Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Chapter 169: This child is destined to be one of us Confucians! (2 / 2)

After leaving Huang’s residence, Xu Yanmiao couldn’t understand how this task had fallen onto his lap.

He wasn’t an imperial censor who could gather intelligence for the emperor! This meant he had to act for real. But where could he gather real evidence? The gossip system provides true information but doesn’t offer proof. How could he explain where he got the information from?

He rubbed his head in frustration and hurriedly called out, “Sir—” Looking up, he saw the old emperor at someone’s street stall, carefully selecting items with great interest.

Taking a closer look, the stall was selling various trinkets—there was a bronze dove cart, which when pulled, made the dove’s tail flip up, very playful; a “Mo He Le” clay doll, with limbs that could move and even eyes that could turn; and also a Luban lock, a single-wheel Chinese top, and spinning tops…

The old emperor had a small pile of items in front of him, clearly the ones he had selected.

The old emperor asked, “How much for these?”

The peddler calculated and replied, “Twenty-five wen, but I’ll knock off a little for you, make it twenty wen.”

The old emperor picked up a top from the pile, casually tapping and flicking it, as if he were indifferent. “These items aren’t even worth twenty wen. This top’s color isn’t bright enough —eight wen! No more than eight wen!”

Xu Yanmiao couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Dragon-slaying saber!

The peddler seemed to have a question mark above his head. “Eight wen? I can’t make a deal at that price.”

Without hesitation, the old emperor put down the top. “If you can’t, then forget it.” He turned and said, “Xu Yanmiao, let’s go.”

Seeing that the old emperor was really about to leave, the peddler looked heartbroken and called out, “Eighteen wen! If it’s any less, I won’t make a profit!”

The old emperor remained calm. “Eighteen is still too much. How about lowering it a bit more? If it’s reasonable, I’ll really buy. Look at all the things I’ve picked. What would I pick if I wasn’t going to buy?”

The peddler’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down before he said, “Fifteen wen! Really can’t go lower.”

The old emperor replied, “Ten wen! I’ve got more than one grandson! I’ll come back to you next time!”

And so, an emperor squatted by the roadside, bargaining with a peddler over a few coins.

In the end, the deal was settled at “eleven wen, but the peddler also threw in a shuttlecock, a flying car, and a rattle.”

A Jinyiwei in plain clothes appeared from the side, silently picked up the pile of toys, and followed behind.

The old emperor’s smile remained on his face.

He turned and saw Xu Yanmiao’s expression filled with conflict and couldn’t help but laugh. “What’s wrong? Do you think an emperor shouldn’t haggle over such trivial matters?”

Xu Yanmiao honestly shook his head. “I believe a coin is still money. I’m just curious, Your Majesty, will you really go back to that peddler?”

With no one around, Xu Yanmiao felt free to address him as “Your Majesty.”

The old emperor puffed his chest and said with pride, “It’s all about rhetoric! You don’t understand! As long as you achieve your goal, who cares how you do it!”

Xu Yanmiao: (?o?)

This was something even university students could learn.

So, the next day during the morning court session, Xu Yanmiao stood up in the center with great momentum. “Your Majesty! I want to impeach the Marquis of Yingcheng!”

The Marquis of Yingcheng immediately felt a chill down his spine, thinking about what he might have done recently. He then thought…

It shouldn’t be anything serious…

Xu Yanmiao was cautious and would never act rashly. How could this happen today?

He thought for a moment, then relaxed. Even if he had done something, Xu Yanmiao was the type who would keep quiet if there was no evidence or if he couldn’t explain how he knew about it. Looking at it that way, Xu Yanmiao would probably only be impeaching him for things like occupying good farmland, which wouldn’t be that serious.

When the emperor scolded him a little, he could just return the land.

The Marquis of Yingcheng clasped his hands in his sleeves, eyes lowered, with an air of calm.

Then, he—and the entire court—heard Xu Yanmiao sternly declare, “I impeach the Marquis of Yingcheng for improper conduct! He is disrespectful and morally corrupt! His household has many concubines…”

“Poof—”

The Marquis of Yingcheng couldn’t help but laugh.

What was this? So young, and just because he had many concubines, they wanted to impeach him for being lecherous? And now it was being framed as moral corruption?

“The Book of Rites says: ‘If a concubine is not yet fifty, she must spend five nights with her husband.’” Xu Yanmiao said confidently. “Yet the Marquis of Yingcheng has many concubines who don’t follow this rule of five nights, and he, knowing the rule, lets it slide. This is willful disobedience—his crime is doubled!”

In the past, the Confucian ministers in the court had often used “rituals” to trap political rivals.

However, Xu Yanmiao’s perspective, this line of thinking… it’s something they hadn’t considered.

The entire court, both civil and military officials, were in awe.

The Confucian disciples’ eyes were shining.

This child is destined to be one of us Confucians!

Some curious onlookers glanced at the Marquis of Yingcheng and noticed that his smile had been frozen on his face for quite some time.

—He could argue his way out of many things, but this? How could he possibly claim that with his hundred concubines, he managed to rotate them every five days for intimate relations?

Even his liver couldn’t bear that level of fabrication!

Top:

The top is a wooden toy shaped like a small hollow bell, solid in the middle, with no handle. It’s spun with a whip on a string rather than a bamboo stick. When placed on the ground, a swift pull of the whip causes the top to spin silently. When the string is pulled gently, it spins without stopping. Spinning quickly, it stands on the ground, with its tip shining and its shadow remaining still.

—Excerpt from “Views of the Imperial Capital”

Thus, even an elderly concubine, before reaching fifty, must take turns every five days to serve the emperor. When it’s her turn, she must align herself, clean both inside and out, wear appropriate attire, tidy her hair, tie up a fragrance pouch, put on shoes, and respectfully go to the emperor.

—Excerpt from the “Book of Rites”

Translation: Even if a concubine is old, if she is not yet fifty, she must take turns to serve the emperor every five days. When it is her turn, she must prepare herself just like a minister preparing to meet the emperor, aligning her mind, cleaning her body, dressing appropriately, tying her hair, wearing shoes, and respectfully heading to the emperor.

The “Book of Rites: Inner Regulations” says: “Although a concubine is old, she must still serve every five days before the age of fifty. After fifty, she should not have any more relations, as it will hasten her aging. By seventy, she should not sleep alone; she needs someone to accompany her to sleep.”

—Excerpt from “Baihu Tongyi”

Translation: A concubine must sleep with her husband every five days until the age of fifty. After fifty, she should not engage in relations, as it would hasten her decline. At seventy, she must have someone to sleep with again.

(When it says “reopen the room at seventy,” it refers to someone accompanying her to sleep, not having sexual relations.)

(Reopen the room: Refers to staying in the inner chamber with a woman. It is the opposite of “closing the room.”)

Rituals are the primary form of law:

Rituals are the system of laws and ceremonial norms of the Zhou Dynasty, covering an extremely wide range of matters. At the grand scale, they include the state’s fundamental laws, and at the more detailed scale, they cover the etiquette of human interaction and daily life, encompassing almost the entire realm of upper-level social structures. The “Book of Rites” says: “Ritual begins with the coming of age ceremony, is based on marriage, is elevated during mourning and sacrifice, and is respected in courtly appointments; harmony is achieved through archery and rural rituals—this is the essence of rituals.”

Regarding the classification of rituals, there are categories like “Five Rituals,” “Six Rituals,” “Nine Rituals,” and others. In the Western Zhou, rituals played the role of law. In fact, rituals were the primary manifestation of the law.

——”The Main Form of Law in the Western Zhou Dynasty – Rituals”