Fish Meat – Chapter 150
by Little PandaThe Second Year of Zhao Wu
Morning Like Blue Clouds (14)
The gold ingot felt somewhat heavy in her palm. Zhen Wenjun, who had handled gold ingots and silver bars for years, didn’t need to place it on a scale – just by feel alone she knew this gold ingot was enough for an ordinary family in Runing to live on for an entire month.
Lu Yan was quite generous, seemingly wanting to move mountains of gold and silver to the Zhuo Jun Mansion. He was even willing to be generous to her, a mere “servant.” Zhen Wenjun asked herself honestly – if she were truly a servant of the Zhuo Jun household, she might have been tempted and would likely have put in a good word when the lady returned, considering the gold ingot.
But she wasn’t.
This Lord Lu of Jiangling was plotting against her beloved.
Lu Yan stood up, planning to search the hall more carefully, hoping to learn more about Wei Tingxu’s preferences from the small decorative details, to continue appealing to her tastes.
For men, worldly temptations are nothing more than power and beauty – how many heroes and ambitious men throughout history have fought to death just for these two things? Women are actually the same. Women like Li Yanyi or Wei Tingxu, who refuse to be inferior to men, value power even more. With power comes the fulfillment of desires, including both physical and emotional aspects – and men are certainly one of their desires. Giving money might be too little for nobles to care about, but offering men would never be wrong. Though he was plain-looking, his wife was a great beauty who had been won over by his talent, and over twenty years had borne him eight legitimate sons, each handsome and refined. Even Wei Tingxu, despite her noble background and worldly experience from the Path of Ten Thousand Directions, might not be able to resist the beauty of his eight sons. Even if they couldn’t actually marry Wei Tingxu into the Lu family, winning her favor would be good enough. Moreover, since the current emperor had not yet established an empress and the imperial harem was empty, having three thousand male consorts was just a matter of time. Wei Tingxu was highly favored by the emperor – what would be wrong with recommending handsome men to share? If they could send their sons to Li Yanyi’s side, the Lu family of Jiangling would truly have their ancestral graves smoking [idiom meaning extremely good fortune].
Lu Yan was already thinking far ahead without even having met Wei Tingxu, still calculating that his third son Ji Min was the most handsome and might be liked by Li Yanyi. Zhen Wenjun called him several times without response, so she gently poked his back.
“Lord Lu, I cannot accept this gold ingot,” Zhen Wenjun returned it.
Lu Yan’s eyes widened – how wealthy must the Wei family be if even a mere servant would scoff at a large gold ingot as insufficient? Lu Yan didn’t take the ingot back, instead leaning in with a grin and saying:
“This is just a deposit. There will be more rewards after things are settled. Please accept it, young lady.”
Zhen Wenjun smiled and shook her head, pressing the gold ingot onto the back of Lu Yan’s hand.
“You!” Lu Yan glared with round eyes. “How can a gift that’s been given be returned! Do you look down on my offering as too meager?”
Zhen Wenjun replied good-naturedly: “No, no, Lord Lu, you misunderstand. Our lady has said before that she absolutely won’t take a single coin from common people, so please take this gold ingot back. Along with all of these.” She turned and pointed at the hall full of treasures and [promises of] bright prospects, “Take it all back. I know our lady didn’t buy these things, so Lord Lu, please don’t waste your money.”
Lu Yan kept crying out “aiya aiya”, greatly lamenting how this little maid didn’t understand proper conduct: “Your lady isn’t here, how can you make decisions for her?”
Zhen Wenjun called to the servants at the door: “Xiaolin, Xiaozhu, come help Lord Lu carry these things away.”
Seeing how the servants actually listened to her commands and were about to come move things at her word, Lu Yan quickly said: “We’ve already carried everything here, how can we carry it back? Aren’t you tired?” After thinking back, this young woman hadn’t rejected gifts when he first entered the residence – how did the atmosphere completely change once he brought out the portraits of his eight sons?
Lu Yan immediately understood the problem lay with these eight sons.
“I’m not asking you to decide right now.” Lu Yan pulled Zhen Wenjun aside and persisted, “Just let your lady look at them first, whether she likes them or not is another matter…”
Zhen Wenjun interrupted: “She won’t like them.”
Lu Yan was stunned: “What do you mean by that?”
Zhen Wenjun smiled. If she were a man, Lu Yan would probably have understood the mystery already and wouldn’t be so persistent. Just as Zhen Wenjun was about to reveal the truth to end this absurd conversation, a cry of “The Emperor arrives!” came as if from heaven, startling everyone in the hall.
