When Deng Yi walked in, he witnessed this scene: Chu Zhao and Xiao Yu were examining robes together, surrounded by palace maids and eunuchs holding various jewels and hairpins. Amid this dazzling display, Xie Yanfang, dressed in his official robes, was carefully selecting items, concentrating intently, even holding up ornaments to compare against his temples.
“Just now, Scholar Huang told me that His Majesty wanted to end his lessons early today. I thought something had happened, but it turns out His Majesty just wanted to see Lord Xie,” Deng Yi said. “This official can understand His Majesty’s intentions, but Lord Xie—”
He looked at Xie Yanfang standing amidst the palace maids and jewels.
“Lord Xie rushes into the palace after a long absence, just to indulge His Majesty and Her Majesty in lavish adornment?”
“This official cannot comprehend it.”
Xie Yanfang picked up a jeweled flower and smiled: “Grand Tutor can understand it, as having experienced the life and death of loved ones, I’ve seen through worldly affairs and decided to enjoy life while I can.”
Deng Yi didn’t find his joke amusing, but still laughed politely: “With such words, Elder Master Xie should send you to Old Master Xie’s side to fulfill your filial duties.”
Xie Yanfang didn’t take offense at his words and laughed heartily.
Xiao Yu couldn’t understand what the Grand Tutor and Xie Yanfang were saying, but didn’t perceive them as merely laughing—they were happy.
His expression showed no unease, but rather carried a smile, along with a touch of indifference.
He sat on the high dragon throne, and most of the time couldn’t understand what the officials said in court, but that was inconsequential.
He was the Emperor.
He didn’t need to understand everything everyone said.
“Grand Tutor, you’re wrongly blaming Lord Xie,” Chu Zhao said with a smile. “It wasn’t because of his arrival that His Majesty skipped his lessons.”
She placed her arm around Xiao Yu’s shoulders.
“It was I who invited His Majesty to view flowers together, and it was also I who asked Lord Xie to help select clothes and accessories.”
Deng Yi replied: “Although Her Majesty doesn’t need to attend lessons, you surely understand the principle that ‘skill comes from diligence and is lost through play.'”
Chu Zhao smiled: “Grand Tutor, just this once, it won’t be wasted time.”
“Your Majesty, in autumn, you had him appreciate the moon, in winter, view lanterns, and two months ago, you went hunting. Hasn’t this wasted time more than once?” Deng Yi asked with furrowed brows.
Although Deng Yi didn’t personally teach the Emperor, he supervised the imperial studies. As the nation gradually stabilized, the Emperor began to experience the Grand Tutor’s strictness.
Strict with the Emperor, and even stricter with the scholars teaching him—this year, all the Emperor’s teachers had been replaced.
Xiao Yu was, after all, a child, and felt uneasy facing the Grand Tutor. The Grand Tutor didn’t revere the Emperor like other officials did. The Grand Tutor had once said that he was appointed by the late Emperor to assist the new Emperor.
Did that mean the new Emperor couldn’t do anything to him? This thought crossed Xiao Yu’s mind, though he had never thought about doing anything to anyone.
Besides fear, he also didn’t want Chu Zhao to be scolded. Replacing teachers was nothing—he didn’t particularly care about these teachers, and it was all the same to him who taught him, as long as the Grand Tutor was pleased. But it was said that the Grand Tutor had the power to depose an Empress.
“Grand Tutor, it was I—” he was about to admit fault.
Before he could finish, Chu Zhao pulled him into her embrace.
“Grand Tutor,” Chu Zhao called out, “a year is so long, and he’s only played four or five times. That’s too few. His Majesty is still a child.”
Deng Yi said: “An emperor is not a child.”
“An emperor is also a child.” Chu Zhao didn’t back down. “One can only be a child once in a lifetime. If he doesn’t relax now, how will he endure in the future?”
Deng Yi frowned: “What kind of twisted logic is this?”
Xie Yanfang watched their argument, listening with a smile but saying nothing.
Xiao Yu leaned against Chu Zhao, listening to their dispute. Seeing the Grand Tutor’s frown, he no longer felt uneasy and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
His laughter made Chu Zhao laugh even more.
“Grand Tutor—” she said, “Let him play now. When he’s played enough, by the time he grows up, even if you let him play, he won’t be interested. His Majesty will be a diligent emperor. Rest assured, Grand Tutor.”
Deng Yi didn’t argue with her childish reasoning, only saying: “As long as Her Majesty is at ease.”
Chu Zhao pushed Xiao Yu forward: “The Grand Tutor has agreed. Your Majesty, quickly thank the Grand Tutor.”
