The Princess having been able to find out that Consort Wan fell ill and passed out was already pretty well-informed of her — she hadn’t expected that Tang Fan would be even more well-informed.
What surprised them even more was the fact that Consort Wan was actually dead.
There was a moment of silence within the hall. No one spoke, seemingly all mulling over the news.
However, after thinking about it carefully, this appeared to be as expected. The lives of many had stained Consort Wan’s hands, with even the Crown Prince’s mother’s death unable to be separated from her. Everyone had been saying that Heaven’s doctrine would turn and respond with retribution — that retribution only coming now was a bit too late, though.
The Princess sighed. “Brother Emperor is going to be heartbroken and inconsolable now. I don’t know what he’ll do, now — perhaps fight for Lady Wan to be posthumously titled as Empress.”
A sister knew her brother best. Little did she realize, but she had guessed most of what the Emperor had said to Wan Tong.
Tang Fan said nothing. If it was only that much, then whatever. To speak very disrespectfully, Consort Wan was already dead. Whatever titles she was given now that the censors would kick up a fuss about and fight over, none of them would influence politics or the country at large. What was scary was that the Emperor, on a whim, would think to do something universally shocking.
“With this said, the Crown Prince is not a fake, nor was he poisoned or assassinated?” she then asked.
“Correct. He’s suffering from windchill, but his life isn’t in danger,” Tang Fan answered.
She creased her brow. “In that case, what was the purpose of the indentation beneath the carriage? The Supervisory of Miscellany didn’t just add it on randomly, right?”
Everything about a palace carriage’s shape was strictly regulated. Furthermore, because of the time crunch, the Crown Prince’s carriage had been altered at the last minute from one of the Emperor’s, which had consisted of nothing further than removing some of the decor on it. Why would there be an extra groove for no real reason?
“This humble official came here to seek your verification of what went on last time, Princess. Since the Crown Prince is fine right now, bothering more about it will yield no use. I am truly sorry about causing a disturbance this late at night, and will be taking my leave.”
Princess Chongqing was not someone that could discuss anything major. After hearing what the Supervisory people had said, her giving Tang Fan the information already portrayed her close position to the Crown Prince, but she couldn’t manage the situation at large. Disobeying her imperial brother was even less doable. Hence was why she had needed to make up a lie about the Crown Prince’s finger scar to have Tang Fan go dive in to the truth, lest she invite disaster onto herself.
That intelligent, self-preserving behavior was something Tang Fan could understand, but it ended there. There was no way he could discuss things with her, or speak in more in-depth words.
Everyone was smart here. There was no need to say much more.
The Princess smiled apologetically. “I’ve troubled you with running all around, Sir Tang. This formerly had nothing to do with, yet I dragged you into the water.”
“You’re too polite, Princess,” he said with a smile. “If it’s related to the Crown Prince, then it’s a major event that could shake the foundation of the nation. This Tang Fan currently has no official duties, but I cannot stay out of it.”
With those few polite words, Tang Fan and his companion got up to leave.
From start to finish, Sui Zhou hadn’t said a thing, as if completely forgotten, but the force of him sitting there could not be ignored in and of itself: antagonistic, and strange.
Many knew that Tang Fan had a good relationship with Tang Fan, but only after witnessing with her own eyes how Sui Zhou had escorted him in the middle of the night did the Princess realize exactly how good their relationship was.
While Sui Zhou was consort-kin, he had actually fought for contributions. People might say that Wan Tong had gotten lucky, but no one say that Sui Zhou had — this was the difference between them. There was no need to mention how Sui Zhou had extended a helping hand when the Crown Prince was in the worst of trouble. If the Prince could smoothly ascend, Sui Zhou’s position would only get more secure and illustrious.
Tang Fan needed even less explanation. He ran himself ragged for the Crown Prince, and as long as the latter wasn’t an ingrate, he would definitely repay his regards. Tang Fan’s re-entry into the Cabinet was only a matter of time.
In light of all that, the Princess and her husband treated the two of them with surplus courtesy, not daring to rely on their status to give them any slight.
Zhou Jing personally saw the two of them out, and said to Sui Zhou with conscious concern, “Guangchuan, your complexion looks poorly. Have you been working too hard recently? You might still be young, but you need to focus on recovery. Don’t strain yourself so much.”
“…” Tang Fan knew why Sui Zhou’s complexion was poorly, of course. Who would have a nice one, after being called out in the middle of the night, away from your… ahem, nest of blankets?
But, that was not for outsiders to know of.
Sui Zhou’s face remained paralyzed. “Thank you for your goodwill, Consort. I’ll focus on it.”
He always had this look; anyone not close to him would not be able to tell what thoughts were hidden beneath it. As time passed, everyone had grown used to that. Were he to smile at Zhou Jing right now, the latter would actually be scared.
Once out of the Princess Estate, a burst of cold wind outside made Tang Fan shrink back his head.
A fur cloak covered him — Sui Zhou had taken it off of himself.
“You should wear this,” Tang Fan said.
“I’m not cold,” Sui Zhou glanced at him, “I’m still pretty warm.”
“…”
The other grabbed his hand. “That’s why we need to back as soon as possible.”
“…”
The frigid wind was cold, but with another person at one’s side, the chill was reduced practically to nothing.
However, if they knew about the conversation that had happened between the Emperor and Wan Tong, they would likely be in no mood to be happily free of duty.