The Emperor arrives? Li Yanyi is here?
Zhen Wenjun thought someone was joking – how could Li Yanyi come when Wei Tingxu wasn’t home? She looked toward the door with doubt, only to see Zhueyue soldiers in gold-trimmed black uniforms striding in through the doorway with long swords. Two rows of troops positioned themselves sharply on either side of the courtyard. Li Yanyi emerged between them, wearing the emperor’s casual attire – a gold belt binding their hair and dragon-patterned varied-hem hanging robe. Her calm face showed no expression, appearing both dignified and elegant while radiating an untouchable aura.
It really was Li Yanyi!
Zhen Wenjun trembled and immediately prostrated herself, calling out “Long live!”
As Zhen Wenjun called out, the Wei household servants around her also prostrated themselves. Lu Yan had been staring entranced at Li Yanyi’s deep red delicate lips when he suddenly realized who he was looking at. This wasn’t just some beauty, but the Emperor of Da Yu! Let alone staring, even accidentally glimpsing the imperial face was a capital offense of great disrespect. Lu Yan’s legs went weak and he nearly collapsed, hurriedly joining Zhen Wenjun and others in shouting “Long live!”
The Emperor’s arrival brought everyone in the Wei residence rushing out to kneel before the hall.
“Sister Wenjun, quickly rise.” Li Yanyi actually came forward personally and helped Zhen Wenjun up with one hand. Lu Yan watched from the corner of his eye in confusion – just how close was Li Yanyi with the Wei household, to treat even a servant with such regard?
Zhen Wenjun felt terribly embarrassed seeing Li Yanyi’s delicate jade-like fingers touching her mud-stained hand. She drew back slightly and stood up herself: “Your Majesty, I just got quite muddy in the flower bed, I shouldn’t dirty you.”
“What kind of talk is this, sister? You and I have been through life and death together for so long, how could I fear a bit of mud?”
Lu Yan made a sound of surprise – could he have been so blind as to not see this young woman’s deep connection with the Emperor?
Since returning victorious from the Path of Ten Thousand Directions, Zhen Wenjun hadn’t seen Li Yanyi again, learning everything about Li Yanyi through Wei Tingxu. Even at the victory feast, Li Yanyi had only spoken one sentence to her. At other times, Zhen Wenjun felt Li Yanyi had become an unapproachable emperor, not someone common people like them could casually approach, even though she had once followed in her service. This was entirely normal and unremarkable. Zhen Wenjun had no plans to enter official service so she didn’t mind, as long as she maintained good relations with Wei Tingxu and didn’t offend the emperor.
So when Li Yanyi suddenly appeared at the Wei residence today, sweeping away her previous imperial authority and returning to the friendliness of when she was the Crown Princess – even more so than before – Zhen Wenjun naturally felt confused.
Zhen Wenjun stood up, standing three fingers taller than Li Yanyi. Li Yanyi gazed at her as if examining a precious artifact: “In just these few days without seeing you, Sister Wenjun has grown even stronger. Sister is already this much taller than I am. Tell me, since returning from the Liuhuo Kingdom, you haven’t remembered to come see me – have you forgotten about me?”
Zhen Wenjun smiled, though her smile was somewhat stiff: “I… how would this servant dare forget Your Majesty? It’s just that Your Majesty is busy with countless affairs of state, how could I dare disturb you? Today Your Majesty has come at an awkward time – Zizhuo has gone to the Forbidden Garden and hasn’t returned.”
“What kind of talk is this, sister? We are as close as sisters, how could you speak of disturbing? Besides, I didn’t come today just for Zizhuo. Can I not come see you just because Zizhuo isn’t home?”
Zhen Wenjun said “I wouldn’t dare” aloud, but felt doubtful inside. How could Li Yanyi call her “sister” again? They had long established proper ruler-subject relations with Zizhuo, so why such intimacy today?
It seemed Li Yanyi wouldn’t visit the temple without a reason [idiom meaning there must be an ulterior motive].
“You don’t come see me or think of me, but I’ve been thinking of you. If it weren’t for you sacrificing yourself to save my life in the Su Hai Garden back then, how could I have today? Lately I often think about all the little moments when we were at the Huaichen Mansion, all the details of when sister was by my side, I even think about it until I can’t sleep.”
“Your Majesty, please take care of your imperial health.”
“Come, come with me inside. Today we sisters won’t leave until we’re drunk.” Li Yanyi had brought alcohol, and after speaking started to walk inside, but as soon as they lifted their foot, they stepped on something and nearly slipped.
