The Ming Dynasty: My sister, Empress Ma

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Now that you're a member of the imperial family, what makes you think you can turn the world upside down?"

He didn't know why he said that.

"That's certainly not the case."

Fortunately, the other party didn't seem to mind, and Zhu Yuanzhang quickly changed the subject.

"Having just finished an exam, shouldn't you be feeling restless and anxious? How come you have the leisure to wander around here?"

"Sigh, looking for food."

Ma Wenyuan waved his hand.

Zhu Yuanzhang made a somewhat sarcastic remark.

"It seems that Wenquxing's family background isn't very good."

Realizing the other party's attempt to extract information, Ma Wenyuan slightly bowed and changed the subject.

"Who do you think I am, you flatter me."

Seeing that his attempts to elicit information had failed, Zhu Yuanzhang was not in a hurry and simply followed Ma Wenyuan slowly.

Seeing that Ma Wenyuan was unwilling to speak, Zhu Yuanzhang started to find topics to talk about himself.

"What are you planning to eat?"

"There are plenty of options for what to eat. If you're lucky, you might get to eat delicacies from land and sea. If you're unlucky, you'll just have some dry biscuits."

Ma Wenyuan answered casually.

"I can tell that my father-in-law's family must be very well-off."

Zhu Yuanzhang was taken aback. He hadn't expected this young man to start doing the opposite of what he was doing and to try to find out his identity.

Zhu Yuanzhang was delighted.

"You don't mind if I come with you, do you?"

"Of course, as long as you're willing to swallow your pride."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang became even more curious. What kind of meal required him to lose face?

Surely they can't beg, can they?

Not to mention that this person is very likely a member of the Ma family.

Just consider Ma Wenyuan, a dignified tribute student of the Ming Dynasty and a future Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). Wouldn't it be chaotic if he went begging?

Ma Wenyuan kept everyone in suspense, asking, "What should I call you, sir?"

My surname is Ma.

"That's my elder brother from the same clan." Ma Wenyuan cupped his hands in greeting.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded with a smile, and the two chatted like this for a mile or two.

It was all just empty talk; they didn't get any information about Ma Wenyuan's background.

Old Zhu said that someone who could become a tribute student must come from a family with a long tradition of scholarship.

Xiao Ma usually reads more books.

Old Zhu asked again, "Your skin is so dark, you must have worked a lot."

Xiao Ma replied that black spots are healthy, so he's happy to have black spots, and then started talking about other things.

Of course, the reverse is also true.

Old Zhu originally wanted to come and see Ma Wenyuan in person to find out what he was really like.

As a result, even Zhu Yuanzhang didn't figure out the details, and he wasted a mile or two.

It's fortunate that Zhu Yuanzhang had a tough life when he was young and often fought on the battlefield after he became rich. Even after becoming emperor, he didn't suffer from the diseases of affluent people.

Otherwise, if it were someone like Hu Weiyong or Li Shanchang, they would be exhausted like slaves.

Zhu Yuanzhang sometimes wondered if the little horse was just leading him astray.

"Tsk, this is the place!"

Ma Wenyuan suddenly turned around with a smile, "Come on, brother, let's go eat here."

Zhu Yuanzhang composed himself and nodded.

But when he reached the door, Zhu Yuanzhang stopped in his tracks, looking at the bustling scene inside, which seemed to be a grand banquet.

Zhu Yuanzhang asked with some suspicion,

Do you know the owner of this house?

"I don't know him."

Ma Wenyuan replied matter-of-factly, "It's just a free meal; I'll pay you back a hundredfold in the future."

With that, Ma Wenyuan led Zhu Yuanzhang and swaggered inside.

"Why didn't you stop us?"

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.

"Did you believe me, brother, when I said he thought I was the top scholar in this imperial examination and wanted to curry favor with me?"

Ma Wenyuan walked to a table in the corner and sat down, smiling broadly.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be deep in thought, neither believing nor disbelieving.

Without keeping him in suspense for long, Ma Wenyuan continued,

He thought we were with that person.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the scholar in Confucian robes who had just walked in front of him and suddenly realized what was going on.

Clearly, the scholar in the Confucian robe was an important guest, since he was seated in the main seat.

Ma Wenyuan was taking advantage of the steward's tendency to prefer no merit to no demerit.

Now that the master of the house is celebrating, they have been dragged out, but the steward has not been rewarded.

But if you make a mistake, it can be very embarrassing. Not only will you offend your important guest, but it will also ruin the atmosphere.

So the old steward preferred to let the guilty go free rather than kill the innocent.

Clever tricks.

Zhu Yuanzhang thought to himself.

"If he's doing well, I'm doing well too," Ma Wenyuan said.

