Chapter 106: The 106th Episode

Chapter 106: The Birthday Uproar

Lian Feng's thirtieth birthday was an extraordinarily grand affair. Most of the family had long since grown indifferent to wealth and honor, wishing only to sit with a few close friends and relatives over simple food and drink. Yet when the household servants went out to purchase supplies, word leaked out, and by the day of the event, carriages and horses packed the mansion's grounds, gifts clogging the streets and lanes. Lian Feng naturally refused them, but could not turn them away; it was Lian Ying who swallowed his pride, grabbed a broom, and chased the gift-bearers out the gates.

On the surface, these gifts were to congratulate Lord Lian, but in truth, both the givers and the receivers knew full well: what was the Lian family's background? They had raised the current emperor from childhood—you could almost call them his mother's family. If the emperor had no feelings for the Lians, that would be one thing—but who in the realm didn't know the emperor and the Lian family were bound together in life and death?

Even without this imperial connection, the Lian household still had a Chief Grand Secretary of immense power—the first Grand Secretary in Dayao's three-hundred-year history to wield regency power.

By nightfall, the Lian household finally had some quiet. The family gathered in the covered pavilion, enjoying sweet autumn fruits and fragrant osmanthus wine. Yet no matter how mellow the wine or how delicious the fruit, everyone still wore a lingering gloom on their faces.

"It's been less than half a year—Father is gone, Eldest Sister has entered the palace and can hardly come out again, Fifth Sister and Cousin have married off, and Third Brother is still in danger. Every night before I go to bed, I feel like I'm still dreaming." Wu Huajie fanned herself with a gold-dusted fan, sighing deeply.

The entire family was still in mourning for Lian Pu, so they kept things low-key. Yu Shi idly remarked that the gold thread on Second Sister's hairpin was too coarse, and the two drifted off to bicker as usual—so common a sight that everyone ignored them and kept talking.

Hongshi, who had been absent, now arrived, directing several servant boys to carry a few chests into the courtyard. She said to Lian Xiusheng, "Rest a while; when you return to the palace, take these things with you—some food, small odds and ends, and the osmanthus wine your Second Sister-in-law and I brewed together. Minzi loves flower wine and fruit wine best; take two jars back. If he wakes up at any point, he can have some right away."

Lian Feng, sleeves rolled up, was working alongside the servant boys, saying, "Xiusheng, I think, as your elder brother, you shouldn't keep living in the palace. When will you move back home?"

Lian Xiusheng held his wine cup, replying, "The emperor hasn't woken up yet; I can't leave."

Lian Feng countered, "The Empress Dowager is watching over him, and Tong Xue and Qiong Hua are in the palace, along with plenty of attendants to care for him. As a minister, you should know better than to raise suspicion."

"Have you heard some rumor, Eldest Brother?" Lian Xiusheng asked directly.

Lian Ying pulled his chair closer, speaking low: "Some say you've locked the emperor up—that under the name of regency, you've really seized power and usurped the throne."

Fu Shi also urged, "Censor impeachments are a small matter; the memorials all end up in your hands anyway. We're worried someone might use this as an excuse to start a rebellion."

"The new emperor's rise to power depends on Crown Prince Jiao's reputation and his old followers. When Li Xi hunted them down mercilessly back then, he couldn't exactly kill every official in court—there were bound to be some that got away. Take Xie Lanjin, for instance: before the imperial examination, his essay was sent by Crown Prince Jiao to Grand Secretary Cai for advice. In your dealings at court, he mostly sides with you. Without that earlier favor, why would he speak up for you?" Yu Shi had appeared from somewhere. "Water can carry a boat, but it can also sink it. If someone does rise up, it might not be a bad thing for the emperor or for Sixth Brother."

Lian Feng asked what she meant by that.

"If Xiusheng can truly hold the realm for the emperor, Crown Prince Jiao's old followers will settle down, and it will keep the other scheming factions quiet for a time," Yu Shi said slowly.

Lian Xiusheng thanked Third Madam for her thoughtful consideration, and after more talk, Lian Tao and Lian Xiao came running in from the courtyard. Entering the pavilion, they looked around, spotted Lian Xiusheng, and both hurried to him, each bowing. Lian Tao said, "Sixth Brother, can you send me to the military camp for training?" Lian Xiao added, "I want to go too."

