"Wife, I want to eat meat” 《娘子，我要吃肉》Chapter 49 Before the last beam of sunlight also disappeared under the city walls of Beiding city at nightfall, scarlet lanterns lit up on the bustling streets, like the will-o’-the-wisp from hell, in the bright and gloomy autumn wind. Wang Yun Feng alone wondered the city streets, for a while not knowing where he wanted to go, to do what. From not far away came two men, one old, one young, the old one seeing him from a distance waved his hand in greeting: “Oh, isn’t it Wang Yun Feng?” The young one smiled in good-nature: “Ah, indeed it’s imperial censor Wang.” Wang Yun Feng felt his head hurt even more, nothing was going his way today, staying at the residence he feared he would quarrel with Xia Ling Mei, coming out he met the father and son he most didn’t want to see. The old one halted him: “Don’t be so heartless, today I’ve brought money there’s no need for you to pay for drinks. Go, go, go, let us go to the pleasure quarters.” The young one agreed with a noise: “Fa…father said, today he’s going to take me to see the aspects of society. Lord Wang let’s go together.” Wang Yun Feng shook his sleeves, a stoic face: “I’m not going. If you two are not afraid of the ice beauty at home finding out, you best not go either.” The entire Beiding city, the only woman who can truly make Wang Yun Feng call her `ice beauty`, could only be the empress residing in the depth of the courtyard of the Imperial City. That’s right, the old and young men, the father and son were precisely the lecherous, greatly powerful, also righteous, also evil emperor and crown prince. The father emperor feared nothing in heaven or earth, pleased with himself he waved his fan: “What am I afraid of. My beauty is far more fair and reasonable than your tigress. Moreover, it’s not like I’m going to play around by myself, I’m taking my son to see aspects of society.” Uh-huh, even if the ice beauty at home asked, everything can just be pushed onto the son, hahaha, the emperor laughed heartily inside. The crown prince however wasn’t ignorant: “I’m just a boy, I don’t know anything. Daddy said himself he wanted to sprawl drunk on beauty’s knees, it has nothing to do with me.” The crown prince grabbed Wang Yun Feng’s sleeve, “Lord Wang, you must distinguish right and wrong with acuity.” The most important was, when the empress asks, Lord Wang you must take my the crown prince’s side, tell the empress, everything is the emperor’s fault, the emperor is too lecherous, he even lead astray his own son, an unforgivable crime! Wang Yun Feng’s forehead cramped, these two fat dragons ought to die! The three people were pulling and tugging on the main street of restaurants and shops, finally Lord Wang roared loudly, saying to the group of wanton pimps, female brothel keepers and women of pleasure quarters watching a good play and laughing: “Whoever dares to pull us in, just wait until tomorrow for the authorities to close down your store!” Everyone’s complexion hugely changed. Lord Wang, imperial censor Wang, go speed, we won’t send you off! On the way, take those two young and old with you, quickly take them away, we didn’t see anything. “Ai…” “Oh dear----“ The old and young heaved a sigh. The old lecherous dragon placed the cup in front of the young fat dragon, making the young fat dragon pour wine: “Lord Wang is not in a good mood today.” The young fat dragon even more dispirited: “The one who is most wro
nged today is me.”
Clearly I was the one who suffered, “Why did I have to also see the wild leopard’s adoptive father’s face?”
Wang Yun Feng turned a deaf ear, picking up a pot of wine himself, drinking his fill one cup and another.
The old lecherous dragon rubbed his bright and clean jaw: “Lord Wang must have been discarded by his tigress.”
The young fat dragon following by example also rubbed his…chubby face: “I feel, Lord Wang must have been beaten up by the wild leopard.”
The two heartless, lacking in livers, lungs, intestines scoundrel dragons, I make a remark, you say a sentence made sport of the imperial censor Wang who was extremely depressed and drowning his sorrows in alcohol, only making Wang Yun Feng sound like the most pathetic, most repulsive, most misfortunate due to his fault, a criminal that cannot be pardoned scoundrel.
“Emperor…tell me, am I Wang Yun Feng extremely good-for-nothing?”
The old lecherous dragon exceedingly innocently said: “I thought everyone in Beiding City knew this.” He drank his wine, like a smile yet not a smile: “Not only are you good-for-nothing, you’re simply rubbish. Even if you’re an imperial censor, you can still have a main wife, and two other wives. Look at you, what cultivating of one’s moral character and mentality, you actually passed on the beauties the officials openly or secretly sent to you; the Xia family has so many daughters, you could have married anyone, you had to marry that tigress only, all day long arguing so the home is not peaceful. It’s been so many years, you don’t have a single son, making people have no choice but to suspect whether you have an unmentionable illness. Also, apart from not having a son, you actually still won’t adopt a collateral relative’s child, in the end you even lost the position of clan leader from the argument. Wang Yun Feng, everyone says you are a man of honour, in my opinion you’re actually a total failure and a fool.”
The young fat dragon was puzzled: “Is the position of clan leader very important?”
The old lecherous dragon explained: “Certainly it’s important, a clan leader of an influential family, can control the power of the entire family’s influence. If one person is considered a pair of chopsticks, then there are numerous pairs of chopsticks in an influential family. You can easily snap a single pair of chopsticks, what about several hundred pairs? If you need to protect one person, you would use all the strength you had to protect them, or use the power in your hands, make several hundred people protect him?”
