CH 23

The Empress was a martial artist, and like most martial artists, he was an early riser. When Lou Jing arrived at Fengyi Palace, the palace staff brought him straight into the garden.

The garden in Fengyi Palace didn’t have any rare or precious plants. There were just huge swaths of shrubs and several flowering trees. Dawn had just broken, and the first rays of the sun illuminated the figure in dark blue robes practising swordsmanship in the middle of the garden.

The swordsmanship displayed was superb. He executed the stances elegantly, and flowed gracefully from one stance to the next. The sword glinted dangerously as it sliced through the air, whistling sharply like the call of a young phoenix. This was a living embodiment of what people described good swordsmanship as – swift as lightning, fierce as a tiger, light as a feather, and relentless as the tides*.

*T/N: This is the best I can do to capture the meaning/feeling of 有道是，来如雷霆收震怒，罢如江海凝清光. 

This was the first time Lou Jing had seen the heritage swordsmanship of the Lingnan Hou Ji family. It was mysteriously captivating, and Lou Jing couldn’t help staring in fascination.

The Empress Ji Zhuo retracted his sword, then turned to look at the Crown Prince Consort standing at attention to the side. His eyes lit up when he noticed that Lou Jing was holding a sword in his hand. “You’re also a swordsman?” he asked.

Lou Jing first stepped forward to bow to the Empress before replying. “Erchen isn’t particularly skilled with the sword. I brought this sword along as a gift for you, Father Empress, to pay my respects to you,” he said with a smile, extending Scarlet Cloud respectfully to the Empress with both hands.

“Oh?” Ji Zhuo looked at him. He originally thought that this kid had wanted to show off his skills with the sword to get on his good side. Who knew that he actually was just here to make a straightforward gift of a sword to someone he knew to be a swordsman? Appreciation flashed in the Empress’ eyes. Lou Jing was really a meticulous, considerate person in all he did. It was very difficult not to like him.

Of all the famous weapons, Scarlet Cloud was the most beautiful. Seven different types of jewels were embedded in its sheath, and its hilt was inlaid with Jiuhua jade. Swordsmen were naturally obsessed with swords, and Ji Zhuo was no exception. He examined every inch of the sword closely after receiving it from Lou Jing, then grasped the hilt and pulled it slowly out of its sheath, exposing the first few inches of the blade.

The blade gleamed cold and dangerous in the morning light. The treasure sword’s sheath was elaborately decorated, but the body of the sword itself was very simple and clean. There were only two words written in calligraphic script – “赤霄”, which was the name of the sword, Scarlet Cloud. Ji Zhuo pulled the rest of the sword out of the sheath with a flourish, the sword humming with a metallic sound as he did so. 

“A fantastic sword!” Empress Ji could not resist praising the weapon. He looked like he couldn’t bear to put it down.

Lou Jing smiled a soft, breezy smile. “A treasure sword should be held by a mighty hero. Scarlet Cloud is most suitable to be wielded by Father Empress,” he said.

“Hahaha!” Ji Zhuo laughed heartily. He tossed the sword he had been practising with earlier to Lou Jing. “Come, have a round with me so I can test out this Scarlet Cloud.”

“Of course!” Lou Jing had specially chosen to wear a narrow-sleeved robe with vambraces today, so he was perfectly attired for this activity. He pulled out his wide-sleeved outer robe and threw it to Le Xian before swinging the sword with a quick flourish. He then stood straight, faced the Empress and clasped his fists together respectfully.

The Empress didn’t stand on ceremony. He returned the greeting with clasped hands, then began his attack immediately.

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Court, it was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. The Crown Prince stood silently at the head of the civil officials with his head bowed, his eyes fixed firmly on the floor.

Just now, someone had moved to impeach him, accusing him of using the embezzled silver from the Qinghe river dike scandal for his own purposes, causing great hardship to the people of Qinghe and irreparable loss of arable land due to the river bursting its banks. 

“Crown Prince, what do you have to say?” the Chunde Emperor said, looking coldly at Xiao Chengjun.

Xiao Chengjun stepped forward and bowed. “Erchen has never touched the silver meant for the Qinghe dike repairs,” he said.

“The Ministry of Revenue’s records have already revealed that the two batches of silver that were sent to Qinghe were all approved by the Crown Prince,” the Minister of Justice said, stepping forward and speaking in a righteous tone. “The Qinghe County Magistrate has also confessed that the silver meant for repairing the dike was diverted to renovate the temple instead. The Ministry of Justice staff have also gone to Qinghe personally to look into this, and confirmed that there is indeed an Imperial ancestral temple being built in the Temple of National Protection there.”

Xiao Chengjun glanced at the Minister of Justice and frowned slightly, as if he didn’t understand what was going on.

