A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 20.2

“The birds and beasts here have little wildness; it’s uninteresting. There is a mountain in the North, called Mount Mingzhi. The wild beasts and birds there are truly fierce. You absolutely cannot bring them down without getting a few scratches.”

“If there’s an opportunity, this Prince will go with you to see if the game there is really as difficult to catch as you say.”

Chen Liangyu paused for a moment, then swung down from the bent branch, her arms dangling in the air, before letting go and landing steadily.

Some people have rationality and calmness deeply embedded in their blood. She quickly analyzed the current court situation to probe Xie Yuan’s deeper motivations.

Since the refugee crisis, the land in the entire Cangnan Prefecture has been re-measured, and the Crown Prince dispatched Rong Jun to Cangnan to implement the “Returning Land to the People” policy.

After the new tax system was trialed, it gradually spread to other prefectures and counties.

To avoid the emergence of another Cangnan Chen family, Right Prime Minister Zhang Diancheng, with the support of the Crown Prince, issued a “Migration Order,” compelling wealthy merchants and gentry who met certain conditions to relocate to Helu Town near Shangyong City, facilitating control and governance by the Imperial family. Many wealthy merchants and gentry had no choice but to sell their assets at low prices to avoid migration.

The Crown Prince took this opportunity to nationalize large amounts of land and private mines.

In just half a year, the national treasury was full, the deficit was balanced, the population of Cangnan flowed back, and corrupt officials who indulged in extravagance also restrained themselves, leading to a temporary political clarity.

However, a bright sun eventually sets, and a full moon eventually wanes.

Although the situation seemed brilliant, the power dynamics in the court were subtly being re-divided in the undercurrents.

The new tax system and the Migration Order touched upon the interests of a significant number of court officials, including even some members of the Crown Prince’s faction. Moreover, the corruption case involving the various departments responsible for building the Yanzhi Mountain Imperial Lodge had been shelved, only waiting for the main case to conclude before settling accounts one by one.

The profit-taking involved not just Yao Chongshan, but many officials in the court.

When the refugees swarmed into the Imperial Lodge, looting, smashing, or burning, these were all uncontrollable variables. Whether it was huanghuali wood, xiaoyezitan (red sandalwood), or jinsinanmu (golden silk nanmu) with glazed tiles, damage could be claimed for any of it.

The final determined loss, when manipulated by a person, allowed for a huge margin of flexibility.

When the clusters of fire, masked by the refugees, rose at the Yanzhi Mountain Imperial Lodge, all the unresolved debts could be settled.

This was the main reason Emperor Xuanyuan was furious and summoned Xie Yuan for a reprimand.

In the previous case of selling offices for money and the later Cangnan refugee crisis, the Crown Prince had already investigated and executed a large number of officials. The Crown Prince’s faction also knew that fishing to the point of exhaustion was the most undesirable policy. Since Prince Shen had already set the stage, they couldn’t push people too hard and temporarily let go of those who hadn’t committed major offenses.

Many court officials who had been living in constant fear finally breathed a sigh of relief. Through this event, many felt grateful to Prince Shen and began to show an interest in pledging their loyalty.

The minds of civil officials were sharp. They quickly realized that with the Crown Prince’s faction dominating, the emperor would surely cultivate someone else to counterbalance him. Prince Qi, Xie Xuan, had lost influence and imperial favor, and Prince Ning, Xie Xun, was a simpleton. Who else was left in Yongdu?

The speed of Prince Shen, Xie Yuan’s, rise was completely unexpected. Almost in the same month as the Migration Order was issued, he gained the capital to challenge the Crown Prince’s faction.

Chen Liangyu moved closer, stopping a short distance away. She said, “Your Highness must be aware of the Marquis’s current predicament. The Emperor and the Crown Prince are closely watching the situation in the North. Your Highness choosing this time and this place to say such things to me is not a wise move. Now that Your Highness is entangled with me, everyone will believe that Your Highness is trying to lay hands on the Northern military power. Your Highness may be forced to become an enemy of the Crown Prince’s faction.”

“I know,” Xie Yuan replied. “This step has to be taken sooner or later, hasn’t it?”

Chen Liangyu bowed deeply to him, “Then, your servant is willing to do her utmost to assist Your Highness.” After a brief pause, she added word by word, “May I, in this lifetime, open up a clear and magnanimous world, and grant all women under heaven a vast expanse of opportunity.”

Xie Yuan reached out and gently held her arm. Her eyes were very bright when she said this, like the most dazzling stars in a clear night sky. She held her most anticipated wish for a new world within her starlike, moonlike eyes.

Xie Yuan seemed to sense that the expectation for this new era outweighed her feelings for him.

Both of them knew clearly: behind her was the Marquis of Xuanping’s Mansion, the military power that could help him achieve the imperial throne; and he was an imperial prince, with the necessary status she needed to contend for the position of Emperor.

This was not an agreement that could be sustained by emotion.

