The young palace maids giggled as they took turns throwing door latches, each person getting to throw three times, having a wonderful time playing. If someone threw particularly high, everyone would congratulate them together, creating a festive New Year atmosphere.

Sun Liuyi watched these innocent young palace maids, a flash of envy in her eyes. Suddenly someone shouted loudly: “Get out of the way! Danger! A snowball is rolling down!”

Sun Liuyi looked in the direction of the voice and saw a snowball as tall as half a person rolling down from the slope above. The young palace maids screamed and dodged out of the way. Sun Liuyi also hid behind a plum blossom tree as the snowball rolled along with a rumbling sound until it was stopped by an ancient plum tree.

A pair of young girl and boy wearing only thin jackets ran over, appearing to be about the same age as Sun Liuyi.

The young palace maids quickly stepped forward to bow: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, Miss Hu.”

Sun Liuyi also followed suit and bowed. When she was at Earl Pingjiang’s mansion, she had been taught the rules for entering the palace – when meeting noble personages, one must bow and not hide.

It was indeed A’Lei and Prince Han’s heir Zhu Zhanhe. Today being New Year’s Day, Zhu Zhanhe had also followed his parents into the palace for a family reunion. Hearing that A’Lei was building snow rabbits in the Imperial Garden, he ran over to play together. He saw that his eldest cousin Zhu Zhanji had already arrived first and was building the rabbit’s torso together with A’Lei.

This was a plump rabbit about the size of an adult.

Zhu Zhanji held a shovel carving the rabbit’s legs, while Zhu Zhanhe volunteered to roll a large snowball with A’Lei to serve as the rabbit’s head.

The snowball grew larger and larger as they rolled it, but it got out of control on a slope and rolled down the incline.

Crash!

The large snowball was split in half by the plum tree, and the rabbit’s head was cracked open…

“Sorry for startling everyone,” A’Lei turned to look at Zhu Zhanhe. “I already told you that biting off more than you can chew is no good. Rolling the rabbit head too big makes it hard to control, but you didn’t believe me and insisted on continuing to roll. Now the rabbit head is smashed in half and almost hit someone.”

“Alright, alright, I know I was wrong.” Zhu Zhanhe’s forehead was covered in sweat. He waved his hand grandly: “Everyone come help me put the two halves together and roll it back up the slope. We can’t let all our efforts go to waste.”

Since the noble personage had said “everyone come,” Sun Liuyi hesitated for a moment, then followed the group of young palace maids to help push the reunited large snowball.

With many hands making light work, everyone pushed the snowball up the slope together, and finally the rabbit’s head and torso were successfully reunited.

Prince Han casually took the pouch from his waist and gave it to Sun Liuyi beside him: “Take this and divide it up. This is my reward for all of you.”

Prince Han didn’t recognize Sun Liuyi and assumed she was a palace maid. Sun Liuyi took the pouch, feeling somewhat embarrassed, and gave it to a young palace maid nearby.

The young palace maid opened it to find a bag of gold pearls. Zhu Zhanhe was truly generous in his gifts. “Thank you, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

The palace maids went to the pavilion, giggling and chattering as they divided the gold pearls. Sun Liuyi quietly walked away.

“Miss Sun?” Zhu Zhanji, who was crouched on the ground fixing the snow rabbit’s feet, casually looked up and saw Sun Liuyi’s retreating figure.

Last year during the Minor New Year and Laba Festival, Zhu Zhanji had visited Earl Pingjiang’s mansion to deliver gifts to his maternal grandmother and uncles. The Earl’s Grand Lady was fond of Sun Liuyi and couldn’t bear to be parted from her for even a moment, so Zhu Zhanji recognized Miss Sun.

Sun Liuyi stopped and bowed to Zhu Zhanji. Zhu Zhanji introduced Sun Liuyi to A’Lei and his cousin: “This is Miss Sun, a guest of Earl Pingjiang’s mansion.”

Zhu Zhanhe slapped his forehead: “Oh my, I was presumptuous with Miss Sun just now. I thought you were a palace maid. I’m sorry.”

Looking at the monk’s face if not the Buddha’s face – Earl Pingjiang’s mansion was eldest cousin Zhu Zhanji’s maternal family home, so naturally guests there had some standing.

