The gauze curtains around the Emperor’s pavilion had been lowered for a long time, and the music and singing outside had continued for just as long. Only when sounds came from within again did the eunuchs on both sides signal the performers to stop and lifted the gauze curtains.
The Emperor sat up with a hint of sleepiness, his spirits much better than before.
“Has Axun come?” he asked.
His Majesty’s memory was getting worse these days. A eunuch lowered his head and said cautiously: “He paid his respects to Your Majesty and left together with the Crown Prince.”
The Emperor made a sound of acknowledgment, narrowed his eyes—probably remembering now—and reached out to pick up a cup of wine that had been poured for him, slowly taking a sip.
“What did the Crown Prince say? What did Axun come to the capital for?” he asked again.
The eunuch repeated what the Crown Prince had said earlier, and also said what the Crown Prince hadn’t mentioned.
“Magistrate Liang asked the Court of Judicial Review to help find Miss Chu. The Court of Judicial Review requested Prince Zhongshan’s help to intercept them on the road, and after the interception, Prince Zhongshan’s heir escorted her back.”
Hearing this, the Emperor put down his wine cup and asked with narrowed eyes: “He escorted Miss Chu back? Who told him to do that? Chu Ling?”
“No, no,” the eunuch hastily said. “Actually, Prince Zhongshan’s heir was quite unlucky. When Miss Chu’s party was passing through Prince Zhongshan’s territory, they encountered mountain bandits. It caused quite a disturbance—troops were mobilized, and many civilians died or were injured. Among Miss Chu’s party were court officials, so Prince Zhongshan was very uneasy and specially came to the capital to explain to the court. He submitted a request beforehand, and the Crown Prince approved it.”
The Emperor made a sound of acknowledgment and smiled: “This younger brother of mine is truly cautious, unwilling to leave even half a word unsaid, afraid that others will harm him.”
The eunuch also breathed a sigh of relief and poured wine for the Emperor: “It’s good to be cautious. This is proper conduct.”
Only the Emperor’s own sons could be without rules before him—brothers and nephews could not.
The Emperor drank slowly, seeming both intoxicated and sober: “What was the matter with Chu Ling’s daughter again?”
The eunuch responded: “Chu Ling’s daughter beat Miss Liang. Magistrate Liang wouldn’t let it go, so Chu Ling appealed to Your Majesty, and Your Majesty resolved the trouble for him.”
The Emperor said nothing and drained his wine in one gulp.
“Your Majesty, Chu Ling’s letter—do you need to reply?” the eunuch asked cautiously. “The matter he’s asking you about—”
As the words fell, the Emperor’s expression turned furious.
“Why would I reply to his letter?” he shouted. “What is he to dare lecture me! To blame me! When it was clearly he who did wrong! One skilled in warfare subdues the enemy without battle, takes their cities without siege, overthrows their state without prolonged conflict—”
He threw the wine cup in his hand to the ground. This wasn’t enough—he also threw the wine jug and overturned the table with everything on it.
These were the words Chu Ling had used to scold him back then. After all this time, they were still carved into the Emperor’s heart. One could see how badly the two had fallen out at the time. The head eunuch sighed inwardly and led everyone in kneeling.
“Your Majesty, please calm your anger.”
Chaotic footsteps sounded as a group of palace maids surrounded a magnificently dressed consort who glided over, calling out loudly: “Your Majesty, what’s wrong with Your Majesty?”
Seeing this consort, the eunuchs and performers all breathed sighs of relief, calling out one after another: “Noble Consort has arrived.”
Noble Consort Zhao had already reached the Emperor’s side, reaching out to embrace his arm. “Who angered Your Majesty again?” Without waiting for an answer, she shook the Emperor’s arm. “Your Majesty, Your Majesty, don’t be angry anymore. Come play chess with me quickly. I’ve learned something new—this time I’ll definitely beat Your Majesty.”
The Noble Consort, already in her thirties, still carried herself like a young girl. Being shaken by a beauty, the Emperor’s anger instantly dissipated, and a smile appeared in his eyes.
“Don’t cry to me when you lose,” he said with a laugh.
Noble Consort Zhao took the Emperor’s hand. “Come quickly, come quickly.”
The Emperor followed her, stepping over the chaos on the ground. His previous rage seemed to have never happened.
The eunuchs and performers left behind only stood up after they could no longer hear footsteps, breathing sighs of relief.
One eunuch smiled bitterly: “The Noble Consort still asked who angered His Majesty. If it weren’t for the Third Prince—”
Before he could finish, the head eunuch slapped him on the head.
