The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 19: The Sought after Prefect

The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty. 《成化十四年》Chengnian Shisi Nian
The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, Chapter 19: The Sought after Prefect

Volume 2: The Days of Living with the Jinyiwei

The case of the Marquis of Wu’an Family was completely over, because of the Zheng Sun family's case, the Marquis of Wu’an Family and the Count of Yingcheng Family became enemies and the two sides brought the lawsuit to the front of the emperor, allowing the passive emperor to slacken and actually listen to the case. His majesty had a headache, and he threw it directly to the cabinet. However, since this case is about a murder and the murder was not directly related to the work of the cabinet, the cabinet did not want to manage this kind of bullshit, and dodged it aside.


For the sake of his exiled son, the Marquis of Wu’an had to beg to Wang Zhi, hoping that he would put in a good word before the emperor and so he could get Zheng Zhi back sooner. When Wang Zhi saw that the Marquis of Wu’an was willing to bow his head, naturally he was also willing to go to the emperor to intercede, and with Wang Zhi's help, Zheng Zhi punishment finally changed from indefinite exile to three years exile till return.

But no one expected that, just before Zheng Zhi was pardoned in the last year, and he suddenly fell ill and died. Rumors in the capital said that it was the Lady Marquis of Wu’an who sent someone to do the poisoning because of her hatred of his part in Zheng Cheng's death, but that was a story for later.

The whole thing goes around and around, and in fact Western Depot has the most to gain.

The first thing Wang Zhi wanted to do was to make use of the topic, so he went up against the Marquis of Wu’an and insisted on a thorough investigation.

Now that the purpose has been achieved, his authority among the honorable people has naturally been established, and he has been able to establish his authority through his work, without having to make any effort himself from beginning to end, Eunuch Wang expressed his satisfaction.

In addition, I believe that for a long time to come, the Marquis of Wu’an will never want to see Tang Fan and Sui Zhou again, although they were only doing what they are told and it was their job, but because of them, the Marquis of Wu’an’s house has been stirred up, and it is estimated that the Marquis of Wu’an will have a pain in his heart whenever he thinks of these two names.

At least Sui Zhou received a commendation from his superior officer for his outstanding performance in this case, and it is said that his immediate superior, Commander Zhou Qianhu, intended to promote him in the near future.

In comparison, Tang Fan is somewhat obscure, and generally civilian officials are slower to get promoted than military officials, because military service is real, but a political performance has many doors, one turnip, one pit, Tang Fan is in his early twenties, to become an official on the Six Rank itself, which is already the envy of many people, case handling is a matter of internal affairs, if when one conclude a good case and gets to be promoted, it is estimated that the current capital will not have enough official positions to be filled.

According to his resume in the top two, Tang Fan should have been still in the Imperial Hanlin Academy. Although it is boring there, the position in the academy is a precious position in the eyes of others. Then the fact that he directly entered the Six Rank skipping the Seventh the Eighth and the Ninth Ranks from the Imperial Hanlin Academy, and then enter the government post shows that the road that to become a future cabinet minister should be paved. Instead, Tang Fan ran from the Imperial Hanlin Academy to the Shuntian Mansion to do things. In the eyes of some people, it was stupid and self-imposed, because only those who could enter the Imperial Hanlin Academy’s top tier Examiners only needs to be transferred out to become an official, and he chose to start from the local magistrate.

.

But if Tang Fan cared about all this, he would not have agreed to Pan Bin's request to come to Shuntian Prefecture to become an official in the first place.

How can one understand this country and how can one govern it in the future without having been exposed to the all practicalities and situation?

At the beginning of the establishment of the Great Ming Dynasty, most of the important ministers in the dynasty came from the state eunuchs, but not the Imperial examinations, that is really every one of them is a practical, talented person and scheming, but with the gradual maturity of the Imperial examination system, the state eunuchs appointed to government posts gradually fell, which has now become the hidden rule that a non-Hanlin academy fellow is not allowed into the cabinet.

So no matter how much others feel sorry for him, Tang Fan just laughs and goes to work at two o'clock a day.

But Master Tang has a worry.




There have always been a number of people dying to match him for a wife, especially recently.

Tang Fan, a scholar, went into the Hanlin Academy, he young and promising, the future is immense, as long as his own brain does not make a mistake, even if the future cannot be a civil servant, so step by step climbing up, and finally becoming a Third Rank Official is always no problem, from the private life, although he has no carriage and no house, but he has excellent appearance, and both parents died, if a woman is married to him, she will not have to worry about pleasing the in laws in future and will not have to worry about the problem of mother-in-law and daughter-in-law caused by the internal house discord, one cannot find a good husband and good son-in-law like him.

Although the Ming Dynasty did not want to require one be on the Nine Ranking to be a son in law, but with such a good combination of conditions, from the day he was awarded a scholarship to the Hanlin Academy three years ago, there have been countless matchmakers going after him, many of whom are important courtiers, noblemen of the Imperial court and noble families.

