Cunning General Si Ning

"As General is well aware that my father is a Seignior of Xiu and since the founding of Xiu, we the Jiang family never serve as a government official and my father left the capital five years ago when he heard the rumor that his Majesty wants to make him the Recorder of the Emperor and for me not to serve the Imperial family or become involve in political activities of the nation is to lead the Jiang army, be a husband, a father and also work for General Si Ning before I turn twenty and receive a decree about my governmental post." Jiang Chen Mu explained.

Si Ning took a deep breath, it was every day in this era he was learning new things, talking to Jiang ChenMu already shown him he was talking to a mature teenage boy and he was a bit impressed with how unshaken the boy was, how smoothly he talked, how confident he looked and he found his anger being melted away while considering it might be a good decision to give Si Nan to Jiang ChenMu but first he had to investigate the boy to know whether he had some ladies that warm up his bed, ladies he flirts with or if he was a pure boy despite not fitting his appearance.

"You are confident that I won't propose you serving the Emperor." Si Ning pointed out.

"General Si Ning cannot propose me to serve his Majesty because if I do as the heir of the Jiang family means the Jiang family serves the Emperor then all my training and becoming your brother-in-law will be in vain because neither I nor General Si Ning will ever be invisible." Jiang ChenMu explained, his serious expression never waving. "The Jiang army can answer to the Emperor's call if ordered but it is my will whether to answer or not because I protect my army without any relief from the government."

"Oh." Si Ning sighed, he had been pushing all his duties onto his Commanders because he doesn't want to deal with the aspect of how his army was paid. He doesn't think his army would be doing charity work for him and follow him without getting paid and according to Jiang's explanation, it seemed the nation had been helping him in that aspect.

The Jiang family not needing help from Xiu to take care of their army means they had to be an extremely wealthy family and Si Ning was impressed. The Si family was also wealthy but Si Ning doubts they would be able to take care of thousands of army just from their family treasure, they could only pay the family of the soldiers that lost their lives in battle but taking care of a whole army financially was impossible.

"But I have been wondering why General ask all these important questions when General already know everything because it was General that approached my father." Jiang ChenMu said.

What?

Si Ning was so shocked, he had never even thought about the future of Si Nan once, all he wanted was to protect his family with his power, and according to the details of what Jiang ChenMu said that the Si family army would answer their General call only to serve Xiu nation which means the army might belong to him but he couldn't mobilize them at will because they serve Xiu nation and when Qiu Bai proposes for them to join was for him to betray Xiu and take his army along with him to Xilie which would be possible but at the same time impossible because most of his men had a family to take care, the family either living far or near.

The proposal he made to Jiang's family might be his means to protect Si Nan, marrying her to the heir of an independent military army that doesn't serve the Emperor. Si Ning nodded impressed that his sixteen-year-old self thought about the future ahead and doesn't have the mindset of him a twenty-five-year-old man that wants to do everything himself using his power. At one point in life everybody would need someone's help and just like how the Emperor was the most powerful man in the nation, he still needs the help and guide of his Ministers to run the country successfully.

Si Ning could see it was getting brighter and it was time for him to dress for court yet he didn't stand up nor did he excuse himself to go to his room, he only sat there staring at Jiang ChenMu. It wasn't the first time he would miss the court meeting so he decided to just feign being sick, maybe Xiu Zhicheng might even check up on him if he doesn't attend the meeting.

"King Consort!" Yang Sheng yelled outside the door.

Si Ning placed a hand on his forehead and shut his eyes, "What?" He opened his eyes when Yang Sheng came in.

"The court meeting is postponed to the afternoon." Yang Sheng reported.

Si Ning's eyes widened, he would have loved the meeting to get canceled instead-but being postponed means something must have happened. "What happened?" He was a bit concerned about Xiu Zhicheng because the meeting taking place in the afternoon means the Emperor won't be available in the morning.

If the Emperor won't be available means something must have happened to him, it might be he was injured during his morning training or injured during hunting which made Si Ning shift forward as he pushed all the negative thoughts away.

"That is hmm... today his Majesty will be having breakfast with his family." Yang Sheng reported.

"Eh?" Si Ning's mouth fell. He wasn't part of the Imperial family yet so he shouldn't feel offended but his mood suddenly turned sour. "Family?" He said softly, he was able to mask his annoyance by tilting his head up and closing his eyes while waiting for Yang Sheng's explanation.

"Yes, with Queen Dowager, the Crown Prince, the Second Prince, Concubine Ling, Concubine Ran, and Concubine Liu." Yang Sheng informed him.

"What of the Minister of Works?" Si Ning asked. He would have loved to ask about Xiu Ting too but decided to only ask of Xiu TianZhao not to look odd.

"The Minister of Works will not be having breakfast with the Imperial Family." Yang Sheng replied.

"Why is that." Si Ning opened his eyes to look directly at Yang Sheng.

Instead of Yang Sheng to reply he glanced between Jiang Ye and Jiang ChenMu and seeing that Si Ning raised an eyebrow made him quickly move to his side and bent, covering his mouth and brought it closer to Si Ning's ear.

"The Minister of Works didn't sleep in the palace yesterday." Yang Sheng whispered.

It seemed it wasn't all the Imperial family that was gathered for breakfast and for some reason Si Ning felt a bit better.

"Why?" Si Ning asked.

"This Servant heard the Minister of Works went to the House of Fragrance." Yang Sheng whispered.

Si Ning wanted to ask more details about this House of Fragrance because of how fancy the name sounds and because it was the first time he would hear about it but he doesn't want to look like he was enjoying some gossip about the Imperial family so he waved his hand to dismiss Yang Sheng, the head of the Servants made a salute and exit the room. Si Ning closed his eyes to think but he was more focused on how to distract himself from thinking about Xiu Zhicheng having breakfast with his family and not inviting his Empress to be.

"Young Master." Ah Dai came in after a while. "We have set up the dining for Young Master and Young Master's guests."

Si Ning opened his eyes when an idea occurred to him. "Jiang ChenMu and Jiang Ye, since you are here, I want you both to eat." He was proud that Ah Dai already thought about it ahead. "Ah Dai set up some training outfits for Jiang ChenMu and Jiang Ye because they will spar after breakfast." He declared with a smirk.