Chief Minister Chang was scared half to death by this student’s audacity. When Cui Yingshu came to his door bearing gifts, he kept a straight face and refused to acknowledge him. Only after a long while in the study did he let out a grunt: “You’re truly bold enough. Were you that certain you could turn things around? Since ancient times, no official has not feared the censors. When your matter came out, the first to submit memorials was the Jiangxi surveillance censor. I truly broke out in a cold sweat for you. When these censors sink their teeth into someone, they always go for the meatiest parts. Don’t you know the example of Censor Shi?”
Cui Yingshu earnestly followed his teacher around several corners, personally refilling his teacher’s tea, shaking his head and sighing: “I also didn’t anticipate that so much was involved in this. Turns out this was a linked stratagem, and I was merely an incidental link in it. If I had also fallen, the next one should have been Shaoting, and the one after that would probably have been you, Teacher.”
Although Chief Minister Chang could be considered an isolated minister who didn’t cling to any faction and was most trusted by Emperor Jianzhang, such a person was also especially fragile. Who knew when the walls might fall and he would be trampled to death by the crowds surging forward? His cultivation of Cui Yingshu and Cui Shaoting was precisely making plans for the future—openly forming cliques and factions naturally wouldn’t do, but his reputation for cherishing and valuing talent had always existed. Cui Yingshu and Cui Shaoting both truly had ability. If he helped them up, and with the bond of teacher and student between them, he would at least not be isolated and helpless in the future. Cui Yingshu was right. Old Master Chen’s ambition was too great. The older he got, the greater his ambition became. At first, under Elder Zhang’s restraints, he still knew to exercise some restraint. Later, without Elder Zhang, his reach extended further and further. If he had succeeded this time, sooner or later, Old Master Chen’s blade would have been at his own throat—all his desperate efforts were pointing at his position as chief minister, weren’t they?
“I’ve inquired about it. The reason Jiangxi chose you to take this fall was because of an advisor beside Old Master Chen. Named Yang Qing—you may not know who he is, but he hates you to the point his teeth itch.” Chief Minister Chang stroked his beard: “You, he, and Fang Xiaoru were all in the same examination year. Back then, Fang Xiaoru associated with him, frequenting brothels and pleasure quarters. At the time, they wanted to pull you along to compose poems for a famous courtesan, and you publicly rebuked them, saying it insulted scholarly dignity. He happened to fail the examination and has been struggling ever since.”
Cui Yingshu had long lost any memory of this. When one is young, one’s eyes can never tolerate fools. He never imagined he had offended someone over this. He gave a bitter laugh: “No wonder this burden was made so heavy, as if afraid I wouldn’t die.”
However, all of this had already passed. There was no benefit in saying more, so Cui Yingshu didn’t mention it again. He discussed with his teacher the matter of choosing sides in the future: “Teacher is far-sighted. Haven’t you thought about what will happen in the future? In name we are teacher and student, but in affection we are like father and son. I won’t beat around the bush with you, Teacher. In your view, which path should we take in the future?”
Since the founding of this dynasty, few who served as chief minister had ended well. But Chief Minister Chang wanted to be one of those few, so for all these years he had worked conscientiously. Even when his power reached its peak, he knew to keep a low profile. When supporting his own people, he knew to do so openly and honorably, never perverting the law for personal gain. But this wasn’t enough—far from enough.
As long as he took one wrong step at the most critical juncture, all the efforts he had made over decades to climb upward would crumble in an instant. This was a price he couldn’t afford to pay.
This most critical juncture was naturally, as Cui Yingshu said, the problem of choosing sides. Chief Minister Chang himself had thought about this many times. In his view, there really weren’t many choices in the world today. Emperor Jianzhang didn’t have many sons to begin with. Prince Duan, who had the most ambition and acted on it, was already dead. Now the remaining Prince Lu, who shared the same mother, was cowering in one place not daring to make the slightest disturbance. Prince Su, born of Consort Liang, was also keeping himself in line. Only Prince Gong probably still had thoughts of competing.
Between the Eastern Palace and Prince Gong, he naturally chose the Eastern Palace—after all, the Eastern Palace had already served as crown prince for so many years without major fault. Since ancient times, for a crown prince, having no fault was itself merit. On this point, the Crown Prince had actually done quite well.
The troublesome thing was that the Eastern Palace had too many variables—the Crown Prince’s health truly made one break out in a cold sweat. If this situation truly arose, then naturally there would be further choosing of sides within the Eastern Palace: would it be His Highness the Grand Prince or Prince Dongping?
Chief Minister Chang had always hesitated before, wanting to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. After all, this was a matter that determined the life and death of the clan—who would dare bet lightly? Hadn’t he seen how cautious the Song family was? The Song family simply hadn’t even boarded the Eastern Palace’s ship, instead following behind Emperor Jianzhang, thinking what the Emperor thought, worrying about what the Emperor worried about, assuming the posture of pure subjects.
But now, the situation had reached the point where sides had to be chosen. Chief Minister Chang looked at Cui Yingshu: “The Song family accepted the Empress’s reward?”
Cui Yingshu nodded, not hiding anything from his teacher: “They accepted it.”
This was very telling. The previous two times, the Song family had acted as if the rewards hadn’t happened. They would receive the rewards with their front foot and send Song Chuyi to Jinzhong with their back foot. Since they had truly accepted this time, he nodded thoughtfully: “This Sixth Miss Song carries considerable weight.”
From Yangquan to Jinzhong to Tianshui Town, her shadow was everywhere. That Cui Yingshu’s matter could proceed so smoothly this time was also because she could understand Cui Yingshu’s meaning and could use the Minister of Works’ son to drag that old fox the Minister of Works into the water. She was truly a girl who was a bit excessively clever. No wonder that old fox Song Chengru had been making such smooth moves recently.
If His Highness the Grand Prince could gather this support into his camp, it was equivalent to bringing the Song family under his command as well. With the Song and Cui families, this Grand Prince who had already shown his talents in suppressing the rebellion already held the advantage of being the legitimate eldest grandson, the rightful Imperial Grand Prince, and also had the Emperor’s favor. Compared to Prince Dongping who was favored by the Crown Prince, he was clearly more worthy of people’s favor.
Moreover, thinking about how he himself had helped this Highness quite a bit before, Chief Minister Chang sighed: “Let this old man think it over carefully.”
Cui Yingshu naturally didn’t press his teacher. The time hadn’t yet come for that. It was just that the Crown Prince’s physical condition was truly worrying. If he died, it wouldn’t just be a question of choosing between Prince Dongping and the Grand Prince—Prince Gong’s side would probably also cause trouble.
But privately thinking it over, Cui Yingshu felt that the Crown Prince ascending the throne might not necessarily be a blessing either. Even now, he loved money so much, and as the nation’s crown prince, for the sake of private gain he disregarded the life and death of the common people. This truly wasn’t the sign of an enlightened ruler. But after all, this wasn’t something he could decide. He could only swallow his inner worries—in any case, what was fortunate was that the Crown Prince wasn’t the Emperor yet. Moreover, beside him there was a clear-headed Grand Prince.