The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the Carpenter Prince!

The sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, at 3:45 AM.

The snow fell intermittently all night, accumulating an inch under the eaves of the East Palace. The window paper of the side hall was whitened by the morning light, and the charcoal brazier inside was burning brightly, with sparks occasionally crackling.

Zhu Youxiao sat at the desk, his left hand pressing down on an unfinished piece of elm wood, while his right hand used a carving knife to push a thin shaving along the grain. The elm wood was hard and curved along the growth rings.

He himself hadn't decided what he was cutting.

The knife was halfway through when footsteps sounded outside the door.

Liu Shun quietly pushed open the curtain and came in.

"Your Highness, the Duke of Ying's residence sent a steward named Wang to deliver a letter to Yuehua Gate."

Zhu Youxiao put down his carving knife.

"Please come in."

Liu Shun acknowledged and withdrew.

Silence returned to the palace.

It should be noted that Zhang Weixian never used the main road, such as Yuehua Gate, when sending people into the Eastern Palace. The two bolts of cloth used in the investiture ceremony were delivered by porters. This time, however, the invitation was delivered openly at the palace gate.

In other words, this is meant to be seen by others.

Soon after, footsteps sounded again, and the curtain was lifted a crack.

Steward Wang bowed and entered.

The man was over fifty years old with graying temples. He wore a coarse blue robe over an old sheepskin coat. Upon entering the house, he first paid his respects and knelt down with steady and dignified movements, clearly an experienced elder in the household.

"This humble servant, Wang Fu, greets His Highness the Crown Prince."

"Stand up and answer."

Steward Wang thanked the emperor, stood up, and took out a gift list from his sleeve, presenting it to him with both hands.

Liu Shun took the document and placed it on the table.

Zhu Youxiao unfolded it and glanced at it.

A box of top-quality pine nuts, two baskets of winter bamboo shoots, six wild rabbits, and two jars of aged wine, with a note at the end stating that the local produce was worthless.

He nodded.

"Please inform the Duke on my behalf. Thank you for your trouble."

I should have taken my leave at this point.

However, Steward Wang did not make a move.

Zhu Youxiao didn't urge him, but simply asked Liu Shun to come and add tea.

Liu Shun poured himself another cup and then retreated behind the curtain.

Three breaths passed.

Manager Wang then lowered his voice slightly.

"Your Highness, please forgive me, but I have a few more words to say. My master instructed me to present them to Your Highness in person."

"you say."

"I have a distant relative who is a captain in Yongping Guard in Zhili," Steward Wang said slowly, bowing his head. "In the winter months, it is common practice for officials to bribe their way along the road from the capital to the border. My relative has been working there for more than ten years and knows the area well. If Your Highness has any people passing through there, it is not difficult for my relative to look after them."

Zhu Youxiao picked up his teacup and took a small sip.

The words were spoken very appropriately, neither ostentatious nor lacking in subtlety, yet clearly conveying the message of mutual support.

"Your Excellency is very kind," he said calmly, "It is a favor, and I will remember it."

Steward Wang bowed again.

"If Your Highness has no further instructions, I will take my leave now."

"Go."

Manager Wang stepped back, turned around, and walked to the door. He had just lifted the curtain a crack when he suddenly stopped.

Turn around.

"Your Highness."

"Um?"

"Before I left, the Duke gave me a casual remark, saying that it has been very cold in Yongping Guard lately, and the snow came earlier than usual. If Your Highness has anyone traveling north, they should be careful to avoid frostbite along the way."

After finishing speaking, he bowed again, then turned and left.

The curtain fell.

Zhu Youxiao's hand, holding the teacup, paused for a moment.

Frostbite.

These two words swirled in my mind.

Having spent a few years in the government in his previous life, he could understand three layers of meaning from what he was told. Now, after four months in the Ming Dynasty, he can understand four layers. The first layer is the literal meaning of "winter is cold and easy to freeze". The second layer is an implication that the inspection team is heading towards the border. The third layer is that the word "frostbite" in Xun Gui's mouth is a coded term for being ambushed halfway.

Fourth floor.

Zhang Weixian's move was intended to issue a warning, not to shield the investigation team.

If it were just an umbrella, people could be arranged to be completely covered up, without even mentioning trivial details like the Yongping Guard relatives. Mentioning it would only let the Crown Prince know that the area was not clean.

But he refused to say who was going to make the move.

Zhu Youxiao placed the teacup back on the table.

