Xiao Jingxing held the earthenware bowl, mulling over how the Third Prince had just brought up the generals in the army, while his father had spoken of the three sons dividing the realm.
A thought stirred in Xiao Jingxing’s mind, and he set the bowl back on the table exactly as it had been.
He rose at once and bowed deeply toward Emperor Tiansheng at the head of the room.
“Father, I shall remember what you said about Emperor Taizu. The reason the three sons of Emperor Ai met with ruin—their deaths and the destruction of their state—was that they had lost all sense of propriety.”
Xiao Jingxing straightened, his voice loud and steady.
“The ancestral precepts of Great Qian have long settled the matter: seniority must be respected, and legitimate and illegitimate birth must be distinguished. The clan laws laid down by Emperor Taizu were the foundation of that three-legged bronze cauldron. The eldest son’s refusal to obey the clan laws and attempt to seize everything for himself was unrighteous. The second son’s act of pulling out the firewood and destroying the foundation was disloyal. And the third son’s severing of the legs and overturning the cauldron was the most reckless defiance of the ancestral heritage!
“What keeps Great Qian’s realm standing for ten thousand years is not seizure or brute force. It is receiving the Mandate of Heaven above and bringing peace to the people below. Brothers should be affectionate and younger brothers respectful, each guarding his proper place. None must harbor improper ambitions and bring disaster upon the imperial family. If everyone understands propriety and keeps to his duties, that great cauldron will naturally stand as firm as Mount Tai.”
His speech was flawless. He had laid out the entire clan-law basis for selecting the heir—and had also, in a roundabout way, delivered a strike against the Third Prince.
As Xiao Jingyan listened, his expression remained unchanged, though the hand holding his bowl turned it gently.
Emperor Tiansheng leaned back in his chair, his eyelids drooping, most of his face hidden in the lamplight.
He listened in silence to his eldest son’s eloquent declaration.
When Xiao Jingxing finished, the gloom on the emperor’s face faded somewhat.
Emperor Tiansheng slowly opened his eyes. His gaze rested on Xiao Jingxing for a moment before he gave a slight nod.
“Steady and measured.”
At those four words, Xiao Jingxing nearly failed to suppress his smile.
He bowed once more until his hands nearly touched the ground. “Your son is overwhelmed by your praise. I shall respectfully follow Father’s instruction.”
Xiao Jingxing returned obediently to his seat, a trace of self-satisfaction flashing through his heart.
He knew that, in the imperial family, those four words amounted to the highest praise.
Today, he had displayed the bearing of a crown prince.
With the eldest son’s perfect answer setting the standard, how would the remaining princes break through?
The Fourth and Fifth Princes could barely recite their books on ordinary days. By now, their undergarments were soaked with sweat, and neither dared raise his head.
Emperor Tiansheng ignored those cowering young sons, just as he paid no attention to the other princes, who were still too young to have any ambitions of their own.
The Second Prince was naturally fond of roaming the world for amusement. He had apparently even set up some sort of establishment outside.
The Fourth Prince loved antiques and works of art, and often hosted poetry gatherings at home.
The Fifth Prince was even more devoted to martial arts, though no one knew what he had managed to make of that interest.
The emperor turned his gaze to the Third Prince, waiting for him to answer.
Xiao Jingyan met the emperor’s eyes and felt his heart tighten.
The eldest had already said everything. Righteousness, clan law, propriety—he had claimed every high ground there was.
If Xiao Jingyan followed along, he would merely be repeating someone else’s words.
But if he contradicted him, it would seem as though he harbored disloyal thoughts toward the clan laws, turning him into the reckless madman from the story who had severed the leg and overturned the cauldron.
Xiao Jingyan’s lips moved. By habit, he wanted to search for a few lofty, conventional phrases about governing the state with which to defend himself.
But in that very instant, Xu Qinghuan’s words flashed through his mind.
Without another word, he picked up the large bowl before him.
He snatched up the wooden chopsticks from the table and, dipping them into the dark, sour-smelling preserved vegetables beside him, began desperately shoveling the sticky, dry millet porridge into his mouth.
Slurp—
The husks and coarse grains of salt scraped painfully at Xiao Jingyan’s throat.
Yet he did not even frown. One mouthful followed another.
With his left hand holding the bowl and his right hand wielding the chopsticks, he swept more than half the coarse porridge into his mouth in just a few hurried bites.
Both cheeks bulged.
He chewed with all his strength, the veins on his face standing out from the effort, and mumbled indistinctly:
“Father bestowed this meal upon me. Your son would not dare let the porridge grow cold… I shall eat first, to show my respect.”
There was not the slightest trace of a prince’s dignity in those words. They were even so crude that they bordered on comical.
The dignified air Xiao Jingxing had just assumed wavered under the disturbance. He turned to look, his brows drawing together.
