Chapter 251: The Grand Finale (Part 1)
Zhou Yuanshen wanted to deal with the Zhou family’s title estates.
“According to the standards of an ordinary duke’s residence, we’ll keep a portion of the farmland and vacate half of the estate as well,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
Cheng Zhao listened attentively.
“I agree,” she said. “‘Ill-gotten wealth’ will bring trouble sooner or later.”
Then she asked, “You’ve already seen the signs, haven’t you?”
“Prince of Andong is very likely the mastermind behind Grandmother’s murder. His hidden guards and maidservant are still in prison. When I mentioned this after receiving my meritorious promotion, the emperor even said that he would ‘be fair.’
“What could have been unfair enough for the emperor to feel that he had mistreated Helian Xuan? Nothing except the fact that the Zhou family possesses too many title estates, and that the Duke’s Residence is far too vast and extravagant.”
Cheng Zhao said, “There really are too many title estates.”
So many that they were beyond her expectations.
Even Cheng Zhao, who had seen plenty in her life, had been shaken by the sight.
Once this matter was exposed, the censors would curse the Zhou family to death. The family would have to bear the emperor’s accusations of “extravagance and debauchery,” and they would lose the people’s goodwill.
The people’s goodwill was their reputation.
“The deaths of Dowager Madame, Lady Huan, and our eldest aunt, Madam Song, have already brought the Zhou family more than enough gossip and slander. It will be difficult to recover. But falling all the way to the bottom would be easy,” Cheng Zhao said. “This was a farsighted move.”
“I’ll tell my mother in person.”
“Mother will understand. She can tell right from wrong, good from evil,” Cheng Zhao said.
Zhou Yuanshen gave a slight nod and pulled her more tightly into his arms.
The weather was hot, but he was even hotter.
He kissed her, and the kiss grew deeper and deeper...
By the middle of June, the Zhou family had made new arrangements. A tall wall was built to the east of Shou’an Court.
Including Shou’an Court, at least half of the Duke’s Residence was partitioned off and returned to the Ministry of Revenue.
Zhou Yuanshen also submitted a memorial, relinquishing most of the title estates.
“His Majesty is a filial son. These estates were originally bestowed for Grandmother’s sake. Now that Grandmother has passed away, her descendants dare not continue accepting such tremendous favor,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
He had only just distinguished himself by suppressing the rebellion, and the court officials already regarded him with great favor. Now that he had returned most of the title estates and part of the residence, he was praised even more.
The emperor nodded repeatedly.
He also commended Zhou Yuanshen several times.
That very night, Helian Xuan said to his advisers, “Jinshu and the others won’t be saved.”
His hidden guards and the maidservant had originally still had a chance of being rescued. There had also been some hope of muddling through the charge that they had entered the Duke’s Residence to “assassinate” a woman of the highest rank.
But Zhou Yuanshen’s move would force the emperor to make the charge stick.
Helian Xuan would not be able to escape.
Was Zhou Yuanshen afraid that prosperity would invite disaster, or was he simply venting Cheng Zhao’s anger for her?
“He’s redirecting the trouble elsewhere, leaving His Majesty no time to deal with these minor matters,” one adviser said.
“How will he redirect it?” Helian Xuan asked.
“Besides serving in the Metropolitan Camp, Zhou Yuanshen is also Grand Tutor Zhou. If something were to happen to the Eastern Palace...”
“The weather is terribly hot, and malaria has been spreading lately.”
Malaria was a virulent disease. From the onset of symptoms to death could take only a few days, and it was highly contagious.
Most people drank water from the rivers, while also washing clothes and rinsing chamber pots in them. Malaria could cause diarrhea and spread through feces.
When one adviser proposed this plan, several others objected.
“Malaria strikes too quickly, while medicinal decoctions take time to work. Once it spreads, we may not escape unscathed either.”
Helian Xuan spoke quietly. “Don’t drink raw water these days, and don’t bathe in it. Other than that, there’s no need to worry.”
Everyone shuddered.
After the Zhou family returned its title estates, the emperor suddenly “remembered” Prince of Andong’s hidden guards and the assassination attempt that had taken place in the Duke’s Residence.
Just as he was about to deal with the case, a messenger arrived from the Eastern Palace: the Crown Prince had diarrhea and a high fever.
“What about the imperial physicians?” the emperor asked coldly.
He had never been particularly fond of the Crown Prince.
At the time, it had been Grand Preceptor Guo who, together with the court officials, had pressured him into establishing the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince displeased him in every way.
