Chapter 30

The crown prince was twelve, his newly shot-up frame just taking on a youth's shape, and with the breeding of the imperial house besides — gentle, courteous, mild of speech, his looks resembling the emperor's. Today was his first day of school, and the empress herself brought her son to pay respects to his teacher, saying only that the crown prince was of middling gifts and had no road open to him but the hard one; she hoped His Honor Zeng Xuandu would not stand on ceremony over the crown prince's rank. Our dynasty holds strictly to the way of honoring the teacher, she said; as the crown prince was His Honor Zeng's student, he must keep faithfully to the rites of revering a master, needing no indulgence or special treatment — only strict instruction, treated just as an ordinary student.

The emperor was in no hurry to establish the crown prince's Eastern Palace, saying only that lessons should begin first; before, though the boy had studied alongside the other princes, what was taught had all been the basics, and now that he'd been made crown prince, he ought to study the things a crown prince should learn.

These words were quite vague and unclear, but to be taught on his own was, for the crown prince, a good thing on the whole.

Zhuo Siheng, behind Zeng Xuandu, made his bow to the empress and the crown prince, and thereafter stood with his head bowed throughout; a moment ago he'd glimpsed the empress's face, and thought to himself that this didn't quite match the gossip Tong Shipei had told him before.

The empress was the same age as the emperor, thirty-two this year. Tong Shipei had said it was known to all, court and country, that the empress was deeply out of favor; but seeing her, Zhuo Siheng felt that this woman, mother of the realm, if not radiant in looks, had all the same a dignified bearing of grave, composed beauty. The emperor and empress had, after all, been wed in a time of hardship together — why, then, were the two now like strangers to each other?

This sort of gossip would, sure enough, have to wait to be asked of Tong Shipei later; for now, he kept strictly to the proprieties, not stealing an extra glance or asking an extra word.

By the dynasty's rules, honored women of the inner palace — the Empress Dowager, the empress, the noble consorts, the grand princesses and the like — were not forbidden to have a say in court affairs, but had to keep to what befitted their station and do only what suited their rank, never overstepping. For the empress, as the crown prince's mother, to bring her son to his studies herself and perform the rite of seeking a teacher was not only proper but a model of virtuous child-rearing; the empresses of several wise rulers of the past had set such a precedent.

His Honor Zeng and Zhuo Siheng respectfully saw the empress off, then invited the crown prince into the Yide Pavilion for his lessons. The crown prince was most respectful, keeping to a disciple's courtesy the whole way; His Honor Zeng demurred twice and then accepted it — this too was the dynasty's policy of honoring the teacher and the Way, to which even the crown prince had to conform.

The Yide Pavilion had once been the emperor's reading study, but for the convenience of governing, His Majesty had moved his study to the Tianzhang Hall, where he attended to daily affairs, and this place was left for the crown prince's schooling.

His Honor Zeng seemed to know already how far the crown prince's reading had gone, and asked little; he only had him take a set of the Book of Han, then drew out the last volume and handed it over, saying slowly: "Your Highness has read the Records of the Grand Historian closely before, so we shall begin our teaching from the Book of Han."

Zhuo Siheng thought: was reading the Four Histories some fashion in the palace? Was there some reading trend of late? Or was it that, because the emperor liked them, His Honor Zeng had the crown prince read them too, to find a little common ground with his own father?

Only the last was the likeliest.

Zhuo Siheng had no Book of Han to hand, but he knew the Four Histories well and had them all by heart, so he could simply listen.

The crown prince answered respectfully, "Yes." But he seemed to hesitate, and added, "Academician Zeng, although Grand Academician Bai taught the Records of the Grand Historian before, it was only a read-through; as for close study, there was none."

The crown prince had as yet no formally named Eastern Palace tutor, so he addressed all his teachers by the titles of academician and grand academician.

His Honor Zeng's eyes, which had stayed half-shut all this while as if he were asleep, finally opened a little, and he said, "Grand Academician Bai did not teach it closely?"

"No; Grand Academician Bai said the Four Histories excel in their diction, but as for their historical argument, one might as well not read them," said the crown prince.

