198 – The Family of Four is “Officials”

Lei Ruilin also vigorously nodded, “These are what my Old Dad captured from Western Barbarian. They must be the best!”

Zhangsun Hong was even more envious and suggested, “We’ll know when you try.”

Qin Ruiqi inquiringly looked at Qin Mian.

Qin Mian said, “Son, not yet. You and Ruilin haven’t learned how to ride a horse. ”

Lei Ruilin pleaded, “Dad, it will be fine with you and Old Dad here. Let me and Gege try it?”

Qin Mian looked at Lei Tie, and Lei Tie immediately nodded. Qin Mian was speechless. In fact, strictly speaking, although Lei Tie was strict with both children, Lei Tie was no worse than him in terms of spoiling the sons.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin happily led the two foals out.

Because there was no set of stirrup and saddle, for the time being, Qin Mian and Lei Tie could only carry their sons up.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were truly bold. They held the reins and recalled the way their fathers used to ride. Their legs clamped the belly of the foals, and the foals happily ran. The speed might not be fast, but the vigorous hooves, the snow-white mane fluttering in the wind, and the energetic momentum simply set off the two happy children on the horsebacks to look even more high-spirited.

Zhangsun Hong was even more envious. At this time, he didn’t care about the speed of the foal – he so wished that the one on the horseback was him.

Chen Mufeng affectionately rubbed his head.

The more Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin rode, the more they felt it. They gained some experience with trials and errors. With a slight shake of the reins, the foals ran faster and more smoothly. They both laughed in joy.

Lei Ruilin proudly threw a smug look at Zhangsun Hong.

Zhangsun Hong was, after all, a child. He finally couldn’t hold it back and burst into tears.

Chen Mufeng hurriedly coaxed him, “Don’t cry. Going back later, ask your father to get one for you.”

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were taken aback. They stopped their horses, easily jumped down and ran to Zhangsun Hong. They were at a loss of what to do.

“A-Hong, I’m sorry.” Lei Ruilin apologized in a frank and unhurried manner.

Zhangsun Hong wiped his tear in embarrassment, “[I] don’t blame you. I’ll ask my father to find me a foal, too!”

Lei Ruilin smiled, “Good! Then we’ll go hunting together.”

Qin Mian and Chen Mufeng spontaneously burst out laughing.

Chen Mufeng said, “Qin Mian, Lei Tie – it’s time for us to leave. You’re tired after such a long journey, we don’t want to delay your rest.”

“Alright.” Qin Mian nodded, “Let’s get together another day.”

After Chen Mufeng and Zhangsun Hong left, Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin felt sorry for the foals and did not ride again. They asked the servants to bring the foals back to the stable to look after with great care.

Qin Mian instructed Steward Fu to order two sets of soft saddles as soon as possible.

The family went back to the house holding hands.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie went to take a bath to get rid of travel fatigue, and then the family had a sumptuous lunch together.

After lunch, Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin were very considerate of their fathers and told them to have a good rest. They left with Golden Fur and White Spot.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie enjoyed their son’s thoughtfulness very much. They went to bed and did a certain thing they liked before they properly went to sleep. With their cultivation, although it did not affect their health even if they didn’t sleep for a long time, sleeping was also a kind of enjoyment. What was there to be against it?

It was the latter part of the monkey hour [4.30 pm] when they woke up. They checked their sons’ homework and the family of four had a chat together.

The next day, Lei Tie got up at dawn to go to the court session. Qin Mian also had to go to the court session. The first reason was that his official position had not been revoked. Secondly, he had made great achievements in the western pass, so Emperor Xiaohui would certainly reward him in the court. Even if he did not go to the court, Emperor Xiaohui would summon him to the palace.

After the couple took care of domestic affairs, they rode to the palace in the dim light of dawn. At the gate of the palace, the civil and military officials, who were also going to the court, saw them and greeted them warmly and politely.

Into the Hall of Supreme Harmony, more people greeted them. As the only married couple to go to court at the same time, they calmly accept the public attention.

After Emperor Xiaohui appeared, the monarch and his subjects greeted appropriately. There was no need to say more than was needed.

