Ink Burns

Chapter 250 Usurpation
Cui Yulang was covered in blood and carried back to the Cui residence by the soldiers of the Prefect of the Capital. When Fu Mingjiang saw her beloved husband covered in blood, even his stunning face, which she had always cherished, was slashed with a long, deep bloodstain, Fu Mingjiang screamed in shock, her belly bulging high and round, and she rushed to Cui Yulang's side: "...What happened! What happened!"

Cui Yulang's eyes were glazed over. The soldier beside him, head bowed, replied, "We received the report around noon. We rushed to the scene and found Lord Cui lying on the ground, with a servant beside him whose throat had been slit. The servant was dead, Lord Cui..."

"Where is the murderer? Has the murderer been caught?" Fu Mingjiang asked sharply.

The officers and soldiers, their backs hunched like tortoise shells, stammered, "No, not at all."

"Any clues? Do you know who did it?"

No, I don't know.

Fu Mingjiang clutched his back in disbelief: "Are you all just sitting around eating for free, receiving salaries from the imperial court? Right under the emperor's nose, a member of the imperial family was assassinated, and you're telling me the murderer hasn't been caught yet? The court gives you people money to spend so you can risk your lives, not so you can be clueless and incompetent!"

"roll!"

Fu Mingjiang was furious, but as soon as he lowered his head, his face immediately turned tearful. He first summoned the retired physician Liu to take a look. Physician Liu took his pulse and inserted two needles to seal the blood and qi. After a while, he said, "The flesh wound is a bit serious, but fortunately, the young master is strong and was rescued in time. With a few days of rest, it will not damage the root."

Fu Mingjiang finally relaxed a little and waited for her husband to wake up while crying, but on the way, she was visited by her father-in-law, Marquis Wuding.

Marquis Cui Bainian of Wuding had always treated his daughter-in-law with gentleness and kindness. As an elder who had watched her grow up since childhood, Fu Mingjiang spoke even more unrestrainedly than she did in front of her estranged mother.

"It must have been Xu Quyan who did it!" Fu Mingjiang said with tears streaming down her face and pouting, "That little bitch thinks she's so great just because she's the emperor. Doesn't she even think about who she relied on to become emperor!"

Whether Yulang's actions were orchestrated by the Emperor remains to be verified.

As Cui Bainian spoke, he leaned over and pulled back the blanket covering his eldest son. Without making a sound, he inserted his fingers into the wound in the center of his chest, stirring his fingers in the flesh and blood like a sharp, hard chopstick twirling through sticky meat, stirring the broken tendons and the pungent blood.

Cui Yulang let out a painful groan in his sleep.

"A stab wound from a thin blade, this kind of knife is called a bone knife. Unless the throat is cut open, it is difficult to kill a person," Cui Bainian said calmly while taking out a light blue brocade handkerchief to wipe the bloodstains from his fingers.

Fu Mingjiang's eyes widened, her face showing reluctance: "Father, this will hurt Yulang."

The bloodstains between his fingers were not easy to wipe clean. Cui Bainian frowned almost imperceptibly, feeling disgusted, but he restrained himself from showing it at all, unlike his daughter-in-law who came from a prominent family. He put his hands back into his sleeves, leaned back in the armchair, and flicked out a string of beads made from fine Hetian jade. The beads hit the corner of the table with a soft "thud".

pain?
What hurts?

When Yulang was a child, during the hottest days of summer, at noon, he was made to kneel on an open ground strewn with broken porcelain for two or three hours. The blood between his knees would drain away, and plump, white maggots would appear to be growing on the ground—that's what real pain is.

He was born a lowly person, but by some twist of fate, he was born into an upper-class family. If he doesn't suffer some hardship and pain, what makes him worthy of it?
Cui Bainian chuckled, "Yu Lang is tough; that's how coroners always are when they examine injuries." Fu Mingjiang took a moment to realize: coroners examine the dead!

