Ning Chen did not want to stay here long either, and said, “Ninth Princess, shall we go?”
The Ninth Princess shook her head. “Let me stay with Elder Brother a little longer.”
She understood perfectly well. What the crown prince had done was treason, a crime of the first order… Even if the Father Emperor softened and did not kill him, his life was over. It would be exile, or imprisonment for the rest of his days.
Perhaps this parting was for good.
“Elder Brother, don’t worry… I will go to the Father Emperor and plead for you. I promise.”
The crown prince smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“Huai’an, don’t. I am well enough as I am. Nobody controls me any longer, and I don’t have to live in the middle of men cheating one another. It is peaceful, in its way.”
The Ninth Princess shook her head. She was going to plead for Elder Brother whatever he said.
The deposed crown prince looked at Ning Chen. “Do you know why the Father Emperor has shown you nothing but favor?”
Without waiting for Ning Chen to answer, the deposed crown prince went on by himself. “It is because you are very much like the Second Prince. The second one was the same as you, brimming with talent, able at ten years old to make a work for the ages that astonished everybody.”
“And you were fifteen, a little behind the Second Prince… I imagine that is part of why the Father Emperor is fond of you.”
It isn’t that I’m a little behind the Second Prince. It’s that I crossed over a little later than he did, Ning Chen said inwardly.
The deposed crown prince went on, “Ning Chen, but not everybody will bear with you the way the Father Emperor does.”
“You are very able, but you stand too far apart, and you have no awe of the imperial power at all… The day will come when the Father Emperor grows old, and a new emperor will certainly not bear your insolence.”
“Ning Chen, if you mean to get a footing in the capital and hold a place at court… you will have to change your temper, or the end of it will not be good for you.”
Ning Chen looked at him and said nothing. He knew the crown prince was not wrong… but some things are in the bone and are very hard to change.
So, since he could not change himself, he would change other people.
A bird settles on a thin branch not because it trusts the branch to hold, but because it trusts its own wings.
Ning Chen was confident he would have his wings full-grown before a new emperor took the throne… and then there would be nobody in the world who dared touch him.
The deposed crown prince went on, “I am not telling you this for your sake… it is for Huai’an’s. I don’t want her dragged down with you.”
“If you will not change, and have not the strength to protect her, then keep away from her… You are too dangerous a man, and you put men on their guard.”
The Ninth Princess had been crying bitterly, but at this she turned shy. “Elder Brother, what are you talking about?”
The deposed crown prince said, smiling, “That little heart of yours — who do you suppose it is hidden from?”
Ning Chen made a face. Brought down to a prisoner and he still has an appetite for gossip?
The deposed crown prince said, “That reminds me. Ning Chen, the Left Chancellor is in Mangzhou.”
Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed a little. “You are certain?”
The deposed crown prince nodded.
“I once heard the Empress say the Left Chancellor had reached Mangzhou. The Left Chancellor was our last way out.”
“Meaning what?”
The deposed crown prince shook his head. “I don’t know much, but I would guess the officials of Mangzhou, high and low, are all of the Empress and Prince Fu’s party.”
“If you go to Mangzhou to take the Left Chancellor, be careful of the officials there, high and low.”
Ning Chen inclined his head slightly.
The deposed crown prince looked at the Ninth Princess, and his eyes were gentle. “Your birthday is in a few days. In past years I have always kept it with you… A pity I can’t be at your birthday feast this year.”
“Huai’an, you are nearly fifteen. You are grown up now… Elder Brother won’t be there after this, and you must take care of yourself.”
The Ninth Princess nodded, weeping.
The deposed crown prince looked at Ning Chen. “Take her back. This is no place for her. Don’t come again.”
Ning Chen and the Ninth Princess came out of the prison.
Looking at the Ninth Princess’s eyes, red and swollen with crying, Ning Chen sighed. “Don’t take it so hard. It seems to me His Majesty has no intention of killing the deposed crown prince.”
The Ninth Princess turned her head to him, tears still in her voice. “Really?”
