The Child Emperor

Dong Qing E opened her eyes and found that she was sleeping on the bed. The outer layer of her outfit was neatly placed beside her pillow. She turned her head and saw the Emperor sitting on the couch, his face bearing the tired look of one who had just awakened.

She hurried got out of bed and dressed so that she may attend to the Emperor. Her mind was groggy and she could not recall what had happened the night before. Now that she had a little bit of time, she could not help but ask, “Your Majesty… Did Your Majesty sleep well last night?”

“It was fine.” Han Ruzi yawned.

“Your Majesty…”

Han Ruzi put on a prim and proper expression. “We do not wish to speak of the events of last night. We hope you may forget as well.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall forget…” Dong Qing E’s mind was still a blank. She did not know what it was that she ought to forget.

Han Ruzi was deliberately being mystifying. Last night, he had moved Dong Qing E to the bed while he himself had slept on the couch. He had practiced breathing against the flow, but he fell asleep soon after. When he awoke, he was back to breathing normally. He did not know whether that little bit of practice had any effect.

Dong Qing E opened the door and called on the other eunuchs and servant girls. From now on, she could no longer speak freely to the Emperor.

From the periphery of his vision, Han Ruzi noticed an old eunuch he had never seen before. Everyone else was carrying items for his use while washing up, and only the old eunuch was holding a pen-brush in one hand, while the other held a thin booklet, as though intending to make a record of something. Dong Qing E hesitantly shook her head, and the old eunuch turned around and left without a second word.

Han Ruzi did not know that this man was in charge of recording the Emperor’s daily personal life, but he could guess one thing: his ploy of being mystifying did not work. Dong Qing E could remember what happened the night before, and would very likely attempt to “teach the way of husband-wife relations” again tonight.

This had become a big problem that Han Ruzi had to face. It was more urgent than any other matter.

The morning’s lesson was a sleep inducing one, taught by another old teacher. Over these past days, the two eunuchs had also let down their guard. When nothing was going on they would lean against the door and take a nap. Prince Donghai would also sleep while slumping over his desk.

Han Ruzi remained at his seat, and poked Prince Donghai lightly with a book.

Prince Donghai jolted awake, and rubbed the drool off the corner of his mouth. He glared at the Emperor with irritation.

“How did you sleep last night?” Han Ruzi asked very softly.

The old teacher opposite had his eyes closed and his head bobbing as he mumbled sentence after sentence of old texts. Neither the sound of the wind outside, nor the snores inside, nor the whispers of the youths, could affect him.

“Sleep… was sleep. It was the same as usual. Just that I had to wake up too early so I’m still sleepy. Why? Are you going to snitch on me? Who can bear such a boring lesson?” Prince Donghai raised his voice slightly but quickly lowered it down.

“No, I meant, did any one attend to you last night?”

“A servant-girl. How would I know who she is.” Prince Donghai had asked her name but he had long forgotten it by now.

“Zhao Jinfeng.” Han Ruzi had remembered.

“That’s right. What are you getting at?”

“Nothing. I’m just bored.” Han Ruzi had changed his mind. Asking Prince Donghai for help was definitely not a good idea. It might well cause more trouble.

Prince Donghai’s face was full of confusion. After a while, he slumped back on his desk and fell asleep.

At the Hall of Diligent Administration, there was no new news. The war was more complicated than the Emperor had imagined. The senior officials kept going on such matters as drafting men, sending provisions, building roads, and allocating horses, yet there was nothing much about actual fighting. From what they said, at least half a month’s worth of preparations was needed before a battle could be fought with the Qi army. That was the case for Qi as well: they were mustering forces east of Luoyang and did not have the strength to march westward for now.

Hence, Han Ruzi had plenty of time to secretly practice breathing against the flow. After half a day, other than feeling a little stiff in his stomach, he felt nothing.

In the afternoon, Han Ruzi requested to learn the Hundred-Step Fist. The young noble attendants agreed: they were tired of Meng Che’s theoretical lectures and occasional demonstrations. They wanted some actual practice, even if it were some ordinary fist techniques.

Meng Che did not have reason not to agree. Hence, he called on Marquis Piyuan’s grandson, Zhang Yanghao, to demonstrate how to train in the technique.

Zhang Yanghao’s grandfather and father were both in Grand Tutor Cui’s army. They were injured during the battle outside Linzi city, and no news had arrived in the past two days. The whole family was nerve-wrecked, and Zhang Yanghao could not focus. When he demonstrated the fist technique, he was distracted and kept making mistakes.

Meng Che had no choice but to teach personally. He moved his fist slowly, and gave explanations while practicing the technique. “The Hundred-Step Fist is easy to learn, but difficult to master. there are two ways to train in it. One is to focus on fighting, seeking to be steady, accurate, and vicious. The other is to focus on strengthening the body, seeking to be coordinated and flexible. You lords are from esteemed families — in literary matters, you study the classics; in martial matters you study the art of war. You train in command, the way of fighting thousands, or tens of thousands. Something like a fist technique is just a minor art — just use it to strengthen the body. There is no need to spend too much time and effort…”

While what he said was sensible, the young nobles were mostly hotheaded youths. They were not interested in just strengthening the body. Once they learned a few moves, they quickly sought to find opponents, throwing fists and kicks at each other. Their tempo increased as they did so, until they did not even bother with proper moves and techniques.

Meng Che signaled with a glance, and he and his sister Meng E started walking around the young nobles, preventing their fights from getting too heated, and also preventing anyone from getting heard.

Han Ruzi remembered what Meng E had said, and chose to train in the method to strengthen the body. His moves were slow, smooth and steady, only that the moves he learned were quite few. In one afternoon he only learned three to five moves. He just kept repeating them, but secretly practiced breathing against the flow. He found that this was actually very difficult: it was difficult to coordinate his breathing and his movements.

