Chapter 339: Family
In the palace.
Consort Zhang was a woman of a very relaxed and generous disposition, and a bit plump.
She had no pressure to get promoted, nor did she have to wait on the Emperor, so she just coasted.
As a veteran employee with dividends and a salary, she lived quite comfortably.
Although her son wasn’t particularly capable, at least he didn’t cause trouble and was living a decent life, which was enough.
She didn’t ask for anything else; after all, she had no worries about food or drink.
But she never expected that in her old age, she would still receive news of a death.
The Fifth Prince was gone.
When Consort Zhang heard this, she was drinking soup.
She didn’t even hear it clearly and took another sip.
After finishing, she asked, “Where did Little Five go?”
Consort Zhang stared blankly at the tabletop, where there was a small vase that Little Five had given her.
On the walls of the room, there were paintings that Little Five had brought.
In the corners, there were piles of stones that Little Five had brought.
That was just his personality; since he was little, he liked to take the random trinkets he picked up or made himself and stuff them into her room, placing them on her table, in her cabinets, and in the corners. Whenever she opened her eyes and took a casual glance, she could see his things.
It was the same before when he was with the Emperor; he would leave things everywhere.
Later, he was punished for it once, so he never dared to do it again.
But here with her, he never changed this habit.
Every time he came back, he would leave behind one or two of his messy belongings.
In every aspect of life, she would see his things, filled with his marks.
Like a little puppy.
Placing his things down meant it was his territory.
He was already in his tens, and later he started distributing Buddhist scriptures everywhere.
On the wall, there was still a stack of Buddhist scriptures he had copied.
Consort Zhang held the bowl in her hands with trembling fingers, drank the soup in one gulp, and then stood up, feeling her body sway, taking quite a while to steady herself.
“Go, go find the Emperor.”
Deaths in the palace were not uncommon; many young and vibrant girls died in the palace.
Many children who couldn’t be raised also died.
Many nannies and eunuchs who were greedy and made mistakes also died.
This was an extremely competitive and twisted place.
Consort Zhang had fought her way out of the siege, and now chanting Buddhist scriptures three times every morning and evening was perhaps a way to atone for her past self.
But, Little Five, he was dead.
Sure enough, if it wasn’t one of her own, she wouldn’t feel anything.
When her good sister, the Empress, died, she wiped away tears.
When the The Former Crown Prince died, she wiped away tears.
When her son died, she couldn’t even shed a tear.
She was too furious, too angry, too agitated.
At this moment, she just wanted to kill the heavens and the earth, destroy everything, and die together.
She had no scruples, absolutely no scruples left.
The Ministry of Justice had entered the holiday state.
Early in the morning, they received a major case: the Fifth Prince was dead.
It was over; they probably wouldn’t be able to celebrate the New Year.
If an ordinary person died at home, the Ministry of Justice would just solve the case normally.
In fact, when someone dies, it is generally not that complicated, and the people around them are often the biggest suspects.
Unless it was an extremely rare suspicious case, like a criminal committing a random crime, but those were relatively few.
The Ministry of Justice solved cases all year round; which year did they not handle dozens or hundreds of cases?
As long as a crime was committed, there would inevitably be traces.
Those who had reached the level of Ministry of Justice bigwigs all had some level of skill.
But this case involved the royal family.
That would increase the difficulty significantly.
For example, for ordinary people, one could let the coroner examine the body and cut it open to study it.
Could one do that to a prince?
Who would dare to cut?
If one really wanted to cut, wouldn’t they have to apply for it? Who would want to court bad luck?
Just like when the The Former Crown Prince died, it was reported directly as a sudden death; they didn’t dare to ask or investigate deeply how exactly he died.
Sometimes solving a case is not difficult; what is difficult is the things behind the case.
When the notification reached Jiang Changtian.
Jiang Changtian had just finished breakfast.
When he heard the news, he was also stunned for a moment.
This Fifth Prince had been hugging his shoulder just last night, happily saying he had something to ask for his help with.
And today he was dead.
Such is the impermanence of life.
Therefore, one must cherish every day.
He had planned to go to the yamen, but he stopped his footsteps and decided to stay home and accompany his family first.
Mianmian was pulling Princess Grandma along to play with skateboards early in the morning.
Princess Huiyun said she didn’t want to on her lips, but actually found it quite interesting. It only required flat ground and didn’t need an ice surface, and she was a bit worried about the ice cracking on an ice surface.
