Chapter 814: A Toast to You!

Outside the temple, Xiao Yibo finally received the Prince as he rode out on his Pixiu.

One could tell... the Prince had something on his mind.

One could also tell... the Pixiu beneath him somehow seemed to have something on its mind too.

Xiao Yibo did not dare ask.

He simply rode beside them with a lantern, quietly guiding the way.

After they had traveled for a while... the Prince’s Pixiu suddenly drifted closer.

The black horse beneath Xiao Yibo was already naturally afraid of Pixiu.

And this was only a riding horse, not some warhorse that had been tempered on battlefields.

With a startled whinny, it spun Xiao Yibo around several times in place.

No matter how he urged it afterward... it refused to go forward.

Among animals, hierarchy was much more direct than among people.

Less false tenderness.

Less pretending not to notice.

This horse had clearly sensed the inexplicable hostility of the “big brother” beside it.

It no longer dared approach.

There was no time to train the horse here.

Xiao Yibo had no choice but to dismount, carry the lantern himself, and hurry after the Prince.

Fengxin City had no curfew at night.

Commerce flourished.

Large numbers of caravans gathered here.

The city possessed a growing wealthy class.

And most importantly, countless soldiers had just received rewards and now had silver in their pockets.

Everyone wanted somewhere to spend it.

So tonight... the city was especially noisy.

The procession crossed the streets and entered Prince Pingxi Residence.

Zheng Fan dismounted.

He first returned to his rooms and changed out of his armor into a python robe.

Then, under Xiao Yibo’s guidance, he took a slight detour and entered the banquet from the outermost tables.

Twelve cold dishes had already been arranged on every table.

But because Prince Pingxi had not yet returned, the hot dishes had not been served.

Guests from every quarter had long since taken their assigned seats.

Yet not one dared touch his chopsticks.

They only spoke quietly among themselves.

Even those whose stomachs were growling did not dare grab something merely to hold off their hunger.

Zhao Cheng had been waiting for a long time.

The moment he saw the Prince arrive... he stepped forward.

Then drew out the sharp ducklike voice unique to eunuchs and shouted:

“His Highness the Prince arrives!”

Every era had its own flavor.

To people of later generations, the voice of a eunuch announcing someone’s arrival might sound strange or even unpleasant.

In this age... having a eunuch sing out your arrival was one of the clearest symbols of status and power.

Ordinary official households could not employ castrated men.

That would be a grave violation of ritual and an act of outrageous disrespect.

Outside the imperial palace, only a Prince Residence could legally maintain a certain establishment of eunuchs.

And even then, those eunuchs were normally supposed to be supplied from the palace.

So strictly speaking... during the years when Zhao Cheng had entered and left Marquis Pingxi Residence openly as a eunuch... that alone had been a serious crime.

But Yanjing’s Censors only dared attack Marquis Pingxi for things like provoking border conflicts without authorization and stirring up waves of impeachment.

As for Marquis Pingxi Residence having used a eunuch... even with hard evidence, no one was stupid enough to make an issue of that damned little detail.

As far as Zhao Cheng himself was concerned... before cutting that thing off, it had seemed more precious than anything in the world.

After it was gone... life somehow felt lighter.

In the end, what people truly considered precious was usually what they still possessed... and what they expected to possess in the future.

As for what had already been lost... the person you became later would often be far more capable of accepting it than the person you were now.

After shouting that announcement...

Zhao Cheng felt an indescribable tingling satisfaction spread through his body.

For an instant... the candlelight and lanterns before him even seemed blurred and dreamlike.

As though the next moment, some vast beam of heavenly light might tear through the curtain before him... and he would face that radiance, face the endless sea of people below, and cry:

“His Majesty arrives!”

Love the profession you enter.

Eunuch Zhao had grasped the true principle.

“We greet Your Highness! May Your Highness enjoy health and fortune!”

“We greet Your Highness! May Your Highness enjoy health and fortune!”

Xiao Yibo had originally assumed his Prince was troubled and in somewhat low spirits.

He had planned to clear the way and let Zheng Fan pass quickly toward the inner banquet without wasting time outside.

After all... for the guests seated at these outer tables, simply seeing the Prince walk past at close distance was already enough to satisfy them.

But Prince Pingxi did not take the easy route.

Instead... a smile appeared on his face.

That period of sitting inside the Gourd Temple seemed to have resolved nothing.

And yet perhaps it had resolved everything.

It felt like wasted effort.

But a person was born only to die eventually anyway.

Life itself was one grand stretch of wasted effort.

