The Child Emperor

Meng E stared at the Emperor for quite a while. “You want me to betray the Empress Dowager?”

“I can only give you the repayment that you want if I am a true Emperor. But unless I understand the Empress Dowager better, I will never be a true Emperor. So I am asking for your help. That way, the repayment that you want would be more assured.”

“My brother was right — you are as cunning as the rest of them.”

Han Ruzi had wanted to refute this, but he changed his mind as the words reached his mouth. “That’s right. And I wish to be even more cunning than them. Only that way can I get back my throne.”

Meng E looked down as she thought things through. Suddenly, she smiled. This was the first time she smiled in front of the Emperor. It was a very slight smile, like a tug on the sides of her lips. “What am I doing. You are just a child. To think that I thought you could accomplish something great. Forget it, don’t mention this again. Take it like I’ve never approached you.”

Han Ruzi was stunned. He did not expect that his attempt to win over Meng E would fail in this manner. He could not help but ask, “What did I say wrong?”

“If you wish to be a cunning person, then you should not have revealed your kind side in the first place. Your cunning is childish.”

Han Ruzi smiled abashedly. “I am still learning. Sometimes… Please do not mind me. Do you really not want my repayment anymore?”

Meng E thought for a while. “You are the Emperor. Perhaps you should be more cunning. But I am of the pugilist world. We take pride in keeping our word, our promises must be kept even unto death.”

“You take pride in keeping your word, while the Son of Heaven’s word is said to be as heavy as a nine-legged cauldron. Aren’t we equal?”

“I guess I have little choice… Alright. I don’t know how the Empress Dowager’s wound came to be. My brother and I were brought into the palace as servant-girls, with nothing to do for three years. Only when the previous Emperor passed away were we brought to the Empress Dowager and the Grand Consort’s side. At that time, her wrist was already wounded.”

“A fresh wound?”

“Don’t ask so many questions. The person whom we are following is the Empress Dowager. You are just… just…”

“I’m just a back up. Just in case. Mm, that’s what I would do as well.”

“It seems like you know yourself well enough.”

The door opened, and this time it was a proper attendant who entered, bringing in a late lunch. With someone else around, Meng E did not speak anymore, standing to one side like an ornament.

Before the meal was finished, Prince Donghai was sent back. He had an expressionless face. He sat next to the Emperor and started eating unceremoniously. Just after a few mouthfuls, he lay on a couch, with a cool expression like he was too lazy to speak.

The attendants quickly cleared the utensils. There were quite a number who were attending to the Emperor and Prince Donghai, but none of them stayed behind. The two of them were used to it and did not find it strange.

Meng E stayed behind. She was a guard, not a servant.

Prince Donghai sat up and glared at the Emperor. “You lied, didn’t you?”

“What lie? Han Ruzi raised his cup of tea and tasted it slowly.

“Don’t pretend. That tale you told at Qinzheng Hall — it was all made up, wasn’t it?”

“Lord Jing and Chancellor Yin corroborated my words.”

“Hah. They were just trying to please the Empress Dowager, which is why they cooperated with your storytelling. You are truly daring. Or was it someone who told you to do it? Yang Feng, it must be Yang Feng. He must have gotten you to do it.”

“You are wrong.” Han Ruzi shook his head. “I meant what I said at that time. Surely you were there when the Martial Emperor summoned his sons and grandsons?”

“Of course.” Prince Donghai stood up, as though about to fly into a fit of fury. But then he sat down and said confusedly, “I know there was such a thing, but I can no longer remember. You are just a few days older than me, how could you remember so clearly?”

“That was not only the first time I saw the Martial Emperor. It was also the first time I was away from home. How could it not leave a deep impression?” Han Ruzi spoke frankly. He found it much easier to lie to Prince Donghai than it was to Meng E.

Before Meng E, he always had to think about whether to execute some scheme, and once he thought about it, he would be seen through. But he felt no guilt towards Prince Donghai, hence he did not need to hide anything. Han Ruzi finally understood what Yang Feng meant by what he said: distinguishing between morality and schemes causes one to be readable.