Zhuo Siheng vaguely sensed that, his own preference having been disparaged, His Honor Zeng's eyes opened a little wider; but he could hardly let it out before the crown prince, and only said in a low voice: "The Four Histories have their own subtleties, and the arguments of later essays are mostly grounded in them. If Your Highness does not study them, it would be greatly amiss should His Majesty ask about an allusion and you be unable to answer on the moment."

"I'll do as Academician Zeng says." The crown prince seemed a little nervous, as if afraid there'd been something wrong in what he'd said.

His words did indeed smack of sowing discord, though from the crown prince's expression it didn't seem deliberate.

Zhuo Siheng was good at observing and at silence; just then it was as if he weren't in the room at all — only his mind was a great deal more active than his outward show.

His Honor Zeng Xuandu, in teaching the Book of Han, did not begin from the first chapter, the "Annals of Emperor Gao," but first laid out the timeline for the crown prince. Zhuo Siheng felt this had very much the flavor of a modern overview lecture — quite methodical; clearly His Honor Zeng's Hanlin academicianship had not been conferred for nothing.

"From Han Gaozu down to Wang Mang's Xin is two hundred and thirty years of history. Ban Mengjian says: 'Even in the glory of a Yao or a Shun, there must be chapters of canon and counsel, and only then is a name made to shine in later ages and a virtue crowned above a hundred kings.' From this one sees that the Book of Han carries virtue and carries the Way — a song of praise, yet leaving splendid writing behind as well. Your Highness need not read the earlier text first; open the last volume, and begin from the final chapter, the 'Narrative Postface.'"

"The Book of Han is to be read back to front?" The crown prince was quite puzzled.

His Honor Zeng Xuandu was just about to explain when a eunuch suddenly entered the study: "His Honor Zeng, His Majesty summons you urgently; please come to the Tianzhang Hall at once."

He bit down hard on the word "urgently," and Zeng Xuandu naturally dared not be slow; he told the crown prince to read on by himself for now and headed for the door — only to stop with one foot already out, and turn back to say to the crown prince: "This Attendant Zhuo is the zhuangyuan of this year's examination, of excellent learning; the Four Histories in particular he knows like the palm of his hand. Wherever Your Highness comes to something baffling in the reading, you may consult him freely." With that he left without a backward glance, leaving Zhuo Siheng alone to stare wide-eyed at the crown prince.

Did this count as being made the crown prince's study-companion tutor on his very first day of work?

The crown prince was truly polite and biddable; hearing Academician Zeng say this, he rose and made Zhuo Siheng a bow, which gave Zhuo Siheng such a start that his heart lurched, and he stood up too.

"Attendant Zhuo, I trouble you for your instruction."

"To attend Your Highness in your reading is my duty; Your Highness need not be so courteous."

However startled he was, Zhuo Siheng could always smile lightly and easily — this was his special art.

The crown prince was still troubled by his earlier puzzle; perhaps because Zhuo Siheng looked less stern, and was low in rank with little chance of an audience at which to carry tales to the emperor, he spoke without the caution he'd shown before, though he kept the proper courtesy: "Just now Academician Zeng didn't say why I should read the Book of Han back to front — may I ask, Attendant Zhuo, do you know the reason?"

"Your Highness needn't stand on ceremony; to resolve your doubts is your servant's duty." Zhuo Siheng had in fact known the reason a moment ago, and it came out at once: "Because the Book of Han differs from other histories: its very last chapter, the 'Narrative Postface,' is really a preface, setting out the important figures recorded in the whole Book of Han in the form of a four-character narrative verse. 'Majestic was the Han founder, heir to the line of Yao; virtue was his by Heaven's own gift, wise and martially brilliant. The men of Qin held no rule, and the realm slipped through to Chu; from here his rise began — he cut the serpent and roused his host...'" Zhuo Siheng recited dozens of lines in one breath, and only when he saw the crown prince's mouth opening wider and wider did he slowly stop, and say with a smile: "Ban Mengjian placed all this at the very end of the book, arraying it in four-character phrases and narrating straight through the whole Book of Han — so that once read through, one grasps its outline. In having Your Highness read the 'Narrative Postface' first, Academician Zeng surely hopes you might gain a rough understanding first, fixing the main threads firmly in mind, and then, reading closely from the beginning, understand the inner and outer connections all the better."

