The follow-up to the matter of Zhao Su’s marriage, the wind sweeping through the tower heralds a rising storm in the mountains1 (Plot take precedence)
Zhao Su’s so-called younger brother had on several occasions in the past tried to push him and his mother to their deaths. In the end, he had not succeeded, but Zhao Su had also not seen him to express an ounce of regret, and instead, had been disdained by the fact that Zhao Su had been receiving some respect and admiration from the other clansmen. It was a shame that there was no evidence regarding the incident with the fire2, so there was no way to resolve the matter.
Even if this kind of person became an imperial official, he’d still be destined to be stuck as a low-ranking official, but if he was fortunate enough to encounter a great backer, he could probably continue to stir up some trouble. Looking at the benefits, since Zhao Jin had gone elsewhere to take up post as an official, he would probably not have the time to think about taking revenge, so Zhao Su decided to put the situation with his younger brother to the back of his mind and concentrate on the matter at hand.
He folded up the letter and sighed deeply, he swept a glance over to Chen Zhu, who looked like he wanted to say something but was holding back. He thought that perhaps he was also upset that his cousin had passed away and said a few words to comfort him: “A dead person cannot be resurrected, Bo Xun, you should restrain your grief and accept fate3.”
Chen Zhu continued to ruminate in his mind for a while, but decided in the end to say it anyway: “Shaoyong, we are not strangers, I don’t want to conceal it from you. In fact, in my letter, aside from the news of the death of my cousin, there is something else….. Although, I don’t believe that the timing is right, but since the elders of my family had suggested it, I will first give you a heads up, so that you won’t feel shocked when you receive the news later.”
Zhao Su saw how serious he looked and was curious: “What is it?”
Chen Zhu scratched his head: “You know that my clan is the largest in Changle. When there are a lot of people, sometimes, I even have trouble remembering everyone’s names.”
“Er-shu has four concubine-born daughters, there is one of them that is four years younger than you. She has just reached marriageable age5, she is beautiful, even more beautiful than my legitimate-born cousin. It’s just that she is from a lowly background, her mother is a maid…..”
Zhao Su, seeing that he was beating around the bush, couldn’t resist cutting in: “Bo Xun, what exactly are you trying to tell me?”
Chen Zhu’s heart skipped a beat and decided to just come out with it: “In my letter, it was written that the elders mean to match make you with my concubine-born cousin, given that my legitimate-born cousin did not have the fortune to become your wife.”
Zhao Su stared blankly for a long while and then finally said: “Taking a concubine before even getting married, it seems unfair to the legitimate wife. I am unwilling to do something which will incite castigation, I can only be grateful to your family’s elders for the thought.”
Chen Zhu smiled bitterly: “They had already anticipated your apprehensions. My er-shu has expressed that he can wait for you to marry a wife and then you can take my cousin as your concubine. She has only turned fifteen this year, she can wait another year.”
On the other side of the courtyard, He Zizhong had zero interest in their conversation, bored stiff, so he just leaned against the railing and dozed off, there was a mosquito buzzing around his head but it was as if he was in a deep sleep, he didn’t even bother to swat it away.
Zhao Su was between laughter and tears: “I am not the son of an influential family, it was already a great fortune to have been engaged to the Chen family’s daughter, how could I allow your er-shu to offer me his daughter as a concubine?”
Chen Zhu heard what he had said, and laughed: “Shaoyong, you do not hold yourself in very high regard. You are young but have already reached an immeasurable level in your career. Both Xu da-ren and Chen da-ren wanted to matchmake you, let alone my family. Although the Chen family has a reputation in literary circles, our clan has a lot of people, so thoughts and feelings of individuals are often difficult to discern. My concubine-born cousin has a very quiet personality, and doesn’t like to be in the centre of attention, and this is also the reason why she is not favoured by my er-shu. Even for me, I only remembered her because she was mentioned in the letter. Er-shu no longer has a legitimate-born daughter, looking broadly across the Chen clan, there are also not any legitimate-born daughters of marriageable age. It’s understandable that he doesn’t want to let go of what he says as the perfect son-in-law.
