Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine

Chapter126，Part2: Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 126 Pt. 2

Translated by gingercat

Edited by gingercat

At noon, there was quite a lot of excitement outside. It seemed that all those people who had been hiding in their offices had come out.

As soon as Jin Wang stood up, there came a knock on his door. It was Zhou Wu. The two went to the cafeteria together.

The imperial court provided this meal for free to everyone. After all, the officials weren’t allowed to leave the office while they were on duty, but they couldn’t go hungry either.

As expected, silence descended upon the room when they noticed Jin Wang coming. Although Jin Wang didn’t place anyone in his eyes, he wasn’t interested in incurring tension either. He grabbed his own food then returned to his room.

There was a meat dish, a vegetarian dish, and a soup. Everyone had the same meal, from the top ministers to the bottom messengers.

His lunch included cucumber-fried pork, shrimp and tofu, and a simple vegetable tofu soup. It was simple and plain. They were responsible for bringing their own tableware and chopsticks themselves. But since Jin Wang lacked prophetic abilities, his table utensils were borrowed from Zhou Wu and would need to be returned once he was finished using them.

Jin Wang tasted the food. Although it couldn’t be said to be delicious, it wasn’t unpalatable.

After eating these two dishes, along with a bowl of rice and some soup, he could be said to be half full. Once he was finished with his meal, he looked around his ordinary and unremarkable office. On the east wall, there was a piece of calligraphy with the words ‘Still waters run deep’ written on it.

The calligraphy was ordinary, and the words were also ordinary, yet Jin Wang felt his mind was at peace upon reading it.

Perhaps the next few days wouldn’t be so difficult. Maybe they’d actually be interesting.

While Jin Wang was eating a free meal provided by the cafeteria in his office at the Ministry of Works, Yaoniang was eating lunch with Xiaobao at Jin Wang Manor.

Yaoniang has always had a good appetite, but today for some reason, she barely even moved her chopsticks.

“Your father must also be having his meal now. When mother was going through the pamphlet, I saw that it said food would be provided at wushi1. But who knows what kind of food they’ll provide and whether your father will be used to it?”

What could Xiaobao say? Other children at his age wouldn’t be able to answer this question either. Since he’s still a growing child, he might as well focus on eating.

Mmmh, this eight-treasure tofu was well made, smooth and tender. This bamboo shoot stew was also quite good…

Nowadays, Xiaobao eats on his own. Since he couldn’t use chopsticks, he used a spoon. A special jade spoon was made just for him, with a short handle for his small hands and a small scoop for his baby-sized mouth.

It wasn’t easy for Xiaobao to reach this stage of eating by himself. Whenever someone fed him, he would clamour to play with a spoon. In the beginning, they’d hand him one to appease him, but not long after, he tried to use it to feed himself.

Seeing him play around, Yaoniang filled a small bowl of rice for him to eat. At first, he’d sprinkle the grains everywhere, but eventually, he improved. Now, as long as he wasn’t eating something that was too thin or liquidy, Xiaobao could feed himself without spilling anything.

Although he couldn’t pick up food from the dishes directly, he could have someone else do it for him. Whenever he’s having a meal, he’d be paired up with a maid. Wherever his chubby finger pointed, that’d be the dish that the maid would pick up for him.

Actually, Yaoniang didn’t say those words to Xiaobao in the hopes of getting an answer. It was more like she was thinking out loud.

Although Yaoniang didn’t have a broad vision, she couldn’t be called stupid. Having been in the capital for so long, using what she’s seen and heard, she could draw some conclusions.

The current situation was similar to what she’d heard her mother and those neighbourhood aunties gossip about. Back then, Boss Mao’s sons were fighting for the family fortune.

Boss Mao had four sons, none of which were anyone easy to deal with, and who have long been coveting their father’s fortune. These sons were born from both the main wife and the concubine, but there was only one family property, so it’d be hard to divide it amongst them.

One year, Boss Mao fell sick, so his sons gathered together and started to fight for their father’s fortune. You cheat me, I harm you, and they were willing to resort to any means. But the key problem was that Boss Mao hadn’t even died yet. He had only become ill, yet these sons of his all regarded him as dead.

Boss Mao was both angered and sorrowful and he soon recovered from his illness.

In order to not let his family property be divided and end up thrown onto the streets, Boss Mao began to make moves on his sons. He wasn’t cruel to them, he only took back whatever power they held. He’d rather them be idle than helping out with the family business.

From what Yaoniang could tell, this was also the current situation between Emperor Hongjing and his sons.

The father was getting old and the sons were starting to have thoughts on their father’s fortune. Even a slightly richer family would have these problems, let alone the imperial family.

Yaoniang guessed that it must’ve been one of these princes who did something that angered His Majesty, which is why he is now cleaning them up. They shouldn’t have done anything head-on, so now they had no choice but to be honest. The more honest the better. Once this period passes, the following days will be better.

Yaoniang had a soft temper. As long as her bottom line wasn’t crossed, she generally wouldn’t question too much. But Jin Wang was different. She feared that Jin Wang would be rebellious, and act against Emperor Hongjing.

The son who fights against his father usually doesn’t end well.

Since these words weren’t that appropriate for her to say, she could only coax Jin Wang. Once this great ancestor was coaxed, he wouldn’t have as much fire in his belly to fight against Emperor Hongjing.

“Should we go pick up your father from his first day at work? But, mother can’t go outside right now. If mother did go outside, your father would get angry. Xiaobao, can you go there in place of your mother? My Xiaobao is both tender and cute. Even if your father had a belly full of ire, it would all dissipate as soon as he sees you.”

To be honest, Yaoniang had a deeper motive for doing this. She wanted to remind Jin Wang that he was still the father of two children, so if something can’t be done then don’t do it.? No matter what, he had to be considerate of his two young sons.

So when Jin Wang left his office, he saw a carriage parked in front of the door. Xiao Shunzi was standing beside the carriage with a smile on his face. When he saw Jin Wang approaching, he hurriedly lifted the curtains of the carriage. Inside sat a baby boy.

As soon as the child saw him, he said, “Father, mother asked me to come to pick you up.”

Jin Wang was stunned. Then he uttered, “Oh.”

Mini-theatre:

Jin Wang: Who told you that this prince was angry?

Yaoniang: I guessed.

Jin Wang: Who told you that this prince was coveting the old man’s property? (Even if this prince was greedy, it wouldn’t be for his property)

Yaoniang: I guessed.

Jin Wang: (with a look of disdain) If this prince was like you, this prince wouldn’t be fighting to dominate the world. This prince will just raise his wife and children and have them warm his bed at home every day. All those other people’s wives are hoping for their husbands to ascend to the heavens, yet here you are, hoping for this prince to be as useless as possible.

Yaoniang: (blushing) So you don’t want your wife and children to warm your bed? Ah, how comfy is a warm bed?

Jin Wang: (squinting) This prince will think about it.