Beneath the rosewood canopy bed, rush cushions were laid out in rows. Following Wang Caibing’s lead, everyone bowed to pay their respects to the Marquis.
“Rise, all of you,” said Marquis Yan Hang Zhou. Only after his command did the crowd stand and take their seats.
Swallow Holding Branch had no seat of her own, as she was held in her father’s arms the entire time, naturally sitting on his lap.
Yan Tingbai handled the child with practiced ease, adjusting her posture in a few quick motions without causing Swallow Holding Branch the slightest discomfort.
Whether someone truly cares often reveals itself in the smallest details.
As soon as Swallow Holding Branch settled, she felt someone’s gaze upon her. Looking back, she saw her grandfather studying her. “Has Sister Yuan fully recovered?”
Madam Bai rose to report her daughter’s condition to her father-in-law. After listening, the Marquis nodded. “Good, as long as she’s better. The child has grown thin.
Find a reliable physician to prepare medicinal meals for Sister Yuan. Nourishment through food is better than medicine—let her recuperate well.”
Madam Bai naturally agreed. Yan Tingbai, holding his daughter, looked at his father. “Father, would you like to hold Sister Yuan? She’s been saying she wants her grandfather to hold her!”
Swallow Holding Branch blinked. Nonsense—she wasn’t even familiar with her grandfather, let alone wanting him to hold her. Besides, she wasn’t truly a three-year-old child.
But she played along with her father, stretching her hands toward her grandfather. “Grandpa, hold!”
The child’s voice was tender, yet the word “hold” carried a commanding tone, startling the Marquis. This little one had quite the temper—a contrast he found endearing. But: “Perhaps not.”
It wasn’t that the Marquis didn’t cherish his granddaughter; he himself had been ill for a long time, merely lingering on. He feared passing his sickness to her if he held her.
It wasn’t dislike but rather too much affection that made him cautious.
Swallow Holding Branch, however, didn’t quiet down after being refused. She kept both arms outstretched, staring unblinkingly at her grandfather, as if declaring she wouldn’t withdraw them unless he held her.
Swallow Holding Branch resorted to acting spoiled—after all, as a three-year-old, she had little freedom, especially now that she had just recovered from a serious illness and her grandfather was also unwell. Finding an opportunity to be alone with him was nearly impossible.
If she missed today, Swallow Holding Branch couldn’t guarantee another chance. This wasn’t because her grandfather was about to pass away imminently.
But as an elderly man long afflicted by illness, no one knew if his condition might suddenly worsen. If he became unwell and needed quiet rest, Swallow Holding Branch, as a child, would find it difficult to see him again.
Though Swallow Holding Branch didn’t remember her grandfather personally, she recalled the date of his passing in her previous life.
It was the twelfth day of the fourth month, late spring turning to early summer. The day she was reborn was the Flower Morning Festival of the thirtieth year of Jingtai, the twelfth day of the second month.
There were just over a month—about two months—left before her grandfather’s death.
Three days had passed since her illness; it was now the fifteenth day of the second month. Fifty-six days remained until the twelfth of the fourth month.
With only fifty-six days left, her grandfather’s time was running short. She had to use this period to reverse the decline her family branch faced.
In her previous life, growing up in the family temple, Swallow Holding Branch hadn’t understood the intricacies of the inner household. But after death, trapped in the Marquis’s estate, watching the constant scheming and conflicts play out day and night for ten full years, she had learned even without trying.
So today, no matter what—whether she cried, made a scene, or clung stubbornly—she would stay by the old master’s side. She wouldn’t leave until she accomplished what she had set her mind to.
The Marquis raised an eyebrow—this child had quite a stubborn temper. Seeing this, Yan Tingbai simply stood up, walked over to the bed in two steps, and placed his eldest daughter on the bed. Grandfather and granddaughter were now face-to-face, staring at each other up close.
In the end, it was the Marquis who gave in first. He lifted his thin, withered hand, patted Swallow Holding Branch twice, and considered that his embrace.
