Chapter 100: Melee at the Abandoned Garden

Chapter 100: Melee at the Abandoned Garden

Fights amongst nobles were not that different from fights amongst commoners. They had agreed on a time and place to meet, and upon meeting, they began with mutual provocations and insults while assessing one another’s strength. If both sides believed they had the upper hand, it would lead to a chaotic battle. If one side was afraid of being overwhelmed, it would devolve into a chase. If there were influential figures present to mediate, there would a possibility of reconciliation through a handshake.

In the case of Chai Yun and Cui Teng’s confrontation, there were no mediators. One was the favored grandson of Lady Hengyang, and the other was the son of Grand Tutor Cui. No one dared to interfere.

The fight took place in the afternoon, after a hearty lunch that left them with surplus energy to expend.

The location was an abandoned garden in the northwest part of the city, once owned by a noble, but left uninhabited for many years. Only an elderly servant remained, who, sensing trouble, had taken refuge inside the house and fallen into a deep slumber.

The garden was overgrown with weeds and concealed winding paths that all led to an open area adjacent to a partially ruined pavilion. Several tall trees surrounded this area, and a few stray dogs scampered around. At the sight of people approaching, the dogs panicked and fled.

Cui Teng’s group arrived first and occupied half of the pavilion, comprising around seventy to eighty individuals, with the majority being young nobles and the rest servants. There were only five true martial experts among them, standing at the forefront, heads held high and armed with staffs.

Chai Yun’s group arrived slightly later, but they had more members, nearly a hundred individuals, with a similar composition of noble offspring and fewer martial experts, totaling three. Du Chuanyun was not included among them; he was disguised as a servant, following the Weary Marquis. His task was to exploit the chaos and target Cui Teng.

Zhang Youcai wanted to participate but was rejected by Han Ruzi.

Han Ruzi had initially expected the confrontation to take place at night, but Chai Yun wished to return and pay respects to his grandmother in the evening, so he hoped to conclude the battle before dark.

Upon seeing the waist-high lush grass throughout the garden, Han Ruzi felt reassured. Here, Meng E could easily hide and protect him.

To be honest, he had rather enjoyed himself this day.

The sun had not been up for long when they had gathered for food and drink. Many of them had met before, and this time, they could consider each other “old friends.” Their awe and wariness of the deposed emperor gradually dissipated. After a few drinks, some of them even approached the Weary Marquis, including a few who had served as palace attendants, like Zhang Yanghao. They often made some indirect jabs at the Emperor which appeared more like making fun of his unfortunes, but he found this preferable to being ignored.

When Chai Yun personally introduced the Weary Marquis to the crowd again, their enthusiasm reached its peak. Han Ruzi noticed that if you didn’t take things too seriously and didn’t overthink, you could accept this warmth and even feel a small sense of gratitude.

This illusion was unintentionally shattered by Zhang Yanghao. At the moment when everyone was about to set off, he approached, slightly inebriated, and slung his arm around the Weary Marquis’ shoulder, speaking with a thick tongue, “This... this is so great. I used to think you weren’t cut out to be an emperor. You lacked that... that aura of confidence. But now you’ve improved so much... so much, haha.”

Zhang Yanghao may have had good intentions, but Han Ruzi found his words to be a torment, piercing his heart like a thousand needles. He forced a smile and replied, “You’re not so bad yourself; you seem more at ease here than in the palace.”

Zhang Yanghao pointed at the Weary Marquis, as if about to share some heartfelt words, but he was dragged away by a friend and joined the group heading out.

Du Chuanyun closely followed the Weary Marquis and whispered, “Watch for the right time. Don’t wait until I’ve been incapacitated to remember to pass me a sword.”

“Don’t worry,” Han Ruzi patted the short sword hanging by his side. He wasn’t the only one secretly carrying a weapon. Everyone had the same idea: in case the other side was armed, they didn’t want to be at a disadvantage. Ironically, the three martial experts had brought only staffs.

