Academy Head Gao had said that three days hence he would arrange for Hong Shirui to see Prince Ning — and if Academy Head Gao had said it, then Prince Ning would certainly see him.

But this seeing did not mean Prince Ning would give Hong Shirui the attitude he wanted, or the outcome he wanted.

By now, Prince Ning’s standing in the Central Plains had grown extraordinary. As Academy Head Gao had put it: in this realm, aside from Prince Ning, no one had the standing to speak of yielding or not yielding.

And yet — what made anyone think Prince Ning would yield?

—

Prince Ning’s Residence, the reception hall.

Hong Shirui had not bowed deeply to Prince Ning. Over these three days, he had walked through Jizhou — but what he saw was different from what Prince Wu had seen.

People all have two eyes, and so in theory they see the same things — but what is “the same” is only the surface.

Prince Wu had seen the future. Hong Shirui had seen only petty greed and breaches of propriety.

Charging people to tour the Tingwei Court.

Charging people to go up the city wall.

Fees here, fees there — all of it turned whatever small respect Hong Shirui had held for Prince Ning into pure contempt.

Strange, that it should become contempt. Take a look at what Daxing looks like now. Take a look at everywhere else outside of Prince Ning’s territory.

“His Majesty has said.”

Hong Shirui looked at Prince Ning, in a tone that seemed proper and grave, yet carried a trace of arrogance: “The Emperor is willing to acknowledge Prince Ning’s status.”

Li Chi glanced at him, then looked toward Academy Head Gao sitting not far away. Academy Head Gao let out a quiet sigh, rose, and said: “I still have other matters to attend to. I shall take my leave.”

Li Chi rose to see him off. When they reached the doorway, Academy Head Gao said with mild exasperation: “Some people read books — and the books really do make them foolish.”

Li Chi said: “He is, after all, the Academy Head’s student. It’s only fitting I leave a little courtesy.”

Academy Head Gao curled his lip: “Aren’t you also my granddaughter’s husband?”

Li Chi: “Then… should I drop the courtesy?”

Academy Head Gao replied: “If I wanted you to keep your courtesy, would I be leaving?”

And so Li Chi smiled.

He walked Academy Head Gao out, then returned to his seat at the head of the table. He seemed to have forgotten what Hong Shirui had just said, and talked to Senior Official Yan sitting nearby as though of his own accord.

Hong Shirui naturally felt ignored, which deepened his contempt for Prince Ning — he thought this deliberately discourteous behavior was unbecoming of a true ruler.

Hong Shirui said: “Prince Ning, did you hear what I just said?”

Li Chi looked at him: “I heard. But I don’t feel there’s anything worth saying in response to a single sentence of nonsense.”

“Nonsense?”

Hong Shirui said: “The Emperor is willing to recognize Prince Ning’s status and standing. Shouldn’t Prince Ning show some acknowledgment?”

Li Chi: “Then tell me — several years ago, the Chu Emperor sent an imperial envoy to Jizhou to deliver an edict, enfeoffing me as a prince. Was that false?”

Hong Shirui was taken aback.

Senior Official Yan sitting to one side smiled and said: “Has Grand Official Hong forgotten? Or has His Majesty forgotten?”

Hong Shirui now realized — Prince Ning’s title had come from His Majesty himself. No matter how one might regard him as a rebel force, this title was granted by the Emperor.

And yet — had the Emperor given out so many enfeoffments that any of them truly counted?

Senior Official Yan smiled and said: “The Emperor of Dachu sends you here to acknowledge something he himself once did. If that isn’t nonsense, what is?”

Li Chi said: “Your purpose here, the Academy Head has already told me. The Chu Emperor says he can divide the realm with me, yielding me lands north of the Red River. And when exactly did he yield those lands to me?”

Hong Shirui immediately said: “The lands Prince Ning now holds over several provinces — those are all Chu territory.”

Li Chi said: “Did the Emperor yield them to me? Were they not lands I seized myself?”

Hong Shirui was taken aback again.

He thought Prince Ning was crude and vulgar.

