Falling Back to the Start
Within three days, all of the conversations in the capital were dominated by one topic: The good deeds in the northern part of the city were not done by the eighth prince. From beginning to end, the eighth prince did not provide a single cent; however, he forcefully claimed the deeds for his reputation. He was a complete and utter hypocrite!
These rumors were all over, but they never mentioned Zhu Kongshan. When these words reached Xuan Tianmo’s ears, Xuan Tianmo angrily smashed a hundred-year-old inkstone in his study. He then quickly went to ask Zhu Kongshan about the situation; however, Zhu Kongshan anxiously said to him: “I was wanting to discuss this with cousin! Right now, all of the officials’ family members that had been working in the northern part of the city have now pulled out. At the start, I thought that they no longer had enough money to continue supporting this cause, thus it was fine if they left. When it comes to doing good deeds, it must be voluntary. It’s not good to force them to stay. I found later on that more and more people were leaving. I became curious and have been going around a bit more often these days. I heard that the real reason those officials’ family members left is actually because of cousin.”
“Because of this prince?” Xuan Tianmo was confused, “What is the relation between them staying or leaving and this prince?”
“Hah!” Zhu Kongshan pretending to look anxious and stomped her foot, “Cousin, how can you not understand? The officials’ families have been spending their own money to work with me in handing out food, but the Sheng Palace never provided them with any repayment. On the contrary, we have been claiming all of the gains in reputation. It would be fine if it was for a day or two, but as things dragged out, how could these people not feel resentful? When I pressed them, there has been more than one to tell me that the eighth prince is too stingy and too bossy. When there is work that requires money or manual labor, you will think of them, but once there are benefits, they are never even considered. They have worked with us for so long in handing out food, yet they have never received the slightest benefit. Not a single promotion was given out. That was why they could not continue to endure.”
Xuan Tianmo had a furious look on his face, “They only did this bit of work, yet they want promotions? They can dream on!” After thinking a bit more about the rumors floating around on the streets, there was no need to ask any further. It was natural that they had been spread by those officials. He had thought things through before. The low-rank officials could not be relied upon. Although they had daughters in the palace who had been bullied by Imperial Concubine Yun, unable to do anything for the past few decades, most of them were around the rank of noble lady. They could not succeed in anything important. As for this in the position of imperial concubine or concubines, they would be related to first and second rank officials, and he was unable to bring them over. This was his biggest weakness. “Did everyone pull out?” Xuan Tianmo asked Zhu Kongshan.
Zhu Kongshan nodded, “We are the only ones who remain.”
“Un.” He pondered for a while then continued: “In five days time, this prince will personally go to the northern part of the city. At the same time, I will bring the winter clothes prepared by imperial concubine mother. When the time comes, make some arrangements.”
Zhu Kongshan’s heart flitted with joy, as she quickly nodded and said: “Kongshan will keep that in mind. Cousin, don’t worry. All of the arrangements for the northern part of the city have been made.” After saying this, she looked at Xuan Tianmo, as a bit of a blush appeared on her face, “Will cousin be sleeping here tonight?”
Xuan Tianmo waved his hand, “I have something to do tonight. You get some sleep earlier tonight!” After saying this, he turned around and left.
It was only after he left the courtyard that Zhu Kongshan let out a sigh of relief. Xiao Yu helped her back to her chair and worriedly said: “Young miss, what if His Highness the eighth prince finds out about what we’ve done? Will he…”
“Will he kill us?” She sneered, “Of course, he will. Also, he will have us die very cruelly.” While she spoke, she noticed Xiao Yu tremble, and she quickly consoled her: “Don’t worry. I have already made arrangements for you. Before anything happens to me, I will definitely arrange for you to leave the capital.” As she spoke, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a banknote worth 50 taels of silver, “Take care of this. Right before leaving, I will prepare another 100 taels for you, as well as some shattered silver for you to use on the road. Also, I will also return your contract to you. In the future, you will be free and can go wherever you wish.”
When Xiao Yu heard this, she could not help but feel moved. At the same time, she felt extremely grateful toward Zhu Kongshan. She kneeled and said: “Young miss, this servant is your maidservant and wish to take care of young miss for the rest of my life, never leaving your side in life or death!”
Never leaving in life or death, huh? Zhu Kongshan sneered internally. Where did such a saying exist in this world? Although Xiao Yu could be considered loyal, for her to do something like dying with the Zhu family was impossible. Of course, she did not really plan on leaving this servant with a path out. A servant that could not fight to the end with their master, what would be the point of having one of those? It was just that this was not the time to get nasty. She still had many things that she needed this servant’s support to accomplish. She also needed to protect against her turning around and tattling to the eighth prince. It would just be five more days. In five days’ time, as long as the eighth prince brought the clothes from Noble Lady Yuan to the northern part of the city, everything would end.
The rumors continued to spread through the capital. A divide gradually began to form between the eighth prince and the officials in his faction. In the northern part of the city, with leaks coming from the beggars in the temple, all of the poor folk knew that the food they ate was paid with money from the Zhu family’s young miss’ own pockets. It was completely unrelated to the eighth prince. As for those who participated in handing out food, they came for the sake of the eighth prince. The reason that they left was also because of the eighth prince. It was because the eighth prince had promised to give them money, but the result was that he did not hand out a single cent. That was why everyone pulled out.
The Sheng Palace’s servant at Zhu Kongshan’s side was very confused as to where this saying had come from. The Sheng Palace had clearly spent a large sum of money, so why was it that these rumors said that they had not spent a single cent? She was puzzled and asked Zhu Kongshan about it; however, Zhu Kongshan just shook her head and said that she was uncertain about it. She also told that maidservant: “Cousin is also investigating. I just hope that the truth can be uncovered!”
