Ning Chen watched the eunuchs coming toward him, his mind racing. What do I do?
He could put these few young eunuchs down easily enough.
But this was the Hibiscus Palace and the Empress’s own ground… If he dared raise a hand it would become a very big matter.
She would take the chance to kill him, and even His Majesty would have nothing to say about it.
But he could not take the beating either. Thirty strokes of the rod on a frame like his, and if it did not kill him it would leave him broken.
“Your Majesty the Empress, have mercy. Your subject asks to be excused the punishment.”
Ning Chen said it with an entirely serious face.
The Empress laughed coldly. “What is this? You dare resist as well?”
“Your subject would not dare… It is only that His Majesty has ordered your subject to the border, and he is already carrying injuries. If he is punished he will not be able to travel for some time. The campaign would be held up, and your subject is afraid he could not answer for that.”
“If Her Majesty the Empress insists on punishing your subject, your subject will not resist. He will take it willingly.”
The Empress’s face went livid and her chest was heaving. She was in no small rage.
This dog. He dares use His Majesty to threaten me?
But she truly did not dare punish him now.
Holding up a campaign was a matter of the state, and His Majesty would be in a fury… Empress or not, that was a charge she could not carry.
“Ning Chen. For His Majesty’s sake this empress will let your gross disrespect go today.”
“But you will remember this, and remember it well. However merrily an ant hops about, it is still only an ant… This empress is the mother of the nation. Pinching an ant dead costs her no more trouble than blowing away ash.”
The Empress said it with her face livid and something vicious in her eyes, grinding her back teeth.
Ning Chen bowed over his clasped hands and said it loudly. “Your subject thanks Her Majesty the Empress for her mercy… Your subject will keep Her Majesty’s words in his heart.”
The Empress made a cold sound. “Lianxiang. See him out.”
“Your subject withdraws.”
The Empress watched his back, and the killing was plain in her face.
Outside the Hibiscus Palace the crown prince was pacing back and forth in his anxiety.
He saw Ning Chen come out and went quickly to him. “Ning Chen. Are you all right?”
Ning Chen glanced at Lianxiang going back inside, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, still shaken, “I very nearly took a beating with the rod.”
“Nearly? Then the Empress did not make trouble for you?”
Ning Chen rolled his eyes. “Are you always this innocent? I killed the Empress’s brother. How could she not make trouble for me? She simply hasn’t found the right opening yet.”
The crown prince’s face was full of self-reproach.
“Ning Chen, I am truly sorry. It is my fault… If I had not taken you to find Huai’an, the Empress would not have sent for you.”
Something flickered in Ning Chen’s eyes. He looked at the crown prince, was silent a while, and then said it as though it were a joke. “Your Highness. You didn’t bring me here on purpose, did you?”
The crown prince looked at him with nothing at all to say.
Ning Chen grinned. “I’m joking. Come on. Let’s go and see the Ninth Princess.”
Ning Chen followed the crown prince to the Fallen Phoenix Court.
The Ninth Princess was playing with several of her maids.
One of them had her eyes covered and was groping about trying to catch the others.
The Ninth Princess was in a red dress, her small face flushed pink and her smile sweet. She was pretty and quick, her skirts flying, light and nimble on her feet.
The crown prince coughed.
The Ninth Princess and the rest noticed him.
“Greetings, Your Highness.”
The maids made their bows in a hurry.
The Ninth Princess laughed prettily. “Go on about your work. We’ll play again later.”
She came running over on light feet. “Brother, aren’t you busy today? How do you have time to come here?”
As she spoke her small nose sniffed at the air. “What is that smell?”
Ning Chen’s toes curled with embarrassment. A few days without a wash. Is it really as bad as all that?
He bowed over his clasped hands. “Greetings, Ninth Princess.”
Only then did she notice him.
She sniffed again, then covered her nose and backed away several steps. “You smell terrible. You didn’t fall into a latrine pit, did you?”
Ning Chen’s forehead was full of black lines. She isn’t very old. Where did she get a tongue like that?
“Ning Chen has been shut in the Inspectorate’s cells all this time and was only pardoned and released today… He has not had a chance to wash or change his clothes. A little smell is not to be helped.”
The crown prince explained for him.
The Ninth Princess asked curiously, “Why has Brother brought him here?”
“You pleaded for Ning Chen. He has come especially to thank you.”
“Who asked him to thank me? This princess only said a few fair words.”
Ning Chen made a face and bowed. “Ning Chen thanks the Ninth Princess for speaking up for what is right.”
