#85: The Galaxy Overflows (Part 4)

On New Year’s Day of the fifth year of Jinghe, the emperor was honored in Fengyang Hall. Firecrackers were set off in the hall. The imperial family and all the ministers bowed to the Empress Dowager and then bowed in the front hall of Fengyang. The palace bells played the Ruishen tune.

After the court meeting, officials set up food tables. Local officials and foreign envoys entered to present gifts, while others sat at their tables. The ceremonial music and instruments were solemn, playing the “Qian’an” tune as the Son of Heaven took his seat.

The emperor then raised the first cup, and with the “He’an” tune playing, the banquet officially began.

Ye Tingyan and Chang Zhao shared a table. Dressed in crimson robes, they raised their cups to each other.

Everyone knew that these two were the most popular ministers in the court, checking each other’s power, like fire and water. But seeing them now, there was no sign of discord. They seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.

Chang Zhao and Ye Tingyan were discussing the painting ‘Stepping on the Crimson Clouds’.

“When I saw it in the rear hall the other day, I was very impressed by its talent. I heard from His Majesty that although the painting was done by a famous artist from Youzhou, it was your clever idea, Minister Ye,” Chang Zhao said as he toasted him, his expression unchanged. “Speaking of which, I should thank you for that painting. If I hadn’t guessed His Majesty’s true thoughts from it, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have gained favor so quickly.”

Ye Tingyan’s eyebrow raised, and he quickly concealed his subtle surprise. But Chang Zhao caught his fleeting astonishment and pressed, “Minister Ye, since you were able to present that painting, you couldn’t have failed to guess what happened back then, could you?”

Ye Tingyan said perfunctorily, “Brother Pingnian, you are joking.”

Chang Zhao, however, continued to speak to himself. “Tingyan is a member of the Ye clan after all, and he received kindness from the late Crown Prince. Even though His Majesty loves your painting, he doesn’t dare to be truly intimate with you. But I am different.”

He covered his face with his sleeve, leaned in closer, and quickly said, “But if Tingyan doesn’t confide in me, how do you know that our goals aren’t the same?”

Just then, the emperor raised the second cup, and the song “Ganlu” played.

Ye Tingyan did not answer. The two, along with the other ministers, ascended the hall, received wine, and then returned to their seats to eat.

Chang Zhao was usually dull and taciturn. Ye Tingyan knew this was his disguise and that he was a master at discerning people’s hearts. So he concealed all his expressions and only asked, “How did Brother Pingnian convince Minister Lu Hang?”

Chang Zhao was startled, as if he hadn’t expected him to ask that question. He sat back down with his empty wine cup and pondered. “How is this related to what I said earlier?”

Ye Tingyan pursed his lips and said nothing. When he spoke again, he asked about another matter. “Our dynasty does not kill officials for their remonstrance, but those who were implicated in the Remonstrance of Jinghe Autumn were exiled to the four corners of the land. Was this Brother Pingnian’s idea?”

“Lu Hang did not die because of me,” Chang Zhao answered indifferently, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “The ministers implicated in the Remonstrance of Jinghe Autumn did not die because of me either. When a ruler is not benevolent and the state is in disharmony, there are thousands of ways to save it. Do you think they struck the pillar to remonstrate, to make things better?”

He smiled again. “They were just doing it for their posthumous reputation. For their posthumous reputation, they would sacrifice everything, not just themselves, but also their parents, wives, and children. It’s selfish, far too selfish. Tingyan, do you think their parents, wives, and children, as they died on the journey of exile, felt that their sacrifice was great?”

Ye Tingyan said, “You said before that you envied people like Minister Lu. Have you forgotten?”

Chang Zhao shook his head. “I just envy them, but I also disdain them.”

“Since they want to make a sacrifice, I will fulfill their wish. And I will use them to fulfill my own. What’s wrong with that?”

Ye Tingyan poured himself another drink and smiled at him. “Brother Pingnian, our paths are different.”

The emperor raised the third cup. Everyone stood up, and the “Ruimu Chengwen” tune was played below the hall.

Chang Zhao said with some regret, “I was mistaken about you. I thought you were even more ruthless than I am. Who knew that ‘Stepping on the Crimson Clouds’ was just a disguise? Beneath Minister Ye’s butcher’s knife lies a benevolent heart.”

