Sun Yulian learned from the servants that Qu Hanyan and Hua Xiaoling had both gone to Jixue Courtyard. She racked her brains but couldn’t understand why. Now that the Madam no longer managed the household, what were they doing sticking around her all day? Could it be they wanted to watch the Madam make a fool of herself? With the Madam’s current explosive temper, if they really dared do this, they probably would’ve been scolded by the Madam so badly that even their birth mothers wouldn’t recognize them by now.
It’s just that not long ago, due to the matter of the household, she had lost face in front of the Madam. Now she really didn’t want to go hear the Madam’s reprimands again. But she was truly curious about what exactly in Jixue Courtyard was so attractive. If there really was some benefit to be had, she absolutely couldn’t walk away empty-handed.
Sun Yulian raised her head and looked at Xie Wenzhao, who was sitting by the bed reading a book. Before Xie Wenzhao came to Qiuxiang Hall, she had already guessed that he probably still wouldn’t share the bed with her. But when everything unfolded exactly as she had expected, Sun Yulian still found it hard to accept.
She had originally wanted to slowly soften Xie Wenzhao, but Xie Wenzhao was like a block of wood. Her subtle seduction tactics had no effect on him at all. It seemed she still needed to use other means. Not long ago, she had obtained a packet of medicine—said to be very effective. Perhaps she could use it. But she still needed to plan carefully so that Xie Wenzhao wouldn’t realize she had done something.
Sun Yulian picked up the mung bean soup that had cooled on the table and brought it to Xie Wenzhao, saying to him: “It’s already so late, Lord Marquis still not sleeping?”
Compared to how he was with Hua Xiaoling, Xie Wenzhao’s attitude toward Sun Yulian was indeed a lot better. He looked up and said to her: “Don’t mind me. You go ahead and sleep.”
Sun Yulian set down the mung bean soup and picked up the scissors to trim the candle wick in front of her, casually chatting: “I heard that these past few days, Sister Qu often goes to the Madam’s place. I don’t know what good things are at the Madam’s place—I’m getting tempted to go take a look myself.”
Hearing this made Xie Wenzhao angry. Not long ago, he had gone to Tingshui Pavilion to have Qu Hanyan play the qin for him. She had made excuses and pushed it off. He had sympathized with the fact that she truly suffered that night, so he didn’t force her and was willing to give her time to recover. Yet in these past few days, when he went to Tingshui Pavilion again, he couldn’t even find Qu Hanyan. Upon asking, he was told she had gone to Jixue Courtyard—and of her own initiative! What was she doing at Jixue Courtyard? Had she forgotten how she had been punished by Meng Fu to play the qin for more than half the night just recently?
This kind of behavior from Qu Hanyan gave Xie Wenzhao a feeling of betrayal. He wanted to ask her properly what exactly was going on in her heart—was it that she had been threatened by Meng Fu?
But if he wanted to find Qu Hanyan, it seemed he could only go to Jixue Courtyard. And compared to hearing Qu Hanyan play the qin, Xie Wenzhao even more didn’t want to see Meng Fu.
Seeing the look of displeasure on Xie Wenzhao’s face, Sun Yulian softly advised: “Sister Qu is extraordinarily intelligent, understanding and tactful. The Madam is benevolent and kind—there definitely won’t be any issues. Lord Marquis, you don’t need to worry.”
Xie Wenzhao laughed coldly in his heart. If one said that Meng Fu had once been benevolent and kind, so be it. But now, was she still worthy of those words? Who knew what kind of grievances Qu Hanyan would suffer in her hands!
Yet at this moment, in Tingshui Pavilion, Qu Hanyan was sitting by the window, resting her chin in her hand, recalling the Madam’s heroic bearing while sword dancing in Jixue Courtyard that afternoon.
As for grievances… well, maybe the only grievance was that the Madam obviously said more words to Hua Xiaoling than to herself.
Although most of it was scolding Hua Xiaoling for not doing the movements precisely enough.
Qu Hanyan suddenly sat up straight, as if awakened by enlightenment. She realized—she could learn martial arts from the Madam just like Hua Xiaoling. She had learned dance before, so she would definitely do the movements more accurately than Hua Xiaoling.
Perhaps, she even had talent in this area.
With her jianghu dream in her heart, Qu Hanyan fell asleep. [江湖 jianghu = “rivers and lakes,” a term referring to the martial world or the world of wandering swordsmen.]
The moon was bright, the stars sparse, the lights were dim and scattered. The moonlight fell onto the green tiles like leftover snow. A few cats briskly walked along the rooftop. Meng Fu, having finished dealing with all the remaining memorials, reviewed once more the list of officials who would attend the Empress Dowager’s birthday celebration, and then finally returned to the back hall to sleep.
At the next morning’s imperial court, Minister of War Qi Yunjiao submitted a memorial, reporting that there were rebels in the southeast attempting to start an uprising, and requesting the emperor dispatch troops to suppress them immediately.