The Ninth Princess’s eyes darted, and she put her hands behind her back. “And how do you mean to thank me?”
“Ah… Your subject has no power, no standing, and nothing worth offering… If the Ninth Princess does not think it beneath her, your subject will buy you a meal.”
The Ninth Princess wrinkled her nose with a proud little sniff. “Is this princess short of a meal? There is no sincerity in that at all. If you don’t want to thank me, don’t. This princess doesn’t want it anyway.”
Ning Chen smiled bitterly. “But your subject is too poor. There truly is nothing worth offering.”
“Don’t say that. You may be a little ugly, and a little short, and your character may be a little hateful… but you are brimming with talent. This princess won’t make it hard for you. Just write this princess a poem.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth would not stop twitching. Put that way I have no good points at all… because the poems aren’t mine either. All of them freeloaded.
The Ninth Princess laughed prettily. “This princess gives you a quarter of an hour to think… But remember, the poem must put the weight on this princess’s beauty, her gentleness, her kindness, and her talent.”
Christ… Isn’t this making things hard for Fat Tiger? Ning Chen ranted inwardly. (TL Note: Fat Tiger is the bully in the Japanese comic series Doraemon, known in English as Gian. Saying “isn’t this making things hard for Fat Tiger” about yourself is a stock modern complaint in China when somebody asks you for something you have no way of delivering.)
He worked at it. Which poem fits what the Ninth Princess wants?
He went through several in a row and killed every one of them, because none of them would do.
Then one came to him… and he was in two minds about it, because he felt it would be wasted on the Ninth Princess.
The Ninth Princess was pretty and quick and light on her feet, certainly… but the soul living in Ning Chen’s body was thirty years old… so a girl like her, with the child not yet out of her face and not yet grown, was a child in his eyes and nothing else.
Never mind… For pleading for me, she can have it cheap.
Ning Chen said, “Ninth Princess. Your subject has it.”
“What? So quickly?”
The Ninth Princess’s face was all astonishment, and then suspicion came into her. He isn’t going to throw any old poem together and fob me off with it, is he?
“Ning Chen. This princess is telling you in advance… If you fob this princess off with something careless, I will have you beaten with the rod.”
Ning Chen laughed. “The Ninth Princess may set her mind at rest. If she is not satisfied… your subject will take the punishment willingly.”
The crown prince’s face was full of curiosity too. What kind of poem can he have made in that little time?
“Ning Chen, they are calling you an immortal of poetry born again now… If the Ninth Princess is not satisfied with this one, that sign of yours comes down.”
Ning Chen smiled, sure of himself. This is Old Li’s.
“Ninth Princess. Listen well.”
Ning Chen cleared his throat and said it aloud, clearly.
雲想衣裳花想容， 春風拂檻露華濃。
The clouds would have her robes, the flowers her face; the spring wind comes over the railing and the dew lies thick and bright.
He stopped there on purpose, to see how the Ninth Princess and the crown prince would take it.
The Ninth Princess’s jewel-like eyes were shining, brighter than any star.
The crown prince’s face was all astonishment, and he could not help himself. “A fine poem. A fine poem.”
“Ning Chen, what are the last two lines? Say them, say them—”
The Ninth Princess pressed him, unable to wait.
Ning Chen smiled slightly and went on.
若非群玉山頭見， 會向瑤台月下逢。
If she is not to be met on the top of the Mountain of Massed Jade, then she will be found under the moon at the Terrace of Jasper.
The Ninth Princess stood still, lost in the world the poem made and unable to pull herself out of it.
“It’s so beautiful. Ning Chen, you really do have talent… How is that little head of yours put together? How can you write anything so beautiful?”
The Ninth Princess’s small face was flushed pink with excitement. She covered her cheeks with her hands and said shyly, “Is this princess really as good as all that? It’s quite embarrassing.”
Ning Chen ranted inwardly. I don’t see any embarrassment.
“So long as the Ninth Princess is satisfied.”
The crown prince said it with his whole face lit up.
“A fine poem. A work for the ages… Ning Chen, I am completely convinced. You are an immortal of poetry born again, beyond any question.”
“Ning Chen, ah… could you write one for me as well?”
Christ… Have you no shame? The Ninth Princess is a child, and writing a poem to keep her happy is one thing. You’re a grown man and you want to freeload too? Not a chance. Ning Chen ranted inwardly.
“Ah… Your Highness will pardon me. My wits are dry today. I’ll write you one when the chance comes.”
The crown prince was disappointed. “Then I shall hold you to it… Remember you owe me a poem.”
(End of Chapter 72)