Chapter 41: Embracing Rosy Clouds and Appreciating Brocade

Great King first found Grand Tutor Xu, and had him invite a few literati and refined scholars to come together to the Prince of You's Mansion for a tea party. He said he had obtained a treasure, wanting to present it to his father, first to open the eyes of the people of You Prefecture, and incidentally see if there were any with outstanding literary talent, so they could first write a fu as a warm-up.

Great King's second step was to summon the local household registrar, and ask him about the most famous gentry and wealthy merchants within You Prefecture.

Since he arrived in You Prefecture as a youth, he had never organized any banquet or drinking activities; now he is using them, and Great King can finally remember these people.

With difficulty, he managed to compile a second list of ten names, intending to invite them into the mansion to view fish.

The broken ship still had three catties of nails; although You Prefecture is poor, families with spare money, after a thorough search, are not lacking in food and clothing.

In You Prefecture there are no major clans; only a few minor branches remain. Anyone with any strength has moved south, and those left, nominally claiming they cannot leave their homeland, actually lack the strength to go to a major commandery, and can only scrape by on the little property they have in You Prefecture.

But…… Great King utterly does not disdain them.

He also has no right to disdain them; these are the few who have been painstakingly pulled out from among the short people, the only ones in You Prefecture who have managed to escape the hunger line. He does not expect these people to buy many koi; he hopes they will sell the koi to the south.

After all, rare goods can be hoarded.

Embracing Rosy Clouds Pavilion of the Prince of You's Mansion

Great King finally chose the Embracing Rosy Clouds Pavilion in the garden to hold this koi-viewing gathering; it is close to the front court, and upon entering through the East Splendour Gate one arrives directly in the garden.

The Embracing Rosy Clouds Pavilion is three stories high, its windows all of glass; looking south is the Hall of Bearing Light, a grand and venerable symbol of royal authority; at dusk, looking west, the sunset's rosy light embraces one wholly; looking north, in the distance are faintly visible pavilions and towers, exquisite architecture unseen by the people of You Prefecture; nearby are the garden's meticulously carved green trees and artificial hills, a rare patch of greenery in autumn.

With such top‑notch elegant scenery, Great King believes the koi fish tanks will bewitch them to death.

To this end, the landscaping of his two large tanks is entirely a beautiful underwater palace style.

After finishing his meal, Great King squatted, half‑hiding behind a gauze screen, waiting for the leeks… ah no, for the guests to pass by.

Whenever a palace servant brings in a guest, a little eunuch soon runs over to report to him who it is, whose invitation they hold.

After looking on with great interest for a while, the little eunuch ran back again, 'Your Highness, the head of the Bai family, the richest of You Prefecture, has arrived!'

Great King's neck was straining so far out the window that Zhao Bao personally dragged him back.

'Your Highness, you must not! What if they happen to look up and see?'

Great King spoke confidently: 'I, the prince, want to see what the richest is like, and mark him as a point of interest. Cough! Well, I see they are all well‑behaved, not daring to look around recklessly.'

Zhao Bao: … You also know the two words 'rules'.

Naturally he didn't dare say it; if he did, Great King would surely explode.

At the gate of the Prince of You's Mansion, the head of the Wu family, a minor gentry clan in the city, bumped into the head of the Bai family next door. Old Master Wu immediately felt a little dissatisfied: 'Isn't the Prince of You supposed to banquet the prominent clans of You Prefecture? How did this white‑haired old man reeking of copper coins also come?! Is he fit to feast together with the Wu family?!'

You Prefecture is not like Chang'an; in Chang'an, the gentry officials all gather in the Upper Nine Ward, closer to the imperial palace, where the imperial nobility and gentry officials congregate. Past the Upper Nine Ward, only then do wealthy merchants, landowners, and other moneyed households appear. In You Prefecture, the wealthy are just a handful; conditions do not allow separation, so they are forced to live together, gentry and merchants mixed.

Minor gentry usually can only sneer at them in words, actually having no recourse. After the guards have inspected the invitation, the head of the Wu family still has to lower his eyes and follow the guiding eunuch inside, just like Old Master Bai; the Wu family is not one of the great Wang and Xie clans, nor is it the main line of direct descent, and even on the emperor's son's territory they must behave humbly.

When the two passed by, the little eunuch in charge of messages also arrived on time to report: 'Your Highness, the head of the Bai family, the richest of You Prefecture, has arrived! The old man in the cyan robe ahead is the head of the You Prefecture Wu clan; his family is a branch of the Wu family that holds the Grand Historian post in Chang'an, and they have little contact with the main line. Behind him is the head of the famous You Prefecture wealthy merchant Bai family; the Bai family got its start in horse trading, and it is said to be one of the few daring to do business northward.' The errand‑running little eunuch usually followed He Guang; after receiving the guest list, he followed He Guang and investigated the backgrounds of these dozen or so people.

Great King rubbed his fleshy little chin; the branch and main line not moving, still staying in You Prefecture, amounts to having no backing and being poor.

Great King immediately shifted his gaze to the tall, sturdy‑looking old man behind, who appears to be in his fifties, with a straight, robust build. He likely has some skill; otherwise he wouldn't dare do business with the barbarians. Horse trading? Great King marked him as a viable target, highlighting him.

As the King of You Prefecture, Great King would not personally attend such a banquet; frankly, these people are not worthy of being received in person by a princely king.

If one were to give them face, later one could go show favor; therefore Great King entrusted this banquet to Zhao Zhuge and Grand Tutor Xu.

Before Zhao Zhuge was recalled, Great King strove to extract every possible advantage.

When the guests had all arrived, the literati, gentry, and wealthy merchants each looked askance at the others: 'How can I sit at the same banquet with him, with them?!'

Finding everyone eyesore, they might as well just look at the scenery.

With the host absent, everyone intently observed the scenery outside the windows; no matter how shocked they felt inside, they strove to keep their faces impassive, vowing not to let the other two groups detect any trace of their reactions.

Among them, someone who has never left You Prefecture in his whole life, upon seeing the mansion, feels that the imperial household is indeed magnificent; this exceeds their imagination, a visit to this divine abode is not wasted, they have truly broadened their horizons, and upon leaving they can boast about it for a lifetime.

Who would have thought, the wealthy merchant who travels south and north is even more astonished than the ignorant literati. Like the head of the Bai family, who had already seen the Prince of You's Mansion from outside and found it beyond his imagination. He has been to the capital city of the Great Jin dynasty, Chang'an, and even gazed afar from the Five Lords Mountain onto a corner of the imperial city, yet it pales in comparison to the shock the Prince of You's Mansion gives him now. Upon entering he dared not look around; now that the master is absent, they can see the mansion's interior through the transparent windows, and his heart pounds incessantly.

It turns out a house can be built like this; it turns out there are windows more luxurious than white paper; it turns out the corner of the imperial palace he saw really is just a corner, and the places unseen by others far exceed his shallow imagination… He truly deserves the title 'well‑traveled and knowledgeable' only in name.

Look, even the emperor's son and the princes' mansions can be built on this scale; who knows how splendid and astonishing the imperial palace of Chang'an must be.

In fact, Emperor Ningde died wronged; if he knew his pampered son's living conditions outshone his by eight blocks, he would be furious. As for that relief grain, well… it's surely gone.