After the library tour, it was lunch time and Prince ZiShu invited Wen Ke Xing to eat with him at the dining hall.
"Can I really do that? Isn't the dining hall reserved for royalties?" Wen Ke Xing asked.
"Only my emperor father's dining hall is. All the other dining halls can receive guests anytime. But everything I eat is super spicy, can you handle it? If you can't, you don't have to eat lunch with me. You can go home. Come back tomorrow, we will start discussing campaign funding at the military office."
"I can eat spicy." Wen Ke Xing didn't feel like going home.
"I can ask the staff to prepare something else for you too if you prefer." Prince Zi Shu offered.
"No, I will be alright."
Boy did he regret saying that.
The food did not only taste spicy, they looked spicy! Almost every dish was pepper red. The seafood soup even had floating red chili flakes and red oil. The dishes that did not have peppers, had excessive amounts of onions, garlic, ginger, enough to burn throats.
Wen Ke Xing sweated tremendously and kept drinking the chrysanthemum tea to help flush his tongue. Prince Zi Shu noticed and asked a maid to add lots of honey in his tea. Honey helped remove the burning. By the time lunch was over, Wen Ke Xing's entire face was red, his eyes were teary, his tongue on fire, and his clothes soaking of sweat.
The prince then realized that Wen Ke Xing was forcing himself to eat spicy despite he did not enjoy it. How silly. Yet he was sincerely touched by his silliness.
---
The next day, at the meeting, they discussed finances. How much it would cost to fund the campaign, the horses, weapons, food, tents. The salary of the infantry, artillery, cavalry, etc. The total was added and the sum was extravagant. Prince Zi Shu stamped the bill, and the secretary of treasury submitted it to the imperial court for approval.
After the meeting, Wen Ke Xing asked where all the money would come from. Prince ZiShu explained that most would come from taxing the peasants.
Wen Ke Xing did not like that answer. "You really think that's the right way to fund military campaigns?"
"I don't. But we have no choice. That's why I want to end the war. Every battle costs money, and the peasants are the one carrying all the weight. If there is no war, then we can cut taxes. And everybody will be happy."
Wen Ke Xing did not believe him. All men wanted power, wealth, fame, lands, there was no exception. And the only way to achieve those was through wars. Wen Ke Xing himself wanted to rule the world one day when the opportunity come.
"Lao Wen, I don't like wars, believe me. I don't want to attack anybody, I just want to protect my country. If foreign tribes and clans do not rebel against us, and do not come fight us, then there will be peace. But they keep coming, therefore we have to wipe them out first. Before every battle, we offer them a peace treaty, but they refuse to sign it, I have to do what's right to protect my land."
So do I, Wen Ke Xing thought to himself.
---
On their way to the prince's study, they observed at the front yard, a young man, no older than 20 years old based on the baby fats on his face, hiding behind a pole, secretly watching a maid doing her chores.
"Cao! HOW DARE YOU!" The prince shouted.
"Not doing your duty, watching girls? This is unacceptable!" The maid turned around and bowed and greeted the prince, and then the Secretary of war.
