Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty
Chapter 537 - 528: Victory Over Rebellion

Chapter 537: Chapter 528: Victory Over Rebellion

Despite being indignant and worried about Chu Lingxuan’s injury, Chen Afu patiently listened to Jin Yanzi’s "heartfelt narration".

Jin Yanzi said, "... I found her standing on a large stone with Beibei, enjoying the commotion. That girl had patience, continuously talking, and her hands were restless...Just as her mouth was about to kiss him, Daddy Chu lost his temper, spit at her, and cursed her as shameless. The girl, driven by embarrassment into fury, ruthlessly pinched Daddy Chu’s injured leg, causing him to scream out in pain. Her other hand reached out to slap Daddy Chu’s face. I couldn’t wait any more - if she had hit him, my mother would have been furious...."

Jin Yanzi quickly flew over, grabbed Yu Paying’s dress with his beak, and flew towards the mouth of the cave with her suspended in mid-air. Yu Paying was terrified, screaming at the top of her lungs.

Once out of the cave, Jin Yanzi let her go, then loudly cried out a few times. A flock of long-beaked birds flew over, their mouths wide open, diving towards Yu Paying. Yu Paying was even more scared and ran downhill with her head covered.

Jin Yanzi flew back into the cave. Chu Lingxuan saw it and laughed heartily, "Jin Bao, it’s really Jin Bao! Did Afu send you? Thank you. Quick, help me untie this rope."

Jin Yanzi untied the rope with its beak. Chu Lingxuan sat up, took out a wallet from the clothes scattered nearby, and from the wallet took out a pill wrapped in oil paper. He swallowed the pill and held Jin Yanzi in his palm, "That medicine is the Divine medicine Afu gave me. It heals my leg injury quickly."

Jin Yanzi chirped and laughed, "Mummy, Daddy Chu stood the test and proved himself a hero."

Chen Afu finally breathed a sigh of relief, but thinking of Chu Lingxuan’s injured leg, her eyes welled up with tears from grief – it must have been so painful. She flicked at its head, scolded, "Little one, you’ve really crossed the line." Then she asked, "Has he returned to the camp?"

Jin Yanzi chirped, "Of course he did. Daddy Chu limped out of the cave and was soon found by his men. Daddy Chu also sent a letter back to mummy."

With that said, it flapped its wings and a small bamboo tube fell out.

Chen Afu picked up the small bamboo tube and opened it. She took out a rolled-up piece of paper. Opening it, she found two pages. The first one wrote: On the fifth day of March, the rebellion was successfully suppressed. The Second Prince has committed suicide."

The second page read, "Husband is fine, do not worry."

Seeing the second page, Chen Afu’s tears flowed again. Having been so seriously injured and losing so much blood, and held hostage by a shrew, how could he be okay.

She wiped her tears, got up, put the second note in her makeup box, and took the first note out of the room.

Chen Afu couldn’t share what Jin Yanzi said with Marquis Chu, but she could show him the note since both Marquis Chu and the old Marquis knew of Jin Yanzi’s abilities. However, this note could not be shared with others as it could potentially link to the incident where Rong Zhao was attacked by birds.

Upon seeing the note, the old Marquis became so emotional that tears came to his eyes. He suppressed his voice and said, "Good, good, all the bad things are over."

Before long, Marquis Chu returned from the palace. He read the note and laughed heartily. For many years, this was the first time Chen Afu saw Marquis Chu genuinely laugh.

His laughter was bright and pure, every bit the handsome middle-aged man. It was a shame, tarnished by over a decade being prodded by Rong Zhao, he had lost the will to live.

He also mentioned that the Emperor wanted him to come out of retirement again, and the invitation was extremely sincere. The Emperor even suggested that if He didn’t like being a military official, he could work in the Ministry of War.

Marquis Chu firmly declined. First, the Chu family’s influence was already quite significant, and he didn’t want to incur the Emperor’s jealousy. Second, during the previous session in the Golden Hall, in front of the late Emperor and all civil and military officials, Marquis Chu had already declined. Third, Marquis Chu had completely become weary of politics and wanted to live a free and easy life.

In the evening, the Bamboo Pavilion hosted a gathering. Besides them, Mrs. Chu and her son were also invited.

When Mrs. Chu saw the father and son pair red-faced with happiness, she felt elated and slightly perplexed.

Chen Afu chuckled softly, "I caught a bit of their conversation, it seems like the Emperor wanted to call father-in-law out of retirement again. Although father-in-law didn’t agree, he was delighted at the Emperor’s boundless grace."

Hearing this, Mrs. Chu also chuckled. Although Marquis Chu did not hold any official position, he was the patriarch of the Chu family and the pillar of support for all of its members. The Emperor’s trust in him was effectively trust in all the members of the Chu family.

That night, after the children had fallen asleep, Jin Yanzi wanted to enter the space, but Jin Bei refused to go in and looked at Chen Afu with a pitiful expression.

Chen Afu quickly understood - she had once promised to help clean it.

She laughed, brought Jin Bei to the bathroom, and helped it wash in the basin. She said, "Clean now, there’s no smell at all." Then she asked Jin Yanzi, "Does baby need to wash?"

Jin Yanzi blushed and shyly said, "I’m a boy, how could I let mummy wash me? And besides, I’ve already washed in the creek. Actually, Beibei washed too, but it was scared that it didn’t do a good job and wanted mummy to wash it again."

Chen Afu opened her left hand and said, "Good, both of you are nice and fresh now, go in."

In the blink of an eye, the two birds disappeared.

Five days later, the Emperor received an urgent message from eight-hundred miles away that the rebellion had been quelled eight days ago, and Commander Chu leading the troops to march south would return to the court in a month. They also brought back the corpse of the Second Prince and the heads of the previous king’s son-in-law and brother-in-law.

Even though the Second Prince was a rebel, he was still the Emperor’s older brother, so they had to return his whole body.

The Emperor was ecstatic, and in court highly praised the Chu family army, declaring he would personally go out of the city to welcome the Chu family army. He also summoned the elder and younger Marquis Chu to the palace, praised the remarkable achievements of the Chu family and invited them to a royal feast with Prince He. For a time, the reputation of the Chu family was unrivalled.

With the wind in their sails, the second legally wedded daughter of the Chu family, Chu Bi, was engaged to a concubine’s son from a second-ranked military official family. The boy was seventeen, already working in the military, and held a low eighth-rank official post.

Having seen both the daughters get such good matches, hardly inferior to their legitimate daughter Chu Zhen, Mrs. Li experienced a bout of heartache again.

Because a number of treasonous ministers were dealt with recently, many large houses became vacant. The best houses were given to several newly-appointed princes, while some of the remaining ones were sold.

Chu Ling’an bought a large four-section house. Actually, for their family, there was no real need for such a large house. But, Chu Ling’an always wanted to invest more in real estate, hence he bought this large house.

Chen Shiying’s family also bought a four-section house with a man made lake, as the previous three-section house was too small.

Before moving, seeing that Chen Yuhui’s health was almost fully restored, Chen Shiying wanted to send her to a rural area of Dingzhou. After all, she was divorced and couldn’t be allowed to stay at home and hinder the prospects of her younger sisters.