Published at 21st of October 2020 11:30:51 AM
Chapter 21
As the first month had gone by, that last bit of commotion in the capital city also finally subsided.
After all, Wu Xi was still of young age, plus his injury was no longer in critical condition, thus he had soon been able to leap and jump around again. Just within the past ten days, he had already been baited by Jing Qi, colluding with the latter and touring around the entire city.
When Wu Xi arrived at the capital gate that day, he was only a little more than ten years old. During these past few years, much to one’s surprise, he had been holding his temper in restraint and enduring the Sorcerer Mansion’s lonesome stillness — his only company all day long was those poisonous creatures, and keeping his guard up around everyone else had also become a habit. Yet, like an unbridled force, Jing Qi seemed to have busted that stubborn door down and completely pulled Wu Xi in this dazzling and voluptuous lifestyle of the capital city.
Whether it concerned appreciating songs while leaning on the railing, listening to stories while sitting at the teahouse, or watching plays at the pear garden; whether the activity was antique or recent; whether it was of elegance, popularity, or picturesque scenery, Jing Qi had proved himself worthy of Helian Yi’s appraisal, which was a result from the time he got caught sneaking out, leaving the other man near close to bursting from rage: “Devil Incarnate!”
On the contrary, it didn’t matter to Wu Xi whether he could partake in these superfluous things or not. Although he was still young, his adamant penchant for quietude and aversion to noisy chaos had been there since birth. While there was no doubt that Jing Qi would know how to best enjoy these fun times, in Wu Xi’s eyes, these various activities were only foreign and new at first; but after awhile, he would find them somewhat too loud and rowdy, thus unable for him to adapt. However, this obstinate child with a one-track mind had already insisted that Jing Qi was his friend — in his heart, he believed that if Jing Qi had invited him to go out, he would have to accompany the latter at all cost, absolutely not letting that person down. 2
With the imperial court’s grand assembly happening on the first day of February, Prince Nan Ning Wang could no longer go on with his scout for entertainment — he was personally escorted to the grand ceremony by the crown prince Helian Yi, having to listen to state’s affairs and facing the man who only showed his face at the court once every blue moon, Helian Pei.
It was unclear whether Helian Pei had already regretted his decision as soon as he walked into the Great Hall, or whether he was missing something else out there — before his butt could warm the Dragon Throne, he was already no longer able to sit still, ordering the court “report if there is any matter, recess if there is none,” as if the chair was made of nails. The emperor’s eyes were barely open, and the expression on his face “Be quick and spill your rubbish!” hinted zero patience, clearly warning all the civil ministers and military officials to speak less nonsense so that they could hurry and get on their knees to see His Majesty off.
Yet, there was still a person who just had to be oblivious of the situation — right then, Imperial Censor-in-Chief (1) Jiang Zheng stepped forward; with a speech filled with virtuous words, he delivered his accusation against Senior Supervising Secretary Li Hongwei of the Ministry of Defense, and the Assistant Regional Commander Yang Dalin of Beitun City: “Having nonsensical talks regarding matters in the Northwest, spreading unfounded rumors that mislead the public, harboring ill intentions, and scheming unlawful acts.”
Helian Pei immediately got a headache as soon as he saw Jiang Zheng talking. This old geezer might seem dull and listless like that, but the moment he started talking, his exceptionally thick eyebrows would shoot up one by one; nothing good would ever come out so long as his mouth was open — if it wasn’t to accuse, certainly it would be to remonstrate.
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Author: 羲和清零Genre: Virtual/reality game, modern, futureStatus: Completed - 161 chaptersSummary:At the age of 15, He Jin found himself a "husband" in an onl...But this time, no one on the scene, including Jing Qi, was able to react to him right away. Although he was not an important pillar in court, his personal character was still considered acceptable. He had long held the reputation for his integrity and moral uprightness, and had absolutely nothing similar to Zhao Mingji and his likes who sought to bite others at every single moment, spending day after day trying to figure out what was in His Majesty’s mind, operating their whole lives around fawning and speculating for personal gains.
Thus, every time he opened his mouth and presented a memorial, things that came out were bound to be concrete statements.
Without taking into consideration what kind of person that accused Yang Dalin was for the time being, the odd thing was, this guy was merely a staff general residing in a small border town— if one were to call him small potatoes, those small potatoes out there would definitely feel wronged. Just Master Li, Li Hongwei, himself was already one of the very few honest and responsible officers from that good-for-nothing Ministry of Defense.
