The Joy That Cannot Be Hidden
The Emperor, who had been wearing a warm and kindly smile, clenched his teeth at Dong Qingping's words and wiped every trace of mirth from his face. The boy was weak and incompetent, yes — but he would not stand for one mere minister treating his son with such contempt.
"Master Dong, are you saying My son does not please you?"
Anger laced the Emperor's voice.
Dong Qingping bowed his head again and again, his face full of flustered distress.
"Your humble servant would never dare deceive Your Majesty. Everything I have said is the truth. Please make a wise decision."
The Emperor felt a suffocating anxiety, as though he were about to lose face. Watching His Majesty furrow his brow, the Crown Prince wore an expression of utter incomprehension.
"Father, only recently Prince Liang handed over Princess Zhen's letter, and now he has brought out Lady Dong's belongings. Could it be that once again, Prince Liang is harboring designs of his own?"
At the Crown Prince's words, Dong Qingping's heart plummeted, and he hastily bowed low.
"Your Majesty, if Prince Liang has set his heart upon my daughter, then it would be a blessing beyond measure for her! To take a prince of the realm as a son-in-law — nothing could please your humble servant more. So I beg you, command Prince Liang to send a matchmaker! Your Majesty, this manner of proceeding is untenable. I have two legitimate daughters and two born of concubines; if Zhengzhen's name is sullied, then my other daughters will never be able to marry either.
The hearts of all parents are the same — I implore you to have mercy on my circumstances. Please, do not raise this marriage talk using my daughter's possessions. I beg you earnestly! I will wait until Prince Liang sends a proper matchmaker and see the wedding through honorably."
With a sincerity both grave and desperate, Dong Qingping appealed to the Emperor, pleading with him to understand a parent's heart. The Emperor calmed somewhat, yet he could not stop the seed of suspicion toward Prince Liang from welling up inside him.
Since Dong Qingping was pleading so earnestly, there was nothing to do but summon Dong Zhengzhen for a formal confrontation — and that he could not bring himself to do.
The Emperor felt a twinge of embarrassment as well.
Born the son of an Emperor, couldn't you at least behave with some dignity? Sending love letters to women, producing their belongings! Why must you always choose the most despicable of deeds?
"You may go."
The Emperor spoke at last. Dong Qingping bowed respectfully and withdrew from the great hall.
"What on earth is wrong with that boy!"
The Emperor's fury finally boiled over.
"Is this the conduct of a prince? And he still calls himself My son!"
The Crown Prince, quick-witted as ever, presented tea and hastened to soothe his father's anger.
"If this humble son may say so, Lord Dong may simply not have known that his daughter had made a lifelong private vow with Prince Liang. And hearing him out, his words do have merit. If rumors spread that he brought out his daughter's belongings to request a marriage, then Lord Dong's other daughters would never be able to hold their heads high again."
The Emperor accepted the teacup and listened to his son's words.
"That said, it is not as though Prince Liang is blameless. He is a prince grown to manhood — surely you would have seen to his marriage, Father, and above all, you would never force a woman upon a son who did not want her. If he had requested it openly and honorably, you would have made fine arrangements for him; there would be no need to force a match upon him at all. Why must he go out of his way to bring a woman's belongings here and drag an innocent maiden's reputation through the mud?
If he truly loved Lady Dong, that is all the more reason he must not do such a thing — unless, of course, he intends that she shall marry no man but himself."
The Emperor's face, already brimming with displeasure, crumpled further.
"It is fortunate indeed that Lord Dong is merely Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial, and not a provincial governor with military authority in his hands. Otherwise I might almost suspect Prince Liang of harboring some other motive! Forcing through a Dong family bride even while smearing an innocent girl's good name — how could one not think it?"
The Crown Prince spoke with a half-smile, as though teasing his father.
In that instant, the Emperor's teacup froze halfway to his lips.
Dong Qingping held no military power — but Dong Qing'e did.
And of all things, Dong Qing'e and Dong Qingping were devoted brothers, and Dong Qing'e had no legitimate daughters of his own; he was said to cherish his elder brother's legitimate daughters as if they were his own flesh and blood.
Seeing the Emperor sink into brooding silence, the Crown Prince thought he had struck precisely the nerve that troubled him most.
The Second Prince had once raised a rebellion, stormed the palace, and plotted treason. Since that day, the Emperor had watched with grave suspicion all dealings between ministers who commanded armies and the princes. He lived in fear that the nightmare might repeat itself. It was the very reason he had kept even his legitimate son, King Xin, at a distance from the senior courtiers.
The Emperor set down his teacup again. And yet Prince Liang was a feckless, weakling son. It could well have been simple coincidence.
Then, unbidden, the dream of the white tiger surfaced in his mind, and the savage face of Prince Liang telling Dong Ji to go to his death flickered before his eyes.
Wary of disturbing his father's brooding, the Crown Prince carefully took his place at his side and began kneading the Emperor's shoulders, taking the duty of a servant upon himself.
The Emperor absently fingered the wine flask resting on the armrest of his chair. He turned over in his mind why Prince Liang was requesting the elixir. If the Emperor's time ran out soon, the throne would pass naturally to the Crown Prince — and then Prince Liang would have no path to the throne left at all. Could it be that his son was guarding his father's health simply to make certain that he did not die just yet?
The Emperor turned his head and looked at the Crown Prince, who was laboring away at his shoulders.
