A long delay of funeral scheduling granted us a long time to do what we had to do. Having everyone distracted and in deadlock would be allow us to think about our next steps. First, there was a massive mass funeral for all of the servants that died. It was a very extravagant and vapid affair. The whole court was forced to attend. After that major farce, every 3 days we did a single funeral. The first real funerals was for Ai and then her daughter. Their faction members were the most prominent mourners. It was the true end of the former dynasty and there was no way to bring it back. Their support was in vain. Next was the funeral of Hua Mei and Crown Prince Tai. After that, it was only a funeral every 5 days. To get everyone out of the way, it took several months. People called it an error of mourning. Wang Jing went to each and every one of them and pretended to be sad about them. Obviously, it was not a fake performance for all of them. Betrayal hurt him. Wang Wuying handled all of the politics with the Feng, Lai and Kong clans to bring them on side. I also decided to get Hai promoted.
Because of all the funerals, the people in the capitol called this the Era of Mourning. Wang Jing, no longer in his periwinkle robes, was now in navy blue and black. There were also new clans invited from the provinces that were loyal to the Wang family. It was easy to slip them in when everyone was required to play along with the new Era of Mourning. No one, especially not the guilty, wanted to be seen as callous or unsympathetic of a clearly unstable emperor. The Zi, Cui, and Shi clans were just some of the minor families on the outskirts. They were mostly upstart military officials or civil servants from outskirts of the empire. They were also nationalists that agreed with the stated goals of the revolution that put Wang Jing in power. This made these clans the easiest people for the royal family to bring on side. It was not like the Feng, Lai and Kong clans could handle everything. Even if they did have enough competent members, it would be insane to entrust them with so much power. They were hungry and eager for the power and responsibility. They were not the best, but that was fine.
Climbing the steps to the temple on the outer rim of the capitol, we met the emperor. It was the last funeral. The deceased we were celebrating was a minor member of a branch house of the Long clan. The young priests were the ones performing the rites this time. The clergy of the capitol were all too happy to take the massive donations for the funerals. The case load was way too much for a single monastery. All of them had to pitch in. The funeral took several hours from start to finish. Once we were finished, the Era of Mourning came to an end. This was now when we needed to make our own way through. The clans would want to have their old duties back. There was a simple solution. The next meeting of the court had lots of angry complaints from all of the major clans. Wang Jing hear all of the complaints. Apparently, the Zi, Cui, and Shi clans were pretty arrogant from being invited from the royal family. They spoke up in their own defense as well. Wang Wuying got them under control. Wang Jing then said "Because of all the funerals, there was a need for big administrative help."
I smirked as the others looked upset. "Good work requires compensation. We will have to reconfigure all the responsibilities and privileges for each of the clans here. I'll assure you all that you will be given exactly what you can handle in the upcoming years. As for the immediate timeframe, I will now reward the Zi, Cui, and Shi clans with accepting 2 concubines from each clan. I will also accept the sister of our savior, Hai, as well." he continued. There was a moment of quiet before the 3 clans then all immediately bowed and praised him. Wang Jing then dismissed them all. When they were gone, I approached them. "We need to ensure the Zi, Cui, and Shi clans are given the unglamorous yet most crucial jobs." I instructed. They nodded and we went our separate ways. Once I got back to the house I lived in, I cooked some dinner for everyone. They loved it like always. I spent some time with my kids before I was called to the palace again by the contract. I looked around quickly for Wang Jing. He was on the bed looking at me. "All those funerals were boring. I don't know how I did it."