Wan Tong didn’t stay long in the Palace of Manifest Virtue. After confirming the Emperor’s will, he quickly left the Palace.
In the end, entering the palace in the middle of the night violated the rules. Dowager Zhou had never looked highly upon the Wan family to begin with — now that its supporting mountain had collapsed, if she caught blackmail information on him, who knew what would happen?
That old hag! Why wasn’t she the one to die?!
Wan Tong mentally spat, picking up his pace. He felt a slight wave of sadness over his sister’s death, but when thinking back to the Emperor’s promise, it was hard to conceal his excitement.
Distantly, several figures swayed at the palate gates, and his heart automatically suspended — but he soon released it, because he recognized one figures amongst them.
The other party welcomed him, asking in a quiet voice, “Sir Wan, how did it go?”
“Everything went smoothly.” Wan Tong grinned in a want to laugh. Quickly recalling that this wasn’t the right occasion, he quickly put away his smile, quieting his voice.
“You mean to say…” There was must luster in the other’s eyes.
“Yes! By your great blessing, Eunuch, I said what you told me to say, and it actually succeeded! If something this big can be done, you will have an immense share in that contribution!”
“You’re too polite, Sir Wan. I only came up with the idea.” The other was quite humble, not smugly claiming credit at all. “His Majesty had deep affection for the Noble Consort, which is why he agreed. This is better than us having to take a very big risk.”
Wan Tong nodded. “Right. Now that I think of it, our previous method was way too risky. Making it much more above-board is really phenomenal!”
“What did His Majesty say?”
“He asked me to talk it over with Wan An, and will announce it during the Great Court meeting, expediting its implementation before anyone is able to react. Then, the Crown Prince will surrender his title, and be sent directly off to elsewhere. At that time, His Majesty will immediately declare that he’s going into seclusion to cultivate the Dao, avoiding the noise of the censors. Once a long period of time passes, those people will know that there is absolutely no margin for recovery, and will only be able to helplessly accept it.”
The other yet raised doubts. “It likely won’t be too easy to get pass the blockade of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, yes?”
“No need to worry. I’m going back to discuss things with Wan An, Peng Hua, and the others. If I need your power when the time comes, I’ll have to ask you to be generous with your help.”
“When the time to act comes, I will naturally help. Be at ease, Sir Wan; you and I are on the same boat, so we should help each other out. However…”
He switched the topic around. “You know as well that His Majesty’s nature is the most finicky. Each day that the promise he made to you does not come to light is another day that it might not be for certain. Perhaps someone might persuade him to change his mind again. Don’t forget that during the Crown Prince’s deposition last time, it failed at the final stretch.”
Recalling what had happened last time, Wan Tong felt inward resentment. If there hadn’t been that earthquake then, they wouldn’t be needing to go to so much trouble now! “Relax. There won’t be a repeat of last time.”
In this hurried exchange, the time and location were inconvenient, and they could not say much more. Wan Tong bid farewell to the other, turned to get on his carriage, then rode straight back to the Wan Estate.
This Wan Estate was not his own, but the residence of Head Vizier Wan An, who had not yet fallen asleep.
This stemmed from Wan Tong having already spread word around before entering the palace, to have two other Cabinet members — Peng Hua and Yin Zhi, fellow members of the Wan party — come to Wan An’s house, so that they could meet up after he left the palace. At this point, the three had already drunk down several cups of tea, going from sleep-eyes to full of vigor, and then Wan Tong finally arrived.
Seeing him, they only stood up, not coming forward to greet him.
These few were called the Wan party by outsides, but the core of that was Consort Wan’s little brother, Wan Tong, not Wan An. At the end of it all, even though they were headed by him, they kept their civil official pride at heart, having some vague contempt towards tacky consort-kin like him. It was only because they all had identical benefits that they had come together.
This also didn’t mean that this alliance was unstable. On the contrary, it was precisely because they had done a lot of misdeed togethers — if anyone wanted to wash their sinful hands in a gold, cleansing basin, both sides would look down upon them.
“Brother Wan…”
Yin Zhi had just opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Wan Tong.
“My sister died.”
“What?”
“What?!”
Exclamations of surprise rose up in the hall successively. Everyone’s expression were the same type of shocked.
But after their shock, all of their expressions grew increasingly different.
Wan Tong wasn’t of the mind to bother with that, immediately informing them all of his dialogue with the Emperor. Having learned a lesson from last time, no one rushed to be ecstatic right now, instead requesting Wan Tong’s clarification over and over again. “His Majesty genuinely plans to depose the Crown Prince?”
“Yes!” Wan Tong drank down the tea the maid served in one gulp. “We even discussed that after the Crown Prince is stripped of his title, he should be sent off to a fiefdom as soon as possible. He should have set his mind. However, we also need to have both hands at the ready — this time, we can’t let those pedantic officials drag a good thing down into being a ruined thing.”
With that said, he set his cup down hard, saying viciously. “This old man doesn’t think that there’s going to be another earthquake at Mount Tai!”
Only now did the others revel in this. “We’ll have to plan well for the Great Court meeting tomorrow!”
“Yuanfu and I have a group of censors we can supply for the task,” Yin Zhi said. “If those people send memorials of objection, then, our people can also send memorials refuting them. A quarrel between scholars is nothing more than seeing whose voice is louder. The more turbid the water beneath is, the more His Majesty won’t regret this.”
