The rain fell incessantly like threads of hemp. The servants had straw rain capes, but the horses and livestock couldn’t bear it any longer. The coachman came to ask for instructions from the master. Chu Mingxi asked how far they had traveled before giving her orders. Lei Min found a barely adequate resting spot in the outskirts of Muye, using the dense forest as shelter from the rain so the convoy could temporarily regroup.
The wilderness was too damp to start a fire, but luckily it wasn’t cold. The two sisters ate some dry rations inside the carriage. Chu Mingyu, coddled since childhood, truly couldn’t stomach it. Chu Mingxi didn’t force her.
After resting for about a quarter of an hour, the rain lessened slightly. The coachman packed up the fodder and put the bridles back on. The party resumed their distant journey toward the Capital City.
They hadn’t traveled long when a clamor arose outside, and the carriage slowly came to a halt. Lei Min clamped his legs against his horse’s sides to scout for information. Chu Mingyu, weary from sitting in the carriage, saw her sister resting with her eyes closed. She carefully poked her head out, wanting to step down for a walk. The coachman, startled, hurried to find a stool, but Chu Mingyu found it troublesome. She looked back to see her sister’s bright eyes open, watching her with a slightly amused quirk to her lips. Her face flushed, she ducked back inside and sat down obediently.
“Eldest Young Miss.” Lei Min’s voice sounded outside the carriage.
“What is it?”
“Rockslide on the mountain path. Probably washed down by all this rain.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Chu Mingxi immediately pushed open the carriage door upon hearing this. The coachman had already arranged the stools beside the driver’s seat and was standing guard by the shaft.
Qingdai, who had been in the smaller cart at the back, hurried forward through the mud. Holding an umbrella with one hand, she stretched out the other to help her young miss down.
“I haven’t heard of anyone being injured, but the Southern Yamen Guard has sealed off the road. Vehicles and pedestrians are blocked on both sides; there’s a huge uproar.” Lei Min knew the rules and had already respectfully retreated two steps, answering with hands hanging low.
Chu Mingxi immediately set off on foot. Lei Min and a few household guards escorted her front and back, explaining as they walked: “We’re only about ten li from the city gate. If we take a detour, it’s at least fifty or sixty li extra. We wouldn’t make it into the city today, hence the commotion outside.”
As they drew near with the crowd, a cacophony of neighing horses and shouting people blended into a din.
Ahead was a steep slope with scattered rocks on the path. Wei Qingchen was standing to the side of it, discussing a solution with an older Deputy General.
“Guard both ends! This road is impassable. Anyone returning to the capital must take a detour!” She tilted her head up, frowning slightly. Rainwater traced down her hair into her eyes, but she wiped her face without a care, pointing to the bottom of the slope as she told the Deputy, “There are a few villages downstream. Take a unit and evacuate the villagers first.”
This Deputy General, specifically assigned by Wei Huaishu to assist her, had been in officialdom for some time. Now, he wore a pained expression. “Heir, we’re just passing through. Without orders from above or a decree from the Mayor of the Capital Prefecture, dispersing villagers privately is the same offense as unlawful assembly and armed brawling. Perhaps we should first request the local magistrate to come take a look?”
“The rockslide could come down at any moment. How can we wait for someone to inspect? Take your men first. I’ll take responsibility if anything happens.”
“Heir! This is no joke.” The Deputy General, having suffered the hardships of the bureaucracy, couldn’t help but advise earnestly, “Why don’t you return to the capital first…”
“We wait for the local magistrate, but will the heavens wait?” Wei Qingchen pointed her horsewhip at the sky. The pouring rain reflected off her sneering face. “Will this torrential rain wait? Will human lives wait?”
The Deputy General was about to speak again when Wei Qingchen dropped her whip, pointing at a young soldier. “You. Ride back to the capital immediately. Go to Jingzhao Prefecture and explain the situation clearly to the Mayor.” The young man spurred his horse away, but Wei Qingchen called him back. She fumbled at her waist, took out an object, and tossed it over. “Take my token to knock on the city gates!”
“Yes, sir!”
The Deputy General had no choice but to accept the order. He took his men downstream, instructing his personal guards before leaving to protect the Heir at all costs. The rain intensified. The remaining guards stood in orderly rows at both ends of the steep slope, leaving a gap the distance of an arrow’s flight in the middle, silently and resolutely guarding against the impending disaster. Wei Qingchen sat astride her horse at the front of the formation, like a stalk of green bamboo facing the wind. The icy rain drummed against her armor with a crisp, clear sound.