Sun Liuyi quickly said: “It’s nothing. It was this commoner girl who didn’t make things clear.”

A’Lei was holding a large white radish, sharpening it to stick into the rabbit’s head as ears. Earlier with a crowd of young palace maids, she hadn’t looked carefully, but hearing this, she focused her gaze: “What a beautiful young sister! Would you like to come build snow rabbits together?”

A’Lei had grown up as playmates with the two cousins Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Zhanhe, so she was accustomed to it and didn’t feel there was any distinction of rank, nor did she think there was anything improper about playing together with two unrelated males.

Sun Liuyi was different. In her eyes, the people before her were the Eastern Palace’s Imperial Grandson and Prince Han’s heir. There were distinctions between men and women, between high and low rank. Just as she had been taught at home, these were “noble personages.”

Therefore, although Sun Liuyi found building the large white rabbit very interesting and her childish heart was stirred with eagerness to try, she still suppressed herself: “Thank you for Miss Hu’s invitation, but this commoner girl accompanied Earl Pingjiang’s Grand Lady into the palace today. If the Grand Lady calls for this commoner girl later, I must go attend to her.”

Since Sun Liuyi had matters to attend to, A’Lei didn’t insist she stay, smiling: “Another day when you’re free, I’ll find you to play.”

Among the noble families of the capital, everyone knew Hu Shanwei. Palace Director Hu was not only a Palace Director of three reigns, but also the only female official who had a home outside the palace. Her family had only one younger sister, so Palace Director Hu commuted to the palace daily for duty, escorted by the Embroidered Uniform Guard with greater pomp than even Cabinet ministers.

The Hu residence was located on the capital’s inner ring road – even Earl Pingjiang’s mansion didn’t have such a prime location. Their neighbors were Prince Han’s mansion and Prince Mu’s mansion. Prince Mu’s mansion had several young ladies of similar age to Miss Hu, and they visited each other frequently, so Miss Hu’s close friends were all daughters of the capital’s top noble families.

Sun Liuyi’s father was a deputy magistrate of Yongcheng County, barely even counting as an official. Now staying at Earl Pingjiang’s mansion, she was dependent on others’ charity, and naturally placed daughters of noble families in the category of “noble personages.” She felt inferior and didn’t dare play with girls like A’Lei. However, her heart held some anticipation, so she went along with the flow, saying: “Good, let’s gather again another day.”

Sun Liuyi took her leave. Zhu Zhanji, being a proper young master of the inner palace, instructed the palace servants: “The garden paths are slippery. Follow Miss Sun carefully and don’t let her fall.”

Hearing this, Sun Liuyi felt warmth in her heart.

Meanwhile, the Crown Princess and Earl Pingjiang’s Grand Lady’s group were admiring plum blossoms. Seeing a large white rabbit lying in the garden from afar, they walked over to look and met Sun Liuyi halfway. Learning it was built by A’Lei and the two Imperial grandsons, they came together to see the snow rabbit.

Zhu Zhanhe had picked two pieces of coal to stuff into the rabbit’s head as eyes. Zhu Zhanji used a thin blade to make a short tail for the rabbit. A’Lei carved a nose from a carrot and pressed it into the rabbit’s head.

The snow rabbit was complete.

Seeing the Crown Princess’s group approaching in grand procession, the three quickly brushed the snow powder from their bodies and bowed.

The Crown Princess rarely saw her eldest son at play, and smiled: “This snow rabbit is quite good, lifelike. While the garden snow is still thick, and this being the Year of the Rat, why don’t you build a mouse?”

A’Lei laughed: “That’s a great idea! First use white snow to build the shape, then pour ink over it at the end, and it’ll be a big mouse.”

The Crown Princess touched A’Lei’s hands, which were red from cold: “Oh, these little hands are freezing. No need to rush – warm up first before building.”

With the Crown Princess present, Zhu Zhanji immediately resumed his composed demeanor.

The Crown Princess knew that with their group of elders present, her eldest son would be constrained and definitely couldn’t play freely. Her eldest son worked diligently like an old ox year-round, so during New Year he should play to his heart’s content. She made an excuse to go see the white plums on the east side and led everyone away.

