Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 325 - 324: Impersonation

Chapter 325: Chapter 324: Impersonation

Chu Lingxuan, flushed with anger, slammed his fist on the table, exclaiming, "It’s despicable, devoid of conscience! What audacity they have to claim such military achievements! The incident of assassinating the Prince of the Wan Kingdom was a well-known event that I am aware of, it laid the foundation for our final victory. It was said that fifty dead soldiers went and only three returned alive. Even His Majesty issued a decree of praise...This matter must be thoroughly investigated to give justice to uncle."

Wang Cheng quickly intervened, "That happened so many years ago, it is definitely going to be difficult to investigate now. Mr. Chu, you shouldn’t offend people for a nobody. General Zhao said the person has a strong backing that we shouldn’t provoke. I am like this now, so let it be."

Chu Lingxuan tried to reassure him, "No worries, my third uncle was at the border then. If we ask him to help investigate, we will surely find out."

Chen Afu didn’t interfere in their discussion about military merits. She was busy wiping her tears, feeling sympathy for Wang Cheng has lived an ill-fated and bumpy life. She looked at Wang Cheng’s left hand, half of his palm from the index finger down was missing, leaving only part of the palm, a thumb and a small piece of the index finger. His waist seemed to have some difficulty supporting him straight, making her heartache unbearable.

Wang Cheng comforted Chen Afu with a smile, "Afu, don’t be upset. Compared to those brothers who have fallen, your uncle has been fortunate. Although I’m disabled, I still work in the army, getting military salary and even managed to marry a wife and have children. Now, I’ve found you and your sister. Heaven hasn’t been too unkind to me." After saying this, he too began to wipe his tears.

Chen Afu then asked, "I heard aunt’s health isn’t good. What happened?"

Wang Cheng sighed, "It’s all because I’m useless. When I got married, I had to give her family a dowry and then buy land and build a house. It was a period of famine. My younger brother’s mother worked day and night doing embroidery. She didn’t take a proper confinement period after childbirth and ended up bedridden. Her eyes are bad, she can’t do embroidery for long. She also has backaches and can’t walk long distances, sometimes she needs to lean on the wall to walk..."

Wang Cheng’s military salary was one to two taels a month. It should be enough to marry a woman in the village. Before getting married, he had saved more than 20 taels of silver. He originally wanted to save some more to take back to the Lis in Xiaoli Village, so they could learn about his origin. But then he met Mrs. Wu. He was really into Mrs. Wu, who was pretty and diligent. So, he thought he would continue to save money after getting married and then return to Xiaoli village when he saved enough.

Firstly he needed to give Mrs. Wu’s family 30 taels, then ten taels for buying land and building a house, and more for marriage expenditures. He borrowed around 30 taels of silver from several comrades and successfully held the wedding.

Mrs. Wu wanted to repay her family’s debt and she was also upset for using all the money her husband saved for his matters. So, she made every effort to work on embroidery. For the first few years, they indeed made a lot of money. Wang Cheng returned all the money borrowed from his comrades, and also repaid fifty taels to Mrs. Wu’s family. But as her health deteriorated, she was embroidering at a slower rate and generally only dared to take on small pieces, so the money earned also gradually reduced...

Chen Afu asked, "How much is still due to aunt’s family?"

Wang Cheng replied, "The principal amount has been repaid. A good part of the interest which was twenty or so taels, has been repaid too, we still owe nine taels of silver."

Chen Afu said, "Uncle, don’t let aunt do any more embroidery work. I will repay this amount for you. How heartless aunt’s family is! They squeezed so much silver from aunt and still want to collect interest, pressuring their daughter to pay off debt while working herself sick."

Wang Cheng, with a blush on his face, said, "Ah, it’s all because of your powerless uncle."

Chu Lingxuan disagreed, "How can uncle be powerless? Uncle is a meritorious officer of the Dashun Dynasty. Once things are clear, every debt uncle is owed will to be repaid."

The food had been served, the three of them sat at the table for lunch.

After lunch, Chu Lingxuan went out. He needed to tell the old marquis first, and he would return to the countryside another day. At the same time, he had to go out to discuss strategies with Marquis Chu and the third old master. On the surface, Old Marquis Chu was the head of the Chus, but in private, Marquis Chu was the real master of the Chus. The old master and the third old master would always heed his recommendations on court matters.

Chen Afu and Wang Cheng chatted in the room. Wang Cheng was going to spend the night at the Chu’s today. Early tomorrow, Chen Afu and he would leave for Wang’s in Jiuli Village. They would then make preparations to return to the village in a few days along with the Wangs and reunite with Mrs. Wang.

In the middle of the night, Chen Afu who was sleeping groggily heard a rustling sound. Chu Lingxuan was climbing into bed.

Chu Lingxuan gave her a peck and said, "Afu, your name is right, you are my lucky star."

He had been drinking, and his breath reeked of alcohol.

This made Chen Afu come alive, she opened her eyes, "What do you mean, what fortune did I bring you again?"

Chu Lingxuan chuckled, "You brought uncle to the Chu’s house—just like finding something valuable after endless searching, effortlessly..."

Saying so, he leaned in to kiss her again.

Chen Afu, increasingly anxious, blocked his mouth, "You are too impatient, for heaven’s sake, explain what is going on, speak up," she threatened, "I won’t let you kiss me if you don’t explain."

Chu Lingxuan laughed, settled back, and began, "According to my third uncle, out of the three people that came back from the assassination, two are all right, but the questionable one is definitely Yang Qing. My third uncle initially wondered how Yang Qing himself took part in such a dangerous mission of assassinating the Prince of Wan and even managed to succeed and return. Back then, my third uncle secretly investigated and confirmed that Yang Qing did participate and was severely injured. My third uncle thought that he had underestimated him. But it turns out, he was also quite a man."

"Who is Yang Qing?" asked Chen Afu.

"Yang Qing was Wang Guo’s sharp blade. Due to his contribution in the assassination of the Prince of Wan and with the help of the Wang family, his career progressed swiftly. He climbed up to the position of General of Shaanxi step by step. As the Wangs handed over their daughter to him...Although it is not uncommon for people to claim the merits of deceased soldiers, what is disgusting is he climbed up on the shoulders of the living. If this matter was suppressed, it would be suppressed, if opened up, and was indeed true, it would be a grave crime of deceiving the king...If Yang Qing could be brought down, the alliance of the second prince would lose a major general."

Hearing about the significant influence of the one who claimed others’ merits, Chen Afu couldn’t help feeling concerned. She said, "They hold massive power, and so many years have passed by, can it still be investigated? All the witnesses have lied under oath, and if the truth comes out, they would be guilty of a major crime too. Would they speak the truth? Besides, would Yang Qing murder witnesses?"

Chu Lingxuan replied, "The investigation will not be easy indeed, but any action taken leaves a trace. Leaving uncle behind might be General Zhao’s strategy for self-protection. General Zhao is a clever person. He must have other evidence. My third uncle has been in the Western Region for nearly twenty years, and he will slowly find out the truth."

Having said that, he tried to kiss Chen Afu again.

Hearing all of this, Chen Afu felt slightly relieved. However, the alcohol on Chu Lingxuan’s breath was too strong. She turned her face to the side, "Oh my, how much alcohol did you drink?"

Chu Lingxuan laughed, "Today is a happy day. My father, third uncle, and I, we all had a few cups."

Chen Afu playfully pushed away his face that was leaning in again, half-seriously, half-jokingly saying, "No kisses for you, you reek of alcohol."

Chu Lingxuan laughed and buried his head in her neck, "Fine, no kisses."