Who Cares

Who Cares – Chapter 165

Chapter 165 Proposal

 

Because the sacrificial field was occupied by the army, the Guan clan would go to the Emperor Teacher Mansion almost every day, hoping that they would eventually become soft-hearted or even exasperated to the point where would buy some more property for the clan. They never believed that good old people like Emperor Teacher and Chief of Ceremonies would abandon their clansmen. The so-called “requesting to be removed from clan” was just angry words, they didn’t really mean it, and after a few days they would calm down. Besides, Guan Wenhai had already been removed from the clan, and the clan even put Guan Mumu in the family tree, recognizing his status as the heir of the Emperor Teacher Mansion, what else did the Guan family want?

On this day, several clan elders were preparing to go to the Emperor Teacher Mansion for a routine worship when they suddenly heard the shocking news that Guan Suyi, the eldest granddaughter of the Emperor Teacher Mansion, was going to become the empress! How is this possible?

“She, didn’t she a reconcile woman?” the clan leader’s eldest daughter-in-law asked in a trembling voice. It was already very lucky for a reconcile woman to find a widower to remarry. What kind of virtue and talent did Guan Suyi have to become the Empress of Wei? Were there no other noble girls in Yanjing?

“So what if she’s a reconcile woman?” The clan leader was already out of his wits, anxious and restless, “Juili people are not like people of the Central Plains. As long as it’s a woman and can give birth to children, they can marry her. In their culture, for women to stay at home and not marry is a sin, delaying the birth of a child is also a serious sin. Otherwise, you think how could they were only 10,000 or 20,000 people when they were driven out of the Central Plains, but then become the overlords who conquered the Nine Continent after several hundreds of years? Every time they exterminated a tribe, they would snatch all the women of that tribe to marry, and even the children born by these women were raised together. They did not care about the so-called bloodline orthodoxy, and only focused on strengthening the prestige of the clan. It was not until they entered the Central Plains that they were gradually influenced by the Han people and attached great importance to the bloodline.”

After all, the clan leader was also a learned person, who had some understanding of the history of the Jiuli clan, then he said in a trembling voice, “Nowadays, the conflict between the Han and Jiuli ethnic group is deepening, and the emperor’s attitude fluctuates from side to side. Not only promoting Han ministers, but also not forgetting to reuse his own confidants from his clan, resolutely pushed down a group of Jiuli clan nobles, and recruited a group of more capable people. At this critical juncture, who is the mother of a country is indeed a matter of national importance and even more important to the development and survival of the two ethnic groups. It just the east wind prevails over the west wind, or the west wind overwhelms the east wind. Several princes are all imprisoned, and the Jiuli clan’s power is declining. The Han ministers has to fight with all of their strength, and it’s only natural that the empress position would fall on a Han woman’s hand. Why it has to be Guan Suyi? She has family background, she has talents, and her temperament and courage are far superior to ordinary women. Choosing her to enter the palace can suppress the limelight of the Pan family’s daughter. As long as she gives birth to the eldest son first, the status of Han ministers will be stable.”

Speaking until here, he couldn’t help beating his chest and stomping his feet, “Had I known that Guan Suyi has the fate of the phoenix, I would not have saved Guan Wenhai at the beginning! Evil creature! He caused our Guan family not only to lose our backer the Emperor Teacher Mansion, but also miss the opportunity to become the empress’s clan! What kind of status the empress’ maiden clan is? You can ask for a title and a Shilu, enough to benefit the children and grandchildren for eternity! I regret it! I’m so stupid!” As he spoke, he burst into tears, and wept bitterly.

Several clan elders wanted to accuse him for blindly protecting his offspring and ruining the interests of the whole clan, but seeing him crying like this they were unable to speak, they could only rack their brains to save the situation, therefore they sent pitiful old people and young children from the clan to cry and beg. They knew that Guan Suyi was about to enter the palace as the empress, so she would definitely value her reputation more and more, and would never let them kneel outside the door and let passersby see the jokes.