The Minister of the Left, Chen Shichang, walked forward and bowed. “This humble official will now boldly ask the Crown Prince, was the submission for the renovation of the Qingliang Temple approved by the Crown Prince?” he asked in measured tones.

The Minister of Justice did not have a high enough standing to question the Crown Prince, which was why the Minister of Left had to step forward to ask this as the Zhongshu. The Ministry of Justice was under his purview.

“Most likely, yes,” the Crown Prince said, turning his head to meet Chen Shichang’s eyes. Those two eyes were very similar to Chen Guifei’s, with upward-tilting outer corners that gave him a very crafty look.

“Then the silver for repairing the Qinghe river dike was also approved by the Crown Prince?” Chen Shichang asked immediately.

“Yes, that is so,” Xiao Chengjun replied. He didn’t look at Chen Shichang any more, but faced the Chunde Emperor on the dragon throne with a worried look.

“Did Dianxia ever ask the Qinghe County Magistrate to build an Imperial ancestral temple there?” Chen Shichang asked in calm, casual tones, as if he was just asking the Crown Prince whether he’d eaten a meat pastry today. 

“I have never heard of this Imperial ancestral temple!” Xiao Chengjun said emphatically.  His strong, staid voice reverberated in the high-ceilinged hall, startling the assembled ministers. Xiao Chengjun knelt before continuing. “Father Emperor, erchen just returned from Jingyi Mountain yesterday. I really do not know what all this is about!”

The Chunde Emperor looked suspiciously at the Crown Prince, who had an open, honest expression on his face. 

“Why don’t we get the Crown Prince and the Qinghe County Magistrate to confront each other?” someone in the mass of ministers said. The speaker did not dare to step forward when he suggested this, and the Imperial Court officials shuffled restlessly amongst themselves for a while.

The Minister of the Right, Zhao Duan, glanced once in the direction where the voice had sounded, then looked back down without saying anything.

“Reporting to the Emperor, the Qinghe County Magistrate died this morning,” the Assistant Minister of Justice said, falling to his knees before the throne.

The chaos in the Imperial Court came to an abrupt halt. The great hall returned once more to pin-drop silence. Shen Lian exhaled quietly in relief, then gave the Minister of the Left a dark look.

“What? What happened?” the Chunde Emperor asked, frowning deeply. The Qinghe County Magistrate’s death at this time was much too coincidental.

“Reporting to the Emperor, the Qinghe County Magistrate had been tortured for quite some time, and he died as a result,” an eunuch from the Ministry of Internal Affairs said, stepping forward quickly. This eunuch was Shen Lian’s godson, Shen Ying. 

The Ministry of Internal Affairs had two positions that were of a high enough rank to attend Court. This was the Minister of Internal Affairs, who was a second-ranked official, and the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, who was a third-ranked official. Shen Lian, as the Minister of Internal Affairs, was overseeing the Qinghe river investigations, and had already asked Shen Ying to deal with the Qinghe County Magistrate earlier.

The Imperial Court exploded immediately. The Ministers of the Left and Right’s opposing factions had their own views and schemes concerning the Qinghe scandal, but these had all been thrown into disarray by the Qinghe County Magistrate’s sudden death. The only two people who knew about the Magistrate’s death were Chen Shichang, who had received an urgent report from the Ministry of Justice earlier this morning, and the instigator of the Magistrate’s death, Shen Lian. The rest of the ministers were completely in the dark.

“This Qinghe case is a very straightforward matter. Why was the Qinghe County Magistrate tortured to this extent? Is this how the Ministry of Justice does things?” the Minister of Personnel, Yang Youting, asked. He had always been outspoken, and he immediately stepped forward to question the Ministry of Justice the moment this news broke.

“I’m afraid there’s something shady going on.”

“Perhaps he was killed to prevent the truth from getting out?”

… …

The Ministers discussed the situation animatedly, each giving their own analysis.

Back at the Fengyi Palace, Empress Ji was brandishing his sword at Lou Jing. His swordsmanship was truly outstanding, and Lou Jing, who only had superficial training in swordsmanship, found it difficult to counter the Empress. The good thing was that he had been well-trained in the Internal Martial Arts of the Lou family, and he moved in a lithe, agile fashion. They were nonetheless evenly matched, and Ji Zhuo found that he couldn’t gain the upper hand over Lou Jing.

Scarlet Cloud was able to cut through iron like butter, and was certainly a sword of much higher quality than the one Lou Jing was wielding. However, every time their swords met, Scarlet Cloud could not overpower Lou Jing’s inferior sword. Ji Zhuo could not help but be quietly impressed; this meant that Lou Jing’s power far outstripped his. The Empress had not met such a strong opponent for nearly twenty years, and he found sparring with Lou Jing very stimulating. This was no longer just a simple thrust-and-parry exercise – he started to unleash his full abilities to compete with Lou Jing.