"Nonsense!" Lian Feng scolded them sharply. "You should be studying—what would you do at a military camp!"

Lian Tao said stubbornly, "Eldest Brother says that easily. I've lost a finger—I can never take the civil exams. Why waste more time? Better to learn real martial skills, and in the future defend the realm and still earn rank and title that way!"

Lian Feng glanced at Tao Geer's half-gone pinky, was silent a moment, then asked Lian Xiao, "And what's your reason?"

Lian Xiao bowed, then said respectfully, "Eighth Brother isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I'm afraid he'll get taken advantage of, so I plan to enter the camp with him."

"You'd give up studying?" Lian Ying, who had studied for over twenty years without accomplishing anything, couldn't stand to hear that.

"All roads lead to the same destination; a hundred plans reach the same conclusion," Lian Xiao declared. "Second Brother has read many books, yet I don't see it doing much for his life or the country. Me going with my brother is worth more than Second Brother's twenty-some years of book learning."

"..."

"Oh ho, what a sharp tongue—you'd even talk circles around your Second Brother!" Wu Huajie came over and gave Lian Xiao a sharp poke on the forehead. Fan Shi hurried over to protect him, saying the child didn't know any better.

Lian Xiusheng finally answered them: "Think it over for a few more days. Next time I come home, if you've decided, you can tell me then."

The two bowed to Lian Xiusheng, then ran off hand in hand, thrilled. Fan Shi could only timidly thank Lian Xiusheng; she had little standing in the household now—if not for her two sons' filial devotion, even the servants might walk all over her. Lian Xiusheng didn't even look at her, turning back to keep talking with Lian Feng and the others.

"If you must return to the palace, perhaps go a bit early, and say hello to Mother—the Empress Dowager—for us." Lian Feng said, tears welling in his eyes.

"The Empress Dowager has said that if any of the family misses her, they may enter the palace anytime. Eldest Brother doesn't need to be so sad," Lian Xiusheng consoled him.

"It's not grief, brother—it's just that this family feels like it's fallen apart." With that, Lian Feng pulled out a handkerchief and dabbed at his tears.

After crying, Lian Feng, now in better spirits, started composing poetry, and the crowd around him praised it. Lian Xiusheng knew it was time to leave, and quietly slipped away from the festivities.

He carried a lantern himself, with Jin Cai and Man Cai trailing behind with the chests. After a few steps, Lian Xiusheng heard Man Cai grumbling that the chest was heavy, and it seemed he'd dumped all the boxes on Jin Cai to carry. He then bounded up to Lian Xiusheng, grabbed the lantern from his hand, and said, "Young Master, the moon's so round tonight."

Lian Xiusheng shot Man Cai a look. "You should be nicer to Jin Cai—why do you treat him like a mule?"

"He is a mule," Man Cai said. "By day I use him as a mule, and by night I ride him too!"

Lian Xiusheng saw their joy and found it irritating. He snatched the lantern back, walked quickly out of the mansion, and got into his sedan chair.

-

Three days later, in the crisp autumn weather, Lian Xiusheng decided to demolish the unfinished Xielu Hall, selling whatever could be sold to whoever wanted to buy, with the money going into the state treasury.

The ministers had no objections, but what would anyone do with some wood?

Eunuch Cui came up with an idea: have the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Imperial Observatory jointly announce to the world that the timber from Xielu Hall had shady origins and was steeped in the people's resentment—in fact, it was because of it that the new emperor had fallen ill. Then ask: who in the realm would be willing to share some of that burden with the emperor?

With the emperor involved, the matter couldn't be taken lightly. The officials naturally refused to spend silver on a pile of wood, but wealthy merchants from all over, eager to curry favor with the new emperor and the Chief Grand Secretary, saw it as an opportunity. Not just from the capital, but from the secondary capital and all thirteen provinces, wealthy households rushed overnight to the capital to buy imperial wood—some saying they'd build gardens with it, others that it would be a dowry for their daughters, and still others that they'd take it home and burn incense to it every day.