Emperor Xiaohui asked Lei Tie about his battle with Tuluo in detail. He generously praised Lei Tie. “In this battle with Tuluo, State Defender Duke’s contribution cannot be left unrecognized – granted a suit of a yellow buttoned mandarin jacket, bestowed 100,000 taels of gold, and conferred Qin Ruiqi, the eldest son of the State Defender Duke, as the Heir of the State Defender Duke [title].”

The ministers were not surprised by this result. Lei Tie, as the State Defender Duke, was a principal first-rank official – it was already the highest rank and could not get promoted anymore. He could only be rewarded from other aspects. After the New Year, Tuluo would cede territory and pay indemnities to Great Xia. Emperor Xiaohui didn’t care about the 100,000 taels of gold.

Lei Tie kowtowed to express gratitude.

Emperor Xiaohui also added, “Lady of the State Defender Duke has saved the lives of more than ten thousand soldiers at the border station. His contribution cannot be left unrecognized – revoked the duty of Special Case Military Inspector, appointed as the Palace [inner] Principal Practitioner¹ of Imperial Institute of Medicine, bestowed 100,000 tales of gold. Also, conferred Lei Ruilin, the second son of the State Defender Duke, as the Duke of Anping County.”

To his surprise, Emperor Xiaohui officially granted him an official position – Qin Mian was taken aback, but he could not refuse this occasion and was forced to kneel to express his gratitude.

All the ministers sighed to themselves. Now, the four members of the State Defender Duke family were all “officials”. One could describe it as extreme glory.

Before the court adjourned, Emperor Xiaohui announced that he would hold a grand banquet in the palace at night and reward the victorious army.

After the court adjourned, everyone congratulated Qin Mian and Lei Tie one after another.

They got out of the palace with great difficulty and avoided other people’s sight. Qin Mian and Lei Tie looked at each other with a dignified look.

Lei Tie said in a low voice, “It seems that the emperor intends to keep us in the Capital all the time. I’m afraid it’s not easy to resign.”

Qin Mian was also worried, but he was always optimistic. He was not particularly anxious, “I saw that the emperor is in a good mood. Besides, the New Year is coming, we’d better not talk about resigning at this time. We’ll talk about it later, at least until the negotiation between Western Barbarian and Great Xia is over.”

Lei Tie nodded.

Not long after they got home, their rewards and the imperial edicts to confer titles on Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin arrived.

Although Qin Ruiqi was the eldest son of the State Defender Duke priorly, he could not be the Heir of the State Defender Duke without being conferred the title. Now, he was the legitimate Heir of the State Defender Duke. The common people had to salute whenever they saw him. He could inherit the title of “State Defender Duke” in the future. Lei Ruilin was not bad either. The rank of “Duke of Anping County” was the same as that of the Heir of the Duke, Marquis, and Count nobility. Later, Anping County would be his fiefdom. When he reached the age of 16, only half of the taxes of Anping County would be paid to the imperial court, and the rest would be his.

Although Qin Mian and Lei Tie were respectively Lady of the State Defender Duke and State Defender Duke, they usually did not make any actions of relying on authority. This attitude also influenced Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin. The two little boys were just new to their new identities. Besides that, they were very calm.

Qin Mian and Lei Tie were very satisfied with their sons’ behavior.

On that day, many people sent gifts – if one was not able to hold the thigh, at least one had to weave a favorable fate resulting from contributions to the temple². It was easy to avoid these disasters to remember. Qin Mian simply accepted them, but on another day, he asked people to exchange the gifts for money whichever that could be changed, and donate it to the imperial court while frankly expressing that it was for military expenses. This was naturally to eliminate Emperor Xiaohui’s fear of Lei Tie (the fundamental purpose was to avoid trouble). You think, you just hold the military power, but you are even close with so many ministers, how can the emperor not be afraid of the consequences?

Emperor Xiaohui was very satisfied with this and trusted Qin Mian and Lei Tie even more. The people who sent the gifts were not very satisfied, but they also understood that Qin Mian and Lei Tie were people with principles. When they sent the gifts later, they just tried their best not to pick up expensive gifts – the future events shall not be mentioned here.

