Town Leader Became the Third Fatty
Ever since their last trip to pay respects to their ancestors, although Feng Jin Yuan had not been removed from the genealogical records, the old clan elder had also said that it would be best if they did not interact in the future. Even Feng Jin Yuan’s grandfather’s grave could be taken away by them at any time, as long as they wanted to. At first, Feng Jin Yuan thought that they would never be able to return in this lifetime, and he thought even more that there would no longer be any interaction with the people from the old home. Who knew that the other side would take the initiative to come and visit them.
He snorted and said: “At that time, their words were so proud. When they chased us away, they did not give us any face. Now that they’ve been affected by a disaster, they have the face to come and seek us out?”
The matriarch was also a little unhappy. At that time, she had been scolded by the clan elder, completely tearing away at her face. Who knew that the situation would turn, and the people from the old Feng family would finally need to come and beg her.
“What sort of people have come?” The matriarch asked He Zhong, “Has the clan elder personally come?”
He Zhong shook his head, “The clan elder did not come. The ones that came were second granduncle and third granduncle. They also brought along some children. Altogether, there are over ten people!” He Zhong was a little troubled, “Elder madam, there are over ten people!”
The matriarch did not react for a while, “What’s wrong with there being over ten people?”
Cheng Jun Man reminded them from the side: “Since they have been affected by a disaster, they must have come to us to seek shelter. They will certainly ask to stay here. If this was under normal circumstances, it would be fine. The manor would be able to handle over ten people. Now, however, we are about to move out. Apparently, the other residence is very small.”
The matriarch slapped herself on the head, “What should we do?”
Cheng Jun Mei said: “We cannot have them wait at the entrance. We should go out and take a look.”
People had come from the old home. The matriarch naturally had to go and receive them. With the matriarch going, everyone else followed. Aside from the pregnant Han shi, who was left behind, the rest of the people in the Feng manor went over. Even An shi, who had been untied, also went out. The servants held up numerous umbrellas to block the rain for their masters, but it was raining too heavily. How could umbrellas block it all. In fact, some of the umbrellas became tattered by the wind.
When everyone finally managed to reach the front gate, they saw the adults and children standing outside. There was even one child that was crying loudly.
Feng Jin Yuan quickened his pace slightly and greeted the two older guys: “Second granduncle, third granduncle.”
The two elderly men looked to be in their 60s. Having been soaked by the rain, they looked to be in a very difficult situation. Their backs were slightly bent. Having escaped the disaster, their shoes had become tattered. Upon seeing Feng Jin Yuan, the older one quickly said: “We finally met you. Along the way here, a large number of people died. If we did not reach the capital, I fear that this old bag of bones would have also passed away.”
The matriarch glanced at him and asked coldly: “Why are you in such a sorry state?”
The man let out a sigh and replied: “Not to hide it from sister-in-law, but Feng Tong county has suffered from torrential rains for over a month, which finally led to a flood. The ancestral home has been washed away, and we desperately escaped from that place; however, plenty of people still died.”
Feng Jin Yuan asked him: “Where’s the clan elder?”
Upon asking about the clan elder, the large group fell silent. Even the child that was crying stopped making any sounds.
The third granduncle picked up on this subject: “The clan elder told us to escape to the capital and come to seek shelter from you. He himself went up the mountain, saying… saying that he wanted to die with the family ancestors.” While saying this, he squatted down and put down the bundle that he had been carrying. The third granduncle continued, saying: “These are the memorial tablets for the ancestors. Clan elder said that it is not easy for you to be establishing a foothold in the capital. Although we are escaping a disaster, we cannot cause you any trouble. That’s why our meaning is if it’s convenient for you to take us in, we will stay. If it’s inconvenient, we will search for another place. But these memorial tablets, we hope, can be left here. In any case, you have an ancestral hall here. We can cause grief to anyone, but we cannot cause grief for our ancestors.”
Upon hearing these words, the matriarch felt that she truly did not have any face left. They had come from far away to escape a disaster. How could they not take them in. If word were to spread, what would become of the Feng family. Thus she quickly said: “It’s convenient! How could it be inconvenient! In such a large manor, how could it not house this many people!”
Cheng Jun Man also nodded, saying: “With it raining so heavily outside, where else can you go? Just stay here. In any case, wait until the rain has stopped.”
The matriarch and Cheng Jun Man had spoken, thus Feng Jin Yuan could not say anything else. Although he sighed repeatedly to himself, he still had to welcome them into the manor.
Upon hearing that they could stay, the children were extremely happy. Kneeling on the ground, they kowtowed to Feng Jin Yuan. This caused Feng Jin Yuan to feel even more embarrassed to say that they could not stay, thus everyone returned to Peony courtyard’s main hall. For a while, the hall was very full.
Cheng Jun Man took the initiative to arrange: “Right now, there happen to be a few courtyards that are empty. Kang Yi, Ru Jia and Chen Yu’s courtyards can all be lived in. Right now, there is no time to tidy up too much. Just live in them directly.” At the same time, she ordered the servants: “Quickly go boil some water to prepare baths for the guests” Saying this, she turned to the second granduncle: “It’s raining heavily outside, so it’s not quite possible to buy fabric and have a tailor come. All that we can do is give you some of husband’s clothes for now. I hope that the two granduncles will not dislike them.”
The second granduncle waved his hand: “It’s fine, we do not dislike it. Being able to stay is already fortuitous. Where is there any need to pick new clothes. Also, with it raining so heavily outside, it would be best if nobody went outside.”
A young child said: “On our way here, we saw someone fall into a muddy ditch and be unable to climb out. Even the carriage sank into the mud.”
The matriarch became worried upon hearing this, “Is the flooding very severe in Feng Tong county?”
