The Kingdom That Never Sleeps CH 049 Junior Chamberlain
Wang Zhen stood up and directly tied the jade and sachet to his belt.
Seeing his action, Tang Shen was slightly stunned but said nothing.
Tang Shen really didn't know what customs the ancients had for birthdays. He thought for a moment and figured they should at least eat longevity noodles. But in his hometown, they ate noodles at noon and had a banquet at night. After hesitating for a while, Tang Shen asked, "Senior Brother, have you eaten noodles?"
Wang Zhen naturally knew what Tang Shen was thinking and told the steward, "Serve two bowls of noodles."
The steward relayed the orders, "Serve two bowls of longevity noodles."
Tang Shen was completely confused.
It was Wang Zhen's birthday; eating longevity noodles by himself was fine, but why did he prepare a portion for Tang Shen too? But Tang Shen didn't have time to refuse because the servant had already received the steward's order and rushed to the kitchen. Before long, the servant brought two bowls of noodles to the garden.
Tang Shen stared at the noodles on the table, speechless.
"Little Junior Brother, don't you like noodles?"
Tang Shen: "That's not the case."
Wang Zhen's face grew serious: "Then it must be the kitchen's fault for not making them to your taste."
"No!"
"Then eat."
Tang Shen helplessly picked up his chopsticks and started eating the noodles. After eating three or four bites, he noticed that Wang Zhen had only taken one bite and then put down his chopsticks, not eating any more. Tang Shen asked curiously, "Senior Brother, why aren't you eating?"
Wang Zhen looked surprised and said as if it were obvious, "We just had dinner not long ago; I'm not hungry at all, so I'm naturally not eating."
Tang Shen: "..."
You're too full, but does that mean I'm not too full?
Tang Shen, speechless, also threw down his chopsticks, no longer eating the troublesome noodles, and inwardly cursed Wang Zifeng a lot. But when Wang Zifeng called out "Jing Ze," Tang Shen immediately responded obediently with an "Ai." After replying, Tang Shen wanted to give himself a slap: How embarrassing! Wang Zifeng, today I have to flatter you, but in the future, when I no longer need to, just wait and see!
After chatting for a while longer, Tang Shen took his leave and returned home. Wang Zhen personally escorted him to the gate of the Minister Residence.
Watching Tang Shen's departing figure, Wang Zifeng held a folding fan in his right hand and lightly tapped it against the palm of his left hand. After a while, he lifted the fan and pointed at Tang Shen's back, saying, "Do you think he was cursing me in his heart just now?"
The steward looked around, thinking that there was no one else around; the young master must be talking to him.
The steward thought: Whether or not he cursed you, don't you already have a sense of it yourself!
The steward lowered his eyes and said, "I don't know."
Wang Zhen's beautiful face showed a faint smile, but his tone was very serious: "But I find his way of secretly criticizing me inside quite amusing. I can't help but want to tease him. What should I do about that?"
The steward: "..."
Wang Zhen wasn't really expecting an answer from the steward. He gently stroked the exquisite white jade at his waist, sighed deeply, and turned back to enter the gate of the Minister Residence.
On the seventh day of the tenth month, it was the emperor's grand birthday.
As a low-ranking official of the seventh rank, Tang Shen was not qualified to participate in the sacrificial ceremony at the Temple of Heaven. However, during the time when civil and military officials and members of the imperial family were offering ancestral sacrifices, he still had to kneel and sit in the courtyard of the Hanlin Academy, a dozen or so miles away, to remotely experience the "majestic heavenly power." It wasn't until the afternoon, when the long sacrificial ceremony finally ended, that the civil and military officials entered the palace for a banquet, and the sixth- and seventh-rank minor officials were given a holiday to enjoy some leisure at home.
On the emperor's birthday, a general amnesty was declared throughout the country.
Three days later, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Tang Shen put on his brand-new sixth-rank official robe and went to the Palace Secretariat.
During the previous dynasty, the positions of Chamberlain and Junior Chamberlain belonged to the "Department of the Interior" (TN: In historical Chinese government structures, it was a government body responsible for administrative affairs and internal management). In this dynasty, the founding emperor abolished the Department of the Interior and established the Palace Secretariat. Most of the officials in the Palace Secretariat held other posts concurrently; for example, Wang Zhen was also the Minister of Revenue in the Ministry of Revenue under the Department of State Affairs, and he was also a cabinet minister in the Palace Secretariat, known as Wang xianggong. For those officials in the Palace Secretariat without other posts, only two kinds remained.
One was the position of a prime minister, and the other was the position of imperial historians, like Tang Shen and Yao Shan.