Later Tang Fan officially became the ranked top scored in the Imperial Exam and Qiu Juan’s close disciple, Qiu Juan intended to marry his young daughter to him, to achieve a good story, Tang Fan also agreed to it, but also specially invited the girl for a meeting after she reaches the marrying age, but Qiu Juan’s daughter was not so lucky, not a few days after reaching marriageable age, the girl died of a sudden illness, at that time two were just engaged but not long, of course, the matchmaker are too eager, she immediately went to the Master Tang to find the next family available that wanted Tang Fan to marry into their family, as a result of this matter was delayed.

But recently, there have been more and more daughters of the right age to marry, or the murder case of the Wu Marquis House has made Tang Fan famous, reminding everyone once again of this hot son-in-law's choice, there are cold faced men on this side of the Liuye alley way from time to time coming as matchmaker, Master Tang was so disturbed that he had to run away as much as possible.

But to avoid outsiders and neighbors is one thing, this day Tang Fan came home from the courthouse and saw the a person from the Li Family next door waiting at his door, but that man is not the common A-Xia, but in the Li Family housekeeper, Lao Li.

When Lao Li saw him, he greeted him with a smile and bowed his head: "Master Tang, you're back, I waited for you!”

Tang Fan: "Oh? Is there something the matter?"

Lao Li was busy saying, "Yes, yes, my Madam wants to come and visit you on a certain day, I wonder when Master Tang is free?"

Tang Fan laughed, "We are all neighbors, we don't need to look up and see each other, there is no need to be so solemn, if the lady of the Li Family’s is really in trouble, I can go there."

Lao Li smiled apologetically, "Master Tang is willing to come, naturally you're welcome, and please come in with me."

Lao Li welcomed him into the Li Family hall, asked someone to bring him tea, asked him to wait for a moment, then ran to report to the Madam of the house.

A short while later, Mrs. Zhang of the Li Family walked in, followed by two maids.

[1]Mrs. Zhang is from the Zhang Family and not that her first name is Zhang, Chinese the ancient time women carried their surname to the married family not their first names. So if the woman name is like Feng Zhou and she is marrying someone named Yuan Cui, the woman will be know as Lady Yuan of the Yuan Family, and she will be called Yuan Feng, or Mrs. Feng or Yuan Feng-shi, the shi at the end denoted that her maiden surname is Feng.

It stands to reason that Tang Fan is an official and she is a citizen, so it was natural for the wife of the Li Family to salute him, but as he had rented the courtyard of the Li Family, he was still tenant and the two had a good relationship with each other.

Mrs. Zhang smiled, "I should have gone to visit Master Tang in the daytime, but I'm sorry to have invited Master Tang over so late!"

Tang Fan sweated silently, he was so busy avoiding those matchmakers during the day, how could he stay at home?

"Lady Li needn't be polite, I don't know what to do if you call me over."

Mrs. Zhang was a bit embarrassed: “This matter is a bit abrupt, really to say it my old bones, before saying it, please Master Tang do not mind my tardiness."

Tang Fan wondered, "Isn't it about the rent?"

Mrs. Zhang said, "I'm not sure, Master Tang is mistaken, the price of rent is already fair nowadays. Wouldn't it be unkind to this old person to increase the price at will? It is actually a happy event that I called you for. My ineffective A-Xia has been with me since childhood and she has been just like a daughter. I also know that, with A-Xia status, it is absolutely impossible to marry Master Tang, but she really likes Master Tang's style, so I shyly ask the Master with this old face, I do not know if you will take A-Xia and make her serve the Master."

When we look at A-Xia standing beside Mrs. Zhang, she was already blushing with shame.

Tang Fan: "......."

What kind of luck has he had lately, how can he avoid all kinds of things and still not be able to avoid such things?

Seeing that Tang Fan was silent, Mrs. Zhang asked, "What is the difficulty, Your Excellency?"

A happy man has three wives and four concubines, and now she wants to give Tang Fan a concubine, not a wife, this is not a humiliation, anyway, even with A-Xia, Tang Fan can still continue to have other women. For Tang Fan, she will be just the icing on the cake.

But to Mrs. Zhang’s surprise, he still refused.

"Whether it's a wife or a concubine, I haven't thought about it yet, but I'm still young, so I'm mainly interested in my academic career and don't want to be distracted. Please I ask Mrs. Li to forgive me."

Mrs. Zhang froze for a moment: "Master Tang really refused?"

Tang Fan shook his head, "Sorry."

He said no, so what else can he do?

Mrs. Zhang glanced at A-Xia, only to see that the latter had lost his previous shyness, her face was pale and her eyes were filled with tears, silently speechless.

She secretly sighed and laughed: “This kind of thing still has to be one your affection and willingness, Master Tang since you are not willing, I naturally will not force you, Master Tang why not have a meal at the house before leaving? Sister Lin has not seen you for a long time, and she misses you too much."