This type of person easily became the target of envy and often got into trouble — it was not anything surprising if someone were to accuse him, but that someone certainly couldn’t be Jiang Zheng.
What was even more bizarre was, according to rumors, the relationship between Old Jiang and Li Hongwei was not bad at all.
Jing Qi sneaked a glance at Helian Yi, who also happened to be looking at him with a perplexed gaze before slightly shaking his head.
Li Hongwei was even more calm, only raising his head a little upon the mention of his name; after that, he just stood there and clammed up like a dead man.
Helian Pei pinched the bridge between his brows, trying to gather his wits and strength together to figure a way to deal with this stubborn old man who was rather a tough nut to crack: “What did Li Hongwei and Yang… well, that Assistant Regional Commander Yang do to upset you this much?”
Jiang Zheng dropped to his knees with a thump, his voice clear and loud: “Report to Your Majesty! On the seventh day of last month, Senior Supervising Secretary Li Hongwei of the Ministry of Defense, with only a few one-sided statements from that low-ranking Assistant Commander Yang Dalin, dared to openly defame the imperial government, make presumptuous comments about the frontier’s affairs, and exaggerate matters to instill fear into people’s hearts, attracting the crowd’s attention with his claptrap speech. May I boldly ask Master Li a question? During these times, the court is in its well-ordered state; our ruler is valorous and majestic; peace is established across the four seas, abundance across all lands — yet you could still shamelessly tell lies such as how ‘Wa Ge La people have been flocking to Beitun; there will definitely be a shift within the next few years, and by then, our frontier is going to be in great danger.’ What are you even trying to imply here?”
On Helian Pei’s dull and lethargic face, a blank, stupefied look washed over.
Jing Qi and Helian Yi exchanged a glance with each other; the complicated expression on Helian Yi’s face was somewhat difficult to put into words. Jing Qi sighed quietly inside and tilted his head to look at Jiang Zheng who just finished giving his impassioned speech fueled with righteous indignation — it immediately became clear to him that Jiang Zheng never actually intended to make an accusation against that Li Hongwei.
“Li Hongwei believed in the information coming from Yang Dalin…” During the early years of the nation’s establishment, troubles constantly arose at the frontier of Da Qing; as a result, Emperor Taizu (2) issued an order that any general who guarded the borders regardless of ranks had the permission to submit reports about the frontier’s affairs. Not to mention Yang Dalin who was an assistant commander, if there had been an actual problem at the frontier, even a mere leader of a minor division (3) could still have rushed here from hundreds of miles away to directly deliver an urgent report to the emperor. For such a matter, how come Yang Dalin did not seek His Majesty to directly report but had to go through Li Hongwei instead?
Besides, although the emperor seldom made appearance in the court, in any case, he would at least take a look and skim through the memorials submitted by the officials. When it came to matters related to the frontier’s security, even if Helian Pei was unreliable, he wouldn’t be so confused and muddleheaded to the point of completely turning a blind eye to such a matter, and, more or less, he would have asked “Is this true?”
However, this matter was reported on the seventh of last month, yet even until now Helian Pei had not heard a single sound regarding the issue — was it because His Majesty didn’t pay enough heed… or was it because he basically had never seen that memorial at all?
Supposing that His Majesty had never seen this memorial submitted by the court minister, then where could it have possibly gone?
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Minister Jiang employed this half-truth accusation that carried double layers of meaning — it was indeed an intentional move. Suppose that he and Li Hongwei have already had a private discussion in advance; however, whether he can achieve his desired outcome or not, Jing Qi sighed heavily in his heart, I am afraid that it is going to be very difficult.
Helian Pei settled down on the Dragon Throne, his expression grew still, and no one could tell if he was happy or angry. After a long while, he simply responded with a long, dragging “Oh”, his gaze shifted and landed on Li Hongwei: “Subject Li, have you ever sent in such a memorial?”
Li Hongwei got down on his knees: “Report to Your Majesty! Your Subject has indeed submitted such a report. However, each and every statement that Your Subject and Assistant Commander Yang have provided are all words of verified truth — not even half of the words were exaggerated. Those Wa Ge La barbarians used the annual Spring Market as an opportunity to entrench themselves at our northern defense line, gathering as big crowds to stir up trouble and refusing to leave. If we don't put them under stricter control, I fear that there will be no peace in the northwest. I plead Your Majesty to judge this with your wisdom.”
