Chapter 656: Grandsons

Ji Chengjue was still sitting cross-legged on the carriage.

The wind outside was a little strong. Little Sixth was no longer the man he had been back when he worked as a constable in Nan’an County. These days he spent every day buried in paperwork, while also laboring diligently to propagate the Ji family line. His body had already begun to show a touch of comfortable softness.

Men were probably like that. Once they married and had children, they stopped paying quite so much attention to their appearance.

They simply did not have the spare energy anymore.

Still, going back inside the carriage would not be quite appropriate.

This was his first meeting with the Li family's Heir. He could hardly deny the boy that much face.

That fellow Zheng had once mocked Ji Chengjue by calling him a businessman.

It was true.

A businessman did not care all that much about those vague, intangible things called face. On the contrary, businessmen rather liked giving face to other people.

In fact, if the Commandery Princess had not gone so far on the night of his wedding, Ji Chengjue would never have torn away all pretense with her like this.

If you want to play politics, then play politics properly.

Don't keep flipping the table and pulling knives every time something goes wrong.

Ji Chengjue sniffed.

Just as he began to suspect the wind might give him a chill, the Commandery Princess stepped out of the carriage opposite him and climbed down.

A moment later, a young man emerged after her.

One of his legs was bad. When he climbed down, the Commandery Princess even reached out to steady him.

Once he was on the ground, the young man smiled and said something to her.

Ji Chengjue supplied the dialogue in his head.

“Thank you, Elder Sister.”

Then he imagined her reply.

“Don't be so formal, Little Brother.”

There.

That was the proper bearing of an imperial household.

It was just like him and Second Brother.

In public and in private, even the loafers listening to storytellers in teahouses knew perfectly well that the two of them were fighting over the succession, fighting over that seat.

But whether they met inside the palace or in the Rear Garden, the two brothers still behaved with all the proper affection and respect expected between elder and younger brothers.

These days, it was not even for Father's benefit.

After all, they were eggs laid by the same old man.

And given how sharp their father was, he would never believe his sons truly loved one another like some harmonious family.

No.

It was about bearing.

It was about standards.

It was the most basic professional discipline, no different from knowing not to shout at the dinner table.

The Li family's Heir began walking toward him.

The Commandery Princess stayed where she was and did not follow.

Li Liangshen did not move either.

Neither did the Zhenbei soldiers around them.

They simply watched their own Heir walk toward the carriage protected by guards from Ji Chengjue's residence.

In truth, the atmosphere was not especially tense.

This was still the capital region, at the feet of the Son of Heaven. Their father was recuperating in the Rear Garden, not lying there in state.

Even when the Commandery Princess had tried to kill Ji Chengjue, she had chosen to send experts secretly in the middle of the night.

If anyone openly struck in front of this many witnesses, whoever moved first would die very badly.

So dislike was one thing.

As far as personal safety went, both sides were actually quite reassured.

The Li family's Heir drew closer.

Little Sixth stretched his legs, climbed down from the carriage, and walked toward him as well.

As for his appearance, he was ordinary.

Not ugly, but nowhere near handsome either.

Ji Chengjue had always been very confident in his own looks.

Why had He Sisi fallen for him in the first place?

Wasn't it because she thought he was handsome?

Even that fellow Zheng had said that while Ji Chengjue might be physically a little weak, the face itself was genuinely good.

By comparison, this Heir's skin was rough, even cracked in places from frostbite. Most conspicuously of all, one leg was lame, leaving a clear hitch in his gait.

The difference in presentation was not small.

Of course, judging people by their looks was wrong.

But when you were better-looking than the other man, you were still going to feel pleased about it.

They came face to face.

Little Sixth was about to greet him first.

After all, since the generation of their imperial grandfather, the relationship between the Li and Ji families had already changed from a pure relationship of “sovereign and subject” and “central court and frontier command” into something closer to old family friends.

But no one expected the Heir of Prince Zhenbei Residence to move first.

He dropped to his knees before Ji Chengjue.

“This commoner Afei pays his respects to Your Sixth Highness. May Your Highness enjoy health and blessings!”