However, they never expected that at this time, they would see the emperor directly.

Everyone panicked, and they were about to kneel down and shout long live Your Majesty, but the gatekeeper who ran away led Zhong shi and Guan Suyi to hurriedly welcomed him. Without saying a word, they first took the people inside and closed the gate, to avoid these people to make troubles.

“This commoner has seen Your Majesty. Long Live Your Majesty.”

“This minister’s wife (minister’s daughter) has seen Your Majesty. Blessing for Your Majesty.”

“This servant has seen Your Majesty.  Long Live Your Majesty, long live.”

Many people kneeled and kowtowed, many people bent the knee to salute, the yard was full of people falling down, and it was quite messy. But Old Master Guan and Guan Father were not there, and the people here didn’t know what the emperor was doing in such a hurry. The marriage decree had not yet arrived, so why did he arrive first?

“Mother-in-law, please, Madam, please.” Emperor Sheng Yuan lightly supported Zhong shi then gently pulled Madam up. Then he glanced at the rest of the people, his voice was cold, “You may rise, if have something to say then go in to speak.”

Everyone entered the main hall and took their seats. Several old people took out a family tree and presented it to the emperor respectfully, saying that the Guan family might not recognize the clan, but the clan would never abandon them, and everyone was still relatives connected by blood.

Zhong shi was already tired of hearing these words, but because the emperor was in the main hall, it was not good to flare up, so she could only let them perform their play with snot and tears running down their face. Guan Suyi’s eyelids were half-closed, her demeanor was calm, the person seemed to be here, but the spirit had long been out of her body, wandering around did not know where it had gone.

Emperor Sheng Yuan still had serious business to do, immediately interrupted everyone, “You seems not aware. Because Zhen was worried about the safety of brother-in-law, Zhen personally arrested and interrogated Guan Wenhai, only then able to found out brother-in-law’s whereabouts, and Zhen personally rushed to Tong Valley overnight to rescue him. He was only abolished and not be smashed into thousands of pieces, it still because looking at his Guan surname. Zhen coldly watched as you went to Emperor Teacher Mansion, asked the two Mount Tai to release him, and forced them to purchase sacrificial lands for the clansmen, like a group of leeches that will never stop until they squeezed the blood of the Emperor Teacher Mansion dry. Not only that, how the Emperor Teacher Mansion has treated you all these years, and how you repaid them, Zhen had long clearly investigated. The Guan family is the family of Zhen’s wife, even Zhen has to respect them, but you repeatedly abused them, how can Zhen still tolerate this? It’s impossible to recognize the Guan family again, and it’s even more impossible for them to buy property for you. People should be content, and if you are still entangled endlessly and ruin Madam’s reputation, Zhen will set up a piece of land for you in Liangzhou, and you can go there to settle down.”

Liangzhou was a place where prisoners were exiled in all dynasties. Not only was the land barren, but the environment was even more sinister. The emperor said “settle down”, but what he meant was to dispose the Guan clan, right? He could even kill his own brother, what’s so hard dealing with other people? Unexpectedly, he caught and interrogated Guan Wenhai himself, so his perception of the Guan clan had already fallen to the bottom, right?

At that time the clan leader took the people back with a tough attitude, didn’t he already offend the emperor long ago? Thinking like this, the few old people were already stunned, felt the cold penetrated the bone, and they didn’t dare to say a word. They immediately gave the family tree and fled in a panic. After they returned to the clan, they told what happened, causing the clan leader to spew few mouthfuls of blood.

“The emperor personally arrested Guan Wenhai, personally interrogated him, and personally led the troops to rescue Guan Mumu?” He repeatedly asked, seeing several old people nodding in pain, he then raised a cane and swung it on his granddaughter-in-law, “Why do I have to believe you demon, to force Qiguang and his son to release Guan Wenhai! The emperor had already cut a layer of his skin, why did I have to save him? Where the hell did I show my authority in front of Qiguang’s father and son, I just directly challenged the emperor, ah! How many heads do you think I have? Stupid woman, brainless idiot! Bring the family tree, and I will expel all of you from the clan!”

