Chapter 506: Oriole (2)
Editor: Atlas Studios
Yan Du thought for a moment before going to look for Fan Siwen first. He hoped that Fan Siwen could submit a memorial alongside him tomorrow morning as a form of support for his nephew.
Fan Siwen had the intention to ease his relationship with his son, and after weighing the pros and cons, he felt that it wasn’t a big deal, so he agreed.
As for Qi Feng, after he thought about it for a while, he agreed to write a memorial for his son.
Yan Du ran for a long time. In the end, including Fan Siwen and Qi Feng’s endorsement, there were only seven or eight people who were willing to believe in Qi Haoran. This number was really not worth mentioning considering there were hundreds of ministers. Yan Du’s memorial only resulted in a small ripple, like a really really small one. Soon, it was overshadowed by the good news from Jinghu’s south road.
On the other hand, when Yan Du stepped out to ask the Emperor to pay attention to Qi Haoran’s question, Minister Qin stood up and agreed. Not only Yan Du, but the other ministers also looked at Minister Qin in surprise and doubt, their eyes constantly darting back and forth between him and Yan Du.
Looking at the dark-eyed Emperor and the equally bewildered Yan Du, Minister Qin curled his lips in disdain in his heart. He only stood up because he couldn’t stand the fact that there were too many idiotic ministers. In addition, it was in his interest that the country be wary of West Xia.
In the end, idiots were idiots. Just one sentence was enough to scare them to this extent.
Because there were too few ministers who agreed, and the Emperor was wary of Minister Qin, this matter was inexplicably put on hold. However, when Fan Zijin found out about this through Fan Siwen, only then did he realize that he had not received a letter from Qi Haoran for a long time.
It was the same for Mu Yangling. Those ministers did not believe Qi Haoran, but she and Fan Zijin did.
At this moment, Fan Zijin was planning to go all out in the Jiangnan business circle. Since Qi Haoran was not in any danger, he washed his hands off of the matter after briefly asking about it. He told Mu Yangling to come to him only when Qi Haoran caused trouble again or when his life was in danger.
Mu Yangling’s lips twitched. How unreliable was Qi Haoran in Fan Zijin’s heart?
Fan Zijin was not interested in war affairs, but Mu Yangling got someone to find a detailed map of Jinghu and study it every day to see if she could guess Qi Haoran’s whereabouts from the map.
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The West Xia soldiers had infiltrated the Jinghu area from Yungui, so Zhu Liang sent Mu Yangling a map of Yungui.
Seeing that these were all military maps, Mu Yangling raised her eyebrows slightly. She glanced at Zhu Liang, who had his head lowered, and knew that he had most likely made use of Qi Haoran’s influence in Lin’an Prefecture. Otherwise, he would definitely not be able to obtain such military maps.
Mu Yangling did not ask further and waved him off. This made Zhu Liang heave a sigh of relief. He was really afraid that Fourth Madam would ask him where he had gotten this from. Although he could refuse to tell her or push the blame to Fourth Master, this would definitely make Fourth Madam unhappy or cause a rift between Fourth Master and Fourth Madam. Considering Fourth Master doted on his wife so much, Zhu Liang would definitely be the one suffering in the end.
However, if he told the truth and violated a taboo, Fourth Master would probably be suspicious of him later and his future would be over.
Thank God Fourth Madam didn’t ask a single thing about it.
Mu Yangling laid the map on the couch in the room. When she had time, she would take a look. Now that Little Treasure could already walk and run, his most favorite thing to do was to come and play with his younger brother. Every day, when he opened his eyes, he would open his arms and ask for his younger brother. He wished he could stay in Zhaohua Courtyard. When he ran in, he saw Fourth Aunt standing in front of the couch and looking at those pictures. Meanwhile, his younger brother was sleeping in a corner of the couch and trying his best to eat his little feet.
Ignoring his fourth aunt, Little Treasure ran over and tried his best to stand on tiptoes to see his younger brother. Seeing that he was trying his best to stuff his feet into his mouth, he patted his hand in a bid to make him let go.
Little Treasure’s wet nurse, Nanny Wang, quickly pulled his hand away and said in a low voice, “Second Young Master, you can’t hit Third Young Master’s hand. You have to talk to him nicely.”
Upon hearing this, Mu Yangling looked up and smiled at Little Treasure. “Little Treasure, are you here to play with your little brother again?”
Little Treasure grinned when he heard that. He held his brother’s hand, shouting, “Bear, bear!”
Three black lines slid down Mu Yangling’s forehead. She thought for a moment and said, “Little Treasure, this is your younger brother, not a bear. He hasn’t been given a nickname yet. When your Fourth Uncle comes back, you can ask him what your younger brother should be called.”
Unhappy, Little Treasure tugged at his younger brother and shouted, “Ah, ah, ah!” Then, he shouted, “Bear, bear…”
Li Jinghua, who had just entered the door, burst out laughing and said, “Let’s see if you’ll still spout nonsense in the future. You clearly know that a child has excellent memory, but you still keep lecturing the child in front of him, calling him a brat1. Do you know your mistake now?”
Mu Yangling was helpless. “Who knew that Little Treasure would remember so much? It’s just a form of address yet he can remember it until now.”
“Hurry up and give your son a nickname. Otherwise, Little Treasure will remember this name forever.” Li Jinghua went forward and carried her son to the bed so that he could play with his younger brother.
“I, too, wish to give him a nickname as soon as possible, but Qi Haoran specifically said that he wanted to come up with a nickname himself when he came back.”
