Chapter 292

Wang Xiujin took his eldest brother’s marriage very seriously. After receiving the invitation, he went at once to the Wang residence. When he saw his brother’s expression, he opened his mouth several times, not knowing how to begin.

His brother did not look well. He could not tell whether it was because of the marriage or something else, and sitting in his brother’s room left him somewhat awkward.

Seeing the embarrassed look on his younger brother’s face, Wang Xiubai knew his own attitude was wrong. He knew, at least in part, how busy his brother had been lately and what he had been busy with. Though he only understood a little, he knew those were great matters done for the country and the people, yet he simply could not lift his spirits. Rubbing his temples, he said, “Everything that needed to be prepared here is almost ready. Have you finished the things in your hands? Will you need to go over there again?”

“I can rest for a few days. There are still a pile of matters in the capital, but fortunately the managers in all the places are already well accustomed to handling things. When I go over, it will mostly be a formality, so it is not troublesome.” Seeing that his brother had opened the conversation, Wang Xiujin began to speak as well. “Have you been troubled by anything lately? If you need to say something, just say it.”

“Perhaps I have not yet grown used to such leisure, and to the climate in the capital. Ever since I came back, I have felt somewhat unwell, and now I have also been busy with the marriage, which has made me even more exhausted.”

What Wang Xiubai did not say was that his youngest son, Zhize, had reacted very strongly to the news of his remarriage. A few days ago the child had even secretly run away on his own. After being found, he cried and made a scene, demanding to see his mother.

At the mention of Madam Chun, Wang Xiubai felt complicated. In a fit of anger, he struck the boy. Since childhood, the youngest son had been spoiled and raised by Madam Chun, which had given him a stubborn temper. He not only refused to obey his father’s discipline, but even kicked and struggled against him. Wang Xiubai had him beaten with ten strokes of the rod and then thrown into the wood shed to be locked up. He was deeply disappointed in the child.

“They say a joyful event lifts the spirit, yet eldest brother looks the opposite.”

When Wang Xiujin returned home and saw Li Lianshan, he thought of his meeting with his brother and, unable to ask the elder brother directly, could only mutter a few words to Li Lianshan.

Li Lianshan, who was in the capital, already knew about Wang Zhize’s disappearance. The fourth prince, who had originally planned to travel south, had been delayed because the empress dowager’s health had grown worse and worse. The emperor had sent another trusted investigator with a group of men instead, leaving Li Lianshan a few free days.

When the child was reported missing, everyone had guessed that perhaps in the years Wang Daren had handled affairs among the officials, he had offended someone, and the revenge had fallen upon his descendants. Yet on second thought, that seemed unlikely. If someone wanted to retaliate against Wang Daren by abducting descendants, they would have to take one of those he truly valued. Although Wang Zhize was a child of the Wang family, because of certain matters he had never entered Wang Daren’s eyes. Wang Daren was strict with him, but would not keep him by his side for instruction. Compared with the eldest grandson, the second grandson, and Yachang, Wang Zhize’s presence was quite low.

If it was not aimed at Wang Daren, then was it aimed at the Wang family? The Wang household had once driven away a group of servants. Could it be that those servants bore resentment? Among the Wang children, the eldest was steady, the second extremely intelligent, and the third quite willful. Compared with the first two, the third seemed easier to abduct. This guess won everyone’s agreement.

Some also guessed that perhaps there were still matters from Madam Chun’s case that had not been fully rooted out, and that someone had lured Wang Zhize away in order to stir up trouble again. That possibility, too, seemed plausible to everyone. Several families allied by marriage with the Wang family offered different guesses and worries, while helping search for the child. Even if Wang Daren was not especially affectionate toward his youngest grandson, he was still a bloodline of the Wang family and could not be allowed to fall into bandits’ hands.

Several families tacitly kept the matter from Wang Xiujin. If it was not something urgent, Wang Xiujin would not remain there all the time anyway; and even if they called him back, beyond anxious fretting and lending a hand in the search, what else could he do? Those who understood what Wang Xiujin was busy with were very comforted by everyone’s consideration.

When Wang Zhize ran away from home, he carried quite a lot of silver with him. He chose a small inn and stayed there. It was just his bad luck that he lodged in a wicked place. The innkeeper saw that Wang Zhize was fair-skinned and clean-faced, and that he spent money generously, and immediately knew he was the child of a wealthy or powerful family. He wanted to squeeze some silver from him.

Although Wang Zhize would not take everyone for a good person, after spending several days with the innkeeper and hearing too many coaxing words, he lost his judgment and mistook the man for a decent person, telling him all about his family. Once the innkeeper learned Wang Zhize’s identity, he was frightened out of his wits. Suppressing his greed, he took the initiative to run to the Wang residence and report that Wang Zhize was staying at his inn.

By the time the Wang family hurried over and saw Wang Zhize sound asleep while hugging a quilt, each of their faces had turned quite ugly.

As for how the child was later dealt with, Li Lianshan did not ask. It was enough that the child had been safely found. Still, this incident gave him a warning: children must be strictly disciplined. Now that Wang Xiujin had brought it up, Li Lianshan told him about it.

Wang Xiujin listened with utter disbelief, eyes wide as he looked at Li Lianshan. Had he heard correctly? Wang Zhize had actually done such a thing.

“No wonder I didn’t see him when I went over today. I thought he was avoiding me. I never expected something like this had happened.”