“Tired of living?” he cursed. “If you don’t want to live, go drown yourself in the lake tonight.”
That eunuch lowered his head sheepishly, not daring to say another word, and hurriedly cleaned up the chaos on the ground.
……
……
Deyang Hall was where the Emperor handled court affairs. Now that the Emperor had entrusted court matters to the Crown Prince, he rarely set foot there.
At this moment in Deyang Hall, officials knelt while the Crown Prince also sat on the floor inside the hall, with stacks of memorials piled before him.
His expression was solemn, his robust figure even more imposing. His gaze swept over the memorials before him, seemingly deep in thought about how to make decisions.
The eunuchs on both sides held their breath in silence.
The Crown Prince extended his arm and picked up a stack of memorials, doing this several times. Finally, satisfied, he pointed to the heaviest stack among them: “Keep this stack, take away the others.”
With this decision, officials whose memorials weren’t in that stack let out sighs of lament, but no one dared to come forward to argue, because on both sides of the hall stood quite a few robust men. They also wore official robes, though not quite the same as normal official robes. These were the Crown Prince’s archery and riding instructors, whom the Crown Prince had created a position called “strength officials” for, allowing them to swagger along to court.
In the court, if there was any disagreement, they dared to lay hands on court officials.
The eunuchs brought over the memorials not selected by the Crown Prince based on weight, and the officials retrieved their own, helplessly taking their leave.
“I really can’t wait any longer—this concerns disaster relief grain,” one official said with a worried brow, turning to look at the Crown Prince sitting in the hall.
He gritted his teeth and was about to step forward to petition the Crown Prince when another official pulled him back.
“If you anger His Highness and he beats you, you’ll lie at home for ten days to half a month, delaying matters even more,” that official advised, pointing to one of the strength officials and giving the first official a meaningful look.
That official understood. Somewhat helplessly, he took a bag of money from his sleeve, grabbed a strength official, and said in a low voice: “My lord, please help.” He stuffed the money bag to the strength official.
The strength official with a full beard accepted the money bag and smiled with satisfaction, though he was also helpless: “Lord Qi, the Crown Prince’s selection of memorials is unpredictable. This time he chose the heavy ones, next time he might choose the light ones, and the time after that maybe the neither-heavy-nor-light ones. I can’t guarantee—”
The official looked distressed: “This really can’t wait—thousands of people are waiting to eat—”
The strength official wasn’t one to take money without doing anything. He coughed lightly and said in a low voice: “Lord Qi, if you want it fast, you’d better ask Lord Yang to help.”
There were many officials surnamed Yang in the court, but when a strength official mentioned Lord Yang without specifying a name, everyone knew it referred to the Crown Prince’s maternal uncle.
Uncle Yang currently managed military affairs at the Grand Commandant’s Office.
The official’s expression was somewhat helpless: “But this is a matter for my Revenue Department—”
The strength officials were all martial men who didn’t understand anything.
That strength official also had an expression of “how can you not understand”: “Whether it’s a Revenue Department matter or a War Department matter, it’s all court business, isn’t it?”
Wasn’t this saying that all court business was Lord Yang’s business? Really— The official was somewhat helpless. Oh well. He thanked the strength official and left carrying his memorial.
Even if Uncle Yang scraped off a layer of profit, at least he could feed those thousands of people and prevent them from starving to death. That would settle the matter.
The officials dispersed, and the hall returned to quiet. The Crown Prince casually flipped through a few memorials, then impatiently tossed them aside and asked: “Have you investigated Third’s literary gathering?”
A strength official stepped forward: “We’ve investigated it all. The Third Prince has posted notices everywhere saying that regardless of status or position, anyone can participate in the literary gathering as long as they pass the examination at the gates of Wangchun Garden.”
The Crown Prince asked: “What examination?”
Another strength official smiled: “Nothing more than poetry, prose, calligraphy, chess, things like that.”
Poetry and prose couldn’t kill anyone. The Crown Prince nodded: “Watch the people participating, lest he use this to recruit people he shouldn’t recruit.”
The strength officials responded: “Our people are watching everywhere day and night.” They asked again: “Once we discover anyone suspicious, investigate thoroughly—”
The Crown Prince smiled: “Investigate thoroughly? No need to investigate. What’s there to investigate? Just beat them to death and be done with it!”
As he spoke, he stood up and moved his shoulders, producing crackling sounds.
“Let him know that scheming and plotting can’t compare to my fists.”