“In order to prevent further complications, it would be best to make the Crown Prince leave the capital the same day as the deposition edict, else every day he remains here is another that those people won’t give up,” Peng Hua also said.
Yin Zhi frowned. “I’m afraid that that won’t be too probable, as it’s too rushed. This will cause His Majesty to be heavily criticized.”
Wan Tong waved him off. “Don’t fret so much. The sooner the better, anyways. Just like Yanshi said, complications will come the longer this is drawn out — I was really terrified by what happened last time. There’s also the matter of the edit. Even though we have the Supervisory of Ceremony Management around, in order to prevent His Majesty from changing his mind, it would be best for us to help him draft it ahead of time. Like that, it could be used at will!”
Yin Zhi was dumbstruck. “Isn’t that… too inappropriate?”
Wan Tong turned to Wan An. “What do you think, Yuanweng?”
While the rest of them had been discussing, Wan An had never said a thing. Hearing Wan Tong’s question, he said deliberately, “That’s fine.”
Wan Tong keenly detected subtle abnormalities in Wan An’s expression, saying darkly, “You’re having regrets about getting onto this ship of villains with us?”
Wan An smiled bitterly. “You’ve misunderstood. I was wondering what you all wanted to do with that fake Crown Prince?”
At the mention of that, everyone present gave a weird look.
Their plan had not started out like this. The indentation in the carriage, exactly how Princess Chongqing and Tang Fan had predicted, had indeed been for use in hiding someone. It hadn’t been for assassination, but in preparation to use the time of the Crown Prince’s trip outside to swap the fake Prince for the real Prince. After they returned from the Longevity Palace, the one in the East Palace would have been swapped out.
The fake Prince had been meticulously selected. His appearance was about eighty-percent similar to the real Prince’s, and then, paired with face-changing adjustments, there was no issue in creating the full-on look. In addition to that, the palace would sent people to specially instruct him in his actions to imitate the Crown Prince’s everyday habits, response language, and so on. Given that he would cover it up by feigning illness upon return, not even Cui Yong’s servant would be able to tell.
The Wan party’s idea had been this: Due to the real Crown Prince being difficult to manipulate, if they had a fake Prince at hand, they could have much more leeway for control. They could have the fake Prince be seriously ill without rise, or meet with an accident and turn crippled, after which the Emperor would definitely need to reconsider his selection of heir when it came to inheriting the throne. The Court officials would have no room to reject them, either.
However, that plan had ultimately been rejected by a friend of the Wan party: Sealwielder of the Supervisory of Ceremony Management, Liang Fang. He believed that it was too risky and easy to mess up, as if anyone caught on, their entire army would be wiped out.
Wan An and the others were also worried about something happening, which is why they had disagreed with Wan Tong’s plan. With internal willpower at a standstill, it had ultimately gone without implementation.
By coincidence, when the Crown Prince had left the Longevity Palace, he had been rained on, his health had fallen, and he had gone back in illness. Therefore, the Wan party simply ceased in their sky-shocking risk of switching out the Crown Prince. Wan Tong had listened to Liang Fang’s suggestion, switching plans to find an opportunity from this to act.
The risk was similar, but it was a lot more reliable than swapping out Princes.
For that reason, when the Prince returned to the palace, the indentation beneath the carriage had indeed held a fake Prince in it, but he had ended up not being switched out.
These hair-raising, circuitous events were not things Tang Fan or Princess Chongqing could have guessed.
And then, Consort Wan had died.
As was said, all calculations were inferior to the calculations of the Heavens. Despite this extremely tortuous process, this had finally gone as they wanted. Everything was prepared, and all that was left was to wait for the results at the Great Court meeting.
However, even though the Crown Prince hadn’t been replaced, the fake one was still around, hence Wan An’s inquiry.
Wan Tong thought for a bit. “He’ll be hidden. After the Crown Prince is actually deposed, it won’t be too late to deal with him.”
His implication was pretty evident. In the event that the Crown Prince couldn’t be depose, the fake one might still have a use.
Wan An was hesitant. “The fake Prince’s existence is ultimately a liability…”
Wan Tong smiled fakely. “Are you afraid that the fake one will stand up and tell on us, thus implicating you? Don’t worry. I’ve hidden him away nicely — the Crown Prince’s people won’t be finding him!”
Wan An still had doubts. “Sui Zhou also heads the Brocade Guard…”
Wan Tong was intensely angered into amusement. “What even is Sui Zhou? He still has to listen to my orders in the Guard! I’m the Commanding Envoy!”
Peng Hua quickly went to mediate. “Why get angry, Brother Wan? Yuanweng was just being cautious! Yuanweng, don’t worry. Even if they have hunch, they won’t have any concrete evidence, and couldn’t make any waves at all. As long as tomorrow goes well, we’ll have made a great contribution!”
Wan Tong eased his tone, too. At a time like this, there were still many areas that required relying on Wan An; he couldn’t turn hostile with him. Even if he hated the other’s gutless heart, ever anxious that something was going to happen.
In his opinion, this was a disadvantage of working with civil officials. They were always overcautious, looking to and fro all day long, fearful, and not reliable at all. They were inferior to Li Zisheng and Ji Xiao’s types, who were more daring and black-hearted in doing things.
