Chapter 35
Chapter 35
[The Real and Fake Heiresses – 5]
The Heir Apparent of Wu looked as though he had been struck by lightning. After a long moment of horror, he finally came to his senses and prostrated himself, kowtowing without pause. “Your son was wrong, Father. Please do not be angry. Forgive me just this once!”
Zhu Yuanzhang remained unmoved. He thundered at the men around him, “Why are you all standing there? Does my word mean nothing? Drive this disgrace out of the city!”
Everyone knew the King of Wu’s temper. No one dared delay. After apologizing to the deposed Heir Apparent of Wu, two guards stepped forward, seized him from either side, and forcibly carried him out of the study.
The Deposed Heir knew he would truly be finished once he left. He refused to go, struggling desperately and wailing without end.
The noise grated on Zhu Yuanzhang’s nerves. He shoved the window open and roared, “Go quietly and you live! Keep crying and making a spectacle of yourself like some hysterical woman, and I will take your life!”
Through tear-filled eyes, the Deposed Heir met that icy gaze. A chill ran down his back, and he no longer dared make a sound. He could only look silently at his father in supplication as the King of Wu’s personal guards took him away.
The Prince of Changshan had not yet gone far. He was still inside the Jiangzhou government offices, talking with several friendly strategists. Naturally, their conversation touched upon Xu Hongwen, who had yet to wake after cutting his throat and remained in the camp outside the city.
However his elder brother had earned the strategists’ enmity, the prince meant to win their goodwill. They were speaking merrily when a sudden uproar erupted near the front hall, loud enough to shake the entire compound.
Fearing that something had happened to his father, the Prince of Changshan hurried toward the front hall, with the aides close behind. When he arrived, he saw his elder brother being dragged outside between two of their father’s guards. Two guards with whom he was friendly quietly hung back and told him, “The King of Wu flew into a rage. He has deposed the Heir Apparent and ordered him expelled from the city.”
“…” The Prince of Changshan: “?????”
Wait. Had this pleasant surprise truly come so suddenly?
He had only just received his ticket into the contest, and the judge had already eliminated his opponent?!
He did not dare show his delight. Forcing it down, he asked softly, “Do you know why?”
The guards had been stationed outside, and Zhu Yuanzhang’s roar carried far. They had heard the general outline. “It seemed to concern the wife of the Deposed Heir… The King of Wu ordered the Heir Apparent to take a secondary wife and father more sons. The Heir Apparent flatly refused on his wife’s account, repeatedly defied the King of Wu, and even uttered the treasonous claim that if she died, he would not care about remaining Heir Apparent. The King of Wu erupted in fury and deposed him on the spot.”
The Prince of Changshan: “…”
Good heavens. He would never again say in private that something was wrong with his elder brother’s head!
This was love!
Single-minded, faithful, unwavering love!
What the hell could a vulgar man like him possibly understand?
He fought desperately to keep the corners of his mouth from soaring upward and quickened his pace, catching up to the Deposed Heir at the compound gates. With heartfelt sincerity, he declared, “Elder Brother, I understand you. I truly do! No matter how our positions may change, you will always be my elder brother. We are bound by blood. As long as I have a bite to eat, you will have one too. No one can ever change that!”
The tear tracks on the Deposed Heir’s face had not yet dried, and his expression was terrifyingly dark. He looked at his second brother, who seemed concerned on the surface but was secretly delighted, and barely stopped himself from cursing aloud.
The Prince of Changshan pretended not to notice. Deeply moved, he patted his brother’s shoulder and said earnestly, “Live well with Sister-in-Law. You two are the best-matched couple I have ever seen. I wish you a lasting marriage and a long life together!”
The Deposed Heir: “…”
Second Ma, do you think I cannot hear that every word is a dig at me?!
