Chapter 258: Fear
Magistrate Cen was in his forties, fair-skinned and plump, with eyes that narrowed into slits when he smiled.
Upon seeing Hao Jianfeng enter, he immediately stepped forward and greeted him with a respectful yet warm bow. "It's been some time since we last met. How is your health? I heard recently that the Dowager was slightly unwell, and your wife took the young master to attend to her... Has the Dowager recovered? This must be the young master's first time returning to his hometown—is he adjusting well?" His words were so amiable that they felt like a gentle breeze.
Hao Jianfeng nodded with a smile, gesturing somewhat reservedly toward the Grand Tutor chair in the room and saying, "Please, have a seat." Then he continued, "The Dowager merely caught a slight chill. My wife took the opportunity to bring our son back to visit his hometown—he was born in the capital and doesn’t know anyone here." After briefly sharing his own affairs, he inquired about Magistrate Cen’s matters: "So? Have all the formalities been settled?"
"All settled, all settled!" Magistrate Cen replied cheerfully. "It’s all thanks to you. Otherwise, how could I have landed such a fine assignment, and how could the formalities have been processed so swiftly?"
"This is also your good fortune," Hao Jianfeng said, feeling quite pleased internally but maintaining a humble demeanor. Then he shifted the topic to Master Fu the Fifth. "...He has returned to his hometown for mourning."
Magistrate Cen had served as a county magistrate for nine years before finding an excuse—"serving together in Shaanxi"—to ingratiate himself with Hao Jianfeng. After that, his career had soared smoothly to the position of prefect. While he wouldn’t claim to know Hao Jianfeng’s affairs inside out, he was certainly well-informed. Recalling how a colleague had once proposed a marriage alliance between Hao Jianfeng and a daughter of the Fu family, only for the Fu family to reject the offer—and how Hao Jianfeng had subsequently cooled toward Fu Langzhong—Magistrate Cen assumed Hao Jianfeng was now savoring a moment of vindication. Hao Jianfeng was a man of relative integrity, fiercely focused on securing a position as a Grand Secretary. Though he bore a grudge against the Fu family, he wouldn’t let personal grievances interfere with official duties or resort to baseless retaliation—that would be beneath him. But if Fu Langzhong happened to fall on hard times, Hao Jianfeng taking some schadenfreude in it was only human.
Magistrate Cen was happy to add flowers to the brocade.
"So, both officials from the Fu family are returning to their hometown for mourning?" Magistrate Cen said with a smile. "You may not know this, but the Fu family has been declining year after year. First, their Ninth Young Lady suddenly passed away from illness. Then their in-law, that Left Scholar Zuo Junjie, mysteriously disappeared. Rumors in Huayin say that Zuo Junjie, driven to madness, wanted to marry the Ninth Young Lady and falsely accused her of having an affair with him. Unable to bear the shame, the Ninth Young Lady took her own life. Seeing the situation turn against him, Zuo Junjie abandoned his family estate and fled. To protect the Ninth Young Lady’s reputation, the Fu family publicly claimed she had died of illness. Then their widowed eldest daughter-in-law, unable to endure the Fu family’s neglect, hanged herself from the ancestral hall’s beam. Later, a wealthy merchant offered thirty thousand taels of silver as betrothal gifts to marry the Fourteenth Young Lady... It’s been utter chaos—nothing like the Fu family of old."
The implication was clear: Minister Hao, you’re fortunate not to have married into the Fu family, or you’d be burdened with such in-law troubles!
Yet Hao Jianfeng felt a surge of delight.
Truly, after searching far and wide, the answer had come effortlessly.
He had been fretting over how to investigate the Fu family’s affairs, and here was Magistrate Cen volunteering the information—precisely what he wanted to know.
But Zuo Junjie falsely accusing the Ninth Young Lady of an affair to force her into marriage... What kind of twisted logic was that?This isn't a marriage proposal—it's practically declaring enmity!
He recalled the rumors he'd heard earlier.