Ning Chen nodded. “Everyone else was put to the sword and only the deposed crown prince is held in custody for the present… I think His Majesty will not kill your Elder Brother.”
“Come on. I’ll see you back.”
The Ninth Princess made a sound of assent. “When I get back I am going to the Father Emperor to plead for Elder Brother.”
“The Father Emperor has a great many children, and Elder Brother is the only one who ever petted me… Every time he came to see me he brought me things to play with and things to eat… I was very stupid when I was little, and it was Elder Brother who taught me my characters and my books. And…”
All the way back the Ninth Princess rattled on about the deposed crown prince’s kindness to her.
Ning Chen did not cut in. He listened quietly.
He saw the Ninth Princess back to the palace.
As Ning Chen was about to leave, the Ninth Princess asked, with hope all over her face, “Ning Chen, will you come and see me often after this?”
Ning Chen thought about it, and nodded. “I will.”
Having taken his leave of the Ninth Princess, Ning Chen drove to the courtesans’ quarter.
Yudie was propped against the head of the bed with a book in her hands, serious and quiet.
“Young Master Ning?”
Seeing Ning Chen, Xiaoxing made a graceful courtesy.
Yudie turned her head, her big watery eyes brightened, and she said Ning, dear in a soft, sweet voice.
Ning Chen came over smiling. “You seem to be mending fast. You can sit up already.”
Yudie gave him a lovely smile. “It’s because Meng the Gold Coat is setting himself against the Master Director. That’s why this girl is getting better so quickly.”
Ning Chen asked, puzzled, “Meaning what?”
“Meng the Gold Coat asked this girl how long the Master Director said it would take her to mend. This girl said fifteen days.”
“So Meng the Gold Coat laughed at the Master Director for a quack and said he would have this girl mended in ten.”
Ning Chen was stopped for a moment, and then could not help laughing.
“So it isn’t only men of letters who look down on each other. Physicians do it too.”
Yudie asked softly, “Doesn’t Ning, dear have duty today?”
“Er… it’s my rest day.”
Just then Xiaoxing came in carrying a basin of water.
“Young Master Ning, I need to wash the young lady, so you…”
Ning Chen was taken aback for a moment, and then said, smiling, “Set it down. I’ll do it.”
Xiaoxing gave a giggle, set down the copper basin and went out.
Ning Chen wrung out the cloth, went to the bedside, and first helped Yudie to lie down properly.
Yudie’s pretty face was crimson, and she said in embarrassment, “Ning, dear is worth his weight in gold. How can he wait on this girl? Let Xiaoxing do it.”
Ning Chen grinned wickedly. “I know your body better than you do. What is there to be shy about?”
Yudie went red all through.
Ning Chen turned back the quilt and began to wash her.
In less than three minutes Ning Chen’s breath had gone short, his eyes were full of wanting, and he very nearly could not hold himself.
The more he washed, the more water there was.
“Er… perhaps let Xiaoxing do it after all.”
Ning Chen was in some disorder. If Yudie had not been wounded he would not have held out this long.
Yudie’s whole face was shy, and her small face was red enough to drip blood… Her legs rubbed together without her meaning them to, and all she wanted now was a bath.
Ning Chen went outside and sent Xiaoxing in to wash Yudie.
He looked down at himself with a bitter smile and pulled his cloak tight to cover his lower half.
Yudie’s body kept going through his mind… Ning Chen did not dare stay long, and left the courtesans’ quarter quickly. Out in the cold wind the heat in him began to go down at last.
He was about to drive away when he saw a familiar figure.
“Commander Nie?”
Ning Chen said it aloud, in some astonishment. Nie Liang was in plain clothes, but Ning Chen was certain he had not mistaken the man.
He remembered perfectly well that only that morning Nie Liang had told him in the most upright tones that he never came to the courtesans’ quarter or anywhere on that whole side of the city.
Hearing somebody call him, Nie Liang turned to look without thinking.
Their eyes met.
For a moment Nie Liang felt the air had set solid, and the atmosphere was very awkward… At any rate he was very awkward, and his old face went scarlet.
(End of Chapter 236)