This seventh-generation Duke's methods were far more ruthless than Fang Congzhe's lukewarm approach. Fang Congzhe had been playing the game in the court for seven years, and his most vicious move was simply to remain silent. Zhang Weixian, on the other hand, was to show his favors by openly giving gifts and secretly issuing warnings. The gift list was just for show; the real substance was the casual remarks he made at the last minute.

Whether or not the gift list is accepted is irrelevant.

The words "frostbite" cannot be erased.

If the crown prince finds out, he must comply. A proper response is a favor, while a poor response will be used against him.

This is what was exchanged for the two bolts of cloth.

Zhu Youxiao looked down at the elm wood on the table and didn't move for a long time.

After a long while, he picked up the carving knife again and made another cut along the texture that he hadn't finished before.

The blade managed to stabilize.

…………

In the afternoon, the Cabinet was on duty.

Fang Congzhe sat alone behind his desk. Outside the window, the bare locust tree was still covered with the remnants of last night's snow. The charcoal fumes in the duty room were stifling, and the cup of tea beside him had been cold for half a day.

Light footsteps sounded outside the curtain.

"Grand Secretary."

Xu Yiqing, a secretary in the Imperial Secretariat, lifted the curtain and entered. He first shook the snow off his shoulders at the threshold before stepping forward.

He was holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"It's been handed over from the Imperial Hospital."

Fang Congzhe slightly raised his eyes.

Xu Yiqing presented the paper to the table. It was a half-finished copy, and the ink on the other side clearly showed that it had been copied from elsewhere.

"Half a month ago, the Imperial Medical Academy rejected a prescription because the dosage was inappropriate. That written opinion is still in the Imperial Medical Academy's archives. I retrieved it yesterday and compared it word by word."

Xu Yiqing kept his voice very low.

"The final stroke of the comment is similar in style to the final stroke of the characters 'archived' in the previous ten-day report."

Fang Congzhe did not move.

Xu Yiqing continued.

"It's just that we can't be sure they're from the same hand. The judge's writing is neat and methodical, while the ten-day report's commentary is more unrestrained, but the finishing strokes are really similar."

The duty room was quiet.

Fang Congzhe took the incomplete copy, spread it on the table, put his reading glasses on the bridge of his nose, looked at it closely for a couple of breaths, and then moved them away.

He did not utter a single word.

He got up and went behind the screen, opening the bottom shelf of a hidden cabinet made of huanghuali wood.

There is already a piece of paper in the grid.

Yesterday, Fang Congzhe personally wrote down the names of the Crown Prince, Sun Chengzong, Xiong Tingbi, and Consort Zheng, who were listed alone, with small characters next to them noting the recent trends of these lines.

He folded up the tattered copy and placed it next to the paper.

The two sheets of paper are placed side by side.

Close the hidden compartment and lock it.

"Continue the comparison," Fang Congzhe said calmly as he turned around. "The report is published every ten days. We have retrieved the previous issues' vermilion comments, along with the Imperial Hospital's rebuttals to Fang's comments over the past six months. We will compare them one by one and list them monthly."

"Yes, sir," Xu Yiqing paused, "This humble official dares to ask, should we pursue this lead further?"

"Wait a minute."

Fang Congzhe waved his hand.

"First, compare them. If you touch it and leave a trace, people will know. The more people who know, the shallower the line becomes."

Xu Yiqing bowed with his hands clasped and withdrew.

The curtain fell.

Fang Congzhe sat back down behind his desk.

He stared at the old locust tree outside the window for a long time; snow clung to its branches as the wind rustled through them.

He had been a prime minister for seven years and had seen all kinds of opponents.

Only this fifteen-year-old prince seemed strange.

Three months ago, when I read the Crown Prince's first ten-day report, I felt a thorn in my heart. The following month, I felt a second thorn, and the third thorn after the lecture. Today, this incomplete copy is the fourth thorn.

The incision was not deep.

However, each time it was half an inch deeper than the last.

He picked up the now-cold tea and took a sip.

The tea was cold and went down my throat.

…………

into the night.

In a side hall of the East Palace, the oil lamp on the table flickered steadily. Zhu Youxiao took the letter box out of the drawer and placed it on the table.

The side-mounted latch lock cylinder was just replaced the day before yesterday; the old cylinder had a risk of leakage after prolonged use.

He pressed the snap, and the lid opened with a click.

There were three sheets of paper inside the box.

The top sheet, folded neatly, is clearly the younger brother's handwriting. Although the nine-year-old Zhu Youjian's handwriting is crooked, he wrote it down stroke by stroke.

Zhu Youxiao unfolded and read it once.

The paper recorded that two scholars in the side hall argued for half a day about whether or not the purchase and consumption item should be included in the third column of the ten-day report. One of them thought that listing it was cumbersome and redundant, while the other said that if it was not listed, it would be impossible to see where the major issues were.

