Chapter 47

They drank for half the night and talked about some things that happened in the imperial court. They became closer after returning from the Lingwu Mountain Villa. The things that were not easily mentioned by Feng Ye in the past were also said under the influence of the wine and Yan Sikong’s ingenious inducement.

For example, what Yan Sikong wanted to know most was Feng Jianping's network of influence in the imperial court. On the surface, Feng Jianping didn't associate with the Chinese officials in the capital because it was taboo for officials in the capital to collude with generals. He maintained an army, defied orders from the central government, and was feared by the emperor. Therefore, he’s very careful when doing things and did not give any cause for gossip. But to say that Feng Jianping only cared about himself, no one would believe it. Yan Sikong had already vaguely found out some things, and he wanted to verify further.

Feng Jianping's ability to oust three Datong governors and finally hold the military and political power in his hands is inextricably linked to his concealed influence in the court.

Sure enough, during the conversation, Yan Sikong found out that Feng Jianping had a personal friendship with Liu An, the minister of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs, and had close relations with some officials in southern Zhili and the aristocratic families in Jiangnan.

Yan Sikong thought: If Feng Jianping could support Chen Mu, then Chen Mu’s position as the Crown Prince would be stable.

Xie Zhongren has been able to commit crimes for 20 years because he is Emperor Xie Zhongren has been able to commit crimes for 20 years because he is Emperor Zhaowu’s great companion who assisted him since childhood and is deeply trusted. If he loses the emperor’s favour, the eunuch faction would collapse quickly.

To make Xie Zhongren lose the emperor’s favor, it was either to drive a wedge between him and the emperor, or...change the emperor.

Either way, he must try to achieve his goal as soon as possible.

The two of them talked freely over wine for half the night, and Feng Ye fell asleep in the guest room.

Yan Sikong sat by the bed and looked at Feng Ye for a long time. He couldn't help reaching out and gently stroking Feng Ye's perfectly shaped facial structure.

He’s still an unsophisticated teenager. Yan Sikong sighed in his heart.

----

The next day, Yan Sikong woke up early and prepared breakfast.

He went to the guest room to wake Feng Ye up. He called twice, but there was no response.

"Feng Ye?" Yan Sikong walked over, "Get up and eat."

Feng Ye didn't move or say a word.

"Feng Ye?" Yan Sikong walked over and stretched his hand out towards Feng Ye's shoulder.

His wrist was suddenly grasped by a powerful hand. In an instant, he was thrown onto the bed and fell into Feng Ye's strong and warm embrace.

"Haha!" Feng Ye wrapped his arms and legs around him and laughed triumphantly.

Yan Sikong said helplessly, "You’re such a naughty child."

Feng Ye buried his face in his chest: "I asked you to sleep with me last night. Where have you been?"

"Of course I went back to my room." Yan Sikong tried to push him away. "Get up. I made breakfast."

"You?" Feng Ye was surprised. "You know how to cook?"

"What's so hard about that?"

"Where's your servant?"

"He's had a rash these days and has been hiding in his room to recuperate."

Feng Ye complained: "You should’ve told me earlier. I'll take you to my house. Moreover, you’re a member of the Hanlin Academy. Not to mention you don’t have a carriage to travel around, you only have a servant in your residence. How can you be this shabby?”

"My salary is meager. Besides, it doesn't affect anything. It’s okay." Yan Sikong was a little flustered from Feng Ye’s pressing onto him. "Hurry up and let me go."

"No, unless you stay in my house."

"Nonsense, I live well here. Get up quickly." Yan Sikong struggled hard.

The strength he exerted should not be underestimated. The two were fighting on that bentwood bed. Originally, it was not good wood, and it squeaked along with their actions. Feng Ye was a bit flustered by Yan Sikong's twisting body. He held Yan Sikong's two wrists in one hand and whispered, "Stop moving."

Yan Sikong really didn't dare to move anymore, because he felt something hard and hot against his thigh.

Their gazes inadvertently collided, and the atmosphere was unusual for a moment.

Feng Ye slowly lowered his head. The tip of his nose gently butted the tip of Yan Sikong's nose, and he whispered, "I want to kiss you."

Yan Sikong was so nervous that his abdomen started to cramp. His Adam's apple slipped hard, and he solemnly said, "Feng Ye, let me go."

Feng Ye stared unblinkingly at Yan Sikong's eyes with his deep and bright pupils. His eyelashes trembled slightly, showing a bit of innocence. 

Yan Sikong emphasized: "Let me go."

Feng Ye curled his lips, let go of him in disappointment, and got up from the bed.

Yan Sikong turned over and got out of bed, adjusted his clothes, and said as if nothing had happened: "Get up and eat."

