The Estate of the Marquis Who Holds the Sword.
After receiving Xu Jin, Commander Zuo withdrew the Imperial Guards formation and returned to the palace with Eunuch Yu to report.
Xu Jin rode his horse to the main gate of the estate.
The great doors were tightly shut. The stone lions flanking the entrance appeared smooth and clean at a glance, yet a fine layer of dust had settled in their crevices. The surroundings were deserted, enveloped in an atmosphere of utter stillness.
Xu Jin dismounted and walked to the gate. He raised his hand to knock, but before he could, the door suddenly swung open.
Old Madam Hou stood solemnly behind it, her eyes bloodshot, the hair at her temples having turned far more white than when the couple had last met.
The two gazed at each other for a moment, Xu Jin's lips trembling slightly.
"Come in."
That was all Old Madam Hou said. She led Xu Jin inside, past the main hall, all the way to the innermost small room.
Where a Buddhist shrine should have been, she had hung a curtain. Behind it was placed a small spirit tablet. Old Madam Hou drew back the curtain, revealing the tablet with its two vertical lines of characters:
Spirit Tablet of Our Beloved Daughter Xu Yueqing
Erected by Her Mother, Wu Siwan
Xu Jin held his breath. His burly, mountain-like frame hunched over for the first time. Silently, he shuffled to the front of the spirit tablet and reached out to cradle it in his arms.
Gradually, his entire body began to tremble.
Old Madam Hou said, "Yueqing was an imperial consort, she cannot be buried in the ancestral graves... I couldn't snatch her body from the palace, so I erected this tablet here myself. I thought... she would always prefer home."
Clutching the tablet, Xu Jin slowly sank to his knees, then slumped sideways onto a prayer cushion.
Over two years had passed since receiving news of his daughter's death. This was the first time he faced it again.
Time had not settled the grief; instead, it had fermented the hatred. Xu Jin's temples were streaked with grey, his face streaked with tears.
"I'll kill them!! I will kill them all! The Zhang family, I won't spare a single one!!" Xu Jin's eyes were bloodshot. "Zhang Fanming, I won't just kill his son, I'll slaughter his entire household! I'll make him taste the agony of losing those dearest to him!"
He didn't believe that nonsense prophecy. The Zhang family, and those unseen hands manipulating from the shadows, all had his daughter's blood on them.
He had laughed while killing Zhang Shiming at the city gate.
Who could know the hatred that had roared like a beast breaking its cage in his heart at that moment? A mere Zhang Shiming was not enough!
Old Madam Hou turned her head away, took a deep breath, raised a hand to wipe the tear tracks from her face, and exhaled a shaky breath.
She knelt down beside him.
"I've seen our little grandson."
Xu Jin looked up.
Old Madam Hou raised her hand, indicating a height. "About this tall. He looks very much like Yueqing did when she was little. Whatever you've come to the capital to do, you must see him first."
"The child has lived in the Palace of Peaceful Dwelling for over two years, sickly and frail. When Yueqing was with child, she sent us letters. She loved this child, just as we love her."
She grasped Xu Jin's hand.
"See him. Then make your decision."
Old Madam Hou spoke of many things in the capital. Some she had mentioned in her letters, but she repeated them nonetheless. She did not try to pull Xu Jin from his sorrow; she couldn't do it herself, so how could she demand it of the old man?
Xu Jin listened, but his back remained hunched throughout.
Finally, Old Madam Hou had nothing left to say, only choked sobs.
Xu Jin held the spirit tablet, weeping uncontrollably.
"My little girl… come back… your father will take you back to the Northern Frontier… we'll ride the bravest warhorse one more time…"
-
The Astrological Bureau.
Zhang Chansi was grading the mathematics problems submitted by Qu Dubian.
Full marks again, commendable, progress rapid. Occasional minor mistakes in detail, but once corrected, never repeated. The Seventh Prince's talent in mathematics was simply the greatest she had ever seen among people.
An official hurried in from outside and reported, "Deputy Director, the Director has submitted a petition to enter the palace. He wishes to accuse the Marquis Who Holds the Sword of murder at the capital city gate."
