Chapter 47: Aunt Xue's Sorrow, Like a Deep Pool, Like a Quagmire

Having concluded their discussions, Emperor Taishun departed, and Emperor Jingning promptly sent someone to summon Wang Ziteng.

By the time Wang Ziteng hurried to the Changchun Garden, Emperor Jingning had finished fishing, and Wang was ushered into the Qingxi Study for an audience.

Emperor Jingning sat upon a sandalwood couch carved with coiling-dragon motifs. Behind him hung a landscape scroll, while a gilded beast-shaped censer in the room trailed delicate tendrils of blue smoke.

The Emperor fixed his piercing gaze upon Wang Ziteng, recounting the matter reported by Emperor Taishun and delivering the punitive decision directly. With a look of bitter disappointment, he said, "When the Lobzang Danjin rebellion broke out in Qinghai, I intended to appoint you as Grand General to pacify the region, only to learn today of the crimes you have committed! Enough! Enough! You have squandered your own golden opportunity to establish merits and achieve greatness! I can only hope that, once demoted to a garrison commander, you will apply yourself diligently to military affairs and conduct yourself with rectitude. Perhaps then, an opportunity for promotion may yet arise in the future."

With his head bowed low, Wang Ziteng knelt on the gray-brick floor. Upon hearing these words, his body trembled. His eyes remained fixed on his official robes, as if he meant to burn a hole through the fabric with his stare.

Inside his mind, a ferocious beast roared: *How has it come to this! How on earth has it come to this! I merely meant to subdue that Jiang Nian; offending the Thirteenth Prince was already enough, but to actually alarm the Retired Emperor and the Holy Majesty! To suffer such punishment and forfeit the chance of a lifetime as Grand General!*

Consumed by bitter regret, Wang Ziteng withdrew from the Qingxi Study. Instead of returning to the office of the Capital Garrison Commander, he snapped a harsh command to his personal guard driving the carriage: "Home!"

He climbed into the carriage, and the moment the curtain fell, he slammed his fist against the wooden wall.

The carriage galloped from the Changchun Garden toward the Wang Estate within the Inner City of Shenjing...

***

Aunt Xue and Xue Baochai were sitting together doing needlework.

Aunt Xue was embroidering a peony blossom when the tip of her needle suddenly slipped and pricked her finger. A single, bright droplet of blood instantly welled up.

Yet Aunt Xue seemed oblivious to the pain, staring blankly at the crimson bead on her finger.

Her maid, Tongxi, was holding a small lacquered tea tray bearing a celadon teacup decorated with entangled lotus tendrils and was just stepping forward to serve tea when she noticed the blood. She cried out in alarm, "Oh! My lady has pricked her finger!"

Xue Baochai hurriedly set aside the sachet she was embroidering with the Three Friends of Winter and said with concern, "Mother, your mind has been unsettled all day; you should stop doing needlework."

Aunt Xue wore a bitter expression, her voice laden with distress: "I keep having this terrible premonition that something dreadful is going to happen to your uncle, and to our family as well."

Xue Baochai bit her lower lip, hesitating as if she had more to say.

She... shared that very same premonition.

At that moment, accompanied by a flurry of stumbling footsteps, Xue Pan burst through the beaded curtain, sweat still gleaming on his forehead.

"Disaster! We are ruined!" Xue Pan panted heavily. "I... I went to the Imperial Household Department just now to clear old accounts and settle new expenditures, only to discover that our status as imperial merchants has been revoked!"

Hearing this, Aunt Xue’s embroidery frame dropped to the floor with a loud clatter.

Xue Baochai’s face drained of all color as well.

Shortly after, Wang Ziteng barged in, seething with a rage so dark it seemed it could drip.

Upon entering, he found Aunt Xue weeping softly while Xue Baochai and Xue Pan both wore dejected expressions. Instead of offering comfort, he glared at Aunt Xue and scolded harshly, "You still have the face to cry!"

Aunt Xue sobbed, "Pan'er just went to the Imperial Household Department and found out that our family's imperial merchant status has been stripped away!"

Wang Ziteng’s eyes widened. When he had attended the Retired Emperor, His Retired Majesty had only informed him of his own punishment, failing to mention the revocation of the Xue family's merchant status.

Wang Ziteng let out a cold hum. "That is not the half of it! The Retired Emperor summoned me just now and stated that the Holy Majesty reported our affair regarding that Jiang Nian. I have been demoted from Capital Garrison Commander to a mere garrison commander, and ordered to repay three thousand silver taels to the Qin family!"

