A Single Tie Of Long Hair Seals A Lifelong Commitment - Chapter 34

Emperor Xuanyuan did not punish Xun Xian, despite his fury.

In addition to his anger, the no-longer-young emperor felt mostly panic. If he punished this old minister who had followed him for so many years, it was uncertain whether he had someone more capable and reliable to take his place.

Preoccupied with a multitude of worries, Emperor Xuanyuan fell ill.

Zhang Diancheng rushed to the East Palace and handed an urgent report to Xie Yu: Prince Qi, Xie Xuan, had abolished the Bureau of Agriculture and Sericulture (Nong Sang Shu) and the Department of Agriculture and Sericulture (Nong Sang Si) in his fiefdom, the Zhu Dong area.

This action received an overwhelming response from the local aristocratic families and gentry.

Zhang Diancheng was deeply worried.

Prince Shen was already a force, and Prince Qi, after being sent to his fiefdom, was still harboring ill intentions, openly abolishing the $Nong Sang Si$. His motive was obvious: to win over the gentry and aristocratic families and secure their support.

The Order of Migration and the $Nong Sang Si$ had, without exception, touched upon the interests of the local gentry, great households, and aristocratic families. Zhang Diancheng had now lost the Emperor’s favor, and it was uncertain if he could suppress those restless, opportunistic minds.

If the Crown Prince could not succeed to the throne smoothly, and instead it devolved into a succession struggle, it was very likely he would not gain the support of the great aristocratic families.

The fate awaiting him and the Crown Prince was imaginable.

In the late 18th year of Xuanyuan’s reign, Xun Xian was transferred back to Qiu Renshan and promoted to the Minister of Personnel (Li Bu Shang Shu), holding control of the Ministry of Personnel, which commanded the lifelines of all officials, yet he had never expressed an intention to pledge allegiance to the East Palace.

“Your Highness,” Zhang Diancheng advised, “circumstances change with time. If both Minister Xun and the Marquess of Xuanping side with Prince Shen, the situation will be even more dire.” He continued, “Even if Your Highness doesn’t want to marry the Chen family daughter, you must not defy the Sacred Will again. Marry her and keep her here; if Your Highness dislikes her, just visit her less. If she were truly to marry Prince Shen, would Chen Linjun still be wholeheartedly with Your Highness?”

In the 16th year of Xuanyuan’s reign, when Emperor Xuanyuan first expressed his intention to appoint Chen Liangyu as the Crown Princess Consort, Xie Yu openly defied Emperor Xuanyuan for the first time.

“Father, Your Son will marry anyone you wish, except the Chen family daughter. Your Son will not marry her!”

Emperor Xuanyuan was extremely displeased with the Crown Prince’s disobedience: “You watched her grow up, why can you not marry her? Would that truly be an offense to you?”

Xie Yu lowered his eyes, not daring to look directly at his sovereign father, but he spoke clearly, word by word: “The days Your Son watched her grow up were the days my wife was slowly dying.”

Zhang Diancheng had always avoided using this matter to advise him; he was always Xie Yu’s most understanding teacher and knew the root of Xie Yu’s reluctance to marry Chen Liangyu.

The root was in his heart.

Now that he advised this way, it meant that Zhang Diancheng suddenly realized that his ability alone was insufficient to help the Crown Prince ascend the throne smoothly.

“Your Highness, the deceased is gone. The fault is not yours.”

Xie Yu remained silent for a long time, then raised his head to look at his longtime teacher. His voice was hoarse as he spoke, sounding as if he were venting his grievances.

“Teacher, naturally I understand now that I must prioritize national affairs over personal feelings. If I had the mindset I have today, I would not have provoked A Xu. As long as it benefits the court and the state, let alone marrying Chen Liangyu, I would marry whomever Father asked me to marry.”

The “A Xu” Xie Yu mentioned was the late Crown Princess Consort, Cheng Zhixu, whom he called “Qingqing” (Darling). She was thin-skinned, and when Xie Yu called her this with his youthful, clear voice, she would always blush, lower her head, and purse her lips into a smile.

“But the year I met Qingqing, I was only sixteen. The person you love in your youth—how can you not want to keep her by your side? I knelt and begged Father, but Father was prejudiced that her father was merely a juren (successful candidate in the imperial examinations) who entered officialdom and whose family had been commoners for generations. He scolded me for being infatuated, became furious, and reprimanded her father for encouraging his daughter to bewitch the Crown Prince immediately after his promotion to Yongdu. He was about to issue an edict to exile her entire family.”

“That day, a dispatch arrived from the Northern Border. It was nothing special in terms of military reports, just a private letter exchanged between the Marquess of Xuanping and Father. One sentence read: ‘My young daughter Liangyu killed an enemy today. She is quite brave, having decapitated two enemy heads. She has the potential of a good general, and your servant shall wholeheartedly cultivate her for Your Majesty.'”