Both sides took a step back. Wan An smiled, slightly apologetic. “When one ages, they always get more concerned about everything. Don’t mind me, Brother Wan, I just worry over things falling through at the last second!”
Wan Tong laughed. “You’re too serious. His Majesty has a soft personality, and we’ve all suffered from this loss — why would there be any reason to worry? How about I trouble you with drawing up a first draft of the edict?”
He held an intent to venture, but Wan An seemed to not have heard clearly. In contrast with his recent hesitation, he agreed very readily.
Seeing that, Wan Tong felt at ease.
By the time everyone left the home, it was nearly third watch.(11p-1a)
On his litter, Wan An’s smile and collectedness vanished in an instant, replaced with no expression at all.
His family hadn’t yet gone to sleep, and his grandson, Wan Hongbi, was waiting for his return.
The Wan family had only had one son for each of three generations. Wan An’s son, Wan Yiyuan, was an official off in Nanjing, and the grandson lived with his grandparents. Wan An would generally never avoid his grandson, having the mind to impart him a lesson.
Grandfather and grandson were very close; Wan Hongbi could tell at a glance that the other was not feeling great. “Grandpa, did something happen?”
Wan An looked at him, refusing to reveal any oddities before the other family members. “Come alone with me to the study.”
As soon as they were in the study, Wan An could no longer hide his emotions. His shoulders practically slumped, and he let out a long exhale. “Grandpa has made a massive mistake.”
Wan Hongbi jumped high in fright. “Grandpa?”
Wan An didn’t answer, instead asking, “How do you peers in Hanlin Academy evaluate me?”
Seeing the other’s hesitance to answer, Wan An laughed bitterly. “I can guess without you tell me. It should be none other than that I’m treacherous, devious, sinister, and oppressive, I only ever flatter the Emperor and the Consort, and I have the high status of Cabinet Head Vizier, yet I’m mediocre and never do anything, right?”
“Grandpa, what’s actually going on with you? Why did you make a trip to the house… did that Wan tong block say something to you?”
Wan An shook his head, proceeding to talk to himself, “I never had regrets before, really. Everyone walks their individual paths. Being Yu Jie’an’s sort, where one is loyal and righteous, doing all he could… what conclusion did he end up with? Didn’t the Late Emperor cut him down with one word? Of all those people that had received his grace before, which one spoke one word for him? Of all those citizens that were spared the fires of war due to him defending the capital, which one spoke up one word for him? That is why I don’t have regrets. I don’t want to be like Yu Jie’an, as I won’t have a good end on the eve. How is it bad to cater to the whims of the one above? I would have wealth and safety at the very least, right?”
Wan Hongbi was genuinely frightened. “Grandpa, what happened?”
Wan An closed his eyes, pained.
Him not walking the path of Tang Fan and them didn’t mean that he wanted to rebel. What difference was there between what Wan Tong was doing and rebellion?
Deposing the Crown Prince was fine, but making a fake Prince…
That had entirely exceeded Wan An’s mental anticipation.
Although the fake Prince was unused for right now, Wan An could tell that the other’s actions were already to the extent of total lawlessness. If they were bold enough to swap out the Crown Prince, what else would they be bold enough to do?
In the future, if the Prince of Xing did not conform to their hopes, would they swap him out for a fake Prince of Xing?
Wan An was scared, but it was too late now. He foudn that he was no longer able to stop the insane momentum of the others.
Thinking back on it now, if the favorites of today’s Emperor — Li Zisheng, Ji Xiao, and the others — were to be placed into any other Court, they would be the spitting image of renegades. When a new Emperor ascended, regardless of whether it was the Prince of Xing or the current Crown Prince, that group would be cast out to eliminate the hatred of the populace.
What about him, then?
Thinking about how he might be hung with the title of ‘conspirator’ or something in the second half of his life, a chill came from the bottom of his heart.
He wasn’t on the same path as Liu Jian, Tang Fan, and all of them. That didn’t mean that he wanted to be implication with Wan Tong’s group.
Were Wan Tong alone, it might not be a big deal, but there was also the merciless, unscrupulous Liang Fang echoing him distantly in the palace…
With that on the mind, Wan An opened his eyes to look at his grandson. “Do you want to be an official that flatters, or one that is upright?”
Wan Hongbi was baffled. He stood there for a long time, understanding nothing, his head full of fog. Hearing this, he could only cautiously counter, “Neither. Is that okay?”
“What do you want to be, then?”
Of the mind to make his grandfather happy, he said with a smile, “To be like you, of course, muddling along in peace and wealth!”
Wan An was simultaneously angered and amused. “All you want is to bathe in peace and wealth? That moment is still far away! Even I, your grandpa, don’t completely have that, Looking at the Court, only that damned old fox Liu Cottonflower would fit the term!”
Even though the other had been his rival for over half his lifetime, looking back, Wan An had to admit that someone like Liu Ji, ever resembling an unkillable cockroach, was hated by all, yet no one could do a thing about him — he never needed to rely on anyone, ever slippery. As had been seen, even the Emperor’s teacher, Liu Xu, had been forced to go back to civilianhood, and Cabinet members had been swapped out in batches, while Liu Cottonflower had remained perfectly fine to this day, despite daily denouncements.
Meanwhile, he, Wan An, was about to fall into a pit that he could never get out of.