He knelt properly.

He saluted properly.

He offered his respects properly.

In that instant, even the cold wind around them seemed to stop.

The guards of Ji Chengjue's residence and the Zhenbei cavalry both shifted ever so slightly.

Everyone remained restrained.

And everyone was watching the other side.

The Commandery Princess, standing beside the other carriage, remained calm at the sight.

Li Liangshen stood farther away, his face giving nothing away.

Little Sixth closed his eyes.

Then immediately opened them again.

All his earlier thoughts about who was handsome and who was ugly vanished without a trace.

The Commandery Princess had asked earlier whether he understood what kind of thing the Ji family might raise by continuing to support the Marquis of Pingxi.

Ji Chengjue had not cared.

Zheng Fan was a man of genuine temperament. If there was no need to endure humiliation, that bastard absolutely would not endure it. If there was no need to kneel, he would never willingly let his knees suffer even half a bit of grievance.

That was Zheng Fan.

But this Heir plainly had no need to kneel.

Yet he had done so without hesitation, lowering himself to the utmost.

Either he was stupid.

A true ignorant rustic dragged out of the countryside, instinctively frightened into submission the moment he saw imperial blood, desperate to kneel, kowtow, and offer his respects.

But Ji Chengjue had always preferred to assume that the person standing in front of him was intelligent.

People who constantly treated everyone else as fools tended not to live very long.

So he really was the Marquis of Zhenbei's seed after all.

Ji Chengjue stepped forward and bent down.

He did not do anything as idiotic and clichéd as dropping to his own knees so the two could kneel face to face and somehow “cancel out” the salute.

What sort of nonsense would that be?

More importantly, by law and propriety, the other man truly was supposed to kneel to him.

If Ji Chengjue eagerly knelt back, there was no ritual basis for it at all.

To put it plainly, even if Li Liangting himself were standing here, the imperial princes would not kneel to him.

They would offer a deeply respectful half-salute.

So why in the world would an imperial prince kneel to Li Liangting's son?

Little Sixth bent down and threw his arms around Afei with great enthusiasm.

“Little Brother! You have suffered! You have suffered so much!”

As he shouted, real tears and snot began running down his face.

He kept patting Afei on the back while conveniently smearing some of the mess onto him.

Which imperial prince of the Ji family could possibly have poor acting skills?

“Your Highness... Your Highness...”

Afei certainly had a strong temperament.

Back in Chen Family Hamlet, he had spent a great deal of time thinking about things. Compared with others his age, and even with plenty of adults, his thoughts were subtler and heavier.

But his greatest weakness was simple.

He had never left Chen Family Hamlet.

No matter how fine a piece of uncut jade might be, without a master craftsman to carve and polish it, its true value was difficult to display.

Ji Chengjue, on the other hand, had been described by his father when he was still a child with the words “takes after me.”

His natural gifts could hardly have been poor.

And over all these years, his father had kneaded, pounded, thrown, and tempered him again and again in every imaginable fashion.

In suffering, hard knocks, training, and experience, Ji Chengjue possessed such abundance compared with Afei that it was practically dripping out of him.

And so Afei was left dazed by Little Sixth's sudden flood of affection.

His entire rhythm had been broken.

“Little Brother, Little Brother, get up quickly. Come, get up and let your elder brother have a proper look at you.”

As he spoke, Ji Chengjue reached down to help Afei stand.

Afei abruptly came back to himself.

He pulled free of Ji Chengjue's hands and knelt down again.

“Your Highness is a prince. I am a subject of the realm. Since ancient times, subjects have owed loyalty and reverence to their princes. When has there ever been a principle saying a subject may stand as an equal with a prince? Never mind that Afei has not yet met his father and still does not know whether he truly is this so-called Heir everyone keeps talking about. Even if Afei really is the Heir, everyone in Prince Zhenbei Residence is His Majesty's subject, and naturally Your Highness's subject as well.”

“Father and Prince Zhenbei grew up together as close as brothers. You and I are naturally brothers too. Little Brother, if you keep acting like this, you're treating me as an outsider.”