“Every time a family letter came from the Northern Border, Father would be cheerful all day. Sure enough, after receiving the dispatch, Father immediately burst into happy laughter, pointing to the sentence, ‘My young daughter Liangyu killed an enemy today. She is quite brave, having decapitated two enemy heads. She has the potential of a good general, and your servant shall wholeheartedly cultivate her for Your Majesty,’ and invited me to read it. He praised the Marquess of Xuanping for knowing how to raise his daughter, and by evening, he drafted an edict, appointing A Xu as the Crown Princess Consort.”

“Father was right. I watched her grow up. Although we never met, I knew when she learned to speak, to walk, when she read military books, and when she went to battle! I was truly grateful for the Marquess of Xuanping’s family letter, and grateful that little Liangyu was capable enough to cheer Father up and fulfill the union between A Xu and me. A Xu also liked her and even wanted to invite her often to the Palace for visits once she returned to Yongdu.”

“It was only after she passed away that I understood: that family letter was her death warrant! Father had long intended to choose Chen Yuanqing’s daughter as the Crown Princess Consort, but Chen Liangyu was still young, so he appointed A Xu first. He planned to wait a few years, let the predecessor pass away, and then have the successor fill the position, making it seamless and justifiable.”

“I failed to perceive Father’s profound intentions, and thus I was unprepared. How could I have ever thought that Father had planned all along that A Xu was only a temporary occupant of the position of Crown Princess Consort?”

“Teacher, I am the Crown Prince. How can I not even protect my own wife?”

Zhang Diancheng remained silent, standing before the desk, listening to Xie Yu finish speaking.

Finally, Xie Yu called for Rong Jun, “Summon Chen Liangyu.”

Zhang Diancheng’s eyelid twitched a little, but he still had to go deal with the abolition of the Nong Sang Si and Nong Sang Shu in Zhu Dong. He finally instructed: “Your Highness, do not quarrel.”

Xie Yu said, “Teacher, don’t worry. I have my limits.”

Zhang Diancheng then excused himself and went to the Six Ministries $Yamen$. Facts proved that his worries were not unfounded.

Chen Liangyu stepped into the East Palace. In no more than ten sentences from start to finish, Xie Yu’s roar was heard outside the hall: “Allowing women to study and become officials, Chen Liangyu, are you so arrogant now that you dare to entertain such a utopian dream?”

Chen Liangyu knelt, her back slender and straight.

“Does His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also believe that such a heavy injustice should be perpetuated for generations?”

Xie Yu said, “More important than fairness is order, is the state!”

“The two characters for refer to the god of the earth and the god of the grain. The state is fundamentally based on the people. Both men and women are subjects of the nation. If men can enter the imperial examinations and become officials, why can’t women? Your servant does not understand why women cannot do what men can do?”

“Obstinate and unrepentant!”

Xie Yu spoke with a cold tone, his face gloomy.

“What can you do? As long as I nod, an imperial decree for a marriage will be issued, and you will only be able to embroider your bridal veil and marry into the East Palace! All your unrealistic ambitions, and your affections for others, will all be turned to ash! Pretentious and arrogant? Chen Liangyu, I did not restrain you in the past, allowing you and Jiangning to become so reckless! You want to challenge the laws of this world? Heh, overestimating your own capabilities!”

Xie Yu flicked his sleeve, his face as cold as the winter month.

Chen Liangyu no longer spoke, and the two fell into a standoff.

Xie Yu: “Cat got your tongue?”

Chen Liangyu: “Yes.”

Xie Yu: “What did you say?”

“Your servant said yes,” Chen Liangyu raised her voice slightly. “Your servant intends to challenge the laws of this world.”

She said “intends to challenge the laws of this world,” not “will challenge the laws of this world.”

She was not arrogant. She knew clearly in her heart that for one person to stand against the way of the world and the hearts of the people, against established rules and social customs, was like a mantis trying to stop a carriage, or throwing an egg against a rock.

Nor was she self-deprecating. She wanted to fight against the prevailing customs and traditions. Perhaps she would succeed, perhaps she would fail, or perhaps she would be forever reviled. Whatever the outcome, she would accept it with joy.

To build a foundation with no roots, to pave the way for a myriad of generations.

Unprecedented in history? Then let it start with me!

“Incorrigible!” Xie Yu said, “Prince Shen promised you this, so you chose Prince Shen, is that it?”

Chen Liangyu said, “Did your servant have a choice? Where your servant’s body ultimately resides is merely a word from His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

“You do.”

Xie Yu was sealed as the Crown Prince from a young age. Even though the status of the East Palace was precarious today, he had never abandoned the dignity and integrity of the Heir Apparent. He was unwilling to rely on forcing a woman to stabilize the position of the East Palace.

