SEHE Chapter 100

Crashing into a Pillar 

Lately, rumors had been circulating throughout the Imperial Academy that Pei Yanci would be the next Chancellor. During their leisure time, Erudite Scholar Wang teasingly asked him about it, saying he’d better prepare to host a banquet when the time came. Pei Yanci deflected by saying the results weren’t clear yet and told him not to spread rumors.

In recent days, Pei Yanci had asked Tang Xizhui about it again. He thought that after the higher-ups reviewed the memorial Qi Xiang had submitted, they would surely question his age and his previous status as a penal servant. Such an important position was no trifling matter.

Tang Xizhui winked at him mischievously, saying the imperial decree for his appointment would come down soon.

“His Majesty agreed?”

“Naturally. He still remembers you. Besides, you must trust in Prime Minister Zheng’s influence behind the scenes.”

Pei Yanci nodded. He had also spoken with Zheng Qinglai about this. Over the next three years, the Zheng family would increasingly rely on his activities at court. Helping him secure the position of Chancellor now was a mutually beneficial arrangement.

In the blink of an eye, it was the end of the month. After several autumn rains, Pei Yanci caught a sudden chill and hurriedly dragged Wushu and Wuli out to make autumn clothes and buy autumn quilts. But within two days, the sun came out and the weather warmed up again, though it wasn’t as scorching as before.

The chill he’d caught left Pei Yanci with a runny nose for several days, and intermittent coughing that continued into the ninth month before finally subsiding.

But the imperial decree appointing him as Chancellor of the Imperial Academy still hadn’t arrived.

Many people began to mutter about it, and no small amount of gossip reached Pei Yanci’s ears.

After several oppressively humid days, a light drizzle began pattering outside the window again.

Qi Xiang hurried to the corridor holding an umbrella, but didn’t close it. Instead, he beckoned Fang Qingdu to come out.

Erudite Scholar Wang gathered with several other erudite scholars around Pei Yanci, saying quietly, “Looks like it’s falling to the Fang family in the end.”

“No matter whose family it falls to, you’ll all be doing the same work anyway,” Pei Yanci said indifferently.

Another erudite scholar said, “Truth be told, him becoming Chancellor is quite good. Vice Chancellor Pei, you’re too young—you can’t quite command respect. As for those old foxes in our Academy, Vice Chancellor Fang had to expend tremendous effort just to get them to work, and they still cursed him behind his back for being biased. It was truly infuriating.”

“We just want the Imperial Academy to be peaceful and orderly, with everyone doing their own jobs well, without stirring up troublesome matters.”

“You’re still young. When Chancellor Fang retires, you’ll be just right to take over. Your prospects are limitless.”

A shallow puddle formed at Qi Xiang’s feet. After saying a few words, Fang Qingdu came in, took some documents, picked up his own umbrella, and followed him out.

“Why did Vice Chancellor Fang go along? Are they entering the palace?” Erudite Scholar Wang asked.

“Very likely.”

In Gewu Hall, Pei Yanci sat at his desk, watching the two men outside, his eyes drooping at the corners.

He thought it through—his background and age were indeed fatal flaws. Moreover, having only been at the Imperial Academy for a few months, if Qi Xiang dared recommend a newcomer, probably half the court would curse him as a senile old fool.

Qi Xiang looked over, and their gazes met. Suddenly, he smiled at him.

It was a reassuring smile, telling him not to worry.

But Pei Yanci furrowed his brow.

Somehow, his heart skipped a beat, and he felt vaguely uneasy.

“Hey, but Vice Chancellor Pei, you do have one excellent advantage.”

Erudite Scholar Wang and the others were still chatting idly. The Educational Affairs Bureau’s work was just getting on track, and the courses hadn’t reached year-end yet, so they didn’t have much business.

“I’ve heard that you have good relations with the Bureau of Ceremonies and Minister Chen—eating and drinking together every few days. That’s an advantage. Our Imperial Academy’s previous Chancellors didn’t get along well with the Bureau of Ceremonies. Especially our Qi Daren here—don’t look at how he seems drunk and dreaming now, completely hands-off, but two years ago he dared to pound the table in front of Minister Chen, constantly arguing with Minister Sui, almost to the point of drawing knives and fighting to the death.”