The Princess having been able to find out that Consort Wan fell ill and passed out was already pretty well-informed of her — she hadn’t expected that Tang Fan would be even more well-informed.
What surprised them even more was the fact that Consort Wan was actually dead.
There was a moment of silence within the hall. No one spoke, seemingly all mulling over the news.
However, after thinking about it carefully, this appeared to be as expected. The lives of many had stained Consort Wan’s hands, with even the Crown Prince’s mother’s death unable to be separated from her. Everyone had been saying that Heaven’s doctrine would turn and respond with retribution — that retribution only coming now was a bit too late, though.
The Princess sighed. “Brother Emperor is going to be heartbroken and inconsolable now. I don’t know what he’ll do, now — perhaps fight for Lady Wan to be posthumously titled as Empress.”
A sister knew her brother best. Little did she realize, but she had guessed most of what the Emperor had said to Wan Tong.
Tang Fan said nothing. If it was only that much, then whatever. To speak very disrespectfully, Consort Wan was already dead. Whatever titles she was given now that the censors would kick up a fuss about and fight over, none of them would influence politics or the country at large. What was scary was that the Emperor, on a whim, would think to do something universally shocking.
“With this said, the Crown Prince is not a fake, nor was he poisoned or assassinated?” she then asked.
“Correct. He’s suffering from windchill, but his life isn’t in danger,” Tang Fan answered.
She creased her brow. “In that case, what was the purpose of the indentation beneath the carriage? The Supervisory of Miscellany didn’t just add it on randomly, right?”
Everything about a palace carriage’s shape was strictly regulated. Furthermore, because of the time crunch, the Crown Prince’s carriage had been altered at the last minute from one of the Emperor’s, which had consisted of nothing further than removing some of the decor on it. Why would there be an extra groove for no real reason?
“This humble official came here to seek your verification of what went on last time, Princess. Since the Crown Prince is fine right now, bothering more about it will yield no use. I am truly sorry about causing a disturbance this late at night, and will be taking my leave.”
Princess Chongqing was not someone that could discuss anything major. After hearing what the Supervisory people had said, her giving Tang Fan the information already portrayed her close position to the Crown Prince, but she couldn’t manage the situation at large. Disobeying her imperial brother was even less doable. Hence was why she had needed to make up a lie about the Crown Prince’s finger scar to have Tang Fan go dive in to the truth, lest she invite disaster onto herself.
That intelligent, self-preserving behavior was something Tang Fan could understand, but it ended there. There was no way he could discuss things with her, or speak in more in-depth words.
Everyone was smart here. There was no need to say much more.
The Princess smiled apologetically. “I’ve troubled you with running all around, Sir Tang. This formerly had nothing to do with, yet I dragged you into the water.”
“You’re too polite, Princess,” he said with a smile. “If it’s related to the Crown Prince, then it’s a major event that could shake the foundation of the nation. This Tang Fan currently has no official duties, but I cannot stay out of it.”
With those few polite words, Tang Fan and his companion got up to leave.
From start to finish, Sui Zhou hadn’t said a thing, as if completely forgotten, but the force of him sitting there could not be ignored in and of itself: antagonistic, and strange.
Many knew that Tang Fan had a good relationship with Tang Fan, but only after witnessing with her own eyes how Sui Zhou had escorted him in the middle of the night did the Princess realize exactly how good their relationship was.
While Sui Zhou was consort-kin, he had actually fought for contributions. People might say that Wan Tong had gotten lucky, but no one say that Sui Zhou had — this was the difference between them. There was no need to mention how Sui Zhou had extended a helping hand when the Crown Prince was in the worst of trouble. If the Prince could smoothly ascend, Sui Zhou’s position would only get more secure and illustrious.
Tang Fan needed even less explanation. He ran himself ragged for the Crown Prince, and as long as the latter wasn’t an ingrate, he would definitely repay his regards. Tang Fan’s re-entry into the Cabinet was only a matter of time.
In light of all that, the Princess and her husband treated the two of them with surplus courtesy, not daring to rely on their status to give them any slight.
Zhou Jing personally saw the two of them out, and said to Sui Zhou with conscious concern, “Guangchuan, your complexion looks poorly. Have you been working too hard recently? You might still be young, but you need to focus on recovery. Don’t strain yourself so much.”
“…” Tang Fan knew why Sui Zhou’s complexion was poorly, of course. Who would have a nice one, after being called out in the middle of the night, away from your… ahem, nest of blankets?
But, that was not for outsiders to know of.
Sui Zhou’s face remained paralyzed. “Thank you for your goodwill, Consort. I’ll focus on it.”
He always had this look; anyone not close to him would not be able to tell what thoughts were hidden beneath it. As time passed, everyone had grown used to that. Were he to smile at Zhou Jing right now, the latter would actually be scared.
Once out of the Princess Estate, a burst of cold wind outside made Tang Fan shrink back his head.
A fur cloak covered him — Sui Zhou had taken it off of himself.
“You should wear this,” Tang Fan said.
“I’m not cold,” Sui Zhou glanced at him, “I’m still pretty warm.”
“…”
The other grabbed his hand. “That’s why we need to back as soon as possible.”
“…”
The frigid wind was cold, but with another person at one’s side, the chill was reduced practically to nothing.
However, if they knew about the conversation that had happened between the Emperor and Wan Tong, they would likely be in no mood to be happily free of duty.