What mattered... was the brief pleasure found somewhere in the middle.

So tonight...

Zheng Fan suddenly wanted to enter the mood completely.

To merge into it.

Prince Pingxi reached out and helped an old man to his feet.

Beside the old man stood an eight-year-old grandson.

The elder was one of the representatives of the agricultural-settlement households outside Fengxin City.

He too had once been a refugee.

After being resettled, he had been among the earliest group at Snow Sea Pass to help the Blind Man improve potato cultivation.

The Blind Man might appear “learned,” but how could a man who enjoyed playing the piano truly understand farming?

A pile of theoretical knowledge was useless without people willing to test it in actual soil.

Over the years, this old man had contributed greatly.

He had even received an official appointment.

A tiny office.

But respectable.

Several dozen men worked beneath him, specializing in the promotion of improved agricultural methods.

“How many people are there in your household now?” Zheng Fan asked.

“Reporting to Your Highness, this old man... ah, this official has two sons. My eldest died two years ago while accompanying Your Highness into Chu. My younger son stayed behind in Fan City during the latest campaign.”

The old man showed little grief while saying it.

His grandson still stood beside him.

Before the younger son departed on campaign, his wife had also become pregnant.

In this age... once a family ate from the bowl of military service, dying on a battlefield was an ordinary enough matter.

When suffering became universal, a strange reverse form of “one does not fear scarcity, only inequality” emerged.

Besides, the old man himself held office.

His eldest son had died in battle, but the family received compensation every month.

His second son still served in the army.

Although the household had not formally divided yet, it effectively received the Standard-household allocations of three families.

An ordinary Standard household might rely on one adult male and still live well enough to make outsiders envious.

This old man’s household... could comfortably be called prosperous.

Even his eight-year-old grandson wore excellent clothes.

Of course, everyone dressed carefully when attending a banquet at the Prince Residence.

But a child capable of wearing silk to a banquet certainly did not dress poorly in ordinary life either.

Zheng Fan reached out and rubbed the boy’s head.

He asked whether the child studied at the academy and what he had learned recently.

Then... the boy began reciting an essay he had written himself.

*Our Marquis.*

No one had prepared this in advance.

No one had expected the Prince to genuinely quiz a child.

Xiao Yibo had not arranged details down to this level.

Instead, in the curriculum the Blind Man helped design for the academies, every term included this exact assignment.

The child’s recitation was neither fully classical nor fully vernacular.

Back in the earliest days at Snow Sea Pass, the Residence’s academies had never aimed to prepare children for the imperial examinations.

They placed much more emphasis on practical use.

Some children, like Liu Dahu and Zheng Man, were prepared from youth to enter the army.

Others began as junior hands in various workshops after graduating.

Qian’s literary culture flourished.

There, people liked to say that only a man whose name was announced beneath Donghua Gate counted as a good son.

But Yan’s imperial examination system had not even existed for many years.

The custom had never truly taken root.

And for ordinary families, the examination road was simply too distant.

By comparison... a child who “graduated” and could immediately receive an assigned post together with Standard-household benefits had a future anyone could see with his own eyes.

The boy was very clever.

But during the recitation he still mixed “Marquis” and “Prince” from time to time.

He had spent too many years saying Marquis.

Changing the habit in a single day was difficult.

Marquis Zheng...

Prince Zheng... smiled and listened.

The guests around them gathered closer.

Every face wore the kindly expression of an indulgent elder.

People nodded from time to time.

Those with long beards even stroked them thoughtfully.

One could say with certainty... quite a few of these men had never shown this much patience or warmth toward their own sons and grandsons.

Once the child finished reciting... the surrounding guests praised him in chorus.

They acted as though they had just witnessed some breathtaking masterpiece of performance.

As though the Sword Saint and Baili Jian had just fought a life-and-death duel before their eyes.

Wonderful.

Truly wonderful.

Some even looked as though they wanted more.

The Prince nodded.

Then removed a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to the child.

The boy kowtowed in thanks.

Everyone was delighted.

After that, the Prince stopped and spoke with several other people.

One was a caravan shopkeeper working under the Residence.

Another was an old veteran who had first entered the army back in Shengle City and now carried a disability.

Zheng Fan asked after their health.

Their families.

Their everyday lives.

In truth... anyone qualified to sit here tonight might or might not be wealthy.

But he certainly did not live badly.

The rounds took a long time.

Yet the Prince was extremely patient.

Only after quite a while did he finally rise and move inward.

The people inside had already been waiting eagerly.

