Yue Han Yi didn’t give up. On the second day, the invitation card was delivered again. However, it was Li Er who delivered it this time.
Having not seen the girl for months, she had become visibly taller. Her body was beginning to blossom and her features revealed that of a budding and charming teenage girl.
Aged thirteen or fourteen, these children were just starting to blossom into adults and Ning Chen did not want to see them dragged into this sinister conspiracy.
Yue Han Yi’s actions angered him once more.
“Li Er, hand this letter to your big sister Yi, no peeking”, Ning Chen said in a gentle manner as she patted her head.
“Okay” Li Er nodded her head in acknowledgement.
After she left, Ning Chen crushed all the cards in front of him to pieces. It seemed that the mastermind behind this was anxious for him to take a stance. Truly, the fight for the throne brought out the worst in people and caused them to lose their senses.
His letter only contained one sentence: “If you no longer want your Lingyan Pavilion, this Marquis can demolish it for you anytime.”
……
Back at Ling Yan Pavilion.
As Yue Han Yi scanned through the letter brought back by Li Er, she felt a chill down her spine. She never thought that Ning Chen would disregard their friendship completely.
She did not have a single shred of doubt about the veracity of that threat. After all, he was someone who could order the massacre of tens of thousands of buddhists in the Buddhist Nation without batting an eye. Such a cold hearted person would hardly care about a small place like Lingyan Pavilion.
“How was it? Did he still reject it?” A gentle male voice enquired from behind a wooden partition.
“Yes” Yue Hanyi replied in a respectful manner.
“Then forget it. It will be the queen’s birthday in two days, we will have plenty of opportunities then. There’s no need to rush now.” The male in the room said in a calm voice.
“Yes” Yue Han Yi said as she lowered her head.
……
Back at Duke Taishi’s manor, the Duke himself had just penned a letter and had it delivered to Marquis Zhiming.
Having just received said letter, Ning Chen frowned after reading it and wondered what the Duke meant.
The Duke advised him not to attend Zhang Sun’s birthday celebration and instead recuperate at home.
However, Zhang Sun’s birthday banquet was the one event he couldn’t miss, no matter what others said.
Still, the fact that the two princes would surely take this chance to sway him to their sides, was truly a troublesome problem.
Zhang Sun and the Three Grand Dukes still hadn’t decided on the next Emperor; if he were to make a decision rashly, he would definitely receive a harsh dressing down from Zhang Sun .
At Duke Jingwu’s manor, the Duke penned a similar letter and had it delivered to Marquis Zhiming. The contents of the letter were exactly the same.
In the first place, the Grand Dukes didn’t want to elect a tenth military marquis during such a sensitive period, but Ning Chen’s contributions were simply too numerous to be suppressed; the soldiers’ morale had to be taken into account as well.
Even so, the last thing they wanted to see was a military marquis taking part in this power struggle. The situation in the imperial city was already chaotic enough. Who knew what would happen if a military marquis was thrown into the mix.
Upon receiving the letter, he gave it a quick look before tossing it to the side along with Duke Taishi’s letter. As of right now, the head of Confucianism and the Head of Military Affairs had both written a letter to him, all that remained was the Head of the Government.
As if right on queue, the letter from Duke Xiyu arrived on his doorstep not too far apart from the first two. The contents were the same though his words were harsher: recuperate and do not participate.
Ning Chen’s impression of this duke was rather average, worse so for the Duke’s letter. Having read the offending letter, he crushed it to pieces and had a servant sweep it away
In this world, the only person who could command him was Zhang Sun and no one else, not even the Three Grand Dukes.
The banquet two days later was one he definitely planned on attending. As for those two princes, he would do his best to avoid them and should he fail, well, he would play it by ear then.
He wasn’t a person who didn’t know how to compromise but that didn’t he would do so time and time again.
He didn’t wish to interfere in this struggle for power but if they forced his hands, he didn’t mind throwing his hat into the ring, rules be d*mned.
The words of an elder had to be obeyed but being rebellious once in a while wasn’t a big deal either. At the very most, he would have to endure another lecture.
……
At the Department of Historical Records, the recordkeeper was in the midst of enshrining into the books, the youngest military marquis in the history of Grand Xia. With eyes wide open in shock, he gravely penned the following words: Ning Chen, on the spring of Grand Xia’s Second Year of the new calendar, was conferred the position of military marquis with the title of Zhiming.
Age Seventeen!
Fearing an error, the official sent the document back to Revelation Hall to enquire about Marquis Zhiming’s age once more.
Upon looking at it, Zhang Sun’s only reply was: no mistake!
Two days later, the queen’s thirty-ninth birthday celebration was held within the gardens of the nine palaces with few actually invited. Those who came uninvited however, defied counting.
Ning Chen was one of those who came uninvited. He did not receive any invitation card but instead received a command from Zhang Sun to recuperate at home and avoid coming out for the next few days.
Her message was clear: “This Empress’s birthday celebration will be packed enough without you so you’d better stay at home and rest up.”
The gardens of the Nine Palaces started to fill up with a variety of court officials and their dependants. What was supposed to be a closed banquet ended up becoming a court banquet instead.
Seated atop the host’s seat, Zhang Sun preceded over the entire banquet, dressed in courtly robes of red and golden yellow, embroidered with regal phoenixes. Behind her, her flowing long hair was tied up with a phoenix crown that held within its mouth, a luminous pearl with ribbons hanging down. Her beautiful face, not at all ravaged by time, was graced by a light smile that gave off a slight pressure.
Just as the banquet was about to start however, footsteps sounded from afar. Surprised eyes turned to find two silhouettes emerging, one larger than the other, amidst a backdrop of falling pear flowers. Somehow, none of the pear flowers fell on the figures, as if there was an invisible force shielding the pair.
