Chapter 31: CH 31

“I heard something about how Chen Zimo’s mother seems to have changed her name. That axe-wielding fellow called Cheng Jieyu ‘Jiazhen’,” Chen Ziqi said. He deliberately spoke in a vague manner and put on a confused expression to make himself more believable.

“Jiazhen?” the Second Prince said, frowning slightly. He had looked over the namelist of concubines when the new ones had entered the palace, and had paid particular attention to Cheng Jieyu because she was from the Suxin Sect. At that time, the Empress said that the Suxin Sect’s people all used the word “Su” as the first character in their given names, so Cheng Jieyu must have been called Cheng-something-Yao before she entered the palace. She didn’t change her name back to her original name even after becoming a concubine* – it reeked of forgetting her family origins, and the Second Prince didn’t think much of her for it. 

*T/N: When you become a concubine, you have to leave your martial arts sect. What’s distasteful here is that Cheng Jieyu continues to hold on to her identity as a Suxin Sect disciple even after she has opted to leave the Sect – it’s as if the family she was born in doesn’t matter, and all that matters to her is being a Suxin Sect disciple.

How could she be called Jiazhen?

The Second Prince was already fourteen and had good analytical skills. He was able to infer quite a number of things from what Chen Ziqi said. “Was there anything else?” he asked.

Chen Ziqi thought for a bit, and put on a hesitant look. “There’s still one more thing, but Brother Second Prince, you can’t say that I’m the one who told you this, or Chen Zimo will get angry with me,” he said. 

“Naturally. When have I ever let the cat out of the bag?” the Second Prince smiled encouragingly.

“So… Cheng Jieyu often beats Chen Zimo, and his arms are always black and blue,” Chen Ziqi said, waving the snack in his hand emphatically. “She also starves him.”

“Bam!” The Second Prince slammed a hand down on the table. It wasn’t clear whether he was angry or just excited.

“Brother Second Prince, what’s wrong?” Chen Ziqi asked, shrinking back and looking at him in a frightened manner.

“Sorry, I scared you. I was just too angry,” the Second Prince said. He took a deep breath. “Abusing a prince – that’s a serious crime. Zimo is also my younger brother, and I am not going to turn a blind eye to his sufferings!”

“That’s his mother though? He doesn’t want to report her, so you absolutely cannot say that I told you about this. He asked me to swear that I wouldn’t tell anyone,” Chen Ziqi emphasised.

“Yes, I promise I won’t tell. I’ll get my mother to investigate this secretly,” the Second Prince said. He thought for a bit, then decided to add a few more words of affirmation. “Little Seventh, you were right to tell me about this. This Second Brother will protect you both.”

“Hehe…” Chen Ziqi scratched his head as he laughed. He finished the snack in his hand. “Ooh, this snack is really good. What is it?” 

“It’s osmanthus pastry,” the Second Prince said. He instructed some servants to pack a box of osmanthus pastry for Chen Ziqi, and also thrust some marbles made of cat’s eye gemstones into his hands, telling him to come over and play when he had time.

Chen Ziqi agreed immediately, beaming from ear to ear as he left with an armful of gifts.

After Chen Ziqi left, the Second Prince’s warm and welcoming smile slid off his face. He pondered on what Chen Ziqi said for a long time before heading to the Fengyi Palace.

“You’re saying that Cheng Jieyu might be a fake?” the Empress exclaimed in shock. 

“That’s my guess. Logically, before Cheng Jieyu was accepted into the Suxin Sect, she should have been called Cheng Jiayao, but Cheng Zhou called her Jiazhen instead. Mother, I think it might be good to look into this – see if the Cheng family had a daughter called Cheng Jiazhen?” the Second Prince said, running his finger down the list of concubines.

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“Let’s not make a big issue out of it for now. Investigating it quietly won’t have any impact. Cheng Jieyu is so rude; if this is true, then we can use this to teach her a lesson,” the Second Prince said. He only revealed thoughts of this juvenile nature in front of his mother.

“Nn. I will get people to look into this. As to the abuse, I will also get someone to deal with it. Don’t get involved, you hear me?” the Empress instructed the Second Prince. 

Even though a lot of the country was controlled by martial arts sects, there were still government authorities stationed in most places, and these local government offices kept a register of births, marriages and deaths.

The Cheng family might have been massacred, but they had originally been an important family in the area, and the local government office had therefore kept complete records of their family. The Empress was powerful enough that checking the local government office’s register of births and deaths was a simple matter. Before long, the Cheng family’s family register was sent to the Fengyi Palace.

