Chen Biao sent several “lumps of mud” to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Although he had intended it as a joke, Zhu Yuanzhang was the very man who had invented beggar’s chicken. One look at the mud-covered lumps and he immediately knew how they were meant to be eaten. Chen Biao couldn’t prank his father after all.
After eating and drinking his fill, Chen Shuang became even more energetic, while Chen Biao grew sleepy.
After washing his hands, Zhu Wenying carried Chen Biao back to his room for a nap. Madam Ma stayed behind with her son and godsons, continuing to eat, play, and make merry.
Chen Shuang wanted to follow Chen Biao and stir up trouble, but Zhu Wenzheng grabbed him by the scruff.
The big one and the little one immediately started wrestling with each other while Zhu Wenzhong stood nearby, sighing and rolling his eyes.
His cousin and sworn brother probably had the same mental age as Shuang’er.
Three or four years old. No older.
Before taking Chen Biao away, Zhu Wenying told him about Zhu Yuanzhang borrowing books and leaving behind a book list.
Half-asleep, Chen Biao complained, “What’s the point of him leaving a list? As if I remember which books I own.”
Zhu Wenying smiled. “When Foster Father returns them, he can compare them against the list to make sure none are missing.”
Chen Biao’s eyes closed completely. Leaning against Zhu Wenying’s shoulder, he grumbled, “That’s even more pointless. Whenever he borrows books from me, doesn’t he always return at least half of them missing?”
Some were lost during military campaigns.
Some disappeared after being lent to his sworn brothers.
Others were simply read so enthusiastically that they fell apart.
If borrowing books from Zhu Yuanzhang had to be described with a xiehouyu, it would be: borrowed, never returned.
Zhu Wenying also knew about his foster father’s habit of borrowing books without returning them. That was why Zhu Yuanzhang only borrowed books Chen Biao wouldn’t be reading for a while, then bought him new ones according to the book list.
The annotations Chen Biao left in his books weren’t just to organize his own thoughts while reading. More often than not, they were written for Zhu Yuanzhang, helping explain the contents.
If the books were lost, then they were lost.
He would simply annotate the next copies.
What else could he do?
Zhu Wenying didn’t know how to defend Zhu Yuanzhang either. All he could say was, “I tucked the list inside the first book from the left on the second shelf.”
With his eyes closed, Chen Biao responded perfunctorily, “Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.”
After that absent-minded reply, he curled into a tiny ball in Zhu Wenying’s arms, his breathing gradually becoming slow and even.
Children needed plenty of sleep.
Chen Biao could fall asleep under any circumstances.
Zhu Wenying tightened his hold around the sleeping boy.
He hadn’t even left yet, and already he felt reluctant.
After spending several years almost inseparable from Chen Biao, even though he knew he would return after the campaign, Zhu Wenying still found it difficult to part with him.
He worried that without him, the others wouldn’t take care of Chen Biao as attentively. His foster father had said he would leave either Zhu Wenzheng or Zhu Wenzhong behind.
That only made Zhu Wenying more worried.
Wenzhong would be fine.
But Zhu Wenzheng…
Who exactly would be taking care of whom?
He gently stroked the little tuft of hair atop Chen Biao’s head and softly rubbed his cheek against the boy’s crown, feeling thoroughly dejected.
When Chen Biao woke up, it was already night.
Reaching beside him, he touched a fluffy little head.
Rolling over, he found it was indeed Chen Shuang.
After tiring himself out from playing, Chen Shuang hadn’t returned to his own room but had crawled directly into Chen Biao’s bed.
Whenever Zhu Yuanzhang and Madam Ma were away, Chen Biao and Chen Shuang always slept together, with Chen Gang’s cradle placed beside the bed. To Chen Shuang, Chen Biao’s room was his own room, and Chen Biao’s bed was his bed.
After Madam Ma returned, she had wanted to sleep with the children again. But Chen Biao worried that his younger brothers would disturb her rest, so he continued living next door to her with them. They could remain close without making too much noise.
“…Can’t… eat… anymore…”
Still asleep, Chen Shuang opened his mouth while hugging Chen Biao’s arm and tried to bite it.
Chen Biao quickly pulled his hand away.
Chen Shuang drowsily opened his eyes, turned over, and promptly went back to sleep.
At this time, ordinary households generally ate only two meals a day. Wealthier families might have a little food in the evening to stave off hunger, but children and those in poor health were often forbidden to eat after noon for fear of indigestion.