“Rites cannot be discarded!”

“Fine.”

Ji Chengjue retreated three steps.

He lifted the hem of his robe and assumed the posture of a man preparing to kneel.

“If Father learns that I made Little Brother kneel to salute me, he'll beat me to death. In that case, my only choice is to kneel together with you.”

“Absolutely not! Absolutely not! Your Highness, you mustn't! You absolutely mustn't!”

“Then hurry up and get to your feet. I'm about to kneel.”

Only then did Afei rise, looking deeply reluctant and put upon.

Ji Chengjue walked over again, threw an arm around his shoulders, and said, “Come. Ride in my carriage. I've prepared plenty of fine food inside. We brothers can eat while we talk.”

“Thank you for Your Highness's kindness, but Elder Sister means to take me straight back to Beifeng Commandery so I can see Father as quickly as possible.”

“A little delay won't matter.”

“Your Highness, please forgive me. The truth is that Afei himself is eager to return. Ever since I can remember, I've always thought about my parents. Now that I finally have the chance, I truly...”

At that moment, Ji Chengjue stepped forward and embraced Afei again.

At the same time, he brought his mouth close to Afei's ear.

In a low voice, he said, “Brother, I'm doing this for your own good. Come back into Yanjing with me and make one appearance. From that moment onward, you'll be the genuine, ironclad Heir of Prince Zhenbei Residence. If you don't make this trip, you'll never be completely real. Even if you return to Beifeng Commandery and enter the Residence, plenty of people will still treat you as another puppet dragged out to impersonate the real heir. I came here specifically to receive you and gild your name.”

Afei's eyes immediately flickered.

Whether it was Nanny or the old Confucian scholar, neither had been able to give him a sufficiently broad view of the world.

So even with his intelligence, at this moment he found it difficult to determine whether Ji Chengjue's advice was truly well-intentioned or malicious.

Ji Chengjue patted Afei's shoulder.

Still speaking quietly, he continued, “I didn't prepare any proper gift. This is the great gift I'm giving you instead. Believe it or don't. I'm not asking for anything in return. The Marquis of Pingxi understands that better than anyone.”

“Your Highness, Afei needs to ask Elder Sister first. Besides, Elder Sister intends to bypass Yanjing and go directly back to Beifeng Commandery.”

A meaningful smile suddenly appeared on Ji Chengjue's face.

“You still trust her?”

Afei answered immediately, “She's family. How could I not?”

The retort rang with complete righteousness.

Ji Chengjue smiled.

“That woman has long hair and short sense. Don't listen to her. We're men. Born between heaven and earth, surely we can't go through life unable even to prove our own names and origins. And I'm not trying to provoke you. You decide for yourself. To put it plainly, you're an Heir and I'm a prince. But how many days have you been an Heir? I've been an imperial prince for almost half my life. Put even more plainly, if you don't have some courage of your own, some methods, some ruthlessness, then relying on nothing but the skin of that title won't make the people below truly take you seriously.”

To outsiders, the Sixth Prince of Great Yan and the Heir of Prince Zhenbei Residence appeared to be exchanging the warmest of greetings.

Then something unexpected happened.

The Sixth Prince turned around and climbed onto his carriage.

Immediately afterward, the Heir climbed aboard as well.

The Sixth Prince even reached out and gave him a hand.

Then both men disappeared inside.

Eunuch Zhang trotted over to the Commandery Princess.

“Your Highness, my master and His Young Highness found one another's temperaments most agreeable and took to each other immediately. My master has invited His Young Highness to stay at the residence for two days, and His Young Highness has already agreed.”

The Commandery Princess smiled.

She did not grow angry.

She did not lose her temper.

Nor did she show the slightest concern.

She merely nodded.

“Take a message back for me.”

“Please speak, Your Highness. This servant guarantees every word will be delivered.”

“Tell Ji Chengjue not to feed my little brother too much meat. His stomach has been accustomed to plain food for years. Too much rich food will disagree with him.”

“This servant understands. Does Your Highness have anything else to say?”

