The Red Mansion

Chapter 46 Could it be that his father is the current emperor?

Emperor Jingning pondered for a moment before making a decision. His voice was deep and powerful: "Wang Ziteng should be punished. He should be demoted to the rank of general. Lu Keduo should be promoted to the governor of the Beijing camp. Wang Ziteng should be ordered to pay the Qin family three thousand silver coins. As for the punishment of the Xue family and the soldier, the emperor will decide."

Emperor Taishun was quite satisfied with what he heard. Although Lukodo was also a close confidant of Emperor Jingning, and this time he only demoted Wang Ziteng to a general, at least he had disciplined Wang Ziteng and removed him from the core of the court. This also made Emperor Taishun feel that Emperor Jingning was now willing to respect his opinion, even when it came to important military power.

However, what Emperor Taishun did not know was that this matter was also disadvantageous to him!
Jia Jing of Ningguo Mansion and Jia She of Rongguo Mansion were both important members of the Prince's Party. Because the Prince did something bad and was deposed, the two were implicated, their titles were greatly reduced, and their official positions were also dismissed.

To ensure the prosperity of the Rongguo Mansion, Grandmother Jia sent her granddaughter Jia Yuanchun to be selected as a female historian in the palace. Jia Yuanchun was selected and became the female historian of the biological mother of Emperor Taishun, and the current Empress Dowager.

Emperor Jingning knew that Wang Ziteng was extremely close to the Rongguo Mansion. It could even be said that Wang Ziteng and the Rongguo Mansion were like one family.

Emperor Jingning originally intended to appoint Wang Ziteng as the Grand General to suppress the Qinghai rebellion. Simultaneously, he would arrange for Wang Ziteng's niece, Jia Yuanchun, to become a concubine of Emperor Taishun. This would allow Emperor Taishun to gain access to military power in western China. This approach would not pose a major threat to Emperor Jingning, the retired emperor, while also ensuring Emperor Taishun's throne. Should he pass away, Wang Ziteng, through Jia Yuanchun's connection, could be used by Emperor Taishun. This would also ensure that Emperor Taishun would be more filial and obedient for the rest of his life.

Emperor Jingning, however, unexpectedly discovered that Wang Ziteng had suddenly committed a crime, and following Emperor Taishun's advice, he decided to punish Wang Ziteng, rendering Emperor Jingning's plan unnecessary.

Oh, if Emperor Taishun knew about Emperor Jingning's plan, he would probably regret it.

If Emperor Taishun did not ask for instructions to punish Wang Ziteng today, he would use Jia Yuanchun as a link to become closer to Wang Ziteng, the General of the Western Region...

However, Emperor Jingning still had some intentions of arranging Jia Yuanchun as a concubine for Emperor Taishun, as he had a deep relationship with Jia Daishan, who had died early in the Rongguo Mansion, and he also knew that Jia Yuanchun was a virtuous and filial person. He wanted to ensure the prosperity of the Rongguo Mansion by arranging Jia Yuanchun as a concubine for Emperor Taishun.

But it’s just a thought…

Emperor Jingning changed the subject and stared at Emperor Taishun intently: "How does the emperor intend to deal with Jiang Nian?"

Emperor Taishun lowered his head awkwardly: "In this matter... your son will only obey your father's orders."

Emperor Jingning hesitated for a moment, then said slowly, "Your Majesty should be informed. If this matter is exposed abruptly, it will be detrimental to the throne. It is better to keep it secret."

Emperor Taishun said respectfully, "Yes."

In fact, he had no intention of exposing Jiang Nian's affairs right now. As for whether to publicly recognize the prince in the future, he had not decided yet.

Emperor Jingning had more than thirty sons in his lifetime. Although many of them died before reaching adulthood, his sons gave him more than one hundred grandchildren.

He had a favorite grandson, his eldest grandson Yuan Xi, and he also loved other grandsons, such as Emperor Taishun's fourth prince Yuan Li...

In this situation, how could he, an extraordinary old man who had been emperor for sixty-one years, care about Jiang Nian, a commoner grandson who suddenly appeared?