Chen Biao ignored such customs entirely.
He and his younger brothers were still growing, and his mother was carrying another child, meaning she had to eat enough for two. Naturally, the whole family ate hearty breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
Since everyone had eaten plenty of meat at noon, Chen Biao prepared mostly vegetable dishes for dinner, along with steamed fish and milk-steamed eggs. The meal was light, easy to digest, nutritious, and delicious.
Even for Chen Gang, who was only beginning to crawl, Chen Biao made vegetable puree and fish puree. Chen Gang enjoyed them even more than milk.
Poking his third brother’s plump cheeks, Chen Biao said, “This little guy is definitely going to grow up into a foodie too. Where’s Dad? He’s actually not coming home for dinner?”
Madam Ma hesitated before answering honestly.
“Your father went to visit your Yiniang.”
Chen Biao’s eyelids twitched slightly.
“Is Yiniang pregnant too?”
Madam Ma looked surprised.
“Biao’er, how did you know?”
“I could tell from the household accounts,” Chen Biao replied. “Dad took duplicates of most of the things I prepared for you. He must be taking care of another pregnant woman.”
Madam Ma twisted her fingers together, unsure what to say.
Zhu Yuanzhang’s concubines had not accompanied the army, nor did they live with the Chen family. Instead, they stayed in the large residence in Yingtian Prefecture that officially belonged to “Zhu Yuanzhang.”
Ordinarily, after Madam Ma followed Zhu Yuanzhang on campaign, those concubines should have taken responsibility for caring for his young legitimate sons.
But Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t trust them. Chen Biao was also exceptionally mature for his age, so the concubines remained confined to the Marshal’s residence. They knew nothing about the Chen family’s true circumstances, nor did they realize that the Chen children were actually Zhu Yuanzhang’s legitimate sons.
Zhu Yuanzhang had done this to protect Chen Biao and his legitimate sons, and Madam Ma had agreed.
Yet whenever she thought about Chen Biao having to care for himself—and even for his younger brothers—at such a young age, she couldn’t help wondering whether she should persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to reveal the truth to a trustworthy concubine and let her help care for the children.
“I don’t care how many little wives my dad has. That’s just the way the world is,” Chen Biao said calmly. “But at least he has enough conscience not to make me take care of them.”
Madam Ma blinked, then burst into laughter.
“How would you be taking care of them? Obviously they’d be taking care of you.”
Chen Biao puffed out his cheeks.
“Mother, search your conscience. Who’s really taking care of whom?”
Madam Ma thought it over carefully.
Suddenly, she wasn’t so sure anymore.
Those concubines certainly knew how to care for ordinary children.
But Chen Biao wasn’t an ordinary child.
Their kindness would probably become a burden for him.
Chen Biao continued, “If someone starts telling me that a concubine is also a mother, tries to throw around seniority, orders me about, and meddles in everything I do, who knows how much trouble that’ll cause? I can control the servants, but if they start crying, making scenes, or threatening suicide, I’d have no way to deal with them.”
Madam Ma nodded repeatedly.
“You’re right, Biao’er. Don’t worry. I absolutely won’t let them come bother you. And you don’t need to worry about their children either. They’ll raise them themselves.”
Chen Biao replied indifferently, “Mm.”
His half-siblings born of concubines…
Whether or not they became close in the future was another matter.
But Chen Biao could never instinctively regard them as family.
Even if affection developed over time, the younger siblings born to the same mother would always occupy a unique place in his heart.
He would never take the initiative to get close to the others.
Madam Ma didn’t blame Chen Biao for his coldness.
Instead, seeing him act a little childish reassured her.
It meant he depended on her. Around his mother, he was still a child who revealed his true feelings.
Madam Ma drew him into her embrace and gently patted his back.
“Biao’er, don’t worry. No matter how many women or children your father has, our place in his heart will always be the highest. If he ever gets stubborn, it won’t be because he doesn’t value us. It’s only because he’s proud. When that happens, just give him a little face, and he’ll repay us with real benefits. Do you understand?”
Looking up at the calm expression on her face, Chen Biao wrapped his arms around her neck and acted spoiled.
“Mmm.”
All the uncles said his mother was the most virtuous of women, that she loved his father to the very core of her being.
But Chen Biao thought his mother was far calmer and far more clear-headed than his father.
She certainly valued him deeply, and the feelings between them were indeed profound.
But she was absolutely not blinded by love.
