Chapter Eighty-Seven: A Foe from a Past Life

Yechang slowly made his way toward his own quarters, but to his surprise the distinguished guest was not waiting for him in the main hall.

“His lordship is in... um, Ringer’s room.”

The answer made rage nearly burst from Yechang at once; his face even twisted into a ferocious mask. He could tolerate, for the moment, this so-called nobleman barking orders and hurling abuse at him, but he could not endure that man’s filthy hands reaching toward Ringer!

For a fleeting instant, Yechang even considered that if he were to kill the nobleman and take to the hills as a guerrilla fighter, how many people he might be able to lead away with him.

This was the great age of the Tang Dynasty. Though signs of decline had already begun to appear, the people as a whole still lived in peace and contentment. If he truly were to go up into the mountains and rebel, even his own servants would likely bind him and drag him to the magistrate.

He paused a step at the doorway. Ringer’s quarters were right beside his own and had been the first to receive the heated-bed renovation; at present, the fire in the bed was already lit, and Yechang could smell the scent of coal.

The Jin region had abundant coal, and it had been developed and used early. Yechang had long since begun using it for stoves and heating, and what he used was the easily made honeycomb coal.

He lifted the curtain and stepped inside.

Though the sky outside was overcast, it was still fairly bright. The room, however, was somewhat dim, so Yechang’s eyes did not adjust at once. He could only make out two silhouettes seated opposite each other on the heated bed. One of them seemed to be Ringer, and that eased his heart somewhat.

Once he made out the scene inside, Yechang stared at the one seated opposite Ringer and could not help exclaiming, “Why are you here?”

“Why can’t it be me?”

The little-faced, stern-browed Princess Twenty-Nine raised her eyebrows slightly, glaring at Yechang in anger.

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant. I just didn’t expect it would be you who came.” Yechang rubbed his forehead. Why had this little princess come all the way from Chang'an? “I thought someone had come to cause trouble. I never imagined it was only a visit to see me...”

“I came precisely to cause trouble!” the princess snapped.

“Well, you came at just the right time. I was already thinking about what gift to send you for the New Year, and now you can simply take it back yourself.” Yechang ignored what she said. “Ringer, go fetch those sets of clothes...”

“I’m not going!” Ringer pouted.

“I don’t want them either!” the princess said, pouting as well.

“This...” Yechang suddenly realized that the atmosphere in the room was somehow strange.

“I’m staying the night here. This room is quite warm, so I’m living here.” Princess Twenty-Nine lifted her chin at Ringer with an air of arrogance. “Take your things and move out!”

“This is my room. I won’t let you live here!”

“I am a princess of the Tang, and my father is the Son of Heaven!” Princess Twenty-Nine snorted coldly. “If I tell you to move out, you will obediently move out!”

“I am... I am... I am my master’s little maidservant, and my master is the wisest man under heaven. If I say I won’t move, then I won’t move!”

The two girls widened their eyes at each other, neither yielding an inch, while Yechang sat to one side scratching his head. He had thought the two girls, being of similar age, would have things to talk about; who would have imagined they would turn out like this?

“I’ll go back and ask my imperial father to cut off your head!” the princess threatened.

“Master, look! This wicked girl is bullying me!”

The princess would have to go back before she could complain, but Ringer could complain right now. She pouted at Yechang. “Hurry and drive her away. This servant girl does not like her at all!”

Ringer was not ordinarily one to stir up trouble, especially not when faced with a princess. Yet today, for some reason, she was suddenly seized by panic, as though the moment she yielded, her own master would be snatched away by the wild little girl before her!

“You’re dead!” A dark, sinister air seemed to rise from the princess’s eyes. At that instant, it was as though the spirits of many women connected to the Li-Tang imperial clan—such as Empress Zhangsun, Wu Zetian, Empress Wei, Princess Taiping, and countless others—had possessed her. “How dare you call me a wild girl? You are insulting my father as a man of no account. You’re dead! I’ll confiscate your house and wipe out your entire family!”

“Twenty-nine!” Yechang finally lost his temper at those words.

“What are you going to do?” the princess shot back at him, lips jutting. “You give this little servant girl clothes I never wore. You built her a heated bed so she can live snug and warm. I begged my father for ages before he finally allowed me to come offer sacrifices to the Immortal Sage just to see you, and this is how you treat me?”

As she spoke, the princess’s mouth began to turn down, as though she might burst into tears at any moment.

