50 - A Weird Illness

Chapter 50 – A weird illness

The next day, the couple regained their strong affection for each other and they also discussed countermeasures.

They came up with the strategy to let Shangguan Yan pretend to be ill……..and seriously ill at that.

A protest will be presented to the Emperor which will offend Zhuang Qinwang . Since the Emperor’s face is scratched*, therefore, it is better to turn around and let the other party retreat in face of difficulties.

(To the Chinese people, ‘face’ represents reputation, respect, prestige, self-esteem, and dignity.)

Since the Governor’s wife had fallen ill it is reasonable for Lord Di to look haggard. He will also publicly claim that it is due to a heart illness and the reason will not be stated clearly. People who can understand will naturally be clear that it is due to someone who is trying to destroy the relationship between the husband and wife.

After listening to the plan, Shangguan Yan became very happy. There is nothing more blissful than a husband and wife working together as one. This will not only stir up public opinion but will also slap Zhuang Qinwang and Consort An in the face, rendering them speechless and with no faults to hold on to.

However, this illness of hers must be able to deceive the Emperor, otherwise, if the Emperor finds out that her illness is only a pretense, the crime of deceiving the Emperor will only lead to the death punishment.

Just as Shangguan Yan was thinking of how to pretend to be sick so that the imperial doctor would not find out, Di Jing casually made a suggestion.

“Isn’t this simple? Just swallow some medicine or something and change your appearance.”

“I was also thinking the same……..” She paused, widened her eyes, and looked at him. Then she pointed at him and said loudly. “So you knew!”

Di Jing showed a blank expression. “What do I know?”

“Huh, still pretending! Tell me, how did you find out?!”

Di Jing showed a mysterious smile. Upon seeing his deceitful look, Shangguan Yan refused to let him get away with it and pounced on him.

“You pretended to be stupid! You pretended to be stupid!”

Di Jing burst into laughter. His wife gave him a hug, so why should he refuse?

He stretched out his arms to hug her and rolled to the side of the bed. Then he turned over and pressing down on her, he kissed her fiercely.

Shangguan Yan’s scolding turned into gagged moans……then turned into whimpers……and then everything became silent!

***☆☆☆***

For the sake of his wife and daughter, Zhuang Qinwang once again went into the palace to beg the Emperor to let his daughter marry Lord Di.

Based on his status as Zhuang Qinwang , for his daughter to marry Lord Di and is willing to be the main wife and sit on the same level as that businesswoman, it is already a grievance to his daughter.

However, his daughter did not mind. Therefore, Lord Di and his wife had been given a lot of face.

The Emperor did not agree on the spot and neither did he refuse. He only said that he wanted to discuss it with Lord Di. To put it frankly, the Emperor was eagerly watching his Minister Di and wanted to see how he is going to deal with this matter.

So the Emperor summoned Di Jing again and deliberately praised Princess Yunrou highly. He also stated that Di Jing need not take many wives. It was just one more and both wives would not suffer any losses*.

(Both wives won’t suffer any losses means that as both wives have the same status, so neither one will be below the other and does not need to suffer any grievances or be suppressed.)

Di Jing was unwilling to marry and started his Tai Chi moves with the Emperor. The Emperor knew that Di Jing only wanted Yan’er as his wife and also knew that they had gotten married only recently, but he still threw the question at him. Pretending to be distressed, the Emperor said that Zhuang Qinwang is his brother and as his brother had made a request, it was not easy for the Emperor to refuse. The Emperor also said that it was a good match for Di Jing and the princess. If Di Jing refuses, then he must come up with a good reason for doing so.

The meaning is that you, Di Jing, must give a good reason to let him turn down others, If you can’t give a good reason then you will have to accept the county princess!

Unexpectedly, a few days later, Di Jing came to kneel in front of the Emperor. With red eye rims, he said that he went back to discuss with his wife but did not expect his wife would be willing to help him to achieve his aim and kept all the grief in her heart. Thereafter, she became depressed and eventually became ill with a strange sickness.

The corners of the Emperor’s mouth trembled and watched as Minister Di delivered his excellent speech and his pitiful expression that said…….if anything is to happen to my wife, I don’t want to live anymore!

Although Minister Di is heartbroken, what kind of a person is the Emperor? Is he, the Nine-Five Sovereign *, so easily fooled?

(In ancient China, numbers were divided into yang numbers and yin numbers, with odd numbers as yang and even numbers as yin. Nine is the highest in the yang number, and five is in the middle. Therefore, “nine” and “five” are used to symbolize the authority of the Emperor, which is called the ‘nine-five sovereign’ and refers to the Emperor.)

Don’t forget, the Emperor has ears!

