Chapter 138: A Gift for the Grand Empress Dowager

Wang Lun’s words clearly aligned perfectly with Zhu Chenhao’s intentions!

He gave a cold laugh before saying, “Exactly, that’s right. The current Son of Heaven is indeed unprincipled, and the present Crown Prince is even more absurd. Look at that Fang Jifan by his side—his evil reputation spreads far and wide, hated by both men and gods. Yet, somehow, such a cunning villain is said to be favored by the Emperor and the Crown Prince. This shows just how much the common people are suffering.”

Zhu Chenhao’s eyes shone brilliantly, and he declared spiritedly, “This Fang Jifan… could be a very good move.”

Wang Lun watched Zhu Chenhao cautiously. “Your Highness means…”

“A greedy, unrestrained young scoundrel like him—if he could be used by me, wouldn’t that be wonderful? Think about it. His father, Fang Jinglong, is a fierce general in his own right. If we can win over his son, then his father, in the future, won’t be able to avoid rebellion even if he wants to. Fang Jifan is so close to the Crown Prince; as long as we satisfy his desires, he will surely speak well of me before His Majesty and the Crown Prince whenever possible. A fool like this is truly hard to come by…”

As he spoke, Zhu Chenhao grew even more triumphant and continued, “With such a fool on my side, I have no worries. Write a letter… tell Cao Jian to satisfy all of Fang Jifan’s demands. I may not have much else, but I have silver.”

Zhu Chenhao’s confidence was not without reason. His fiefdom was in Jiangxi, a land rich in fish and rice. Nanchang Prefecture, Shanggao, Yichun, and Gao’an were all part of his domain. Within his fiefdom, there were quite a few copper mountains, which made the Prince Ning’s residence exceedingly wealthy.

Historically, the Prince Ning’s residence raised a guard of over thirty thousand men and secretly supported tens of thousands of bandits. When the rebellion occurred, they were able to gather nearly a hundred thousand troops almost instantly, showing just how substantial Prince Ning’s family fortune was.

“This disciple understands. This disciple will write the letter immediately.” Wang Lun bowed. After a moment’s thought, he still had some concerns and frowned as he said, “But that Fang Family… they originally rose to prominence through the Jingnan Campaign. Fang Jinglong is utterly loyal to the imperial court. That Fang Jifan… is he really… willing to serve Your Highness…”

“What do you know?” Zhu Chenhao glared at him. “I have already had people secretly inquire about Fang Jifan. A petty thief so blinded by greed and desire—with just a little effort on my part, I can make him willingly submit.”

Wang Lun nodded and finally said, “Then, this disciple understands.”

…

At Fang Jifan’s Western Hills, the three experimental fields for cultivating sweet potatoes had produced a harvest in this sweltering weather.

When it came to raising seedlings, selection was necessary. The most robust sweet potatoes that appeared free from insect damage were chosen to continue breeding, while the rest were simply eaten.

The taste of these sweet potatoes was quite good. Since they had harvested about a hundred catties, Fang Jifan took some of the misshapen ones home, ordering them to be cooked in a pot and made into porridge. However, he refused to eat any himself—who knew what variety of sweet potatoes existed in this era? It was better not to risk any problems.

So, he gathered his five disciples. Each had a bowl of sweet potato porridge placed on their desk. The steaming hot porridge, combined with the unique scent of the sweet potatoes, gave off a rather peculiar feeling.

“Eat,” Fang Jifan said with rare kindness.

Xu Jing sat still as a wooden chicken, watching his nose and focusing his mind. He was sharp and knew very well that when his Mentor showed unusual kindness without reason, it was never without ulterior motives!

Ouyang Zhi, Liu Wenshan, and Jiang Chen seemed to have long understood their Mentor’s ways and hesitated as well, looking at each other without hastily picking up their chopsticks.

It was Tang Yin who was simpler and said gratefully, “Thank you, Mentor, for the porridge.”

After saying that, Tang Yin quite earnestly lowered his head and began to use his chopsticks.

Then everyone cautiously watched Tang Yin. They saw him exhale slowly and place the yellowish-orange sweet potato into his mouth. Instantly, he felt a sweet fragrance mixed with the porridge. His expression relaxed immediately—the taste was excellent.

“Mhm… delicious, delicious. Eat up, hurry up and eat… why aren’t any of you using your chopsticks?”

But still, no one moved.

Everyone felt that even if it were a deadly poison, it would probably take some time to take effect.

Tang Yin, seemingly unaware of everyone’s peculiar behavior, said sincerely, “It’s really delicious, Mentor. You have some too.”

Fang Jifan smiled, appearing profoundly mysterious, and shook his head. “This Mentor has already eaten. Little Tang, you have some more.”

Tang Yin immediately felt a warmth in his heart. Although his Mentor usually treated him well, it was rare to see him being so considerate. His eyes turned slightly red—such a small gesture brought him immense joy.

Well, indeed… his emotional intelligence was low.

Fang Jifan couldn’t help but sigh for Tang Yin in his heart.

The reception for this sweet potato porridge meal was especially good. However, for Fang Jifan, this crop still needed to be cultivated on a large scale. Now that he had some assurance in his heart, Fang Jifan felt a bit more at ease.

When he went to the House of the Crown Prince again, Zhu Houzhao’s eyes lit up as soon as he saw Fang Jifan. When no one else was around, he quickly approached Fang Jifan and asked in a low voice, “Has Prince Ning sent the silver?”

Fang Jifan shook his head.

Zhu Houzhao immediately felt disappointed and said angrily, “That dog-thing, maybe he’s too stingy to send it.”