One either held a first-rank office with authority over the entire court, or was a close attendant to the emperor, responsible for recording the emperor's daily life.
When Tang Shen arrived at the Palace Secretariat, Yao Shan had already arrived earlier. Upon seeing Tang Shen, Yao Shan said, "Jing Ze, I didn't expect we'd meet again so soon. The Palace Secretariat is not like the Hanlin Academy; from now on, we'll have to look out for each other."
Tang Shen naturally responded, "Let's encourage each other, Brother Wen Ji!"
After exchanging pleasantries, two officials wearing fifth-rank official robes entered through the door. Tang Shen saluted them, and they exchanged equal courtesy with Yao Shan. One of them said, "This must be Yao Wenji daren, and this must be Tang Jingze daren. My name is Li Shu, and I am also a fifth-rank Chamberlain like Yao daren. This is Zhang Si daren, another Chamberlain."
Zhang Si said, "Today, I will accompany His Majesty. The two Junior Chamberlains have already been selected. Tomorrow, Li daren will accompany His Majesty, so Tang daren, you'll have to enter the palace."
Tang Shen asked, "Zhang daren, will I be recording the emperor's daily life tomorrow?" He looked worried. "To be honest, I have just entered the Palace Secretariat, and I'm completely in the dark. I'm afraid I might make a fool of myself tomorrow. It's a small matter if I embarrass myself, but it's a big deal if I disturb the emperor. What should I do tomorrow?"
Tang Shen was sixteen this year, and his face showed a deeply concerned expression. His brows were tightly furrowed, and his hands were clenched as if he was genuinely frightened.
The two fifth-rank Chamberlains exchanged a glance and smiled, thinking that as the rumors suggested, he was indeed just a child. Li Shu said, "You needn't worry. Tomorrow, I will lead you, and you won't be the only Junior Chamberlain there. You can stand behind me and watch how I record the emperor's daily life. I will stand on the left side of the emperor, and the other Junior Chamberlain will stand on the right. Since both you and Yao daren are new here and unfamiliar with the duties, today you should go and read the 'Daily Records' from the Kaiping period of this dynasty. Read as much as you can. Once you finish reading them all, you will naturally know what to do."
Yao Shan and Tang Shen exchanged a glance, both smiling wryly. "Understood."
They hadn't expected that even after leaving the Hanlin Academy, they would still have to read books!
Tang Shen and Yao Shan each took a thick volume of the "Daily Records" and began reading. They read until the sun set and the emperor had finished his immortal cultivation and returned to the inner palace. Only then could the Chamberlains and Junior Chamberlains end their day's work.
Tang Shen returned home and washed his face with cold water. The icy water jolted him awake.
As Tang Shen regained his composure, his eyes sharpened, and he quickly took a blank booklet from the bookshelf in his study. He immediately ground the ink and used a fine-tipped goat-hair brush to rapidly write on the paper: "On the fourth day of the eighth month of the 24th year of Kaiping, a star as large as a peach fell in the southeast. That night, Chief Astronomer Li Xiaoren entered the palace..."
As he closed his eyes, lines of text instantly appeared in his mind, and Tang Shen continued to write: "On the seventh day of the eighth month of the 24th year of Kaiping, the emperor summoned Deputy Minister of Justice Su Wenyun. The emperor said, 'Last night, I had a terrifying dream, where I saw the people suffering in prison, crying tears of blood at the bars.' Deputy Minister Su replied, 'Your Majesty is merciful, and I am not worthy.' The emperor said, 'I grieve with the people, and you grieve for me, do you not? We should reward the people and bless the citizens. Today, I grant amnesty to all under heaven!' That day, the Emperor granted amnesty to all criminals."
Tang Shen wrote line after line of text on the blank rice paper at a rapid pace.
Eidetic memory!
Even Tang Shen hadn't expected that he would one day use this special ability in this way.
Today, when Tang Shen went to the archives of the Secretariat to select books, he specifically chose the "Records of the Emperor's Daily Life" from the 24th to the 26th year of Kaiping. He spent the entire day reading, but only finished a little over a year’s worth of books, leaving more than a year’s worth unread.
After writing down content he thought might be relevant, Tang Shen let out a long sigh of relief and collapsed into his chair. He picked up the makeshift "Records of the Emperor's Daily Life" that he had written and carefully examined it.
Tang Shen had written down a variety of things, including a few words Zhao Fu had occasionally said and dialogues during Zhao Fu's summoning of ministers. He recorded anything that might be related to the Songqing Party. However, these...
“Aren't nearly enough!"
