Chapter 69: Father And Daughter
The Emperor made the final decision with one hammer blow, and after the court adjourned, the Three Judicial Offices immediately sought out Du Minghuan.
Chu Ying, who had not spoken a word from beginning to end, left afterward, and Shen Yi came to Yan Bei’s side: “I happen to be in overall charge of Ministry of Personnel affairs. If there is any place where the Prince can use me, just say the word.”
Yan Bei also smiled: “I and Lord Shen serve as officials in the same court, both working for the Emperor. If there is any need to trouble Lord Shen, this Prince will naturally not stand on ceremony.”
In the three years since entering court as Regent, it was not the first time Yan Bei had fixated on a certain matter in the Imperial Court, but it was the first time he had the patience to stay in the Imperial Court exchanging pleasantries with court officials. Moreover, the one standing opposite him this time was Shen Yi, the current Patriarch of the Shen Family!
The officials walking behind were all key ministers of third- or fourth-rank and above. Seeing this, they exchanged glances before suppressing their thoughts and walking out.
Shen Yi withdrew his gleaming gaze from Mu Chang, who was walking at the end, and also smiled deeply as he cupped his hands: “What the Prince says is very true! Then Shen will quietly await the Prince’s summons.”
The dignified Chancellor, holding the rank of principal first class and actually managing the Chancellor’s duties, did not originally need to be so humble even facing Yan Bei, but this was a kind of attitude.
Yan Bei watched him exit the palace gate, then turned into the long corridor and headed to Zichen Hall.
Acting as Regent by the Former Emperor’s decree could be considered one of the ministers entrusted with the final affairs. Moreover, if Yan Bei had not timely stopped Empress Dowager Shen’s action of pushing the Fourth Prince to the throne, and had decisively sent confidant guards from the Prince’s Mansion to escort the Emperor back to the palace, thereby stabilizing the hearts of people throughout the realm, who knows what chaos the situation would have descended into. After the Emperor ascended the throne, he granted Yan Bei the special privilege of directly entering Zichen Hall.
When Yan Bei entered the palace, through the wide-open long windows he saw the Emperor sitting behind the long table in the hall, propping his cheek in thought. A cluster of green bamboo obscured one corner of the window; at this time the autumn wind was rising, the curtains were floating, making it seem much more serene than the front court halls.
After the eunuch went in to announce, the Emperor raised his head and, upon seeing Yan Bei, also stood up.
Compared to Yan Bei this man from Mobei, the Prince raised in a scholarly family from the south was somewhat shorter in stature, but having inherited the excellent looks passed down in the Yue Family, his features were soft, his demeanor dignified, and being right in his youthful prime with an upright posture, he also had a distinctive elegance.
After Yan Bei performed the rites, the Emperor led him to sit: “You have come at just the right time, Shao Yang. Earlier in the hall you said there was another reason behind Elder Cousin’s death; have you already obtained solid evidence?”
With no one else present, the Emperor addressed him by his style name, immediately drawing the distance between monarch and minister much closer.
Yan Bei sat down by the table, brushed his wide robe, and said: “No.”
“Then Dou Yun just now actually linked this case to Elder Cousin; does he have solid evidence again?”
Yan Bei looked at him: “I guess he does not either. But to speak of it, when the Emperor ordered a thorough investigation back then, who was it assigned to?”
The Emperor frowned and sighed: “Naturally it was also the Three Judicial Offices; I do not know how they handled it. On Empress Dowager Shen’s side, they should have separately assigned people, but the result was no different.”
Yan Bei took the tea handed over by the palace servant, lightly blew on it twice, and said: “At that time everything was in chaos with war, palace and court affairs could not even be managed, so it was normal to neglect things at the Prince’s Mansion.
“In any case, now that it has been brought up again, the truth will eventually come to light, whether black or white.”
The Emperor exhaled deeply and shook his head, also taking a sip of tea.
Ending this topic, Yan Bei took out a memorial from his bosom: “The inner and outer palace guards have reached the time for rotation. I plan to replace a batch of guards; please give your instructions, Your Majesty.”
The Emperor took it in hand, glanced at it, then picked up his brush to approve: “You are one whom even Father Emperor trusted completely. Since you entered the capital, there has been nothing you have not considered for me, for the Imperial Court. What is there to instruct or not instruct? These matters just need to go through the procedures.”
After approving, he closed the memorial.
Yan Bei took it and said again: “I see that the new top scholar Xu He is very diligent in his work. He has been working in the Imperial Secretariat for more than half a year, so he can be promoted a bit. If Your Majesty fears resistance from the Imperial Secretariat side, then when promoting him, there is no need to give him a substantive post. For example, fill a vacancy as Junior Secretary in a yamen like the Imperial Clan Court. Once his official rank rises, after a year or so, then transfer him laterally to a substantive post, and naturally no one will raise issues with his seniority.”
The Emperor pondered: “Among the top twenty on the list back then, most were sons of official families in court.
“These people have deep interest entanglements behind them; it is not that I can just say to use them and they can be used.
“Xu He is the official family son among the few exceptionally talented local scholars, at least favorable for rallying scholars from Luoyang.