The treasury had little usable silver, so Lian Xiusheng handed the matter to Li Saner and Wei Xiaoyu. In less than a month, they brought in nearly three million taels of silver. The sum couldn't be kept secret; by the second month, memorials flew to Lian Xiusheng's desk like snowflakes, all asking for money for one reason or another.

Lian Xiusheng sent out censors, supervising secretaries, and various provincial governors to audit the projects first. They fined out countless sums and recovered nearly five hundred thousand taels more. Only then did he start responding to those requests for money.

After that, memorials demanding money naturally dropped off considerably.

Of course, it wasn't entirely because Lian Xiusheng was so hard to deal with—rather, starting in November, the provinces would begin collecting land taxes. If they couldn't squeeze money from above, they could always squeeze it from below. But Lian Xiusheng's fearsome reputation preceded him, and this year they were noticeably more restrained in their exploitation than in previous years.

Time slipped by in the blink of an eye; the nights grew longer. Before long, every household had lit their stoves, and the palace had long since warmed up the heated floors. Lian Cheng was afraid of the cold, so his bedchamber was the warmest of all—even after Lian Xiusheng wiped him down, not a single hair on his body stood up.

Before the Laba Festival, Lian Xiusheng received a memorial saying Prince Qing had rebelled.

Prince Qing was Li Xi's only son in name—and nominally, Lian Cheng's brother too. He had grown up in the palace, where nothing could be kept from him. A bastard from outside the palace, borrowing the name of the late Crown Prince, had just gone and ascended the throne? That was his father's seat! Not Crown Prince Jiao's! It rightfully belonged to him—the only heir!

He bet Lian Xiusheng wouldn't dare expose the imperial scandal. A mere minister sticking his nose into the imperial family's private affairs—who knew who'd die first? When he rose up, he'd have no shortage of followers, each dreaming of becoming the next Lian Xiusheng.

The day Prince Qing surrounded the palace with his troops, Lian Xiusheng was still combing Lian Cheng's hair. "Third Brother, you must be waiting until I've cleared every obstacle from your path before you'll wake up, aren't you?"

With no other choice, Lian Xiusheng once again put on his armor. Most of the palace guards were assigned to protect the emperor's bedchamber; he took only Jin Cai and stood on top of the palace gate.

Prince Qing was not yet thirteen. Sitting in a palanquin carried by twelve bearers, he said in a clear, young voice, "Grand Secretary Lian, the emperor is lying unconscious. As the saying goes, 'A tree that moves dies; a man who moves lives.' It's time you found yourself a new master!"

Jin Cai raised his shield. "Cheeky brat! Withdraw your troops right now—if you don't, you'll get what's coming to you!"

Beside Prince Qing was a sedan chair carrying his mother. The woman was decked out in pearls and jade that swayed and clinked. She spoke with imperial authority: "Grand Secretary Lian, would being the grand secretary of a living corpse really be better than serving as my son's imperial tutor?"

A bow stood at Lian Xiusheng's side, and in his other hand he lazily held an arrow. He looked down at the orderly ranks of soldiers below. "You want wealth and rank, yet you follow a bastard born of adulterers—this, this is treason!"

Before anyone could react, outside the Meridian Gate, Zhang Congrong's Lu Army and Li Wan's capital garrison had surrounded them all.

Lian Xiusheng picked up his bow, nocked the arrow, and tilted his head a little. Jin Cai shouted beside him, "Surrender, and you won't be killed!"

Prince Qing and his mother were isolated, with no support. The woman shrieked, "You dare slander us with empty words—you've got some nerve!"

"More than slander..." Lian Xiusheng's eyelids drooped halfway, looking at those below like ants, his gaze pressing down on them like Mount Tai. He was utterly contemptuous, and the moment he finished speaking, his fingers let go—the arrow flew out, striking Prince Qing in the left chest. Not merely striking him—Prince Qing was sent flying twenty or thirty feet through the air.

The east wind howled through the palace, forcing many to shut their eyes, but they could still hear the woman screaming like a madwoman. When they could open their eyes again, they saw Prince Qing lying dead, blood pooling beneath him. A prince of the realm, shot dead by a minister in front of everyone?