“Vice Chancellor Fang’s temperament is actually not much different from Qi Daren’s—stubborn, obstinate… Ah well, having more work isn’t the problem. It’s maintaining good relations with those above us—otherwise, even trying to request a few new people to come work is difficult. With no fresh blood coming in, when we all retire in the future, will those who just arrived be able to get things done?”

As they chattered on, Pei Yanci ignored their gossip, rolled up a copy of the Book of Changes, and walked along the corridor to the lecture hall.

Xu Du and his group had long been discussing who would be the new Imperial Academy Chancellor, even secretly setting up a betting pool.

Qi Lan also came to his lecture hall today, but Pei Yanci generally didn’t like teaching them much. Today, as usual, he had them study on their own and come to him if they had questions.

Before long, Qi Lan walked up and sat on the cushion across from his desk.

“Hey,” he tapped his knuckles on the table in front of Pei Yanci, lazily leaning against the desk edge, “someone stole your position?”

“Don’t know.”

“The Crown Prince did it.”

Only then did Pei Yanci look up. “You know about my relationship with His Highness. There’s no need to sow discord.”

“It’s precisely because the relationship is bad that he can’t stand to see you do well.” Qi Lan gestured for him to lean closer and whispered, “Insider information—my maternal grandfather had originally agreed to this. Just when the imperial decree was about to be signed, the Crown Prince suddenly made trouble, speaking all sorts of ill of you in front of the Emperor, disparaging you terribly. He said you bribed the Ministry of Rites to speak for you, even said you’d previously served that Tang Xizhui fellow, suspecting your relationship was improper—scared that chief eunuch so badly he knelt down. Because of this, grandfather rarely scolded that castrated man too, and he should be under house arrest right now.”

Pei Yanci frowned. This time Gu Jiuqing hadn’t revealed any hints—wasn’t he trying to force him to come knocking at his door again?

And Tang Xizhui—so he’d been placed under house arrest because of this?

Some irritation rose in his heart, and even Qi Lan’s expression of watching a good show seemed unbearably annoying.

“The Crown Prince played this move ruthlessly—using your matter, he finally dampened the Eunuch Faction’s momentum and severely slapped my uncle’s face. But who dares say anything? All of Great Yu will be his in the future.” The young man was still laughing wantonly, his lazy gaze sliding over to his face again. “That person—he seems to have become completely cold-blooded.”

Suddenly, he leaned even closer. “How about you come to my mansion tonight? My mother consort has been wanting to invite you to the Princess’s Mansion for a simple meal.”

“No time.” Pei Yanci refused flatly.

With Tang Xizhui under house arrest, he felt somewhat stifled.

Among his remaining connections, who else could he use? They were all too fragile.

Even a clever housewife cannot cook without rice. He sighed. As long as you’re weak, anyone can easily strangle you.

He hadn’t experienced this suffocating feeling in a long time.

When he’d first been brought into the imperial palace in his previous life, it had been like this. His father emperor hadn’t had many children before his health failed. The Crown Prince had been adopted from the imperial clan and viewed him as a thorn in his side. People in the clan all questioned his identity. Seeing him weak and sickly, they said he wouldn’t live long and couldn’t inherit the throne. Between gossip and secret schemes to harm him, he’d endured such suffocating days for quite some time.

“You don’t even teach class, always busy with who knows what.” Qi Lan expressed his dissatisfaction, simply making his words even more explicit. “My mother consort sees that you’re quite capable and worries that you’ve been hurt by the Crown Prince’s actions, creating resentment. After all, we’re all one family.”

“When she slandered and defamed me before the Emperor, speaking ill of me, she didn’t talk about being one family.” Pei Yanci simply put down his brush, staring at him intently. “I’m not ignorant of what you and your mother consort have in mind. As you said, we’re all one family. Since I’m already a Zheng family member, whether or not I visit the Princess’s Mansion doesn’t really matter much.”

Qi Lan’s expression immediately darkened, his gaze sharpening.

Before he could speak, a commotion arose outside.

“Something terrible—someone’s dead!”

“They found a body at the entrance!”

“A student? Where?” Pei Yanci stood up. After leaving the lecture hall, he remembered he hadn’t taken an umbrella, but since the rain wasn’t heavy, he simply plunged into the curtain of rain.