Just as expected, whatever was becoming of the northwest was completely disregarded by Helian Pei, and it was because there was another thing that he was more concerned about. A soft chuckle left his lips: “How strange! Can you all see? They already started fighting, but I still have seen no sign of this petition that was submitted since the seventh of last month.”
The last few words became even more bleak and wintry — not a single soul in the entire body of civil officials and military officers dared to breathe a sound.
Jing Qi wouldn't have thought to witness such a lively scene like that on his very first day of attending court. Since he hadn't formally been a part of the court before, he was only able to have a grasp of the situation through Helian Yi and a few fragments of his memories — who would have thought that the turbulent undercurrent had surged to such extent? His brows slightly knitted together, it seems like there will be some changes in the future plan.
Whatever was going on in the northwest, to Helian Pei, they were all matters of too faraway lands. The thing His Majesty cared about was who would have the gall to play tricks right under his nose, and whether they were going to usurp the throne already.
Hence, he opened his mouth and asked: “Zheng Xi, who is the current Xingzou in the study?”
Xi Eunuch hurriedly answered: “Your Majesty, it is Wei Cheng, the eunuch formerly working in the Imperial Household Department.”
Helian Pei let out a cold snort: “Go invite and bring this Wei Cheng, Eunuch Wei with infinite power and remarkable abilities here for me.”
This “Xingzou" Eunuch who worked in the emperor's study had no other responsibilities besides collecting memorials handed in by the court officials everyday, then bringing them to the study for His Majesty to review. Originally, there was no such position — it was specially established by His Majesty of the current throne who was like a dragon with his head seen but not his tail (4) so that he could conveniently handle political affairs in the laziest way.
At that time, there were people who found it unreasonable and objected, but the emperor played dumb and deaf, completely ignoring them.
Jing Qi stood aloof from the sidelines and watched Eunuch Wei being carried to the Great Hall; everyone's hearts were as clear as a mirror: what good was there to be around and serve the emperor? Just constant feelings of fears and worries from dawn to dusk. Also, not anyone could do it like Eunuch Wei and curry favors everywhere, mingling with others and getting partially favored by them in front of the emperor; and for the rest, wasn't he doing that just simply to fish for some extra money?
It seemed like this Eunuch Wei had made it a usual habit of collecting money from others — while these ministers were clashing and biting at each other, he would help whoever paid more to bring their petitions up in the stack a little and push memorials of others back a bit. The amount of money he received would determine the arrangement order of the memorials, letting one casually jump the queue. It was unknown how much he had collected this time, but apparently he had collected to the point of blurring his eyes and clouding his mind to stupidity, kept pushing back Li Hongwei's memorial again from one time to another so that now it was nowhere to be seen.
If this had remained untouched for a little bit longer, nothing else would have happened. In any case, Helian Pei was no longer of young age; his memory was also not that great anymore. Who knew whether His Majesty was for the sake of showcasing that all seeds would sprout and all men would thrive as the new spring came, or whether he did not have a good sleep the night before, waking up and having nothing to do, or whether he was just straight up having a seizure, thus decided to show his face at the court's first grand assembly — the exact one thing that he had always tried to run away from.
The east side window had always been there, waiting for affairs to be brought to light. (5)
The affair indeed had been exposed.
Helian Pei's emperor face contorted in rage — right there, he ordered to have Wei Cheng dragged out of the hall and thrown into the prison, and that this case would be directly handled by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court's officer immediately understood that this Eunuch Wei wouldn't even stand a chance to live — interrogating him only served two purposes: first, the emperor wanted to know who had the audacity to deceive everyone above and below him to bribe this Xingzou Eunuch; secondly, His Majesty ruled the nation with benevolence and righteousness and would never order to behead the man.
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Afterwards, Helian Pei merely said a few simple words to Jiang Zheng and Li Hongwei, indicating that once going back, he would consider what Assistant Commander Yang had reported before giving his final conclusion again — and with that, he gently put the issue in the northwest aside. Jiang Zheng gritted his words of gratitude for the emperor's grace through his teeth bitterly, even his steps quivered a little as he was rising back to his feet.
The court adjourned; after seeing the emperor off, Jing Qi did a few gentle stretches of his limbs. Helian Qi strode past him in a hurry — too hurriedly that he didn't even time to spare this other person a glare. Jing Qi slightly raised an eyebrow, and a guess vaguely came in mind.
Just right then, the First Prince Helian Zhao happened to turn around. For some unknown reason, apparently he was in a very good mood, and whoever he looked at all seemed very likeable — more unexpectedly, he even took the initiative to give Jing Qi his greetings: “Today is Beiyuan's first day attending the court, right?”