Zhao Su muttered quietly: “There’s no hurry, Maiden Chen has just passed before we even got married and then I go ahead and discuss another marriage with someone else, I think that seems very inappropriate. Let’s just discuss it a bit later. Since they have already discussed it with you first, Bo Xun, could you tell them that I am still upset about my fiancee who has just passed and I don’t feel like discussing marrying a concubine for the moment.
Chen Zhu nodded, the way Zhao Su was treating the matter seemed appropriate, and would not create any gossip. He was curious and asked: “My concubine-born cousin is truly a beauty, are you really not interested?”
Zhao Su mocked him: “I heard that you’re going home at the end of the year to get married. Are you already thinking about your new wife?”
Chen Zhu immediately shut up, in terms of wit and mockery, he was definitely nothing compared to Zhao Su.
After a long while in silence, he couldn’t resist asking: “Shaoyong, when I get married, will you attend the wedding?”
Zhao Su laughed and said: “Naturally, you and I are friends, how could I not come to participate in the festivities, even if you don’t invite me, I’ll still gatecrash.”
Chen Zhu looked at his elegant and playful smile, and couldn’t help but feel a warm joy in his heart, which was immediately followed with the feeling of immense disappointment. He had a lot of things he wanted to say but didn’t know whether to say them or not.
“Shaoyong?”
“Huh?”
“Let’s be good friends for life.”
“You’re spouting off nonsense again, aren’t we already?”
Chen Zhu stayed silent for a moment as if he had something else to say, but suddenly, there was the sound of horses outside. After a short moment, Zhao Ji hurriedly entered with some people from the Prince of Yu manor.
“Teacher Zhao, the Prince requests your presence!”
Zhao Su got up: “I’ll go now, what does the Prince6 want to see me about?”
He recognised that this person was the personal attendant of the Prince of Yu, if it wasn’t an urgent matter, the Prince wouldn’t have sent him.
The servant wanted to say something but hesitated. Zhao Su said: “There are no outsiders here, don’t worry you can tell me.”
The servant replied: “Teacher Gao has been in the palace for several days and has not returned, the Prince is very concerned and wants you to go help him think of what to do.”
Zhao Su and Chen Zhu looked at each other.
Sometimes when the Grand Secretariat was very busy, it was quite normal for them to burn the midnight oil. Since the Prince of Yu was so nervous, there must be another matter plaguing him.
Chen Zhu quickly said: “Shaoyong, you should make haste!”
Zhao Su nodded, Zhao Ji had already gone and came back with a cloak that he draped over Zhao Su’s shoulders.
“Let’s go!”
“After you, Tutor Zhao!”
When Zhao Su arrived at the prince’s manor, the glow of the sunset had already spread across the sky.
Zhao Ji looked around: “Shaoye, it looks like it’s going to snow soon, we should get inside quickly!”
Zhao Su looked up and saw that in the red sky, there was a glimmering light that was seemingly out of place.
Inside the Prince of Yu Manor, the Prince was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, seeing Zhao Su come in from the outside, his eyes were almost glowing: “Shaoyong, you’re here, I’ve been waiting for you!”
The Prince of Yu didn’t put up any airs, when he was around familiar people he was incredibly casual, Zhao Su was already used to it, he cupped his hands together to greet him: “May I ask why has the Prince has sought this official’s presence with such urgence?”
“Teacher Chen, Why don’t you explain!” The Prince of Yu waved his hands and then took large steps towards his chair to sit down.
Chen Yiqin nodded: “Shaoyong, you have no idea, Suqing7 has not come back to the Prince of Yu manor in ten days. The Prince has sent someone over to his home to ask about him, since he entered the palace ten days ago, there hasn’t been any news.”
Zhao Su was shocked: “How could that be?”
Chen Yiqin sighed: “It has always been busy in the Grand Secretariat. Since Suqing entered the Grand Secretariat, it was quite normal for him not to come over for two or three days. Since the Grand Secretaries are not allowed to have any dealings with the princes, he was using his status as the Prince’s teacher to come over. But this incident is incredibly odd, we have tried to ask around and have found out that it is not only Suqing but Xu Jie, Li Chunfang and the others have also not returned home for many days.”
