Legend of Concubine's Daughter Minglan 知否知否 应是绿肥红瘦

56. Heading for the Capital

Coming with two boats and going back with six would definitely intrigue a royal censor (Yushi) to roll up his sleeves, and grind ink to write down a report on suspected corruption to the emperor. Luckily, Minglan and her grandmother were just on a trip to visit relatives. News came from the capital that Sheng Hong achieved an "Excellent" again for his official performance assessment and was entitled as Langzhong (TL: name of an official) under the Ministry of Works (Gongbu), a fifth ranked official responsible for the construction and renovation of the country's infrastructure, at least an official in the capital.

T/N: The Ministry of Works was one of the Six Ministries under the Department of State Affairs in imperial China that was in charge of construction and repair of country's infrastructure such as craftsman, croplands, water conservancy, transportation and the execution of other government orders.

Since they had decided to settle down in the capital, they just moved furniture from the old mansion in Jinling to decorate their new home in capital, plus the food, clothes and utilities given by Sheng Wei and Uncle Er'niu. Brocades and fur of all kinds alone were packed in several dozens of cases. With such abounding luggage, Minglan and her grandmother bade farewell to family relatives and boarded the boat.

In fact, Minglan felt curious why Sheng Hong decided to take an office in the Ministry of Works? Before the Spring Festival, father had started to build connections and he himself had achieved quite a lot in his official career, so Minglan thought he might have made it to the best of the Six Ministries, namely Ministry of Personnel (Libu) or popular department like Ministry of Revenue (Hubu) or Ministry of Penalty (Xingbu) at least. The current Emperor had held his throne for more than two decades and buildings required such as the Imperial Palace and Imperial Ancestral Temple had all finished long ago, so now the Ministry of Works was as idle as a nursing home. Minglan asked Old Madam Sheng threw the question back, "What do you think, my girl?"

Minglan rolled her eyes. Old Madam Sheng was an advocate of interactive and inspiring teaching who seldom told her directly why or what to do but encouraged her to ponder on her own. Minglan thought for a while and said, "The Emperor is getting old and the crown prince is yet to be decided. Now the political arena in the capital is storming and fickle. If father really took a plum job, he might be involved in the contest for the crown-princeship, getting into many troubles. Father is really a wise man."

Old Madam Sheng smiled and stroked Minglan's hair, nodding in approval. The river water flowed in a steady pace and the boat proceeded smoothly, making people comfortable by slight shaking. During the days in Youyang, Minglan spent every day with Pinlan, leaving few days chatting with grandma. Only after getting on board did they have an opportunity to have a good talk with each other.

"My poor child. Which official is not clever? Especially those in the capital where the political river is far from clean. It's just some people assumed themselves clever that they don't hold in their greed and want to seize this opportunity to lay a wager on the crown. However, how fickle and weird things run in the imperial court! It'd better to act fool as your father does." Old Madam Sheng was leaning on a bed paved with a flannelette blanket and chatted with Minglan with leisure, "What did you say when you bade farewell with Pinlan? Cuiwei said you didn't sleep well last night."

Minglan thought about it or honestly answered, "I told Pinlan, in the future, not to boss around Cousin Taisheng and be a quiet and gentle girl, otherwise she might upset aunt Yun."

Old Madam Sheng took a glimpse at Minglan, saying suggestively, "You were being oversensitive. You aunt prefers girls that are straightforward and cool. Why would she dislike Pinlan?"

Minglan sighed, "As a niece, of course she likes Pinlan; but to be a daughter-in-law, it's hard to tell." There was no mother-in-law in this world that wished to see her son to be a hen-pecked husband.