The register showed that the Cheng family indeed had two daughters called Cheng Jiayao and Cheng Jiazhen. Cheng Jiazhen was the eldest legitimate daughter, born to the head of the Cheng family, Cheng Ji, and his legitimate wife. She was the pearl of the Cheng family. The one offered to service the Emperor was Cheng Jiayao. Cheng Jiayao’s father was Cheng Ji’s second brother, and her mother was one of his concubines.

It was recorded on the register that about seven years ago, Cheng Jiayao’s name was delisted under the Cheng family and re-listed under the Suxin Sect. At the same time, a child called Cheng Mo was added to the Cheng family register. In that same year, Cheng Jiazhen died, and the cause of death was listed as “falling from a cliff”. There were remarks below that record stating that she had fallen off a cliff in an unfortunate misadventure when she had gone out to play with a few of her female relatives. The body was difficult to find, and so they closed the case quickly. 

Thereafter, the Cheng family was murdered, and no one mentioned Cheng Jiazhen’s death any more. Deaths and murders were common in this dynasty that was effectively ruled by the martial arts sects; these sects often took the law into their own hands and exacted justice or took revenge as they saw fit. The local governments were largely ineffective to prevent the martial arts sects from doing as they pleased.

The Empress tapped the record in front of her contemplatively, the turquoise ring on her finger gleaming as she did so.

The women offered to the Emperor by the various sects when he was roaming the country were mere playthings. It was not originally envisioned that they would be received as Imperial wives. That was why the Cheng family had decided to offer up the daughter of a concubine who was of little value to the family. The Suxin Sect, however, had always held itself out to be an upstanding, righteous sect, and when it did something as shameless as offer up a girl to service the Emperor, it naturally wanted to cover up this act and also compensate the Cheng family. This took the form of accepting the girl who was offered to the Emperor as a direct disciple.

To the Cheng family, being able to have a family member accepted as a direct disciple of the great Suxin Sect was an incomparable honour. It was akin to being promoted to the nobility, and there was definitely a lot of temptation there… 

“If my guess isn’t off the mark, the Cheng family killed off the real Cheng Jiayao, and gave Cheng Jiazhen the opportunity to be a Suxin Sect disciple instead,” the Empress said, frowning. She herself was born in a major martial arts sect, and highly despised these common peasants. They were like flies and dogs to her. She slammed a hand down forcefully on the table. “How dare they think they can get away with acting in this unscrupulous manner? They boldly deceived the Emperor and everyone else!”

Chen Ziqi was told of this discovery by the Second Prince, and when he returned to the Qingyun Palace, he stared blankly into space for a long time.

“Tweet.” Dan Yi climbed out of his clothes and hopped onto the table.

“Divine Chicken, this thing about being born in a famous martial arts sect – is it really so important?” Chen Ziqi asked, resting his chin on the table. He blew out a breath of air at the little red bird. “Everything seems to be about your birth or which sect you come from. If you’re not born to or accepted by a good sect, you’ll just get bullied by those who are…” 

Things in the world had their own simple, natural order; it was human desire that made things complicated. The little red bird rearranged the feathers that had been blown into disarray by Chen Ziqi, then pecked at the hair at his temples. “Tweet tweet,” it called.

Chen Ziqi told everything to Chen Zimo. Chen Zimo’s eyes reddened immediately.

“Don’t cry. At least, now you know that that witch isn’t your mother,” Chen Ziqi said. He didn’t really know how to comfort him, and could only pat him on the shoulder.

Chen Zimo nodded slowly. If his mother was still alive, she certainly wouldn’t treat him the way Cheng Jiazhen had. He wiped his tears and suddenly looked more lively than he had before. “So, that means that I’m not someone that even my own mother hates,” he said. 

Beansprout: Nuuu Chen Zimo that is too heartrending 

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“How could a mother hate her own child? Your mother would definitely have been like my little fairy, protecting you with her life. In summer, she’d fan you when you felt hot, and in winter, she’d make ginger soup for you…” As Chen Ziqi spoke, tears also started falling from his eyes despite his best efforts to keep them in. Some time ago, his little fairy had been very ill and nearly died. Back then, he had wondered what would happen to him if he lost his mother – who would make clothes for him with such care, and who would bother about whether he was feeling hot or cold?

When Chen Ziqi got home, he hugged Chang Er for a very long time and refused to let go.

