Chapter 89

  Triumphant return

  After two years of fighting, Yin Haicheng defeated the enemy in three cities, recovered lost territory and returned triumphantly.

  The emperor was naturally delighted and rewarded him heavily, but Yin Haicheng felt ashamed and dared not accept it, knocking his head to thank the emperor for sparing his life and showing mercy to the Yin family.

  The Emperor naturally wouldn't be so petty as to harm such an important minister over a concubine's child. After soothing the situation, the rewards remained unchanged, and for a time, Marquis of Jiang was once again favored, his prestige undiminished.

  After two years of fighting, Yin Haicheng declined the emperor's victory banquet and rushed home. At that time, he left in a hurry and didn't even have time to bid farewell to his elderly mother. The emperor could understand this, so he agreed to let him go.

  In fact, Yin Haicheng's heart was not only his elderly mother, but also his young son who had just been born for a few months, his beloved wife, and these children, he all missed them very much.

  At first he was on the border, the battle situation was very tense, and he had not yet known, later it was General Song who told him about Yin Jintang's matter, he almost didn't breathe and spat out blood.

  This scourge of a family would be cut down by him with one slash of his sword if he were in front of him.

  It was already known that the two Lin family villains had big ambitions, and at first they still needed to be supported. Later, in order to advance their official careers, they used ruthless tactics and acted strangely, but surprisingly, their abilities were not small, and even the emperor valued them highly. At that time, Yin Haicheng had already gradually become estranged from the two of them, and in his view, such behavior was not a good omen.

  No matter how hard he tried, he still implicated the Yin family. If it was because of such an unworthy descendant that the Yin family suffered the same fate as the He and Ge families, then he would truly have no face to meet his ancestors even in death.

  The Hou Mansion in Zhenjiang had received news early on and the whole family was gathered together, even Yin Ruofei had taken leave from Ze Wang to return to the Hou Mansion.

  Yin Haicheng walked into the Hou Mansion with a dusty and weary appearance, and the familiar courtyard made him also unable to hold back his tears. Two years was not a long time, but it wasn't short either, and there were several times when his life was in danger, making it really difficult.

  The servants and maids of the Hou Mansion were all delighted, having already cleaned up the courtyard, waiting for Master Hou's return. Two years ago, many people were implicated in that upheaval, and for a time, everyone in the capital was fearful for their lives. Although they were from the old Hou Mansion, they were also implicated, afraid that one day the Emperor would become enraged and the entire Hou Mansion would be executed, resulting in them losing their lives as well.

  The people of the Hou Mansion, except for Chen and Old Madam, all went to the gate to welcome Yin Haicheng. Yin Haicheng looked at Jin Yuan who had already grown into a big and tall young man, and then at Qi Ziruo Fei who was quite majestic, and felt very satisfied in his heart.

  Yin Ruofei was accompanied by two children, a boy and a girl. The girl was eight-year-old Ruo Lan, and the boy was only two-and-a-half-year-old Ruo Chen.

  The whole Hou Mansion was the smallest among them, and they were both close to Ruo Fei. Yin Ruo Fei squatted down, whispered a few words, and pushed the two children forward. The two little ones didn't show any fear, although it had been two years since they last saw their father and could hardly remember his appearance, but they still followed their older brother's instructions and went forward to pay respects to their father.

  Yin Haicheng's eyes welled up with tears as the two young children stood before him, asking for his blessing in an orderly manner, and then hugged his legs playfully, only then did he feel that he had truly returned.

  "Dad, mom is waiting at grandma's place."

  Chen was supposed to come and welcome too, but the old lady was extremely excited, her body wasn't feeling well, Chen was taking care of her over there.

  Yin Haicheng nodded and stretched out his hands to pick up the two children, leading the other kids towards Fushou Hall.

  The old lady has become increasingly frail over the past two years. Although there have been several happy events in the family during this time, including Second Sister Ruiqi's distant marriage, Third Sister Ruishu's marriage, Lin Yun'er entering the palace, Fourth and Fifth Sisters' engagement, and Eldest Sister giving birth to a son...

  But all these things could not make the old lady truly happy, and she always missed her son who was far away in the border.

  Now that her only son has finally returned, how can she not be excited?

  Yin Haicheng also had two streams of tears, put down the two children, knelt on the ground and knocked several loud heads, and the mother and son hugged each other and cried bitterly.

  Although there was no big feast at noon, many delicious dishes were made. Chen even personally went to the kitchen and made a few exquisite small dishes for him.

  Border Garrison, what's good to eat here? Even if he is the commander-in-chief, he can't be too special. At this time, seeing these home-cooked dishes, his appetite suddenly opened up.

  Two years is not a short time, Yin Ruofei has already become an almost thirteen-year-old adult. In these two years, his height has increased significantly and now he only differs from Ze Wang by half a head. His appearance has also changed from that of a small golden boy to one with a somewhat heroic air, but still retains the elegance of jade.

  But all of this is just superficial, and Yin Ruofei has become increasingly sinister over the past two years under Ze Wang's training. Normally, no matter who he meets, he always puts on a warm and gentle appearance, but in the past two years, following Ze Wang around, he has indeed taken down many corrupt officials.

  It's laughable that those people thought they had won over someone close to the king, and were thinking that this kid was indeed easy to win over. In reality, their incriminating evidence was already in hand, and the bribes they sent over had long been used to support the academy.

  This academy is also not ordinary nowadays, mentioning the Cheng'en Academy outside the city, it's almost known to everyone, because this academy not only doesn't accept a single penny from poor people, but also provides some subsidies to those who are really poor.