The Commandery Princess shook her head and mounted her Pi Beast.

Then she deliberately glanced once more at the carriage containing the two men.

She called to Eunuch Zhang, who was still waiting nearby.

“Tell Ji Chengjue one more thing. I won't consider myself indebted to him just because he did this.”

“This servant wouldn't dare suggest such a thing.”

“By rights, I should owe him,” the Commandery Princess said. “Then again, by rights I shouldn't. Let him do as he likes.”

At first Eunuch Zhang thought the Commandery Princess was simply being proud and contrary.

That certainly fit her temperament.

But the second sentence plainly carried another meaning.

Eunuch Zhang did not understand it.

No matter.

He would simply repeat every word to his master exactly as she had spoken it.

When Eunuch Zhang returned to the carriage, the Commandery Princess rode her Pi Beast over beside Li Liangshen.

“Why didn't you stop him?”

You stopped me.

Why not stop him?

Li Liangshen answered calmly, “He's not mad.”

The Commandery Princess raised her head.

Her voice did not sound particularly dejected. If anything, she seemed almost to be joking.

“From now on, I won't be mad either.”

Because she no longer had the right to be.

When this younger brother had been absent, her fate had been to be sent by her father into Yanjing, wait for a marriage alliance with the Ji family, and bring the Zhenbei Army as her dowry.

Now that this younger brother had returned, her fate had changed once again.

To a certain extent, she was free.

And she had also become unimportant.

Li Liangshen looked at her.

“You're still you.”

“Brother, when you comfort people, your words are just like your sword. Much too straight.”

Li Liangshen shook his head.

“You're still our little sister.”

The Commandery Princess said nothing.

Li Liangshen continued, “Looking at things now, not marrying the Ji family's Second Prince wasn't much of a loss. Rather than supporting a husband, you might as well support your own younger brother. He has too little experience. Right now, he needs an elder sister like you. Didn't you say you dislike Yanjing? Now you can return to Beifeng Commandery, return to the Residence, return to the desert. After going around in circles for several years, you can finally go home again.”

The Commandery Princess pressed her lips together.

Slowly, she said, “Then what exactly were these past few years of mine?”

She reached down and stroked the Pi Beast beneath her.

With a self-mocking smile, she added, “All I got out of them was a reputation for bringing doom to my husband and being unlucky?”

“Do you care?” Li Liangshen asked.

The Commandery Princess shook her head.

That reputation would not truly wound her.

She simply felt that those years had not been worth it.

“Little Sister, you're the luckiest one of all,” Li Liangshen said.

He waved a hand, signaling the column to follow the carriage from Ji Chengjue's residence.

“Look at the two men sitting in that carriage. You know perfectly well what these years have forced the Ji family's Sixth Prince to become. And that Second Prince sitting in the Eastern Palace, you've seen what he has gone through too. To this day, Tian Wujing still cannot openly go and see his own son. Our family is actually the same. It's only that the Heir was the one who bore the suffering for all of us. Little Sister, tell me. Aren't you the luckiest one?”

“Brother, did your cultivation realm improve again?”

“What makes you say that?”

“Those words were much smoother than your sword.”

“Heh.”

The Commandery Princess reached up and lightly rubbed the back of her neck.

“I just had that eunuch deliver a message to Ji Chengjue. I told him I don't consider myself to owe him a favor.”

“By rights, you should,” Li Liangshen said. “You understand what a trip into Yanjing means for the Heir. All the fakes and opportunists muddying the waters will vanish like smoke. He is the true Heir, and from that moment onward, he must be the true Heir. On that point, the Ji family's Sixth Prince has helped us. Yanjing is easy to enter if you say it's easy. You or I could stroll in whenever we please. But if you say it's difficult to enter, then it's difficult indeed. If no member of the Ji family personally leads the Heir inside, then his identity cannot truly be stamped as genuine. It's the same principle as using an imperial seal.”

The four characters engraved on the imperial seal were not “Mandated by Heaven.”

They were:

Genuine Beyond Doubt.

