The Capital, Hall of Mental Cultivation.
The night was deep.
Inside the hall, the finely trimmed candle flame flickered gently, casting shifting shadows over Emperor Tiansheng's deeply wrinkled face.
Shen Lian knelt on the golden bricks in the center of the hall. His black clothes still bore the lingering chill of the night. With his head slightly bowed, he offered up a secret letter sealed with vermilion wax with both hands.
"Your Majesty, an urgent report from Jiangning." Shen Lian's voice sounded exceptionally cold in this enclosed space.
Eunuch Li hurried forward with quick, small steps, took it with both hands, and carefully presented it to the imperial desk. Emperor Tiansheng said nothing. His withered fingers picked up the envelope, examined it under the candlelight for a moment, and then broke the wax seal with his fingernail.
It was so quiet in the hall that one could hear a pin drop; the only sound was the rustling of turning pages.
"Interesting, truly interesting." Emperor Tiansheng looked at the handwriting on the secret memorial, his originally clouded old eyes revealing the intrigued look of a hunter examining its prey. He slapped the memorial onto the desk and turned his head to look at Eunuch Li beside him.
"Banban, listen to this. This girl from the Xu family actually baked a few pieces of colored glaze into plaques to use as invitations. A single invitation was bid up to six hundred taels of silver by those crazy merchants in Jiangning's Jinling Auction House."
Eunuch Li bowed slightly, the wrinkles on his face bunching together as he gave a dry laugh. "Six hundred taels? That is enough to feed a commoner for a lifetime. This way of making money by County Princess Xu, your servant has truly never heard of it in all my years."
"Do you think she is merely making money?" Emperor Tiansheng snorted coldly, leaning back against the bright yellow soft couch, his fingers tapping rhythmically on his knee. "Shen Lian, the memorial says there is a salt merchant named Gold-Tooth Jin who brought a thousand taels of silver in cash, wanting to smash open the doors of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion. What was the result?"
Shen Lian, his back straight, replied, "To answer Your Majesty, the Xu family's steward, Li Sheng, publicly turned him away at the door. The exact words were... that Gold-Tooth Jin smelled too strongly of salt, and they feared he would ruin the flowers in the pavilion with his stench."
Hearing this, Emperor Tiansheng suddenly burst into a fit of loud laughter. The laughter echoed in the spacious hall, causing the scrolls on the bookshelves to tremble slightly. He laughed until tears seeped from the corners of his eyes, pointing at the memorial as he spoke to Eunuch Li:
"The smell of salted fish? Haha! Brilliant! Those upstarts who survive on the breath of the noble families are worth nothing but a bellyful of salty air in her eyes. This girl isn't running a flesh trade; she is setting 'rules'."
Eunuch Li's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked tentatively, "Your Majesty means..."
"In this Jiangning region, the four great noble families have set the rules for a hundred years. Whoever they call elegant is a distinguished scholar; whoever they call vulgar is a mud-legged peasant."
Emperor Tiansheng stopped laughing, his gaze suddenly becoming as sharp as a falcon's. "Now, Xu Qinghuan has used a few pieces of translucent colored glaze to set up a new threshold at the door of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
She wants to personally tell those noble families that if they want to enter this circle, they must follow her Xu family's rules. That hundred-tael entrance fee is not money to buy a smile, but to buy an 'admission ticket' that acknowledges her Xu family's status."
He paused, picking up the latter half of the memorial, his eyes falling on the content about the Wang family conceding defeat. "That coward Wang Ruhai actually gave away the mulberry orchard deeds and the weaving shares? Just because of that trivial matter at Ciyun Nunnery?"
"The Wang family indeed bled heavily," Shen Lian added in a low voice. "Madam Wang fell seriously ill after returning from Ciyun Nunnery. Not only did Wang Ruhai not retaliate, but he personally went to their door to apologize. Now, the Xie and Zhao families are also watching from the sidelines."
"That old fox Xie An..." Emperor Tiansheng narrowed his eyes, his tone carrying a bit of mockery. "Banban, tell me, if I were to directly leak the news to him right now that his first wife, née Shen, was imprisoned to death by the Wang family, what would happen?"
Eunuch Li was so frightened that he fell to his knees with a thud, his forehead pressed against the cold floor tiles, and said tremblingly, "Your servant... your servant is dull-witted and dares not guess Your Majesty's intentions. If I must say... your servant guesses that Grand Secretary Xie would definitely sever all ties with the Wang family completely.