In the end, the younger brother wrote:

"Your Majesty, I wanted to ask Mr. Chen for advice, but he didn't say a word and only said that we had to wait for Your Majesty to return. So I wrote it down and put it in the letter box for Your Majesty to give his instructions."

Zhu Youxiao's lips curled up slightly.

The nine-year-old child imitated his tone quite well.

More importantly, Mr. Chen did not utter a word about this. Chen Wenju was an expert in mathematics and had his own ideas, but he did not speak up because he remembered Mr. Chen's instruction to put the letter in the box if he was unsure before leaving.

He's a rule-abiding person.

Zhu Youxiao put the paper aside.

The second note is also in the younger brother's handwriting. In just a few lines, he wrote that the charcoal and firewood used at the training school that day cost 38 wen of silver, which was 4 wen less than the previous ten days. At the end, he signed it with the four characters "Recorded by the Second Prince of the Emperor," which is very proper.

He kept a close eye on his duties.

Zhu Youxiao's smile lines had not yet faded.

I casually folded it up and set it aside.

The third one.

My fingers paused for a moment when I flipped to the bottom page.

The paper was slightly yellow and folded very small, taking up only a corner of the palm.

Unfold.

The handwriting is neat and legible, and it was definitely not left by the younger brother.

He recognized the handwriting of all six students at the training institute: the scholar wrote in the official script, Chen Wenju's writing was forceful, the clerk's was sloppy, and the two tenant farmers were accompanied by Fang Leng, a soldier.

This one is completely different.

The handwriting is neat and effortless, resembling the small regular script commonly used by palace ladies. However, the ending strokes contain a hint of broken strength, clearly indicating that the writer deliberately suppressed the wrist strength to avoid being recognized.

Zhu Youxiao leaned closer to the oil lamp and read it word by word.

"The Imperial Pharmacy has recently transferred two new eunuchs from Hejian Prefecture in Zhili Province, one of whom is surnamed Wei."

That was all.

Zhu Youxiao stood in front of the lamp, holding the note in his hand; the firelight made the writing flicker slightly.

Hejian Prefecture, Yongping Guard.

These words caught his eye and immediately connected with what Steward Bai Ri had said about frostbite.

Zhao Laifu had resigned due to illness and returned to his hometown in Hejian Prefecture. The newly appointed eunuch from the Imperial Pharmacy was also stationed in Hejian Prefecture—this was a covert operation within the inner court. Meanwhile, the Duke of Yingguo pointed out that his relative was stationed in Yongping Guard, a crucial point on the official road leading north for the inspection team—a trap set by the outer court. One net to the south, one to the east, two nets were cast simultaneously.

Zhu Youxiao's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.

Previously, he had kept Li Jinzhong's infiltration of the Imperial Pharmacy a secret, but the more he investigated, the more blocked the wall of the Directorate of Ceremonial Affairs became. Now, suddenly, two more people had entered from Hejian Prefecture, and all the threads of the matter finally came together.

One of them was surnamed Wei.

This surname.

Madam Ke's partner was named Wei Chao, and Li Jinzhong's old friend was also named Wei Chao. Although there were many eunuchs with the surname Wei in the palace, the current situation of someone being transferred from Hejian Prefecture to the Imperial Pharmacy with the surname Wei was rather strange.

Zhu Youxiao closed his eyes and pondered to himself that although he could not be certain at the moment, this cloud of doubt would eventually be cleared up by time.

There is only one thing that needs to be clarified.

Who slipped the note into the mailbox?

The handwriting did not belong to any of the six people in the training center. Apart from the others and his younger brother, he was the only one who knew that the lock cylinder had been changed. Since it was not his brother's handwriting, then an outsider must have known about the mailbox.

Knowing the mailbox was tantamount to knowing his secrets inside the palace on the day the lock was changed.

Zhu Youxiao suddenly stood up, folded the paper, and put it into his sleeve along with the first two sheets.

The lock on the mailbox must be changed again tomorrow.

He blew out the oil lamp, and the hall immediately became dark.

Only a sliver of sunlight shone through the window, falling on the elm wood on the desk.

Zhang Weixian exchanged two bolts of cloth as a favor, Fang Congzhe found the first matching handwriting, the Imperial Pharmacy added a servant from Hejian Prefecture, and the younger brother, Mr. Chen, guarded the gate and argued with the scholar.

Everyone has their own agenda.

Even I have my own grievances to settle.

Zhu Youxiao stood silently in the shadows for a long time.