The Sixth Prince turned his head to look at her and said, entirely serious, “Huai’an is very pretty, but to call her a face to overthrow cities and kingdoms is going too far.”
“You — you —” The Ninth Princess was thoroughly angry. “Sixth Brother, you bookworm, do you know how to talk to people at all? When I get back I’m telling Father Emperor you bullied me.”
The Sixth Prince ignored that completely, and said, entirely serious,
“A reader of books ought to understand what is true, and speak the truth, and strip away the false to keep what is real. Otherwise there is no point in reading at all.”
Ning Chen: “???”
The Ninth Princess was so angry she stamped her feet, her cheeks puffed out like a fat little goldfish.
Ning Chen was surprised into a smile. He gave the Ninth Princess’s nose a light flick. “Never mind. You are the prettiest woman there is, to me.”
The Ninth Princess flushed scarlet on the instant.
The Sixth Prince frowned. “The Teacher is the model for every reader of books in the realm. He ought to set the example himself and be a pattern to others… To be so frivolous in front of everybody is not at all as it should be.”
Ning Chen: “……”
“The Ninth Princess is my betrothed. She is my woman, and looking after how she feels is my responsibility… Sixth Prince, refinement isn’t something you put on. Only a bootlicker puts things on.”
The Sixth Prince blinked, then bowed. “I am instructed.”
“Teacher, what is the poem called?”
The Ninth Princess looked at Ning Chen.
Ning Chen had only composed the poem. He had not told her its name.
Ning Chen said, smiling, “The name of the poem is… ‘The Overbearing Marquis of the Great Xuan Presents This to His Pretty, Adorable Little Wife.'”
The Ninth Princess’s small face went crimson, shy beyond words.
The Sixth Prince stared at Ning Chen. That title… is shallow.
A work for the ages, spoiled.
Talking as they went, they came to the main hall.
Ning Chen’s face filled with surprise, because two bookcases stood in the main hall, packed full of books.
“Teacher, Huai’an, sit wherever you like.”
As he said it, the Sixth Prince walked quickly to the table.
He ground ink and filled his brush and wrote fast… setting down the poem he had just heard.
Ning Chen looked around him and said, smiling, “It seems the Sixth Prince really does love reading.”
The Ninth Princess nodded. “Sixth Brother is a bookworm. He has a book for company all day and never puts one down… Wherever he can reach, he keeps books, so he can read whenever he likes.”
Ning Chen smiled and said quietly, “A breast full of letters and a valley’s emptiness within; a belly of poetry and books and grace that comes of itself… There is never anything wrong with reading more.”
The Sixth Prince came rushing over and fixed his eyes on Ning Chen.
Ning Chen looked at him. “What is it?”
“The other two lines?”
“What other two lines?”
“The other two lines of the Teacher’s poem just now.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. He spread his hands. “I haven’t thought of them.”
Disappointment filled the Sixth Prince’s face.
But he cheered up again almost at once and made a bow. “Thank you for the gift of the poem, Teacher.”
Ning Chen was left with nothing to say at all. That shamelessness runs in the family. He gets it from the Xuan Emperor.
He had flattered the Xuan Emperor once with in letters he could take up a brush and settle the empire, and in arms he could mount a horse and set heaven and earth in order, and the Xuan Emperor had it mounted and framed on the spot and hung behind the dragon throne.
The shameless part was the inscription: presented on his knees by Ning Chen to His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Xuan.
The Sixth Prince hurried back to write down the two lines Ning Chen had just spoken, put them carefully away, and only then came over and bowed.
“The Teacher’s talent is great. He is the immortal of poetry of the Great Xuan and no mistake — a song for the ages comes out of his mouth as he speaks. Ordinary mortals like us could not catch him at a gallop.”
The corner of Ning Chen’s mouth twitched. “You are a prince of the Great Xuan. Ordinary mortals is not the right word. It sounds like putting on airs.”
“What does the Teacher mean by putting on airs?”
“Uh… nothing. Just a thing I say.”
