Lou Xiaowu hung her head, saying, “The General used to be so nice to me, but lately he hardly wants to pay attention to me. I’m feeling very dejected.”
An Jiu looked at her approvingly, “You’ve made a correct decision.”
“What?” Lou Xiaowu looked at her in confusion.
“I mean, no one is better at advising me,” An Jiu said confidently. “Your choice was wise.”
Lou Xiaowu said happily, “Right, right.”
The two found a sunny spot to sit down, and Lou Xiaowu began to chatter about General Ling’s recent changes.
“He doesn’t seem happy at all after clearing his name,” Lou Xiaowu had been thinking about this the whole way here, still unable to understand.
After listening, An Jiu said, “That’s simple. Although he’s cleared his name now, his family all died unjustly. The one who killed his family was the current emperor’s father, and now he still has to serve the emperor. This situation would make anyone unhappy.”
“Family vengeance,” Lou Xiaowu understood immediately, nodding. Her trust in An Jiu grew even more. “I understand that now, but why was he nice to me before and not nice now? That shouldn’t have anything to do with family vengeance, right?”
“Well…” An Jiu thought carefully, “Because he was bored before, and now he’s not bored anymore.”
Lou Xiaowu’s almond-shaped eyes widened, “Is that really what he’s thinking!”
An Jiu glanced at her, “Why are you angry? He was good to you before, you should be grateful. No one is obligated to be nice to you.”
“What you say… makes sense, but I’m still angry. Why?” Lou Xiaowu tilted her head and asked, “What if Uncle Chu stops being nice to you in the future? Wouldn’t you be angry?”
An Jiu was silent for a moment, then asked, “Why would he stop being nice to me?”
“Oh, so you mean I deserve to be disliked?” Lou Xiaowu said angrily, puffing up her cheeks. “I’m still just as clever!”
“If he stops being nice to me,” An Jiu thought about this possibility, feeling a dull pain in her heart, “I’d die with him, or he shouldn’t have started being nice to me in the first place. Once he’s been nice, he can’t just say he dislikes me and that’s it.”
“You’re right, I’m going to find him and die together!” Lou Xiaowu scrambled up and rushed out.
An Jiu crossed her arms and looked up at the old pear tree in the courtyard, falling into thought: Would Chu Dingjiang dislike me one day? Besides having Mei Jiu’s good looks, I don’t have many other good qualities… Hmm, it seems there’s a real possibility!
Suddenly, she felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. The matter of enhancing her charm had become urgent.
Xue Sha walked over, saw An Jiu staring blankly upward, stood for a moment, and then asked, “An Jiu, are we still going to Zhending Prefecture or not?”
“Yes,” An Jiu snapped back to reality.
In the imperial palace of Bianjing, the cabinet was overwhelmed with work. Prime Minister Hua finished reviewing a memorial and placed it on a stack at the corner of the desk, then picked up another.
After quickly reading through the content, his brush hovered over the paper for a long while. In the end, he didn’t make any comments and set it aside.
Memorials from local officials were first reviewed by the cabinet ministers, who would write their opinions on how to handle them. These would then be presented to the emperor for review. If there were no objections, the ministers’ suggestions would become the final decision. However, some memorials couldn’t be directly handled by the cabinet ministers and would be presented directly to the emperor.
The memorial Prime Minister Hua didn’t comment on was from Wu Lingyuan, mixed in with a stack from Hejian Prefecture, not particularly conspicuous.
The request for a self-defense force of two thousand people in Hexi County wasn’t excessive. The Song Dynasty traditionally maintained a large military, often numbering in the tens of thousands. Two thousand was a small matter. However, Wu Lingyuan was Hua Rongtian’s protégé. He didn’t handle it directly to avoid suspicion, lest the emperor think their family was up to something in the border defense.
It was fortunate that this memorial fell into his hands. If it had been seen by someone with different political views, it might have been immediately rejected or caused another dispute.
After all the ministers had finished their work for the day, the internal supervisors exchanged the processed memorials, ensuring each cabinet elder reviewed them all. If there were no objections, they would sign their approval at the end. If there were disagreements, the matter would be left for discussion to reach a unified opinion before reprocessing. If they couldn’t decide, it would still be up to the emperor to make the final decision.
After noon, the cabinet elders gathered to discuss matters.
Half an hour before the meeting, Prime Minister Hua had quietly slipped into the Hexi County memorial.
Due to the heavy workload each day, when others saw it, they assumed they had overlooked it or that it had just reached them.
One cabinet elder came across this memorial and asked with confusion, “Hexi County wants to build a private army?”
Prime Minister Hua, as if he had never seen it before, frowned and asked, “How large a private army?”
“Two thousand,” the cabinet elder answered.
Everyone present was aware that the newly appointed magistrate of Hexi County had some connection to the Hua family, but they couldn’t suspect the Hua family of ill intentions over just two thousand men.
The room fell silent as everyone passed around and read the memorial.
“Let’s leave this memorial for His Majesty to decide,” Prime Minister Hua said.
The others had no objections.
If Wu Lingyuan didn’t have such an unusual relationship with the Hua family, the cabinet could have handled this small matter. But now it was best not to interfere, lest they offend Prime Minister Hua and incur the emperor’s displeasure, especially since border defense was of utmost importance. Another reason the cabinet elders were reluctant to speak up was that the content of Wu Lingyuan’s memorial was alarming. The entire Hexi County had barely over 400 households, with a total population of less than 3,000 men, women, old, and young. It didn’t even qualify as a lower county. As for a self-defense force, they probably couldn’t gather 2,000 people even if they included women.
