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The mansion in the country estate was a large compound that faced the east. It was split into the inner and outer residences, and in order to get to the inner residence, one had to pass through the outer residence.
Lou Jing reached out to grab hold of the Crown Prince’s hand and brought him straight into the inner residence.
They passed the inner door of the residence, walked through a zigzagging corridor, and ended up in a spacious pavilion in the middle of the large pond. A table, chairs and a soft daybed were set out in the centre of the pavilion. The pond was fed by fresh water from a mountain stream, gurgling out of smooth rocks on one side of the pond. At the other end of the pond was a moon gate* leading to the inner residence. A tall decorative rock structure was situated right behind the moon gate, blocking the inner residence from view.
*T/N: A moon door, or yue liang men, is a circular opening in a garden wall that’s very common in Chinese gardens. See the wiki page here.
“The inner residence is always in a mess. Let’s just wait here for them to come out,” Lou Jing said, pointing at the chairs in the pavilion. Cushions had already been placed on the chairs for their comfort.
Xiao Chengjun nodded slightly, then sat down quietly. They’d already come all the way into the inner residence, but Lou Jing gave this flimsy excuse and made him wait in the pavilion. If he didn’t realise there was something strange going on, he didn’t deserve to be the Crown Prince of this dynasty. “Is this country estate your private asset?” he asked.
“Nn,” Lou Jing acknowledged. He released the Crown Prince’s hand from his, and gestured to the servants to leave before picking up the teapot to personally brew a cup of tea for him. “The Lou family has three country estates in the suburbs. This was bestowed by the Taizong Emperor, and then given to me by my Grandfather,” he said.
“If this was given during the Taizong Emperor’s time, then…” Xiao Chengjun’s voice trailed off as he looked around him. “Is this Youyun Estate?”
The first Anguo Gong had fought side by side with the Taizong Emperor when he founded the dynasty, and was a real force to be reckoned with. After the Taizong Emperor passed away, the Anguo Gong was still strong even though he was getting on in years, and he continued the Taizong Emperor’s work, fighting wars to expand the country’s borders.
During the Taizong Emperor’s reign, the sixteen Youyun prefectures to the north were not part of the country. Many of the corrupt dissidents from the previous dynasty chose to hide themselves there. It was said that the Anguo Gong only led sixteen light cavalry to conquer the sixteen prefectures. They broke through the defences of all sixteen cities and chased their enemies through the night for 800 li before finally managing to kill the last remaining prince of the previous dynasty. The Taizong Emperor was elated by their resounding success, and one of the gifts he bestowed on the first Anguo Gong was this Youyun Estate.
“I heard that the Anguo Gong only brought sixteen men with him at that time,” the Crown Prince said, accepting the cup of tea brewed by his Consort. He took a sip as he glanced again at the moon gate. There was still no sign of anyone there.
“The story’s been passed down for a hundred years, and it’s definitely been exaggerated,” Lou Jing said, shaking his head. “That area was known as the ‘Youyun Sixteen Prefectures’ in the previous dynasty. There were only sixteen cities to conquer, but the terrain was extremely dangerous – easy to defend, but difficult to attack. Victory would have been impossible without tens of thousands of troops. However, it is true that the Anguo Gong only brought sixteen men with him to chase the enemy for 800 li.”
As he said this, Gao Yun led a number of black-clad men out from the inner residence. They walked with an unnaturally light step, and had a dangerous, intimidating air about them, like sharp daggers cutting unerringly through the air.
Xiao Chengjun gripped the teacup and saucer in his hands tightly, then put them down on the table slowly.
“This is the Lou family’s ‘Sixteen Guards of Youyun’. Every generation of my family has trained one batch of these shadow guards for the last hundred and fifty years or so,” Lou Jing said. He didn’t seem to notice that Xiao Chengjun had his hackles raised, and casually poured him another cup of tea. “On the battlefield, they’re called the Youyun Sixteen.”
Yun Ba, who had gone to pass news to Lou Jing the day before, had returned to the Youyun Estate immediately after completing his mission. As such, the full complement of the Youyun Sixteen now knelt before Xiao Chengjun and Lou Jing!
Xiao Chengjun regarded the sixteen kneeling men silently. He had not made a sound since they first knelt before him. “Didn’t the Youyun Sixteen die in battle together with the old Anguo Gong?” he finally said.
Lou Jing’s eyes darkened. “Every batch of the Youyun Sixteen starts training when the Shizi is still a child. There’s one batch for every Shizi. When my Grandfather died, his Sixteen naturally had to be buried along with him.”
Xiao Chengjun froze, then slowly clenched the hands that were hidden in his sleeves. So what Lou Jing wanted him to see wasn’t some fruits he personally planted, but shadow guards that he personally trained. This country estate definitely didn’t only  have sixteen shadow guards – how many were there in this huge estate? Also, this place was only twenty li from the Capital.
“The Youyun Sixteen is loyal only to the master of the Lou family,” Lou Jing said. He reached out to grasp the Crown Prince’s hands that were hidden in his sleeves. “And to the leader of the country that the master of the Lou family is loyal to.”
Xiao Chengjun turned slowly to face his Consort. His Consort was telling him that this formidable force was not a sword of Damocles hanging over his head, but a tool in his hand. The Crown Prince suddenly realised what a great benefit his marriage to Lou Jing was!
The Crown Prince rarely ever showed this kind of stunned expression on his face. Lou Jing couldn’t resist edging over to nuzzle one of his fair-skinned ears. “Dianxia, are you satisfied with this dowry?” he whispered.
Lou Jing’s cool lips were pressed against his ear, contrasting with the warm breath that puffed out when he spoke. Xiao Chengjun’s body tensed up involuntarily.
