CH 56

“Replying to Your Majesty, weichen has checked a lot of clues, the most suspicious one is…. His Highness Hui-wang.” Rong Xia placed a stack of investigation documents in front of Emperor Yunqing. “Weichen has gone through the information multiple times. That palace official has no family, and even though she seemed to be related and had received favours from Defei Niangniang, but her real master is His Highness Hui-wang.”

Rong Xia saw Emperor Yunqing’s face was as cold as ice, he added, “Or perhaps there are still other things overlooked, weichen will check again.”

T/N – (Refresher) Hui-wang was Emperor Yunqing’s younger brother. The previous emperor wanted to depose the Crown Prince (the current Emperor Yunqing) and establish Hui-wang, but the Grand Princess threw a wrench in their plan. Hui-wang was the father of Jiang Yuchen and Kangning Junzhu, they lived a low-key life, like recluses.

“No need.” Emperor Yunqing was so angry that he laughed, “This good little brother of zhen’s, that time he wanted to become the crown prince. Without Aunt’s protection, zhen would have no place in Daye today.” Talking about the Grand Princess, nostalgia was visible on Emperor Yunqing’s face.

It was rare for Emperor Yunqing to be on the receiving end of an affection like what the Grand Princess showed him just before her death. Being the emperor above everyone was a lonely place to be. In his mind, everything about the dead Grand Princess was good, was glorified, and the memories of her had been automatically filtered to be a perfect, a flawless person.

Only a dead person was the safe haven to place one’s affection.

“If he wants to rebel, then he is dreaming!” Emperor Yunqing coldly laughed, “Zhen has been too good to him all these years, letting him forget the world has long been zhen’s and no longer the previous emperor’s.”

As an official, Rong Xia wasn’t in the position to comment on the Emperor’s enmity with his brothers, he quietly listened with his head lowered.

Emperor Yunqing liked his calm and steady character, it made him feel Rong Xia was a steadfast and usable person, someone who wouldn’t have a second thought.

“Right, the matchmaking you wanted zhen to help, zhen plans to bring it up with Ban family in a few days. But successful or not, it is on them to decide.” Emperor Yunqing had the mind to compensate Ban Hua with a gentleman of both talents and looks, moreover Rong Xia was willing to marry her, so it worked out well for him.

The only problem was his cousin’s brain was a little strange, it’s difficult to gauge the outcome.

“Requesting Your Majesty to intercede as far as possible. Junzhu is the pride of the nation, if weichen is able to marry Junzhu, it will be weichen’s great fortune.” Rong Xia smiled, “Weichen sincerely wishes to propose to Junzhu.”

Emperor Yunqing’s expression was slightly hard to read , he drily coughed, “Zhen knows.”

Whether Rong Xia was sincere in wishing to marry Ban Hua or whether there were other objectives, at this moment Emperor Yunqing could only take it as his sincerety.

Some kinship was closer and some was more distant. Even the Emperor felt the need to compensate for what he failed to do. He loved the feeling of doing something for an elder whom he respected, more so as the beneficiary of this elder was someone easy to look after.

This person never meddled in Court matters, had no interest in siding with any faction, had no ambition in ingratiating others, and the Emperor had never had to worry they would do anything too outrageous.

T/N – In the raw the author wrote 补偿心理, which is Compensation Mentality, see Wikipedia.

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Ban Huai was the one most upset by the Grand Princess’ passing. In just a short month he had lost plenty of weight, if he hadn’t had a virtuous wife and filial children, he would have been crushed enough to wish to follow the Grand Princess.

Ban family genuinely abode by vegetarian diet. Even Ban Heng who couldn’t live without meat never tried to secretly ate any. It was obvious that losing the Grand Princess was the most heartbreaking thing for the family.

“Father,” Ban Heng saw Ban Huai put on a piece of crescent white clothes made of very fine material, he asked, “Are you going to the Palace?”

“His Majesty promoted me to a royal duke, I should have gone to the Palace to say thank you.” Ban Huai looked at his daughter whose little face had thinned down, his heart ached for her. “It’s getting warmer, if you have time, go for a walk. Don’t just stay at home.”