The Yan residence is simple and unadorned, so the breakfast was naturally not sumptuous. Two bowls of porridge, three small dishes, and four pork buns were all that were on the table.

Feng Ye didn't mind. He sat down happily and sniffed: "Mm, they smell so nice."

"Hurry up and eat, or they’ll be cold."

Feng Ye picked up a white, fat, stuffed steamed bun and took a big bite: "Mm, this steamed bun is really delicious. It's a bit like...the steamed bun made by blind Zhang when you took me to eat when we were young."

Yan Sikong's eyes lit up: "You still remember?"

"Of course I remember. You said your family loved to eat it, and took me to eat some."

Yan Sikong smiled: "Yeah, I had nothing to do when I was young, so I specially went to blind Zhang to learn. It’s already full of fragrance just by imitating a bit of the taste.”

"I don't remember the taste very much. I only remembered that it's very delicious." Feng Ye ate the bun in a few bites, "Maybe one day, we can go back and taste it again.”

A flash of dejectedness flashed across Yan Sikong’s face: "I'm afraid he’s already gone."

Feng Ye hurriedly changed the topic: "Is there more? These are not enough for me."

"Eat as much as you want. There's more in the back kitchen."

---

After breakfast, Feng Ye wanted to invite a good doctor to take a look at Ah Li but Yan Sikong refused. He asked Yan Sikong to go to his house but he refused also. Instead, Yan Sikong promised to accompany him to Chunyu Building to listen to music tomorrow.

The two met almost every day during Feng Ye's two to three days in the capital. Gradually, many people knew that they were good friends, but Yan Sikong did not ignore his other friends such as Zhou Mixing and Liang Sui. He had a wide social circle. In this way, outsiders would only think that he loves to make friends with popular people and would not think that he and Feng Ye are extraordinarily close.

After Feng Ye returned to Jingshan camp, Ah Li also came back.

Seeing his calm and confident expression, Yan Sikong knew that the task had been completed successfully, but he couldn't breathe a sigh of relief as a storm had just begun.

More than a month after Emperor Zhaowu's birthday, it was autumn in the capital. On Mount Jingshan, the layers of forest are gradually dyed with emerald and gold, and the mountains are covered with orange, yellow, vermilion, and green. The colorful beauty produced by the change of seasons is breathtaking, and Feng Ye invited him to enjoy the autumn at the Lingwu Mountain Villa.

Yan Sikong had already promised him, but the day before the trip, he received a piece of long-awaited news.

That day, he went to the Hanlin Academy as usual, but was called into the house by Yan Zilian with a dark face, and Shen Hexuan was already waiting on one side with a solemn look.

Yan Sikong realized something and said while maintaining his composure, "Teacher, do you have any orders?"

Yan Zilian looked at him sharply: "Who wrote the eleventh volume of the new history?"

Yan Sikong thought briefly: "Liu Zhaolin."

"Who’s the main reviewer and the third reviewer?"

"I’m the reviewer, and the third reviewer is..." Yan Sikong glanced at Shen Hexuan.

Wang Shengsheng was in charge of the history revision this time. He chose Huo Li, the Grand Academician of Longtu Pavilion who has a profound knowledge of the past and the present, to plan this entire project as a whole. Huo Li divided the Hanlins into four groups. The new Hanlin group was led by Shen Hexuan. Huo Li decided the backbone of the new history as well as the years each group was responsible for. It was Yan Sikong and the others who actually played a key role in the reviewing. They would cross-examine the contents of other people and other groups. Shen Hexuan couldn’t read so many volumes alone, so he only did random spot-checks.

However, if there’s anything wrong with the content, no one could be exempt from the responsibility.

Shen Hexuan said in a deep voice, "Teacher, can you let me read Lord Cai’s memorial*?"

Yan Sikong asked anxiously, "Teacher, what happened?"

"This is Cai Zhongfan, the Imperial Inspector of Qingyang’s memorial. This was sent to the pavilion today. It should have been submitted to the emperor today, but I held it down. However, it can only be held for one day. See for yourselves." Yan Zilian threw the memorial to them.

Yan Sikong spread out the memorial. Shen Hexuan also came and read it. Their expressions changed as they skimmed through.

"This......" A thin layer of sweat broke out on Shen Hexuan's forehead. He knelt on the ground with an ashen face. "I’ve neglected my duty."

That memorial was Cai Zhongfan's criticism of the major error in the eleventh volume of the new history, where Zhaowu was written as "Wuzhao" with ulterior motives. Although this memorial was not an accusatorial memorial, the spearhead that was directed at Wang Shengsheng was already very sharp.