Xu Du wasn’t diligent in his studies, but at such news he was full of enthusiasm, excitedly joining the crowd. With his booming voice, when he called out in surprise, all the surrounding students and erudite scholars learned of this and came out one after another.

Following the sound of several people’s frantic footsteps, Pei Yanci made his way from the lecture hall through to not far from the Imperial Academy’s main entrance, where he ran right into Fang Qingdu.

Fang Qingdu was completely soaked, holding an umbrella but using it to shield the person on the stretcher beside him.

Two eunuchs in palace attendant robes were carrying the stretcher, one in front and one behind. Someone lay on the stretcher.

Pei Yanci wiped the rain from his face and slowly approached under Fang Qingdu’s resentful, hostile gaze.

Qi Xiang lay on the stretcher with gauze wrapped around his forehead. Blood had still spread out in a patch at his temple—nothing could stop it. His eyes were open, and seeing him arrive, his hand tremblingly rose.

Those messengers—how did they get things so wrong, always exaggerating, giving him such a fright?

“Qi Daren, how did you get injured?” Seeing no one was dead, Pei Yanci breathed a sigh of relief while furrowing his brow.

He stepped forward, about to take Qi Xiang’s raised hand and clasp it.

“Who did this?” His tone was somewhat cold.

Qi Xiang didn’t speak. His eyes just looked at him, the muscles in his face twitching twice, his trembling lips seeming to want to say something.

Pei Yanci had just touched his hand, thinking it felt terribly cold, when that hand dropped down one step ahead of him.

He had completely breathed his last.

Lightning flashed across the sky, followed by the rumble of muffled thunder.

The drizzling rain blurred his mind.

“Daren.” Fang Qingdu closed his eyes and began to wail.

Pei Yanci stood there dumbly, somewhat bewildered.

He checked for breath—on this rainy, windy day, his fingers were a bit cold. He checked the pulse, figuring his fingers were stiff, unable to feel anything either.

He grasped that hand again, holding it tightly.

The two palace eunuchs set down the stretcher, saying, “Vice Chancellor Fang, please accept our condolences. We’ll trouble you to send Chancellor Daren’s remains to his residence.”

With that, the two palace eunuchs hurriedly left.

More and more students gathered to watch the spectacle. Fortunately, other erudite scholars and officials arrived in time to drive them back.

“What happened in the palace today?” After a moment of confusion, Pei Yanci asked calmly.

“Daren defied His Majesty.” Fang Qingdu had followed Qi Xiang for several years—both superior and friend. At this moment, he was grief-stricken but still recounted what had happened.

“Daren brought me into the palace and asked me to give up the position of Chancellor.”

“Vice Chancellor Fang, you don’t need to…” Pei Yanci had just begun when Fang Qingdu interrupted.

“Qi Daren had already tried to persuade me.” He said, “He argued forcefully with the Crown Prince. Daren’s old temper flared up again, and they quarreled heatedly until he directly…” 

He choked up, trying to maintain his composure. “He crashed his head directly into a pillar in the great hall.”

Pei Yanci found it somewhat hard to comprehend.

“He didn’t need to do this. If you had succeeded him and I assisted you, the Imperial Academy wouldn’t necessarily have been worse off.”

“You don’t understand.” Fang Qingdu shook his head.

Pei Yanci didn’t understand.

He didn’t understand these scholars’ ridiculous stubbornness. Couldn’t they be more flexible?

And it was because of a subordinate he’d only known for a few months that he’d lost his life.

To him, this seemed somewhat laughable.

“He held onto his last breath to return from the palace to the Imperial Academy. He originally wanted to see you one last time, but unfortunately…”

Grief, anger, and unwillingness flashed across Fang Qingdu’s face before he reined it all in, returning to his usual stern, serious expression.

“Pei Yanci.” He lifted his gaze from Qi Xiang’s remains and raised his hand, placing it heavily on his shoulder.

He knew what Qi Xiang had wanted to say.

“From now on, the Imperial Academy depends on you.”

Pei Yanci’s breath caught.

Behind him, above the ceremonial hall, hung a plaque with four large characters inscribed upon it:

Teacher for Ten Thousand Generations.

He had never imagined it would be this heavy.