“I know.” Ban Huai smiled at Ban Huai, “When the weather is better, Father will take us to bieyuan to play, okay?”

* bieyuan 别苑 = a park for hunting or recreation.

“Fine. All three of us will go to the hot spring.” Ban Huai said with a smile on his face.

Ban Hua stood at the gate to see Ban Huai off, she turned around to find Ban Heng behind him, “What are you doing here?”

Ban Heng shook his head and moved closer to Ban Hua, “Sis, I heard the residence’s storyteller has a new tale, do you want to go to listen?”

“Did he write the story, or did you?” Ban Hua heard from her servants that her brother liked to run to the storyteller to babble, she didn’t expect it was for this purpose.

“His story. You’d never like the ones I make.” Ban Heng tugged at her sleeves, “Go go go, let’s go listen to stories.”

Ban Hua knew he did it for her, she couldn’t help smiling, “Thank you, Brother Heng.”

“What thanks.” Ban Heng awkardly turned his head sideways, “We are brother and sister, what is it to thank for. You should look at the mirror, you are so thin now. When you meet other ladies, what do you have to compare with them? Our Ban family’s reputation of beautiful women, do you still want it?”

Ban Hua reached out to pulled his ear lightly, “I am glad you are concerned about our Ban family’s reputation. Let’s go, but I am not listening to stories now, I want to first listen to you reciting <<The Book of Songs>> and << The Analects>>.”

“Ay ay ay, Sis, spare me!”

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The Great Moon Palace.

Ban Huai silently followed Wang De into the main hall. Emperor Yunqing had a look at him and couldn’t resist saying, “Cousin, you have thinned down these days.”

“My humble wife doesn’t like to see me prospering, so it is better to lose a little.” Ban Huai forced a smile, he didn’t bring up it was due to the Grand Princess’s matter.

“You and I are both sad for Aunt. Zhen’s heart is also……” Emperor Yunqing walked around the imperial desk to Ban Huai’s side, his tone was heavy, “Zhen has harmed Aunt.”

T/N – Note that Emperor Yunqing used the ordinary “I” instead of “zhen”. Ban Huai used both “you” and “Your Majesty”. The first “you” below in italics is the ordinary 你 instead of the respectful 您, not sure if it is a typo or deliberate.

“Your Majesty, how come you say that?” Ban Huai looked shocked, cupping his fist, “Since weichen was very young, Mother had often talked about you next to my ears, that your writing was very good, or which books you had memorised. She also frequently said she would had been very satisfied if only weichen was half as good as you. My family’s Mother has passed and weichen is indeed sad and grieving, however for Mother, protecting you must have been more important than her life. If you said it like that, wouldn’t that be letting weichen’s Mother down?”

A speech containing criticism was not something an official could say. However in Emperor Yunqing’s ears, it was the sign of Ban Huai’s sincerity instead of an offense. Touched by his aunt’s affection and his cousin’s sincerity, Emperor Yunqing patted Ban Huai’s shoulder, “Shuiqing, it’s me, this cousin of yours, who has said it wrong.”

This sentence was not said with ‘zhen’ word, it was apparently his true feelings.

“Between us brothers, we don’t need polite words or talk about gratitude and such.” Emperor Yunqing let Ban Huai sit down, “Because of the affection between you and I, I had wanted to make you a junwang, but those old men in the Ministry of Rites wouldn’t stop quoting this and that nonsense, so I can only wrong you on this matter.”

* junwang 郡王 = a prince of the second rank (the highest rank for relatives who aren’t an emperor’s direct sons).

“Weichen doesn’t deserve it, weichen has made it difficult for Your Majesty.” Ban Huai showed a touched expression on his face, “Your Majesty has been very kind to weichen, but weichen is a clumsy person. This royal duke title…..”

“Don’t mention this again. By giving you just a royal duke title, zhen already feel zhen has wronged you.” Emperor Yunqing waved his hand, “Zhen only wishes to see your family live in peace and security.”

