Chapter 135: Third-day Wash Ceremony (III)

Having said that, Old Madam Cheng was slightly annoyed when she thought of the worry and anxiety she suffered until a short time ago. Qingfu Junzhu also lowered her voice and said, “That one dares to be so arrogant because of her strong backing. In my opinion, His Majesty is way too filial. The matter of disaster relief in Jiangnan is obviously the Crown Prince’s credit, but such great achievements were robbed by others in the end. His Highness’ months of hard and dangerous work have now become futile. This matter has become quite a topic in the female circle, and many felt sorry for him.”

Cheng Yujin avoided the dangerous topic as she responded, “The affairs of the court are not ours to comment on. However, since the person was recommended by Senior Grand Secretary Yang and was also approved both by His Majesty and the cabinet, his ability must be more than sufficient.”

Qingfu Junzhu curled her lips in disdain. Because the other people in the hall right now were all personal servants of theirs, she was not afraid of speaking straightforwardly, “If I have to say, Empress Dowager Yang has been stretching her hands too long. The women of the inner palace are not allowed to meddle with governmental affairs, but Empress Dowager Yang has always actively promoted her younger brother and openly supported her niece and grandniece. Not satisfied, she even pressured the Emperor to snatch away the Crown Prince’s credits. It’s too much. Pity the Eastern Palace for suffering such a heavy loss this time.”

Cheng Yujin simply put on a light smile in response, “It’s not true.”

Qingfu Junzhu and Old Madam Cheng were both stunned for a moment. Cheng Yujin added, her smile deepened: “We simply obeyed His Majesty and the Empress Dowager. How can this be a pity?”

What’s more, it was not the Eastern Palace that suffered the true loss.

Li Chengjing did hand over the credits of his hard work to others. However, no one didn’t know that Crown Prince had been robbed of his achievements. In terms of fame and popularity, this matter only boosted his name even further and also gained him a wave of sympathy.

On the surface, the Yang family seemed to be taking advantage , but in reality, what they were snatching was a hot potato. If the disaster relief ended well, everyone would think it was the result of the Crown Prince’s ability; if the opposite was true, then it must be the Yang family and their cronies who had wasted the hard work of His Highness.

In any case, the Eastern Palace would not be the one who suffer. However, the biggest gain was actually not this. Senior Grand Secretary Yang had enjoyed his current prestige and power for too long, during which he had made many enemies and accumulated many resentments. Him losing the public approval was just a matter of time, but this time, it was Empress Dowager who actually lost the support of her subjects.

It must be known that the foundation of the Yang family was not Empress Yang, nor was it the Second Prince or even Senior Grand Secretary Yang. It was actually Empress Dowager Yang.

Thanks to the last fiasco, it was now common knowledge that Empress Dowager was involving herself in governmental affairs and had put pressure on the Emperor by using her illness as a pretext. In the past, Empress Dowager Yang occupied the moral high ground precisely because she was the Empress Dowager. As the Emperor’s legal mother, morality and filiality naturally stood by her side. Not a small number of officials were old-fashioned Confucians, and they blindly supported Empress Dowager regardless of the facts. But now that the Empress Dowager had put on a fatal stain on herself, in the event that the Emperor and the Crown Prince were to do something about her in the future, those veteran officials could no longer raise a word of condemnation.

Empress Dowager Yang had lost public approval, and her reputation was now stained. This time, it was obvious that the Eastern Palace had scored a great win. Still, Cheng Yujin naturally would not explain these truths to Old Madam Cheng and Qingfu Junzhu, so she just smiled without saying a word.

…

The grand three-day wash ceremony was finally over. The cabinet, which was a group of officials who represented the highest literary level, argued among themselves for a long time to select a list of name candidates for the Emperor’s eldest grandson and granddaughter. When the list was finished and presented to the Emperor, he pondered for a long time before summoning Li Chengjing over for a long discussion. In the end, all the effort resulted in a pair of most refined and meaningful names for the twins.

Li Chengjing’s generation used the character ‘Cheng’ for the boys’ given name, which bore the meaning of inheriting the past and leading the future into rejuvenating the country. His son’s generation, meanwhile, used the character ‘Ming,’ which meant carrying forward the past and opening the future towards a prosperous era.

After a long, long deliberation, the elder brother was finally named Li Mingqian, and his younger sister Li Mingyue.

When the names of the twins were announced, there was another uproar.

Cheng Yujin was also a little surprised. She had anticipated excellent names for her children, but not to this extent.

Qian — the first of eight trigrams, the initiator, and the source of all beings. It symbolized heaven, the completion, the ruler, the sun. When the Emperor and Crown Prince set this name for the eldest imperial grandson, their expectations of him were clear at a glance.

As for the younger sister, the character used for the girls in this generation was actually not ‘Ming,’ but Li Chengjing wanted the children to be treated equally on the ground of they being twins. A moon shone over the world equally, illuminating all living beings at night. Since the sister was given the character generation of the boys, she was named Mingyue — Bright Moon.

When Cheng Yujin’s servant girls heard the names, they began to tease their mistress, “The little Junwang is called Mingqian — the sun — and little Junzhu is called Mingyue — the moon. A little sun and a little moon, what a perfect pair. It can be seen that they are their mother’s caring little padded jackets.”

Cheng Yujin smiled in response. She bent to pick up her daughter, then lightly tapped her son’s forehead, “Why are you always sucking your sister’s hand? Are you bullying her because she still cannot crawl yet?”

When Li Chengjing came in, he overheard Cheng Yujin ‘reprimanding’ their son. Seeing this, he said with a smile, “What’s the matter? Why are you scolding him again?”

“Ask him.” Cheng Yujin hugged her little daughter distressedly, complaining, “He likes to put hands into his mouth, but instead of sucking his own hand, he insists on sucking Mingyue’s. Mingyue is not as strong as him and cannot resist.”

Li Chengjing chuckled in amusement and went to see Li Mingqian. Sure enough, the boy seemed to feel his mouth empty and began to flail his little fists, trying to put one into his mouth.

Li Chengjing picked up his son and said, “Your mother is too biased. She keeps calling Mingyue this and Mingyue that, but never calls your name.”

Cheng Yujin ignored the two men. Li Chengjing held his son for a while, but failed to attract his wife’s attention. In the end, he sighed and commented nonchalantly, “Mingqian has gained weight again. He is much heavier now.”

Cheng Yujin nodded, “Children are growing every day. They were so tiny and wrinkled when they were just born, but now they have become this chubby.”

Li Chengjing went over and put Li Mingqian by Cheng Yujin’s hand. Cheng Yujin gave him a puzzled look, on which Li Chengjing said sincerely, “He is too heavy. It’s your turn to hold him.”

“I’m holding Mingyue now.”