His face turned liver-red, but he did not speak. Seeing this, the Prince of Changshan knew better than to keep inviting rebuffs. After offering his so-called brother a few more insincere words of comfort, he turned toward the front hall to see his father, all while speaking beautifully. “Elder Brother, I will help plead with Father. Do not worry. You know how he is. Once his anger passes, everything will be fine.”
The Deposed Heir’s smile looked uglier than tears. The guards holding him did not dare disobey the King of Wu’s order. They waved for someone to bring a horse, then escorted him out of the city to reunite with his deposed wife.
The Deposed Heir left in a daze, looking as though he had lost his soul. The Prince of Changshan, by contrast, walked with a spring in his step.
His rivalry with his elder brother was now out in the open, and Father certainly knew that his visit was not driven by sincere concern. Still, there were forms to observe. He had to put on a show of brotherly harmony for outsiders.
Zhu Yuanzhang was sulking in the study, pacing several circuits with his hands on his hips, when someone reported from outside that the Prince of Changshan had arrived.
Suppressing his temper, he acknowledged the report. Soon afterward, Second Ma sidled in furtively and asked with great caution, “Father, are you still angry?”
Zhu Yuanzhang gave him a sidelong look, then suddenly started. He said to his old companions inside the space, “Hey. He looks a little like my fourth boy!”
“Judy?” Liu Che asked in surprise. After studying the prince for a moment, he could not help agreeing. “He does, a little.”
Emperor Gaozu propped his chin on one hand and said idly, “A man as rustic as Old Zhu gave his son a foreign name. Judy. It sounds like a girl’s name.”
Ying Zheng and Li Shimin burst out laughing at the same time. The space filled with delight.
A throbbing cross appeared on Zhu Yuanzhang’s forehead. He ignored the wretched friends in the space. When he looked at Second Ma again, the man seemed a little more pleasing to the eye, and some of his anger faded.
“Was I wrong? Was I too overbearing and arbitrary?”
Old Zhu planted his hands on his hips and vented furiously to his second son. “Was I wrong to tell him to father more sons? Was that not for his own good? He has only one seedling left. If something happens to the boy, where is he supposed to go and cry?!”
The Prince of Changshan looked shocked and answered with perfect sympathy. “Of course you were not wrong! How could you possibly be wrong? This was clearly the loving concern of an elderly father!”
“He kept saying he promised Lady Tan this and promised Lady Tan that. Did I tell him to make those promises?”
Zhu Yuanzhang’s anger had not ebbed. “Did he marry a wife or bring home an ancestor to worship? A seven-foot man is controlled by a woman and obeys her in everything. If she were a good woman, that would be one thing. But all she thinks about are her useless brothers. She spends her days composing poetry about the breeze and moon, mourning spring and grieving over autumn. The very sight of it irritates me! If I did not have to consider my worthless eldest son and the grandchildren beneath him, I would have had her beaten to death long ago!”
“Please calm down, Father.” Gathering his courage, the Prince of Changshan took a few steps closer and obediently soothed his father. “Elder Brother has not been like this for only a day or two. How could he change at once? It will have to happen gradually.”
“Gradually?” Zhu Yuanzhang sneered. “I will be in the ground before he ever changes!”
The Prince of Changshan tried several more words of persuasion, and Zhu Yuanzhang snapped back at every one. Knowing the anger was not directed at him, the prince was not afraid.
Father’s dislike of Sister-in-Law was nothing new. This time, however, she had truly trampled over his bottom line. It would be almost impossible for her to recover her position.
The Prince of Changshan did not linger. He offered a few proper words of advice, then withdrew at the perfect moment and went into Jiangzhou to attend to his work.
The Deposed Heir was escorted out of the city. The instant he dismounted, one of his wife’s maids hurried forward, red-eyed and choking on her words. “Your Highness, please go and see her. She… she is doing very badly!”
Horrified, the Deposed Heir went pale. Forgetting everything else, he hurried toward the command tent where Lady Tan was recuperating.