“Zhize’s matter reminded me of something. If Yachang ever dares to run away from home, I will break his legs.”

Li Lianshan’s tone was very serious when he said this.

“Is our Yachang the kind of child who would do such a thing? Zhize was taught badly by his elder sister-in-law, so doing this is not strange at all.” Wang Xiujin thought for a moment. “This child really needs proper teaching. If that innkeeper had harbored evil intent, wouldn’t he have lost his life? Did he really think that running away could solve the problem? That others would simply follow his wishes? Too foolish, too naive. Could someone have suggested this to him? Otherwise, how would he have even known about running away from home?”

“After the child was found, no one asked him about it,” Li Lianshan said with a shake of his head.

Wang Xiujin had meant to ask, but thinking that he had already spoken at length with his brother today, and that his brother had not mentioned the matter, he felt it would be improper to bring it up now. He would simply act as though he knew nothing; he could not be bothered to concern himself further. Just as Li Lianshan said, if Yachang ever did something like that, his legs would indeed be broken.

After putting the matter of the little nephew aside, Li Lianshan mentioned that his father planned to divide the household for the two concubine-born younger brothers after the first month had ended. Normally, when concubine-born sons were separated out, there would not be much property to speak of. Yet the Li family did not lack one or two courtyards. Each received a residence and two shops, while money and notes were not divided.

The two concubine-born sons of General Li were both in the military camp, mere recruits, with no rank or office. What they would amount to in the future depended entirely on themselves.

Wang Xiujin did not offer an opinion and could not say much, only asking whether they needed to make a show of goodwill by sending gifts, since after all they would be moving into a new residence.

“Just send something with a good omen,” Li Lianshan said. He had not originally intended to send anything, but since Wang Xiujin said it would be a gesture, he did not want to invite gossip from others.

The wedding of the Wang family’s eldest son was far more grand than the imperial marriage decree had been last time. Back then, Wang Daren had not been in power, and even with the emperor’s decree, everyone felt that Wang Xiubai had merely climbed into the Chun family’s branch. Now that Wang Xiubai was taking a male spouse, no one would find fault with it either. Quite a few people came to offer congratulations, though the gifts of money were not much.

Before coming, Wang Daren had already let word slip: if any family’s gift money exceeded half a month’s salary, then the Censorate would have work to do in the new year.

On the fifth day after the wedding banquet ended, Wang Xiubai and his newly appointed male spouse returned to Feng’an with Wang Zhize.

Wang Xiujin did not understand why his brother took Zhize away, until years later, when his brother returned to the capital to take up office with his male spouse and the transformed Wang Zhize. Then Wang Xiujin seemed to understand that his brother’s male spouse was no ordinary person.

After the wedding was done and dusted, Wang Xiujin met with Shopkeeper Wang several times to ask about the shops and workshops in the capital, as well as the workshops in several other places. Shopkeeper Wang answered in great detail.

When Wang Xiujin learned that the first manually powered carriage was to be tested on its tracks, he blinked several times in amazement. The manual rail carriage had been developed from the principle of a bicycle, using the force of pedaling to allow the carriage to move smoothly forward. It had already been tested in the workshop without major problems, so now they wanted to try it on the long track outside and also see how much weight it could bear.

After hearing this, Wang Xiujin marveled at human ingenuity, then asked when the trial run would take place, saying that he wanted to go see it.

Shopkeeper Wang explained the exact time. Looking at his employer’s excited expression, he found it especially amusing. He had not been with this employer for a short time, and such an expression on his face was exceedingly rare.

Wang Xiujin repeatedly said that he must keep that day free and that he would even ride the carriage himself.

The carriage workshop gave Wang Xiujin a profound shock. Though they could not produce an engine, with the cleverness of the people of this land, perhaps one day they would devise something else to replace it, allowing a carriage to move of itself. In other countries, people might not know the scientific principle behind an apple falling from a tree and therefore investigate it out of curiosity, coming up with something like gravity, but the hands-on ability of the people here was by no means inferior.

After seeing off Shopkeeper Wang, the fourth prince arrived, which took Wang Xiujin by surprise.

The fourth prince had come, naturally, with a request. He wanted to have made a wheelchair like the one Lady Wang had once used, so that the empress dowager could use it to get around.

Wang Xiujin naturally would not refuse. He wrote out in great detail how a wheelchair should be made, then felt it was still lacking something, so he set it down and wrote it carefully once more.

As he wrote, Wang Xiujin listened to the fourth prince speak about the empress dowager’s present condition. Wang Xiujin knew very little about medicine and could only listen to what the prince said.

By the time Wang Xiujin finished writing, the fourth prince did not even wait for the paper to dry. He picked it up and left.

Wang Xiujin could understand the prince’s urgency. He recalled how anxious he himself had been when his mother fell ill, only then he had been far too young. Thinking of that, Wang Xiujin shook his head. The days that had passed were already gone. He rubbed his sore waist, rolled his shoulders, and reminded himself that he still had many things to do. How could he have time to lament over the passing of spring and autumn?

Sitting at his desk, Wang Xiujin took out a sheet of paper and thought about the things he needed to do this year, then lowered his brush and wrote them down carefully.

He often made plans and summaries, yet never kept a single sheet. Every time he finished writing, he would burn it. Even he sometimes found it strange and could not say why, only feeling that it ought to be so.

The author has something to say: there will be no update tomorrow. I am going out to have fun and, incidentally, clear my mind and think about how to bring this to a close.