Chapter 175: Jiang Xuan’s Big Brother

“General!”

“I’m not making this move, step back.”

At the hour of the Dog, under the camphor tree in the night, Ding Suian took back the chess piece he had been checkmated with from Sun Tiewu for the Nth time.

“The world is like a chessboard. In chess, you can regret your moves, but if you take a wrong step in life, there’s no chance to take it back.”

Sun Tiewu lectured in a tone full of pretension.

He didn’t care about Ding Suian taking back his moves; after all, no matter how many times he took them back, the latter couldn’t win anyway.

Ding Suian stared at the chessboard and said casually, “You can’t take back moves in life, but you can jump out of the rules.”

“Oh?”

Sun Tiewu looked at Ding Suian in surprise, then smiled as if it were only natural. This Head Ding was indeed very unconventional, whether it was when he unexpectedly stirred up the Tiandao Palace in Lanyang, or later when he took the initiative to provoke Qin Shou, who had a vastly different status.

But for someone like Sun Tiewu, who considered himself one of the world’s chess players, this wasn’t shocking. After all, rules were made for the masses to follow.

Those who followed the rules strictly were precisely the ones not qualified to earn his high regard.

“You have now offended Prince Anping. If you want to be safe, you need to find a place that can jump out of the ‘rules’.”

“There aren’t many places in the world that can jump out of the rules. Is the Supervisor talking about the West Yamen?”

“Correct.”

“This subordinate is already in the West Yamen.”

“This official is not talking about a place that cannot see the light like the Shadow Division. How about joining my Black Cavalry?”

Sun Tiewu moved a pawn forward, which happened to land on Ding Suian’s horse. Taking advantage of the gap while capturing the piece, he thought carefully, “Kicking the pawn.”

“That’s a rook fork.”

Sun Tiewu didn’t move the piece, pointing at Ding Suian’s rook with his finger to remind him.

“Not kicking it then.”

Ding Suian honestly put Sun Tiewu’s pawn back, and the latter laughed and scolded, “You only look at the head and ignore the tail!”

Just then, Gongye Ni walked over from the depths of the West Yamen and reported in a low voice, “Boss, Zheng Jinsan has confessed.”

“Hmm.” Ding Suian was not surprised, only saying, “Your Highness promised to keep his children safe; Zheng Jinsan should know how to choose.”

Sun Tiewu looked at Gongye Ni with some strangeness. Theoretically, as a prestigious Supervisor of the West Yamen sitting here, Ding Suian’s subordinate should report to him as well.

But this Gongye Ni seemed not to see him at all. This wasn’t just Gongye Ni’s problem, but a common issue among Ding Suian’s subordinates.

Moreover, Ding Suian was accustomed to it.

Gongye Ni and Ding Suian exchanged a few words and turned to leave. This time, he at least didn’t forget to cup his hands in greeting to Sun Tiewu.

“Supervisor, what do you think is Your Highness’s plan?”

With only the two of them left under the camphor tree, Ding Suian asked with a smile.

This question was abrupt, but Sun Tiewu understood. Chen Duan was both the Imperial Grandson and the nephew of Your Highness. Relying solely on his withholding of market taxes would certainly not bring him down.

After all, he wasn’t the only one trying to make money.

If Your Highness forcibly punished him for this, it would make people think she was too harsh and specifically targeting Prince Anping.

If she didn’t punish him, it would be alerting the enemy and damaging the relationship between aunt and nephew for no reason. Why do it?

Sun Tiewu said, “Your Highness acts impartially for the country, what plan could there be? You do your own work, don’t guess the superior’s intentions randomly.”

The effect of Zheng Jinsan being taken down was immediate.

Even such a pawn of Prince Anping was caught in the West Yamen, whose background could be harder than his?

Starting from mid-March, the officials of the Regular Army Command went out almost every day, arresting people everywhere.

Just in the Winged Tiger Army, one battalion commander was taken away, one battalion commander was involved and suspended pending investigation, and more than a dozen other Dutous were punished.