This matter had also been mentioned in the memorials. Yesterday, Meng Fu had shown it to His Majesty. Li Yue believed the matter had not yet been verified and there was no need to make a big fuss, lest it cause the local people to panic. Besides, now the empire was peaceful and the rivers and seas calm. Even if someone wanted to rebel, it would amount to nothing. After all, most of the common folk still carried umbrellas when it rained—their brains hadn’t flooded. If they could eat well and drink well, why would they commit a crime that would wipe out nine generations?
Meng Fu suggested that someone be secretly sent to investigate first and see what exactly was going on. After all, news like this couldn’t have come from nowhere.
Li Yue nodded. He had thought the same, so the matter was settled this way.
However, in court, in front of the civil and military officials, Meng Fu only said that dispatching troops was a major matter and needed to be discussed further before a decision could be made.
Afterward, another official submitted a memorial saying that His Highness Prince Xuan was injured by an assassin in Yecheng, and that the assassin was most likely sent by the rebels.
Meng Fu thought, That doesn’t make sense—why would rebels want to kill a leisure prince?
Prince Xuan, named Li Yu, was the late emperor’s youngest younger brother, only two years older than Li Yue, and was very much doted on by the late emperor. He was conferred the title of Qinwang while the late emperor was still alive. He had served in court for a period of time, and the officials who served alongside him all praised him as intelligent and virtuous. Later, as the late emperor aged, the imperial sons all began to harbor thoughts of vying for the throne. Perhaps in order to avoid these power struggles, this Prince Xuan resigned from office, saying he loved landscape and nature. Now that His Majesty had ascended the throne, Prince Xuan had been roaming outside freely and happily for years.
Prince Xuan was injured in the assassination and couldn’t make it back for the Empress Dowager’s birthday. He only had the princess consort prepare a generous gift and entrusted a subordinate to send it to the capital.
Meng Fu summoned Prince Xuan’s subordinate in court and asked: “Is Prince Xuan seriously injured?”
That subordinate replied: “Reporting to Your Majesty, His Highness is no longer in serious condition. The physician said that with a few more months of rest, he should recover.”
Meng Fu said with a smile: “It’s fine as long as he’s all right. Let Royal Uncle recover well in Yecheng. If needed, I can dispatch an imperial physician to examine him.”
The subordinate quickly said: “Many thanks, Your Majesty.”
Meng Fu wasn’t clear about what kind of relationship Li Yue had with this Prince Xuan, so after asking a few simple questions, she dismissed the person and continued discussing national affairs with the court ministers. In recent days, officials had repeatedly submitted memorials about military training. Yesterday, His Majesty read the various wild ideas in the memorials until his hair nearly stood on end. If the people submitting those memorials were in front of him, he might have kicked each of them one by one.
Since the founding of Da Zhou, the dynasty had always emphasized civil over military, and it was common for civil officials to meddle in military affairs. When they saw issues in the army, they wanted to “give it a try,” but most of these scholars were just armchair strategists, never considering practical matters. The memorials they wrote ended up being laughable.
Meng Fu couldn’t imitate His Majesty’s thunderous anger, so she simply had Gao Xi read those memorials aloud in court. She didn’t say a single word. The officials in the hall who had even the slightest military knowledge couldn’t help but burst into laughter upon hearing the outlandish strategies in those memorials.
His Majesty didn’t name names, but the officials, hearing their colleagues laugh, all hung their heads in shame. This was actually more painful than being scolded directly by the emperor.
Among them, Qi Yunjiao laughed the loudest. This Minister of War didn’t treat his fellow officials as outsiders at all. Meng Fu gave him a glance—if this Minister of War knew how the emperor had cursed him yesterday afternoon, he probably wouldn’t be able to laugh now.
Among those memorials, only Qi Yunjiao’s submission looked somewhat decent. Even so, His Majesty was still able to pick out plenty of problems. Fortunately, Tang Mingqi was returning to the capital, and Li Yue planned to have Qi Yunjiao follow Tang Mingqi and study under him for a while.
Qi Yunjiao was the Minister of War, a position not lower than Tang Mingqi’s. By logic, asking Qi Yunjiao to study under Tang Mingqi would hurt his pride a bit. But Qi Yunjiao didn’t care about face at all. He immediately promised Meng Fu: “Your Majesty, rest assured. This humble official will definitely study well under General Tang and handle this matter beautifully for you.”
Lord Qi was just too cooperative. His Majesty had even told her yesterday to have him copy the Thousand Character Classic one hundred times. Now Meng Fu felt a bit reluctant to bring it up—it felt like bullying an honest man.
But it was an imperial instruction after all. Besides, Qi Yunjiao’s handwriting really wasn’t all that pleasant to look at.
Meng Fu gave a soft “Mm” and didn’t mention the Thousand Character Classic in court. She only pointed out the few parts of Qi Yunjiao’s memorial that were well written, and told him to wait in Zichen Hall after court.
As soon as Meng Fu finished speaking, Wei Jun’an and Liu Changlan both turned their heads at once, eyes falling on this Minister of War.
What’s going on? The two of them hadn’t yet settled the score of who was favored more in front of His Majesty, and now another contender had appeared!