Swallow Holding Branch then seized the opportunity to grab his sleeve and refused to let go, stubbornly staying on the bed.
Thus, after everyone had paid their respects and left, only Yan Tingbai and Swallow Holding Branch remained in the room to attend to the Marquis and serve him his medicine.
Yan Tingbai looked at his daughter and wondered, “What’s gotten into this child?”
Why had she suddenly become so affectionate toward her grandfather? She hadn’t been like this before.
Yan Tingbai couldn’t figure it out. The Marquis glanced sideways at his son and said, “Isn’t this what you taught her?”
Yan Tingbai gave an awkward smile and quickly picked up the medicine bowl beside him, changing the subject. “Father, take your medicine first.”
The Marquis didn’t press further about how his son had raised the child, allowing Yan Tingbai to help him drink the medicine.
Observing his father’s complexion, which remained as sallow as ever, Yan Tingbai said, “This medicine doesn’t seem to be working. Should we find another physician to examine you?”
The Marquis waved his hand dismissively. “It’s incurable. It’s just a matter of delaying the inevitable. Changing physicians won’t make a difference.”
The Marquis was only in his early forties. In his youth, he loved wading in water and had unknowingly contracted Water Poison [i.e., Blood Fluke Disease] at some point.
At first, the illness wasn’t obvious. When it initially manifested, he experienced fever and rashes, which physicians and imperial doctors misdiagnosed as “Wind Rash” or “Cold Damage.”
Because the true illness wasn’t recognized, the Marquis had been taking the wrong medicine all along. By the time the real symptoms became apparent, it was already too late to turn things around.
Yet, even though it was too late, the Marquis still fought to live a little longer.
His eldest son, Yan Tingbai, was only in his early twenties, his second son had just turned twenty, and his second wife, Wang Shi, was barely forty. Combined, the three of them were less than a hundred years old and had experienced too little in life.
How could the Marquis feel at ease entrusting the Marquis’s household to these three? Especially since the eldest son wasn’t even Wang Shi’s biological child.
After finishing the medicine, the Marquis paid no mind to his granddaughter, who was still clutching his sleeve. He motioned for his son to sit down and began analyzing the situation with him, delivering his final words.
“Remember this: when I pass, there’s no need for extravagant funeral arrangements. For families like ours, dignity isn’t built on wealth. What matters is the Emperor’s favor.
With the Emperor’s favor, dignity will follow. Without it, no amount of glory or wealth will last.
Now that the realm is at peace and the Emperor holds absolute power, having successfully secured the borders, his next focus will be on stabilizing the court.
The capital is filled with nobles, most of whom rose through military achievements. But now, with the birds gone, the bow is stored away. The Emperor will undoubtedly seek to reclaim the military power and privileges granted to the nobility.
Using my illness and your lack of talent as excuses, I’ve already voluntarily returned the military authority to the Emperor. The Emperor still holds our family in high regard.
In the future, after you inherit the title, don’t be foolish enough to covet power. Attend court when required, but keep a low profile and stand quietly.
If you overstep, the family could be destroyed in an instant. Living honestly is far safer than desperately clawing your way up.”
The Marquis rambled on, advising his eldest son to avoid discussing politics with other nobles in the future, to enjoy life, and to have more children.
If he didn’t want to indulge in leisure, he should focus on educating his descendants behind closed doors. If he worried about not teaching them well, he could send the children to his wife’s family to attend their clan school.
The Bai family was a scholarly household with strict discipline for their descendants, so there was no need to worry about the children being led astray.
Gradually steer the grandchildren toward civil service, shedding the skin of military aristocracy, so they can enter officialdom through imperial examinations in the future.
By then, the younger generation will have mostly grown up, and the succession to the throne will likely have been settled, eliminating worries about getting entangled in the struggle for the crown prince’s position.
Since the Jingyuan Marquisate leaves no negative impression with the current emperor or the future one, its descendants will find it easier to rise in prominence.
At that time, by engaging in practical governance and leveraging the foundation of the Jingyuan Marquisate for support, the family’s younger generation will start from a higher position than others.
