After nightfall, frost covered the steps, and snow foam congealed into thin sheets of ice, appearing even more piercingly cold and dazzling under the faint glow of the palace lanterns in the courtyard.
Looking from a distance, the row of icicles hanging from the back wall of the Secretariat resembled a series of small sharp blades. The biting night wind made the ice pierce one’s eyes and heart. Just looking at it, one could feel the coldness invading the heart inch by inch, leaving nowhere to hide.
Meng Tinghui came out of the Hanlin Academy wearing only a thick padded coat. The hem of her crimson official robe brushed against the snow, becoming half-damp. One hand carried a large book case, while the other clutched at her collar. With lowered eyelashes, she watched her step as she walked quickly toward the exit.
The Inner Court Hall to the north of the cross street still had lights on. She trembled as she walked under the vermilion-lacquered forks, her gaze involuntarily turning toward that direction—
Purple python robe with gold belt buckle, entering without dismounting, leaving only by official carriage—how many more years would it take for her to have the opportunity to walk through that red sandalwood door painted with gold bamboo and peach blossoms…
Just as she turned a small corner, a bright palace lantern swayed toward her from ahead.
She stopped and shielded her sleeve to look. She saw a yellow-robed attendant with a familiar face, though she couldn’t immediately recall where she had seen him before.
The man bowed to her, “Lady Meng,” then stepped aside, his palace lantern raising slightly toward the street corner.
Meng Tinghui looked in the direction he indicated. Ahead, the palace bricks were cold and blue, covered with patchy snow. A carriage was parked at the end of the road, with a thin yellow brocade hanging from the carriage roof, swaying gently in the night wind.
She immediately understood but didn’t say anything. She just took a small breath of cold air and lowered her head as she walked toward the carriage.
The attendant walked in front, discreetly blowing out the fire in his palace lantern. The surroundings immediately darkened, with only the faint light from the various halls and pavilions in the distance that had not extinguished their lamps illuminating the path under her feet.
She walked up to the carriage, stood still, and called out, “Your Highness.”
The heavy felt curtain of the carriage moved slightly, lifted by someone. The inside of the carriage was very dim. She could only vaguely make out his figure but couldn’t see his face clearly at all.
The attendant retreated to wait at one side.
She waited for a long time without hearing him speak, so she took half a step forward and said in a trembling voice from the cold, “In this bitter cold, why is Your Highness not attending to affairs in the palace but instead looking for this subject here?”
“Get in.”
His voice revealed neither pleasure nor anger, yet it inexplicably made her feel chilled to the bone.
She stamped the snow from her official boots, placed the bookcase she was carrying on the wooden board in front of the carriage, and then carefully climbed up.
The inside of the carriage was warm and equipped with a brazier. Having been thoroughly frozen earlier, she now felt warmth spreading through her body. Both her hands trembled involuntarily, and it took quite a while before she recovered somewhat.
“Sit.”
He spoke again.
She had been bending over, but upon hearing him speak, she groped to sit down and softly asked again, “What matter does Your Highness seek this subject for?”
In the dimness, he gazed at her.
Though unable to see her face clearly, he could still see her bright eyes. Her red lips were trembling slightly, and her hands hidden in her sleeves were shaking.
He passed a small hand warmer from beside him to her. Seeing it, she quietly accepted it, hugging it to her chest. After warming herself for quite some time, her body finally stopped shaking.
She suddenly smiled, “If Your Highness has come to rebuke me, why bother letting me warm up first? Just administer the scolding and be done with it, without wasting Your Highness’s time.”
He said flatly, “Since you know I’ve come to rebuke you, why pretend and ask so many questions earlier?”
She lowered her head without speaking, hugging the hand warmer as if she were about to fall comfortably asleep. The bun at the back of her head seemed about to come loose, with several strands of long hair softly curving into the hollow of her neck.
He sat just like that, motionlessly gazing at her.
Knowing that she worked diligently at the Hanlin Academy and would not leave early each day, he had been waiting here since the third quarter of the You hour (5-7 PM). Who would have thought that he would have to wait until after the Xu hour (7-9 PM) before the yellow-robed attendant informed him that she had come out?
The bookcase in front of the carriage was so large, who knew what it contained? Judging from this, she must be planning to return to her lodgings to continue writing by lamplight.
Not to mention female officials of the court, even among the regular scholars of the Hanlin Academy and various other halls, who else would work as hard as she did?
But for whom was she working so hard?
Her voice escaped from the crook of her arm, soft and weak: “This hand warmer isn’t very hot anymore, suggesting Your Highness has been waiting here for quite some time. Yet after waiting so long, you still don’t say a word. What exactly does Your Highness want?”
He could hear that she was tired, but his heart grew even firmer. He reached out his hand, spreading his palm in front of her.
Her head raised slightly, seeing the paper fragments that had been crumpled beyond recognition. Her expression stiffened briefly, but then she blinked and said, “Your Highness has read it?”
She heard no response from him.
So she straightened up and tilted her head to look at him. In the dim carriage, he sat upright. The faint light filtering through the carriage curtain gently brushed across the side of his face. That pair of heterochromatic eyes looked quite intimidating. His handsome forehead and thin lips, and that solemn face suddenly made her heart tighten.
“Don’t play games in front of me,” he finally spoke, his large hand clenching again, his voice cold, “What a ‘Refutation of the Border Policy.’ You are merely a sixth-rank Compiler, yet you dare to so presumptuously discuss the Central Secretariat’s state affairs?”
The corners of her lips turned up slightly, “Perhaps this piece of paper from this subject has spoken what the elder officials of the Hanlin Academy want to say but are unwilling to. Otherwise, Grand Scholar Fang would not have submitted it to Your Highness without first rejecting it.”
His gaze toward her was like that of an eagle eyeing a rabbit, utterly cold and harsh, “The mutual trade between the northern prefectures and counties with Northern Jian is the Emperor’s imperial decree; Shen Zhishu’s appointment to govern Qingzhou, to rectify the military defenses along the northern border, is also personally approved by the Emperor; as for the ineffective governance in the Chao’an Pacification Commission, what does that have to do with opening the border? You repeatedly claim to consider the national interest and people’s livelihood, saying we should not lightly engage in military affairs or invade Northern Jian for the sake of opening the border—I must ask you, when did the court ever say it would engage in military affairs?”
But she was not afraid. Her gaze met his directly, “Your Highness is correct; everything is imperially decreed and personally approved by the Emperor. But who in the civil and military departments of the court doesn’t know that these are Your Highness’s ideas?
The officials in the Chao’an northern route’s commander’s office are mostly old officials from the Eastern Faction, especially in the military, and many earned merits in the past. Their roots are intertwined with the old officials of the Eastern Faction in the court. How can Your Highness move them as you wish? The northern border region is like a small court, content in its isolation. Who is willing to take up arms again? What Your Highness has in mind for Northern Jian, even this subject can see it, not to mention the other elder officials of the Two Prefectures and Three Departments.”
He placed both hands on his knees, leaning forward, and let out a cold laugh: “From your tone, it sounds as if you agree with the court raising troops against Northern Jian; but if you agree with raising troops against Northern Jian, what does this paper of yours mean? Isn’t that like slapping your face?”
She was within inches of him, close enough to see every fine wrinkle at the corner of his mouth. She was slightly stunned, and after a while, she lowered her eyelashes and said softly, “This paper of mine was never meant for Your Highness to see.”