Aunt Xue was stunned into silence, before breaking down completely, weeping as she cried, "How... how did this even reach the ears of the Two Emperors..."

Xue Baochai’s face turned deathly pale.

Xue Pan stood gaping, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

All three found it utterly unbelievable. For a moment, none of them could connect the figure of Jiang Nian with the supreme figures of the Retired Emperor and the Holy Majesty.

Glaring at Aunt Xue, Wang Ziteng felt a strong urge to slap his sister across the face, but he managed to restrain himself. He bellowed angrily, "This disaster is entirely of your own making!"

Aunt Xue felt deeply aggrieved, thinking to herself: *Though I am at fault, how can this blame rest solely on me? You are to blame as well!*

Yet she dared not voice the thought aloud.

Wang Ziteng spoke coldly, "Bring me thirty-three thousand taels of silver. Three thousand are to compensate the Qin family, and thirty thousand are for me to grease palms and lobby connections. A garrison commander is a far cry from a Capital Garrison Commander, and I will likely be posted far outside the capital. This will never do! I must spend silver to cultivate relations if I am to be promoted back!"

In truth, he knew that returning to the post of Capital Garrison Commander or any similar high position was a pipe dream—forget thirty thousand taels, even three hundred thousand would hardly suffice.

Matters like this did not rely on mere bribery; they depended entirely on the will of Emperor Jingning. Eventually, when Emperor Jingning passed away and all imperial authority reverted to Emperor Taishun, it would depend upon Emperor Taishun's will.

He had frequently extorted money from the Xue family in the past, and his primary motivation now was to seize this opportunity to bleed them further. Believing that he had been dragged down by the Xue family, he regarded the thirty thousand taels as nothing less than due compensation.

Aunt Xue felt even more depressed and resentful, yet she produced the money nonetheless.

She held a deep awe for Wang Ziteng, and conscious of her own missteps, she reasoned that with the Xue family stripped of their imperial merchant status, they would need to rely on Wang Ziteng's protection more than ever.

As Aunt Xue handed the silver notes to Wang Ziteng with her own hands, she could not help pleading, "Can nothing be done to save our family's imperial merchant status? We cannot afford to lose it!"

Wang Ziteng decisively shook his head. "This decree was decided jointly by the Retired Emperor and the Holy Majesty. Even I have been demoted; how could I possibly save your merchant status?"

With that, he flicked his sleeves and stormed out.

Aunt Xue burst into tears once more.

Grief and frustration pooled in her heart like a deep, stagnant pond, a suffocating quagmire.

Even Xue Pan understood that losing their status as imperial merchants was an utter catastrophe, and he muttered frantically, "What are we to do now? What are we to do..."

Aunt Xue's tears flowed like rain, completely soaking the silk handkerchief in her hand.

Xue Baochai kept her head lowered in silence, her slender fingers tightly twisting the corner of her dress.

Suddenly, Aunt Xue raised her head and said to Xue Baochai and Xue Pan, "Let us go to the Rongguo Mansion this afternoon to beg your aunt for help. Perhaps the Rongguo Mansion can help us preserve our merchant status."

Xue Baochai lifted her gaze and said helplessly, "This matter has already alarmed the Retired Emperor and the Holy Majesty; even Uncle could not help us. Aunt will most likely be powerless as well."

Aunt Xue wiped away her tears, her expression stubborn. "How will we know if we don't try? It just might work! After all, they are a founding ducal household with foundations far deeper than your uncle's!"

In truth, she knew the chances were slim, but she was like a drowning person grasping at any floating debris, even if it were only a straw.

Lady Wang of the Rongguo Mansion was Aunt Xue's elder sister, and Wang Xifeng was her niece.

The Rongguo Mansion had already sent someone yesterday to invite Aunt Xue over. Aunt Xue had lacked the heart for it yesterday and postponed the visit to this morning, but this morning she felt even less inclined to go.

At that moment, Xue Baochai could no longer hold back. "Mother, I... I won't go. How could I possibly show my face there?"

If Aunt Xue went, word of the arrangement to take Xue Baochai in as a concubine would inevitably spread.

Xue Pan also chimed in hastily, "I won't go either. Mother, you can go alone."

He, too, wished to avoid the humiliation and feared being reprimanded by the elders of the Rongguo Mansion.