The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort (Chapters 1- 203)

Chapter 170 : Undercurrents

Translated by : Shl

Edited by : Anks & Ely

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Ten days later, Xiao Shao led 100,000 Jinyi Guards to battle against Tian Jin and at the same time, General Zhao set off together with the Zhao family's three sons towards Xirong. Recently, there had been frequent incidents at the border caused by Xirong, thus it was inevitable that these actions would give rise to certain notions. The Emperor's thoughts were hard to pin down, and so no one knew why he had decided to send out the Zhao family at this time. Consequently, there were only three people remaining in the Zhao family left in the capital: Zhao Yi, Zhao Yulong and Zhao Feizhou. On their own, they did not have the means to pose any threats because the three of them lacked military and political power. As such, if someone with ill-intentions were to strike at this critical juncture- while they wereat their lowest point[1]– the Zhao family would be hard pressed[2] and badly affected.

[1] 落井下石 (luòjǐngxiàshí) – to throw stones at somebody who has fallen down a well (idiom) / to hit a person when he's down.

[2] 焦头烂额 (jiāotóulàn'é) – lit. badly burned about the head (from trying to put out a fire) (idiom); fig. hard-pressed / under pressure (from a heavy workload, creditors etc).

However, no one dared to disobey the Emperor's edict. Furthermore, the Zhao family was loyal and courageous and had no reason to refuse. Thus, they left the capital on the same day as Xiao Shao, who was leading his Jinyi Guard.

Jinying Wang had left to command this military campaign, but his yet-to-be-wed fiancee was still in his house. According to the customs of the Great Jin dynasty, when one's husband-to-be was leading a military campaign, the woman could stay in her future husband's fu. Still, the Empress Dowager took pity on Hong'an Junzhu and issued an edict allowing Hong'an Junzhu to officially stay in the Jinying Wangfu.

Furthermore, Hong'an Junzhu's maiden family, the Jiang fu, had recently encountered a series of unfortunate incidents. First, Minister Jiang accidentally injured his own yiniang, who was so grievously hurt that she died not long afterwards. Then, the missing Second Miss was found. She had been captured by mountain bandits, and had committed suicide in order to protect her purity. In this way, a generation of beautiful women suddenly died in their prime. Although Jiang Su Su's reputation had not been great when she was alive, death can pardon everything, and people are always more tolerant towards beauties.

What shocked people the most was that Jiang Furen was taken ill for a long time, and eventually died. And yet, Jiang Furen's maiden family, the Xia clan, did not even wait three months before sending a distant relative, a maternal cousin, to the Jiang fu – which then welcomed a new furen.

Originally, people thought that after Jiang Furen's death, the last connection between the Jiang family and the Xia family would be severed. No one expected that the Xia family would personally send a new furen to the Jiang family. In this way, the marriage alliance between the Xia and Jiang families was maintained, and many of the people who were looking forward to watching some 'excitement' suddenly found themselves empty-handed.

However, although the relationship between the Xia family and the Jiang family had not broken down, because of these circumstances, Minister Jiang was denounced by the people. In particular, the Imperial Censor's petitions for impeachment landed on the Emperor's table one after another, every word censuring Minister Jiang for taking a new bride before the main furen's corpse had grown cold; this was truly not something people who professed to be in a loving relationship for many years would do.