Chapter 60

In the inner court of the imperial city, within Yùqìng Palace, the princes who were studying there, all under the age of twenty, were engaged in heated discussion.

One prince, intoxicated, recited:

"The line 'A gentle rain on the imperial street moistens like butter, the grass color seen from afar disappears up close' is absolutely exquisite! No wonder she is the champion of the inner court poetry gathering; Princess Ning Le's reputation as a talented young lady is truly deserved! I can't believe I missed it yesterday—what a shame, what a shame!"

Another nodded in praise:

"Exactly! You weren't there, you didn't see after these two lines were spoken the whole hall fell silent in an instant, everyone turned to look at Princess Ning Le strolling gracefully in the main hall; those two lines alone eclipsed all the spring scenes previously described by the others."

The prince beside him also chimed in with praise:

"The latter two lines, 'The finest part of spring is none other than this, surpassing even the willow smoke filling the imperial capital,' also retain heroic spirit! When the whole poem came out, we immediately knew who would win this inner court poetry contest; I saw several young nobles preparing to recite behind me ball up their poems and toss them aside.

Everyone in the inner court and the court has already heard about it; just wait, this poem will soon spread abroad, and Princess Ning Le will surely soon be renowned throughout the state of Liang as a talented lady."

Another participant in the poetry gathering interjected:

"Actually, not only this one; Princess Jingyang's poem is also highly praised, especially by those upright officials in the court who later heard it, who greatly admired it, believing it rare for inner court poetry to lament the people's hardships."

The son of a nearby prince chimed in agreement:

"Because almost all depictions of spring scenery are of flourishing blossoms, this poem instead describes farm labor. When the lines 'Exhausted, unaware of the heat, yet cherishing the long summer day' were spoken, the entire inner court hall fell silent."

"Who would have thought that Princess Jingyang, usually so bold in her poetry, would this time write a farm scene in near plain description—truly unexpected."

"Still, this is the first time I've seen Princess Jingyang attend a poetry gathering; usually she sends her poem without appearing, but this time she came in person, recited 'Observing the Wheat Harvest' herself, and then left just as lightly.

Although that poem is also excellent, hearing it feels uncomfortable; especially many of the royal youths present, upon hearing it, were surprised and furrowed their brows, feeling as if someone had scolded them: 'The common folk live in such hardship, yet you still have leisure to carve words and ponder phrases?'"

"On the contrary, it fits Princess Jingyang's unique character quite well! At the time, two eminent scholars repeatedly praised the poem as 'great skill without artifice,' and ultimately this poem ranked second, only behind 'Spring Rain'."

"Once these two poems spread, at least they'll prove our inner court poetry gathering isn't just for show but contains genuine talent. Still, I too must write a good poem next time; otherwise they'll say our Liang poetry scene is overly yin and lacking yang!"

"Quite right! We could also recruit more literary guests! Go out and search among the common folk!"

"Do you really think these poems were composed by Princess Ning Le and Princess Jingyang themselves? Or might they have had guests write them for them?"

"It's possible! Let's inquire around; if that's indeed the case, having such two guests, I'd be willing to pay a high price to hire them!"

Inside Changyang Palace, Princess Jingyang Zhao Nuo sat by the window perusing ancient texts.

Her close-fitting silver-white robe was embroidered with gold-thread auspicious clouds; on her head she wore no feminine hairpins or jade plumes, but instead bound her hair like a prince and donned a jade cap, her waist cinched with a jade belt, presenting the image of a handsome, jade-faced young gentleman.

Her features were exquisite, her eyes holding autumn waters; even in male attire, her innate beauty could not be concealed, were it not for her overly pronounced chest muscles, one could hardly tell her gender at a glance.

"Sister Qianqian!"

Before the person arrived, the voice already reached; Zhao Nuo rubbed her temples, closed the book, turned and smiled:

"Since your vision began to recover, you've been running about the inner court more and more diligently."

Zhao Zhinan, holding a jade bamboo staff, stepped into the room and said with concern:

"Isn't it much easier now that you can come and go on your own? Why does Sister Qianqian's voice sound a bit fatigued, and why haven't you been sleeping well over state affairs?"

Zhao Nuo let out a soft sigh:

"A few days ago, during a court meeting in the Qiande Hall, local officials jointly submitted a memorial impeaching the various princes and dukes across the regions, accusing them of seizing fertile land, privately hoarding weapons and armor, and exploiting their privileges to engage in corruption and lawlessness, leaving the surrounding prefectures mired in misery.

Father Emperor also wishes to resolve it, but after half a day of discussion in the hall no good solution emerged, for it is a problem that has persisted for many years; moreover, these are either meritorious nobles or important royalty, and their enfeoffment as regional princes was originally a special measure to guard the borders in wartime.