Han Ruzi secretly admired the old master Du Motian. He was a true veteran of the pugilist world who knew better than to let Du Chuanyun carry a sword.

The two groups met in the abandoned garden, and the initial shouting match wasn’t between the leaders, Chai Yun and Cui Teng, but rather between their respective companions.

The battlefield expanded, drawing more participants, but only a few pairs were actually engaged in combat. Aside from the martial experts, most were trying to take advantage of numerical superiority. When a smaller group turned to run, they would regroup with a larger contingent and then turn to pursue their opponents.

Gradually, Han Ruzi found himself moving further away from the open space. It was quite different from what he had imagined; he thought the martial arts experts would take turns to duel while the others cheered them on. However, this was a genuine melee, so chaotic that it was impossible to distinguish allies from opponents.

A young man brandishing a stick charged towards him, shouting loudly. Han Ruzi thought he had seen this person at the Chai residence before and was about to examine him more closely when the stick came crashing down. Not wanting to fight, he turned and ran.

He didn’t get far within the thicket, and his pursuer suddenly vanished.

Feeling disappointed and somewhat ridiculous, Han Ruzi realized this was indeed a chaotic melee among the noble offspring. There were no rules, no conspiracies, and even the lone acceptable excuse for being there was something he had invented himself.

In hindsight, he regretted accepting Chai Yun’s invitation.

But now that he was in this situation, he couldn’t simply walk away. He still had Du Chuanyun’s short sword with him. So, Han Ruzi turned and began to retrace his steps, but he quickly lost his way in the maze of voices all around.

“Hey, you’re here too,” a nearby voice said.

Han Ruzi turned to look and was surprised to see Prince Donghai.

“I didn’t see you earlier,” Han Ruzi replied immediately, on high alert, scanning his surroundings.

Prince Donghai emerged from the thicket, walking alone without even a single servant. He spoke, “I was sitting in the pavilion, and it was quite unbearable. We had originally agreed to see whose side had the highest ranked person, but it turned into a fight in no time. Heh heh, I had a feeling Chai Yun would definitely try to recruit you.”

Prince Donghai appeared much more composed outside the palace and was far less arrogant. He seemed surprisingly amicable when he saw Han Ruzi.

“I also had a hunch you’d be here,” Han Ruzi replied as he assessed Prince Donghai. They were on opposing sides and were supposed to engage in a fight. Han Ruzi had practiced martial arts with the Dus for the past few months, so he wasn’t concerned about an unarmed Prince Donghai.

“You’re not seriously here to fight, are you?” Prince Donghai stopped walking, smiling as he said, looking around to ensure there were no outsiders. He continued, “The imperial throne is worth fighting a life-and-death struggle. Compared to that, is such a struggle really worth it for those two?”

Han Ruzi smiled but quickly adopted a serious expression. “Did you instruct Lin Kunshan and that mad monk from Bao’en Temple? I have to assume you did.”

Prince Donghai shrugged. “Yes, it was me. Why didn’t you just go to the Subtle Fragrance Garden? You made me go through all this trouble for nothing.”

Surprisingly, he readily admitted to it, leaving Han Ruzi somewhat stunned.

“If I wanted to harm you, there wouldn’t be a need for such a complex plan. In fact, I wanted to talk to you.”

“Talk about what?”

Shouting could be heard from nearby, as a group of people seemed to be approaching. Prince Donghai said, “Tonight, at midnight, in the alleyway behind Prince Qi’s residence, come alone or with a few others if you dare. Let’s talk about the Emperor and Yang Feng. Let’s go back now and try to talk them out of this. Chai Yun and Cui Teng are both madmen. Let’s not let them cause real trouble.”

[1] As I mentioned in Judge of the Song Dynasty, Zhang San and Li Si are supposed to be extremely common names, like “Tom, Dick and Harry”.

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