Hua Zhi suddenly felt rather foolish.
Arguing over the Three Obediences and Four Virtues with the men of this era — she had grown impatient, and her mood had turned sour.
In the beginning, she had wanted to strike at the Wei family’s pretension. Then she had concluded there was no need. Now she felt the entire gathering was simply laughable: she had pulled the discussion back onto its proper course, and they had bent it off again. Everything kept being turned back toward her. The motive behind it was obvious to any passerby. This was a corruption of the gathering’s very name — she had no wish to waste any more time here.
“Lord Wei, this young woman has honored the invitation. With that, I take my leave.”
Wei Chenze quickly moved to stop her. “Miss Hua, please — a Pure Discussion Gathering is simply like this. There was no intention to single you out…”
“A Pure Discussion Gathering is not like this!” Hua Zhi’s voice cut sharp and cold through his words. “A Pure Discussion Gathering discusses scholarship. It discusses strategies for governing the nation. It speaks to the present and to the future. It is for examining one’s own failings, for correcting those who have drifted off course, for humbling the arrogant, for throwing cold water on the self-satisfied, for giving direction to those still uncertain of where they are headed. A Pure Discussion Gathering is about reasoned debate — arguments backed by citations, exchanges where voices grow heated and faces grow red, and also moments of immediate kinship between those who recognize a like mind. A Pure Discussion Gathering is discussion in its truest form. It is not a banquet!”
Hua Zhi picked up the wine jar, knocked the seal loose, and poured the contents into the lake. “A Pure Discussion Gathering should not have wine. It should not have arrogance. It should not have complacency. It should not have hierarchy. It should not have singing girls and entertainers. Lord Wei — you should not have brought the habits of the official court into this place, shaking the still-fragile character of young scholars and teaching them so early to calculate and scheme. I ask you plainly: is what the Wei family has done here intended to ruin people — or to ruin the Great Qing?”
“You speak nonsense — this official—”
“The Hua family’s Pure Discussion Hall has only a single cushion, a few pails of plain tea, a room full of scholars, and a learned man named Hua Yizheng — Scholar Hua, who has never spoken in the voice of ‘this official.’” She set down the wine jar and turned to walk out of the pavilion. She had genuinely had enough. What a joke of a so-called Pure Discussion Gathering — this was nothing but a miniature replica of the court.
Hua Ling, slow to react, gave a start and hurried after her. Zhu Ziwen and the others exchanged glances, all of them thinking that the young miss had made quite a few enemies today — yet as members of her side, they found it deeply satisfying.
Without a word among them, all rose and filed out of the pavilion. A gathering like this held no value whatsoever.
From one pavilion, it was hard to say which, scholars who were still seated began rising to their feet, moving to the railings to look. They watched the figure walking away with long, unhurried strides — features as soft and delicate as anyone could wish, her height even a little shorter than that of a maid. Yet her words still seemed to ring in the air. Through those words, they could almost picture the shape of the Hua family’s Pure Discussion Gathering. If the atmosphere were truly like that, it must have been wonderful — to meet three or five kindred spirits in one’s lifetime is fortune enough, and in a gathering like that, who could say you might not find far more than three or five.
That was the reason the gathering had held such a legendary name. That was the reason those who had once attended had always spoken of it with such high regard, calling it one of the great pleasures of their lives.
Yes — only something like that could rightly be called a Pure Discussion Gathering. What the Wei family offered, as the young miss had said, was a banquet. The irritation that had flared up in some of them earlier, sparked by the claim that none of them could match her, was entirely extinguished now. Some bowed in the direction of the large pavilion and took their leave. But most remained. They did not dare depart early and make an enemy of the Wei family — of the Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the man who held power over official appointments.
In the large pavilion, several people knelt with their foreheads to the ground. The Emperor turned a wine cup idly in his fingers, his expression unreadable.
The only one still standing was Gu Yanxi, his face hidden behind a mask. He paid not the slightest attention to anything happening around him. His burning gaze tracked that departing figure until she disappeared entirely from view, and only then did he draw it back. If it were possible, he truly wished he could follow along and leave with her.
“Minister Zhu,” the Emperor said at last, “the Hua family’s Pure Discussion Gathering — was it truly as she described?”