When leaving, Earl Pingjiang’s Grand Lady forced her hand warmer on her great-grandson Zhu Zhanji, lovingly touching her grandson’s hands that were thin as plum branches: “You eat plenty, so why don’t you ever gain weight? Warm up first before playing. Be careful your fingers don’t get frostbitten from the cold and tremble when writing.”

The Crown Prince would gain weight just from drinking water, while Zhu Zhanji ate plenty of meat but remained thin. Standing together with his father, they looked like a bamboo skewer and a round hawthorn berry, perfect for stringing into candied fruit.

“Thank you, maternal grandmother.” Zhu Zhanji accepted the hand warmer. Toward family members, he always maintained a polite manner with detachment beneath the courtesy.

After everyone left, the three discussed building the big mouse. A’Lei was dressed lightly and felt somewhat cold without activity, so she cupped her hands together and breathed warm air on them by her lips.

Zhu Zhanhe, being robust with abundant internal heat, saw A’Lei’s cold hands and extended both hands to cover hers, rubbing them repeatedly: “Are they warmer now? Let’s go roll another big snowball – you won’t feel cold when we’re playing.”

Zhu Zhanhe was two years younger than both of them but innocent and carefree. He had inherited Emperor Yongle’s tall, sturdy build and looked the same age as the other two.

Seeing this, Zhu Zhanji’s eyes immediately began twitching. He draped his gray squirrel fur cloak over A’Lei and handed over the hand warmer Earl Pingjiang’s Grand Lady had given him: “Let A’Lei rest a while and eat something. I’ll go roll the snowball with you.”

A’Lei put on the cloak but refused to take the hand warmer: “Let’s all go together. I don’t feel tired, and it would be boring to just wait here.”

The three rolled one large and one small snowball together. Zhu Zhanhe found a riding whip to stick in the back of the large ball as the mouse’s thin tail. Zhu Zhanji poured ink into a watering sprinkler and sprayed it on the large white mouse. A’Lei broke off several plum branches, stripped the flowers, and stuck them on both sides of the mouse’s head as whiskers.

The three cooperated perfectly. As Zhu Zhanji poured ink to give the mouse a “black makeover,” the ink splattered and dripped onto A’Lei’s face, making her look like she suddenly grew a beard. Zhu Zhanhe pointed at A’Lei and laughed heartily, but carelessly slipped and fell against Zhu Zhanji. Caught off guard, Zhu Zhanji fell backward, and all the remaining ink in the sprinkler poured onto himself.

In an instant, Zhu Zhanji’s angular, fashionably model-like, coldly abstinent, world-weary, sophisticated face became a painted face. A’Lei had just wiped her “beard” clean with snow water, but now got splattered with ink dots all over her face, immediately looking like a sesame-covered flatbread.

Only Zhu Zhanhe, the culprit, had a clean face. He even gloated and pointed at A’Lei’s flatbread face, laughing: “Hu Big Pockmarks.”

Angered, A’Lei grabbed with both hands at Zhu Zhanji’s ink-soaked thin jacket, getting her hands covered with ink, then delivered left and right slaps to blacken Zhu Zhanhe’s face: “Marshal Tianpeng.”

Marshal Tianpeng Pig Bajie was a pig spirit. Ancient pigs were generally black pigs – large white pigs were modern imported breeds. So A’Lei called the blackened Zhu Zhanhe Marshal Tianpeng.

Zhu Zhanji was inexplicably “groped” by A’Lei and only felt his bony chest burning, as if branded with two marks. For a moment he felt weak and couldn’t get up.

Having his face smeared, Zhu Zhanhe launched a counterattack, pinching A’Lei’s face with both hands and leaving ten fingerprints: “Hu Big Pockmarks transforms into a little cat.”

Watching Zhu Zhanhe’s fingertips slide across A’Lei’s face, Zhu Zhanji immediately found his strength and stood up to position himself between the two. As a result, A’Lei couldn’t pull back her hand in time, and all the ink meant for Zhu Zhanhe ended up smeared on Zhu Zhanji’s face.

Having his face covered by A’Lei, Zhu Zhanji wasn’t angry at all. The cool fingers sliding across his face felt incredibly comfortable.

Don’t look at how Zhu Zhanji usually kept quiet – his inner desires were quite active. Simply put, he was repressedly passionate. He quickly grasped A’Lei’s behavioral pattern of “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” and deliberately pretended to be angry, extending his ink-covered hands to touch A’Lei’s face in “retaliation.”