Ye Tingyan raised his cup to toast in sync with Song Lan’s movements and replied, “I have also asked myself countless times whether I should give up some things to achieve great things. I have also struggled, hesitated, and even abandoned myself in the mire, but in the end, this is still the choice I made.”

Chang Zhao looked up and laughed. “‘Look at the pure lotus, and you should know its undefiled heart’ [1]. What a...”

He didn’t finish. Instead, he suddenly turned his head. “Do you know? I suddenly realized that the moment ‘struggle’ arises, your choice is already determined. If you weren’t that kind of person before, you wouldn’t struggle at all, just like me. If that’s not the case, why would you choose ‘Quhua’ as your pseudonym?”

“The first time I heard the name ‘Young Master Quhua’ was in the first year of Jinghe. Shen Sui, the prefect of Yangzhou, was selling official positions, which made the official circles of Jiangnan restless. The Young Master came from the northern border, became a poetry friend of Shen Sui, and drank and had a good time with him. After half a month of association, he was able to persuade Shen Sui to hand over a list of corrupt officials. He cleansed the official circles of Jiangnan without shedding a single drop of blood. The imperial court didn’t know, but who in Yangzhou city didn’t? I didn’t hear the constant praise for the Young Master as he gave alms in the streets, but I was extremely curious—what kind of person would dare to call themselves ‘Quhua’?”

Ye Tingyan said lightly, “Brother Pingnian, you are giving me too much praise.”

There was no hint of pride on his face, but Chang Zhao said, “Now I know that you truly deserve that name. But Tingyan, you are so proud, yet you don’t even know it. In the eyes of others, it is truly very, very, very...”

“Oh?” Ye Tingyan, still neither servile nor arrogant, interrupted him with a hint of helplessness. “Brother Pingnian actually dislikes me.”

Chang Zhao shook his head. “I’m just realistic. I can see your outcome at a glance. There isn’t much road left to Pengshan [2]. The lotus will fail in the mud and the Young Master will die an unnatural death. I can’t find a second path for you. Since I see these things, why would I dislike you or be jealous of you? Coming here today to persuade you to join me is just a matter of mutual appreciation.”

His words were blunt, almost a curse, but Ye Tingyan didn’t seem to mind at all. His smile remained unchanged. “I appreciate your sentiment, Brother Pingnian. If one day we are just bones, you and I shall toast each other as true friends.”

Chang Zhao clinked his cup with his, a little regretfully. “Of course.”

After that, there were no more words. The court meeting was long and tedious. After the first three toasts were completed, the Grand Music Master led the “Tianxia Dading” dance. After that, four toasts were made to the “Jiahe” and “Qian’an” tunes. After the emperor left, the crowd finally dispersed [3].

Ye Tingyan descended the long stairs of Fengyang Hall. Chang Zhao did not walk with him again.

When Pei Xi found him against the flow of people, he asked an extra question. “Is Minister Chang on good terms with Minister Su? I never saw them interact before. A few days ago, Minister Su stayed in Qianfang Hall after the morning court. I thought he was being interrogated about the Empress’s whereabouts, but it doesn’t seem to be the case now.”

The “Minister Su” he was referring to was naturally Luo Wei’s elder brother, Su Shiyu. After the Mount Guyou incident, Song Lan sent people to surround the Su family’s residence. Su Shiyu was accompanied by guards whenever he went in or out. Luo Wei was well aware of this and, fearing any implications, had not contacted him for the time being.

Su Shiyu knew the emperor was suspicious, but he didn’t seem to care. He just diligently carried out his duties as a Grade-Eight official in the Qiongtian Academy. The Su family had been prominent for three generations. After Luo Wei was made empress, to prevent the ministers from remonstrating against the power of her maternal relatives, Su Shiyu had intentionally avoided influential positions after passing the imperial examination. The other nephews of the Su family also held honorable but not prominent sinecures.

Would he suddenly become friends with Chang Zhao?

This thought crossed Ye Tingyan’s mind. The two left the palace through the Mingguang Gate and boarded their carriages. After they were far from the imperial street, Pei Xi began to chatter to him about recent trivial matters. Ye Tingyan listened with a half-ear until the other person said, “I saw my elder brother again today.”