Almost half of the officers were gone.

In this regular military purge, almost no grassroots officers were touched. With Your Majesty still present and Princess Xingguo suppressing things, even if there were individual officers with dirty hands wanting to stir up trouble, they couldn’t create any waves.

Only the officers of the Imperial Guard were frightened, everyone fearing for themselves.

March 21st.

Evening, hour of the Rooster.

At the gate of the Ding residence, Zhao Yan only poked a small head through the crack of the door. “…My husband is not here. I am a woman, it is inconvenient to invite you into the residence, please forgive me.”

Outside the gate, the Heir of Prince Leyang, Han Jingru, smiled elegantly and kindly, without any embarrassment at being shut out. “Sister-in-law, don’t be so polite. I have known Brother Ding for a long time. My residence’s idler previously bumped into the Madam on Yulin Street, which became a worry for me, so I prepared some small gifts to apologize…”

While speaking, the attendants behind him had already held up several exquisite brocade boxes. The lids were slightly opened, revealing pearls and treasures inside, shimmering with dreamlike luxury under the lamp light.

Zhao Yan blinked, seemingly not knowing how to refuse with the ‘polite but firm’ attitude her sister had instructed, so she had to look back.

Three feet away, Lin Hansu stood behind the door, her cherry lips slightly parted, using lip movements to teach Zhao Yan: The Young Master’s kindness, the Ding Family accepts it.

“The Young Master’s kindness, the Ding Family accepts it.”

Zhao Yan said one sentence, looked back, “But I am already a wife. If we accept gifts privately, people will talk, and I am afraid of gossip. Etiquette is such, I hope the Young Master understands.”

“…”

No matter how well Han Jingru could speak, he couldn’t say anything more after hearing such a reason, so he had to cup his hands to apologize. “It was this older brother’s rashness. When Brother Ding returns to the residence, I will come to visit again.”

“Hmm, I won’t see you out.”

“Sister-in-law doesn’t need to be so polite, in the future…”

‘Creak~’

Before Han Jingru could finish his polite words, the gate had already been closed.

Immediately after, the sound of the bolt being slid into place echoed from behind the door.

Han Jingru stood stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and turned to leave.

Inside the courtyard, Zhao Yan unconsciously took Lin Hansu’s arm. As they walked toward the backyard together, Lin Hansu kept whispering instructions, “If you want to wear beautiful clothes, want good jewelry, or lack money, just tell me. You cannot accept anything from outsiders! Do you remember?”

“Mm-hmm, I know.”

Han Jingru left Suimian Street and went to the Linping Commandery Princes Residence.

When he came out again, it was already the hour of the Pig.

In the carriage home, he thought about it the whole way. Since Ding Suian took Zheng Jinsan, he had been living in the West Yamen.

This almost cut off all outside interference.

Who would be crazy enough to run to the West Yamen to build a relationship with him?

But Prince of Linping’s desire to connect with Ding Suian was very urgent. Firstly, he wanted to say hello in advance, hoping Ding Suian wouldn’t touch people on his side; secondly, because so many positions were vacant due to the regular military purge, it was normal for us to recommend some loyal and brave people to the imperial court, right?

While thinking, the carriage returned to the Prince Leyang’s residence in Changle Ward.

Han Jingru’s wife was the younger sister of the Prince of Linping. Both husband and wife were of noble status and liked to socialize. At this time, carriages and horses were lined up outside the residence gate. It seemed that the banquet held by the Heir’s wife in the residence tonight had just ended, and the guests were leaving.

Han Jingru was in a bad mood and didn’t want to step forward to exchange pleasantries, so he asked the coachman to park the carriage far away.

He waited for all the guests to leave before returning to the residence.

Outside the residence gate.

The matriarch of the Central Heaven aristocratic family, the Yu Clan, Madam Yu Zhang, left the residence with her son and daughter, Yu Bowen and Yu Ruiyan, and specifically waited on the side.

A moment later, Lin Fuyao brought Jiang Yuan and Jiang Xuan, the sister and brother, out of the gate.