In an instant the crown prince felt a rush of admiration for Zhuo Siheng, and hurriedly asked: "Studying is such hard work, yet you remember it so well, Attendant Zhuo — is there some knack to learning?"

"If you treat learning as a hard, painful thing, then reading will certainly be hard."

"Grand Academician Bai used to say the same, only... how can reading be made not hard?" A faint, rueful smile crossed the crown prince's face.

"If Your Highness makes learning a habit and cultivates your own desire to know, then, though reading won't turn of itself into something light and pleasant, it can at least fill in a little of the restlessness and want in the heart, and bring it to stillness."

Zhuo Siheng coaxed and guided him step by step, drawing on the turns of phrase his old homeroom teacher had used to spur the other students to work hard — though not all of the homeroom teacher's lines would do. Take that earth-shaking, all-time classic: "Are you studying for me? You're studying for yourselves! For your own future, for your own tomorrow!" That sort of thing he couldn't very well say to the crown prince — was he to say, "You're not studying for us, but to please your imperial old man, and so you'll have use for it once you inherit the throne someday"?

Now that would be him tired of living.

But he found it a little odd, too. If a child at the start of his schooling, at seven or eight, spoke such naive words, that would be one thing; but the crown prince was already twelve. A child still, granted — yet for the offspring of the imperial house there was only precocity, never late-blooming: their learning resources were rich, they could pick a teacher from any grand academician in the realm, and their schooling began earlier. He should long since have grasped the necessity of study — how was it he still seemed a little... artless?

This was not a quality a crown prince ought to have.

Never mind, never mind — it was his first day of work, so Zhuo Siheng decided to throw in a study tip, buy-one-get-one, as a grand opening special.

"Your Highness, since you've deigned to ask about the matter of study, your servant has one more word."

"Say what you will, Attendant Zhuo; before you I can only seek instruction, and would never dare refuse." The crown prince was humble about everything; even to a seventh-rank attendant like Zhuo Siheng he spoke politely and courteously, making an excellent impression.

Having weighed his words, Zhuo Siheng said easily: "Just now Academician Zeng taught you to read the Book of Han starting from the last volume; in fact, Your Highness needn't have rushed to ask, but might have found the reason yourself. Had you opened the last volume then and seen the contents of the 'Narrative Postface,' with your quick wit and clear insight you'd surely have discovered the essential point on your own. To find, in the pages of a book, the answer to a doubt in your own mind carries quite a sense of accomplishment — perhaps Your Highness might try it in future."

The crown prince nodded thoughtfully, thanked Zhuo Siheng for his guidance again, and then began to read in earnest, humbly asking whenever he came to something he didn't understand — a very good student, one might say.

And yet this was a student Zhuo Siheng really rather dared not teach.

First, he didn't know whether Zeng Xuandu, as a close minister of the emperor's, had taught the Book of Han only after receiving some hint; second, if so, then the emperor surely had a deeper purpose, and if Zhuo Siheng taught in a way that didn't accord with what His Honor Zeng had grasped, there'd be trouble; and last, he truly didn't want to get entangled again with anything so dangerous as the crown prince. His family hadn't even reached the capital yet — couldn't he first let them reunite and live a good life a while before taking on high-risk challenges?

So Zhuo Siheng dared only answer questions and speak of study methods, and not a word more of anything else.

Even so, by the time His Honor Zeng returned, the crown prince already admired Zhuo Siheng beyond measure.

"A moment ago Your Highness asked me why we read from the back first?" His Honor Zeng hadn't forgotten the matter, and brought it up again before resuming his teaching.

For the first time since the empress had brought him, the crown prince spoke in so confident and bright a voice: "Academician Zeng, Attendant Zhuo has already resolved my doubt; I've read the 'Narrative Postface' closely just now, and understood the care and intent behind your teaching. Hereafter I beg you not to stint your instruction."

