News that Song Chuyi had entered Mingcui Palace quickly reached the Crown Prince’s ears. He sat on the noble consort’s couch that Fan Liangdi used to frequent, reclining at an angle against the dark yellow bolster pillow, and slowly lifted his eyelids. “Sixth Miss Song has come?”
The floor tiles in the bedchamber were polished to a mirror shine. Ever since Fan Liangdi’s passing, the Crown Prince and Prince Dongping had actually been coming to Fan Liangdi’s bedchamber even more frequently. No one dared to slack off, and this place was even livelier than before. Nanny Fang knelt on the ground and answered fearfully, “I heard that Her Highness the Crown Princess had summoned her early on. After Sixth Miss ate lunch, she stayed until evening. Only after His Highness the Grand Prince returned did the Grand Prince accompany her back.”
The Crown Prince seemed somewhat distracted. Only when he heard Nanny Fang’s last sentence did he respond with a thoughtful “Oh.” His thoughts had already drifted far away following Nanny Fang’s words. He remained lost in thought for a while, then after resting a bit longer, struggled to stand up with Sanbao’s assistance and moved to the front hall.
Fu Youde and Zhen De had been waiting for him for quite some time. Upon seeing him, they both hurriedly performed respectful salutes before discussing business with him. “The vassal princes’ messengers have already arrived in the capital. It won’t be much longer before the vassal princes themselves arrive. We’ve come to ask Your Highness—for His Majesty’s longevity celebration, what gift do you plan to present?”
Fu Youde seemed to have aged more than a decade overnight. He was already no longer young, and had painstakingly worked his way up step by step from the Imperial Academy to his current position as Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor. He had originally thought that from now on he could peacefully follow the Eastern Palace’s rise to power, but who knew the Crown Prince wouldn’t take him, the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, seriously at all. Whatever matters arose, the Crown Prince didn’t discuss them with him, and for important affairs, he concealed everything from him everywhere, nearly causing catastrophe. His ambitions for glory and honor had long since been extinguished. Recently, he had already asked others to smooth relations with Song Chengru and the two Vice Ministers at the Ministry of Personnel, to see if he could be transferred out of the capital. The Crown Prince was truly somewhat frightening—without consulting them, these Eastern Palace officials, he dared to privately associate with major local officials and even privately accept silver from them. Where there was one instance, there would be a second. He absolutely didn’t believe that the matters the Crown Prince concealed from them amounted to just this one incident. Rather than waiting to be implicated by the Crown Prince later or pushed out as a scapegoat, it was better to extract himself early. But although he thought this way, right now he was still the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor, so he could only think on the Crown Prince’s behalf. He still diligently served the Crown Prince and offered counsel. He coughed a few times, raised his head to look at the Crown Prince whose complexion was even more haggard than his own, and slowly sighed inwardly.
The Crown Prince himself had been worrying about Emperor Jianzhang’s longevity celebration gift for quite some time. With Yang Yunyong’s incident as precedent, he naturally hoped to present a gift that would satisfy Emperor Jianzhang, and therefore put in extra effort. He glanced at Zhen De and Fu Youde and asked them, “Do you two gentlemen have any good suggestions?”
Zhen De had previously followed Elder Chen, and could be considered old guard in the Crown Prince’s presence. Recently, because Elder Chen had fallen into misfortune, he had been keeping his tail tucked for quite a while. Now that the storm had gradually passed, his thoughts inevitably became more active. Hearing the Crown Prince ask, he spoke up before Fu Youde could. “When the messengers entered the capital, I already had people go inquire, and I heard some rumors. I heard that Prince Su is presenting a red coral tree over two feet tall. What’s rare is the coral’s color—supposedly a complete, intact tree, extremely rare. Prince Lu is presenting the Qi Lunyu, supposedly a unique copy that he somehow obtained from somewhere.” He rattled off the gifts from Prince Su and Prince Lu in one breath. Seeing that both the Crown Prince and Fu Youde were listening intently, he swallowed and hurried to continue, “Then there’s Prince Gong. He’s most special—I heard he plans to present a person.”
The Crown Prince seemed to be listening with great interest. He tapped his hand on the heated platform table, shifted his gaze to him, and made a half-smiling sound of acknowledgment. “Present a person? What kind of person is so important that he would bring them all the way from Jin territory to present to Father Emperor, even as a longevity celebration gift?”
Zhen De took a breath and poured out everything he had learned like beans from a bamboo tube. “I heard it was originally a guard in his household, extremely formidable in battle. Prince Gong said he’s a once-in-a-generation famous general, and is specially bringing him to present to His Majesty.”
The Crown Prince let out a cold laugh. This younger brother of his had always known how to please Emperor Jianzhang and Empress Lu. He wanted to promote his own person, yet had to make it sound so noble, as if he were so considerate and thoughtful, so good at sharing the worries of the Emperor and Empress.
The Crown Prince laughed coldly, but Fu Youde felt all his hair standing on end. “Prince Gong has excelled at riding, archery, and martial arts since childhood. If even he praises someone as once-in-a-generation, this person must certainly have exceptional qualities. Right now, Fujian and Zhejiang are troubled by Japanese pirates, and the Tatars in Xibei are watching like tigers eyeing their prey—it’s precisely when talented people are needed. If this person truly gains His Majesty’s favor and achieves merit, in the future all this credit will belong to Prince Gong.”
The Crown Prince’s expression grew even more gloomy. He keenly recalled Empress Lu’s earlier rebuke, saying he was a traitor selling out the country, and that she would deal with the Fan family. Could it be that Prince Gong had already communicated with Empress Lu, and military action was truly going to begin in Xibei? Counting up the time, Cui Shaoting had indeed been in Xibei for several years already—preparations were probably just about ready.
He felt his head aching somewhat. He reached up to press his brow and asked Zhen De, “Has that person come to the capital with the messengers?”
Zhen De saw the Crown Prince’s dissatisfaction and quickly shook his head. “I heard he’ll arrive with Prince Gong when the time comes. He didn’t come along this time.”
As expected, great care had been taken—they weren’t even comfortable having the person come to the capital with the messengers ahead of time. The Crown Prince bowed his head and didn’t speak for a long while, then asked Fu Youde and Zhen De instead, “Since you’ve already inquired clearly about the gifts the vassal princes will present, do you have any plans for what gift to present?”
Fu Youde and Zhen De exchanged glances. After hesitating a moment, they still stepped forward to speak their thoughts. “Although Yang Yunyong’s matter was covered up using Chen Dezhong, as long as someone with intentions stirs things up, inevitably people will gossip behind the scenes and slander Your Highness with malicious words. They say public clamor can melt metal, and accumulated slander can destroy bones. Our meaning is that Your Highness might as well take advantage of His Majesty’s longevity celebration and this incident of flooding in Hubei to take the lead in donating some silver.” Seeing that the Crown Prince didn’t immediately reject this, he paused briefly and continued, “This way, firstly it can quiet the rumors, and secondly it can let His Majesty and all under heaven know that Your Highness is not a greedy person.”
It sounded feasible. The Crown Prince hesitated somewhat. “Directly donating silver—isn’t that also too vulgar?”
Zhen De immediately offered a suggestion. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be directly donating silver. Your Highness could also tell His Majesty that you’re willing to use silver to buy rice from Jiangnan for disaster relief. This way, it’s not directly donated silver, but it still provides disaster relief, and it goes to practical use, showing Your Highness’s sincerity. Wouldn’t that be just as good?”