Chapter Thirty-Five: The Wind Is Rising; The Weather Is About to Change!
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The Prince of Yan’s Residence.
More precisely, this could only be considered one of the Prince of Yan’s secondary estates.
After all, the Prince of Yan’s fief was in Beiping, where the true Prince of Yan’s Residence stood.
Even so, the Prince of Yan was a royal prince—the Emperor’s own son.
Old Zhu was genuinely good to his sons.
Zhu Di’s residence in Jinling was likewise called the Prince of Yan’s Residence, though it was nowhere near as large as the one in Beiping.
Yet in Jinling, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, a mansion situated in such a prosperous and strategic district was still unimaginably valuable.
At that moment, Zhu Di was fishing in a pavilion set in the middle of a lake within the estate.
The pavilion faced the water on three sides, connected to the shore by a single covered walkway. From it, everything in the surroundings could be seen at a glance.
Whenever Zhu Di had some important matter to discuss, he would come here.
It was also to prevent anyone from eavesdropping.
The sun had begun to slant westward. Its no longer scorching rays spilled across the surface of the lake, making the water glitter brilliantly.
Fishing in this cool pavilion had a certain charm to it.
Yao Guangxiao sat cross-legged nearby with his eyes closed, rolling a string of prayer beads between his fingers while murmuring Buddhist scriptures under his breath.
A long while passed.
Yet there was not the slightest movement on the water below.
Zhu Di began to grow impatient. “Master, I’m here fishing, while you sit here reciting sutras. How are the fish supposed to bite the hook?”
“Amitabha!” Yao Guangxiao intoned. “Heaven cherishes life.”
“These fish simply are not fated to die yet, which is why they have not taken the bait.”
Zhu Di puffed up angrily. “What kind of nonsense is that?”
“Does Heaven also let wolves eat sheep and tigers devour every other beast? Is that compassion for life as well?”
“The tiger is the king of beasts, so there is nothing wrong with its eating them at will.”
“Human beings are the foremost of all living things. Whether they fly in the sky, walk upon the earth, or swim in the water, every creature in this world may be eaten by man.”
“I merely wish to catch a few fish and satisfy my appetite. What harm is there in that?”
His voice suddenly changed. “Hush. Don’t speak—the fish is biting.”
The float bobbed on the surface. Zhu Di gripped the fishing rod and yanked it sharply.
Sure enough, a fish weighing roughly half a catty was hauled from the water.
“Hahaha!” Zhu Di seized the fish in both hands and laughed triumphantly.
“Master, it seems your sutras aren’t very effective!”
Yao Guangxiao shook his head with a bitter smile and intoned another Buddhist prayer. “Amitabha!”
Zhu Di dropped the fish into a bucket of water that had been prepared beforehand, baited the hook again, and cast the line back into the lake.
Only then did he say, “I heard that young Yuntong overslept today and never went to the palace for his lessons.”
“Judging by the look of things, he must have seen through your scheme and lost sleep over it!”
“With the Prince of Wu’s intelligence, Your Highness pretending to submit to him was never likely to deceive him,” Yao Guangxiao replied.
“But it does not matter.”
“The key to this game does not lie in whether he can see through it.”
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“It lies in the fact that even if he does see through it, he will have no way to undo it!”
Zhu Di smiled. “I thought about it last night. Perhaps he will go straight to the palace, report to Father, and accuse me of leaking the secret while he is there.”
Yao Guangxiao shook his head. “That would be useless.”
“If His Majesty intended to alter the decree, he would have summoned you to the palace and given you new instructions long ago.”
“Besides, what outcome could he hope to obtain by reporting to His Majesty?”
“Would he plead for mercy on Lan Yu’s behalf, or ask His Majesty to have Lan Yu executed?”
“Whatever he did, I fear neither choice would work.”
Zhu Di pondered for a moment before asking, “Then what exactly does Father mean by this?”
Yao Guangxiao continued turning the beads in his hand, his tone as calm and unruffled as a dry well. “This is not merely a difficult problem we have set for him. It is also His Majesty’s test.”
“Only after passing this trial will he truly be qualified to contend for the position of Crown Prince!”
“Writing a few good poems, lyrics, and couplets, or inventing contraptions such as the mimeograph, is far from enough.”
“Those things have nothing whatsoever to do with governing a nation.”
As the two men spoke, they suddenly saw someone hurrying along the covered walkway from the shore toward the pavilion.
A strange expression flickered across Zhu Di’s face.
Whenever he came here, he would specifically instruct the servants of the residence not to disturb him without good reason.
Had something major happened today?
The messenger hurried all the way to the pavilion, then stopped and knelt.