The family of three saw the three of the Zhang family and subconsciously wanted to avoid them, but they didn’t expect that Zhang would specifically call out, “Mrs. Lin, come here for a moment.”

At this moment, the guests in front of the Prince’s residence had not yet dispersed, and seeing this, they all slowed their steps and pricked up their ears.

Who in Central Heaven didn’t know the relationship between these two families? Mrs. Lin was the concubine of Prince Yinyang Jiang Yangyi, and Zhang was the sister-in-law of Prince Yinyang’s main wife. Was this a scene of the main wife’s family scolding the concubine on the street?

Lin Fuyao had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk forward, taking the lead in bowing, and said softly, “Greetings, Madam, Brother Wen, Sister Yan.”

“Greetings, Madam, greetings Cousin Wen, Cousin Yan~”

Jiang Yuan and Jiang Xuan also followed their mother to greet.

Opposite them, only Yu Bowen returned the bow perfunctorily with an unnatural expression. Zhang and Yu Ruiyan, mother and daughter, kept their hands in their large sleeves and didn’t even move.

“Why did you come?”

Zhang’s opening remark was an impolite questioning.

Tonight, the Heir’s wife held a banquet at the Prince’s residence to entertain the ladies of various families, firstly to build relationships, and secondly to let the unmarried Young Masters and ladies meet.

On such occasions, matching status was the first principle.

A concubine like Lin Fuyao theoretically wasn’t qualified to attend, but she had been worried about her children’s marriage and specifically asked her second sister to get an invitation.

This matter was not glorious, and she didn’t know how to answer for a moment.

Seeing her stammering and unable to speak, the expression of disgust on Zhang’s face became more obvious, and she just said, “Is this a place you should come to? Look at the children you raised. Your son is neither good in literature nor martial arts, messing around with lewd books, not ashamed but proud; your daughter is picky, and at such an age, she still hasn’t found a marriage, thinking all day about hooking up with noble families. The faces of the Prince and Princess have all been disgraced by you!”

“…”

Lin Fuyao lowered her head, her eyes suddenly turning red.

Tonight, Jiang Xuan was indeed… quite embarrassing.

At a banquet attended by juniors, it was inevitable for elders to test their knowledge. When asked what knowledge he was currently working on, Jiang Xuan, this kid, proudly spoke about the The Golden Lotus and tale of the red snake that he had recently come up with.

The scene was once silent, followed by whispers and strange laughter.

Lin Fuyao wished she could find a crack in the ground to hide in.

Jiang Xuan wanted to say something, but was a little afraid of Zhang, and unconsciously cast his gaze toward his elder sister again.

Jiang Yuan heard the family of three being scolded by Madam Zhang, her face turning bright red, but she bravely raised her head and said crisply, “Madam, this is incorrect. My mother manages the household well and has never done anything to damage the family reputation. We came to the banquet today with an invitation and according to etiquette, how can you say we shouldn’t be here?”

As soon as she finished speaking, before Zhang could speak, Yu Ruiyan on the side laughed first, “Sister Yuan’s mother is in Yinyang with my uncle-in-law. Next time, don’t call out the wrong name again.”

“…”

Jiang Yuan was choked, her small mouth open but unable to say anything more.

Even if she was smart, she couldn’t refute Yu Ruiyan regarding her inglorious background.

Subconsciously, she looked around, only to see the departing guests seemingly walking in a hurry, but they had long been lingering without leaving. Jiang Yuan felt that her family had become monkeys performing to be ugly and coquettish, and she couldn’t help but feel her eyes heat up, but she quickly bit her lip and forced the tears back.

In the distance, Han Jingru, who had been watching the play silently, suddenly remembered something: Ding Suian hadn’t been back from Lanyang for long when he beat up an aristocratic son at Zhangtai Willow, supposedly to stand up for a little brother.

If he remembered correctly, the one who was beaten was Yu Bowen, and his little brother seemed to be called Jiang Xuan, right?