Chapter 458: Qingming (Part I)

Qingming.

A fine drizzle.

The long, lingering rain was like a tender-hearted woman made of soft water—stopping once, glancing back twice, pausing three times, yearning four times, turning her head five.

It was also like a thin veil of rain drawn across the heavens.

Moistening a crowd.

Clinging to an entire city.

Inside the Empress Dowager’s Yuxin Palace, the pond had already taken on the vivid green of spring.

Unlike many nobles who delighted in extravagance, the Empress Dowager of Chu had always preferred simplicity.

Every winter, quite a few great noble households in Chu would maintain one or two heated courtyards where the seasons remained like spring all year round.

The Empress Dowager disliked such things.

In her own words as people aged, they began caring more and more about the passage from spring to summer, autumn to winter.

In youth, one was ignorant.

As an adult, indifferent.

In middle age, too busy.

Only after growing old and suddenly looking back would a person realize, in astonishment, just how much they had already missed.

Every cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter was like another line carved into a bluestone pillar.

Each time you saw it, there was one less time left to see.

Each time you looked, the road ahead became shorter.

A heated courtyard might be comfortable, but it was like picking up sesame seeds while throwing away a watermelon—shutting yourself inside the deep palace until you no longer even knew the seasons.

What kind of fool would willingly live like that?

The Empress Dowager sat beneath the eaves with a bowl of sweet medicinal soup in her hands.

From time to time, she lifted the spoon and took two mouthfuls.

Then she looked out at the hazy courtyard.

Outside Yuxin Palace, Fifth Prince Xiong Tingshan stood waiting in a red python robe.

Every so often, he glanced inside.

But he did not dare enter.

Behind him stood a woman dressed in splendid formal attire.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids all kept their heads lowered.

Not one dared speak too much.

Not one dared look too long.

Though it was broad daylight, they behaved as though they had already hidden themselves behind the fine curtain of rain.

The rank of Prince was certainly exalted.

But a newly granted princely title alone was not enough to make these palace servants this cautious.

The real reason was that, throughout all the years Fifth Prince had guarded Wutong Commandery, Ying Capital had never stopped circulating stories about him.

Some claimed he had sworn blood brotherhood with the Shanyue, ate human flesh, drank human blood, and especially liked slicing the pointed hearts from sixteen-year-old girls to accompany his wine.

Others claimed the Shanyue woman beside him required one virgin Chu boy every night and, after using him, cut off the thing between his legs and soaked it in wine to preserve her youth.

In short the rumors became as disgusting as possible.

As terrifying as possible.

No one had deliberately spread them.

It was simply that in Great Chu contempt toward the Shanyue had long since been carved into the bones of the people.

Just as Yan people looked at barbarians.

Just as Jin people looked at Savages.

In truth, they did not look at them as human beings at all.

They looked at animals.

So Fifth Prince, who called Shanyue men his brothers and had even married a Shanyue woman, naturally became something terrifying in the popular imagination.

At that moment, a young eunuch serving before the throne came trotting over.

He saluted Xiong Tingshan.

“This servant pays respects to Your Highness.

“Your Highness, His Majesty has sent an oral command.

“He asks that you first enter and pay respects to the Empress Dowager.

“His Majesty has been delayed by some affairs in the Southern Study.”

“This...”

If he had not been standing inside the imperial palace, Xiong Tingshan truly would have cursed his Fourth Brother to his face.

But there was nothing he could do.

Xiong Tingshan could only straighten his clothes one final time.

Then he turned around and personally adjusted his wife’s attire.

Unlike her husband’s “trembling with fear,” his wife appeared perfectly composed.

Her Xia name was **Wu Tingting**.

She came from the Shanyue **Wujiang Tribe**, a tribal confederation numbering roughly seventy or eighty thousand people.

Within Wutong Commandery, it counted as one of the stronger Shanyue powers.

“When we see the Empress Dowager in a moment, remember the rules,” Xiong Tingshan reminded her cautiously.

