The broad-sleeved robe, woven of ink-black and deep violet, unfurled and fell again as Queen Dowager Ji Man bent down and knelt beside Lord Chang’an, Zhao Jiao.
She gathered up her sleeves, pulled off her fingernail guards, and braced both hands against the splints on Zhao Jiao’s lower leg, examining them closely.
“Mother, it hurts, it hurts! Don’t move it!”
Zhao Jiao wailed and shrank back, crying again and again, “The royal physician has already looked at it. It will heal within a hundred days. Royal Brother set the bone for your son and nearly took my life. Aiyo, it hurts!”
The Queen Dowager’s fingers lightly touched the splint for a moment, then withdrew.
The hall fell silent.
Zhao Jiao’s cries of pain slowly quieted. The Queen Dowager lifted her head and glanced outside.
The palace attendants standing by the door immediately withdrew, closed the doors, and left. The palace maids and servants sweeping the courtyard also withdrew. Even the Langzhongling troops, whose numbers had increased within the palace because of the fire, were forced to move farther out.
Zhao Jiao looked up at the Queen Dowager, and in his alarm his shoulders trembled and hunched.
The pity and heartache in the Queen Dowager’s expression were gone, replaced by a fury that swelled with terrifying speed. She stared silently at Zhao Jiao’s face. Her snow-white skin gradually flushed red, as though she were not breathing, as though a breath of turbid air had been trapped in her chest and lungs—until at last it exploded like thunder.
“You know nothing of what’s good for you!”
The Queen Dowager raised her sleeve and struck Zhao Jiao. The algal-shaped insignia embroidered in gold and silver thread along the edge of her broad sleeve was uneven to the touch; when it slapped against Zhao Jiao’s face, it left no mark, but it burned with stinging pain.
“Mother, Mother!” Zhao Jiao had only retreated one step before he began to sob and threw himself forward at the Queen Dowager’s feet, clutching the hem of her skirt.
“Your son is in pain. Your son was wrong. Mother, please don’t hit me anymore.”
Just as he had when he made mistakes as a child, he wept and sought his mother’s forgiveness.
When other children in the palace made mistakes, they always fled, or else stubbornly endured the beating and scolding. Only Zhao Jiao was different. He would cry, cling to his mother, beg for mercy, say that it hurt, say that he was wrong.
His tears and sobs could often make the Queen Dowager’s heart soften despite herself.
Yet this time, the Queen Dowager let him plead, and struck the back of his head and his spine more than twenty times more. Only when she was exhausted did she stop.
The skin Zhao Jiao had exposed was red and swollen all over.
“You know you were wrong. Then why did you still do it?”
The Queen Dowager pushed him away and looked at Zhao Jiao’s tear-streaked face as she demanded an answer.
That night, Zhao Jiao had ordered a trusted man from the Queen Dowager’s palace to set fire to Zhiyang Palace.
After setting the fire, that palace attendant fled back to Dazheng Palace and was caught by the Queen Dowager’s guards.
They had just finished questioning him about what he had done and who had instructed him when they heard the movement of the Weiwei Guard sealing off every palace.
The Queen Dowager made a prompt decision: first, kill the attendant to cover up the scandal; then order someone to place the fire-starting materials the attendant had brought back into the side hall where Wei Nanxu lived.
She knew Zhao Zheng was not someone who would let the matter rest. If he could not find out who had done it, he would keep investigating.
As it happened, Wei Nanxu was staying in the palace, and thus became the best person to frame.
As for her friendship with Wei Zhangde, whom she had known since youth and with whom she had assisted the late king’s ascension, she had no time to consider it for the moment.
But very clearly, Zhao Zheng had not fully believed it.
He had let Wei Nanxu go, ordered Wei Zhangde to remain in his residence awaiting punishment, and had the Weiwei Guard continue to investigate the clues.
Today, when Zhao Jiao returned, even though he had put on all sorts of appearances to clear himself of suspicion, it only made the Queen Dowager all the more furious.
“Mother,” Zhao Jiao answered through his tears in the face of the Queen Dowager’s questioning, “your son cannot accept it.”
“Your son is the most filial. During those days when Father was gravely ill, it was always your son who served his decoctions and medicines. Your son has also never left Mother’s side; I have never missed my daily greetings. My greatest wish in this life is that Mother might live forever, so that your son may always kneel at your feet and fulfill his filial duty. But why did everything change the moment Royal Brother came back? Father wanted to choose the legitimate heir and the eldest son; Mother and the Chancellor also praise Royal Brother to the skies! Just because your son is a few years younger, am I unqualified to be king of our Great Yong? Am I unqualified to remain at Mother’s side, and can only go to my fief and suffer there?”
Because he was heartbroken, Zhao Jiao’s voice was miserable and his words disordered. His tears would not stop, and he lowered his head and sobbed.
“Cannot accept it?” Yet the Queen Dowager did not soften in the slightest. She said sternly, “Do you think your elder brother became the king of Great Yong merely because he is a few years older than you? From the age of six, your elder brother was sent by the late king to foreign states as a hostage. In twelve years, he traveled through six countries, learned six languages, investigated the customs of six peoples, understood the affairs of six states, and came to know the rulers and ministers of six realms! At eighteen, he returned to the capital. His responses to the court ministers made the late king so delighted he lost all restraint and said, ‘Even if I die now, I may close my eyes in peace.’ And you, Lord Chang’an? Since childhood, you have never lacked food or clothing—have you ever endured the slightest wind or frost? Pampered with favor and indulgence, have you ever faced nine deaths and one life? Gazing at the stars from the bottom of a well, have you ever truly examined the Nine Provinces?”
