"Once, when they were gathered drinking together again, one friend said to him, 'In Lingyang, we have the Ten Kings Hall. The hall contains many lifelike wooden carvings of deities of the underworld such as the King of Hell and judges. Because the hall always emits all sorts of eerie sounds, no one dares to enter at night. If you dare to go into that hall and carry back one of the wooden statues, we'll all pool our money to treat you.'""Zhu Erdan agreed, laughed heartily, and left. That very night, he truly went to the Ten Kings Hall and carried out a wooden statue of a judge…"Fu Xuechen did not possess the storyteller's skill of using dramatic intonation, embellishing the tale with twists and turns, building suspense, delivering punchlines, or employing exaggerated gestures and expressions to immerse the listener. She merely recounted the story she remembered in plain, conversational language.However, a classic is a classic. Even a simple retelling of a renowned masterpiece from Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio could captivate its audience. Fu Yuchen initially listened with an indifferent, take-it-or-leave-it attitude, but within a few sentences, he was hooked, his eyes wide with fascination.From the shock and horror of hearing about the heart transplant to the breathless excitement of the head replacement, Fu Yuchen's reactions to the story were like riding a rollercoaster—though he had no idea what a rollercoaster was. This, in turn, made Fu Xuechen's storytelling all the more satisfying.It wasn't until Haitang knocked and entered to announce that dinner was ready in the front courtyard that Fu Xuechen finished the story. Content, she bid farewell under Fu Yuchen's enthralled and longing gaze and returned to the front courtyard.Dinner was a rare time for the Fu family to gather. Whenever the master of the household, Jingbei Marquis Fu Chuanyi, was home, a feast was inevitably held. In the past, Fu Xuechen would never have missed it, but the current "Fu Xuechen" had a broken leg, providing a perfect excuse to stay in her room and not attend.No sooner had Fu Xuechen left than Fu Yuchen immediately had his head maid, Furong, fetch him ink, brush, paper, and inkstone. Ignoring the pain in his leg, he laboriously sat down at the round table and began writing furiously. The dinner box brought in by a servant was pointedly set aside by him.He wanted to record the story of Judge Lu while his memory was still fresh. Who knows, from now on, this story might very well become his own. Thinking of this exciting prospect, he couldn't help but break into a wide grin, his smile stretching almost to his ears.The Fu family dinner was not extravagant. With Old Lady Fu, plus Jingbei Marquis and his wife, the legitimate daughter Fu Xuechen, the fifteen-year-old eldest concubine-born daughter Fu Rushuang, the five-year-old concubine-born son Fu Ruzhen, and Jingbei Marquis's favored concubine, Concubine Wu (Lady Wu), the table of seven only had eight dishes and one soup.Old Lady Fu was advanced in years and somewhat hard of hearing, so she usually disliked speaking. Although Jingbei Marquis didn't have the literati family's habit of not speaking during meals or before sleep, because of his position in the Five Military Commissions Office, he couldn't casually disclose many court matters and thus also spoke little.It was Jingbei Marquis's wife, Lady Xie, who managed the household and inevitably dealt with many trivial domestic matters. She often vented and discussed them at the dinner table, so for a time, her voice filled everyone's ears.Lady Xie's main topic today was Jingbei Marquis's distant cousin, Fu Chuanxi, who held a post as a canal transport official in the remote Southwest Circuit. He had sent three cartloads of gifts to the Jingbei Marquis residence again, primarily consisting of Southwest specialties like fragrant rice and Shu brocade, along with some rare calligraphy and paintings.Everyone knew that canal and grain transport officials were lucrative positions with ample opportunities for graft. However, despite Lady Xie's fondness for the lavish gifts frequently sent by Fu Chuanxi, she always worried that he might overstep boundaries in his post. Those generous presents could easily become stumbling blocks dragging Jingbei Marquis down if Fu Chuanxi ever got into trouble. Thus, she felt compelled to exercise caution. Each time she received such gifts, Lady Xie would murmur a few words of concern and sigh repeatedly.Jingbei Marquis frowned slightly and merely acknowledged her words without taking them too seriously. The current emperor had only recently established the dynasty and was still streamlining the bureaucratic order. Many systems had to follow old precedents due to hasty implementation, and the corruption of the previous dynasty was widely known. Following old practices inevitably created extra opportunities for graft. Given time, once the court reformed the systems and everyone adhered to the new regulations, past matters could be overlooked as long as no crimes had been committed.Fu Chuanxi, his younger cousin, had been his shadow since childhood, obedient and attentive. Knowing his cousin understood propriety, Jingbei Marquis wasn't overly concerned about him causing irreparable trouble. Occasionally, he would send letters to offer a few words of caution.The conversation soon shifted to Fu Xuechen's current selection process for the prince's study companion. When Jingbei Marquis inquired, Fu Xuechen briefly described the examination process and results, mentioning only her excellent performance in the literary test and above-average results in the martial test. She omitted the part where Grand Academician Ji had publicly recited her poetry.Jingbei Marquis then asked about the results of Fu Yuchen's two main competitors, Cheng Defang and Xie Yucheng. Nodding with satisfaction, he said, "Performing normally without letting nerves affect your results is already commendable! It seems this matter is likely to succeed."Having smoothly passed her father's scrutiny, Fu Xuechen secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't understand why her father was so confident about her selection—it struck her as somewhat peculiar.After all, Cheng Defang excelled in martial tests, Xie Yucheng was accomplished in both literary and martial arts, and even Zhang Chuyang seemed to have caught Sixth Prince's attention. Her own performance hadn't significantly surpassed any of the three. She truly couldn't fathom where her family's advantage in the selection lay.But Jingbei Marquis showed no interest in elaborating. Speaking cryptically, he only said, "This is all due to our ancestors' blessings."According to Great Rong law, both men and women came of age at sixteen. Women could marry, while men had to wait until twenty, after their capping ceremony, to establish households and careers. Thus, princes resided in the palace's princely quarters until they turned sixteen, after which they could move out. Only at twenty were they eligible for princely titles and fiefdoms.Great Rong customs did not forbid women from appearing in public or traveling in groups. Gender segregation wasn't strictly enforced, so underage princes often joined their mothers for meals during morning and evening court visits, taking advantage of these occasions to share meals. Only at noon, due to academic commitments, did they rely on the imperial kitchen for lunch.In Yanning Palace, Noble Consort Xie slowly savored her post-meal tea, gazing affectionately at Sixth Prince Yunzuo.Yunzuo had just turned fifteen. In another year, he would leave the palace to establish his own residence, making opportunities for mother and son to see each other day and night increasingly rare. Both cherished their shared meal times, and barring exceptional circumstances, nothing could prevent them from dining together.Noble Consort Xie had a small appetite. After sampling just a few bites of each lavish dish on the table, she set down her chopsticks. Yunzuo, however, was still in that growing phase where teenagers eat their families out of house and home. Once he started eating, he couldn't stop. No matter how elegant or refined his manners, they couldn't conceal the fact that he ate copiously and took his time doing so.Noble Consort Xie was neither anxious nor impatient, taking this opportunity to listen to her son gossip about the morning's assessment of the young candidates for study companions.
Chapter 10
The Prince Does Not Compete for the Throne