The Sixth Prince made a sound, and then said, entirely serious, “I am a prince, but I am also a reader of books, and as a reader of books, in front of the Teacher I am an ordinary mortal.”
Ning Chen rolled his eyes with nothing to say. “As long as it makes you happy.”
“Sit down, Teacher. I have been neglecting you. Don’t hold it against me, Teacher.”
“Somebody there — tea, quickly!”
Ning Chen sat down and looked the Sixth Prince over. Is this creature really the man behind the Right Chancellor?
From what he could see, this Sixth Prince did everything by the letter, stiff and hidebound, like some old schoolmaster.
He could see no sign at all that the Sixth Prince was putting it on.
If this is a face the Sixth Prince has put on deliberately, then I take my hat off to him. It would mean the Sixth Prince’s acting is past all knowing.
Ning Chen picked up a cake from the plate and put it under his nose and smelled it.
There was dragon-fragrance grass in it, sure enough.
Ning Chen bit into the cake and said, smiling, “Good. I hear it was the Sixth Prince’s idea to put dragon-fragrance grass in the cakes?”
The Sixth Prince shook his head. “It is in a book.”
Ning Chen looked at him. “May I see the book?”
“A moment, Teacher.”
The Sixth Prince rose and went to the bookcase and pulled out a book with yellowed pages without hunting for it.
That movement made Ning Chen’s eyes narrow.
So many books, and the Sixth Prince pulls out exactly the one he wants… There is only one explanation. The Sixth Prince was ready for this.
“This is it, Teacher.”
Ning Chen took the book, looked at the title, and said in surprise, “The Hundred Herbs Chart? Is this a Liu Bei?”
“What?”
The Sixth Prince was completely blank. Ning Chen was the immortal of poetry of the Great Xuan and no mistake. He had read plenty of books himself, but some of the things Ning Chen said he could not follow at all. It seemed he had not read enough.
Ning Chen held up The Hundred Herbs Chart. “What is in it?”
The Sixth Prince said, “It records all sorts of rare and precious plants, and dragon-fragrance grass is one of them… Dragon-fragrance grass stops bleeding and breaks up bruising. Put in a scent bag it holds its scent for half a month and clears the head. It can also be eaten.”
Ning Chen made a sound, a little disappointed. He had thought The Hundred Herbs Chart meant a hundred positions.
Ning Chen looked down and turned the pages idly, then said, “Does the Sixth Prince have A Geography of the Great Xuan here?”
“Yes. A moment, Teacher.”
The Sixth Prince walked over and took a book off the bookcase without hunting for it. It was A Geography of the Great Xuan.
“Do you have The Annotated Classic?”
“Yes.”
The Sixth Prince went to the bookcase on the other side and took a book off it without hunting for it.
Ning Chen was surprised. “You can remember where every one of these is?”
The Sixth Prince came over with the two books. “I have read them all any number of times, and I sorted and shelved them myself, so I know where every one of them is.”
Ning Chen nodded slightly. It seems I was reading too much into it.
Then Ning Chen said, smiling, “Do you have The Plum in the Golden Vase here? The illustrated kind… I want to see Pan Jinlian on the grape trellis.”
The Sixth Prince looked at Ning Chen, completely blank. “The Plum in the Golden Vase? Bear with me, Teacher. I have never heard of the book.”
“If the Teacher wants it, I will have men look for it… and when it is found I will bring it to the Teacher’s house myself.”
Ning Chen’s mouth twisted. You’ll never find it in a thousand years.
“Never mind. I only mentioned it in passing.”
As they talked he turned to the page on dragon-fragrance grass. What was written there was exactly what the Sixth Prince had said.
Damn it!
Pleased with myself for nothing.
It seems one piece of cake with dragon-fragrance grass in it is not going to find the man behind the Right Chancellor.
He looked the Sixth Prince over without letting it show.
A man who keeps to himself has an easy time hiding. A man who has read everything breeds schemes of his own.
I can’t see anything so far. But this Sixth Prince still bears close watching… Or perhaps my eyes are too poor to see through the Sixth Prince’s acting.
(End of Chapter 410)