Chapter 2 (1): Suitable for Birthday Celebrations
After the troops reached the palace gates, they dismounted from their horses and marched into the palace to meet the Emperor. The crowd who had followed along the entire way were barred outside the palace and gradually dispersed.
Xia Xiu Yan stepped through the multiple different gates, walked across the Golden Water Bridge and gazed at the lofty and towering palace hall in the distance with its green tiles and red eaves glistening under the sunlight. The first time he entered the palace as a child, he stood in front of the Yongan Palace and gazed at the white marble staircase. He had thought that the large palace hall was beyond reach and the surrounding palace walls were elusive. From the moment he had stepped into the palace gates, he had felt like he was trapped within this four dimensional world with nowhere to go.
But now that he had returned, even though the palace walls were the same, that oppressive feeling that made him unable to breathe had disappeared into thin air. As he followed the palace attendant up the stairs, he started counting the stone stairs out of boredom – thirty nine steps. He felt that it was a bit ridiculous, it turned out that there were only 39 steps. When he was a child, he had thought that these stone steps were like a staircase made of clouds, leading straight into the sky.
“Do you think anyone’s ever rolled down from here before?” He recalled a little Taoist kid wearing a round collared robe who was crouching amidst the civil and military officials whisper. Without waiting for him to respond, the kid replied to themselves with conviction, “Someone definitely has.”
The Crown Prince bowed down and glanced at her before saying slowly, “Even if there wasn’t, you can be the first today.”
……
The summon for the Marquis of Dingbei to enter the palace hall was sent out again and again. Gao Yang who stood beside him, glanced sideways at the general who was in a daze and quietly stepped up to remind him, “Lord, the Emperor has sent the summons.”
Xia Xiu Yan suddenly returned to his senses. The corner of his lips twitched as he quietly asked, “Do you think anyone has ever rolled down from here before?”
Gao Yang was stunned for a moment, suspecting that he had heard wrong. Before he had the chance to ask again, the person in front had already flapped their sleeves and walked off into the palace hall.
Ever since the Marquis of Dingbei returned to the Capital, Qiu Xin Ran’s eyelids had been twitching for three days straight. She roughly calculated her luck – there was probably trouble ahead. After calculating such a result, Qiu Xin Ran suddenly became calm, after all, whether it was a blessing or a curse, it couldn’t be avoided.
After a few days went by like that, a letter arrived from the palace. When Qiu Xin Ran was thirteen years old and lived in the Capital, her master, Taoist Bao Yu had entrusted her to his junior brother, Bai Jing Ming, At the time, Bai Jing Ming was the Imperial Astronomer in the palace so Qiu Xin Ran stayed at the Imperial Observatory for three years. This time, Bai Jing Min had heard the news that she had left the mountain, so taking advantage of the Empress Dowager’s birthday banquet, invited her to enter the palace together.
That early Autumn morning, Qiu Xin Ran changed her robes and asked someone to go and hire a carriage then went to eat inside the restaurant. By the time she went downstairs, it was already quite late and most of the guests downstairs had already finished their meals and were chatting animatedly together. She casually asked He Bao Jin as he served her a bowl of noodles, “What are they talking about?”
“What else can they be talking about, the Capital is finally lively now that the Marquis of Dingbei is back.” The restaurant wasn’t busy so He Bao Jin sat down opposite her to listen to the chatter of the people at the surrounding tables. “Has this Taoist Master heard about the expedition that the Marquis of Ding Bei led seven years ago?”
Qiu Xin Ran’s hand that was holding her chopsticks paused. He Bao Jin didn’t hear her respond and assumed that as she had been cultivating in the mountains, she didn’t know about the matters in the Capital hence told her in detail, “Seven years ago, there was an emergency at the northwestern borders. The general guarding the city there was General Xia Hong Ying. They were about to lose the city but the court was still quarrelling over who to send over. At the time, General Zheng Lu was fighting a rebellion in the southwest and couldn’t go over in time. The court planned to dispatch a group of troops over first to help support until General Zheng Lu’s reinforcements arrived. However, everyone knew that the enemies outnumbered us so whoever was sent over were going to die so no one was willing to go.”
“Our current Emperor liked divinations so he had an idea. At the time, he had a favored Taoist priest so he summoned him to court to do a divination in front of all the officials. As soon as the divination was made, the Taoist Priest said that the most suitable candidate was Prince Xia, the current Marquis of Dingbei. When this divination came out, the entire court was surprised –“ His tone was too similar to a storyteller and all he was missing was a wood sounding block*, making Qiu Xin Ran wonder if this was a story from some teahouse in the Capital.
*[Used to strike the table for effect]
“Prince Xia was sent back to the palace because he was weak and sickly since he was little. However, this Taoist priest wanted him to lead the army out on the expedition, isn’t this just pushing him into a fire pit?”
Qiu Xin Ran weakly said, “The country was in crisis…”
He Bao Jin slapped the table angrily, “Prince Xia is the only child of General Xia and the Princess of Mingyang, this is asking for the Xia Family to become heirless!”
Qiu Xin Ran closed her mouth. He Bao Jin continued, “At the time, the court was in uproar so the Emperor summoned Prince Xia to ask. The prince kowtowed to him and voluntarily agreed to lead the troops to save the city in siege. All the officials in court were moved, especially the Emperor who allowed him to lead his troops to the border. At the time, everyone thought that he wouldn’t return once he left but guess what?”
“Naturally, he defeated the enemies and became the Marquis of Dingbei,” Qiu Xin Ran replied dryly. He Bao Jin also realised that his question was silly and couldn’t help but smile and scratch his head. He concluded, “In short, the border has been at peace for the past two years all thanks to the Marquis. Now that he’s returned to the Capital, the people naturally all welcome him. I heard that there is a gambling parlour in the south of the city that has opened bets as to whether the Marquis of Dingbei will seek trouble with that Taoist Priest.”
“……” The mouthful of noodles that Qiu Xin Ran had just eaten suddenly lost their flavour. She replied tactfully, “Since Prince Xia has saved the besieged city, it stands to reason that the Taoist priest can be regarded as very impressive.”
He Bao Jin angrily responded, “This is clearly the Heavens helping the worthy. How can it be the Taoist priest’s reading that’s accurate? Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Taoist priest’s reading was clearly instigated by someone with no good intentions!”
“……”
Tofubyu 