Xiao Yu stood straight and said to Deng Yi: “Grand Tutor, after viewing the flowers, I will write a rhapsody and complete ten sheets of calligraphy for my teachers.”
“Isn’t this learning through play?” Chu Zhao said from the side. “Grand Tutor, don’t stay cooped up in the hall today. Join His Majesty and me at the flower-viewing banquet.”
Deng Yi replied: “Thank you for your invitation, Your Majesty, but in my youth, I had my fill of viewing flowers across hills and plains. Now I have no interest.”
He had turned her earlier words back on her. Chu Zhao laughed heartily, then looked at Xie Yanfang: “Third Young Master, will you join us?”
Xie Yanfang smiled: “I’m different from Lord Deng. I still enjoy viewing flowers to this day. I’ve already seen plenty on my journey back, so I won’t intrude on His Majesty and Her Majesty’s enjoyment.”
Chu Zhao expressed disappointment: “Without Lord Xie, the flower-viewing banquet will miss its most beautiful scenery.”
Xie Yanfang laughed, bowed to Chu Zhao in thanks for her jest.
Chu Zhao and Xiao Yu departed for the imperial garden’s flower-viewing banquet, while Deng Yi and Xie Yanfang walked together toward the front court.
After more than half a year apart, they seemed somewhat estranged.
“My condolences, Lord Xie,” Deng Yi spoke first.
Xie Yanfang thanked him, then said: “Grand Tutor has worked hard.”
Deng Yi smiled, looking at Xie Yanfang: “Even while absent from court, Lord Xie has been working diligently. Despite family matters, Lord Xie still concerned himself with the Hezhou grain case. Without Lord Xie’s help, the Zheng family grain merchants wouldn’t have surrendered their account books so quickly, and the corrupt officials in Hezhou’s government wouldn’t have been rooted out so smoothly.”
The stale grain case emerged after last year’s floods—in Hezhou, disaster relief grain had been replaced with moldy grain, causing hundreds who survived the flood to die from illness and hunger caused by the spoiled grain.
But the case wasn’t easy to investigate. Local officials claimed the grain had molded due to flood moisture, and they colluded to conceal evidence. Only when the prominent Zheng family grain merchants found their way back to righteousness and produced their secret accounts of dealings with officials did everything come to light.
The reason the Zheng family was willing to surrender evidence was because of the Xie family’s persuasion.
The public didn’t know this, but the court did. When Xie Yanfang urgently traveled to Hezhou in disguise, Deng Yi knew immediately.
Though he didn’t know what Xie Yanfang said to Old Master Zheng, after Xie Yanfang left, Old Master Zheng dug out hidden account books from his ancestral home, then, holding these books, committed suicide in front of the imperial commissioner.
Xie Yanfang didn’t deny this but didn’t elaborate either, only sighing: “Old Master Zheng was an old friend of my grandfather. My grandfather, as a dying man, spoke to him from the heart, and Old Master Zheng came to his senses.”
Spoke from the heart? More likely there was some other deal, thought Deng Yi with a cold smile.
Xie Yanfang didn’t say more to Deng Yi. By now, they had reached the front court, where many officials were waiting. Upon seeing Xie Yanfang, they happily came forward to greet him.
“My lord, you’ve returned.”
“Have you seen His Majesty and Her Majesty? Quickly, there are many matters in the department awaiting your decision.”
Chatting and laughing, they surrounded Xie Yanfang as he left.
Deng Yi stood before the hall, watching them depart.
“This Xie Yanfang has finally returned,” one official said. “He truly left my lord to bear a great injustice.”
Mentioning this made another official angry: “He snatched away the opportunity to manage disaster relief, yet spread rumors that he was avoiding the Grand Tutor, pretending to be ostracized at court.”
“And Old Master Xie’s death was also quite timely,” an official said quietly. “I suspect Lord Xie wasn’t exhausted from caring for his ill relative, but from receiving mourners who came to pay respects for months.”
The Xie clan maintained a silent presence in the capital, with no family elders coming to Beijing, but as the Emperor’s maternal family, they held sway in Dongyang. Without scrutiny and far from imperial oversight, they lived quite comfortably.
“His absence from court doesn’t diminish his status; in fact, being away has allowed him to gather supporters,” another person said solemnly.
“Indeed,” said the official who spoke first, thinking of something. “Grand Tutor, you should detain Xie Yanfang and question him about the whereabouts of the tens of thousands of bushels of grain that disappeared from the Zheng family in Hezhou.”
Deng Yi smiled slightly: “Question him? If Lord Xie doesn’t wish to speak, who in the world could get answers from him?”