Chapter 46: Could His Father Be the Reigning Emperor?

Emperor Jingning contemplated for another brief moment before making his decision, his voice low and firm: "Wang Ziteng deserves punishment; demote him to a garrison commander, and elevate Lu Keduo to the position of the Metropolitan Commander. Order Wang Ziteng to compensate the Qin family with three thousand taels of silver. As for the punishments for the Xue family and the soldiers, Your Majesty may judge and decide accordingly."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Taishun was reasonably satisfied. Although Lu Keduo was also a trusted confidant of Emperor Jingning, and Wang Ziteng was merely demoted to a garrison commander this time, at least Wang Ziteng had been disciplined and removed from the core of the imperial court. It also made Emperor Taishun feel that, even when matters involved crucial military power, Emperor Jingning was now willing to value his opinions as the reigning emperor.

However, what Emperor Taishun did not know was that this matter also held disadvantages for him!

Jia Jing of the Ningguo Mansion and Jia She of the Rongguo Mansion had both once been important members of the Crown Prince's faction. Because the Crown Prince fell from grace and was deposed, the two were implicated, resulting in severe demotions of their peerages and the stripping of their official posts.

To ensure the enduring wealth and glory of the Rongguo Mansion, Lady Jia sent her granddaughter, Jia Yuanchun, to the palace as a candidate for court lady. Jia Yuanchun was selected and became the court lady to Emperor Taishun's biological mother, who was none other than the current Empress Dowager.

Emperor Jingning knew that Wang Ziteng was extremely close to the Rongguo Mansion; one could even say that Wang Ziteng and the Rongguo Mansion were practically as one family.

Emperor Jingning had originally intended to appoint Wang Ziteng as the grand general to suppress the rebellion in Qinghai, and at the same time, arrange for Wang Ziteng's niece, Jia Yuanchun, to become a consort of Emperor Taishun. Through this arrangement, Emperor Taishun would be involved in western military power. In this way, not only would it pose no major threat to him, the Retired Emperor, but it would also provide a safeguard for Emperor Taishun's imperial throne. If one day he were to pass away, with Jia Yuanchun acting as a bridge, Wang Ziteng could be utilized by Emperor Taishun. This arrangement could also be used to induce Emperor Taishun to be more filial and obedient to him during the remainder of his life.

Yet Emperor Jingning had not anticipated that Wang Ziteng would suddenly commit an offense and, upon Emperor Taishun's advice, be subjected to punishment. Consequently, Emperor Jingning's strategic plan became unnecessary.

Ah, if Emperor Taishun had known of this scheming by Emperor Jingning, he would most likely have regretted it.

If Emperor Taishun had not petitioned to punish Wang Ziteng today, he would have grown close to Wang Ziteng—who was serving as the grand general of the west—through the bond of Jia Yuanchun...

However, Emperor Jingning still harbored a slight inclination to arrange for Jia Yuanchun to become Emperor Taishun's consort, owing to the deep bonds of monarch and minister he had shared in his early years with Jia Daishan, who had long since passed away, and knowing that Jia Yuanchun possessed virtue, filial piety, and talent. He wished to ensure the long-lasting wealth and glory of the Rongguo Mansion by making her a consort.

Yet it was merely a slight inclination...

Emperor Jingning shifted the topic, his gaze piercing as he stared fixedly at Emperor Taishun: "How does Your Majesty intend to settle Jiang Nian?"

Emperor Taishun lowered his head awkwardly: "Regarding this matter... Your subject also obeys solely the decree of Your Imperial Father."

Emperor Jingning hesitated slightly before speaking slowly: "Your Majesty should know that if this matter were to be exposed abruptly, it would be detrimental to the imperial throne. It is best to keep it secret and unannounced."

Emperor Taishun respectfully replied, "Yes."

In truth, he had no intention of exposing the matter of Jiang Nian right now; as for whether or not to publicly acknowledge this imperial son in the future, he had made no decision whatsoever.

Throughout his life, Emperor Jingning had fathered over thirty sons. Although quite a few had died young before reaching adulthood, his sons had blessed him with more than a hundred grandsons.

He had one deeply cherished imperial grandson, which was his eldest imperial grandson, Yuan Xi, and there were other imperial grandsons favored by him as well, such as Emperor Taishun's fourth son, Yuan Li...

Under such circumstances, how could this extraordinary old man, who had been emperor for sixty-one years, care about a sudden, unheralded commoner grandson like Jiang Nian?

Compared to Emperor Jingning, Emperor Taishun fared much worse in the realm of offspring.

