Qing Gu added, “Most importantly, Young Master has a girl he’s set his heart on.”
Wang Lihua’s face flushed scarlet. She gave Qing Gu a shove. “What nonsense are you spouting?”
Qing Gu couldn’t help bursting into laughter. “I’m really not talking nonsense. In these two months in the Capital City, Young Master only looks for one girl to play with. Everything that’s sent into the back courtyard—whatever other girls have, she has too; whatever they don’t have, she still has. Afraid she’ll be bullied by the other girls, he even specially instructed the servants to take extra care of our courtyard. If that’s not a girl on his mind, then what is?”
The most wonderful thing in this world is nothing but mutual affection that ends in a proper, public marriage.
Zhao Zhi and Wang Lihua enjoyed a very sweet time together. Later, Wang Lihua became pregnant, but before long Lady Wang fell gravely ill and passed away.
Once her son was married, it was as if she had finally set down one concern, yet there were still so many things she could not let go of. But when fate comes to its end, she could only leave with endless regret in her heart.
Zhao Changyu grieved for a while, then took advantage of his period of mourning for his wife to submit a memorial requesting resignation.
Your Majesty did not agree.
What could a foolish emperor possibly understand?
The one who refused was Empress Jia, and the court officials also refused.
The courtiers who had been avoiding the Zhao Mansion finally couldn’t help themselves and went to call on him. They clutched Zhao Changyu and said, “With Lord Wei gone, you are now the head of the court, the pillar of the state. If you resign, Great Jin will be in peril, and Your Majesty will be in peril.”
Now in the entire court, the only ones who could stand up to Empress Jia and those Sima Family princes eyeing the throne like tigers were Zhao Changyu and Wang Yan.
But Wang Yan basically let things slide; if Zhao Changyu left as well, this country would truly be finished.
Zhao Changyu knew this in his heart. So although he inwardly mocked them for seeking benefit and shunning harm, he truly could not rest easy.
Occupying the post, one must concern oneself with its governance. For as long as he was Secretary of the Imperial Secretariat, he was bound to fulfill the duties of the Secretary.
If the state fell apart because he wilfully resigned, he himself would never forgive himself.
Thus, as soon as the courtiers tried to keep him, that newly sprouted urge to run away was pressed back down. Zhao Changyu did not leave: after sending his son back to their hometown, he himself stayed on in Luoyang, diligently stitching together this tattered, ragged dynasty of Great Jin.
Yet Zhao Changyu’s voluntary request to resign made Empress Jia fully realize how important he was.
Why did she insist he stay?
Because as soon as Zhao Changyu’s resignation memorial was submitted, King Zhao, Sima Lun, began to stir restlessly and secretly reached out to the Crown Prince.
The Crown Prince, Sima Yu, was unlike his foolish father; he was a very intelligent, very outstanding heir.
Why did Emperor Jin Wu insist on his foolish son ascending the throne? Sima Yu was an important reason.
From birth he was personally raised and instructed by Emperor Jin Wu, and he held his own power base in his hands. Empress Jia had only just seized power, having taken it by killing Yang Jun and Wei Guan, and then stuffed the court full of her own people. At this point, her footing was not yet secure.
Right now in court, she was one faction, the Crown Prince was another, the princes of the Sima Family in the vassal states were another, and there was yet another faction that was Zhao Changyu.
And Zhao Changyu protected both the Crown Prince and the emperor. If he resigned and left, the courtiers who supported both sides would very likely swing wholly toward the Crown Prince. Once the Sima princes of the vassal states joined hands with the Crown Prince, she would be dead without a doubt.
They wouldn’t kill the emperor, but they could strip him of all power, then kill the Empress...
Empress Jia was small-minded, but her intellect was exceptional. Once she sensed such a trend, she immediately had Your Majesty keep Zhao Changyu.
Still, she was displeased, so one day she egged Your Majesty on to go question Zhao Changyu: “You once said I could not shoulder the affairs of state. What do you say now?”
Zhao Changyu was unhurried. He bent at the waist and said respectfully, “I served the late emperor, and indeed spoke such words. Fortunately, they did not come to pass, which is truly a blessing for the altars of state. But I do not dare escape responsibility for my crime. I beg Your Majesty to pronounce punishment.”
Your Majesty was simple and honest. Seeing Zhao Changyu apologizing and begging punishment, he hastily said, “No crime, no crime. I pardon you of all guilt.”
Empress Jia, listening from behind the screen: ...
Zhao Changyu appeared deeply moved, knelt, and said, “Your Majesty is magnanimous, yet I cannot pardon myself. When I return, I shall close my doors and reflect on my faults, and I will abstain from meat and pray for Your Majesty’s blessings for three months, to redeem my crime.”
Zhao Changyu left the palace with an expression full of emotion, and only after he climbed into his own carriage did he put away the look on his face.
His heart was a tangle.
Your Majesty was a kind and gentle man; it was just unfortunate that he was a fool.
Zhao Changyu felt some regret. After his proposal to depose the Crown Prince had failed, he ought to have immediately proposed killing the Crown Princess Consort and replacing her with a virtuous one. How could he have simply given up at that point?
But when he thought of the ambitious princes of the Sima line now, he became unsure again. Without Empress Jia, those princes might well have been impossible to keep down. If the realm was to be kept stable, he would probably have needed to propose that the late emperor kill off all his other sons and cousins and all their descendants first.
Even using one’s toes to think one could see that was impossible.
Yet on his deathbed the late emperor still managed one last foolish move, actually enfeoffing all his sons, which led directly to the current chaos.
Zhao Changyu sighed, raised a hand to his forehead, and leaned against the side.
In just these short two years, his hair had begun to turn white. The mental effort he had spent in these two years was more than in the previous twenty.
Zhao Changyu went home to “eat vegetarian.”
Completely vegetarian was out of the question; he was not one to wrong himself.
He simply followed the rites.
Back when his mother died, he kept mourning at home strictly according to the rites—crying when he ought to cry, offering sacrifices when he ought to offer sacrifices. He grieved and remembered her, but he still ate what needed eating.
It was the same now. He had promised Your Majesty he would abstain from meat and pray for blessings, and at present “abstaining from meat” simply meant not seeing any meat or fish.
Then he simply wouldn’t see it.
Boiled greens in water, with the broth made from pre-stewed chicken stock.
Eggs did not count as meat, so poached eggs, boiled eggs, fried eggs—besides chicken eggs there were duck eggs, bird eggs, all kinds of eggs, and he rotated through them.
His hair was already grizzled; he could not afford to wrong himself further.
Three months only—endure a bit and they would pass.
Thus, after three months of “vegetarianism,” Zhao Changyu had not grown thinner but had instead put on a little weight, which made Fu Zhi, Zhang Hua, and the others glance at him again and again.
Zhao Changyu treated them as if they were air and ignored them.
Empress Jia ground her teeth in spite of herself; upon learning that Zhao Zhongyu did not get along with his brother, she had Your Majesty transfer Zhao Zhongyu back from outside.
Even if she needed to use his ability to preserve the emperor’s authority, she still wanted to make him live uncomfortably.
Besides, Zhao Zhi had gone back to his hometown to keep mourning; she could not recruit him into officialdom and had no way to get at him. But here in Luoyang, there had to be at least one soft spot in Zhao Changyu’s armor, didn’t there?
Once Zhao Zhongyu returned, it would become clear whether he was a blade aimed at Zhao Changyu, or a soft spot in Zhao Changyu’s breast.
Whichever he turned out to be, Empress Jia intended to make use of him.
Hearing the transfer order, Zhao Changyu sighed, knowing the matter was unavoidable.

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