“Many thanks Your Majesty.” Ban Huai’s eyes were damp. He looked up at Emperor Yunqing through a pair of reddened eye rims, only after carefully wiping his tears that he raised his head again.

Emperor Yunqing enjoyed seeing this kind of expression the most. The cousins chatted a little more when he suddenly said, “Before Aunt passed, she told me one thing, and zhen feels it is within reason. Telling you now, but whether it is to happen or not, you and your wife can think about it.”

Ban Huai sniffled, his voice was a little hoarse, “Your Majesty, what would it be?”

Emperor Yunqing told Ban Huai about how Rong Xia had carried Ban Hua on his back to enter the Palace, about how he had called himself Ban Hua’s husband in front of the Grand Princess. After that, Emperor Yunqing said, “I have been thinking, this Rong young man has both talents and looks, he is a good son-in-law candidate. How if zhen becomes the matchmaker, what does cousin think?”

Ban Huai: ???

Rong Xia?

Count Rong was really not bad, there was nothing to be picky about with his character and appearance, but….. Count Rong and his daughter, how could they be put together?

“Your Majesty, this….. wouldn’t this be a disadvantage for Count Rong?” Ban Huai was the sort of father who saw his children through rose-coloured glasses, but even he himself knew his daughter had faults.

She was lazy, and extravagant, she was bad-tempered, a picky-eater, and she loved to boast. These faults were cute and original in the eyes of her own family, but not necessarily so in other people’s eyes. Ban Huai had no confidence to make a bet that other men could be as tolerant to his daughter as himself.

That time he settled on Xie Qilin because his enquiries said Xie Qilin had good temperament. Unfortunately he also had a bad heart. Then Shen Yu, Shen Yu was accepted because his family was social-climbers, in the future they would submit to Ban family and wouldn’t dare to make his daughter upset. Who knew that Shen Yu changed face after he became a tanhua.

* tanhua 探花郎 = the third place at palace examination stage of imperial examination system.

Rong Xia this young man looked good in every way, but given his poor ability in the matter of selecting a son-in-law, Ban Huai dared not agree right away.

“What is there to disadvantage him?” Emperor Yunqing’s eyes widened. Ban Huai was belittling his own daughter, wasn’t he?

“Your Majesty, marriage is not a child play. Weichen….. weichen really can’t make a decision now. Moreover we are still in the mourning period, it is not convenient to talk about marriage.” Ban Huai pondered, “How about waiting a little while, I will discuss it with my wife first.”

“Mourning period isn’t a problem. This can be decided first, it’s not like they have to get married right away now.” Emperor Yunqing had thought about it thoroughly, “If you are willing, I can announce that the marriage was arranged by Aunt before she passed, and zhen was the witness.”

Ban Huai became convinced, whether this marriage would happen or not, it wouldn’t affect Hua Hua too much.

“After they are married later, don’t you forget to give me the matchmaker reward.” The more Emperor Yunqing thought, the more he felt Rong Xia and Ban Hua was a good match. Just based on their appearances, this was a ‘heaven plan and earth design’, how good looking their children would be.

If a daughter was born and she inherited Rong Xia’s talents, then she could be married to the Crown Prince’s son, it would improve the looks of the next generations of the royal family.

It was a perfect plan. The only things needed were the Crown Prince to have a son, and for Rong Xia and Ban Hua to get married.

Emperor Yunqing patted Ban Huai’s shoulder, “Cousin, a good man like Rong Xia has to be grabbed immediately. This child is very much sought-after. Zhen wants him for our own family, don’t let other people rob him away.”

Ban Huai: Is he a merchandise for people to fight for?

T/N – On this sentence “Fine. All three of us will go to the hot spring.” Ban Huai said with a smile on his face.” I checked the raw again and it really says ‘three’. Either poor Ban Heng was forgotten again, or Yin-shi didn’t normally join them playing.

T/N – Currently reading: Transmigrating into the Male Supporting Character’s Ex-wife. It’s hilarious! Have a look for a great light and funny novel, plus the translators’ memes are so on point and very funny.