In front of the citizens, Zhu Kongshan continued to explain to them that the grains had been bought by the Sheng Palace, but the people only accepted it on the surface. In private, they were saying: “The Zhu family’s young miss really has a hard life. If she did not speak for the eighth prince, she would get beat when returning to the Sheng Palace. Hah, how can such a nice girl have such a harsh life?”
The winds in the capital changed just like that. In Feng Yuheng’s eyes, this could not be any more normal. She even snorted with contempt, saying: “I thought that they would at least be able to endure through this winter, but who knew that it would collapse so quickly.”
Huang Quan said: “As this servant sees it, collapsing sooner allows things to get better sooner. Otherwise, we would need to listen to them praise the eighth prince all day. It was so disgusting that I wanted to die.”
Feng Yuheng laughed at her: “You just aren’t able to endure. What is there that’s disgusting or not. We can’t suffer any losses, and we can’t skip any meals. Just let them go ahead and say their praise. You must remember that it’s often the higher one is elevated, the harsher the fall will be. I want to see just how big of a scene Zhu Kongshan can cause, and how old eighth will handle it.”
Wang Chuan considered things differently from Huang Quan, and she asked Feng Yuheng: “Young miss, if something happens with the eighth prince this time, will the Emperor punish him severely? There were so many incidents before: the jade mine incident and collaborating with enemies in the south were both covered up by the eighth prince. This servant sees that the Emperor has been turning a blind eye to these things. What about this time? If the Emperor still has that same attitude, we would have done all this work for nothing.”
Feng Yuheng also had such a worry. When it came to interacting with the eighth prince, her side had remained passive. They had only resolved problems when the other side caused them, tearing down plots as they came up. As for the Emperor’s attitude, it was indeed as Wang Chuan had said, turning a bit of a blind eye to things. If the previous matters had been investigated carefully, she refused to believe that the truth could not be found. With such heavy crimes, she did not believe that old eighth would be able to act so arrogantly today.
The Emperor refused to investigate too carefully, giving old eighth room to develop. She had also noticed that the aged Emperor was preparing to sit by and watch the tigers battle. He wanted to see which tiger would be able to climb to the top in the end. This was a ruthless game, and she had no desire to participate; however, there was nothing that could be done about Xuan Tianming being born a prince. Even if he wanted to back out, he could not. Xuan Tianming wanted to protect this world, and she could only protect it with him. Either way, there would eventually be an outcome, and she should bring out the same fighting spirit that she had when dealing with the Feng family.
Feng Yuheng pumped herself up before saying: “Let’s just wait and see. With Zhu Kongshan around, old eighth probably will not be able to rejoice for much longer. Success came with his cousin, and defeat also came with his cousin. This can be considered retribution being paid in kind, falling back to where he came from.”
A few days later, the eighth prince, Xuan Tianmo, sat in his imperial carriage and brought a procession of ten carriages to the northern part of the city. Zhu Kongshan had spread the news to the people in the northern part of the city, telling them that the eighth prince would personally come to visit everyone. He would also be bringing new clothes that Noble Lady Yuan had arranged the palace servants to make. She also emphasized once more: “This time, it really was Noble Lady Yuan who paid for it. It was for the sake of allowing everyone to have new winter clothes. Noble lady worked on it for a few nights without sleeping!”
She had already spread these words to the beggars in the temple, and she had the beggars believe that it was the recent pressure from the rumors that caused the eighth prince to finally do something. She even said to the beggars that this was also a good thing. Either way, the citizens would be able to receive some real benefits.
Hearing her words, the beggars began to spread that this time, it really was a case of Noble Lady Yuan and the eighth prince doing some work, thus everyone began to believe it. They were looking forward to the eighth prince’s arrival.
Xuan Tianmo had come to the northern part of the city today and did not come with just new winter clothes. He also brought many carriages full of food. He also brought out the Sheng Palace’s chef to make food for the citizens. He also gave out new bowls and chopsticks, personally ladling out food for the poor. He worked for a full day, and it was very lively.
The citizens ate their fill and also received new clothes. In an instant, the complaints towards the eighth prince from the previous few days died down. There were even some who criticized themselves, feeling that they had wrongly blamed the eighth prince.
It was only after the sky turned dark that Xuan Tianmo left. Right before leaving, he said many “heartwarming” things to the people, promising to them: “As long as the Sheng Palace can eat, you will not be left to starve.”
After Xuan Tianmo left, Zhu Kongshan stayed behind and warmly said to the citizens who had received the new winter clothes: “It’s about to be the eighth of the twelfth month. Theses days will be extremely cold. If you have gotten new clothes, don’t just leave them be. Everyone should wear them. You must not freeze at night.”
The people nodded, especially the beggars that lived in the temple. These days were truly too cold. Even if a brazier was placed in the temple, it did not resolve the true problem. Thus the people put on the newly obtained clothes and prepared to wrap themselves up tightly overnight. From a psychological perspective, at the very least, newly made clothes would definitely be warmer than old clothes. At the very least, the cotton was new and thicker.
Zhu Kongshan watched everyone put them on, and a smile appeared on her face. She repeatedly said: “It’s good if everyone likes them. It at least means that Noble Lady Yuan’s efforts were not wasted. The eighth prince, who looks down on the people from the northern part of the city, actually came out himself. This is also a rare occasion.”
After saying this, the people felt their hearts drop. After thinking a bit, that was not all. Throughout this entire day, the eighth prince had not shown the slightest bit of a smile.
The people spent the night with complicated emotions. They originally thought that the new clothes would be warmer; however, who knew that bad news would come from the northern part of the city the next morning. Nearly a third of the beggars and poor folk had frozen to death overnight!