Saving the beautiful and strong tragic husband! (Part One)
Translation Checker: jellypeaches
Editor: jellypeaches, Dobhsh
The letter was sandwiched at the top of a pile of memorials; someone had obviously put it there for him to see.
Lin Bozhou buried the emotion in his eyes as his fingers paused right above the pile of memorials. Chen Que, who stood respectfully at his side, said, “This is a letter Senior Cui sent to the cabinet. As per his request for this subject, it should be presented to His Majesty and Your Royal Highness.”
“Oh?” Lin Bozhou raised his eyes, locking the man with his unfathomable gaze.
Speaking of, he nearly forgot about this charade. Now he and Senior Cui were fighting like tigers, and the Qingliu Faction were all lurking to watch the excitement, waiting like a fisherman reaping the snipe and the clam once they tired each other out.
Lin Bozhou lowered his gaze, pressed his finger on the front of the letter, and asked very mysteriously, “Has everyone read it? Let this Regent hear your thoughts.”
He was trying to drag the Qingliu Faction into the matter so that Senior Cui would direct his hate towards them as well.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Lf rboais vfoifmafv Olc Dbhtbe’r kbgvr.
Olc Dbhtbe rwlifv jcv mbecafgfv, “Cr atf lwqilmjafv qjgas, atfgf lr j mbcoilma bo lcafgfra. Vlcmf cbcf bo sbe klii gfjv la, atfc atlr Efufca klii cba gfjv la flatfg; la klii yf ifoa obg Llr Zjpfras ab tjcvif.”
One by one, ministers bowed and said, “Understood.”
Internally, they were clenching their teeth. As expected of Lin Bozhou.
Reading Senior Cui’s letter meant having to express an opinion. If, and only if, someone took the lead in reprimanding Senior Cui, but the content of the letter was enough to clear Senior Cui’s name, then the person who spoke first would have stirred up trouble.
So, Lin Bozhou would not read the letter either; instead, he would push the topic onto the Emperor.
Thus, the letter was handed to the Xuanhe Emperor. He roared like an enraged dragon in his Hall of Mental Cultivation, furious from merely hearing about the military turmoil in Jianzhou and that Echul, who had kidnapped his royal sister-in-law, was from Cui Renfang’s residence. “Cui Renfang turned traitor by collaborating with the enemy. Detain this traitorous minister to the Criminal Investigation Service! At once!!”
His anger increased by one level.
Pei Xiyi tentatively said, “Your Majesty, Senior Cui, is the head of the cabinet in this dynasty. To imprison such a high-ranking figure, would this not cause some instability in the court, as well as some criticism?”
The Xuanhe Emperor hooted, “What head of the cabinet?! Does the head of the cabinet have anything over the Royal Brother? How about the royal sister-in-law? Or even the lives of everyone in Liaodong? Go and arrest him at once! If there is any delay, all of you will be punished along with him!”
These words were exactly what Lin Bozhou was waiting for.
He lowered his eyes, stood up, and said, “Understood.”
–
As the sun disappeared behind the western mountains, Lin Bozhou’s carriage returned to the gate of his compound. The Criminal Investigation Service had already seized and imprisoned Cui Renfang.
However, as soon as he stepped on the marble path using the stool, he saw a group of people kneeling outside the building. They were Senior Cui’s wife, children, and grandchildren, including Cui Han, whom he had slapped, kowtowing on the ground.
“Your Royal Highness, my grandfather is innocent, Your Royal Highness!”
“My grandfather was originally a commoner from Shaoxing and as devoted to his country as the heavens are virtuous. He joined the court through the imperial examinations, and only then could he support the family and raise our status. He is the most loyal to the Zong Dynasty, the subject in life and its ghost in death. Why would he collaborate with the enemy and betray the country? Your Royal Highness, there must have been some misunderstanding!”
“Your Royal Highness, this elderly one’s husband is old in years, not to mention in poor health from constant overwork. I am afraid that my husband can’t endure the prison’s conditions. Begging Your Royal Highness to have kindness, begging Your Royal Highness to show mercy!”