“Let’s go.” Chu Mingxi, observing her from afar within the crowd for a long moment, turned back. “Tell the coachman, we’re taking the detour.”
Lei Min acknowledged the order and tilted his chin towards a man beside him. A household guard jogged off toward the convoy.
The landslide came crashing down in the blink of an eye, destroying houses and rice paddies below. A large number of livestock that couldn’t be moved in time died. The people were displaced. The Mayor of the Capital Prefecture, alongside the Ministry of Revenue, was overwhelmed, yet secretly relieved that Heir Wei had evacuated people in time, at least preventing any human casualties.
On the second day after the landslide disaster, Wei Qingchen was impeached in court. For daring to privately disperse villagers at the Emperor’s feet—over a hundred households, no less—the courtiers earnestly requested His Majesty’s judgment.
Emperor Mingcheng stroked the short beard on his chin. Saying that emergencies required flexibility, he decreed a punishment of three months’ salary deduction.
But someone couldn’t read the mood. Raising his tablet, he memorialized: The Imperial Blade Guards are close ministers of the Son of Heaven. Though there was cause, from the hundred officials down to the common people, all are bound by law and statute. Otherwise, how can the realm be governed?
Wei Qingchen frowned upon hearing this. She turned to look—ha, Li Shichang, the Vice Minister of Rites.
The grudge between their two families wasn’t a matter of a single day. The Emperor had occasionally heard of it. Now, looking at the official in court, he was quite displeased.
“According to the law, what should be the penalty?”
“Exile!”
Exile??? Wei Qingchen nearly jumped to her feet.
“Royal Father!” Crown Prince Mu Qilin, already permitted to observe court politics, hurriedly sought to plead for leniency upon hearing the Vice Minister of Rites.
Luckily, the Emperor raised a hand to stop him, then spoke again: “Exile? Wei Qingchen saved over a hundred households, nearly a thousand lives. Should I exile him three thousand li for that?” He swept his gaze around the court, his tone growing majestic. “In the future, when similar emergencies arise, how should the hundred officials conduct themselves? According to the laws of this dynasty, should everyone only look after themselves and stay out of trouble?”
“We dare not, Your Majesty.” The assembled court officials knelt in a dark mass.
Li Shichang’s heart began to drum wildly!
The Emperor had rapped them with a stick, so he casually scattered a handful of sugar: “Minister Li based his argument on rites and law. He fulfills his duty in his position, and he wasn’t wrong. Since Wei Qingchen has both merit and fault in this matter, and these cannot cancel each other out—guards, take him out. Thirty strokes of the court rod, as a warning to all!”
What? Wei Qingchen thought she had misheard, until the Imperial Guards truly dragged her out. Only then did she stare wide-eyed, her face full of disbelief.
Court rod! Although she’d taken military beatings in the Northern Pacification Army camp, this was outside the Great Hall of the Imperial Palace, with the hundred civil and military officials staring on! Did she have no dignity?!
She was dragged down and couldn’t dodge. The rods smacked down, pap pap pap. The entire court of civil and military officials was silent as chickens. Wei Qingchen gritted her teeth, her eyes reddening with grievance.
After returning from the beating, Wei Qingchen’s eyes were full of resentment as she looked at her Imperial Uncle, the Emperor. Emperor Mingcheng, however, was amiable: “What should be punished has been punished. Merits, then, should be rewarded.” He gestured to Chief Eunuch Chang Fu beside him.
Eunuch Chang Fu stepped forward, his face brimming with smiles, and proclaimed the edict before the civil and military officials: The Emperor appointed Wei Qingchen as Left Assistant General of the Palace Guard, with the rank of Upper Fourth Rank, still serving in the imperial presence.
Poor Wei Qingchen, aching all over, still had to kneel to receive the decree and express gratitude.
Grand General Wei Huaishu had been away on military inspection duty for the past few days, absent from court. When he received the report, he felt a mix of fatherly comfort and pride. Verbally, though, he said, “That boy, dumb luck.”
His Deputy Generals all offered their congratulations. Wei Huaishu burst out laughing. Today’s drill, he ordered, would have the soldiers run twenty extra laps!