In the evening, the celebration banquet was held as scheduled.

In addition to eating and drinking and awarding rewards to all those who had made contributions to the campaign, the important thing to mention was that Emperor Xiaohui decided to hold a hunting activity in the imperial hunting ground from the 26th to 28th of the 12th month. The first reason was to have a good time with the ministers, and the second was to reward the ministers with the prey so that they could have a bumper new year.

Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin had been looking forward to hunting since they got the foals. After they learned that the emperor wanted to invite them to hunt, they carefully took care of their foals for several days. They also understood that it was not necessarily possible to hunt on this foal, but hunting was not only for prey but also for fun. So, they were both in high spirits.

Qin Mian also specially made hunting suits and bows suitable for them.

On the 26th of the 12th month, it snowed heavily, which added some fun to the hunting activity in winter. Hunting in the snow was much more interesting than hunting on dry ground.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, the family of four rode on horsebacks to the imperial hunting ground. The foursome wore the same red hunting suit – it was red because red was more conspicuous in snow so that if something happened, they could find each other faster. The two foals also wore red brocade around their necks. The foursome was all equipped with the same equipment – bows and arrows on their backs and the same type of waist-bag with wound medicine, water tubes, and dried food.

The family of four was outstanding in appearance and temperament. They rode on horsebacks in the streets of the Capital. The pedestrians on the street couldn’t stop looking at them. In Qin Mian’s words, “the rate of turning head is 100%”.

When they arrived at the imperial hunting ground, the imperial bodyguards and the ministers who had arrived early all looked at them. They envied Qin Mian and Lei Tie for their two excellent sons, but they also envied their special clothes – they were really eye-catching.

The eight imperial bodyguards at the entrance of the imperial hunting ground respectfully saluted when they came back to their senses.

“Greetings, State Defender Duke, Lady of the State Defender Duke, Heir of the State Defender Duke, and Duke of Anping County!”

Even people who didn’t know their identity knew that this family was unusual just by listening to this string of titles.

Lei Tie lightly nodded, “Don’t stand on ceremony.”

The foursome spurred the horses to enter.

Because Emperor Xiaohui liked it lively, not only the civil and military ministers but also their sons came to participate in the hunting. Hence, at this time, the hunting ground was full of people and many of them were sons of princes and officials in splendid clothes.

At first, when some people saw two children riding foals to participate in the hunting, they thought it was funny. They planned to come over to ridicule. But when they heard what the imperial bodyguard called them, they quickly gave up their ideas. The family of the State Defender Duke couldn’t be provoked by ordinary people.

Several tents had been set up on the hunting ground. The family of four rode to the biggest and most guarded tent.

Emperor Xiaohui, Imperial Prince Ming, and Chen Mufeng were chatting inside.

Eunuch Li lifted the curtain door and walked in with a smile on his face. “Reporting, Your Majesty. State Defender Duke’s family has arrived.”

Emperor Xiaohui was surprised and asked, “Are Ruiqi and Ruilin really riding the foals that the State Defender Duke gave them?”

Eunuch Li replied, “Exactly. The two foals are all white – really beautiful.”

Emperor Xiaohui was interested, “Let’s go out and have a look.”

Several people went out of the tent. Qin Mian’s group of four just arrived on horseback and quickly dismounted to salute.

“Paying respects to Your Majesty.”

“You may rise.” Emperor Xiaohui saw the scene of Qin Ruiqi and Lei Ruilin riding on the horses just now and involuntarily laughed as he spoke, “Haha… Sure enough, they are two good horses. The appearance of Ruiqi and Ruilin riding on the horses just now was very domineering. But, can such a small horse able to hunt prey?”

Lei Ruilin confidently said, “Certainly, Uncle Emperor! Ruilin and Gege will send a portion to Uncle Emperor after we hunted a prey!”

Emperor Xiaohui was greatly rejoiced, “Alright! Zhen will be waiting. ”

At this time, Zhangsun He and Zhangsun Hong came over on horseback.

Footnotes