Tang Shen slammed the book heavily on the desk, his eyes bloodshot. "The emperor granted amnesty to the whole nation, so it’s impossible that Zhong Taisheng was released. Amnesty only pardons minor criminals; all serious and capital offenders are not pardoned. Did Zhao Fu grant amnesty to criminals simply because of a nightmare, or was he planning something?"
Tang Shen pondered deeply, "After the night of the meteor shower, this was the only time he mentioned the prisoners in the prison. What have I missed?"
Tang Shen quickly flipped through the book, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't find any clues.
It felt as if a great weight was pressing down on his shoulders, making it hard to breathe. He knew that Zhong Taisheng's death was most likely connected to Zhao Fu, and he also knew that the palace coup twenty-seven years ago was related to Zhao Fu. But all these things were like a web of secrets, entwining him. Even with his eyes wide open, he couldn't see through it.
"I just don't know enough yet," Tang Shen concluded.
Make bold assumptions, but carefully verify them. There was no other way!
Tang Shen blew out the candle in the study, quietly hid the book in a secret compartment behind the bookshelf, and went to bed.
The next day, at chou shi (1-3 a.m.), before the sky was even bright, Tang Shen donned his official robe and headed to the office of the Palace Secretariat.
Li Shu, seeing Tang Shen arriving early, nodded approvingly. After another official responsible for the "Records of the Emperor's Daily Life" arrived, Li Shu glanced at him, said nothing, and led both Tang Shen and the official into the imperial palace. Under the dark night sky, with stars scattered across the heavens, the three low-ranking officials walked briskly through the palace without raising their heads.
The imperial palace was silent, the buildings shrouded in darkness, like a man-eating beast quietly lying in wait.
The three arrived at the Zichen Hall, where only eunuchs and palace maids were kneeling on the ground, cleaning. Li Shu instructed the two of them, "Silence." Naturally, they kept their mouths shut, and he led them behind the imperial throne.
Tang Shen had only been to Zichen Hall on the day of the dianshi, when he stood in the center of the hall and was personally awarded the title of tanhua by Zhao Fu.
Li Shu exchanged a look with the other official, who had more experience and quietly walked to the right. Tang Shen followed Li Shu to the left. They bypassed the throne and arrived at the side of a Taibai stone platform. There, hidden behind a five-person-wide coiled dragon white jade pillar, was a small desk and chair.
The desk was narrow and small, and the chair was nothing more than a stool made of three wooden boards.
Tang Shen stared at it in surprise for quite a while. He never would have imagined that there were people hiding behind the pillars next to the imperial throne when he was awarded the title of tanhua.
Li Shu said, "Stand behind me, and use the pillar to hide yourself."
Tang Shen replied, "Understood."
Li Shu sat down and gently ground the ink.
After a while, the palace maids and eunuchs responsible for cleaning the Zichen Hall filed out. Another group of eunuchs entered through a side door. After they entered, the last one closed the hall doors. Two more quarters of an hour passed, and then a sharp voice rang out from outside the door, as if someone was shouting at the top of their lungs: "Officials, enter the hall!"
"Officials, enter the hall!"
"Officials, enter the hall..."
The voice echoed layer by layer, resounding throughout the imperial palace.
After the voice faded, Tang Shen strained his ears and heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The eunuchs who had already entered the Zichen Hall lowered their heads and moved to the side doors. With a creak, it took four of them to open one of the doors. In total, eight eunuchs opened both side doors completely. The next moment, civil and military officials in robes of various ranks entered the hall in order.
Tang Shen and Li Shu stood to the left of the throne, which was to the right of the officials.
Civil officials stood on the left, and military officials on the right. In front of Tang Shen was a group of military officials. Tang Shen looked up and saw Wang Zhen standing among the civil officials on the left side. He was wearing a red official robe, holding a long jade tablet, and standing in the third position among the civil officials. The two people in front of him were both dressed in first-rank official robes. Several people beside him were also wearing first-rank robes.
In this group of officials, the ones standing at the end were wearing fourth-rank robes.
The Song Dynasty valued civil officials highly, and since the time of the first emperor, the practice of kneeling had been abolished. What was commonly referred to as "kneeling" was actually "sitting on one's knees." Even during the early morning court session, officials did not have to kneel before the emperor; they could stand in the hall and look up at him.
Inside the grand hall, the golden bricks on the floor emitted a chilling aura.
The officials stood holding their jade tablets, waiting for a quarter of an hour, until the chief eunuch Ji Fu raised his voice and called out, "Officials, present yourselves!"
Li Shu immediately stood up, and Tang Shen imitated him, bowing with the officials in the hall. Dozens of voices shouted in unison, their sound echoing through the Zichen Hall, reaching the heavens.
"Greetings to Your Majesty!"