While swallowing the old blood in his heart, he beat people to death, but the rest of the people in the room did not dare to stop him, but instead showed an expression of hatred. Missing the opportunity to become the maiden clan of the empress was bad enough, but now they knew that even the emperor had secretly remembered a major sin against them, which was simply cutting off all their livelihoods. If at that time when Guan Wenhai was arrested, they immediately open the ancestral hall to expel him from the clan, all this disaster would not happen. On the contrary, they could hang on the empress’s coattail and became the most influential clan in Wei Kingdom.

Good and evil will be rewarded in the end, this sentence was indeed true.

—-

Zhong shi originally thought that today they would have to compensate the clan a little bit, lest the emperor think that the Guan family was ruthless and unrighteous. But she did not expect he solved the trouble in a few words instead, and it was done once and for all, her mood couldn’t help but get better.

“Make Your Majesty see the joke. Good people are easily deceived, we are also very helpless.” Zhong shi smiled while serving the tea. “The old master and the master have not yet returned home. Troubling Your Majesty to wait for a while. This minister wife will immediately send someone to look for them.”

“There’s no hurry. It’s good that Zhen can talk to mother-in-law and Madam for a while.” Emperor Sheng Yuan waved his hand at the guard, and they immediately brought a cage in, with a pair of geese lying side by side inside.

“Your Majesty this is?” Zhong shi seemed to have guessed something, but she didn’t dare to believe it. Guan Suyi, who’s soul was out of her body, instantly regained her senses, and looked at the seat of honor with her bright and dazzling eyes, the corners of her mouth curved slightly, revealing an unexpected but gorgeous smile.

Seeing this, Emperor Sheng Yuan was very satisfied, and said slowly, “Hearing the chirping of wild geese, the rising sun begins to dawn. If a scholar returns to his wife, the ice is not yet panned. According to the customs of the Central Plains, when a man proposes marriage to a woman’s family, he should always send a pair of wild geese. The geese have sincere feeling, if one of them died, the other will stay alone until its death and will never find a new partner in this life. Sending a pair of geese is equivalent to declare that both man and woman will always be of one mind, never leave never give up. This is the purpose of Zhen’s deliberate visit.”

He looked at Madam and said in a serious tone, “Madam never directly said anything, but mentioned the matter of coming to the door to propose for marriage a few times, how can Zhen dare to ignore it? If Zhen really thought that this was Madam’s way to say yes, and then issue imperial decree, send many precious betrothal gifts, and thought that everything was going well, then Madam would definitely complain in her heart. She is rebellious, arrogant, sometimes frank, sometimes duplicitous. She repeatedly reminded Zhen that this marriage is more based on political purposes, and the two of us are not some ordinary couple. However this instead reveals her true heart.”

He sighed, “If it weren’t for various accidents, Madam would definitely not be willing to get involved in the power struggle. She prefers an ordinary and comfortable life, yearns for the love of an ordinary husband and wife. She agreed to marry Zhen, and it seems to be extremely impressive on the surface, but her heart is still uneasy, and there are a lot of restlessness hidden inside. It’s possible for Zhen to issue imperial decree, give betrothal gifts, have people beat the gongs and drums, and send them to the Emperor Teacher Mansion in an impressive way to add another glory for her, but is this really what she wants in her heart?”

Speaking until here, he couldn’t help but look at Madam, and saw the other person slowly shook her head, her eyes full of splendid brilliance.

Previous     TOC     Next

4 thoughts on “Who Cares – Chapter 165

  1. Great translation! Great story. Thanks to author and translator.
    Man is but imperfect. The Emperor is quite advanced for the zeitgeist. Respect!

Leave a Reply to F_J Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *