Chapter 487: - Banquet

The banquet was held in Chunfang Hall.

It was not particularly large. The only outside minister seated among them was Chief Minister Zhao Jiulang. Everyone else belonged to the Ji Clan, so in a sense, this was a family banquet.

Of course, that did not mean Zheng Fan was being treated lightly.

In truth, the people one truly valued were precisely the people one invited home to eat.

Xiong Liqing had been summoned to the inner palace. She was a princess newly invested by His Majesty, so the imperial consorts had to give her meeting gifts, speak privately with her, and present her with a few more presents. That was simply proper etiquette.

Count Pingye, meanwhile, was led into Chunfang Hall by Wei Zhonghe.

Along the way, Grand Eunuch Wei kept turning to look back at him.

There was regret in his gaze.

Resentment.

Remorse.

Heartache.

He looked at Zheng Fan so strangely that Count Pingye began to feel uneasy.

“Grand Eunuch Wei, you...”

At last, Zheng Fan could not help asking.

Wei Zhonghe smiled faintly.

“High. Truly high. I won’t hide it from you, Count. This old servant has attended His Majesty for so many years, and you are the first person I have ever seen make His Majesty laugh so heartily in that manner.”

Ordinary people naturally behaved with utmost propriety before the Emperor, never daring to step even half a pace out of line.

Yet Count Pingye had actually dared joke with him that way.

“Grand Eunuch, you flatter me. I merely spoke from the heart.”

“What this old servant likes most about you, Count, is exactly that shamelessness.”

“...” Zheng Fan.

“Ah, what a pity. I don’t mind telling you, Count, even if it makes you angry. When I first met you, I thought a talent like you would have been perfect if only you entered the palace.”

“Uh...”

“Of course, now that you’re an Imperial Son-in-Law, entering the palace in that sense is no longer possible.”

“Grand Eunuch Wei, please stop making fun of me.”

“This is no joke. I mean every word. The Temple Bureau is desperately lacking talents like you, Count.”

“Thank you for thinking so highly of me. Truly, thank you.”

“Count, this is Chunfang Hall. You’re today’s guest of honor, so your seat is second on the left. The Chief Minister will sit above you.”

“Understood.”

“Please sit for a while. Their Highnesses will arrive shortly. This old servant must go check on a few other things.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Count Pingye did not immediately take his seat. Instead, he stood to one side and looked at the flowers and plants before him.

“You look a little uncomfortable.”

Ji Chengjue’s voice came from behind.

Count Pingye did not turn around. He only nodded.

“You’ve had a hard few years,” Ji Chengjue said.

“How sentimental.”

“I was only trying to set up the conversation so I could segue into how I’m the one who’s truly suffered.”

“I know. That’s why I refused to cooperate.”

“Do you have any idea how miserable I was eating cornmeal the year before last?”

Count Pingye shook his head.

“For a great many people in this world, being able to eat their fill of cornmeal at every meal would already count as a very happy life.”

“Bitch.”

Count Pingye turned around and looked at Ji Chengjue.

“A cornmeal-eating beast.”

“...” Ji Chengjue.

“Sixth Brother.”

At that moment, the Fourth and Fifth Princes walked over together.

Count Pingye took the initiative to salute. There was no need to kneel, but the courtesy still had to be shown.

“Greetings, Fourth Highness. Greetings, Fifth Highness. Fifth Highness, you worked hard today.”

“Count Pingye, today should be the first time we’ve actually met, shouldn’t it?” the Fifth Prince asked warmly.

“That only makes me feel even worse about troubling you.”

The Fifth Prince was currently attached to the Ministry of Works to observe its affairs, and before long he would be leaving the capital with Count Pingye to return to Jin. Naturally, he was somewhat more enthusiastic toward Zheng Fan.

In the capital, he was an imperial son, a prince of the realm.

Once outside Yanjing, especially after reaching Jin, those titles did not carry quite the same weight.

Great Yan’s officialdom was not like Qian, where scholar-officials possessed an almost instinctive contempt for imperial princes. Even so, officials still did their best to distance themselves from princes who had no real power.

The political winds were already obvious.

The future heir would either be the ascendant Sixth Prince or the Crown Prince, who still occupied the orthodox position as foundation of the state. The other princes had little to do with it.

Getting close to one of those princes now might become a crime once the new Emperor ascended the throne.

Merit from supporting the future sovereign was difficult enough to obtain. There was certainly no reason to manufacture a new sovereign’s hatred for yourself.

“Not at all, not at all. It was what I ought to do.” The Fifth Prince was genuinely easygoing, with a simple, wholesome air about him, almost like fresh wood shavings.

“I hear Fifth Highness is fond of craftsmanship?”

“I am. There’s very little else I care about, but I’ve always loved studying that sort of thing. Father has scolded me plenty of times for neglecting proper pursuits because of it.”

“Now you finally have a chance to put those talents to use.”

“You mustn’t say that. You really mustn’t. Controlling the Wang River is no simple matter. I’m only going there to watch and learn. I won’t interfere recklessly. Too many lives depend on it. Perhaps Father intends for me to earn some merit there, but I myself have no such ambition.”

The Fifth Prince could hardly have spoken more frankly.

“Your Highness, have you heard of the Tianji Pavilion in Jin?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Tianji Pavilion? I had people inquire about it. They said it disappeared during the wars.”

“I happen to have taken in one or two Tianji Pavilion craftsmen, along with some of their designs. Once we return to Jin, I can give some of them to Your Highness.”

“Heh-heh, that would be wonderful. Truly wonderful.”

The Fifth Prince rubbed his hands together, plainly impatient already.

Naturally, Zheng Fan would never hand over the Tianji Pavilion’s true core members.

He did not even know whether Xue San had returned from the State of Liang yet. Snow Sea Pass still relied on the Tianji Pavilion disciples to build siege equipment for him.

After all, he had married someone’s younger sister.

Count Pingye was a good husband who cherished his wife.

Naturally, he had to hurry and open the road back to her maiden home as soon as possible.

The Fourth Prince spoke.

“Count Pingye, are the winds and snows of the snowfields truly that severe?”

“They are. It was only after I went there myself that I understood why the Savages have always longed to enter the passes.”

“Then does that mean the Savage threat could rise again from the ashes?”

Zheng Fan nodded.

“That is inevitable. Once I return to Snow Sea Pass, I intend to organize troops and campaign on the snowfields again. Great Yan can never afford to take the Savages lightly. One careless mistake, and they could become a second Barbarian people.”

Had the imperial edict not suddenly summoned him to the capital, he might already have led troops out by now.

The Fourth Prince sighed.

“With Count Pingye guarding Snow Sea Pass, Great Yan’s northeast need never fear. I find myself longing to see such a place.”

Count Pingye immediately caught the peculiar undertone.

What?

Did Fourth Highness have ideas of his own?

Zheng Fan knew that the First Prince had maneuvered his way into Nanwang City and was now partnered with Xu Wenzu.

So had Fourth Highness, after failing to secure the Nanwang City assignment, decided to find another route?

From Count Pingye’s perspective, he had absolutely no desire to have an imperial prince dumped into his territory. It would be an enormous burden and a nuisance to handle.

Still, he was not overly worried.

If Fourth Highness truly dared come, Zheng Fan would dare ask the Marquis of Jingnan for a military order transferring him straight to the Marquis’s side as a cook.

“His Majesty arrives!”

The Emperor’s arrival meant the banquet was officially beginning.

Chunfang Hall was divided into an inner and outer section, one primary and one secondary. The latter was where the imperial consorts sat.

Count Pingye also saw the princess seated there. The two exchanged a glance before returning to dealing with the people around them.

After taking his seat, Zheng Fan found himself very close to Zhao Jiulang.

“Greetings, Chief Minister.”

“Count Pingye. I’ve long heard of you.”

The two greeted each other rather blandly.

In truth, there was a bit of history between them. The Chief Minister’s “alma mater” had been trampled flat by Zheng Fan back when he was still commander of Cuiliu Fort.

But Count Pingye did not think Zhao Jiulang would care about such a trivial matter. Nor was Zhao’s coolness truly cold. It was simply normal behavior that seemed distant only because everyone else had been so enthusiastic.

And that made sense.

Imperial princes could make a few little moves of their own. Young chicks eventually had to learn to spread their wings.

But if the reigning Chief Minister began showing too much interest in military power, then he would truly be crossing a line.

Emperor Yan himself might not care, but for the sake of his descendants, he could never leave behind a Chief Minister who held too much power and reached too far, then expect that man to continue “assisting” the next emperor.

That would be digging a pit for his own heirs.

In Xiong Liqing’s eyes, Great Yan’s palace might have looked somewhat “shabby” compared with Great Chu’s.

But the banquet still had the usual songs and dances.

Emperor Yan repeatedly raised his cup, and everyone else followed suit. The atmosphere remained lively and harmonious.

Halfway through the banquet, the dancers and singers withdrew. In the adjoining section, the imperial consorts also took their leave, with the princess departing among them.

Chunfang Hall suddenly became much quieter.

Then Emperor Yan slowly set down his wine cup.

Count Pingye noticed that Little Sixth, the Fourth Prince, and the Fifth Prince, seated across from him, immediately began shoveling food into their mouths as quickly as they could chew and swallow.

“Whenever I see Minister Zheng’s name in a military report, I cannot help but feel that Heaven has treated Great Yan generously, and treated me generously as well, by granting me such a gifted young commander. He is a blessing to Great Yan.”

“Your Majesty praises this subject too highly. This subject is unworthy.”

“No. You are worthy. And you must be worthy. Ah, but look at these sons of mine. They are of the same generation as you. Why are they so disappointing? In years past, whenever war came, the sons of the Ji Clan always charged at the very front, fighting bloody battles before everyone else and serving as pillars of the state. Now? They’re no good.”

The moment those words fell, the Crown Prince left his seat.

The Sixth, Fourth, and Fifth Princes followed, along with the young Seventh Prince, who saw all his elder brothers moving and quickly did the same.

They knelt before Emperor Yan and spoke in unison.

“This son is guilty.”

“This son is guilty.”

Originally, the princes had assumed their father was simply going through the familiar routine again.

All they had to do was accompany him through it.

They were eggs laid by the same old turtle. How could they not have learned a few of that turtle’s habits?

But then Emperor Yan’s next sentence startled every prince kneeling below.

Even Zhao Jiulang, seated beside Count Pingye, spilled a good portion of the wine in his cup.

Count Pingye himself had not expected it.

The peaceful, harmonious scene was suddenly smashed apart by a massive stone.

And Emperor Yan himself was the one who threw it.

“Crown Prince, tell me your crimes.”

[End of Chapter 487]