At that, Prince Qing's mother went mad on the spot—tearing off her hairpin, throwing away her jewelry, and clawing at her clothes. Later, storytellers would say she was putting on a show; if she hadn't pretended to be crazy, would the Grand Secretary have spared her?

Rebellion is a crime punishable by the extermination of one's entire clan. When Lian Xiusheng spoke of those who surrendered, he meant the obedient soldiers, not the instigators and their leaders—those he deemed deserving of death, he had killed to the last man.

Among them was the Meng family. Lian Xiusheng personally led the raid on their estate, which was, in its own way, a dubious honor.

The executioner's blade was swift and clean—the blade went in white and came out red. Jin Cai found him and took away the heads of the guilty, wrapped in cloth.

In the pitch-dark dungeons of the imperial prison, Li Saner personally led the Grand Secretary down into the depths. Holding a torch, he said in a low voice, "No need for you to say a word, my lord. He's done too many evil deeds—we brothers have treated him like a beast."

Below, there was only the prisoner, the stench overwhelming. Li Saner wouldn't let the Grand Secretary go further, fearing a sneak attack from that scum. He bent down and tossed several felt bundles inside. "Take a look—you should recognize all of these!"

The man curled up in a pile of moldy straw, thinking it was food, scrambled to his feet. He sniffed a couple of times, sensing something wrong, and looked up suspiciously. Seeing Lian Xiusheng, he stared for a long moment, then bared a mouthful of yellow teeth. "Your whole family died horribly—why pin it on me? You had me shot with an arrow, then saved my life, just for this torment?"

"Lord Meng, long time no see," Lian Xiusheng said. "Recently, your son helped Prince Qing in his rebellion." He hesitated, as if about to say more.

Meng Chong finally understood what those felt bundles contained. He knelt on the ground, shaking like a leaf. When he opened the first bundle, a blood-curdling scream tore from his throat.

Lian Xiusheng watched him lose his mind, listened to his anguished cries, and smiled faintly.

After all the bundles were opened, Meng Chong went mad, lunging forward to fight those outside, but Li Saner kicked him back down. He collapsed in tears, then scrambled up and demanded, "All that Confucian learning went straight to the dogs? You didn't even spare the womenfolk?!"

Lian Xiusheng lowered his eyes. "And why did you refuse to spare my mother back then?"

"When will this tit-for-tat ever end!"

Lian Xiusheng smiled faintly and said, "Lord Meng speaks wisely. So I burned down the Meng estate, and I also had your hometown house burned to the ground. Your nephews, cousins, distant relatives, your family shrine, your ancestral graves—all erased from this world. As long as no Meng remains on earth, what vengeance is there to speak of?"

Meng Chong gnashed his teeth, wishing he could tear Lian Xiusheng apart with his bare hands. He cursed him as a beast, but Lian Xiusheng couldn't be bothered to look at his face any longer and turned to leave.

Emerging from the imperial prison, the Grand Secretary once again carried himself with an air of unruffled grace, like an immortal.

The prison remained as grim as ever. A cold touch fell on his face, and he looked up to see it was snowing.

"Young Master! Young Master!" A frantic cry echoed from the outer courtyard, reverberating like it crossed a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers, growing closer until it reached him.

It was Man Cai.

"Didn't I have you watching over His Majesty at the palace? Why have you run out here?" Lian Xiusheng asked.

Man Cai was panting, tears in his eyes, as if boiling oil burned beneath his feet, unable to stand still. "Third Brother is awake."

Lian Xiusheng seemed not to believe it and asked again. Man Cai nodded fiercely. "Just now, Sister Tong Xue was feeding Third Brother his medicine—the same herbal brew as always—but he refused to swallow it. He usually knows to drink it, but this time he wouldn't. Sister Qiong Hua was bold enough to pry open Third Brother's mouth, and wouldn't you know it—he bit Sister Qiong Hua! Then he opened his eyes and said, 'No candied fruit, I won't take my medicine.' Hurry back, Young Master—Third Brother asked where you were right after he spoke!"