According to the funeral customs of the Great Zhou Dynasty, noble ladies like the Qin aunt and niece usually had to stay in the coffin for 49 days before being buried. However, as the New Year was approaching and their remains were almost gone, Marquis Dingyuan decided to bury them as soon as possible.
Qin Chuan disagreed no matter what. Firstly, the time for the funeral was too short and seemed too sloppy. Secondly, Marquis Dingyuan had not given him a satisfactory answer so far. During the investigation these days, he had always claimed that it was the aunt and nephew who set fire to the ancestral hall for heating.
The person was already dead, but he was charged with burning the ancestral hall out of nowhere. How could he accept this
Marquis Dingyuan was also annoyed. Three people died in the mansion within one year, and two funerals were held. All the accidents were caused by Qin Wanru. He wanted to ask Qin Chuan, his father, for an explanation!
He didn't teach his own daughter well, and when something happened he put the blame on others. If he does this, the General's Mansion should also go to the Prime Minister's Mansion to seek an explanation.
The two refused to give in to each other. Marquis Dingyuan got angry and buried the aunt and nephew after the 27th day, regardless of Qin Chuan's objection.
Qin Chuan was so angry that he ran to the emperor to file a complaint, begging the emperor to do him justice no matter what.
His father was the prime minister of two dynasties who had been granted the imperial seal by the previous emperor, and he himself was a third-rank Hanlin scholar. Song Wanji remembered the old prime minister's merits and felt sorry for him for losing two relatives at once, so he had to give him face, fined Dingyuan Marquis half a year's salary, and ordered him to stay at home to mourn for Qin for half a year.
Qin Chuan was naturally dissatisfied with such a light punishment and wanted to argue again, which made Song Wanji unhappy.
"It is an established fact that your sister and daughter teamed up to murder the general's daughter. The general's daughter was married off by me personally. Logically speaking, even if there was no fire, their crimes are enough to be executed immediately.
You suspected that they were murdered, and Dingyuan Hou also tried his best to cooperate with you in the investigation. If nothing else could be found, what else could he do? He lost two daughters-in-law and a wife, and was fined and suspended for no reason. Isn't he wronged
Your two families are in-laws after all. Even though you lost your sister and daughter, you still have three nephews and nieces. As an uncle, do you have to be willing to die together?"
If someone else had said this, Qin Chuan could still argue, but the one who was saying this was the emperor, so no matter how dissatisfied he was, he had to swallow his anger and let it go.
Marquis Dingyuan was indeed wronged. When he heard about the punishment imposed on him by the emperor, he felt as upset as if he had eaten a fly and could not swallow this humiliation.
Song Wanji persuaded him again: "Whether it is a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, it is two lives after all. Moreover, Qin is a woman with an imperial title. As the head of the family, do you dare to say that you have no responsibility at all? I am not on the side of the Qin family, and I cannot be partial to you. I will punish each of you with fifty lashes, and let this matter pass. Otherwise, I don't know when Qin Chuan will make trouble. Besides, you have been busy for a year, and the war in the northern border has ended recently. You can take this opportunity to rest at home. Why not?"
Marquis Dingyuan had nothing to say and had to accept the punishment reluctantly.
"The Emperor wants me to be responsible for welcoming General Wu'an back to the capital. So, does this mean that this matter will have to be handed over to someone else?"
"Oh, I almost forgot about this. I'll assign someone else later!" Song Wanji said, "You stay at home and mourn well. When Zhan Ting comes back, we can get together quietly and have a good drink."
He has brought up the brotherhood, what else can Marquis Dingyuan do? The only option is to go home and mourn.
Seeing that he agreed, Song Wanji finally breathed a sigh of relief and said with emotion, "I've been busy cleaning up your ass all day long. That brat Zhao Jingyu wants me to grant him a marriage, and then he wants me to support the Zhenguo Mansion and not allow the Queen to cause trouble for them. I'm almost annoyed to death by him."
Dingyuan Hou: “…”
My son is yours, okay? I have raised you for more than ten years without complaining about the trouble. How dare you complain about it? Do you think being a father is so easy
"But then again, the Emperor originally thought Xiu'er was not worthy of Yu'er and refused to grant them a marriage. Now that Xiu'er is the daughter of the Duke's Mansion, can he grant them a marriage?"
"I do want to, but I'm afraid the Duke's Mansion doesn't like Yu'er anymore." Song Wanji sighed, "Yu'er is a bastard after all, he has no achievements and a bad reputation. He also lost his mother recently and has to observe mourning for three years. I can't force my daughter to wait for him for three years!"
"What should we do?" Marquis Dingyuan was really worried about his son. "Yu'er is determined to marry that girl. What if the Duke of Zhenguo promised his daughter to another family during these three years? Wouldn't he go crazy?"
"What can I do?" Song Wanji spread his hands. "Our dynasty governs the country with benevolence and filial piety. You can't ask me to take the lead in breaking the rules, right?"
Marquis Dingyuan was anxious and helpless as his son was not his own, so he returned to his mansion dejected.
As soon as he entered the door, Zhao Jingyu received the news and hurried to the front yard to find out what was going on.
