Chapter 104: Despair
Ye Shuo: “…”
Wow, my stepfather is really amazing. He even remembered that the Duke of Zhen is his grandfather at this time?
But think about it, the ancients attached great importance to filial piety. How my stepfather treats the Duke of Zhen is one thing, but if he does the same, that’s another matter.
In short, I can do it, but you can’t.
It seems that something big happened today, otherwise his stepfather’s emotions wouldn’t be so drastic. Ye Shuo always felt that he was vaguely speaking for his grandfather today, but he didn’t know if it was an illusion.
Emperor Jingwen’s sudden outburst caught Ye Shuo off guard.
But who is Ye Shuo? His reaction speed is not ordinary fast.
“Isn’t it difficult?” From a child’s perspective, Ye Shuo showed just the right amount of confusion.“Dad, why are you so angry? Did your son say something wrong?”
“But, but…Teacher and the others have always said this…”
Ye Shuo really wasn’t lying about this matter, the Taifu and the others were all the leaders of the civil officials, and the civil officials always looked down on the military commanders who only had a bit of strength, even if they were very restrained, they could not help but inadvertently reveal a bit of contempt in their words.
Of course, the Grand Tutor and the others were only talking about those ordinary military generals who were not very particular, and they did not mention any names of the Duke of Zhen.
But in the eyes of a child, grandfather = military commander = vulgar, is there anything wrong with this formula? There is absolutely no problem, right?
“I heard that military commanders are quick to fight with others and are not clean. Your son… your son would rather deal with more polite people…” He comes up shirtless and smells of sweat. Who can stand this?
After hearing Ye Shuo’s words, Emperor Jingwen felt as if he had been hit by a wake-up call.
Yes, how could he forget that no matter what attitude the superiors have towards the Duke of Zhen, the people below will naturally follow suit.
Especially since this is not an ordinary matter, as it concerns military power, all the ministers are very secretive about it. Add to that the relationship between civil officials and military generals, it would be strange for the Taifu and others to say anything good.
Now that Xiaojiu is taught by the Taifu and others every day, he is influenced by them and naturally thinks that the Duke of Zhen is not a good person.
Xiaojiu’s current reaction is the result of everyone’s joint efforts, including myself, who is actually a driving force behind it.
Emperor Jingwen wanted to distance his son from the Zhen family, but he definitely did not intend to make him become ruthless.
When it comes to the relationship with the Zhen Duke’s family, Xiaojiu was well educated, but his blank indifference and the way he treated the Zhen Duke as if he were an insignificant stranger still made Emperor Jingwen’s heart tremble.
Blood relationship is always a very important bond at any time, so Ye Shuo’s behaviour is very abnormal.
No, we can’t go on like this. If we continue like this, there will definitely be big problems!
Soon, Emperor Jingwen made up his mind.
“No, you have to go whether you want to or not!” Originally Emperor Jingwen just tried it out a little, but now he really has this idea in mind.
Ye Shuo was not in a hurry to respond, and he perfectly portrayed the image of a child who was unwilling to go to his grandfather’s house.
Ye Shuo had never eaten pork, but at least he had seen pigs run. When he was a child, one of his friends did the same thing when he heard that he would be sent to his hometown in the countryside during the summer vacation.
“No, no, I don’t want to learn martial arts in such hot weather!”
Emperor Jingwen almost forgot that this child was still suffering from summer pain.
But the more he did this, the more determined Emperor Jingwen became to send him away.
But we can’t send him away for too long, at most ten days, and then we can bring him back.
Just like that, amidst Ye Shuo’s “crying”, Emperor Jingwen remained unmoved and turned away very coldly.
Ye Shuo: “…………”
Ye Shuo couldn’t help but laugh out loud after his adoptive father completely left Qiuwu Palace.
Let me tell you, it doesn’t matter whether my cheap dad says it’s easy to fool or not. As long as you master the skills, isn’t it easy to do?
Just like that, three days later, Madam Wei came into the palace. Before Ye Shuo could even see his grandmother, Emperor Jingwen hurriedly packed him up and sent him to the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion for labour reform.
Just do the whole show. There are still ten days left, so there is no need to rush.
So Ye Shuo found a way to jump out of the car midway.
Although he knew that his son would not be so honest, when he heard the news, Emperor Jingwen’s face turned green uncontrollably, and he did not hesitate to extend Ye Shuo’s stay at the Duke of Zhenguo’s Mansion by two more days.
Emperor Jingwen even issued a death order, requiring the accompanying guards to find him before lunch no matter what, and to tie him up and take him to the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion.
Ye Shuo doesn’t know yet. If he knew, he would be so happy that he would go crazy.
At the same time, everyone in the Zhen Mansion received news that the Ninth Prince would be staying at the Zhen Mansion.
After hearing the eunuch’s report, the Duke of Zhen became alert at a speed visible to the naked eye.
At first he was still depressed because Madam Wei was able to enter the palace to visit their daughter, but he could not. Now, the Ninth Prince is coming, and the Duke of Zhen feels comforted all of a sudden.
Although he felt sad that he couldn’t see his daughter, he felt comforted to see his grandson.
Unexpectedly, this time the emperor was so understanding. Not only did he allow Madam Wei to come to the palace to meet the imperial concubine, he also sent the ninth prince to visit him.
One or two of the sisters-in-law felt that something was strange, but they did not think much about it and quickly asked the servants to clean up the best courtyard in the Duke of Zhen’s mansion and prepare it for the Ninth Prince.
The entire Duke of Zhen’s clan was suddenly busy.
After finally calming down, the Duke of Zhenguo hurriedly called out, “Ping’er, look where your brothers are, and call them back to old man!”
