It was the day after Ying Zheng first began using the toothbrush and tooth powder.
He summoned the Fengchang, who oversaw rites and sacrifices; the Zongzheng, responsible for affairs concerning the royal house and its relatives by marriage; and the Shaofu, who managed the finances and expenditures of the inner palace.
The Summer Solstice was approaching. Every sacrifice and banquet had to be arranged properly.
At the Winter Solstice, sacrifices were offered to Heaven. At the Summer Solstice, to Earth.
The ceremonies held at these two turning points of the year included offerings not only to the ancestral spirits in the royal temples but also to the gods. They also involved highly symbolic rites, such as the clearing of wells.
The royal house would hold grand banquets as well, divided into four categories over three days. The guests on the first day would chiefly be the king’s consorts, his children, and members of the royal clan.
Ying Zheng cared nothing for the finer points of seating arrangements, nor did he need to concern himself with them. He had summoned the Zongzheng so that he could learn which of his elderly or ailing relatives might need consideration. Should one of these frail kinsmen commit some small breach of etiquette at the feast, he would refrain from recording it in his little mental ledger.
He would not be nearly so forgiving toward the meritorious nobles, senior ministers, and assembled officials at their banquets. They could either report themselves ill beforehand or attend and conduct themselves impeccably until the festivities ended.
There was, however, one exception.
“Tell General Meng Ao that he need not force himself to attend. After the Summer Solstice, Guaren will visit him in person. Ask him to take good care of his health. Guaren is still young and has further need of General Meng Ao’s assistance!”
In the Hall of Court Affairs, the indicator in a goose-shaped bronze clepsydra sank little by little. The Qin king’s deliberations with his senior ministers drew to a close.
When the official business was finished, Ying Zheng smiled at the newly appointed Shaofu Qing.
“Guaren intends to bestow a certain ingenious article upon the guests at the Summer Solstice banquet. Can the Shaofu’s craftsmen produce a thousand handles and a thousand jars before that day?”
The new Shaofu Qing, a man who had risen through the military ranks, asked no questions. Instinctively, he accepted the command.
“Since Wangshang has given the order, this minister shall not fail in his duty!”
The king blinked. He regarded the man before him with a touch of surprise, then a mischievous impulse seized him.
“It has only been a little while since we last met, yet Qing Hu has made remarkable progress!”
With that, he dismissed his ministers.
The newly appointed Shaofu Qing, who had just been about to open his mouth, could only swallow his words with a bitter expression.
Outside the Hall of Court Affairs, the new Shaofu Qing, Zao Hu, bowed repeatedly to Fengchang Ying Zijia and Zongzheng Ying Zhu, begging these two members of the Ying royal clan to explain what “toothbrushes and tooth powder” might be.
The rigid and solemn Ying Zijia was rendered almost speechless with indignation by the Shaofu Qing’s pretense of understanding something he knew nothing about.
*You’re already a favored minister! When the king gives you a task connected to his private tastes, can’t you at least ask one question before accepting it? Even afterward, you could still ask him! Yet instead you come bothering your colleagues!*
Zao Hu immediately understood.
“Oooh! So Fengchang Qing doesn’t know what they are either! Eh? Fengchang Qing, why are you walking so fast? Slow down! Mind your step!”
Zongzheng Ying Zhu was an amiable old gentleman. Stroking his beard, he smiled.
“I am old and no longer well acquainted with such matters. I haven’t the faintest idea what these objects might be.”
Then why are you still standing here?
Zao Hu conveyed the question with his eyes.
Ying Zhu took no offense.
“Though I am old, my heart remains lively, just like Wangshang’s. Our king is the ruler of Qin. What rare and marvelous objects has he not seen? For him to call something ingenious, and moreover to wish to bestow it upon everyone at the Summer Solstice banquet—surely it must possess extraordinary virtues. How could I not be curious?”
“General Zao Hu, when you discover the answer, please send a young servant to enlighten me. This old man thanks you in advance!”