Zeng Xuandu's eyes opened a little to look at Zhuo Siheng seated to one side, then quickly withdrew, and he nodded kindly to the crown prince: "Your Highness is courteous and humble, and not ashamed to ask of those beneath you; clearly your earlier studies were sound, and you're sure to distinguish yourself hereafter."

That glance, whose meaning he couldn't read, made Zhuo Siheng's heart beat a little faster. This crown-prince child was too honest by half! Couldn't he have said he'd worked it out himself? He had to tell the plain truth!

Still, this was perhaps one of the crown prince's few virtues...

Though they'd been together only a day, Zhuo Siheng already found himself wanting to look on the crown prince with pity; but he could only keep up his respectful, proper bearing, and while His Honor Zeng was present, kept his mouth firmly shut.

His first workday, though not heart-stopping, still left Zhuo Siheng with a lingering unease, feeling he'd learned a great secret that many, in court and country, already knew: that the crown prince was in fact of mediocre gifts, and perhaps even... unequal to the great task.

Could this be the reason the emperor had put off naming a crown prince for so long?

After returning from the palace to check in at the Secretariat, in the first quarter of the you hour, when the light was dimming into a drowsy dusk, he came out of his workplace, feeling that at last he could stride out freely. But he'd gone barely two steps when a carriage braked sharply in front of him, and before he could see clearly, a head poked out of the cabin.

"Yunshan! Come on!"

Tong Shipei had probably just gotten off after his own first day of work too; there was a kind of liberated delight in his fine features — his eyebrows fairly flying with it, and none too subtly.

Zhuo Siheng told Fu Ji to wait a moment, then got into Tong Shipei's carriage and laughed at the sight of him: "Come to take me to dinner? It won't do — it's the first day at the yamen today, and I know what you want to talk about; I've things I want to tell you too, but our talk probably isn't fit for a wine-house. Why not come to my place? You haven't seen my new courtyard yet, have you?"

"Sure!" Tong Shipei thought he couldn't be more right, and was happily agreeing when he suddenly grew wary: "Wait — I haven't prepared a calling card or a gift; would it be quite proper to visit your residence as a guest like this?"

This truly made Zhuo Siheng laugh: "Since when have you been such a stickler for the proprieties? Besides, mine's no grand residence — just a little courtyard, that's all."

"It's my father, of course — says that now I'm a court-appointed official, whenever I go out to see someone I have to present a calling card and can't go empty-handed, and mustn't buy anything unbecoming for a gift either. In short, far too much fuss; and if he found out I'd gone to visit your new place empty-handed, he'd surely scold me again." Tong Shipei had plainly been remade by his father into the shape of a newly appointed official on the surface, but inside he was the same irreverent creature as before, and the moment he talked with Zhuo Siheng his true colors showed.

"It doesn't matter — it's only my home; we don't need to stand on such ceremony. Besides, my family hasn't reached the capital yet, so it's just me and two or three servants at home — very quiet," Zhuo Siheng said with a smile.

"Right — your family will be here soon; when they come I'll bring some things over then, to add to the housewarming cheer for them." Having grown close with Zhuo Siheng, Tong Shipei was more natural with him, not fussing over trifles, no ceremony, as easygoing as ever. "Here's what — let's buy some hot dishes on the way and take them back to your place, put together a little spread, and skip the wine for now. What do you say, Yunshan?"

"Not bad! Let's do that!"

Having settled it, Zhuo Siheng and Tong Shipei went to a nearby eatery famous in the capital for its roast mutton and brought back a good many dishes; but Widow Chai, seeing this, felt her professional competence was being called into question, and in her indignation turned out a whole table of delicious food from the simple ingredients at home. Both Tong Shipei and Zhuo Siheng found their appetites thoroughly whetted, and ate with the utmost satisfaction.

"Yunshan, you've no idea — in the Taishi Hall I'm the only one without a beard, and the speed they talk at, listening to it makes me itch with impatience!" Before they'd even finished eating, Tong Shipei couldn't help delivering a sharp review of his workplace: "All I did all day was look things up in books and write out records — I'm so idle I could rust to death."