The estranged between father and daughter... all because Yu Jingxiu had an illicit affair with Fan Dashen's daughter and sought to break off his engagement... Left Remonstrance Official falsely accused the Fu family's Ninth Miss of impropriety with him... The Ninth Miss, unable to bear the humiliation, took her own life... The Emperor intervened, with the Empress Dowager arranging Zhao Ling's marriage to Fu Shi... Yu Jingxiu sought the position of Left Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Personnel... The usually reclusive Fu Shi actually spoke to the Emperor, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut by securing the post for her Third Older Cousin's Husband...
The thoughts flashed through his mind.
Hao Jianfeng could no longer contain his excitement. He barely registered what Minister Cen said afterward and, after a brief consideration, simply asked, "Since you're from the west, have you heard the rumors that Xiping Marquis offended Guizhou's commander Zhao Ling, and that Zhao Ling has been making life difficult for him at every turn?"
"I have, indeed," Minister Cen replied with a smile. "Not just me—officials across the northwest are all talking about it! It's caused quite a stir. That Zhao Ling truly fears nothing, openly declaring he'll deal with Xiping Marquis!"
"Oh?" Hao Jianfeng was surprised and raised an eyebrow, leaning forward slightly. "What exactly happened? Tell me about it."
Minister Cen chuckled. "Apparently, years ago when Zhao Ling was just a Centurion at Zhuanglang Garrison, some distant relative of Xiping Marquis—completely unrelated—somehow took a fancy to Zhao Ling's wife. Madam Zhao was quite the formidable woman—she hid at the home of Gansu's deputy commander Wang Dan but left several rabid dogs at her own residence. Xiping Marquis's relative sneaked in under cover of darkness and was nearly mauled to death. Even after learning this, Zhao Ling wasn't satisfied. He traveled thousands of miles in secret and killed the man."
"Xiping Marquis felt humiliated and stirred up trouble around Zhangye for over half a year until Marquis Yingchuan intervened and smoothed things over. Xiping Marquis had long forgotten the incident, but Zhao Ling never did. He vowed retribution and persuaded Wu Xin, the newly appointed commander of the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission, to make things difficult for Xiping Marquis. Add to that Gansu's commander He Fu, who never liked Xiping Marquis, and the marquis found himself in quite a predicament. Thinking he had no prior grievances with Wu Xin, he confronted him directly. Wu Xin was blunt, telling Xiping Marquis he owed Zhao Ling a favor and was acting on his behalf. Xiping Marquis was left trembling with rage but powerless. He Fu found the whole affair highly amusing, saying that if he ever made it to the capital, he'd have to meet Zhao Ling and Madam Zhao."
What a mess!
Hao Jianfeng couldn't help but laugh.
Minister Cen sighed. "No wonder Zhao Ling rose to the second rank in just five or six years. This alone is enough to earn respect!" He added, "But that Zhao Ling has nerves of steel. Back then, he was just a lowly Centurion, yet he dared to go alone to Liangzhou to kill a man..." At this, he shuddered. "Such a man is truly not to be trifled with!"
Hao Jianfeng's expression shifted. He exchanged a few absentminded pleasantries with Minister Cen before yawning at an opportune moment.Upon hearing this, Official Cen immediately stood up to take his leave. "You should rest now. It's getting late, so I'll head back to the guild hall first. I'll visit you again in a couple of days—I can stay in the capital for ten days."
Hao Jianfeng exchanged a few polite words with a smile and had the steward see Official Cen out. He then immediately called for his personal attendant: "Prepare the carriage. I'm going to Wu Daren's place."
He had just returned!
The attendant grumbled inwardly but didn't dare delay for even a moment, quickly instructing the coachman to prepare the carriage before accompanying Hao Jianfeng to Shi Family Alley.
Wu Daren and Madam Wu were in the midst of discussing their next steps when they heard that Hao Jianfeng had returned. They promptly welcomed him into the study to talk.
