CH 46

Xu Jie declared that his intention to matchmake was not made upon a whim.

Half a month ago, his student Lu Guangzu was chatting with him and mentioned that his daughter was coming of age and ready to marry. Xu Jie hadn’t really thought about it at this point until he heard that Chen Yiqin thought of matchmaking Zhao Su with his granddaughter which reminded him of it.

Looking around the Hanlin Academy, almost everyone was smart, accomplished and elegant. But aside from Shen Shixing1 and Wang Xijue who were already married, all those who were unmarried, although were also talented and scholarly, in the eyes of Xu Jie, not one of them could compare to Zhao Su.

An ideal couple2 and both of an appropriate age, wasn’t it a match made in heaven? 

Liu Guangzu was Xu Jie’s other student aside from Zhang Juzheng. He achieved jinshi in the 26th year of Jiajing, which was the same year as Zhao Su’s teacher, Dai Gongwang. Now he was a mid-ranking official holding the position of the Head of the Ministry of Rites, which was a fourth-rank official position, he had a clean background, and his family had a literary reputation. In reality, Zhao Su would actually be marrying above his status.

The Lu family’s daughter had received an education from her father from a young age, she was talented and virtuous. It was just that she had high expectations, having been spoiled by her parents, at the age of sixteen, she had still not found a suitable suitor. The family were beginning to worry and decided to ask Teacher Xu for his help.

Zhao Su was getting a headache listening to this and had no choice but to make some excuses: “I don’t want to conceal this from you, Secretary. Yesterday Chen da-ren had just proposed to matchmake me with his family’s granddaughter……”

Of course, Xu Jie was already aware of this but feigned astonishment: “Oh really? I3 guess I am too late, Shaoyong is so young but has already won the place of Tanhua, distinguished and talented with a moral character, so it’s no wonder that you have already been picked up, but,” He purposefully paused for a moment, seeing that Zhao Su was listening intently, he finally continued: “Your teacher and I were good friends, we often talked about you, I hope that you don’t think me as an outsider.” 

Zhao Su smiled slightly and said with a sincere tone: “Secretary flatters me, my teacher had also once said that you were the most virtuous official in the imperial court. To be able to have your guidance is my greatest honour.””

Everyone likes to hear flattery, and those in high-ranking positions were no exception, but when speaking with someone with a good sense of judgement then one must also do this seamlessly.

Xu Jie was extremely satisfied with his respectful attitude, although Zhao Su had been able to gain the favour of the Prince of Yu Manor, he was not arrogant. “Chen Yiqin is your Fangshi4 and works with you at the Prince of Yu Manor, so your relationship is anything but ordinary, this is widely known by everyone. If his Majesty decides to….. pass on the throne to the Prince of Yu, as a long-serving official of the Prince of Yu, Chen Yiqin will very likely enter the Grand Secretariat, and from then on, as his granddaughter’s husband you will need to tread lightly.”

The underlying meaning of this: If Zhao Su wanted to enter the Grand Secretariat, unless Chen Yiqin had already retired from the court, otherwise because of their relationship, Zhao Su would be criticised severely.

However, if he was to marry the Lu family’s daughter, there wouldn’t be any of these misgivings. Lu Guangzu was a righteous official, who had made a name for himself, if Zhao Su was to have such a good family5 behind him, it would be flowers to the brocade6.

He and Xu Jie were not related in any way, they might have a few occasional light exchanges, and Xu Jie was quite happy to throw some favours his way, in order to increase his own reputation of giving guidance to the younger generation. But if something was to happen to Zhao Su, someone who could deliver their own granddaughter to marry into the family of their political enemy, would be perfectly happy to sacrifice a pawn to keep the chariot9.

The Prince of Yu was even more unreliable, because Jiajing Emperor had yet to name him as his heir, so the Prince of Yu was in an incredibly awkward position, he could hardly protect himself, so how could he have the power to protect someone else?

Zhao Su walked slowly, his thoughts began to become clearer and a bright idea came to mind regarding his current situation.

I mustn’t worry, I must take it step by step – Zhao Su told himself.

He now had a bunch of like-minded peers, in a few years, all of them would be reassigned to different posts outside of the Capital, in order to gain experience and more contacts. He also needed to take this opportunity to really develop himself. By the time they would meet again, would be when they all showcased their achievements. By then, even if he was in a high-ranking position, he wouldn’t be in the situation he was now, having to handle things with much prudence, and controlled by others.

He gave up the original intention after just arriving here, and gave up his original goal of gaining a small fortune and living peacefully. Instead, he embarked on a road perhaps full of thorns, even Zhao Su could not tell, whether it was he who wanted to change something in this era or was this era directly having an influence over him.

The next day, Zhao Su went to the Hanlin Academy with a preoccupied mind and discovered that everyone was looking at him weirdly.

Wang Xijue went over to him grinning and slapped him on the shoulder with all his might: “Shaoyong, the sage presents as an ordinary man10!”

“What?” Zhao Su understood but pretended to be confused. Even if he was relatively thick-skinned, however, he was still feeling a bit awkward being gawked at by the others with their mocking or jealous eyes.

Wang Xijue put his arm around Zhao Su’s shoulder and pulled him closer: “Come on, we all already know, Secretary Xu wants to matchmake you and Chen da-ren wants to betroth his granddaughter to you. It’s a double blessing11, whatever happens you still have to treat us to a few rounds at Zui Xian Pavilion!”

A dog doesn’t spit out ivory teeth12, how could he just randomly pluck out ‘double blessing’ like that? Between these two families, whichever one he chooses would still make him suffer.

“Rumo, what is this for?” Zhao Su was just worrying about how to get rid of Wang Xijie so he quickly went over to help.

“These are some documents from the previous years – decrees, eulogies and other files that have not been sorted for a very long time. The order has been completely messed up, I thought that since we don’t have much to do today why not try and tidy it up a bit.”

The others also came over to help, Wang Xijue was still scolding quietly under his breath: “There’s only you who is so diligent, didn’t you see those two statues sitting over…..”