But a smart man like him, once he knows this news came from us, would likely become even more vigilant. Though he would hate them, he wouldn't dare to draw his sword easily. The balance in Jiangning would instead become even harder to break."
Emperor Tiansheng listened, his fingertips rubbing a jade paperweight on the desk, and nodded slightly. "Worthy of being an old fox who has stayed by my side for decades. You are right. Once Xie An knows this is my doing, he will definitely retract his claws. The current situation is very good. Having this County Princess holding this knife might be more useful than me wielding it personally. This fire hasn't burned to its brightest yet."
He pondered for a moment, then remembered something else. His brows furrowed slightly, his disgust evident. "Has my second son, who clamors all day about 'upholding justice and helping the weak', reached Jiangning yet?"
Eunuch Li wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and smiled obsequiously. "To answer Your Majesty, the Second Prince arrived in Jiangning City yesterday. However... he didn't go to the official relay station, but rather changed into plain clothes and squatted at a tea stall opposite the Hundred Flowers Pavilion for a whole afternoon. I heard he is trying every possible way to find one of those colored glaze invitations, saying he wants to go inside and investigate."
"That pig brain." Emperor Tiansheng sneered, though there wasn't much anger in his eyes. "Send word to our people there not to help him. Let him figure out a way to sneak in himself. I want to see if he can gain any advantage in front of that Xu family girl."
"Order the Second Prince to attend the opening of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion as an ordinary guest. He is not allowed to reveal his royal identity to pressure anyone. He just needs to see clearly for me what exactly that Hundred Flowers Pavilion is selling. Afterwards, I want to see his thoughts." Emperor Tiansheng waved his hand, signaling Shen Lian to withdraw. "Go on, keep your eyes wide open for me."
As Shen Lian's figure disappeared into the night, on the other side of Jiangning, the Xie family's ancestral mansion presented a completely different scene.
......
In the study, pale green smoke billowed from the incense burner. Xie An was focused on copying a calligraphy scroll. In front of him, several white-haired disciples of the Xie family, dressed in Confucian robes, were excitedly spitting as they spoke.
"Patriarch! That County Princess Xu is simply out of her mind! Treating those colored glaze invitations as rare commodities to hoard, she has attracted merchants all over the city to flock to them like ducks. How is this opening a restaurant? This is clearly trampling on the pure literary and educational traditions of our Great Qian, inducing an extravagant atmosphere in Jiangning! If this continues, public morality will be ruined!"
"Exactly! A threshold of a hundred taels of silver has actually become a symbol of elegance. It's simply the biggest joke in the world! That Hundred Flowers Pavilion is surely nothing but a filthy den of vice, yet she has packaged it to seem miraculously profound. We scholars will absolutely not allow such an evil creature to bring chaos to Jiangnan!"
Xie An never looked up. The tip of his brush paused on the rice paper, writing down the character for Endure with vigorous and forceful strokes.
Only when those old men had spoken until their mouths were dry did Xie An slowly set down his brush. He looked up at the colored glaze invitation bearing the number three, sent by the Xu family, resting on his desk. The transparent material exuded a cold and premium texture under the candlelight, truly beautiful beyond anything of this world.
"Gentlemen." Xie An's voice was gentle, like a pool of bottomless water. "What are you angry about? Are you angry at her merchant tactics, or are you angry that your own sons and nephews also grew red-eyed in that auction house, wanting to fight for one of these colored glaze plaques?"
The expressions of the several scholars stiffened, and they sheepishly fell silent.
"The Wang family has conceded for some unknown reason, and the Zhao family is already preparing gifts. The climate of Jiangning has changed, yet it remains exactly the same. Aren't the noble families still the true kings?" Xie An reached out and took the glazed invitation. It was icy to the touch, and his gaze grew profound.
"For her to dare demand a price unseen in a thousand years, she must hold a divine secret in her hands that justifies such a cost. Instead of crusading against her with your words here, you would be better off following me to verify the truth for yourselves."
"If she truly possesses the world-shaping talent to stir the stagnant waters of Jiangnan, then the Xie family... might just be willing to play her game." He stood up, his wide sleeves billowing, and crumpled the invitation into a ball. "Pass down the order. Halt all impeachments. In three days, I will personally visit the Hundred Flowers Pavilion."
Meanwhile, in the rear courtyard of the Hundred Flowers Pavilion.
Xu Zijin had changed into a sharp, narrow-sleeved black tunic. The wound on his temple had scabbed over, adding a hint of ruggedness to his otherwise delicate, soft features.
"My Lady! You want me... to do that sort of thing?" Xu Zijin asked in absolute shock.
