Yang Qing had followed Elder Chen the longest. He and Fang Xiaoru had taken the imperial examinations in the same year, but while Fang Xiaoru soared to success afterward—entering the Hanlin Academy and being assigned to the Six Ministries—Yang Qing repeatedly failed the exams and eventually sought refuge with Elder Chen as a retainer. Though he struggled with the examination essays, his mind had always been extremely sharp, and he read the court situation with great accuracy. It was also he who had arranged to spread information in the capital beforehand, creating momentum by piling all the blame on Third Old Master Chen. Upon hearing Elder Chen’s words, he furrowed his brow: “Right now we’re at our weakest point. To rashly oppose the Song family would be inadvisable.”
The Chen family’s misfortune meant the Song family rose even higher. If the Chen family now dared to charge forward and offend the Song family, success would be one thing, but if they fell short at the final hurdle again like last time, this Chen family was no longer the Chen family controlled by the Second Minister of the Cabinet.
The other men all chimed in agreement: “This matter is truly thorny—a hot potato indeed. If we really take it on, even doing well may not necessarily win the Crown Prince’s favor. If we do poorly, not only will we offend the Grand Prince, but given Fan Liangdi and Prince Dongping’s temperaments, they won’t remember our kindness either. No matter how you calculate it, it’s not a profitable deal. Our urgent priority should be to first establish ourselves in Jinling, produce some achievements, and work hard to clear away the influence brought by this imperial examination fraud case.”
But how could this be easy? Elder Chen heaved a deep sigh. Though his expression remained unchanged, a flash of ruthlessness crossed his eyes—today when he went to the banquet, there had still been local scholars blocking his sedan in the street, cursing him for conniving with his own son to buy and sell examination papers, calling him one of history’s greatest traitors. His reputation among the scholarly community had been destroyed by this examination fraud case. To repair it would be extremely difficult.
Now trying to rely on his official reputation to erase the previous influence was quite impossible. Better to take an alternative path and climb to the pinnacle—hadn’t the previous dynasty’s Chief Grand Secretary also served as Chief Grand Secretary for decades purely by staying close to the Emperor? Apart from that, that previous Chief Grand Secretary had nothing worth praising—day after day he just muddled through.
Elder Chen shared his thoughts with everyone: “Now trying to rely on official reputation again is quite impossible. These scholars all stick rigidly to their principles—you should understand this better than anyone. Once a reputation is ruined, it’s ruined. If we want to make a comeback, we can only take an alternative path.” Right now there were only two roads before them. One was to regain Emperor Jianzhang’s favor, but this path was equally difficult. This time Emperor Jianzhang had allowed Tao Dinghu to pull him down precisely to give the Eastern Palace and Crown Prince a warning—he wouldn’t slap his own face by employing him again. The reason he didn’t kill him was because he still remembered that bit of old affection from when Yang Qing had supported his enthronement when Prince Tai’s power was great—that’s why he thought to send him to the Jinling Ministry of Revenue for retirement.
The other path was naturally to continue following the Eastern Palace, but as for the Crown Prince… Elder Chen smiled bitterly and spread his hands: “The Crown Prince’s character—I’m sure you all understand it better than I do, no need for me to say more. If we wait until we’ve obtained control of Jinling’s weaving bureau and canal transport to present as tribute, who knows how many years we’d have to wait. By then I fear I’ll already be too old to eat like Lian Po, unable to serve. When I obtain these things, to whom shall I hand them over? But right now there’s an opportunity right before our eyes. Gentlemen, tell me—should I push it away?”
Hearing Old Master Chen’s tone, he clearly wanted to accomplish this task for the Eastern Palace. If this matter was done well, it would indeed be a great merit in the eyes of Prince Dongping and Fan Liangdi. Yang Qing deliberated for a moment, then asked Elder Chen: “Could it be that Her Majesty the Empress wishes to select a consort for His Highness the Grand Prince? Otherwise why would Lady Liangdi be so anxious?”
Someone quietly echoed: “Most likely that’s exactly it. Once His Highness the Grand Prince selects a consort, establishes his household, and opens his manor, his position will be even more secure. What’s more, Her Majesty the Empress has always valued His Highness the Grand Prince highly. I’m afraid the Grand Prince’s consort she selects for him will certainly be of extraordinarily distinguished status.”
Yang Qing looked around at everyone, thought for a moment, then said quietly: “Even so, this is still a minor path. So what if we use this to curry favor and get closer to Prince Dongping? If there’s another incident like today’s in the future, His Highness the Prince and Lady Liangdi will probably still submit a memorial saying Your Excellency deserves punishment as before.”
Everyone fell silent for a time. This time they had relied entirely on saving themselves—the Eastern Palace they depended on showed not the slightest intention of extending a hand. From this one could see the Crown Prince’s vision and character. He probably didn’t realize how many people’s hearts his attitude would chill.
Elder Chen stroked his meticulously maintained beard and turned his head to look at Yang Qing. Despite his advanced age and venerable position, he sincerely and earnestly asked for advice: “Then according to A’Qing’s thinking, what should we do?”
Yang Qing straightened his robes and formally stood up, bowing deeply to Elder Chen before slowly explaining his thoughts: “This matter is feasible, but we cannot simply serve as someone’s tool for nothing, nor can we come away with no benefits at all. There’s a common saying that though it sounds crude, contains great truth—the crying child gets the milk. We’ve always been conscientiously doing our work, and His Highness and the Lady have grown accustomed to it. Secondly, we cannot involve ourselves in assassinating the Grand Prince.” He paused, seeing everyone listening attentively, then continued: “Huangjue Temple cannot be seen in public, so they need to curry favor with His Highness through underhanded means. But we are not like them. We’ve already been identified as part of the Eastern Palace faction. If we abandon orthodoxy for His Highness’s sake, we’ll always be criticized for it in the future. Moreover, the variables in this matter are far too great.”
Elder Chen’s expression grew solemn. Yang Qing’s first sentence had said this matter was feasible, but his next sentence said they couldn’t participate in assassinating the Grand Prince—wasn’t this self-contradictory? He raised his hand in a gesture of support toward Yang Qing, tapped his fingers on the table, and indicated for Yang Qing to continue.
Yang Qing straightened his back and looked at Elder Chen with penetrating eyes: “We can provide convenience, but we absolutely cannot get directly involved. There are also many ways to provide this convenience. Teacher, you also don’t wish to directly confront His Highness the Grand Prince, so the convenience we provide to Huangjue Temple can target the Song and Cui families instead.”
Elder Chen’s eyes brightened and his face finally showed some radiance as he said quietly: “If A’Qing has any ideas, speak freely.”
“I’ve heard that both the Song and Cui families are traveling together with His Highness the Grand Prince’s fleet this time. Since they’re traveling together, there are inevitably more people, and when there are more people, chaos easily arises.” Yang Qing lowered his brows and eyes, his expression calm, as if discussing the most trivial matter: “At that time, the convenience we can provide to Huangjue Temple is to instigate this chaos, separating the Song and Cui families’ fleets from His Highness the Grand Prince’s, merely making their target more defined. Naturally, we’ll also choose the location where they’re separated.”
At that time, finding a place that was easy to strike would be fulfilling their duty to Huangjue Temple. As for anything else, they truly shouldn’t take on any more responsibility.