Ning Chen came out of the Cloud Wind Inn and went back to the Inspectorate.
He had barely gotten to the first department when Feng Qizheng came rushing over. “Ning Chen, somebody’s here from the palace. They want you!”
Ning Chen said oh. “Where?”
“With the Chief.”
Ning Chen went to Pan Yucheng’s room.
On his way in he found two big stone mortars set down by the door.
Ning Chen picked one up out of curiosity. This thing had to be a good thirty pounds.
Work with these for a while and a man would certainly come out a slab of muscle.
Ning Chen set the mortar down and went in.
Inside there was a young eunuch and two palace guards.
The young eunuch saw Ning Chen and stepped forward. “By the word of the Fifth Princess: Ning Chen is to lift each of the stone mortars outside one hundred times.”
Ning Chen was struck dumb, his forehead filled with question marks.
This Fifth Princess again?
She had made trouble for him twice before, and then it had stopped, and he had nearly forgotten about it.
How is this woman a ghost that won’t go away? Where in the world have I ever offended her?
The young eunuch looked at Ning Chen. “Ning the Silver Coat, get moving. This servant has to go back and report.”
Ning Chen came back to himself and asked, “Can I see the Fifth Princess?”
He wanted to ask this woman what exactly she meant by it.
The young eunuch made a sound in his throat. “Is the Fifth Princess somebody you can see whenever you please?”
“Ning the Silver Coat, be quick about it… To refuse an order is fifty strokes of the rod.”
Ning Chen looked at Pan Yucheng.
Pan Yucheng gave him a look that said he would help if he could.
Ning Chen’s temper was rising. Damn it. I am going to ask His Majesty about this. Has somebody had this Fifth Princess’s head between his thighs until it broke?
There was no getting out of it. Ning Chen went outside.
Under the young eunuch’s eye, he began lifting the mortars.
Christ!!!
The damned things were heavy.
Ning Chen lifted them a dozen times or so and his arms were burning and swollen, his legs were shaking under him, the sweat came out on his forehead, and it felt as though the muscle were about to tear.
Lift these a hundred times and he really would come out a slab of muscle.
Then Ning Chen fixed his eyes on the young eunuch, thinking about it. “Eunuch, haven’t the two of us met somewhere before?”
The young eunuch said in his thin voice, “Ning the Silver Coat had better not try to get friendly. This is the Fifth Princess’s order and this servant can do nothing for you.”
“I can’t lift them anymore. Do you know that working like this all at once, a hundred times, will tear the muscle?”
The young eunuch said, “To refuse an order is fifty strokes of the rod.”
Feng Qizheng and the rest came running out to watch.
At first they were delighted at another man’s misfortune, but bit by bit it turned into worry.
They could see Ning Chen’s legs shaking.
Bang!!!
Ning Chen threw both stone mortars straight down on the ground.
“Go back and tell the Fifth Princess I am not lifting them… Fifty strokes and I might live. Lift these a hundred times and I’ll damn well go straight up to heaven where I stand.”
Pan Yucheng and the rest went pale.
The young eunuch pointed at Ning Chen. “You dare refuse an order?”
“Is this refusing an order? This is saving my life… Do you know how heavy that thing is? Come and try it yourself. Lift it five times and I’ll damned well get down and kowtow to you.”
“Go back and tell the Fifth Princess not to bother with fifty strokes either. Too much trouble… Tell her to give the order straight out and have me cut down with one stroke.”
The young eunuch said furiously, “Ning the Silver Coat, you have some nerve, daring to go against the Fifth Princess’s order. It looks to me like you don’t want to live.”
“Get out. Go back and tell the Fifth Princess that if she has it in her she can come and cut me down herself, and stop working these cheap little tricks behind my back.”
Ning Chen had genuinely been provoked.
He had never even seen the Fifth Princess, let alone done anything to her… and the woman was on him like a mad dog that would not let go.
The young eunuch was shaking with rage. He pointed at Ning Chen. “You… you wait.”
“We are going.”
With that he took his two guards and went off in a fury.
Gao Ziping saw it and hurried after him, pulled out two ingots of silver and pushed them into his hands, smiling and saying,
“Let the eunuch’s anger cool. Ning Chen has that dog’s temper of his. I apologize to you on his behalf. Don’t take him as you would another man.”