Prince Donghai was skeptical. Seeing the Emperor appear pensive, he felt like he had been tricked. “In any event, you are a liar. But you can only lie once now that the Empress Dowager has seen through you. You are useful now, but when the Qi rebellion is pacified, when my uncle returns to court, you will be useless. When the time comes, heh heh.”

Han Ruzi laughed. “Will the Qi rebellion be pacified?”

“You are a liar, and the senior officials are not good men either. All of them have their self interests. After your nonsensical speech, they were finally willing to put in the effort and put together another two hundred thousand strong army. And then news arrived that even though Prince Qi won a battle, he suffered significant losses and had to stop after conquering Luoyang. He is still far from Hangu Gate and the Capital. Everyone says that Prince Qi wants to… Why am I saying all this to you?”

“Prince Qi wants to ride the wave of his victory and ally himself with lords and landowners to push westwards.” Han Ruzi finished Prince Donghai’s sentence.

Prince Donghai stared at the Emperor. After a while, he stood up. “In the future, you will die a horrible death.” With that said, he went to the eastern side-chamber.

The sky soon turned dark. Dinner was a few dishes of dimsum. Prince Donghai refused to come out, and ordered the attendants to bring the meal to his room. Meng E did not eat nor did she drink — she remained motionless at a corner, as though she had completely forgotten that she had an unfinished conversation with the Emperor.

Cining Palace had front and rear quarters.[1] The Grand Consort lived in the front quarters, while the Emperor and Prince Donghai stayed at the rear. The rooms were ample, but for the convenience of maintaining security, both of them stayed in the side-chambers of the central quarters of the rear.

Early into the night, Meng E withdrew. She was a palace guard, and needed to follow the guard shifts. When she was not supposed to be there, she could not stay for a moment more.

Just after Meng E left, Grand Consort Shang-guan arrived, bringing two eunuchs and two servant-girls. “In the future, they will be designated to serve Your Majesty and Prince Donghai.”

The Emperor’s attendants were often changed. But this time, it seemed like it was to be fixed. The four were very young, especially the two eunuhcs. They were youths around the same age as the Emperor. The two servant-girls were slightly older, but not more than twenty.

Prince Donghai did not dare behave indecorously towards the Grand Consort, so he exited the side-chamber to pay his greetings. He pretended to be very happy, and asked, ‘What are your names? Our attendants keep changing, so I can’t remember any.”

“This servant-girl is Zhao Jinfeng.”

“This servant-girl is Dong QingE.”

“This servant is Liang An.”

“This servant is Zhang Youcai.”

The names of those in the palace were very simple. Prince Donghai did not pay much thought to them. He smiled at the Grand Consort and said, “The Empress Dowager can sure keep her equanimity. Only the Empress Dowager can hold the fort with these officials. Without the Empress Dowager, who knows what chaos the Imperial Court will fall into.”

The Grand Consort and the Empress Dowager looked somewhat alike, just that the Grand Consort smiled often, thus appearing to be much gentler. “Yet there are many who say that it is because of the Empress Dowager that the Imperial Court is in such chaos.”

“Who said that? Lock him up in a cell and impeach him for his grave disrespect!” Prince Donghai appeared as though he was infuriated.

The Grand Consort broke into an even fuller smile, following which she sighed. “There are too many of them to lock up. Moreover, this is the moment where we need all hands onboard. So all the more we cannot lock them up.”

Prince Donghai rambled on here and there for a moment, but finally he got to the topic that he was truly concerned about. “If one were to talk about who is loyal in the court, that would surely be Grand Tutor Cui Hong. This has nothing to do with the fact that he is my uncle. I lived at my uncle’s residences for a long period of time, and saw with my own eyes how he worked for his country day and night. He often said, ‘The Cui clan earned its fortunes through being an Imperial In-law. If we do not do our very best, we would be too ashamed to face the Marital Emperor and the Martial Empress.”

“We know that Grand Tutor Cui is fully loyal. Otherwise, the Empress Dowager would not have entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of pacifying Qi.”