“Your Majesty, careful!” Zhen Wenjun immediately supported Li Yanyi. Though this support prevented the Emperor from falling, it still caused her enough pain to break out in a cold sweat.
“What’s wrong with Your Majesty’s arm?” Zhen Wenjun’s support had been very measured, not enough to cause pain, but seeing Li Yanyi’s face turn pale as if in unbearable pain, she lightly probed with her fingertips and discovered their sleeve seemed to have a thick bandage wrapped around the arm.
“A few days ago I carelessly fell and sprained my arm.”
“Sprained? Could this be true? Have you had the imperial doctors take a good look?”
Li Yanyi shook her head: “I haven’t told the imperial doctors about this matter. I fear those old fellows would use it as an excuse to submit memorials of criticism about this and that, making a big issue out of nothing. If they restrict me from going out, wouldn’t that delay matters even more? You know how the affairs of state are endless. It’s just that these past few days as the weather has turned cold, the injury has become more swollen and painful, hurting at the slightest touch, sometimes even hurting without being touched. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
With things said to this point, Zhen Wenjun had no choice but to invite Li Yanyi inside to examine her arm.
Lu Yan knelt to the side watching the Emperor step on his sons’ portraits, feeling somewhat uncomfortable inside, but since the person stepping was the current Emperor, he didn’t dare make even half a sound. He had to be grateful that when the Emperor slipped earlier, she hadn’t actually fallen – otherwise, even if the Lu family of Jiangling had twice as many sons, it wouldn’t be enough heads to cut off.
Li Yanyi left surrounded by the Zhueyue troops, without investigating what she had stepped on.
After everyone left, Lu Yan pitifully went to retrieve the portraits. Seeing Zhen Wenjun return to help him collect them, even wiping away the thin layer of dust.
Lu Yan received the portraits saying repeatedly “Thank you, noble one,” while Zhen Wenjun just smiled without speaking and went inside to attend to Li Yanyi.
Located in the premium Wanquan District, the Zhuo Jun Mansion wasn’t large, yet Li Yanyi could wander in the small courtyard for quite a while, lingering by the artificial mountain.
This artificial mountain was built from Qinghu stones, the most eye-catching landscape feature in the courtyard.
Qinghu Lake was located at Nanya, and due to its special terrain, thousands of years of river and lake water washing had created strangely shaped, vivid, and translucent lake stones, much loved by the scholars and officials of Runing. Zhen Wenjun knew Wei Tingxu loved Qinghu stones, so she asked her old acquaintance Zhu Maosan to help acquire some.
Back then, Zhu Maosan and Zhen Wenjun called each other brother and sister. Afterward, she had kept her promise to provide his yearly grain without missing a single grain, supporting his food and drink all these years, letting him live quite comfortably in the south. After the power shift in Da Yu’s central government, Zhu Maosan heard that the Wei family had risen to power, and the Wei family’s daughter had become Da Yu’s first female official, while his sworn sister was now part of the Wei household. Zhu Maosan had always wanted to see Zhen Wenjun again, but hadn’t met in all these years. He feared suddenly going to find her would make people think he was just flattering them – having been used to being a local authority, Zhu Maosan couldn’t lower his face [couldn’t humble himself] to do so.
Just when Zhen Wenjun wanted Qinghu stones and sent someone to Nanya to ask for his help, Zhu Maosan became as excited as if injected with chicken blood [idiom meaning extremely excited], wanting to dig up the entire Qinghu Lake to send to Runing. Fortunately, the retainer sent by the Wei family was more measured, fearing they couldn’t transport too much, and only selected some of the finest quality stones to transport back. Wei Tingxu was very satisfied and discussed with Zhen Wenjun to build it on the east side of the pond, naming it “Long Qi Peak” [Long Qi meaning “Gathering Rest”]. They drew water up to Long Qi, then let it flow down from four zhang [ancient measure ≈ 40 feet] high, splashing against the rocks and banks, creating a cool and magnificent scene in summer.
The two characters “Long Qi” were also written by Wei Tingxu. Home was a place to cultivate oneself and rest one’s nature – she hoped after returning to the Zhuo Jun Mansion, she could have more leisure interests and gather up her worried thoughts.
Li Yanyi stared intently at the two characters “Long Qi.”
Zhen Wenjun was already standing at the inner courtyard gate waiting for her to enter, noticing she hadn’t moved for quite a while. Following her gaze, she noticed her expression while staring seemed somewhat off – not like she was admiring Wei Tingxu’s calligraphy, but rather with a hint of playful scrutiny.