"What's going on, Dad? When will the emperor grant me a marriage?" He asked impatiently after entering the study.
Marquis Dingyuan sighed, repeated the emperor's words to him, spread his hands helplessly, and said that he had tried his best.
Zhao Jingyu was furious when he heard this: "What a joke! I haven't even been in mourning for three days, and you want me to mourn for three years. After three years, I will be over 20 years old. Does he still want me to get married?"
"That's what I said, but the emperor said that not wearing mourning clothes is your personal matter, but not observing mourning is the matter of the entire marquisate. If we talk about marriage during the period of mourning for our mother, I, as a father, will be impeached to death by the people of the Censorate. Will the emperor help me or not then?" said Marquis Dingyuan.
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
So, there is no way out
"It's not that there is no solution." Dingyuan Hou said, "The emperor said that you are not a child anymore, you should learn to solve problems by yourself, and stop relying on your parents for help all the time."
"What, what do you mean?" Zhao Jingyu looked confused.
"What I mean is that you can try to impress the Duke's Mansion with your sincerity." Dingyuan Hou said, "The emperor said that if you can't even handle such a small matter, it proves that you are not fit for great use and you need to continue to hone your skills."
Zhao Jingyu: “…”
He finally understood what it meant by having no achievements and observing three years of mourning. In the end, the emperor just wanted to test him by giving him a difficult question and let him personally deal with the Duke's Mansion.
Just go, who's afraid of who? I don't believe that with my handsome and suave appearance, the Duke's Mansion would look down on me!
snort!
Having made up his mind, Zhao Jingyu returned to the West Wing with high morale, ready to formulate a good action plan and strive to achieve the goal in the shortest time possible.
Unfortunately, after writing for a long time and wasting more than ten sheets of paper, he still couldn't figure out a clue. He was so angry that he put down his pen, threw all the waste paper into the brazier and burned it, then took Wei Jun with him to find Cheng Zhiye.
After hearing his purpose, Cheng Zhiye said in embarrassment: "I am good at coaxing girls, but I have never coaxed my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I don't know where to start!"
"No, you must know that you helped Zhou Yuncheng pursue my sister, so why don't you help me?" Zhao Jingyu glared.
"..." Cheng Zhiye smiled bitterly, "I didn't help much with Zhou Yuncheng's matter. Wasn't it Xiu'er who was the one giving the advice? Oh, yes, why don't you go to Xiu'er for advice?"
Zhao Jingyu: "... Let Xiu'er give me some advice on how to marry her. You are really good at thinking."
Cheng Zhiye also laughed: "Yeah, it's as if she's in a hurry to get married and has to help you deceive your parents."
Zhao Jingyu gave him a fierce look and didn't bother to pay attention to him.
"But what can we do? The Emperor is unwilling to help you, and the Marquis is not willing to help you either. You can't just shamelessly come and ask for marriage, right?" Cheng Zhiye said, "I can't say anything about others, but the old Duke doesn't have a good impression of you, and he might even beat you out with a stick."
Zhao Jingyu finally couldn't help but kicked him: "I asked you to help me with ideas, not to attack me."
"Hiss! Kick gently!" Cheng Zhiye covered his buttocks and cried out in pain. Suddenly his eyes lit up, "I have an idea for a roundabout way."
"How to go around it?" Zhao Jingyu asked.
"Aren't those guys in the Duke's Mansion quite playful?" Cheng Zhiye said, "Let's first find a way to get on good terms with them, then we can legitimately go to the Duke's Mansion. The first time is the second time, the second time is the third time. If we go a few more times, we will always find a way to break through, right?"
"That's a good idea." Zhao Jingyu's eyes lit up. "We drank together two months ago. Although we're not close friends, at least we can talk to each other. How about this, I'll host the party tomorrow and invite those guys to come. Let's try to get close to them first."
They both thought this was a good idea, and they hit it off immediately and started planning a dinner.
After the restaurant was booked and a table of delicacies was ordered, Zhao Jingyu was waiting in the room. Cheng Zhiye went to invite several young masters of the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion with great enthusiasm, but not long after, he came back alone and dejected.
"Where are the people? Why are you alone here?" Zhao Jingyu walked up to him and asked.
"He doesn't want to come." Cheng Zhiye said dejectedly, "He said you offended his sister at Jinxiufang, and he was planning to settle the score with you. If it weren't for the trouble at your family, he would have beaten you to the point of being bedridden."
"Fuck!" Zhao Jingyu had never been treated so badly before. He was so angry that he cursed and almost overturned the delicious food on the table. "Come and try to hit me. The one who dares to hit me hasn't been born yet. Let's call Zhou Yuncheng. Let's beat them until they are bedridden first!"
"..." Cheng Zhiye smacked his lips and said, "Are you sure? They are all your future brothers-in-law!"
"..." Zhao Jingyu immediately wilted, grabbed the wine pot and took a few gulps, and said depressedly: "Brother-in-law is amazing, why didn't I embarrass Zhou Yuncheng at that time, tut, what a loss!"
(End of this chapter)