Chapter 135 — The Contest (Bonus Chapter: Asking for Pink Votes)
Purple Streets of Chang'an · Page 4 of 4
He thinks of himself as a grown man, little knowing that in the Emperor's eyes he is still nothing but a child.
Song Cen sighed. "It must never happen again, do you understand? Now that your uncles have run into trouble, of course we ought to help them—but we cannot drag our own house down with them. In all things there must be a limit. Thank goodness the Emperor was not angered. If an imperial decree truly comes down and he can secure a substantive post at the Fengtai Camp, then we may count it a loss at sunrise and a gain at sunset..." Thus grumbling and rambling, he made his way back to the Ying Estate.
The moment he stepped through the door of the principal chamber, he heard Lady Jiang's stifled sobbing.
Lady Jiang had always borne misfortune with a steely resolve.
Song Cen and Song Yan both tensed, and hurried into the principal chamber.
Lady Jiang lay slumped over the phoenix couch, weeping so faintly she seemed scarce able to draw breath, while the maids and serving women who attended her person wept as though their hearts would break.
Hearing them come in, she raised her head, and her tears fell all the faster: "Third Brother—he—he has died of illness!"
It struck like a thunderclap from a clear sky, setting Song Yan's ears ringing so that it was a long while before he could make out the sounds around him.
The Third Uncle who had been hailed as the family's mastermind was gone. With no one left to carry on his legacy, and only the Fifth Uncle remaining, a man who knew nothing but eating, drinking, and making merry, what was to become of the Jiang family? And what of those young kinsmen who had been exiled with Third Uncle to Tieling Guard?
In his daze he heard his father's voice, tinged with a certain hesitation: "Tell me—should we send Tianci to Liaodong? Under the pretext of mourning, he could call upon the Prince of Liao and ask him to show some leniency toward Fifth Brother?"
Every male of the Jiang family above the age of five had been exiled to Tieling Guard; the rest had followed Lady Mei back to the ancestral home. Who knew whether anyone would go to make offerings at the grave...
Lady Jiang gazed at her husband with gratitude and nodded firmly.
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Too sleepy—typos will have to be caught tomorrow!
o(n_n)o~
ps: tomorrow will make up for the missed update!
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