If he absolutely had to choose someone, he would rather choose Zhou Yuanshen.
If only Dowager Madame were still alive. She could have trained a suitable heir for him.
At that thought, the emperor was suddenly overcome with sorrow. After Dowager Madame’s death, he had grieved for many days, but he had eventually been able to accept it. She had, after all, been advanced in years.
Then the rebellion had stirred up his mind, and other matters had occupied him. He had come to feel that Dowager Madame had not meant all that much to him.
Until this moment.
An indescribable longing and reluctance surged through his heart.
“Your Majesty, you cannot go to the Eastern Palace. If this is malaria, you may become infected,” one imperial physician said.
The emperor flew into a rage. “Seal off the Eastern Palace at once and cut off its water supply. Where did the Crown Prince contract it?”
“His Highness has not left the palace recently. He merely indulged in the coolness and ate too much fruit.”
“Malaria can spread through feces. Perhaps the fruit was fertilized with manure and the peels were not washed properly.”
The emperor was speechless for a moment. “...He truly is useless!”
He was cursing the Crown Prince.
The empress went to the Eastern Palace every day.
The Crown Prince did indeed have malaria. He suffered from a high fever and diarrhea, and on the fifth day, he died. He had always been weak and frail.
The empress wept until she fainted.
The emperor still had two sons alive, though he had lost his legitimate heir. He was not as grief-stricken as the empress.
He ordered a thorough investigation of the Eastern Palace.
All the officials of the Eastern Palace were to be implicated, including Zhou Yuanshen.
“It was Prince of Andong who murdered His Highness the Crown Prince,” one official submitted in a memorial, accusing Helian Xuan.
When the news reached Helian Xuan, he realized that there was a spy among his people. It could not have been one of the emperor’s men. It was probably someone planted by Zhou Yuanshen.
Before the accusation could be confirmed, Helian Xuan fled.
He went to Qinzhou.
The military commanders of the seven prefectures and thirty provinces in the south pledged allegiance to him. With an army of five hundred thousand men, Helian Xuan rebelled.
Once he raised his banner, the realm descended into chaos. Twelve regions established their own governments and declared themselves kings, with Helian Xuan commanding the greatest power among them.
The Crown Prince died in July. Helian Xuan rebelled in September. By the beginning of November, thirteen rebel kings had emerged across the realm.
The capital, Shengjing, was tense. The prices of rice and coal rose day after day.
“You’re about to give birth, aren’t you?” Cheng Chao came to the Zhou family residence with his second elder brother and sister-in-law to deliver a gift for the coming birth. The siblings chatted together.
“About half a month from now,” Cheng Zhao said.
“What has Yuanshen been busy with lately?”
“He spends every day at the government office, making preparations to suppress the rebellion,” Cheng Zhao replied.
Cheng Chao then brought up Helian Xuan.
“I never thought he would rebel,” Cheng Chao said.
Cheng Zhao was not surprised. “Prince An died suddenly. The father and son must have been plotting for a long time. Didn’t they try to win over the Cheng family because they wanted Grandfather to lend them his influence?”
“I thought he really was in love with you,” Cheng Chao said.
Cheng Zhao said, “Don’t disgust me. Why are you bringing that up again? You’re the only fool here. I never once thought he had any affection for me.”
“I’m an honest man. I believe whatever people tell me,” Cheng Chao said.
“Don’t flatter yourself. You simply can’t tell good from bad...”
The second sister-in-law laughed and tried to smooth things over. “All right, all right. The two of you quarrel every time you meet. You’re about to become a mother and an uncle—aren’t you afraid the children will laugh at you?”
Cheng Zhao gave a snort and ignored Cheng Chao.
Whenever Cheng Chao saw her looking like a peacock with its tail raised—proud and flamboyant—he felt an urge to tease her. At the same time, he had to admit that her “tail” was indeed magnificent and beautiful.
How irritating!
He hoped she would not give birth to another daughter who looked just like her. Otherwise, as her uncle, he would be driven to death by the child.
Zhou Yuanshen returned rather early that day.
The Duke’s residence had dinner prepared, and he kept his two brothers-in-law for drinks. Cheng Zhao ate separately with her second sister-in-law.
“When will you set out for the campaign?”
“We’re still preparing the provisions. Probably by the end of the twelfth lunar month,” Zhou Yuanshen said. “That’s already considered very quick.”
“When rebellion breaks out in a particular region, the imperial court first seals off the news, for fear that others will follow suit. Helian Xuan openly proclaimed himself king and rebelled, and even used his connections to spread the news throughout the realm. Otherwise, the other twelve regions would never have risen in revolt as well,” Cheng Yan said.
