Year 221 CE, Luoyang

Sima Yi stood quietly to one side of the study with his hands tucked in his sleeves, eyes observing his nose and nose observing his heart. He didn’t know what purpose Cao Pi had in summoning him here. Last year Cao Pi had just usurped the Han and ascended the throne as emperor. The Wei dynasty had a hundred things awaiting renewal, and as Right Assistant Imperial Secretary, he was still very busy with no time to waste.

Since Cao Pi remained silent, Sima Yi began organizing various matters in his mind to fathom the emperor’s thoughts. The abdication ceremony replacing Han with Wei had been very successful, with tens of thousands of guests including the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, marquises and nobles, military generals, and visiting Xiongnu chieftains who came to pay homage. Sima Yi still remembered Liu Xie’s desolate, helpless expression when he was forced to kneel and hand over the Imperial Seal and the realm to Cao Pi.

It was said Cao Pi had even prepared a posthumous title for Liu Xie – the character “Xian” (献), making him Emperor Xian of Han, truly most fitting.

A subtle curve appeared at the corner of Sima Yi’s lips. Actually, Cao Pi’s usurpation of Han wasn’t a very clever move. Sima Yi could almost imagine that this abdication technique would become a political game, constantly imitated and surpassed, gradually becoming a fixed pattern. Whenever the ruler was weak and ministers strong, abdication dramas would continuously be staged, and this root of trouble was personally planted by Cao Pi.

Sima Yi’s heart beat uncontrollably. He knew that if Cao Cao had ascended the throne before his death, such effects would never have appeared. After all, the Cao family’s realm was built by Cao Cao’s own hands, just like Qin Shihuang who unified the six states and Han Gaozu who triumphed in the Chu-Han struggle – explaining everything through force. Unfortunately, Cao Cao had always carefully observed the proprieties between ruler and minister throughout his life, never imagining his son Cao Pi would tear away the last fig leaf less than a year after his death.

Such a fragile dynasty really made one desire to personally destroy it…

Sima Yi’s hands tucked in his sleeves trembled slightly. Unlike others, his head could turn more angles than ordinary people, able to see things behind him. Physiognomy said this was the “wolf’s gaze” appearance, a manifestation of great ambition.

Cao Cao believed in physiognomy and never promoted him throughout his lifetime, but he had timely built good relations with Cao Pi, becoming the latter’s closest advisor and the Wei dynasty’s fastest-promoted miracle.

Actually this wasn’t strange. Sima Yi prided himself on being broadly learned and well-informed, no less than the legendary Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix. Cao Pi also relied heavily on him. In an instant, Sima Yi had replayed recent court events in his mind. Using his peripheral vision, he saw Cao Pi playing with an simply-shaped jade belt hook and suddenly had an epiphany.

This jade belt hook seemed to be Empress Zhen’s relic.

Though Empress Zhen’s death by Cao Pi’s decree was suspicious, no close minister would presumptuously question it. After all, Empress Guo now controlled the imperial harem and was currently favored, while Empress Zhen, who had always remained in Yecheng, was little known. Though rumors said she was extremely beautiful, no matter how beautiful, having not served at Cao Pi’s side for so many years, their feelings were probably pitifully few.

Moreover, Sima Yi had heard that after Empress Zhen was granted death, her face was covered with hair and her mouth stuffed with chaff, so she couldn’t show her face even in death, without even a chance to complain to the King of Hell. Cao Pi being so merciless suggested this wasn’t due to imperial harem rivalry but some other hidden reason.

Could it be like the palace rumors of forbidden love between Cao Zhi and Empress Zhen, uncle and sister-in-law?

This wasn’t unusual. With Empress Zhen’s death settling the matter and Cao Zhi having lost the succession struggle and fallen from favor, unable to cause much trouble, it wasn’t worth Cao Pi’s such worry.

Could he regret granting Empress Zhen death and now miss her with her relics?

Sima Yi immediately dismissed this suspicion. If he missed Empress Zhen, why summon him here? Continuing to think about various clues, Sima Yi trembled all over, remembering Cao Pi’s attitude toward Cao Rui these past days…

Cao Rui was Empress Zhen’s son, Cao Pi’s eldest son, several years older than other princes, already the undisputed heir of the Wei dynasty. But Cao Pi had never made him crown prince. After Empress Zhen’s death, Cao Rui’s position became even more delicate. Sima Yi had thought that even if Empress Zhen was unfaithful, it wouldn’t shake Cao Rui’s foundation, but he suddenly recalled that when Cao Pi took Empress Zhen, Cao Rui was born. Empress Zhen had originally been Yuan Shao’s daughter-in-law. Could this mean…

“Zhongda is indeed perceptive.” Though Cao Pi had been fingering the jade belt hook, he hadn’t neglected the other person’s movements in the study. When he sensed Sima Yi’s breathing grow heavier, he knew the latter had surely guessed the inside story. This couldn’t be blamed on his not speaking clearly – suspecting one’s son wasn’t one’s biological child was truly hard to voice.

