Chapter 25: Little Li Er

On the first day of the first month in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign, having finished clearing away the historical refuse within the city of Kaifeng, the Anmin Army, which had been stationed outside the city walls for over half a month, officially made its entry.

The citizens of Kaifeng stood along the roadsides, watching with curiosity as the Anmin Army marched in with disciplined, measured steps, entering the city in organized companies.

A three-year-old child kicked a ball into the ranks. Ignoring his mother’s frantic shouts, the toddler toddled after his toy. A horse came to a halt before the ball, and a tall, handsome young man swung down from his saddle to pick it up.

The mother nearby was pale with fright; she grabbed her child and knelt, pleading for mercy, "Have mercy, my Lord! The child is ignorant. I beg you, sir, to be magnanimous and spare our family."

The mother clutched the child tightly as she knelt, and the toddler began to wail in terror.

The young man handed the ball back to the child and reached into his pocket to retrieve a piece of candy, which he popped into the boy’s mouth.

He helped the mother up, flashing a smile that revealed white teeth, and said softly, "I command that from this day forward, you are no longer to kneel."

He patted the child’s head, mounted his horse, and rode off. The young boy, holding his mother’s hand, looked up at her tear-streaked face and said, "Mother, I want more. This candy is so sweet."

The mother silently pulled him to the side of the road.

The surrounding crowd was abuzz with discussion.

"That commander is so young! He looks no more than sixteen or seventeen. I wonder if he is married?" a woman from a nearby brothel sighed, infatuated.

"Such orderly ranks, such disciplined movement, and they show no slight to the people. Even General Yue’s famous Yue Family Army could hardly be better," a young scholar remarked with a sigh.

Beside him, an elderly, white-haired scholar frowned in disgust. "Mere window dressing! Once our Great Yuan’s celestial army arrives, they will be ground to dust in an instant."

Butcher Hu, who stood next to the elderly scholar, chuckled. "The Ming army is already nearly at Dadu, and you’re still dreaming your old dreams, Master? Besides, what does it matter to a low-ranking scholar like you? Does the Great Yuan even care about you?"

"At the very least, this Anmin Army doesn’t bully the markets or oppress the people. They pay for what they buy in gold and silver. Those dogs of the Great Yuan only know how to bully us and loot our homes. To hell with the Great Yuan!"

The crowd cheered in agreement. The loyalist scholar, clutching his chest in indignation, hopped about and cried, "Vulgar! Utterly vulgar!"

At eighty years old, he was mocked and surrounded by the laughing crowd like a stray rat. Finally, in a fit of rage, he retreated to a corner, squeezed his eyes shut, and pretended to faint.

Zhu Shuang, who had already reached the Kaifeng prefectural office, remained unaware of this little episode. He fell into deep thought as he looked at the carved beams and jade pillars of the office, which were even more luxurious than his own Yangxin Palace.

Compared to the Hongwu court, where officials dared not renovate their offices, these remnants of the Mongol Yuan were far too skilled at indulging themselves.

Because the Yuan Dynasty never fully implemented sinicization, they held only sixteen imperial examinations in total, producing a mere 1,139 officials. Due to constant political turbulence, countless officials were stripped of their ranks, dismissed, or resigned to return home. This led to a chronic issue where local government became stagnant and impossible to manage, with officials essentially sitting in their seats until death.

The office was their home, after all. It seemed Prefect Song had spent all his money on these luxuries. Zhu Shuang carefully helped Minmin, who was seven months pregnant, down from the carriage. Her once slender frame had rounded out significantly. Zhu Shuang glanced at her, quite satisfied with his handiwork—the small hill was showing signs of becoming a grand mound.

Supported by Nanny Wu, Minmin toured the back courtyard. Her delicate brows knit together as she remarked, "Why are we staying in this godforsaken place instead of the Yingchuan Prince’s mansion? There are barely any servants to attend to us."

"Er, my dear, isn't this for the sake of taking better care of you?" Zhu Shuang replied awkwardly. He had stripped the Yingchuan Prince’s mansion bare, leaving not even a single sandalwood chair. If Minmin saw that, she would surely come after him with a kitchen knife.

Minmin sat in a chair, supporting her waist as she ate grapes provided by Nanny Wu. She sighed, "Is this the grand house you promised me?" She gestured toward the main hall, which lacked even a single vase.

Zhu Shuang’s face flushed. He had confiscated everything of value in the office, leaving nothing but tables, chairs, and beds. With thousands of men to feed, money flowed like water, and he was desperately poor.

"Wife, one day I will buy you the greatest house in the world."

Minmin spat a grape seed into a dish, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and scoffed, "Another empty promise, you scoundrel. I thought being a prince meant we would live well, but you lost your title. I finally endured until you became a commander, and you sold everything of value, leaving us with nothing but a broken bowl. Once the baby is born, we’ll have to take that bowl and go beg in the streets."

Zhu Shuang thought to himself: *Is this what they call inheriting the family business? Or perhaps inheriting the ancestral legacy?*

He wondered if Old Zhu still had that broken bowl. With the Old Emperor’s explosive temper, he didn't dare ask. Perhaps the bowl would be passed down for three generations, still intact.

"I know you are a man of great ambitions, but the household expenses are being covered by my dowry. When I was a princess, I had all the fruit I could eat every day. Now, it’s a rarity once a month. You can’t just think about the people outside; you must care for the family’s needs. My dear Commander Zhu, a home without even a decent decoration—do you expect us to survive on nothing but thin air?"

As his wife lectured him, Zhu Shuang finally understood the bitterness of Old Zhu’s heart. Every married man, after the sweet talk and romance of courtship, must eventually face the mundane trifles of daily life.

His wife, Minmin, had transformed from an ethereal fairy into a woman concerned with the trivialities of food and chores. Was this a good thing or a bad thing?

"Commander, someone from the south is here to see you. He claims to be Li Jinglong and says he is an old acquaintance."

"Bring him in quickly!"

Zhang Yu’s announcement rescued Zhu Shuang from his wife’s lecture.

Li Jinglong entered with a guard, gave Zhu Shuang a bear hug, and said with teary eyes, "My dear cousin! I have finally found you. Do you have any idea how I’ve survived this past year?"

Zhu Shuang quickly interrupted, "Stop it, you girl. You’re overacting."

Li Jinglong wept even harder. He stripped off his outer garment to reveal his back and cried, "Cousin, I’m not lying! After I took you to the brothels and lost you, my father dragged me before the Emperor every three days to be whipped. Look, is there a single piece of good skin left on my back?"

Zhu Shuang saw that his back was covered in scars, though they were mostly superficial.

Li Jinglong then pointed to his backside. "Last month, when His Majesty heard you had taken a barbarian woman in the north, he flew into a rage. My father dragged me to the Meridian Gate and ordered fifty strokes of the rod. Those rods were thicker than my arms; I was beaten unconscious for three days. Cousin, you’ve ruined me!"

Zhu Shuang thought, *You silly boy, your father was trying to save your life. Otherwise, given Old Zhu’s temper, he would have skinned you alive.*