The young eunuch was about to take the silver when Ning Chen came across in one stride and snatched it back.
“You aren’t fit to take my silver. Get out!”
“I’ll be right here waiting. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll wait for the Fifth Princess to give the order to cut me down.”
The young eunuch watched the silver go out of his hand again and lost his temper altogether. “You— you wait. The Fifth Princess will not let this pass.”
Ning Chen smiled coldly. “I’ll be waiting for her to come and find me.”
The young eunuch took his men and went off in a rage.
Gao Ziping’s face was full of worry. “What good did that do? That young eunuch will go back and tell it with a good deal added to it, and talk any kind of nonsense.”
Ning Chen smiled coldly. “Let him talk.”
Pan Yucheng came over and asked with a frown, “What exactly did you do to offend the Fifth Princess?”
“How would I know? I’ve never seen the Fifth Princess. I don’t know whether she is round or flat.”
Ning Chen said it with an edge in his voice.
Pan Yucheng’s face changed a little. “Ning Chen, guard your tongue!”
“I’ll guard nothing. I haven’t done anything to her, and this is not the first or the second time the Fifth Princess has come at me… I have a bellyful of grievance about it myself.”
Ning Chen went into the room, carried a chair out and sat down square and at his ease. “I’ll wait for her right here… If I have to die for it, I still mean to find out where I have ever offended her.”
“I do my work and I take my pay. I’m not a dog the Fifth Princess keeps to play with as she likes.”
But he waited until the afternoon and no Fifth Princess appeared.
The Fallen Phoenix Court.
The Ninth Princess listened to the young eunuch tell it with a good deal added to it, and her little fists closed up with rage.
“He actually dared refuse the order. He makes me so angry, he makes me so angry…”
“And he dared call me cheap… this princess is furious.”
The Ninth Princess howled with rage.
Heye hurried to soothe her. “Let the princess’s anger cool. Take care you don’t make yourself ill.”
The young eunuch who had come back to report had satisfaction all over his face… Now the Ninth Princess will certainly punish Ning Chen hard. Hmph. That’s for snatching my silver.
“Are those stone mortars really so heavy?”
The Ninth Princess asked it suddenly.
Heye nodded. “Very heavy. One of them alone is close to thirty pounds. This handmaid can’t lift one with both hands.”
“That heavy?” The Ninth Princess’s fine brows drew in. “Why did you give him stone mortars as heavy as that?”
Heye said quickly, “Princess, you said to give him two big stone mortars… This handmaid thought Ning the Silver Coat is a fighting man and ought to be very strong.”
“Even so, you cannot give him mortars that heavy. What if he were hurt?”
Heye: “…”
“Your handmaid begs the princess’s pardon. Your handmaid was wrong!”
The Ninth Princess waved a hand. “Never mind!”
Then she looked at the young eunuch. “You may go.”
“Ah?” The young eunuch was at a loss, and said without thinking, “Princess, is that all? Ning Chen isn’t to be punished?”
The Ninth Princess’s face darkened all at once.
Heye said angrily, “Impudence! Does the Ninth Princess need you to tell her what to do?”
The young eunuch went white with fright and dropped to his knees with a thump. “This servant knows he was wrong. The princess’s pardon, the princess’s pardon…”
He begged and slapped his own mouth at the same time.
The Ninth Princess looked at him coldly. “Do you have something against Ning the Silver Coat?”
The young eunuch was shaking all over with fright. “No. This servant has no quarrel with Ning the Silver Coat. Let the princess see clearly!”
“No? You used Ning Chen’s own name a moment ago.”
The Ninth Princess frowned. “Enough. You may go!”
“Thank you for the princess’s mercy, thank you, princess…”
The young eunuch went off like a man pardoned at the block.
When the young eunuch had gone, the Ninth Princess said flatly, “Heye, that young eunuch is not honest. Send him off to the laundry office.”
“Yes, this handmaid will see to it at once!”
Elsewhere, Ning Chen had waited until he was nearly asleep.
It seemed the Fifth Princess was not coming.
This would not do. He had to go into the palace and lay a complaint before His Majesty, and find out at the same time why the Fifth Princess kept coming at him.
He had gotten out of it this time. What about the next?