As the world knew, Wuzhao represented the two emperors: Han Wu and Han Zhao. Initially, Emperor Han Wu was wise and powerful, and was also regarded as the number one emperor of all times. However, he was a militaristic emperor who caused years of warfare and civil discontent. The area that was wrongly written just happened to be the time when Emperor Zhaowu abandoned the seven states of Liaobei. The text boasted that Emperor Zhaowu achieved military accomplishment by suppressing wars, stopping the use of weapons, and governing effortlessly. Making visionary strategies for the peace of the world and the happiness of the people is very different from that of Emperor Han Wu, who had a strong army and expanded national boundaries. Isn’t this mistake a sarcastic reference to Emperor Zhaowu's weakness?

As for Emperor Han Zhao, he was a short-lived emperor. However, he was about the same age as Emperor Zhaowu when he ascended the throne, both being eight years old. Under Cai Zhongfan's brush of wanton killing, he became suspected of being cursed.

The two words were merely reversed to make an issue as a pretext for someone’s drawn-out talk*. This memorial is so insidious that it makes their hair stand upright.

Yan Sikong also knelt down: "Teacher, this...this is just a clerical error! Even if Liu Zhaolin has a hundred times of courage, he wouldn’t dare to make a mistake!"

Yan Zilian slapped the table ferociously: "A mistake is a mistake. And what excuses do you guys have for not pointing out the error!?”

The two prostrated and dared not to breathe hard.

Yan Sikong's mouth gently stretched into a smile that no one could see.

After a long silence, Yan Zilian said, "Cai Zhongfan has a deep personal resentment for Wang Shengsheng. He was originally the head of the merit examination department of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs. Because he wasn’t lenient to Wang Shengsheng's trusted official in the examination and was framed by Wang Shengsheng, he was demoted to the imperial censor position first, and then dispatched to Qingyang to patrol the barren hills and turbulent rivers. What a promising career."

Yan Sikong had already found out the grudges between them. The merit examination department of the Ministry of Official Personnel Affairs can be said to be the most powerful of the six departments. They’re mainly in charge of promoting and dismissing officials. Becoming the head of the merit examination department can be said to have real magnificent power in hand. The eunuch faction has long coveted this position. Since they didn’t win Cai Zhongfan over, they simply schemed to “exile” him to Qingyang.

Cai Zhongfan is very talented and has an upright character. He will definitely fight to the death with Wang Shengsheng if he gets the chance. This is not the first time he has admonished Wang Shengsheng.

This is the type of people that Yan Sikong needs. And if he guesses correctly, this memorial is only just the beginning, and there will be another memorial accusing Wang Shengsheng to add oil to the fire.

Shen Hexuan said, "Teacher, we were wrong but innocent. We’re definitely not ridiculing or cursing His Majesty’s intention."

Yan Sikong also said, "Teacher, I beg you to save us."

Yan Zilian said, "Lord Cai is aiming for Wang Shengsheng, but you three, as well as Grand Academician Huo, are inevitably involved. This matter can either be big or small..." He sighed bitterly, "You guys are making it difficult for me as a teacher."

Yan Sikong knew Yan Zilian's mind. Although Emperor Zhaowu did not care about the political situation and power of the imperial government and wholeheartedly led a life of pleasure, his greatest characteristic was his sensitivity about how he’s regarded by others. If an emperor were a broad-minded man, he might not care about the typo, but Emperor Zhaowu might. This is a good opportunity to accuse Wang Shengsheng, so why wouldn’t Yan Zilian want to get rid of this thorn and monopolize the power of the cabinet? However, in his heart, he was definitely reluctant to give up the two students he has just trained.

He believes that Yan Zilian will not miss the opportunity to get rid of Wang Shengsheng, and he also believes that Yan Zilian will not easily give up on them. Now, it is up to the scheming courtiers to mediate.

Yan Sikong knew that he was a little hasty and bold in this step, but there would be no benefits to reap if he didn’t take the risk to find some new and different ways to solve the problem!

 

SQC’s notes: I... really want to eat pork buns with thin skin and enormous fillings.

 

----

PS: can’t believe I’m hiatus for so long. I’m not sure if I wanna continue…Even if I stick to 1 chapter per week, I have to take YEARS to finish this novel, which is insanely demotivating.

 

memorial* [疏奏]----or 折子、奏帖 or 折奏 was the most important form of document sent by an official to the Emperor.

make an issue as a pretext for someone’s drawn-out talk* [借题发挥]--- It means to use something as a topic for an article to express one's real opinion or proposition, or to make an argument that has nothing to do with it

 

Edited on 2 Nov. 21 (Emzie)

 

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