After saying this all in one breath, the Queen Dowager could not breathe smoothly and had to pound her chest hard. Only after a long while did she sigh again and say, “Lord Chang’an, what right do you have to be unwilling?”
Zhao Jiao, whose face had flushed crimson under the Queen Dowager’s scolding, sat dazed and stunned for a moment before saying dispiritedly, “All of that, your son could learn. What he knows, your son can also do. Your son was raised by Father and Mother. How could I be so useless that I lack the ability to serve as the king of a country?”
Looking at Lord Chang’an’s weeping, ashamed, and embarrassed state, the Queen Dowager could not help reaching out to stroke his face.
“You cannot do it.” Yet her voice was cool and clear. “Our Great Yong no longer needs a king who merely defends his soil. What Great Yong needs is a ruler who expands the borders. A ruler who expands the borders must pacify chaos and calamity, eliminate treacherous ministers, personally lead campaigns to eradicate the six states, march south against the Yue tribes and strike north against the Xiongnu. This is the wish of Great Yong’s royal house for five hundred years. And this wish, the late king said, only your royal brother can fulfill.”
Lord Chang’an’s mouth fell open in astonishment, as though he found the Queen Dowager’s words utterly absurd.
Eradicate the six states?
How was that possible?
When Father was alive, Great Yong had suffered two joint campaigns by the six states. Once they fought all the way to Hangu Pass; once they entered Hangu Pass and fought as far as Zuicheng, only eighty li from the capital.
Though the state had not been destroyed, Yong had been defeated both times.
The Queen Dowager nodded. A trace of ridicule appeared on her face as she looked at this most pampered son of hers, then exhaled slowly and said, “If we win, Huaxia will be unified, and we will open up a territory greater than the Zhou dynasty’s. If we lose, we will be divided among the other states like Jin, and Great Yong will cease to exist. Do you dare to do such a thing?”
Lord Chang’an pushed against the ground with both hands and retreated backward.
He shook his head, the terror on his face utterly exposed. It was as if he were already on a brutal battlefield, where advancing or retreating both meant death.
“No, no, Mother, why must it be like this? These countries have fought and made peace for five hundred years. Why must Great Yong stand out and unify some Huaxia?”
The Queen Dowager rose to her feet and looked at Zhao Jiao with sorrow and pity in her eyes. Her voice was gentle yet resolute. “Mother does not know why either. Perhaps it is to leave a name in the annals of history. Perhaps it is to wash away humiliation. Mother tells you this only so that you will understand: do not be unwilling. Live well and enjoy glory, wealth, and honor—that is the best ending you can have in this life. Mother can save you once; she cannot save you forever. Today, Zhao Zheng set your bone to warn you to walk the proper path and know when to advance and when to retreat.”
Zhao Jiao was instantly scared out of his wits.
“Royal Brother knows… it was me?”
The Queen Dowager shook her head.
“This time, Chancellor Wei is shielding you. Rest and recover well.”
After she finished speaking, she did not linger. The hand that had stroked Zhao Jiao slowly fell, and she rose and left.
Yet Zhao Zheng, who had only crouched down to set Lord Chang’an’s bone before returning to sit at the table, was already in so much pain that sweat drenched his back.
Originally, meals were taken kneeling on the floor. Because of Zhao Zheng’s injury, the palace attendants had specially made a dining table that could be used while seated. Who would have thought that if a person did not cherish his own body, no matter how thoughtfully others arranged things, it would be useless?
Jiang He sprinkled crushed beans and fine salt into the mallow soup, then used her chopsticks to break apart a piece of stewed mutton and put it into the vegetable soup to stir. A rich aroma spread. She scooped up a spoonful and smelled it, then added several drops of sour vinegar before taking a satisfied bite.
The mutton was fragrant, the mallow tender, and the vinegar covered the greasiness. The flavor was just right.
Only then did Jiang He remember to ask Zhao Zheng, “With royal physicians here, why did Your Majesty personally do it?”
Zhao Zheng’s gaze fell on that bowl of self-made mutton vegetable soup of hers, and he said flatly, “I feared the royal physician would be too heavy-handed, so I had no choice but to do it myself.”
You were the heavy-handed one!
Jiang He pursed her lips and continued eating. After she had finished that bowl of vegetable soup cleanly, she saw Zhao Zheng’s chopsticks move toward the mutton, and raised her own chopsticks to stop him. “Your Majesty is injured. Mutton is a food that aggravates wounds; you cannot eat it.”
“If I cannot eat it, why did the imperial kitchen make it?”
“Naturally because this consort likes to eat it.”
Jiang He’s chopsticks reached for the mutton. Skillfully, she stripped the soft, well-stewed lean meat from the lamb bone, picked it up, and held it before her nose. Only after taking a deep breath of its aroma did she place it into her mouth.
She ate with great relish.
Zhao Zheng withdrew his chopsticks, lowered his head slightly to look at Jiang He, and raised a brow. “The food in Great Yong’s royal palace—compared to Qi, how is it?”
“It cannot compare,” Jiang He answered without thinking. “Does Great Yong have a sea?”
“It has rivers,” Zhao Zheng replied.
“Do the rivers have fish?”
Jiang He glanced at him and shook her head with some disdain.
Zhao Zheng at once threw down his chopsticks in frustration.
“Great Yong can have a sea too,” he said in his heart.
At that moment, the commander of the Weiwei Guard requested an audience outside the hall, interrupting the husband and wife’s dispute.
“What is it?” Zhao Zheng asked.
Su Yu lowered his head and said, “Reporting to Your Majesty, something has happened to the Wei diplomatic mission that came to our capital to attend the state sacrifice. Prince Wei Ji of Wei was pursued by assassins and has disappeared.”
With a clatter, the chopsticks in Jiang He’s hand fell to the floor.
……