Compared with Emperor Jingning, Emperor Taishun was much worse in terms of children.

So far, although the 46-year-old Emperor Taishun has given birth to eight sons and four daughters, four of his sons have died and all four of his daughters have died.

In other words, Emperor Taishun currently has only four sons alive, namely Yuan Shi, Yuan Li, Yuan Zhou, and a youngest son who is only three years old this year and has not yet reached the age of dentition.

From the perspective of offspring alone, Emperor Taishun would also care about Jiang Nian. But caring about him does not mean that he would consider him a prince...

……

……

Yesterday, after Wang Ziteng returned home, he angrily scolded Aunt Xue, blaming her for not understanding Jiang Nian and not knowing that Jiang Nian was close to Prince Zhongyi, which caused him to offend Prince Zhongyi and get into trouble.

Aunt Xue felt so humiliated at being scolded in front of Xue Baochai and Xue Pan that she was shocked and frightened to the point that she couldn't sleep last night and only fell into a drowsy sleep at dawn.

Aunt Xue, Xue Baochai, and Xue Pan's family lived in a house outside Wang's Second Gate. This was because there were male children such as Xue Pan and Xie Jixing, so it was inconvenient for them to live in the inner house.

At this moment, Xue Baochai, knowing that Aunt Xue had woken up, gently pushed open the door of Aunt Xue's bedroom. The breeze brought by the door blew the blue smoke rising from the incense burner beside the door, and the blue smoke swirled in the air and dispersed into gossamer threads.

The sunlight slanted in through the red gauze window, illuminating the curtain embroidered with lotus flowers.

Aunt Xue was lying on the bed, her face pale, her eyes vacant, and she looked bewildered. Although Xue Baochai knew the reason, she still stepped forward and asked in a soft and concerned voice, "Is Mom sick?"

Aunt Xue's face was bitter, and her voice was a little hoarse. "I'm not sick, I'm just thinking about what happened yesterday. I felt sleepy last night and fell asleep only at dawn. I just woke up now, and I feel dizzy."

Aunt Xue asked the maid Tongxi to leave, sighed, and said to Xue Baochai, "Bao girl, I'm really worried! That Jiang Nian is really unfathomable, and he's actually very close to Prince Zhongyi! It would have been fine if your uncle hadn't been able to subdue him yesterday, but he invited Prince Zhongyi to subdue your uncle!"

She paused, then lowered her voice, "Yesterday, your uncle sent troops to capture him, but he accidentally killed a member of the Ministry of Works. What should we do?"

Xue Baochai could not help but lower her head and remain silent.

How could she not be worried? Moreover, she had a vague feeling that this matter might not end well. Perhaps Wang Ziteng would be punished for this, and perhaps the Xue family would also be punished...

Aunt Xue saw that Xue Baochai did not respond, and her heart became more and more anxious. She could not help asking, "Bao girl, do you think your uncle will be punished this time?"

Xue Baochai remained silent with her head down, rubbing the silk handkerchief with her hands. The golden lotus embroidered on the corner of the handkerchief was rubbed to pieces.

Aunt Xue said anxiously, "If your uncle is punished, won't we be implicated? With your uncle's temper, who knows how he'll blame us!"

Xue Baochai remained silent, her head bowed. She thought to herself, "You're certainly at fault in this matter! If you hadn't insisted on asking my uncle to subdue Mr. Jiang, how could we have gotten into such great trouble?"

Aunt Xue frowned and asked, "What kind of illustrious background does Jiang Nian have? When he was in Jiangning, he was close to the Jiangning Jiedushi. Now that he's in the capital, he's close to Prince Zhongyi again. This... this is too shocking! I thought about it last night, and this matter is most likely related to his unknown father."

Hearing this, a thought suddenly flashed through Xue Baochai's mind: "Could it be that Mr. Jiang's father is the current emperor? Otherwise, how could he have such great power?"

She just thought so and of course thought it was impossible.

Little did I know that this thought turned out to be correct!
(End of this chapter)