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed even more heartily, looking at Ma Wenyuan's face, which was extremely similar to that of Empress Ma, yet their personalities were so different.

Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to see a replica of Empress Ma, and became increasingly interested in Ma Wenyuan.

But then I thought about it again.

For some reason, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly thought of the officials in the court, wondering if they were like the old steward, only concerned with avoiding mistakes.

It wasn't until the dishes were almost served that Zhu Yuanzhang came to his senses.

"Do you do this often?" Old Zhu asked, looking at the other person's still somewhat immature face.

"There's nothing I can do, my family is poor."

Ma Wenyuan narrowed his eyes slightly, wondering just who this guy was.

They asked right away, and now they're still testing the waters; it's never-ending.

They insisted on taking him for an extra two miles, but he persisted.

Clearly, their attitude was very firm.

Ma Wenyuan was curious about the source of this determination, and he had never heard of such a background check procedure for civil servants in the Ming Dynasty.

Pretending to be serious and asking probing questions.

In a moment, Ma Wenyuan had an idea. He decided to reveal some of his secrets to see where the other party came from.

"My mother had a difficult childbirth when she gave birth to me, and my father died young when I was thirteen."

Zhu Yuanzhang immediately became interested and quickly pressed for more information.

"No other relatives?"

"My father fled from Suzhou. My mother had a difficult childbirth when I was born, and my father passed away five years ago."

"No other relatives?"

"I did hear my father say that my mother was his second wife and that I have an older sister, but he didn't say where she was. I suppose he didn't want to disturb her life."

"Didn't you think about finding some work to do?"

Ma Wenyuan found it amusing; "Why don't they eat meat porridge?"

"I did look for it, but after finishing my work, I still had to study, buy books, and eat. How do you think I got into the imperial examination?"

Zhu Yuanzhang didn't perceive it as mockery; he simply asked the question as always.

"What is your father's name?"

"Ma Hong, the second son, is called Second Master Ma."

Why did your father go to Guangdong back then?

"Killed someone, now he's hiding from trouble."

These words were spoken.

With a bang, Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his hand on the table, then stared intently at Ma Wenyuan, his gaze gradually sharpening as he tried to see through the man before him.

Whether he saw through it or not is unknown, but it certainly startled Ma Wenyuan.

"Hey bro, what are you doing?"

Ma Wenyuan looked around, afraid of being noticed by others, but he wondered why people these days had such good mental fortitude.

There was a loud bang, but none of these people reacted; they all kept their heads down and chatted amongst themselves.

"No, it's nothing."

Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled twice, then his expression returned to calm.

The food was served quickly.

Yingtianfu truly lives up to its reputation as the capital; the food here is indeed better than that in Guangdong.

Six dishes and two soups, two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, two soups, a fish, and a chicken.

Ma Wenyuan ate very politely, but he didn't stop.

The former was afraid of being noticed, while the latter was genuinely starving.

Zhu Yuanzhang, however, seemed rather uninterested, as if he had something on his mind.

Ma Wenyuan glanced at him but didn't say anything.

After picking up a piece of fish with his chopsticks and putting it in his mouth, Ma Wenyuan still didn't know what to say.

He didn't understand what was going on with this guy either.

If there's any ulterior motive, it's time to say it now.

It can't just be curiosity, can it?

Curious, I followed it for two miles.

Ma Wenyuan felt it shouldn't be that bad.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat beside Ma Wenyuan, looking somewhat preoccupied. The name Ma Wenyuan had just mentioned was none other than his father-in-law's name.

He knew that Empress Ma used to talk about it all the time.

However, the caution he had developed over the years still made Zhu Yuanzhang somewhat incredulous that a Prince Xu's eldest son, a great brother-in-law of the Ming Dynasty, had just appeared out of nowhere.

What a coincidence, everything matches up.

"Don't you have good taste, bro?"

Seeing that his tablemates kept their heads down and showed no intention of touching their chopsticks, Ma Wenyuan felt increasingly uneasy as he ate.

If he still can't see it, then all those years he spent as an official in his previous life were for nothing.

Zhu Yuanzhang, seeing Ma Wenyuan put down his chopsticks, quickly said,

"Eat, eat!"

It was at this moment that the people around them began to eat.

Ma Wenyuan: "?"

Are they all shills?

This gave Ma Wenyuan a bit of a headache.

The fact that the other party was able to arrange a table of their own people here in such a hurry, without them noticing at all, clearly indicates that this person is someone of great importance.

Why would someone with such a powerful background seek him out?

I've never heard of any important figures with the surname Ma during the Hongwu reign.

Jack Ma?

But now it seems he's serving as a commander in another region.

It shouldn't be him.

Surely this person wouldn't change their surname?

Ma Wenyuan still couldn't figure out who the other person was.