JOY OF LIFE

[VOLUME 2] chapter 88: Can the Climb the Tree?

Crown Prince Li Hongcheng had waited for quite a while. The person he was waiting for still hadn't arrived. He couldn't help but laugh at himself. This Master Fan was rather arrogant, he thought. Among all the civil and military officials of the state, there was barely a handful who were entitled to make him wait. Turning his thoughts to affairs in the capital, he secretly felt some admiration for Fan Xian; he had entered the city not too long ago and had already become the talk of the town, turning the literary scene on its head with his poems and shocking the bureaucracy by assaulting someone in the middle of the night. And his marriage to the Prime Minister's illegitimate daughter had caused great consternation among those who were privileged enough to know the facts.

As he pondered, Fan Xian called to him from far away, saluting as he quickly walked toward him. He had not intended to make the Crown Prince wait; he had simply been delayed while discussing business at Qingyu Hall with the keeper of the bookstore. The two young men sat at a table, sipping tea, and began to talk.

The first one to speak was of course Fan Xian; he had to express his gratitude for matters that evening. Hearing his thanks, Crown Prince Li Hongcheng smiled. "At the time I thought that we'd only known each other for a few days, so how could you be willing to rent out all of the Drunken Immortal Tavern to entertain me so I wondered what could you have been thinking? But it didn't matter. That idiot Guo Baokun is the worst among my retainers. He's only there because his father is smart. And if you were the one who beat him up, how could you have an ulterior motive?"

Fan Xian knew that the Crown Prince was talking of his court case. He laughed at himself. "Is that not a lack of experience? If I had known that it would be that easy to beat people in the capital, I would have beaten him right there at the prince's mansion."

Li Hongcheng was taken aback, and hurriedly waved the small fan in his hand. "That would not do. If you take things too far, there is no way I can defend you."

Fan Xian laughed and thanked him again, then asked who had invited him to come there that day. Li Hongcheng muttered to himself for a moment before speaking. "I can't hide it from you. Due to the relationship between our two families, I must explain some thing. Originally, the Second Prince wanted me to trick you in to meeting with me, to find a way to meet you naturally so as not to provoke your anger. But that would still be tricking you, so I wanted to say that tomorrow the Second Prince will be holding a banquet on the Liuhe River. You are the guest of honor; I am simply there to be company."

Fan Xian frowned. "I really don't understand. The Second Prince is of such respected status, and I am merely a scholar; why have I caught his eye?"

"Do you really not understand, or are you simply pretending not to?" Li Hongcheng tapped his nose and laughed. "All this game-playing will be your downfall."

Fan Xian laughed awkwardly, but did not respond.

Li Hongcheng noticed that there were no servants attending them anywhere inside the reception pavilion. "There's something else," he said earnestly. "When I first met you, I took a liking to you, and I can't bear to keep you in the dark. It seems to me that that would inevitably lead to distance between us, as I'm sure you'll agree. Now, His Majesty is in the prime of his life, but anyone who does not keep a long-term view of things will encounter difficulties, and so all eyes in the court are on the princes. The Eldest Prince is a natural fighter. But he is leading troops far away. Even though I am a child of the empress herself, my behavior has always been rather improper. Though my estate is impartial, to tell you the truth, among the princes, the Second Prince and I have always been on good terms."

Fan Xian was rather shocked. How could things be so different from what he had expected? In the works of historical fiction he had read in his previous life, written by the writer Eryue He, princes always had complex thoughts behind simple words. He wished he could better control his behavior, and not act in such a way that people gossiped about him. How could there be someone like the person in front of him, one who had always spoken honestly? This business of being a bastard child who usurped his legitimate brother was greatly taxing. How could one not go stark raving mad?