“No,” the Commandery Princess said. “We don't owe him. Ji Chengjue owes us.”

Li Liangshen narrowed his eyes.

The Commandery Princess continued, “Do you think I'm throwing another tantrum?”

Li Liangshen shook his head.

“Before leaving Yanjing, I went to the Rear Garden to take leave of His Majesty.”

“I know.”

“Wei Zhonghe escorted me out of the Rear Garden.”

“Heh.”

“So Ji Chengjue is borrowing the weight of our Residence. His mind really does turn quickly. What happened between me and his Second Brother may be finished, but that doesn't mean I would suddenly stand with Ji Chengjue instead. Yet the moment he learned that my little brother had returned, he took a considerable risk and came openly to welcome him like this despite all the criticism it could invite. Isn't there a saying that Ji Chengjue resembles His Majesty in his younger days? That decisiveness, that eye for an opening. No wonder our father followed His Majesty on that road all those years ago. But there's one thing I don't understand. Once autumn comes, everything will be settled. So what is he still scrambling around for? Does any of it still matter?”

Li Liangshen replied, “Adoptive Father and His Majesty are doing what they have to do. This realm, right now, belongs to those three men. But in the future, it will belong to all of you.”

* * *

Protected by the guards from Ji Chengjue's residence, the carriage returned to the walls of Yanjing.

The city gates had already been shut for curfew.

Now, however, they slowly opened of their own accord.

Eunuch Zhang, holding the reins, was somewhat surprised.

That was remarkably accommodating.

The gates of an imperial capital were not opened just because someone wanted them opened.

If there were truly urgent business, one might be hauled up in a basket.

It was highly unlikely that anyone would simply be allowed to parade in and out with an armed escort in the middle of the night.

Otherwise, wouldn't staging a coup and bringing troops into the capital be absurdly easy?

But when Eunuch Zhang saw that his master said nothing from inside the carriage, he did not ask.

He simply drove on through the gates.

On the gate tower, Eunuch Wei stood in his red eunuch robes, the night wind snapping and billowing the fabric around him.

In his hand was an imperial edict.

Its meaning was simple:

Li Liangting's son has arrived.

We wish to see him.

But there was no longer any need for Eunuch Wei to proclaim the edict tonight.

Someone had already done in advance what Eunuch Wei had been sent to do.

A smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

To outsiders, the existence of an Heir to Prince Zhenbei Residence was a taboo for the court.

Many even guessed that if such an heir were truly discovered, the court would secretly execute him without hesitation.

But outsiders were outsiders.

The entire civil and military court was made up of outsiders too.

Family was different.

Like the man riding in the carriage now entering the capital below.

Eunuch Wei had served at His Majesty's side from a very young age.

Back when His Majesty had still lived in a princely residence, Wei Zhonghe had already been the chief eunuch attending him.

As the Sixth Prince grew day by day, married, and had a son of his own, there were moments when Ji Chengjue stripped away his disguises and Eunuch Wei would suddenly feel as though he were seeing His Majesty from all those years ago.

* * *

The carriage slowly entered Ji Chengjue's residence.

It was already deep into the night. There was no possibility of visiting the Rear Garden now.

Besides, Ji Chengjue had said he was inviting Afei to his own home.

It would be ridiculous not to enter it at all.

In the main hall, two maids and two eunuchs had already been waiting for quite some time with Ji Chuanye.

Children grew sleepy easily.

At this hour, the boy was struggling to keep his eyes open.

Ji Chengjue and Afei walked side by side through the garden.

“Actually, let me say something that might be considered taboo. This realm today belongs to my father, your father, and Prince of Jingnan. But in the future, this realm will still belong to us.”

Afei hurriedly said, “Your Highness, mind your words. Mind your words.”

“Mmm...”

The moment Ji Chuanye saw that his father had finally returned, he immediately stretched out his arms to be picked up.

Little Sixth lifted his son into his arms.

Then he pointed at the boy and smiled at Afei.

“But in the end, all under heaven will still belong to this bunch of grandsons, these little bastards.”

* * *

[End of Chapter 656]