Zhu Bowen, who had been attending the Emperor, answered respectfully: “It was, Your Majesty. This minister attended several times, and it was always so. When the debates grew particularly fierce, missing a meal was not unusual.”
The Emperor had never attended. Yet he remembered that Hua Yizheng — who had never missed court except for serious illness — had always without fail requested leave on that particular day. Suddenly he found himself genuinely curious about what it must have looked like. “Has Hua Zhi been?”
“She has, Your Majesty — twice, both times disguised as a serving boy who carried tea.”
He paused, then added: “Only a few tea-carrying boys are permitted inside the Pure Discussion Hall. No one else is allowed to remain.”
“Wei Jing — have you ever attended?”
Before Wei Jing could answer, the Emperor answered himself: “Your family has not sat for the imperial examinations in several generations. With Hua Yizheng’s stubborn temperament, he would never have invited you.”
“…” Having the Emperor speak the truth of it aloud, Wei Jing could only lower his head even further. In that moment, he regretted everything bitterly. If time could be rewound, he would never have invited Hua Zhi here.
The Emperor rose and stepped to the edge of the pavilion. Gu Yanxi moved forward to attend him.
The Emperor glanced at him, then turned his gaze to the scholars still milling uncertainly in the various pavilions below. These people — they were the pillars of the Great Qing, the nation’s future. Hua Yizheng could guide them onto the right path. Wei Jing could only send them further astray.
The Hua family — truly irreplaceable.
The Emperor felt a measure of reluctance. Irreplaceable — that distinction should belong only to the imperial family. Yet listening to Hua Zhi’s words, he could not deny it. Even Hua Zhi, a woman, held such understanding. This spoke volumes about what the Hua family had truly accomplished.
For the first time the Emperor thought of that woman with something like equanimity. However many faults she might have, she carried the Great Qing in her heart — and on that point alone, she was already better than a great many people. If she could earn more silver for him and bring his great ambition closer to completion, he might grant her a peaceful end. The prerequisite, of course, was that everything Hua Zhi had said today was true.
He turned. His expression was mild as he looked at those kneeling below him. “Let Wei Jing be appointed to the post of Minister of the Ministry of Rites. The Minister of the Ministry of Personnel shall be temporarily assumed by the Left Vice-Minister.”
A transfer from Minister of Personnel to Minister of Rites — it looked like a lateral move, but everyone present knew it was a demotion. The Ministry of Personnel was one of the three most powerful of the Six Ministries. How could the Ministry of Rites compare?
Wei Jing’s heart crashed through waves of shock, but he kept his face perfectly still and answered in a composed voice: “This minister receives the decree and thanks Your Majesty for his grace.”
“Have the Wei family’s sons and grandsons read more books in the years ahead. In the next imperial examination, We shall be waiting to see how they perform.”
With those words left hanging lightly in the air, the Emperor clasped his hands behind his back and departed. Wei Jing’s back broke into a cold sweat. The Emperor was angered by the Wei family.
Hua Zhi. Hua Zhi.
When the others had moved away, everyone who had been kneeling slowly got to their feet. Wei Jing smiled a smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he looked toward Zhu Bowen. “With a granddaughter who brings such credit to the family, I wonder what Lord Zhu’s feelings are on the matter?”
“Quite proud, naturally.” Zhu Bowen’s smile was far more genuine. “Her mind was never on scholarly pursuits — she has always preferred miscellaneous reading. Asking her to sit for an examination, she might not even pass the first round. But the Wei family’s young men going to sit for the examinations — I imagine they will certainly place. This old man will also be watching for their names on the golden roll. Farewell.”
Wei Jing was seething, but he knew his own household’s situation. Their young men had enough cunning — they simply had not one among them who was a scholar by nature. It wasn’t that they were stupid; it was that the Wei family had never needed them to sit quietly and dedicate themselves to study. But things were different now. The Emperor had made his words clear. Three years from now, the Wei family must have someone sit for the examinations. If they did well, it would be one thing — but if they couldn’t even clear the first hurdle, what an enormous face the Wei family would lose.
Hua Zhi. What a Hua Zhi.