On the contrary, if people from later generations saw her virtue, they would immediately recognize just how rational she truly was.
She knew what was best for herself.
She knew what was best for her children.
As for his father…
He came after that.
Chen Biao chuckled like a little hen.
“Mother, while Dad’s away, let’s set off fireworks.”
Madam Ma hesitated.
“Isn’t that rather dangerous?”
Gunpowder had been used as a weapon since the Song dynasty, and within the army it was an important strategic resource.
But Madam Ma wasn’t worried about Chen Biao wasting it.
She was only worried about the danger.
Chen Biao smiled.
“Don’t worry, Mother. The fireworks I make use very little gunpowder. They’re perfectly safe. Besides, Brother Ying and the others are here. Come on, let’s hurry and enjoy ourselves while Dad isn’t home. Otherwise, if he sees them, he’ll bring all his brothers over and steal every last firework. Dad’s just an old child.”
Madam Ma laughed.
“All right.”
Chen Biao led Madam Ma in hosting a lively fireworks party.
Not only did Zhu Wenying, Zhu Wenzheng, and Zhu Wenzhong eagerly join in, but Li Zhen, Xu Da, and Tang He also showed up uninvited.
After enthusiastically setting off fireworks together, the older men and younger men alike—whose stomachs seemed to have bottomless pits inside them—started yet another barbecue feast.
Chen Biao grabbed the back of his younger brother’s collar with both hands.
“You’re not eating any more!”
Chen Shuang squealed and struggled like a little piglet driven mad by greed.
While Zhu Yuanzhang was accompanying the pregnant Lady Sun during dinner, one of his personal guards quietly whispered that the Chen residence was overflowing with excitement.
Everyone was there—
Except him.
Lady Sun was completely different from Madam Ma.
She was a refined, small-footed, talented woman.
Though she wasn’t truly born into a great aristocratic family, Madam Maxiong had raised his adopted daughter according to noble standards, hoping she could later be exchanged for political and military advantages.
A rough peasant like Zhu Yuanzhang had never before encountered such a gentle, graceful young lady.
Although he knew he ought to remain wary of women sent to him by others, he still favored Lady Sun somewhat more.
Zhu Yuanzhang had started life as a beggar with no backing. Even among the rough men who had joined the Red Turban Rebellion alongside him, many did not necessarily think highly of him.
Lacking a distinguished family background, once he became the ruler of a powerful faction, women from every influential force naturally began filling his inner residence.
Even Madam Ma was merely Guo Zixing’s adopted daughter.
When those generals sent women into Zhu Yuanzhang’s household, they all believed that the women they offered were, if not more noble than Madam Ma, then at least her equal.
As for who would ultimately become the future principal wife and bear the legitimate heir…
No one knew.
Even the Guo family themselves, after Zhu Yuanzhang had grown powerful and Guo Zixing had passed away, had entertained the idea of sending one of Guo Zixing’s biological daughters to replace Madam Ma.
Readers of palace intrigue novels in later generations often joked about fictional emperors whose harems were packed with high-born consorts. To balance the political factions at court, such emperors supposedly had to carefully deliberate every night over which woman to sleep with. They mockingly called those emperors “male escorts serving the nation.”
Everyone knew that an emperor whose harem was controlled by court politics was a useless emperor.
At this point in time, Zhu Yuanzhang was more or less one of those “pathetic little male escorts serving power,” completely unlike the situation after he eventually became Emperor.
Even so, Zhu Yuanzhang had an exceptionally forceful personality.
He hurried to have several sons with Madam Ma first. Only after Madam Ma’s and the legitimate heirs’ positions were firmly secured did he begin sharing his bed with other women.
Lady Sun’s adoptive father was Red Turban Marshal Madam Maxiong. Zhu Yuanzhang also liked her rather well, and Madam Ma thought highly of her too, even calling her “a virtuous woman of antiquity.”
Thus, Lady Sun became the first woman Zhu Yuanzhang chose.
Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed vigorous and full of vitality.
The moment he wanted Lady Sun to become pregnant, she conceived.
Now that he already had three sons, along with Chen Biao, his greatest treasure, he still felt the joy of becoming a father toward the children carried by his other women—but that joy had become much more subdued.
He still made time to accompany Lady Sun, partly because he genuinely liked her, partly because he cared for her unborn child out of affection for its mother, and partly to reassure the generals who had sent women into his household that he would indeed have children with them, putting their minds at ease.