Jing Qi hurriedly bowed out of respect: “Yes, there are still many things that I don't understand. I hope that Your Highness can take good care of me later on.”
A smile spread across Helian Zhao’s face. It wasn't until after exchanging a few more laughter and chatter with Jing Qi that he finally took his leave.
Jing Qi stood still, his gaze following the other man's receding figure from behind as he collected the last hint of a smile from his face, seemingly immersed in thoughts. It wasn’t until after Helian Yi walked over with Lu Shen tagging along and gave a few waves of his hand in front of Jing Qi's face that he finally came back to his senses.
Helian Yi said with a smile: “You are not old yet — what are you even frowning for? Hurry up and follow me out for a quick stroll.”
Words hadn't yet to leave Jing Qi's mouth, but once caught sight of Lu Shen's subtle and almost unnoticeable frown, he realized right away what Helian Yi meant by “going out for a quick stroll.”
Now that he thought about it, Helian Yi rarely stopped by his place as of late: it turned out that the latter had been leaving the palace to go see his beautiful lady. In Lu Zhuangyuan’s eyes, the Crown Prince just left the palace whenever as he pleased, and on top of that, it was to see such a… woman coming from a background that was not very noble and distinguished. There was nothing too extraordinary about him going, and if words were to be spread outside, people would just consider this as a sentimental, elegant pastime — but after all, it was still not very appropriate .
Lu Shen looked over at Jing Qi with hopeful eyes. Jing Qi thought to himself, I also cannot take on this villain role who gives unpalatable but truthful advice, thus could only pretend to have not seen that expectant gaze. All poised and natural, he nodded his head: “That's very kind of you. If it is a treat from Your Highness, I can even save myself spending for a meal.”
Lu Shen followed behind them without making a single sound, realizing that this prince was even more hopeless — Jing Qi was not that old, yet his obnoxious habit of loitering and playing around like a pampered, prodigal son only got worse, not better. Lu Shen felt rather dejected: although he heard that this person was highly appraised by Zhou Zishu, he couldn't fathom what good could this Nan Ning Wang do apart from being an eye candy with a smooth-talking mouth.
After frittering away some time in the presence of tender beauty and her mellow melody, Helian Yi finally felt contented enough to put his mind in discussing proper businesses. The three of them went up to the restaurant where a private room had already been reserved by Zhou Zishu and He Yunxing — they indeed had been waiting for a long time.
It was only after the food and wine had been brought to the table, and no more outsider hovering, Lu Shen finally spoke: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, although Miss Qingluan was a nice lady, but after all, her status is still of a performer. It is not bad to have her as an intimate female companion; however, you shouldn't be too close to her.”
Helian Yi’s hand, while holding the wine cup, stopped midway for a moment — instead of responding to the previous comments, he only heaved a sigh and steered the conversation away from the original point: “When I came to pay respect to Imperial Father the other day, he brought up the topic of marriage.”
Several of them were taken aback by the news; Zhou Zishu, on the other hand, glanced over at Jing Qi, whether he realized it or not. 6
He Yunxing smiled: “Your Highness, congratulations! I wonder whose family’s daughter has been blessed with such good luck?”
Helian Yi shook his head: “That hasn’t been decided yet. These kinds of things are not appropriate for casual discussion; it may tarnish the lady’s reputation. In a few days, when the decree is issued, you will know eventually.”
Only then, Jing Qi began to speak, slowly and deliberately: "The key point is not about who the future Crown Princess is going to be, but about the Crown Prince starting a family. People have a saying, which is ‘to start a family then to establish a career’ — by that time, the Crown Prince will also start learning from the emperor about how to manage the state’s affairs, but then... how are the other two Princes going to be willing to settle down peacefully? Assume that he is indeed leaving the palace every single day, mingling with sons of the rich, and lingering around performers — with these kinds of things, if words get out, it won’t be very pleasant to the ears, but won’t affect the big picture. In the eyes of the other two Princes, it is certainly much better than having the Crown Prince be diligent with state affairs and strict with himself.”
For a while, everyone was silent. It wasn’t until moments later that Helian Yi finally looked over at Jing Qi with a hint gratefulness in his eyes.
Lu Shen sighed heavily: “It must be very difficult for Your Highness the Crown Prince to hide your light under the bushel. Your Subject is lacking foresight. I will then pour myself a cup as a punishment.”