Qiu Dan had reported to him how Shangguan Yan’s face had become ugly in the past. Now the same method must have been used again and it is heard from the imperial doctor that her ugly appearance is even worse than in the past. Her face had sprouted a lot of blemishes and she is having a high fever. Her former beauty had become too horrible to look at.

Without saying, this must have been caused by Dividine Doctor Zhao’s ‘elixir’!

The Emperor smiled in anger.

They are indeed good! They can even come up with this trick!

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Even though the Emperor was aware of this, he still had to act along with him. The Emperor did not only send the imperial doctor to treat the Governor’s wife, but he also sent expensive medicines as gifts.

The imperial doctor testified that because the Governor’s wife loves her husband very much and was afraid that her husband would offend others, so she wanted to help him achieve his aim. In the end, she suffered in silence, and overcome with sadness, she fell ill.

All the common people knew that it was Lord Di who first begged the Emperor to bestow a marriage between him and his wife. After getting married, the husband and wife respected and love each other and stuck together like glue. Now that the wife is ill, Lord Di had also changed. His face looked just like the person in the house who was about to die.

Without instructions from Di Jing and Shangguan Yan, both Bai Yuxiao and Hua Qianqian took the initiative to spread this news to all the madams and daughters of the aristocratic families.

Originally, Zhuang Qinwang had good intentions when he allowed his daughter, Princess Yunrou to marry Lord Di. Moreover, the County Princess is very beautiful, and she is offering her status and beauty. If Lord Di does not accept, it would be too insensitive of him.

However, now Madam Di is ill and Lord Di had become haggard because of this. If anything is to happen to his wife, he will no longer attend court, return to the mountains and retreat into seclusion forever.

A tough man showing tenderness is the most moving. Lord Di’s deep affection for his wife stirred up feelings of sympathy from many madams.

All of them are women and everyone is clear that in this world, which wife is willing to watch while her husband marries another woman and brings her into the family?

The mansion of this Zhuang Qinwang is also very weird. In the beginning, when Lord Di was still unmarried, why did they not marry their daughter to him? After seeing the pair of loving husband and wife, they felt jealous and wanted to stuff their daughter to the couple.

Isn’t this deliberately destroying the relationship between the husband and wife?

It was also heard that in the beginning, when Zhuang Wangfei persuaded Zhuang Qinwang to beg the Emperor to bestow the marriage, it was Consort An’s idea.

When speaking of Consort An, the people recalled the grudge and grievance between her and Madam Di. It seemed that Consort An was taking revenge on Madam Di!

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These rumors spread like wildfire among the madams and daughters of the aristocratic families. The comments below the stage were even more ear-jarring than the comments on the stage. Some said that the most vicious is Consort An. It was no wonder that Madam Di had refused to marry Consort An’s son, the Ninth Prince, at that time.

When these words reached the ears of Zhuang Qinwang , he was so shocked that he hurriedly questioned his wife to figure out the whole matter. After spending a long time over this, he finally realized that Consort An had instigated his wife on this matter.

Now the situation had become such that their daughter was being slurred with unpleasantries and Zhuang Qinwang felt so angry that he smashed a great number of porcelain items.

In the end, Zhuang Qinwang did not dare to marry his daughter to Lord Di. Now that Madam Di is already ill, his daughter could not bear this stigma, so he immediately went to the palace and informed the Emperor that his daughter would not be marrying Lord Di.

As a result, Lord Di did not need to accept the County Princess Yunrou as his wife and also did not need to make it difficult for the Emperor nor does he need to defy the decree. At the same time, he had also gained a reputation of being loyal and infatuated with his wife.

Since then, all the officials in the imperial court were well aware that they must not harbor any ideas on Lord Di.

If they intend to stuff women to him, once Madam Di becomes sad and falls sick, Lord Di will look haggard again. Once he looks haggard, he will no longer have the interest to investigate the local officials, delay the trials of prison cases and also think of retiring.

Who is brave enough to bear the responsibility of letting the Emperor lose an important minister like Lord Di?

So, after this incident, no one dared to stuff women to Lord Di again.

With just one move, it solved all future troubles.

***☆☆☆***

On the 26 th day of the 12 th lunar month, the Emperor sent the whole group of officials home to celebrate the New Year.

This winter, Shangguan Yan was extremely busy from the whole of the 12 th lunar month to the New Year.

Gong Wuhuan came up from Jiangnan in the south to meet the three sisters.

Now the four sisters have their own spouses, especially after Gong Wuhuan married and left for Jiangnan, it was not easy for them to see her.

So, Shangguan Yan insisted her Second Junior Sister stay in the mansion for a few more days.

Gong Chang Xiao, who has always been very clingy to his wife, had especially handed the affairs of the Cao Gang over to his deputy leader temporarily and accompanied his wife on this long journey.

And as for Yeqing, regardless of where Hua Qianqian goes, he would follow like a shadow, therefore, he also moved into Lord D’s mansion.