The Deputy Generals thought to themselves: …Shouldn’t have come to congratulate…
After the crowd of onlookers had dispersed, Adjutant Xiao Zheng came over. Weighing his words, he said, “Heir has been confined in the palace for almost half a year now. Does General think it’s time to find a suitable moment for him to return home?”
“Military Advisor, you’re overthinking it. He’s been loitering in the palace of his own accord.” Wei Huaishu waved his hand dismissively, his face full of disgust. “Proposed marriage twice, beaten back both times. He can’t show his face.”
Xiao Zheng suddenly understood. Thinking of the child he’d watched grow up, now at the age to take a wife, he chuckled to himself.
Having lost face both inside and outside the palace, Wei Qingchen was dispatched back by the Grand Princess. She had originally wanted to ride a horse, but from her waist and back down to her buttocks, it was a fiery, searing pain. Though not comparable to a military beating, so many people had been watching, and the executioners hadn’t held back either.
The Old Madam of the household had just received the news. Trembling, she personally went to the gate to receive her. The moment she saw her, tears fell. “Oh, my baby boy,” she cried, heart-wrenching.
The maids helped support her and eased her onto a soft palanquin. Wei Qingchen forced a grin, baring her teeth: “Ancestor, don’t be sad. It’s just a flesh wound. Looks bad, but they were empty strokes. Doesn’t hurt.”
“My Chen’er…” the Old Titled Lady wailed loudly.
Mu Yunxian sighed and had to first help support the Old Titled Lady, lest she truly faint from crying.
“Oh my, this robe is covered in blood. Quick, quick, take him back to his room first.” Third Madam Tong Min’er briskly directed the servants. “Tell the boys outside to fetch a physician immediately.”
“No need!” Mu Yunxian and Wei Qingchen shouted simultaneously.
“Look at my memory. Our boy has been looked after by Imperial Physician Min since he was a child. Then should we summon Imperial Physician Min to the mansion?”
Imperial Physician Min had been assigned by the Empress Dowager. Wei Qingchen always consulted him for any ailment. But last month, an elder in his family had passed away, and he had returned to his hometown for the mourning period.
The Grand Princess glanced at her daughter. Wei Qingchen shook her head very slightly.
“No need to trouble Imperial Physician Min. The beating was ordered by His Majesty; the men under him know their limits.” The Grand Princess put on a model of impartiality, pointing at her daughter: “This little rascal, someone needs to discipline him. Since it’s just a flesh wound, send him back to his courtyard to recover.”
The Old Titled Lady, leaning on her cane, was about to protest further. Mu Yunxian took her arm and lowered her voice: “Chen’er’s injury is indeed not serious. Hasn’t he been beaten less by his father in the army camp? The Marquis will return to the mansion tomorrow. If he knows we made a huge fuss calling for Imperial Physicians over a little flesh wound, he’ll be displeased again. Won’t Chen’er be the one to suffer his displeasure in the end?”
“That bastard, if he dares lay a finger on my Chen’er when he returns tomorrow, I’ll break his legs!”
After much coaxing, the Old Titled Lady was finally persuaded back to the South Courtyard. Wei Qingchen’s courtyard finally grew quiet. The Grand Princess had Aunt Qi come over to watch over her. They applied the finest Golden Wound Medicine. She hadn’t even managed two mouthfuls of the freshly made congee before she fell into a groggy sleep, lying on her stomach.
Who would have thought that this sleep would last most of the day? By noon the next day, she still couldn’t get up. Between sleep and wakefulness, her whole body burned as if boiling, and her forehead was drenched in sweat. The Grand Princess had long been keeping vigil by her side, heart aching as she touched her forehead.
“Your Highness, the Heir’s illness has come on fiercely. The fever-reducing medicine won’t go down. Do you think… we should go to the palace and plead with Her Majesty the Empress Dowager?” Aunt Qi had watched all night, deeply worried.
“Even if we plead with Mother Empress, she would have to send other Imperial Physicians. Chen’er’s identity…” Mu Yunxian was caught in a dilemma. After thinking for a good while, she spoke in a heavy voice: “Go to the Imperial Medicine Hall. Invite their Head Proprietor to come. Remember, you must invite the Chu Family Eldest Miss herself.”
“Yes…”