Zhou Yuanshen replied, “He had been plotting this for a long time.”
“It has nothing to do with anyone or anything else. He simply wants to seize the empire. He tried to assassinate the emperor and the Crown Prince. When that plan failed, he resorted to proclaiming himself king in Qinzhou,” Cheng Yan continued.
Zhou Yuanshen nodded.
Cheng Chao looked at him. “I’m familiar with Qinzhou. Take me with you when you go to put down the rebellion. Perhaps I can be of some help.”
The imperial army would attack Qinzhou first. It had the greatest number of rebel troops and prefectures, and its influence was the most extensive.
In the other regions, there were no shortage of scattered troops and defeated stragglers.
“All right. Follow me when the time comes—if your family agrees,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
“My parents and grandfather will certainly agree,” Cheng Chao replied.
“Aren’t you getting married soon?”
“Our wedding is set for April next year. The fighting should be over by April, shouldn’t it?” Cheng Chao asked.
Zhou Yuanshen fell silent.
“You expect to finish in three or four months? If it ends in three or four years, that would already count as good fortune and a favorable year,” Cheng Yan said.
Cheng Chao replied, “We can give it a try.”
As preparations for the campaign proceeded in haste, curfew was imposed throughout Shengjing.
Cheng Zhao was nearing the end of her pregnancy, yet she personally inspected the family’s cellar and storehouses to make sure there was enough coal and rice to feed everyone for two years.
The Second Master would also be going to war.
On the seventh day of the eleventh lunar month, Cheng Zhao gave birth to a son. She had remained active throughout her pregnancy, taking walks whenever the weather was neither too cold nor too hot, and the delivery went relatively smoothly.
Despite it being her first child, she gave birth in less than twelve hours.
Everyone praised how quickly she had delivered, but she had still suffered terribly.
Zhou Yuanshen held her hand and was unable to utter a word for a long while.
Cheng Zhao knew he was moved and that his heart ached for her. She smiled and said, “When peace has been restored, I’m going to the Guanyin Bodhisattva’s temple to fulfill my vow.”
She had burned incense at the small Buddhist shrine in the Nonghua Court, and the Bodhisattva had not punished her by condemning her to a lifetime without children. Cheng Zhao therefore believed that the Bodhisattva possessed a broad and compassionate heart and offered salvation to all beneath Heaven.
As befitted a deity who received incense from the entire realm, the Bodhisattva did not quibble with an ordinary woman like her.
“When peace has been restored, I’ll go with you,” Zhou Yuanshen said.
And so the husband and wife made their promise to each other.
Of all those in the family, the Second Madam was the happiest about Cheng Zhao giving birth. She searched through the genealogy and, together with the Second Master, chose names for the child. In one breath, she wrote down ten names for Cheng Zhao to select from.
Names such as Jing’an and Shiyong expressed the wish for “peace in all four directions and a prosperous, dignified age”—the hopes most cherished in those times.
Cheng Zhao said that both of those names were excellent.
“Those two were chosen by Yuanqi,” the Second Madam said.
Cheng Zhao thought of how Zhou Yuanqi, despite being so young, would have to endure such turmoil. Then she thought of her own newborn child, born into such troubled times, and felt a sudden ache of tenderness in her heart.
“We should ask the Duke when he returns,” Cheng Zhao said.
Zhou Yuanshen was in the outer residence, busy making arrangements for the baby’s third-day ceremony.
He was about to depart for the campaign and had been spending these days at home only when he could find a spare moment.
He thought Jing’an was a fine name.
Thus, Cheng Zhao’s eldest son was named Zhou Jing’an.
After that, Zhou Yuanshen was rarely home. He spent two years in Qinzhou, battling Helian Xuan’s army of five hundred thousand men. In the end, both sides were exhausted, their men and horses worn to the bone.
Cheng Zhao’s fourth brother stayed at Zhou Yuanshen’s side.
His wedding date with Guo Hanzhang could not possibly be honored. Just as they were preparing to postpone it, Guo Hanzhang brought more than a dozen people—including maids and senior household servants—and traveled south to find Cheng Chao.
It was a bold and audacious move, and one that heartened many people at the time.
She and Cheng Chao were married in the south. Since Cheng Chao could not return, neither did she. The fighting on the front lines was complicated, and the Guo family was deeply worried about her, yet they could not overcome her stubborn determination.