"The Taishi Hall you're in falls under the Zhaowen Hall, and those coming and going there are all senior court ministers with academician titles. Your father wants you to watch and learn a lot, but not to stick your neck out — to do less that involves real power, and to build up some experience for when you truly need to step onto the political stage in future," Zhuo Siheng said with a smile.

Tong Shipei sometimes felt that this honest-looking friend of his had even more newfangled words than he did; he was about to ask about it, when he suddenly remembered something and said mysteriously: "I hear you went to keep the crown prince company at his studies today? How was it?"

He was well-informed indeed — clear proof that at court many things were no secret at all. Having wanted Tong Shipei's help to begin with, Zhuo Siheng hid nothing, and laid out all that had happened that day and the doubts in his mind.

They'd set the dinner table in the cool pavilion, which touched nothing before or behind, so that anyone approaching would be seen at first glance and there was nowhere to hide and eavesdrop — the best place for talking, so they needn't deliberately speak in veiled terms. Hearing him mention the empress, Tong Shipei, though there was nothing to fear, still lowered his voice out of habit: "That the sovereign and the empress are on the coolest of terms is no secret — but do you know the reason?"

"By rights a couple wed in hardship shouldn't be like this?" Zhuo Siheng really found it hard to imagine; the hardship-wed couples in his mind were all like Zhuo Yan and Song Liangyu — steadfast, devoted lovers who never forsook each other.

"Out of the late emperor's dread of him, the sovereign, before his accession, was kept confined all along in the South Tower behind the Court of the Imperial Clan, and past twenty had still not been assigned a marriage. Later, as the late emperor's health declined by the day, and with no son of his own to inherit the throne, the court deliberated and settled on the sovereign's accession — but you know, of course, that the sovereign is in fact..."

The son of the treasonous heir.

Zhuo Siheng nodded to show he understood, and let Tong Shipei go on.

"My father says the late emperor was furious and unwilling at the time, but the heir is the foundation of the state, and to leave it unsettled he also felt was wrong... though I rather think he simply couldn't afford to keep putting it off. In the end, probably to test and keep watch on the sovereign, he chose a kinswoman of the imperial in-laws — the Duke of Chang's daughter, Madam Zhong — and assigned her in marriage; and that is the present empress."

Zhuo Siheng was taken aback, and at last understood why the imperial couple's relations had always been poor, and why the crown prince was out of favor...

Knowing he'd grasped the cause, Tong Shipei said no more of it, and picked out a few other important points: "When the reigning emperor came to the throne your whole family was still in Shuozhou, so there's no knowing what an uproar the setting-up of an empress became. The crown prince was still only the eldest prince then, just a year old; the emperor didn't want to make Madam Zhong empress, but the whole court, civil and military, wouldn't have it — they were the late emperor's pillars, who'd set up the new emperor for the sake of the realm, and now, with the late emperor's coffin still lying in state, here was the new emperor already refusing to be governed, and during the mourning period wanting to strip the wife the late emperor had bestowed of the honored rank due her. How would that do? It really did become an ugly, poisonous business — only the Duke of Chang still held military power, and the noble kin and powerful ministers the late emperor had left behind were not to be trifled with, so our emperor took the middle road: he wouldn't name a crown prince, but he would name an empress, and so, at least, quelled the turmoil. But later, once the Duke of Chang's faults fell into the emperor's hands, there was no such compromise: the empress's family, the consort-kin, were rooted out entirely, and there was no one left who could raise a wave — and no one brought up the matter of naming a crown prince again, until the emperor's illness a year ago finally brought a turn. But after all that had passed, any mending of the imperial couple's feelings was impossible."

Knowing all this, Zhuo Siheng no longer wondered so much at the crown prince's character. If he too had been unloved by his own father from childhood and then suddenly made a crown prince or heir, he'd also have to ask himself, trembling, whether he was worthy of it, and whether he might lose it. And besides, for others to lose a father's love was only to lack the joys of family; but for the crown prince to lose his father's affection could mean losing his life.

Family feeling in the imperial house — it came to no more than this.