Chapter 110: Hello Chang’an
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### Chapter 110: The Ignorant Young Girl
He had lost face because of the Dayun Temple incident, and not only was he punished by his aunt, but the news had also spread like wildfire. Now, if he were to pull a dog off the street and ask, everyone would likely know about how he was injured by that Chang Suining, that wretched girl!
Even after staying at home for two months, he had not been able to let go of this anger.
In his childhood, when he was still young, his aunt was not yet in power, and while the Ming family was not particularly prominent, he had a very capable cousin who was the crown prince, so no one dared to make things difficult for them.
But as he grew older and began to remember things clearly, his aunt had already ascended to the highest position. From then on, the Ming family’s status in the capital and even throughout the entire Da Sheng was unmatched. As the legitimate eldest son of the Ming family, he was used to having everything go his way.
Now, at the age of twenty, he had never suffered such humiliation! Not to mention that after being humiliated, he had to endure the indignity of being confined at home!
And now, while he was being punished, she was throwing an extravagant apprenticeship banquet, flaunting it in such a grand manner, attempting to gain fame and reputation!
Why should he suffer punishment at home while that little wench who had offended him enjoyed herself so openly and proudly?
After this incident, he could only imagine how others would laugh at him… How could he ever hold his head high in the capital after this?!
If he had been unaware of this matter before, that would be one thing; but now that he knew, if he allowed her to revel in her glory without doing anything, he would not be Ming Jin!
“Your Highness… where are you going?”
The young servant saw him striding away and hurriedly caught up, anxiously reminding him, “Your Highness cannot leave the estate yet!”
Ming Jin abruptly stopped and slapped the young servant across the face. “Who do you think you are, daring to control me, the Young Master!”
The young servant fell to his knees in fear, “I don’t dare! I was just following orders, afraid that Your Highness would be punished again…”
Ming Jin had drunk some wine out of frustration during dinner, and with a heart full of shame and anger, he could hardly take in a word.
He disregarded everything and walked toward the front yard, his mind filled only with thoughts of “I must regain my face; I cannot let that wench have her way.”
“Stop—”
A cold woman’s voice rang out from behind him, and Ming Jin froze in his tracks.
“Where do you think you’re going?” The elegantly dressed woman had a gentle, oval face, but her eyes were filled with coldness.
Ming Jin turned around, his expression furious. “Mother, do you know that that wretched girl Chang Suining is holding an extravagant apprenticeship banquet in the city today, inviting many officials and Scholars? It’s quite a spectacle and stealing all the attention!”
“So you can’t sit still?” Madam Chang, the wife of Marquis Ying, looked at her son and asked sternly, “You intend to disregard the Emperor's order of confinement to cause trouble for her?”
“…It’s unthinkable to be confined again!” Ming Jin’s face flushed with anger. “In any case, I can’t swallow this humiliation. I have to go out!”
Madam Chang asked, “How do you plan to vent your anger? Are you going to smash her banquet?”
“If I did smash it, what could she do to me!”
Madam Chang scoffed, “Do you even know what kind of people are at that banquet? Do you really think that bringing a few people would allow you to cause any trouble there?”
“I don’t care who is there. Let’s see who dares to stop me! Anyone who dares to interfere is opposing the Ming family and the Emperor!”
The coldness in Lady Chang’s eyes deepened. “How did I end up with such a foolish son without any sense…"
The incident at Dayun Temple had already proven that even the adopted daughter of a military general understood the reasoning behind such matters—once something is made public, it only serves to bind their hands and feet.
Yet her son was just like his father, a complete fool, unable to see this simple truth. He thought that sheer arrogance could solve the problem and naively believed that his aunt would back him up.
Madam Chang stepped forward a couple of paces, lowering her voice, yet her tone grew heavier.
“Your aunt is indeed powerful, but her strength comes at the cost of many things you can hardly imagine… The Emperor’s gaze is on the bigger picture. Do you really think she would publicly shelter you for such a trifling grievance and give others the opportunity to speak ill of her? Haven't you learned anything from the Dayun Temple incident?”
Ming Jin did not know if he was stunned by her tone or if her words made him retreat, but his voice lost its earlier impulsiveness, though he still felt unwilling. “Does my aunt truly allow a mere military general’s adopted daughter to provoke the Ming family and challenge her dignity?”
“Dignity?” Lady Chang replied coldly. “That is only the dignity in your eyes, not the dignity in the eyes of the Emperor.”
Before the Emperor was the Empress, she had lived with her young children in a secluded palace adjacent to the Elephant Garden. In winter, to obtain a basket of coal for warmth, her maids even kneeled and knocked their heads in front of the palace eunuchs.
Even after she became a favored consort and later the Empress, her path had not been without its challenges.
All the glory was for outsiders to see.
Having walked through experiences unimaginable to ordinary people, in the eyes of the Emperor, this trivial conflict among children was not even worth a casual joke.