His colleagues were no help. What about his subordinates?
Zao Hu summoned his immediate officers on duty and convened an emergency meeting.
There were three items on the agenda.
What was the ingenious object the king had mentioned? How was it made? And how many people, working for how long, would be needed to produce a thousand handles and a thousand jars?
Seeing his grave expression, one of his subordinates curled his lip.
The man both envied and despised the newly appointed Shaofu Qing, who had come from a humble farming family yet somehow enjoyed the outrageous luck of winning the favor of two successive Qin kings.
A peasant through and through!
He doesn’t understand the art of being an official! He doesn’t know how to divine the wishes of the exalted, or the importance of discreetly gathering information!
The king casually asks for something, and because he doesn’t understand it, he makes such an enormous fuss, summoning all these people to advise him!
Such ignorance! Such arrogance!
Why did a man like this have to be the one who profited from the previous Shaofu Qing’s grave mistake? Ah, Xia Taihou is supposed to be prudent and steady in governing the state. Why didn’t she restrain the king? How could someone of such base origins be raised overnight to the ranks of the Jiuqing?
As though he’s worthy!
Zao Hu questioned them one by one.
Every person he asked replied that he did not know.
Furious, Zao Hu pounded the low table with a succession of resounding thumps.
“Useless! Utterly useless! Dawang actually allows a pack of worthless household slaves like you to draw official salaries for doing nothing!”
“Are you thinking that Wangshang is magnanimous, and that if I shamelessly confess my ignorance and ask him directly, the problem will be solved? Hmph! This is precisely why I, a mere peasant, won the favor of both the former king and the present king and rose to become one of the Jiuqing, while you, whose families have served as officials for generations, remain beneath me!”
“Not convinced? Ha ha! When I encounter an enemy, I can sacrifice my life for Dawang! And in ordinary times, I’ll work myself to death to fulfill even a jest spoken by Wangshang!”
“Who are the officers of the Shaofu? Nothing but Wangshang’s household slaves!” Zao Hu roared. “Do you truly imagine yourselves important people? Your lofty positions and privileged lives are yours solely because you have a good master! Your master gives an order, and instead of thinking how to repay his favor, you expect advancement to fall into your laps for nothing? Go lie down and dream!”
“Now get out there and investigate! If you fail to deliver, your old man here will carry your heads to Wangshang and beg forgiveness!”
Under the formidable pressure exerted by the Shaofu Qing, the officers soon discovered that the ingenious objects the king wanted were called toothbrushes and tooth powder.
They also learned just how exalted was the person who possessed the recipes for both.
After some reflection, Zao Hu had a subordinate draw up a written petition. He tucked it into his robes and sought an audience with the king.
When he returned, he withdrew two hundred thousand *qian* from the Shaofu’s accounts and contributed another two hundred thousand from his own purse. Then he ordered Zuo Cheng Zhang Sheng to take the money and gifts and seek an audience with Wu Gongzhu.
…
“So much money!”
Ying Yang beamed from ear to ear.
“Shaofu Qing is far too generous! Zhang Qing, you too!”
Previously, when the palace had compensated the family of her deceased wet nurse, Du Zeruo, Ying Yang had asked several people how much the compensation was worth and how long it would sustain the Du family.
She had then given the Du family all the money and silk nominally belonging to her, as a small expression of her gratitude.
The hundred thousand qian bestowed by her First Emperor father had been nearly spent in the blink of an eye.
Now her purse was suddenly plump again. Four hundred thousand qian all at once!
Ying Yang happily began calculating how to spend it.
Zhang Sheng’s soft-spoken request dragged her out of her delightful reverie.
He—or rather, the Shaofu—wanted to borrow some of Ying Yang’s attendants: the maids and eunuchs who knew how to make toothbrushes and tooth powder. They would go to the Shaofu to work and be returned when the task was finished.
“How dare you! What insolence!”
Xia Xianshi sprang to her feet. Pointing at Zhang Sheng, she cursed him.