But before she could speak, Cui Bainian changed the subject, returning to his original point: "Bone knives are mostly used by street thugs. They look sharp and frightening enough, but in reality they are thin and brittle, making them difficult to kill, so they can't cause any major trouble. As for the fact that the emperor wouldn't hire someone who uses such a weapon to play dirty tricks, we'll ask him about it in detail after he wakes up!"

“Xu Quyan is a stupid, cowardly, and dull-witted fellow! When my uncle was alive, he never gave this son a kind look!” Fu Mingjiang’s emotions were easily swayed, and she immediately retorted in a low voice, then snorted coldly indignantly: “Now, both you and Mother seem to have some respect for him.”

Stupid? Cowardly? Dull-witted?
Cui Bainian smiled.

Xu Quyan had endured hardship for ten years, and now he was playing a clever game of feigning one move while secretly making another. The Censorate, led by Xue Xiao, and the Directorate of Palace Attendants, led by Wu Guangliang, complemented each other from within and without. Xue Xiao urged the physicians in the court to take pulses to eliminate the "Qingfeng" group, while the Directorate of Palace Attendants secretly eliminated dissidents in the inner palace. Under the guise of taking pulses, they sent nearly three hundred people from the Six Departments out of the palace with resettlement allowances. The "Qingfeng" group hiding in the palace was almost completely wiped out. Several female officials who had already reached the position of power in the Six Departments but had not yet taken the "Qianji Yin" were sent away on the grounds that they were "feeling heavy and unwell and not comfortable in the palace." Upon closer inspection, almost all of the more than two hundred people who were sent away came from Jiangnan.

"Qingfeng" must come from Jiangnan or have some connection with Jiangnan, but not everyone born in Jiangnan is "Qingfeng".

The emperor's actions demonstrated a willingness to kill a hundred innocent people rather than let one guilty person go unpunished.

This further proves that the emperor had long been wary of people from Jiangnan, and that he had been holding onto this list for who knows how long, just waiting for the right opportunity.

“Admire?” Cui Bainian smiled and shook his head, his expression kind: “Your mother is wary and wants to replace you with Prince Rong.”

During the last secret meeting, Fu Mingjiang had a conflict with Jing'an for some unknown reason and did not participate.

Fu Mingjiang glanced at him and thought for a moment: "Isn't that a good thing? Prince Rong is only eight years old. It will be at least eight years before he takes over the reins of government. That's enough time for us to make further plans."

“If we raise another Xu Quyan, wouldn’t it be a complete waste, like doing all the work for someone else?” Cui Bainian retorted.

Fu Mingjiang was taken aback, placed her hand on her abdomen, and leaned back slightly.

What do you mean?
What does "father-in-law" mean?
Cui Bainian smiled politely, the curve of his lips was polite and restrained: "The Grand Princess is, after all, surnamed Xu. Her goal from beginning to end is to restore the Jiangnan gentry and revitalize the clans. Ultimately, it is still the Xu family that is in charge."

Fu Mingjiang frowned, looking slightly bewildered.

"Since the Great Wei Dynasty, there have been more and more ways for commoners to rise in society: taking the imperial examinations, doing business, joining the army. Those with quick minds go to Fujian, Guanzhong, or the Western Barbarians—commoners have long been able to thrive! Even if the aristocratic families are revived, what use is it? Are they still willing to be the ladder for the aristocratic families to climb, the fish on the chopping block, or the fertilizer for watering flowers?"

Emperor Taizu gave the common people too much hope!

Would someone who has eaten rice really want to eat wheat bran?!

Would someone who has been human want to be a dog?
"The morale of the common people is no longer comparable to that of the Six Dynasties, and the glory of the aristocratic clans is hard to revive! If the likes of Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were to reappear, the aristocratic clans would be on the verge of collapse in just a few years." Cui Bainian looked at Fu Mingjiang with a smile throughout: "Rather than dragging the aristocratic clans down with us, let's pry open the Xu family and devour them!"