Wan Tong didn’t stay long in the Palace of Manifest Virtue. After confirming the Emperor’s will, he quickly left the Palace.
In the end, entering the palace in the middle of the night violated the rules. Dowager Zhou had never looked highly upon the Wan family to begin with — now that its supporting mountain had collapsed, if she caught blackmail information on him, who knew what would happen?
That old hag! Why wasn’t she the one to die?!
Wan Tong mentally spat, picking up his pace. He felt a slight wave of sadness over his sister’s death, but when thinking back to the Emperor’s promise, it was hard to conceal his excitement.
Distantly, several figures swayed at the palate gates, and his heart automatically suspended — but he soon released it, because he recognized one figures amongst them.
The other party welcomed him, asking in a quiet voice, “Sir Wan, how did it go?”
“Everything went smoothly.” Wan Tong grinned in a want to laugh. Quickly recalling that this wasn’t the right occasion, he quickly put away his smile, quieting his voice.
“You mean to say…” There was must luster in the other’s eyes.
“Yes! By your great blessing, Eunuch, I said what you told me to say, and it actually succeeded! If something this big can be done, you will have an immense share in that contribution!”
“You’re too polite, Sir Wan. I only came up with the idea.” The other was quite humble, not smugly claiming credit at all. “His Majesty had deep affection for the Noble Consort, which is why he agreed. This is better than us having to take a very big risk.”
Wan Tong nodded. “Right. Now that I think of it, our previous method was way too risky. Making it much more above-board is really phenomenal!”
“What did His Majesty say?”
“He asked me to talk it over with Wan An, and will announce it during the Great Court meeting, expediting its implementation before anyone is able to react. Then, the Crown Prince will surrender his title, and be sent directly off to elsewhere. At that time, His Majesty will immediately declare that he’s going into seclusion to cultivate the Dao, avoiding the noise of the censors. Once a long period of time passes, those people will know that there is absolutely no margin for recovery, and will only be able to helplessly accept it.”
The other yet raised doubts. “It likely won’t be too easy to get pass the blockade of the Six Ministries and Nine Ministers, yes?”
“No need to worry. I’m going back to discuss things with Wan An, Peng Hua, and the others. If I need your power when the time comes, I’ll have to ask you to be generous with your help.”
“When the time to act comes, I will naturally help. Be at ease, Sir Wan; you and I are on the same boat, so we should help each other out. However…”
He switched the topic around. “You know as well that His Majesty’s nature is the most finicky. Each day that the promise he made to you does not come to light is another day that it might not be for certain. Perhaps someone might persuade him to change his mind again. Don’t forget that during the Crown Prince’s deposition last time, it failed at the final stretch.”
Recalling what had happened last time, Wan Tong felt inward resentment. If there hadn’t been that earthquake then, they wouldn’t be needing to go to so much trouble now! “Relax. There won’t be a repeat of last time.”
In this hurried exchange, the time and location were inconvenient, and they could not say much more. Wan Tong bid farewell to the other, turned to get on his carriage, then rode straight back to the Wan Estate.
This Wan Estate was not his own, but the residence of Head Vizier Wan An, who had not yet fallen asleep.
This stemmed from Wan Tong having already spread word around before entering the palace, to have two other Cabinet members — Peng Hua and Yin Zhi, fellow members of the Wan party — come to Wan An’s house, so that they could meet up after he left the palace. At this point, the three had already drunk down several cups of tea, going from sleep-eyes to full of vigor, and then Wan Tong finally arrived.
Seeing him, they only stood up, not coming forward to greet him.
These few were called the Wan party by outsides, but the core of that was Consort Wan’s little brother, Wan Tong, not Wan An. At the end of it all, even though they were headed by him, they kept their civil official pride at heart, having some vague contempt towards tacky consort-kin like him. It was only because they all had identical benefits that they had come together.
This also didn’t mean that this alliance was unstable. On the contrary, it was precisely because they had done a lot of misdeed togethers — if anyone wanted to wash their sinful hands in a gold, cleansing basin, both sides would look down upon them.
“Brother Wan…”
Yin Zhi had just opened his mouth, only to be cut off by Wan Tong.
“My sister died.”
“What?”
“What?!”
Exclamations of surprise rose up in the hall successively. Everyone’s expression were the same type of shocked.
But after their shock, all of their expressions grew increasingly different.
Wan Tong wasn’t of the mind to bother with that, immediately informing them all of his dialogue with the Emperor. Having learned a lesson from last time, no one rushed to be ecstatic right now, instead requesting Wan Tong’s clarification over and over again. “His Majesty genuinely plans to depose the Crown Prince?”
“Yes!” Wan Tong drank down the tea the maid served in one gulp. “We even discussed that after the Crown Prince is stripped of his title, he should be sent off to a fiefdom as soon as possible. He should have set his mind. However, we also need to have both hands at the ready — this time, we can’t let those pedantic officials drag a good thing down into being a ruined thing.”
With that said, he set his cup down hard, saying viciously. “This old man doesn’t think that there’s going to be another earthquake at Mount Tai!”
Only now did the others revel in this. “We’ll have to plan well for the Great Court meeting tomorrow!”
“Yuanfu and I have a group of censors we can supply for the task,” Yin Zhi said. “If those people send memorials of objection, then, our people can also send memorials refuting them. A quarrel between scholars is nothing more than seeing whose voice is louder. The more turbid the water beneath is, the more His Majesty won’t regret this.”