“I see these three characters ‘Long Qi Peak’ are from Zizhuo’s hand.” Li Yanyi mentioned seemingly casually, “Zizhuo’s aspirations are lofty – even in this small corner of her residence, one can feel her grand ambitions. This is truly Da Yu’s blessing, and my blessing.”
After agreeing with Li Yanyi’s words for a few sentences, Zhen Wenjun suddenly understood.
Long Qi [Gathering Rest] could be read as Long Qi [Dragon’s Rest]!
She feared Li Yanyi had misunderstood Wei Tingxu’s meaning, thinking Wei Tingxu was comparing herself to a “dragon” [symbol of imperial power], resting on this peak!
If investigated, this could be a serious crime of treason.
Zhen Wenjun didn’t want Li Yanyi to be suspicious of Wei Tingxu and wanted to explain, but stopped as the words reached her lips.
Perhaps Li Yanyi wasn’t thinking as deeply as she imagined, and was just making casual remarks. Even if the Emperor was suspicious, at least she hadn’t torn through the paper window [idiom meaning bringing hidden things into the open] on the surface. If she explained, she would be the one tearing it open, which would do the Wei family no good.
Since ancient times, what meritorious officials needed to do was eliminate the emperor’s suspicions, not rush to bring those suspicions into the open.
Zhen Wenjun said: “Zizhuo has absolute loyalty to Your Majesty, working from dawn to dusk [literally: wearing stars and moon], all to help Your Majesty stabilize the nation and bring peace. Now she’s putting all her effort into implementing the Haina reforms also because Your Majesty values and fully supports it. Without Your Majesty, what use would even the loftiest ambitions be? A subject’s talents need recognition from a wise ruler to have the opportunity to work for the people’s welfare. Ultimately, it’s all due to Your Majesty’s wisdom.”
Zhen Wenjun spoke slowly while Li Yanyi listened, without clear beginning or end.
Li Yanyi didn’t enter the room, but instead asked Zhen Wenjun to show her around the residence: “This small dwelling doesn’t look big, but it actually contains its own universe within. Sister Wenjun, you must show me around properly.”
How could Zhen Wenjun dare let her look around everywhere, fearing she would overthink everything she saw? She quickly said: “This servant is concerned about Your Majesty’s injury. Your Majesty should prioritize your imperial health – let this servant examine your injury first.”
Li Yanyi continued looking around for another moment before slowly walking along the moss-covered path paved with Wukang stones into the tea pavilion and sitting down. Zhen Wenjun immediately had servants brew tea – the top-grade Ancient Pool Snow Pine. This top-grade Ancient Pool Snow Pine was different from what was served to Lu Yan earlier – it was picked from the first flush of the tenderest, most fragrant leaf tips in late spring, with two fingers’ worth several hundred gold pieces. Usually Wei Tingxu was too frugal to drink it, and Zhen Wenjun’s heart bled serving it to Li Yanyi, but who made her the Emperor – she couldn’t bring herself to serve ordinary tea.
However, when the brewed tea was served, Li Yanyi showed no intention of picking it up. When Zhen Wenjun mentioned her arm was broken, she showed no surprise, only saying she might need to trouble Sister Wenjun often in the future to help treat her at the Wei residence.
Zhen Wenjun could see that Li Yanyi had long known her arm was broken, but what she didn’t understand was why Li Yanyi had come today. She even suspected Li Yanyi had deliberately avoided Wei Tingxu to come see her alone.
Zhen Wenjun’s feeling was correct.
Li Yanyi had everyone else withdraw, leaving just the two of them sitting in the tea pavilion. The splashing sounds of Long Qi Peak’s water created a good barrier, preventing anyone outside the tea pavilion from hearing their conversation.
“Your Majesty, do you have any instructions for this servant today?” Zhen Wenjun wasn’t being impatient, but rather didn’t want to keep beating around the bush with Li Yanyi – better to get straight to the point and open up the issue, without anyone going in circles anymore.
Li Yanyi held Zhen Wenjun’s hand, not minding the mud on it at all: “Sister, have you thought about entering official service?”
“Enter official service?”
“Yes. Currently, Zizhuo is putting all her effort into promoting the Haina reforms – this is just a small cornerstone in raising women’s status, and Zizhuo alone is not enough. I need both of you working together with one heart, supporting each other in civil and military matters, jointly advancing the position of female officials in Da Yu’s central government. Once the foundation is stable, I want you two to marry.”
“M-marry?” Zhen Wenjun was startled.
“That’s right, I want you two to marry, becoming the first model couple of woman-to-woman marriage. Only you two can accomplish this.”
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