“Husband, you’ve been saying that since last night.”

“Heh-heh.”

Xiong Tingshan nodded.

Then he pointed toward a nearby eunuch and signaled for him to announce their arrival.

The eunuch immediately trotted inside.

A short while later a voice rang out:

“The Empress Dowager decrees:

“Prince Ding is summoned for audience.”

Xiong Tingshan released a long breath.

Then he led his wife into the inner courtyard of Yuxin Palace.

At the top of the steps, the Empress Dowager had already risen impatiently.

She watched Xiong Tingshan approach.

“This subject, Xiong Tingshan, pays respects to the Empress Dowager.

“May the Empress Dowager enjoy health and fortune!”

Wu Tingting knelt as well.

“May the Empress Dowager enjoy health and fortune.”

“Come inside and talk.

“Don’t let the rain soak your clothes.”

The Empress Dowager did not say much more.

She turned and entered the hall.

Xiong Tingshan rose.

Everyone followed.

The Empress Dowager sat in the seat of honor.

Xiong Tingshan and Wu Tingting took the lower seats on the right.

Palace maids naturally brought tea and pastries.

Wu Tingting had already spent quite some time waiting outside with her husband.

They had entered the palace early.

She had barely eaten at noon.

By now, she was genuinely hungry.

So she did not stand on ceremony.

She reached directly for one of the pastries and began eating.

The gesture was, admittedly, somewhat lacking in court etiquette.

After all on certain occasions, the food placed before guests was not truly meant to be eaten.

It existed as decoration.

Seeing Wu Tingting eat with such obvious appetite, the Empress Dowager smiled.

“Seeing Fifth Son’s wife eat so sweetly makes even this widow hungry.”

Then, she too picked up one pastry and took a small bite.

After sitting down, Xiong Tingshan’s eyes were already turning faintly red.

He said:

“Empress Dowager.

“Fifth Son missed you.”

The Empress Dowager lifted a handkerchief and wiped the corner of her mouth.

She laughed and scolded him:

“Why miss this widow?

“Missing another beating, are you?”

“I truly do miss being beaten by you.”

“Cheap bones.

“Still the same as when you were little.”

“That I am.”

When Xiong Tingshan had been young, his birth mother held extremely low status.

Most days, forget disciplining her son there were times she did not even dare speak loudly.

The current Empress Dowager had then been Noble Consort.

Her status within the imperial harem was extremely high.

She had also frequently whipped and disciplined Xiong Tingshan.

That had not been abuse.

Sometimes Xiong Tingshan would accompany his Fourth Brother to eat inside her palace.

When she saw him sitting there timidly, shoulders hunched and movements fearful, she would order a eunuch to bring a rattan switch and strike him.

As an imperial prince how could he sit with such cowardice?

Or perhaps servants elsewhere would whisper insults behind his back.

Feeling wronged, he might hide beside a rockery and cry.

If the Noble Consort happened to pass and saw him there, she would first ask what happened.

Then, once she understood she would order the eunuchs around her to throw Xiong Tingshan into the freezing pond beside the rockery.

“Cry!

“Cry!

“Cry!

“All you know is how to cry!

“You are an imperial prince!

“The Fire Phoenix bloodline flows through your body!

“And servants can bully you until you hide here crying?

“Since you love crying so much— stay in this pond and cry to your heart’s content!”

The next day—

Fifth Prince beat every palace maid and eunuch who had spoken ill of him and his mother.

Then threw all of them into that same pond.

The story spread.

Outside officials submitted a memorial accusing Fifth Prince of abusing servants and lacking the proper conduct of an imperial son.

The Emperor of Chu had never liked this son much in the first place.

So he punished him severely.

His mother’s household allowance was also reduced for half a year on the grounds that she had failed to educate her child.

Then, Fifth Prince was once again summoned to Yuxin Palace by the current Empress Dowager.

He was tied to a large tree.

