Red Autumn (Part 3)
When Song Jingyan returned to the boat, Bian Hongqiu had finished his medicine and was leaning on the couch reading a book.
Seeing Song Jingyan push the door open, he put down the book and asked, "Sister, have you asked Mr. Zhou to show it to that person?"
Song Jingyan's expression remained calm, "No."
She looked at Bian Hongqiu: "Your Highness should know that the man just wanted to take advantage of him."
Bian Hongqiu lowered his wrist and said, "I know."
"But he looked pathetic."
He looked at his healthy, white hand, and the bean sprout almost immediately flashed before his eyes—that hand that looked like a dead branch, its palm bent at an odd angle, its fingers wrapped in what looked like straw, its knuckles twisted forcefully. He couldn't tell if the wound was fresh or old, but he could tell the person who had sustained it hadn't rested properly. Though his father had died young, he had left him a legacy of treasures he would use throughout his life—his men, who had supported each other through thick and thin.
Each and every one of them regarded him as more important than themselves, and raised him into a delicate and graceful figure in the rising yellow sand.
He was like a flower bud that was raised alone in the Prince Liang's Mansion. It was the first time in his life that he left the garden and was being carried and touched by someone. So he felt infinite sympathy for the skinny or withered wild flowers on the roadside.
Song Jingyan caught the genuine regret in his eyes.
Bian Hongqiu was raised by her.
The previous King of Liang died suddenly, slain by the barbaric wolfsbane. Song Jingyan and his former subordinates tried everything to save him, but to no avail. After King Liang's death, the border guards dared not announce his death, and a message from the capital echoed the same message. The princess, however, clamored to return to the capital, storming into the city with disheveled hair and causing trouble while pregnant. Song Jingyan single-handedly suppressed her response. Bian Hongqiu, born with the old King of Liang's soft heart and raised as a girl from infancy, weeps at the sight of a falling flower.
When she left Shangyang without him, Song Jingyan thought that this was a good thing.
Whether it was his excessive display of compassion or the fact that he thought his mother was a poor lunatic.
Song Jingyan would say whatever she wanted to say to make him feel better.
The Liang Palace held enough wealth for Bian Hongqiu to squander throughout his life. Although His Majesty had regained control of Dayu, he had done his best to maneuver and might not completely annihilate the Liang Palace. They might be banished to a more remote and desolate place, where they would not be completely powerless. She could help Bian Hongqiu return to maleness, arrange for him to marry and have children, and train a capable steward for the Liang Palace, allowing him to live a peaceful and tranquil life. This would be a way of repaying the old prince's kindness to her.
But Song Jingyan's heart sank heavily into the quagmire.
From the moment Hong Min pushed her to meet Xi Zhongting, she knew that these were just naive assumptions.
To call Xi Zhongting the Emperor's "trusted and trusted minister" was no compliment. When His Majesty was still the Crown Prince, Xi Zhongting accompanied the Crown Prince on his incognito tours among the common people, personally creating the map of the people's customs in the eleven states. Although he had been absent from the capital for years, he remained His Majesty's sharpest sword, his actions fulfilling His Majesty's will. She and Hong Min had not only met with Xi Zhongting, but his words and actions had shown no sign of seeking a reckoning.
Song Jingyan understood.
Your Majesty still needs to use their Prince Liang’s Mansion.
The imperial court has created an ambiguous attitude towards them for so many years. The future direction will depend on their choices - whether they choose to confront or submit to the emperor; whether they can satisfy the emperor in doing the things the emperor wants them to do.
As for confrontation, Song Jingyan had never thought about it.
The emperor has held on since the time when the King of Jingxi was plotting rebellion until now, and there is no one in the world who can oppose him.
In this case, Bian Hongqiu can no longer be just an indecisive lord.
In a place like the capital, Song Jingyan could leave him at any time due to various conspiracies. The only person he had to rely on was himself.
Song Jingyan sighed silently: "He wants to attack Your Highness and extort money from Your Highness. Does Your Highness also feel pity for him?"
Bian Hongqiu could certainly see the disapproval in Song Jingyan's eyes. He twirled the pages of the book beside him and continued, "Sister said, the late emperor was addicted to women and pleasure. Drought ravaged many provinces, leaving the land devastated by starvation, yet the late emperor turned a blind eye and collected silver from all over to build the 'Forty-Nine Immortal Palaces.' The world we see today, and the people we see before us, are all the karma the late emperor incurred." He raised his eyes slightly, assessing Song Jingyan's expression. "They had no choice. They were pitiful, too."
“No one will be without a choice.”
Song Jingyan maintained her composure. "Your Highness, you've come all the way from Shangyang and met so many people. Not everyone is a thief. Some people would rather starve to death than touch anything that doesn't belong to them. Your Highness, the wealth you possess is the product of generations of meritorious service, earned through the lives and blood of the Liang Palace. Not a single cent is ill-gotten gains. Their suffering is not caused by you."
Bian Hongqiu picked up the scroll and casually threw it around - he didn't really want to refute Song Jingyan, so he didn't often look into her eyes when expressing his opinions.
"But now I'm the master of Prince Liang's Mansion. Aside from my bloodline, I've done nothing to deserve this status." How could he not know that he was actually a worthless, delicate flower? Thinking was one thing, doing was another. He had done things Song Jingyan disapproved of several times, and the results were always the same: the dark, creepy, and chilling calculations Song Jingyan had described to him never came to pass.