Yin Shidan used the folding fan in his right hand to smack into the palm of his left hand whilst adding: “It’s not just this, I noticed that there is an increase in the number of people in the Eastern Depot, it seems very suspicious.” He lowered his voice, “Even outside of this manor, there have been an increase in people sneaking around.”
“Since we can’t see Teacher Gao anymore, we have been cut off from all news of the palace. We are in the midst of discussing how to deal with the situation, you should also help think of a solution. Let’s put our heads together.” The Prince of Yu sighed after speaking and poured himself a cup of tea.
After hearing what Chen Yiqin had said, Zhao Su had already understood their worry.
There was no contact between the outside world and the Grand Secretariat, the Grand Secretaries had seemingly disappeared. To look at it in a positive light, one could say that there was a lot to do at the Grand Secretariat and the Emperor had not allowed them to leave the palace. To look at it in a negative light, someone was exercising control over the gates to the palace and cutting off all contact from the palace to the outside.
In other words, it was a rebellion.
Although the Prince of Yu was not particularly assertive at handling matters, and was not favoured by his father, he was still a prince. If he was to say that he did not covet the throne, this would be a lie, but in reality, he was more worried that his younger brother, the Prince of Jing would inherit the throne. If the latter were to happen, as the eldest prince, his only way out would be to get as far away from the Capital as possible. Knowing that his ancestor, Yongle Emperor had snatched away the throne from his nephew and got rid of his brothers, as well as knowing full well that the Prince of Jing was not only small minded but vindictive, it was not totally unfounded that the Prince of Yu was worried.
“I heard that ten days ago, the Grand Secretariat went to request that the Emperor announce his heir and the Emperor had agreed. But the imperial edict has not even been drafted, even if the Prince of Jing is reckless, he wouldn’t be reduced to doing something like this right!” Chen Yiqin’s face revealed suspicion.
Zhao Su asked: “Has anything happened at the Prince of Jing manor?”
Chen Yiqin: “There are a lot of guards at the door, the people that we have sent can only observe from a distance, there is no way of getting closer.”
Zhao Su asked again: “What about Yuan Wei?”
Chen Yiqin was caught off guard: “What do you mean, Shaoyong?”
“Yuan Wei is the teacher that the Prince of Jing respects the most, just like Teacher Gao is to us and the Prince of Yu. If the Prince of Jing is up to something, he would definitely not hide it from Yuan Wei. Since we are not able to find anything from the Prince of Yu manor, why not go take a look in Yuan Wei’s home?”
The Prince of Yu shook his head: “That won’t work, instead isn’t that beating the grass to scare the snake8?”
Zhao Su smiled and said: “The Prince has misunderstood, we don’t need to go there personally, we just need to find a couple of quick-witted people to pretend to be servants of some imperial officials. They can try to strike up a conversation with the servants of the manor when they run errands outside, perhaps it won’t be possible to find out the details, but they must know at least something that is happening since they spend most of their days serving their master in the manor?”
The Prince of Yu was delighted: “This sounds like a good idea, but who can we send?”
This was difficult, it had to be someone they didn’t know so that they would not be recognised, and they also had to be smart, otherwise, it would make the others suspicious.
Chen Yiqin said: “How about the head servant from my manor?”
Yin Shidan immediately rejected the idea: “No, your head servant has been too heavily favoured by you and is almost always by your side. We are all imperial officials of the court, who cross paths frequently, the people from Yuan manor might recognise him.”
Zhao Su thought about it: “I have a pageboy, he is quite smart, perhaps we could get him to try.”
The others could not think of anyone else and in the end, the Prince of Yu agreed, given that he had already been forced into a tight corner and would be willing to try anything: “Yes, let’s let him try then!”
And that’s how Zhao Ji was “sold” by Zhao Su. With this important task at hand, he was not only not worried, but even delighted and excited to carry it out and ran out immediately. It was just difficult for those who had been waiting for him to come back with news. They waited for an entire day in the Prince of Yu manor, until the evening of the second day, heavy rain began to fall and Zhao Ji finally came back.