The Emperor’s other concubines arrived at Fengyi Palace at their usual time to greet the Empress, but were informed by the Head Eunuch of the Fengyi Palace that they did not have to give their greetings today. The Head Eunuch saw that the Empress and Lou Jing were still in the midst of a heated sparring match, and had no choice but to inform them as such.

“Shing!” The two blades clashed together. Lou Jing threw his body backwards forcefully, avoiding the sparks that flew from the impact. He then countered quickly, trying to push Scarlet Cloud down, but suddenly, Scarlet Cloud attacked cunningly from an unexpected angle. Lou Jing raised a leg and feinted a kick toward the wrist of Ji Zhuo’s sword-wielding hand. The moment Ji Zhuo altered the course of his sword toward his shin, he retracted his leg and leapt up into the air, tapping Scarlet Cloud’s blade lightly with his toes to gain greater height. In mid air, he raised his sword above his head with both hands and brought it down in the direction of the Empress’ head as he descended. 

Ji Zhuo got a shock. He swiftly turned his body, and his full power to block the sword that sliced down toward him. 

“CRACK!” In the end, Scarlet Cloud’s blade was still stronger, and the sword in Lou Jing’s hand cleaved into two pieces.

“Erchen was too bold,” Lou Jing said. He kept the now-shortened sword and dropped to one knee before the Empress.

“Hahaha! I haven’t had such a stimulating match in years!” Ji Zhuo said, sheathing the Scarlet Cloud. He pulled up the Crown Prince Consort with one hand, his eagle eyes brimming with appreciation. “Your swordsmanship is mediocre, but the way you move is very agile. Did you learn Internal Martial Arts?”

“Nothing escapes Father Empress,” Lou Jing said, smiling disarmingly.

The Head Eunuch of Fengyi Palace came in to inform the Empress that he had told the other concubines to leave, and also said one other thing. “The morning Court session has been adjourned, and the Emperor has summoned the Crown Prince to his study alone.”

Ji Zhuo put down the towel he used to wipe his sweat. He saw that Lou Jing looked concerned on hearing this news, and nodded approvingly to himself. “Zhuoyu, come with me to drink some tea in the pavilion,” he said.

“Certainly,” Lou Jing said, giving the broken sword to the eunuch. He personally supported the Empress as they walked toward the only pavilion in the garden.

“Did you really not know anything about this?” the Chunde Emperor asked Xiao Chengjun. The morning Court session’s discussions had not yielded any firm plans, and the Chunde Emperor was somewhat annoyed.

“Erchen was doing administration for the Qinghe river disaster rescue efforts. However, I know nothing about why the Qinghe river burst its dikes and what the Qinghe County Magistrate did,” Xiao Chengjun said. He lowered his head, and took out his handkerchief from his sleeve. He wiped the sweat off his face with it, and the chilli oil on the handkerchief immediately got into his eyes. His eyes turned red. 

“Is there anything you want to say about what was discussed in the Imperial Court this morning?” the Chunde Emperor asked. The sharp look in his eyes softened a great deal when he saw the Crown Prince anxiously and repeatedly wiping away his sweat. 

“Father Emperor,” Xiao Chengjun said, raising his head. His voice was not as clear and steady as it was earlier. “Erchen got married as Father Emperor wished, and could not attend Court for ten days thereafter. I couldn’t have known that something as serious as this would come up during this time. I am ashamed to have caused Father Emperor so much worry and distress.” Xiao Chengjun kowtowed repeatedly to the Emperor after saying this.

The Chunde Emperor looked at the Crown Prince’s red eyes. He had never thought that the stoic Xiao Chengjun would have been reduced to tears by this incident, and he felt an uneasy sense of guilt in his heart. It looked like the Crown Prince really didn’t have any other schemes up his sleeve. Or perhaps, Xiao Chengjun had never schemed against him to begin with… …

“Dianxia is very good to erchen, and erchen would like to repay the favour,” Lou Jing said, personally brewing a pot of tea for the Empress.

Ji Zhuo smiled as he accepted the cup of tea from Lou Jing. “I take it that your efforts to please me today are also efforts made on the Crown Prince’s account?” he said.

“Erchen is not trying to please Father Empress,” Lou Jing said with a straight face. “Erchen has always had deeply admiration for Father Empress’ intelligence and courage. Now that I am able to meet you, I naturally also wish to become closer to you. After the marriage, Father Empress also asked erchen to treat the Crown Prince well, and I am but complying with Father Empress’ directions.”

“Hahaha…” the Empress couldn’t help laughing out loud.

“Then, can Father Empress tell me, what does Dianxia like to snack on, what music he likes, and whether he had a nickname as a child?” Lou Jing scooted closer to the Empress, grinning mischievously as he asked this in a low voice.