Chapter 46: Bold and Audacious

Fang Jifan looked the Princess up and down. It wasn’t because he was truly being bold or impudent, but because… he remembered something.

He had once read about Emperor Hongzhi’s family situation in the Veritable Records of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Hongzhi did have a daughter, but she died young before reaching adulthood.

At this moment, he tried hard to recall. Suddenly, he remembered that her death occurred in the 11th Year of the Hongzhi Era, in the ninth month. Fang Jifan didn’t know the exact day.

The record stated that the Princess suffered a severe headache and eventually died from a high fever. According to later experts’ speculation, her illness was most likely just a common viral infection.

So… would the lovely Princess standing before him now also get infected like in history and die young?

Thinking this, Fang Jifan felt a bit sorry for her. Although he had to act like a wastrel, appearing lecherous and absurd, deep down he was actually a young man with decent character.

If he saw someone dying and did nothing to help, he would probably feel uneasy.

But how could he save her?

Just as Empress Zhang was about to lead Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Xiurong away, Fang Jifan, without time to think more, kept staring straight at Zhu Xiurong. Zhu Xiurong seemed to think Fang Jifan was too bold. She avoided his brazen gaze but also secretly peeked at him, wanting to see if this audacious fellow was still being presumptuous.

Then, Fang Jifan called out loudly, “Your Highness, the Princess!”

These four words instantly broke the silence.

After that, everyone’s faces fell in unison.

Empress Zhang stopped walking.

Zhu Xiurong acted as if she had suffered a great humiliation. After all, she was a woman, and being called out like that by a man was somewhat shameful in this era.

Emperor Hongzhi just stood with his hands behind his back. To some extent, he seemed to have figured out the pattern. Although Fang Jifan often appeared muddled and ridiculous, his actions always surprised Emperor Hongzhi.

Empress Zhang looked at Fang Jifan with suspicion.

Fang Jifan bowed. He felt Empress Zhang’s gaze was much sharper than the Emperor’s.

He took a deep breath and then said, “This subject sees that Your Highness the Princess doesn’t look well. Please take good care of your health.”

Suddenly, the hall fell silent…

Fang Jifan’s words were really too abrupt. At the very least, everyone looked at Fang Jifan as if he were crazy.

But… Fang Jifan seemed already used to being seen as an idiot. Same old story, same old feeling. Hmm… a bit sweet.

Everyone instinctively glanced at the Princess’s complexion, but they saw her face was rosy. Fang Jifan was simply talking nonsense, being utterly audacious.

Empress Zhang’s eyes swept over Fang Jifan. Zhu Houzhao hurriedly whispered something to his mother.

Empress Zhang’s stern expression softened considerably. “Are you Fang Jifan, son of Nanhe Bo? I heard you have a brain illness?”

“Uh…” Fang Jifan was speechless. Was this pointing out his sore spot?

Empress Zhang said calmly, “Get well soon. Don’t avoid treatment out of fear of the illness!”

After saying this, she walked away lightly.

When Fang Jifan turned back, he found that whether it was Emperor Hongzhi or Yang Tinghe and the others, they all acted as if they didn’t know him. Fang Jifan could only think resentfully that they probably saw him as a madman again.

This… was actually quite good. At least he could speak recklessly. Otherwise, if someone else had said what he just said, they would probably be suspected of having ulterior motives and taken out to be chopped up and fed to dogs.

Perhaps having this brain illness wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He took the Imperial Sword and excitedly said farewell at the House of the Crown Prince. Anyway, the Crown Prince had gone to Renshou Palace. Today he would slip away early and go home to rest.

He could only help the Princess this much.

But holding the Imperial Sword in his hand, he felt a small sense of satisfaction.

This was the Imperial Sword! Two words: cool. Paired with the Golden Belt, if he could also mix up some hair gel to slick back his hair, and have Deng Jian follow behind him fanning him with a fan, wouldn’t that make him the Great Ming version of a dashing hero?

Thinking happily to himself, he returned home as if admiring flowers along the way. But as soon as he entered the house, he heard his father wailing.