And whipped more than ten times.

“Idiot!

“You can’t even discipline a few servants without turning it into this mess!

“You dragged your own mother into it too!

“Is your head filled with paste?!”

For a very long time—

Fifth Prince had essentially been invisible inside the imperial palace.

Rumors spread through the palace that the Imperial Noble Consort of that time—the current Empress Dowager—especially disliked this lowborn Fifth Prince and constantly found excuses to discipline and punish him.

But only Fifth Prince himself understood.

Back then having an elder willing to discipline him, willing to teach him, even willing... to beat him had been an extraordinarily precious thing.

Later, when Fifth Prince came of age, the Emperor of Chu immediately sent this son—whose very face annoyed him—to Wutong Commandery.

At the time, Shanyue uprisings happened constantly there.

Sometimes, the tribes directly attacked commandery cities.

Sending Fifth Prince there had essentially meant leaving him to fend for himself.

The saying that even a tiger would not eat its own cub did not necessarily apply inside an imperial household.

Because aside from unusual circumstances an Emperor usually did not lack sons.

Everything obeyed the law that rare things were precious.

Once there were too many sons sons stopped being valuable.

After going to Wutong Commandery, Fifth Prince personally prepared local specialties every year and sent them back to Ying Capital.

Always two portions.

One for his birth mother.

One for the Empress Dowager.

Later his birth mother died.

Fifth Prince petitioned to return to Ying Capital and handle the funeral.

But the Emperor refused on the grounds that the situation in Wutong Commandery could not be destabilized.

Fifth Prince was denied even the basic filial right of a son to return home, mourn, and observe the funeral rites for his mother.

In the end it was the Empress Dowager who argued that human ethics could not be discarded.

She ordered Fourth Prince to perform the rites of a biological son and handle Fifth Prince’s mother’s funeral on his behalf.

At the beginning of last month—

Fifth Prince Xiong Tingshan personally submitted a memorial from Wutong Commandery.

He petitioned for the Regent to receive coronation as Son of Heaven and inherit the imperial throne.

That act signaled that Wutong Commandery—and the numerous forces represented by Wutong Commandery—recognized and supported the Regent’s legitimacy.

Across Chu’s court and countryside, some believed Fifth Prince had seen the Regent’s irresistible momentum and, unwilling to smash an egg against a stone, simply chose to submit.

Others believed that, as a member of the imperial house, Fifth Prince did not wish to see Chu continue bleeding internally and therefore placed the state above himself.

In truth, both explanations were correct.

And there was one more reason Xiong Tingshan had never told anyone.

He owed the Empress Dowager.

He needed to repay that debt.

“I can’t hit you anymore.

“I can’t.”

The Empress Dowager waved her hand with a smile.

Then continued:

“You brothers have all grown up.

“You have wives.

“Children.

“Even if this widow wanted to beat you now— first, I no longer have the strength.

“Second, the servants wouldn’t dare lay hands on you anymore.”

“Empress Dowager.

“Fifth Son still thinks about your whip.”

“Cheap bones.

“Cheap bones.

“Listen to yourself.

“Saying something like that in front of your own wife.

“She’ll hear you and think this widow treated you terribly when you were young.”

Wu Tingting set down the food in her hand.

Then said:

“Empress Dowager, how would I dare think that?

“At home, he is always talking about the kindness you showed him.

“He tells the children too.

“He says they still have a grandmother waiting for them in Ying Capital.”

The Empress Dowager’s gaze rested upon Wu Tingting.

This woman born among the Shanyue seemed almost completely out of place inside an imperial palace where rules were greater than Heaven.

A wildness that resisted taming naturally flowed from her.

It was said that when Fifth Prince first arrived in Wutong Commandery, if he had not encountered this woman he might already have died.

“Your name is Tingting?”

“Yes.

“My name.”

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids kept their heads lowered.

Not one dared show the slightest expression.

Xiong Tingshan licked his lips.