Whenever he was with Lady Sun, she played the qin, sang songs, composed poetry, painted, and danced elegant court dances on her tiny bound feet, swaying gracefully.
She allowed Zhu Yuanzhang to indulge in every fantasy he had ever had about the refined life of a scholar.
But today, all he could think about was how his son was setting off fireworks and eating barbecue.
Xu Da, Tang He, and Li Zhen had actually shamelessly gone to the Chen residence to freeload, mooching both food and time with his precious son.
At that moment, the peach blossom wine Lady Sun had brewed with her own hands and the delicately named dishes before him lost all their flavor.
Even the elegant melodies of the qin and the songs adorned with beautiful poetic language only made him yawn again and again.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought regretfully, Sure enough, I’m just a rough old brute. I want heavily seasoned barbecue, I want to set off fireworks with Biao’er, and I want to drink bowl after bowl of liquor with my brothers.
But a man had his pride.
In front of Lady Sun, Zhu Yuanzhang had always presented himself as a refined, scholarly gentleman—or so he liked to think. Even if he bit through his own tongue, he was determined to keep up the act.
Only after Lady Sun grew tired did Zhu Yuanzhang help her to bed. Finally, that’s over, he thought. I wonder if those bastards have already used up all the special sparklers Biao’er made.
Lady Sun slipped off her embroidered shoes and climbed onto the soft couch in her silk stockings.
Zhu Yuanzhang had once loved admiring Lady Sun’s three-inch golden lilies. But today, when he saw her tiny feet, the image of the deformed foot skeleton model in Chen Biao’s study suddenly flashed through his mind, making his eyelids twitch.
He suddenly realized that Lady Sun had never removed her stockings in front of him.
Then he remembered the erotic paintings of women with bound feet that he and his brothers had secretly looked at together. The women in the paintings wore nothing at all—except embroidered shoes or silk stockings.
Curiosity got the better of him.
He insisted on helping Lady Sun remove her stockings.
The composed, elegant expression she always wore shattered instantly into panic as she repeatedly refused.
But Zhu Yuanzhang’s scholarly demeanor was only an act.
Why couldn’t he look at his own woman’s feet?
Unable to resist him, Lady Sun’s face turned deathly pale as she slowly removed her stockings.
Inside them were not delicate flesh-colored feet, but layer upon layer of binding cloth.
Lady Sun was an exceptionally clean person, and Zhu Yuanzhang had always been generous with material comforts. She changed her binding cloth every day, so it carried no unpleasant odor.
The dainty little feet wrapped in pale strips of cloth somehow looked even more alluring than they had beneath the stockings.
But that wasn’t what Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to see.
Ignoring Lady Sun’s terrified gaze, he unwound the binding cloth and frowned as he examined the true appearance of her three-inch golden lilies.
Lifting one of her feet into his hands, Zhu Yuanzhang recalled the skeletal model he had seen in Chen Biao’s study.
The toes were broken and folded underneath the sole.
The arch had been forced upward after the bones were broken.
Compared to the shattered bones in the anatomical model, seeing those bones still wrapped in flesh made the three-inch golden lilies even more unsettling.
So this…
…was the bound foot that scholars adored.
Zhu Yuanzhang knew Lady Sun was scrupulously clean—far more particular than even his wife.
Yet despite that, he could still see traces of grime on her bound feet, along with the faintest lingering odor.
It couldn’t be helped.
Her toes had been folded tightly against the sole of her foot. The dirt trapped in those crevices had to be incredibly difficult to clean. And after being wrapped up all day long, it would have been stranger if her feet had no smell at all.
Zhu Yuanzhang asked, “Why are you crying?”
Lady Sun trembled slightly as tears streamed down her face, but she couldn’t utter a single word.
He gently lowered her foot.
“You think they’re ugly? You think I’ll despise you?”
Lady Sun gave a tiny nod.
Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be asking her, yet also speaking to himself.
“If they’re so ugly once the stockings come off, why do those scholars praise them so highly?”
Had they never seen what bound feet looked like beneath the stockings and binding cloth?
No…
They probably had.
That was why, in all those paintings of women with bound feet, the women were completely naked except for their shoes or stockings.
“My arm was fractured during a battle,” Zhu Yuanzhang said.
He called for hot water, washed his own hands first, then helped Lady Sun soak her feet in the warm water.
“Whenever it rains, my arm still aches a little.”
He paused.
“…Do yours hurt?”
Lady Sun’s tear-filled eyes widened in astonishment.