Lin Bozhou lowered his gaze and gestured for someone to support the old Madam Cui to get up. Then he said, with no hint of emotion in his tone, “If Senior Cui is really innocent, the Criminal Investigation Service will issue a fair judgment. Taking Senior Cui into custody is the will of His Majesty. As the family of an official, you should have a good understanding of the court process. You must wait for the outcome of the trial rather than complaining tearfully at this Regent’s residence and putting this Regent in a difficult position.”
Then he turned, walked into the compound without looking back, and left a sentence. “Excuse this Regent. The Royal Consort’s health is not well, so this Regent must be leaving now to care for the Royal Consort.”
The members of the Cui family kneeling outside the Regent’s compound had never suffered such indignity in all their years of dominance in the imperial court. With tears in their eyes, they let the servants help them up. Looking at the majestic and luxurious compound, there was a flash of fear in their eyes.
As well as hatred.
As the Cui family’s carriage headed home, the old madam clenched her teeth with tears running down her face. “Six years ago, had this Prince Regent not had our lord’s invitation, how could he come to the capital? At that time, our Lord supported him so much. He knew the right things to say; he even brought tea to this old lady. How can he be so quick to turn his back on us now that he has gained his footing?!”
There was only silence in the carriage. Cui Lang, who had knelt for quite a while, finally said with a grim face, “Grandmother, please do not grieve. Talking emotions to a cold-blooded and heartless person like him is just an extravagant hope. It was we who were too naive.”
The old madam grabbed his hands and sobbed, “Lang-er.”
Cui Lang kowtowed heavily. “Grandfather has suffered an injustice. This grandson will definitely clear his name!”
The translator has something to add:
Teo: Heavy political elements (political shenanigans as my tlc put it) in coming, so the release will be even more sporadic.
Political shenanigans, come!
FLUFF, FLUFF, FLUFF, COMEEEEE!!
DOD FOOD, DOG FOOD, DOG FOOD, COME!!!!!!!!!
aye, this is stressing me out, waiting for some rounds of face-slapping!
Thank you so much for the translation!!
Nieve? Cui Lang, sweety, you aren’t nieve. You looked a injured kidnapped victim in the eye and did nothing because you didn’t want to be even tangentially involved. Now that you are involved you think the affected parties should forgive you because you don’t want to be punished. That isn’t nieve: that’s fucking delusional.
They absolutely could not get out of this situation without blame. The only reasonable action would have been to call LBZ on Echul’s ass and instead of getting the title “traitor”, the Cui would have been applauded for their service in saving the Royal consort…or even if their involvement was mentioned, they could still cover themselves with the fact, that they did help save HuanHuan when they saw what Echul did, so they wouldn’t recieve such a hard punishment…
Cui Lang’s absolutely braindead decision wouldn’t have worked well for anyone, besides the jurchen. He wanted to let HuanHuan get killed for nothing, and now that his father is rightfully under investigation, they are crying. Like, don’t commit the crime if you don’t want to serve the time? It’s that easy. It’s not like LBZ even could do anything at this point. The emperor himself ordered for Cui to be imprisoned and investigated, after clear signs of guilt, what is LBZ supposed to do? Go against the direct orders of the emperor, and save a guilty person on what basis? Because he said so? Please.
Not only are the Cui family members selfish cowards, they are also very stupid.
I can’t help but squint my eyes at the Cui Family 👁️
What a bunch of hypocrites😡 when it’s their turn they suddenly forget about the person that suffered because of their inaction. Don’t worry, LBZ will make sure Senior Cui sleeps well in the prison💀
Uhuhu political wars~ Take care of Your sanity while translating!
Thank You for the new chapter ٩(*ゝڡ◕๑)۶♥
I really like this part about social status in architecture!! I think I’ll read about it more!
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
It’s fascinating, right? I didn’t expect to like that aspect so much but it’s a big part of so many of my favorite stories on here and I get totally sucked into those details 😄
The Cui family can be eliminated without my feelings being hurt. They completely ignored the part about the royal consort being unwell even though they know darn well that they are responsible for their part in it. Love how they’re blatantly calling Lin Bozhou the one with no emotions after they nearly let a sweetie like Meng Huan die instead of saving him.
Thanks for the
Thanks for the chapter
Politics in this kind of setting will only make one’s blood pressure rise ..😂
People will only blame and hate others but not themselves.