Senior Official Yan said: “If we are to follow the logic of Grand Official Hong’s words — that the Chu Emperor intends to divide the realm with our lord — then the Emperor should first demonstrate some sincerity and actually yield the land to our lord.”

He looked at Hong Shirui: “Shall we bring out a map so that Grand Official Hong might indicate which portion is to be yielded to Prince Ning? Shall it be Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Yuezhou — or Liangzhou and Shuzhou? Ah… but I have forgotten — those places are not in the Chu Emperor’s hands. To yield them, the Emperor would first need to ask Li Xionghu and Yang Xuanji whether they consent.”

Senior Official Yan put on a look of sudden realization: “Could it be that the Chu Emperor intends to yield the capital province, Jingzhou, to our lord?”

Hong Shirui said furiously: “Don’t twist everything around so unreasonably…”

Before he could finish, Li Chi waved a hand: “Go back. The lands of the Central Plains — no matter who tries to yield them to me, I don’t want them. I’m used to seizing them myself. Seizing them myself is more interesting.”

Hong Shirui said: “Prince Ning, have you no regard for the suffering of the common people? When that moment truly comes — when the decisive battle is joined — the people will be plunged into misery…”

Li Chi said: “Has the Chu Emperor given that any thought?”

Hong Shirui: “Pardon?”

Li Chi said: “You might as well go back and ask the Chu Emperor — if war truly breaks out, does this Emperor of yours show no regard for the suffering of the common people? Don’t stand in a place where you fancy yourself morally superior and lecture others — no one will think you make any sense. Let me teach you something: if you want everyone to nod and agree with whatever you say, then before you say it, make sure you are stronger than the person you’re speaking to.”

“If you were not the Academy Head’s student, I would not have seen you today at all. And you think this is a courtesy I am showing you? This is a courtesy I am showing Academy Head Gao.”

Li Chi rose. When the host rises, it is a signal to see the guest out.

Hong Shirui’s expression shifted repeatedly. He stood there, at a loss for what to do next.

Senior Official Yan smiled and said: “Yesterday, Academy Head Gao told me that your coming was in order to uphold the dignity of the Chu Emperor — the dignity of the Chu court. But Grand Official Hong, at this moment, you yourself look very undignified.”

Hong Shirui looked at Li Chi, his eyes already faintly reddening: “I have nothing more to say. Prince Ning should know that this is a matter that benefits both sides — I ask that Your Highness consent.”

“Both sides?”

Li Chi asked him: “Then why should I let another party share in something that would otherwise benefit me alone? Out of some sense of magnanimity? My Ning Army has fought from north to south, with countless casualties, to bring peace and prosperity to these several provinces — and in the matter you call mutually beneficial, would my fallen soldiers agree?”

“If the Emperor truly cared for the people, he could abdicate. And as for you — if you wish to demonstrate your loyalty to the Chu Emperor by dying right now, please go and die in front of the Chu Emperor where he can see it. What good does it do me to watch you die?”

These words left no room for dignity at all.

Li Chi had never been a man who took losses lying down — not as a child, not now, and certainly not in the future.

Hong Shirui’s face went white: “Is Prince Ning threatening me into death?”

Li Chi laughed.

Hong Shirui said: “Since Prince Ning would compel me to die, then I shall dash my head against this pillar right here in your residence, and let all under heaven and all your officers and soldiers answer for it — let them answer for you and…”

Li Chi: “Then please be quick about it. I still need to go stroll the street — at this hour, the sesame cakes on Second Street have just come out of the oven. If I’m late the taste won’t be as good.”

Hong Shirui’s eyes had gone bloodshot. He glanced at the pillar: “Prince Ning, if you will not agree to His Majesty’s terms, then I shall — right before your eyes — spill my blood here.”

Li Chi said: “You know, when a child wants sweets and the adults won’t give them, the child will throw a tantrum and roll around on the floor — and the adults, left with no choice, will give the child a piece of candy. Do you think you’re any different from that child throwing a tantrum?”

Without waiting for Hong Shirui to reply, Li Chi walked up to him: “You’re no different from those children. But I am — because those children throw tantrums to get candy from their parents. I am not your father.”

Just as Hong Shirui was about to burst into a tirade, Li Chi grabbed him by the front of his robe: “Let me help you, then.”