He could hardly believe that the Third Prince would commit such an indecorous act in a setting like this.
Emperor Tiansheng had been rolling the Buddhist prayer beads in his hand. His fingers suddenly stopped.
On that normally impassive face, his brows rose slightly.
Because of this utterly improper display, the atmosphere in the heated chamber twisted in a most subtle way.
Xiao Jingyan did not stop.
He picked up another large piece of mutton, complete with tough skin, mixed it with the remaining porridge, and desperately forced it down.
He did not pause even once, cramming everything into his stomach.
The Fourth and Fifth Princes beside him had already been frightened into numb hands and feet by the earlier exchange.
After hearing their Eldest Brother’s long and elaborate speech, they felt even more keenly how completely useless they were. They could not open their mouths at all.
Now, seeing their Third Brother doing nothing but burying his head in his food, wolfing it down as though it were a godsend, they regarded him as the lifeline heaven had thrown them.
The youngest, the Ninth Prince, had been huddled in the corner of his chair. Seeing this, he tremblingly reached out with both hands and lifted the large bowl in front of him.
His eyes reddened, and his voice came out thin and quavering.
“Your son… Your son is dull-witted. Your son cannot understand ancient history. I only know that the porridge Father bestowed is filling.”
With that, he squeezed his eyes shut, opened his mouth, scooped up a large spoonful of cold, congealed rice paste, and stuffed it straight inside.
His little face twisted into a knot as he struggled desperately to swallow.
That single action shattered the entire situation.
The Fourth and Fifth Princes exchanged a glance, as though pardoned by heaven.
They could no longer worry about imperial decorum. In unison, they lowered their heads and picked up their bowls and chopsticks.
Chomp, chomp, chomp—
For a moment, the most secretive council chamber in the imperial compound was filled with nothing but the sounds of swallowing.
Several young princes poured every ounce of strength they had into eating, determined not to show their fear before their father—and, more importantly, determined to stay alive.
None looked at the others. None spoke.
Only the clatter of bowls and chopsticks rang through the room.
Xiao Jingxing sat alone to one side, the food before him barely touched.
Looking at his brothers with their heads bent over their meals, he suddenly wondered whether he had said the wrong thing.
It was absurd beyond belief.
He gripped the armrest of his chair tightly.
A bunch of idiots who knew nothing but how to protect their food!
Emperor Tiansheng sat in the seat of honor.
He leaned forward slightly. His gaze passed over the empty crock, then moved to the spotless bottom of Xiao Jingyan’s bowl.
Finally, it fell upon Xiao Jingxing’s earthenware bowl, which had barely been touched.
The air was thick with the sounds of chewing and swallowing.
The old emperor’s chest rose and fell a few times.
Then, suddenly, two muffled chuckles escaped him.
He was old now. It seemed he truly had grown nostalgic…
The young princes who had been gulping down their porridge froze in terror, grains of rice still clinging to their lips. None dared move.
Xiao Jingyan wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth and placed the empty bowl back on the table.
He sat up straight in perfect order, wearing the satisfied expression of someone who had just eaten his fill. He asked nothing and said nothing.
Emperor Tiansheng raised his hand and lightly tapped the rosewood tabletop twice with his knuckles.
The laughter faded. The emperor’s gaze returned to its calm scrutiny. He looked at Xiao Jingxing, then glanced at Xiao Jingyan, his tone impossible to read.
“The eldest is learned.”
He paused, then continued, “The third is filial.”
Those eight words fell into place, completely setting the tone for this hair-raising test of the princes over the divided cauldron.
The corner of Xiao Jingxing’s brow twitched.
A learned man’s dutiful devotion could not compare with simple filial piety.
He had exhausted every argument, citing classics and histories, yet all his efforts were no match for the Third Prince’s utterly unrestrained gulping?
Hearing this, Xiao Jingyan immediately rose from his seat, knelt, and clasped his fists. “Father, you have only just recovered from your illness. I am not skilled with words; I only wish for Your Majesty’s good health. This plain fare tastes delicious to me.”
“Rise,” said Emperor Tiansheng, unable to suppress the smile at the corners of his mouth as he waved a hand.
Even Eunuch Li, standing by the door, secretly let out a long breath and prepared to step forward and clear away the cold leftovers.
But before anyone could fully relax, the last trace of amusement vanished from Emperor Tiansheng’s face.
The old man’s gaze suddenly sharpened, and his tone took an abrupt turn.
“These past two days, I have been recuperating quietly in my room, yet things outside have been remarkably lively.”
Emperor Tiansheng’s eyes swept over each of his sons in turn.
“The timber merchants around the capital—why have the century-old fir needed for building large ships, along with tung oil and coarse hemp rope, all soared in price by more than thirty percent in a single day?”