As long as they possess some ability, they will find it easier to gain important roles in the court, ensuring the family’s long-term development.
Listening from the side, Swallow Holding Branch recalled the bloody storms of court politics she had overheard in the study of the Jingyuan Marquisate in her previous life. She also thought of the second branch’s greed for profit, sending a daughter into the palace to meddle in the struggle for succession, which ultimately led to the family’s downfall.
She had to admit that her grandfather’s arrangements were correct. A temporary low profile did not mean the family was declining; it was merely accumulating strength in silence.
Truly worthy of being the head of the Jingyuan Marquisate, he had even accounted for the possibility of the emperor’s longevity.
The current emperor was exceptionally long-lived. It was now the thirtieth year of the Jingtai era, and the emperor would live for another twenty-five years, reaching the age of eighty in one breath.
In her previous life, over the next twenty-five years, whether military aristocrats or civil officials, the princes they supported all fell during these decades—some because they did not outlive the old emperor.
Some were forced to become whetstones, others were forced to sharpen stones, only for the stones to wear out and the blades to chip, among other reasons.
In the end, the one who ascended the throne was someone no one had expected. Civil and military officials who had previously aligned themselves with princes had all miscalculated due to the old emperor’s longevity, each paying a painful price.
The Jingyuan Marquisate, under the control of the second branch, was no exception. Twenty-five years later, the new emperor wiped out the marquisate for its involvement in the succession struggle.
In the marquis’s plan, no one from the Yan family was allowed to participate in the struggle for succession. He would rather the children achieve nothing than ensure the marquisate safely navigated these turbulent decades.
He then placed his hopes on the grandchildren entering officialdom through imperial examinations. With the backing of a marquisate that had merit but no record of wrongdoing, high positions and generous salaries would come in due time for those with ability.
This was far better than getting involved in the murky waters of the succession struggle now.
However, Swallow Holding Branch sighed. No matter how meticulously her grandfather planned, he could not guard against the lure of wealth. Wang Caibing, in collusion with the second branch, destroyed the main branch and muddied the marquisate’s promising situation.
More than twenty years later, this ultimately led to the complete eradication of all bloodlines of the marquisate.
Thus, eliminating these unworthy descendants of the second branch was an unquestionable duty!
Just as Swallow Holding Branch was lost in thought, the marquis had finished outlining the future direction of the marquisate. Yan Tingbai respectfully said, “Father, I understand. From now on, we’ll simply close our doors and live our own lives.”
The marquis took a long breath, exhausted from speaking at such length. Yan Tingbai served him a cup of warm water, which the old man drank.
Only then did the old man continue speaking: “As for the second branch and your mother…”
The marquis hesitated for a moment. “Although your mother is not your birth mother, she has contributed to the marquisate over the years.
Your mother has her strengths and weaknesses. Her strength lies in managing the household with meticulous care and never neglecting you. Her weakness is that, as a mother, she inevitably has her own biases…”
The Marquis had not finished his sentence when Swallow Holding Branch seized the opportunity to vigorously shake his arm, loudly interrupting her grandfather’s next words: “Grandmother is good, not bad! Not bad!”
The Marquis found it strange. He knew exactly what kind of person his second wife, Wang Shi, was—she was not particularly warm toward his eldest son.
Her affection for the children of the eldest branch had always been merely superficial. Why would his precious granddaughter suddenly speak so highly of Wang Shi?
As a court minister, one of the best at reading the emperor’s mind and a man who strategized for the family’s future, the Marquis keenly sensed that something was amiss.
What does a three-year-old child understand about good and bad? Could it be that someone deliberately taught the child to say this?
The Marquis reached out and gently stroked his granddaughter’s soft hair, asking softly, “Sister Yuan, why is Grandmother so good?”
Swallow Holding Branch blinked, feigning innocence with a smile, and whispered into the Marquis’s ear in a conspiratorial tone: “Grandmother said she would make Mother drink medicine every day.”