There was no one around the Emperor. Only Prince Donghai remained within ten steps. He was completely uninterested in learning fist techniques, so he started observing the Emperor. Not long later, he started laughing. “Your Majesty’s fist technique is truly special. You don’t look like you’re fighting, nor does it look like you are training the body. You look like…” There were others around so he lowered his voice. “An overturned turtle.”

Han Ruzi ignored him. That his training was difficult was actually a good thing. At least it indicated that Meng E did not deceive him with empty words.

Meng E never came near the Emperor.

Training allowed Han Ruzi to forget his troubles. But eventually, the sun would set and he would have to return to Cining Palace and face the night’s challenges.

Even though he was hungry, Han Ruzi was distracted during dinner. He soon put down his bowl and chopsticks, and took the opportunity to speak while Prince Donghai and numerous eunuchs and servant-girls were around. He said flatly, “Zhang Youcai, you shall attend to us tonight.”

Zhang Youcai was a young eunuch, around twelve or thirteen. He was short and skinny, with a quick-witted face. After hearing what the Emperor said, he hurried knelt and said, “As is commanded.”

Han Ruzi had predicted that Dong Qing E would not raise any objections in front of so many people.

He did not predict wrongly. Dong Qing E stood to the side quietly, not even raising her head. It was someone else who spoke instead.

An old eunuch whom Han Ruzi had never paid much attention to came forward. He knelt first before rising up. “Is Your Majesty unsatisfied with the servant-girl in attendance? I shall make changes immediately.”

“No no, she is very good.” The last thing Han Ruzi wanted to see was someone being punished because of him. “We… have been waking up at night to use the chamber pot, so We need one more person in attendance.”

The old eunuch nodded and turned to the young eunuch. He said sternly, “Zhang Youcai, serve the Emperor carefully!”

Zhang Youcai had hardly got up but he quickly knelt on the ground again. “This servant shall serve Your Majesty with all his heart, not daring to be negligent in the slightest.”

The old eunuch was satisfied and he went back to his station. Han Ruzi heaved a sigh of relief. With one more person in the bedroom, Dong Qing E would probably not attempt to “teach” him they way of husband-wife relations.

Prince Donghai ate his dinner while stealing glances at the Emperor, appearing to suspect that something was going on. But after a while he went back to chewing his food. Even though he did not move much during training, he was starving.

When it was time for bed, the old eunuch ordered for a floor mat to be placed by the couch. The young eunuch Zhang Youcai could only sleep there. Han Ruzi felt rather bad. Because of his orders, Zhang Youcai could not sleep on a bed.

Zhang Youcai did not seem to mind. Instead, he was very happy, maybe even a little overexcited. He watched the Emperor’s every move, his hands always ready to assist the Emperor, like some moving walking stick.

Dong Qing E quietly made the bed and assisted the Emperor in getting dressed. She did not speak, nor did she make eye contact. She reverted to being an ordinary servant-girl.

Han Ruzi finally heaved a sigh of relief.

No way would he father an heir. That was his resolve and bottom line. As for his plan of action, he must not sleep with any servant-girl.

The night went by peacefully. Han Ruzi felt like he had achieved a victory. The next day, he was in a good mood. He even engaged when the old teacher went on about the Book of Changes.

But in this secret conflict, the Emperor was entirely on the defensive. The other side could change tactics at any time and mount another attack.

That night’s evening, when they returned to Cining Palace, Prince Donghai was notified that he was to move out of the central quarters and to one of the rooms in the east. He did not like sharing quarters with the Emperor, but he did not like being chased away more. Yet he dared not make a scene, and could only be picky over his food. He picked a piece of meat with his chopsticks but did not send it to his mouth. Instead, he threw it on the ground, as a servant-girl quickly went to pick it up.

Han Ruzi felt like this was a bad sign, but the young eunuch Zhang Youcai was still around. He was like an energetic monkey who treated being able to attend to the Emperor like a significant achievement.

Night fell, and the servants withdrew. Prince Donghai reluctantly went to the eastern quarters. Before he left he even harrumphed a few times. His meaning was clear: he was the true owner of the central quarters, and would eventually seize back what was taken from him.

Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E went about their business, preparing for bed and placing the floor mat on the ground. Han Ruzi relaxed. It seemed like his plan was still working, and he would be able to get through another night.

But he had celebrated too early. Just as everything was ready for bed, an unwanted guest arrived. The eunuch Zuo Ji arrived uninvited. He did not even knock, and he stood in the middle of the room while examining the surroundings. Zhang Youcai and Dong Qing E knew their place and quickly withdrew from the room.

“Do you have something to say? We are about to rest.” Han Ruzi hoped that he could use the little Imperial authority he had to scare him away.

Zuo ji only smiled. It was a casual and homey smile. But it was also a fearless, disrespectful smile. “Does Your Majesty suffer from some illness of the body?”

“Huh? My body is fine.”

“Then why does Your Majesty resist women so?”

Zuo Ji asked the question too bluntly. Han Ruzi blushed in embarrassment. “The unrest in Guan-dong has yet to be pacified. We… are still young. How would we have the mood to think of such things? Who sent you?”

Zuo Ji smiled and shook his head. “Your Majesty’s worry for the country and for the people is commendable. But the unrest in Guan-dong can be left to the officials to handle. The Empress Dowager sits in the Imperial Court, so nothing can go wrong. Consummation is Your Majesty’s greatest responsibility.”

“We will consider it, but not tonight.” Han Ruzi could only delay matters and hope that Yang Feng would return in time.

The smile was wiped off Zuo Ji’s face. “Tonight it is. It cannot wait.”