If the Emperor cared about such trivial “dignity,” then he wouldn’t be the Emperor.
Thus, Madam Chang looked at her son with unwavering conviction. “If you dare to defy the confinement order tonight and go to the Dengtai Tower to cause trouble, you will face more than just confinement…”
Ming Jin opened his mouth instinctively wanting to retort, but after a moment of changing expressions, he ultimately only said, “But I can’t swallow this humiliation!”
“You’re not the only one who can’t swallow it,” Lady Chang said coldly. “These days, how do you think your father and I have fared?”
Ming Jin furrowed his brow tightly. “Are we really supposed to let a little wench like her humiliate the Ming family at will, without being able to fight back? It’s utterly ridiculous!”
He thought it was absurd!
“Who told you that you can’t fight back?” Madam Chang replied softly. “The key is not whether to fight back, but how to do it… Do you remember at Dayun Temple, why the Emperor sided with her and reprimanded you instead?”
Ming Jin bit his teeth. “Because… I made a mistake and she had evidence against me.”
“That’s not too foolish,” Madam Chang said. “So, you just need to seize her faults as she seized yours to act accordingly, and that way, you won’t be at a disadvantage.”
As long as you are not at a disadvantage, even if you seek revenge, others will have nothing to criticize—even if it reaches the Emperor, he will only side with the one who is justified.
“She has plenty of faults!” Ming Jin said with hatred on his face. “She is arrogant and insulted me first, and three days ago, she injured Chang Miao at the Imperial Academy!”
Madam Chang said calmly, “But none of these are real faults.”
Ming Jin suddenly looked at her. “Mother… do you have a good plan?”
As soon as Madam Chang began speaking, all unrelated servants had retreated to a distance, leaving only the mother and son within ten steps of each other.
She then said softly, “Finding a way is not difficult. People live in this world; even Emperors are not perfect… How could a little girl, who doesn’t know her own limitations, not have made any mistakes?”
“Faults are not hard to find,” Madam Chang said, raising her head slightly to look in the direction of Dengtai Tower. “What is difficult to find is the right timing.”
Previously, she had tried to invite this lady from the Chang family to their estate under the guise of a flower party, to test her a little, but the other party did not accept the invitation.
Of course, it was expected that she wouldn’t come.
Moreover, compared to an ordinary flower party, today evidently presented a much better option.
No, it could be said to be the best choice—
The ignorant little girl would fall from grace at the moment when she was most in the spotlight and most proud, plunging into the depths from which there was no return—this lesson alone would be enough for her to remember for a lifetime.
Ming Jin followed Madam Chang’s gaze and suddenly had a feeling.
He seemed to understand a bit.
Though he had not thoroughly learned about his mother’s methods in the inner courtyard, he was not completely uninformed.
Including the fact that Ming Luo’s biological mother seemed to be…
Also true, that Chang Suining wench is ultimately a woman, so dealing with women is naturally something my mother excels at.
Ming Jin suddenly felt excited and asked softly, “Is my mother planning to go to the Dengtai Tower herself?”
Madam Chang let out a light scoff.
She didn't need to dirty her hands over such an inconsequential little girl.
At that moment, a booming sound suddenly came from above, the sound of fireworks bursting.
Following the brilliant light of the fireworks, he could see that it was indeed in the direction of the Dengtai Tower.
“How lively,” Madam Chang remarked.
But soon, it would be a different kind of liveliness. And that naive little girl, who thought she could act as she pleased just by grasping a minor fault of others, was destined to end up like the fireworks—brilliant for a moment, leaving only a mess behind.
…
“So beautiful… uh!”
Inside the third floor of the Dengtai Tower, Ah Dian stuffed pastries into her mouth while watching the fireworks outside with wide, shining eyes.
Chang Suining was also staring at the rising fireworks, momentarily entranced.
She had never seen anything like this.
“Xiao A Li, isn’t it beautiful?” Ah Dian excitedly pointed outside.
Chang Suining nodded dazedly. “Very beautiful.”
“This firework is made from gunpowder,” Wei Shuyi had approached at some point and said from behind her.
Not wanting to expose any gaps in her knowledge, Chang Suining instinctively replied, “I know.”
The scent of gunpowder was not unfamiliar to her; she could tell just by smelling it.
It was just that when she left Da sheng all those years ago, this thing indeed did not exist—but it was not appropriate to reveal that.
Wei Shuyi smiled at her, then looked back at the fireworks. “It’s rare to see Lady Chang showing such curiosity; I thought it was your first time seeing it.”
Chang Suining maintained a noncommittal expression, lightly tapping her fingers on the railing.
Even if it was her first time, observing the reactions of the people below, it was evident that this thing had not been around for many years. Xiao A Li did not like going out, so this might also be her first time seeing it.