“Your Highness, we have just received word that His Highness the Prince of Wu went to the Embroidered Uniform Guard headquarters. He then left with more than a thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards and is now heading toward the district where the capital’s ministers and hereditary nobles reside. We do not yet know which household he intends to visit. His Highness the Prince of Wu gave no explanation, and the Embroidered Uniform Guards themselves do not know. The entire city is in an uproar.”
Yao Guangxiao’s tightly shut tiger eyes flew open. The motion of his prayer beads ceased abruptly.
“The Prince of Wu has made his move!”
His voice remained calm, yet it carried a heavy gravity.
“Could it be that his supposed oversleeping this morning, and even the beating of a maidservant to death over it, were all an act?” Zhu Di asked in astonishment. “He certainly put on a convincing performance.”
“He went to the Duke of Kaiguo’s residence in the afternoon, presumably to discuss a countermeasure with Chang Sheng. Has he already reached a decision so quickly?”
He turned to Yao Guangxiao.
“Without an imperial edict or His Majesty’s decree, how was he able to mobilize so many Embroidered Uniform Guards?”
With the Prince of Wu’s status, bringing a few Embroidered Uniform Guards along to handle a matter would not be difficult.
But mobilizing more than a thousand of them within Jinling was absolutely impossible.
“It seems His Majesty made arrangements in advance,” Yao Guangxiao said, immediately guessing the answer.
“But now that he is mobilizing such a large force of Embroidered Uniform Guards with such fanfare, whom is he planning to arrest?”
Zhu Di hurriedly asked, “You mean he is acting under imperial orders?”
“Not necessarily,” Yao Guangxiao replied. “His Majesty is testing him and wants to see how he will act. There may not be an explicit decree.”
“However, His Majesty must have given him the authority to act at his own discretion.”
A demon monk was still a demon monk—cunning as a fiend. He had quickly guessed the truth.
When Zhu Di heard that there was no explicit decree from Old Zhu, he immediately relaxed. “My nephew always acts in ways no one expects. Otherwise, he would never have dared to openly demand the position of Crown Prince in the middle of the imperial court.”
“Bold beyond all reason, bold beyond all reason!”
“I truly wonder what earth-shattering deed he will commit this time.”
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“Send more men. Keep a close watch on him, and report to me the instant anything happens.”
The messenger immediately replied, “Yes, Your Highness!”
He turned to leave.
Yao Guangxiao suddenly called out, “Wait!”
The man stopped and looked up at the monk Daoyan.
“The two young princes have remained cooped up in the residence ever since arriving in Jinling. They must be bored stiff.”
“Why not let them go out for a walk?”
“It would also do the two princes good to get some fresh air.”
The two young princes Yao Guangxiao referred to were naturally Zhu Di’s sons, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu.
Zhu Di had returned to the capital this time to mourn Zhu Biao.
As Zhu Biao’s nephews, his two sons, Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxi, had returned with him as well.
After all, this was the funeral of their elder uncle. The younger generation naturally had to attend.
Strictly speaking, even Zhu Gaochi had not yet been formally enfeoffed as a prince’s heir.
Nevertheless, the people in the princely household addressed him as the heir in everyday speech.
The same applied to Zhu Gaoxu.
“What would those two little boys go out for?” Zhu Di asked in confusion. “What do they understand? Why send them to join in the commotion?”
Yao Guangxiao smiled. “It is precisely because they do not understand that they may act according to circumstances when necessary.”
“They might even have an unexpected effect.”
“There is no need to give them instructions. The elder prince is no longer so young. If I remember correctly, he is the same age as His Highness the Prince of Wu.”
Only then did Zhu Di suddenly recall that Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Yuntong had been born in the same year.
Moreover, Zhu Gaochi was several months older than Zhu Yuntong, making him the latter’s elder cousin.
Yet to Zhu Di, who was his father, a boy in his teens was still nothing more than a little child.
Hearing Yao Guangxiao mention it, he abruptly remembered that his son truly was no longer so young.
“All right. Tell them both to go.” Zhu Di had always followed Yao Guangxiao’s advice without question.
Then he added, “Have them watch from the sidelines as much as possible. Unless something important happens, they are not to meddle foolishly.”
“And send plenty of men as before. I want reports brought back at all times.”
He paused, then added once more, “At the very least, report to me once every fifteen minutes. I want to know what is happening over there at all times.”
“Yes!”
Having received his orders, the messenger hurried away like a shooting star.
“I’m truly curious. What sort of surprise will this nephew of mine bring me this time?”
After the messenger had gone, Zhu Di rose from his fishing stool.
The evening sun was gradually sinking. Only half a crimson disk remained above the horizon, not yet fully submerged.
The last rays still lingered, and the western sky was filled with glowing clouds.
“The wind is rising.”
Yao Guangxiao gazed into the distance and murmured, “The weather is about to change.”
…
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