A’Lei, having been hit, naturally had to retaliate, kneading a ball of “black snow” and pulling open Zhu Zhanji’s collar to stuff it inside…

The situation completely spiraled out of control as the three laughed and played together, starting a black snowball fight. When Hu Shanwei finished her duties and came to find A’Lei to leave the palace together for New Year, she only saw three coal balls rolling in the snow, unable to tell which coal ball was her own daughter.

The ink spread through the pristine white snow, looking at first glance like a black and white ink painting. The three mischievous children, covered in ink, were tumbling and wrestling in the snow like three writing brushes, freely writing and painting to miraculously form a picture of frolicking in snow.

Early spring of the sixth year of Yongle, beginning with building snow rabbits and ending with a snowball fight – this also marked the end of their childhood. They stepped from their innocent childhood into an adolescence filled with various troubles and stirrings.

This year, Noble Consort Zhang’s methods of managing the inner palace evolved from inexperienced to mature, becoming effortlessly skillful. Hu Shanwei could often see shadows of Noble Consort Duanjing in her.

In the inner palace, Noble Consort Zhang’s position gradually consolidated. She managed things in perfect order. The Korean girl group, under Noble Consort Quan’s leadership, were all docile and obedient, bringing stability to the inner palace.

With calm winds and peaceful waves in the inner palace, Hu Shanwei’s days finally became easier. She clocked in and out daily, had holidays and rest days, and enjoyed family happiness with Mu Chun and A’Lei. Their family rarely returned to peaceful life.

In the outer court, the penguin Crown Prince swayed to morning court daily, rain or shine. The civil and military officials went from initial disapproval to gradually accepting the reality that the Crown Prince was disabled.

The topic “Was the Crippled Crown Prince Deposed Today” initially made daily trending news, but gradually cooled down.

Having seen his two supporting princesses copying “Inner Training” until the third watch of the night, Prince Han realized that attacking the Crown Prince’s physical disability could not shake his position and would cause backlash. He had to find ways to attack from other angles.

Therefore, Prince Han decided to conserve his energy and wait for the next opportunity. After all, most military generals in court supported him – he just lacked an opportunity.

In the seventh month of the sixth year of Yongle, it was the first anniversary of Empress Renxiao’s death. Emperor Yongle wore plain clothes with a rhinoceros horn belt, cancelled court for three days, and the capital suspended music and slaughter for seven days. Civil and military officials performed consolation rites at the West Corner Gate.

That same month, the ancient temple Jianchu Temple near the Qinhuai River in the capital suddenly caught fire at night. The flames almost lit up the entire capital. Emperor Yongle actually went personally to the fire scene to command the firefighting efforts, but this ancient temple built during the Three Kingdoms’ Eastern Wu period was still consumed by flames.

At dawn, Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Ji Gang dug out a charred coffin from a pagoda’s underground chamber: “Your Majesty, Noble Consort Shuo’s spirit tablet was burned away, but we rescued the coffin.”

Noble Consort Shuo was Emperor Yongle’s birth mother, but to legitimize his ascension, Emperor Yongle had altered historical records, writing that the Crown Prince, Prince Qin, Prince Jin, himself, and his younger brother Prince Zhou were all legitimate children born to Empress Xiaoci Ma.

To cover up the truth, Noble Consort Shuo’s spirit tablet and coffin had been secretly removed from the accompanying burial at Xiao Mausoleum and secretly enshrined at the historically oldest Jianchu Temple in the capital.

Emperor Yongle knelt beside his birth mother’s coffin, stroking it while weeping bitterly: “Mother, your son is unfilial, unable to acknowledge you, unable to posthumously honor you as Empress. Even Jianchu Temple, a thousand-year-old temple, suffered heaven’s punishment with fire and was destroyed.”

“Mother, your son truly has no choice. For the sake of the realm and state, no matter how much my heart aches, I cannot acknowledge you. I will rebuild the Great Bao’en Temple here and construct a nine-story glazed pagoda. I’ll have Dao Yan Chan Master search for famous monks’ relics and Buddha’s true bone to accompany your burial here, to repay mother’s life-giving grace. Please forgive your son.”