Flat ground was much more convenient, and at least there was no life-threatening danger if one fell.
Besides, it was easy for Mianmian to fall when playing by herself, so it was better for her, the elder, to accompany her.
Both of them had a talent for sports and quickly got the hang of it.
Wearing ancient costumes and stepping on skateboards, flying against the wind, truth be told, it was actually quite cool.
This feeling of flying was very special and very enjoyable.
Mianmian said, “We could also make a big groove, slide down, and then fly up; that would be even cooler, but Father probably wouldn’t allow that. Let’s just play like this for now.
However, if there is snow, we can also go skiing.”
Princess Huiyun was a person who was very pure when playing, and she felt some yearning.
As expected of her own granddaughter, she really knew how to play.
Jiang Changtian heard his daughter’s laughter from afar, cackling, laughing very brightly.
Perhaps he would originally never have forgiven Princess Huiyun.
But at this moment, seeing her earnestly accompanying Mianmian to play, it seemed he had forgiven her and let it go.
Because she was not good to her own child, but she was good to his child.
He loved his children more than he loved himself.
Mianmian and Princess Huiyun were playing with skateboards, Cong Geer was reading, and Xia Mei was training in martial arts.
“I feel that the stories Mianmian tells are quite interesting, so I just ponder them and practice randomly,” Qin Luoxia said sheepishly.
She thought her husband had already left.
She was a bit worried that her husband would say it wasn’t appropriate.
But for her, the household chores were actually nothing, as there were servants to do them.
Currently, there didn’t seem to be any banquets for noble ladies or anything like that. Anyway, after meeting the in-laws, Madam Meng and Madam Dong, Qin Luoxia was not so afraid of social interaction in the capital. She felt it was fine, just one nose, two eyes, and one mouth.
Besides, the most legendary figure in the capital, Princess Huiyun, was in her own home; what did she have to worry about?
She was now more worried about Feng Geer and her son-in-law, Shaoxia.
She wished she could go on the expedition for them.
But thinking about it, it was impossible. In the army, even having a woman nearby was considered unlucky, let alone allowing women to join the army.
Qin Luoxia felt that worrying blindly was useless, so she wanted to calm down and hone her martial arts skills.
Everyone had their own things to do.
Qin Luoxia looked down most on women who had to cling to others every day to survive.
So in her heart, she also agreed with her husband’s view, feeling that her mother-in-law was a bit useless.
She was already a princess, yet she still couldn’t let go of those things with men; what was the point?
If she were a princess and really liked someone, she would tie them back and ask: will you marry me or not? If you marry, we’ll be together; if not, get lost. How could there be so many things later?
Although she also loved her husband very much and was very clingy to him, she always insisted on doing things, doing useful things, and being a useful person. This way, even if her husband was not around, she would not panic. At any time, she could become her husband’s strong backing.
So she wanted to practice martial arts.
She couldn’t go hunting in the mountains now, but the home grounds were large, so practicing martial arts at home was the same.
Qin Luoxia didn’t know many characters, but she was very diligent.
Asking about the story her daughter told, whether the martial arts that Duan Yu picked up had any basis—her daughter didn’t know if it was made up or what, but she actually compiled a martial arts move that looked like the real thing.
Anyway, whether it worked or not, she would practice first. In order to practice martial arts, Qin Luoxia had been learning to read recently, at least to learn the characters on the martial arts manual.
The basic three moves she practiced before, which her son-in-law gave her, were also practiced very well.
Qin Luoxia prepared to practice while exploring.
Qin Luoxia practiced the sword; every move and every style was like blooming flowers, like falling snow, like the clear light of a cold moon, like the scorching sun, ever-changing.
Jiang Changtian was watching earnestly from the side.
It was so good.
His Xia Mei had walked all the way with him, always accompanying him, without taking a step back, always moving forward.
How fortunate.
Accompanying him for half a lifetime.
After watching his family, Jiang Changtian went to the yamen.
The New Year’s plan had only been made last night, and today it had to be changed.
Truly, plans cannot keep up with changes.
He couldn’t intervene in the Fifth Prince’s matter; the Ministry of Justice was in the capital. Besides, no one wanted to court bad luck or get involved in such a royal murder case.
Trouble.
He hesitated for a while, but still planned to enter the palace to see the Emperor.
The path into the deep palace was far, and the road was obstructed and long.
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