The second granduncle nodded, “It’s not just severe. The entire Feng Tong county is gone.”
Feng Jin Yuan was a little shocked. Feng Tong county was not a very small county. For the flood to be able to ruin the entire county, what was the situation outside? He had been a prime minister for many years. To say that he did not care about the citizens of the country was impossible. Otherwise, the Emperor would not have kept him in the position of prime minister for that many years. Now that he heard that the situation of the flood was so severe, Feng Jin Yuan felt a little restless; however, he had already been demoted to fifth rank. What could he do even if he was restless?
Seeing Cheng Jun Man methodically arrange the memorial tablets, Feng Jin Yuan suddenly became absent-minded. He was thinking that if Chen Yu’s matter did not occur, with the Empress’ two nieces as his wives and him still being in the position of prime minister, there would be no need to move out. How great would that be? With the people from the old home arriving, there would not be any need to feel so distressed. They could properly take care of them while gaining a good reputation.
The look of regret was clear on his face. The matriarch saw it and scoffed: “If you know to feel regret now, what are you doing earlier? If you diverted your feeling for Chen Yu to A-Heng, our Feng family would have anything that it wanted. Anyone that went out would have a great deal of prestige.”
Unfortunately, Feng Jin yuan did not have this consciousness. In his eyes, this was all caused by Feng Yu Heng, thus he reminded the matriarch: “If there was no Feng Yu Heng hindering my plans, Chen Yu would not have died!”
The matriarch knew that there was no point in reasoning with this son, thus she simply decided not to waste words. She directly said to him: “Go get the deed. Although it is raining heavily, I figure that eunuch Zhang will still be coming. When that time comes, exchange it with him. We can then go over and tidy things up.”
Feng Jin Yuan feared her bringing up the deed the most. When the matriarch brought this up, he did not dare look at her. He just turned around and looked out at the rain, muttering: “With it raining so heavily, is it possible for us to move?”
These words were the truth. The matriarch also sighed, only saying: “I just hope that the palace will not rush us too much. At the very least, wait until the rain has stopped.”
At this time in the county princess’ manor, a man dressed in a light-purple robe and wearing a gold mask on his face stood in Feng Yu Heng’s bedroom. Facing the girl sitting on a table, swinging her legs, he loudly said: “A girl should pay attention to her appearance. All of the other girls are humble and well-raised. Look at yourself!”
The person on the table became unhappy: “What’s wrong with me? Did you not like me because I am like this? Ever since the day we met, I could pull you from a crevice in the mountain with my two thin arms. Which humble girl have you ever seen with that sort of ability? Little Ming, a person must not be too picky!”
The face covered by the golden mask quickly rushed over and said with a flattering tone: “I’m not picky, I’m not picky. This prince’s meaning was to say that we are people with proper backgrounds, right? When eating grapes, how could we peel them ourselves?”
The person on the table nodded, “If you say it like that, I quite like hearing it. That’s fine, then you peel them for me!”
“What?” A certain person’s lips twitched, “What’s the point of having so many maidservants?”
“If I leave everything to the maidservants to do, what do I have you for?” She reached out and hooked her arm around his neck, “Be good. They’re sweeter when you peel them.”
With these words, a certain person accepted his fate and sat down next to her, quietly peeling grapes for her.
When Wang Chuan and Huang Quan entered the room, they saw the two masters sitting on the table, their legs swaying slowly. One was eating grapes, and the other was peeling grapes. Their young miss even said: “Xuan Tian Ming, if you can get the seeds out too, that would be even better.”
The two servants’ faces were covered in dark lines, saying to themselves that only Feng Yu Heng dared to do this sort of thing. Only Feng Yu Heng dared to say this sort of thing. If it was anyone else, just wait and see if the ninth prince would whip them.
Huang Quan walked over quickly, arriving in front of the two, and said: “The kitchen has already prepared dinner. Your Highness should stay and eat too.”
Xuan Tian Ming nodded, saying very naturally: “With it raining so hard, this prince will definitely need to stay here to eat.” While saying this, he turned to look out the window. The sound of rain was very loud coming through the partially opened window. He then added: “If the rain does not let up, I will also spend the night here.”
Feng Yu Heng glared at him sideways: “Why do you not treat yourself as an outsider?”
Xuan Tian Ming leaned closer to her side: “I was never an outsider. It’s not the first time that we have slept together.” Saying this, he asked the two servants, “Right?”
Wang Chuan nodded, “Right.”
Feng Yu Heng rolled her eyes at him but did not say anything. It was raining so heavily outside, but Xuan Tian Ming had taken the risk to come and see her. After eating, it would be dark outside. How could she bear to chase him out.
Seeing that Feng Yu Heng had no objections, Wang Chuan changed the subject, telling her about the things that had happened in the Feng manor. She also told her: “The news was brought by the older madam Cheng.” In regards to the Cheng shi sisters, Tong Sheng pavilion gave them a bit of respect. After all, they were the Empress’ nieces, and they were also people that stood on Feng Yu Heng’s side. Wang Chuan and Huang Quan referred to them as older madam Cheng and second madam Cheng.
Feng Yu Heng asked her: “Is the situation at Feng Tong county very severe?”
Xuan Tian Ming picked up on this topic: “That place is lower, and it is surrounded by mountains. There is no need to fear floods. What is to be feared are mudslides. Even the Board of Astronomy says that the rains this year are not normal. I fear that the disaster will not be small.”
Feng Yu Heng thought for a while then gently raised the corner of her lips, “Since Feng Jin Yuan has already gone from being a town leader to being the third fatty, we cannot hit him from the front. As I see it, how about we aid the poor!”
TN: The third fatty being referred to here is probably Kim Jong-Un? I believe she’s calling him a tyrant?