No matter how complicated her thoughts, she was still only a nine-year-old girl.

Yechang scratched his head, feeling his own head grow as heavy as a mountain.

Reasoning with women was one of the hardest things in the world; reasoning with a nine-year-old girl was even harder.

“I’m going to kill this little servant girl. I’m going to exile her...”

The princess was still shouting when Yechang could no longer bear it and made his final decision.

Since reason was impossible, then he would not reason.

He seized the princess and pressed her face-down across his knee, then raised his hand and began to spank her.

Winter clothes were thick, but Yechang did not hold back. Each blow landed heavily and hard.

The princess had been shouting at the top of her lungs, but after the first slap, she went rigid.

She was not favored in the imperial palace, almost a forgotten child with no presence at all. But she was still a princess. Others might coldly ignore her, even look down on her, yet no one had ever dared lay a hand on her.

It could be said that in all her life until now, no one had ever beaten her.

“You dare hit me?” After a moment of stunned disbelief, she shrieked and struggled. “I’ll kill you, kill your whole family...”

Smack!

Another slap cut off her words.

“That’s for cursing people at random, for being ruthless, for being willful and unreasonable, for having no manners!”

Yechang struck again and again, and though part of him felt strangely relieved, fear began to grow in him as well.

How had he become so impulsive that he truly struck this little girl?

It was like in another life, when he learned that his daughter had gone out with a youth who had never had a good reputation. In anger and disappointment, he had struck his daughter for the first time too: hating her for being disappointing, and at the same time fearing the future.

“Don’t... don’t hit anymore... I was wrong... I was wrong...”

As Yechang gradually calmed, he began to rein in his hand, and now he could hear clearly what the princess was saying. The little girl’s voice was full of grievance and fear, yet also carried a strange note of relief.

She was admitting fault?

She was actually admitting fault out loud?

“Where were you wrong?” Yechang drew a breath, forcing his voice to remain steady and free of any tremor from fear, then asked in a low tone.

“I shouldn’t have said I would kill Master Yechang...”

“And?”

“I shouldn’t have said I would kill that wild girl... Even if I wanted to kill her, I’d have to get your permission first...”

Yechang was left speechless, privately cursing that Li Longji’s family education was truly a serious problem.

Then it occurred to him: the Li-Tang imperial clan’s family education had always been seriously problematic. Setting aside the fact that brothers and sisters seldom showed affection for one another, even fathers and sons turning into enemies was a common sight. Li Shimin had confined Li Yuan, and when Li Longji was still crown prince, he had already reduced his father Li Dan to a mere figurehead. Later, his own son would imprison him in turn.

This needed correcting!

In an instant, the spirits of two famed professors possessed Yechang.

“You know you were wrong. Are you willing to change?”

“I... I will change...”

“Then from now on, you must get along well with Ringer. You must become good friends...”

“Absolutely not!”

“Absolutely not!”

The one refusing so decisively was not only Princess Twenty-Nine; little Ringer was also tilting her head aside, huffing through her nose.

“You two...” Yechang was truly at a loss.

“I will never be good friends with her. You’re biased. You favor her. You only scold me and never her!”

“I don’t want to be friends with her either. Master, I really don’t like her at all!”

Seeing the two of them about to quarrel again, Yechang rubbed his forehead. At least one thing was the same in both of them: they could not stand each other.

As for the princess, that was understandable enough. Growing up in the imperial palace had made her suspicious and selfish. But Ringer acting this way today was unlike her usual self.

Still, once his anger had ebbed away, Yechang did not blame them. He was beginning to understand their thoughts.

They were jealous.

The two of them were only little girls. Ringer had no family she could rely on, while the princess, though she had many brothers and sisters, had hardly any real kinship in the palace. They both cherished the kindness Yechang showed them and treated him like family. Because of that, each wanted to claim that affection alone, just as young siblings do when one has something and the other demands it too.

That feeling made them both dissatisfied with their “rival.”

“Fine, fine, stop arguing.” Yechang truly had no choice. “Ringer, you stay here. I’ll take the princess to fetch the clothes...”

“I’m going too!” Ringer immediately refused.

Just now he had told her to go fetch them and she would not do it; now that Yechang was going himself, she wanted to follow too. The nature of a young girl was fully laid bare. Yechang could only smile wryly and scratch his head. In another life, his own daughter had been very well-behaved; if relatives’ children came to their house, she would even give up her own things for them...

Hmm, it seemed the problem was not only Li Longji’s education. He himself had responsibility too.