“But those senior officials are infuriating. They even accused my uncle of conspiring with Prince Qi — how can that be? My uncle official title is the Grand Tutor, his noble title is the Marquis of Guyang, his family members are in the Capital working as officials. If Prince Qi had his way, the Cui clan would be the first to suffer.”

The Grand Consort smiled and nodded. “Even though Prince Donghai is young, you knows much. How deplorable that those senior officials don’t see things as clearly as you, a mere child.”

“The officials have their own schemes. Who wouldn’t want to turn to Prince Qi for higher rank and wealth.”

The Grand Consort did not respond to this. She looked towards the Emperor who had kept his silence. “Your Majesty did well today. It is unexpected that Your Majesty could remember things that happened so long ago.”

Prince Donghai really wanted to shout, “The Emperor is a liar”, but he did not dare make a peep. He could only resentfully retreat to the side. Even though he shared quarters with the Emperor, he had no standing to sit before the Grand Consort. He could only remain standing like the eunuchs and servant-girls.

“We do not know much else, but the Heir of Qi’s questioning of whether We are the son of the Graceful Emperor is intolerable,” Han Ruzi answered. He lifted his head to glance at Prince Donghai, and saw him reveal a contemptuous expression.

“I have some impression of that gathering.” The Grand Consort raised her head slightly. “That was the only time the Martial Emperor summoned all his sons and grandsons. I remember that morning — the Empress Dowager and I took your Imperial Brother out of his manor. At that time, he was not the Emperor yet. He was not even the Imperial Grandson yet.[2] When he returned, he was very happy. He said that his Imperial Grandfather liked him very much, and had held him and spoken a lot to him.”

The Grand Consort’s voice was full of warmth. Han Ruzi and Prince Donghai did not dare to respond. This was the first time anyone had mentioned their Imperial Brother ever since they entered the palace.

The Grand Consort heaved a long sigh. “That’s right, the previous Emperor’s posthumous title has been decided. Emperor Si, the Thoughtful Emperor. Thoughtful for pure virtue, thoughtful for reflections on the state of the people, thoughtful for worries of internal and external troubles, thoughtful for regrets of the past, and for the Empress Dowager and I, we keep him in our thoughts.”

All the more, Han Ruzi and Prince Donghai could not respond to this.

“As for Your Majesty’s era name, the Empress Dowager has a thought. As Your Majesty is the Thoughtful Emperor’s younger brother, it should be regarded not as an inheritance but as a substitution. Hence, there is no need to change the era name, and it should remain as the ‘Gongcheng era’ and continue to be in use. What does Your Majesty think?”

Han Ruzi did not expect that his opinion would be asked for such a matter. Hence, he nodded and said, “That’s pretty good.”

The Grand Consort smiled and rose. “Rest well, Your Majesty. If Your Majesty has any requests, let the servant-girls inform me.”

Han Ruzi nodded. He did not understand why the Grand Consort had made this trip.

The two eunuchs and two servant-girls escorted the Grand Consort out. Prince Donghai hopped in front of the Emperor and said quietly, “Did you not understand the Empress Dowager and the Grand Consort’s intentions?”

“What intentions?”

“The era name ‘Gongcheng’, meaning accomplishments, is from the Dao De Jing. Used in the context of the previous emperor, it means ‘accomplishments complete but unclaimed; unclaimed, hence they remain.’ But for you, it means ‘retiring after accomplishing what you’re supposed to do’. The Empress Dowager wants to get rid of you!”

[1] This is a simplified image of the kind of Chinese architecture referred to here. Since it is the Imperial Palace being talked about, you can imagine it to be a lot wider, longer, and with more compartments, but this is what is meant by front and rear quarters.

[2] The Imperial Grandson is the heir of the Crown Prince. The implication here is that at this time the Graceful Emperor was not yet the Crown Prince of the Martial Emperor, hence his eldest son (Han Ruzi and Prince Donghai’s older brother) was not yet the Imperial Grandson.