Then... the exact same scene played out again.

This time, he selected another child.

The child sang *The Marquis’s Battle-Breaking Song*.

So... unless one carefully observed and dug into the details... one would truly never realize how many things the Blind Man had somehow found time to arrange despite constantly claiming to be busy.

At last... the Prince entered the heart of the banquet.

The people inside had not foolishly sat there starving.

Once word came that the Prince had returned to the Residence, the inner tables began eating.

They drank and ate slowly while waiting for him.

The first round came from military commanders.

Keyan Dongge and Jin Shuke had both already returned to Snow Sea Pass and Zhennan Pass to resume their commands.

But plenty of officers one level below them remained.

Prince Pingxi refused no cup.

He drained every toast.

He understood perfectly well that if he merely touched wine to his lips each time, no one would dare object.

But tonight... he did not want to do that.

Luo Ling and the other former Jingnan Army Garrison Commanders who had come during the day had not remained for the banquet.

They all left before nightfall.

They had arrived in haste.

They departed in haste.

Leaving one’s post without authorization was a serious crime.

Leaving one’s post without authorization and then spending the night in Fengxin City... that truly would have looked like openly preparing to rebel.

One man did remain.

Li Guangzong.

Li Guangzong was older than most.

Even a few years older than Li Fusheng had been.

Age itself was not the issue.

He had injuries.

Even before all this, he had already been half retired.

Because Yan did not taboo switching between civil and military appointments, he now nominally held the title of Prefect.

But he had relinquished real power long ago.

Two deputies worked beneath him.

One Yan.

One Jin.

Nominally they assisted him.

In practice, they had long since hollowed out his authority.

“Your Highness.”

Li Guangzong raised his wine cup.

Zheng Fan returned the toast.

Their eyes met.

Neither man said anything more.

When the court first began moving against the Jingnan Army structure, Li Guangzong, because he had already left direct military command, had ironically been the freest man among them.

At the same time... he had also jumped the highest.

Most of the letters sent to Zheng Fan, urging him to step forward and preserve the old Jingnan Army framework, had been organized by Li Guangzong.

But what the Emperor had done today... had almost completely blocked, both legally and emotionally, any possibility of those old Jingnan Army commanders gathering together and rising as one.

Unless Zheng Fan suddenly lost his mind and chose rebellion right now... the old framework left behind by Prince Jingnan could no longer avoid disintegration.

Not in the crude Qian style of deliberately breaking apart every cohesive army and dispersing its soldiers.

Rather... the old Jingnan Army system itself would simply lose the ability to answer itself as one structure.

After finishing his toast, Li Guangzong sat down again.

He looked lonely.

Perhaps not many of those men were truly determined to rebel.

They merely wanted, by instinct, to keep living the wild and unfettered life they had enjoyed when Prince Jingnan was still there.

Even house cats and dogs grew rebellious after roaming wild too long.

How much more these military brutes who had once enjoyed lives without restraint?

Zheng Fan continued exchanging toasts.

Only at the end did he enter the smallest courtyard at the very center.

“This Prince arrived late. Three cups as punishment.”

Seated inside were Mao Mingcai, the Fifth Highness, and several others.

After Zheng Fan drank three punishment cups, the other two immediately rose and drank with him.

Because Zheng Fan had arrived late... they had possessed plenty of time to digest everything that happened during the day.

And plenty of time to prepare themselves for the banquet conversation.

No one knew whether Mao Mingcai was genuinely drunk or simply choosing his moment.

He grabbed Prince Pingxi’s hand and began reminiscing about the days when the two of them had worked together sincerely in Yingdu.

Ah... those turbulent years of the past.

The Fifth Highness, meanwhile, insisted on telling Prince Pingxi about the river works he had supervised recently.

Where the problems were.

Where someone had actually dared steal money.

Which local official had a pig’s brain.

Prince Pingxi drank bowl after bowl of wine and responded enthusiastically to both men.

He had carried worries in his heart.

But if one looked carefully... there was not really anything worth worrying about.

That hollow feeling inside him... was not emptiness.

It was security.

As he kept drinking... even the sharp, fishy burn of the liquor seemed to disappear.

What he swallowed no longer tasted like wine.

It tasted like honey syrup.

Sweeter with every cup.

More abundant with every cup.

The swelling pride of the day.

The silence of the Gourd Temple.

The candlelit noise of the night.

After passing through all of it... his whole body seemed to loosen.

The moonlight was beautiful.

The food was delicious.

And the people before him... were so damned lovable.