After Hao Jianfeng recounted his encounter with Official Cen, Wu Daren took a sharp breath and pondered, "I've also heard that Zhao Ling holds his wife in high regard. When he was fighting in Guizhou under Longping Marquis, after the Miao people were defeated, the marquis once gifted Zhao Ling two beautiful Miao girls. Zhao Ling refused them, so the marquis thought he disliked their Miao heritage and spent a fortune to buy two exquisite 'skinny horses' from Yangzhou for him instead. Though Zhao Ling accepted them, he immediately passed them on to Li Zai, the Guangxi Regional Commander. Moreover, over these years of campaigning, he has never indulged in brothels or prostitutes, and his subordinates have followed his example in this regard. I think we need to carefully reconsider our approach to the Yu Family matter."
Hao Jianfeng quickly agreed, "That's exactly what I thought! The reckless fear the ruthless, and the ruthless fear the fearless. To me, Zhao Ling is the fearless kind. If he sets his sights on someone, the consequences won't be pleasant."
Wu Daren nodded repeatedly.
Meanwhile, Fu Tingyun was filled with melancholy.
No wonder he was helping Wu Xin secure the position of commander at the Shaanxi Regional Military Commission—he was still fixated on the Feng Dahu incident.
She hadn’t even suffered any harm, and Feng Dahu had already been severely punished. Why couldn’t he just let it go?
The Xiping Marquis was a distinguished military family, entrusted by the emperor to guard the frontier. If Zhao Ling recklessly opposed them, the marquis would surely retaliate. Could this plunge him into danger?
The thought left her restless. She immediately sat down to write Zhao Ling a letter, detailing Consort Wu’s revelations, and sent Zheng San to Lin Chi’s residence that very night, asking Lin Chi to deliver the letter to Guizhou. Even so, she remained uneasy, turning Consort Wu’s words over in her mind.
The Xiping Marquis was based in the northwest, while Grand Secretary Yu hailed from the south. How had these two families become entangled?
Would Zhao Ling’s actions give the impression that he was "prioritizing personal grievances over the bigger picture"?
Given their existing rift with Grand Secretary Yu, might the latter seize this opportunity to impeach Zhao Ling?
Her anxiety flared into agitation.
Yet compared to Madam Yu in Jiaxiang Street, her worries seemed almost trivial."Did the Xiping Marquis truly say that? Zhao Ling actually traveled thousands of miles to kill someone for Fu Shi's sake..." Madam Yu stared blankly at Grand Secretary Yu pacing before her, murmuring in a daze, "De Pu did incite Zuo Junjie to falsely accuse Fu Shi! How could he possibly spare De Pu? I was foolish... failing to grasp the severity of this... even hoping for reconciliation with the Zhao family..." At this point, she grew frantic, shouting directly at Grand Secretary Yu, "Husband, we can't let De Pu go to the Censorate! If he's assigned to inspect the nine frontiers, what then? Though Zhao Ling comes from a noble family, he's roamed the martial world since childhood—where's the demeanor of a proper scion? And with his petty vindictiveness, what if he colludes with bandits to harm De Pu?" Covering her face, she sobbed, "De Pu is our only son!"
Grand Secretary Yu's temples bulged with veins as he retorted, "You can't keep indulging him like this! If this continues, he'll bring even greater disaster upon us."
Madam Yu didn't understand her husband's words and gazed at him blankly.
Exasperated by her lack of resolve, Grand Secretary Yu sighed. "Tell De Pu directly—if neither Consort Wu nor Miss Fei shows signs of pregnancy within six months, Fan Shi will return to Nanjing, and we'll arrange two more concubines for him."
Madam Yu frowned at this. "But the firstborn grandson by a concubine is still—"
"Your endless hesitations are precisely why he dares act so outrageously—he knows your weaknesses!" Grand Secretary Yu snapped. "This time, he won't have his way." With a cold snort, he added, "The people Third Uncle sent—he dismissed them on a whim. In our Yu family's century of history, he's set a disgraceful precedent!"
Madam Yu opened her mouth but ultimately said nothing.
After Grand Secretary Yu left, she went to Yu Jingxiu's courtyard.
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O(∩_∩)O~
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(End of Chapter)
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