So even if he was just refuting verbally now, it was a bit weak.
"...I just thought that I could do my best to help one person at a time."
He was raised too delicately, and no matter how beautiful his features were, he still had a sense of weakness and stinginess.
Song Jingyan stared at his face and felt a little soft-hearted.
After a moment, she sighed quietly again and asked, "Your Highness, do you think you are helping him by doing this?"
She speculated on several possibilities for Bian Hongqiu: "Perhaps he's reaped the benefits of His Highness and will continue to deceive other kind-hearted people and use force to coerce even weaker ones. Perhaps the next person he meets won't be His Highness, but a vicious wolf like Xi Zhongting, and he'll die by the sword because of his greed."
"Your Highness, unless you take him with you and take care of him like a flower, and you also have to ensure that the authority in your hands will never disappear, you can help a—"
She slowly leaned down, looking for Bian Hongqiu's twinkling eyes: "A person you feel pity for."
"At the same time, your kindness and patience must not diminish."
"Can you do that?"
"Your Highness, how many people like this can you help?"
Bian Hongqiu clutched the scroll and tried to hide in bed. He couldn't answer Song Jingyan's question.
Song Jingyan grabbed the other corner of the book to stop him.
"His Highness said that, apart from your bloodline, you have done nothing worthy of this status."
"But it is precisely because you carry the blood of the previous king in your veins and you are the current master of the Liang Palace that you want to help those you feel are pitiful. The copper coins you throw and the doctors you send out—these kinds of help are not worthy of your status."
“These things are so small.”
Bian Hongqiu couldn't hide, he took a deep breath and looked at Song Jingyan.
"So, sister, have you changed your mind?" Have you changed your original idea of bringing him to Beijing?
Song Jingyan simply said, "Your Highness, I will follow you forever."
Song Jingyan's words made Bian Hongqiu toss and turn and unable to fall asleep.
He quietly got off the bed, and Hengbo fell asleep under him, hugging the quilt. Inside, the incense he always burned had been replaced, but the lingering fragrance still lingered.
Bian Hongqiu didn't wake up Hengbo. He pushed the door open and went out. There were still two neatly dressed and serious servants at the door.
He raised his hand, "Don't disturb my sister. I want to go to the deck for a walk."
The two servants did not show any hesitation. One of them turned around and went into the house to get Bian Hongqiu's cloak without waking Hengbo.
Bian Hongqiu walked out. Hong Min, who had been drunk by other Liang Wang's former subordinates during the day, was still lying in the same place, motionless. He took a look and quietly walked around.
The river was very peaceful while we were traveling, with large and small ships swaying gently, which seemed to lull people to sleep at night.
Probably to prepare for the coming storm.
The practice of buying life-saving money in Hunzhou of the Ming Dynasty existed as early as the reign of Emperor Wu.
Since the founding of Dayu, military power has been divided among a few meritorious officials. Emperors with the surname Bian were generally soft-hearted, valuing loyalty and righteousness. Over a dozen generations, not only did these meritorious officials not be abandoned after their exploits, but their power actually grew stronger until Emperor Wu ascended the throne. This emperor, who aspired to be a prosperous ruler, discovered that even if he wanted to mobilize two insignificant soldiers to buy wine, he needed a general's handwritten order. To say nothing of expanding territory or conquering barbarians would result in the generals offering only crude, unspeakable evasions.
So he started with his own harem, selling himself to the daughters of several important officials and generals. During this period, he used countless conspiracies and tricks, which he thought was "not caring about trivial matters to achieve great things". He schemed from his prime to his old age, and finally took control of most of the military power. At this time, half of the sky of Dayu was about to collapse.
Ming Hunzhou was the fiefdom of a rebellious general.
This state has a very special geographical location. It is located in the center of the country and monopolizes the waterways of Xinglu River that flow north and south from Daohai City. If you want to take the water route, you must enter the city.
This general was deeply disheartened by Emperor Wu's actions. He felt compelled to make the emperor understand the extent of Dayu's decline without them. He neither led his troops in rebellion nor endured the humiliation of seeking a new master. Instead, he returned to his fiefdom and led his men to block the essential route, establishing a so-called "life-saving treasure" to make life miserable for everyone.
Bian Hongqiu was not clear about the specific rules of "buying life and wealth".
These matters have always been handled by Song Jingyan.
Bian Hongqiu was completely awakened by the cool night breeze. His sick, heavy body floated gently, even though he was walking unsteadily on the deck. The young servant beside Bian Hongqiu was very good at reading people's expressions. In the fragmented night light, he noticed the sudden lightness that came over Bian Hongqiu and said, "Your Highness should go out more often. Staying cooped up on the ship won't help your illness."
Going out for a walk in the middle of the night?
Bian Hongqiu realized that this was another person Song Jingyan had sent to please him.
He took two steps forward and was about to tell them not to follow him when he was suddenly attracted by the scene in front of him.
Atop the scout boat ahead, a shirtless man with a rope tied around his waist climbed aboard. The moonlight illuminated his lean, powerful body, glistening with water droplets. Noticing he was being watched, he briefly glanced around, rested a moment on the boat, made a drinking gesture, and with a "plop," dove back into the river. Bian Hongqiu, having grown up in the water and never seen water before, wondered, "What's he doing?"
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