“In order to prevent further complications, it would be best to make the Crown Prince leave the capital the same day as the deposition edict, else every day he remains here is another that those people won’t give up,” Peng Hua also said.
Yin Zhi frowned. “I’m afraid that that won’t be too probable, as it’s too rushed. This will cause His Majesty to be heavily criticized.”
Wan Tong waved him off. “Don’t fret so much. The sooner the better, anyways. Just like Yanshi said, complications will come the longer this is drawn out — I was really terrified by what happened last time. There’s also the matter of the edit. Even though we have the Supervisory of Ceremony Management around, in order to prevent His Majesty from changing his mind, it would be best for us to help him draft it ahead of time. Like that, it could be used at will!”
Yin Zhi was dumbstruck. “Isn’t that… too inappropriate?”
Wan Tong turned to Wan An. “What do you think, Yuanweng?”
While the rest of them had been discussing, Wan An had never said a thing. Hearing Wan Tong’s question, he said deliberately, “That’s fine.”
Wan Tong keenly detected subtle abnormalities in Wan An’s expression, saying darkly, “You’re having regrets about getting onto this ship of villains with us?”
Wan An smiled bitterly. “You’ve misunderstood. I was wondering what you all wanted to do with that fake Crown Prince?”
At the mention of that, everyone present gave a weird look.
Their plan had not started out like this. The indentation in the carriage, exactly how Princess Chongqing and Tang Fan had predicted, had indeed been for use in hiding someone. It hadn’t been for assassination, but in preparation to use the time of the Crown Prince’s trip outside to swap the fake Prince for the real Prince. After they returned from the Longevity Palace, the one in the East Palace would have been swapped out.
The fake Prince had been meticulously selected. His appearance was about eighty-percent similar to the real Prince’s, and then, paired with face-changing adjustments, there was no issue in creating the full-on look. In addition to that, the palace would sent people to specially instruct him in his actions to imitate the Crown Prince’s everyday habits, response language, and so on. Given that he would cover it up by feigning illness upon return, not even Cui Yong’s servant would be able to tell.
The Wan party’s idea had been this: Due to the real Crown Prince being difficult to manipulate, if they had a fake Prince at hand, they could have much more leeway for control. They could have the fake Prince be seriously ill without rise, or meet with an accident and turn crippled, after which the Emperor would definitely need to reconsider his selection of heir when it came to inheriting the throne. The Court officials would have no room to reject them, either.
However, that plan had ultimately been rejected by a friend of the Wan party: Sealwielder of the Supervisory of Ceremony Management, Liang Fang. He believed that it was too risky and easy to mess up, as if anyone caught on, their entire army would be wiped out.
Wan An and the others were also worried about something happening, which is why they had disagreed with Wan Tong’s plan. With internal willpower at a standstill, it had ultimately gone without implementation.
By coincidence, when the Crown Prince had left the Longevity Palace, he had been rained on, his health had fallen, and he had gone back in illness. Therefore, the Wan party simply ceased in their sky-shocking risk of switching out the Crown Prince. Wan Tong had listened to Liang Fang’s suggestion, switching plans to find an opportunity from this to act.
The risk was similar, but it was a lot more reliable than swapping out Princes.
For that reason, when the Prince returned to the palace, the indentation beneath the carriage had indeed held a fake Prince in it, but he had ended up not being switched out.
These hair-raising, circuitous events were not things Tang Fan or Princess Chongqing could have guessed.
And then, Consort Wan had died.
As was said, all calculations were inferior to the calculations of the Heavens. Despite this extremely tortuous process, this had finally gone as they wanted. Everything was prepared, and all that was left was to wait for the results at the Great Court meeting.
However, even though the Crown Prince hadn’t been replaced, the fake one was still around, hence Wan An’s inquiry.
Wan Tong thought for a bit. “He’ll be hidden. After the Crown Prince is actually deposed, it won’t be too late to deal with him.”
His implication was pretty evident. In the event that the Crown Prince couldn’t be depose, the fake one might still have a use.
Wan An was hesitant. “The fake Prince’s existence is ultimately a liability…”
Wan Tong smiled fakely. “Are you afraid that the fake one will stand up and tell on us, thus implicating you? Don’t worry. I’ve hidden him away nicely — the Crown Prince’s people won’t be finding him!”
Wan An still had doubts. “Sui Zhou also heads the Brocade Guard…”
Wan Tong was intensely angered into amusement. “What even is Sui Zhou? He still has to listen to my orders in the Guard! I’m the Commanding Envoy!”
Peng Hua quickly went to mediate. “Why get angry, Brother Wan? Yuanweng was just being cautious! Yuanweng, don’t worry. Even if they have hunch, they won’t have any concrete evidence, and couldn’t make any waves at all. As long as tomorrow goes well, we’ll have made a great contribution!”
Wan Tong eased his tone, too. At a time like this, there were still many areas that required relying on Wan An; he couldn’t turn hostile with him. Even if he hated the other’s gutless heart, ever anxious that something was going to happen.
In his opinion, this was a disadvantage of working with civil officials. They were always overcautious, looking to and fro all day long, fearful, and not reliable at all. They were inferior to Li Zisheng and Ji Xiao’s types, who were more daring and black-hearted in doing things.