But what did it matter? An alliance based on mutual interest was more reliable than one based on ever-changing feelings.

Xie Wenjun quietly stood under a rough tree. The tree was not particularly thick, and she made no attempt to hide, but her riding outfit was not bright, and her petite figure was not conspicuous, so neither of the two speakers noticed her.

Chen Liangyu noticed her first. Xie Yuan looked over and was also startled. “Jiangning, eavesdropping is not the manner of a gentleman.”

Her eyes, black as the night sky, were filled with coldness. She held a bow specially crafted for her by an archer, a quiver on her back. She moved out from under the tree.

“Who cares to listen, and who wants to be a gentleman?”

Though she was speaking to Xie Yuan, she didn’t look in his direction even once. “The hunting grounds are crowded. Does Third Brother not care about decency, or Chen Commander’s reputation?”

Hearing this, Xie Wenjun had not clearly overheard what she and Xie Yuan were discussing, but had only seen Xie Yuan holding her arm.

Even if she had caught a word or two, it wouldn’t matter. The Crown Prince was clearer about any slight shift in court politics than anyone else, so no extra effort was needed from others to explain.

Xie Yuan, reminded by Xie Wenjun, belatedly realized his imprudence. A man and a woman alone in the woods would certainly lead to rumors if seen by outsiders. He frowned in annoyance and hurriedly left the patch of woods.

Xie Wenjun handed the bow to Chen Liangyu, articulating two words with a minimal use of words: “Tune it.”

Chen Liangyu drew the bow and let an arrow fly into the open space behind her. It was clear the craftsman had put thought into it; the tension was exactly right for Xie Wenjun—a bit more would be too much, a bit less would be too little.

“The bow is fine.”

“It’s not comfortable to use.”

“Do you have a backup bow? We can just switch.”

“I don’t want to switch.”

Chen Liangyu looked at the bow twice, then, without moving, handed it back to her. “Shoot an arrow, let me see.”

Xie Wenjun earnestly and obediently nocked an arrow and drew the bow.

There was no time to reminisce about their teacher-student days in the Marquis’s Mansion. The moment the white feather arrow was released from the delicate string, it flipped its head and plunged straight into the ground.

“When I didn’t even have teeth, my grip on a bow was steadier than yours!” Chen Liangyu said.

She had thought Xie Wenjun’s practice in the Marquis’s Mansion was decent enough that hunting a few rabbits and small birds would not be an issue and that she wouldn’t lose face for the Crown Prince’s faction in front of everyone. But for some unknown reason today, she couldn’t even hold the bow steady.

She sighed, “If anyone asks, please do not tell them that your archery was taught by your servant.”

Xie Wenjun’s mind was not on the archery at all. She picked up the arrow that had fallen in front of her and showed no intention of nocking it again.

“Must you marry Third Brother?”

Xie Wenjun had asked this question twice: once here and now, and once by the Suishui River during the Lantern Festival.

The last time, Chen Liangyu suspected Xie Wenjun’s words were a test, and she evaded the question with vague answers. Asking the same question again today, Chen Liangyu’s feeling was markedly different.

If the previous defensiveness was born from her antagonism with the Crown Prince’s faction, now she felt it was Xie Wenjun’s own personal question, and she clearly sensed that Xie Wenjun’s thoughts were heavier now than when she had asked the same question before.

In Chen Liangyu’s eyes, Xie Wenjun’s every word and action represented the Crown Prince’s faction, but she seemed more concerned about the marriage than the Crown Prince himself.

Chen Liangyu had always found the Princess’s thoughts difficult to fathom, and perhaps she had no interest in trying to understand what kind of person Xie Wenjun truly was. Their brief teacher-student relationship could not be considered a true one; it was only a brief intersection in lives that should have had no connection—her duty as a subject to the Imperial family.

When the matter was resolved, they would go their separate ways.

But under Xie Wenjun’s earnest gaze, she could no longer be perfunctory with the question.

She nodded firmly and softly at Xie Wenjun’s slightly reddened eyes. “Does the Princess still remember the map of the women’s academy in the Imperial Library?”

Xie Wenjun nodded.

“I cannot achieve my aspiration alone,” she paused, then added, “Fortunately, the available man is the beloved.”

The available man is the beloved!

“The available man may not only be Third Brother,” Xie Wenjun’s pink-rimmed eyes bloomed like a flower, covering her entire eye sockets.

Then who else could it be? The Crown Prince?

That was impossible.

Xie Yu was the heir apparent, trained by the most conservative and classical literary officials in the court according to the standards of successive wise monarchs. Such an emperor would surely follow the most revered governing principles of the most prosperous historical eras. How could he allow a sudden variable to increase in the Great Lin Dynasty under his rule!

“The dynamic of opposition between the Imperial Brother and Third Brother is already set. Chen Liangyu, do not make an enemy of the Crown Prince’s faction.”

Xie Wenjun gave her a final warning and walked away with her bow, her retreating figure seemingly overcome with sadness.