It is unknown how long it will take for them to meet next time, so the Duke of Zhen plans to use this opportunity to let his grandchildren recognize each other, so that they won’t have to figure out who is who among cousins.
Upon hearing this, the one called Wei Ping couldn’t help but said weakly: “Grandfather, I am your grandson…” Isn’t this calling old man “old man” a generation difference?
“Just go when I tell you to go. Why are you talking so much nonsense?” As a result, the old Duke Zhen glared at the young man with a fierce look. The dark-faced young man named Wei Ping shuddered, then ran away with his tail between his legs.
“Grandfather, don’t be angry, I’ll go call for help right away!”
That’s right, this is really difficult to handle.
Wei Ping scratched his head and searched the entire Zhen Mansion, but only found five or six brothers. The rest seemed to have gone out and were not in the mansion.
There was no other way, Wei Ping could only call on these five brothers to go with him to look for someone outside the mansion.
Seeing that one of the cousins was still dozing off, Wei Ping couldn’t help but slap him on the forehead, which woke the cousin up with a yell: “What are you standing there for? Hurry up!”
“Let me tell you, Grandfather pays special attention to this little cousin whom he has never met. If it’s too late, you just have to wait!”
Wei Guang covered his head with his hands grimacing. He was about to fight back, but when he heard the other party mention his grandfather, he immediately wilted.
Never mind, this beating from my cousin is nothing. My grandfather’s beating was too severe and I really couldn’t stand it.
So the five men had to take their servants and split into five groups to look for others.
The youngest among them, Wei Ying, is only ten years old now. In other families, family members would rarely open the door to their grandchildren, for fear that they might get bumped or bruised outside. But in the Wei family, there are no such concerns. All the grandchildren have been playing around since they were young, and many of them are playing outside when they are six or seven years old.
The Duke of Zhen’s Mansion has many children and they were raised roughly, so no one thinks it’s a big deal.
Before leaving, Wei Guang suddenly thought of something, so he said casually: “By the way, Seventh Brother, Big Brother is also at home now, why don’t you go and call him?”
However, Wei Ping is just naive, not stupid.
No one in the family dares to set foot in the eldest brother’s yard.
Wei Ping then shook his head like a rattle and backed away again and again: “You go if you want to go, I won’t go.”
Wei Guang pondered for a moment, and suddenly thought of his elder brother’s smiling face. He shuddered and immediately gave up the idea.
Forget it, although the eldest brother is useful, he is also very fierce.
It’s better not to disturb him easily.
Soon, the six Wei brothers came out one after another.
However, not long after, Wei Wen, the eldest brother as mentioned by Wei Ping and others, the eldest grandson of the house, still felt in his own yard that the Zhen Mansion today was different from usual.
Looking from the window, there were obviously many more maids and servants coming and going outside than usual.
Wei Wen was stunned for a moment, then he called the servant beside him over.
Perhaps because he had to clean up the mess too many times on weekdays, Wei Wen almost subconsciously asked, “Who in the family got into trouble again?”
It’s so lively, there must be guests at home.
Given the current situation of the Zhen Mansion, almost no one would come to visit on their own initiative, except for one situation –
If there was some disobedient kid in the family who beat up someone else’s child, and then the family’s parents came to the door, the Duke of Zhen had no choice but to invite the family to have a meal, and during the meal, the person from whichever room the child had made the trouble would apologise to the family’s parents.
The younger brothers beat people up, and they came to our house. My parents, uncles and aunts invited them to dinner and apologized. Then, after a while, the younger brothers beat people up again, and they came to our house. Then, the Duke of Zhen apologised…
This cycle has been going on for who knows how many years, and Wei Wen has become numb.
This kind of thing happens every other day, and the Duke of Zhen’s Mansion has to spend a large sum of money every year just for an apology.
Fortunately, when the late emperor was alive, his grandfather had a relatively rich fortune from years of wars, and his mother and aunts were quite knowledgeable about business, otherwise the entire Zhen Mansion might not be enough to pay the compensation.
Most of the children in the mansion are lively and energetic. If this situation happened in the past, the worst that could happen would be for their father or uncles to take them to the border, where they would behave themselves after staying there for a while.
But now, not only his father, but also several uncles were gradually restricted and were not allowed to go out to lead the troops. The energy of those little rascals at home had nowhere to vent, so they had to slowly waste it.
But soon, the servant’s answer surprised Wei Wen.
It turns out that no one has gotten into trouble again.
Instead, the Ninth Prince was going to stay at the Duke Zhen’s Mansion, and according to the eunuch who delivered the imperial edict, he would stay there for a while.
The servant thought that the eldest master would be very happy to hear the news, but to his surprise, there didn’t seem to be much joy on his face.
The servant had been with the eldest prince since he was a child, so he didn’t have many reservations when speaking. He asked immediately, “Sir, the Ninth Prince is coming. Aren’t you happy?”
Wei Wen: “…”
Happy? What is there for him to be happy about?
It’s not like he hasn’t heard of the reputation of his little cousin. He heard that he was very naughty and even the current emperor couldn’t control him.
It’s just one more troublemaker. Does God think that Duke Zhen’s Mansion is not lively enough?
Seventeen younger brothers, and now with the addition of a cousin, all eighteen brothers are like this. I’m afraid no one would be able to laugh if they were in his place.
There are also his father, five uncles, and even his beautiful aunt who came to Beijing, they are all exactly the same.
Wei Wen is now 24 years old, and no one knows how he has survived all these years.
And among so many people, not even one person could see that, although this majestic Duke’s Mansion looked flourishing with flowers and luxuriant branches and leaves, it was actually a building about to collapse.
In just a short moment, all the past events came to his mind, and for a moment, Wei Wen’s eyes revealed a hint of despair.