Chapter 010: Inquiring About the Regent’s Birthday
“What is Yan Zhen?” Hearing the system’s words, Wei Wanlan tilted his head.
[Commonly known as sticking a voodoo doll.]
“Oh, I understand.”
He lowered his head, examining the ugly yet somewhat comical voodoo doll in his hand, and the doll with its cinnabar-drawn blood-red features was also staring at him, its eerie smile making his scalp tingle.
Wei Wanlan flipped the doll over the area where the paper slip was attached.
[Write the name and information of the person you need to kill on it, and you can achieve killing without a trace, taking their life from afar.]
But somehow it didn’t sound quite right?
Those things about sticking dolls, drawing circles to curse… they didn’t seem very righteous, Wei Wanlan asked back, “Are you really a proper system?”
[I am.]
“But shouldn’t you be aboveboard?”
[To control the power of the realm, the virtuous monarch must discern the trends of the situation, utilize the resources at hand, and also resort to unscrupulous means.] The system promptly cited examples, reminding Wei Wanlan of the Xuanwu Gate Incident and the wine-cup abdication.
These two incidents were not very upright, but who would dare say the Tang, Song, and Zhao ancestors were not virtuous monarchs?
Wei Wanlan of course did not express an opinion, the Tang, Song, and Zhao ancestors were not something he could really comment on.
“Specifically, how should I do it?”
[You need to obtain the Regent’s full name and birthday.]
The system slowed down its speech, as if waiting for the slow-witted Wei Wanlan to keep up.
[His surname, at the celebration banquet in the Linzhi Palace, Cui Minghai uttered it before his death.]
“Su… Yan?” The faint voice trailed off.
[His style name is Jingzhi.]
Yan means tranquil, Jing means peace and calm.
Whether the name or style name, they conveyed the fervent hope of the prominent Su family for their descendant to guard the rivers and mountains in safety. These were explanations that had appeared in the original book “The Great Wei Regent”.
Listening to the system’s background information, Wei Wanlan pressed the Regent’s name against his tongue, silently repeating it a few times:
“Su Yan, Su Jingzhi.”
***
“—Do you all know when the Regent’s birthday is?”
In the morning, Wei Wanlan poked his head out from behind the palace door.
The two Golden Armored Guards at the door were first stunned, then completely bewildered, finally ending with the two of them bowing in unison: “This subordinate does not know, please punish us.”
Wei Wanlan retreated back into the palace. A bit frustrated: “Failed.”
[You’re not supposed to be this blunt.] The system said with impatience, [The ancients attached great importance to birthdays and did not easily reveal them, if you directly ask the Regent’s birthdate, let alone the fact that the Golden Armored Guards don’t know, aren’t you afraid others will guess your intention?]
Wei Wanlan was scolded by the system, lowering his eyelids as his eyes rolled, the long lashes casting two little raven-blue shadows at the bottom of his eyes. He tried to follow the system’s logic, but found his brain went blank for a moment, simplify the way of speaking, just keep it simple.
As if not speaking in roundabout ways, he wouldn’t be qualified to be a character in your political intrigue novels.
Zap!
Wei Wanlan shuddered, several tousled hairs standing on end, his voice carrying a whimper: “I know I was wrong, don’t shock me QAQ”
But the system was unmoved by the beautiful man’s tactics, impartially pushing the progress: [Knowing you’re wrong, find a way to fix it.]
“Okay.”
Wei Wanlan ultimately decided to adopt the decomposition method.
The eight characters are divided into year, month, day, and hour.
Since he couldn’t gather all of the Regent’s information at once, he would break it down item by item, inquiring, the Regent must have some aspect that is known to others, right?
In the end, he would piece together the information he obtained to get the Regent’s birthday.
Wei Wanlan told the system his idea. Surprisingly, the system was quite satisfied this time, and as befitting a system, it had a flowery evaluation ready: [—Simplifying the complex, breaking the whole into parts, proceeding step-by-step, excellent, excellent!]
Don’t ask Wei Wanlan what he thought of at that moment.
He thought of an old monk chanting sutras in his ear.
And don’t ask where this brilliant decomposition tactic came from.
Have you done math problems? When you can’t solve a proof problem, you still have to at least write a solution mark and do a step or two, right?
With the strategy set, he started by asking about the Regent’s age, as the Emperor, he was concerned about his ministers, inquiring about the Regent’s age was nothing unusual, and no one could directly associate this tiny clue with voodoo nightmare control, right?
Wei Wanlan launched a covert investigation around the palace.
