Chapter 65: The Prince’s Mansion


    Trantor: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio


    The poetry contest at Crown Prince Jing’s mansion and the Crown Prince’s Poetry Competition were two of the hottest social events in the capital. They were held monthly,e rain or shine. Countless poor schrs and starving poets tried their hardest to get in, hoping to set the world aze with a single line of poetry and find a way of getting ahead in life.


    The crown prince was well-renowned as a wordsmith, and although Crown Prince Jing was the little brother of the Emperor, he was determined to be a rich and idle prince, and so he had little in the way of influence. In contrast, those who had clear goals naturally flocked to the side of the crown prince.


    If one could gain the praise of Crown Prince Jing, it was a good way to build a reputation. So at eachpetition, many guests would gather at the prince’s mansion, not far from Shixin Gate. Some came carried in on pnquins, some sat atop carriages, and some walked, but the butler at the gate treated all with equal favor, and after checking their name cards, he would respectfully let them enter.


    Fan Xian sat on a pnquin with an unsightly look on his face, alternating between green and deathly pale. From time to time he would cover his mouth, trying to suppress the urge to vomit.


    He had chosen the pnquin because it felt appropriate for such a grand literary asion, and had invited his sister to attend with him. He had spent his whole life by the sea in Danzhou, and the swaying of boats had never made him feel seasick, but this pnquin was making him feel quite queasy. Feeling uneasy, he drew open the curtain on the pnquin. “How much further?” he asked Teng Zijing meekly.


    Teng Zijing stifled a smile. “Just past the next crossing,” he replied.


    Fan Xian grunted in acknowledgement and sat back. His fingers were syed forth like orchids, and he ced his thumbs and ring fingers together, allowing the zhenqi to slowly release, rinsing out his internal organs and slightly relieving his nausea, but in the end he couldn’t stop feeling dizzy.


    His eyebrows furrowed as he dealt with both the doubt in his mind and his physical difort. His stay in the mansion over the past few days showed him made him feel as though his father had very different ways of thinking, and there were many things that he could not exin. Like, why did he care so much about his illegitimate child? Was it simply out of his father’s love for his mother?


    He turned his head to look outside the pnquin, separating the thin green curtain and looking at the figures of people on horseback. He knew that although Teng Zijing was fond of him, he was his father’s man, and he could not ce his faith in him entirely. He sighed. He felt he had to find subordinates he could trust, people like the ghost-like Wu Zhu, people he could order around as he pleased.


    Fan Xian very much wanted to know what his mother had done in the capital, and how his father knew her, and... how she had died. This was not borne simply out of pure curiosity and parental affection; he felt that knowing his past was the only way he could control both his present and his future.


    Inside the prince’s mansion, in front of the gate leading into a garden, a group of schrs bowed humbly to a young man. They could never have imagined that the person weing them at the gate at today’s poetry contest was Crown Prince Jing himself.


    Two small pnquins with green curtains slowly made their way past. Crown Prince Jing gave a slightly impatient salute to the schrs, who seemed overwhelmed by his presence, and moved along to wee the pnquin. At that moment, the schrs realized that they hadmitted some kind of faux pas, but did not dare let their emotions show upon their faces. They continued to smile boastfully, and confidently cupped their hands in a salute, ushered to the rear garden by the butler.


    The servants at the gate going to the prince’s mansion were somewhat curious about who this guest could be for the crown prince himself to greet them at the gate.


    When they saw the young woman in a golden-colored jacket and gauze skirt get out of the pnquin, they finally realized that the youngdy of the Fan family had arrived. Considering the rtionship between the prince’s manor and Fan Manor, the personal friendship between the Crown Prince and Miss Fan, and how rarely she showed her face in public, it was only right that he greet her at the gate.


    “Miss Ruoruo.” Crown Prince Jing’s surname was Li, and his given name was Hongcheng. The gossip in the capital was that he was never seen far from a pleasure house, but standing before Miss Fan, he seemed a bashful and respectful young man.


    Fan Ruoruo curtsied, greeted the Crown Prince, and smiled. “And so what did Ruojia choose as a topic today?”


    The Crown Princeughed in response, but his gaze asionally shifted toward the pnquin behind her. Was he still not going toe out after all that effort? Servants came forward and parted the curtains of the sedan chair in deference... but to their surprise, there was no one inside. The people inside the prince’s mansion were taken aback. What was he ying at?


    Fan Ruoruo stifled a giggle. “My brother is behind us,” she exined.


    As they talked, they saw the 16-year-old catch up with them from not far behind, gasping for breath, apanied by an attendant. The young man wore pale maroon robes with the cor unfastened. He seemed rather frivolous, butbined with his clean face, it made the people around him feel rxed.


    “My apologies, my apologies.” Fan Xian cupped his hands and bowed to the crown prince. “The rocking of the pnquin made me feel dizzy,” he exined awkwardly, “so I got out and walked. But it’s so hot out, so I stopped to drink some winter cherry juice. I’mte, I know.”


    “Notte at all.” Crown Prince Jing looked at this young man who he had only met once before, and felt particr fondness for him. Heughed heartily. “As long as you coulde, Brother Fan.”


    Fan Xian noticed that the crown prince was now calling him by his surname, unlike a few days before. He could not tell what the crown prince meant to show by this. He paused for a moment, and a smile crept across his face. “The winter cherry juice from outside your mansion is far better than what they serve in other ces, so naturally I had to try it.”


    The crown prince smiled. They could have stood there talking all day. With a wave of his hand, he ushered the siblings into the garden.


    From his days in Danzhou, Fan Xian knew that his sister was a talented poet. Although her verse tended to be rather mncholy and bound by convention, it was still good poetry. But it was clear that she had little in the way of artistic achievementspared to the princelings and young schrs who attended the poetry contests, and so Fan Ruoruo had little renown as a poet.


    So he was very curious how his sister would behave at this sort of gathering, as well as Princess Ruojia, who had caused the leak of Dream of the Red Chamber to be sold by illegal booksellers at dirt-cheap prices.


    But as he followed Crown Prince Jing into the rear garden, with its winding corridors and running water, he realized, in a seemingly unconstrained nation such as this, there was still segregation between men and women. The women sat beneath a pavilion on the other side of theke, withyers of thin white silk hanging from it, swaying in the wind.


    Slightly disappointed, he followed the crown prince to the edge of theke. As he looked at the floating silk in the distance, he couldn’t help but think of Stephen Chow, a director and actor who he had loved so much in his past life. He sighed deep in his heart. “It feels like first love.”