Sending troops to deal with them might be feasible, yet even combined they are no match for us, but provoking rebellion would be troublesome and might even give the Northern Rong state an opening; moreover, punishment and admonition have no effect on them, and above all I truly worry that nurturing such tigers will backfire, for these princes may eventually develop into regional hegemons.

The crown prince and the second prince are merely busy undermining each other, with no real solution either; I've scoured the ancient texts these past two days and found no viable strategy from the ancients, leaving me sleepless and headache‑ridden over this matter."

Zhao Zhinan stepped forward and rubbed Zhao Nuo's neck:

"I can't help with state affairs, but the next time I go for my eye treatment I'll prescribe Sister Qianqian a calming, sleep‑aid remedy."

"Who offers help without motive? You're surely not just here to fuss over Sister Qianqian, are you?"

Zhao Zhinan stuck out his tongue and laughed:

"By the way, I've also come to collect a debt: at this inner court poetry gathering, Sister Qianqian left behind a single poem, 'Observing the Wheat Harvest,' then departed with her sleeves fluttering; now outside everyone says that as a royal lady she is attentive to the people's hardships, and soon this fine reputation will spread to the folk—how should Sister Qianqian thank me?"

Zhao Nuo took a leisurely sip of tea:

"Thank me? Shouldn't you be thanking the person who actually wrote the poem?"

Zhao Zhinan, feeling unjustified yet bold, retorted:

"Sister Qianqian, are you suspecting I had someone ghostwrite for me? We poets would never stoop to plagiarizing others' works!"

"The poem 'Spring Rain' could have come from your studies and a dream‑induced inspiration, perhaps I could still believe that, but 'Observing the Wheat Harvest'—unless one has lived a farmer's life, it's absolutely impossible to compose; surely someone helped.

And with these two excellent works appearing together in your hands, I suspect they might both be the work of a single person."

Knowing he could not win a battle of wits with Sister Qianqian, Zhao Zhinan reluctantly pouted and admitted:

"I can't see those beautiful scenes myself, so naturally someone helped me depict them; at most we can call it a collaborative creation, Sister Qianqian, you'd better not deny the debt!"

Although Zhao Nuo guessed that the two poems Zhao Zhinan produced might be the work of a single person, upon hearing his reluctant admission she could not help but feel secretly startled:

"All right, I'll pay you, but if these two poems were indeed written by one person, it shows this individual possesses both the talent to turn speech into elegant verse and the noble virtue of caring for the people; if such a scholar truly exists, I would indeed love to meet him."

"He's certainly no scholar."

"Then what? A recluse?"

"Hehe, if Sister Qianqian wants to know who he is, she'll have to pay extra, and I'll need to consult him first."

"I'll need to make things clear with Jiang Yunzhou beforehand, reminding him absolutely not to let slip the matter of buying poems and 'foot massage'."

"I'm really too kind; I should reward myself with another 'foot massage'."

At the Zhiyuan Escort Bureau, the chief escort Yu Tieying, who had spent considerable silver to be released by the county magistrate, brought along Deputy Chief Escort Chao Lei to a side room in the rear courtyard.

Seated inside were precisely the Southern Witch Elder Pusan, who had fled after being struck by Yan Twelve, and the rudder chief Luo Ya, who wields tiger claws.

The elder rose and bowed with clasped hands:

"Thank you, Chief Escort Yu, for your help; the people we brought this time suffered heavy losses—I don't know what plans the Magnificent Longevity Pavilion has next."

Yu Tieying lowered his voice to remind:

"I never expected our first cooperation to encounter so many mishaps; the Young Master of the Pavilion means the original plan remains unchanged, but please, after you've healed your wounds, leave Shangyang City first to avoid being tracked down by the Pacification Bureau."

"Very well, then we'll set out today."

Yu Tieying shook his head and added:

"There's no need to be so anxious; there's another small matter I'd like to trouble Elder Pu with."

"Oh?"

"In the city there is a medical clinic that has recently risen to fame, but it is not under the control of Huashou Pavilion, and there are some backgrounds I cannot act upon. So I would like to ask Elder Pu to leave and handle it; I have already anonymously hired a batch of assassins from Beirong State, Elder Pu can go with them, and after finishing, I can arrange for Elder Pu to leave the city that very night."

"It's just killing people, a trivial matter, but the black-clad swordsman from the Southern Pacification Office I encountered last time was indeed quite troublesome..."

"Elder Pu need not worry about this; the Southern Pacification Office mainly handles affairs outside the city, and moreover they do not know you. After finishing, you will leave immediately, and no one will be able to trace it."

"Good, then I can rest easy; I'll wait to collect their corpses."