“Little bratty bastard, did you do something naughty again?” Chang Er said, pulling at his ear. 

“I…”

“Tweet!” Before Chen Ziqi could speak, the little red bird that was squashed between them couldn’t take it any more and struggled out of Chen Ziqi’s clothes.

“… …” The good atmosphere was ruined. Chen Ziqi hugged the little fluffball to his chest, made a face at Chang Er and ran off.

Two days later, Chen Ziqi went to look for the Second Prince, asking him to help investigate  Cheng Jiazhen’s alleged fall off the cliff. 

“If you can find that out, Berry Brown will be in your camp for sure. I’ll make sure of it,” Chen Ziqi said, patting his chest confidently.

The Second Prince pressed his lips together in a thin smile and agreed. This wasn’t anything difficult. Half a month later, the investigations revealed that the mountain cliff in question was called Wangchuan Cliff. It was on Bailu Mountain, and was situated near the Cheng family’s mansion.

Chen Ziqi hauled Chen Zimo over to the Fengyi Palace to kowtow to the Second Prince.

“I can’t accept your kowtow,” the Second Prince said, hurriedly pulling Chen Zimo to his feet. “We are brothers of the same generation – you shouldn’t greet me as if I were an elder.” 

“Thank you, Brother Second Prince. I will remember your kindness,” Chen Zimo said. He spoke in a slow manner that made him seem very sincere.

“No worries, no worries!” the Second Prince said, beaming. He was very pleased with Chen Zimo’s behaviour.

“Brother Second Prince, in future, we will both listen to you. I’ll tell you another secret – Zimo is currently learning martial arts from Cheng Zhou. It’s called… umm… anyway, he’s very good at it,” Chen Ziqi said, elbowing Berry Brown.

“Yes, if Brother Second Prince wants someone beaten up, he can send me to beat him up!” Chen Zimo said, speaking in his usual direct manner. 

The Second Prince had originally thought that he’d only got a regular person into his camp, so this was a nice surprise. He was delighted, but outwardly, he pretended to scold Chen Zimo for secretly learning martial arts other than the Divine Dragon’s Howl. Thereafter, he promised to help them cover up the fact that Chen Zimo was learning martial arts, and also encouraged him to learn it well.

After Chen Ziqi left Fengyi Palace, he dipped his head and gave the little red bird that had peeked out of his clothes a kiss on the head, then skipped along in front of Chen Zimo.

Chen Zimo followed behind him, and after they’d walked for a long time, he suddenly spoke up. “Chen Ziqi. From now on, I will only listen to you,” he said.

Chen Ziqi stopped in his tracks, turned around, and bounded back toward Berry Brown. He clapped Berry Brown on the shoulders. “That’s right! If you follow this gege, your future will be bright!” he said exuberantly. 

“You’re my younger brother, not my gege,” Chen Zimo corrected.

“That won’t do. I’m the boss, you should call me gege!” Chen Ziqi said, spouting nonsense since Chen Zimo’s logic couldn’t be refuted.

“Alright then, Seventh Ge,” Chen Zimo said, giving in.

“Yes!” Chen Ziqi was very pleased. “Seventh Ge” was a good form of address – it sounded like it referred to a fierce character. 

*T/N: I’m not sure why this sounds fierce. It doesn’t sound fierce to me in Chinese either.

Berry Brown had obtained the answer he sought, but the Empress had not obtained a satisfactory outcome. It was going to be New Year’s Eve very soon, and the Emperor asked her about the preparations for the New Year’s Eve family banquet.

“I originally wanted to let Cheng Jieyu perform a sword dance, but the Guifei felt it was inappropriate, so I have engaged a performing troupe to perform instead,” the Empress said, smiling beatifically.

“Oh? What performance are they putting up?” the Zhenlong Emperor asked curiously. 

“Your Majesty will know when the time comes,” the Empress said, hiding a smile behind her sleeve.

Such an exciting performance certainly had to be put on in front of everyone.

—

Author’s note: Mini-theater 

Seventh Ge Roams the Martial Arts World

Qiqi: I, the Seventh Ge, have wandered the martial arts world for many years, and have relied on my little brothers for help

Berry Brown: I am the little brother who beats people up, my worth is in my fists

Ah Mu: I am the adorable little brother, my worth is in my cuteness

Birdie Gong: I am the Laogong… my worth is in my little brother*

*T/N: His “little brother” refers to his dick.

Qiqi: … …

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