Zhang Sun frowned almost imperceptibly and thought to herself: “Why did he have to be so disobedient? Even injured, he doesn’t know how to be obedient.”
“Marquis Zhiming.” The court officials greeted the teen, eyeing him with a variety of expressions as they did so.
Ning Chen returned their greetings accordingly, and brought little Ming Yue to the front to pay their respects to Zhang Sun.
“Your subject, Ning Chen, pays his respects to Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Dispense with ceremony, please be seated”. In such a situation, Zhang Sun couldn’t say much and could only act accordingly.
“This subject thanks her Majesty.” Ning Chen rose to his feet, seated himself down and then had his prepared gift, sealed up in a wooden box, delivered to Zhang Sun.
Looking at the birthday gift before her, Zhang Sun couldn’t help but be a little curious herself. She simply couldn’t think of a gift he could muster up. After all, she knew more than anyone else that the kid was broke. During his days in the palace, all his salary had been docked by her. Even the one hundred gold taels awarded by the Emperor was still locked away by her. Back then, she was afraid he would try and run away so she cut off his taels.
Other than her, the gathered officials were just as interested in what the newly christened military marquis had prepared for Her Majesty.
The wooden box was opened up and immediately a burst of white light radiated forth as if a gentle but brilliant full moon had risen in the gardens. Focusing in on the source of the luminescence, they saw a luminescent pearl of pure white laying there. It was the size of a fist and with its flawless radiance, captured the eyes of every girl in attendance.
Nevertheless, Zhang Sun wasn’t one to be surprised for long. Being an Empress, her worldliness allowed her to recover her senses in an instant before closing the box once more.
Looks of fervent desires crossed the eyes of every lady present as they watched the pearl be stowed away. Soon however, their gaze found a new home in the newly christened military marquis.
Luminous pearls were already considered an exotic and rare item, and the one Zhiming gifted was worth even more than a city put together; even if one had the taels to purchase, one couldn’t find a seller.
As little Ming Yue saw the gazes of the people around her, she threw them a scornful look: ‘Country bumpkins.’
Naturally, Ning Chen was unaware of her thoughts. However, this so-called treasure was nothing but a candle to him.
He brought back a total of twenty one luminous pearls from the Buddhist Nation. Four big pearls and seventeen small pearls. Little Ming Yue asked for two of the them, one large, one small, and played with them day after day as though they were marbles. Thanks to that, his room ended up a luminescent mess at night.
“Marquis Zhiming, your thoughtfulness has been received.” Was the only reply Zhang Sun gave. In the first place, he came here in spite of her orders so there was no way she would let him off so easily just because of some pearl.
Ning Chen was used to it and didn’t feel disappointed. As long as there wasn’t a scolding, that was enough for him.
However, Ning Chen could tell that Zhang Sun liked the gift a lot.
Women were always one to like shiny objects, even Ming Yue was no exception, let alone Zhang Sun.
After that short interlude, the banquet officially started. Zhang Sun started by thank the officials for their attendance, then the officials reciprocated her greetings. Like that, an hour was spent exchanging words of etiquette.
At the side, Ning Chen was completely turned off by the superficial exchange. Little Ming Yue was just as disinterested, having experienced such conversations in her palace countless times, to the point of feeling sick; to think she had to suffer this torment once more in Grand Xia.
Down below, the princes would throw the pair an intent look from time to time. Of the two princes, one had a more refined and delicate bearing with his resplendent black robe, decorated by golden stitchings on the side that curled about like a dragon claw with four fingers. The sleeves of the robe was decorated by silver embroidery in the shape of clouds. This prince had a waist band the color of the moon and his black hair was bound up by a slightly austere looking hairpin made of mutton fat jade.
(TL: Mutton-fat jade. White nephrite jade.)
The other prince, on the other hand, stood there, back straight and erect, brimming with the domineering presence of a martial practitioner. Judging by its strength, this prince was at least a Ninth-grade expert.
These two were the much talked about princes, the Tenth Prince, Xia Mingri, and the Third Prince, Xia Yanwu, respectively.
In comparison, Xia Ziyi seated at the host table had a much lower profile. After withdrawing from the power struggle, his status had dropped significantly in the eyes of the officials.
Ning Chen nodded his head to Xia Ziyi in acknowledgement but ignored the two other princes.
Standing beside Xia Ziyi, the Ninth Princess was just as beautiful as always. Ning Chen gave her a nod as well. Back during his days as a eunuch, it was the Ninth Princess who helped him escape the palace. Even though Xia Xinyu had her own plans then, it was still a favor.
The Ninth Princess nodded in response while sighing to herself mentally. Who would’ve thought that the junior eunuch of yesteryear would one day become an esteemed military marquis of Grand Xia.
Sometimes, the world worked in unpredictables ways that left one gasping to keep up.
Among the officials present, a muddled mix of emotions and thoughts floated about. Of those, most notable were the jealousy they felt and also a deep sense of fear.
What happened in the Buddhist Nation was no longer a secret and amidst Zhiming’s long list of achievements, was an unmistakable ruthlessness. A ruthlessness he showed towards the Buddhist Nation, towards his subordinates and towards his himself.
In this world, the only person who dared to assault Mt. Mijie with merely 1000 troops was Marquis Zhiming and no one else.
The spies had already returned from the Buddhist Nation, along with them came news from the battle on Mt Mijie. The once prosperous Mt. Mijie was now in shambles, its mountainbase filled with corpses and its roads hidden underneath a river of blood.
With regards to that handsome and somewhat delicate face standing before them, no one dared to underestimate him for a second because they knew that hidden beneath was a ruthless, bloodthirsty person.