“Shizi, there’s a man surnamed Yao outside who requests an audience,” Gao Yun said, his head bowed respectfully. A servant had come in earlier to report this to him.
If there was one thing this world did not lack, it was killjoys like Yao Zhu, Minister of Rites.
Lou Jing sat up straight as if nothing had happened. He gestured to the sixteen guards to go back into the inner residence. “Let him in,” he said to Gao Yun.
“Yao Zhu got in the way of Shen Lian’s plans when he was trying to get his brother a job in the government,” Xiao Chengjun said, picking up the teacup again. He sipped the tea languidly.
Lou Jing smiled lightly, pleased that his Crown Prince was sharing confidential information with him. It was clear that he’d managed to win the Crown Prince’s trust. “If Yao Zhu’s so scared of him, why doesn’t he just apologise and offer Shen Lian compensation? It’d be over that way, wouldn’t it?” he said.
With the increase in the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ power, some greedy eunuchs occasionally accepted bribes in exchange for getting people into government positions. However, they had usually done this for positions that were no higher than fourth-ranked officials, and the people who bought the positions were actually capable persons, so this didn’t cause much chaos. Of course, the lack of chaos was also due in great part to another official called Yang Youting, who was in charge of the Ministry of Personnel. Yang Youting was a strait-laced old man who ran a tight ship in the Ministry of Personnel, and under his watch, there weren’t many official positions that could be bought to begin with. By competing with Shen Lian for the scarce positions that could be obtained through bribery, it was inevitable that Yao Zhu would end up offending him. However, this wouldn’t have been a big deal in the ordinary course of things.
“There’s definitely more than meets the eye,” Xiao Chengjun said with a sigh. Yao Zhu’s younger brother was a scholar who had passed the Imperial examinations, and he had originally been the Governor of Qingyang County. He was implicated when the Qingyang river dikes burst, and was removed from the position as a result. Yao Zhu’s attempt to get his brother back into a government position was understandable, but he had inadvertently offended Shen Lian in the process. It was really an unexpected calamity.
Yao Zhu got on a palanquin the moment the Imperial Court had been adjourned, heading westward toward Lou Jing’s country estate. He was afraid that someone would be tailing him, and so had even taken the extra precaution of changing to a horse carriage at the back of a crowded temple that was thick with smoke from incense burners and lighted joss sticks.
“This humble minister, Yao Zhu, greets the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince Consort,” Yao Zhu said, hurriedly getting on his knees and kowtowing to the couple. He had only brought a young page with him, but even this page had been held by Gao Yun at the outer residence. Yao Zhu entered the pavilion alone as such.
“Lord Yao, please rise,” Lou Jing said, smiling. Xiao Chengjun also raised a hand to indicate that he could get up.
“Dianxia, I should be put to death for obstructing your carriage yesterday, but I really am at my wits’ end,” Yao Zhu said. He refused to sit on the chair that a servant brought in and remained standing. “When Imperial Censor Geng was locked in the Imperial Prison, nobody’s submissions could move the Emperor. Only the Crown Prince was able to persuade the Emperor at that time, so I summoned up my courage to boldly beg you to save my life.”
Lou Jing supported his forehead with a hand, smiling faintly as he looked at Yao Zhu. “Lord Yao, what you said isn’t correct. There are a lot of people who are able to persuade the Emperor, like the Ministers of the Left and Right, Lord Shen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and Eunuch Huai Zhong. Even Guifei is able to persuade his Majesty. Why didn’t you go and look for them instead?” he asked.
“My Father Emperor’s moods and decisions are very arbitrary. My words are often futile, like an ant trying to shake a tree,”  Xiao Chengjun said. He completely ignored Yao Zhu’s fervent plea, focusing his attention on using the teacup cover to push aside the tea dregs in his cup instead.
Great beads of sweat appeared on Yao Zhu’s forehead. He had planned out what he wanted to say to convince the Crown Prince, but he hadn’t expected the Crown Prince’s Consort to be so difficult to deal with. He had no choice but to kneel down again and lay his cards bare. “I did not want to bother Dianxia, but actually, this matter does implicate Dianxia,” he said.
It turned out that Yao Su, Yao Zhu’s younger brother, had been a sheriff in Qingyang Prefecture for three years, and was about to be promoted. However, in the eighth month, the Qinghe River burst its banks after unusually heavy rainfall. Nearly all the arable land in Qinghe County had flooded, and the Imperial Court sent someone to look into the matter. In the course of the investigations, the Qinghe County Magistrate was discovered to have secretly embezzled the silver meant for strengthening the dikes at the Qinghe River. Yao Su had previously given this corrupt magistrate a good review during his appraisal, and was implicated as such.
“What does this have to do with the Crown Prince?” Lou Jing asked. He looked at Yao Zhu. This Qinghe County Magistrate had probably plied his brother with many gifts to cajole Yao Su into turning a blind eye to his misdeeds. Otherwise, how could Yao Su not have found out something as obvious as this? Whether or not the dikes had been strengthened was plain for all to see.
“Dianxia may not know this,” Yao Zhu mopped the sweat off his face, then grit his teeth and took a deep breath before continuing. “An official has impeached the Crown Prince in the Imperial Court, accusing him of being the ultimate beneficiary of the Qinghe County’s embezzled silver.”
“What?!” Xiao Chengjun looked up with a start. He stared at Yao Zhu, who was still kneeling in front of him.
Lou Jing was also shocked. Receiving embezzled silver carried the same punishment as actually embezzling the silver! He stood up suddenly and hauled Yao Zhu roughly to his feet. “Lord Yao, you should be careful about what you say,” he said, a hint of a threat in his voice.
“Chen speaks nothing but the truth,” Yao Zhu said, frightened. His voice trembled a little. “In fact, this matter was officially brought up in the Imperial Court this morning!”