His wife was simply like this.

She did not like rules.

“You have the build of a woman who bears children easily,” the Empress Dowager said.

“Yes.

“My mother says the same thing about me.”

The Empress Dowager pointed at her.

“When you choose women from your tribe to enter the palace for His Majesty, you must help select them carefully.

“Choose women like yourself.

“My grandsons are all a little too delicate and weak.

“This widow wants to hold one sturdy, healthy great-grandson.”

Selecting a woman from the Wujiang Tribe to enter the palace had already been one of the agreements reached between the Regent and Fifth Prince.

Wu Tingting slapped her chest with complete confidence.

“Empress Dowager, don’t worry.

“Leave it to me.

“I’ll definitely choose a solid, broad-hipped woman for His Majesty the Regent.”

“Yes, yes.

“Choose exactly like that.

“Exactly like that.”

Chu aristocratic tastes in women favored softness and delicacy.

Preferably a woman with a small, slender figure and graceful waist.

“What about your children?” the Empress Dowager asked.

“Why didn’t you bring them into the palace for this widow to see?”

Wu Tingting answered:

“Empress Dowager, they were all clamoring to come into the palace and see the grandmother their father keeps talking about.

“But my husband said they don’t know the rules and might disturb you.

“So we didn’t bring them.”

Xiong Tingshan covered his forehead.

One mother who ignored rules was already enough.

Add several little monkeys beside her and Yuxin Palace would genuinely lose every shred of order.

The Empress Dowager glared at Xiong Tingshan instead.

“When people grow old, what they fear most is silence.

“Bring them next time.

“Let this place become lively too.”

Xiong Tingshan smiled.

“Of course.

“Fifth Son also wanted them to come before the Empress Dowager so you could help teach them.”

“No.

“No, no.”

The Empress Dowager hurriedly waved one hand.

Then pressed the other to her chest.

“This widow has already taught one such wonderful daughter.

“I dare not mislead any more children.”

Great Chu Princess Xiong Liqing had, at the Qu Clan wedding, voluntarily thrown herself into the arms of Count Pingye of Yan.

Then she followed him out of the imperial villa and into Yan.

The entire State of Chu had erupted in uproar.

The Chu people regarded the matter as an enormous humiliation.

Of course, the party most humiliated remained the Qu Clan.

Later, the imperial house quickly married another Princess to a different Qu Clan descendant.

The Qu Clan, just as quickly, submitted a memorial swearing its continued support for the Regent.

Both sides publicly announced the political signal that cooperation would continue.

But everyone understood the Qu Clan had lost face on a truly spectacular scale.

Hearing this, Wu Tingting said directly:

“Empress Dowager.

“That’s not right.”

“Not right?”

The Empress Dowager looked confused.

“I think the Princess did the right thing.

“Think about it.

“A man dares cross into an enemy state under Heaven-defying danger.

“Then, during a wedding surrounded by heavy troops, he carries you away.

“Affection like that.

“Devotion like that.

“How many women beneath Heaven could truly remain unmoved?”

The Empress Dowager fell silent.

She suddenly discovered communicating with this Shanyue-born woman was not particularly easy.

Wu Tingting looked toward her husband beside her and continued:

“Back then, my father planned to marry me to the young chief of a neighboring tribe.

“It was him.

“He brought only two subordinates and broke into my tribe.

“Then demanded that my father marry me to him.”

Xiong Tingshan continued holding his forehead.

The Empress Dowager’s gaze returned to him.

Xiong Tingshan could only answer:

“This...

“Young and reckless.

“Young and reckless.”

And indeed that was exactly what it had been.

Young.

Reckless.

But youth really was wonderful.

Wu Tingting continued:

“At the time, my father ordered people to tie him up.

“But he kept shouting my name.

“Shouting that I wasn’t allowed to marry anyone else.

“He alarmed the entire tribe.

“In the end, I had to cry and beg my father before he spared him and let him go.”