In comparison, a prosperous county in the south usually had about 6,000 households, and even a lower county had nearly 1,000 households.
After the meeting, subordinate officials compiled all the memorials to be presented to the emperor, and the cabinet finally had a moment of relaxation.
Prime Minister Hua personally brewed a pot of tea, opened the window, and sat in a round-backed chair to appreciate the lush green banana leaves outside.
It was just past noon, and the sky was overcast.
Soon, raindrops fell on the banana leaves, creating a symphony of deep and shallow sounds. The stuffy air seemed to cool a bit.
After finishing a cup of tea, Prime Minister Hua returned to his desk to continue working.
It wasn’t until dusk that he looked up at the outside, then got up to leave.
The internal supervisor was surprised to see him and hurriedly took an umbrella to open it. “Prime Minister, you’re leaving so early today?”
Prime Minister Hua smiled, “Going home to see my little grandson.”
He then took the umbrella and left on his own.
Walking slowly, he passed through a palace gate and happened to meet Hua Rongtian coming out of the Privy Council.
“Father,” Hua Rongtian hurried over.
Prime Minister Hua nodded.
The father and son waited silently for the carriage as if only the sound of rain existed in the world.
“Rongtian, I’m getting old,” Prime Minister Hua suddenly said.
Hua Rongtian turned to look at his father. Prime Minister Hua was nearly fifty. In the past, he had taken good care of himself and still looked like a man in his prime, but in recent years, he had begun to show his age.
“You need to work harder,” Prime Minister Hua looked at him. “The future of the Hua family will be in your hands.”
Hua Rongtian understood. The emperor wouldn’t allow a father and son to control the cabinet. Hua Rongtian had been secretly supporting the emperor since he was a prince and now enjoyed the emperor’s trust. His official position hadn’t changed much, but he was responsible for important matters. If the cabinet were to be reorganized, Hua Rongtian would undoubtedly be a strong contender for the next prime minister. However, he hadn’t even entered the cabinet yet because Prime Minister Hua was still there.
Hua Rongtian sensed that his father was thinking of retirement. “His Majesty relies heavily on you, Father. Why…”
“The court is short of capable people. If I can be of use, His Majesty certainly won’t discard me.” But he was no longer a trusted confidant, with many barriers between them.
Prime Minister Hua didn’t say the latter half out loud. He only leaned in and said softly, “You are different from me.”
No matter how capable an old minister from the previous dynasty was, they couldn’t compare to the familiar faces from when the emperor was still a prince. Moreover, the emperor didn’t believe Hua Rongtian’s abilities were inferior to Prime Minister Hua’s. At most, he lacked some experience. When the previous emperor was still the crown prince, Prime Minister Hua had already been by his side assisting him, so he had always been highly trusted by the previous emperor. However the previous emperor was suspicious by nature, and the Hua family’s influence was indeed worrying, so he gradually lost trust. Even so, until the previous emperor’s death, he had remained steadily in the position of prime minister.
Prime Minister Hua could see now that he would only have one chance to touch that peak in his lifetime, but the Hua family was different. The Hua family still had Hua Rongtian.
Now was a time of national crisis. If Hua Rongtian could seize this opportunity and firmly occupy a place in the emperor’s heart, even if his current qualifications were shallow and he could barely squeeze into the cabinet, there would be no doubt about his ability to sit in that position below one person and above ten thousand in the future. On the contrary, if Prime Minister Hua continued to occupy a place in the cabinet without making room, while everyone else was rushing forward, Hua Rongtian would be limited by his position and could only do so much to help the emperor. The advantage of being an “old acquaintance” would diminish.
This kind of opportunity only came once.
The carriage arrived, and Hua Rongtian helped Prime Minister Hua into it.
In the twilight, the heavy rain poured down, much like Prime Minister Hua’s current mood. Sometimes, seeing too clearly was a kind of pain. For instance, if he couldn’t see his situation clearly, he might have stubbornly stayed in court for another twenty years. Unfortunately, now he could see the outcome before even making a move. What was even more tragic was that, having reached this point, his heart was still unwilling to give up.
Prime Minister Hua was full of reluctance. The previous emperor had been incompetent, and he had used a large part of his energy to deal with him, never truly implementing his ambitions. But now, his stage was already coming to an end. For the sake of the family and his son, retirement was the best option.
He couldn’t help but wonder, what if he had chosen to support the second prince back then?
The answer was impossible. Even if he had ten chances to start over, he would still choose to remain neutral. Because if he had taken a side, it would have meant the entire family taking a side. Trying to protect the entire family through such means would ultimately lead to failure. The massive influence that the previous emperor wanted to eliminate, how could the new emperor tolerate it?
He could only use the previous emperor’s hand to put the Hua family in a desperate situation and then rely on Hua Rongtian’s support for the second prince to allow the Hua family to be reborn.
This wasn’t a question of having foresight or not, but rather that he never had a choice in the first place.
Family was sometimes a boost to reach the sky in one step, and sometimes a burden as heavy as a mountain.
Let it be! Rather than struggling reluctantly to the death, it was better to go home and teach his grandson, passing on all his unfulfilled ambitions to the next generation. Perhaps someday in the future, they would finally succeed.
In the rain, the sound of wheels pressing against the stone slabs rumbled, mixed with Prime Minister Hua’s indistinct voice, “Have more children.”
“I will try my best, Father,” Hua Rongtian said in a deep voice.