Zhang Chansi paused.
"Who was killed?"
"The Director says the Marquis killed his son, but when the Marquis killed him, he claimed the man was an assassin from the Northern Frontier."
"After getting beaten up, his mind isn't working right either," Zhang Chansi set down her brush.
The official asked, "Deputy Director, will you go see him?"
The Zhang family was also Zhang Chansi's clan. Zhang Fanming was her blood-related uncle. In a great aristocratic family, a move against one affects all; this connection was inescapable.
Zhang Chansi asked, "Where is this?"
The official replied, "The imperial palace, naturally."
"Correct," Zhang Chansi said indifferently. "If every minister in the empire who feels wronged could directly enter the palace to seek His Majesty, there would be no need for the laws of Great Zhou to exist."
Not long after.
A reprimand was delivered to Zhang Fanming.
Eunuch Yu announced, "His Majesty's oral decree: 'My minister, if you have grievances, the Dali Temple, the Ministry of Justice, and the Capital Prefecture offices are there for investigation. Likewise, if the Marquis Who Holds the Sword is at fault, the censors will impeach him. Without evidence, you bypass the proper offices to petition the emperor directly, disregarding procedure. Considering your injuries are not yet healed, return home on your own.'"
Zhang Fanming cried out in grief and indignation, "That was my child! There is no corpse, how can there be evidence? As for witnesses, Eunuch Yu and Commander Zuo were both present! Didn't you recognize him? Whether he was a Northern Frontier assassin, whether he had martial skills—didn't you know?"
Eunuch Yu said awkwardly, "This old servant has always been in the palace, how would I know what a Northern Frontier assassin looks like? Lord Zhang, please don't make things difficult for this old slave. I am merely a messenger."
As he spoke, crackling and popping sounds came from various places within the palace.
Eunuch Yu exclaimed, "Ah! The Hall of Ancestral Worship has been cleaned, they're burning bamboo to ward off evil. This old servant must hurry back. His Majesty has had a tiring day and needs proper rest."
With that, he turned and led his attendants back inside.
The palace gates closed heavily, one after another.
Zhang Fanming still lay on the bamboo bed used to carry him, facing the palace gates, and wailed bitterly, "Your Majesty!!!"
But he no longer held power in the Astrological Bureau. In this capital, within the imperial city, with no corpse and no irrefutable evidence, what office would dare trouble the Marquis Who Holds the Sword at such a sensitive time?
On the other side of the wall.
Eunuch Yu glanced up at the sky.
He flicked his horsetail whisk and said cheerfully, "Today is a good day. You lot, your smiles aren't bright enough! Look at me, be more jubilant!"
"I always tell you to eat more, eat more, so your faces are plump during the festivals, and the noble ones will be pleased to see you, right? Some of you are as thin as sticks; if you smile at the noble ones like that, people might think you're begging."
"Smile, smile, yes~ that's it!"
Bundles of bamboo were cut down and placed on braziers. The heated bamboo cracked and popped, its clear, bitter fragrance spreading to every corner of the palace grounds.
Everyone here had to be smiling. All weeping and wailing were to be left outside the palace walls.
-
The Purple Imperial Hall.
After the cleaning of the Hall of Ancestral Worship was complete, Imperial Consort Xuan did not return to the Palace of Serene Peace but followed the emperor to the Purple Imperial Hall.
“At the Hundred Officials' New Year's Banquet tomorrow night, will Little Qi attend with me, or will Your Majesty take him?”
Emperor Chongzhao was also pondering this.
"There's one question I've had. I always thought it was Little Qi clinging to you of his own accord, and you were unwilling to raise him. Why did you suddenly decide to take him in?"
"Who could refuse such a child?" Imperial Consort Xuan said. "Your Majesty has raised him for so long yourself, you should understand."
Emperor Chongzhao said, "Little Qi is indeed... hard to describe. Not quite like the other princes. He is not easy to raise, sometimes very stubborn. If he angers you... beat him lightly."
"?" Imperial Consort Xuan was puzzled. "Why would Your Majesty think I would hit a child? For so many years now, apart from swatting pests while farming, I have never raised a hand."
