SEHE Chapter 49

The Lost Painting 

“Brother Pei, why do you say such things?” Yue Ting had just begun to admire this person, but now frowned at his seemingly detached indifference, irritably stroking the small goatee on his chin. “You have talents for engaging with the world, so you should take it upon yourself to benefit all living beings. Why do you speak with such cold-hearted words?”

“You desire to withdraw from the world, taking plum blossoms as wife and cranes as children, so why should you care about the life and death of the suffering common people?” Pei Yanci smiled. “People die every day in this world. What difference is there between one person dying and ten thousand people dying?”

(TL: 梅妻鶴子=a classical allusion meaning a recluse’s ideal life—marrying plum blossoms, raising cranes as children, i.e., abandoning worldly affairs for a pure, hermit-like existence.)

“You are actually this kind of person!” Yue Ting recalled the first time he met him when he had lost his memory.

Right, he was this kind of person, always had been. It wasn’t as if he was just finding out.

Pei Yanci had never concealed his ambition for power. When others blocked his path, he would eliminate them without hesitation.

His heart felt uncomfortable, developing knots. “Then what does His Highness think?”

No matter how ruthlessly Pei Yanci climbed upward, he couldn’t bypass His Highness. His Highness was wise and benevolent, as could be seen from his determined efforts to reform the tax laws.

With His Highness keeping him in check, no matter what this man did, he couldn’t cause too much trouble.

“I don’t know. He asked me to make contact with the Wang family. Do you know of the Langya Wang family?”

Upon hearing this, Yue Ting’s face couldn’t help but show disdain. “Spineless people who built their fortune through women’s marriages – the men of their family actually have the face to take pride in this.”

“Oh?” Pei Yanci was somewhat surprised.

“The legitimate eldest grandson of this generation, I heard he began growing his hair and practicing Buddhism three years ago, eating vegetarian meals and chanting scriptures,” Yue Ting recalled, his tone inevitably taking on some schadenfreude. “Probably grew up surrounded by rouge and powder, got thoroughly sick of women, or perhaps disdained this method of strengthening the family and became weary of worldly affairs. I must say, among the Wang family’s younger generation, even among our generation of aristocratic families, the most outstanding person is him. He once participated in the imperial examinations under an assumed name without relying on any family influence, and became that year’s top scholar. For him to be like this now, one can only say it’s the Wang family’s retribution.”

“Wang Lingche?”

“You know him?”

“Crown Prince’s Attendant.”

“No wonder.” Yue Ting shook his head. “Aristocratic families pride themselves on being pure streams – it’s the kind of position they would take.”

What were pure stream aristocratic families? After entering officialdom, if family children took positions with great power, they would be mocked by other aristocratic families for coveting power and sullying their noble family reputation. They preferred to choose positions that were idle and prestigious in status but actually had very little real power.

“Compared to that, wouldn’t you be even more of a pure stream aristocratic family person?”

Yue Ting’s face reddened slightly. “Don’t tease me. I’m not pure stream, much less nobility.”

(TL: 清流 (qīngliú) literally means “pure stream”, but in ancient Chinese political/academic context it was a metaphor for upright, principled officials or aristocratic families who prided themselves on moral purity and disdain for corruption.)

Pei Yanci smiled and was too lazy to continue arguing with the stubborn man. After finishing the meal, he took Wushu and headed back to the mansion.

On the road, seeing Wushu looking contemplative, he asked with amusement, “Already having worries at such a young age?”

“What worries could I have? It’s just those pros and cons of tax policies you and Mister Yue discussed – I find them very profound, but also interesting.” Wushu looked serious. “I think Mister Yue was being unfair, always speaking for the aristocratic families. I personally witnessed people from our village hiding in the mountains to avoid taxes, which shows these tax laws are already harmful to the common people.”

“He’s from an aristocratic family. No matter how much he wants to deny it or break free, once it touches on matters of interest, he’ll still speak for the aristocratic families,” Pei Yanci said. “Just like you – you’re a common person, so naturally you look at problems from the common people’s perspective.”

After a pause, he continued, “Birth is a brand. It’s not branded on our bodies, but in our hearts, in our thoughts, reflected in our positions. Most of the time, we all think we’re not wrong, but for others, they’re equally not wrong. So who is wrong?”

Wushu shook his head in bewilderment.

“No one. Many things simply have no right or wrong to speak of. If we must distinguish right from wrong, perhaps only what serves the common interests of the vast majority can barely be called ‘right.'” Pei Yanci leaned back against the cushion. “So if you only look at problems through right and wrong, you’ll lose your way. Better to consider more for yourself. If you can transcend constraints and look at problems from the majority’s standpoint, speaking for them, then you’d be a sage.”

Wushu thought for a while, then said, “Regarding tax law, I have some insights of my own.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“Since farmers receive rent money, why doesn’t the court simply tax them a fixed amount of money directly? This way farmers wouldn’t be forced to buy high-priced grain and silk from merchants.”

“Right, farmers wouldn’t have to buy anymore. But when the court’s granaries need grain, who would buy from the merchants?”

“How would merchants dare sell high-priced grain to the government?”

“You want low prices?” Pei Yanci said. “That might breed collusion between officials and merchants.”

Wushu’s head drooped dejectedly.

“You can think carefully about this problem,” he rubbed the soft hair on the child’s head, “but don’t be confined to it. Since ancient times, there has never been a perfect law that can avoid all problems. The standard for judging whether a law is good or bad has only one criterion: whether it can effectively solve current problems.”

Wushu fell into deep thought again.

“Seeing you so concerned about the country and people, I really want to send you to school.”

Seeing his gentle expression, Wu Shu somehow felt uneasy.