Both sides took a step back. Wan An smiled, slightly apologetic. “When one ages, they always get more concerned about everything. Don’t mind me, Brother Wan, I just worry over things falling through at the last second!”
Wan Tong laughed. “You’re too serious. His Majesty has a soft personality, and we’ve all suffered from this loss — why would there be any reason to worry? How about I trouble you with drawing up a first draft of the edict?”
He held an intent to venture, but Wan An seemed to not have heard clearly. In contrast with his recent hesitation, he agreed very readily.
Seeing that, Wan Tong felt at ease.
By the time everyone left the home, it was nearly third watch.(11p-1a)
On his litter, Wan An’s smile and collectedness vanished in an instant, replaced with no expression at all.
His family hadn’t yet gone to sleep, and his grandson, Wan Hongbi, was waiting for his return.
The Wan family had only had one son for each of three generations. Wan An’s son, Wan Yiyuan, was an official off in Nanjing, and the grandson lived with his grandparents. Wan An would generally never avoid his grandson, having the mind to impart him a lesson.
Grandfather and grandson were very close; Wan Hongbi could tell at a glance that the other was not feeling great. “Grandpa, did something happen?”
Wan An looked at him, refusing to reveal any oddities before the other family members. “Come alone with me to the study.”
As soon as they were in the study, Wan An could no longer hide his emotions. His shoulders practically slumped, and he let out a long exhale. “Grandpa has made a massive mistake.”
Wan Hongbi jumped high in fright. “Grandpa?”
Wan An didn’t answer, instead asking, “How do you peers in Hanlin Academy evaluate me?”
Seeing the other’s hesitance to answer, Wan An laughed bitterly. “I can guess without you tell me. It should be none other than that I’m treacherous, devious, sinister, and oppressive, I only ever flatter the Emperor and the Consort, and I have the high status of Cabinet Head Vizier, yet I’m mediocre and never do anything, right?”
“Grandpa, what’s actually going on with you? Why did you make a trip to the house… did that Wan tong block say something to you?”
Wan An shook his head, proceeding to talk to himself, “I never had regrets before, really. Everyone walks their individual paths. Being Yu Jie’an’s sort, where one is loyal and righteous, doing all he could… what conclusion did he end up with? Didn’t the Late Emperor cut him down with one word? Of all those people that had received his grace before, which one spoke one word for him? Of all those citizens that were spared the fires of war due to him defending the capital, which one spoke up one word for him? That is why I don’t have regrets. I don’t want to be like Yu Jie’an, as I won’t have a good end on the eve. How is it bad to cater to the whims of the one above? I would have wealth and safety at the very least, right?”
Wan Hongbi was genuinely frightened. “Grandpa, what happened?”
Wan An closed his eyes, pained.
Him not walking the path of Tang Fan and them didn’t mean that he wanted to rebel. What difference was there between what Wan Tong was doing and rebellion?
Deposing the Crown Prince was fine, but making a fake Prince…
That had entirely exceeded Wan An’s mental anticipation.
Although the fake Prince was unused for right now, Wan An could tell that the other’s actions were already to the extent of total lawlessness. If they were bold enough to swap out the Crown Prince, what else would they be bold enough to do?
In the future, if the Prince of Xing did not conform to their hopes, would they swap him out for a fake Prince of Xing?
Wan An was scared, but it was too late now. He foudn that he was no longer able to stop the insane momentum of the others.
Thinking back on it now, if the favorites of today’s Emperor — Li Zisheng, Ji Xiao, and the others — were to be placed into any other Court, they would be the spitting image of renegades. When a new Emperor ascended, regardless of whether it was the Prince of Xing or the current Crown Prince, that group would be cast out to eliminate the hatred of the populace.
What about him, then?
Thinking about how he might be hung with the title of ‘conspirator’ or something in the second half of his life, a chill came from the bottom of his heart.
He wasn’t on the same path as Liu Jian, Tang Fan, and all of them. That didn’t mean that he wanted to be implication with Wan Tong’s group.
Were Wan Tong alone, it might not be a big deal, but there was also the merciless, unscrupulous Liang Fang echoing him distantly in the palace…
With that on the mind, Wan An opened his eyes to look at his grandson. “Do you want to be an official that flatters, or one that is upright?”
Wan Hongbi was baffled. He stood there for a long time, understanding nothing, his head full of fog. Hearing this, he could only cautiously counter, “Neither. Is that okay?”
“What do you want to be, then?”
Of the mind to make his grandfather happy, he said with a smile, “To be like you, of course, muddling along in peace and wealth!”
Wan An was simultaneously angered and amused. “All you want is to bathe in peace and wealth? That moment is still far away! Even I, your grandpa, don’t completely have that, Looking at the Court, only that damned old fox Liu Cottonflower would fit the term!”
Even though the other had been his rival for over half his lifetime, looking back, Wan An had to admit that someone like Liu Ji, ever resembling an unkillable cockroach, was hated by all, yet no one could do a thing about him — he never needed to rely on anyone, ever slippery. As had been seen, even the Emperor’s teacher, Liu Xu, had been forced to go back to civilianhood, and Cabinet members had been swapped out in batches, while Liu Cottonflower had remained perfectly fine to this day, despite daily denouncements.
Meanwhile, he, Wan An, was about to fall into a pit that he could never get out of.