Prince Pingxi grabbed a fistful of Mao Mingcai’s beard and laughed.

“Lord Mao.”

“Your Highness... that hurts.”

“Look at Fatty Xu. He’s done such a good job as Prefect of Yingdu. And you? Back then you smoothed things over far too much.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Mao Mingcai was not angry.

He possessed real cultivation and breadth of spirit.

More importantly, he could tell Prince Pingxi was genuinely rather drunk.

This was not some deliberate attempt to humiliate him under cover of intoxication.

Prince Pingxi had absolutely no need for that.

The man had already been arrogant and domineering enough during the day.

If he wanted to curse someone now, why would he bother taking a detour?

“But it wasn’t really your fault,” Zheng Fan continued. “War was constant back then. All you could do was keep smoothing things over to maintain stability in the rear.”

“Yes, yes, yes.” Mao Mingcai nodded repeatedly. “Your Highness understands me.”

If not for everything that happened during the day, Mao Mingcai would always have regarded Zheng Fan as a true kindred spirit.

But under the strength of the wine... he loosened up too.

Hearing those words, Mao Mingcai lifted the wine pot and began gulping straight from it.

“Your Highness understands me!”

They were cultured men.

Senior ministers of the court.

Ordinarily, their manners and appearances were naturally flawless.

But it always depended on who sat across from them.

If the other side held equal status... or even higher status... then one could willingly indulge in a little wild disregard for form.

“Damn it,” Lord Mao cursed. “Everyone says I’m worse than Xu Wenzu. But how can that be the same? When Xu Wenzu took over, the war was already finished. Finished! How easy did he have it? How easy? Do you think I wanted to spend my time patching cracked walls? Did I?”

“Yes. You had it hard.”

“Your Highness had it hard too.”

“No, I didn’t. I had it easy. You don’t understand. I’ve got so many capable people under me. I basically don’t handle anything.”

“Your Highness, why couldn’t you be this modest during the day? Oh, I understand now. You were doing it deliberately, weren’t you? You deliberately acted arrogant and domineering during the day to stain your own reputation.”

“Bullshit. I really am useless.”

“All right, all right. I see through it, but I won’t expose you. I understand. I understand. Your Highness, don’t worry. I understand. I still believe Your Highness is the same Your Highness from those days in Yingdu... the man who devoted himself wholeheartedly to the state. Hic...”

“I’m telling you the truth. I really don’t do a damned thing. I...”

“All right, all right, Your Highness. His Majesty also says all the time that he only manages to hold up Great Yan because we ministers support him. I understand. I understand...”

“You understand shit!”

The drunk Prince Pingxi exploded in fury and hurled the wine cup before him onto the ground.

The Fifth Highness hurried over and tried to support the two men, who were already swaying into each other.

One was a Prince of Great Yan.

The other was Great Yan’s Acting Chancellor.

Right now... they looked no different from two drunk villagers making a scene by the roadside.

“Your Highness, what a pity. You already have two Princess Consorts. My granddaughter can’t possibly enter your household as a concubine. Otherwise, I truly would like to marry my granddaughter to you.”

“Your granddaughter? This Prince doesn’t want her.”

Mao Mingcai slurred:

“My wife... you can’t have her. Don’t even think about it!”

Seeing the two men’s words becoming increasingly outrageous... the Fifth Highness had no choice but to pull them apart.

Unexpectedly, Prince Pingxi grabbed Ji Chengwen by the neck and dragged him closer.

Then cursed directly into his face:

“You useless bastard!”

“...” Ji Chengwen.

“Yes, yes, yes. I’m useless. I’m useless.”

When one was the Emperor’s son, the more virtuous one’s reputation, the better.

When one was the Emperor’s brother... the more useless one’s reputation, the better.

Prince Pingxi pointed at the Fifth Highness.

He cursed:

“Useless! It’s been this damned long and you still haven’t built a Gundam!”

...

“Master seems to have drunk rather a lot today.”

The Blind Man spoke to Siniang, who sat across from him.

“Really?”

Siniang was drinking lotus-seed soup, one hand resting over her belly.

“And after he came out of the temple, he surprised me somewhat. Normally, Master skims through these sorts of social occasions like a dragonfly touching water. Tonight, he seems unusually diligent.”

“Isn’t that exactly what you wanted to see?” Siniang asked curiously.

“I’m worried that when something becomes abnormal, there must be something strange behind it.”

Siniang chuckled twice.

“You’re afraid Master will get drunk, lose his temper, and settle accounts with you over what happened during the day?”

