Tangli Fried Snow

In the No. 1 cell of the Heavenly Prison, the crackling sound of the campfire broke the prisoners' reverie.

The heavy clanking of chains echoed from the prison gates, followed by approaching footsteps. Two cloaked figures, carrying torches, stopped outside the prison.

One of the men took off his hat, revealing a weathered and vigorous face. "Yuanshan," the old man said to the prisoners in the cell.

Duan Yuanshan slowly raised his head, and in the orange glow of the torchlight, the face of Lu Tingwei, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, appeared and disappeared intermittently.

The ten-odd days in prison had completely robbed him of his former glory. He was no longer the spirited and handsome Prince Wei, but merely a prisoner who had plotted to murder the emperor.

His hair was disheveled and his face was sallow. Fortunately, he was not tortured. The Ministry of Justice, or rather the Emperor, gave him great favors.

"Lord Lu, how have you been?" Duan Yuanshan said slowly.

"Why haven't you signed and sealed the charge of poisoning the Emperor? Resisting will do you no good. Admit your crime sooner so we can plead for your life and ask the Emperor to spare your life. As long as you hand over your military power, the Emperor will still give you a fiefdom and take care of you in your old age."

“I’m only forty years old, not yet at the age to retire and be buried. But you, Lord Lu, are seventy-three this year, aren’t you?” Duan Yuanshan said, looking at him. “You really do need a fiefdom, a house to retire in, where you can just wait to die.”

A cold snort came from the other person's nose.

Duan Yuanshan smiled slightly at the man: "Lord Yu, I have been staying in this Ministry of Justice prison for half a month now. I am grateful for your hospitality on your turf, but I am not used to eating only one cold steamed bun every day. Starting tomorrow, please send me some rice."

“If you remain stubborn and refuse to sign the confession, you may not even get steamed buns or water in the future,” Yu Fangxun said coldly.

"In the past two weeks, I've thought things through in this dark and hopeless prison. I've traveled a long way with my daughter and dowry to discuss marriage with the Crown Prince. I've been very busy and have no spare energy to poison His Majesty the Emperor. It's only because I feel that my position as Empress is insecure that I've resorted to poisoning my husband in desperation in order to secure a future for my young son."

He then said to Fang Xun, "As for who it is, you two gentlemen see it better than I do. If you have the time to interrogate me, why don't you go and investigate your Empress Jin?"

Yu Fangxun coldly flicked his sleeve, put his hands behind his back, and said, "You have committed a crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of your family, and you still want to frame the Empress. You are utterly shameless."

Duan Yuanshan smiled slightly and looked at Lu Tingwei: "Lord Lu, tell me, if I, Duan Yuanshan, didn't sincerely want to form a marriage alliance with the Crown Prince and spare no effort to promote the unification of the North and South, wouldn't it be better for me to stay in the South and be my King of Wei? Why would I have to suffer like this today? I haven't taken a bath for more than half a month, I smell terrible. Send me some hot water tomorrow."

Yu Fangxun didn't speak, but he and Lu Tingwei exchanged a glance. The two of them glanced at the people in the prison a few more times, then turned and slowly left.

"Lord Lu, what do you think?" Yu Fangxun asked.

"Fang Xun, Duan Yuanshan cannot die. You must take good care of him. At the very least, he cannot die before the Southern army besieges the city."

"What about the Empress?"

"The Empress still has to rely on her family. That old bastard Jin Yan won't make any rash moves before winning the battle..."

"Yes, my lord."

. . .

The next morning, the emperor still did not attend the morning court session. A eunuch came to deliver a message, saying that His Majesty was unwell and that all matters, large and small, would be handled by the prime minister, while the censor-in-chief and the vice ministers of various departments would discuss government affairs on their own.

Since His Majesty drank poison at the banquet, he has not attended court and has been lying in the Hall of Mental Cultivation every day, with imperial physicians attending to him daily and his life sustained only by herbal medicine. It is not easy for ministers to even see him. Only the Empress personally attends to him for an hour each day, explaining state affairs to him and asking a few questions that require the Emperor's personal decision, which the Empress then entrusts to the Prime Minister.

The old prime minister arrived at the cabinet early and dozed off in a chair. The vice ministers of the six ministries came to the cabinet one by one to discuss matters.

After discussing the basics of state affairs, it was already late morning, and the old prime minister was clearly exhausted, so he suggested ending the morning meeting early.

Lu Tingwei said to Shen Shibai, "Lord Shen, Jin Yan will set off with 20,000 troops tomorrow morning. Is the military budget sufficient? I heard that he is bringing two companies of cavalry and is asking you for 300,000 taels of silver right off the bat."

Three hundred thousand taels of silver is enough for twenty thousand young men to each marry a wife and have two children, and also to buy two big fat pigs.

Shen Shibai smiled slightly: "Our national treasury has been empty for the past few years. The 80,000 taels of silver spent on the Empress Dowager's birthday celebration last month was borrowed from the Empress's family. Isn't the Empress's family General Jin Yan's family? When he asks me for military funds, it's just a matter of passing the money from one hand to the other."