“After weighing it repeatedly, I selected him.
“To the point that now I can only use him.
“—Very well. His seniority is still shallow; transferring him to the Imperial Secretariat back then was already exceptional. Promoting him to a substantive post after merely half a year would likely fail to convince the crowd. Going to a place like the Imperial Clan Court as a stepping stone would probably make them even more relieved.”
“Since Your Majesty approves, then I will have the transfer order issued.”
Yan Bei said this and stood up.
The Emperor also rose, beckoned the eunuch outside the door to come in: “Take some of the fruits and sea cucumbers that were tribute from below two days ago. Also, take two of the cuju balls made by the Directorate of Imperial Manufactures, let the Prince take them back for A Li.”
As he spoke, he sent Yan Bei out with hands behind his back, smiling at the same time: “It has been many days since I saw A Li; I really miss him.
“You say all the civil and military officials in the court tremble before me, how is it that only your family’s little A Li is willing to be close to me…”
When the Emperor strolled unhurriedly to send him to the hall door, the eunuch had just brought the things.
Yan Bei thanked the grace, had people directly send them back to the Prince’s Mansion to give to Gao An, then headed to the Bureau of Military Affairs to begin implementing the rotation of the palace guards. At the same time, he did not forget to send Cui Xun to the Ministry of Personnel to transfer Xu He to the Imperial Clan Court as Junior Secretary of the Imperial Clan Court.
While he was busy with tight preparations here, the various officials who had left the palace after court earlier each harbored their own thoughts as they stepped out of the palace gate.
Mu Chang had watched Shen Yi and Yan Bei converse so prominently, silently exited the hall, and then in his sedan instructed the escorts to directly carry the sedan back to the residence.
Mu Chang was honored as Grand Tutor and held the real power of Prime Minister, usually so deep in schemes that others could not fathom him.
But today even without him saying it, others could guess that in the three years Yan Bei had been utterly indifferent to everything in the Imperial Court, and now the blood case of the Zhang and Liang Families was the only thing he was fixated on. Thus, before the current situation of three families standing in a tripod, whoever could win over Yan Bei would undoubtedly be the winner.
So whoever could handle this case to his satisfaction right now would have the advantage of proximity.
Shen Yi had already seized the opportunity in the Imperial Court earlier to release the signal, and this ever-resourceful man had immediately followed up by showing goodwill to Yan Bei, equivalent to having taken half a step ahead.
In this situation, the Mu Family, honored as Grand Tutor, naturally could not step forward to compete. But if they cared about face, they had to put even more effort into the substance.
Unless the Mu Family willingly yielded and did not care about Yan Bei’s most powerful force, preferring to let Yan Bei accept the Shen Family, otherwise he must get ahead in front of the Shen Family and claim this merit.
While the crowd was privately speculating, Shen Yi, who had left the hall right after, also strode proudly into his sedan and returned to the Minister’s Mansion.
On the other side, Du Minghuan left with the officials of the Three Judicial Offices, and Dou Yun was also traveling with them.
Halfway, Du Minghuan repeatedly glared at Dou Yun, but the latter kept his eyes on his nose and nose on his heart, just walking without looking at him at all, leaving him helpless.
Meanwhile, Yue Tang, who had been waiting outside the Du Family for developments, had already finished three rounds of tea with Lan Qin in the teahouse and turned to outside the Chu Residence.
They had just settled down to squat when a team of ceremonial guard that was all too familiar to her arrived at the intersection ahead…
The most silent one all the way out of the palace was Chu Ying.
Sitting in the duty room for a while, he raised his eyes to gaze at the increasingly warm autumn sun outside the window, and in the end still stood up, picked up his black gauze hat, and returned to the residence.
He had just gotten out of the sedan in the front courtyard when he saw the imperial palanquin parked in the courtyard and stopped: “Who has come?”
The servant bowed and replied: “The Heir Apparent’s Consort has returned.”
Chu Ying’s brows and eyes moved slightly, he handed the black gauze hat to him, and walked into the inner courtyard.
In the inner courtyard stood seven or eight maidservants all dressed in the same uniforms. In the main hall, which was usually only used to receive guests, quite a few people were already seated.
And under the main hall door also stood two elderly female servants; Chu Ying recognized them as the instructors from Prince Duan’s Mansion who received female official salaries, and his brows furrowed even more.
When he reached under the door, the female official had already gone in to announce.
The voices talking in the room stopped, and then that female official extended a hand to invite him inside.
Chu Ying crossed the threshold and saw at the uppermost seat a beautiful woman with cloud bun in dark purple ornate robes, her temples where flowers should be pinned only holding a plain beaded hairpin—it was his eldest daughter Chu Yan, sitting with her own old mother, the Old Madam Chu.
And to the left below Chu Yan and them were in order his wife Qiu Shi and eldest daughter-in-law Ning Shi. To the right below were the two younger brother’s wives.
Seeing him enter, the people on both sides stood up.
He walked to the upper side, first bent to perform the national rites, then performed family ceremony toward Old Madam Chu, and only then faced Chu Yan: “Why has the Heir Apparent’s Consort suddenly returned?”