Since the two were no longer fighting, he could reason with them.

Taking one in each hand, Yechang first said to Ringer, “Ringer, no matter what, the princess is a guest who has come from far away. I’ve said before: how should one treat a guest?”

“With courtesy...”

“Was there anything rude in what you did today?”

“There was...”

Ringer thought for a long while. In the end, having stayed by Yechang’s side for so long, she still admitted it honestly.

“Since there was rudeness, then you must be punished. The three hundred arithmetic problems I set for you—today you’ll do five extra, and in addition you’ll copy the whole ‘Learning’ chapter of the Analects once.”

Ringer pouted slightly, but then remembered that Yechang had once told her that when he scolded her, it was often for her own good, and if it had been someone unrelated, he wouldn’t even have bothered. At that thought, she brightened up again: her master was caring about her.

The princess beside her still had tears in the corners of her eyes, but now she revealed the childlike side of her nature. Seeing Ringer punished, she immediately turned from tears to laughter. Ringer shot her a glare and, when Yechang was not looking, moved her lips to silently form a mocking phrase. The princess could not understand it, but she knew it was certainly no kind word, and at once began shouting that she was going to complain to Yechang.

“Princess, after I finish talking about Ringer, I’m going to talk about you. I was very happy that you came today, but there are a few things you also failed to consider.” Yechang held up three fingers. “First, your words just now hurt people. I’ve already punished you for that, so I won’t pursue it further.”

Hearing him list her faults, the princess was about to look dejected again, but when she heard it would not be pursued, her face broke into a smile once more. Yechang folded one finger down and shook the remaining two.

“Second, since you came here as a guest, how could you act like an ill-mannered one? You should have shown respect to your host, not immediately coveted every fine thing you saw!”

“Yes, I understand.” There was no lack of people in the palace teaching her manners, but none of them spoke as plainly as Yechang. And in truth, she was smarter than Ringer; she knew that Yechang’s admonition meant he was treating her like family, just as he had done with Ringer a moment ago. That made her happy, and she glanced at Ringer with considerable satisfaction.

“As for the third thing, you should be more considerate of your attendants. I told you before not to push mistakes onto your servants. If you did wrong, you must bear it yourself. But that is only the first step. The second is to bind your subordinates to you with kindness and favor, so they do not develop resentment. You came in here alone—did you notice the attendants who came with you? They are cold and hungry, and resentment will surely arise. Though they would not dare vent it on you, they may well take it out on others.”

The eunuchs and soldiers who tore down Yechang’s fence had their reasons. In weather this cold, it was freezing even indoors, let alone at the windy mouth of the valley.

Seeing the princess begin to look as though she might get angry, Yechang raised a hand to reassure her.

“I know you meant well. You did not even bring a single maidservant in because you were afraid they would cause me trouble, so you left them outside the valley. But Princess, you are my most welcome guest. Those attendants you brought are also my honored guests. Why would I think they are a nuisance?”

The princess was instantly delighted by those words. “Then I’ll go let them into the valley to shelter from the wind at once!”

“Yes. I’ll also have people prepare wine and meat and arrange lodging for them.” Yechang gently patted her head and added in a low voice, “Especially since you are in the palace, you must be more careful in word and deed. You’re very clever, so you surely understand what I mean.”

Seeing the little girl turn cheerful, Yechang let out a breath. At last he had somehow, through coaxing and trickery, undone the matter of spanking the princess; fortunately, the little girl had some attachment to him.

After settling the people the princess had brought, Yechang brought out the winter clothes he had had made for her by the tailor and showed them to her one by one. The princess was indeed overjoyed, stroking each piece in turn. It was not as though she lacked clothes; as a princess, she had more than she could ever wear. But these winter garments were made in a fine style, and they were a gift from Yechang. Their meaning was naturally different.

Winter nights fell early, and after the long journey the princess was tired. Once the delight had passed, fatigue showed on her face. Seeing that Ringer and she were no longer quarrelling, Yechang thought he had finally pacified them both, and said, “Ringer’s room has a large heated bed, enough for two people to sleep on. I’ll have someone bring another bedding set, and you can both stay here. How about that?”

They answered in unison.

But once the bedding had been prepared and Yechang had gone out, the princess stared at Ringer, and all childishness vanished from her at once. “Now that Yechang is gone, I’m going to settle accounts with you properly.”

“You made me do five extra problems. I’m going to settle accounts with you too!” Ringer replied without backing down.