Ye Tingyan blurted out, “Was he also summoned for a task today?”

Only after speaking did he realize his mistake.

There were only the two of them in the carriage, so he wasn’t as careful as usual. Pei Xi saw that he had slipped up and couldn’t help but feel a little smug, but his words were tinged with bitterness. “He didn’t want you to tell me, did he?”

When the Crown Prince was still young, there had been an upheaval in the court.

The deposed Crown Prince, who had seized power before Emperor Ming ascended the throne, didn’t even know that one of his concubines had avoided the contraception medicine and had given birth to a child during her exile.

Whether it was out of a deep affection for the Crown Prince or a desire for power, the woman remarried a member of the imperial family, bringing up the child and revealing everything to him when he came of age. To avenge his father, the child endured for many years. He finally usurped the imperial family’s military power and, during a visit to the capital for a celebration, used the name of “orthodoxy” to launch a palace coup.

Song Ling, when he was young, had even met this man, who could be called “Imperial Uncle.” He vaguely remembered that he had deep-set eyes and curly hair, as if he had some foreign blood. When he looked at him, his gaze was always distant.

This “Imperial Uncle” married the daughter of Duke Yue, allied with various forces to besiege the palace, and after his failure, he was imprisoned in the Imperial Prison and committed suicide with a sword. Duke Yue was implicated as a result. Dongshan, where the reunion banquet had been held, gradually became the neglected burial ground it is today.

Song Ling saved the son of his “Imperial Uncle,” with whom he had a deep friendship, and sent him to Youzhou to be raised. When he was nearing adulthood, he personally gave him the courtesy name “Cuozhi” [2]. Perhaps when the “Imperial Uncle” allowed his son to get close to him, he already harbored a hope that he would one day save him.

Pei Xi had a sworn brother, a descendant of the late Duke Yue. He had also wanted to take him with him, but he couldn’t find any trace of him in the imperial palace and had to give up.

It was only that day, when Zhang Suwu came clean, that he finally understood the reason.

It was Luo Wei who had asked her father to find him during the confiscation of Duke Yue’s estate. Unfortunately, she was a step too late. Zhang Suwu had already been castrated and entered the palace. In her helplessness, Luo Wei sent him to the library, instructing him to study diligently and not to despair.

Zhang Suwu had also asked Luo Wei to find traces of Pei Xi, but they had been very careful back then, erasing all detectable traces after saving him.

Everything was just like their reunion with the same secret. Because their disguises were so good, they couldn’t see through each other’s masks.

Ever since Luo Wei left the palace, it had been Pei Xi and Zhang Suwu who was going out of the palace, exchanging messages at Fengle Tower. It was through their back and forth that they discovered each other’s identities.

Perhaps, just as she had said, they were destined to meet again.

“Actually, I guessed it myself,” Pei Xi said with a smile. He continued on his own, “After I guessed, I tricked the Empress just like I tricked you today. After she admitted it, I asked her why she saved my elder brother. She said that when they were worshiping the moon on Dongshan all those years ago, they had shared a cup of wine.”

Ye Tingyan couldn’t help but ask, “What else did she say?”

Pei Xi said, “What she said was almost identical to what you said when I asked you why you saved me. She had heard too many times about the consequences of not completely eradicating the roots, but she believed in some ethereal friendships and some universal truths. She believed that kindness would be rewarded, and evil would be punished. She believed that the world would praise beautiful and noble qualities and despise vile and malicious thoughts. A person lives in this world to do what they feel is right and what makes them happy.”

“When you first returned to the capital, I asked you why you didn’t just raise an army from the north. As long as you revealed your identity, heroes from all over the world would raise their arms in support. Now I understand. You were unwilling to use military force out of your own hatred and let others make sacrifices for you, so you chose a more difficult path instead.”

Chang Zhao’s voice suddenly echoed in his ears, saying that he could only see the lotus failing in the mud and his own unnatural death.

Then Pei Xi’s voice followed, covering that voice with a serious tone. “Brother—it’s been a long time since I called you brother, but I really want to say it now. You are not Song Lan, and you will never become Song Lan. You will walk a longer path and live a longer life than him, and you will lead the dynasty to a better path together with her. You were not wrong before, and you will not be wrong in the future. The world... will never fail you.”