Zhu Yuanzhang scratched his head.
“Ah… what a stupid question. Of course they hurt.”
“You should get some sleep. I’ll go take a walk outside.”
“Oh, and… if binding your feet is uncomfortable, don’t bind them anymore. I’ve already seen them, so there’s no point hiding them now.”
With that, he turned and hurried away, his retreat looking suspiciously like he was fleeing the scene.
He had always carried himself differently around women other than Madam Ma.
A man’s pride, after all.
Madam Ma had accompanied him from the very bottom to where he was today.
She had seen every embarrassing, miserable side of him.
The other women hadn’t.
Deep down, Zhu Yuanzhang knew he still carried a sense of inferiority.
But after hearing his son say that he was destined by Heaven, much of that inferiority had quietly faded away.
Without realizing it, he had begun revealing a little more of his true self, even before his concubines.
How embarrassing.
Why was I always putting on airs before?
Still pondering the question, Zhu Yuanzhang hurried back to the Chen residence.
The moment he stepped into the courtyard, he caught the lingering scent of fireworks and roasted meat.
His regret deepened instantly.
So why was I putting on airs in front of other people?
His stomach rumbled loudly, and hunger gnawed at him.
Rubbing his belly, Zhu Yuanzhang went to the kitchen and had someone make him an enormous bowl of braised pork noodles. Squatting on the ground, he noisily slurped it down in just a few mouthfuls before wiping his mouth and going to find Madam Ma.
Ever since Madam Ma had returned home, Chen Biao massaged and washed her feet every evening to reduce the swelling that pregnancy would eventually bring.
The moment Zhu Yuanzhang walked in, before Chen Biao could even speak, Zhu Yuanzhang plopped down and squeezed his son right off the little stool.
“What strength do those little hands of yours have? I’ll do it!”
Climbing back to his feet, Chen Biao rubbed his sore backside.
“Fine, then you do it. But why’d you have to shove me onto the floor? Couldn’t you have found another stool?”
“I’m your father. So what if I shove you?”
Zhu Yuanzhang bared his teeth in a grin.
Fuming, Chen Biao lifted one of his short little legs and kicked his father.
Madam Ma’s feet had already been washed. Zhu Yuanzhang carefully dried them with a soft cloth before massaging the pressure points just as Chen Biao had taught him.
“My wife’s feet are much prettier.”
Chen Biao’s face instantly turned bright red.
Without another word, he spun around and fled.
Shameless! Absolutely shameless! Your son’s still standing right here!
But Madam Ma noticed the melancholy hidden beneath Zhu Yuanzhang’s expression.
“Guorui, what’s wrong?” she asked softly. “Something’s troubling you? Didn’t you just visit Sister Sun? She’s gentle by nature. She shouldn’t have upset you.”
As he gently rubbed the thin calluses on the soles of Madam Ma’s feet, Zhu Yuanzhang told her about the bound-foot skeleton model he had seen in Chen Biao’s study and how he had finally seen Lady Sun’s feet beneath the binding cloth.
“Even someone who’s been cut by swords like me felt pain just looking at them,” Zhu Yuanzhang muttered. “And they’re not even beautiful. I just don’t understand what there is to admire.”
“Tomorrow I’m gathering those scholars together.”
“I’ll have every one of them wash the feet of their bound-footed mothers, wives, and daughters.”
“Then I’ll have them draw exactly what those feet look like underneath the binding cloth and present the pictures to me.”
“I want to see whether their hearts ache or not.”
“‘The body, hair, and skin are received from one’s parents and must not be lightly damaged.'”
“Aren’t women people too?”
“Didn’t their feet come from their parents as well?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Aren’t those scholars supposed to be so eloquent?”
“I’d like to see how they explain this.”
“So the poets love singing the praises of bound feet, do they?”
“Fine.”
“I’ll have my own scholars write poems and essays condemning bound feet.”
“If issuing orders alone won’t accomplish much, then we’ll argue them down.”
“I refuse to believe every scholar is incapable of feeling sorry for his own mother, wife, or daughter.”
He looked down at Madam Ma’s feet again.
“My wife’s feet are still the prettiest. Just looking at them makes me feel comfortable…”
Listening to Zhu Yuanzhang grumble endlessly—even swearing from time to time—Madam Ma smiled with incomparable tenderness.
“You’re right.”
“Chongba…”
“When you have daughters in the future, you must protect them well.”
Zhu Yuanzhang looked up immediately.
“Of course!”