Chapter 4: A Casual Remark
The Xuandi felt deep shame in his heart. Looking at the crown prince’s eldest grandson, who bore an uncanny likeness to himself in his youth, he could not help but feel greatly ashamed.
If only he had discovered it sooner. But his arrangements were already nearly complete.
“Good boy. Ambitious. Our Han dynasty values martial spirit; a true man should have your qualities, not cower like a turtle!”
The old man praised Liu Jin lavishly, and Liu Jin gave an awkward, helpless smile.
“What? You think I’m wrong?”
Liu Jin shook his head. “I’m only sighing that if my own old man could be like you, that would be wonderful.”
“He never comes to see me, nor my father. Time changes many things. He never truly understood either me or my father.”
The aged face of Xuandi fell into silence. His eyes lowered slightly, and for a long time he said nothing.
“Oh, by the way, what do you do for a living, old sir?”
Xuandi clasped his hands behind his back and looked down at the fields before him. Slowly lifting a finger, he pointed into the distance. “All of this is mine.”
“A great landowner, then?” Liu Jin laughed. “That’s pretty much what I guessed.”
“Where do you live?”
Liu Jin asked again.
Xuandi smiled. “Boy, are you from the authorities? Why are you even checking household records?”
Liu Jin laughed. “Don’t be so stingy. If I’m ever in a bad mood, it’ll be convenient to come by and ask for a drink.”
“Looks like your mood today isn’t all that good, then?” Xuandi studied him with a faint smile.
“The old man hasn’t lived this long for nothing. Sharp mind, meticulous enough to build such a vast estate. Only natural. I merely said a few words, and you can already tell my mood is bad?”
“Nonsense,” Xuandi said. “Didn’t you just say your grandfather won’t see you?”
“Not that.” Liu Jin shook his head. “You don’t understand. This matters a great deal to me, and it matters just as much for the future of my father and me.”
“Heh.”
How is it that I never noticed I had such an amusing grandson? This boy lacks his father’s stiffness and reserve. He speaks without restraint, yet never makes one feel that he is arrogant or disrespectful. On the contrary, there is a warmth to him; listening to him is strangely soothing.
“Very well. Talking with you for a while has improved my mood somewhat.”
“I’ll find a way to see my grandfather again. Sooner or later, I’ll manage it.”
“Oh, and I have some good news for you.”
Xuandi eyed him suspiciously. “What good news?”
Liu Jin pointed up at the sky. “If nothing goes wrong, it may rain this afternoon.”
“Nonsense,” the old man said, giving him a white-eyed look. “You’re even trying to fool an old man? Have you no conscience at all?”
He departed with a wave over his shoulder, brushing the dirt from his backside as he strode away in unhurried style.
Not long after he left, a guard in embroidered robes approached from nearby and bowed. “Your Majesty, just now Grand Minister Gongsun rode past from afar and seemed to notice you speaking here with His Highness the Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson.”
“Should this servant go warn Grand Minister Gongsun?”
Xuandi said meaningfully, “No need. Let him watch.”
“This grandson of mine is rather interesting. When he leaves the palace, send a few more guards to follow him. If anything happens to him, you will come to me with your head.”
“Your servant obeys!”
Xuandi looked up at the sky. The sun blazed overhead, and the air itself seemed heavy with heat. He could not help smacking his lips. “Can this damned weather really bring rain?”
“Return to the palace.”
He gave the order, and soon arrived at the Hall of the Front Chamber in the Weiyang Palace.
He had not yet begun state business today. In the morning, after hearing that Liu Jin had left Weiyang Palace but not returned to Changle Palace, Xuandi had followed him out, and only now had time to attend to proper affairs.
“Go inform Deputy Minister Lu Chongguo of the Palace Workshops to come see me.”
“Yes!”
Soon after, Lu Chongguo arrived respectfully in the Hall of the Front Chamber. Xuandi had a eunuch present him with a piece of silk and said, “This is a dragon-bone waterwheel. It can be placed in low-lying ponds and rivers to draw water upward for irrigating the fields.”