The ancients used the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch calendrical system, so by pushing the current year’s number forward the Regent’s age, one could get the Stem-Branch of the year the Regent was born. But the specific calculation method was still unclear to him, so he left that to the system to figure out.
Regarding the Regent’s age, the reactions of the people were varied.
A middle-aged eunuch sighed: “He’s around twenty-seven, the Regent is already not so young.”
An elderly matron answered: “Thirty years old?” then couldn’t help but add a bit wistfully, “At that age, in an ordinary household he would have already married and had children, how come he doesn’t even have a wife?”
“The Su family has no successor, the Seventh Generation General is worrying, Your Majesty should hurry up!”
Wei Wanlan: Why are they asking about marriage all of a sudden? What use is it for me to be anxious? Grant him a consort?
There was also a weird Regent fan in the palace, pinching a lotus flower gesture and saying: “I think the Prince is forever eighteen.”
Wei Wanlan: Rational fan culture, civilized you, me, and them.
In the evening, after consolidating the information gathered, the majority in the palace said the Regent was twenty-seven years old.
So in line with the principle of listening to good advice, from today onwards, Regent Su Jingzhi would be twenty-seven years old in Wei Wanlan’s heart.
The system silently recorded the calculated Stem-Branch.
In Wei Wanlan’s mind, the image of Su Jingzhi appeared, twenty-seven years old, almost ten years older than himself. It was the best age for a man to shed his immaturity and gradually mature.
Just from an aesthetic perspective: Su Jingzhi’s appearance was handsome and imposing, his physique tall and upright, broad shoulders, strong and powerful limbs, a slender and smooth waistline, the muscles tight but not exaggerated, faintly visible under the noble attire.
Wherever he was, his presence was unmistakable. He had grown into the ideal image every man hoped to become.
Wei Wanlan’s ears flushed hot. Maybe it was because he had inquired in so many places today, it was cold outside but hot in the bedchamber, making him unable to adapt.
The age was solved, the next difficult problem emerged, which month was the Regent born in?
Wei Wanlan decided to further divide the twelve months into the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, for example, if someone could reveal the Regent was born in spring, the birth month could be narrowed down to around the first to third lunar month.
Nicely done!
So he continued to cast a wide net in the palace.
With the previous experience, this time Wei Wanlan focused more on the elderly eunuchs and matrons, these old palace denizens had clearer memories of past events. The elderly were also willing to share.
After visiting more than a dozen palace maids, the intelligence pointed to the Jiaofang Agency.
The Jiaofang Agency, the place in the palace where performing artists are trained to serve the imperial nobility.
The winter wind was crisp and cold, the wintersweet had just begun to bloom, Wei Wanlan’s brocade boots stepped on the slightly melting snow, his appearance bright and beautiful.
Two middle-aged female officials were warming up their voices under the wintersweet tree, though their temples were frosted, with lines at the corners of their eyes, their figures were still graceful, their voices melodious, upon hearing Wei Wanlan’s purpose, they revealed some valuable information.
Ten years ago, in every winter, the former General’s manor’s servants would purchase a batch of specially made fireworks from the Jiaofang Agency, far superior in quality to those sold on the open market.
Those fireworks were extremely brilliant and magnificent when lit, called “Blossoms of Fire and Silver”.
The Jiaofang official closed her eyes, as if retrieving a certain memory, then continued:
“Once, the former General Su Zhenwei himself came to our Jiaofang Agency. The Jiaofang was rehearsing the Rainbow Feather Dance, the ladies were twirling in the courtyard, General Su’s face turned so red he was about to scald himself, stammering that he wanted to buy some fireworks to celebrate his son’s birthday.”
Wei Wanlan’s sense of detection was aroused, his radar high up and alert, not missing a single useful word.
General Su’s son, that must be the current Regent.
Another Jiaofang official covered her mouth, giggling: “Now the time is about the same, does that mean the Regent’s birthday is coming soon?”
“The Jiaofang still has fireworks, but alas, General Su passed away in his prime, and his wife Lady Rong has also departed, the lover’s path has diverged, how tragic it is.”
As they spoke, the two Jiaofang ladies’ professional habits took over, spontaneously chanting in verse, their soft, melodious singing voices flowing out, stirring a faint sense of melancholy in Wei Wanlan—
“Is he alive? Is he gone? My spouse has gone to the edge of the heavens, the garden trees are grieving, three times the flowers have bloomed.”
“Ah, Your Majesty, please forgive our improper behavior.”
