Seeing him like this, the boy sitting on the other side, whose stature had not yet fully developed, burst into laughter.
“Second Brother, it still takes Eldest Brother to keep you in line!”
“Shut up! Be careful, or I’ll deal with you!”
“Who are you going to deal with?”
The gaze of the eldest brother, Wang Su, swept over, his eyebrows slightly raised. Wang Kuan gave an awkward, sheepish laugh and pulled Pei Zisu, who was beside him, forward like a shield.
“A slip of the tongue, just a slip of the tongue.”
As he spoke, he tugged hard on Pei Zisu’s sleeve and whispered, “Aren’t you going to back me up?”
Pei Zisu was close in age to the second and third Wang brothers, so they had a better relationship. Usually, the three of them would play around and joke without much restraint.
Among the brothers, Pei Zisu was the only one who didn’t fear the eldest, Wang Su. Now that Wang Kuan was being “suppressed” by his big brother, he naturally had to call for backup.
“It seems the Court of Imperial Regalia has been too quiet lately, which is why Second Cousin has such a temper and wants to ‘deal’ with everyone he sees. Perhaps Uncle and Eldest Cousin should find a way to transfer him to the Directorate of Water Conservancy to repair the canals. It just so happens that the downstream of the Huai River is under immense flood pressure, and dozens of officials in Hanzhou are stationed at the front lines, complaining bitterly.”
“Huh?”
Wang Kuan looked at Pei Zisu with a face full of defeat, gritting his teeth as he hissed, “I asked you to back me up, not to find me work! Besides, I’m doing perfectly fine at the Court of Imperial Regalia. Why would I go to the Directorate of Water Conservancy? Stop coming up with these rotten ideas! There are plenty of people in the Hanzhou government; would they really stop functioning without me?”
Pei Zisu’s expression remained calm. His ink-dark eyes glanced at the man before him; the more he saw Wang Kuan jumping in anger, the more satisfied he felt.
Wang Su, who had just been sternly reprimanding him, nodded in silence. When he looked at his second brother again, his gaze held a touch more of his iron-fisted authority.
“Zisu makes a good point. You have been living far too freely in the Western Capital, completely unaware of the people’s suffering. Spending every day with those young nobles at the Court of Imperial Regalia, idling your time away with pets—this cannot last. Father shall visit the Directorate of Water Conservancy tomorrow to see if there are any suitable vacancies and arrange one for Second Brother.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the room became lively with some people stunned and others stifling laughs.
Marquis Wenyuan, who was minding his own business eating, was suddenly “assigned” a task by his son. He looked quite innocent and slightly aggrieved as he glanced at his second son, Wang Kuan.
He wanted to help, but unfortunately, this eldest son of his was cast from the same mold as his late father, even down to his temperament. He often felt as though he had raised a father to manage himself, so he rarely stood against him.
Comparing the two sides, he felt that standing with his eldest son might yield a better result. He let out an “mm” and said with righteous conviction, “Su’er is right. I will go make the arrangements tomorrow.”
“No way! Father, are you really just following Eldest Brother’s orders?”
Marquis Wenyuan gave a smiling glance at Wang Kuan, then swept his gaze over everyone at the table, helplessly spreading his hands and shrugging.
“At this table, except for Zisu, who dares to disobey your eldest brother’s arrangements?”
Wang Kuan immediately scanned the room. Everyone looked like they were just enjoying the show, making him feel deeply wronged and speechless before the heavens!
Forced by his eldest brother’s authority, he could only swallow his bitterness. He looked angrily at the culprit beside him, but Pei Zisu merely offered a harmless, innocent smile, making Wang Kuan feel as though a block of wood was stuck in his chest.
“Alright, save those matters for the study. This is a family feast; let’s talk about something happy. Zisu, how long can you stay this time?”
Old Madame Wang still felt bad for her second grandson after all. Although she was also somewhat intimidated by her eldest grandson’s fierce, guardian-deity-like expression, she didn’t want the second one to suffer too much, so she helped change the subject.
“About a month or two. We just won a battle recently, so things are quiet in the Hanzhou army. Since it’s Aunt’s birthday next month, I’ve come on behalf of the whole family to celebrate.”
Hearing this, the aunt, Madame Pei, looked delighted, her eyes filled with anticipation. She then asked, “What about Ziyao and Zimiao? Can they come?”
“Probably not. Ziyao is training the troops, and Zimiao was sent out on an assignment by Father.”
“Ziyao is already training troops? I remember she’s only seventeen. That girl really has talent; she’s even tougher than I was back then!”
Speaking of his twin siblings, a touch of tenderness appeared in Pei Zisu’s eyes—especially for Pei Ziyao, who was a well-known “Fierce Lady” of the army in Hanzhou.
The Pei family had been a prominent noble family for generations, established in Hanzhou. In the past, they were mostly civil officials, but by his grandfather’s generation, many military generals had emerged from the family.
Hanzhou was located by the Huai River with Huayin Mountain at its back.
Being nestled between mountains and water naturally made it a beautiful place, but because of this, it had been a strategic prize for many years. Rebel forces from the south came in wave after wave, resulting in never-ending cycles of conflict. Consequently, the fortifications of Hanzhou grew increasingly solid.
At the same time, there was an unwritten rule in Hanzhou: both men and women could join the army. When it came to rewarding merit, no distinction was made between genders; everyone rose through the ranks based on their own abilities. Therefore, many of the formidable soldiers in the Hanzhou army were women.
And Pei Ziyao was the best among them.
Though young, she was already a Major in the Hanzhou army. In the Battle of Fancheng, which made Pei Zisu famous, she had served as the vanguard. She was promoted after the great victory and had been serving for several years now.
Currently commanding ten thousand soldiers, she was an indisputable “tiger general.”
“If Ziyao heard Aunt say that, she would surely be happy.”
“Sigh, life in Hanzhou is much more relaxed. If you’re happy, you go out and ride horses; if you’re not, you go to the training grounds and pick a few people for a fight. That kind of freedom is so much better than facing the fake smiles of the ladies and misses here in the Western Capital.”
Madame Pei had been married into the Marquis Wenyuan’s household for over twenty years, but she still couldn’t forget the happy days of her youth in Hanzhou. Seeing this, Old Madame Wang pretended to be angry and asked, “What? Has the Marquis’s manor mistreated you?”
Hearing this, Jiang Shishu was so startled she almost stood up to admit fault. In the past, she and her concubine mother were not even allowed to sit at the table to eat, let alone walk freely in the courtyard without being scolded.
Therefore, she hadn’t expected the kind-looking old lady to lose her temper, and her heart was naturally filled with unease.
She peeked up slightly, only to see her eldest sister wearing a smile, which immediately sparked some confusion in her mind.
But in such a setting, she didn’t dare ask questions. She simply tried her best to shrink into a ball, making herself as inconspicuous as possible.
“The Old Madame is teasing me again. Since the day I married in, have I not treated you like my own mother? If it weren’t for you, the Marquis, and the children here in the Western Capital, I would have run back to Hanzhou long ago. Sigh, my heart is entirely devoted to this family, yet you still say such things. I’m wronged, truly wronged!”