The Empress Dowager nodded.

“And afterward?”

“Afterward I packed my own things, ran away from the tribe, and went to the commandery city to find him.

“After the uproar he caused, I had become famous throughout my own tribe and all the surrounding tribes.

“Who else could I marry except him?

“So after marrying him, I desperately gave him child after child after child.

“To get revenge!”

“Hehehe.”

This time the Empress Dowager was genuinely amused.

“So the root of the problem lies with her Fifth Brother after all.”

The Regent walked in from outside.

The surrounding eunuchs and palace maids immediately knelt.

“Greetings to His Majesty the Regent.”

“This subject greets His Majesty.”

“This son pays respects to Mother Empress.

“May Mother Empress enjoy health and fortune.”

The Empress Dowager glanced at her son.

Then said:

“Fifth Son’s wife.

“Come walk through the garden with this widow.

“Leave this place to the men.”

“Yes, Empress Dowager.”

Very soon only the Regent and Fifth Prince remained inside the hall.

Even the palace maids and eunuchs tactfully withdrew to wait outside.

The Regent looked at Fifth Prince.

Then said:

“So Liqing learned it from her Fifth Brother.

“Is that right?”

Before the Empress Dowager, Xiong Tingshan had been cautious and obedient.

Before his Fourth Brother he possessed none of the same restraint.

Hearing the words, he merely smiled.

“You can’t blame me for that.

“I hear Fourth Brother actually spent time together with him.

“When our two sides held those martial contests beside the river, wasn’t he standing nearby watching?”

“Haa...”

The Regent sighed.

Then said:

“Who knew?”

“Fourth Brother truly noticed nothing?”

The Regent shook his head.

Then nodded.

“We did feel that he did not quite resemble Su Mingzhe.

“But I thought he was probably some genuine young talent from Qian.

“I never imagined— he was actually Zheng Fan.

“If I had known from the beginning he was Zheng Fan—

I would have...”

“What would Fourth Brother have done?”

“I would have directly canceled the marriage agreement with the Qu Clan.

“If he liked Liqing and Liqing liked him— then let them marry here in Great Chu.”

“If Little Sister Liqing heard that, tsk-tsk...”

“The Qu Clan has already been placated.

“Nothing serious will happen.

“You brought Wutong Commandery under my banner.

“Great Chu’s momentum now lies with me.

“For a sovereign, the first priority must always be centralizing power.

“The Qu Clan does not dare raise that banner.

“And they will not.”

“There is indeed no need to worry about the Qu Clan.

“Once Qu Tiannan died, the Qu Clan had already fallen one tier.

“Fourth Brother— what we need to do now is reorganize the Imperial Clan Guards.

“We cannot continue letting Yan press down directly on our foreheads the way they did before.”

“I understand.

“But it has to be done step by step.

“Governing a great state is like cooking a small fish.

“You cannot rush it.

“As for the Imperial Clan Guards—

I have decided to place that responsibility in your hands.

“Begin reorganizing and training them.

“For everything else—

I will find a way.

“When you fight a tiger, brothers fight together.”

“Your younger brother will not disappoint Fourth Brother.”

“Oh.

“Right.

“Nian Yao has returned.

“I was delayed earlier because I was meeting him in the Southern Study.

“He’s waiting outside now.

“Someone— invite Grand General Nian inside.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Very soon—

Nian Yao walked in.

“This slave pays respects to Your Majesty.

“This slave pays respects to Fifth Master.”

According to household custom, only insiders called themselves “slave.”

Outsiders called themselves “subject.”

Nian Yao might be a glorious Grand General outside.

But before the Regent he still called himself slave.

Because he had been born a household slave.

Of course, calling oneself “slave” was not purely derogatory.

In truth, plenty of people begged for the right to possess that status and could not obtain it.

The Regent pointed toward Nian Yao, kneeling on the ground.

Then said to Fifth Prince:

“Fifth Brother.