Cao Pi actually didn’t blame Zhen Mi for carrying another’s child. His father Cao Cao favored other men’s wives and even brought other people’s sons over as adopted sons, which somewhat influenced Cao Pi’s views. Cao Cao’s favoritism toward one adopted son, He Yan, made Cao Pi envious, often publicly mocking him as a “false son” in his youth. But He Yan was an exception. Cao Pi got along well with his other two adopted brothers Qin Lang and Cao Zhen. So if Zhen Mi had been clear with him from the beginning, Cao Pi would have treated Cao Rui equally as his own child, but would never have cultivated him as an heir.

Sima Yi observed Cao Pi’s gloomy, uncertain expression. After pondering briefly, he grasped the key point of this problem. If Cao Pi confirmed Cao Rui wasn’t his child, what was there to agonize over? Simply transfer him away from the capital and let fate decide his life or death. The difficulty now was that no one knew whether this child was truly Cao Pi’s son. Premature births were common – probably even the deceased Empress Zhen couldn’t be certain whose child this was.

Sima Yi recalled Cao Rui’s appearance. That child had clear eyes and delicate features, surely resembling Empress Zhen greatly. Nothing could be determined from looks alone.

This matter was quite thorny. If Cao Pi had another son of comparable age, he might prefer to wrongly kill rather than let slip, having another son inherit the throne. But now besides Cao Rui, other princes were very young – whether they could grow to adulthood was unknown.

So the key to this matter was proving whether Cao Rui was Cao Pi’s biological son. But conversely, what if they proved Yuan Xi wasn’t Cao Rui’s biological father?

After long silence, Sima Yi said: “Your Majesty, we could use bone-drip kinship testing.”

Bone-drip kinship testing had been popular recently. Sun Quan’s brother-in-law Xie Cheng’s “Records of Worthy Men of Kuaiji” recorded a case of identifying an elder brother’s corpse by dripping a younger brother’s blood on the bones.

Bone-drip kinship testing meant dripping a living person’s blood on a dead person’s bones to observe whether it penetrated. If it penetrated, it indicated blood relations like parent-child or siblings. If not, it indicated no relation. Yuan Xi had been killed with his brother Yuan Shang in Liaodong over ten years ago – their burial place wouldn’t be hard to find.

Cao Pi had already tried this method. Hearing this, he sighed: “Don’t mention this method. Yuan Xi, his brother, and several attendants were buried together – they can no longer be distinguished.” Cao Pi spoke vaguely, not wanting to tell his most trusted minister that he had actually dripped Cao Rui’s blood on all those bones, and it had all penetrated.

This was too ridiculous. Could all these people be Cao Rui’s fathers? All blood relatives? He later conducted several more experiments, thoroughly proving Xie Cheng’s claims were nonsense. Unfortunately, he couldn’t expose family shame, or he would really refute that Imperial Physician Xie.

Sima Yi wanted to mention that having bones mixed together didn’t matter – as long as one person’s bones absorbed the blood, kinship could be determined. But seeing Cao Pi’s dark expression, he knew this method had been tried and definitely hadn’t yielded accurate answers.

As a minister, one should share the emperor’s worries. Sima Yi quickly analyzed the pros and cons, knowing today’s matter was just Cao Pi venting frustrations, not wanting him to create trouble. Moreover, the princes were still young, Cao Pi was in his prime – choosing a crown prince wasn’t urgent.

Sima Yi’s words were watertight, and Cao Pi’s expression softened considerably. He just wanted to sound out Sima Yi, his own decision being to observe for several more years. As Sima Yi spoke, his gaze involuntarily fell on the jade belt hook Cao Pi was playing with. That simply-shaped jade belt hook had soft, delicate jade quality, flickering with irresistible light in the dancing candlelight.

“Those who steal hooks are executed, those who steal nations become marquises.”

Well-read Sima Yi naturally thought of these lines. Even acts with very bad motives could become righteous when magnified infinitely, and righteousness was always written by victors. This created the different outcomes of “those who steal hooks are executed, those who steal nations become marquises.”

Before tonight, though Sima Yi occasionally had disloyal thoughts, he knew the timing wasn’t ripe and forcibly suppressed them. But tonight hearing this imperial secret greatly moved him. An unstable succession – what an easy place to manipulate.

Sima Yi could completely imagine that if Cao Pi’s young sons all successively died young, leaving only Cao Rui, then no matter how much Cao Pi suspected this child’s bloodline, he couldn’t publicly explain the reason and would be forced to pass the throne to Cao Rui. This might be a reluctant move for Cao Pi. To avoid mixing Cao bloodlines, he would probably instruct trusted people before death not to let Cao Rui produce heirs, ultimately forcing Cao Rui to adopt sons from other branches to inherit the throne…

Sima Yi lowered his eyelids, carefully concealing the gleam in his eyes.

Year 2012 CE

“Sima Yi was really ruthless… Several of Cao Pi’s young sons died under unclear circumstances, none of Cao Rui’s sons lived to adulthood, and finally as he planned, the adopted Cao Fang from the imperial clan inherited the throne.”

