Luoyang Daughter's Journey - (Volume Three)

Author: Xiao Duan / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
Chapter Seventeen · Jade Inspection Grants Book, Mysterious
"Little Ji, do you want to go back to the frontier with me?" Han Ke said with a sigh. He knew this wish was almost like a dream, but precisely because it was so distant, in his exhaustion, it suddenly popped into his mind. These days, he had been busy. Three days ago, he had secretly ridden out at midnight to travel to Xinfeng on horseback. This trip was to meet Wang Honghai in private, as they had many matters to discuss face-to-face. His only concern when going out on business was Little Ji, but now, he didn’t need to worry so much about Little Ji’s safety. Because, he had hired Mo Shang Mei to guard this large estate. With Mo Shang Mei’s help, the estate was now heavily guarded by the ten maps of Daxiang Mountain from the Great Wilderness. Seeing this, Han Ke knew that even with the power of the Eastern Palace, combined with Longmen Yi and Beimeng Gui, it would take more than just a day or two to break into this estate and assassinate Little Ji—let alone that they hadn’t even dared to come so openly yet. But what truly frightened him was Mo Shang Mei’s strength—now, when he thought of Yu Jie, the first name that came to mind was Mo Shang Mei. In his heart, the gentle Yu Jie had long since died; what remained was the ruthless bandit leader Mo Shang Mei. Yu Jie had brought only a small number of people—only sixteen in total, but each was an expert. Han Ke was deeply shaken upon seeing them; how could Daxiang Mountain still retain such strength? It seemed that Yu Guofu had once planned far beyond what he had shown. They had sent Yu Sui’er into the palace back then, and it was clearly no coincidence! He feared that it was precisely because of this that the Eastern Palace Prince and the Wei and Du families in Luoyang had relentlessly eradicated the Yu family after the Empress Yu’s death. The formation set up by these people made Han Ke’s heart sink—the formation was so formidable that even with the advantage of Chang and his years of hard-won skills, he had no confidence in being able to escape. And Yu Jie’s strength was far from limited to this. Her secret art of "Coming Ritual" was even more alarming to Han Ke, and her influence was deeply rooted in both Chang’an and Luoyang.
Pu Efei, Pu Efei, Yu Jie, Yu Jie, how well they had arranged things! Only Yu Jie, a mere woman, was on the surface, but how much of Daxiang Mountain’s remaining strength from those past calamities was hidden behind her? Little Ji, however, suddenly brightened upon hearing this. "Of course, why not?" he said eagerly, as if he wanted to follow Han Ke back to the frontier at once. But Han Ke sighed inwardly: how could it be that easy to leave? The present Chang’an seemed no different from usual, but he had keenly felt that the pot was about to boil over! Perhaps his and Little Ji’s arrival had only hastened the outbreak of conflict. In Chang’an, the undercurrents were surging, and both the Eastern Palace and the Sheye Hall were stirring. His only solace was that Gu Chaozhuo’s army had already arrived in Luoyang. Both he and Wang Honghai were caught in the middle, with sharp eyes and ears, and the information they had received from the Sheye Hall and the Eastern Palace was that both sides were preparing to act but were hesitant. Were they truly willing to risk everything, even if it meant the destruction of the palace and the people, just for self-preservation and their own desires?
Han Ke’s connection with Wang Honghai and Gu Chaozhuo now relied entirely on Yu Jie’s "Coming Ritual" sect. Han Ke sighed inwardly: he had already sunk deeper and deeper into this mire. After a moment of silence, he said, "Then, Little Ji, do you want to be the emperor?" He added, "Do you want to go back to the frontier more, or do you want to be the emperor?" He said this as if joking, but Little Ji knew he wasn’t joking. This was the first time he had formally brought up this topic with his brother. Han Ke looked at Little Ji’s face, at his slightly stubbled lips, at the hard Adam’s apple—Little Ji had truly grown up. He waited for his answer, but when Little Ji remained silent for a long time, Han Ke continued with a quiet smile, "You think I’m joking. But if you really want to, we still have a chance. If you sit on the throne of the Nine Five, the prestige will be immense." Then, he suddenly felt a sense of relief and was surprised to find that if Little Ji truly had such ambitions, the path to succession might even be easier than retreating to the frontier. Because, they had already been too deeply entangled in this mess. For the first time, he realized that in this world, advancing was actually easier than retreating. Countless forces were pushing him forward, leaving no room for retreat. And retreating, it turned out, was truly much harder.