The squad of personal guards who had accompanied him exchanged looks. One of them corrected the maid with distant courtesy. “You did not know just now, so the mistake can be excused. But you must not address him that way again. The King of Wu has already ordered that he be stripped of his position as Heir Apparent…”
“What?!” The maid cried out in genuine shock. She instinctively wanted to ask why, but then saw the Deposed Heir go rigid and caught the sinister darkness between his brows. She swallowed the question and did not dare utter a word.
Although he had been deposed, he remained the King of Wu’s eldest son. The captain of the guards did not dare offend him. After hesitating for several moments, he finally said, “Now that Your Highness has arrived, we will return and report.”
The captain struggled for a moment before politely addressing him by his remaining rank. “…Commandery Prince.”
The Deposed Heir had already fallen this far and had even less desire to offend his father’s trusted guards. He forced a smile and replied with impeccable courtesy, “Thank you for the trouble.”
He could spare no more attention for them. Hurrying into the command tent where his wife lay, he found Lady Tan facedown on a low couch. Her lovely face was flushed scarlet, fine beads of sweat covered her forehead, and her cracked lips moved with feverish murmurs. Pain twisted her expression.
Ma Baozhu sat beside her, sobbing. “Mother has not improved at all. Not long after Father left, she developed a fever. We tried everything, but it would not come down. She woke several times and asked whether you had returned. When we told her you had gone into the city to see Grandfather, she lost consciousness again…”
Pain pierced the Deposed Heir’s heart. He rushed to the couch and took his wife’s hand, only to find it burning hot. His eyes stung, and tears suddenly rolled down his face. “Lianfang? Lianfang, I am back. Open your eyes and look at me, please.”
He murmured softly beside Lady Tan’s ear for a long while. At last, she slowly woke. When she saw her valiant and considerate husband at her side, her aggrieved tears began pouring out like water from a spring. “Husband, Huayao… Our Huayao is gone. I was useless. I could not save him! He was only thirteen. He was still a child! Father was too cruel…”
After reaching Jiangzhou, the Deposed Heir had first seen his injured wife, then gone straight into the city to meet his father. Though he knew his second son was dead, he had never seen the body. Hearing his wife speak of it, he could not keep his own tears from falling.
Continuing the subject would only deepen her grief. Enduring the knife twisting through his heart, he changed the topic and pressed her palm against his cheek. “We will have other children, Lianfang. Once you recover, we will have another son like Huayao. All right?”
Lady Tan was almost blinded by tears. After sobbing for a long time, she said in despair, “I do not know whether I will live to see that day.”
With great effort, she raised her head and turned onto one side, clutching her husband’s hand. “There are several things I cannot put out of my mind. You must promise me, or I will not be able to close my eyes even in death.”
The words stabbed the Deposed Heir through the heart. His face darkened. “Tell me what you wish. Why say such things and cause me pain?”
Lady Tan held back her tears for the moment and said between sobs, “Huayao is gone, but Hualiang and Baozhu are still here. You must take good care of them. Do not let anyone wrong them.”
Ma Baozhu cried, “Mother!”
The Deposed Heir wept as well. “They are my children too. How could I refuse?”
A faint smile appeared on Lady Tan’s fever-flushed face. She tightened her grasp on her husband’s hand and continued, “Then there are my two younger brothers… I know they are useless and always causing trouble, but I cannot abandon them. They are the blood of the Tan Family, my closest kin, and the ones who must continue my natal family’s line. Husband, if I do not live a long life, please consider my feelings and watch over them. If they commit some offense, at least preserve their lives and let them remain idle men of wealth. I know my brothers. They may behave overbearingly, but they are not evil at heart…”
Her grief made the words sound like final instructions. How could the Deposed Heir refuse?
He promised again and again, then said, “Lianfang, do you remember what you promised me? We are to grow old together, surrounded by children and grandchildren. You are not allowed to break your word…”
A weak smile touched Lady Tan’s beautiful face. She answered so softly it could barely be heard, then closed her eyes in utter exhaustion.