When Tiandong came in with the hot water, Song Jinglan had already put the letter over the candlestick and lit it, burning it to ashes in an instant.
Recently, His Highness had been communicating with Young Master Rong even more frequently. With that, the number one swordsman in the world was now an errand messenger. Tiandong felt that Mr. Ji’s role in this correspondence was too difficult.
While serving Song Jinglan as he bathed, he asked, “Your Highness, can we return to the Song Empire soon?” There was some excitement in his tone, so Song Jinglan glanced at him, “You want to go back desperately?”
Tian Dong replied, “Of course! That is Your Highness’s country! And if we go back, Your Highness won’t have to suffer here.”
Song Jinglan wiped the corners of her eyes with a towel and smiled, “That’s not necessarily true.”
Tiandong sighed in disappointment before he added, “Actually, it doesn’t matter to me wherever I am. After all, I’m just an orphan taken in by Your Highness while you were on your way here, so I’ll go wherever Your Highness goes. It’s just that if we return to the Song Empire, we wouldn’t be able to see the Fifth Princess anymore.”
Song Jinglan glanced at him.
Tiandong was still sad when Song Jinglan threw the steaming handkerchief over his head, “We won’t be able to return for the next five years at least, so just stay here contentedly.”
When Tiandong heard him say so, he was slightly happy but also felt a little lost.
The weather was getting warmer.
Song Jinglan once again lived through the peaceful days of sitting under the porch with Lin Feilu and eating popsicles every afternoon. There were always a lot of strange ideas and odd things that went through her little head as she would tinker with many peculiar foods that he had never heard of.
He was not afraid of being poisoned— no matter what she came up with, he would eat anything and everything for her sake. Because of this, he had a stomach ache in the middle of the night several times, but he merely suppressed it with internal force.
They lived comfortably on this side, but the side between the harem and the court were not in stable conditions.
The reason was that Wen Xiangming, the youngest son of the Assistant Minister of Criminal Justice, killed someone on the streets.
According to the ‘Law of the Great Lin Empire’, anyone who committed the crime of murder should be executed, but the law had always only applied to ordinary citizens. However, the youngest son of the Assistant Minister of Criminal Justice was the son of Noble Consort Ruan’s aunt.
Noble Consort Ruan married a Tanhua(1) that year. With the support of Prime Minister Ruan, Tanhua had a smooth career, easily taking the position as an Assistant Minister of the Criminal Justice department. According to this year’s plan, he was going to be promoted to the official Minister of the department.
(T/N: Tanhua is a term used to call the 3rd place winner of the Imperial Exams for bright scholars. The top three winners have a term respectively, and these winners would usually become ministers or high-ranked officials sooner or later)
In the end, just before his promotion, his youngest son committed murder.
The reason was even more ridiculous as it was all for a mere cricket.
The Ruan family was big and it was already the Great Lin Empire’s most influential family. The children of the Ruan family have always lived a life that was no less privileged than that of the royal family’s children. Compared with their usual style of havoc-wrecking and name-flaunting, the Xiao family’s previous bullies were hardly worth mentioning.
Wen Xiangming was a well-known playboy. No work and all play, he often flocks to various brothels and casinos. Although he achieved nothing, his crickets were particularly good at fighting.
To train him, the Assistant Minister of Criminal Justice threw him into Jin Wuwei(2) for training. Wen Xiangming learned some three-legged Cat Style kung fu in the training arena and he showed off his strength a lot on weekdays. He raised a cricket and called it the Hundred-Win King. However, it was trampled to death by the opponent’s cricket not long ago when they were in a match.
(T/N: Jin Wuwei is a place where the Emperor’s military soldiers were trained— sometimes, both trainees and actual guards trained here together. These guards would then guard the Emperor and extend their security to the Royal Family)