“There are many lively and lovely children like you in school. Every day you’d just need to read books and ride horses – much happier than life in the Crown Prince’s Mansion.” Pei Yanci coaxed.

He wondered how Great Scholar Fang’s injuries were lately, and whether the Song family uncle and nephew were still in Anjing.

“Just by looking at you, I know you’re up to no good.” Wushu turned his face away. “If it were really good, why don’t you go? You mentioned this last time, and now you’re trying to trick me again. I won’t fall for it. You just want to get rid of me and live the good life yourself!”

“Children who are too clever aren’t likeable.”

Wushu turned his head, pulled down his eyelid, stuck out his tongue, and made a face at him.

“……”

****

Pei Yanci got down from the carriage and, not paying attention, almost bumped into someone.

“Big brother!” Wuli hurriedly supported the person he had knocked askew. “Help!”

As soon as Pei Yanci heard this, he knew trouble was brewing.

“Something as simple as having a painting mounted, and you managed to make a mistake?”

Wuli’s eyes wandered as he stammered, “I just went to the neighboring shop to buy a roasted lamb leg to fill my stomach while the master was occupied with work… You didn’t smell that aroma… I was wrong…”

Under Pei Yanci’s stern gaze, he hung his head and silently offered up the extra lamb leg he had bought.

When Wushu jumped down from the carriage, he unceremoniously snatched the lamb leg and gleefully patted Wuli’s round belly. “Perfect for mother – she’s never had lamb leg before.”

“Did the painting get oil on it?”

Seeing him shake his head, Pei Yanci asked again, “Sauce?”

“No,” Wuli didn’t know how to explain, smiling awkwardly, “I took the wrong one.”

“Wuli, you big dummy.” Wushu shook his head. “When you brought it back, you didn’t even think to check—mmph…”

His mouth was covered by a chubby hand, his whole head clamped under an armpit.

Wushu struggled indignantly, but unfortunately his thin arms and legs were of no use.

“What do we do now? I went back to the shop just now, but the painting had already been taken by someone.” Wu Li looked devastated.

Pei Yanci had him show the painting he had taken by mistake. Of all the bad luck, what he had mistakenly taken was the portrait Gu Jiuqing had painted of him.

When Gu Jiuqing said he would take that painting back after mounting, he had tried to ask for it, but Gu Jiuqing had firmly refused.

He didn’t even know what that person wanted to do with his portrait – it would be awkward even hanging it in a study.

Staring at the painting of a beautiful woman before him, he fell into contemplation.

How should he explain to His Highness the Crown Prince that after going out for a trip, he had changed from a man into a woman?

Wuli’s eyes brightened again. “Big brother, can you paint? Paint a new one for His Highness right now.”

“…Unfortunately, not really.” Did this person think too perfectly of him? Painting was such a mentally taxing and time-consuming activity – why would he study it?

“Then what do we do?” Wuli felt as if the sky was falling, filled with guilt.

This anxiety continued until dinner time. When Pei Yanci went to the kitchen to get food, he ran into Chun Sheng and casually asked if he knew any master painters.

Chun Sheng immediately whispered, “Dugong Daren is a master of painting.”

“Really?” Pei Yanci squinted with some doubt.

“It’s true.” As soon as Chun Sheng mentioned that person, his eyes filled with fervor. “Dugong Daren not only has strong painting skills but also writes beautifully – running script, regular script, clerical script, all styles at his fingertips. Music composition comes naturally to him, and even His Majesty praises Daren greatly, often having him compose elegant poems.”

Just knows how to flatter superiors.

Pei Yanci smiled disdainfully but didn’t refute.

But Chun Sheng continued talking endlessly with no sign of stopping. Unable to bear it, he interrupted, “There’s another matter. I remember you’re from the ‘Shadow’ division, skilled in martial arts. I have a secret manual, and there are many things I don’t understand in practicing it. I’d like your help in resolving my doubts.”

“Dugong Daren is also skilled in martial arts…”

“No need to trouble him.”

Seeing the palm held up before his eyes, Chun Sheng sheepishly closed his mouth.

Pei Yanci took his dinner back to his own courtyard. On the way, he had actually considered whether to find Tang Xizhui, but he felt that his relationship with Tang Xizhui had always been one of equal exchange and mutual benefit. He didn’t want to approach him with such a trivial matter.

Besides, that eunuch was shrewd. He rarely failed to gain complete advantage over someone, and had even suffered subtle losses several times instead.

At this moment, Pei Yanci didn’t notice that just thinking of that person made his face glow with fighting spirit.

****

He didn’t go looking for the man, yet saw him early the next morning.

Pei Yanci thought Chun Sheng had secretly told Tang Xizhui about this matter, but later when the Crown Prince mentioned it, he realized that Tang Xizhui coming to the Crown Prince’s Mansion to guide Gu Jiuqing in government affairs wasn’t just polite talk – he came once every five days.

Pei Yanci stood as usual behind and to the side of Gu Jiuqing. Recently, the tax law reform had been the most hotly debated issue. After chatting briefly, they inevitably brought it up.

Tang Xizhui looked at Gu Jiuqing with a half-smile. “Last time in the great hall, this lord was so busy arguing with Prime Minister Zheng that this lord forgot to ask His Highness’s opinion. But presumably, Prime Minister Zheng’s thoughts must also be His Highness’s thoughts, so this lord need not waste my breath at all.”

This was nothing more than mocking Gu Jiuqing for being Prime Minister Zheng’s puppet. Not a trace of anger showed on his face. “Regarding all correct matters, this prince naturally shares the same views as Prime Minister Zheng. This is what’s called kindred spirits. Some people choose to go with the flow, disregarding the safety of the people for personal gain – truly parasites of the state.”