“Not quite.”

“Not quite? A drunk man can do anything. What if Master suddenly wants to spank you?”

“Is that possible?”

“The rest of us would be delighted to see it. You keep handing out oranges and making everyone suffer from internal heat.”

“Eating some fruit is good for the body.”

“Enough, enough. I don’t think it’s anything serious. Maybe Master is simply in a good mood today, so he drank more and talked more than usual.”

“Perhaps.”

“It’s rare to see you take a loss. His Majesty’s three decrees were genuinely unexpected.”

“They were. But it doesn’t matter. It was only a casual arrangement. If it was broken, then it was broken. Isn’t the feeling of meeting a worthy opponent entertaining in itself? If some idiot Emperor sat on that Dragon Throne, rebelling against him would lose much of the pleasure.”

“You still haven’t given up.”

“When I do something, I’ve never liked stopping halfway.”

“Fine. As long as you’re enjoying yourself.”

The Blind Man suddenly stood.

“Master is back.”

The banquet had not dispersed yet.

It would continue for a long time.

The imperial commission still had many rounds of formal visits and expressions of appreciation to conduct toward Fengxin City and the people under the Prince Residence.

There was no chance the whole affair would finish before well past midnight.

But Prince Pingxi, who had already exceeded every social obligation expected of him, was walking back first.

A wine pot hung from his hand.

His footsteps were noticeably light and unsteady.

Xiao Yibo and Zhao Cheng walked on either side, hands extended carefully in case he stumbled.

“Yo, Master. Cheers.”

A’Ming happened to emerge from the wine cellar.

He too held a pot of wine.

“Cheers, vampire!”

Zheng Fan raised his wine pot toward A’Ming.

Then took two heavy gulps.

A moment later... his unsteady legs gave way.

Zheng Fan sat straight down on the ground.

Zhao Cheng and Xiao Yibo tried to help him up.

Zheng Fan waved them away.

Siniang said:

“You two may leave.”

“Yes, Madam.”

Inside the little courtyard...

Prince Pingxi sat on the ground hugging his wine pot.

He shook it.

Empty.

“Where’s the wine!”

Siniang leaned against the doorframe.

Seeing Master like this... she found it amusing and began laughing.

A’Ming stepped forward and handed over his own wine pot.

Master accepted it.

Then said:

“You’re really good to me!”

With that... he threw an arm around A’Ming’s neck and leaned in as though preparing to kiss him.

A’Ming’s body blurred.

He slipped free in advance.

The drunken Prince Pingxi kissed empty air.

He did not particularly care.

He simply raised the wine pot and drank again.

Xue San appeared at that moment.

He grinned toward A’Ming.

“My guess is Master didn’t advance this time. If he had, you wouldn’t have dodged.”

A’Ming shot back:

“You haven’t advanced either. You go.”

“Right!”

Third Master suddenly realized the opportunity.

He immediately rushed outside, snatched a wine pot from some passing attendant, and sprinted back.

“Master! Drink with me! Come, come, come!”

“Come. Drink!”

Zheng Fan clinked pots with Xue San.

Xue San waited.

And waited.

Master did nothing else.

Instead, Zheng Fan raised his head and began staring at the moon.

“...” Third Master.

A little while later...

Zheng Fan lifted the wine pot again.

Facing the bright moon... he shouted:

“A toast to that inn in Tiger Head City!”

Everyone present fell silent.

At that moment, Fan Li appeared as well, carrying a roasted lamb leg.

He had somehow arrived without a sound.

No one understood how a man that enormous managed it.

Master raised his wine pot toward the sky again.

“A toast to the chicken shit all over Cuiliu Fort!”

Another mouthful of wine went down.

Zheng Fan shouted again:

“A toast to the bathing pool in Shengle City!”

Another huge swallow.

“A toast to the Marquis Residence at Snow Sea Pass!”

“A toast to Prince Pingxi Residence in Fengxin City!”

Every Demon King present gradually stopped smiling.

Even Fan Li no longer seemed interested in biting into his lamb leg.

Because every place Master had named... was a home they had shared over these many years.

THUD!

Another pot had been emptied.

Zheng Fan tossed it aside.

Then his entire body fell backward onto the ground.

But he kept turning his face, looking toward Siniang, the Blind Man, and everyone standing around him.

Then he reached across the ground, grabbed the empty wine pot he had just thrown away, and raised it once more.

He shouted:

“Thank you. Thank you! For letting me... always have a home here. A toast to all of you!”

[End of Chapter 814]