Chapter 3: Bixa
As Jiang Changbai spoke, she began to take steps, crossing around the desk and sitting on the chair. Those jade pendants, which symbolised the Jiang family's life, piled up on the desk just like that, and the invisible, untouchable roaming hun spirits floated, unexpectedly faintly separating the two people in the room.
"The imperial power is divinely conferred, Guoshi ought to know," Jiang Changbai said indistinctly; yet the story that followed behind these words hadn't come out when she was cut off by Song Juguang.
Song Juguang's words unexpectedly had a degree of aggrievement. "Not having met for five years, Dianxia and I actually are unfamiliar; in the past, you even called me A Guang."
"A Guang," Jiang Changbai said, perfunctorily; it was clear that she wasn't willing to argue needlessly on the matter of addresses. "The year when the Ancestral Emperor[1] unified the whole of the realm, she led the multitude of officials to Mount Yu's summit to perform the Sacrifice to Heaven.[2] Legend has it that that day, though the skies were clear, a sudden clap of thunder split the mountain stones apart; when the fragments of stone dispersed, the Great Li's traditional jade state seal appeared then." Speaking to this point, Jiang Changbai stopped, and, as usual, was about to pick up a cup of tea to wet her throat. Yet her hand, reaching out, only touched the icy-cold desktop, and her heart trembled, and, remaining calm and collected, she withdrew her hand.
Yet this entire scene had fallen into Song Juguang's eyes, and she smiled helplessly, passing over her own water flask. Jiang Changbai didn't take it, as if she hadn't seen it. Song Juguang didn't feel embarrassed in the slightest, and only arranged a pitiful expression. "It couldn't be that Dianxia fears I put poison in it for you, could it?" Finishing speaking, she raised her own neck and swallowed a mouthful, then passed it in front of Jiang Changbai once more. This time, even if Jiang Changbai weren't thirsty, she would still have to take it.
Come to speak of it, all the water under the heavens had to have the same taste; yet Jiang Changbai strangely felt that the water from this flask of Song Juguang's was a bit cleaner and colder than others.
Song Juguang laughed, and said, "If I were to truly have put poison in the water, the two of us would then die together."
Jiang Changbai didn't at all reply to her topic, and only continued the words she hadn't finished speaking just then. "Since you all have already killed Emperor Tai, you didn't realise that the traditional jade state seal wasn't on his body?"
Song Juguang nodded, not covering it up in the slightest. "That truly was the case."
"I know where it is," Jiang Changbai said indifferently. "Not to mention, by nature I'm of the imperial family; by logic, it would be better that we make a deal."
Song Juguang strolled around the desk as well, and stood by Jiang Changbai's side. It had to be that she felt tired; she simply sat down on the desk, gazing down on Jiang Changbai from on high, and for a long time, she didn't say anything. Jiang Changbai didn't make a sound either, raising her head to stare at Song Juguang. In an instant, the room became tranquil, as if a formless barrier had emerged between the two and cut off all the clamour of the surroundings.
In the end, it was Song Juguang who spoke first; the corners of her lips curved into a soft smile. "I don't need the jade seal."
Jiang Changbai only felt that her fingers, hidden in her own broad sleeves, lost their warmth in an instant, but her face didn't reveal it in the slightest, and in fact, she asked with great interest, "Is that so? Then you want this jade pendant of mine, hm?"
"Dianxia, I don't want your jade pendant either." Song Juguang still sat, and it was only that her body inclined slightly in Jiang Changbai's direction. "Does Dianxia know the reason I raised an army?"
Jiang Changbai scoffed coldly, tilting her head, not looking at Song Juguang. "Who under the heavens doesn't you why you, Guoshi-daren, raised a military banner. To clear out corrupt ministers, to stamp out decay.[3] But who also didn't know that the official Emperor Tai trusted and doted on the most was you; if you truly wanted to clear out corrupt ministers, finding a blade to touch your own neck would be the most profitable."
"These words are mistaken," Song Juguang shook her head as she spoke. As she spoke, she got down from the desk, and came to Jiang Changbai's back, her left hand candidly pressing against her shoulder. "Dianxia, in your view, would Emperor Tai count as a good emperor?"
Jiang Changbai, hearing this, startled; for a moment, she couldn't puzzle out what medicine Song Juguang was selling from within her calabash gourd.[4] It couldn't be that all of this had been done by Song Juguang and Emperor Tai together, could it? But if Emperor Tai truly sensed that she had a rebellious scheme in her heart, it still wouldn't be worthwhile to go to such great pains to test her. Jiang Changbai's heartbeat sped up a degree.
Song Juguang, seemingly having seen her apprehensions, said, "Then how about I say it; Emperor Tai wasn't a good emperor. But the populace under the heavens isn't truly bad, and the court doesn't have no good ministers. Even in this capital, there aren't no people fitting to sit on the imperial throne."
Jiang Changbai's pupils dilated, and, with a degree of unwillingness to dare to believe, she turned her head to gaze at Song Juguang. The bottom of those deep brown eyes couldn't be seen at a glance, yet they reflected Jiang Changbai's figure. Song Juguang advanced to Jiang Changbai's right side, and knelt on one knee. When she raised her head, her eyes had no half degree of impurity of devotion. Bixia, this minister has no duplicity towards you."
Song Juguang hadn't called out "Dianxia". But without waiting for Jiang Changbai to draw her spirit back from this change in appellation, Song Juguang stood up first, firmly pulling on her wrist and walking out the door.