“You wretched scoundrel! How dare you abuse a royal command to strip a king’s daughter of her personal attendants?”
Zhang Sheng hastened to explain.
“We would never dare. We only wish to borrow them.”
Ying Yang’s smile faded.
“Four hundred thousand qian, just to borrow a few people?”
It was easy enough to imagine what would happen.
Once the Shaofu became accustomed to employing them—or privately reached some arrangement with the maids and eunuchs—at least some of those people would never return to Ying Yang’s side after the festival.
She had patiently trained them herself. Some were skilled workers whom she had personally instructed, guiding them step by step!
And there were quite a few of them: twenty or thirty.
“If you take them away, who is supposed to attend to my daily needs?”
Zhang Sheng said cautiously, “Would it be acceptable if the Shaofu selected thirty new attendants for Gongzhu?”
“So you really don’t intend to give them back!”
Ying Yang planted her hands on her hips and declared loudly, “I won’t agree!”
Bracing himself, Zhang Sheng said, “Wangshang has given an order…”
“Don’t try to fool me!”
Ying Yang pursed her lips.
“If A-Fu wanted me to do something, all he would need to do is tell me. Why would he go through so many twists and turns?”
“The Shaofu must have asked A-Fu, and A-Fu neither approved nor objected. So he told you to ask me. If I agree, you take the people away. If I refuse, you’ll have to bear the consequences yourselves.”
“Am I right, Zhang Zuo Cheng?”
Zhang Sheng’s eyes widened in surprise. He could not help raising his head to look at the little Gongzhu.
“I guessed correctly,” Ying Yang announced, hands still on her hips.
“Gongzhu is wise.”
Zhang Sheng lowered his head again and pleaded for mercy.
“I beg Gongzhu to show compassion toward your humble servants. I and every official of the Shaofu will remember the kindness of Gongzhu and Bazi!”
Xia Xianshi approached with a frosty expression and gave a contemptuous little laugh.
“And if my daughter refuses, will the Shaofu withhold what is due to her and mistreat her?”
Zhang Sheng hastily assured her that they would never dare.
“Hmph! You had better not! What could my daughter possibly lack? As though she would covet a mere four hundred thousand qian!”
Mother, dearest, I don’t have the stone mill I asked for! And I absolutely do covet four hundred thousand qian!
Who didn’t like money?
Ying Yang might be a Gongzhu whose food and clothing were exquisitely fine, and who used nothing that was not expensive. But in practice she had no money—no ready cash whatsoever.
Whenever she wanted to buy something or reward someone, she had to ask her mother for funds.
The gifts that occasionally dropped from her elders like random rewards were mostly rare and precious objects. Any money or silk mixed in among them would also be taken into her mother’s safekeeping.
Only the previous time, when her First Emperor father had waved his hand and given her a hundred thousand qian in spending money, had that money actually passed through Ying Yang’s own hands.
And that had earned her more than a thousand popularity points!
Some of those points came from her mother’s delight and gratitude. Some came unexpectedly from her aunt. The remainder were contributed by her attendants, in increments of dozens or even hundreds.
No wonder a supporting character in a certain famous palace-intrigue drama had declared that the most important thing was to distribute silver as rewards!
After letting her thoughts wander for a moment, Ying Yang saw that her mother had vented most of her anger.
She spoke slowly.
“Borrowing people isn’t entirely out of the question…”
Zhang Sheng was overjoyed.
“This minister thanks—”
“I’ll have to go to the Shaofu with them.”
Zhang Sheng stared.
“Ah?”
Xia Xianshi’s face darkened.
“Nonsense!”
Ying Yang turned to her mother.
“After all, these are things A-Fu wants. It would be good for me to go to the Shaofu and help. Although A-Fu hasn’t issued a direct command, his words carry the force of Heaven’s law. They must be fulfilled.”
“I know that if the Shaofu cannot borrow my people and fails to carry out the royal command, everyone will say that the Shaofu is incompetent. No one will blame me.”