The doctor still cosplayed as a rabbit plushie. He had gotten used to the two long ears occasionally drooping down, though they somewhat blocked his vision. He was now accompanying the owner in selecting imperial antiques of sufficient grade, which was actually a disguised way of listening to the owner tell stories. “So this jade belt hook later fell into Sima Yi’s hands?”

The owner took the jade belt hook from the brocade box and carefully wiped it with a soft cloth while replying indifferently: “That Sima Yi never actually got this jade belt hook.” The blood stains on the jade belt hook were gorgeous as real blood, shockingly vivid.

“Eh? Right, his son was the impressive one! ‘Sima Zhao’s intentions are known to all!’ ” The doctor suddenly understood. “It seems this jade belt hook definitely meets the requirements for imperial antiques. From the story you told, how many emperors handled it! Emperor Xian of Han Liu Xie, Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi, and after Zhen Mi got the jade belt hook, her son Emperor Ming of Wei Cao Rui must have touched it too… Such a pity – if only Cao Cao had touched it, he died without ever enjoying being emperor!”

“Cao Cao once said in his ‘Edict to Let the County Know My Original Intent’: ‘If the state had no me, who knows how many would call themselves emperor, how many would call themselves king.’ He said he spent his life in warfare to prevent others from becoming emperors or kings – how could he become emperor himself?” The owner finished carefully wiping the jade belt hook and put it back in the brocade box, smiling slightly. “Whether he was a crafty hero or a true hero, everyone has their own evaluation, but under those circumstances his not becoming emperor already well demonstrates his attitude.”

The doctor nodded in agreement. After all, the other two contemporaries, Liu Bei and Sun Quan, later successively became emperors. Perhaps if Cao Cao had lived longer he couldn’t have resisted becoming emperor, but history cleverly leaves no room for imagination in its outcomes. This is what “final judgment after death” means.

But thinking of final judgment after death, the doctor immediately remembered the bone-drip kinship testing mentioned in the story – this was his professional field. He immediately got excited and began chattily popularizing medical knowledge.

“That Cao Rui was lucky. Fortunately Yuan Xi was buried with several others, or he would definitely have been in big trouble. I’ve dealt with forensic doctors several times before. They said that after long periods of decay, human corpses ultimately become white bones. The surface corrodes and becomes loose – forget blood, even water drops can penetrate. As for the blood-drip kinship testing on TV now, that’s even more ridiculous. Actually, putting blood from several unrelated people in the same vessel, they’ll all fuse together before long. Blood-drip kinship testing has no scientific basis whatsoever.”

Getting carried away, the doctor couldn’t help glancing at the owner several times. He hadn’t given up on drawing a few tubes of the owner’s blood for experiments! But looking down at his ridiculous plushie form, he sighed helplessly.

The doctor was philosophical though. He immediately threw this small frustration to the back of his mind, then remembered something: “Oh no, owner, can’t this jade belt hook be casually touched? I think I saw you pick it up just now?”

The owner closed the brocade box and said slowly: “Everyone has ambition. This jade belt hook is just a catalyst, stirring up a person’s greatest ambition. But if well-controlled, it’s not surprising. Back then I replaced the He Shi Bi that Liu Xie lost. Feeling guilty, I gave him this jade belt hook. His ambition then was simply to survive well. Though he took one risk, he ultimately died peacefully – getting what he sought.”

The owner slowly reminisced, his expression somewhat dazed. He didn’t know whether what he’d done back then was right or wrong. As the saying goes: “Those with ambition shouldn’t be given power, those of dull quality shouldn’t be given sharp weapons.” This was quite reasonable.

“Owner, owner, what’s your ambition?”

The doctor’s chattering question interrupted the owner’s reminiscence. The owner pinched those soft rabbit ears, stuffed him into the luggage, and smiled slightly: “It’s getting late. Let’s set off to seal the formation point.”

“Foul! Foul! You can’t use this method to avoid answering questions!”

Mini Theater:

Doctor: Owner, gossip a bit more – why did Cao Pi dislike that He Yan?

Owner: The Jin Book’s “Forest of Conversations” records that Yan was extraordinarily intelligent in youth, and Cao Cao favored him like his own sons…

Doctor: Continue reading! “Yan had beautiful appearance and fair complexion. Emperor Wen of Wei suspected he used powder. In summer he gave him hot soup noodles. After eating and sweating profusely, he wiped himself with red clothes, his complexion appearing even more brilliant…” Oh my! This Cao Pi was really interesting – suspecting He Yan’s fair skin was from powder, he specially invited him for hot noodle soup on a hot day. After He Yan wiped his sweat, his face looked even fairer! This even created an idiom, “Powdered He Lang,” truly a beautiful man! That Cao Pi was definitely jealous that he was more handsome! Calling him “false son” too… “False son”… this couldn’t be the ancient meaning of “feminine boy,” could it…

Owner: …