Lifting his head, the Crown Prince met his father's eyes and asked with apparent concern,
"Has this humble son pressed too hard? Are you in pain?"
The Emperor's thoughts drifted to Shi Panshan, returned from Yanwo, shielding Prince Liang — pleading on his behalf before the throne. At the time, Shi Panshan had been lavish with praise, declaring that Prince Liang had managed the suppression of the Yanwo disaster admirably, and that the militia had risen only because the refugees' actions had truly grown violent beyond all reason.
The Emperor leaned back against the dragon armrest, waved the Crown Prince away, and sat in deep contemplation.
It was he himself who had seated the present Crown Prince upon that seat. Filial to a fault — and above all, genuinely afraid of his own father. Storming the palace to plot treason was something the boy could never do. On that point, the Emperor was certain. It had never once occurred to him to keep only a single Crown Prince and raise the other princes to create tension, balancing the Crown Prince's power against his brothers'.
Since time immemorial, in every nation under heaven, the struggle for the position of Crown Prince had been a cruel, endless war painted in blood. And if one dug down to the root of it... in the end, it was because the Emperor himself had distrusted his heir, granting the other princes an opening to covet the seat.
Which meant Prince Liang's marriage had to be chosen with the utmost care, from the most fitting household possible. Not too elevated — and yet not too lowly either.
"Gao Demu!"
At the Emperor's call, Gao Demu scurried over at once.
"Your Majesty, what are your commands?"
"Go and pass a private word to Prince Liang. Tell him that because Dong Qingping is a relative of the Bai family, and Prince Liang once tried to frame Princess Zhen, he does not approve of this marriage — so he would do well to stop sullying Lady Dong's good name and simply hand over the Ping'an Lock. Then you are to go yourself and quietly return it to Dong Qingping!"
The Emperor tapped the table lightly with his fingers.
"Tell him that once this matter is settled, I will personally find him a fine match."
"Yes, Your Majesty! This servant will go at once."
Gao Demu was about to withdraw when the Emperor called him back.
"If I recall correctly, the retired Minister of Sacrifices, Tan Song, had two granddaughters. Were they children of the Minister's eldest son by his former wife?"
Gao Demu, catching the Emperor's meaning instantly, answered without missing a beat.
"Yes, that is correct! The eldest daughter-in-law of the Tan family died in childbirth, and the current wife is a second marriage. The Minister has been extraordinarily blessed — no sooner had he taken the new Lady Yi into the household than he gained two grandsons in a matter of years."
"Have the Minister's granddaughters been wed yet?"
The Emperor asked.
"The eldest granddaughter was married last year, but the second young lady is still unwed. If a granddaughter could marry as Prince Liang's consort, the Minister would be overjoyed."
Gao Demu said with a smile.
The Emperor nodded. The Tan household was a scholarly family steeped in old and venerable tradition — a fitting match for Prince Liang, he judged. The Minister of Sacrifices' granddaughter and the Emperor's own son seemed a perfectly matched pair.
"Convey my will to Prince Liang."
He could hardly leave his son, who needed the elixir refined, out in the cold. The Emperor instructed Gao Demu to first sound out the boy's own wishes. Then, narrowing his eyes, he added one more thing.
"And you — try persuading Prince Liang yourself, separately. Tell him that the Dong family prizes its reputation above all else, and if Prince Liang forces that young lady to be his consort against their will, Dong Qingping is not a man who would ever tolerate a daughter who brought shame upon the house! Watch closely what reaction Prince Liang shows, and report every last flicker of expression back to me!"
Gao Demu was startled inwardly. Sensing that the Emperor had begun to suspect Prince Liang, he gave his answer and withdrew.
Only after Gao Demu had gone did the Emperor slowly lean back into his chair and stroke the dragon's head carved into the armrest.
The truth was, he had never once entirely banished his suspicions of Prince Liang. When the plot to frame Bai Weizheng came to light, Prince Liang had claimed he had no choice, that he did it to save King Xin. And in the army provisions affair, Jin Dexiao's death had made any formal confrontation impossible. So the Emperor had confined him to his princely manor, ordering him not to take a single step outside — and for a while, the boy had been quite docile.
Then disaster struck Yanwo, and the Crown Prince tearfully begged that Prince Liang be given the task. Whatever else might be said, Prince Liang was still his own son, and the Emperor had accepted the proposal.
Prince Liang had failed to manage the Yanwo disaster — had instead incited a militia uprising — and returned home. Along the way, he had brought Dan Shi back, claiming that his search for Lian Dan Shi was why he had failed to deal with affairs in Yanwo properly. Yet the Emperor had been moved by his filial devotion.
Whether Prince Liang coveted the Crown Prince's seat, or whether he had truly turned such thoughts into action — for that, the Emperor could have forgiven him. But close dealings with a minister who held military authority? That, he would never, ever tolerate.
The image of the Second Prince storming the palace in treasonous rebellion was still vivid before his eyes. The mere memory of it drowned the Emperor in terror, and he suffered through it for a long while. Such a thing must never be allowed to happen again.
The Emperor narrowed his eyes. If Prince Liang truly did nothing more than admire Dong Qingping's daughter... then surely he would not wish to see the child lose his life.
But if he is wielding every means at his disposal for the sake of Dong Qing'e's military authority... then let him not blame this father for his ruthlessness.