The Old Madam patted Chu Yan’s hand and sighed: “The death anniversary of Heir Apparent Jing is coming up soon; we of the Chu Family must go to the sacrifice. Yan’er specially came back in person to inform.”
On the other side, Chu Yan also completed the family ceremony, smiling as she chimed in: “Besides coming back to pass the message, Granddaughter also specially came back to visit Grandmother.”
Chu Ying frowned and looked at her twice without speaking.
Qiu Shi noticed: “Returning so early today? Could there be something in the Imperial Court?”
It was as if she had guessed right, but Chu Ying did not know whether to say yes or no.
Chu Yan set down the half-drunk tea and said slowly: “With Huan’er alone in the mansion, I should also return to the mansion.”
Displeasure grew more evident in Chu Ying’s brows and eyes: “What’s this, is the land of your maternal home burning your feet?”
As soon as he said this, the whole room fell silent.
Chu Yan, who had already taken two steps out, stopped, then smiled: “Why does Father say such a thing?”
Chu Ying’s face tightened, but he did not speak.
Old Madam Chu stood up leaning on her cane: “If you have words to say, say them properly. We see each other only a few times a year, and the times stepping back over the maternal home threshold are even fewer; what is all this clawing and flailing about?
“Failure to teach is the father’s fault; whatever wrong the daughter has, first ask yourself.”
With that, she stepped forward toward the door.
The female family members immediately came forward to support her, and soon the whole room was empty.
Only then did Chu Ying look at Chu Yan again: “What did you suddenly come back for?”
Chu Yan smiled: “Father just now complained I left too quickly, and now he questions me; the Censor Lord’s depth of schemes, I am finding harder and harder to fathom.”
“These are two different things.” Chu Ying said, “All year round without seeing you return to your maternal home, and not at New Year or a festival, naturally it cannot really be for the death anniversary.”
“I am just a widow; besides moving about for my late husband’s death anniversary, what other purpose could I have?” Chu Yan looked at him now sitting in Qiu Shi’s former seat, smiled again with teeth gleaming white, “It could not be that I have come back to the Chu Family to be a spy instead?”
“Insolent!” Chu Ying slammed the table with a bang, his face turning iron-blue, “Is this the attitude a child should have toward parents?”
“It is you who said, a daughter married out is like spilled water; the water is already spilled, so how do you now use rites and ethics to discipline me?”
Chu Yan slowly walked in front of him, “Does the Censor Lord mean that when you need me I am a daughter, and when you do not need me, I am that pail of spilled water?”
Chu Ying’s eyes were full of wrath: “What exactly did you come back for?!”
Chu Yan smiled again: “I heard that Prince Jingyang Yan Bei has suddenly focused on that extermination case of the He Family?
“This is fresh; has not the matter been over three years already? How has it suddenly been brought up again.
“Father has not been sleeping well at night lately, has he?
“Do not panic; Daughter specially brought plenty of bird’s nest and ginseng to show filial respect to Father.
“You must eat more. If you eat too little, I fear it will not suppress it.”
Chu Ying’s face twisted completely; he suddenly rose and raised his hand, swinging hard toward her face!
In the quiet hall came a crisp slap.
Chu Yan’s face was knocked to the side, her body swaying so fast she had to grab the table to steady herself, but she giggled!
“Father!…”
An exclamation came from the main doorway.
The person then hurried to the hall front, quickly pulled away Chu Yan’s hand to look at her instantly reddened face, then cupped hands and bowed to Chu Ying: “Father, calm your anger; let me persuade my younger sister.”
Chu Ying gritted his teeth glaring at Chu Yan, slowly walking to within a step of her: “Do not think that with hardened wings you can oppose me. Let me tell you, with you, you are still too green!”
He fiercely flicked his sleeve and strode out.
Chu Xin kept his body bowed until the footsteps faded before straightening up, then turned to Chu Yan, took out a handkerchief to dab her swollen red face.
“You should not have provoked him.” He sighed, “Who knows what Yan Bei really wants, bringing up the He Family matter repeatedly.
“Back then when the Former Emperor let Empress Dowager Shen hold the seal until the new sovereign came of age, there was already less than a year left.
“Originally as long as the Shen Family handed over the seal, each family would return to their positions.
“Yan Bei’s move will break the previous balance in the Imperial Court.
“Now the Shen Family has Empress Dowager Shen, the Mu Family has the Emperor; the Chu Family is currently the weakest among the three families, and Grandfather is no longer here. If we lose in this game stirred up by Yan Bei, it will not be good for you either.”
Chu Yan disgustedly turned her face away.
“Not good for me?” She sneered coldly, “Then what bad would it be for me?
“What has the Chu Family ever given me besides raising me?
“And even raising me was just to sell me off for benefits!
“What do I owe you?
“To let you delay me, and even make me think for you in return?
“You must have forgotten; I have long been a person of the Yue Family!
“You should kneel before me respectfully and call me Heir Apparent’s Consort!
“Where do you get the face to order me around?!”