Tang Fan got up and laughed: "No, I've already eaten outside, it's getting late, so I should go back, so I'll leave now."




After he left, Mrs. Zhang said helplessly to A-Xia, "As you can see, it's not that I'm unwilling to help you, it's that Master Tang has a firm mind, and there's nothing I can do."

A-Xia said: “Yes Madam, I'm a maid who can't afford to bother my Madam, but if I have to deliver something next door, I'll ask her to find someone else, even though I'm a lowly person, but after being rejected by Master Tang, I won't have the face to go to his door again!”

Mrs. Zhang sighed and patted her hand: "It's also because of your destiny, don't worry about it, if there's a chance, I'll keep an eye on something for you, it's necessary to find you a good family of in-laws, you have to lower your expectations though, with the Li Family’s family's rank, it's more than enough to let you go out and become the Madam of a small family in the future."

A-Xia said in a low voice, “The maiden servant only wants to serve the wife now."

Mrs. Zhang knew that the girl definitely could not be happy so quickly, so she stopped persuading and let her slowly figure it out on her own.

But tonight's conversation with Tang Fan made Mrs. Zhang herself feel unhappy.

After dinner, Mrs. Zhang urged his son to study well, so he went back to his own courtyard, A-Chun and others saw her sulking and asked, "Why is the Madam not happy, does it have anything to do with Master Tang coming here?

Mrs. Zhang nodded, shook her head again, and sighed, “There are men in this world who like to embrace women left and right, and naturally, there are also men who sit around and don't mess with anything foul, and men like Master Tang are rare, though!"

A-Xia couldn't help but mutter, "I'm afraid he's disliking the maid for her low status birth!"

Mrs. Zhang smiled and said: "I think Master Tang is not like that kind of person. I'm afraid he really didn't mean it. I heard that he had a relationship with the Imperial College's master’s daughter a few years ago, but the woman was very ill and died before they got married. Embarrassed, maybe he still misses the girl in his heart, and you don’t need to waste time on a lovelorn man. "

A-Chun is a few years older than A-Xia, but she knows that her Madam's sighs and melancholy just now are just thoughts about her family.

As expected, after a while, she heard Mrs. Zhang say, "When I first married into the Li Family, that man also told me that it was enough to have me as his wife in all of his life, but now he has someone even outside......"

She shook her head again, "It's my fault for not being able to give birth, who can I blame?"

The Mrs. Zhang had married into the Li Family for tens of years, but failed to help the Li Family to give birth to a son and a daughter, over time, the color of old age frosted her face, Li Man naturally have to find other women to satiate himself, and now she is raising a son in the family, nominally that son raised by Mrs. Zhang, is Li Lin, in fact, he is not Mrs. Zhang’s biological son, but a side Madam of Li Man.

It's no wonder that Mrs. Zhang is so moved by the scene that she makes such an exclamation.

A-Chun was busy trying to persuade her, and A-Xia also put aside her own affairs for the time being, and worked with A-Chun to comfort the Madam, and persuaded Mrs. Zhang to go and rest for a while.

Since that day when he politely rejected Mrs. Zhang’s kindness, Tang Fan saw A-Xia again and avoided walking as much closer as he could, A-Xia seemed to have the same idea, and the person who came to Tang Fan’s house to deliver refreshments was also changed to A-Dong.

A-Dong is a small girl of eight or nine years old, the childish face round and rolled eyes, very happy, very interesting talkative, Tang Fan is more happy to talk with her, after all, he is not a love saint, and he is really not interested in hanging around with a someone who has a crush on him.

After a few trips, A-Dong and Tang Fan got to know each other very well, she is also a foodie, often sending a basket of snacks over, Tang Fan took them out and asked her to join in, she was not polite, three times biting, two times chewing, after giggling, she ate most of the food she brought.

But today Tang Fan came back and saw A-Dong little girl sitting at the door of her own yard, staring at the snack in front of her, but not with the usual gluttonous look, she had a sad frown.



                         - The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty -

The author has something to say: A new volume has begun, and Master Tang the peach blossom is very lucky.

See, the last time we talked about the status of women, Mrs. Zhang is the typical kind of woman who holds her tongue.

I've always disagreed with people seeing the ancient three wives and four concubines as the norm, and as I said last time, that's demonizing the ancient instead.

In fact, it's the modern era. Have there ever been fewer such women tied to a man?

Do people count the examples around them of unhappy marriages or husbands who cheated on them but didn't want to divorce?

To this day, it is still true that sometimes women's misery comes not from men, but from women, and that is truly sad.

The most typical example is that some grandmothers-in-law suffered a lot when they were young, but when they became grandmothers-in-law instead of being nice, they became their former in laws and would make things difficult for their daughters-in-law, a vicious cycle.

So yeah, women still have to be self-reliant so that they don't get hamstrung by others.










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