The two officials bowed in unison.
***
After leaving the Jiaofang, the fallen blossoms on his shoulders, until he reached the banks of the Taiye Pool, Wei Wanlan was still surrounded by the faint fragrance: “The Regent was born in the twelfth lunar month. But exactly which day, the clues from the Jiaofang are not enough. I still need to investigate further.”
[The host has made progress, knows he has a brain now.]
Wei Wanlan lifted his small face, without a second thought saying: “Thank you.”
Innocent and simple, seemingly completely unaware of 404’s sarcastic intent, making the seasoned political strategist system feel like it had punched cotton.
What to do? Whatever sharpness of tongue and cold mockery, the other party simply didn’t engage.
Ding ling——
Ding ling ling……
The melodious ringing sound carried a refreshing quality, catching Wei Wanlan’s attention.
He turned his gaze towards the source, the Guanfeng Pavilion by the Taiye Pool, the base of the pavilion was dimly obscured by reeds, with the silhouettes of several people inside: an official-clad figure, General Tang, two golden-haired, blue-eyed foreigners, and Regent Su Jingzhi.
It’s really the case of running into the very person you don’t want to meet.
Wei Wanlan tried to turn and run, but the system heard the host’s attempt to slip away and knew he had gotten timid again: [Stand still, go take a look, maybe it can help with gathering intelligence?]
Wei Wanlan: “Will he have his birthday written on his face?”
[I told you to deduce! Perceive the subtle and know the essential, surely there will be some details that can reveal what we want to know?]
“Like…” Associating with the continued modern customs, Wei Wanlan’s mouth curved slightly, “He’s wearing red boxers when he goes out?”
[——Can you see his red boxers through his clothes!?]
The system felt if it was bound to this any longer, it too would become a fool.
Wei Wanlan gradually approached.
The situation in the Guanfeng Pavilion became clearer:
A floral velvet dance carpet was spread out in the pavilion.
The golden bells rang softly, a Persian dancer with seaweed-like golden hair, the tips of her toes touching the center of the carpet, her ankles hung with strings of bells, her dancing accompanied by the chiming, like shattered ice striking jade, slowly reaching Wei Wanlan’s ears.
The dancer’s eyes blinked.
Next to the dancer was a curly-haired, big-bearded, white-skinned man, covered in pearls and jewels, several pigeon egg-sized rubies and emeralds adorning the rings on his hands.
This curly-haired foreigner reverently pressed his hand to his chest and performed a Hui salute towards Su Jingzhi, then one by one opened the red wooden boxes on the stone table in the pavilion, the boxes reflecting dazzling light and emitting alluring fragrance, precious stones and spices.
The Huiman was muttering something unintelligible.
The Great Wei official in official attire also seemed to be saying something to him, Wei Wanlan couldn’t quite hear clearly. But that didn’t stop him from finding it interesting, the dignified and proper ancient scholar-officials speaking a foreign language, the double novelty was too fun.
[He is the Minister of State Ceremonials.]
“I’m familiar with the Grand Magistrate.” Wei Wanlan still had a pretty good impression of Xin Bumi.
[The Great Wei Foreign Minister.]
Ah, no wonder he could speak a foreign language, he was a talented official of the court!
Who didn’t admire capable people? Wei Wanlan’s eyes gleamed, his gaze focused as he observed the Minister of State Ceremonials, curiously asking: “What are they doing? Are they having international friendly exchanges with the Regent?”
But unexpectedly, the system’s tone suddenly became serious, making Wei Wanlan’s back tense up.
[He is the Persian merchant Wind Luoyi.]
[In the original book, Wind Luoyi had exploited loopholes in Great Wei’s trade, causing the court to lose tens of thousands of taels of silver, the Regent was furious and ordered the dismissal of the Minister of Revenue and Minister of State Ceremonials, even sending troops to attack Persia. Though he vented his anger, it greatly weakened the national strength.]
So ruthless?
Wei Wanlan couldn’t help but have an even deeper understanding of the terrible and cruel nature of Su Jingzhi.
After all, it involved national interests, Wei Wanlan couldn’t be too sure, but felt he should do something, asking: “Then… do we need to help with anything?”
The system was very satisfied with his stance on international affairs.
[I’m not sure about the later developments, maybe it’s because you haven’t been confined yet, the plot is different from before. Let’s just listen.]
Wei Wanlan obediently nodded, his bangs soft: “Uh, okay.”
The system’s tone suddenly became severe:
[If necessary, you interrupt that scoundrel merchant!]
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