“How long will it take for him to come back? We haven’t even received any letters from him. It’s just a nickname. How much effort can it take up? If he values your son, he can just be more serious when he chooses a name in the future.” Li Jinghua persuaded, “The East Manor doesn’t say anything, but they come over every day to ask for your son’s name. They say that it’ll be easier for everyone to address him once you come up with one. If you don’t give the child a name, I’m afraid Father-in-law will do it on your behalf. Have you seen any child who’s almost a month old yet doesn’t even have a nickname?”
Mu Yangling frowned. “Why don’t we just call him Little Bear?”
Li Jinghua glared at her. “That’s too perfunctory. Do you really want people to call him a little brat1 in the future?”
Mu Yangling’s son had been strong since he was born, and his voice was loud and clear. After three days of sleep and having eaten and drunk his fill, he was infinitely energetic. Although he slept seven out of 24 hours a day, other than four hours of eating, drinking, and pooping, the rest of the time was spent tormenting Mu Yangling and the servants.
He had to get someone to carry him around. Otherwise, he would definitely cry. Even though there were many servant girls and maidservants around him, Mu Yangling still lost a lot of weight in just seven to eight days. One day, when her son made a fuss again, the aggrieved Mu Yangling angrily snatched him from the maidservant’s arms at once. As she gently patted his butt, she scolded, “Little brat, you’re really a little brat. You’re bratty like your father.”
At that time, Little Treasure was standing at the side and looking at his younger brother with sparkling eyes. When he heard Fourth Aunt nagging about this, he remembered it in his heart. When he saw his younger brother again, Little Treasure was unwilling to call him “Little Bro” anymore. Instead, he stubbornly held his hand and called him “Bear”. Actually, Mu Yangling felt that Little Treasure wanted to imitate her and call him “Little brat”, but because he was too young, he simply couldn’t pronounce the word “child”, so he could only call him “Bear”.
Initially, Mu Yangling was just saying it casually. Now that she had called him “Little Bear” a few times, she felt that it was not a bad nickname. “Who said that this ‘bear’ refers to the ‘bear’ in ‘bear child1’? This ‘bear’ refers to the ‘bear’ in ‘black bear’. It means that he’s healthy and strong like a bear.”
As Mu Yangling spoke, she picked up the child and kissed his little face. She said with a smile, “When his father comes back, if he doesn’t like it, we’ll just change his nickname. Let’s call him Little Bear for now.”
Li Jinghua lowered her eyes and said twice. Sighing, she said, “As a mother, I just want the child to be healthy. This nickname is indeed not bad.”
She held her son’s tiny hand and said, “Little Treasure, your little brother has a name now. From now on, call him ‘Little Bear’. Understand?”
Little Treasure tiptoed to tug at his brother’s blanket and shouted, “Bear, bear…”
Mu Yangling was exasperated. Looking at the excited Little Treasure and her ignorant son, she began to wonder if the nickname she had given him wasn’t a good one.
Li Jinghua laughed out loud when she saw this. She stood up and said, “Please help me take care of Little Treasure. I’ll be a guest at General Yuan’s residence and will only be back in the afternoon.”
Mu Yangling placed her son on the couch and said with a smile, “Sister-in-law, go ahead. Let Little Treasure stay at home and keep my son company.”
Mu Yangling hesitated for a moment before continuing to use her son’s old name.
“Why is there a banquet at General Yuan’s residence?” General Yuan’s residence had always kept a low profile, but they had held two banquets in a row recently.
Li Jinghua said with a smile, “There are two ladies in the Yuan family who are about to reach marriageable age. They’re about to start discussing marriage, so they held two banquets in the name of the Old Madam. However, it’s only these few times. I heard that the Yuan family has already taken a fancy to two men. They’re just using the banquet to find out the other party’s character.”
Mu Yangling nodded and sent Li Jinghua out. Just as she turned around, she heard the maidservants scream. Mu Yangling rushed in and saw her son peeing into the sky. The pee formed an arc and accurately landed on the map not far away.
Shocked, the servant girls rushed forward to save the map. Mu Yangling hurriedly stopped them. “Stop, don’t touch the map.”
Although this was a military map, the ratio was not big. Hence, there were many places that were not on it. Mu Yangling had only added some things to the map these few days based on Qi Haoran’s previous notes and travel notes. Because the ink on it was not dry yet, and many things had not been added yet, she did not dare to let anyone touch them.
She turned her head and looked at her son, who was kicking his legs comfortably on the couch after peeing as he let out two silent cries. She said, “Carry Third Young Master and Second Young Master to the side room to play.”
Little Treasure opened his mouth wide and looked at his brother in a daze. Then, he turned to look at Fourth Aunt’s ‘picture’. Seeing that Fourth Aunt did not notice him, he quickly shut his mouth and shrank his neck into the servant girl’s arms, not daring to move.
He was the one who coaxed his younger brother to pee just now, but he really didn’t do it on purpose.
Mu Yangling no longer cared about the two children. Instead, she grabbed a cotton cloth and went to salvage the map with a pained heart. When she carefully used the cotton cloth to absorb the water stains in the southwest corner and dry them, her expression suddenly darkened as she looked at that small corner with a dark gaze.
She gently stroked one of the dots with her hand and said, “Has this dot always existed?”
Seeing that Mu Yangling was emitting a cold aura, Spring said in fear, “I think so. None of us dares to touch your map.”
Mu Yangling couldn’t help but pin her fingernail upon the invisible point on the map.
