News spread that the Crown Prince and Grand Prince had been plotted against by remnants of Ma Yuantong’s faction. The capital’s populace was in a state of panic and trepidation. Even though the criminals had already been apprehended, no matter how one pondered this matter, something seemed amiss. Moreover, the Eastern Palace had repeatedly suffered incidents over the past half year—during that trip to Yangquan, the Grand Prince had been ambushed, the entire Huangjue Temple had been massacred, and now again came news of both the Crown Prince and Grand Prince simultaneously meeting with disaster. Even the number of people on the streets had decreased.
The third day of the eighth month was originally the Bodhisattva’s birthday. According to capital custom, a procession would escort the deity’s image. In past years, the festivities would continue for an entire night. After the deity procession passed, the Ministry of Works would set off fireworks for half the night. The streets would be filled with all varieties of lanterns and food, tremendously lively. Young ladies would often bring their rice bags to the streets to enjoy themselves. But this year the atmosphere somehow felt wrong. Zhuque Avenue, which by evening should have been packed shoulder-to-shoulder with people, was now empty. Even the small stalls along the Jinshui River embankment had decreased by half.
The news of Prince Gong’s incident spread into the capital at precisely this time. It was said he had contracted a severe illness in Hebei, the accompanying physicians were at their wits’ end, and it appeared he was near death. An urgent report was sent into the capital. Emperor Jianzhang immediately issued an edict, ordering the Prince of Dongping to lead Imperial Medical Academy Attendant Hu and Imperial Physician Liang to rush to Langfang in Hebei to treat Prince Gong. He further decreed that Imperial Guard Chiliarch Hong Fa and Assistant Chiliarch of the Feathered Forest Guard Song Jue would accompany them for protection. Leaving someone suspended at this neither-far-nor-near distance in Hebei—neither ordering him to return to his fief nor summoning him back to the capital—truly made people uneasy.
Elder Du and Old Master Song left the palace gates together. Before Old Master Song could board his sedan chair, Elder Du walked a few steps forward and called out to stop him. After hesitating for a long while, he extended an invitation to dinner.
The news of Prince Gong’s “illness” left him unable to eat or sleep peacefully. Who didn’t know that Prince Gong was completely different from his sickly Crown Prince elder brother? The Crown Prince had been eating medicine since he learned to eat, but Prince Gong from childhood to adulthood rarely even sneezed. Just after the Imperial Guard and Ministry of Justice issued a proclamation saying Ma Yuantong’s remnants had plotted against the Eastern Palace, Prince Gong fell ill. Even calling this a coincidence, no one would believe it.
Moreover, for someone like Elder Du who knew the root causes of the Eastern Palace father and son’s calamity, officials were all slippery and smooth. Especially those few in the Cabinet—each had become crafty old foxes, every one of them having more oil in their bellies than water others drank. Originally thinking he definitely couldn’t get a single word out of Song Chengru, he had Madam Du go visit Old Madam Song to inquire for information. After all, when inner household women spoke together, there was even less need to preserve face this way. Often through casual gossip, matters could be probed clearly. Who would have thought that this time Madam Du hadn’t even managed to see Old Madam Song’s face? In the palace, Steward An maintained that attitude. In the Cabinet, when Emperor Jianzhang spoke of this matter, his expression didn’t change and his heart didn’t race, insisting adamantly it was Ma Yuantong’s remnants causing chaos. He dispatched the Imperial Guard to arrest people, making Elder Du deeply worried. Now this face—whether he wanted to sacrifice it or not, he had to. At this critical juncture, he truly didn’t dare brazenly send people to contact Prince Gong. He could only probe for information from Song Chengru—after all, Song Chengru’s granddaughter was the Grand Princess Consort. This time it had been she who entered the palace together with Zhou Weizhao. No one understood more clearly than Song Chengru exactly what had truly transpired.