The young fat dragon nodded, showing his understanding, “Like if, I’m studying at the academy, whoever has offended me, I don’t need to personally go and teach him a lesson, I only need to tell a subordinate to punish the other person. A single person cannot beat the other person, then two people, if two people cannot then three people.” The crown prince actually bore grudges against Xia Fen.
The old lecherous dragon greatly approved: “If you youngsters can’t deal with it, then just tell the adults. As your father, I will find and fight the other person’s father on your behalf.” Indeed, meeting Wang Yun Feng here by chance was fake, emperor if you don’t arrest someone on the streets today, you would run to the Wang residence to arrest Wang Yun Feng, you would vent your anger on behalf of your son right?
Wang Yun Feng simply did not hear what the two people had said, his mind was entirely on that chopsticks conclusion from before: “If, I regain the position of the clan leader, wouldn’t
that mean I can protect my most important people”
The emperor deep in thought threw a glance at Wang Yun Feng, with a confident and at ease attitude he lifted up a wine pot, pouring the alcohol into the sparkling and translucent wine cup. The more alcohol, the deeper the emperor’s meaningful glance: “Your Wang family has been an imperial censor family since the establishment of the Dayan dynasty.
You understand the art of politics and conspiracy, best at controlling the will of the people, you are truly civilian court officials. Do you not what the weakness is of civilian court officials? No unity, you like to fight with each other, you always feel people cannot understand as well as you, fake nobility and virtue, fake benevolence and righteousness, fake good-nature. Literature officials, you give them a high position they will feel their number one in the country, taking bribes and bending the law, if it’s not evil they won’t do it, on one hand taking money, on the other hand still wanting people to praise them as honest, while planning personal gain yet still say they devote their whole life for the country and people. Literature officials during period of prosperity can indulge in taking bribes peacefully and happily, if they run into troubled times, hehe, they would absolutely be treacherous court officials who damaged the country and caused suffering to the people, selling the country for glory without hesitation. You think a group of civilian court officials together, even if a representative is elected, the people below him would truly obey him? They wouldn’t pay lip service, would they take unfair advantage and keep it in the dark?”
The crown prince contemplated it, stumbling: “Daddy you’re saying the Wang family are civilian court officials, then the most treacherous court official is the clan leader, right?”
The emperor rubbed the top of the crown prince’s head: “In a period of prosperity, the most treacherous officials are corrupt officials, you yourself may not be corrupt, but you cannot say your entire family is not corrupt. An honest person elected as clan leader, to the clan it means prosperity, to yourself it is a calamity. At that time the clan leader is a talisman used by the family to deceive others, it’s a flag, and a target. An outsider wanting to attack his family, must first bring down the clan leader. But in an literature official family, are there several people who sincerely and intentionally think on behalf of the clan leader? Are there people for the purpose of strengthening the family? They only use the clan leader’s prestige, secretly seeking their own benefit, nothing more. The clan leader make the family stronger, indeed the clan leader ought to; if the clan leader lead the family into decline, then the clan leader is incompetent, they can push the clan leader towards the guillotine, as a scapegoat, then weeping bitter tears again picking another scapegoat, continue to protect them from wind and rain, be the target people attack.”
The crown prince sighed, feeling sorry for Wang Yun Feng: “Lord Wang, You are a pitiful person.”
Wang Yun Feng however didn’t care about himself, he only cared about whether the Wang family can protect Xia Fen, whether it can protect his own wife and child safe and sound.
Back then he only requested to resign as clan leader, truthfully because he saw through the clan member’s hypocrisy. He didn’t want to be responsible for that hollow family, using his future prospects to seek benefits for the family.
Wang family, in fact is merely an empty frame with only an upright and plainspoken reputation.
This sort of family, how can it protect Xia Fen, how can it resist against the jackals, wolves, tigers and panthers of the court.
Wang Yun Feng felt he was a caged beast, trapped in the middle of the mountain fountain by the court, surrounded by tigers, with wild wolves, falcons. And he, holding his only son, confronting a secretive and hidden jungle, sheltering Xia Ling Mei behind him. Perhaps, in the next moment the child in his arms natural instinct will explode into cruelty and blood-thirsty, putting the enemy to death; maybe, behind him there is an unknown enemy, in the moment he is distracted the would drag Xia Ling Mei away from his side, ripping her apart.
A cold sweat covered Wang Yun Feng who feared nothing on heaven or earth from head to toe, for the first time secretly calculating how many enemies he had actually made over the years, how many wives and children viewed him as a thorn in their side and flesh, wishing to flay his skin and peel his tendons, dying without an intact corpse.
Amongst these, again how many people wanted to carry his wife and child to the guillotine, make him experience the pain of losing his next of kin, make him live a lifetime alone.
“But,” The emperor’s voice again started, “An even bigger target, as long as he has a formidable supporter, he simply doesn’t care for the people’s shower of arrows. Even more literature officials, they are also merely the pawns in the emperor’s hands.” With a [ding] he placed his wine cup down, a crack already appearing on the flat and smooth lisp of the cup, the man at that moment was already no longer an idle loiterer, he was the emperor, the ruler controlling everyone’s lives: “I let them live, they can only live; I want them to die at sangeng[1], they definitely will not be able to live to wugeng.”[2]
[1] 23:00 – 01:00.
[2] 03:00 – 05:00.