He hoisted Hong Shirui by the lapels and strode toward the pillar, one hand gripping his collar and the other holding his waistband, driving his head directly toward the pillar.

Hong Shirui let out a terrified shriek and began struggling wildly.

Li Chi released him. Hong Shirui crashed to the ground heavily.

The moment he hit the floor, he curled up instinctively, both hands clasped over his head.

“When a child throws a tantrum, cries, and rolls around begging for sweets, a good smack sorts it out. You’re worse than a child — one good scare and you fold.”

Li Chi stepped past Hong Shirui: “Go back. Go to Daxing and be a loyal official there. No one here will let themselves be threatened.”

Li Chi strode out. Yan Qingzhi let out a quiet sigh, walked over, and helped Hong Shirui to his feet: “Grand Official Hong knows well that nothing you do here will change anything — and he also knows that he had to make some kind of gesture. So… that is enough.”

Hong Shirui looked at Senior Official Yan, then shook his head. His eyes were full of desolation and sorrow.

“It turns out that not fearing death is not so easy.”

Hong Shirui turned to walk out.

Senior Official Yan said: “You did not fear death. Had you feared it, you would not have come. Not fearing death is not actually so difficult — what is difficult is living in the right way.”

Hong Shirui turned and looked at Senior Official Yan: “The ‘right way’ you speak of — by my lights, I am already doing it.”

Senior Official Yan nodded: “So Grand Official Hong has no cause for dejection, nor for self-reproach. Besides, if you had died here, nothing would change — every person in these northern lands has received the blessings of Prince Ning’s governance. Your plan to die here and pin a bad name on Prince Ning was truly unwise…”

Hong Shirui was silent.

After a long while, he clasped his hands toward Senior Official Yan and walked away with large strides.

To be honest, he had come fully resolved to die. If Prince Ning refused, he had intended to die right there in that residence.

He had even arranged for his attendants to spread word everywhere if he didn’t return — to say that Prince Ning Li Chi had forced the court’s envoy to his death.

He knew this scheme of his was somewhat malicious. But he was a subject of Chu — what else was left for him to do?

Out of Prince Ning’s residence, Hong Shirui walked and thought: he had left in just about the most undignified way possible.

Worse than death, even — because death, at least, leaves no room to know whether one is dignified or not.

Though they had not spoken again, Senior Official Yan had walked him all the way to the outer gate before stopping — looking far more dignified than Hong Shirui in his sorry, dejected state.

Dignity — even the weak have no right to it, let alone the defeated.

Back at the official guesthouse, Yang You handed him a letter and said that Prince Wu had already left Yuzhou, and that this letter was for him to pass on to Prince Ning.

Looking at this letter, Hong Shirui found he had no face left to make another trip to Prince Ning’s residence.

“Leave it on the table.”

Hong Shirui said: “After we leave tomorrow, Prince Ning’s people will find it and pass it along.”

Yang You asked: “Grand Official… did Prince Ning refuse His Majesty?”

Hong Shirui shook his head: “No.”

Yang You brightened: “Then he agreed? If he agreed that would be good news — Grand Official, why do you still look so unhappy?”

Hong Shirui shook his head again: “He didn’t agree either.”

Yang You was confused — if he neither refused nor agreed, then what was it?

Hong Shirui looked at him, and in a voice very quiet but very weighted, said three words.

“He ignored us.”

Yang You stood there. Three words — and in that instant he felt exactly the same dejection and desolation that Grand Official Hong carried.

Ignored…

“Grand Official… what has become of our Dachu?”

Yang You let out a cry of grief.

Hong Shirui lowered his head and said: “Dachu was never ours. It never was, from the very beginning. We thought Dachu was ours — but in truth, we were only ever Dachu’s.”

He raised his hand and gave Yang You a pat on the shoulder: “We leave tomorrow. Only now do I understand — just being able to walk out with one’s head held up is already the greatest dignity of all.”

Yang You suddenly asked: “But Grand Official — if we are Dachu’s… is it not also the case that we only think we are Dachu’s?”

Hong Shirui’s expression changed sharply.