Emperor Chongzhao was silent for a moment, made an effort, and assumed an affectionate tone: "Very well, let's consider it compensation for... the child we lost back then..."
Imperial Consort Xuan smiled and interrupted: "Your Majesty, back then, you and I were merely friends. My marriage into the Prince's mansion was by the late Emperor's decree, a matter of necessity. Even if some affection developed later, it vanished long ago with the child's passing. We both know each other's temperaments, let's not put on an act."
"If not for Little Seven's matter, Your Majesty and I would likely never have spoken again in this lifetime. Your Majesty feels awkward, and so do I. It would be better to interact as we did before I entered the palace."
Emperor Chongzhao covered his mouth with a cough.
"That's rather blunt."
Imperial Consort Xuan took a sip of tea. It was cold. After all these years, he still had this same dreadful habit. The red date milk tea Little Seven sent was much better.
"I am not his birth mother, after all, there is a distance. Little Seven relies on Your Majesty. Even if Your Majesty and I are in a cooperative relationship, let's just focus on raising this child well together."
Upon hearing this, Emperor Chongzhao's idea of finding a mother for Qu Dubian and then shoving the responsibility onto her vanished instantly.
He sighed. "Little Seven truly cannot do without me. So be it."
"Raising a prince requires records with the Imperial Clan Court. We must wait until after the New Year. Having him accompany you at the New Year's Banquet would be against protocol. Let him stay with me for now."
Imperial Consort Xuan: "That's fine."
While the two of them discussed the child's matters in the Zichen Hall, over in the Western Warm Pavilion,
Qu Dubian was counting the ostrich feathers he had picked up.
There weren't many, but ostrich feathers were excellent material for clothing, even more valuable than down jackets from his past life, and they hardly generated static electricity. A dance costume he wore in his previous life was made of ostrich feathers.
"One, two..."
Big Black sniffed around. Qu Dubian gently pushed its head away. "Big Black, no mischief."
The warmest and thickest clothing in Great Zhou right now was cotton-padded jackets. He really wanted to invent the down jacket, but the prerequisite for down jackets benefiting the common people was that industrial technology could support the large-scale processing of duck and goose down. Otherwise, it would remain a luxury only the nobility could enjoy.
Moreover, he had heard from Grand Tutor Fang during a lesson that commoners had long used bird and beast feathers as padding for clothing, called feather garments or fur garments, for warmth. It was just that the smell was unbearable, so they weren't very popular.
He was just a child now; knowing too much would get him labeled a monster.
Counting the ostrich feathers was simply because they were pretty; he just wanted to make a shuttlecock. He had a good appetite and ate heartily, and even Sister Zhiyi had been eating a bit more lately.
Concubine Guo was worried, concerned that Sister might get indigestion, but she also didn't want her to eat too much hawthorn, as that could hurt the stomach.
He would make a shuttlecock for Sister to exercise more, and they could play together.
It would definitely be the most beautiful feather shuttlecock in the entire rear palace!
He was quite focused when working. It wasn't until dinnertime that he learned he was supposed to dine at Shunning Palace, but Emperor Chongzhao hadn't summoned him.
Tomorrow evening was the New Year's Banquet. Imperial Consort Xuan was attending for the first time in years and had many things to attend to, making it inconvenient to bring a child.
After dinner, Qu Dubian continued fiddling with his half-finished shuttlecock on the bed.
Emperor Chongzhao took out a few plump, adorable gold ingots and placed them before him.
Qu Dubian: "?"
Emperor Chongzhao snorted. "Take them and spend them. Reward whomever you like. Just don't vandalize my bedposts anymore!"
"Father Emperor, you're so generous," Qu Dubian praised while carefully putting away the gold ingots, hiding them all in his little socks. Emperor Chongzhao's face twisted at the sight. "I gave them to you, it's not like anyone will steal them. Can't you just leave them out in the open?"
Qu Dubian didn't answer, instead inching his way over to the bedpost and grinning.
"But it seems like this is still more valuable."
Emperor Chongzhao: "..."