Cheng Zhao received a letter saying that Guo Hanzhang was organizing village women to grow grain and raise silkworms and mulberry trees on the front lines. She had earned even more respect from the soldiers than Cheng Chao himself.
“...I’m a little envious of her,” Cheng Zhao said to her mother-in-law. “She’s incredibly brave and has such tremendous drive.”
The Second Madam was likewise astonished when she heard this. “I knew she was no ordinary woman.”
The more chaotic the times, the more clearly a person’s worth became apparent.
Cheng Chao had truly struck gold by marrying such a fine wife.
“You’re managing such a large household all on your own. You’re remarkable too. There’s no need to envy her,” the Second Madam added.
The Second Master also went off to put down the rebellion.
At present, the household depended on the Second Madam and Cheng Zhao to support each other.
More than half of the servants had been dismissed. Only twenty people remained, including the stewards, maids, older female servants, and footmen. There were also the household guards and deputy generals, who could not be discharged—more than forty people in all—as well as Cheng Zhao’s personal retainers.
Cheng Zhao had not dismissed any of her retainers. No matter how difficult things became, she was determined to support them. Peace would return one day, and she would need them then.
Her mother had carefully cultivated and selected them for her.
There were more than a hundred people in the household altogether. In such chaotic times, feeding so many people was no easy task, and Cheng Zhao had to calculate every expense with painstaking care each day.
Fortunately, the Zhou family’s storehouses were well stocked.
Among Cheng Zhao’s relatives by marriage, the father-in-law of her third elder sister—Prince Jingnan—had also gone to suppress the rebellion, heading northwest, where rebel forces and ferocious bandits ran rampant.
When Cheng Zhao’s son was eight months old, just after the end of the hottest part of summer, she heard the tragic news that Prince Jingnan had died in battle. Her heart lurched.
She went to Prince Jingnan’s residence.
After curfew had been imposed in Shengjing, the streets had become far more desolate than before. Even in broad daylight, there were few pedestrians, and doors and gates were shut everywhere.
Cheng Zhao went to see the Princess Consort and her third elder sister.
The Princess Consort’s eyes were swollen from crying.
Her son and daughter-in-law were at her side.
In private, Cheng Ying told Cheng Zhao, “They still haven’t found Father-in-law’s body. There’s still hope.”
“If you need anything, just come to me. Whatever I have, I’ll give you,” Cheng Zhao said.
“For now, we don’t lack anything,” Cheng Ying replied.
Then she added, “Your eldest brother-in-law also went to suppress the rebellion. My eldest sister has moved back to her parents’ home.”
“I heard.”
“If you’re afraid, you can bring your child, your mother-in-law, and your younger brother-in-law back home as well,” Cheng Ying said.
“I’m not afraid. The Chen Duke’s residence has household guards, as well as the deputy generals and others whom Yuanshen left behind.”
Then Cheng Zhao asked, “If the news truly is bad, what will you do?”
Cheng Ying’s marriage had been forced through solely because the two families were evenly matched in power. She and Zhang Yunqi hardly ever saw each other.
If the Zhang family fell, what would become of Cheng Ying?
“Zhaozhao, if Father-in-law truly died in battle, I would remain with the Zhang family for the rest of my life. A daughter of the Cheng family would never abandon someone in their time of misfortune,” Cheng Ying said.
Cheng Zhao tightened her grip on her hand. “Let us hope there’s a turn for the better.”
She secretly slipped Cheng Ying a large purse filled with gold beans. It was heavy in her hand.
After autumn began, Cheng Zhao heard that both of Prince Jingnan’s daughters-in-law had returned to their parents’ homes.
“That’s far too heartless. The Princess Consort has always treated her daughters-in-law well, and they both have children. How could they leave at a time like this?” the Second Madam said angrily.
Cheng Zhao replied, “When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter. I told my third elder sister last time that marriages between two clans exist so they can stand together through thick and thin. Now that the prince has died in battle and the princely residence has fallen, there’s little meaning left in that family tie. Husband and wife are merely birds in the same forest; when disaster comes, each flies in a different direction.”
The Second Madam’s eyes grew moist. “Only troubled times reveal a person’s true character.”
She asked again, “What about your third sister? She’s the one who truly ought to leave. Zhang Yunqi has subjected her to humiliation and contempt throughout the capital.”
“She won’t leave. The Cheng family cannot raise anyone heartless or ungrateful,” Cheng Zhao said.
The Second Madam sighed deeply.
The prestige of an aristocratic family was built up little by little in precisely this way; every one of the children took pride in the family and would never bring it shame.