Fang Jifan thought something had happened. He hurried towards the source of the sound and saw Fang Jinglong in the main hall, beating his chest and stamping his feet, looking so angry his face was ashen.

“What’s wrong?” Fang Jifan was startled.

“That Marquis of Shouning is no good!” Fang Jinglong said furiously. “He tricked me out of thirty thousand taels of silver. He kept saying he would go to Empress Zhang to propose a marriage for you, patting his chest and saying he and his brother would take care of it. But after taking my money, he just reneged. He even said, ‘Why would we return money we worked so hard to swindle?'”

Fang Jifan listened, dumbfounded. After a long while, he finally understood what had happened.

His father was completely absorbed in planning his marriage. As a father, it was hard not to be confident about his own son, especially since Fang Jifan had obtained the Golden Belt. Fang Jinglong was bursting with confidence, single-mindedly wanting to marry the Princess.

But the Duke of Yingguo kept making excuses. So Fang Jinglong thought, perhaps he hadn’t found the right connections. This matter really couldn’t be entrusted to the Duke of Yingguo. Empress Zhang had two brothers, right? One was the Marquis of Shouning, Zhang Heling, and the other was the Earl of Jianchang, Zhang Yanling. He would go to them.

These two brothers’ reputations were only slightly better than Fang Jifan’s. As soon as they heard about this, they immediately gave their assurance without hesitation, saying that with them on the case, he could just wait to marry the Princess. They persuaded Fang Jinglong in every way to give them thirty thousand taels, saying it was to bribe Empress Zhang’s close attendants.

But the result was, after taking the money, they played dead.

Fang Jifan took a long time to recover from his shock. This… was fraud!

He flared up instantly. How dare they swindle this young lord’s money?

But on the surface, he said nothing. He just yawned and said, “None of my business.” Then he walked off as if it had nothing to do with him.

He left Fang Jinglong still fuming, muttering to himself, “People’s hearts are treacherous! Even Imperial Relatives deceive like this.”

It was autumn, but the weather had turned cold. The next day, Fang Jifan saw Xiaoxiangxiang come in wearing a padded jacket.

She was breathing out puffs of air, bundled up tightly all over, slightly hunched, and said to Fang Jifan, “Young Lord, it’s time to get up for duty. Master said today you must go inspect the troops at Tianjin Garrison. He gave orders that you must not neglect your official duties.”

Fang Jifan had to get up with Xiaoxiangxiang’s assistance. Deng Jian also wore a cotton-padded jacket, making him look very bulky. He found it difficult even to bow to Fang Jifan.

“It’s really cold. It’s only mid-autumn, yet it feels like it might snow.” Fang Jifan saw that Xiaoxiangxiang was dressed warmly and felt relieved. Now he felt at ease; he could tease her without worry. So he subconsciously let his hand brush over her bottom. Of course, through the padded skirt, he couldn’t feel anything. It was just the thought that counted.

Every time Fang Jifan did this, Deng Jian would give a sly smile, then show an ambiguous and admiring expression.

“Young Lord, have you forgotten? Last year it turned cold around this time too. It’s like this every year.” Xiaoxiangxiang also seemed accustomed to it. Ever since she fell ill and the Young Lord angrily told her to get back to her room and reflect, it actually made this simple girl’s heart flutter for the first time.

Was the Young Lord using this as an excuse to care for her? Did the Young Lord finally know how to be considerate, or was it just mischief? She couldn’t figure it out. But the Young Lord was good-looking, with a face like polished jade. Although… although his temper was bad, still…

Her face slightly reddened as she spoke with Fang Jifan.

Fang Jifan suddenly remembered something. Yes, wasn’t this the Little Ice Age? He had actually forgotten about this.

Starting from the Hongzhi era, signs of the Little Ice Age appeared. In the 6th Year of Hongzhi, the Huai River region actually had widespread heavy snow that didn’t stop until the second month of the following year. That meant the snow lasted a full half year.

It was said that even in Hubei, the snow reached five to six feet deep on level ground. And here, it was Beijing City, which is north of the Huai River region and Hubei.

It was only early autumn, but the weather already felt like winter. Probably by next spring, this severe cold wouldn’t have dispersed.