Emperor Yongle wanted the eunuch Zheng He, who had just returned from his western voyages, and Dao Yan Chan Master and others to oversee the construction of Great Bao’en Temple. Because of the enormous cost, he used “commemorating High Ancestor Emperor and Empress Xiaoci” as justification to conveniently request money from the Ministry of Revenue. After all, Noble Consort Shuo’s secret must be kept covered.

Year after year, soon it was the seventh year of Yongle. Just as spring began, after a year and a half of site selection, Emperor Yongle announced that his wife Empress Renxiao Xu’s burial site would be at Tianshou Mountain in Changping, north of Beijing.

This decision caused an uproar among ministers: The capital was in the south – why should the Empress be buried in the north?

Emperor Yongle unhurriedly dropped his second bombshell: “It’s not far. This is quite good. I’ve decided to move the capital to Beijing anyway. The Nanjing palace has annual ground sinking and flooding – it’s becoming uninhabitable. We’re constantly patching here and there – what kind of dignity is that? I want to build a new palace in Beijing.”

Ministers cried out: “Absolutely not! Beijing is far away with poor transportation. Building a new capital city there would create all kinds of inconveniences for transporting supplies.”

Emperor Yongle dropped his third bombshell: “Oh, then we’ll dredge the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal to connect north and south, benefiting both state and people.”

“Dredging canals wastes people’s labor and wealth!” The ministers were nearly driven mad. “Your Majesty, Beijing is near the northwestern frontier where Mongols raid annually – it’s unsafe. If we establish the capital in Beijing, wouldn’t we expose the imperial seat to danger?”

Emperor Yongle casually dropped his fourth bombshell: “The Son of Heaven guards the nation’s gates. Throughout history, how could dynasties that sought safety in the south last long? We must have crisis awareness, everyone. Therefore, I’ve decided to personally lead a campaign, taking offense as defense. This way, while you’re building Empress Renxiao’s mausoleum, dredging the Grand Canal, and constructing the new capital, you’ll have protection and won’t need to worry about Mongol border raids.”

A personal campaign too?

The impact was so overwhelming that the ministers’ minds short-circuited and froze.

Mr. Lu Xun once said that Chinese people always like to compromise and seek the middle ground. For instance, if you say this room is too dark and needs a window opened here, everyone will certainly refuse. But if you propose tearing off the roof, they’ll compromise and agree to open a window. Without more radical proposals, they won’t even allow peaceful reforms.

Though separated by over three hundred years, infrastructure fanatic Emperor Yongle and Lu Xun had similar insights into human nature.

All at once proposing to move the capital, dredge the Grand Canal, and lead a personal campaign – punch after punch stunned the ministers into helplessness with no ability to fight back. After a long while, they finally came to their senses and knelt to beg the Emperor to abandon these plans, especially moving the capital, which concerned the Great Ming’s hundred-year national fortune and couldn’t be decided hastily.

Emperor Yongle had anticipated this and said: “The capital move can be discussed further, but my Empress’s coffin is still in the Rouyi Hall of the inner palace and cannot be properly buried. The Beijing Changshou Mountain mausoleum must be excavated immediately. Dredging the Grand Canal concerns people’s livelihood, and the personal campaign concerns national defense – both must be executed immediately without error.”

Emperor Yongle had already retreated from “tearing off the roof” to “opening a window.” If the ministers refused to agree, Emperor Yongle would start removing tiles from the roof.

This tactic proved effective. The meeting approved three matters: building the mausoleum, dredging the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the personal northern campaign. The capital move was temporarily shelved for further discussion after Emperor Yongle returned from campaign.

The ministers’ path couldn’t escape Emperor Yongle’s manipulation.

In spring of the seventh year of Yongle, Emperor Yongle announced his personal campaign. He took Imperial Grandson Zhu Zhanji to war for experience and promoted Noble Consort Zhang to Imperial Noble Consort to stabilize the inner palace. He commanded the Crown Prince to oversee the state, giving him full authority to handle government affairs.

Prince Han was delighted: With the Crown Prince overseeing the state and wielding great power, the more he did, the more mistakes he’d make; the less he did, the fewer mistakes; doing nothing meant no mistakes. As long as he acted, there would be no shortage of faults to pick. The opportunity had finally come.