The national treasury is depleted, the emperor is seriously ill, and the empress's family is growing more powerful every day. Originally, a prince named Duan came with a dowry to discuss marriage with the crown prince. If the marriage had gone through, the crown prince would have had a powerful father-in-law, the emperor would have been able to relax a bit, and perhaps even unify the country in the near future. But now, the whole country is in turmoil, and no one knows what tomorrow will bring.

"I heard that Jin Yan's youngest son also went to the battlefield?" Yu Fang asked.

“Yes, we promoted him to the position of the second legitimate son last month. He might even inherit the title in the future. Now is the perfect time for him to earn military merits,” Shen Shibai replied.

"After earning military merit, he might come back as an earl."

…………

The Lin family mansion.

Song Weilan personally prepared several pieces of luggage for her daughter and instructed her to personally deliver them to Jin Cheng at the Jin residence.

“He’s leaving tomorrow, so sending him some food and supplies will be more effective than anything else.”

Lin Pianyue frowned slightly: "Do I really have to go myself? Send a servant to deliver it. Let Wang'er go; he knows Jin Cheng's servant."

Song Weilan gently tapped her daughter's smooth forehead: "You, you're so silly. Sending a goose feather from a thousand miles away is a small gift but carries great sentiment. If he earns military merit on the battlefield, he can inherit the title when he comes back. No one will make a fuss about his background anymore. Then he will become a hot commodity that everyone is fighting over. They arranged a marriage for you two last month. Why don't you hurry up and go?"

Lin Pianyue reluctantly had her maids carry her luggage onto the carriage. Without even changing her clothes, she instructed the driver to go to the Zhongyong Earl's Mansion in the east of the city.

Wang'er quickly explained his purpose to the gatekeeper, who told him directly that the second young master had gone to the Jiangbei camp with General Jin and was not at home.

Wang'er repeatedly told the gatekeeper, "Make sure you bring the luggage given by Miss Lin to Young Master Jin Cheng." After saying that, he also stuffed a few pieces of silver into his hand.

The gatekeeper smiled and accepted the loose silver, saying, "Alright, thank you so much." But in his heart, he was thinking, "There are countless girls who deliver things to the second young master. Since yours is delivered so late, I can only wait until the young master returns to give it to him."

Once Lin Pianyue saw that the task was completed, she immediately told the coachman to hurry up and drive the carriage to the Xiankelai Restaurant in the east of the city to buy crystal pork knuckle. As for whether the item was delivered or whether Jin Cheng received it, she didn't care at all.

As soon as she parked the car, she saw Sheng Yunxi bringing several classmates to the restaurant for drinks. Lin Pianyue thought to herself, "Oh no!" She hadn't even put on her new dress or done her makeup properly. How could she possibly see Brother Yunxi like this?

If you finally run into him, wouldn't it be a waste of this opportunity if you didn't say hello or a word?

She tidied her hair at her temples, lifted the curtain, and softly called out, "Brother Yunxi."

Sheng Yunxi was talking with a few classmates when she was suddenly called by a gentle voice. She immediately turned around and saw her beloved Yue calling her from behind.

"Sister Pianyue, what are you doing here?" he said with surprise, quickly said goodbye to his classmate, and came to her carriage.

Lin Pianyue reached out and lifted the carriage curtain, revealing only half of her beautiful face, which attracted him with an air of mystery.

Sheng Yunxi smiled silently at her, his heart softening at the sight of the beautiful woman's alluring, hesitant expression. He knew that the more silent they were, the stronger the ambiguity between them would become. Finding this amusing, he deliberately remained silent, simply gazing into her beautiful eyes. Sure enough, after a short while, her fair face began to blush slightly, making her even more beautiful.

Lin Pianyue's heart was pounding. He was wearing a moon-white long robe today, with a large kapok flower embroidered on the shoulder, which made him look even more elegant and handsome. He looked at her with a smile, and her face involuntarily turned red. His eyes were so beautiful, and his lips were a moist pink. When he called her Pianyue, it sounded so nice.

After exchanging glances for a while, Sheng Yunxi finally spoke up, "Why aren't you getting out of the car?"

Lin Pianyue glared at him: "There are too many people here, it's not appropriate for me to get out of the carriage. I'll have the servant go and buy some food for my mother."

The midday sun was strong, and Sheng Yunxi was soon covered in sweat.

The two were very close, and she couldn't help but take out a handkerchief from her bosom and reach out to touch his forehead. Sheng Yunxi felt a fragrant breeze, then felt the soft handkerchief on his face, and finally realized that it was his heart that was being scratched.

He didn't need to look to know that it was Lin Pianyue wiping his sweat. He took the handkerchief, wiped his forehead a few times haphazardly, and then put the handkerchief in his pocket.

Lin Pianyue glared at him reproachfully, then lowered the curtain and stopped looking at him.

The servant bought the food, and after exchanging a few pleasantries, the two took their leave.

Several classmates joked, "Who is that?"

Sheng Yunxi smiled but said nothing, only instructing the waiter to bring out the best wine and dishes.