Up to now, the forty-six-year-old Emperor Taishun, despite having fathered eight sons and four daughters, had already lost four sons, and all four daughters had passed away.

This meant that Emperor Taishun currently had only four sons alive: Yuan Shi, Yuan Li, Yuan Zhou, and a young son who was only three years old this year and not yet ranked among the formal sequence of brothers.

Solely in terms of progeny, Emperor Taishun would indeed care about Jiang Nian.

However, caring did not mean he would acknowledge him as an imperial son...

Yesterday, after returning home, Wang Ziteng flew into a rage and scolded Aunt Xue severely, blaming her for failing to understand Jiang Nian and remaining completely ignorant of his close ties with the Prince of Zhongyi, which had led Wang Ziteng to offend the Prince and commit an offense.

Being scolded so harshly in front of Xue Baochai and Xue Pan, Aunt Xue felt she had lost all her dignity. Combined with shock and fear, she suffered from insomnia all night and only managed to fall into a light sleep as dawn broke.

Aunt Xue, Xue Baochai, and Xue Pan lived in a residence outside the second gate of the Wang estate. Because there were male members of the household such as Xue Pan and Xie Jixing, it was inconvenient for them to live in the inner quarters.

At this moment, Xue Baochai, having learned that Aunt Xue had awakened, gently pushed open the door to Aunt Xue's bedchamber. The gentle breeze stirred by the opening door fluttered the wisps of smoke rising gracefully from the incense burner beside the door, twisting the smoke into floating threads before dissipating.

The morning sunlight slanted obliquely through the translucent gauze window, illuminating the bed curtains embroidered with intertwined lotus branches.

Aunt Xue was leaning back against the bed, her complexion pale, her gaze unfocused, looking entirely disoriented and bereft of her wits. Although Xue Baochai was well aware of the reason, she stepped forward nonetheless and asked with gentle concern, "Is Mother feeling unwell?"

Aunt Xue pulled a wry face, her voice somewhat hoarse: "I am not exactly ill, but simply dwelling endlessly on yesterday's events. I lost sleep throughout the night and only drifted off just as day was breaking, waking up just now with a dizzy head and blurred vision."

Aunt Xue dismissed her maid, Tongxi, and sighed deeply. Turning to Xue Baochai, she said, "Bao'er, I am truly worried! That Jiang Nian is genuinely unfathomable, actually enjoying such close ties with the Prince of Zhongyi! It was bad enough that your uncle failed to subdue him yesterday, but Jiang Nian brought forth the Prince of Zhongyi and subdued your uncle instead!"

She paused, lowering her voice: "When your uncle sent troops to arrest him yesterday, he inadvertently caused the death of a员外郎 (员外郎 - Assistant Department Director) from the Ministry of Works. What is to be done now?"

Xue Baochai could not help lowering her head in silence.

How could she not be worried herself? Furthermore, she had a lingering intuition that this matter might not end well; perhaps Wang Ziteng would face punishment because of it, and perhaps the Xue family would be implicated as well...

Seeing that Xue Baochai remained unresponsive, Aunt Xue grew even more anxious and could not help asking, "Bao'er, do you think your uncle will be punished for this?"

Xue Baochai still kept her head down in silence, her hands twisting her silk handkerchief. The embroidered golden twin lotus flowers at the corner of the handkerchief were rubbed and mangled almost beyond recognition.

Aunt Xue anxiously fretted, "If your uncle is punished, won't that mean he has been implicated by us? Given your uncle's temper, who knows how he will blame us!"

Xue Baochai remained silent with her head lowered, thinking to herself inwardly: "You truly are to blame in this matter! If you hadn't insisted on asking my uncle to subdue that Master Jiang, how could you have brought about such a massive trouble?"

Aunt Xue furrowed her brow tightly and asked once more, "What kind of illustrious background does that Jiang Nian actually have? Back in Jiangning, he was close to the Jiangning garrison commander, and now that he has arrived in the capital, he is once again on intimate terms with the Prince of Zhongyi. This... this is simply too astonishing! Mulling it over throughout the night, I suspect this matter is most likely connected to his father, whose identity remains a complete mystery."

Hearing this, a sudden thought flashed through Xue Baochai's mind: "Could it be that Master Jiang's father is none other than the reigning emperor? Otherwise, how could he possess such immense capability?"

She merely entertained the thought fleetingly, dismissing it immediately as impossible.

Little did she know that by entertaining this very thought, she had guessed the exact truth!