Yet Song Chengru also didn’t give him face. With a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, he looked at him for a long while, then walked quickly a few steps with him. Only after checking their surroundings and confirming no one was present did he speak in an unhurried manner with a laugh, “Elder Du is Prince Gong’s teacher, so your bond of affection naturally runs deeper than others. But Prince Gong’s illness already has His Majesty and Her Majesty the Empress personally overseeing it. Elder Du should wash your hands of it.” After saying this once, his eyes swept over him, “Lest the brocade quilt that the higher-ups previously decided to grant be completely pulled away, leaving everyone’s faces looking bad.”
They all mixed in the Cabinet. This time, clearly Emperor Jianzhang had no intention of making this matter big, much less any intention of dealing with Elder Du. Someone like Old Master Song who had mixed in official circles for so long deeply understood when to kick someone when they’re down and when not to carelessly extend one’s foot.
Elder Du’s probing stopped at this point. They were all clever people—some words needed only a hint to be understood. This clearly meant there was no room for maneuver. In the end, he had still underestimated the Song family, underestimated the Grand Prince. Who knew that with the Crown Prince and Prince Gong attacking from both sides, this young lord and the Song family could both escape with their lives from between the cracks? Not only escape, but dare to grasp the tiger’s tail and, having started, see it through to reporting directly to the imperial hearing?
Truly each generation produced talented individuals. These old bones like them who only knew how to divine the imperial heart were also no longer useful.
Yet returning home, he ultimately couldn’t eat well or sleep soundly. The matter had indeed blown up. Emperor Jianzhang had overtly pushed the responsibility onto Ma Yuantong, but how exactly did he intend to deal with Prince Gong? The Crown Prince’s stroke—was it truly caused by poison running too deep, or had someone made a painful resolute decision? He thought of Prince Duan and couldn’t help shivering, his brows furrowing so tightly they could crush a fly.
If His Majesty could abandon even the Crown Prince whom he had always cherished and valued, then Prince Gong who had committed the same transgression had no small probability of ending up like Prince Duan—just falling ill like this, never to rise again.
After thinking left and right, he ultimately felt uneasy. Privately he again instructed Madam Du to make a trip to the palace, “The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching anyway. Take advantage of the opportunity when noble ladies enter the palace to pay respects, go in and mention this matter to Her Majesty the Empress.”
Prince Gong was, after all, Empress Lu’s youngest son. Now that her eldest son was essentially ruined, surely she wouldn’t watch helplessly as her youngest son was also finished? Emperor Jianzhang and she had been husband and wife for many years—their affection was still evident. If she risked everything to protect Prince Gong, Emperor Jianzhang might not be able to steel his heart.
After all, this matter was Emperor Jianzhang’s family disgrace. Since he was unwilling to make it public, even if Elder Du wanted to plead for mercy, he could only pretend not to know. He could only have Madam Du try the Empress’s connections—this could be considered taking a roundabout route to save his lord.
Old Master Song had long anticipated he would make this move. Returning home, he sighed to Old Madam Song, “We can be grateful that little Yi acted quickly, blocking off all their paths at every turn. This time, whether it’s the Crown Prince or Prince Gong, Her Majesty the Empress can no longer save them. Otherwise, given Her Majesty the Empress’s disposition, when the time came and the Crown Prince and Prince Gong went before her to plead and grind her down, this matter would again be left unsettled. In the future, such incidents would emerge endlessly without end.”
Women were prone to soft-heartedness. If it weren’t for Empress Lu indulging them all this way until now, such a tragedy of flesh and blood harming each other, brothers killing brothers, wouldn’t have occurred. Song Chuyi too had suffered losses at her hands until she was thoroughly frightened—last time she had also given warning, but Her Majesty the Empress’s thunder was loud but raindrops were small, completely useless. Not only did the Crown Prince not restrain himself, but he intensified his actions instead. This time they no longer dared to place hopes solely on the Empress.
Old Madam Song understood Old Master Song’s meaning, “This is only because you several have made a resolute decision. As for me, I would absolutely be unwilling to have little Yi risk her life like this—how great was the risk she shouldered? If His Majesty was the slightest bit displeased and used her as a scapegoat, wouldn’t she be finished? After all, no matter how you look at it, the Crown Prince and Prince Gong are His Majesty’s sons. Little Yi is ultimately merely an outsider.”