Ning Chen said his goodbyes and rode Diaochan straight for the palace.
By the time he reached the palace it was dark.
At this hour the Xuan Emperor would be in the Hall of Cultivated Heart.
Ning Chen came to the Hall of Cultivated Heart. Nie Liang was at the door, so His Majesty was certainly inside.
Once he had been announced, Ning Chen went into the Hall of Cultivated Heart.
“Your subject greets Your Majesty!”
The Xuan Emperor set down the memorial. “It’s late. You want something? Has anything gone wrong with the Nanyue embassy?”
Ning Chen bowed. “Your Majesty, your subject asks to see the Fifth Princess.”
“Hm?” The Xuan Emperor looked at him, puzzled. “What do you want with the Fifth Princess?”
Ning Chen told the whole thing with grievance all over his face.
“Your Majesty, your subject doesn’t know where he offended the Fifth Princess either. Your subject wants to see her, so that even if he has to die for it he can at least die knowing why.”
The Xuan Emperor’s expression grew odder and odder.
“Ning Chen, sometimes you are truly clever and sometimes you are truly stupid… The Fifth Princess is virtuous and gentle, and she has been married for a long time. She would not play a silly trick of that kind.”
Ning Chen was blank. “Then who is coming at your subject?”
“Think about it properly. In the whole of this capital, who has the nerve to pass herself off as the Fifth Princess?”
Ning Chen thought about it. “The Empress?”
The Xuan Emperor had absolutely nothing to say. “How did you get to the Empress?”
Of course I did, Ning Chen said inwardly. I cut her brother down. She hates me to the bone. The Empress was naturally the first person he thought of.
Ning Chen scratched his head. “Then who could it be?”
The Xuan Emperor smiled. “To dare pass herself off as the Fifth Princess, and play a silly little trick like that as well… only Huai’an would do it.”
Ning Chen’s face was all astonishment. “The Ninth Princess?”
The Xuan Emperor nodded.
Ning Chen was more at a loss than ever. “I’ve never done anything to the Ninth Princess. Why would she come at me?”
The Xuan Emperor said, smiling, “Then think about it properly. Why does she not come at anybody else? Why does she come at you in particular?”
Ning Chen shook his head. “Your subject cannot work it out… Perhaps your subject looks easy to push around?”
The Xuan Emperor’s expression stiffened slightly, and he said with an edge in his voice, “Is that pushing you around? A harmless little trick. It is nowhere near as serious as you make it.”
“Don’t you have a woman at the courtesans’ quarter? Do you understand nothing at all about what goes on in a girl’s mind?”
It isn’t that I don’t understand. It’s that I don’t want to, Ning Chen said inwardly.
He shook his head. “Your subject is slow. He still doesn’t understand!”
The Xuan Emperor pressed his lips together. “Do you truly not understand, or are you pretending? Huai’an is fond of you… Must this emperor say it out loud for you?”
“Uh… your subject is fond of the Ninth Princess too. She is innocent and open and frank and lovable. Your subject has dreamed of having a little sister like that.”
A little sister?
The Xuan Emperor’s face went black. “Ning Chen, this emperor knows perfectly well that you understand all of it. You are playing the fool with this emperor.”
“You will make it plain to this emperor today. What exactly is wrong with Huai’an, that you refuse her again and again? If you do not make it plain, thirty strokes of the rod. The word of a sovereign is not a joke.”
Christ!!!
The word of a sovereign is not a joke had come out. It looked as though the Xuan Emperor meant it this time.
Ning Chen smiled bitterly inside. He should never have come.
Ning Chen bowed. “Your Majesty, your subject has already said the reason plainly… Your subject is a rough man and cannot bear a great deal of ceremony and fuss.”
The Xuan Emperor frowned. “All because after the marriage you would have to pay your respects to the princess every day, and could not take a concubine?”
Ning Chen nodded. “Yes!”
“Your Majesty, Yudie is your subject’s first woman. Your subject cannot fail her.”
“Your subject understands too that marrying a princess would mean more wealth and honor than he could use… But Your Majesty would not want to see your subject turn into a man greedy for empty glory, with no honor and no faith in him?”
The Xuan Emperor did not speak for a long while. For the moment he could find no way to argue it, and could only say with a cold face, “Get out.”
(End of Chapter 195)