But her previous statement, “I know,” to avoid revealing any slips—that she knew it was made from gunpowder—might not be something Xiao A Li should know.
Clearly, Wei Shuyi had fallen back into his old habits, subtly probing her again.
Sure enough, he curiously asked, “But how did Lady Chang know it was made from gunpowder?”
Chang Suining was prepared for this and remained calm. “I just heard the commoners downstairs say it was made from gunpowder, and that one should keep their distance; otherwise, one could get injured by the explosions.”
Wei Shuyi nodded in understanding. “So you just learned that.”
Chang Suining replied, “I might have known before.”
Wei Shuyi raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
Instead of answering, Chang Suining asked back, “Does Vice Minister Wei think my behavior is different from that of an ordinary woman, so you’ve been curious to test me since we met in Hezhou?”
Wei Shuyi: “...?”
Is this something you can ask directly?
Hmm, as expected of Lady Chang; she is no ordinary person.
Fortunately, he was Wei Shuyi, who was also not just an ordinary person.
“It’s not a test; it’s curiosity,” Vice Minister Wei corrected with a friendly smile.
Chang Suining looked at him. “Then, to prevent Vice Minister Wei from continuing to be curious, I will be honest today about why I have so many unusual traits—”
Wei Shuyi’s smile faded slightly, and as he met her gaze, he became silent and serious.
In that gaze, the young girl’s expression was calm: “I have a bad head.”
Wei Shuyi: “?”
“It broke after the incident in Hezhou.”
Wei Shuyi: “...Have you seen a physician?”
“Yeah, I’ve seen one. The Huichun Pavilion said they couldn’t treat it.”
Wei Shuyi fell silent.
If even the Huichun Pavilion couldn’t treat it, then it was basically hopeless.
He could only express sympathy: “I didn’t expect Lady Chang to suffer from such a difficult ailment…”
“It doesn’t have much effect,” Chang Suining turned back to look outside. “It’s just that I can’t remember many things, my speech and actions are occasionally chaotic, I forget some things right after saying them, and I often can’t tell what day it is when I wake up… So if Vice Minister Wei thinks I seem a bit off at times, there’s no need to take it to heart.”
She had grown tired of dealing with this; it was better to settle it once and for all.
After a moment of silence, Wei Shuyi looked embarrassed. “I wasn’t aware of that before; I won’t be so rude as to pry into Lady Chang’s condition again.”
Hearing the term “condition,” Chang Suining felt quite satisfied.
“…” After hearing this exchange, Chang Ji remained silent for a long time.
At the same time, a sinister and vain thought suddenly flashed through his mind—he wanted to run downstairs immediately and shout in Cui Yuanxiang’s ear: "My lord knows that Lady Chang is crazy; your lord doesn’t!"
But as a human being, he had to uphold the most basic moral lines; he couldn’t exploit Lady Chang’s condition to satisfy his own desires.
A feeling of self-importance rose from within Chang Ji, making him feel filled with the light of humanity.
“Even if you’re not quite right in the head, it’s nothing to be afraid of; some people often say I’m not quite right in the head too,” Ah Dian encouraged Chang Suining while swallowing a pastry. “Xiao A Li, don’t be afraid; the prince says everyone gets sick sometimes!”
Chang Suining smiled and nodded at him. “Exactly.”
Seeing that she “took the advice,” Ah Dian grinned widely, wiped the crumbs from the corners of his mouth, and said, “I’m full now; I need to go find them outside!”
Chang Suining asked in confusion, “Them?”
Ah Dian glanced around mysteriously and then leaned down to whisper in her ear, “It’s the people from the Xuanzhe… they came with Xiao Jing and are quietly guarding downstairs. I promised to work with them!”
Chang Suining instinctively looked toward the crowd below.
At a glance, she didn’t see anyone wearing Xuanzhe uniforms or dressed in combat gear.
But with a moment's careful observation, she noticed a few young men dressed like commoners loitering near the Dengtai Tower—
If there were some outside, there would surely be some inside as well.
The bustling atmosphere also meant chaos, and it was inevitable that some would take advantage of the confusion or cause trouble while drunk. To prevent disorder, she had already instructed the sword boy to keep an eye out.
However, she didn’t know when Cui Jing had secretly arranged for these people.
No wonder it had been so peaceful; not a single petty crime had occurred all day.
As Chang Suining pondered this, she looked down and just happened to see a soft sedan chair landing outside the tower.
Then, she saw a figure emerge from the soft sedan chair, and upon a closer look, she felt a sense of familiarity.
But that familiarity was with Li Shang, not with Chang Suining herself—
Moreover, she truly had no idea what identity the person currently held.
Thus, she asked, “Who is that?”
Wei Shuyi walked over upon hearing her question. When he recognized the person coming down, he revealed a hint of surprise. “Why is this person here too?”
Goodnight, everyone~~
(End of this chapter)
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