“This…” Fang Jifan smiled. “That depends on Prince Ning’s determination.”

“Determination?” Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Never mind that for now. This Palace needs to copy some Daoist Scriptures.”

This was really quite sudden. Wasn’t Zhu Houzhao only interested in military affairs?

Fang Jifan said curiously, “Your Highness actually has such refined interests.”

Speaking of Daoist Scriptures, Fang Jifan was rather interested himself. Essentially, he had an interest in Daoist Scriptures. In his previous life, his hometown was near Gezao Mountain, one of the famous Daoist mountains. Influenced by this, he had read some Daoist Scriptures… um… The purpose of reading Daoist Scriptures was to enhance his sophistication, and the purpose of enhancing his sophistication was to find a girlfriend—such a delightful thought.

Of course, the final result was that he did read the books, but, unsurprisingly, he didn’t find a girlfriend.

In fact, he was too young back then to know that in the eyes of girls, sophistication meant Chanel and Armani, certainly not the Daodejing, and definitely not Gorky or Dumas.

Zhu Houzhao, however, looked rather vexed as he said, “In a few days, it will be the Imperial Grandmother’s birthday. The Imperial Father ordered This Palace to copy a few volumes of Daoist Scriptures to present to her. Otherwise…”

At this point, a look of bleakness appeared in Zhu Houzhao’s eyes, and he said mournfully, “Otherwise, he’ll beat me.”

“Oh. Then… Your Highness, work hard.”

Fang Jifan laughed, looking rather pleased at Zhu Houzhao’s misfortune.

“How about…” Seeing Fang Jifan like this, Zhu Houzhao became annoyed—what kind of friend was he? He grabbed Fang Jifan and said, “How about you help This Palace copy them? Didn’t you say that between brothers, we share hardships?”

Fang Jifan immediately said, “This subject’s handwriting is completely different from Your Highness’s. If we copy them, it’ll be obvious at a glance. That would be asking for trouble, wouldn’t it?”

Zhu Houzhao, however, shook his head. “Don’t worry. The Imperial Grandmother’s eyesight is poor; she can’t see clearly. This is just to express a token of respect. Come on, come on, This Palace hasn’t treated you badly normally, has it?”

Fang Jifan looked helpless.

The Crown Prince really was…

He could only look coldly at Zhu Houzhao. “Copying isn’t impossible. This subject will try his best to imitate Your Highness’s handwriting. However… there is one condition: Your Highness must not bully the Princess anymore.”

“Fine, fine, fine…” Zhu Houzhao, who dreaded literary tasks the most, agreed immediately and pulled Fang Jifan to start working.

Ink, brush, paper, and inkstone were readily available. Additionally, they specifically brought out a copy of the Daodejing and a volume of commentary.

The Daodejing was understandable, but as for the commentary, to put it simply, it was an annotation on the Daodejing. After all, some parts were obscure and hard to understand. How to interpret the Daodejing required authoritative figures to explain it.

Fang Jifan merely glanced at the commentary volume Zhu Houzhao had brought and couldn’t help but laugh. “Your Highness, you don’t even know how to copy books properly?”

“Wh-what?” Zhu Houzhao looked utterly innocent.

Fang Jifan was dumbfounded. Well, trying to delve deeper with Zhu Houzhao was like casting pearls before swine.

The commentary Zhu Houzhao brought was actually Emperor Huizong of Song’s “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue.” Emperor Huizong of Song was exceptionally skilled in both calligraphy and painting, which was admirable. However, his annotations on the Daodejing were not widely used within Daoism. The reason this book was published was largely due to Emperor Huizong of Song’s imperial name. Moreover, he believed in alchemists and favored the art of alchemy. Therefore, his understanding of the Daodejing leaned more towards alchemical practices.

Furthermore, Emperor Huizong of Song was a ruler who lost his kingdom. For the Grand Empress Dowager’s great birthday, sending such a thing… it was inauspicious…

After reading it, Fang Jifan couldn’t help but shake his head. If they presented a hand-copied version of “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue,” if the Grand Empress Dowager had even a little discernment, she would probably want to beat Zhu Houzhao to death. The fact that this guy was still alive was truly a miracle.

Fang Jifan genuinely felt some brotherly affection for Zhu Houzhao. On important matters, he naturally wouldn’t stand by and watch Zhu Houzhao court death. So Fang Jifan said, “Are there any other versions of the commentary? Do you have the Great Ming’s Emperor Taizu’s “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue?”

“Ah…” Zhu Houzhao was stunned for a moment, not understanding. “The Grand Progenitor also annotated the Daodejing…”

Fang Jifan was speechless. He couldn’t bring himself to tell Zhu Houzhao that the version by Emperor Huizong of Song was indeed annotated by Emperor Huizong himself—who could blame him for being so multi-talented? But as for the dynasty’s Emperor Taizu… well… that one was merely attributed to him.

Fang Jifan sighed and said, “Then, do you have Ge Xuan’s “Laozi Jie?”

“Who is Ge Xuan?”

Fang Jifan was completely defeated.

He had no choice but to push aside Emperor Huizong of Song’s “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue.” Time was tight now. If they waited for this guy Zhu Houzhao to find the commentary, it would be too late.

He then fell into deep thought. From the Qin and Han dynasties to the present dynasty, there were over a hundred different versions of commentaries on the Daodejing. Besides the various emperors’ “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue,” each version had its own unique insights. The one he remembered seemed to be Wei Dayou’s “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue.” Wei Dayou was from the Ming dynasty, born during the era of Emperor Wen. His “Collected Commentaries on the True Scripture of the Dao and Its Virtue” should have been passed down by now.