Little Ji’s expression became unusually serious. He sat cross-legged, imagining himself in royal robes, seated on the throne of the Purple Star, ruling the world, standing at the pinnacle of power, looking down upon all things in the world. Since Han Ke had brought it up so seriously, he must have some confidence—then, it truly would be majestic. But as he thought this, he felt that he had gained nothing, only emptiness. All the real life he had ever known was gone. How far was the throne of the Nine Five from this world? How far from the stars? How far from all true joys and sorrows—the sorrow at least was real. How far would it push him away from Han Ke? After much thought, he affirmed, "I don’t want to."
Han Ke looked at him, "Really?" Little Ji nodded but offered no further explanation. Between them, a simple answer was all that was needed. A faint smile touched Han Ke’s lips, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief. But he said with a smile, "You’ve given me a big problem, Little Ji. In this Chang’an, it’s likely harder to withdraw unscathed than to fight for something." He shook his head, "Because advancing has only two outcomes—success or failure—and those outcomes are our own. We choose them, we bear them. That’s manageable—tops out at death. But retreating, we’ve already come this far, the trouble has been sown, and success or failure will be left to others to bear. That chaos… we might not be able to bear it either."
Just as they were speaking, Lian Yu walked over. He whispered a few words in Han Ke’s ear, and Han Ke’s expression changed slightly. Lian Yu had said: "The other day, an envoy submitted a memorial accusing the Wei family of Luoyang of misconduct; today, the situation has worsened—another envoy has submitted a memorial accusing the father of the Crown Prince’s wife, Cao Shuhou, of numerous illegal acts. There are also accusations of selling officials and embezzlement, involving the Crown Prince, with substantial evidence attached." This was far from simple—the Sheye Hall could no longer hold back and had taken action.
In the following days, Han Ke was even busier than ever. Memos accusing the Crown Prince had begun flying in from all over the empire—provincial and prefectural offices, court censors, the Envoys’ Office, and even the Three Departments and Six Ministries. Chen Xizai had mobilized his civil servant network and seemed determined to bring down the Crown Prince. The Emperor’s edicts were also severe, showing great anger, ordering a thorough investigation into whether Cao Shuhou’s alleged misconduct was true. Within three days, the Emperor issued frequent decrees—ordering the arrest and investigation of Cao Shuhou, confiscating his property and arresting his associates, and even ordering the Crown Prince’s wife to be confined to her quarters. What Han Ke hadn’t expected was that this matter, which should have been handled by the Dali Temple, had now been decreed to be jointly investigated by him. This effectively threw him right into the center of the storm. Han Ke was momentarily stunned by the turn of events.
That evening, however, Xiao Jue suddenly came to see Han Ke late at night, taking out a secret imperial decree from his sleeve. Han Ke read it and fell into deep thought without speaking. The decree stated that the Emperor had recently learned that during the birth of the Empress Yu, she had been framed but had been saved by divine fortune and had not died. The Emperor ordered Han Ke to pay close attention to finding her whereabouts and also heard that the Empress Yu had left a blood letter before her death, urging Han Ke to investigate it thoroughly.
Han Ke pondered deeply: Could it be that the annihilation of the Yu family had been for this blood letter? Then, what the Eastern Palace had wanted, what the Luoyang Prince had wanted, what had even Fang Ninger and Yu Ziwo fought over, and what Du Fang Ninger had snatched from Li and Jun—was it this blood letter? What would the content of the letter reveal? Han Ke recalled the eunuch at the Emperor’s side and also thought of Yu Jie and Pu Efei’s ambitious plans. Could it be—was the content of the blood letter proof that Little Ji was truly the Emperor’s son?
P122-125