
"Alright, alright," Madam Ying advised. "We're all father and son, what can't we get over?"
She glanced back at Xiao Mingzhang, then hurriedly pulled Xiao Shao aside and whispered, "You and I both know that he has truly fallen for her. Now that his beloved is gone, tell him to have some time to calm down and give him some more time!"
Originally, it was Ying herself who couldn't persuade Xiao Mingzhang, so she called Xiao Shao to come. Unexpectedly, after just a few words, Xiao Mingzhang wasn't persuaded, and Xiao Shao also lost his temper. Ying is now extremely distressed, feeling that everything she does in this family is wrong.
"Hmph." Xiao Shao turned his hands behind his back, not saying he agreed, but at least he stood to the side and never went back to Xiao Mingzhang.
For a moment, only Xiao Ming'an, who was dressed in white just like him, remained in front of Xiao Mingzhang.
Xiao Ming'an squatted down in front of Xiao Mingzhang, looking at his haggard brother. He wanted to say something, but he really didn't know what to say.
She was also surprised by Yunzhu's death, and when she found out, she couldn't help but cry.
Just a few days ago, the person who was standing alive and well in front of her, who was chatting and laughing with her, was suddenly gone. Xiao Ming'an was just a teenage girl, and she couldn't help but feel shocked when she heard the news.
But she was at least a bit calmer than Xiao Mingzhang. She knew that the dead could not be brought back to life, and Yunzhu was already gone. She really didn't want her brother to leave her as well.
“…Brother.” Xiao Ming’an stayed with Xiao Mingzhang in front of the mourning hall for a while before saying, “You should eat something. Yunzhu is gone. She certainly wouldn’t want to see you like this in heaven.”
"Do you think she'll be happy with us from heaven after how our family treated her?"
This was the first sentence Xiao Mingzhang spoke today. Upon hearing it, Xiao Ming'an felt suffocated and almost couldn't breathe.
Xiao Ming'an only fully understood the matter concerning Yunzhu in the past few days. It turned out that even after Yunzhu married into the royal family, her father and mother did not give up their idea of going to Jinling. It turned out that they had always been secretly trying to get rid of Yunzhu.
Yunzhu's departure was an inevitable outcome of their persistence.
Xiao Ming'an felt very upset. If her relationship with Yunzhu was just average, it wouldn't have mattered. But last year, she was oblivious to her own situation and gradually began to regard Yunzhu as her friend.
No one wants their friend to die suddenly, and no one wants their friend to be the enemy of their entire family.
“But…” Xiao Ming’an wanted to say that no matter what, Xiao Mingzhang was still the heir of the Huan Prince’s Mansion, and he still had to be responsible for the people of Yunzhou. If he continued like this, his body would definitely collapse completely. But before she could open her mouth, she suddenly remembered that this was what her father had just said.
Her brother doesn't care about anything anymore, and that's why Yunzhu left the palace. If she says anything more now, it will only backfire.
Xiao Ming'an didn't even have the courage to speak for a moment.
She could only continue to sit quietly with Xiao Mingzhang until it got dark, until Ying came and pulled her away.
"Mother..." Xiao Ming'an didn't know what to do if things continued like this.
Ying had no choice but to shake her head: "Let's wait until the seventh day after his death. If he still can't pull himself together by then, we'll have to beat him until he wakes up."
Xiao Ming'an parted his lips slightly, unsure of how to proceed.
But she didn't have any good ideas for the time being, so she could only do whatever her mother said for the time being.
—
Yunzhu's seventh day after her death was over in the blink of an eye.
When the day finally arrived to send the coffin into the mausoleum, Xiao Ming'an was filled with anxiety and fear all day long, afraid that Xiao Mingzhang might do something extraordinary, such as refusing to leave the mausoleum...
Fortunately, it didn't happen.
On the day Yunzhu was buried, Xiao Mingzhang initially acted no differently than he had in the previous days. He followed the coffin closely, step by step, as if afraid that if he wasn't careful, he would lose the thing that held his deceased wife.
Xiao Ming followed behind him the whole way, never daring to take his eyes off him for a moment.
She watched helplessly as Xiao Mingzhang carried the coffin into the mausoleum, and then watched as he personally placed the coffin inside the mausoleum, on land originally reserved for the Crown Prince's consort.
Those were originally intended as tombs for the successive Huan Kings and their consorts. According to the rules of the Great Yu Dynasty, each prince had to begin constructing his own tomb from the day he took up his fief. Xiao Shao was no exception after arriving in Yunzhou.
But what no one expected was that the first person to lie in this tomb would not be Xiao Shao, nor Ying Shi, but his daughter-in-law, the Crown Princess from the Western Regions.
After the coffin was properly placed in the tomb, Xiao Ming'an watched as Xiao Mingzhang began to offer incense to Yunzhu.
Only after the incense was offered did everything finally come to an end.
"Brother..." In case Xiao Mingzhang refused to leave, Xiao Ming'an stepped forward and called out to Xiao Mingzhang the moment everything was settled.
Xiao Mingzhang simply turned around and said to her, "Alright, let's go back."
Okay, let's go back.
Just five short words.
Xiao Ming'an, however, felt as if he had waited for an entire era.
“Brother…” Xiao Ming’an’s eyes were filled with tears. She wanted to say something, but Xiao Mingzhang had already walked past her and headed out of the tomb.
After that day, Xiao Mingzhang returned to his original state.
As if nothing had happened, he got up early every day to go to the government office, and from time to time went to the drill ground to review troops with Xiao Shao and discuss matters with his advisors.
The people from Qingzhou and Jizhou were still settled in an orderly manner by him. Even though Yunzhou was beginning to visibly lack rainfall, it seemed that as long as he was there, everything was not a problem.
He remains the trusted and truly reliable heir of the Huan Prince's mansion.
However, he would show some fluctuation in expression whenever someone mentioned Yunzhu.
Xiao Ming'an observed Xiao Mingzhang cautiously for a long time. Although he seemed to be fine, she felt that this was the biggest problem.
She shared her idea with Xiao Shao and Ying Shi, but Xiao Shao dismissed it.
Xiao Mingzhang, whom Xiao Ming'an could not understand, was the son Xiao Shao wanted most.
This is the Xiao Mingzhang he wanted, the Xiao Mingzhang he wanted who always puts the big picture first and always prioritizes the interests of the Huan Prince's Mansion.
Now that Yunzhu was gone, Xiao Shao naturally wouldn't restrict Xiao Mingzhang's actions anymore. Moreover, because of Yunzhu's death, those strategists who had previously almost completely ignored the Huan Prince's Mansion began to scrutinize it again, and the Huan Prince's Mansion quickly returned to its bustling state.
Since Xiao Mingzhang returned to the government office, Xiao Shao not only restored his power to the same level as before, but also gave him more power, allowing him to control the entire Yunzhou and even a portion of his army.
all is well.
Everything seemed to be going well.
But as Xiao Ming'an witnessed all of this, he always had a vague feeling that something was beyond their control and was developing in an unpredictable direction...
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Author's Note: I'm here to apologize to all my dear readers! I'm so sorry, I've been incredibly busy these past few days, and I've been really struggling with the transition chapters. I'll still update daily as usual from now on! There are red envelopes (cash gifts) in the comments section of this chapter!
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