Chen Liangyu looked up at him.

Xie Yu repeated, “I said you do.”

Chen Liangyu remained still, waiting for Xie Yu to speak the next words.

“I have read the book translated by Jiangning. Some of its arguments are not without reason. It’s wishful thinking for you to ask the court to open the imperial examinations for women, but establishing a few women’s academies would not be difficult.”

When Xie Yu spoke again, his tone was somewhat gentle.

“The East Palace, or Prince Shen’s residence? You don’t have to rush to give me an answer. I will give you time. Answer when you have clearly thought it through.”

“Is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince making a deal with your servant?”

Xie Yu, looking down from his position, asked, “What bargaining chip do you have to make a deal with me?”

“Your servant has none.”

“You still choose Prince Shen?”

Chen Liangyu said, “Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince allows your servant to choose, then yes! Your servant chooses His Royal Highness Prince Shen!”

His condescension did not bring the thousand thanks and tearful gratitude he had imagined. Xie Yu’s voice was even lower, “What else are you dissatisfied with?”

Chen Liangyu said, “What your servant wants to fight for is the fundamental basis for women to exist in this world, not the perfunctory establishment of a few academies to superficially whitewash injustice and embellish social customs!”

Xie Yu swallowed his anger to the extreme. He pointed in one direction and dismissed Chen Liangyu from the East Palace with a reprimand.

He stared wide-eyed, sitting there, as if frozen in place. But if one looked closely, they would notice the joints of his long hand and his fingertips were all trembling.

He was extremely infuriated.

The door to the side hall slowly opened, and Xie Wenjun walked out of it. She took the freshly brewed hot tea from Dai Qing and personally presented it to Xie Yu.

After a long while, Xie Yu stiffly turned his neck and said, “She said I was whitewashing peace?”

Xie Wenjun nodded and added a final blow, “And ‘perfunctory’.”

Xie Yu: “…”

Xie Wenjun stood submissively by the side. If Xie Yu didn’t speak, she didn’t speak either.

“Jiangning? What are you thinking, keeping silent? You’re usually quite talkative when she’s mentioned.”

“Your sister believes she is right.”

“Hmph! You had better not speak. I just don’t understand what you find so good about her. Why can’t I see even a single bit of it?”

When Zhang Diancheng returned from the Six Ministries Yamen, he handed Xie Yu evidence of interactions between Xun Xian and the family members of Consort Xian.

Xie Wenjun tactfully withdrew.

The Crown Prince pinched the bridge of his nose, distressed. “How did the Marquess of Xuanping and Yan Baizhang teach her? She’s completely lawless, even more troublesome than Jiangning.”

Zhang Diancheng said, “How will Your Highness decide on this marriage? Should we immediately request His Majesty to issue an imperial decree for the marriage?”

The heat of the tea misted in his face, and the white porcelain lid lightly clinked against the cup.

Xie Yu said, “I’m afraid it will shorten my lifespan.”

Yan Baizhang’s news was very well-informed. That afternoon, as soon as he arrived at Chen Yuanqing’s study, he said, “Liangyu offended someone again today.”

Chen Yuanqing was splashing thick ink, painting while chatting with Yan Baizhang: “Fluctuations come and go in the blink of half a lifetime, and the affairs of the world are viewed with detachment. These three children, it’s fine for their temperaments to be unrestrained. As long as they are safe. She can offend anyone as long as she doesn’t offend His Majesty. Her father can still protect her for now.”

As he spoke, he was distracted. A branch of apricot blossom went astray, and with a moment’s carelessness, the painting was ruined halfway through the stroke.

Chen Yuanqing laughed heartily, simply ignored the original composition, and picked up his brush to add a few more branches.

He asked, “Who did she offend this time?”

“The Crown Prince.”

After explaining the whole story, Chen Yuanqing “clacked” down his brush, turned around, pulled out the curved willow wood rod hanging on the wooden frame, and weighed it in his hand.

“Where is that ancestor?”

“She should have gone to the Xun residence to find the Xun family’s daughter by now. Marquess, Liangyu is grown up and holds a position in court. This rod won’t scare her anymore.”

“Did you forget when you used to punish her by making her kneel in the snow and hitting her palms? The child is grown up, and you’re playing the benevolent father again.”

Chen Yuanqing was discontented with the change in Yan Baizhang’s attitude.

In the past, they were both equally strict, but now Yan Baizhang had secretly changed his nature, making it seem like he was the only one playing the villain.

“Let her cause a ruckus. I taught her a set of good martial arts. If she can’t make a living in court in the future, she can still go out on the streets and perform ‘chest crushing with a boulder’ to earn a living. She won’t starve.”

Yan Baizhang said, “‘Chest crushing with a boulder’ is hard work. If you ask me, it’s better to perform sword dancing.”