“Do you know what this thing submitted to me in a memorial last month?

“In that memorial, this slave actually dared suggest that I rotate the Qu Clan’s Azure Luan Army into Zhennan Pass.

“He even claimed— the Qu Clan would certainly exert every ounce of strength to guarantee that Zhennan Pass remained secure.”

Xiong Tingshan rubbed his head.

Then burst out laughing.

“Hahahaha!

“You slave.

“You’ve got far too much nerve.

“You don’t humiliate people like that.

“What?

“You want to send the Qu Clan to Zhennan Pass so the whole family can reunite across the frontier?”

“This slave would not dare,” Nian Yao said pitifully.

“Heh.

“There are things even Grand General Nian does not dare do?

“What exactly was your intention when you wrote that memorial?

“Do you understand that if I truly did as you suggested, the Qu Clan—humiliated to that degree—might be forced into rebellion even if they had no desire to rebel?”

“This slave deserves death.

“This slave deserves death!”

“All right, all right.

“Stop kowtowing.

“Nian Yao.

“Let me ask you.

“What did it feel like matching moves with that Southern Marquis of Yan?”

Nian Yao immediately pulled a miserable face.

“This slave nearly died of fright.”

“Hmph.”

The Regent snorted coldly.

Xiong Tingshan instead smoothed things over.

“Not bad.

“Not bad.

“He can still put on a crying face.

“That means he had plenty of room to spare.”

The Regent closed his eyes.

Then sighed:

“Liqing running away with that man surnamed Zheng has certainly put both me and Great Chu in a passive position.

“But in the end— it cannot shake the foundation of the state.

“If Great Chu cannot push north through Zhennan Pass— then we will remain forever pressed down by the Jingnan Army in Jin territory.

“The Qian people are making plenty of noise now.

“But it is still all thunder with very little rain.

“Yan’s momentum has already formed.

“At this point— the real question is how long the Yan people themselves can keep that string drawn tight.”

“Fourth Brother, do not worry.

“Since ancient times, there has never been an eternal state of strength.

“Eight hundred years ago, Great Xia rose like the sun itself.

“Yet when it was time to fall— it fell.

“In my view, at least forty or fifty percent of Yan’s current strength is empty fire.

“Let us see how long they can keep feeding wood into that blaze.”

“Even so—

I still cannot swallow the irritation.

“I actually invited that Zheng Fan to drink wine with me.”

“Hahahaha!

“Does that count as the elder brother-in-law treating his future brother-in-law to a meeting drink in advance?”

The Regent glared at Xiong Tingshan.

Xiong Tingshan ignored him and continued laughing.

Nian Yao, still kneeling on the ground, also joined in with a cautious:

“Hehehe.”

Seeing that the Regent kicked him.

Nian Yao did not dare absorb the force.

Nor did he dare circulate qi and blood through his body to resist the kick.

So he went rolling across the floor like a gourd.

Then immediately scrambled back and knelt in his original place.

“Laugh, laugh, laugh!

“Grand General Nian— weren’t you and that Zheng Fan both listed among the Four Rising Generals of the present age?

“Wonderful.

“Now Zheng Fan has come into Great Chu and abducted one of Great Chu’s Princesses.

“When will Grand General Nian go into Yan and abduct a Princess back for me too?!”

Nian Yao instantly revealed a bitter gourd face.

Aggrieved beyond measure, he said:

“Your Majesty.

“Your Majesty.

“This slave...

“This slave cannot do that.”

Hearing this the Regent kicked him again.

Grand General Nian rolled another full circle across the floor.

After scrambling back to kneel, he continued:

“Your Majesty.

“This slave...

“This slave truly cannot do it.”

“Useless thing,” the Regent cursed.

Nian Yao looked deeply wronged.

Then said:

“Your Majesty.

“Even if this slave wanted to abduct one— there would have to be one available.

“Who told the Emperor of Yan to father nothing but sons and no daughters?”

————

[End of Chapter 458]