For the first half of Jiang Changbai's life, she'd lived, in all respects, like a prince, but although she'd practised martial arts with the military drill master, her strength, when compared to Song Juguang, still fell far, far short. Jiang Changbai only felt as if her wrist had been confined as if by spiritual steel manacles, and no matter what, she couldn't throw them off, having no alternative but to be forced to follow along behind Song Juguang.
With a creaking sound, the main hall's wooden doors were pushed open by Song Juguang. The two didn't know when the skies outside the room had darkened; it was only when these wooden doors were pushed open that, raising their eyes, they could only see the inky black clouds, as if in the next moment, a strong wind and heavy rain were about to split the world in two.
In the small courtyard in front of the hall, it wasn't clear when it had filled with line after line of armour-clad soldiers; each of these people held up heavy, long dao, and from their figures emanated the killing aura that had been brought from the battlefield. Prince Ling's residence was adorned in sophistication, and those adornments that, in the past, had always been adored by the literati, were, at this moment, disharmonious with these soldiers.
Jiang Changbai finally shook off Song Juguang's hand. It was only seen that, with a great cry of "Let go!", she rushed forward, the calm that had been on her figure a few incense's times ago already having disappeared entirely. The figures of Prince Ling's residence's imperial bodyguards had, at this time, already disappeared, and Jiang Changbai didn't dare to think of their whereabouts, and also didn't have the time to think about it, only rushing directly to the figures pressed down on the ground before the hall.
If one were to only cast a careless look, they would be able to see that Xie Qianbiang had just then gone through an intense rebellion. Her face was dirtied with dust, and a faint line of fresh blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
"I command you to let go!" Jiang Changbai stood before Xie Qianbing's figure, turned towards Wei Sharen, who was pressing her down against the ground, berating her in a loud voice.
Yet Wei Sharen wasn't looking at her; her eyes only passed by her and fell onto Song Juguang's figure. Wei Sharen, and the group of people behind her, only listened to Song Juguang's commands.
So, Jiang Changbai also noticed the clues, and turned her body to fiercely gaze at Song Juguang. "If you still hold half a degree of old affection, command your people to release her without delay."
"What people of mine?" Song Juguang curled her lips in a light smile, and said, "Bixia, myself and they are all your people. Let her go." Song Juguang tilted her head towards Wei Sharen as she spoke.
Only then was Xie Qianbing able to, dizzily, stand up, her entire expression gazing at Jiang Changbai with disbelief. Xie Qianbing had heard the appellation Song Juguang had used for her, yet Jiang Changbai clearly didn't have the time to explain it to her.
"Dianxia." Song Juguang walked to Jiang Changbai's side, and stealthily tugged at her sleeve, tugging her towards the door of the main hall. The terrain of the main hall was a bit higher, and standing on those stairs at the doorway, one could see everything in the courtyard at a glance.
As soon as the two walked up, all of the people gazed at them, as if at this moment, these two people had the right to command the entire realm in this corner. Of course, in reality, the one who possessed this ability was only Song Juguang, wasn't it?
Song Juguang looked around, and cleared her throat, raising her voice. "From the start, I didn't intend to join the Jiang clan and take state power; raising an army was only for the purpose of returning the Great Li to a well-ordered court. But the heavens don't go according to mortal wishes; almost the entire Jiang clan lost their lives in the chaos of war, and now, only this princess Dianxia by my side remains." Song Juguang's gaze fell onto Jiang Changbai's figure.
All the others' gazes also fell onto Jiang Changbai's figure.
Having come to this moment, how could Jiang Changbai not have seen Song Juguang's intention? It was only that she felt that her heart beat rapidly in her chest, and it was as if a drum had been struck by her ear, as if the space in the square before the Qianqing Palace[5] had sounded with a whip.
It wasn't clear where Song Juguang had pulled out a bright yellow gown to drape over Jiang Changbai's figure; she took the lead to kneel before Jiang Changbai with a putong, raising her voice to call out, "Long live, long live, long live the Emperor!"
All the others hurried to call out after her, and for a moment, the sound of "long live!" echoed in this place. The cries shook the heavens, such that the inky, boundless black clouds that pressed down were scattered, and the sunshine threaded its way through the cracks, and showered, opportunity, on Jiang Changbai.
The people behind her were still calling out "long live!"; amidst the racket of countless layers of peoples' voices, Song Juguang raised her head, and, with features curved without any difference from that first time they had met, said, "Congratulations, Bixia, on inheriting the throne."
Jiang Changbai's heart still hammered frantically, and with a thought, she reached a hand out to raise Song Juguang up. "Why is it me?"
"Bixia," Song Juguang said, eyes still curved, "the previous emperor's edict states that the throne must be inherited by those of the Jiang clan."
"He wasn't nearly this broad-minded," Jiang Changbai said, scoffing coldly when she heard this. "A Guang, thank you for choosing me."
"Bixia, it wasn't me who chose you."
Translator's notes:
[1]: 太祖皇帝 (Taizu Huangdi), the founding emperor of a dynasty.
[2]: 祭天 (Jitan), which originated in the Shang dynasy; a type of ritual worship of the Shangdi.
[3]: Jiang Changbai repeats the same phrase, 清君侧 (qing jun ce), twice, but repeating the same translation in English doesn't sound as natural.
[4]: 葫芦里卖的是什么药 (hulu li mai de shi shenme yao), indicating a scheme or other hidden agenda.
[5]: Also known as the Palace of Heavenly Purity, a palace within the Forbidden City in Beijing.
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