  These students of Cheng'en Academy, whether they study literature or martial arts, are extremely diligent in their studies and work hard, to the point where students from other academies can't help but feel ashamed.

  On the martial arts side, Gongjiu personally helped him select, while on the scholarly side, Zewang also arranged for several gentlemen to secretly search for good candidates. New students kept joining in, and Xilinghao used his grandfather's name to buy up nearby hills and empty land. Fortunately, they were all ownerless hills, so it didn't cost much silver.

  Cheng'en Academy has been expanding continuously and is now the largest civilian academy.

  In these years, Yin Ruofei seized every opportunity, using both kindness and severity to gather those promising young talents under his command.

  He was originally a very talented person, and over the years he followed Ze Wang's side, with an astonishing momentum. The first batch of students were grateful for his help in those days, and they vowed to follow him to death. As the years went by, these ideas were also passed down.

  Yin Ruofei followed Ze Wang, and in the past two years, Ze Wang's reputation had been excellent. He and the Crown Prince were both regarded by the younger generation as heroes who could eliminate evil. Especially since it was said that Ze Wang's body was weak, yet he still thought of his lord and country, which made people even more admire him.

  Yin Ruofei followed Ze Wang closely, and that year was also the object of reward. At his age, he could make those new students admire him deeply.

  Yin Ruofei was taught by Rong Jingze's profound tactics, and he got along well with these poor students, calling each other brothers and treating each other sincerely. With his insight and thoughts, he also stood out among this group of children of the same age, and a strong helping hand had emerged.

  The most powerful figure in the Yin family is back, and countless people have come to visit him in just a few days. They flatteringly praised Yin Haicheng as being incomparably brave, with imperial favor that has not diminished, and instantly boasted about the several young masters by his side who are both talented and handsome.

  Yin Ruofei stood by, with a warm expression on his face, but secretly sneering in his heart. Jin Yuan also felt disgusted and gave Yin Ruofei a look, the two of them found an excuse to slip outside.

  For the past two years, Yin Ruofei has been living a good life under the light of Rong Jingze. Behind him is not only the Houfu of Zhenjiang, but more importantly, Ze Wang. Who dares to speak ill of him in person? Even if Ze Wang is not around, Xiling Hao, the young master of Yongguo Gongfu, and he are also brothers with a deep affection for each other, how can they tolerate others saying anything about them.

  But others in the Hou Mansion did not have it so easy.

  Yin Jinyuan was the eldest son, and it was his younger brother by the same mother who participated in the rebellion, which made him extremely embarrassed. The people in the military camp spoke directly, especially since Yin Haicheng was not in the capital, he was thrown to the border to redeem himself, some small officials who were deceitful and flattering began to make things difficult for Jinyuan.

  Jin Yuan was originally a brave and daring officer, but he had been repeatedly entrusted with tasks that were fundamentally impossible to complete, and as a result, he had been demoted several times. If it weren't for his brother's help, he probably wouldn't have been able to make ends meet even for a single day.

  Even so, after being beaten several times with skin lacerations and thick scabs on both legs, the only fortunate thing was that no tendons or bones were injured.

  The remaining brothers, except for Lao Wu who was sent to Guozijian by Yin Ruofei to study, all stayed at home. Those relatives who used to treat them as young masters now quietly snubbed them. This was also the arrangement made by the elders in the family.

  Yin Haicheng said it was a crime to make amends, but if he couldn't make amends, no one knew whether he would be downgraded and punished like the other families, or even exterminated.

  It's been two years now, even the craziest Lao Liu has become more honest, let alone the originally timid Lao Si and Lao Wu.

  It happened to be the golden autumn season, and Yin's fourth daughter and fifth daughter got married. They were all engagements made in the past two years, belonging to the time when the high and low families did not match. Especially these two daughters had a humble origin, their birth mother was only a concubine, and their real father and mother did not love them. These two marriages were really not good.

  Previously, Madam Chen meant to wait a bit longer until Yin Haicheng returns, and the marriage would be better. But Yin Ruofei wouldn't let them off easily, as they had a part in harming him back then. He didn't bother with them now only because they were women, but he still wanted to show off his power through the Hou Mansion, which was not going to happen.

  Although these two families are not of high social status, they can be considered well-to-do families. If they live a good life, he will definitely not make things difficult for them. However, if they still want to cause trouble, it depends on whether they have the fate to do so.

  Rui Qi had given birth to a son more than half a year ago. Although she was mentally prepared to observe mourning for her maternal relatives, her aunt's family on the other side was in a hurry and had waited for her for a year and a half, which could be considered as fulfilling her filial duty, so they hastily took her away.

  Yin Ruofei borrowed a message and said that nowadays the couple is like honey and oil, and the second sister has been pregnant for more than a month.

  Yin Haicheng listened to these, frequently nodding his head. His most beloved daughter was married well, and he could rest assured. His eldest daughter had a son by her side, and from now on, it would be good days ahead, all of which didn't require him to worry.

  The real bride was much worse off, even if she were the third daughter of a noble family. Not only did Old Lady and Master Yin despise her, but Chen Shi also hated her to the bone, how could they let her off easily? On the surface, they pretended to be on good terms with Yin Haicheng, but in reality, they married her off to a merchant's family, treating her as nothing more than a lowly concubine.

  The official's daughter married a merchant and was absolutely inferior. Yin Ruofei also gave the other party a heavy silver, making it impossible for them to say anything. It seems that after marrying into the family, Yin Rui Shu didn't have any good life.

  This move made Chen extremely grateful to him. In Chen's view, the revenge for killing his son was already too light.