“But I am his child. If I have the ability to help fulfill my father’s wishes and instead stand by watching his expectations go unmet, disappointing him, that would be contrary to filial piety.”
Then she addressed Zhang Sheng.
“I put a great deal of effort into making these things, so I understand their benefits better than anyone. The Shaofu won’t make toothbrushes and tooth powder just once. In future, you’ll certainly assign people specifically to produce them for the royal household.”
“My attendants already have experience. Once you’ve seen them at work and employed them yourselves, you’ll covet their skills. You’ll find some way to keep them, or else borrow them indefinitely.”
“The Shaofu has its methods, and the attendants have their own ambitions. If you contacted them privately and transferred them discreetly, that would be one thing. But to demand twenty or thirty people all at once—I cannot simply ignore it.”
“Otherwise, everyone in the palace and the Shaofu would think my mother and I are weak and easily bullied.”
She raised a hand to stop Zhang Sheng from protesting.
“From ancient times, one hears of a ruler demanding service from a minister. One does not hear of a minister demanding service from his ruler. In times of neither war nor disorder, if a ruler too readily grants a minister’s demands, the ruler’s authority is diminished, and the minister risks being accused of overstepping his station.”
Zhang Sheng murmured, “Without Wangshang’s permission, this minister would not dare request that Gongzhu leave the palace.”
Ying Yang smiled faintly.
“Then that is a matter for Zhang Zuo Cheng and Shaofu Qing to resolve. Either I bring my people to help you, or you take my recipes and work everything out yourselves.”
After Zhang Sheng and Xia Wuju had left, Xia Xianshi said resentfully, “That new Shaofu Qing relies on Junshang’s favor and has become unbearably arrogant! To think he dared show you such disrespect!”
Ying Yang asked curiously, “Who is the new Shaofu Qing? Is he another royal relative by marriage?”
She had rarely heard her mother discuss people or affairs outside the maternal clans, the families of former queens, and the royal in-laws.
“A member of the queen’s clan? A royal in-law?”
Xia Xianshi’s red lips curled downward.
“He was nothing but a peasant! He possessed courage and martial skill, but he knew nothing of how to conduct himself as an official. His noble rank was repeatedly reduced. His fortunes rose and fell again and again, and by the time he was thirty he had attained only the rank of Shangzao.”
“Then fortune smiled upon him. He rendered meritorious service protecting the former king, who praised his loyalty and straightforwardness and sent him to Zhao to escort Mu Taihou and Dawang back to Qin.”
“After the former king passed away, Dawang also favored him as a palace guard and appointed him You Zhonglang Jiang.”
Taking her daughter’s hand, Xia Xianshi continued as they walked.
“Last month, when the disgraceful crimes of the Feng and Rui women were exposed, Taihou and Dawang held the Shaofu responsible. The previous Shaofu Qing and Zuo Cheng were dismissed from office.”
“And so this peasant happened to pick up a position among the Jiuqing!”
She laughed coldly.
“It’s as though he’s suddenly acquired the courage of a leopard! To think he dares bully us! Just wait. I shall make a proper complaint!”
By the time she finished, Ying Yang had formed a fairly clear idea of the situation.
Shaking her head, she looked up at the brilliant blue sky and smiled.
“A-Mu, don’t be angry. This isn’t a serious matter, and the Shaofu isn’t trying to bully anyone.”
“It’s A-Fu playing a joke on me.”
Author’s Note
Dawang was just being a little mischievous with an offhand remark~ But could there be another meaning behind it?
Translator’s Notes
– Fengchang, Zongzheng, Shaofu: Qin court offices responsible respectively for ritual affairs, the royal clan, and palace administration and finances.
– Jiuqing: The nine senior ministers of the royal administration.
– Guaren: A traditional self-reference used by rulers.
– Shangzao: A rank in the Qin system of merit-based nobility.
– Qian: Cash or coins.