“Now that the water levels in the rivers have fallen, the people are finding it difficult to draw water, let alone irrigate their land. Have your workshops produce this device and promote it throughout Guanzhong. Encourage agricultural work and sericulture. Send men personally to instruct the local commanderies and counties, and have them teach the people how to use this implement.”
Lu Chongguo studied the farming tool drawn on the silk. He was deeply versed in agricultural implements, and it was obvious he had never seen anything like this before. Instantly intrigued, he examined the mechanism and, once he understood how it worked, drew in a sharp breath. He asked Xuandi, “Your Majesty, may this subject ask which master devised such an implement?”
Xuandi said, “The Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson, Liu Jin.”
“This subject will at once order the Palace Workshops to manufacture it.”
After leaving the Hall of the Front Chamber and walking along the jade-paved road outside, Lu Chongguo’s expression shifted repeatedly.
The Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson... Liu Jin?
What an unfamiliar name. So unfamiliar, in fact, that these ministers had nearly forgotten the existence of this eldest grandson of the imperial house.
The year before last, with the birth of the Sixth Prince, Liu Fuling, His Majesty had specially granted the Yao Mother Palace, and the court had all but concluded that the signal for deposing the Crown Prince was growing ever more pronounced.
And now, out of the blue, he had mentioned the Crown Prince’s palace side... what could this mean?
...
North of Chang’an City, the Chancellor’s Residence.
Although Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were both long dead, the Wei family still retained power in the court, and the lofty post of chancellor had now fallen into their hands.
Gongsun He was the husband of Wei Junru, and Wei Junru was the elder sister of Wei Zifu.
Yet as the Emperor’s attitude toward the Crown Prince’s palace grew increasingly ambiguous and changed by the day, Gongsun He felt a mounting unease.
If His Majesty insisted on deposing the Crown Prince, that would amount to purging every branch of the Wei clan’s imperial in-law power.
The Crown Prince, Liu Ju, was Wei Zifu’s own son. The Wei family had risen entirely through Wei Zifu. Now that Wei Zifu had fallen out of favor, how could Gongsun He, as a man of the Wei family, remain at ease? If the Crown Prince did not ascend the throne, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Though Gongsun He had made many efforts, the number of supporters he had in court continued to dwindle.
They all seemed convinced that Liu Ju’s days as Crown Prince were numbered.
“Father!”
With the imperial favor shown to the Gongsun family so great that the father was the current chancellor and the son the current master of the imperial stables, Gongsun Jingsheng hurried into the main hall and found Gongsun He.
“Guess what I saw this morning?”
Gongsun He asked suspiciously, “What?”
“The old man went out of the palace.”
“What is there to be so shocked about? Guanzhong is in drought. It is only natural for him to inspect the people.”
“No.”
Gongsun Jingsheng said, “The old man was chatting cheerfully with a young man outside the city.”
“Hm?”
Gongsun Jingsheng continued, “That young man... looked, looked like our eldest nephew.”
“Which eldest nephew?” Gongsun He did not understand.
“Liu Jin, the Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson, Liu Jin!”
Gongsun He froze. “Tell me in detail!”
Gongsun Jingsheng recounted everything that had happened that day, word for word.
Truthfully, Liu Jin had little presence. Even when they went to Changle Palace, they usually only spoke with Crown Prince Liu Ju. They seldom saw the Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson. At a time like this, no one would pay much attention to a royal grandson. At most, they would greet Liu Jin whenever they visited Changle Palace. He was always so quiet and composed, the very model of a Confucian gentleman.
“Something’s not right.”
Gongsun He said in astonishment, “If the old man wanted to see the royal grandson, why go out to the suburbs? He could have gone to Changle Palace, or summoned the Crown Prince’s Eldest Grandson to Weiyang Palace. That makes no sense.”
“Could you have mistaken him?”
After hearing his father say that, Gongsun Jingsheng also began to feel doubtful. Could he really have seen wrongly?